Congress Should Put the Brakes on 'Engaging' Cuba
U.S. exporters can sell to only one customer—the Castro government.
Ana QuintanaRandall Ramos
October 6, 2016
Will Congress lift the ban on private financing towards Cuba's
agriculture sector? Proponents of a bill to do just that claim it would
benefit American farmers as well alleviate the suffering of the Cuban
people. Unfortunately, that is not how it works.
Proponents of the bill overlook the reality of Cuba's agricultural
market: U.S. exporters can sell to only one customer—the Castro
government. Article 18 of Cuba's constitution mandates the state to
control all foreign trade and investment.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reaffirms as much, noting that "all
U.S. agricultural exports must be channeled through one Cuban government
agency." That lone agency is ALIMPORT, a subsidiary of the Cuba's
Ministry of Foreign Trade. As such, ALIMPORT conducts business based on
political considerations, rather than market conditions.
This should come as a surprise to no one. As Heritage Foundation
President Jim DeMint notes, the Castros have created "a classic
Marxist-Leninist regime intent on owning the means of production."
Cuba consistently fails to meet even the most basic of labor standards,
including denial of employment due to belief systems. In short, rather
than empower the average Cuban, increased U.S. trade and investment in
the agricultural sector would serve only to enrich the Castro machinery.
Nor is more trade with Cuba a ticket to success for American farmers.
For one thing, it's by no means a booming market. Since the Obama
Administration weakened sanctions in late 2014, agricultural exports to
Cuba have decreased. They are now at their lowest point since
agricultural trade was authorized in 2000. Arguably, it could be a means
to exert pressure on U.S. lawmakers.
Cuba has long been one of the worst credit-risk and debtor countries in
the world. It still owes Americans close to $8 billion in certified
claims. In total, the Cuban government owes roughly $75 billion to
foreign creditors. Despairing of ever getting their money back, many
countries have simply given up and forgiven Cuba's debts.
It is easy—and rational—to be cynical about who will really profit from
allowing private financing for agricultural exports. It is not a
far-fetched prediction that it would be the Castros and their cronies.
We have already seen how the regime's military moved to capitalize on
the anticipated influx of American visitors resulting from the
relaxation of travel restrictions. Gaviota, the Cuban military's very
own tourism company, quickly absorbed many tourist facilities and is
expanding at breakneck speed, crowding out the very "self-employed"
workers that the new engagement policy was supposed to "empower." The
military apparatus is almost certain to make a similar encroachment into
the agricultural sector, should opportunities for expanded U.S.
investment present themselves.
And it goes beyond agriculture and tourism. The Associated Press
recently reported how the Cuban military is expanding its control of the
economy in the midst of normalizing relations with the United States.
This has been accompanied by surging political arrests, religious
persecution, and outward migration.
Unilaterally weakening sanctions and granting concessions does nothing
to further freedom on the island or prosperity for American farmers.
Rather, it undermines Washington's ability to influence positive change
on the island. Lawmakers should put the brakes on policies that "engage"
with tyranny by appeasing it.
Ana Quintana is a foreign policy analyst specializing in relations with
for The Heritage Foundation's Allison Center for Foreign and National
Security Policy. Randall Ramos is a member of Heritage's Young Leaders
program.
Source: Congress Should Put the Brakes on 'Engaging' Cuba | The National
Interest -
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/congress-should-put-the-brakes-engaging-cuba-17960
Friday, October 7, 2016
Hurricane Matthew Clobbers Cuba - 'Nothing Like This Has Ever Happened'
Hurricane Matthew Clobbers Cuba: 'Nothing Like This Has Ever Happened'
Published:
Oct 6 2016 11:30 AM EDT
By Pam Wright
Story Highlights
Residents of Baracoa, Cuba, begin to dig out after Hurricane Matthew
destroyed dozens of homes.
While much of Cuba was spared the wrath of Hurricane Matthew, some areas
were devastated by flooding and storm surge.
Residents of Baracoa, Cuba, are digging out rubble that was left after
Hurricane Matthew hit the eastern portion of the country with heavy
flooding and strong storm surge.
Hit in some areas by 24-foot waves, Baracoa saw hundreds of homes were
either damaged or destroyed when flooding and the storm surge overcame
the city, according to the Associated Press.
According to reliefweb.int, 90 percent of the homes in Baracoa suffered
damage from the powerful storm and five municipalities in in the
province of Guantanamo remain isolated.
Residents in Baracoa say they saw some neighbors leaving their homes
with minor injuries. The mostly one-story homes close to the water's
edge appeared to take the brunt of the damage. Many larger buildings
were flooded and had roofs stripped of ceramic tiles during the storm.
"Hundreds of people from Baracoa, Maisí and other territories to the
east of Guantánamo have had their houses partially or completely
destroyed," wrote Rosa Martinez for the Havana Times. "Buildings
considered strong have collapsed; the structures in front of the seawall
in Baracoa lost their doors and windows. State entities in Baracoa such
as the La Rusa hotel, several schools, and the Primada Visión telephone
center lost their roof covering."
After the storm, some people stood amid the rubble of their homes
weeping, hugging or staring into the distance, while others scoured
through piles od debris for any possessions they could recover, AP reports.
"I've never seen something like this in my life," local homemaker Elva
Perez told AP. "For more than 200 years, here in this house, nothing
like this has ever happened."
The road joining Guantanamo's municipalities of Imías and Baracoa became
flooded and impassable, according to Diario Las Américas.
Nearly 380,000 people were evacuated and strong measures were taken to
protect communities and infrastructure, U.N. officials told AP.
National Geographic reporter and photographer Mike Theiss was on hand in
Baracoa to document the initial damage, which he posted to his Twitter
account.
The U.S. Navy Base at Guantanamo Bay made it through the storm with
minimal damage, according to the Miami Herald. A spokesman had no
specific information on the damage outside of debris and water in the
road and ferry landings, as well as damage to the beaches.
According to the Pentagon, 700 family members were evacuated from the
Guantanamo Bay naval base to Florida before the storm hit. The base
suffered minimal damage.
Baracoa is one of the island nation's oldest and most historic towns,
according to the Miami New Times, which makes the devastation all the
more heartbreaking for residents. It was the first city the Spanish
settled after landing on the island and many of the town's buildings
have stood since the 1500s.
Source: Hurricane Matthew Clobbers Cuba: 'Nothing Like This Has Ever
Happened' | The Weather Channel -
https://weather.com/news/news/hurricane-matthew-cuba
Published:
Oct 6 2016 11:30 AM EDT
By Pam Wright
Story Highlights
Residents of Baracoa, Cuba, begin to dig out after Hurricane Matthew
destroyed dozens of homes.
While much of Cuba was spared the wrath of Hurricane Matthew, some areas
were devastated by flooding and storm surge.
Residents of Baracoa, Cuba, are digging out rubble that was left after
Hurricane Matthew hit the eastern portion of the country with heavy
flooding and strong storm surge.
Hit in some areas by 24-foot waves, Baracoa saw hundreds of homes were
either damaged or destroyed when flooding and the storm surge overcame
the city, according to the Associated Press.
According to reliefweb.int, 90 percent of the homes in Baracoa suffered
damage from the powerful storm and five municipalities in in the
province of Guantanamo remain isolated.
Residents in Baracoa say they saw some neighbors leaving their homes
with minor injuries. The mostly one-story homes close to the water's
edge appeared to take the brunt of the damage. Many larger buildings
were flooded and had roofs stripped of ceramic tiles during the storm.
"Hundreds of people from Baracoa, Maisí and other territories to the
east of Guantánamo have had their houses partially or completely
destroyed," wrote Rosa Martinez for the Havana Times. "Buildings
considered strong have collapsed; the structures in front of the seawall
in Baracoa lost their doors and windows. State entities in Baracoa such
as the La Rusa hotel, several schools, and the Primada Visión telephone
center lost their roof covering."
After the storm, some people stood amid the rubble of their homes
weeping, hugging or staring into the distance, while others scoured
through piles od debris for any possessions they could recover, AP reports.
"I've never seen something like this in my life," local homemaker Elva
Perez told AP. "For more than 200 years, here in this house, nothing
like this has ever happened."
The road joining Guantanamo's municipalities of Imías and Baracoa became
flooded and impassable, according to Diario Las Américas.
Nearly 380,000 people were evacuated and strong measures were taken to
protect communities and infrastructure, U.N. officials told AP.
National Geographic reporter and photographer Mike Theiss was on hand in
Baracoa to document the initial damage, which he posted to his Twitter
account.
The U.S. Navy Base at Guantanamo Bay made it through the storm with
minimal damage, according to the Miami Herald. A spokesman had no
specific information on the damage outside of debris and water in the
road and ferry landings, as well as damage to the beaches.
According to the Pentagon, 700 family members were evacuated from the
Guantanamo Bay naval base to Florida before the storm hit. The base
suffered minimal damage.
Baracoa is one of the island nation's oldest and most historic towns,
according to the Miami New Times, which makes the devastation all the
more heartbreaking for residents. It was the first city the Spanish
settled after landing on the island and many of the town's buildings
have stood since the 1500s.
Source: Hurricane Matthew Clobbers Cuba: 'Nothing Like This Has Ever
Happened' | The Weather Channel -
https://weather.com/news/news/hurricane-matthew-cuba
Thomas Cook evacuates 570 holidaymakers from Cuba as Hurricane Matthew flattens homes
Thomas Cook evacuates 570 holidaymakers from Cuba as Hurricane Matthew
flattens homes
Thomas Cook evacuated 570 guests from Cuba to Cayo Coco
Hurricane Matthew was expected to rip through the island
The fierce storm is now travelling north towards the Bahamas and Florida
By SADIE WHITELOCKS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 16:30 GMT, 5 October 2016 | UPDATED: 16:30 GMT, 5 October 2016
Thomas Cook successfully evacuated hundreds of holidaymakers in Cuba
after Hurricane Matthew ripped through the island with devastating effect.
The British operator transferred 570 guests to Cayo Coco - a tropical
island in the Jardines del Rey chain - after Holguin airport in the east
was closed.
The fierce storm raged through Cuba on Tuesday, with torrential rain and
category-four winds (130-156mph) destroying dozens of homes in Cuba's
easternmost city, Baracoa.
With the hurricane now travelling north towards the Bahamas and Florida,
Thomas Cook says it is doing all it can to keep travellers safe and
up-to-date with the situation.
The travel company worked with the Cuban government to move its clients
from Cuba, which was put on high alert.
They were due to depart on flights scheduled on October 3 and 4 but now
these schedules have been put on hold.
An update on the Thomas Cook website reads: 'The safety of our customers
and employees is our top priority and we monitored the development of
Hurricane Matthew very closely as it moved towards south east Cuba and
the resort of Holguin.
'From the information we have currently the hurricane passed through
Holguin last night with only heavy rain, no loss of electricity or
water, and no damage within any of the hotels, and all customers are
safe and well.
'Although we will continue to assess the hotels as it may take time to
re-establish hotel staff levels, prepare rooms for guests and replenish
supplies.
'Our resort staff remained with customers in the hotels throughout the
hurricane and are now speaking to customers and assisting with any
questions.'
Yesterday it was reported Thomson also delayed two flights to Montego
Bay, Jamaica, as the storm ripped through the Caribbean, killing seven
people in Haiti.
Hurricane Matthew, the fiercest Caribbean storm in almost a decade,
powered toward the Bahamas and Florida early on Wednesday after
battering Haiti and Cuba with torrential rains and killing at least ten
people.
The hurricane, which the United Nations said created the worst
humanitarian crisis to hit struggling Haiti since a devastating 2010
earthquake, whipped Cuba and Haiti with 140 mile-per-hour (230 kph)
winds on Tuesday, pummeling towns, farmland and resorts.
Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from the storm, which
caused severe flooding and killed four people in the Dominican Republic
as well as at least six in Haiti, the two countries that share the
island of Hispaniola.
Matthew was a Category Four hurricane through Tuesday but was downgraded
to Category Three early on Wednesday, the Miami-based National Hurricane
Center (NHC) said.
The eye of the storm was about 115 miles (185 km) south of Long Island
in the Bahamas on Wednesday morning and it was expected to be very near
the east coast of Florida by Thursday evening, the NHC said.
Maximum sustained winds eased to around 115 mph (185 kph) by Wednesday
morning but the NHC said it was likely to strengthen again slightly in
the coming days.
It was difficult to assess the severity of the impact on Haiti because
Matthew knocked out communications in many of the worst-affected areas,
including the main bridge that links much of the country to the
southwest peninsula.
There was particular concern about Haiti as tens of thousands of people
are still living in tents and makeshift dwellings due to the 2010
earthquake, which killed more than 200,000 people.
Authorities said on Wednesday two people in Haiti were crushed by trees
and two were swept away by swollen rivers.
Mourad Wahba, the U.N. secretary-general's deputy special representative
for Haiti, said much of the population had been displaced by Matthew and
at least 10,000 were in shelter.
'Haiti is facing the largest humanitarian event witnessed since the
earthquake six years ago,' he said.
Heifer International, a nonprofit organization working with farming
families in Haiti, said farmland and businesses caught in Matthew's path
had been devastated.
The U.S. government said it was ready to help the afflicted and about
300 U.S. Marines set off on the USS Mesa Verde to provide disaster
relief in Haiti, the Marines said in a tweet.
There were no immediate reports in Cuba of deaths, casualties or major
damage.
Cuba's government has traditionally made extensive efforts to cope with
hurricanes and authorities spent days organizing volunteers to get
residents to safety and secure property.
Matthew thrashed the tourist town of Baracoa in the province of
Guantanamo, passing close to the disputed U.S. Naval base and military
prison. It was on track to mow over the central and northwestern
Bahamas, the NHC forecasts showed.
Santiago de Cuba, the second largest city, which lies in the southeast
of Cuba, was not badly hit, state media said.
Officials in the Bahamas urged residents to evacuate to higher ground
and the Ministry for Grand Bahama said on Facebook that government
offices in New Providence and Grand Bahama had been closed until further
notice.
Hurricane and tropical storm warnings were extended along the east coast
of Florida as the storm moved north.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley on Tuesday declared a state of
emergency, and ordered the evacuation of more than one million people
from Wednesday afternoon.
Tropical storm or hurricane conditions could affect parts of Georgia,
South Carolina, and North Carolina later this week, even if the center
of Matthew remained offshore, the NHC said.
Source: Thomas Cook evacuates 570 holidaymakers from Cuba as Hurricane
Matthew flattens homes | Daily Mail Online -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3823743/Thomas-Cook-evacuates-570-holidaymakers-Cuba-Hurricane-Matthew-flattens-homes.html
flattens homes
Thomas Cook evacuated 570 guests from Cuba to Cayo Coco
Hurricane Matthew was expected to rip through the island
The fierce storm is now travelling north towards the Bahamas and Florida
By SADIE WHITELOCKS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 16:30 GMT, 5 October 2016 | UPDATED: 16:30 GMT, 5 October 2016
Thomas Cook successfully evacuated hundreds of holidaymakers in Cuba
after Hurricane Matthew ripped through the island with devastating effect.
The British operator transferred 570 guests to Cayo Coco - a tropical
island in the Jardines del Rey chain - after Holguin airport in the east
was closed.
The fierce storm raged through Cuba on Tuesday, with torrential rain and
category-four winds (130-156mph) destroying dozens of homes in Cuba's
easternmost city, Baracoa.
With the hurricane now travelling north towards the Bahamas and Florida,
Thomas Cook says it is doing all it can to keep travellers safe and
up-to-date with the situation.
The travel company worked with the Cuban government to move its clients
from Cuba, which was put on high alert.
They were due to depart on flights scheduled on October 3 and 4 but now
these schedules have been put on hold.
An update on the Thomas Cook website reads: 'The safety of our customers
and employees is our top priority and we monitored the development of
Hurricane Matthew very closely as it moved towards south east Cuba and
the resort of Holguin.
'From the information we have currently the hurricane passed through
Holguin last night with only heavy rain, no loss of electricity or
water, and no damage within any of the hotels, and all customers are
safe and well.
'Although we will continue to assess the hotels as it may take time to
re-establish hotel staff levels, prepare rooms for guests and replenish
supplies.
'Our resort staff remained with customers in the hotels throughout the
hurricane and are now speaking to customers and assisting with any
questions.'
Yesterday it was reported Thomson also delayed two flights to Montego
Bay, Jamaica, as the storm ripped through the Caribbean, killing seven
people in Haiti.
Hurricane Matthew, the fiercest Caribbean storm in almost a decade,
powered toward the Bahamas and Florida early on Wednesday after
battering Haiti and Cuba with torrential rains and killing at least ten
people.
The hurricane, which the United Nations said created the worst
humanitarian crisis to hit struggling Haiti since a devastating 2010
earthquake, whipped Cuba and Haiti with 140 mile-per-hour (230 kph)
winds on Tuesday, pummeling towns, farmland and resorts.
Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from the storm, which
caused severe flooding and killed four people in the Dominican Republic
as well as at least six in Haiti, the two countries that share the
island of Hispaniola.
Matthew was a Category Four hurricane through Tuesday but was downgraded
to Category Three early on Wednesday, the Miami-based National Hurricane
Center (NHC) said.
The eye of the storm was about 115 miles (185 km) south of Long Island
in the Bahamas on Wednesday morning and it was expected to be very near
the east coast of Florida by Thursday evening, the NHC said.
Maximum sustained winds eased to around 115 mph (185 kph) by Wednesday
morning but the NHC said it was likely to strengthen again slightly in
the coming days.
It was difficult to assess the severity of the impact on Haiti because
Matthew knocked out communications in many of the worst-affected areas,
including the main bridge that links much of the country to the
southwest peninsula.
There was particular concern about Haiti as tens of thousands of people
are still living in tents and makeshift dwellings due to the 2010
earthquake, which killed more than 200,000 people.
Authorities said on Wednesday two people in Haiti were crushed by trees
and two were swept away by swollen rivers.
Mourad Wahba, the U.N. secretary-general's deputy special representative
for Haiti, said much of the population had been displaced by Matthew and
at least 10,000 were in shelter.
'Haiti is facing the largest humanitarian event witnessed since the
earthquake six years ago,' he said.
Heifer International, a nonprofit organization working with farming
families in Haiti, said farmland and businesses caught in Matthew's path
had been devastated.
The U.S. government said it was ready to help the afflicted and about
300 U.S. Marines set off on the USS Mesa Verde to provide disaster
relief in Haiti, the Marines said in a tweet.
There were no immediate reports in Cuba of deaths, casualties or major
damage.
Cuba's government has traditionally made extensive efforts to cope with
hurricanes and authorities spent days organizing volunteers to get
residents to safety and secure property.
Matthew thrashed the tourist town of Baracoa in the province of
Guantanamo, passing close to the disputed U.S. Naval base and military
prison. It was on track to mow over the central and northwestern
Bahamas, the NHC forecasts showed.
Santiago de Cuba, the second largest city, which lies in the southeast
of Cuba, was not badly hit, state media said.
Officials in the Bahamas urged residents to evacuate to higher ground
and the Ministry for Grand Bahama said on Facebook that government
offices in New Providence and Grand Bahama had been closed until further
notice.
Hurricane and tropical storm warnings were extended along the east coast
of Florida as the storm moved north.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley on Tuesday declared a state of
emergency, and ordered the evacuation of more than one million people
from Wednesday afternoon.
Tropical storm or hurricane conditions could affect parts of Georgia,
South Carolina, and North Carolina later this week, even if the center
of Matthew remained offshore, the NHC said.
Source: Thomas Cook evacuates 570 holidaymakers from Cuba as Hurricane
Matthew flattens homes | Daily Mail Online -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3823743/Thomas-Cook-evacuates-570-holidaymakers-Cuba-Hurricane-Matthew-flattens-homes.html
CCDHRN - At least 570 arbitrary, politically motivated arrests on the Island in September
CCDHRN: At least 570 arbitrary, politically motivated arrests on the
Island in September
DDC | Madrid | 7 de Octubre de 2016 - 08:54 CEST.
The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation
(CCDHRN) has reported that in September the organization documented at
least 570 arbitrary political arrests of Cuban dissidents, peacefully
expressing their opposition, representing a net increase over the number
of arrests recorded in August (517).
In its monthly report the CCDHRN condemned the "raid on the independent
law firm Cubalex, an office that has provided free legal assistance to
countless people in need of legal protection."
The organization called this move against the facility a "brutal
repressive action, ordered from the highest levels of Government," and
noted that one of the entity's lawyers, Julio Alfredo Ferrer, remained
in a high-security prison when the report went to press.
The CCDHRN noted that as a result of the raid Cubalex was illegally
stripped of five desktop computers, four laptops, all its cell phones
and work documents, other equipment, and cash.
The Commission's report on September stressed that the humanitarian
movement "Ladies in White " remained the regime's main target of
political repression during the month, as has consistently been the case
in recent years.
It also condemned the fact that: "in recent weeks the secret political
police cracked down on two directors of the Cuban Commission for Human
Rights and National Reconciliation, by detaining Arturo Acosta Guillén
to prevent him from attending an international conference in South
Africa; and Juan del Pilar Goberna, who they harassed at the Havana
Airport, photocopying all the documents he was taking to an
international conference on the disabled in Medellín, Colombia. Both are
vice presidents of the CCDHRN. "
Thus far this year the organization headed by Elizardo Sánchez has
recorded 8,505 arbitrary arrests for political reasons.
Source: CCDHRN: At least 570 arbitrary, politically motivated arrests on
the Island in September | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/derechos-humanos/1475823299_25838.html
Island in September
DDC | Madrid | 7 de Octubre de 2016 - 08:54 CEST.
The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation
(CCDHRN) has reported that in September the organization documented at
least 570 arbitrary political arrests of Cuban dissidents, peacefully
expressing their opposition, representing a net increase over the number
of arrests recorded in August (517).
In its monthly report the CCDHRN condemned the "raid on the independent
law firm Cubalex, an office that has provided free legal assistance to
countless people in need of legal protection."
The organization called this move against the facility a "brutal
repressive action, ordered from the highest levels of Government," and
noted that one of the entity's lawyers, Julio Alfredo Ferrer, remained
in a high-security prison when the report went to press.
The CCDHRN noted that as a result of the raid Cubalex was illegally
stripped of five desktop computers, four laptops, all its cell phones
and work documents, other equipment, and cash.
The Commission's report on September stressed that the humanitarian
movement "Ladies in White " remained the regime's main target of
political repression during the month, as has consistently been the case
in recent years.
It also condemned the fact that: "in recent weeks the secret political
police cracked down on two directors of the Cuban Commission for Human
Rights and National Reconciliation, by detaining Arturo Acosta Guillén
to prevent him from attending an international conference in South
Africa; and Juan del Pilar Goberna, who they harassed at the Havana
Airport, photocopying all the documents he was taking to an
international conference on the disabled in Medellín, Colombia. Both are
vice presidents of the CCDHRN. "
Thus far this year the organization headed by Elizardo Sánchez has
recorded 8,505 arbitrary arrests for political reasons.
Source: CCDHRN: At least 570 arbitrary, politically motivated arrests on
the Island in September | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/derechos-humanos/1475823299_25838.html
Thursday, October 6, 2016
In the Midst of a Hurricane, Mariela Castro Remodels Her Mansion
In the Midst of a Hurricane, Mariela Castro Remodels Her Mansion / Juan
Juan Almeida
Juan Juan Almeida, 3 October 2016 — At the same time that Hurricane
Matthew is setting off alarms throughout the island, especially in the
eastern part of the country, the wall of secrecy surrounding the Castro
family is starting to crack, allowing us to see that the Cuban
government is spending more money on remodeling Mariela Castro's house
than on relief aid to deal with the approaching storm.
The numbers speak for themselves. If nothing else, Hurricane Matthew has
exposed the sins of Raúl Castro's family. Satellite images, which do not
lie, reveal that from 2013 to the present the government has invested
more than double the money at triple the quality on remodelling Princess
Mariela's house — located at 1513 206th Street (between 15th and 17th)
in Havana's Atabey district — than on preparations for the area that, as
of Saturday, remains under a hurricane warning.
On October 1 General Raúl Castro appeared in Santiago de Cuba flanked by
the ministers of Transport, Energy and Mines, Construction,
Communication, Agriculture and Domestic Commerce. The group also
included the president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources,
the first deputy minister of Public Health and the deputy minister of
the Revolutionary Armed Forces, General Ramón Espinosa Martín.
The presidential party arrived in eastern Cuba with a shipment of aid
that included fiber cement construction panels, zinc, steel and wood
panels, asphalt roofing materials, electrical generators, food and water.
The entourage also inspected the preparations by the General Staff for
Civil Defense for food distribution, stockpiling of agricultural
products and the evacuation of those living in low-lying areas to higher
ground.
The resources are insufficient, I believe, because turning the official
residence of General Castro's daughter, who is also director of the
Cuban National Center for Sex Education, into a bunker required
diverting resources and state assets to invest in construction materials
for an expanded housing complex which now includes a perimeter stone
wall, lined on its inside face with Jaimanita limestone, and a new
security system.
The remodeling project involved replacing the property's original pool,
previously located behind the house, with a new rectangular imported
one, now located along the side of the house. An "old shack" was
demolished and replaced with a new structure which features precious
woods from the Guanahacabibes peninsula, one of Cuba's principle nature
preserves. As though that were not enough, designers and construction
workers were used to build and furnish an adjacent bungalow-style guest
house. The entire project — including labor, transportation and
refreshments for the construction crews — was coordinated by the
Revolutionary Armed Forces.
The Hurricane Matthew alert confirms just how much disdain the classless
ruling class has for the Cuban people. If General Raúl Castro really
wants to stamp out corruption by the root, he should start by cleaning
up his own house.
Source: In the Midst of a Hurricane, Mariela Castro Remodels Her Mansion
/ Juan Juan Almeida – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/in-the-midst-of-a-hurricane-mariela-castro-remodels-her-mansion-juan-juan-almeida/
Juan Almeida
Juan Juan Almeida, 3 October 2016 — At the same time that Hurricane
Matthew is setting off alarms throughout the island, especially in the
eastern part of the country, the wall of secrecy surrounding the Castro
family is starting to crack, allowing us to see that the Cuban
government is spending more money on remodeling Mariela Castro's house
than on relief aid to deal with the approaching storm.
The numbers speak for themselves. If nothing else, Hurricane Matthew has
exposed the sins of Raúl Castro's family. Satellite images, which do not
lie, reveal that from 2013 to the present the government has invested
more than double the money at triple the quality on remodelling Princess
Mariela's house — located at 1513 206th Street (between 15th and 17th)
in Havana's Atabey district — than on preparations for the area that, as
of Saturday, remains under a hurricane warning.
On October 1 General Raúl Castro appeared in Santiago de Cuba flanked by
the ministers of Transport, Energy and Mines, Construction,
Communication, Agriculture and Domestic Commerce. The group also
included the president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources,
the first deputy minister of Public Health and the deputy minister of
the Revolutionary Armed Forces, General Ramón Espinosa Martín.
The presidential party arrived in eastern Cuba with a shipment of aid
that included fiber cement construction panels, zinc, steel and wood
panels, asphalt roofing materials, electrical generators, food and water.
The entourage also inspected the preparations by the General Staff for
Civil Defense for food distribution, stockpiling of agricultural
products and the evacuation of those living in low-lying areas to higher
ground.
The resources are insufficient, I believe, because turning the official
residence of General Castro's daughter, who is also director of the
Cuban National Center for Sex Education, into a bunker required
diverting resources and state assets to invest in construction materials
for an expanded housing complex which now includes a perimeter stone
wall, lined on its inside face with Jaimanita limestone, and a new
security system.
The remodeling project involved replacing the property's original pool,
previously located behind the house, with a new rectangular imported
one, now located along the side of the house. An "old shack" was
demolished and replaced with a new structure which features precious
woods from the Guanahacabibes peninsula, one of Cuba's principle nature
preserves. As though that were not enough, designers and construction
workers were used to build and furnish an adjacent bungalow-style guest
house. The entire project — including labor, transportation and
refreshments for the construction crews — was coordinated by the
Revolutionary Armed Forces.
The Hurricane Matthew alert confirms just how much disdain the classless
ruling class has for the Cuban people. If General Raúl Castro really
wants to stamp out corruption by the root, he should start by cleaning
up his own house.
Source: In the Midst of a Hurricane, Mariela Castro Remodels Her Mansion
/ Juan Juan Almeida – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/in-the-midst-of-a-hurricane-mariela-castro-remodels-her-mansion-juan-juan-almeida/
First Light of Dawn Finds Cuban city of Baracoa Desolated and in Ruins
First Light of Dawn Finds Cuban city of Baracoa Desolated and in Ruins /
14ymedio, Yunier Reyes
14ymedio, Yunier Reyes, Baracoa, Cuba, 5 October 2016 – A grief-stricken
Christopher Columbus – who first touched land in the Americas in this
place – observes the chaos that emerges with the first rays of the sun
in Barancoa. The sculpture of the sailor stands a few yards from the sea
and shows the marks of having confronted the winds of Hurricane Matthew
on Tuesday night. Columbus has stood up to this new and harrowing
voyage, but the same cannot be said for the city that unfolds before his
eyes.
People come out into the streets with tear-filled eyes and deep despair.
A resident holds her head in her hands while looking at the remains of
her modest house some 200 years from the sea. "Mi'jo (my son) this is
going to take me the rest of my life to rebuild," she says, to the few
residents who have dared to venture forth this early in the morning.
In Baracoa the ground is covered with branches, the seafront Malecon is
missing pieces that have come down several yards away, the roof of the
Primada Vision telecommunications building has flown off in several
pieces and its metal tiles litter the streets. The electrical wires are
down and entangled in the columns of houses that were once standing.
A few people rummage here and there to rescue pieces of wood, nails and
tiles that will allow them to rebuild their lost roofs. The inhabitants
of the area have learned long since that state help to the victims will
be too late, plagued with the "diversion" of resources, and frequently
there won't be enough for everyone. For now, they try to do whatever
they can for themselves.
"If they don't deliver food quickly, I don't know what is going to
happen," complains a young man who has improvised a rod with a metal
hook on the end as he digs through the wreckage in search of "planks to
cover the little room." He says he has two small children who are
sheltering with his wife at a nearby school, but he did not want to go.
"I couldn't leave the house unattended, someone had to stay to keep an
eye on the refrigerator."
The city's central park is a sequence of fallen trees, like soldiers
killed in a battle with the gusts of the hurricane that topped 130 miles
per hour. The drugstores like El Turey also lost part of their roofs and
even the houses under construction have seen their few walls, raised
with so much effort by their owners, collapse.
For Baracoa's residents this has been the longest night in memory. Many
barricaded themselves in their homes with a few cans of food and some
crackers to resist Matthew's onslaught. High waves covered the Malecon
starting in the afternoon and in the coastal areas few dared to stay in
their homes for fear that the sea, in addition to taking all their
belongings, would also take their lives.
The most stubborn refused to move from their homes and in the midst of
strong winds the firefighters had to rescue several families trapped in
partially collapsed buildings.
Official figures say that 749 homes have been affected by flooding, four
of them completely destroyed and nine partially destroyed. More than
38,000 people were evacuated, the majority of them to the homes of
family or friends.
The legendary hotel La Rusa lost its roof, and a part of its structure
is seriously damaged. The emblematic lodging is in ruins this morning,
barely standing. The Castillo Hotel suffered structural damage due to
the onslaught of the winds.
Saying goodbye to the few belongings the inhabitants of this poor city
possess has been very difficult for many. You can take almost nothing
with you to the shelters and people worry about the mattress left at the
mercy of the rains and possible thieves, those ne'er-do-wells who prey
on natural disasters.
When the sun set, you couldn't even see your hands in front of your
face. Like a ghost town, Baracoa was plunged into shadows, crossed by
howling winds and with no connections to the rest of the island. The
phones were cut, electricity stopped flowing and prayers rose asking
that everything would pass "quickly and without deaths."
Just two months ago Baracoa celebrated the 505th anniversary of the
foundations of its first villa. Today, they are facing the challenge of
rebuilding it.
Source: First Light of Dawn Finds Cuban city of Baracoa Desolated and in
Ruins / 14ymedio, Yunier Reyes – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/first-light-of-dawn-finds-cuban-city-of-baracoa-desolated-and-in-ruins-14ymedio-yunier-reyes/
14ymedio, Yunier Reyes
14ymedio, Yunier Reyes, Baracoa, Cuba, 5 October 2016 – A grief-stricken
Christopher Columbus – who first touched land in the Americas in this
place – observes the chaos that emerges with the first rays of the sun
in Barancoa. The sculpture of the sailor stands a few yards from the sea
and shows the marks of having confronted the winds of Hurricane Matthew
on Tuesday night. Columbus has stood up to this new and harrowing
voyage, but the same cannot be said for the city that unfolds before his
eyes.
People come out into the streets with tear-filled eyes and deep despair.
A resident holds her head in her hands while looking at the remains of
her modest house some 200 years from the sea. "Mi'jo (my son) this is
going to take me the rest of my life to rebuild," she says, to the few
residents who have dared to venture forth this early in the morning.
In Baracoa the ground is covered with branches, the seafront Malecon is
missing pieces that have come down several yards away, the roof of the
Primada Vision telecommunications building has flown off in several
pieces and its metal tiles litter the streets. The electrical wires are
down and entangled in the columns of houses that were once standing.
A few people rummage here and there to rescue pieces of wood, nails and
tiles that will allow them to rebuild their lost roofs. The inhabitants
of the area have learned long since that state help to the victims will
be too late, plagued with the "diversion" of resources, and frequently
there won't be enough for everyone. For now, they try to do whatever
they can for themselves.
"If they don't deliver food quickly, I don't know what is going to
happen," complains a young man who has improvised a rod with a metal
hook on the end as he digs through the wreckage in search of "planks to
cover the little room." He says he has two small children who are
sheltering with his wife at a nearby school, but he did not want to go.
"I couldn't leave the house unattended, someone had to stay to keep an
eye on the refrigerator."
The city's central park is a sequence of fallen trees, like soldiers
killed in a battle with the gusts of the hurricane that topped 130 miles
per hour. The drugstores like El Turey also lost part of their roofs and
even the houses under construction have seen their few walls, raised
with so much effort by their owners, collapse.
For Baracoa's residents this has been the longest night in memory. Many
barricaded themselves in their homes with a few cans of food and some
crackers to resist Matthew's onslaught. High waves covered the Malecon
starting in the afternoon and in the coastal areas few dared to stay in
their homes for fear that the sea, in addition to taking all their
belongings, would also take their lives.
The most stubborn refused to move from their homes and in the midst of
strong winds the firefighters had to rescue several families trapped in
partially collapsed buildings.
Official figures say that 749 homes have been affected by flooding, four
of them completely destroyed and nine partially destroyed. More than
38,000 people were evacuated, the majority of them to the homes of
family or friends.
The legendary hotel La Rusa lost its roof, and a part of its structure
is seriously damaged. The emblematic lodging is in ruins this morning,
barely standing. The Castillo Hotel suffered structural damage due to
the onslaught of the winds.
Saying goodbye to the few belongings the inhabitants of this poor city
possess has been very difficult for many. You can take almost nothing
with you to the shelters and people worry about the mattress left at the
mercy of the rains and possible thieves, those ne'er-do-wells who prey
on natural disasters.
When the sun set, you couldn't even see your hands in front of your
face. Like a ghost town, Baracoa was plunged into shadows, crossed by
howling winds and with no connections to the rest of the island. The
phones were cut, electricity stopped flowing and prayers rose asking
that everything would pass "quickly and without deaths."
Just two months ago Baracoa celebrated the 505th anniversary of the
foundations of its first villa. Today, they are facing the challenge of
rebuilding it.
Source: First Light of Dawn Finds Cuban city of Baracoa Desolated and in
Ruins / 14ymedio, Yunier Reyes – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/first-light-of-dawn-finds-cuban-city-of-baracoa-desolated-and-in-ruins-14ymedio-yunier-reyes/
Hurricane Matthew causes extensive damage in eastern Cuba
Hurricane Matthew causes extensive damage in eastern Cuba
Published October 05, 2016 EFE
BARACOA – Hurricane Matthew caused extensive damage as it moved through
extreme eastern Cuba, destroying houses, causing partial building
collapses, toppling electric poles and washing out roads, leaving
several cities cut off from the outside world.
Officials, however, have not reported any casualties, thanks to the
strict measures, including the evacuation of 1.3 million people living
in high-risk areas, taken ahead of the storm's arrival.
In Baracoa, one of the cities that bore the brunt of the powerful
hurricane's fury, houses located on the coast were completely destroyed
by sustained winds of up to 250 kph (155 mph), with gusts of up to 300
kph (186 mph), and waves that were several meters high and washed over
the roofs of buildings, an EFE reporter confirmed in the storm zone.
Emergency management and Red Cross personnel started working as soon as
daylight arrived to rescue people trapped in buildings in Baracoa, the
first city founded in Cuba by Spanish conquistadors more than 500 years ago.
Some residents allowed to stay in the city had to abandon their homes in
the middle of the hurricane, moving to structures that were considered
sound but also sustained damage as Matthew proved to be more powerful
than expected, storm victims told EFE.
Streets in Baracoa and other cities in the eastern province of
Guantanamo are filled with debris and mud that accumulated during the 10
hours that Matthew pounded Cuban territory.
Extensive damage has also been reported in other coastal cities in
Guantanamo, such as Imias, San Antonio and Maisi.
The storm's powerful winds knocked down telephone poles and washed out
roads, crippling communications in the region.
Hurricane Matthew, a powerful Category 4 storm when it made landfall,
moved off Cuba at around 4:00 a.m. (0800 GMT) Wednesday.
The storm, the strongest hurricane to hit the Caribbean in nine years,
has weakened to Category 3, packing sustained winds of about 200 kph
(125 mph) as it heads toward the Bahamas and Florida at 15 kph (about
nine mph).
Source: Hurricane Matthew causes extensive damage in eastern Cuba | Fox
News Latino -
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2016/10/05/hurricane-matthew-causes-extensive-damage-in-eastern-cuba/
Published October 05, 2016 EFE
BARACOA – Hurricane Matthew caused extensive damage as it moved through
extreme eastern Cuba, destroying houses, causing partial building
collapses, toppling electric poles and washing out roads, leaving
several cities cut off from the outside world.
Officials, however, have not reported any casualties, thanks to the
strict measures, including the evacuation of 1.3 million people living
in high-risk areas, taken ahead of the storm's arrival.
In Baracoa, one of the cities that bore the brunt of the powerful
hurricane's fury, houses located on the coast were completely destroyed
by sustained winds of up to 250 kph (155 mph), with gusts of up to 300
kph (186 mph), and waves that were several meters high and washed over
the roofs of buildings, an EFE reporter confirmed in the storm zone.
Emergency management and Red Cross personnel started working as soon as
daylight arrived to rescue people trapped in buildings in Baracoa, the
first city founded in Cuba by Spanish conquistadors more than 500 years ago.
Some residents allowed to stay in the city had to abandon their homes in
the middle of the hurricane, moving to structures that were considered
sound but also sustained damage as Matthew proved to be more powerful
than expected, storm victims told EFE.
Streets in Baracoa and other cities in the eastern province of
Guantanamo are filled with debris and mud that accumulated during the 10
hours that Matthew pounded Cuban territory.
Extensive damage has also been reported in other coastal cities in
Guantanamo, such as Imias, San Antonio and Maisi.
The storm's powerful winds knocked down telephone poles and washed out
roads, crippling communications in the region.
Hurricane Matthew, a powerful Category 4 storm when it made landfall,
moved off Cuba at around 4:00 a.m. (0800 GMT) Wednesday.
The storm, the strongest hurricane to hit the Caribbean in nine years,
has weakened to Category 3, packing sustained winds of about 200 kph
(125 mph) as it heads toward the Bahamas and Florida at 15 kph (about
nine mph).
Source: Hurricane Matthew causes extensive damage in eastern Cuba | Fox
News Latino -
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2016/10/05/hurricane-matthew-causes-extensive-damage-in-eastern-cuba/
A Brief History of Cuban Soccer Defections
A Brief History of Cuban Soccer Defections
By Stephen Wood | October 5, 2016 | 5:50pm
Cuba will host the U.S. men's national team in Havana on Friday, just
the second time the Yanks have set foot on the island since the
beginning of the Cold War-era embargo. While U.S. Soccer touts the
"historic" friendly as a triumph of sports diplomacy, Cubans may be
excited for a more practical reason: playing on their home soil, at
least none of their players will be able to defect.
Over 30 Cuban soccer players have defected while on international duty
in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada since the institution of America's "wet
foot, dry foot" policy. This policy, the byproduct of a 1995 revision to
laws regarding immigration from Cuba, essentially promises a pathway to
U.S. citizenship for any Cuban who sets foot on U.S. soil. Since its
enactment, dramatic scenes have played out along the Florida coast as
people fleeing the Castro government try desperately to make it ashore.
For most, the journey is a perilous, sometimes deadly one.
For others, soccer has been a way out. The institution of "wet foot, dry
foot" set off a steady trickle of defections by Cuban international
soccer players, one that quickens even as U.S.-Cuban relations thaw.
Goalkeeper Rodney Valdes may have started the trend in 1999, when he
snuck away from his teammates while in Winnipeg with the Cuban national
team for the Pan American Games. During the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup, two
members of the national team went to their Los Angeles hotel lobby to
"make a phone call" and fled to the house of a nearby relative. Forward
Maykel Galindo defected in Seattle while representing Cuba in the 2005
Gold Cup and went on to make 74 appearances for the MLS' Chivas USA
before playing for several other lower-division teams.
One wonders why the Football Association of Cuba felt it was worth it to
keep competing in the Gold Cup. In 2007, the tournament was the backdrop
for perhaps Cuba's most well-known football defection, that of Osvaldo
Alonso.
The midfielder was a rising star, having captained the Cuba U-23's and
worked his way into the senior team, when he defected in Houston. On a
trip to that most iconic of American institutions, Wal-Mart, Alonso
wandered off from his teammates, asked a Spanish-speaking bystander if
he could use his phone, called friends in Miami, and got on a bus to
Florida.
Ozzie was soon playing for the Charleston Battery – TransferMarkt.com
hilariously lists the move from his Cuban club as a "free transfer" –
and signed with the newly-formed Seattle Sounders in 2009. Since then,
he has helped the Sounders make their mark on the league, scoring 20
goals and notching 277 appearances.
He also gained U.S. citizenship, which would clear him to play for the
U.S. national team if he could prove that his Cuban citizenship was
revoked against his will. Both Alonso and USMNT boss Jürgen Klinsmann
have expressed interest in his suiting up for the U.S.A., but for
whatever reason the Cuban authorities have been less than cooperative.
His international career has long been in limbo, as he is not welcome in
his homeland but cannot formally renounce his citizenship without
permanently forfeiting his chance to play for another country. Though he
still starts regularly for Seattle at age 31, it's highly unlikely he'll
ever play for the USMNT.
Ozzie may be MLS' answer to Yasiel Puig, but soccer lags far behind
baseball when it comes to high-profile defectors. Whereas many
baseball-playing defectors arrived in America knowing that Major League
Baseball teams would be fighting to sign them, Cuban soccer players
cannot expect anything, other than a shot at becoming an American.
Lester Moré, who defected on the same 2007 trip as Alonso, never made an
MLS roster but did play for a spell with the Battery, a team that
enthusiastically welcomes Cuban defectors. Seven U-23 players slipped
away from their Doubletree Hotel during an Olympic qualifying tournament
in Tampa the next year. Their defection drew media attention and offers
of tryouts with Miami FC, but only one of them, Yordany Alvarez, reached
MLS, though several had stints with Charleston or the Orange County Blues.
Just last year, over a dozen Cuban soccer players appeared to have
defected. After setting up the only goal in Cuba's Gold Cup victory over
Guatemala in Charlotte, Ariel Martinez gave his coach a farewell hug and
disappeared "into the darkness," becoming the fourth member of his team
to defect over the course of the tournament. He made an appearance with
the Battery, a club that goes out of its way to recruit Cuban refugees,
before signing with similarly Cuban-friendly Miami FC.
Several more young players slipped away during Olympic qualifying last
year, and two more defected during a trip to Mexico.
Though Cuban authorities signaled in 2013 that they would begin to allow
Cuban nationals to sign contracts with Liga MX clubs, it remains very
difficult for players to secure a contract by going through the island
nation's FA.
Meanwhile, President Obama's lifting of the embargo in 2014 has led to
an increased rate of defections. Weirdly simplistic and arbitrary though
it may be, the wet foot, dry foot policy does give Cubans an easier
route to citizenship than many other would-be immigrants who reach the
border. Cubans fear that, as the U.S-Cuba relationship normalizes, they
will lose this unique pathway and immigration will become even more
difficult.
As such, the thawing of U.S.-Cuban relations could mean even more Cuban
athletes will seek refuge in the United States in the coming years. The
U.S. is expected to host the 2017 Gold Cup, so it looks like we're on
track for another round of defections should Cuba qualify.
No defectors will play for the U.S. Friday, but the match in Havana will
still serve as a reminder, to the home crowd and the American audience,
of those who left their team, their families, and, in some cases, their
careers behind when they left the island for good.
Source: A Brief History of Cuban Soccer Defections :: Soccer :: Features
:: Paste -
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/10/a-brief-history-of-cuban-soccer-defections.html
By Stephen Wood | October 5, 2016 | 5:50pm
Cuba will host the U.S. men's national team in Havana on Friday, just
the second time the Yanks have set foot on the island since the
beginning of the Cold War-era embargo. While U.S. Soccer touts the
"historic" friendly as a triumph of sports diplomacy, Cubans may be
excited for a more practical reason: playing on their home soil, at
least none of their players will be able to defect.
Over 30 Cuban soccer players have defected while on international duty
in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada since the institution of America's "wet
foot, dry foot" policy. This policy, the byproduct of a 1995 revision to
laws regarding immigration from Cuba, essentially promises a pathway to
U.S. citizenship for any Cuban who sets foot on U.S. soil. Since its
enactment, dramatic scenes have played out along the Florida coast as
people fleeing the Castro government try desperately to make it ashore.
For most, the journey is a perilous, sometimes deadly one.
For others, soccer has been a way out. The institution of "wet foot, dry
foot" set off a steady trickle of defections by Cuban international
soccer players, one that quickens even as U.S.-Cuban relations thaw.
Goalkeeper Rodney Valdes may have started the trend in 1999, when he
snuck away from his teammates while in Winnipeg with the Cuban national
team for the Pan American Games. During the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup, two
members of the national team went to their Los Angeles hotel lobby to
"make a phone call" and fled to the house of a nearby relative. Forward
Maykel Galindo defected in Seattle while representing Cuba in the 2005
Gold Cup and went on to make 74 appearances for the MLS' Chivas USA
before playing for several other lower-division teams.
One wonders why the Football Association of Cuba felt it was worth it to
keep competing in the Gold Cup. In 2007, the tournament was the backdrop
for perhaps Cuba's most well-known football defection, that of Osvaldo
Alonso.
The midfielder was a rising star, having captained the Cuba U-23's and
worked his way into the senior team, when he defected in Houston. On a
trip to that most iconic of American institutions, Wal-Mart, Alonso
wandered off from his teammates, asked a Spanish-speaking bystander if
he could use his phone, called friends in Miami, and got on a bus to
Florida.
Ozzie was soon playing for the Charleston Battery – TransferMarkt.com
hilariously lists the move from his Cuban club as a "free transfer" –
and signed with the newly-formed Seattle Sounders in 2009. Since then,
he has helped the Sounders make their mark on the league, scoring 20
goals and notching 277 appearances.
He also gained U.S. citizenship, which would clear him to play for the
U.S. national team if he could prove that his Cuban citizenship was
revoked against his will. Both Alonso and USMNT boss Jürgen Klinsmann
have expressed interest in his suiting up for the U.S.A., but for
whatever reason the Cuban authorities have been less than cooperative.
His international career has long been in limbo, as he is not welcome in
his homeland but cannot formally renounce his citizenship without
permanently forfeiting his chance to play for another country. Though he
still starts regularly for Seattle at age 31, it's highly unlikely he'll
ever play for the USMNT.
Ozzie may be MLS' answer to Yasiel Puig, but soccer lags far behind
baseball when it comes to high-profile defectors. Whereas many
baseball-playing defectors arrived in America knowing that Major League
Baseball teams would be fighting to sign them, Cuban soccer players
cannot expect anything, other than a shot at becoming an American.
Lester Moré, who defected on the same 2007 trip as Alonso, never made an
MLS roster but did play for a spell with the Battery, a team that
enthusiastically welcomes Cuban defectors. Seven U-23 players slipped
away from their Doubletree Hotel during an Olympic qualifying tournament
in Tampa the next year. Their defection drew media attention and offers
of tryouts with Miami FC, but only one of them, Yordany Alvarez, reached
MLS, though several had stints with Charleston or the Orange County Blues.
Just last year, over a dozen Cuban soccer players appeared to have
defected. After setting up the only goal in Cuba's Gold Cup victory over
Guatemala in Charlotte, Ariel Martinez gave his coach a farewell hug and
disappeared "into the darkness," becoming the fourth member of his team
to defect over the course of the tournament. He made an appearance with
the Battery, a club that goes out of its way to recruit Cuban refugees,
before signing with similarly Cuban-friendly Miami FC.
Several more young players slipped away during Olympic qualifying last
year, and two more defected during a trip to Mexico.
Though Cuban authorities signaled in 2013 that they would begin to allow
Cuban nationals to sign contracts with Liga MX clubs, it remains very
difficult for players to secure a contract by going through the island
nation's FA.
Meanwhile, President Obama's lifting of the embargo in 2014 has led to
an increased rate of defections. Weirdly simplistic and arbitrary though
it may be, the wet foot, dry foot policy does give Cubans an easier
route to citizenship than many other would-be immigrants who reach the
border. Cubans fear that, as the U.S-Cuba relationship normalizes, they
will lose this unique pathway and immigration will become even more
difficult.
As such, the thawing of U.S.-Cuban relations could mean even more Cuban
athletes will seek refuge in the United States in the coming years. The
U.S. is expected to host the 2017 Gold Cup, so it looks like we're on
track for another round of defections should Cuba qualify.
No defectors will play for the U.S. Friday, but the match in Havana will
still serve as a reminder, to the home crowd and the American audience,
of those who left their team, their families, and, in some cases, their
careers behind when they left the island for good.
Source: A Brief History of Cuban Soccer Defections :: Soccer :: Features
:: Paste -
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/10/a-brief-history-of-cuban-soccer-defections.html
Eastern Cuba lashed by Matthew - collapsed homes, crumbling highways and more
Eastern Cuba lashed by Matthew: collapsed homes, crumbling highways and more
BY MIMI WHITEFIELD
Residents of Baracoa on Cuba's northeastern tip awoke to a world
transformed Wednesday: collapsed walls, pieces of roofing and household
goods littering the streets, downed electric wires hanging at crazy
angles and large trees leaning against buildings.
The city of approximately 82,000 people was the exit point as Hurricane
Matthew tore through a narrow strip of Cuba's easternmost province,
Guantánamo — from Punta Caleta on the southern coast to Baracoa on the
north. It's one of Cuba's oldest settlements, and in 1492, Christopher
Columbus visited.
Many of the homes in Baracoa are old — some centuries old, and nearly
half of the dwellings in the province had been reported in poor
condition prior to Matthew's rampage. Many didn't hold up well to the
Category 4 hurricane and torrential rains.
As of Wednesday afternoon, no hurricane-related casualties had been
reported in Cuba. After the hurricane passed, the Red Cross swung into
action to free people trapped on second stories after stairways collapsed.
Cubadebate, a government news website, reported that the Baracoa airport
and its control tower sustained heavy damage and that little remained of
some coastal homes after 25-foot waves lashed the beaches. Sections of
the coastal highway between Guantánamo and Baracoa also collapsed, the
publication said.
"Total destruction in Primera Villa Cubana," journalist Mavel Toirac of
Primada Visión television posted on Facebook. "It's still not dawn yet
but anyone who passes through the streets sees them covered in flooring,
fallen cables, unhinged doors, sadness..... We Baracoenses are going to
need a lot of strength to be able to deal with so much destruction.''
Arelis Alba, a journalist for Radio Baracoa, reported that the malecón,
the city's seaside boulevard, was "leveled" and "the sides of the nearby
mountains were ravaged as if by fire."
Hundreds of thousands of residents of low-lying areas and cays or those
who lived in precarious dwellings were evacuated from Guantánamo,
Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Granma and Las Tunas prior to the storm. In
Baracoa, some 36,000 residents were evacuated to shelters or the
sturdier homes of family and friends.
During the day Wednesday residents picked through the debris-strewn
streets, salvaging bits of furniture or anything else that seemed to be
of value.
The communities of Maisí, San Antonio and Imías, where a bridge was
washed out, also were hard hit. The meteorological station in Maisí
measured 20.7 inches of rainfall over a 24-hour period and the city of
Guantánamo recorded 11.8 inches of rain.
To prevent further damage, electrical power was cut off in the hurricane
zone before the passage of Matthew, Cubadebate reported.
At the U.S. Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay, base spokeswoman Julie Ann
Ripley said that damage was "minimal. The airport seems fine. The
harbor, we've got the security boats out running."
Damage at the Detention Center Zone where 61 war on terror captives are
held also was reported to be minimal.
Ripley said workers were clearing the ferry landings of debris in
anticipation of resumption of ferry traffic connecting the two portions
of the base that straddle Guantánamo Bay.
But timing was still uncertain on the return of the 700 family members
who were evacuated in military cargo aircraft to the Florida Panhandle
over the weekend. With the storm expected to hit the Eastern Seaboard,
Ripley said, the focus was on Hurricane preparation there.
On Wednesday, the Cuban government put recovery plans into effect in
Santiago de Cuba, Holguín and Guantánamo. Damages and the needs of
affected communities were being assessed. The Empresa Omnibus Nacionales
announced that suspended bus service on routes from the western part of
the island to the east would be restored as of 5 a.m. Thursday and on
east-west routes at noon.
Kenneth Merten, the U.S. State Department's special coordinator for
Haiti, said the administration had been in touch with the Cuban
government, as well as the governments of other Caribbean nations hit by
Matthew, to offer assistance. Cuba has routinely rejected such offers in
the past, but the response could be different now that the United States
and Cuba have reestablished diplomatic relations.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported maximum sustained winds
of 140 mph and 20-foot waves when Matthew made landfall on the island
Tuesday evening. By 6 a.m. Wednesday, Matthew had moved 75 miles north
of Baracoa but the effects of the hurricane — strong winds, downpours in
mountainous areas, and storm surges along the northern and southern
coasts — were still being felt during the day.
During the height of the storm, journalists from radio station La Voz
del Sol in Baracoa and Primada Visión posted continuously on Facebook.
"The walls of the station have been shaking and it just felt like
something was falling. Of the paladar (private restaurant) in front, I
think there's very little standing, very sad. We were praying that the
sea wouldn't reach the station; it didn't happen but…. Now it's calm,
there is no rain, no wind. We are in the eye of the hurricane."
MIAMI HERALD STAFFER CAROL ROSENBERG CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.
Source: Matthew lashes eastern Cuba provinces | In Cuba Today -
http://www.incubatoday.com/news/article106074437.html
BY MIMI WHITEFIELD
Residents of Baracoa on Cuba's northeastern tip awoke to a world
transformed Wednesday: collapsed walls, pieces of roofing and household
goods littering the streets, downed electric wires hanging at crazy
angles and large trees leaning against buildings.
The city of approximately 82,000 people was the exit point as Hurricane
Matthew tore through a narrow strip of Cuba's easternmost province,
Guantánamo — from Punta Caleta on the southern coast to Baracoa on the
north. It's one of Cuba's oldest settlements, and in 1492, Christopher
Columbus visited.
Many of the homes in Baracoa are old — some centuries old, and nearly
half of the dwellings in the province had been reported in poor
condition prior to Matthew's rampage. Many didn't hold up well to the
Category 4 hurricane and torrential rains.
As of Wednesday afternoon, no hurricane-related casualties had been
reported in Cuba. After the hurricane passed, the Red Cross swung into
action to free people trapped on second stories after stairways collapsed.
Cubadebate, a government news website, reported that the Baracoa airport
and its control tower sustained heavy damage and that little remained of
some coastal homes after 25-foot waves lashed the beaches. Sections of
the coastal highway between Guantánamo and Baracoa also collapsed, the
publication said.
"Total destruction in Primera Villa Cubana," journalist Mavel Toirac of
Primada Visión television posted on Facebook. "It's still not dawn yet
but anyone who passes through the streets sees them covered in flooring,
fallen cables, unhinged doors, sadness..... We Baracoenses are going to
need a lot of strength to be able to deal with so much destruction.''
Arelis Alba, a journalist for Radio Baracoa, reported that the malecón,
the city's seaside boulevard, was "leveled" and "the sides of the nearby
mountains were ravaged as if by fire."
Hundreds of thousands of residents of low-lying areas and cays or those
who lived in precarious dwellings were evacuated from Guantánamo,
Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Granma and Las Tunas prior to the storm. In
Baracoa, some 36,000 residents were evacuated to shelters or the
sturdier homes of family and friends.
During the day Wednesday residents picked through the debris-strewn
streets, salvaging bits of furniture or anything else that seemed to be
of value.
The communities of Maisí, San Antonio and Imías, where a bridge was
washed out, also were hard hit. The meteorological station in Maisí
measured 20.7 inches of rainfall over a 24-hour period and the city of
Guantánamo recorded 11.8 inches of rain.
To prevent further damage, electrical power was cut off in the hurricane
zone before the passage of Matthew, Cubadebate reported.
At the U.S. Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay, base spokeswoman Julie Ann
Ripley said that damage was "minimal. The airport seems fine. The
harbor, we've got the security boats out running."
Damage at the Detention Center Zone where 61 war on terror captives are
held also was reported to be minimal.
Ripley said workers were clearing the ferry landings of debris in
anticipation of resumption of ferry traffic connecting the two portions
of the base that straddle Guantánamo Bay.
But timing was still uncertain on the return of the 700 family members
who were evacuated in military cargo aircraft to the Florida Panhandle
over the weekend. With the storm expected to hit the Eastern Seaboard,
Ripley said, the focus was on Hurricane preparation there.
On Wednesday, the Cuban government put recovery plans into effect in
Santiago de Cuba, Holguín and Guantánamo. Damages and the needs of
affected communities were being assessed. The Empresa Omnibus Nacionales
announced that suspended bus service on routes from the western part of
the island to the east would be restored as of 5 a.m. Thursday and on
east-west routes at noon.
Kenneth Merten, the U.S. State Department's special coordinator for
Haiti, said the administration had been in touch with the Cuban
government, as well as the governments of other Caribbean nations hit by
Matthew, to offer assistance. Cuba has routinely rejected such offers in
the past, but the response could be different now that the United States
and Cuba have reestablished diplomatic relations.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported maximum sustained winds
of 140 mph and 20-foot waves when Matthew made landfall on the island
Tuesday evening. By 6 a.m. Wednesday, Matthew had moved 75 miles north
of Baracoa but the effects of the hurricane — strong winds, downpours in
mountainous areas, and storm surges along the northern and southern
coasts — were still being felt during the day.
During the height of the storm, journalists from radio station La Voz
del Sol in Baracoa and Primada Visión posted continuously on Facebook.
"The walls of the station have been shaking and it just felt like
something was falling. Of the paladar (private restaurant) in front, I
think there's very little standing, very sad. We were praying that the
sea wouldn't reach the station; it didn't happen but…. Now it's calm,
there is no rain, no wind. We are in the eye of the hurricane."
MIAMI HERALD STAFFER CAROL ROSENBERG CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.
Source: Matthew lashes eastern Cuba provinces | In Cuba Today -
http://www.incubatoday.com/news/article106074437.html
Cubalex considers suing the Minister of Justice for violating its right to form an association
Cubalex considers suing the Minister of Justice for violating its right
to form an association
DDC | La Habana | 6 de Octubre de 2016 - 02:47 CEST.
Justice Minister María Esther Reus dismissed "without recourse" the
administrative appeal the association Cubalex had filed in response to
the July decision by the Department of Associations to deny entity its
right to form an association. Laritza Diversent explained the situation
to DIARIO DE CUBA on Tuesday.
According to Diversent the rejection is based "on the grounds that the
objectives and purposes of the organization "are intended to harm the
social interest" and that it engages in "illegal activity, with actions
undertaken on unofficial sites and newspapers."
Diversent explained that the minister has alleged that all this
constitutes "a violation of Article 62 of the Constitution of the
Republic, which states that none of the freedoms it recognizes may be
wielded against the objectives of the socialist State."
Another argument to justify the refusal is that there is already an
association of law firms, and that an association like Cubalex is
unnecessary.
In response to the new refusal Diversent explained that Cubalex will
consider suing the Minister of Justice: "The appeals are not exhausted.
We are dissatisfied with the decision and there exists the possibility
of filing a lawsuit against the Minister for failing to recognize our
right to constitute ourselves as an association."
According to the independent attorney this "interaction" between Cubalex
and official bodies and institutions is what is vexing the regime and
has prompted the latest actions against the organization.
"All our interactions with official bodies, pursuant to the law, is what
has driven them up the wall, and this is why they are going after
Cubalex," Diversent said.
If they file the suit and it is rejected again, Cubalex could turn to
the Supreme Court. The national legal channels would run out there, at
which point they could turn to international organizations.
The lawyer recalled how after the raid on the organization's
headquarters last Saturday, independent attorney Eliócer Cutiño was
arrested and threatened. She added that Julio Ferrer Tamayo remains in
prison, and a habeas corpus order will be filed to condemn an
imprisonment they consider "illegal."
Source: Cubalex considers suing the Minister of Justice for violating
its right to form an association | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/derechos-humanos/1475714856_25812.html
to form an association
DDC | La Habana | 6 de Octubre de 2016 - 02:47 CEST.
Justice Minister María Esther Reus dismissed "without recourse" the
administrative appeal the association Cubalex had filed in response to
the July decision by the Department of Associations to deny entity its
right to form an association. Laritza Diversent explained the situation
to DIARIO DE CUBA on Tuesday.
According to Diversent the rejection is based "on the grounds that the
objectives and purposes of the organization "are intended to harm the
social interest" and that it engages in "illegal activity, with actions
undertaken on unofficial sites and newspapers."
Diversent explained that the minister has alleged that all this
constitutes "a violation of Article 62 of the Constitution of the
Republic, which states that none of the freedoms it recognizes may be
wielded against the objectives of the socialist State."
Another argument to justify the refusal is that there is already an
association of law firms, and that an association like Cubalex is
unnecessary.
In response to the new refusal Diversent explained that Cubalex will
consider suing the Minister of Justice: "The appeals are not exhausted.
We are dissatisfied with the decision and there exists the possibility
of filing a lawsuit against the Minister for failing to recognize our
right to constitute ourselves as an association."
According to the independent attorney this "interaction" between Cubalex
and official bodies and institutions is what is vexing the regime and
has prompted the latest actions against the organization.
"All our interactions with official bodies, pursuant to the law, is what
has driven them up the wall, and this is why they are going after
Cubalex," Diversent said.
If they file the suit and it is rejected again, Cubalex could turn to
the Supreme Court. The national legal channels would run out there, at
which point they could turn to international organizations.
The lawyer recalled how after the raid on the organization's
headquarters last Saturday, independent attorney Eliócer Cutiño was
arrested and threatened. She added that Julio Ferrer Tamayo remains in
prison, and a habeas corpus order will be filed to condemn an
imprisonment they consider "illegal."
Source: Cubalex considers suing the Minister of Justice for violating
its right to form an association | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/derechos-humanos/1475714856_25812.html
CUBA’S RAÚL CASTRO - REFORMER OR UNREFORMABLE? - THE EVIDENCE TO DATE
CUBA'S RAÚL CASTRO: REFORMER OR UNREFORMABLE?: THE EVIDENCE TO DATE
Today, even the world's largest democracies have embraced the idea that
unconditional "engagement" with Cuba's "reformist" military dictatorship
will bring about economic and political reform. As a result, they have
afforded it widespread impunity, legitimacy, and support. Yet, Raúl has
been supreme leader of Cuba for over a decade and Cuba's "capitalist"
re-insertion into world markets after the end of Soviet Communism began
over a quarter century ago. The evidence to date shows no significant
empowerment of Cuba's citizens with economic, civil or political rights
during Raúl Castro´s tenure as president. Instead, repression and
persecution against human rights' defenders and members of Cuba's
peaceful opposition movement and independent civil society has greatly
intensified both in scope and viciousness. Internationally, Cuba's
alliances have strengthened with totalitarian/autocratic and rogue regimes.
RAÚL CASTRO´S TRACK RECORD OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Nothing in Raúl Castro's history denotes a disposition to reform;
rather, he has been directly responsible for unspeakable and systematic
crimes against humanity over the course of the 57 year-old dictatorship
—first as second-in-command and head of the Armed Forces until July 2006
and, subsequently, as "maximum" leader for the last ten years.
Raúl Castro's killing career began early on. During the revolutionary
struggle in the mountains, he ordered the execution of deserters and
alleged informants. When the revolution took power January 1st 1959,
with brother Fidel and Ché Guevara, he masterminded the wave of terror
designed to reduce the population into submission. In charge of Oriente
province, Raúl had hundreds of men executed simply for wearing the
uniform of the Police or Constitutional Armed Forces. In Santiago de
Cuba, he ordered 71 men shot by firing squad without trial. Among the
victims was U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican heritage, Benito Cortés
Maldonado, a policeman put to death on fabricated charges of raping a
woman.
Video testimony of priest Jorge Bez Chabebe on the mass execution
ordered by Raúl Castro in Santiago de Cuba on January 12
1959. https://youtu.be/MS60-myaU3g (9:03 mins.)
During the anti-Communist rural uprising of the sixties in Cuba, Raúl's
Armed Forces executed prisoners on the spot. In Angola, he reportedly
ordered attacks on civilian populations, including with chemical
weapons. On February 24, 1996, MIGs of his Air Force shot down in
international airspace two unarmed U.S.-based civilian airplanes
belonging to a humanitarian group. Four men were murdered, three were
U.S. citizens: Armando Alejandre, Mario de la Peña, Carlos Costa and
Pablo Morales.
Raúl's crimes against defenseless people, including children, have no
precedent even among the bloodiest Latin American dictatorships. For
decades, Cubans have been systematically murdered by Cuba's Border Guard
for attempting to flee the island by sea and through embassies or the
U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo. Cuba's official media showed Raúl
awarding medals to Border Guard sharpshooters who killed Iskander
Maleras and Luis Angel Valverde, as they attempted to swim to the U.S.
base on January 19, 1994.
Raul Castro's Victims: Death and Disappearances from July 2006 to Date
Since Raúl Castro assumed command of Cuba in 2006, Cuba Archive has
reports of 213 cases of death or disappearance of a political nature.
The actual number of victims is likely many times higher, as reporting
from Cuba is extremely restricted. (See "The Human Toll of Raúl Castro´s
Rule: Partial Record of Deaths and Disappearances Attributed to the
Cuban State July 31, 2006 – December 31, 2015" at www.cubaarchive.org
-see Reports).
Notably, in the last ten years of Raúl Castro's tenure as head dictator,
twelve human rights' defenders have been killed or disappeared at the
hands of authorities, some quite evidently, others in circumstances that
suggest an extrajudicial killing by state agents. Some have been
threatened with death, a few have been victims of suspicious
"accidents." (Cuba Archive has received additional testimony since
publishing a report in 2012 on "strange accidents and unexplained
deaths." Because all medical facilities in Cuba are state-owned and
controlled, a strong State Security presence typically accompanies any
treatment for human rights' defenders and many fear seeking medical
attention.
Prominent human rights' activists and opposition leaders
63 year-old, Laura Pollán, leader of the internationally renowned human
rights' group, Ladies in White, died October 14, 2010 at a Havana
hospital. She developed a sudden and undiagnosed illness after being
pricked with a needle by pro-government thugs. A killing by poisoning or
biological agent is suspected. Human rights' activist and former
political prisoner Juan Wilfredo Soto, age 46, died May 8, 2011 at a
Santa Clara hospital following a brutal beating by four uniformed
policemen. The blows severely damaged his pancreas and caused lesions to
his kidneys. 60 year-old opposition leader Oswaldo Payá, recipient of
the Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament, was killed July 22, 2012
with Harold Cepero, a 32-year old activist from his movement, in a car
accident reportedly provoked by State Security agents and suggestive of
a state murder.
Lesser-known human rights' defenders
Just a few months after Raúl assumed the lead role in Cuba, Former
prisoner of conscience Miguel Valdés Tamayo, age 50, died January 10,
2007 at a state hospital, his death widely reported to have been
induced. Dissident Luis Angel Lima Machado, age 47, was found dead by
hanging at his house in Havana on October 23, 2007. He suffered from
emotional problems fueled by constant harassment from Cuban authorities.
There is no evidence that his death was not self-inflicted. That same
year, activist Liborio Borroto Monroe, age 65, was killed November 19,
2007 after a horse-drawn cart ran him over at his hometown, Jatibonico,
Sancti Spiritus. Earlier that day three Communist Party members had
visited his home to threaten him with death for placing stickers with
the word "change" on the walls of his house.
Human rights' activist Roberto Franco Alfaro disappeared May 20, 2009 in
Havana, coincidentally on the anniversary of Cuba´s independence and
namesake of his opposition group. State Security had threatened him with
his disappearance. Human rights' activist, Alberto Sigas Hernández, age
32, also disappeared January 5, 2010 after police reported he was being
held at Villa Marista, State Security Headquarters in Havana. State
Security had harassed him repeatedly and threatened him with his
disappearance..
See video testimony on Alberto Sigas' disappearance (4:10 mins.) in
Spanish at https://youtu.be/UCbC4URxo04
Daysi Talavera Ortíz, a female human rights' activist and former
political prisoner, died January 2011 in Matanzas after being run over
by a car in mysterious circumstances. Blind human rights' activist
Sergio Díaz Larrastegui, age 54, died April 19, 2012 at a Havana
hospital. Fellow activists believe he was assassinated, as he had been
repeatedly threatened by the political police. He suddenly became very
ill and died after being diagnosed with an autoimmune liver disease and
hepatic cirrhosis doctors attributed to unidentified chemicals. In May
2014, Vicente Medrano Ramos, age 58, was found at home in Guantánamo
with his throat slit. He was a sympathizer of the peaceful opposition
group UNPACU, which had repaired the roof of his home, damaged from
Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Authorities had threatened him with death for
expressing his gratitude publicly all around town.
Continued killing of civilians attempting to flee Cuba
At Guantánamo, things haven´t changed at all —to this day, the U.S.
base is surrounded by an active mine field and Cuban guards with orders
to shoot. Plus, Cuban authorities continue enforcing a longstanding
practice to prevent exit attempts, considered illegal without government
approval. Many caught leaving are detained, some are killed, albeit more
sporadically than in the past.
Recent victims include 18 persons who left Cuba on a small boat from
Isla de la Juventud at dawn on February 1, 2011. 24 days later, Cuban
border guards said they had detected the vessel near the coast of Pinar
del Río with just one body riddled with bullets, that of Wilfredo Peña
Leyva. Among those "disappeared" was 42 year-old Ariel García Fernández.
Cuban-born Italian resident, 32 year-old Diosbel Díaz Beoto, was killed
December 16, 2014 after the boat in which he left Cuba from the coast of
Matanzas (with 7 women, 2 children and 23 men) was shot at for two hours
by Cuban Border Guard and rammed until it sunk.
Yurinieski Martínez Reina, age 30, was killed April 19, 2015 at a beach
in Matanzas by a State Security agent who fired on his group of five
unarmed men after they had been detained for attempting to leave on a
homemade raft. A military tribunal sentenced the perpetrator to 13 years
in prison for involuntary homicide, but it is unknown if he is actually
serving prison.
See HERE Cuban Border Guards aggressive treatment of a group of rafters,
September 2016.
http://yusnaby.com/balseros-filtran-video-persecucion-guardacostas-cubanos/
See a more detailed report on the above in our reports.
http://cubaarchive.org/wordpress/reports/
Source: Raul Castro, Reformer or Unreformable? The Evidence to Date. -
http://us12.campaign-archive1.com/?u=f93aaff2d1c7f165f9da290f6&id=680eedb53b&e=45d9ff4f3c
Today, even the world's largest democracies have embraced the idea that
unconditional "engagement" with Cuba's "reformist" military dictatorship
will bring about economic and political reform. As a result, they have
afforded it widespread impunity, legitimacy, and support. Yet, Raúl has
been supreme leader of Cuba for over a decade and Cuba's "capitalist"
re-insertion into world markets after the end of Soviet Communism began
over a quarter century ago. The evidence to date shows no significant
empowerment of Cuba's citizens with economic, civil or political rights
during Raúl Castro´s tenure as president. Instead, repression and
persecution against human rights' defenders and members of Cuba's
peaceful opposition movement and independent civil society has greatly
intensified both in scope and viciousness. Internationally, Cuba's
alliances have strengthened with totalitarian/autocratic and rogue regimes.
RAÚL CASTRO´S TRACK RECORD OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Nothing in Raúl Castro's history denotes a disposition to reform;
rather, he has been directly responsible for unspeakable and systematic
crimes against humanity over the course of the 57 year-old dictatorship
—first as second-in-command and head of the Armed Forces until July 2006
and, subsequently, as "maximum" leader for the last ten years.
Raúl Castro's killing career began early on. During the revolutionary
struggle in the mountains, he ordered the execution of deserters and
alleged informants. When the revolution took power January 1st 1959,
with brother Fidel and Ché Guevara, he masterminded the wave of terror
designed to reduce the population into submission. In charge of Oriente
province, Raúl had hundreds of men executed simply for wearing the
uniform of the Police or Constitutional Armed Forces. In Santiago de
Cuba, he ordered 71 men shot by firing squad without trial. Among the
victims was U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican heritage, Benito Cortés
Maldonado, a policeman put to death on fabricated charges of raping a
woman.
Video testimony of priest Jorge Bez Chabebe on the mass execution
ordered by Raúl Castro in Santiago de Cuba on January 12
1959. https://youtu.be/MS60-myaU3g (9:03 mins.)
During the anti-Communist rural uprising of the sixties in Cuba, Raúl's
Armed Forces executed prisoners on the spot. In Angola, he reportedly
ordered attacks on civilian populations, including with chemical
weapons. On February 24, 1996, MIGs of his Air Force shot down in
international airspace two unarmed U.S.-based civilian airplanes
belonging to a humanitarian group. Four men were murdered, three were
U.S. citizens: Armando Alejandre, Mario de la Peña, Carlos Costa and
Pablo Morales.
Raúl's crimes against defenseless people, including children, have no
precedent even among the bloodiest Latin American dictatorships. For
decades, Cubans have been systematically murdered by Cuba's Border Guard
for attempting to flee the island by sea and through embassies or the
U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo. Cuba's official media showed Raúl
awarding medals to Border Guard sharpshooters who killed Iskander
Maleras and Luis Angel Valverde, as they attempted to swim to the U.S.
base on January 19, 1994.
Raul Castro's Victims: Death and Disappearances from July 2006 to Date
Since Raúl Castro assumed command of Cuba in 2006, Cuba Archive has
reports of 213 cases of death or disappearance of a political nature.
The actual number of victims is likely many times higher, as reporting
from Cuba is extremely restricted. (See "The Human Toll of Raúl Castro´s
Rule: Partial Record of Deaths and Disappearances Attributed to the
Cuban State July 31, 2006 – December 31, 2015" at www.cubaarchive.org
-see Reports).
Notably, in the last ten years of Raúl Castro's tenure as head dictator,
twelve human rights' defenders have been killed or disappeared at the
hands of authorities, some quite evidently, others in circumstances that
suggest an extrajudicial killing by state agents. Some have been
threatened with death, a few have been victims of suspicious
"accidents." (Cuba Archive has received additional testimony since
publishing a report in 2012 on "strange accidents and unexplained
deaths." Because all medical facilities in Cuba are state-owned and
controlled, a strong State Security presence typically accompanies any
treatment for human rights' defenders and many fear seeking medical
attention.
Prominent human rights' activists and opposition leaders
63 year-old, Laura Pollán, leader of the internationally renowned human
rights' group, Ladies in White, died October 14, 2010 at a Havana
hospital. She developed a sudden and undiagnosed illness after being
pricked with a needle by pro-government thugs. A killing by poisoning or
biological agent is suspected. Human rights' activist and former
political prisoner Juan Wilfredo Soto, age 46, died May 8, 2011 at a
Santa Clara hospital following a brutal beating by four uniformed
policemen. The blows severely damaged his pancreas and caused lesions to
his kidneys. 60 year-old opposition leader Oswaldo Payá, recipient of
the Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament, was killed July 22, 2012
with Harold Cepero, a 32-year old activist from his movement, in a car
accident reportedly provoked by State Security agents and suggestive of
a state murder.
Lesser-known human rights' defenders
Just a few months after Raúl assumed the lead role in Cuba, Former
prisoner of conscience Miguel Valdés Tamayo, age 50, died January 10,
2007 at a state hospital, his death widely reported to have been
induced. Dissident Luis Angel Lima Machado, age 47, was found dead by
hanging at his house in Havana on October 23, 2007. He suffered from
emotional problems fueled by constant harassment from Cuban authorities.
There is no evidence that his death was not self-inflicted. That same
year, activist Liborio Borroto Monroe, age 65, was killed November 19,
2007 after a horse-drawn cart ran him over at his hometown, Jatibonico,
Sancti Spiritus. Earlier that day three Communist Party members had
visited his home to threaten him with death for placing stickers with
the word "change" on the walls of his house.
Human rights' activist Roberto Franco Alfaro disappeared May 20, 2009 in
Havana, coincidentally on the anniversary of Cuba´s independence and
namesake of his opposition group. State Security had threatened him with
his disappearance. Human rights' activist, Alberto Sigas Hernández, age
32, also disappeared January 5, 2010 after police reported he was being
held at Villa Marista, State Security Headquarters in Havana. State
Security had harassed him repeatedly and threatened him with his
disappearance..
See video testimony on Alberto Sigas' disappearance (4:10 mins.) in
Spanish at https://youtu.be/UCbC4URxo04
Daysi Talavera Ortíz, a female human rights' activist and former
political prisoner, died January 2011 in Matanzas after being run over
by a car in mysterious circumstances. Blind human rights' activist
Sergio Díaz Larrastegui, age 54, died April 19, 2012 at a Havana
hospital. Fellow activists believe he was assassinated, as he had been
repeatedly threatened by the political police. He suddenly became very
ill and died after being diagnosed with an autoimmune liver disease and
hepatic cirrhosis doctors attributed to unidentified chemicals. In May
2014, Vicente Medrano Ramos, age 58, was found at home in Guantánamo
with his throat slit. He was a sympathizer of the peaceful opposition
group UNPACU, which had repaired the roof of his home, damaged from
Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Authorities had threatened him with death for
expressing his gratitude publicly all around town.
Continued killing of civilians attempting to flee Cuba
At Guantánamo, things haven´t changed at all —to this day, the U.S.
base is surrounded by an active mine field and Cuban guards with orders
to shoot. Plus, Cuban authorities continue enforcing a longstanding
practice to prevent exit attempts, considered illegal without government
approval. Many caught leaving are detained, some are killed, albeit more
sporadically than in the past.
Recent victims include 18 persons who left Cuba on a small boat from
Isla de la Juventud at dawn on February 1, 2011. 24 days later, Cuban
border guards said they had detected the vessel near the coast of Pinar
del Río with just one body riddled with bullets, that of Wilfredo Peña
Leyva. Among those "disappeared" was 42 year-old Ariel García Fernández.
Cuban-born Italian resident, 32 year-old Diosbel Díaz Beoto, was killed
December 16, 2014 after the boat in which he left Cuba from the coast of
Matanzas (with 7 women, 2 children and 23 men) was shot at for two hours
by Cuban Border Guard and rammed until it sunk.
Yurinieski Martínez Reina, age 30, was killed April 19, 2015 at a beach
in Matanzas by a State Security agent who fired on his group of five
unarmed men after they had been detained for attempting to leave on a
homemade raft. A military tribunal sentenced the perpetrator to 13 years
in prison for involuntary homicide, but it is unknown if he is actually
serving prison.
See HERE Cuban Border Guards aggressive treatment of a group of rafters,
September 2016.
http://yusnaby.com/balseros-filtran-video-persecucion-guardacostas-cubanos/
See a more detailed report on the above in our reports.
http://cubaarchive.org/wordpress/reports/
Source: Raul Castro, Reformer or Unreformable? The Evidence to Date. -
http://us12.campaign-archive1.com/?u=f93aaff2d1c7f165f9da290f6&id=680eedb53b&e=45d9ff4f3c
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
The wealth that irks Castroism
The wealth that irks Castroism
ORLANDO FREIRE SANTANA | La Habana | 5 de Octubre de 2016 - 07:24 CEST.
Ever since the Conceptualization of Cuba's Socialist Economic and Social
Model document was made public, its Section 104, referring to the
prohibition against the concentration of property and wealth, was
expected to be one of its most debated aspects.
But reality seems to have exceeded expectations. There has been barely a
forum at which Section 104 has not come up for discussion. And there is
bad news for supporters of reform: in most cases the Government's
proposal of impeding non-State actors from accumulating wealth has been
supported. At least, this is the impression projected by the official
press in reference to the most recent debates of the Conceptualization
and the National Plan for Economic and Social Development until 2030.
A meeting of Popular Power delegates in Santa Clara, for example,
endorsed "preventing the proliferation of a nouveau riche class in
Cuba." In that same city, but in a meeting with pro-Government
journalists, the consensus was to inquire as "to what extent we will
allow the concentration of wealth, so that no one thinks he is going to
get rich at the people's expense."
In other cases the attacks on wealth have been launched from barricades
alleging the "virtues" of socialism. The National Hotels and Tourism
Union concluded that "it is not permissible for a concentration of
wealth to violate the principles of socialism." Meanwhile, workers in
the Health sector in Bayamo called for "the State to regulate the
concentration of property and wealth in the hands of non-State natural
or legal persons in a manner consistent with the principles of our
socialism."
The National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), with Miguel
Barnet and Abel Prieto seated in the front row of the assembly,
suggested that "self-employment should not allow anyone to get rich."
Those who think this way do not seem to realize that these kinds of
threats are likely to curb the desire to produce among the self
employed, and usufruct and cooperative workers. Obviously nobody can
sleep soundly when they suspect their business might be shut down the
next day. Also unnerving is not knowing what kind of mechanism the
Government might use to prevent the aforementioned enrichment. Indirect
or economic methods could be applied – the least traumatic – but the
dreaded direct or administrative measures, like those employed during
the Revolutionary Offensive of 1968, are not off the table either.
So long as economic logic is subordinated to ideological logic, and
until changes on the Island are wrested from the hands of Raul's
hardline henchmen, economic reform will go nowhere. It would behoove us
to remind Cuba's rulers of why China remained economically chronically
stagnant before Deng Xiaoping came along: just to prevent a handful of
Chinese from driving modern cars, the Maoists forced 800 million Chinese
to ride bicycles.
As Cuban authorities have yet to abandon their custom of exporting their
conceptions and methods of government (remember the exportation of
guerrilla wars in the 60s, and the model to control societies currently
employed by Venezuela's chavistas) the General-President just denounced
wealth in the world (that accumulated by others, of course) during his
speech at the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Countries, held
on the Venezuelan island of Isla Margarita.
According to the Cuban leader, "the international economic order imposed
by the major powers has led to 360 people possessing more wealth than
45% of the world's population."
The General-President ought to be asked his opinion about the fortunes
that tend to surface when closed societies' presidents and other leaders
are finally removed from office.
Source: The wealth that irks Castroism | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1475645077_25784.html
ORLANDO FREIRE SANTANA | La Habana | 5 de Octubre de 2016 - 07:24 CEST.
Ever since the Conceptualization of Cuba's Socialist Economic and Social
Model document was made public, its Section 104, referring to the
prohibition against the concentration of property and wealth, was
expected to be one of its most debated aspects.
But reality seems to have exceeded expectations. There has been barely a
forum at which Section 104 has not come up for discussion. And there is
bad news for supporters of reform: in most cases the Government's
proposal of impeding non-State actors from accumulating wealth has been
supported. At least, this is the impression projected by the official
press in reference to the most recent debates of the Conceptualization
and the National Plan for Economic and Social Development until 2030.
A meeting of Popular Power delegates in Santa Clara, for example,
endorsed "preventing the proliferation of a nouveau riche class in
Cuba." In that same city, but in a meeting with pro-Government
journalists, the consensus was to inquire as "to what extent we will
allow the concentration of wealth, so that no one thinks he is going to
get rich at the people's expense."
In other cases the attacks on wealth have been launched from barricades
alleging the "virtues" of socialism. The National Hotels and Tourism
Union concluded that "it is not permissible for a concentration of
wealth to violate the principles of socialism." Meanwhile, workers in
the Health sector in Bayamo called for "the State to regulate the
concentration of property and wealth in the hands of non-State natural
or legal persons in a manner consistent with the principles of our
socialism."
The National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), with Miguel
Barnet and Abel Prieto seated in the front row of the assembly,
suggested that "self-employment should not allow anyone to get rich."
Those who think this way do not seem to realize that these kinds of
threats are likely to curb the desire to produce among the self
employed, and usufruct and cooperative workers. Obviously nobody can
sleep soundly when they suspect their business might be shut down the
next day. Also unnerving is not knowing what kind of mechanism the
Government might use to prevent the aforementioned enrichment. Indirect
or economic methods could be applied – the least traumatic – but the
dreaded direct or administrative measures, like those employed during
the Revolutionary Offensive of 1968, are not off the table either.
So long as economic logic is subordinated to ideological logic, and
until changes on the Island are wrested from the hands of Raul's
hardline henchmen, economic reform will go nowhere. It would behoove us
to remind Cuba's rulers of why China remained economically chronically
stagnant before Deng Xiaoping came along: just to prevent a handful of
Chinese from driving modern cars, the Maoists forced 800 million Chinese
to ride bicycles.
As Cuban authorities have yet to abandon their custom of exporting their
conceptions and methods of government (remember the exportation of
guerrilla wars in the 60s, and the model to control societies currently
employed by Venezuela's chavistas) the General-President just denounced
wealth in the world (that accumulated by others, of course) during his
speech at the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Countries, held
on the Venezuelan island of Isla Margarita.
According to the Cuban leader, "the international economic order imposed
by the major powers has led to 360 people possessing more wealth than
45% of the world's population."
The General-President ought to be asked his opinion about the fortunes
that tend to surface when closed societies' presidents and other leaders
are finally removed from office.
Source: The wealth that irks Castroism | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1475645077_25784.html
Youth Leadership, a Dangerous Sequel to the US-Cuba Rapprochement
Youth Leadership, a Dangerous Sequel to the US-Cuba Rapprochement /
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 30 September 2016 — This Friday, 30
September 2016, the fourth session of the Cuba-US Bilateral Commission
is meeting in Washington, an occasion which the Cuban regime has
selected to present their rejection of "endorsing programs that
Washington is promoting without the consent or consultation by the
official channels established for exchanges of this kind."
This statement by Mr. Gustavo Machín, vice president of the Cuban
Foreign Ministry in the United States, refers to the summer scholarship
program that the non-governmental World Learning Organization grants
young students around the world, although the official Press in Cuba and
officials instructed in the case have been orchestrating in recent weeks
in an all-out media spectacle aimed at convincing domestic public
opinion that this is another grisly imperialist plan aimed only at
encouraging young Cubans to subvert the political and social order
within the country.
It would seem that the roughly 40 Cuban students who have had the
opportunity to pass these summer courses in 2015 and 2016, respectively,
constitute a real threat to the stability of a dictatorship that has
survived for nearly 60 years in power. Or that the White House has
concocted the bright idea of annually forging a handful of youth leaders
who, after several weeks of classes in a free society, where they will
exchange with other young people from the US and other countries, will
be willing and prepared to end Castro's revolution.
Such presumption suggests, on the one hand, the fallacy of the
ideological solidity of the Cuban youth, so touted by the olive green
regime; and on the other, that the political system has begun to suffer
from a butterfly fragility in the heat of the exchange programs promoted
by the US after the restoration of relations between the two governments.
The apotheosis of nonsense is the list of "subversive" practices
acquired by students benefitting from World Learning summer course
scholarships, shown on the organization's website, citing verbatim the
press monopoly scribes of the Castro regime: developing public speaking
skills, teamwork, negotiation, consensus building, conflict resolution,
defense of one's rights and troubleshooting.
Only for a reality like that of Cuba could such a program be termed
"subversive". No leader with a modicum of decency – especially in our
underdeveloped, poor countries with serious institutional problems –
would be offended in the least by their country's youth receiving this
type of instruction and acquiring these skills that, according to the
website, "help the next generation of world leaders to get a greater
sense of civic responsibility, to establish relations across ethic,
religious and national lines, and to develop skills and knowledge to
transform their communities and their countries."
But it is not difficult either to understand the alarm of the Druids of
the Plaza of the Revolution, well-versed in subversions. Nothing is as
dangerous to them as a "leader" who does not emerge from the "Ñico
Lopez" Party High School where, nevertheless, dozens (or more) guerrilla
leaders have been formed who have sown conflict, war and death in this
region. Not a few leaders of the FARC and other leaders of the most
corrupt Latin American radical left have passed through its classrooms
and have received diplomas and awards from their mentors. Some have even
attained the president's chair in their own countries, with known
disastrous results.
And not to mention the indoctrination and systematic brainwashing of
thousands of young people from the Third World who have studied Medicine
and other specialties in Cuba over the last decades. The Castro regime,
the most perversely "generous" dictatorship in recent history, has even
extended its "charitable" mantle to lower-income American students,
though it has not requested their government's permission to do so.
And it is specifically at that point where the apex of insular
authoritarianism reveals itself. Assuming that the US government and the
NGO World Learning need to go through the prerequisite of requesting
authorization from the Cuban government to provide summer scholarships
for Cuban youth, they are placing the young people in an obvious
position of slaves who need the benevolence of their masters (the
State-Party-Castro Dictatorship) to access certain training. At the same
time, the government places itself in the position of the feudal lord
who turns down success opportunities for his serfs.
At the same time, they ignore once again the leading role that should
belong to the young people's parents and relatives, who would be best
suitable to decide and support, or not, their children's education,
especially since the timing of such instruction – student's vacation
period – will not interfere with the school year set by the Cuban
educational system.
Far from it, and to legitimize the "national outrage" of the colossal
offense, the Cuban authorities have ordered middle school,
pre-university and technical school students to engage in the
traditional protests against the twisted imperialist maneuver leading
them down the wrong path. The most histrionic teenagers have screamed
their heads off chanting slogans and waving nationalistic signs, they
have learned by heart the speeches they might have to utter before the
news cameras and the world press, while their own government has yet to
offer an alternative with a future.
I see these fresh faces, hear their voices repeating the thousand
platitudes of several generations lost in the national shipwreck, and I
cannot stop thinking about how this corrupt regime has sown duplicity in
the spirit of the nation. I just hope, for the sake of these young
people and of Cuba, that scholarships like these will become more
prevalent, that our youth will be taught as free individuals and that
they will be granted lofty dreams and strong wings so they can achieve
them. By then, they will have forgotten the slogans and will provide
ideas and actions to overcome the long Middle Ages of the Castros.
Meanwhile, let more "subversive like this" scholarships come, until
Cubans won't have to leave their national borders to learn to lead the
destiny of their own country.
Translated by Norma Whiting
Source: Youth Leadership, a Dangerous Sequel to the US-Cuba
Rapprochement / Cubanet, Miriam Celaya – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/youth-leadership-a-dangerous-sequel-to-the-us-cuba-rapprochement-cubanet-miriam-celaya/
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 30 September 2016 — This Friday, 30
September 2016, the fourth session of the Cuba-US Bilateral Commission
is meeting in Washington, an occasion which the Cuban regime has
selected to present their rejection of "endorsing programs that
Washington is promoting without the consent or consultation by the
official channels established for exchanges of this kind."
This statement by Mr. Gustavo Machín, vice president of the Cuban
Foreign Ministry in the United States, refers to the summer scholarship
program that the non-governmental World Learning Organization grants
young students around the world, although the official Press in Cuba and
officials instructed in the case have been orchestrating in recent weeks
in an all-out media spectacle aimed at convincing domestic public
opinion that this is another grisly imperialist plan aimed only at
encouraging young Cubans to subvert the political and social order
within the country.
It would seem that the roughly 40 Cuban students who have had the
opportunity to pass these summer courses in 2015 and 2016, respectively,
constitute a real threat to the stability of a dictatorship that has
survived for nearly 60 years in power. Or that the White House has
concocted the bright idea of annually forging a handful of youth leaders
who, after several weeks of classes in a free society, where they will
exchange with other young people from the US and other countries, will
be willing and prepared to end Castro's revolution.
Such presumption suggests, on the one hand, the fallacy of the
ideological solidity of the Cuban youth, so touted by the olive green
regime; and on the other, that the political system has begun to suffer
from a butterfly fragility in the heat of the exchange programs promoted
by the US after the restoration of relations between the two governments.
The apotheosis of nonsense is the list of "subversive" practices
acquired by students benefitting from World Learning summer course
scholarships, shown on the organization's website, citing verbatim the
press monopoly scribes of the Castro regime: developing public speaking
skills, teamwork, negotiation, consensus building, conflict resolution,
defense of one's rights and troubleshooting.
Only for a reality like that of Cuba could such a program be termed
"subversive". No leader with a modicum of decency – especially in our
underdeveloped, poor countries with serious institutional problems –
would be offended in the least by their country's youth receiving this
type of instruction and acquiring these skills that, according to the
website, "help the next generation of world leaders to get a greater
sense of civic responsibility, to establish relations across ethic,
religious and national lines, and to develop skills and knowledge to
transform their communities and their countries."
But it is not difficult either to understand the alarm of the Druids of
the Plaza of the Revolution, well-versed in subversions. Nothing is as
dangerous to them as a "leader" who does not emerge from the "Ñico
Lopez" Party High School where, nevertheless, dozens (or more) guerrilla
leaders have been formed who have sown conflict, war and death in this
region. Not a few leaders of the FARC and other leaders of the most
corrupt Latin American radical left have passed through its classrooms
and have received diplomas and awards from their mentors. Some have even
attained the president's chair in their own countries, with known
disastrous results.
And not to mention the indoctrination and systematic brainwashing of
thousands of young people from the Third World who have studied Medicine
and other specialties in Cuba over the last decades. The Castro regime,
the most perversely "generous" dictatorship in recent history, has even
extended its "charitable" mantle to lower-income American students,
though it has not requested their government's permission to do so.
And it is specifically at that point where the apex of insular
authoritarianism reveals itself. Assuming that the US government and the
NGO World Learning need to go through the prerequisite of requesting
authorization from the Cuban government to provide summer scholarships
for Cuban youth, they are placing the young people in an obvious
position of slaves who need the benevolence of their masters (the
State-Party-Castro Dictatorship) to access certain training. At the same
time, the government places itself in the position of the feudal lord
who turns down success opportunities for his serfs.
At the same time, they ignore once again the leading role that should
belong to the young people's parents and relatives, who would be best
suitable to decide and support, or not, their children's education,
especially since the timing of such instruction – student's vacation
period – will not interfere with the school year set by the Cuban
educational system.
Far from it, and to legitimize the "national outrage" of the colossal
offense, the Cuban authorities have ordered middle school,
pre-university and technical school students to engage in the
traditional protests against the twisted imperialist maneuver leading
them down the wrong path. The most histrionic teenagers have screamed
their heads off chanting slogans and waving nationalistic signs, they
have learned by heart the speeches they might have to utter before the
news cameras and the world press, while their own government has yet to
offer an alternative with a future.
I see these fresh faces, hear their voices repeating the thousand
platitudes of several generations lost in the national shipwreck, and I
cannot stop thinking about how this corrupt regime has sown duplicity in
the spirit of the nation. I just hope, for the sake of these young
people and of Cuba, that scholarships like these will become more
prevalent, that our youth will be taught as free individuals and that
they will be granted lofty dreams and strong wings so they can achieve
them. By then, they will have forgotten the slogans and will provide
ideas and actions to overcome the long Middle Ages of the Castros.
Meanwhile, let more "subversive like this" scholarships come, until
Cubans won't have to leave their national borders to learn to lead the
destiny of their own country.
Translated by Norma Whiting
Source: Youth Leadership, a Dangerous Sequel to the US-Cuba
Rapprochement / Cubanet, Miriam Celaya – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/youth-leadership-a-dangerous-sequel-to-the-us-cuba-rapprochement-cubanet-miriam-celaya/
Hurricane Matthew slams eastern Cuba in short dash across the island
Hurricane Matthew slams eastern Cuba in short dash across the island
BY MIMI WHITEFIELD
mwhitefield@miamiherald.com
Hurricane Matthew made a short, intense dash across the easternmost tip
of Cuba Tuesday, toppling trees and power lines, washing out a bridge,
sending waves crashing ashore and pelting communities with torrential rains.
High winds began whipping Cuba late Tuesday afternoon and just before 6
p.m. Matthew's eye made landfall near Punta Caleta on the sparsely
populated southeastern tip of Cuba. Highest sustained winds were near
140 mph.
Landfall was further east in Guantánamo province than originally
forecast, putting more distance between densely populated areas and the
U.S. Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay than initially anticipated.
Another fortunate break was that the Category 4 hurricane came ashore on
one of the narrowest strips of Cuban territory. Instead of churning
across the island for 12 hours, the eye exited near Baracoa on the
northern coast only about two hours after coming ashore. Trailing
hurricane-force winds were expected to impact the island until about 2
a.m. Wednesday.
In picturesque Baracoa, which has about 40,000 residents, waves reaching
10 to 13 feet crashed ashore and water streamed down the streets. The
high winds downed many trees and electric wires. Tony Matos Romero, the
head of the municipal defense council, said in a telephone interview
with Cuban national television that the city was pelted by "intense,
constant rain."
Cubadebate, an official Cuban website, reported that a bridge in Imías,
between Guantánamo and Baracoa, had fallen.
José Rubiera, Cuba's chief hurricane forecaster, said in updates on
Cuban TV that tropical-storm-force winds could affect the island as far
west as Camagüey and Ciego de Avila and storm surges were expected to
batter Cuba's north coast from the eastern provinces to the central part
of the island. On the southern coast, east of Cabo Cruz, storm surges of
7 to 11 feet were expected.
"We're very worried. It's very sad and painful that a hurricane is
arriving and could destroy the little that we have," Yoandy Beltran
Gamboa said in a phone call from Guantánamo before Matthew hit.
Some of the shelters were filled to capacity. "In the Elena Fuentes
López school, there are people sleeping on the floor and they are not
permitting any more evacuees to enter," said Beltran, who lives in
downtown Guantánamo.
Cuba has made extensive storm preparations in eastern provinces from
Camagüey to Guantánamo. More than 300,000 people were evacuated in the
provinces of Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Granma and Las Tunas.
Cuban media reported that 1,300 tourists staying in Camagüey, Granma and
Holguín were transferred to safer areas in the center of the island.
Over the weekend, Cuba also began preparing trains loaded with earth
movers and equipment for power restoration to move into
hurricane-affected areas.
In advance of the storm, U.S. military cargo planes evacuated 700 family
members from the Guantánamo base to a "safe haven" in Pensacola.
As part of the preparations, the local newspaper Venceremos reported
that authorities had decided to take down antennas, which was affecting
radio, telephone and cell phone transmissions in some areas of eastern Cuba.
More than 350 women in the late stages of their pregnancies were
transferred to three hospitals in Santiago where they can receive
medical attention during Matthew.
Santiago endured a hurricane as recently as Oct. 25, 2012 when Sandy
swept ashore, killing 11 people and damaging 137,000 homes, and that
devastating experience was very much on the minds of Cuban authorities
as they made preparations for Matthew.
"We are safer here than at home. The important thing is to stay alive,"
Inés María Fajardo told Sierra Maestra, the official daily of Santiago,
as she played cards in a Santiago shelter.
But residents of the province of Guantánamo, where nearly half the homes
are reported to be in poor condition, have not experienced a hurricane
in many years. In 1963, Hurricane Flora made landfall about 30 miles
east of Guantánamo Bay with winds of 125 mph.
Cuban leader Raúl Castro and cabinet members were in eastern Cuba to
personally oversee hurricane fortifications and recovery efforts and
Castro told residents of Santiago that recovery plans would begin
immediately after Matthew had cleared Cuban territory.
Source: Hurricane-force winds whip eastern Cuba | In Cuba Today -
http://www.incubatoday.com/news/article105956007.html
BY MIMI WHITEFIELD
mwhitefield@miamiherald.com
Hurricane Matthew made a short, intense dash across the easternmost tip
of Cuba Tuesday, toppling trees and power lines, washing out a bridge,
sending waves crashing ashore and pelting communities with torrential rains.
High winds began whipping Cuba late Tuesday afternoon and just before 6
p.m. Matthew's eye made landfall near Punta Caleta on the sparsely
populated southeastern tip of Cuba. Highest sustained winds were near
140 mph.
Landfall was further east in Guantánamo province than originally
forecast, putting more distance between densely populated areas and the
U.S. Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay than initially anticipated.
Another fortunate break was that the Category 4 hurricane came ashore on
one of the narrowest strips of Cuban territory. Instead of churning
across the island for 12 hours, the eye exited near Baracoa on the
northern coast only about two hours after coming ashore. Trailing
hurricane-force winds were expected to impact the island until about 2
a.m. Wednesday.
In picturesque Baracoa, which has about 40,000 residents, waves reaching
10 to 13 feet crashed ashore and water streamed down the streets. The
high winds downed many trees and electric wires. Tony Matos Romero, the
head of the municipal defense council, said in a telephone interview
with Cuban national television that the city was pelted by "intense,
constant rain."
Cubadebate, an official Cuban website, reported that a bridge in Imías,
between Guantánamo and Baracoa, had fallen.
José Rubiera, Cuba's chief hurricane forecaster, said in updates on
Cuban TV that tropical-storm-force winds could affect the island as far
west as Camagüey and Ciego de Avila and storm surges were expected to
batter Cuba's north coast from the eastern provinces to the central part
of the island. On the southern coast, east of Cabo Cruz, storm surges of
7 to 11 feet were expected.
"We're very worried. It's very sad and painful that a hurricane is
arriving and could destroy the little that we have," Yoandy Beltran
Gamboa said in a phone call from Guantánamo before Matthew hit.
Some of the shelters were filled to capacity. "In the Elena Fuentes
López school, there are people sleeping on the floor and they are not
permitting any more evacuees to enter," said Beltran, who lives in
downtown Guantánamo.
Cuba has made extensive storm preparations in eastern provinces from
Camagüey to Guantánamo. More than 300,000 people were evacuated in the
provinces of Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Granma and Las Tunas.
Cuban media reported that 1,300 tourists staying in Camagüey, Granma and
Holguín were transferred to safer areas in the center of the island.
Over the weekend, Cuba also began preparing trains loaded with earth
movers and equipment for power restoration to move into
hurricane-affected areas.
In advance of the storm, U.S. military cargo planes evacuated 700 family
members from the Guantánamo base to a "safe haven" in Pensacola.
As part of the preparations, the local newspaper Venceremos reported
that authorities had decided to take down antennas, which was affecting
radio, telephone and cell phone transmissions in some areas of eastern Cuba.
More than 350 women in the late stages of their pregnancies were
transferred to three hospitals in Santiago where they can receive
medical attention during Matthew.
Santiago endured a hurricane as recently as Oct. 25, 2012 when Sandy
swept ashore, killing 11 people and damaging 137,000 homes, and that
devastating experience was very much on the minds of Cuban authorities
as they made preparations for Matthew.
"We are safer here than at home. The important thing is to stay alive,"
Inés María Fajardo told Sierra Maestra, the official daily of Santiago,
as she played cards in a Santiago shelter.
But residents of the province of Guantánamo, where nearly half the homes
are reported to be in poor condition, have not experienced a hurricane
in many years. In 1963, Hurricane Flora made landfall about 30 miles
east of Guantánamo Bay with winds of 125 mph.
Cuban leader Raúl Castro and cabinet members were in eastern Cuba to
personally oversee hurricane fortifications and recovery efforts and
Castro told residents of Santiago that recovery plans would begin
immediately after Matthew had cleared Cuban territory.
Source: Hurricane-force winds whip eastern Cuba | In Cuba Today -
http://www.incubatoday.com/news/article105956007.html
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Cuban Youth From US ‘World Learning’ Course Find Themselves Amid Slogans And Fear
Cuban Youth From US 'World Learning' Course Find Themselves Amid Slogans
And Fear / 14ymedio, Mario Penton
14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 1 October 2016 — Their names are barely
known, but now they find themselves in the middle of acts of political
reaffirmation and facing police interrogations. They are young people
between the ages of 16 and 18, high school and polytechnic students who
participated in the World Learning program by attending a summer course
in the United States. Today their lives pass amid slogans and fears.
On condition of anonymity, this newspaper contacted several of the young
people who spent four weeks in the program in the United States. None
wanted to reveal their identity, out of fear, although at this point the
people they fear know who they are.
"What did you do there. What did they say to you? What did they want you
to do when you returned to Cuba? Who paid for your trip?" These are some
of the questions that the Department of Technical Investigations (DTI)
from the National Police have repeated to many of them in recent months.
The young people went for the joy of knowing another country and
interacting with teenagers from other parts of the world, only to be
cited by the police on their return to Cuba. In these meetings they were
also warned that they should not talk to the press nor with anyone else
about this matter.
According to the teens, the worst was not the interrogations, but being
compelled to participate in political events to repudiate the US
organization. In their own schools and amid the shouts of revolutionary
reaffirmation, they constantly have their hearts in their mouths for
fear of being singled out and repudiated.
The work of the DTI was not the end of it, also involved are the
Secondary Students Federation (FEEM) and the Young Communists Union
(UJC). In morning assemblies and meetings, the leadership of both
organizations explained to the young people "the true intentions" of the
summer courses and warned them they should reject World Learning if they
don't want to be considered counterrevolutionaries, and in the worst
case, lose their chances for higher education and a career.
The president of the FEEM, Suzanne Santiesteban, went a step further and
cataloged the rallies against World Learning as "acts of repudiation" in
the style of those traditionally made against activists and opposition
on the island. The young woman called for extending these actions to
schools in Havana, and the "rest of the country."
However, after the hubbub of public events they have also been subject
to pressures in the classroom. "I tried to read what was written to show
that there was nothing subversive in those classes, but they gave me a
paper with things that I didn't even know what they meant and forced me
to read it out loud in front of everyone," says one of the young people
who traveled to the United States between 2015 and 2016.
"In this program we never talked politics and we were never forced to do
anything we didn't want to do," he told 14ymedio .
World Learning organized English classes for the Cuban students, along
with training in leadership skills such as public speaking, network
building and skills a leader can use to connect with others and identify
with the aspirations of their collective.
In a statement from the president of the organization, Carol Jenkins,
sent to Martí Noticias, she stated that "The program was designed to
help students form personal ties between high school students in
the United States and Cuba. During the two years, fewer than 100 Cuban
teenagers participated in the program in the United States, for one
month. They were divided into groups and traveled to communities in
Virginia, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, and Missouri."
Jenkins added, "While they were in the communities that hosted them,
they volunteered with young Americans in activities such as local food
banks, cleaning parks in collaboration with recycling centers, and
reading books to young children in youth centers."
"What they taught us was how to use the internet and things we could do
with the technology. But it was never anything violent or anything
having to do with politics," emphasizes the uneasy student.
Another teenager who traveled to the US spoke about the four weeks spent
there. "The only thing I regret is not having had the opportunity to
stay. Now I realize it was a mistake to come back here," he says.
In addition to language classes they were told about the history of the
United States and taken to historical sites in Washington and other
states. They cooperated in the work and lived in the home of a family
that welcomed them as a member.
"What's subversive about that? I still don't understand," he says.
Another of his peers is more radical in his statements:
"Me? A traitor? Why? For going to some summer classes with other people
from all over the world? Betrayal is making the whole country a prison.
Betrayal is everyone who has collaborated on the absurd current system
of my country."
Another of the students involved in the projects recalls, with an almost
childlike tone, that when he was in the United States they took him to
eat in a restaurant with Cuban food and always considered his opinion.
"They were educated (the teachers). They treated us with a lot of
respect, we engaged in participation games to get to know each other,
and we became like siblings. They did anonymous surveys to find out what
we thought about the program and took our opinions into account in
adapting the program so we were more at ease. They hosted us in places
and hotels comfortable for young people, they didn't overwhelm us, and
they were concerned about our wellbeing the whole time," the young man said.
The Cuban government has undertaken a campaign almost like the one that
demanded the "liberation" of the child rafter Elian Gonzalez, or the
release of the five spies serving prison sentences in the United States.
Classroom by classroom and school by school the young people have been
called to participate in acts of repudiation and of "revolutionary
reaffirmation."
As a part of the government's campaign, a special edition of the
Roundtable TV show was held with Alejandro Sánchez as a guest, one of
the youths who participated in the courses.
The young man explained on camera how the summer school was
developed. According to Sánchez, the objective of the program is to
foment civil society on the island (during the first session, in 2015,
34 young people participated). "Even many of us participating in the
program expressed our concern about the growing politicization," he said.
Sánchez detailed the "subversive" topics they were taught in the United
States, including how democracy works, what life is like in that country
and what human rights are.
During the first days of the program, which passed in a villa in
Virginia, Sánchez considered it suspicious that, "We could not post
pictures or videos of any of the activities we were doing in the
program, under the pretext of safeguarding our security and avoiding
repression once we returned to our country."
For the Cuban Government the curriculum seeks to "capture" young people
to fabricate "false leadership" and implement change on the island. The
main accusation is that World Learning receives funding from USAID.
This newspaper tried to contact one of the US teachers who is a part of
the course and who deals, in particular, with the graduates, but the
teacher said he was not authorized to give statements to the press.
Source: Cuban Youth From US 'World Learning' Course Find Themselves Amid
Slogans And Fear / 14ymedio, Mario Penton – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-youth-from-us-world-learning-course-find-themselves-amid-slogans-and-fear-14ymedio-mario-penton/
And Fear / 14ymedio, Mario Penton
14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 1 October 2016 — Their names are barely
known, but now they find themselves in the middle of acts of political
reaffirmation and facing police interrogations. They are young people
between the ages of 16 and 18, high school and polytechnic students who
participated in the World Learning program by attending a summer course
in the United States. Today their lives pass amid slogans and fears.
On condition of anonymity, this newspaper contacted several of the young
people who spent four weeks in the program in the United States. None
wanted to reveal their identity, out of fear, although at this point the
people they fear know who they are.
"What did you do there. What did they say to you? What did they want you
to do when you returned to Cuba? Who paid for your trip?" These are some
of the questions that the Department of Technical Investigations (DTI)
from the National Police have repeated to many of them in recent months.
The young people went for the joy of knowing another country and
interacting with teenagers from other parts of the world, only to be
cited by the police on their return to Cuba. In these meetings they were
also warned that they should not talk to the press nor with anyone else
about this matter.
According to the teens, the worst was not the interrogations, but being
compelled to participate in political events to repudiate the US
organization. In their own schools and amid the shouts of revolutionary
reaffirmation, they constantly have their hearts in their mouths for
fear of being singled out and repudiated.
The work of the DTI was not the end of it, also involved are the
Secondary Students Federation (FEEM) and the Young Communists Union
(UJC). In morning assemblies and meetings, the leadership of both
organizations explained to the young people "the true intentions" of the
summer courses and warned them they should reject World Learning if they
don't want to be considered counterrevolutionaries, and in the worst
case, lose their chances for higher education and a career.
The president of the FEEM, Suzanne Santiesteban, went a step further and
cataloged the rallies against World Learning as "acts of repudiation" in
the style of those traditionally made against activists and opposition
on the island. The young woman called for extending these actions to
schools in Havana, and the "rest of the country."
However, after the hubbub of public events they have also been subject
to pressures in the classroom. "I tried to read what was written to show
that there was nothing subversive in those classes, but they gave me a
paper with things that I didn't even know what they meant and forced me
to read it out loud in front of everyone," says one of the young people
who traveled to the United States between 2015 and 2016.
"In this program we never talked politics and we were never forced to do
anything we didn't want to do," he told 14ymedio .
World Learning organized English classes for the Cuban students, along
with training in leadership skills such as public speaking, network
building and skills a leader can use to connect with others and identify
with the aspirations of their collective.
In a statement from the president of the organization, Carol Jenkins,
sent to Martí Noticias, she stated that "The program was designed to
help students form personal ties between high school students in
the United States and Cuba. During the two years, fewer than 100 Cuban
teenagers participated in the program in the United States, for one
month. They were divided into groups and traveled to communities in
Virginia, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, and Missouri."
Jenkins added, "While they were in the communities that hosted them,
they volunteered with young Americans in activities such as local food
banks, cleaning parks in collaboration with recycling centers, and
reading books to young children in youth centers."
"What they taught us was how to use the internet and things we could do
with the technology. But it was never anything violent or anything
having to do with politics," emphasizes the uneasy student.
Another teenager who traveled to the US spoke about the four weeks spent
there. "The only thing I regret is not having had the opportunity to
stay. Now I realize it was a mistake to come back here," he says.
In addition to language classes they were told about the history of the
United States and taken to historical sites in Washington and other
states. They cooperated in the work and lived in the home of a family
that welcomed them as a member.
"What's subversive about that? I still don't understand," he says.
Another of his peers is more radical in his statements:
"Me? A traitor? Why? For going to some summer classes with other people
from all over the world? Betrayal is making the whole country a prison.
Betrayal is everyone who has collaborated on the absurd current system
of my country."
Another of the students involved in the projects recalls, with an almost
childlike tone, that when he was in the United States they took him to
eat in a restaurant with Cuban food and always considered his opinion.
"They were educated (the teachers). They treated us with a lot of
respect, we engaged in participation games to get to know each other,
and we became like siblings. They did anonymous surveys to find out what
we thought about the program and took our opinions into account in
adapting the program so we were more at ease. They hosted us in places
and hotels comfortable for young people, they didn't overwhelm us, and
they were concerned about our wellbeing the whole time," the young man said.
The Cuban government has undertaken a campaign almost like the one that
demanded the "liberation" of the child rafter Elian Gonzalez, or the
release of the five spies serving prison sentences in the United States.
Classroom by classroom and school by school the young people have been
called to participate in acts of repudiation and of "revolutionary
reaffirmation."
As a part of the government's campaign, a special edition of the
Roundtable TV show was held with Alejandro Sánchez as a guest, one of
the youths who participated in the courses.
The young man explained on camera how the summer school was
developed. According to Sánchez, the objective of the program is to
foment civil society on the island (during the first session, in 2015,
34 young people participated). "Even many of us participating in the
program expressed our concern about the growing politicization," he said.
Sánchez detailed the "subversive" topics they were taught in the United
States, including how democracy works, what life is like in that country
and what human rights are.
During the first days of the program, which passed in a villa in
Virginia, Sánchez considered it suspicious that, "We could not post
pictures or videos of any of the activities we were doing in the
program, under the pretext of safeguarding our security and avoiding
repression once we returned to our country."
For the Cuban Government the curriculum seeks to "capture" young people
to fabricate "false leadership" and implement change on the island. The
main accusation is that World Learning receives funding from USAID.
This newspaper tried to contact one of the US teachers who is a part of
the course and who deals, in particular, with the graduates, but the
teacher said he was not authorized to give statements to the press.
Source: Cuban Youth From US 'World Learning' Course Find Themselves Amid
Slogans And Fear / 14ymedio, Mario Penton – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-youth-from-us-world-learning-course-find-themselves-amid-slogans-and-fear-14ymedio-mario-penton/
American Patients Could Receive Medical Treatment in Cuba
American Patients Could Receive Medical Treatment in Cuba / Juan Juan
Almeida
Juan Juan Almeida, 23 September 2016 — With some urgency the Cuban
government has decided to pretty up the most important medical
facilities in Holguin province. According to sources — it's no secret
but it has not yet been reported by the official media — there will be a
visit on Friday September 30 by a US official. The purpose of the trip
is to inspect clinics and hospitals where presumably Americans will be
allowed to seek medical treatment on the island.
A significant source of Cuba's foreign exchange earnings comes from
leasing its professionals to various healthcare programs overseas.
Nevertheless, reaching an agreement with the Americans would go a long
way to offsetting the reported economic losses from agreements with
Venezuela and Brazil.
The idea is to redirect Cuban medical cooperation to other countries
while increasing healthcare services to foreigners on the island. To
achieve this, the minister of Finance and Pricing, Lina O. Pedraza
Rodriguez, signed Resolution 145/2016 on April 5. It allows doctors to
collect 5% of the fees charged by Servicios Médicos Cubanos S.A. (Cuban
Medical Services, Inc.) to foreign tourists.
The facilities to be inspected are Villa Quinqué, Villa Cocal and the
rooms reserved for foreigners at Vladimir Lenin University Hospital and
Lucía Iñiquez Landín Surgical Clinic.
"The department heads of the various health care centers have been
instructed to make sure nurses and auxiliary personnel remain vigilant
during the visit, even about things like dust on the windows, in case
the visitor swipes a finger to check the hygiene," says one of cleaning
staff at Lenin Hospital.
After the visit, the hope is — at least on the Cuban side — that a
bilateral accord on medical collaboration between the two countries will
be signed.
"We are hoping… the US consul will come here to this center and to Villa
Cocal and will also visit the health tourism wards of Lenin and Lucial
Iñiguez hospitals with an eye towards reaching an agreement to treat
American patients at our facilities," claims an employee at Villa
Quinqué, a center that treats foreign patients with addictions.
For several years some Cuban patients have been sent by the Ministry of
Public Health to hospitals in the United States as part of various
"interconsultation" agreements. A few months ago I met one of them, a
gentleman who travelled to Miami with his wife for eye surgery at the
presitgious Bascom Palmer Eye Clinic.
Source: American Patients Could Receive Medical Treatment in Cuba / Juan
Juan Almeida – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/american-patients-could-receive-medical-treatment-in-cuba-juan-juan-almeida/
Almeida
Juan Juan Almeida, 23 September 2016 — With some urgency the Cuban
government has decided to pretty up the most important medical
facilities in Holguin province. According to sources — it's no secret
but it has not yet been reported by the official media — there will be a
visit on Friday September 30 by a US official. The purpose of the trip
is to inspect clinics and hospitals where presumably Americans will be
allowed to seek medical treatment on the island.
A significant source of Cuba's foreign exchange earnings comes from
leasing its professionals to various healthcare programs overseas.
Nevertheless, reaching an agreement with the Americans would go a long
way to offsetting the reported economic losses from agreements with
Venezuela and Brazil.
The idea is to redirect Cuban medical cooperation to other countries
while increasing healthcare services to foreigners on the island. To
achieve this, the minister of Finance and Pricing, Lina O. Pedraza
Rodriguez, signed Resolution 145/2016 on April 5. It allows doctors to
collect 5% of the fees charged by Servicios Médicos Cubanos S.A. (Cuban
Medical Services, Inc.) to foreign tourists.
The facilities to be inspected are Villa Quinqué, Villa Cocal and the
rooms reserved for foreigners at Vladimir Lenin University Hospital and
Lucía Iñiquez Landín Surgical Clinic.
"The department heads of the various health care centers have been
instructed to make sure nurses and auxiliary personnel remain vigilant
during the visit, even about things like dust on the windows, in case
the visitor swipes a finger to check the hygiene," says one of cleaning
staff at Lenin Hospital.
After the visit, the hope is — at least on the Cuban side — that a
bilateral accord on medical collaboration between the two countries will
be signed.
"We are hoping… the US consul will come here to this center and to Villa
Cocal and will also visit the health tourism wards of Lenin and Lucial
Iñiguez hospitals with an eye towards reaching an agreement to treat
American patients at our facilities," claims an employee at Villa
Quinqué, a center that treats foreign patients with addictions.
For several years some Cuban patients have been sent by the Ministry of
Public Health to hospitals in the United States as part of various
"interconsultation" agreements. A few months ago I met one of them, a
gentleman who travelled to Miami with his wife for eye surgery at the
presitgious Bascom Palmer Eye Clinic.
Source: American Patients Could Receive Medical Treatment in Cuba / Juan
Juan Almeida – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/american-patients-could-receive-medical-treatment-in-cuba-juan-juan-almeida/
The Flame Tree of Discord
The Flame Tree of Discord / Regina Coyula
Regina Coyula, 3 October 2016 — A powerful flamboyán tree, in English
often called a flame tree, dominates the entrance to my house, more
beautiful at this time of year with its explosion of fire, which also
provides shade and spreads its colorful petals across the ground.
But two of my neighbors don't see it that way; they dislike the
dirtiness of it and feel obliged to sweep the sidewalk almost every day.
And they protest greatly, but I never feel it's about me, even though
the other day they were gossiping and not imagining that I could hear
them, one of them said, "I'm breaking my back over that filth, and 'la
Señora' (a marked edginess in señora), who owns the bush acts like it's
nothing."
I am not the owner of the flame tree, I didn't plant it, it is in the
parking strip and it is beautiful; and the señora sounded very nice
coming from one trying to mark a difference between us. And so, without
reaching for her style — inimitable for me as I am neither volatile nor
rude — to her surprise I told that that the flame tree isn't mine, but
the red flowers that line the sidewalk don't bother me at all, unlike
the bags, cans, boxes and other trash that lines the city, product of
indolent humans.
Source: The Flame Tree of Discord / Regina Coyula – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-flame-tree-of-discord-regina-coyula/
Regina Coyula, 3 October 2016 — A powerful flamboyán tree, in English
often called a flame tree, dominates the entrance to my house, more
beautiful at this time of year with its explosion of fire, which also
provides shade and spreads its colorful petals across the ground.
But two of my neighbors don't see it that way; they dislike the
dirtiness of it and feel obliged to sweep the sidewalk almost every day.
And they protest greatly, but I never feel it's about me, even though
the other day they were gossiping and not imagining that I could hear
them, one of them said, "I'm breaking my back over that filth, and 'la
Señora' (a marked edginess in señora), who owns the bush acts like it's
nothing."
I am not the owner of the flame tree, I didn't plant it, it is in the
parking strip and it is beautiful; and the señora sounded very nice
coming from one trying to mark a difference between us. And so, without
reaching for her style — inimitable for me as I am neither volatile nor
rude — to her surprise I told that that the flame tree isn't mine, but
the red flowers that line the sidewalk don't bother me at all, unlike
the bags, cans, boxes and other trash that lines the city, product of
indolent humans.
Source: The Flame Tree of Discord / Regina Coyula – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-flame-tree-of-discord-regina-coyula/
Hurricane Matthew - Potential disaster looms in Haiti, eastern Cuba and Bahamas
Hurricane Matthew: Potential disaster looms in Haiti, eastern Cuba and
Bahamas
Andrew Freedman • October 3, 2016
UPDATE: Oct. 4, 2016, 8:05 a.m. EDT Hurricane Matthew made landfall at 7
a.m. EDT on Tuesday morning near Les Anglais, Haiti, according to the
National Hurricane Center. It crossed the coast packing maximum
sustained winds of 145 miles per hour, with an extremely low atmospheric
pressure reading of 934 millibars, indicating the fierce intensity of
the storm. Hurricane Matthew will continue to batter Haiti with
torrential rain, extremely strong winds and storm surge flooding
throughout Monday before moving on to Cuba and the Bahamas. Mashable
will have a new story on Hurricane Matthew later this morning.
UPDATE: Oct. 3, 2016, 9:01 p.m. EDT Hurricane Matthew intensified
slightly as it moved closer to landfall in western Haiti on Monday
night. While hurricane hunter aircraft found maximum sustained winds
were still at 140 miles per hour, the storm's minimum central air
pressure had dropped from earlier in the day, which indicates
intensification. In addition, the storm has slid a bit northeast of due
north, which puts more of Haiti at risk from the worst of its rains,
winds and storm surge.
This is unwelcome news for a country where thousands of people will be
riding out the storm in temporary shelters with scant protections
against hurricane force winds and flooding rains.
Powerful Hurricane Matthew is moving north toward Haiti, Cuba and
eventually the Bahamas, bringing with it the triple threat of storm
surge flooding, several feet of rain and damaging winds.
The nation of Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is in line for
an extremely rare and extremely dangerous event: A Category 4 storm
making landfall while moving from the south to north across part of the
nation. The closest analog to Hurricane Matthew is Hurricane Hazel in
1954. Hazel also struck western Haiti, and it killed about 1,000 people
there.
The storm's angle of approach matters because it affects where the
strongest winds, rains and storm surge are directed.
In this case, southern Haiti stands to receive up to 40 inches of rain
from Hurricane Matthew, as onshore winds pile up air along mountain
slopes, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Extremely
heavy rainfall is also likely in the southwestern Dominican Republic.
The rainfall in Haiti will create a risk of mudslides in a nation still
recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake, which displaced 1.5
million people. The combination of steep mountain slopes and
deforestation makes Haiti vulnerable to deadly mudslides from heavy
downpours unconnected to hurricanes, let alone full-fledged major
hurricanes like Matthew.
According to the NHC, hurricane conditions with sustained winds of at
least 74 miles per hour are expected to reach Haiti on Monday night with
eastern Cuba and the southeastern Bahamas getting hit on Tuesday.
A damaging storm surge of 7 to 11 feet above normal tide levels is
forecast for the southern coast of Cuba east of Cabo Cruz, with a
similar surge predicted for the south coast of Haiti. In the central and
southeastern Bahamas, a storm surge of 10 to 15 feet is predicted. In
advance of the storm, the U.S. Navy has been evacuating non-essential
personnel from its base in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay.
The storm's center is expected to pass to the east of Jamaica, which
puts the island nation on its weaker western side. However, even there,
up to nearly 2 feet of rain may fall, with a storm surge of up to 4 feet
above normal tide level, according to the NHC.
Over the weekend, Hurricane Matthew underwent an extraordinarily rapid
period of intensification, leaping from a tropical storm to a Category 5
hurricane in just 36 hours.
It has since maintained Category 4 status, and is forecast to remain a
powerful "major" hurricane of Category 3 or greater through Thursday
morning. However, hurricane intensity forecasts have a greater
uncertainty than track forecasts do, and the storm's interactions with
land masses, such as Haiti and Cuba, could weaken it more than is
currently forecast.
Where will Matthew go after the Bahamas?
The big question facing U.S. weather forecasters the next few days is
where Hurricane Matthew will head after it emerges from the Bahamas.
The National Weather Service has been going to extraordinary lengths to
try to answer that question, launching extra weather balloons from every
East Coast facility it operates in an effort to gather more data to feed
into computer models. In addition, the agency has been consistently
flying a specially outfitted Gulfstream jet, nicknamed "Gonzo," ahead of
Matthew to sample the atmospheric steering currents that will affect the
storm's intensity and movement. That data, too, is being fed into
computer models to improve their projections.
As of Monday at noon ET, computer models were projecting that Hurricane
Matthew would parallel the East Coast of the U.S., potentially making
landfall along the Outer Banks of North Carolina or even in South
Carolina, and also threatening New England in about five to seven days.
However, uncertainty is still high, largely because the models are
having a hard time agreeing on how large-scale weather features will
evolve that will help steer Matthew as it approaches the U.S.
As the NHC stated at 11 a.m. ET on Monday, "direct impacts in Florida
cannot be ruled out. In addition, it is still too soon to determine
whether, or how Matthew could affect the remainder of the U.S. east coast."
Source: Hurricane Matthew: Potential disaster looms in Haiti, eastern
Cuba and Bahamas -
https://www.yahoo.com/news/hurricane-matthew-potential-disaster-looms-175648118.html
Bahamas
Andrew Freedman • October 3, 2016
UPDATE: Oct. 4, 2016, 8:05 a.m. EDT Hurricane Matthew made landfall at 7
a.m. EDT on Tuesday morning near Les Anglais, Haiti, according to the
National Hurricane Center. It crossed the coast packing maximum
sustained winds of 145 miles per hour, with an extremely low atmospheric
pressure reading of 934 millibars, indicating the fierce intensity of
the storm. Hurricane Matthew will continue to batter Haiti with
torrential rain, extremely strong winds and storm surge flooding
throughout Monday before moving on to Cuba and the Bahamas. Mashable
will have a new story on Hurricane Matthew later this morning.
UPDATE: Oct. 3, 2016, 9:01 p.m. EDT Hurricane Matthew intensified
slightly as it moved closer to landfall in western Haiti on Monday
night. While hurricane hunter aircraft found maximum sustained winds
were still at 140 miles per hour, the storm's minimum central air
pressure had dropped from earlier in the day, which indicates
intensification. In addition, the storm has slid a bit northeast of due
north, which puts more of Haiti at risk from the worst of its rains,
winds and storm surge.
This is unwelcome news for a country where thousands of people will be
riding out the storm in temporary shelters with scant protections
against hurricane force winds and flooding rains.
Powerful Hurricane Matthew is moving north toward Haiti, Cuba and
eventually the Bahamas, bringing with it the triple threat of storm
surge flooding, several feet of rain and damaging winds.
The nation of Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is in line for
an extremely rare and extremely dangerous event: A Category 4 storm
making landfall while moving from the south to north across part of the
nation. The closest analog to Hurricane Matthew is Hurricane Hazel in
1954. Hazel also struck western Haiti, and it killed about 1,000 people
there.
The storm's angle of approach matters because it affects where the
strongest winds, rains and storm surge are directed.
In this case, southern Haiti stands to receive up to 40 inches of rain
from Hurricane Matthew, as onshore winds pile up air along mountain
slopes, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Extremely
heavy rainfall is also likely in the southwestern Dominican Republic.
The rainfall in Haiti will create a risk of mudslides in a nation still
recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake, which displaced 1.5
million people. The combination of steep mountain slopes and
deforestation makes Haiti vulnerable to deadly mudslides from heavy
downpours unconnected to hurricanes, let alone full-fledged major
hurricanes like Matthew.
According to the NHC, hurricane conditions with sustained winds of at
least 74 miles per hour are expected to reach Haiti on Monday night with
eastern Cuba and the southeastern Bahamas getting hit on Tuesday.
A damaging storm surge of 7 to 11 feet above normal tide levels is
forecast for the southern coast of Cuba east of Cabo Cruz, with a
similar surge predicted for the south coast of Haiti. In the central and
southeastern Bahamas, a storm surge of 10 to 15 feet is predicted. In
advance of the storm, the U.S. Navy has been evacuating non-essential
personnel from its base in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay.
The storm's center is expected to pass to the east of Jamaica, which
puts the island nation on its weaker western side. However, even there,
up to nearly 2 feet of rain may fall, with a storm surge of up to 4 feet
above normal tide level, according to the NHC.
Over the weekend, Hurricane Matthew underwent an extraordinarily rapid
period of intensification, leaping from a tropical storm to a Category 5
hurricane in just 36 hours.
It has since maintained Category 4 status, and is forecast to remain a
powerful "major" hurricane of Category 3 or greater through Thursday
morning. However, hurricane intensity forecasts have a greater
uncertainty than track forecasts do, and the storm's interactions with
land masses, such as Haiti and Cuba, could weaken it more than is
currently forecast.
Where will Matthew go after the Bahamas?
The big question facing U.S. weather forecasters the next few days is
where Hurricane Matthew will head after it emerges from the Bahamas.
The National Weather Service has been going to extraordinary lengths to
try to answer that question, launching extra weather balloons from every
East Coast facility it operates in an effort to gather more data to feed
into computer models. In addition, the agency has been consistently
flying a specially outfitted Gulfstream jet, nicknamed "Gonzo," ahead of
Matthew to sample the atmospheric steering currents that will affect the
storm's intensity and movement. That data, too, is being fed into
computer models to improve their projections.
As of Monday at noon ET, computer models were projecting that Hurricane
Matthew would parallel the East Coast of the U.S., potentially making
landfall along the Outer Banks of North Carolina or even in South
Carolina, and also threatening New England in about five to seven days.
However, uncertainty is still high, largely because the models are
having a hard time agreeing on how large-scale weather features will
evolve that will help steer Matthew as it approaches the U.S.
As the NHC stated at 11 a.m. ET on Monday, "direct impacts in Florida
cannot be ruled out. In addition, it is still too soon to determine
whether, or how Matthew could affect the remainder of the U.S. east coast."
Source: Hurricane Matthew: Potential disaster looms in Haiti, eastern
Cuba and Bahamas -
https://www.yahoo.com/news/hurricane-matthew-potential-disaster-looms-175648118.html
Cuban nickel industry shuttered as Hurricane Matthew looms
Cuban nickel industry shuttered as Hurricane Matthew looms
October 3, 2016
By Marc Frank
HAVANA, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Cuba's two nickel processing plants were
temporarily shut down on Monday, state-run media said, as powerful
Hurricane Matthew threatened the eastern part of the Caribbean island,
where the country's top export earning industry is located.
State-run television on Monday, reporting on a meeting of Cubaniquel,
the state-run nickel monopoly, said, "The principal objective is to
avoid serious damage and later carry out a smooth reopening of the
industry."
The industry is located in Moa, Holguin province, where Cubaniquel owns
one plant and is a joint venture partner with Canadian mining company
Sherritt International in another.
Matthew is forecast to pass well east of Holguin but it is a huge storm
and strong winds and heavy rainfall are expected. Flooding is forecast
after the storm crosses the island and then bends westward.
Cubaniquel said in June it planned to produce 56,000 tonnes of unrefined
nickel plus cobalt this year.
Cuba is one of the world's largest nickel producers and supplies 10
percent of the world's cobalt, according to the Mining and Energy Ministry.
Nickel is essential in the production of stainless steel and other
corrosion-resistant alloys. Cobalt is critical in production of super
alloys used for such products as aircraft engines.
Cuban nickel is considered to be Class II with an average 90 percent
nickel content.
Cuba's National Minerals Resource Center reported the country, in
particular Holguin province, had about one-third of the world's known
reserves.
(Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Bill Trott)
Source: Cuban nickel industry shuttered as Hurricane Matthew looms -
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cuban-nickel-industry-shuttered-hurricane-151042998.html
October 3, 2016
By Marc Frank
HAVANA, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Cuba's two nickel processing plants were
temporarily shut down on Monday, state-run media said, as powerful
Hurricane Matthew threatened the eastern part of the Caribbean island,
where the country's top export earning industry is located.
State-run television on Monday, reporting on a meeting of Cubaniquel,
the state-run nickel monopoly, said, "The principal objective is to
avoid serious damage and later carry out a smooth reopening of the
industry."
The industry is located in Moa, Holguin province, where Cubaniquel owns
one plant and is a joint venture partner with Canadian mining company
Sherritt International in another.
Matthew is forecast to pass well east of Holguin but it is a huge storm
and strong winds and heavy rainfall are expected. Flooding is forecast
after the storm crosses the island and then bends westward.
Cubaniquel said in June it planned to produce 56,000 tonnes of unrefined
nickel plus cobalt this year.
Cuba is one of the world's largest nickel producers and supplies 10
percent of the world's cobalt, according to the Mining and Energy Ministry.
Nickel is essential in the production of stainless steel and other
corrosion-resistant alloys. Cobalt is critical in production of super
alloys used for such products as aircraft engines.
Cuban nickel is considered to be Class II with an average 90 percent
nickel content.
Cuba's National Minerals Resource Center reported the country, in
particular Holguin province, had about one-third of the world's known
reserves.
(Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Bill Trott)
Source: Cuban nickel industry shuttered as Hurricane Matthew looms -
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cuban-nickel-industry-shuttered-hurricane-151042998.html
Tanzania - Come, Dar Tells Cuban Investors
Tanzania: Come, Dar Tells Cuban Investors
By Katare Mbashiru
President John Magufuli yesterday invited Cuban investors to develop
pharmaceutical industries in the country as the two friendly nations
agreed to cooperate in five areas.
Dr Magufuli asked the visiting Cuban Vice President, Mr Salvador Valdes
Mesa, to help in persuading the Cuban investors to Tanzania, saying the
establishment of pharmaceutical industries in the country will guarantee
drug availability at affordable prices.
He also asked Mr Mesa to influence Cuban investors to Tanzania's sugar
sector, promising the government inclination to offer them land for
production and guarantee all necessary support.
Source: Tanzania: Come, Dar Tells Cuban Investors - allAfrica.com -
http://allafrica.com/stories/201610040118.html
By Katare Mbashiru
President John Magufuli yesterday invited Cuban investors to develop
pharmaceutical industries in the country as the two friendly nations
agreed to cooperate in five areas.
Dr Magufuli asked the visiting Cuban Vice President, Mr Salvador Valdes
Mesa, to help in persuading the Cuban investors to Tanzania, saying the
establishment of pharmaceutical industries in the country will guarantee
drug availability at affordable prices.
He also asked Mr Mesa to influence Cuban investors to Tanzania's sugar
sector, promising the government inclination to offer them land for
production and guarantee all necessary support.
Source: Tanzania: Come, Dar Tells Cuban Investors - allAfrica.com -
http://allafrica.com/stories/201610040118.html
JetBlue pushes (again) to create a daily flight from Boston to Cuba
JetBlue pushes (again) to create a daily flight from Boston to Cuba
By Adam Vaccaro GLOBE STAFF OCTOBER 03, 2016
JetBlue Airways is making another attempt for permission to fly between
Boston and Cuba, petitioning the US government to strip a rival airline
of a new route between Los Angeles and Havana and replace it with a
flight from Logan Airport.
JetBlue is asking the US Department of Transportation to reject a
request by Alaska Airlines for more time to get its newly awarded flight
between Los Angeles and Havana up and flying. Alaska Airlines last week
asked the department to delay launching the route until early January,
and JetBlue promptly seized on the request, saying the US should instead
replace the flight with one between Boston and Havana.
And even if the delay is granted, JetBlue said, the government should
designate its proposed route from Boston as the "backup" in case Alaska
Airlines ultimately decides not to operate the flight.
JetBlue, which counts Boston as one of its top markets, has sought to
operate the Boston-to-Cuba flight since the United States and Cuba
agreed in February to resume air service between the Cold War rivals.
US carriers can send a total of 20 daily flights to Havana. JetBlue was
awarded four of those — one from New York and three from Florida
airports. But its request for routes from Tampa, Newark, and Boston were
not granted. The Havana routes have not yet started, but in late August,
JetBlue began operating flights to another Cuban airport in the central
city of Santa Clara.
JetBlue declined to comment about the filings on Monday. But the airline
seemingly views Boston as an important market for flights to Cuba. In an
earlier filing, the airline argued that Boston "is one of the top
markets in the United States, with significant connections to Cuba that
will drive demand."
After the government announced the 20 daily routes, JetBlue requested
that Boston be given at least a weekly Saturday flight to Havana.
The trips from New York represent the closest nonstop option for
Bostonians to get to Cuba. Alaska's flight from Los Angeles, meanwhile,
would represent the only one from the West Coast to Havana.
Travelers are only allowed to visit Cuba for nonvacation reasons, such
as family, business, educational, religious, journalistic, or
humanitarian purposes.
Alaska Airlines cited "commercial and operational challenges" in asking
to delay the start of service until Jan. 5, which is 37 days after the
Nov. 29 date that had been a government precondition when it awarded the
route.
Because tourist trips to Cuba are still not permitted, the airline said
in its filing that launching the flights shortly after Thanksgiving
would be a challenge because "US consumers' travel to the Caribbean
region during the holiday season is predominantly for purposes of vacation."
In its response, JetBlue said those same problems are true for every
other airline.
"If Alaska is concerned that the ban on tourism-related travel will make
its route not viable, it should turn its frequency over to the
department for reallocation to carriers like JetBlue that are prepared
to provide service to authorized customers," JetBlue said.
The Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan Airport, has also
lobbied the federal government to consider a weekly flight from Boston.
In comments filed with the government in August, Massport chief
executive Thomas Glynn said Boston's Cuban-American population numbers
15,000. He also argued that the region is well-suited for trips to Cuba
that are allowed under the approved travel purposes because of the
number of health care, biotech, and higher education organizations in
and around Boston.
"These institutions have already generated demand for Cuba travel,
vastly supplementing Boston's Cuban-American population," Glynn wrote.
Glynn's appeal did not ultimately affect the final routes selected. In a
statement Monday, spokeswoman Jennifer Mehigan said Massport is "hopeful
that as the flight restrictions are loosened, Boston will be in the mix."
She declined to specifically address JetBlue's bid to take over the
Alaska Airlines route.
"The competition for direct Havana service has been intense and JetBlue
is going to make their business decisions based on what is best for
them. We applaud their belief in a Boston route," she said.
Adam Vaccaro can be reached at adam.vaccaro@globe.com. Follow him on
Twitter at @adamtvaccaro.
Source: JetBlue pushes US to create daily Logan flight to Cuba - The
Boston Globe -
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/10/03/jetblue-pushes-create-daily-logan-flight-cuba/B2WtwOH38SkLUCUzuIoB5H/story.html
By Adam Vaccaro GLOBE STAFF OCTOBER 03, 2016
JetBlue Airways is making another attempt for permission to fly between
Boston and Cuba, petitioning the US government to strip a rival airline
of a new route between Los Angeles and Havana and replace it with a
flight from Logan Airport.
JetBlue is asking the US Department of Transportation to reject a
request by Alaska Airlines for more time to get its newly awarded flight
between Los Angeles and Havana up and flying. Alaska Airlines last week
asked the department to delay launching the route until early January,
and JetBlue promptly seized on the request, saying the US should instead
replace the flight with one between Boston and Havana.
And even if the delay is granted, JetBlue said, the government should
designate its proposed route from Boston as the "backup" in case Alaska
Airlines ultimately decides not to operate the flight.
JetBlue, which counts Boston as one of its top markets, has sought to
operate the Boston-to-Cuba flight since the United States and Cuba
agreed in February to resume air service between the Cold War rivals.
US carriers can send a total of 20 daily flights to Havana. JetBlue was
awarded four of those — one from New York and three from Florida
airports. But its request for routes from Tampa, Newark, and Boston were
not granted. The Havana routes have not yet started, but in late August,
JetBlue began operating flights to another Cuban airport in the central
city of Santa Clara.
JetBlue declined to comment about the filings on Monday. But the airline
seemingly views Boston as an important market for flights to Cuba. In an
earlier filing, the airline argued that Boston "is one of the top
markets in the United States, with significant connections to Cuba that
will drive demand."
After the government announced the 20 daily routes, JetBlue requested
that Boston be given at least a weekly Saturday flight to Havana.
The trips from New York represent the closest nonstop option for
Bostonians to get to Cuba. Alaska's flight from Los Angeles, meanwhile,
would represent the only one from the West Coast to Havana.
Travelers are only allowed to visit Cuba for nonvacation reasons, such
as family, business, educational, religious, journalistic, or
humanitarian purposes.
Alaska Airlines cited "commercial and operational challenges" in asking
to delay the start of service until Jan. 5, which is 37 days after the
Nov. 29 date that had been a government precondition when it awarded the
route.
Because tourist trips to Cuba are still not permitted, the airline said
in its filing that launching the flights shortly after Thanksgiving
would be a challenge because "US consumers' travel to the Caribbean
region during the holiday season is predominantly for purposes of vacation."
In its response, JetBlue said those same problems are true for every
other airline.
"If Alaska is concerned that the ban on tourism-related travel will make
its route not viable, it should turn its frequency over to the
department for reallocation to carriers like JetBlue that are prepared
to provide service to authorized customers," JetBlue said.
The Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan Airport, has also
lobbied the federal government to consider a weekly flight from Boston.
In comments filed with the government in August, Massport chief
executive Thomas Glynn said Boston's Cuban-American population numbers
15,000. He also argued that the region is well-suited for trips to Cuba
that are allowed under the approved travel purposes because of the
number of health care, biotech, and higher education organizations in
and around Boston.
"These institutions have already generated demand for Cuba travel,
vastly supplementing Boston's Cuban-American population," Glynn wrote.
Glynn's appeal did not ultimately affect the final routes selected. In a
statement Monday, spokeswoman Jennifer Mehigan said Massport is "hopeful
that as the flight restrictions are loosened, Boston will be in the mix."
She declined to specifically address JetBlue's bid to take over the
Alaska Airlines route.
"The competition for direct Havana service has been intense and JetBlue
is going to make their business decisions based on what is best for
them. We applaud their belief in a Boston route," she said.
Adam Vaccaro can be reached at adam.vaccaro@globe.com. Follow him on
Twitter at @adamtvaccaro.
Source: JetBlue pushes US to create daily Logan flight to Cuba - The
Boston Globe -
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/10/03/jetblue-pushes-create-daily-logan-flight-cuba/B2WtwOH38SkLUCUzuIoB5H/story.html
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