Dancers who defected from Cuba are building new dreams in Syracuse
mgreenlar@syracuse.com
Michael Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com
on March 09, 2017 at 1:54 PM, updated March 09, 2017 at 2:11 PM
Syracuse, N.Y. -- Alejandro Cobus would leave his apartment in Syracuse
for his ballet class three hours early. He'd walk nearly six miles in
the snow and cold in sneakers. Then he'd warm up, dance for the next
three hours, and walk the same route home in the dark.
He never complained.
"We had no idea," Kathleen Rathbun said. Rathbun is the artistic
director of the Syracuse City Ballet and its school, Ballet & Dance of
Upstate NY. When they found out, the parents of other dancers and
Rathbun began giving Cobus rides.
Until December, Cobus and Jose Carlos Pino were dancers with the elite
national ballet company of Cuba, Ballet de Camaguey. The men, 20, began
their careers at the age of 8 in Cuba. The government program in the
communist country chooses the dancers. They leave their families for school.
"This is your career," Cobus said through an interpreter.
Getting into the program, and staying in, is a tremendous
accomplishment. Cuba, like Russia, trains some of the best ballet
dancers in the world. Now, fate and circumstance have dropped the two
young men in Syracuse where they are dancing with the Syracuse City
Ballet in its production of Snow White.
In Cuba, Cobus and Pino found little opportunity and meager pay. Dancers
were given a place to live and paid $10 a month, they said. They were
given small rations of meat and rice, they said, but it was not nearly
enough to fuel their constant movement. Both men said they often went
hungry.
Beyond those practical struggles, they saw, stretched before them, a
world of little opportunity. There are only a few good roles for men in
the company. And that company was the only company available to them in
a world where the government controls every choice.
In December, when the company was touring in Mexico, the two men walked
away from everything they knew. They defected from Cuba, crossing the
border into Texas, legally, as political refugees.
They left behind their families. The mothers of both young men are
school teachers who make about $20 a month. The pay is so meager that in
all of their years of dancing, neither man's mother has seen him on stage.
The road to Syracuse for both men has been accidental in the way fate
sometimes seems. At first, Pino and Cobus split up. Pino had relatives
in Houston, so he stayed there for a while. Cobus had no one and no money.
Cobus got a job driving a van until he saved up enough money to make it
to Miami. When he was in Miami, Cobus said, he found help at a church.
There, someone made a connection for him with InterFaith Works in
Syracuse, which brought him to Syracuse and helped him find an
apartment. They also helped him find the ballet and are continuing to
help him learn English.
On the surface, Syracuse seems like a place that couldn't be farther
from Cobus' tropical home. But when he found a place to dance, he found
a new home. Ballet, after all, is the same in every tongue. And he found
warmth, family even, in Rathbun and her ballet company.
Cobus called Pino to tell him he found a place where they could both
live and dance.
Pino arrived two weeks ago. He and Cobus are sharing the small apartment
in Syracuse. They are friends, but more like "hermanos," brothers. And
opposite in so many ways.
Cobus leans forward as they talk, pointing and unpointing his toes. The
men are paid a little by the ballet, but they need other work, Cobus
says. He tries to think what he could do with his meager English -
cleaning during the day maybe, so he can dance at night?
Pino leans back in his chair, he legs outstretched. He smiles and tells
Cobus he worries too much. All will be fine.
They bicker, in a friendly way. Cobus gets up too early, Pino says.
Cobus says Pino sleeps too late.
Rathbun smiles at them and laughs before their words are even
translated. She calls them, "the boys." She and dance moms from the
school have clothed them, driven them. A dance mom, Erica Stark,
translates for them. As they talk before rehearsal, another mother
brings sandwiches for them.
When asked what their ultimate goal is, Rathbun already knows the answer
for Cobus: Basilio in Don Quixote.
"He is always doing it in the studio," Rathbun says. The role is full of
dramatic leaps, including a spiraling, dangerous one that Cobus adds.
(That makes Rathbun grimace because she worries he'll fall).
Pino would be Albrecht in Giselle, he says.
While dance was chosen for them, neither man would change his life path.
They live to dance.
In a back room studio at the Civic Center, where the ballet is doing its
dress rehearsal for Snow White, Cobus and Pino take turns running
through leaps and twists across the floor. It is a friendly show of
one-upping. One man runs and leaps, the other take a cell phone video.
Then they switch.
Cobus does that spiraling leap that makes Rathbun nervous. The first
time, he falters and puts him hand down. The second time, he nails it.
Here, though they have so little, their dreams seem closer. Even this
one: Perhaps one day their mothers, who gave them to the ballet when
they were still little boys, will see them fill the stage with leaps so
large it seems like there must be a tiny bit of magic somewhere.
"Algun dia," they both say. And smile.
Some day.
Marnie Eisenstadt writes about people, life and culture in Central New York.
Source: Dancers who defected from Cuba are building new dreams in
Syracuse | syracuse.com -
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2017/03/cuban_dancers_who_walked_away_from_their_country_are_now_building_new_dreams_in.html
Thursday, March 9, 2017
American cruise travelers bump into Cuba’s rules
American cruise travelers bump into Cuba's rules
BY DAVID G. MOLYNEAUX
TheTravelMavens.com
ISLA DE LA JUVENTUD, CUBA
After a calm winter's night at anchor on Cuba's remote Siguanea Bay, 34
American travelers on the 150-foot motor-sailor Panorama II awakened
before dawn and collected their snorkeling gear, prepared for a ride on
a local boat to the southwest corner of Isla de la Juventud (formerly
Isle of Pines).
But on this day, the schedule, which had been arranged with and approved
by top tourism officials in Havana, was not to be.
Communication about changing procedures is not an attribute of central
government in Cuba, a country known for breakdowns in plans and
mechanics and disincentives for individual decision-making. Military
guards in charge of the island docks had received no written
instructions from Havana (though an approving word would filter down for
Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic trips in weeks that followed).
So, no local boat would be coming to tender us from our ship to shore as
the sun began to rise. Ever resourceful, expedition guides attempted
alternative transportation, rolling out zodiacs that belonged to our
chartered Greek vessel. Alas, Panorama II's captain called off our
morning journey to a white sandy beach for swimming and snorkeling at
Punta Frances Marine National Park. Instead, we would cruise directly to
Cienfuegos, our last city on the 11-day Cuba expedition.
During the course of the cruise, our schedule changed almost daily from
our printed itinerary.
The previous day on Juventud, we had reached shore without a hitch. We
toured Presidio Modelo, where Fidel Castro and fellow revolutionaries
were imprisoned in 1953 through 1955. We then made a delightful visit to
Nueva Gerona's Escuela de Arte Leonardo Luberta, a music school for
gifted children.
We walked El Búlevar, a pedestrian-only boulevard where city residents
turned out to watch us watch a terrific show. The show featured models
dressed in minimalist pirate's clothing made of newspapers, and two
local bands, one playing for a presentation by children of a folkloric
dance, a second performing music of the Santeria Church as dancers
representing the orishas, Yemayá and Eleggua, swirled.
"After such an inspiring day among the creativity, talent and spirit of
the local people, and after seeing the benefits from so many of the
government institutions like art schools and hospitals, today we faced
our share of difficulties," said Tom O'Brien, our expedition leader, as
we motor-sailed east to Cienfuegos (toasting with a spontaneous round of
Bloody Marys).
Earlier in the week we had been turned away from two seaside sites,
including famed Jardines de la Reina (Gardens of the Queen) Marine Park,
the attraction that had drawn some of the passengers to book this
voyage. Now we had been outmaneuvered by the Cuban military, although
they did it politely and respectfully.
O'Brien applauded passengers for their patience, flexibility, open minds
and "surprisingly high spirits."
Why not? While snorkeling and swimming were out — in fact, we never
dipped our bodies into the water during the entire week at sea — we
remained a satisfied lot of travelers, sailing in and around ports on
the southwestern coast of Cuba, which largely has been closed to
Americans since the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.
Fifty-five years later, we had floated up to the infamous Bay of Pigs
and calmly walked ashore to visit a museum in Playa Girón for Cuba's
version of the failed invasion. We began the morning at daybreak for a
woodsy birdwatching walk that did not yield a Cuban green woodpecker but
did lead us to exciting views of a dozen indigenous species, including
the Cuban pygmy-owl and the bee hummingbird, smallest bird in the world
at 2 ½ inches.
The Lindblad/National Geographic expedition to Cuba — three nights in
Havana at the venerable, outdated Nacional Hotel and seven nights
cruising on the cozy Panorama II — was described as a people-to-people
tour, as spelled out in a contract with the Cuban government. That's
what we did — meeting, listening to and/or watching talented Cubans
speak, entertain and show off their homes, businesses and creations in
Havana, Trinidad, Cienfuegos, and Nueva Gerona. Even our free time one
morning at the 60-block Havana cemetery, Cementerio Colón, seemed to
qualify as a people-to-people visit.
In Havana, the Habana Compás dance troupe drummed and danced to blends
of the rhythms of Cuba. In a private rooftop performance, Grammy-winning
Septeto Nacional, founded in 1927 and now in its fourth generation,
played Cuban music with special guest singers that included Pedro
Godinez, 90. We rode in classic American cars from the 1950s; toured
Ernest Hemingway's former home, Finca Vigía; and met with artists and
young journalists (at OnCubaMagazine.com, which is published in the
United States).
In Cienfuegos, the Cantores de Cienfuegos choir sang religious and
classical Cuban songs. In a specially arranged musical program, children
performed "Cucarachita Martina" at a harborside pavilion.
We ate well, and viewed even better at seaside rooftop restaurants and
in historic homes where Cubans are expanding their businesses and
presentations for an anticipated rise in visitors.
Havana, said guidebook author and lecturer Christopher Baker, is in the
midst of a gastro-revolution thanks to the creativity of cuentapropistas
(private entrepreneurs). Cuban food was tasty, although without much in
the way of fresh vegetables. On Panorama II, meals were more creative
than those on land, all of which were well-prepared combinations of rice
and either meat or fish.
Twice when we arrived at Cuban ports, passengers and guides lined up to
have their temperatures taken by a local nurse. That was a first for me.
In Cuba, at least on the southwestern coast, the government doesn't want
travelers bringing any germs ashore.
Travelers on this expedition unanimously reported a positive feeling
about the island and their many contacts with its residents. American
travel guides who have spent time in Cuba call it a country of
scarcities when speaking of material goods but with no scarcity of
enthusiasm and confidence among the people. That was an accurate
portrayal of the Cuban folks we met, both the people we were guided
toward and those we met casually on the streets.
By its nature, expedition cruising is significantly more adventurous
than relaxing. Such a cruise draws a special breed of travelers who are
flexible and patient about outcomes. Although Lindblad/National
Geographic expeditions are well guided by experts of the land, nature
and photography, travelers do not know for certain what expectations
will be realized, and when. That is part of the fun.
New expeditions, such as cruising the southwestern coast of Cuba,
require an additional degree of open-mindedness, anticipating a surprise
every day.
▪ Eleven-day cruises of Cuba on Panorama II start at $9,500 per person
double occupancy and are available through March, then again in December
through March 2018. Information: 800-397-3348 or expeditions.com.
David Molyneaux writes monthly about cruising. He is editor of
TheTravelMavens.com
Source: Adjusting to Cuba's rules on a Lindblad cruise of the island |
Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article137421348.html
BY DAVID G. MOLYNEAUX
TheTravelMavens.com
ISLA DE LA JUVENTUD, CUBA
After a calm winter's night at anchor on Cuba's remote Siguanea Bay, 34
American travelers on the 150-foot motor-sailor Panorama II awakened
before dawn and collected their snorkeling gear, prepared for a ride on
a local boat to the southwest corner of Isla de la Juventud (formerly
Isle of Pines).
But on this day, the schedule, which had been arranged with and approved
by top tourism officials in Havana, was not to be.
Communication about changing procedures is not an attribute of central
government in Cuba, a country known for breakdowns in plans and
mechanics and disincentives for individual decision-making. Military
guards in charge of the island docks had received no written
instructions from Havana (though an approving word would filter down for
Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic trips in weeks that followed).
So, no local boat would be coming to tender us from our ship to shore as
the sun began to rise. Ever resourceful, expedition guides attempted
alternative transportation, rolling out zodiacs that belonged to our
chartered Greek vessel. Alas, Panorama II's captain called off our
morning journey to a white sandy beach for swimming and snorkeling at
Punta Frances Marine National Park. Instead, we would cruise directly to
Cienfuegos, our last city on the 11-day Cuba expedition.
During the course of the cruise, our schedule changed almost daily from
our printed itinerary.
The previous day on Juventud, we had reached shore without a hitch. We
toured Presidio Modelo, where Fidel Castro and fellow revolutionaries
were imprisoned in 1953 through 1955. We then made a delightful visit to
Nueva Gerona's Escuela de Arte Leonardo Luberta, a music school for
gifted children.
We walked El Búlevar, a pedestrian-only boulevard where city residents
turned out to watch us watch a terrific show. The show featured models
dressed in minimalist pirate's clothing made of newspapers, and two
local bands, one playing for a presentation by children of a folkloric
dance, a second performing music of the Santeria Church as dancers
representing the orishas, Yemayá and Eleggua, swirled.
"After such an inspiring day among the creativity, talent and spirit of
the local people, and after seeing the benefits from so many of the
government institutions like art schools and hospitals, today we faced
our share of difficulties," said Tom O'Brien, our expedition leader, as
we motor-sailed east to Cienfuegos (toasting with a spontaneous round of
Bloody Marys).
Earlier in the week we had been turned away from two seaside sites,
including famed Jardines de la Reina (Gardens of the Queen) Marine Park,
the attraction that had drawn some of the passengers to book this
voyage. Now we had been outmaneuvered by the Cuban military, although
they did it politely and respectfully.
O'Brien applauded passengers for their patience, flexibility, open minds
and "surprisingly high spirits."
Why not? While snorkeling and swimming were out — in fact, we never
dipped our bodies into the water during the entire week at sea — we
remained a satisfied lot of travelers, sailing in and around ports on
the southwestern coast of Cuba, which largely has been closed to
Americans since the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.
Fifty-five years later, we had floated up to the infamous Bay of Pigs
and calmly walked ashore to visit a museum in Playa Girón for Cuba's
version of the failed invasion. We began the morning at daybreak for a
woodsy birdwatching walk that did not yield a Cuban green woodpecker but
did lead us to exciting views of a dozen indigenous species, including
the Cuban pygmy-owl and the bee hummingbird, smallest bird in the world
at 2 ½ inches.
The Lindblad/National Geographic expedition to Cuba — three nights in
Havana at the venerable, outdated Nacional Hotel and seven nights
cruising on the cozy Panorama II — was described as a people-to-people
tour, as spelled out in a contract with the Cuban government. That's
what we did — meeting, listening to and/or watching talented Cubans
speak, entertain and show off their homes, businesses and creations in
Havana, Trinidad, Cienfuegos, and Nueva Gerona. Even our free time one
morning at the 60-block Havana cemetery, Cementerio Colón, seemed to
qualify as a people-to-people visit.
In Havana, the Habana Compás dance troupe drummed and danced to blends
of the rhythms of Cuba. In a private rooftop performance, Grammy-winning
Septeto Nacional, founded in 1927 and now in its fourth generation,
played Cuban music with special guest singers that included Pedro
Godinez, 90. We rode in classic American cars from the 1950s; toured
Ernest Hemingway's former home, Finca Vigía; and met with artists and
young journalists (at OnCubaMagazine.com, which is published in the
United States).
In Cienfuegos, the Cantores de Cienfuegos choir sang religious and
classical Cuban songs. In a specially arranged musical program, children
performed "Cucarachita Martina" at a harborside pavilion.
We ate well, and viewed even better at seaside rooftop restaurants and
in historic homes where Cubans are expanding their businesses and
presentations for an anticipated rise in visitors.
Havana, said guidebook author and lecturer Christopher Baker, is in the
midst of a gastro-revolution thanks to the creativity of cuentapropistas
(private entrepreneurs). Cuban food was tasty, although without much in
the way of fresh vegetables. On Panorama II, meals were more creative
than those on land, all of which were well-prepared combinations of rice
and either meat or fish.
Twice when we arrived at Cuban ports, passengers and guides lined up to
have their temperatures taken by a local nurse. That was a first for me.
In Cuba, at least on the southwestern coast, the government doesn't want
travelers bringing any germs ashore.
Travelers on this expedition unanimously reported a positive feeling
about the island and their many contacts with its residents. American
travel guides who have spent time in Cuba call it a country of
scarcities when speaking of material goods but with no scarcity of
enthusiasm and confidence among the people. That was an accurate
portrayal of the Cuban folks we met, both the people we were guided
toward and those we met casually on the streets.
By its nature, expedition cruising is significantly more adventurous
than relaxing. Such a cruise draws a special breed of travelers who are
flexible and patient about outcomes. Although Lindblad/National
Geographic expeditions are well guided by experts of the land, nature
and photography, travelers do not know for certain what expectations
will be realized, and when. That is part of the fun.
New expeditions, such as cruising the southwestern coast of Cuba,
require an additional degree of open-mindedness, anticipating a surprise
every day.
▪ Eleven-day cruises of Cuba on Panorama II start at $9,500 per person
double occupancy and are available through March, then again in December
through March 2018. Information: 800-397-3348 or expeditions.com.
David Molyneaux writes monthly about cruising. He is editor of
TheTravelMavens.com
Source: Adjusting to Cuba's rules on a Lindblad cruise of the island |
Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article137421348.html
Nestle close to signing off on new factory in Cuba
Nestle close to signing off on new factory in Cuba
SARAH MARSH
HAVANA — Reuters
Published Wednesday, Mar. 08, 2017 3:51PM EST
Last updated Wednesday, Mar. 08, 2017 4:38PM EST
Swiss firm Nestle is close to reaching a deal with Cuba on forming a new
joint venture to build a $50-million to $60-million factory to produce
coffee, biscuits and cooking products, company Vice President Laurent
Freixe said on Wednesday in Havana.
Freixe, head of Nestle's Americas division, was visiting the
Communist-ruled island to negotiate the new investment in the Mariel
special development zone west of Havana as well as to renew for another
20 years an existing joint venture producing ice cream.
Cuba has upped its drive to attract foreign funds in a bid to stimulate
the economy in recent years, introducing a new investment law and
creating the Mariel zone, which offers companies significant tax and
customs breaks.
Nestle has been one of the largest investors in the country since it
opened the door to Western capital in the 1990s after the fall of former
benefactor the Soviet Union.
"The idea is to create a new joint venture to produce and distribute
these products mainly for the Cuban market but also with the idea of
exporting some products," Freixe said in an interview.
Coffee in particular is ideal for export, he said, pointing to the
success of a limited edition of Cuban coffee by Nestle's Nespresso last
year – the first Cuban coffee sold in the United States in more than 50
years.
"Talks are very advanced, now it is more a question of finalizing them
and completing the issue of financing," Freixe said, adding that Nestle
would have a 51 per cent share in the company.
That is comparable to Nestle's share in its two other Cuban factories,
one producing ice cream and the other bottled water and other beverages,
he said. Nestle also imports food products for sale in Cuban stores.
Cuba said last November it had approved 19 ventures so far in Mariel,
which is centered around a container terminal that the country hopes
will become a regional hub.
The development zone is part of Cuba's drive to update the centrally
planned economy under President Raul Castro, who took over from his
brother, the late Fidel Castro, in 2008.
Nestle's new factory, set to begin operations in the second half of
2019, will cater to growing demand after a surge in tourism and help
replace imports with locally made products, Freixe said. It will employ
around 300 people.
"Tourism is going to double in the coming years, meanwhile demand is
today only partially covered by local production," he said, adding that
Nestle was considering expanding its two other factories in Cuba.
Nestle's sales in Cuba grew last year, in tandem with its revenues
throughout Latin America, Freixe said.
"It was single-digit growth, so not spectacular because there are also
liquidity limitations that limit potential, but demand is there and we
are growing," he said.
Cash-strapped Cuba has struggled to pay providers on time recently as
revenues decline due to a drop in exports and the crisis in key trading
partner Venezuela. Its economy shrank 0.9 per cent last year, according
to the government.
Source: Nestle close to signing off on new factory in Cuba - The Globe
and Mail -
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/nestle-close-to-signing-off-on-new-factory-in-cuba/article34241325/
SARAH MARSH
HAVANA — Reuters
Published Wednesday, Mar. 08, 2017 3:51PM EST
Last updated Wednesday, Mar. 08, 2017 4:38PM EST
Swiss firm Nestle is close to reaching a deal with Cuba on forming a new
joint venture to build a $50-million to $60-million factory to produce
coffee, biscuits and cooking products, company Vice President Laurent
Freixe said on Wednesday in Havana.
Freixe, head of Nestle's Americas division, was visiting the
Communist-ruled island to negotiate the new investment in the Mariel
special development zone west of Havana as well as to renew for another
20 years an existing joint venture producing ice cream.
Cuba has upped its drive to attract foreign funds in a bid to stimulate
the economy in recent years, introducing a new investment law and
creating the Mariel zone, which offers companies significant tax and
customs breaks.
Nestle has been one of the largest investors in the country since it
opened the door to Western capital in the 1990s after the fall of former
benefactor the Soviet Union.
"The idea is to create a new joint venture to produce and distribute
these products mainly for the Cuban market but also with the idea of
exporting some products," Freixe said in an interview.
Coffee in particular is ideal for export, he said, pointing to the
success of a limited edition of Cuban coffee by Nestle's Nespresso last
year – the first Cuban coffee sold in the United States in more than 50
years.
"Talks are very advanced, now it is more a question of finalizing them
and completing the issue of financing," Freixe said, adding that Nestle
would have a 51 per cent share in the company.
That is comparable to Nestle's share in its two other Cuban factories,
one producing ice cream and the other bottled water and other beverages,
he said. Nestle also imports food products for sale in Cuban stores.
Cuba said last November it had approved 19 ventures so far in Mariel,
which is centered around a container terminal that the country hopes
will become a regional hub.
The development zone is part of Cuba's drive to update the centrally
planned economy under President Raul Castro, who took over from his
brother, the late Fidel Castro, in 2008.
Nestle's new factory, set to begin operations in the second half of
2019, will cater to growing demand after a surge in tourism and help
replace imports with locally made products, Freixe said. It will employ
around 300 people.
"Tourism is going to double in the coming years, meanwhile demand is
today only partially covered by local production," he said, adding that
Nestle was considering expanding its two other factories in Cuba.
Nestle's sales in Cuba grew last year, in tandem with its revenues
throughout Latin America, Freixe said.
"It was single-digit growth, so not spectacular because there are also
liquidity limitations that limit potential, but demand is there and we
are growing," he said.
Cash-strapped Cuba has struggled to pay providers on time recently as
revenues decline due to a drop in exports and the crisis in key trading
partner Venezuela. Its economy shrank 0.9 per cent last year, according
to the government.
Source: Nestle close to signing off on new factory in Cuba - The Globe
and Mail -
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/nestle-close-to-signing-off-on-new-factory-in-cuba/article34241325/
Boulder company helps Cuba catch up in the tech race
Boulder company helps Cuba catch up in the tech race
Next with Kyle Clark. 9NEWS @ 6. 3/7/2017
Mike Grady , KUSA 2:52 PM. MST March 08, 2017
BOULDER, COLO. - A good laugh can be a great cure for a lack of
creativity. That's why you'll hear plenty of it at Boomtown Accelerator
in Boulder.
Jose Vieitez, the co-founder, helps startups fine tune their software,
business strategy and other elements essential to a successful business.
"When you start a company, it's very easy to start building product and
figure out how to make money later," he says.
But this group is not made up of Boulder techies
"My company is called Isladentro," Indhira Sotillo says through a
translator. "It is a mobile application that acts as a guide to Cuba."
Her app is essentially a type of Yelp for Cuba.
Sotillo founded Isladentro in Havana in 2013. She visited Boomtown on
Tuesday with two other Cuban tech startups.
"It's been a great benefit to be able to learn about business here, but
also to show what we're able to do in Cuba," Sotillo says.
The companies are among the 10 winners of the 10x10KCuba competition.
They've earned the opportunity to work with accelerators in America and
Mexico.
Running a Cuban based tech company isn't like starting one in the U.S.
It creates unique challenges, which call for creative solutions.
Sotillo's app is offline now because in Cuba people have very limited
internet connectivity.
"All of the information is in the app, so you have the sense of being
online even though you're not."
Vieitez's family still lives in Cuba. He knows firsthand the sacrifice
that Cuban entrepreneurs make daily.
"All the time you have to make sure that you're playing by government
rules, and in addition making good business decisions which can be
difficult," he says.
Vieitez hopes the ideas developed during the two weeks he's spending
with the companies will have a global impact. And Indhira is looking
forward to sharing her foreign tech experience back home.
"Everyone is helping each other be successful in their businesses, and
that's something I'd like to take back to Cuba," she says.
Source: Boulder company helps Cuba catch up in the tech race | 9news.com
-
http://www.9news.com/news/local/next/boulder-company-helps-cuba-catch-up-in-the-tech-race/420890424
Next with Kyle Clark. 9NEWS @ 6. 3/7/2017
Mike Grady , KUSA 2:52 PM. MST March 08, 2017
BOULDER, COLO. - A good laugh can be a great cure for a lack of
creativity. That's why you'll hear plenty of it at Boomtown Accelerator
in Boulder.
Jose Vieitez, the co-founder, helps startups fine tune their software,
business strategy and other elements essential to a successful business.
"When you start a company, it's very easy to start building product and
figure out how to make money later," he says.
But this group is not made up of Boulder techies
"My company is called Isladentro," Indhira Sotillo says through a
translator. "It is a mobile application that acts as a guide to Cuba."
Her app is essentially a type of Yelp for Cuba.
Sotillo founded Isladentro in Havana in 2013. She visited Boomtown on
Tuesday with two other Cuban tech startups.
"It's been a great benefit to be able to learn about business here, but
also to show what we're able to do in Cuba," Sotillo says.
The companies are among the 10 winners of the 10x10KCuba competition.
They've earned the opportunity to work with accelerators in America and
Mexico.
Running a Cuban based tech company isn't like starting one in the U.S.
It creates unique challenges, which call for creative solutions.
Sotillo's app is offline now because in Cuba people have very limited
internet connectivity.
"All of the information is in the app, so you have the sense of being
online even though you're not."
Vieitez's family still lives in Cuba. He knows firsthand the sacrifice
that Cuban entrepreneurs make daily.
"All the time you have to make sure that you're playing by government
rules, and in addition making good business decisions which can be
difficult," he says.
Vieitez hopes the ideas developed during the two weeks he's spending
with the companies will have a global impact. And Indhira is looking
forward to sharing her foreign tech experience back home.
"Everyone is helping each other be successful in their businesses, and
that's something I'd like to take back to Cuba," she says.
Source: Boulder company helps Cuba catch up in the tech race | 9news.com
-
http://www.9news.com/news/local/next/boulder-company-helps-cuba-catch-up-in-the-tech-race/420890424
Future of democracy in Cuba
Future of democracy in Cuba
Posted: Mar 08, 2017 5:48 AM
Updated: Mar 08, 2017 6:09 AM
Two human rights activists from the island nation spoke about what it
will take to secure democracy in the country.
Rosa María Payá with the Christian Liberation Movement and Cuba Decide
and Oswaldo Payá were invited to the university by the Department of
Political Science.
Cuba Decide is a citizen initiative that coordinates the efforts of
those seeking a binding referendum to bring about free, pluralistic, and
fair elections on the island.
"Its important that we all understand is that because Fidel Castro is
gone that doesn't mean that there is a transition process going on in
the island," Payá says. "The transition process is going to start in the
moment in which the Cuban people could have a voice. And in order to
have a voice we need also the support of the international community and
the American people."
Video:
http://www.katc.com/clip/13157691/future-of-democracy-in-cuba
Source: Future of democracy in Cuba - KATC.com | Continuous News
Coverage | Acadiana-Lafayette -
http://www.katc.com/story/34692353/democracy-in-cuba
Posted: Mar 08, 2017 5:48 AM
Updated: Mar 08, 2017 6:09 AM
Two human rights activists from the island nation spoke about what it
will take to secure democracy in the country.
Rosa María Payá with the Christian Liberation Movement and Cuba Decide
and Oswaldo Payá were invited to the university by the Department of
Political Science.
Cuba Decide is a citizen initiative that coordinates the efforts of
those seeking a binding referendum to bring about free, pluralistic, and
fair elections on the island.
"Its important that we all understand is that because Fidel Castro is
gone that doesn't mean that there is a transition process going on in
the island," Payá says. "The transition process is going to start in the
moment in which the Cuban people could have a voice. And in order to
have a voice we need also the support of the international community and
the American people."
Video:
http://www.katc.com/clip/13157691/future-of-democracy-in-cuba
Source: Future of democracy in Cuba - KATC.com | Continuous News
Coverage | Acadiana-Lafayette -
http://www.katc.com/story/34692353/democracy-in-cuba
Want to visit Cuba before it’s commercialized? You can’t, says ‘Havana’ author
Want to visit Cuba before it's commercialized? You can't, says 'Havana'
author
BY CONNIE OGLE
cogle@miamiherald.com
Journalist Mark Kurlansky has a sobering message for Americans who say
they want to visit Havana before it's ruined.
"You can't go before it's wrecked because it's already wrecked," he
says. "It's not the place it was in the 1950s or even the 1970s and
'80s. Americans are so egocentric. They think now suddenly it's going to
become commercial because we're there. But you can be commercial and
touristic without Americans, and Havana has already become that."
A former Chicago Tribune correspondent, Kurlansky covered the Caribbean
in the 1970s and '80s. Author of books on a startling variety of topics
— the histories of cod, salt, oysters, paper, the song "Dancing in the
Street" and frozen food among them — he has turned his attention to what
he calls "the Caribbean's great city" in his 30th book. "Havana: A
Subtropical Delirium" is the latest installment of Bloomsbury's "The
Writer and the City" series, which includes works on Florence (by David
Leavitt), Manhattan (Patrick McGrath) and Prague (John Banville).
Kurlansky, who will talk about the book on March 9 at Books & Books in
Coral Gables, jumped at the chance to produce a book about the city,
about which he writes, "Havana, for all its smells, sweat, crumbling
walls, isolation and difficult history, is the most romantic city in the
world."
"I'm an urban person," says the author, who lives in New York City.
"It's a big city, with lots of neighborhoods and things going on. And
the people are great, such great people. They have a wonderful, cynical
sense of humor. They're warm, welcoming people. That's why it's such a
great tourist place — they're glad to see people. It's economic, but
they want to talk to you, too."
"Havana" is not a political book, though writing about the Cuban capital
without mentioning the country's volatile politics is impossible. As you
might expect, the revolution looms large. But Kurlansky also focuses on
other aspects of the city: its history, culture, food, music and sports
(surprisingly, he writes that interest is shifting away from baseball
and moving toward soccer).
"Havana children have put away their small balls and sticks and taken to
foot-dribbling large balls down the street," writes Kurlansky, who also
wrote a book about Dominican baseball. "This might even be intentional
on the government's part. Just as baseball was originally popularized as
a way of embracing America and rejecting Spain, Cubans may now be
turning back to soccer as a way of rejecting the United States and
embracing Europe."
"Havana" comes at a time when American interest in travel to the island
has peaked, with a record 4 million visitors last year, a 13 percent
increase over the previous year. New cruise and airline service could
make 2017 another record-breaker, with Cuba expecting an extra 100,000
visitors, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
Despite these shifts, Kurlansky thinks the biggest changes have already
occurred.
"The really big changes happened after the fall of the Soviet Union," he
says. "Cuba was a different country when the Soviets were there. ...
They would have these goals. Most had to do with replacing things cut
off by the embargo. So they made their own Coca-Cola and ice cream. They
didn't care about tourism. The downside was there were very few hotels
and restaurants. You felt like a pioneer there. But there was tremendous
energy and enthusiasm. They were trying to create a new society. But
when the Soviets left, they didn't have any more money."
Talking about the revolution in such mild tones used to get you censured
in Miami, and Kurlansky is sure he got the occasional side-eye from
Miami airport workers when he returned from Cuba during his reporting
days. But during a recent interview with WLRN that included an hourlong
call-in segment, he didn't get a single hostile phone call, which makes
him think Miami attitudes toward visiting Cuba are shifting a bit.
Now if only Americans could understand the best thing about Havana.
"People in America think of it as a sad and downtrodden place, and I
guess it could be, but it's not because that's not who Cubans are," he
says. "In Cuba, you get a good story every day you go out walking.
People are so funny. The most popular form of joke is a Fidel joke. You
get lots of jokes about the revolution. That's their nature."
Source: Havana, Cuba is the most romantic city in the world, says author
Mark Kurlansky | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/books/article136876033.html
author
BY CONNIE OGLE
cogle@miamiherald.com
Journalist Mark Kurlansky has a sobering message for Americans who say
they want to visit Havana before it's ruined.
"You can't go before it's wrecked because it's already wrecked," he
says. "It's not the place it was in the 1950s or even the 1970s and
'80s. Americans are so egocentric. They think now suddenly it's going to
become commercial because we're there. But you can be commercial and
touristic without Americans, and Havana has already become that."
A former Chicago Tribune correspondent, Kurlansky covered the Caribbean
in the 1970s and '80s. Author of books on a startling variety of topics
— the histories of cod, salt, oysters, paper, the song "Dancing in the
Street" and frozen food among them — he has turned his attention to what
he calls "the Caribbean's great city" in his 30th book. "Havana: A
Subtropical Delirium" is the latest installment of Bloomsbury's "The
Writer and the City" series, which includes works on Florence (by David
Leavitt), Manhattan (Patrick McGrath) and Prague (John Banville).
Kurlansky, who will talk about the book on March 9 at Books & Books in
Coral Gables, jumped at the chance to produce a book about the city,
about which he writes, "Havana, for all its smells, sweat, crumbling
walls, isolation and difficult history, is the most romantic city in the
world."
"I'm an urban person," says the author, who lives in New York City.
"It's a big city, with lots of neighborhoods and things going on. And
the people are great, such great people. They have a wonderful, cynical
sense of humor. They're warm, welcoming people. That's why it's such a
great tourist place — they're glad to see people. It's economic, but
they want to talk to you, too."
"Havana" is not a political book, though writing about the Cuban capital
without mentioning the country's volatile politics is impossible. As you
might expect, the revolution looms large. But Kurlansky also focuses on
other aspects of the city: its history, culture, food, music and sports
(surprisingly, he writes that interest is shifting away from baseball
and moving toward soccer).
"Havana children have put away their small balls and sticks and taken to
foot-dribbling large balls down the street," writes Kurlansky, who also
wrote a book about Dominican baseball. "This might even be intentional
on the government's part. Just as baseball was originally popularized as
a way of embracing America and rejecting Spain, Cubans may now be
turning back to soccer as a way of rejecting the United States and
embracing Europe."
"Havana" comes at a time when American interest in travel to the island
has peaked, with a record 4 million visitors last year, a 13 percent
increase over the previous year. New cruise and airline service could
make 2017 another record-breaker, with Cuba expecting an extra 100,000
visitors, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
Despite these shifts, Kurlansky thinks the biggest changes have already
occurred.
"The really big changes happened after the fall of the Soviet Union," he
says. "Cuba was a different country when the Soviets were there. ...
They would have these goals. Most had to do with replacing things cut
off by the embargo. So they made their own Coca-Cola and ice cream. They
didn't care about tourism. The downside was there were very few hotels
and restaurants. You felt like a pioneer there. But there was tremendous
energy and enthusiasm. They were trying to create a new society. But
when the Soviets left, they didn't have any more money."
Talking about the revolution in such mild tones used to get you censured
in Miami, and Kurlansky is sure he got the occasional side-eye from
Miami airport workers when he returned from Cuba during his reporting
days. But during a recent interview with WLRN that included an hourlong
call-in segment, he didn't get a single hostile phone call, which makes
him think Miami attitudes toward visiting Cuba are shifting a bit.
Now if only Americans could understand the best thing about Havana.
"People in America think of it as a sad and downtrodden place, and I
guess it could be, but it's not because that's not who Cubans are," he
says. "In Cuba, you get a good story every day you go out walking.
People are so funny. The most popular form of joke is a Fidel joke. You
get lots of jokes about the revolution. That's their nature."
Source: Havana, Cuba is the most romantic city in the world, says author
Mark Kurlansky | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/books/article136876033.html
CCDHRN - 482 arbitrary arrests on the Island in February and a political activist, dead in prison
CCDHRN: 482 arbitrary arrests on the Island in February and a political
activist, dead in prison
DDC | La Habana | 8 de Marzo de 2017 - 20:48 CET.
In its monthly report the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National
Reconciliation (CCDHRN) denounced the "482 arbitrary arrests" of
peaceful opponents and dissidents that took place in Cuba in the month
of February.
The figure was slightly higher than those from the three preceding
months: 359 arrests (November), 458 (December) and 478 (January).
"Our Commission also documented 16 cases of physical assaults and 18
cases of harassment perpetrated by undercover political police and
paramilitary agents, with peaceful dissidents also their victims," added
the report, to which DIARIO DE CUBA had access.
The document indicated that "the Ladies in White and the Patriotic Union
of Cuba (UNPACU) were the most repressed organizations: the former has
been repeatedly subjected to harassment and other abuses, for 90
consecutive weekends, while 54 members of the UNPACU are political
prisoners, most of them remaining imprisoned without formal charges, or
awaiting trials."
The report also denounced the death in prison on February 24, at the
Combinado del Este (Havana) of the "political prisoner Hamel Santiago
Maz Hernández, a member of UNPACU, who had languished there since June
3, 2016; that is, more than 8 months without even receiving even the
kind of kangaroo court that the Castro regime calls a "trial."
"There have been many cases of Cubans who have died in government
custody, and all the moral and legal responsibility rests with the
ruling elite," concludes the CCDHRN.
Source: CCDHRN: 482 arbitrary arrests on the Island in February and a
political activist, dead in prison | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/derechos-humanos/1489002530_29507.html
activist, dead in prison
DDC | La Habana | 8 de Marzo de 2017 - 20:48 CET.
In its monthly report the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National
Reconciliation (CCDHRN) denounced the "482 arbitrary arrests" of
peaceful opponents and dissidents that took place in Cuba in the month
of February.
The figure was slightly higher than those from the three preceding
months: 359 arrests (November), 458 (December) and 478 (January).
"Our Commission also documented 16 cases of physical assaults and 18
cases of harassment perpetrated by undercover political police and
paramilitary agents, with peaceful dissidents also their victims," added
the report, to which DIARIO DE CUBA had access.
The document indicated that "the Ladies in White and the Patriotic Union
of Cuba (UNPACU) were the most repressed organizations: the former has
been repeatedly subjected to harassment and other abuses, for 90
consecutive weekends, while 54 members of the UNPACU are political
prisoners, most of them remaining imprisoned without formal charges, or
awaiting trials."
The report also denounced the death in prison on February 24, at the
Combinado del Este (Havana) of the "political prisoner Hamel Santiago
Maz Hernández, a member of UNPACU, who had languished there since June
3, 2016; that is, more than 8 months without even receiving even the
kind of kangaroo court that the Castro regime calls a "trial."
"There have been many cases of Cubans who have died in government
custody, and all the moral and legal responsibility rests with the
ruling elite," concludes the CCDHRN.
Source: CCDHRN: 482 arbitrary arrests on the Island in February and a
political activist, dead in prison | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/derechos-humanos/1489002530_29507.html
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Cuban Human Rights Group Denounces The Death Of A Political Prisoner Pending Trial
Cuban Human Rights Group Denounces The Death Of A Political Prisoner
Pending Trial / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Havana, 7 March 2017 — The Cuban Commission for Human Rights
and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) has denounced the death of
political prisoner Hamel Santiago Maz Hernández, an activist from
UNPACU, who died* on February 24 at Combinado del Este prison in
Havana. The opponent had been imprisoned for eight months without trial
for the alleged offense of contempt.
The CCDHRN has released its report for the month of February in which it
says that "there have been thousands of cases of Cubans killed in
government custody," a situation for which the authorities bear all the
"moral and legal responsibility."
The report includes the 482 arbitrary arrests of dissidents last month,
a "slightly higher figure than in January."
The CCDHRN also documented 16 cases of physical aggression and 18 of
harassment, "by the secret political police and para-police agents,"
with the victims being peaceful opponents, adds the report.
The text clarifies that, given "the closed nature of the regime that has
ruled Cuba for almost 60 years," it is "impossible to record the
thousands of violations of fundamental rights" that occur throughout the
island each month.
Nevertheless, it reports that the Ladies in White and the Patriotic
Union of Cuba (UNPACU) are once again the organizations most
repressed. In the case of the women's organization, they have been
"subjected to humiliations and other abuses" over and over. For its
part, 54 members of the UNPACU "are political prisoners, most of whom
remain imprisoned without formal charges or pending trial."
During 2016, the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National
Reconciliation (CCDHRN) documented 9,940 arbitrary detentions. This
figure "places the Government of Cuba in the first place in all of Latin
America," according to the independent organization.
*Translator's note: Cuban State Security informed his wife that he died
of a heart attack.
Source: Cuban Human Rights Group Denounces The Death Of A Political
Prisoner Pending Trial / 14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-human-rights-group-denounces-the-death-of-a-political-prisoner-pending-trial-14ymedio/
Pending Trial / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Havana, 7 March 2017 — The Cuban Commission for Human Rights
and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) has denounced the death of
political prisoner Hamel Santiago Maz Hernández, an activist from
UNPACU, who died* on February 24 at Combinado del Este prison in
Havana. The opponent had been imprisoned for eight months without trial
for the alleged offense of contempt.
The CCDHRN has released its report for the month of February in which it
says that "there have been thousands of cases of Cubans killed in
government custody," a situation for which the authorities bear all the
"moral and legal responsibility."
The report includes the 482 arbitrary arrests of dissidents last month,
a "slightly higher figure than in January."
The CCDHRN also documented 16 cases of physical aggression and 18 of
harassment, "by the secret political police and para-police agents,"
with the victims being peaceful opponents, adds the report.
The text clarifies that, given "the closed nature of the regime that has
ruled Cuba for almost 60 years," it is "impossible to record the
thousands of violations of fundamental rights" that occur throughout the
island each month.
Nevertheless, it reports that the Ladies in White and the Patriotic
Union of Cuba (UNPACU) are once again the organizations most
repressed. In the case of the women's organization, they have been
"subjected to humiliations and other abuses" over and over. For its
part, 54 members of the UNPACU "are political prisoners, most of whom
remain imprisoned without formal charges or pending trial."
During 2016, the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National
Reconciliation (CCDHRN) documented 9,940 arbitrary detentions. This
figure "places the Government of Cuba in the first place in all of Latin
America," according to the independent organization.
*Translator's note: Cuban State Security informed his wife that he died
of a heart attack.
Source: Cuban Human Rights Group Denounces The Death Of A Political
Prisoner Pending Trial / 14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-human-rights-group-denounces-the-death-of-a-political-prisoner-pending-trial-14ymedio/
Havana Taxi Drivers Up In Arms
Havana Taxi Drivers Up In Arms / Iván García
Ivan Garcia, 27 February 2017 — After working twelve hours driving a
vintage 1957 Chevrolet for a collective taxi company on the
Cotorro-Central Park route, twenty-nine year old Osdiel sits down to
have a beer at a dark bar in the south end of Havana, where he unleashes
his frustration over new measures Cuban authorities have adopted.
Without a leader or a labor union looking out for their interests, a
large faction of Havana taxi drivers is organizing to overturn what they
consider to be arbitrary regulations imposed by the regime of Raúl Castro.
This report will be concise. Havana is a densely populated metropolitan
area of more than two and a half million residents with a road network
routinely in disrepair and a mass transit system in chaos. In the summer
of 2016 the city began regulating prices for private taxi services.
In the Cuban capital there are about thirty designated taxi corridors.
These are fixed routes costing between 10 and 20 pesos per ride based on
travel distance. The current fleet of taxis, which is operated by
licensed drivers as well as individuals who work clandestinely on the
sidelines, is estimated at between 10,000 and 12,000 automobiles.
"Sometimes there are more because drivers from nearby provinces such as
Artemisa, Mayabeque, Pinar del River and Matanzas come to Havana. That's
in addition to the hundreds of drivers working for state-owned companies
who pick up passengers during and after normal working hours to earn
extra money," says Francisco, an official with ONAT (National Office of
Tax Administration), an institution that regulates private sector work
in Cuba.
Beginning in 2016, along with a rollback of the autocratic regime's
timid economic reforms, the government began meddling in prices that had
been determined by supply and demand.
In January of last year the government began a policy of regulating
prices for produce. In the last twelve months it has closed 60% of
independent farmers' markets.
The state does not sell fuel or spare parts at wholesale prices to
private-sector taxi drivers in spite of the public benefit they provide.
Eliecer, who drives a Soviet-era Lada along the Vibora-Vedado route,
explains, "In no paragraph of our contract does it say that the
government can regulate prices. We set them based upon supply and demand."
Before 1959 public transportation in Cuba was efficient but that all
ended once Fidel Castro and his bearded men came to power. For almost
six decades since then, it has been a pressing issue for the regime.
Bus, taxi, rail, shipping and air transportation have been plagued with
shortages that have impacted the time and ways it takes to transport
millions of people from one place to another within a city or across the
country.
Though Havana should ideally have have a fleet of 3,000 buses, there are
only about 900 operating. Along the busiest routes such as the P6, P7,
P11 and P14, buses should arrive every three minutes during peak hours
but only come along once every ten or fifteen minutes. And there is no
subway or suburban rail network serving the city.
Three decades ago, the state operated 4,000 taxis and charged modest
prices. The fleet of state-run taxis now numbers less than 200 and often
are used to provide services to hospitals and funeral homes. These taxis
are also rented out, at market rates, to drivers who have finished their
shifts.
There is a fleet of some 800 modern, air-conditioned cars which charge
in convertible pesos and are used primarily by tourists, foreign
visitors and affluent Cubans.
The regime has discreetly launched a small enterprise called Cubataxis,
a network of taxis with fares priced in hard currency. Three years ago
it began leasing them to drivers. "You get 500 CUCs (convertible pesos)
as a loan and every day you have to hand over 55 CUCs to the government.
The authorities give us twenty liters of fuel; we have to buy the rest.
To meet the guidelines, we have to clock up to thirteen hours a day. We
get to keep the car at home and we set the fares," explains Dagoberto,
who drives of a Chinese-made Geely.
For private-sector taxi drivers like Erasmo, this difference matters.
"Why don't they regulate Cubataxis' prices? Oh, because the government
makes money off this business. We fulfill a need in society. We
transport hundreds of thousands of people a day. We are doing the work
the government should be doing," he complains.
For a long time drivers who work for state-run businesses have sold fuel
at prices lower than those at gas stations. "On the black market a liter
of gasoline costs between twelve and fifteen pesos. The government sells
it for 28 pesos," says a private sector taxi driver.
According to reports, the reduction of petroleum imports from Venezuela
— deliveries fell from 100,000 barrels a day to 55,000 — is what led to
the Cuban government to begin charging its business operations for fuel.
This led to a shortage on the black market, forcing most private-sector
taxi drivers to raise prices. A trip that normally would have cost ten
pesos was soon up to twenty.
When authorities in Havana ordered a cap on cab fares in July 2016, the
response from a large number of taxi drivers was to break up the rides
into smaller segments. For example, if a trip from La Palma to
Brotherhood Park cost ten pesos, they would split it into two and
increase their profit.
Such subterfuge along with the price hikes have irritated large numbers
of customers who rely on shared taxis on a daily basis to get around.
"The government took advantage of a bad situation to adopt populist
measures that favor passengers. But they didn't take into account the
fact that taxi drivers are the owners of their vehicles and can
determine prices. Now that there is a lid on prices, God help you if you
are trying to catch a taxi," says Lisván.
For Osdiel, the owner of a 1957 Chevrolet, the problem is one of
negotiation. "The government wants us to do what it wants us to do. But
this is not the era of slavery. Most taxi drivers want to sit down and
talk, then come to an agreement. My proposal would be for the
authorities to sell us a certain amount of fuel at a subsidized price in
exchange for them being able to set prices."
Manuel, a slow talking kind of guy, believes, "The targets of this
offensive are the owners of small fleets of cars, jeeps and trucks. They
want to screw us over because we make a lot of money. And that's a crime
in this system. Sixty percent of private-sector taxi drivers in Havana
don't own their vehicles. They are salaried workers. I estimate that a
hundred or two hundred people own at least four or five cars each and
have ten to twelve employees working for them. I own six cars, five
jeeps and three trucks. The purpose of these measures is to wipe us off
the map."
For the time being, more than four thousand drivers have decided not to
go to work next Monday, February 27. "We will say that our cars are
busted or we are sick. We will go on strike. Let's see what they'll do
then," says Osdiel defiantly.
The battle between private-sector taxi drivers and the government of
Raúl Castro has become like a serialized novel. We will see what the
next installment brings.
Source: Havana Taxi Drivers Up In Arms / Iván García – Translating Cuba
- http://translatingcuba.com/havana-taxi-drivers-up-in-arms-ivn-garca/
Ivan Garcia, 27 February 2017 — After working twelve hours driving a
vintage 1957 Chevrolet for a collective taxi company on the
Cotorro-Central Park route, twenty-nine year old Osdiel sits down to
have a beer at a dark bar in the south end of Havana, where he unleashes
his frustration over new measures Cuban authorities have adopted.
Without a leader or a labor union looking out for their interests, a
large faction of Havana taxi drivers is organizing to overturn what they
consider to be arbitrary regulations imposed by the regime of Raúl Castro.
This report will be concise. Havana is a densely populated metropolitan
area of more than two and a half million residents with a road network
routinely in disrepair and a mass transit system in chaos. In the summer
of 2016 the city began regulating prices for private taxi services.
In the Cuban capital there are about thirty designated taxi corridors.
These are fixed routes costing between 10 and 20 pesos per ride based on
travel distance. The current fleet of taxis, which is operated by
licensed drivers as well as individuals who work clandestinely on the
sidelines, is estimated at between 10,000 and 12,000 automobiles.
"Sometimes there are more because drivers from nearby provinces such as
Artemisa, Mayabeque, Pinar del River and Matanzas come to Havana. That's
in addition to the hundreds of drivers working for state-owned companies
who pick up passengers during and after normal working hours to earn
extra money," says Francisco, an official with ONAT (National Office of
Tax Administration), an institution that regulates private sector work
in Cuba.
Beginning in 2016, along with a rollback of the autocratic regime's
timid economic reforms, the government began meddling in prices that had
been determined by supply and demand.
In January of last year the government began a policy of regulating
prices for produce. In the last twelve months it has closed 60% of
independent farmers' markets.
The state does not sell fuel or spare parts at wholesale prices to
private-sector taxi drivers in spite of the public benefit they provide.
Eliecer, who drives a Soviet-era Lada along the Vibora-Vedado route,
explains, "In no paragraph of our contract does it say that the
government can regulate prices. We set them based upon supply and demand."
Before 1959 public transportation in Cuba was efficient but that all
ended once Fidel Castro and his bearded men came to power. For almost
six decades since then, it has been a pressing issue for the regime.
Bus, taxi, rail, shipping and air transportation have been plagued with
shortages that have impacted the time and ways it takes to transport
millions of people from one place to another within a city or across the
country.
Though Havana should ideally have have a fleet of 3,000 buses, there are
only about 900 operating. Along the busiest routes such as the P6, P7,
P11 and P14, buses should arrive every three minutes during peak hours
but only come along once every ten or fifteen minutes. And there is no
subway or suburban rail network serving the city.
Three decades ago, the state operated 4,000 taxis and charged modest
prices. The fleet of state-run taxis now numbers less than 200 and often
are used to provide services to hospitals and funeral homes. These taxis
are also rented out, at market rates, to drivers who have finished their
shifts.
There is a fleet of some 800 modern, air-conditioned cars which charge
in convertible pesos and are used primarily by tourists, foreign
visitors and affluent Cubans.
The regime has discreetly launched a small enterprise called Cubataxis,
a network of taxis with fares priced in hard currency. Three years ago
it began leasing them to drivers. "You get 500 CUCs (convertible pesos)
as a loan and every day you have to hand over 55 CUCs to the government.
The authorities give us twenty liters of fuel; we have to buy the rest.
To meet the guidelines, we have to clock up to thirteen hours a day. We
get to keep the car at home and we set the fares," explains Dagoberto,
who drives of a Chinese-made Geely.
For private-sector taxi drivers like Erasmo, this difference matters.
"Why don't they regulate Cubataxis' prices? Oh, because the government
makes money off this business. We fulfill a need in society. We
transport hundreds of thousands of people a day. We are doing the work
the government should be doing," he complains.
For a long time drivers who work for state-run businesses have sold fuel
at prices lower than those at gas stations. "On the black market a liter
of gasoline costs between twelve and fifteen pesos. The government sells
it for 28 pesos," says a private sector taxi driver.
According to reports, the reduction of petroleum imports from Venezuela
— deliveries fell from 100,000 barrels a day to 55,000 — is what led to
the Cuban government to begin charging its business operations for fuel.
This led to a shortage on the black market, forcing most private-sector
taxi drivers to raise prices. A trip that normally would have cost ten
pesos was soon up to twenty.
When authorities in Havana ordered a cap on cab fares in July 2016, the
response from a large number of taxi drivers was to break up the rides
into smaller segments. For example, if a trip from La Palma to
Brotherhood Park cost ten pesos, they would split it into two and
increase their profit.
Such subterfuge along with the price hikes have irritated large numbers
of customers who rely on shared taxis on a daily basis to get around.
"The government took advantage of a bad situation to adopt populist
measures that favor passengers. But they didn't take into account the
fact that taxi drivers are the owners of their vehicles and can
determine prices. Now that there is a lid on prices, God help you if you
are trying to catch a taxi," says Lisván.
For Osdiel, the owner of a 1957 Chevrolet, the problem is one of
negotiation. "The government wants us to do what it wants us to do. But
this is not the era of slavery. Most taxi drivers want to sit down and
talk, then come to an agreement. My proposal would be for the
authorities to sell us a certain amount of fuel at a subsidized price in
exchange for them being able to set prices."
Manuel, a slow talking kind of guy, believes, "The targets of this
offensive are the owners of small fleets of cars, jeeps and trucks. They
want to screw us over because we make a lot of money. And that's a crime
in this system. Sixty percent of private-sector taxi drivers in Havana
don't own their vehicles. They are salaried workers. I estimate that a
hundred or two hundred people own at least four or five cars each and
have ten to twelve employees working for them. I own six cars, five
jeeps and three trucks. The purpose of these measures is to wipe us off
the map."
For the time being, more than four thousand drivers have decided not to
go to work next Monday, February 27. "We will say that our cars are
busted or we are sick. We will go on strike. Let's see what they'll do
then," says Osdiel defiantly.
The battle between private-sector taxi drivers and the government of
Raúl Castro has become like a serialized novel. We will see what the
next installment brings.
Source: Havana Taxi Drivers Up In Arms / Iván García – Translating Cuba
- http://translatingcuba.com/havana-taxi-drivers-up-in-arms-ivn-garca/
Disappeared
Disappeared / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 7 March 2017 — The two personalities
who represent the polar opposites of the so-called process of updating
the Cuban model have disappeared. We have seen neither hide nor hair of
the "captain" of economic reforms, Marino Murillo, since October of last
year, and Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, considered the braking mechanism
for any measure that looks like a change, has not appeared in the
official media since 27 February.
Murillo did not appear in the images that filled the media during the
nine days of the funeral and mourning period of former President Fidel
Castro. He was not seen in the last session of the parliament fulfilling
his usual role of asking for accountability on the implementation of the
Party's Guidelines. He was not on the viewing platform saluting the
troops who marched in the military parade of 2 January, nor at any other
significant event of the ruling party during the current year.
On the other hand, rare is the day when the second secretary of the
Communist Party, Machado Ventura, does not appear visiting a chicken
farm, sausage factory or a sugar mill, moments that he uses to hammer
home his slogans of discipline andcontrol, demands that put him in the
headlines almost daily in the official press. He is the visible face
that exhorts the peasants to produce food and the workers to comply with
savings measures.
However, the most significant sign that unveils the wide range of
suspicions about the whereabouts of this hardliner has been that when
Raul Castro returned from his brief trip to Venezuela, the so-often
repeated scene of Machado Ventura receiving him at the bottom the
airplane stairs was missing. Perhaps this is the first time that images
of the general president's return to the country were not released and
that the press didn't mention who welcomed him.
The last meeting of the Council of Ministers, held on 28 February, was
the first of Raul Castro's presidential term that was not broadcast live
on television, nor were photos published in the Party newspaper Granma.
Both Murillo and Machado Ventura should have been visible as members of
the group of highest ranking decision makers in the country.
Instead, in the official information about the meeting there was a
reference to Leonardo Andolla Valdea, deputy chief of the Permanent
Commission for the Implementation and Development of the Party
Guidelines. He was in charge of saying, on this occasion, what would
have normally been said by Murillo, also known as the "czar of the
economic reforms."
It is not serious to spread rumors, much less to invent them. In
journalism only the facts must be counted, showing evidence and citing
sources. However, under the opaque veil of secrecy in which the most
important political and economic events unfold in Cuba, absences attract
attention as much as presences. What is not said can be as revealing as
what is stated.
Source: Disappeared / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/disappeared-14ymedio-reinaldo-escobar/
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 7 March 2017 — The two personalities
who represent the polar opposites of the so-called process of updating
the Cuban model have disappeared. We have seen neither hide nor hair of
the "captain" of economic reforms, Marino Murillo, since October of last
year, and Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, considered the braking mechanism
for any measure that looks like a change, has not appeared in the
official media since 27 February.
Murillo did not appear in the images that filled the media during the
nine days of the funeral and mourning period of former President Fidel
Castro. He was not seen in the last session of the parliament fulfilling
his usual role of asking for accountability on the implementation of the
Party's Guidelines. He was not on the viewing platform saluting the
troops who marched in the military parade of 2 January, nor at any other
significant event of the ruling party during the current year.
On the other hand, rare is the day when the second secretary of the
Communist Party, Machado Ventura, does not appear visiting a chicken
farm, sausage factory or a sugar mill, moments that he uses to hammer
home his slogans of discipline andcontrol, demands that put him in the
headlines almost daily in the official press. He is the visible face
that exhorts the peasants to produce food and the workers to comply with
savings measures.
However, the most significant sign that unveils the wide range of
suspicions about the whereabouts of this hardliner has been that when
Raul Castro returned from his brief trip to Venezuela, the so-often
repeated scene of Machado Ventura receiving him at the bottom the
airplane stairs was missing. Perhaps this is the first time that images
of the general president's return to the country were not released and
that the press didn't mention who welcomed him.
The last meeting of the Council of Ministers, held on 28 February, was
the first of Raul Castro's presidential term that was not broadcast live
on television, nor were photos published in the Party newspaper Granma.
Both Murillo and Machado Ventura should have been visible as members of
the group of highest ranking decision makers in the country.
Instead, in the official information about the meeting there was a
reference to Leonardo Andolla Valdea, deputy chief of the Permanent
Commission for the Implementation and Development of the Party
Guidelines. He was in charge of saying, on this occasion, what would
have normally been said by Murillo, also known as the "czar of the
economic reforms."
It is not serious to spread rumors, much less to invent them. In
journalism only the facts must be counted, showing evidence and citing
sources. However, under the opaque veil of secrecy in which the most
important political and economic events unfold in Cuba, absences attract
attention as much as presences. What is not said can be as revealing as
what is stated.
Source: Disappeared / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/disappeared-14ymedio-reinaldo-escobar/
No sign of release for the last Cuban spy in a US jail
No sign of release for the last Cuban spy in a US jail
Despite thaw in relations, Ana Belén Montes looks set to serve last nine
years of quarter-century sentence
PABLO DE LLANO
Corresponsal en Miami
Miami 8 MAR 2017 - 16:05 CET
On February 28, in her cell at a maximum security prison in Fort Worth,
Texas, Ana Belén Montes turned 60 years of age. Once regarded as one of
the Pentagon's top analysts and an expert on Cuba's military, the
so-called "Queen of Cuba" was arrested in 2001 when her 17-year career
as Cuban spy was discovered and she was sentenced to 25 years in jail.
Despite the thaw in relations between Havana and Washington under Barack
Obama, which saw three of the last Cuban spies returned home in 2014,
Montes remains behind bars in a facility reserved for some of the most
dangerous and mentally ill prisoners in the United States.
In 2016, a family member revealed that Montes had undergone surgery for
breast cancer, although there has been no official confirmation of this.
Her release is currently scheduled for 2026, by which point she will be
69 years old.
Unlike the three prisoners released in 2014, the Cuban government has
never officially campaigned for Montes' freedom. In June 2016, Miami
Spanish-language daily El Nuevo Herald reported that Cuban officials had
asked after her during a meeting in the United States. A few months
earlier, Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez had called for her
release at a concert in Spain. The request was repeated a few days ago
at one of his concerts in Puerto Rico. Mariela Castro, daughter of
Cuba's President Raúl Castro, posted a report from Venezuela's official
news agency mentioning that a campaign for Montes' freedom had been
organized in Cuba.
Montes penetrated US intelligence deeper than any other Cuban agent
Writing in his blog on Montes' birthday about her treatment by the
regime, Cuban journalist Harold Cárdenas said: "The Cuban Foreign
Ministry's discretion is understandable. In contrast, the silence in the
national media is shameful."
There has been speculation that the United States and Cuba are
negotiating Montes' exchange for Assata Shakur, the Black Panther leader
accused of shooting a police officer who managed to escape to Cuba in
1984, claiming political asylum. But a 2016 US State Department internal
document rejects the option.
Montes is considered to be the Cuban agent who most deeply penetrated US
intelligence. An analyst at the Pentagon, she was recruited by Havana in
1984, and after undergoing training, would report each night to her
handlers via shortwave radio without ever having to make copies of
documents, thanks to her remarkable memory.
She rose through the ranks from her initial position as a typist,
garnering commendations along the way, one of which was presented by the
then-head of the CIA. Born to Puerto Rican parents on a US army base in
Germany and whose two siblings worked for the FBI, while her former
boyfriend was a Pentagon official, Montes passed on top-secret
information, such as the identity of four US spies in Cuba or US
activities in Central America. She refused payment for her spying,
telling the judge at her 2002 trial she acted out of "love" for Cuba,
which she felt was being treated "cruelly" by the United States.
The Cuban government has never officially campaigned for Montes' freedom
Former CIA analyst Brian Latell, who worked with Montes, remembers her
as "bitter" and "prepared to risk her life for her love of Fidel Castro
and his revolution."
Piero Gleijeses, an expert in US foreign policy, was her teacher in the
1980s when Montes undertook a Master's in International Studies at Johns
Hopkins University. He remembers her as a "brilliant" student regarded
as "conservative" in the classroom. Montes visited him in a decade
later, ostensibly to discuss a paper he had written, but in reality to
scope him for information about Cuba. "I told her that if I had any
confidential information I wouldn't tell her, because I knew where she
worked and I didn't agree with US foreign policy."
A year ago, in a letter to her family, Montes wrote from her cell:
"There are certain things in life that are worth going to jail for. Or
that are worth committing suicide for after doing them."
English version by Nick Lyne.
Source: US-Cuban thaw: No sign of release for the last Cuban spy in a US
jail | In English | EL PAÍS -
http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/03/08/inenglish/1488974544_403150.html
Despite thaw in relations, Ana Belén Montes looks set to serve last nine
years of quarter-century sentence
PABLO DE LLANO
Corresponsal en Miami
Miami 8 MAR 2017 - 16:05 CET
On February 28, in her cell at a maximum security prison in Fort Worth,
Texas, Ana Belén Montes turned 60 years of age. Once regarded as one of
the Pentagon's top analysts and an expert on Cuba's military, the
so-called "Queen of Cuba" was arrested in 2001 when her 17-year career
as Cuban spy was discovered and she was sentenced to 25 years in jail.
Despite the thaw in relations between Havana and Washington under Barack
Obama, which saw three of the last Cuban spies returned home in 2014,
Montes remains behind bars in a facility reserved for some of the most
dangerous and mentally ill prisoners in the United States.
In 2016, a family member revealed that Montes had undergone surgery for
breast cancer, although there has been no official confirmation of this.
Her release is currently scheduled for 2026, by which point she will be
69 years old.
Unlike the three prisoners released in 2014, the Cuban government has
never officially campaigned for Montes' freedom. In June 2016, Miami
Spanish-language daily El Nuevo Herald reported that Cuban officials had
asked after her during a meeting in the United States. A few months
earlier, Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez had called for her
release at a concert in Spain. The request was repeated a few days ago
at one of his concerts in Puerto Rico. Mariela Castro, daughter of
Cuba's President Raúl Castro, posted a report from Venezuela's official
news agency mentioning that a campaign for Montes' freedom had been
organized in Cuba.
Montes penetrated US intelligence deeper than any other Cuban agent
Writing in his blog on Montes' birthday about her treatment by the
regime, Cuban journalist Harold Cárdenas said: "The Cuban Foreign
Ministry's discretion is understandable. In contrast, the silence in the
national media is shameful."
There has been speculation that the United States and Cuba are
negotiating Montes' exchange for Assata Shakur, the Black Panther leader
accused of shooting a police officer who managed to escape to Cuba in
1984, claiming political asylum. But a 2016 US State Department internal
document rejects the option.
Montes is considered to be the Cuban agent who most deeply penetrated US
intelligence. An analyst at the Pentagon, she was recruited by Havana in
1984, and after undergoing training, would report each night to her
handlers via shortwave radio without ever having to make copies of
documents, thanks to her remarkable memory.
She rose through the ranks from her initial position as a typist,
garnering commendations along the way, one of which was presented by the
then-head of the CIA. Born to Puerto Rican parents on a US army base in
Germany and whose two siblings worked for the FBI, while her former
boyfriend was a Pentagon official, Montes passed on top-secret
information, such as the identity of four US spies in Cuba or US
activities in Central America. She refused payment for her spying,
telling the judge at her 2002 trial she acted out of "love" for Cuba,
which she felt was being treated "cruelly" by the United States.
The Cuban government has never officially campaigned for Montes' freedom
Former CIA analyst Brian Latell, who worked with Montes, remembers her
as "bitter" and "prepared to risk her life for her love of Fidel Castro
and his revolution."
Piero Gleijeses, an expert in US foreign policy, was her teacher in the
1980s when Montes undertook a Master's in International Studies at Johns
Hopkins University. He remembers her as a "brilliant" student regarded
as "conservative" in the classroom. Montes visited him in a decade
later, ostensibly to discuss a paper he had written, but in reality to
scope him for information about Cuba. "I told her that if I had any
confidential information I wouldn't tell her, because I knew where she
worked and I didn't agree with US foreign policy."
A year ago, in a letter to her family, Montes wrote from her cell:
"There are certain things in life that are worth going to jail for. Or
that are worth committing suicide for after doing them."
English version by Nick Lyne.
Source: US-Cuban thaw: No sign of release for the last Cuban spy in a US
jail | In English | EL PAÍS -
http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/03/08/inenglish/1488974544_403150.html
Repression in Cuba Comes in Many Forms
Repression in Cuba Comes in Many Forms
March 7, 2017
By Osmel Ramirez Alvarez
HAVANA TIMES — Every Sunday, there is the "Los Chinos" agro-market fair
in the city of Holguin in eastern Cuba. Trucks loaded with produce come
from all over the country, mainly from its central provinces. As there
is competition and since the sellers can bulk buy on the farms, there
are lower prices than normal, which doesn't exactly mean that it's cheap.
Of course, the trucks have been rented out, the real owners of this
produce are the merchants known as "intermediaries". These trade
operators play an essential role in the development of agriculture
because they stimulate production by creating confidence in
commercialization. They logically make nice profits, maybe more than
what would be fair; but the problem here doesn't lie in their existence
as such, but in the many knots in the Cuban system which make balanced
regulation almost impossible.
In the 1980s, the government experimented with the so-called Farmers'
Free Markets (MLC) and then it was shut down by Fidel himself, who
couldn't stand the idea that some Cubans were "getting rich". In order
to cure his headache, he destroyed the emerging semi-free market.
In the '90s, a Party leader from Pinar del Rio spoke about reviving the
MLC in a televised Congress session (perhaps the IV Plenary session of
the Cuban Communist Party in 1991), where the idea alone unleashed
Fidel's rage on the spot and on live TV (I watched this) and then rumors
went round from Pinar that the person who dared share his opinion had
been dismissed of his responsibilities.
When hunger took its hold of Cuba, he sent brother Raul Castro to
announce "the same dog but with a different collar": the Agro-Market. I
remember that this was announced in an interview granted to Luis Baez
and was published in Granma and then repeated across the media. The
government journalist began his article by saying that he had been
looking for that interview with Raul for some time and that Raul had
finally taken some time out for him: it was pure theater! Both of them
knew what the objective was. Fidel never spoke about the subject.
Today, criminalizing the private sector because of its high prices
continues to be a subject of debate in Parliament, especially against
the famous Intermediaries; who are restricted or prohibited at times and
have their merchandise seized resulting in great losses. However, the
truth is that they don't dare to ban them because without them
completely because there wouldn't be commerce or stable farming production.
However, these are the larger merchants, who, even though they pay for
the same license as smaller ones, have completely different functions.
Small traders who sell at a higher price are the ones who mainly
purchase their products from the larger Intermediaries. Here in the
Holguin province, hundreds of small traders (push cart or bike sellers)
travel on Sundays to the capital city and they buy their produce from
the trucks at the Los Chinos market.
Every one of them with two or three sacks also provide work for horse
drawn cart drivers and bici-taxis operators who transport them to bus
and train stations paying for every sack. A lot of people benefit from
this trade, especially the government which charges them for the
license, taking 10% of gross sales, social security payments and fines
for any silly mistakes. All of this translates into the product's final
price, which reaches customers in urban neighborhoods where it often
costs double or triple the initial price.
However, the private sector in Cuba isn't only sentenced to having these
restrictions on growth which our laws impose on them; they are also
treated like a necessary evil, harassed by whimsical regulations. They
don't have a transparent and secure supply chain, nor do they have the
legal freedom to seek it out. They do this but they take risks.
On Sunday February 5th, at the Los Chinos market, dozens of
self-employed resellers had their sacks filled with produce bought from
equally legal intermediaries. A group of inspectors approached them and
they wanted to confiscate their purchases for having violated the
"anti-hoarding law". It seems outrageous but it's true. A great
discussion broke out and the police in charge of keeping order at the
market, intervened. In the face of the resistance that had been created
by those accused and others who were doubtful in helping the inspectors,
the police called for the Head of the Unit, a Major, who turned up on
the scene.
There were several people from my town of Mayari among the traders who
had their purchases taken away. One of them, Jose Ramon, usually sells
on my street and he told me the whole story. Then I confirmed what he
told me with another seller, not without first asking several others,
among the many who pass by here every day offering their garlic,
peppers, onions or bijol under the scorching sun.
The story goes that the Major arrived arrogantly and ordered those who
wouldn't stop protesting to shut up. He was met with: "You like getting
your hands on ham a lot. Ham is what the inspectors get, who make a
living by fining us for no reason; we work really hard to earn our
pesos," one of the boldest protestors said.
After a lot of wasted time (held for over three hours under the risk of
having their things confiscated and bad times), the police finally
guided the inspectors in their conversation with them to release the
purchases. Common sense won out, but this was just one more example of
government resistance to how the private sector runs in Cuba, even at
these incipient times.
Tradesmen didn't have so few rights even in medieval hamlets!" They had
unions and brotherhoods which united and protected them, Cuban
self-employed merchants don't.
There are many forms of repression, not just political repression. This
budding private sector, which has appeared with the self-employed, is
the seed to opening up our economy more, which is fundamental so that we
can reach economic and social progress. Repressing them and prohibiting
their development with laws and individual actions is just another way
to delay this essential path: it's another form of repression in Cuba.
Source: Repression in Cuba Comes in Many Forms - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=124021
March 7, 2017
By Osmel Ramirez Alvarez
HAVANA TIMES — Every Sunday, there is the "Los Chinos" agro-market fair
in the city of Holguin in eastern Cuba. Trucks loaded with produce come
from all over the country, mainly from its central provinces. As there
is competition and since the sellers can bulk buy on the farms, there
are lower prices than normal, which doesn't exactly mean that it's cheap.
Of course, the trucks have been rented out, the real owners of this
produce are the merchants known as "intermediaries". These trade
operators play an essential role in the development of agriculture
because they stimulate production by creating confidence in
commercialization. They logically make nice profits, maybe more than
what would be fair; but the problem here doesn't lie in their existence
as such, but in the many knots in the Cuban system which make balanced
regulation almost impossible.
In the 1980s, the government experimented with the so-called Farmers'
Free Markets (MLC) and then it was shut down by Fidel himself, who
couldn't stand the idea that some Cubans were "getting rich". In order
to cure his headache, he destroyed the emerging semi-free market.
In the '90s, a Party leader from Pinar del Rio spoke about reviving the
MLC in a televised Congress session (perhaps the IV Plenary session of
the Cuban Communist Party in 1991), where the idea alone unleashed
Fidel's rage on the spot and on live TV (I watched this) and then rumors
went round from Pinar that the person who dared share his opinion had
been dismissed of his responsibilities.
When hunger took its hold of Cuba, he sent brother Raul Castro to
announce "the same dog but with a different collar": the Agro-Market. I
remember that this was announced in an interview granted to Luis Baez
and was published in Granma and then repeated across the media. The
government journalist began his article by saying that he had been
looking for that interview with Raul for some time and that Raul had
finally taken some time out for him: it was pure theater! Both of them
knew what the objective was. Fidel never spoke about the subject.
Today, criminalizing the private sector because of its high prices
continues to be a subject of debate in Parliament, especially against
the famous Intermediaries; who are restricted or prohibited at times and
have their merchandise seized resulting in great losses. However, the
truth is that they don't dare to ban them because without them
completely because there wouldn't be commerce or stable farming production.
However, these are the larger merchants, who, even though they pay for
the same license as smaller ones, have completely different functions.
Small traders who sell at a higher price are the ones who mainly
purchase their products from the larger Intermediaries. Here in the
Holguin province, hundreds of small traders (push cart or bike sellers)
travel on Sundays to the capital city and they buy their produce from
the trucks at the Los Chinos market.
Every one of them with two or three sacks also provide work for horse
drawn cart drivers and bici-taxis operators who transport them to bus
and train stations paying for every sack. A lot of people benefit from
this trade, especially the government which charges them for the
license, taking 10% of gross sales, social security payments and fines
for any silly mistakes. All of this translates into the product's final
price, which reaches customers in urban neighborhoods where it often
costs double or triple the initial price.
However, the private sector in Cuba isn't only sentenced to having these
restrictions on growth which our laws impose on them; they are also
treated like a necessary evil, harassed by whimsical regulations. They
don't have a transparent and secure supply chain, nor do they have the
legal freedom to seek it out. They do this but they take risks.
On Sunday February 5th, at the Los Chinos market, dozens of
self-employed resellers had their sacks filled with produce bought from
equally legal intermediaries. A group of inspectors approached them and
they wanted to confiscate their purchases for having violated the
"anti-hoarding law". It seems outrageous but it's true. A great
discussion broke out and the police in charge of keeping order at the
market, intervened. In the face of the resistance that had been created
by those accused and others who were doubtful in helping the inspectors,
the police called for the Head of the Unit, a Major, who turned up on
the scene.
There were several people from my town of Mayari among the traders who
had their purchases taken away. One of them, Jose Ramon, usually sells
on my street and he told me the whole story. Then I confirmed what he
told me with another seller, not without first asking several others,
among the many who pass by here every day offering their garlic,
peppers, onions or bijol under the scorching sun.
The story goes that the Major arrived arrogantly and ordered those who
wouldn't stop protesting to shut up. He was met with: "You like getting
your hands on ham a lot. Ham is what the inspectors get, who make a
living by fining us for no reason; we work really hard to earn our
pesos," one of the boldest protestors said.
After a lot of wasted time (held for over three hours under the risk of
having their things confiscated and bad times), the police finally
guided the inspectors in their conversation with them to release the
purchases. Common sense won out, but this was just one more example of
government resistance to how the private sector runs in Cuba, even at
these incipient times.
Tradesmen didn't have so few rights even in medieval hamlets!" They had
unions and brotherhoods which united and protected them, Cuban
self-employed merchants don't.
There are many forms of repression, not just political repression. This
budding private sector, which has appeared with the self-employed, is
the seed to opening up our economy more, which is fundamental so that we
can reach economic and social progress. Repressing them and prohibiting
their development with laws and individual actions is just another way
to delay this essential path: it's another form of repression in Cuba.
Source: Repression in Cuba Comes in Many Forms - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=124021
Raúl Castro slams Trump – and I’m forced to agree with the dictator. How sick is that?
Raúl Castro slams Trump – and I'm forced to agree with the dictator. How
sick is that?
BY FABIOLA SANTIAGO
fsantiago@miamiherald.com
Cuban dictator Raúl Castro has no moral authority to condemn any
democratically elected world leader.
Not when the most distinguishing trait of his and his late brother's
legacy is death, prison and exile for millions of his critics and
opponents. Not when, as if the Castros didn't already have enough blood
on their hands, there's another dissident who has died amid questionable
circumstances.
Hamell Santiago Mas Hernández, 45, walked into one of Cuba's most brutal
prisons as a healthy man after being arrested in June for a catch-all
offense dubbed desacato — disrespect — widely used as an excuse to pick
up dissidents. Eight months later, he died awaiting trial, supposedly of
a heart attack. He had developed a kidney infection and had lost 35
pounds in three weeks. His wife has denounced conditions at the
Combinado del Este prison, where not even the water is fit to drink. The
Castros have for decades refused to let independent monitors inspect
prisons where political prisoners are kept in inhumane conditions.
So I repeat: Cuban dictator Raúl Castro has no moral authority to
condemn any U.S. president.
But President Donald Trump is an easy target — and Castro is no fool.
He smells the weakness — and opportunity — handed to him on a silver
platter by Trump acting like the hemisphere's new bully on the block.
In a regional summit with leftist leaders in Caracas on Sunday, Castro
lashed out at Trump's immigration and trade policies, calling his plan
to build a wall along the Mexican border "irrational."
"The new agenda of the U.S. government threatens to unleash an extreme
and egotistical trade policy that will impact the competitiveness of our
foreign trade, violate environmental agreements to favor the profits of
transnational [companies], hunt down and deport migrants," Castro said.
And here I am, critic and exile, being forced to agree with the dictator
— a first.
How sick is that?
It's repulsive, but Trump rose to power on an agenda that puts this
country at odds with the rest of the Americas, including our allies. His
first 1 ½ months in office have been like nothing Americans have ever
seen, with Draconian executive orders being signed amid a growing
scandal about Russia's tampering with the U.S. election to benefit him,
and the lingering questions: How much did Trump know? Did he participate?
It's especially notable that Castro has chosen to break his silence on
Trump at a time when the Trump administration is in the middle of "a
full review" of President Obama's U.S.-Cuba policy — and before any
changes are announced. Castro's only comment after Trump took office was
cordial (and, as always, pompous) indicating Cuba's willingness to
"continue negotiating bilateral issues with the United States on a basis
of equality and respect of our country's sovereignty and independence."
Cuba's ambassador attended Trump's inauguration and tweeted from it. At
least two of Trump's White House advisors have been to Cuba and were
ecstatic about doing business there during the Obama years.
But Cuban Americans in Congress have been pressuring Trump to get tough
on Castro and return to the isolation polices of the late 1990s and
early 2000s. That didn't yield much change, and certainly no end to the
58-year-old dictatorship. But during Obama's tenure — and under
unrelenting internal pressure from dissidents, independent journalists,
and a population that simply can't stand the oppression anymore — Raúl
Castro began some reforms, even if the quashing of opponents seldom
relented.
It would be a regrettable turn of events if, at this critical juncture,
Trump's protective nationalist policies gave new combative fodder to
Castro — who has promised to finally leave his post in 2018 — or to
those waiting in the wings to take over Cuba.
I'll say it again: Raúl Castro — head of one of the longest-lasting
dictatorships in the world — is no one to talk.
Yet, here I am, to quote Blue Oyster Cult, giving the devil his due.
Fabiola Santiago: fsantiago@miamiherald.com, @fabiolasantiago
Source: Cuban dictator Raul Castro slams Trump's immigration and trade
policy | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fabiola-santiago/article137006518.html
sick is that?
BY FABIOLA SANTIAGO
fsantiago@miamiherald.com
Cuban dictator Raúl Castro has no moral authority to condemn any
democratically elected world leader.
Not when the most distinguishing trait of his and his late brother's
legacy is death, prison and exile for millions of his critics and
opponents. Not when, as if the Castros didn't already have enough blood
on their hands, there's another dissident who has died amid questionable
circumstances.
Hamell Santiago Mas Hernández, 45, walked into one of Cuba's most brutal
prisons as a healthy man after being arrested in June for a catch-all
offense dubbed desacato — disrespect — widely used as an excuse to pick
up dissidents. Eight months later, he died awaiting trial, supposedly of
a heart attack. He had developed a kidney infection and had lost 35
pounds in three weeks. His wife has denounced conditions at the
Combinado del Este prison, where not even the water is fit to drink. The
Castros have for decades refused to let independent monitors inspect
prisons where political prisoners are kept in inhumane conditions.
So I repeat: Cuban dictator Raúl Castro has no moral authority to
condemn any U.S. president.
But President Donald Trump is an easy target — and Castro is no fool.
He smells the weakness — and opportunity — handed to him on a silver
platter by Trump acting like the hemisphere's new bully on the block.
In a regional summit with leftist leaders in Caracas on Sunday, Castro
lashed out at Trump's immigration and trade policies, calling his plan
to build a wall along the Mexican border "irrational."
"The new agenda of the U.S. government threatens to unleash an extreme
and egotistical trade policy that will impact the competitiveness of our
foreign trade, violate environmental agreements to favor the profits of
transnational [companies], hunt down and deport migrants," Castro said.
And here I am, critic and exile, being forced to agree with the dictator
— a first.
How sick is that?
It's repulsive, but Trump rose to power on an agenda that puts this
country at odds with the rest of the Americas, including our allies. His
first 1 ½ months in office have been like nothing Americans have ever
seen, with Draconian executive orders being signed amid a growing
scandal about Russia's tampering with the U.S. election to benefit him,
and the lingering questions: How much did Trump know? Did he participate?
It's especially notable that Castro has chosen to break his silence on
Trump at a time when the Trump administration is in the middle of "a
full review" of President Obama's U.S.-Cuba policy — and before any
changes are announced. Castro's only comment after Trump took office was
cordial (and, as always, pompous) indicating Cuba's willingness to
"continue negotiating bilateral issues with the United States on a basis
of equality and respect of our country's sovereignty and independence."
Cuba's ambassador attended Trump's inauguration and tweeted from it. At
least two of Trump's White House advisors have been to Cuba and were
ecstatic about doing business there during the Obama years.
But Cuban Americans in Congress have been pressuring Trump to get tough
on Castro and return to the isolation polices of the late 1990s and
early 2000s. That didn't yield much change, and certainly no end to the
58-year-old dictatorship. But during Obama's tenure — and under
unrelenting internal pressure from dissidents, independent journalists,
and a population that simply can't stand the oppression anymore — Raúl
Castro began some reforms, even if the quashing of opponents seldom
relented.
It would be a regrettable turn of events if, at this critical juncture,
Trump's protective nationalist policies gave new combative fodder to
Castro — who has promised to finally leave his post in 2018 — or to
those waiting in the wings to take over Cuba.
I'll say it again: Raúl Castro — head of one of the longest-lasting
dictatorships in the world — is no one to talk.
Yet, here I am, to quote Blue Oyster Cult, giving the devil his due.
Fabiola Santiago: fsantiago@miamiherald.com, @fabiolasantiago
Source: Cuban dictator Raul Castro slams Trump's immigration and trade
policy | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fabiola-santiago/article137006518.html
PlaneSense jets to fly to Cuba, Bermuda
PlaneSense jets to fly to Cuba, Bermuda
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Union Leader Correspondent
PORTSMOUTH — New Hampshire residents who participate in PlaneSense's
fractional aircraft ownership program can now travel to Cuba and Bermuda.
"We have received many inquiries about travel to Cuba and Bermuda for
both business and leisure opportunities," spokesman Matt Cookson said.
The Portsmouth company began planning for flights to Cuba after the
United States eased trade and travel restrictions that have been in
place for five decades. The first commercial flights to Cuba began in
August of 2016. PlaneSense completed its first flight to Cuba in December.
CEO George Antoniadis pointed out that owners can fly to Cuba from any
of the 20 airports in New Hampshire their planes can access.
"By offering flights to Cuba, our New Hampshire owners are not only able
to experience all that this wonderful country has to offer, but they can
enjoy travel that is dramatically simplified compared to commercial
flights," Antoniadis said in a statement to the Union Leader.
"Passengers can depart from the airfield of their choice, thus avoiding
the delays of major airport hubs and, depending on certain conditions,
can fly direct."
PlaneSense can land in seven Cuban airports, including those in the
country's two largest cities, Santiago and Havana.
"Traveling to Cuba, visiting Old Havana, experiencing the lifestyle, the
music, the classic cars — it's an extraordinary opportunity whether
you're visiting for business or leisure. We're so pleased to be one of
the first companies to offer this destination to our PlaneSense aircraft
share owners so they may experience Cuba's beauty and authenticity at
this unique time in U.S. and Cuban history," Antoniadis said in a news
release announcing Cuba and Bermuda as new destinations.
The trips to Bermuda have been made possible because the company's fleet
was recently expanded to include several Nextant 400XTi jets in
preparation for the arrival of Pilatus PC-24 jets later this year.
Bermuda is an international center for financial services, a popular
vacation destination and will host the the America's Cup race in May,
Cookson said.
Travel times to Cuba and Bermuda vary and are dependent on a number of
factors, Cookson said. Typically, a flight from South Florida to Havana
takes a little over an hour in the Pilatus PC-12 aircraft.
PlaneSense has been in operation since 1995 and manages the largest
civilian fleet of Pilatus PC-12 aircraft in the world.
Source: PlaneSense jets to fly to Cuba, Bermuda | New Hampshire -
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20170308/NEWS02/170309446
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Union Leader Correspondent
PORTSMOUTH — New Hampshire residents who participate in PlaneSense's
fractional aircraft ownership program can now travel to Cuba and Bermuda.
"We have received many inquiries about travel to Cuba and Bermuda for
both business and leisure opportunities," spokesman Matt Cookson said.
The Portsmouth company began planning for flights to Cuba after the
United States eased trade and travel restrictions that have been in
place for five decades. The first commercial flights to Cuba began in
August of 2016. PlaneSense completed its first flight to Cuba in December.
CEO George Antoniadis pointed out that owners can fly to Cuba from any
of the 20 airports in New Hampshire their planes can access.
"By offering flights to Cuba, our New Hampshire owners are not only able
to experience all that this wonderful country has to offer, but they can
enjoy travel that is dramatically simplified compared to commercial
flights," Antoniadis said in a statement to the Union Leader.
"Passengers can depart from the airfield of their choice, thus avoiding
the delays of major airport hubs and, depending on certain conditions,
can fly direct."
PlaneSense can land in seven Cuban airports, including those in the
country's two largest cities, Santiago and Havana.
"Traveling to Cuba, visiting Old Havana, experiencing the lifestyle, the
music, the classic cars — it's an extraordinary opportunity whether
you're visiting for business or leisure. We're so pleased to be one of
the first companies to offer this destination to our PlaneSense aircraft
share owners so they may experience Cuba's beauty and authenticity at
this unique time in U.S. and Cuban history," Antoniadis said in a news
release announcing Cuba and Bermuda as new destinations.
The trips to Bermuda have been made possible because the company's fleet
was recently expanded to include several Nextant 400XTi jets in
preparation for the arrival of Pilatus PC-24 jets later this year.
Bermuda is an international center for financial services, a popular
vacation destination and will host the the America's Cup race in May,
Cookson said.
Travel times to Cuba and Bermuda vary and are dependent on a number of
factors, Cookson said. Typically, a flight from South Florida to Havana
takes a little over an hour in the Pilatus PC-12 aircraft.
PlaneSense has been in operation since 1995 and manages the largest
civilian fleet of Pilatus PC-12 aircraft in the world.
Source: PlaneSense jets to fly to Cuba, Bermuda | New Hampshire -
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20170308/NEWS02/170309446
She’s aging in the hemisphere’s oldest nation and survives by digging through Cuba’s trash
She's aging in the hemisphere's oldest nation and survives by digging
through Cuba's trash
BY MARIO J. PENTÓN Y LUZ ESCOBAR
mpenton@elnuevoherald.com
HAVANA
At 67, struggling against the challenges that come with aging and a
meager pension, Raquel, an engineer who in her own words was "formed by
the Revolution," survives by sifting through garbage every day in search
of recyclable products.
Hands that at one time drew plans and measured distances now pick up
cardboard, cans and other discarded containers.
"My life is a struggle from the moment I wake up," Raquel said.
"My last name? For what? And I don't want any photos. I have children,
and I once had a life. I don't want people talking about me," she said
after agreeing to tell her story.
Digging through garbage as a way to make a living was not part of
Raquel's plan but she is not alone. Many within the island's growing
aging population are struggling with survival in the twilight years.
Cuba has become the oldest country in the Western Hemisphere, according
to official figures, amid an accelerated process that has even surprised
specialists who had not expected the phenomenon to become apparent until
2025.
Facing a pension system that is increasingly nonviable, a harsh economic
recession and an expected impact on social services as a result of the
aging population, the island is confronting one of the biggest
challenges of its history, experts say.
Almost 20 percent of Cubans are now over the age of 60, and the
fertility rate stands at 1.7 children per woman of child-bearing age. To
counter the aging population, the fertility rate would have to rise to
2.4 children per woman of child-bearing age. Cuba's economically active
population shrank for the first time in 2015, by 126,000 people.
"The population aging that is affecting the country leads to a
significant increase in public spending as well as a drop in the
population of the fertile age, which in turn leads to a decrease in the
fertility rate," said Juan Valdés Paz, a Cuban sociologist who has
written several books on the issue.
Valdés said no government can be prepared for the kinds of demographic
problems that Cuba now has.
"If there's no harmony between demographic progress and economic
development, the latter is impacted," he said.
Declining subsidies
Government spending on public health per capita in 1999 was 21 percent
lower than in 1989, according to economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago. Official
Cuban figures show that category of spending dropped from 11.3 percent
of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2009 to eight percent
in 2012.
Although Raquel is retired, government pharmacies do not subsidize the
medicines she needs for her diabetes and hypertension. State social
service programs do not serve elderly Cubans who live with relatives or
other presumed caretakers.
"I get a pension of 240 pesos a month," said Raquel, the equivalent of
less than $10. "From that money, I have to pay 50 pesos for the Haier
refrigerator the government forced me to buy and 100 pesos to buy my
medicines."
Cuba has about 300 day-time centers for the elderly and 144 nursing
homes, with a total capacity of about 20,000 clients. Officials have
acknowledged that a significant portion are in terrible shape, and many
elderly prefer to go into one of the 11 homes across the country run by
religious orders. They operate thanks to foreign assistance, like the
Santovenia asylum in the Cerro neighborhood of Havana.
The state-run daycare centers charge 180 pesos per month and the nursing
homes charge about 400 pesos. Social Security subsidizes the payments
when social service workers determine that the clients cannot afford to
pay those fees.
Cuba once had one of the most generous and broadest social security
systems in Latin America. But that was largely possible because of the
massive subsidies from the Soviet Union, calculated by Mesa-Lago at
about $65 billion over 30 years.
"Although the pensions were never high, there was an elaborate system
established by the state to facilitate access to food and other products
at subsidized prices," said the economist.
After the Soviet subsidies ended in the early 90s, pensions remained at
about the same level but their purchasing power collapsed. In 1993, a
retired Cuban could barely buy 16 percent of what he could afford in
1989. By the end of 2015, the purchasing power of retirees remained at
barely half of what it was when the Soviet Union collapsed and Cuba
entered into the so-called "Special Period."
Raquel is a product of that reality.
"It bothers me when I hear talk of the good services for the elderly,"
said Raquel. "I don't get any subsidies because I live with my son, his
wife and my two grandchildren. But they have their own expenses, and
can't afford to also pick up all of mine.
"I need new dentures," she added, "and if you don't give the dentist a
little gift, they take months or come out bad."
Other elderly residents on the island echoed Raquel's sentiments.
"We are two old people living alone, we have no one overseas, so we
receive no remittances," said Andrés, a former cartographer who lives
with his wife Silvia in the central city of Cienfuegos and now sells
homemade vinegar and other products to make ends meet. "It's very hard
to get old and live off a $10 pension when four drumsticks of chicken
cost $5.
"Last year I was awarded with a lifetime achievement recognition at work
and then I was laid off," he said. "I was already retired but continued
to work because we could not live on my pension."
Drastic cutbacks
After Fidel Castro left power in 2006, following a health emergency, the
Raúl Castro government began drastic cutbacks in social security
benefits under the rubric of "the elimination of gratuities." Of the
582,060 Cubans who were receiving social assistance benefits in 2006,
such as disability or special diet funds, the number was slashed to
175,106 by 2015.
Castro also removed several products from the highly subsidized ration
card, such as soap, toothpaste and matches, forcing everyone to pay far
more for those products when they bought them on the open market.
The government has launched some new programs for the elderly. The
Sistema de Atención a la Familia (System to Help the Family), for
example, allows more then 76,000 low-income elderly to obtain food at
subsidized prices. That's a tiny number compared to Cuba's elderly
population, estimated at more than 2 million in a nation of about 11
million.
Some elderly Cubans also receive assistance from churches and
non-government organizations.
"People see me picking up cans, but they don't know I was a
prize-winning engineer and that I even traveled to the Soviet Union in
1983," Raquel said.
After retirement, she had to find other ways of making ends meet. She
cleaned the common areas of buildings where military officers lived near
the Plaza of the Revolution until she got too old to handle the work.
"They wanted me to wash the windows of a hallway on the 9th floor. That
was dangerous, and I was afraid of falling. I preferred to leave, even
though they paid well," she said.
Raquel was earning 125 pesos (about $5) per week — more than half her
monthly pension of 240 pesos.
Raquel said she sells the empty recyclable containers she collects to
state enterprises but would love to be able to sell them to a private
company, instead, to avoid bureaucratic problems and delays. In the
patio of her home, she has created a home-made tool to crush the empty
cans she finds on the streets.
The work can be profitable but competition is stiff and physically
tougher for the elderly and disabled who have to wait in long lines to
sell their products at state enterprises or pay someone else to hold
their spot in line.
"In January I made 3,900 pesos on beer bottles. But I paid 500 pesos to
hold my spot in line because I can't just lay down on the floor while I
wait," she said. "Aluminum also pays well. They pay 40 pesos for a sack
of cans. It's eight pesos per kilogram."
Cuba does not have official statistics on poverty.
A 1996 government study concluded that 20.1 percent of the 2 million
people in Havana were "at risk of not being able to afford a basic
necessity." A poll in 2000 found that 78 percent of the country's
elderly complained their income was not enough to cover their expenses.
The majority of the elderly polled said their main sources of income
were their pension benefits, assistance from relatives on the island and
remittances sent by relatives and friends abroad.
Many elderly now walk the streets in Havana and other cities, selling
home-made candy or peanuts to make ends meet. Others resell newspapers
or pick through garbage for items to sell. The number of beggars on the
streets of Cuba's main cities has visibly increased.
For Raquel, the daily struggle is but another chapter of her life.
"I have always been a hard worker because the most important thing is my
family," she said. "It doesn't bother me to wear old clothes while I
collect the cans. The one who has to look good is my grandson, who just
started high school.
"The kids in school sometimes make fun of him but my grandson is very
good and he's not ashamed of me, at least not that he shows," she said.
"He always defends me against the mockery."
THIS ARTICLE WAS DONE IN COLLABORATION WITH 14YMEDIO AS PART OF AN
AGREEMENT WITH EL NUEVO HERALD.
FOLLOW MARIO J. PENTÓN ON TWITTER: @MARIOJOSE_CUBA
Source: Growing old in Cuba is tough and getting harder | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article136984308.html
through Cuba's trash
BY MARIO J. PENTÓN Y LUZ ESCOBAR
mpenton@elnuevoherald.com
HAVANA
At 67, struggling against the challenges that come with aging and a
meager pension, Raquel, an engineer who in her own words was "formed by
the Revolution," survives by sifting through garbage every day in search
of recyclable products.
Hands that at one time drew plans and measured distances now pick up
cardboard, cans and other discarded containers.
"My life is a struggle from the moment I wake up," Raquel said.
"My last name? For what? And I don't want any photos. I have children,
and I once had a life. I don't want people talking about me," she said
after agreeing to tell her story.
Digging through garbage as a way to make a living was not part of
Raquel's plan but she is not alone. Many within the island's growing
aging population are struggling with survival in the twilight years.
Cuba has become the oldest country in the Western Hemisphere, according
to official figures, amid an accelerated process that has even surprised
specialists who had not expected the phenomenon to become apparent until
2025.
Facing a pension system that is increasingly nonviable, a harsh economic
recession and an expected impact on social services as a result of the
aging population, the island is confronting one of the biggest
challenges of its history, experts say.
Almost 20 percent of Cubans are now over the age of 60, and the
fertility rate stands at 1.7 children per woman of child-bearing age. To
counter the aging population, the fertility rate would have to rise to
2.4 children per woman of child-bearing age. Cuba's economically active
population shrank for the first time in 2015, by 126,000 people.
"The population aging that is affecting the country leads to a
significant increase in public spending as well as a drop in the
population of the fertile age, which in turn leads to a decrease in the
fertility rate," said Juan Valdés Paz, a Cuban sociologist who has
written several books on the issue.
Valdés said no government can be prepared for the kinds of demographic
problems that Cuba now has.
"If there's no harmony between demographic progress and economic
development, the latter is impacted," he said.
Declining subsidies
Government spending on public health per capita in 1999 was 21 percent
lower than in 1989, according to economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago. Official
Cuban figures show that category of spending dropped from 11.3 percent
of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2009 to eight percent
in 2012.
Although Raquel is retired, government pharmacies do not subsidize the
medicines she needs for her diabetes and hypertension. State social
service programs do not serve elderly Cubans who live with relatives or
other presumed caretakers.
"I get a pension of 240 pesos a month," said Raquel, the equivalent of
less than $10. "From that money, I have to pay 50 pesos for the Haier
refrigerator the government forced me to buy and 100 pesos to buy my
medicines."
Cuba has about 300 day-time centers for the elderly and 144 nursing
homes, with a total capacity of about 20,000 clients. Officials have
acknowledged that a significant portion are in terrible shape, and many
elderly prefer to go into one of the 11 homes across the country run by
religious orders. They operate thanks to foreign assistance, like the
Santovenia asylum in the Cerro neighborhood of Havana.
The state-run daycare centers charge 180 pesos per month and the nursing
homes charge about 400 pesos. Social Security subsidizes the payments
when social service workers determine that the clients cannot afford to
pay those fees.
Cuba once had one of the most generous and broadest social security
systems in Latin America. But that was largely possible because of the
massive subsidies from the Soviet Union, calculated by Mesa-Lago at
about $65 billion over 30 years.
"Although the pensions were never high, there was an elaborate system
established by the state to facilitate access to food and other products
at subsidized prices," said the economist.
After the Soviet subsidies ended in the early 90s, pensions remained at
about the same level but their purchasing power collapsed. In 1993, a
retired Cuban could barely buy 16 percent of what he could afford in
1989. By the end of 2015, the purchasing power of retirees remained at
barely half of what it was when the Soviet Union collapsed and Cuba
entered into the so-called "Special Period."
Raquel is a product of that reality.
"It bothers me when I hear talk of the good services for the elderly,"
said Raquel. "I don't get any subsidies because I live with my son, his
wife and my two grandchildren. But they have their own expenses, and
can't afford to also pick up all of mine.
"I need new dentures," she added, "and if you don't give the dentist a
little gift, they take months or come out bad."
Other elderly residents on the island echoed Raquel's sentiments.
"We are two old people living alone, we have no one overseas, so we
receive no remittances," said Andrés, a former cartographer who lives
with his wife Silvia in the central city of Cienfuegos and now sells
homemade vinegar and other products to make ends meet. "It's very hard
to get old and live off a $10 pension when four drumsticks of chicken
cost $5.
"Last year I was awarded with a lifetime achievement recognition at work
and then I was laid off," he said. "I was already retired but continued
to work because we could not live on my pension."
Drastic cutbacks
After Fidel Castro left power in 2006, following a health emergency, the
Raúl Castro government began drastic cutbacks in social security
benefits under the rubric of "the elimination of gratuities." Of the
582,060 Cubans who were receiving social assistance benefits in 2006,
such as disability or special diet funds, the number was slashed to
175,106 by 2015.
Castro also removed several products from the highly subsidized ration
card, such as soap, toothpaste and matches, forcing everyone to pay far
more for those products when they bought them on the open market.
The government has launched some new programs for the elderly. The
Sistema de Atención a la Familia (System to Help the Family), for
example, allows more then 76,000 low-income elderly to obtain food at
subsidized prices. That's a tiny number compared to Cuba's elderly
population, estimated at more than 2 million in a nation of about 11
million.
Some elderly Cubans also receive assistance from churches and
non-government organizations.
"People see me picking up cans, but they don't know I was a
prize-winning engineer and that I even traveled to the Soviet Union in
1983," Raquel said.
After retirement, she had to find other ways of making ends meet. She
cleaned the common areas of buildings where military officers lived near
the Plaza of the Revolution until she got too old to handle the work.
"They wanted me to wash the windows of a hallway on the 9th floor. That
was dangerous, and I was afraid of falling. I preferred to leave, even
though they paid well," she said.
Raquel was earning 125 pesos (about $5) per week — more than half her
monthly pension of 240 pesos.
Raquel said she sells the empty recyclable containers she collects to
state enterprises but would love to be able to sell them to a private
company, instead, to avoid bureaucratic problems and delays. In the
patio of her home, she has created a home-made tool to crush the empty
cans she finds on the streets.
The work can be profitable but competition is stiff and physically
tougher for the elderly and disabled who have to wait in long lines to
sell their products at state enterprises or pay someone else to hold
their spot in line.
"In January I made 3,900 pesos on beer bottles. But I paid 500 pesos to
hold my spot in line because I can't just lay down on the floor while I
wait," she said. "Aluminum also pays well. They pay 40 pesos for a sack
of cans. It's eight pesos per kilogram."
Cuba does not have official statistics on poverty.
A 1996 government study concluded that 20.1 percent of the 2 million
people in Havana were "at risk of not being able to afford a basic
necessity." A poll in 2000 found that 78 percent of the country's
elderly complained their income was not enough to cover their expenses.
The majority of the elderly polled said their main sources of income
were their pension benefits, assistance from relatives on the island and
remittances sent by relatives and friends abroad.
Many elderly now walk the streets in Havana and other cities, selling
home-made candy or peanuts to make ends meet. Others resell newspapers
or pick through garbage for items to sell. The number of beggars on the
streets of Cuba's main cities has visibly increased.
For Raquel, the daily struggle is but another chapter of her life.
"I have always been a hard worker because the most important thing is my
family," she said. "It doesn't bother me to wear old clothes while I
collect the cans. The one who has to look good is my grandson, who just
started high school.
"The kids in school sometimes make fun of him but my grandson is very
good and he's not ashamed of me, at least not that he shows," she said.
"He always defends me against the mockery."
THIS ARTICLE WAS DONE IN COLLABORATION WITH 14YMEDIO AS PART OF AN
AGREEMENT WITH EL NUEVO HERALD.
FOLLOW MARIO J. PENTÓN ON TWITTER: @MARIOJOSE_CUBA
Source: Growing old in Cuba is tough and getting harder | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article136984308.html
Nauta Hogar - expensive, slow and bug-ridden Internet service
Nauta Hogar: expensive, slow and bug-ridden Internet service
JORGE ENRIQUE RODRÍGUEZ | La Habana | 8 de Marzo de 2017 - 08:51 CET.
The Nauta Home project, implemented as a free pilot test starting in
January by the telecommunications monopoly ETECSA, in an effort to get
Internet service into homes, will begin to charge fees, despite
technical failures in its service.
"The first day fees are being applied, and the message is 'Mission
Failed'... it's enough to dissuade one from starting to pay, and
convincing him to just keep wandering around Havana in search of faster
Wi-Fi," complained Luis Orlando, one of users who was chosen for the test.
The Nauta Home test program, which offered two free months of service to
users chosen at the public councils of Plaza Vieja and Catedral,
concluded in early March. Now those chosen must decide whether they are
willing to pay the fees, always for packages of 30 hours, and depending
on the speed of the connection contracted: 15 CUC for 128/64 Kbps, 75
CUC 1024 / 256 Kbps, and 115 CUC for 2048 / 256 Kbps.
Asked about these failures during the project, right after the
expiration of the free period, employees at Telepoint on the Calle
Obispo responded: "Don't forget that it's a test, even when we begin to
charge for the service," adding that rather than failures, the situation
involved "adjusting and correcting, because this is something new."
"Like almost everything in Cuba: a massive, infinite experiment," railed
Tamara, another selected user.
"The two-month pilot test ended, which was free, but now there begins
the ordeal of further tests, which could very well be indefinite. We
will have the convenience of accessing the Internet from home, but
apparently the service, even though you're now paying for it, might not
be available when you want it."
Leo Conesa, director of the La Marca visual arts project, said that
although the rates continue to be too high for many, "at least there is
a range of them, to accommodate different budgets."
"An average family could buy the service offering 128/64 Kbps. That
speed is slow for downloading or streaming, but just fine to use Gmail
or to browse the Web and some social networks. For the most prosperous
businesses, I think the rate of 115 CUC is worth it, as the speed of
2048 / 256 Kbps allows you to use advertising and create webpages. The
downside is that the service suffers from these interruptions, something
that must be fixed."
Ariel Sánchez, a specialist in programming and web design, said that
while there is a variety of rates, they are "not at all fair."
"An advanced user does not necessarily have a thriving business. He may
not even have a private business – as is my case – giving him more
buying power than State employees."
Sánchez also doubted that the rate for 1024 / 256 Kbps, at 75 CUC, could
be cost-effective for him: "because at less than that speed an advanced
user cannot do his job effectively, as he'd consume the 30 hours in just
one week."
Some "mysteries" of the experiment
ETECSA specialists did not specify how much the ADSL technology package
that was implemented for the Nauta Hogar project could cost. Computer
technicians consulted agreed that "the modem, at least, will cost no
less than 200 CUC."
"And it is not at all fair that users of humbler means must pay that
kind of money after having contracted the slowest speed," they expressed.
A review of the public councils confirmed the suspicion that the figure
of "2,000 families," cited by ETECSA as having participated in the pilot
program, was "inflated," given that they all need land lines at home.
"I still don't believe it, as it is unlikely that 2,000 families in
these areas have land lines," Alexander insisted.
"With 2,000 houses between the two councils, that means almost three
users or more per block. The selection of these alleged 2,000 families
is classified as a secret, because I also asked and nobody at Telepoint
knows. My parents told me that they simply received a visit from ETECSA,
proposing the pilot initiative, and they accepted without thinking twice."
In November Dayán León, a graduate of the Advanced Design Institute,
opened a private studio in Old Havana, and when he found about Nauta
Hogar's pilot program he went straight to Telepunto "to ask about how
one qualified, what the requirements were."
"There I was told that the selection had already been made, and they did
not know what parameters had been used. However, among the few people
selected, in line to sign the contract, there were some older people who
asked me what the Internet was."
Source: Nauta Hogar: expensive, slow and bug-ridden Internet service |
Diario de Cuba - http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1488959506_29485.html
JORGE ENRIQUE RODRÍGUEZ | La Habana | 8 de Marzo de 2017 - 08:51 CET.
The Nauta Home project, implemented as a free pilot test starting in
January by the telecommunications monopoly ETECSA, in an effort to get
Internet service into homes, will begin to charge fees, despite
technical failures in its service.
"The first day fees are being applied, and the message is 'Mission
Failed'... it's enough to dissuade one from starting to pay, and
convincing him to just keep wandering around Havana in search of faster
Wi-Fi," complained Luis Orlando, one of users who was chosen for the test.
The Nauta Home test program, which offered two free months of service to
users chosen at the public councils of Plaza Vieja and Catedral,
concluded in early March. Now those chosen must decide whether they are
willing to pay the fees, always for packages of 30 hours, and depending
on the speed of the connection contracted: 15 CUC for 128/64 Kbps, 75
CUC 1024 / 256 Kbps, and 115 CUC for 2048 / 256 Kbps.
Asked about these failures during the project, right after the
expiration of the free period, employees at Telepoint on the Calle
Obispo responded: "Don't forget that it's a test, even when we begin to
charge for the service," adding that rather than failures, the situation
involved "adjusting and correcting, because this is something new."
"Like almost everything in Cuba: a massive, infinite experiment," railed
Tamara, another selected user.
"The two-month pilot test ended, which was free, but now there begins
the ordeal of further tests, which could very well be indefinite. We
will have the convenience of accessing the Internet from home, but
apparently the service, even though you're now paying for it, might not
be available when you want it."
Leo Conesa, director of the La Marca visual arts project, said that
although the rates continue to be too high for many, "at least there is
a range of them, to accommodate different budgets."
"An average family could buy the service offering 128/64 Kbps. That
speed is slow for downloading or streaming, but just fine to use Gmail
or to browse the Web and some social networks. For the most prosperous
businesses, I think the rate of 115 CUC is worth it, as the speed of
2048 / 256 Kbps allows you to use advertising and create webpages. The
downside is that the service suffers from these interruptions, something
that must be fixed."
Ariel Sánchez, a specialist in programming and web design, said that
while there is a variety of rates, they are "not at all fair."
"An advanced user does not necessarily have a thriving business. He may
not even have a private business – as is my case – giving him more
buying power than State employees."
Sánchez also doubted that the rate for 1024 / 256 Kbps, at 75 CUC, could
be cost-effective for him: "because at less than that speed an advanced
user cannot do his job effectively, as he'd consume the 30 hours in just
one week."
Some "mysteries" of the experiment
ETECSA specialists did not specify how much the ADSL technology package
that was implemented for the Nauta Hogar project could cost. Computer
technicians consulted agreed that "the modem, at least, will cost no
less than 200 CUC."
"And it is not at all fair that users of humbler means must pay that
kind of money after having contracted the slowest speed," they expressed.
A review of the public councils confirmed the suspicion that the figure
of "2,000 families," cited by ETECSA as having participated in the pilot
program, was "inflated," given that they all need land lines at home.
"I still don't believe it, as it is unlikely that 2,000 families in
these areas have land lines," Alexander insisted.
"With 2,000 houses between the two councils, that means almost three
users or more per block. The selection of these alleged 2,000 families
is classified as a secret, because I also asked and nobody at Telepoint
knows. My parents told me that they simply received a visit from ETECSA,
proposing the pilot initiative, and they accepted without thinking twice."
In November Dayán León, a graduate of the Advanced Design Institute,
opened a private studio in Old Havana, and when he found about Nauta
Hogar's pilot program he went straight to Telepunto "to ask about how
one qualified, what the requirements were."
"There I was told that the selection had already been made, and they did
not know what parameters had been used. However, among the few people
selected, in line to sign the contract, there were some older people who
asked me what the Internet was."
Source: Nauta Hogar: expensive, slow and bug-ridden Internet service |
Diario de Cuba - http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1488959506_29485.html
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Cuban Police Prevent Joanna Columbié From Boarding A Plane To Mexico
Cuban Police Prevent Joanna Columbié From Boarding A Plane To Mexico /
14ymedio
14ymedio, Havana, 6 March 2017 – Cuban police prevented activist Joanna
Columbié from boarding a plane this Monday heading to Mexico. The car in
which she was raveling was intercepted on the way to the airport and a
State Security official warned her that she would not be allowed to
travel abroad, according to what she herself told 14ymedio after being
released.
Columbié had planned to participate in a discussion meeting of the
Democratic Action Roundtable (MUAD) to be held in Mexico City. The
meeting is scheduled for this week and four activists from various
opposition groups and social projects were invited.
Manuel Cuesta Morúa, Boris González, Roberto Díaz and Eroisis González
were the other participants planning to attend event in Mexico. So far
this newspaper has not been able to determine if those four activists
managed to board their flights or if any of them was detained inside the
Havana airport.
"The meeting was to be the MUAD secretariat with other members outside
the island," says Columbié. The activist also states that the Konrad
Adenauer Foundation participated in organizing the event.
"I left the house in a taxi and I was nearing Lenin Park when a police
patrol car with the number 784 stopped us. They told me to go with them
and they also asked me for my phone so I could not make any calls," says
the member of Somos+ (We Are More) Movement.
In the police car was a State Security official known to Columbié from
previous arrests, who calls himself Leandro. She was taken to Bacuranao
Beach, to the east of the city, where the man warned her that they would
have "a long conversation" and that she would not be allowed to travel
to Mexico.
"I asked him what the reasons were but he simply told me that he wanted
to talk," recalls the activist. Leandro warned her that in recent months
she had been "greatly elevated in her profile," and that this could lead
to her being deported to the village of Céspedes in Camagüey, where
Columbié lived before residing in the capital.
The official warned her to stay away from "the counterrevolution" and
threatened that "from now on" her life would become "very bad." The man
insisted that they would not let her leave the country.
"This is totally arbitrary," says Columbié. "They have come to the point
of taking completely arbitrary actions without even seeking a pretext."
The activist does not rule out taking legal action before the Military
Prosecutor's Office to denounce what happened.
During 2016, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National
Reconciliation (CCDHRN) documented a total of 9,940 arbitrary detentions
in the country. A figure that "puts the Government of Cuba in the first
place in all of Latin America," according to the report of the
independent organization.
Source: Cuban Police Prevent Joanna Columbié From Boarding A Plane To
Mexico / 14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-police-prevent-joanna-columbie-from-boarding-a-plane-to-mexico-14ymedio/
14ymedio
14ymedio, Havana, 6 March 2017 – Cuban police prevented activist Joanna
Columbié from boarding a plane this Monday heading to Mexico. The car in
which she was raveling was intercepted on the way to the airport and a
State Security official warned her that she would not be allowed to
travel abroad, according to what she herself told 14ymedio after being
released.
Columbié had planned to participate in a discussion meeting of the
Democratic Action Roundtable (MUAD) to be held in Mexico City. The
meeting is scheduled for this week and four activists from various
opposition groups and social projects were invited.
Manuel Cuesta Morúa, Boris González, Roberto Díaz and Eroisis González
were the other participants planning to attend event in Mexico. So far
this newspaper has not been able to determine if those four activists
managed to board their flights or if any of them was detained inside the
Havana airport.
"The meeting was to be the MUAD secretariat with other members outside
the island," says Columbié. The activist also states that the Konrad
Adenauer Foundation participated in organizing the event.
"I left the house in a taxi and I was nearing Lenin Park when a police
patrol car with the number 784 stopped us. They told me to go with them
and they also asked me for my phone so I could not make any calls," says
the member of Somos+ (We Are More) Movement.
In the police car was a State Security official known to Columbié from
previous arrests, who calls himself Leandro. She was taken to Bacuranao
Beach, to the east of the city, where the man warned her that they would
have "a long conversation" and that she would not be allowed to travel
to Mexico.
"I asked him what the reasons were but he simply told me that he wanted
to talk," recalls the activist. Leandro warned her that in recent months
she had been "greatly elevated in her profile," and that this could lead
to her being deported to the village of Céspedes in Camagüey, where
Columbié lived before residing in the capital.
The official warned her to stay away from "the counterrevolution" and
threatened that "from now on" her life would become "very bad." The man
insisted that they would not let her leave the country.
"This is totally arbitrary," says Columbié. "They have come to the point
of taking completely arbitrary actions without even seeking a pretext."
The activist does not rule out taking legal action before the Military
Prosecutor's Office to denounce what happened.
During 2016, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National
Reconciliation (CCDHRN) documented a total of 9,940 arbitrary detentions
in the country. A figure that "puts the Government of Cuba in the first
place in all of Latin America," according to the report of the
independent organization.
Source: Cuban Police Prevent Joanna Columbié From Boarding A Plane To
Mexico / 14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-police-prevent-joanna-columbie-from-boarding-a-plane-to-mexico-14ymedio/
Enslaved Doctors
Enslaved Doctors
ANTONIO JOSÉ PONTE | Madrid | 7 de Marzo de 2017 - 14:48 CET.
They say that they fulfill their mission when they serve in countries
that have signed agreements with the Cuban regime. "Mission." It is a
term that supposes a zeal to spread the faith, and entails a set of
diplomatic shenanigans. And, indeed, there is a lot of indoctrination
and diplomacy involved in the work of Cuban medical personnel on
"missions," as they do not only care for their patients, but often seek
to influence, in accordance with the Government's interests, patients
who are also voters.
In this way Castroism cultivates the reputation that has won it good
press around the world (ah, the Revolution's health system, the
Revolution's education...), without meddling in the internal affairs of
other countries. But public health can be the continuation of guerrilla
campaigns, by other means.
It is no coincidence that when doctors and medical experts abandon their
missions and seek refuge where there are no agreements with the regime,
they are officially branded as deserters. They flee from their roles as
political pawns, the restrictions on their movements and contacts, the
surveillance they are under at all times. They reject being soldiers. So
they are deserters.
They carry out missions in regions where even their local counterparts
refuse to go. And they do so for salaries that, according to other
doctors, are not worth the sacrifice. This is where supposed Castroist
altruism comes into play, and where the World Health Organization (WHO)
sings the regime's praises: there go Cuban doctors and experts to make
up for the selfish locals, to succor the poor in this world...
But before, in order to lure them towards those places, they are
subjected to a impoverishment. Their salaries in Cuba are insufficient
to lead dignified lives. They have no TV, or car, house or vacations.
They eat poorly, unable to give their children certain basic sources of
nourishment. All this ensures that they end up serving on missions, in
an effort to scrap to get a little a bit ahead. If the authorities view
these health missions as proxies for guerrilla campaigns, for Cuban
doctors they are alternatives to emigration and exile.
When Barack Obama, in his last days in the White House, canceled the
asylum program for Cuban medical personnel, in place since 2006, he
cited humanitarian reasons: he did not want to jeopardize health care in
Cuba, and did not want to steal doctors from patients on the Island.
Great intentions, in practice, but the end result will only be to
exacerbate the enslavement of medical personnel implemented by the Castros.
It is essential to address this practice as a kind of neoslavery:
mission staff receive only 10% -30% of what international governments
and institutions pay for their work. The rest of the money ends up in
the hands of authorities who are unaccountable for their exploitation.
It is a system that rewards the worker as little as possible in order to
keep him in a vicious circle that ensures his perpetual availability. A
system designed employing pimp-like stratagems.
The Castros, in this way, resemble another Caribbean Dynasty: the
Duvaliers, who rented out Haitian cane cutters and seized a good portion
of what the Dominican Republic paid for each of them. Outdoing the
Duvaliers, their Cuban counterparts manage to enslave doctors with the
approval of the WHO, and many grateful Latin American presidents, who
turn deaf ears to the details about their exploitation. Then Castroism
seeks to shame any government that threatens its human merchandise,
accusing it of stealing brainpower belonging to it.
There is talk now of some 1,200 former members of Cuban medical missions
who, without being on US soil, were able to qualify for asylum before
Obama's new measure. There is talk of thousands more who fled but will
not have an opportunity like this one. There is talk of petitioning
President Donald Trump to revise the country's immigration policy.
The Cuban regime warned that this year would be a tough one for the
nation's economy, so it will be ratcheting up exploitation in one of the
areas most profitable for it: the renting out of health personnel. The
number of Cubans per available doctor is likely to grow. And there will
probably continue to be a shortage of specialists at hospitals in Cuba.
The revocation of the US asylum program will not help people on the
Island, and will do nothing either for the liberation of its enslaved
doctors and medical experts.
Antonio José Ponte is a writer and Assistant Director of Diario de Cuba.
This article is originally appeared in El País.
Source: Enslaved Doctors | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1488894522_29462.html
ANTONIO JOSÉ PONTE | Madrid | 7 de Marzo de 2017 - 14:48 CET.
They say that they fulfill their mission when they serve in countries
that have signed agreements with the Cuban regime. "Mission." It is a
term that supposes a zeal to spread the faith, and entails a set of
diplomatic shenanigans. And, indeed, there is a lot of indoctrination
and diplomacy involved in the work of Cuban medical personnel on
"missions," as they do not only care for their patients, but often seek
to influence, in accordance with the Government's interests, patients
who are also voters.
In this way Castroism cultivates the reputation that has won it good
press around the world (ah, the Revolution's health system, the
Revolution's education...), without meddling in the internal affairs of
other countries. But public health can be the continuation of guerrilla
campaigns, by other means.
It is no coincidence that when doctors and medical experts abandon their
missions and seek refuge where there are no agreements with the regime,
they are officially branded as deserters. They flee from their roles as
political pawns, the restrictions on their movements and contacts, the
surveillance they are under at all times. They reject being soldiers. So
they are deserters.
They carry out missions in regions where even their local counterparts
refuse to go. And they do so for salaries that, according to other
doctors, are not worth the sacrifice. This is where supposed Castroist
altruism comes into play, and where the World Health Organization (WHO)
sings the regime's praises: there go Cuban doctors and experts to make
up for the selfish locals, to succor the poor in this world...
But before, in order to lure them towards those places, they are
subjected to a impoverishment. Their salaries in Cuba are insufficient
to lead dignified lives. They have no TV, or car, house or vacations.
They eat poorly, unable to give their children certain basic sources of
nourishment. All this ensures that they end up serving on missions, in
an effort to scrap to get a little a bit ahead. If the authorities view
these health missions as proxies for guerrilla campaigns, for Cuban
doctors they are alternatives to emigration and exile.
When Barack Obama, in his last days in the White House, canceled the
asylum program for Cuban medical personnel, in place since 2006, he
cited humanitarian reasons: he did not want to jeopardize health care in
Cuba, and did not want to steal doctors from patients on the Island.
Great intentions, in practice, but the end result will only be to
exacerbate the enslavement of medical personnel implemented by the Castros.
It is essential to address this practice as a kind of neoslavery:
mission staff receive only 10% -30% of what international governments
and institutions pay for their work. The rest of the money ends up in
the hands of authorities who are unaccountable for their exploitation.
It is a system that rewards the worker as little as possible in order to
keep him in a vicious circle that ensures his perpetual availability. A
system designed employing pimp-like stratagems.
The Castros, in this way, resemble another Caribbean Dynasty: the
Duvaliers, who rented out Haitian cane cutters and seized a good portion
of what the Dominican Republic paid for each of them. Outdoing the
Duvaliers, their Cuban counterparts manage to enslave doctors with the
approval of the WHO, and many grateful Latin American presidents, who
turn deaf ears to the details about their exploitation. Then Castroism
seeks to shame any government that threatens its human merchandise,
accusing it of stealing brainpower belonging to it.
There is talk now of some 1,200 former members of Cuban medical missions
who, without being on US soil, were able to qualify for asylum before
Obama's new measure. There is talk of thousands more who fled but will
not have an opportunity like this one. There is talk of petitioning
President Donald Trump to revise the country's immigration policy.
The Cuban regime warned that this year would be a tough one for the
nation's economy, so it will be ratcheting up exploitation in one of the
areas most profitable for it: the renting out of health personnel. The
number of Cubans per available doctor is likely to grow. And there will
probably continue to be a shortage of specialists at hospitals in Cuba.
The revocation of the US asylum program will not help people on the
Island, and will do nothing either for the liberation of its enslaved
doctors and medical experts.
Antonio José Ponte is a writer and Assistant Director of Diario de Cuba.
This article is originally appeared in El País.
Source: Enslaved Doctors | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1488894522_29462.html
Friendly Planet is the latest to drop its Cuba prices
Friendly Planet is the latest to drop its Cuba prices
By Gay Nagle Myers / March 06, 2017
Friendly Planet has announced price cuts on its six packaged
people-to-people tours to Cuba, wrangling significant reductions of up
to $1,000 per person, depending on the length of the tour.
This move comes on the heels of InsightCuba's rate cuts on its
people-to-people programs, which were announced last month.
Insight's president, Tom Popper, attributed his company's price drop to
a decrease in prices issued from state-run agencies and hotels in Cuba.
Those rates had risen sharply following the U.S.'s easing of travel
sanctions in December 2014.
Peggy Goldman, founder and president of Friendly Planet, concurred,
saying that the earlier price increases by Cuba "were simply
unsustainable. Major hotels in Cuba, which had increased rates last
summer for the current winter season, experienced cancellations this
winter."
Goldman, along with other major tour companies engaged in operating
large programs to Cuba, traveled to the island last year to speak to
suppliers about the increases.
"The suppliers did not believe us [when told the rates were too high].
The result was a lot of empty rooms this winter during a period that is
normally sold out. The hotels began dropping their rates," she said.
"The price reductions are intended to be incentives to lure reluctant
travelers back to the demand seen in recent years," Goldman said.
Friendly Planet's price reductions are in effect through October,
"although we expect them to continue through the end of the year."
Goldman cautioned that since there is involvement by the Cuban
government in determining tariffs, "we actually can't tell how long the
discounts will continue. If the Ministry of Tourism decides to increase
rates again, it may mean another round of price hikes."
Her advice to travelers interested in visiting Cuba: do it now while the
prices are reduced.
In addition to its packaged tours, Friendly Planet operates a number of
escorted FITs for individuals and small groups of up to seven or eight
people.
"We don't operate independent tours, but we hope to offer this service
by the end of the year," Goldman said.
Friendly Planet also may launch a program later this year that will span
the entire island from Havana eastward to Santiago de Cuba.
Source: Friendly Planet is the latest to drop its Cuba prices: Travel
Weekly -
http://www.travelweekly.com/Caribbean-Travel/Insights/Friendly-Planet-is-the-latest-to-drop-its-Cuba-prices
By Gay Nagle Myers / March 06, 2017
Friendly Planet has announced price cuts on its six packaged
people-to-people tours to Cuba, wrangling significant reductions of up
to $1,000 per person, depending on the length of the tour.
This move comes on the heels of InsightCuba's rate cuts on its
people-to-people programs, which were announced last month.
Insight's president, Tom Popper, attributed his company's price drop to
a decrease in prices issued from state-run agencies and hotels in Cuba.
Those rates had risen sharply following the U.S.'s easing of travel
sanctions in December 2014.
Peggy Goldman, founder and president of Friendly Planet, concurred,
saying that the earlier price increases by Cuba "were simply
unsustainable. Major hotels in Cuba, which had increased rates last
summer for the current winter season, experienced cancellations this
winter."
Goldman, along with other major tour companies engaged in operating
large programs to Cuba, traveled to the island last year to speak to
suppliers about the increases.
"The suppliers did not believe us [when told the rates were too high].
The result was a lot of empty rooms this winter during a period that is
normally sold out. The hotels began dropping their rates," she said.
"The price reductions are intended to be incentives to lure reluctant
travelers back to the demand seen in recent years," Goldman said.
Friendly Planet's price reductions are in effect through October,
"although we expect them to continue through the end of the year."
Goldman cautioned that since there is involvement by the Cuban
government in determining tariffs, "we actually can't tell how long the
discounts will continue. If the Ministry of Tourism decides to increase
rates again, it may mean another round of price hikes."
Her advice to travelers interested in visiting Cuba: do it now while the
prices are reduced.
In addition to its packaged tours, Friendly Planet operates a number of
escorted FITs for individuals and small groups of up to seven or eight
people.
"We don't operate independent tours, but we hope to offer this service
by the end of the year," Goldman said.
Friendly Planet also may launch a program later this year that will span
the entire island from Havana eastward to Santiago de Cuba.
Source: Friendly Planet is the latest to drop its Cuba prices: Travel
Weekly -
http://www.travelweekly.com/Caribbean-Travel/Insights/Friendly-Planet-is-the-latest-to-drop-its-Cuba-prices
Cuba fears prez could wipe out island's gains
Atkins: Cuba fears prez could wipe out island's gains
Kimberly Atkins Tuesday, March 07, 2017
NO LONGER JUST HANGING ON: Cuba's begun to see a revival since former
President Barack Obama restored diplomatic ties with the island nation.
HAVANA — Raul Castro is not the only Cuban who is blasting President
Trump's foreign policy.
Many residents of the Caribbean nation, which is in the midst of a rapid
transformation as a direct result of former President Barack Obama
restoring diplomatic ties and easing travel restrictions between the
countries, criticized Trump and praised his predecessor for bringing
Americans to their shores.
Castro, the Cuban president, called Trump's foreign policy, including
his plans to build a Mexican border wall, "irrational" and "egotistical"
in a speech in Venezuela that was broadcast on Cuban state-run
television on Sunday night.
Those words could draw a sharp rebuke from Trump, an admitted
counterpuncher who's currently reviewing U.S.-Cuban policy, but who was
strongly critical of Obama's Cuban moves. Trump has aligned himself with
Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who wants to reverse Obama's
actions.
That's not a popular stance with Cubans, who are pleased with the
country's fast-moving progress. Though American tourism is still
technically prohibited, most travelers can fit into one of 12 categories
to qualify for a general purpose visa. New hotels dot the main
thoroughfares in Havana, and Airbnb rentals get a steady stream of
business in outlying beach communities like Boca Ciega.
Still, the country displays its hardships visibly. New restaurants are
often bookended by crumbling structures. And while the internet is newly
available, it's expensive and still relatively scarce. People can be
seen into the late hours huddled around Wi-Fi hot spots, their faces
illuminated by the their cellphones as they vie for relatively weak
bandwidth.
"One way to change (Cuba) is to get more Americans to visit," and to
lift the trade embargo, said U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Salem Democrat
who traveled to the country last month.
Carlos Arias, a taxi driver in Havana, agrees.
"In the last 18 months, I've seen business go up, maybe 80 percent," he
said. "What Obama did changed everything. Everybody loves it."
Asked if he feared that Trump would reverse U.S.-Cuban policies, Arias
said: "No. He wouldn't dare. He's a businessman."
While Rubio and other foes of Obama's Cuban policies say they won't
support a Castro communist regime that harms its citizens, other
lawmakers said isolating the nation only hurts them more. Plus, they
say, Cubans have had a taste of what normal relations with the U.S.
feels like, and it would be almost impossible to reverse that now.
"There's lots of opportunity, and I think engagement is always better
than isolationism," said U.S. Rep. James McGovern, a Worcester Democrat
who has co-sponsored a number of bills to ease Cuban relations,
including one to lift the remaining travel restrictions. "And so I don't
know what Trump is going to do. He has said some things that would have
you believe he will turn back the clock. But even if he does, I don't
think they can put the genie back into the bottle."
Source: Atkins: Cuba fears prez could wipe out island's gains | Boston
Herald -
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/kimberly_atkins/2017/03/atkins_cuba_fears_prez_could_wipe_out_island_s_gains
Kimberly Atkins Tuesday, March 07, 2017
NO LONGER JUST HANGING ON: Cuba's begun to see a revival since former
President Barack Obama restored diplomatic ties with the island nation.
HAVANA — Raul Castro is not the only Cuban who is blasting President
Trump's foreign policy.
Many residents of the Caribbean nation, which is in the midst of a rapid
transformation as a direct result of former President Barack Obama
restoring diplomatic ties and easing travel restrictions between the
countries, criticized Trump and praised his predecessor for bringing
Americans to their shores.
Castro, the Cuban president, called Trump's foreign policy, including
his plans to build a Mexican border wall, "irrational" and "egotistical"
in a speech in Venezuela that was broadcast on Cuban state-run
television on Sunday night.
Those words could draw a sharp rebuke from Trump, an admitted
counterpuncher who's currently reviewing U.S.-Cuban policy, but who was
strongly critical of Obama's Cuban moves. Trump has aligned himself with
Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who wants to reverse Obama's
actions.
That's not a popular stance with Cubans, who are pleased with the
country's fast-moving progress. Though American tourism is still
technically prohibited, most travelers can fit into one of 12 categories
to qualify for a general purpose visa. New hotels dot the main
thoroughfares in Havana, and Airbnb rentals get a steady stream of
business in outlying beach communities like Boca Ciega.
Still, the country displays its hardships visibly. New restaurants are
often bookended by crumbling structures. And while the internet is newly
available, it's expensive and still relatively scarce. People can be
seen into the late hours huddled around Wi-Fi hot spots, their faces
illuminated by the their cellphones as they vie for relatively weak
bandwidth.
"One way to change (Cuba) is to get more Americans to visit," and to
lift the trade embargo, said U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Salem Democrat
who traveled to the country last month.
Carlos Arias, a taxi driver in Havana, agrees.
"In the last 18 months, I've seen business go up, maybe 80 percent," he
said. "What Obama did changed everything. Everybody loves it."
Asked if he feared that Trump would reverse U.S.-Cuban policies, Arias
said: "No. He wouldn't dare. He's a businessman."
While Rubio and other foes of Obama's Cuban policies say they won't
support a Castro communist regime that harms its citizens, other
lawmakers said isolating the nation only hurts them more. Plus, they
say, Cubans have had a taste of what normal relations with the U.S.
feels like, and it would be almost impossible to reverse that now.
"There's lots of opportunity, and I think engagement is always better
than isolationism," said U.S. Rep. James McGovern, a Worcester Democrat
who has co-sponsored a number of bills to ease Cuban relations,
including one to lift the remaining travel restrictions. "And so I don't
know what Trump is going to do. He has said some things that would have
you believe he will turn back the clock. But even if he does, I don't
think they can put the genie back into the bottle."
Source: Atkins: Cuba fears prez could wipe out island's gains | Boston
Herald -
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/kimberly_atkins/2017/03/atkins_cuba_fears_prez_could_wipe_out_island_s_gains
Cuban designer finds success in fashion industry
Cuban designer finds success in fashion industry
Anayce Figueroa hopes to open bigger store in tourist hotspot
By Hatzel Vela - Reporter
Posted: 6:28 PM, March 06, 2017
HAVANA - State-run Cuban clothing stores are typically too pricey for
the average Cuban, which is why clothing is usually brought in from
abroad and sold on the streets.
But one Cuban clothing designer is trying to change that.
Anayce Figueroa's store is called Cruxero and it is located in the
municipality of Playa in Havana.
She said she opened the store last August.
The store was a big risk for Figueroa, but so far it's paying off.
Figueroa went to school to study clothing design, and her lifelong dream
was to open a store with designs that were made by her.
Figueroa wants her brand, which consists of a lot of crop tops, to be
recognized by young Cubans, but there is a challenge.
Young Cubans are always looking for the latest trends, and they rely on
clothing that is purchased abroad and sold on the island for less than
what is found in state-run stores.
Prices range at Figueroa's store from $15 to $35, which she admits is
somewhat pricey for the average Cuban.
The clothing is handmade and designed in Cuba, with materials bought on
the island.
Two people work at Figueroa's store, one of whom told Local 10 News
reporter Hatzel Vela that he sews for Figueroa to make some extra cash.
"The advantage is that I do not have to buy the materials," he said.
Amauris Llerena's skills make the product stand out.
Figueroa said her business is "just starting to walk," but she hopes to
remain on a good path to success in the fashion industry. Her goal is to
someday open a bigger store in a tourist hotspot.
Source: Cuban designer finds success in fashion industry -
http://www.local10.com/news/cuba/cuban-designer-finds-success-in-fashion-industry
Anayce Figueroa hopes to open bigger store in tourist hotspot
By Hatzel Vela - Reporter
Posted: 6:28 PM, March 06, 2017
HAVANA - State-run Cuban clothing stores are typically too pricey for
the average Cuban, which is why clothing is usually brought in from
abroad and sold on the streets.
But one Cuban clothing designer is trying to change that.
Anayce Figueroa's store is called Cruxero and it is located in the
municipality of Playa in Havana.
She said she opened the store last August.
The store was a big risk for Figueroa, but so far it's paying off.
Figueroa went to school to study clothing design, and her lifelong dream
was to open a store with designs that were made by her.
Figueroa wants her brand, which consists of a lot of crop tops, to be
recognized by young Cubans, but there is a challenge.
Young Cubans are always looking for the latest trends, and they rely on
clothing that is purchased abroad and sold on the island for less than
what is found in state-run stores.
Prices range at Figueroa's store from $15 to $35, which she admits is
somewhat pricey for the average Cuban.
The clothing is handmade and designed in Cuba, with materials bought on
the island.
Two people work at Figueroa's store, one of whom told Local 10 News
reporter Hatzel Vela that he sews for Figueroa to make some extra cash.
"The advantage is that I do not have to buy the materials," he said.
Amauris Llerena's skills make the product stand out.
Figueroa said her business is "just starting to walk," but she hopes to
remain on a good path to success in the fashion industry. Her goal is to
someday open a bigger store in a tourist hotspot.
Source: Cuban designer finds success in fashion industry -
http://www.local10.com/news/cuba/cuban-designer-finds-success-in-fashion-industry
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