Yoani Sanchez - Award-winning Cuban blogger
Young Communist Union A Springboard to Power... and Corruption
Posted: 09/26/2012 4:06 pm
There was a time when Cuba devoted a great deal of attention to the
first secretary of the Young Communists Union (UJC). Styled after the
Soviet Komsomol, this organization provided cadres to the Party and even
to the Council of State and Minsters. The UJC was a direct springboard
to power, a pool of reliable and ideologically correct people. In the
'70s and '80s, some of their leaders enjoyed great popularity and
constant mentions in the national media. One of the most charismatic was
Roberto Robaina, who in the early '90s invented the triumphalist slogan,
"31 and Ever Onward," a reference to the age of the Revolution and its
years to come.
However, as a general rule, the UJC leaders who over-excelled ended up
being ousted. The most emblematic case was that of Luis Orlando
Dominguez who was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of
corruption and conspiracy. Also dismissed and punished under similar
accusations were several of his successors. The most recent of those
"fallen from grace" was Otto Rivero; when he served as the first
secretary of this organization he was praised by Fidel Castro himself,
who counted him among the "Revolutionary elite" at the Eighth Congress
of the UJC. A few months later Rivero was removed from his post and
became involved in a scandal of diversion and mismanagement of funds.
Learning the lesson not to shine, Liudmila Avalo arrived at the summit
of the Young Communists Union in 2009, barely noticed. A few days ago
she was replaced by another woman and leaves us not a single phrase or
idea to remember her by. She passed without shame or glory, wrapped in a
gray docility... bearing so little relation to the rebelliousness of her
age. But at least -- she must be thinking, with relief -- by not
standing out she avoided prison, and the scorn and ostracism suffered by
several of her predecessors.
Translating Cuba is a compilation blog with Yoani and other Cuban
bloggers in English.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoani-sanchez/young-communist-union-a-s_b_1917232.html
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Call for release of independent journalist accused of insulting president
Call for release of independent journalist accused of insulting president
Published on Monday 24 September 2012.
Harassment of dissidents has never really stopped since Raúl Castro
became president in 2006 but, if they are detained, it is usually for
short spells. The arrest of Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias, a reporter for
the independent Hablemos Press agency, could prove to be the exception
and could hark back to an era when dissidents were detained for longer
periods.
Martínez was arrested on 16 September and has been held ever since on a
charge of insulting the president, which could lead to a three-year
prison sentence.
"It is hard to see how the investigation into a spoiled consignment of
medicines that Martínez was carrying out at the time of his arrest, or
his earlier revelations about cholera and dengue, which the authorities
confirmed, could result in a charge of insulting the president,"
Reporters Without Borders said.
"This charge is totally absurd, just as any attempt to make an example
out of this case will be futile. Information of public interest should
be disseminated, discussed and debated. Such a debate is clearly lacking
in the official media, one of whose journalists is still detained while
others have chosen exile. We call for Martínez's immediate release."
Reporters Without Borders added: "The Cuban government must accept civil
society's right to ask questions and report information in accordance
with the conventions on civil and political rights it signed in 2008,
but has not yet ratified. Will the other members of the Bolivarian
Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) and the Community of
Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) remind it of the need to
respect this principle?"
Hablemos Press editor Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez tried without
success on 21 September to obtain permission to visit Martínez, who was
arrested near José Martí international airport. Dissident journalists
who were present were threatened with arrest and some were briefly detained.
According to the latest information, Martínez was transferred to Enrique
Cabrera Hospital on 20 September for treatment to blows he received to
the left eye.
Martínez is being persecuted by the authorities, who want him to go back
to Camagüey, where he was from, although he now lives and works in
Havana. In the past 10 years, he has been sent back to Camagüey ten
times, although the law on internal migration, which used to make it
hard for provincial residents to move to the capital, was relaxed at the
end of 2011.
He is the third Hablemos Press journalist to be detained this month.
Government journalists defect
The day that Martínez was arrested, Mairelys Cuevas Gómez, an editor
with the Communist Party newspaper Granma, took advantage of a working
visit to Mexico to go the US border and request asylum.
She was following the example of Luis López Viera, the sports editor of
Juventud Rebelde, another official newspaper, who asked the British
immigration authorities for asylum a month earlier, on 15 August, as the
London Olympics were ending.
Reporters Without Borders would like to hear the Cuban government's
reaction to the departure of journalists it employs, and to know more
about the fate of José Antonio Torres, another reporter for the Cuban
state media, who has been held for more than a year on an unexplained
charge of spying.
http://en.rsf.org/cuba-call-for-release-of-independent-24-09-2012,43441.html
Published on Monday 24 September 2012.
Harassment of dissidents has never really stopped since Raúl Castro
became president in 2006 but, if they are detained, it is usually for
short spells. The arrest of Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias, a reporter for
the independent Hablemos Press agency, could prove to be the exception
and could hark back to an era when dissidents were detained for longer
periods.
Martínez was arrested on 16 September and has been held ever since on a
charge of insulting the president, which could lead to a three-year
prison sentence.
"It is hard to see how the investigation into a spoiled consignment of
medicines that Martínez was carrying out at the time of his arrest, or
his earlier revelations about cholera and dengue, which the authorities
confirmed, could result in a charge of insulting the president,"
Reporters Without Borders said.
"This charge is totally absurd, just as any attempt to make an example
out of this case will be futile. Information of public interest should
be disseminated, discussed and debated. Such a debate is clearly lacking
in the official media, one of whose journalists is still detained while
others have chosen exile. We call for Martínez's immediate release."
Reporters Without Borders added: "The Cuban government must accept civil
society's right to ask questions and report information in accordance
with the conventions on civil and political rights it signed in 2008,
but has not yet ratified. Will the other members of the Bolivarian
Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) and the Community of
Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) remind it of the need to
respect this principle?"
Hablemos Press editor Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez tried without
success on 21 September to obtain permission to visit Martínez, who was
arrested near José Martí international airport. Dissident journalists
who were present were threatened with arrest and some were briefly detained.
According to the latest information, Martínez was transferred to Enrique
Cabrera Hospital on 20 September for treatment to blows he received to
the left eye.
Martínez is being persecuted by the authorities, who want him to go back
to Camagüey, where he was from, although he now lives and works in
Havana. In the past 10 years, he has been sent back to Camagüey ten
times, although the law on internal migration, which used to make it
hard for provincial residents to move to the capital, was relaxed at the
end of 2011.
He is the third Hablemos Press journalist to be detained this month.
Government journalists defect
The day that Martínez was arrested, Mairelys Cuevas Gómez, an editor
with the Communist Party newspaper Granma, took advantage of a working
visit to Mexico to go the US border and request asylum.
She was following the example of Luis López Viera, the sports editor of
Juventud Rebelde, another official newspaper, who asked the British
immigration authorities for asylum a month earlier, on 15 August, as the
London Olympics were ending.
Reporters Without Borders would like to hear the Cuban government's
reaction to the departure of journalists it employs, and to know more
about the fate of José Antonio Torres, another reporter for the Cuban
state media, who has been held for more than a year on an unexplained
charge of spying.
http://en.rsf.org/cuba-call-for-release-of-independent-24-09-2012,43441.html
Cuban journalist arrested for his investigative reporting
Cuban journalist arrested for his investigative reporting
The Paris-based press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF),
is concerned that the detention of Cuban reporter Calixto Ramón Martínez
Arias is a return to darker days.
Martínez, who works for the independent Hablemos Press agency, was
arrested on 16 September on a charge of insulting the president, which
carries a three-year prison sentence. But RSF says:
"It is hard to see how the investigation into a spoiled consignment
of medicines that Martínez was carrying out at the time of his arrest,
or his earlier revelations about cholera and dengue, which the
authorities confirmed, could result in a charge of insulting the president.
This charge is totally absurd… Information of public interest
should be disseminated, discussed and debated… We call for Martínez's
immediate release."
The editor of Hablemos Press, Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez, tried
without success on 21 September to obtain permission to visit Martínez.
He is the third Hablemos journalist to be detained this month.
Two Cuban journalists have recently defected. Mairelys Cuevas Gómez, an
editor with the communist party newspaper Granma, took advantage of a
working visit to Mexico to go the US border and request asylum.
And Luis López Viera, sports editor of Juventud Rebelde, another
official newspaper, requested asylum in Britain during the London Olympics.
Source: Reporters Without Borders
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/sep/26/press-freedom-cuba
The Paris-based press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF),
is concerned that the detention of Cuban reporter Calixto Ramón Martínez
Arias is a return to darker days.
Martínez, who works for the independent Hablemos Press agency, was
arrested on 16 September on a charge of insulting the president, which
carries a three-year prison sentence. But RSF says:
"It is hard to see how the investigation into a spoiled consignment
of medicines that Martínez was carrying out at the time of his arrest,
or his earlier revelations about cholera and dengue, which the
authorities confirmed, could result in a charge of insulting the president.
This charge is totally absurd… Information of public interest
should be disseminated, discussed and debated… We call for Martínez's
immediate release."
The editor of Hablemos Press, Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez, tried
without success on 21 September to obtain permission to visit Martínez.
He is the third Hablemos journalist to be detained this month.
Two Cuban journalists have recently defected. Mairelys Cuevas Gómez, an
editor with the communist party newspaper Granma, took advantage of a
working visit to Mexico to go the US border and request asylum.
And Luis López Viera, sports editor of Juventud Rebelde, another
official newspaper, requested asylum in Britain during the London Olympics.
Source: Reporters Without Borders
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/sep/26/press-freedom-cuba
Cuba, China to strengthen economic, trade ties
Cuba, China to strengthen economic, trade ties
Updated: 2012-09-27 10:35
( Xinhua)
HAVANA- Top officials from Cuba and China reaffirmed here Wednesday
their commitment to strengthening bilateral economic and trade ties.
At the 25th Session of the China-Cuba Intergovernmental Commission,
Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming stressed the importance of
developing and improving bilateral cooperation and promoting business
ties between the two sides as some European countries are struggling
with their debt crises.
Chen said that during the meeting co-chaired by him and Ricardo
Cabrisas, vice president of Cuba's Council of Ministers, the two sides
"discussed and reached broad consensus on issues of mutual concern".
He believed the meeting "will perfect bilateral cooperation of mutual
benefit and deepen our economic and trade relations".
Chen added that the Sino-Cuban ties and friendship are at their best
time in history.
For his part, Cabrisas said the year 2012 has seen significant advances
in bilateral ties especially in the field of economy and trade. Cuban
leader Raul Castro visited China in July, during which the two countries
signed several important agreements on health care, computer technology,
banking, agriculture and trade tariffs.
He also praised the efforts made by related government agencies of both
countries to formulate a basic strategy for consolidating and developing
bilateral ties in the medium and long term.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2012-09/27/content_15787011.htm
Updated: 2012-09-27 10:35
( Xinhua)
HAVANA- Top officials from Cuba and China reaffirmed here Wednesday
their commitment to strengthening bilateral economic and trade ties.
At the 25th Session of the China-Cuba Intergovernmental Commission,
Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming stressed the importance of
developing and improving bilateral cooperation and promoting business
ties between the two sides as some European countries are struggling
with their debt crises.
Chen said that during the meeting co-chaired by him and Ricardo
Cabrisas, vice president of Cuba's Council of Ministers, the two sides
"discussed and reached broad consensus on issues of mutual concern".
He believed the meeting "will perfect bilateral cooperation of mutual
benefit and deepen our economic and trade relations".
Chen added that the Sino-Cuban ties and friendship are at their best
time in history.
For his part, Cabrisas said the year 2012 has seen significant advances
in bilateral ties especially in the field of economy and trade. Cuban
leader Raul Castro visited China in July, during which the two countries
signed several important agreements on health care, computer technology,
banking, agriculture and trade tariffs.
He also praised the efforts made by related government agencies of both
countries to formulate a basic strategy for consolidating and developing
bilateral ties in the medium and long term.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2012-09/27/content_15787011.htm
Cuban doctors become costly
Cuban doctors become costly
By: DENVER KISTING 27.09.2012
NAMIBIA and Cuba are negotiating a deal for medical personnel that, if
it goes through, will cost the Namibian government N$1,3 million per
person for a two-year period – close to 50% more than the current
agreement. Currently, the fee is N$647 621 per person. There are 52
Cuban medical personnel in the country as part of the current agreement.
The fees Cuba wants to charge Namibia for medical personnel from that
country "have no relation whatsoever with the prevailing market rates
applicable in the public service within southern Africa as a whole", a
document seen by The Namibian states.
Because of this, there is a fear that the local market will be
destabilised, the document warns.
Destabilising the market would push up the cost of medical care, which
is already high, it warns.
Moreover, there are concerns that the new agreement will add fuel to the
fire in the public servants' wage talks.
"Since last year, there has been labour instability within the health
sector and already, government is negotiating for wages for public
servants. This new agreement may have bearing on the wage negotiations
especially for public servants."
Currently, the Namibian government pays N$23 000 on average per Cuban
medical staff member per month. Of that amount, the Cuban medical
personnel get a monthly allowance of N$3 200 for food and pocket money.
In terms of a new draft agreement, the cost will be N$51 800 per
employee per month.
Also, the Cuban medical staff are provided with fully furnished housing,
receive N$83 000 for international travel and N$12 621 for excess
baggage and cargo when travelling back home on holiday.
Of the N$23 000 per month, N$3 200 is paid over to the Cuban embassy and
is ultimately supposed to reach Havana.
The current agreement comes to an end next April.
It has come to light that the Ministry of Health and Social Services did
not budget for the new costs once the current agreement comes to an end.
It is understood that the ministry was caught off guard when it was
presented with the new cost structure last month.
Should the government give the new deal the green light, the Medium Term
Expenditure Framework (MTEF) ceiling of the ministry would need to be
increased.
"There is a serious financial implication – not only on the budget of
the ministry, which will be forced to forgo certain services to
accommodate the provision of the agreement, including that the
ministry's MTEF ceiling shall have to be adjusted to accommodate this cost."
Another spin-off of accepting the agreement would mean that health care
could be compromised.
Government would need to "reduce the number of required doctors to fit
within available resources which may reduce the ability of Government to
provide adequate medical care and specialised services all over the
country".
Until now, the agreement was entered into by the two countries'
government. In terms of the new agreement, the Cuban government is
represented by a private company from that country called
Comercializadora de Servicios Medicos Cubanos, SA.
Andrew Ndishishi, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health,
yesterday said he and Minister Richard Kamwi are travelling to Cuba
possibly as early as next week for the negotiations. "We are just
starting. The minister is supposed to lead a delegation to Cuba next week."
According to Ndishishi, the Cubans have the right to propose the cost
but the minister will still negotiate on behalf of Government.
He said he was not aware of how much money the new deal would cost.
Kamwi told The Namibian that he would not enter into an agreement which
the Namibian government couldn't afford but he did not want to comment
on costs.
The country still has a shortage of doctors, he said. Also, the current
Cuban doctors only received a living allowance and not a salary.
Between 2009 and now Namibia has received 410 Cuban medical health
personnel including doctors, nurses, technicians and technologists and
Namibia has paid only their living allowances, which amounted to N$14,4
million.
Of the above, 52 are doctors but Namibia wants 68 more Cuban doctors by
April next year to bring the total to 120. That will be at an additional
cost of N$31,2 million.
Under the new agreement Namibia will spend N$31 800 per month on a
specialist, N$25 440 on a medical engineer at degree level, N$23 320 on
specialised nurses and N$21 200 on health personnel and technicians at
diploma level.
It is believed that Namibia is negotiating for a grace period for the
current 52 Cuban doctors to continue receiving what they earn now until
April next year when the ministry will have to find an additional N$30,3
million to fund the increases.
http://www.namibian.com.na/news/full-story/archive/2012/september/article/cuban-doctors-become-costly/
By: DENVER KISTING 27.09.2012
NAMIBIA and Cuba are negotiating a deal for medical personnel that, if
it goes through, will cost the Namibian government N$1,3 million per
person for a two-year period – close to 50% more than the current
agreement. Currently, the fee is N$647 621 per person. There are 52
Cuban medical personnel in the country as part of the current agreement.
The fees Cuba wants to charge Namibia for medical personnel from that
country "have no relation whatsoever with the prevailing market rates
applicable in the public service within southern Africa as a whole", a
document seen by The Namibian states.
Because of this, there is a fear that the local market will be
destabilised, the document warns.
Destabilising the market would push up the cost of medical care, which
is already high, it warns.
Moreover, there are concerns that the new agreement will add fuel to the
fire in the public servants' wage talks.
"Since last year, there has been labour instability within the health
sector and already, government is negotiating for wages for public
servants. This new agreement may have bearing on the wage negotiations
especially for public servants."
Currently, the Namibian government pays N$23 000 on average per Cuban
medical staff member per month. Of that amount, the Cuban medical
personnel get a monthly allowance of N$3 200 for food and pocket money.
In terms of a new draft agreement, the cost will be N$51 800 per
employee per month.
Also, the Cuban medical staff are provided with fully furnished housing,
receive N$83 000 for international travel and N$12 621 for excess
baggage and cargo when travelling back home on holiday.
Of the N$23 000 per month, N$3 200 is paid over to the Cuban embassy and
is ultimately supposed to reach Havana.
The current agreement comes to an end next April.
It has come to light that the Ministry of Health and Social Services did
not budget for the new costs once the current agreement comes to an end.
It is understood that the ministry was caught off guard when it was
presented with the new cost structure last month.
Should the government give the new deal the green light, the Medium Term
Expenditure Framework (MTEF) ceiling of the ministry would need to be
increased.
"There is a serious financial implication – not only on the budget of
the ministry, which will be forced to forgo certain services to
accommodate the provision of the agreement, including that the
ministry's MTEF ceiling shall have to be adjusted to accommodate this cost."
Another spin-off of accepting the agreement would mean that health care
could be compromised.
Government would need to "reduce the number of required doctors to fit
within available resources which may reduce the ability of Government to
provide adequate medical care and specialised services all over the
country".
Until now, the agreement was entered into by the two countries'
government. In terms of the new agreement, the Cuban government is
represented by a private company from that country called
Comercializadora de Servicios Medicos Cubanos, SA.
Andrew Ndishishi, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health,
yesterday said he and Minister Richard Kamwi are travelling to Cuba
possibly as early as next week for the negotiations. "We are just
starting. The minister is supposed to lead a delegation to Cuba next week."
According to Ndishishi, the Cubans have the right to propose the cost
but the minister will still negotiate on behalf of Government.
He said he was not aware of how much money the new deal would cost.
Kamwi told The Namibian that he would not enter into an agreement which
the Namibian government couldn't afford but he did not want to comment
on costs.
The country still has a shortage of doctors, he said. Also, the current
Cuban doctors only received a living allowance and not a salary.
Between 2009 and now Namibia has received 410 Cuban medical health
personnel including doctors, nurses, technicians and technologists and
Namibia has paid only their living allowances, which amounted to N$14,4
million.
Of the above, 52 are doctors but Namibia wants 68 more Cuban doctors by
April next year to bring the total to 120. That will be at an additional
cost of N$31,2 million.
Under the new agreement Namibia will spend N$31 800 per month on a
specialist, N$25 440 on a medical engineer at degree level, N$23 320 on
specialised nurses and N$21 200 on health personnel and technicians at
diploma level.
It is believed that Namibia is negotiating for a grace period for the
current 52 Cuban doctors to continue receiving what they earn now until
April next year when the ministry will have to find an additional N$30,3
million to fund the increases.
http://www.namibian.com.na/news/full-story/archive/2012/september/article/cuban-doctors-become-costly/
Cuba’s sugar industry looks to rebound after bitter decline
Posted on Wednesday, 09.26.12
Cuba's sugar industry looks to rebound after bitter decline
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press
JARONU, Cuba -- Cuba's signature industry is showing signs of life two
years after the worst harvest in more than a century.
Hulking processing plants are coming back online and production is
rising, a boon to rural towns like Jaronu where producing sugar has been
a way of life for generations.
Officials recently said that the harvest is expected to increase by 20
percent in the coming season after jumps of 7 percent and 16 percent in
the last two harvests.
At the Brasil refinery in the steamy central province of Camaguey, a $6
million makeover is under way. During a recent visit, bulldozers were
busy re-grading the floor, operators were laying foundations for new
machinery and workers buzzed about, hammering and welding amid a
deafening mechanic roar and a pervasive oily odor.
"I've never seen as much money being spent here as there is now," said
Alodia Campo, a 54-year-old plant engineer and among the few employees
still remaining from the Brasil's glory days.
With world market prices rebounding, sugar is suddenly more profitable,
and a radical reorganization of the sector could offer a blueprint for
how to lift the rest of the island's inefficient command economy.
"The Cuban sugar industry is tied to the culture, history and identity
of this country," said Liobel Perez, spokesman for Azcuba, the largely
autonomous state-run company that replaced the Sugar Ministry in late
2011. "Sugarcane will not define Cuba's future, but it will have to be a
part of it."
Just two years ago, the sugar industry was on its knees.
The sugar minister had been sacked. State-run newspapers lambasted
rampant inefficiency and thousands of workers were moved to other
sectors. Eventually, the powerful Sugar Ministry itself was eliminated.
Even with the current reorganization, sugar revenues are far outpaced by
sectors such as tourism and nickel mining.
Last year, sugar earnings were $333 million, while nickel brought in
$1.25 billion, according to a study compiled by Rafael Romeu, a
U.S.-based economist and former president of the Association for the
Study of the Cuban Economy. Tourism brought in $2.5 billion in revenue
in 2011, according to government figures.
President Raul Castro created Azcuba as part of his effort to stimulate
the farm sector and streamline a fossilized Marxist economy that even he
says doesn't work anymore.
Unlike virtually every other part of the state-dominated economy, Azcuba
gets to keep 65 percent of its revenues and make decisions about
reinvesting without having to ask permission from the central government.
At the Brasil refinery, the mammoth rust-covered sheds installed by
American Sugar Refining Co., which launched the plant in 1921, still
stand. Although surrounded by the twisted carcasses of machinery ripped
out of the structures, the Brasil is expected to be ready for the
upcoming annual harvest and start milling cane by February.
That would have seemed an unlikely prospect during most of the last
decade. The plant mostly sat idle or was intermittently used as a grain
depot, with only 50 employees remaining from a workforce that once
numbered 500.
The Brasil's near-demise mirrors sugar's decline from the times when it
accounted for 80 percent of Cuba's export income, principally from the
nearby U.S. market before relations between the two countries soured in
the 1960s.
Over the decades since Cuba's 1959 revolution, bureaucratic
mismanagement created a slow-growing crisis that exploded in 2002, said
Arturo Lopez-Levy, a Cuban economist at the University of Denver. At
that time, sugar sold for just 6 cents a pound on world markets.
Cuban officials mothballed much of the industry.
From a peak of approximately 8 million tons in 1989, sugar output hit a
105-year-low of 1.1 million in 2010.
It was a black eye for a country where Fidel Castro once sent brigades
of soldiers, students, homemakers and bureaucrats from the cities to the
countryside in an ill-fated drive to reap 10 million tons of cane.
A restructuring that began in 2002 saw thousands of people lose their
jobs, though they were offered employment in other agricultural sectors
or job retraining programs.
Now with sugar topping 20 cents a pound worldwide, Cuba is newly
motivated to revive the industry and stimulate production.
Authorities have begun overhauling the Brasil and other mills, paying
farmers more for cane and handing over fallow land to private growers
and agro-cooperatives. As with other sectors of the economy, efficiency
is the buzzword, and officials hope Azcuba will be more nimble than the
ponderous Sugar Ministry.
Cuba acknowledges it still must address issues such as installing modern
irrigation systems, improving the supply chain and guaranteeing quality
of cane sent to the mills. Foreign investment in the sector is
nonexistent. Lopez-Levy, whose father was an engineer in the industry,
applauded measures such as Azcuba's financial independence. But he
cautioned that it's too early to brag about a major comeback, saying it
remains to be seen whether the sector can overcome the stubborn
bureaucratic mindset that has long plagued Cuba.
"After so many disasters, a measure of skepticism is realistic," the
economist said.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/26/v-fullstory/3022373/cubas-sugar-industry-looks-to.html
Cuba's sugar industry looks to rebound after bitter decline
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press
JARONU, Cuba -- Cuba's signature industry is showing signs of life two
years after the worst harvest in more than a century.
Hulking processing plants are coming back online and production is
rising, a boon to rural towns like Jaronu where producing sugar has been
a way of life for generations.
Officials recently said that the harvest is expected to increase by 20
percent in the coming season after jumps of 7 percent and 16 percent in
the last two harvests.
At the Brasil refinery in the steamy central province of Camaguey, a $6
million makeover is under way. During a recent visit, bulldozers were
busy re-grading the floor, operators were laying foundations for new
machinery and workers buzzed about, hammering and welding amid a
deafening mechanic roar and a pervasive oily odor.
"I've never seen as much money being spent here as there is now," said
Alodia Campo, a 54-year-old plant engineer and among the few employees
still remaining from the Brasil's glory days.
With world market prices rebounding, sugar is suddenly more profitable,
and a radical reorganization of the sector could offer a blueprint for
how to lift the rest of the island's inefficient command economy.
"The Cuban sugar industry is tied to the culture, history and identity
of this country," said Liobel Perez, spokesman for Azcuba, the largely
autonomous state-run company that replaced the Sugar Ministry in late
2011. "Sugarcane will not define Cuba's future, but it will have to be a
part of it."
Just two years ago, the sugar industry was on its knees.
The sugar minister had been sacked. State-run newspapers lambasted
rampant inefficiency and thousands of workers were moved to other
sectors. Eventually, the powerful Sugar Ministry itself was eliminated.
Even with the current reorganization, sugar revenues are far outpaced by
sectors such as tourism and nickel mining.
Last year, sugar earnings were $333 million, while nickel brought in
$1.25 billion, according to a study compiled by Rafael Romeu, a
U.S.-based economist and former president of the Association for the
Study of the Cuban Economy. Tourism brought in $2.5 billion in revenue
in 2011, according to government figures.
President Raul Castro created Azcuba as part of his effort to stimulate
the farm sector and streamline a fossilized Marxist economy that even he
says doesn't work anymore.
Unlike virtually every other part of the state-dominated economy, Azcuba
gets to keep 65 percent of its revenues and make decisions about
reinvesting without having to ask permission from the central government.
At the Brasil refinery, the mammoth rust-covered sheds installed by
American Sugar Refining Co., which launched the plant in 1921, still
stand. Although surrounded by the twisted carcasses of machinery ripped
out of the structures, the Brasil is expected to be ready for the
upcoming annual harvest and start milling cane by February.
That would have seemed an unlikely prospect during most of the last
decade. The plant mostly sat idle or was intermittently used as a grain
depot, with only 50 employees remaining from a workforce that once
numbered 500.
The Brasil's near-demise mirrors sugar's decline from the times when it
accounted for 80 percent of Cuba's export income, principally from the
nearby U.S. market before relations between the two countries soured in
the 1960s.
Over the decades since Cuba's 1959 revolution, bureaucratic
mismanagement created a slow-growing crisis that exploded in 2002, said
Arturo Lopez-Levy, a Cuban economist at the University of Denver. At
that time, sugar sold for just 6 cents a pound on world markets.
Cuban officials mothballed much of the industry.
From a peak of approximately 8 million tons in 1989, sugar output hit a
105-year-low of 1.1 million in 2010.
It was a black eye for a country where Fidel Castro once sent brigades
of soldiers, students, homemakers and bureaucrats from the cities to the
countryside in an ill-fated drive to reap 10 million tons of cane.
A restructuring that began in 2002 saw thousands of people lose their
jobs, though they were offered employment in other agricultural sectors
or job retraining programs.
Now with sugar topping 20 cents a pound worldwide, Cuba is newly
motivated to revive the industry and stimulate production.
Authorities have begun overhauling the Brasil and other mills, paying
farmers more for cane and handing over fallow land to private growers
and agro-cooperatives. As with other sectors of the economy, efficiency
is the buzzword, and officials hope Azcuba will be more nimble than the
ponderous Sugar Ministry.
Cuba acknowledges it still must address issues such as installing modern
irrigation systems, improving the supply chain and guaranteeing quality
of cane sent to the mills. Foreign investment in the sector is
nonexistent. Lopez-Levy, whose father was an engineer in the industry,
applauded measures such as Azcuba's financial independence. But he
cautioned that it's too early to brag about a major comeback, saying it
remains to be seen whether the sector can overcome the stubborn
bureaucratic mindset that has long plagued Cuba.
"After so many disasters, a measure of skepticism is realistic," the
economist said.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/26/v-fullstory/3022373/cubas-sugar-industry-looks-to.html
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Builders of the World
Builders of the World / Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado
Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado, Translator: Unstated
Cuba is falling apart. It's been moving for a long time without
advancing, like an old photo denied color. The architectural stock that
was "built" after 1959 is insufficient and with generally ugly designs.
However, the Cuban government sends builders to many parts of the globe
to help in the construction and reconstruction process — is it trying to
compete with the United States? — in different countries.
A long time ago in an architecture class of the program called
University for All on Cuban television, I heard a professor say that80
percent of the buildings in Cuba had been built between 1902 and 1959.
Eighty percent of Cuba was built in 57 years! What is the average built
in the last 53? I was surprised at that comment and, above all, that it
was made publicly. By the way, I have not seen more of that person in
the national media, but I do not doubt that in this age in which there
is an appearance of transparency and a certain tolerance, he may resurface.
The sloppy trail of 53 years of totalitarianism unfortunately makes up
the sociopolitical and economic morphology of the archipelago and is
reflected in almost every aspect of Cuban society. If we add our
idiosyncrasies and the influence of the leader that was too long in
charge of Cuba,the result is an explosive pattern overflowing our territory.
Too much time passed without building housing in our country as the
needs of the population demanded, and the maintenance required by the
existing housing was not provided. This society affected by the
campaigns that have to be undertaken without questioning, as in a
military camp, filled the republic with prefab boxes in five-floor
residential buildings without elevators, which looked like they had been
built with machetes. What numbers of architects and engineers have
graduated from Cuban universities to spend their active work life
reproducing typical projects?
Only the IMS* modules, of Yugoslavian construction — much taller and,
therefore, with elevators — improved this city's esthetics and the
comfort of some families, but they are insufficient.
I don't doubt that the pompousness and opportunism of our leaders,
wanting to "fix the world", will make them set their sights on the moon
and, seeing the craters of the natural satellite, will send in
solidarity a contingent of builders to fill the potholes. After all,
they ruined the country a long time ago and sprucing up the celestial
body will be a new project – a pretext that will gain them more time on
the throne of incompetence, while Cuba full of cracks goes to pieces…
*Translator's note: IMS Building Technology is a proprietary name for a
building system developed in Yugoslavia using a precast prestressed
concrete frame structure with concrete shear walls. The system is
low-cost, allows accelerated construction, and withstands earthquakes
and hurricanes.
September 19 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/builders-of-the-world-rosa-mara-rodrguez-torrado/
Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado, Translator: Unstated
Cuba is falling apart. It's been moving for a long time without
advancing, like an old photo denied color. The architectural stock that
was "built" after 1959 is insufficient and with generally ugly designs.
However, the Cuban government sends builders to many parts of the globe
to help in the construction and reconstruction process — is it trying to
compete with the United States? — in different countries.
A long time ago in an architecture class of the program called
University for All on Cuban television, I heard a professor say that80
percent of the buildings in Cuba had been built between 1902 and 1959.
Eighty percent of Cuba was built in 57 years! What is the average built
in the last 53? I was surprised at that comment and, above all, that it
was made publicly. By the way, I have not seen more of that person in
the national media, but I do not doubt that in this age in which there
is an appearance of transparency and a certain tolerance, he may resurface.
The sloppy trail of 53 years of totalitarianism unfortunately makes up
the sociopolitical and economic morphology of the archipelago and is
reflected in almost every aspect of Cuban society. If we add our
idiosyncrasies and the influence of the leader that was too long in
charge of Cuba,the result is an explosive pattern overflowing our territory.
Too much time passed without building housing in our country as the
needs of the population demanded, and the maintenance required by the
existing housing was not provided. This society affected by the
campaigns that have to be undertaken without questioning, as in a
military camp, filled the republic with prefab boxes in five-floor
residential buildings without elevators, which looked like they had been
built with machetes. What numbers of architects and engineers have
graduated from Cuban universities to spend their active work life
reproducing typical projects?
Only the IMS* modules, of Yugoslavian construction — much taller and,
therefore, with elevators — improved this city's esthetics and the
comfort of some families, but they are insufficient.
I don't doubt that the pompousness and opportunism of our leaders,
wanting to "fix the world", will make them set their sights on the moon
and, seeing the craters of the natural satellite, will send in
solidarity a contingent of builders to fill the potholes. After all,
they ruined the country a long time ago and sprucing up the celestial
body will be a new project – a pretext that will gain them more time on
the throne of incompetence, while Cuba full of cracks goes to pieces…
*Translator's note: IMS Building Technology is a proprietary name for a
building system developed in Yugoslavia using a precast prestressed
concrete frame structure with concrete shear walls. The system is
low-cost, allows accelerated construction, and withstands earthquakes
and hurricanes.
September 19 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/builders-of-the-world-rosa-mara-rodrguez-torrado/
The Preponderance of the Small
The Preponderance of the Small / Lilianne Ruiz
Lilianne Ruiz, Translator: Unstated
Yesterday I decided to go to Neptune Street between Aramburu and
Hospital Streets to see about and receive impressions of the site where
from 7:35 in the morning on Friday until today, Tuesday, September 25,
the repressive organs have established themselves in front of the
headquarters of the Ladies in White.
At some point in the afternoon when it came time for me to decide
between leaving or staying home I made the second choice. I imagined
myself in the situation of a person who avoids plunging into very cold
or very hot water, and you just put one foot forward or imagine you can
but the body and soul hang back, avoiding the danger.
The news came by word of mouth: the street and house were under siege,
it was impossible to reach them. They had ordered the employees and
students from the University of Havana to go there to repudiate* them.
The Federated University Students (FEU) "extras" and a platform with
singers were making noise, while State Security agents were stationed at
the door to prevent the Ladies from leaving to go to Church. The extras
in Cuba have become somewhat macabre, I always perceive them in slow
motion, the government uses them to repudiate while the mob, brought in
for the occasion, beats the opponents.
No one imagines that immensely apathetic people who participate in an
act of repudiation, under orders sent from the top of the pyramid of
power in Cuba, have the least interest in either in changing their
destinies or in defending this government from the threat of a group of
women who protest in defense of the rights of all Cubans not to go to
jail for dissent or for denouncing the regime, and who fight for the
release of those who are now prisoners under conditions difficult to
imagine, and even to believe on hearing their testimonies.
I remember the legend of the martyrdom of St. John of Patmos at the
Latin Gate, and the poem. Surely as part of my quest to continue to
protect my shell.
Finally a feeling of frustration invades me. I can't write about
anything else. At night the number of Ladies in White imprisoned was
confirmed to be more than 60.
Meanwhile at my daughter's school they are preparing the children for
the Young Pioneers scarf. A picture of the Castro brothers on one of the
walls of the classroom and portraits of the five State Security agents
(the "Cuban Five") — colleagues of the abusers besieging the house of
the late Laura Pollán — appear in the childish imagination as heroes of
the fatherland.
Those are not my values nor the values I want my daughter to learn. I
would be difficult with her five years to maintain two meanings for the
same symbols; because none of these people are completely real to the
child's perception, fairies are more real. It's me who's looking for the
morals and hope of all these childhood fables, where being brave and
telling the truth don't leave you completely alone against the forces of
evil.
*Translator's note: The nature of these "repudiation rallies" is clear
from the photos in this post. The regime often claims they are
"spontaneous uprisings of outraged neighbors" but in fact people are
routinely bussed in and the actions are planned in advance. In at least
one case, confronting the regime with knowledge of a planned
"spontaneous rally" and demanding its cancellation was successful, at
least in cancelling that particular action.
September 25 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/the-preponderance-of-the-small-lilianne-ruiz/
Lilianne Ruiz, Translator: Unstated
Yesterday I decided to go to Neptune Street between Aramburu and
Hospital Streets to see about and receive impressions of the site where
from 7:35 in the morning on Friday until today, Tuesday, September 25,
the repressive organs have established themselves in front of the
headquarters of the Ladies in White.
At some point in the afternoon when it came time for me to decide
between leaving or staying home I made the second choice. I imagined
myself in the situation of a person who avoids plunging into very cold
or very hot water, and you just put one foot forward or imagine you can
but the body and soul hang back, avoiding the danger.
The news came by word of mouth: the street and house were under siege,
it was impossible to reach them. They had ordered the employees and
students from the University of Havana to go there to repudiate* them.
The Federated University Students (FEU) "extras" and a platform with
singers were making noise, while State Security agents were stationed at
the door to prevent the Ladies from leaving to go to Church. The extras
in Cuba have become somewhat macabre, I always perceive them in slow
motion, the government uses them to repudiate while the mob, brought in
for the occasion, beats the opponents.
No one imagines that immensely apathetic people who participate in an
act of repudiation, under orders sent from the top of the pyramid of
power in Cuba, have the least interest in either in changing their
destinies or in defending this government from the threat of a group of
women who protest in defense of the rights of all Cubans not to go to
jail for dissent or for denouncing the regime, and who fight for the
release of those who are now prisoners under conditions difficult to
imagine, and even to believe on hearing their testimonies.
I remember the legend of the martyrdom of St. John of Patmos at the
Latin Gate, and the poem. Surely as part of my quest to continue to
protect my shell.
Finally a feeling of frustration invades me. I can't write about
anything else. At night the number of Ladies in White imprisoned was
confirmed to be more than 60.
Meanwhile at my daughter's school they are preparing the children for
the Young Pioneers scarf. A picture of the Castro brothers on one of the
walls of the classroom and portraits of the five State Security agents
(the "Cuban Five") — colleagues of the abusers besieging the house of
the late Laura Pollán — appear in the childish imagination as heroes of
the fatherland.
Those are not my values nor the values I want my daughter to learn. I
would be difficult with her five years to maintain two meanings for the
same symbols; because none of these people are completely real to the
child's perception, fairies are more real. It's me who's looking for the
morals and hope of all these childhood fables, where being brave and
telling the truth don't leave you completely alone against the forces of
evil.
*Translator's note: The nature of these "repudiation rallies" is clear
from the photos in this post. The regime often claims they are
"spontaneous uprisings of outraged neighbors" but in fact people are
routinely bussed in and the actions are planned in advance. In at least
one case, confronting the regime with knowledge of a planned
"spontaneous rally" and demanding its cancellation was successful, at
least in cancelling that particular action.
September 25 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/the-preponderance-of-the-small-lilianne-ruiz/
Students at the University of Medical Sciences Continue Without Classes
Students at the University of Medical Sciences Continue Without Classes
/ Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
Translator: Unstated, Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
Spraying for mosquitoes that cause dengue fever. Source: en.mercopress.com
For the second week in a row all institutes devoted to medical education
and health technology in Havana have suspended classes.
Students were taken from their classrooms in order to screen people in
Havana who are suffering from fevers, and to supervise the control of
the Aedes aegypti mosquito in different municipalities. The suspension
of classes is in order to strengthen every area of health in the
prevention and early detection of new cases of Dengue.
Students are required to spend all the hours of the morning on each of
the routes established for the investigation, and this must be completed
before they appear for the territorial clinic debriefing and for further
analysis from the physicians directing hygiene and epidemiology .
Some of the students participating in this activity do so under threat;
those not attending this activity can be expelled from their respective
careers. The refusal of many of these students is due to the fact that a
number of homes remain closed or in the worst case prefer to close their
doors because they do not trust the epidemiological work.
Public Health directors have recently reported continued detection of
new cases and the work of investigation and mosquito control will have
to be reinforced by the Youth Labor Army (EJT) and young people of
Compulsive Military Service age.
September 24 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/students-at-the-university-of-medical-sciences-continue-without-classes-wendy-iriepa-and-ignacio-estrada/
/ Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
Translator: Unstated, Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
Spraying for mosquitoes that cause dengue fever. Source: en.mercopress.com
For the second week in a row all institutes devoted to medical education
and health technology in Havana have suspended classes.
Students were taken from their classrooms in order to screen people in
Havana who are suffering from fevers, and to supervise the control of
the Aedes aegypti mosquito in different municipalities. The suspension
of classes is in order to strengthen every area of health in the
prevention and early detection of new cases of Dengue.
Students are required to spend all the hours of the morning on each of
the routes established for the investigation, and this must be completed
before they appear for the territorial clinic debriefing and for further
analysis from the physicians directing hygiene and epidemiology .
Some of the students participating in this activity do so under threat;
those not attending this activity can be expelled from their respective
careers. The refusal of many of these students is due to the fact that a
number of homes remain closed or in the worst case prefer to close their
doors because they do not trust the epidemiological work.
Public Health directors have recently reported continued detection of
new cases and the work of investigation and mosquito control will have
to be reinforced by the Youth Labor Army (EJT) and young people of
Compulsive Military Service age.
September 24 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/students-at-the-university-of-medical-sciences-continue-without-classes-wendy-iriepa-and-ignacio-estrada/
El nuevo entretenimiento de Joan
El nuevo entretenimiento de Joan
Miércoles, 26 de Septiembre de 2012 00:26
Escrito por Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca
Cuba noticias, Nuevo Vedado, La Habana, (PD) Se ha hecho muy común el
nuevo entretenimiento de Joan, el jefe de sector de la policía del
barrio Los Sitios, en la Habana Vieja.
Todos los días, sobre las 10 ó las 11 de la mañana, Joan sale en un
microbús rojo, lleno de agentes del Departamento Técnico de
Investigaciones (DTI) y de la Dirección Inspección de Provincial (DIP)
por las calles Monte, Águila y Reina decomisándole a todo vendedor de
carretilla y cuentapropista ambulante la mercancía que lleve.
A esa hora se puede ver también a todos los cuentapropistas buscando un
lugar donde esconder sus mesas o las carretillas, para sacarlas del
alcance del jefe de sector Yoan.
¡Qué entretenido debe ser jugar a las escondidas, o los cogidos, cuando
se trabaja! Se dice y no se cree...
Para Cuba noticias: yurivalle1961@gmail.com
http://lazaroyurivalle.blogspot.com lyvr61_cu@yahoo.com
http://primaveradigital.org/primavera/cuba-noticias/3-ultimas-noticias/5291-el-nuevo-entretenimiento-de-joan.html
Miércoles, 26 de Septiembre de 2012 00:26
Escrito por Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca
Cuba noticias, Nuevo Vedado, La Habana, (PD) Se ha hecho muy común el
nuevo entretenimiento de Joan, el jefe de sector de la policía del
barrio Los Sitios, en la Habana Vieja.
Todos los días, sobre las 10 ó las 11 de la mañana, Joan sale en un
microbús rojo, lleno de agentes del Departamento Técnico de
Investigaciones (DTI) y de la Dirección Inspección de Provincial (DIP)
por las calles Monte, Águila y Reina decomisándole a todo vendedor de
carretilla y cuentapropista ambulante la mercancía que lleve.
A esa hora se puede ver también a todos los cuentapropistas buscando un
lugar donde esconder sus mesas o las carretillas, para sacarlas del
alcance del jefe de sector Yoan.
¡Qué entretenido debe ser jugar a las escondidas, o los cogidos, cuando
se trabaja! Se dice y no se cree...
Para Cuba noticias: yurivalle1961@gmail.com
http://lazaroyurivalle.blogspot.com lyvr61_cu@yahoo.com
http://primaveradigital.org/primavera/cuba-noticias/3-ultimas-noticias/5291-el-nuevo-entretenimiento-de-joan.html
Ladies in White backers ‘deported’
Ladies in White backers 'deported'
AFP/Havana
Police sent dozens of Cuban women dissidents back to their home
provinces at the weekend even as a pro-government mob tried to corral
the group in a home so they could not attend a mass, a dissident alleged
on Monday.
Police "detained more than 60 women, deported them (to their home
provinces from Havana) and otherwise sent them home," Laura Labrada,
daughter of the late Ladies in White leader Laura Pollan, said.
The Ladies in White was founded in 2003 by wives and kin of political
prisoners seeking their release after a crackdown.
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=533591&version=1&template_id=43
AFP/Havana
Police sent dozens of Cuban women dissidents back to their home
provinces at the weekend even as a pro-government mob tried to corral
the group in a home so they could not attend a mass, a dissident alleged
on Monday.
Police "detained more than 60 women, deported them (to their home
provinces from Havana) and otherwise sent them home," Laura Labrada,
daughter of the late Ladies in White leader Laura Pollan, said.
The Ladies in White was founded in 2003 by wives and kin of political
prisoners seeking their release after a crackdown.
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=533591&version=1&template_id=43
Cuba’s Communist Youth Organization Selects New Official
Cuba's Communist Youth Organization Selects New Official
HAVANA – Cuba's Union of Young Communists, or UJC, elected as its new
national secretary Yuniasky Crespo Vaquero to replace Liudmila Alamo,
who held that position since October 2009, state television reported.
A plenary session of the UJC, the youth affiliate of the ruling
Communist Party of Cuba, or PCC, agreed to "free" Alamo, assigning her
"other responsibilities" that were not specified.
The organization decided to "promote" to the post of secretary the
35-year-old Crespo Vaquero, who up to now has worked as head of the UJC
in the eastern province of Las Tunas.
The new secretary of Cuba's young communists is a graduate in
Marxism-Leninism and History, has practiced as a professor in that field
and has occupied various positions in the organization's base and its
municipal and provincial structures.
The UJC leadership change came during a plenary session presided by Jose
Ramon Machado Ventura, first vice president of the councils of state and
ministers and second secretary of the PCC. EFE
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=590009&CategoryId=14510
HAVANA – Cuba's Union of Young Communists, or UJC, elected as its new
national secretary Yuniasky Crespo Vaquero to replace Liudmila Alamo,
who held that position since October 2009, state television reported.
A plenary session of the UJC, the youth affiliate of the ruling
Communist Party of Cuba, or PCC, agreed to "free" Alamo, assigning her
"other responsibilities" that were not specified.
The organization decided to "promote" to the post of secretary the
35-year-old Crespo Vaquero, who up to now has worked as head of the UJC
in the eastern province of Las Tunas.
The new secretary of Cuba's young communists is a graduate in
Marxism-Leninism and History, has practiced as a professor in that field
and has occupied various positions in the organization's base and its
municipal and provincial structures.
The UJC leadership change came during a plenary session presided by Jose
Ramon Machado Ventura, first vice president of the councils of state and
ministers and second secretary of the PCC. EFE
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=590009&CategoryId=14510
Cuban government stays mum on new cholera reports
Cuban government stays mum on new cholera reports
Juan O. Tamayo | The Miami Herald
MIAMI — Four weeks after the Cuban government announced that an outbreak
of cholera in the eastern part of the island was over, there are
unconfirmed reports of new cases popping up in two small towns.
Twenty-seven cases were reported in the municipality of San Luis, in the
eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, and 19 more in the Bahia Honda
municipality 35 miles west of Havana.
Roberto Gonzalez, a dissident living in San Luis, said that area public
health workers and residents have told him of the more than two dozen
confirmed cases and 102 suspected cases of cholera in the municipality
over the past two weeks.
Gonzalez said that on Tuesday he saw police checking IDs on municipal
roads to keep out non-residents and barring all access to the Eliseo
Reyes clinic in the village of Chile. Tanker trucks were delivering
water to areas where the aqueduct has been shut down.
The Cuban government has not publicly acknowledged any new cholera cases
since Aug. 28, when it declared that an epidemic focused in the eastern
city of Manzanillo had ended with a final tally of three deaths and 417
confirmed cases.
Government officials provided little information during that two-month
long outbreak of cholera, Cuba's first in many decades. They confirmed
it only after independent journalists and dissidents began reporting on
the epidemic.
Part of the hospital in San Luis also has been turned into an isolation
facility, and some of the more serious cases were sent to a hospital in
the provincial capital, Santiago de Cuba, he told The Miami Herald by
telephone.
Authorities also have readied a nearby school to accept more cases,
added Gonzalez, a member of the dissident Cuban Patriotic Union.
Independent journalist Moises Leonardo Rodriguez, a resident of the port
of Cabanas adjoining Bahia Honda, said neighbors and nurses told him of
19 cholera cases in that area, including the death of a 65-year-old woman.
Two public health employees wearing masks told his daughter last week to
stay away from the Cabanas clinic because it was treating cholera
patients, Rodriguez told the Herald by telephone.
He added that other public health workers told him a government
epidemiologist had instructed them on how to canvas Bahia Honda
residents for symptoms of cholera, like diarrhea and vomiting, but told
them never to use the word cholera.
Some work places in Cabanas have distributed water purification tables,
Rodriguez reported, and residents were told Monday that a 10-day ban on
fishing in local waters had been lifted.
Cholera bacteria are most often spread in contaminated water. In the
Manzanillo outbreak, public health officials said heavy rains in June
flooded latrines, which in turn contaminated some of the area's wells.
Most Bahia Honda homes have latrines and get their water from a nearby
dam, Rodriguez said.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/09/25/169688/cuban-government-stays-mum-on.html
Juan O. Tamayo | The Miami Herald
MIAMI — Four weeks after the Cuban government announced that an outbreak
of cholera in the eastern part of the island was over, there are
unconfirmed reports of new cases popping up in two small towns.
Twenty-seven cases were reported in the municipality of San Luis, in the
eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, and 19 more in the Bahia Honda
municipality 35 miles west of Havana.
Roberto Gonzalez, a dissident living in San Luis, said that area public
health workers and residents have told him of the more than two dozen
confirmed cases and 102 suspected cases of cholera in the municipality
over the past two weeks.
Gonzalez said that on Tuesday he saw police checking IDs on municipal
roads to keep out non-residents and barring all access to the Eliseo
Reyes clinic in the village of Chile. Tanker trucks were delivering
water to areas where the aqueduct has been shut down.
The Cuban government has not publicly acknowledged any new cholera cases
since Aug. 28, when it declared that an epidemic focused in the eastern
city of Manzanillo had ended with a final tally of three deaths and 417
confirmed cases.
Government officials provided little information during that two-month
long outbreak of cholera, Cuba's first in many decades. They confirmed
it only after independent journalists and dissidents began reporting on
the epidemic.
Part of the hospital in San Luis also has been turned into an isolation
facility, and some of the more serious cases were sent to a hospital in
the provincial capital, Santiago de Cuba, he told The Miami Herald by
telephone.
Authorities also have readied a nearby school to accept more cases,
added Gonzalez, a member of the dissident Cuban Patriotic Union.
Independent journalist Moises Leonardo Rodriguez, a resident of the port
of Cabanas adjoining Bahia Honda, said neighbors and nurses told him of
19 cholera cases in that area, including the death of a 65-year-old woman.
Two public health employees wearing masks told his daughter last week to
stay away from the Cabanas clinic because it was treating cholera
patients, Rodriguez told the Herald by telephone.
He added that other public health workers told him a government
epidemiologist had instructed them on how to canvas Bahia Honda
residents for symptoms of cholera, like diarrhea and vomiting, but told
them never to use the word cholera.
Some work places in Cabanas have distributed water purification tables,
Rodriguez reported, and residents were told Monday that a 10-day ban on
fishing in local waters had been lifted.
Cholera bacteria are most often spread in contaminated water. In the
Manzanillo outbreak, public health officials said heavy rains in June
flooded latrines, which in turn contaminated some of the area's wells.
Most Bahia Honda homes have latrines and get their water from a nearby
dam, Rodriguez said.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/09/25/169688/cuban-government-stays-mum-on.html
Cuba Airs Tape Questioning Dissident Hunger Strike
Cuba Airs Tape Questioning Dissident Hunger Strike
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ Associated Press
HAVANA September 26, 2012 (AP)
Cuban state television aired images Tuesday night raising questions
about the recent hunger strike by a prominent dissident.
The 15-minute segment broadcast on the nightly news included testimony
from a neighbor saying he took fruit and vegetables to dissident Martha
Beatriz Roque.
Video supposedly shot outside Roque's home showed someone passing
avocados and other food inside a window to a woman. Her face was not
visible, but the voice on the audio sounded like Roque's.
"She told me in a very low voice, 'I am on hunger strike.' I asked for
how long. 'Since yesterday,'" said a man identified as Humberto
Gonzalez. He described himself as a neighbor with a window adjacent to
Roque.
"She said she needed me to get her fruits, vegetables, above all things
that didn't need cooking, and she gave me money," Gonzalez said.
Reached by phone late Tuesday, Roque declined to confirm or deny the
veracity of the images, expressing anger over the public transmission of
private conversations and accusing authorities of trying to discredit
the purpose of the protest.
"You offend me with that question," she said. "An avocado cannot bring
down a hunger strike."
Roque and at least two dozen other activists announced the hunger strike
Sept. 10 to demand the release of Jorge Vazquez, an anti-government
activist imprisoned for common crimes. They called off the protest Sept.
18, saying the government had promised to free Vazquez.
The TV report included a recorded phone conversation in which Vazquez's
wife purportedly told Roque that he was not prepared to keep up the protest.
It also contained testimony from a doctor who said she visited Roque and
found her to be in good health.
Roque, a 67-year-old former economics professor, suffers from diabetes,
and fellow dissidents said her health was in serious danger during the
hunger strike. They later proclaimed the protest a success.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cuba-airs-tape-questioning-dissident-hunger-strike-17325047#.UGMcw65AWU8
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ Associated Press
HAVANA September 26, 2012 (AP)
Cuban state television aired images Tuesday night raising questions
about the recent hunger strike by a prominent dissident.
The 15-minute segment broadcast on the nightly news included testimony
from a neighbor saying he took fruit and vegetables to dissident Martha
Beatriz Roque.
Video supposedly shot outside Roque's home showed someone passing
avocados and other food inside a window to a woman. Her face was not
visible, but the voice on the audio sounded like Roque's.
"She told me in a very low voice, 'I am on hunger strike.' I asked for
how long. 'Since yesterday,'" said a man identified as Humberto
Gonzalez. He described himself as a neighbor with a window adjacent to
Roque.
"She said she needed me to get her fruits, vegetables, above all things
that didn't need cooking, and she gave me money," Gonzalez said.
Reached by phone late Tuesday, Roque declined to confirm or deny the
veracity of the images, expressing anger over the public transmission of
private conversations and accusing authorities of trying to discredit
the purpose of the protest.
"You offend me with that question," she said. "An avocado cannot bring
down a hunger strike."
Roque and at least two dozen other activists announced the hunger strike
Sept. 10 to demand the release of Jorge Vazquez, an anti-government
activist imprisoned for common crimes. They called off the protest Sept.
18, saying the government had promised to free Vazquez.
The TV report included a recorded phone conversation in which Vazquez's
wife purportedly told Roque that he was not prepared to keep up the protest.
It also contained testimony from a doctor who said she visited Roque and
found her to be in good health.
Roque, a 67-year-old former economics professor, suffers from diabetes,
and fellow dissidents said her health was in serious danger during the
hunger strike. They later proclaimed the protest a success.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cuba-airs-tape-questioning-dissident-hunger-strike-17325047#.UGMcw65AWU8
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Hunger Strikes as a Weapon
Hunger Strikes as a Weapon / Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado
Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado, Translator: Unstated
It was after six in the evening and the lighting of the hall barely did
justice to light the apartment of Martha Beatriz Roque. There were still
some people there who joined the collective hunger strike — a total of
28 people fasting in Cuba — for the release of Jorge Vázquez Chaviano,
who should have been released on September 9th but whom the authorities
arbitrarily kept prisoner.
I was disinformed, like every citizen living in a dictatorship — without
access to a free press — and I was surprised to find they'd abandoned
the demand. Martha, who came out to greet me with the slow and fragile
appearance pf the prolonged fast, told me that State Security had talked
to Vázquez's wife that day and an officer informed her that she would
soon have a spouse at home. No triumphalism at the outcome shone through
the subdued tone of her voice, simply exhaustion for the sacrifice
implied in refusing an act vital for human survival, such as food, in
order to turn it into a weapon of struggle.
When they curtail liberties with their long list of totalitarian wrongs,
they give more reasons to exercise and defend — sometimes even from
anonymous illegality — democratic values, despite the threats of
imprisonment or exile that hang threateningly over their entire Cuban
archipelago.
There are precedents for fellow democrats who have taken the alternative
of voluntary starvation in the face of abuse, which is to confront
despotism with hunger from the appetite for justice for all Cubans.
I still remember, in recent times, the long strike of Guillermo Fariñas,
who contributed to the release of political prisoners in 2010, and those
that claimed the lives of Orlando Zapata and Wilmar Villar. It seems
that for some leaders, excessive and totalitarian power generates the
morbidity in them to want to see their opponents squalid, rather than
establishing a democratic state of law, social justice and the common
good for all Cubans.
Once again, the physical deterioration and dry lips of the strikers were
not signs of weakness but of strength to denounce those who cling to
power, and who from the moral point of view increasingly weaken before
the world. Once again the cruelty of the authorities ceded before the
decorum of a handful of decent Cubans. There are no prisons for freedom
and justice, as those who live as prisoners of their hatred would like,
to keep all of Cuba locked in a punishment cell and put bars on the
rights of an entire people.
September 19 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/hunger-strikes-as-a-weapon-rosa-maria-rodriguez-torrado/
Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado, Translator: Unstated
It was after six in the evening and the lighting of the hall barely did
justice to light the apartment of Martha Beatriz Roque. There were still
some people there who joined the collective hunger strike — a total of
28 people fasting in Cuba — for the release of Jorge Vázquez Chaviano,
who should have been released on September 9th but whom the authorities
arbitrarily kept prisoner.
I was disinformed, like every citizen living in a dictatorship — without
access to a free press — and I was surprised to find they'd abandoned
the demand. Martha, who came out to greet me with the slow and fragile
appearance pf the prolonged fast, told me that State Security had talked
to Vázquez's wife that day and an officer informed her that she would
soon have a spouse at home. No triumphalism at the outcome shone through
the subdued tone of her voice, simply exhaustion for the sacrifice
implied in refusing an act vital for human survival, such as food, in
order to turn it into a weapon of struggle.
When they curtail liberties with their long list of totalitarian wrongs,
they give more reasons to exercise and defend — sometimes even from
anonymous illegality — democratic values, despite the threats of
imprisonment or exile that hang threateningly over their entire Cuban
archipelago.
There are precedents for fellow democrats who have taken the alternative
of voluntary starvation in the face of abuse, which is to confront
despotism with hunger from the appetite for justice for all Cubans.
I still remember, in recent times, the long strike of Guillermo Fariñas,
who contributed to the release of political prisoners in 2010, and those
that claimed the lives of Orlando Zapata and Wilmar Villar. It seems
that for some leaders, excessive and totalitarian power generates the
morbidity in them to want to see their opponents squalid, rather than
establishing a democratic state of law, social justice and the common
good for all Cubans.
Once again, the physical deterioration and dry lips of the strikers were
not signs of weakness but of strength to denounce those who cling to
power, and who from the moral point of view increasingly weaken before
the world. Once again the cruelty of the authorities ceded before the
decorum of a handful of decent Cubans. There are no prisons for freedom
and justice, as those who live as prisoners of their hatred would like,
to keep all of Cuba locked in a punishment cell and put bars on the
rights of an entire people.
September 19 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/hunger-strikes-as-a-weapon-rosa-maria-rodriguez-torrado/
Days of Extremism and Fanaticism
Days of Extremism and Fanaticism / Fernando Damaso
Fernando Damaso, Translator: Unstated
I've always deplored extremism and fanaticism, from wherever it comes
and whoever practices it, because I consider that its roots are found in
the primitivism and darkness, both totally alien to reason.
These days, especially in some of the world's Arab countries, and in
others where the same nationals are located the extremist followers of
Allah and the Prophet Mohammed, faced with the screening of a short film
of no more than fifteen minutes in which, according to them, the figure
of the prophet is denigrated, have committed murder, acts of vandalism
with fires, destruction of property and mass demonstrations completely
out of control, against the United States and the West. It appears that
the alleged offense has been well utilized by those who don't want to
lose an opportunity to declare holy wars, promote intolerance, practice
terrorism, accuse as infidels those who don't share their religious
beliefs, and ask for their extermination.
Muhammad, being a human being, regardless of mystical attributes
ascribed to him, shared the same physical needs of all human beings. In
addition, I am sure that he accepted or even practiced, for belonging to
the Muslim world, some of the customs belonging to it: discrimination
against women, polygamy, inhumane punishments such as physical
mutilation, stoning, beheading and others. All this is still practiced
in many of these countries.
Others, more advanced, educated, difficulties, misunderstandings and
tenacity, have managed to reduce and even eradicate the practice.
Shocking, because it shows the human side of the prophet, it should not
be cause for so much aggression. When, years ago, Jesus Christ was
treated as a human being in the film The Last Temptation of Christ,
although the Catholic Church protested, nobody thought to commit murder
and acts of vandalism against its creators or their home countries.
These primitive manifestations, rather than uplifting the human being,
denigrate and cannot be allowed in the name of any religion. Intolerance
of any kind, must be combated firmly. Yielding to it led us to Nazism in
the twentieth century and all its consequences. Do not make the same
mistake. Everyone can have religious beliefs of any kind they desire and
practice them, but there is no right to prevent freedom of expression of
every human being, let alone to want to impose respect for one's beliefs
by force, by international threats and blackmail. To firmly oppose these
irrational acts, in words and actions, as civilized beings, supports the
religion they profess.
September 20 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/days-of-extremism-and-fanaticism-fernando-damaso/
Fernando Damaso, Translator: Unstated
I've always deplored extremism and fanaticism, from wherever it comes
and whoever practices it, because I consider that its roots are found in
the primitivism and darkness, both totally alien to reason.
These days, especially in some of the world's Arab countries, and in
others where the same nationals are located the extremist followers of
Allah and the Prophet Mohammed, faced with the screening of a short film
of no more than fifteen minutes in which, according to them, the figure
of the prophet is denigrated, have committed murder, acts of vandalism
with fires, destruction of property and mass demonstrations completely
out of control, against the United States and the West. It appears that
the alleged offense has been well utilized by those who don't want to
lose an opportunity to declare holy wars, promote intolerance, practice
terrorism, accuse as infidels those who don't share their religious
beliefs, and ask for their extermination.
Muhammad, being a human being, regardless of mystical attributes
ascribed to him, shared the same physical needs of all human beings. In
addition, I am sure that he accepted or even practiced, for belonging to
the Muslim world, some of the customs belonging to it: discrimination
against women, polygamy, inhumane punishments such as physical
mutilation, stoning, beheading and others. All this is still practiced
in many of these countries.
Others, more advanced, educated, difficulties, misunderstandings and
tenacity, have managed to reduce and even eradicate the practice.
Shocking, because it shows the human side of the prophet, it should not
be cause for so much aggression. When, years ago, Jesus Christ was
treated as a human being in the film The Last Temptation of Christ,
although the Catholic Church protested, nobody thought to commit murder
and acts of vandalism against its creators or their home countries.
These primitive manifestations, rather than uplifting the human being,
denigrate and cannot be allowed in the name of any religion. Intolerance
of any kind, must be combated firmly. Yielding to it led us to Nazism in
the twentieth century and all its consequences. Do not make the same
mistake. Everyone can have religious beliefs of any kind they desire and
practice them, but there is no right to prevent freedom of expression of
every human being, let alone to want to impose respect for one's beliefs
by force, by international threats and blackmail. To firmly oppose these
irrational acts, in words and actions, as civilized beings, supports the
religion they profess.
September 20 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/days-of-extremism-and-fanaticism-fernando-damaso/
September Returns: a Month of Repression Against the Ladies in White
September Returns: a Month of Repression Against the Ladies in White /
Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
Translator: Unstated, Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
For years Neptune Street in Central Havana, in the capital of the
country, has been turned into a stage for the orchestrated Acts of
Repudiation against the "Laura Pollán Toledo Ladies in White Movement."
The present month will not stray far from its dismal history, according
to what its own members describe, along with some Human Rights activists
close to this women's movement, created after the well-known Black
Spring of 2003.
The street has once again been taken, its usual traffic diverted, and
access permitted only to those performing in the repudiation rally
organized against these peaceful women. The screams and the help of
audio equipment are part of this terrible stage set directed by the
Cuban political police.
Insults and obscene words are heard on the lips of the actors who, in
many cases, are forced to form a part of the theatrical work, under
threats of losing their jobs or their studies, just to cite an example.
Despite these constant acts of unscrupulous people, the Laura Pollán
Toledo Ladies in White Movement will not cede under any conditions. Its
brave and heroic women stand at the windows and doors and don't remain
silent against the official chorus.
Last September of 2011 was a terrible month for this movement which was
attacked in the worst way, with those participating in the act of
repudiation physically dragging and attacking the women they found
there, united in their desire to pray for the release of all the
political prisoners. One of the women assaulted was Laura Pollán Toledo,
the leader of this movement, who became mysteriously ill shortly after
being scratched by one of the euphoric attackers. A month later in
unknown conditions this woman, committed not only to the freedom of her
husband but to the freedom of a nation, died.
Today Berta Soler occupies the place left by Laura and in tribute to her
has renamed the movement that she created years earlier and which she
led all that time.
September month of horrors, led by people who don't hesitate to block
the women who worship the Virgin of Mercy, patroness of captives.
Venerated by everyone within and outside our nation.
A single question comes to my mind at these times. How many violent
Septembers do we have still to live? I ask God to return Neptune street
to normality, for the hatred between Cubans to disappear, and more than
this, for the next September to not see an act of repudiation meeting in
front of the abode of a woman like Laura, an example of dignity and
decorum, but rather than at a future gathering the hands of all will
carry gladioli and remembrance and homage to each one of these brave
Cuban women.
September 24 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/september-returns-a-month-of-repression-against-the-ladies-in-white-wendy-iriepa-and-ignacio-estrada/
Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
Translator: Unstated, Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
For years Neptune Street in Central Havana, in the capital of the
country, has been turned into a stage for the orchestrated Acts of
Repudiation against the "Laura Pollán Toledo Ladies in White Movement."
The present month will not stray far from its dismal history, according
to what its own members describe, along with some Human Rights activists
close to this women's movement, created after the well-known Black
Spring of 2003.
The street has once again been taken, its usual traffic diverted, and
access permitted only to those performing in the repudiation rally
organized against these peaceful women. The screams and the help of
audio equipment are part of this terrible stage set directed by the
Cuban political police.
Insults and obscene words are heard on the lips of the actors who, in
many cases, are forced to form a part of the theatrical work, under
threats of losing their jobs or their studies, just to cite an example.
Despite these constant acts of unscrupulous people, the Laura Pollán
Toledo Ladies in White Movement will not cede under any conditions. Its
brave and heroic women stand at the windows and doors and don't remain
silent against the official chorus.
Last September of 2011 was a terrible month for this movement which was
attacked in the worst way, with those participating in the act of
repudiation physically dragging and attacking the women they found
there, united in their desire to pray for the release of all the
political prisoners. One of the women assaulted was Laura Pollán Toledo,
the leader of this movement, who became mysteriously ill shortly after
being scratched by one of the euphoric attackers. A month later in
unknown conditions this woman, committed not only to the freedom of her
husband but to the freedom of a nation, died.
Today Berta Soler occupies the place left by Laura and in tribute to her
has renamed the movement that she created years earlier and which she
led all that time.
September month of horrors, led by people who don't hesitate to block
the women who worship the Virgin of Mercy, patroness of captives.
Venerated by everyone within and outside our nation.
A single question comes to my mind at these times. How many violent
Septembers do we have still to live? I ask God to return Neptune street
to normality, for the hatred between Cubans to disappear, and more than
this, for the next September to not see an act of repudiation meeting in
front of the abode of a woman like Laura, an example of dignity and
decorum, but rather than at a future gathering the hands of all will
carry gladioli and remembrance and homage to each one of these brave
Cuban women.
September 24 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/september-returns-a-month-of-repression-against-the-ladies-in-white-wendy-iriepa-and-ignacio-estrada/
The Invisible Reforms… and The Visible Dissidence
The Invisible Reforms… and The Visible Dissidence / Miriam Celaya
Miriam Celaya, Translator: Unstated
On September 19, the Cuba Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) announced,
in the voice of its deputy Roberto Gonzalez, that this coming December
it will present a report on the results of the transformations that have
been introduced in the Island's healthcare system in search of "more
competition" on the part of the staff working in the sector and greater
"efficiency" in the service. Such transformations would be inscribed
among the changes of the General-President. According to the deputy
minister, under consideration are the modifications discussed and
approved at the VI Congress of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) aimed at
"perfecting" the healthcare system while ensuring "quality, savings,
resource efficiency and the elimination of unnecessary expenses,"
elements that are priorities for the "renewal of socialism" in Cuba.
Also lately there has been circulating on the web a letter-complaint
addressed to R. Castro by a group of doctors of General Surgery at the
capital's Calixto Garcia Hospital, which, although not confirmed as to
its authenticity, we know that what is raised in the text is
scrupulously true and reflects the need for much deeper and more radical
changes than those contemplated in the government guidelines.
Meanwhile, ordinary Cubans do not perceive the benefits of such supposed
changes: many family doctors offices are not open during their scheduled
hours, often they are mobilized by the health director of the area to
work on dengue screening (an undeclared epidemic that continues to
advance at a rapid pace); in the polyclinics medical equipment is
scarce, insufficient, generally obsolete and with frequent imperfections
that prevent its effective use; the physical building and hygiene
conditions of the installations are defective and sometimes deplorable;
and the salaries paid to health personnel are embarrassingly miserable.
So far, the General's only visible reform has been to shorten the
Roundtable TV show by half an hour, although this hasn't improved the
information any. However, we must be grateful that this TV show
dedicated the broadcast of Friday, September 21, to an active sector of
the dissidence and independent civil society (such as the blogger Yoani
Sanchez, the Ladies in White and others). True, the "information"
offered was manipulated, taken out of context and falsified. True also
that the material prepared by the government's yeomen was horribly
edited, as could be appreciated by the scarce viewers (me included,
because someone alerted me to what they were putting on the small
screen); but we must be grateful for the dissemination, something
unthinkable a few years ago. There is no bad propaganda, friends, only
propaganda. The moral is that, beyond their evil intentions, they cannot
ignore the existence of these forces that oppose the system and which,
with their help, continue to slowly but inexorably spread in Cuba.
September 24 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/the-invisible-reforms-and-the-visible-dissidence-miriam-celaya/
Miriam Celaya, Translator: Unstated
On September 19, the Cuba Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) announced,
in the voice of its deputy Roberto Gonzalez, that this coming December
it will present a report on the results of the transformations that have
been introduced in the Island's healthcare system in search of "more
competition" on the part of the staff working in the sector and greater
"efficiency" in the service. Such transformations would be inscribed
among the changes of the General-President. According to the deputy
minister, under consideration are the modifications discussed and
approved at the VI Congress of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) aimed at
"perfecting" the healthcare system while ensuring "quality, savings,
resource efficiency and the elimination of unnecessary expenses,"
elements that are priorities for the "renewal of socialism" in Cuba.
Also lately there has been circulating on the web a letter-complaint
addressed to R. Castro by a group of doctors of General Surgery at the
capital's Calixto Garcia Hospital, which, although not confirmed as to
its authenticity, we know that what is raised in the text is
scrupulously true and reflects the need for much deeper and more radical
changes than those contemplated in the government guidelines.
Meanwhile, ordinary Cubans do not perceive the benefits of such supposed
changes: many family doctors offices are not open during their scheduled
hours, often they are mobilized by the health director of the area to
work on dengue screening (an undeclared epidemic that continues to
advance at a rapid pace); in the polyclinics medical equipment is
scarce, insufficient, generally obsolete and with frequent imperfections
that prevent its effective use; the physical building and hygiene
conditions of the installations are defective and sometimes deplorable;
and the salaries paid to health personnel are embarrassingly miserable.
So far, the General's only visible reform has been to shorten the
Roundtable TV show by half an hour, although this hasn't improved the
information any. However, we must be grateful that this TV show
dedicated the broadcast of Friday, September 21, to an active sector of
the dissidence and independent civil society (such as the blogger Yoani
Sanchez, the Ladies in White and others). True, the "information"
offered was manipulated, taken out of context and falsified. True also
that the material prepared by the government's yeomen was horribly
edited, as could be appreciated by the scarce viewers (me included,
because someone alerted me to what they were putting on the small
screen); but we must be grateful for the dissemination, something
unthinkable a few years ago. There is no bad propaganda, friends, only
propaganda. The moral is that, beyond their evil intentions, they cannot
ignore the existence of these forces that oppose the system and which,
with their help, continue to slowly but inexorably spread in Cuba.
September 24 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/the-invisible-reforms-and-the-visible-dissidence-miriam-celaya/
The Presumed End of Cuba’s Dual Currency
The Presumed End of Cuba's Dual Currency
September 24, 2012
Vicente Morin Aguado
HAVANA TIMES — A man (who was over 60 and with a plastic bag full of
packets of detergent that he was trying to sell to me) commented quite
clearly: "I don't understand all this with us having two currencies. I
buy these packets at the hard-currency store in convertible pesos and I
sell them in domestic currency. I'm hoping to make a little profit,
because to get these smaller packets you have to stand in line forever,
and you can't find them just anywhere."
I thought to myself about how when I buy a pack of cigarettes at the
corner store, using either of the two currencies, I always get change –
except for when I pay with hard-currency CUCs, I'll lose a little –
roughly a peso (about 4 cents USD).
The logic is that if I didn't take the time to go to the money exchange
center beforehand, then that was my problem. In short, I just take the
hit. A peso isn't as much as the time, cost and trouble of going to an
exchange center, which aren't always open.
Actually, starting from when dollarization began back in the days of the
fall of the Berlin Wall, followed by the institutionalization of the
"Chavito" (hard currency CUCs), to the reform guidelines issued by the
Sixth Party Congress" (which endorsed the popular demand to end the dual
currency situation), we Cubans have had at least two currencies, and
we've always been willing to trade with them according to our needs or
depending on how many of each of them we possessed.
I don't think we're seeing the "beginning of the end of the dual
currency." Practice, the supreme criterion of truth, tells us that my
friend selling the detergent was right with his simple reasoning. The
"patently obvious" truth is that many people forget when it comes time
to explaining issues, which are seemingly complex but are really quite
simple.
What is money but the universal equivalent of all commodities? It is
printed on paper according to the laws of the state and needs in light
of the natural limitation on the movement of precious metals. In grade
school arithmetic we can understand that this involves a common
denominator, therefore we can understand the position of the gentleman
with the packets of detergent.
It's the same to me if a TV costs 300 CUCs or 7200 CUPs (at an exchange
rate of 1:24). Anyway, the important thing is to have the money, whether
it comes from remittances sent from "the beyond," or whether it's earned
by selling avocados or it's the payout from "La Bolita" (playing the
numbers).
In a day, the state could change this situation through an executive
order (mathematically at least), but the trauma would be huge if we took
into consideration the complicated accounting of a country marked by
widespread corruption, where the economy would need to restructure
itself internally before carrying out the simple act of transitioning to
a single currency, where previously — and this is not a typo — the are
four denominations.
Let me explain. In the popular sense, we have the Cuban Peso, or
"domestic currency," called CUP. But we also have the Cuban Convertible
Peso, identified by the initials "CUC," which is equal to the US dollar
that was previously in circulation here.
There are, however, two more currencies: The ledger book CUC and CUP. In
terms of business economics, at the level of bank accounts, these have
values that don't coincide with the concurrency at the street level.
In any case, this involves four currencies, which is a real puzzle for
our economists.
Any hotel pays its workers in CUPs while charging tourists in CUCs (with
both currencies in circulation). But they also carry out banking
operations with these same denominations through checks or other
variations in which tangible cash is never touched.
As all this is very disadvantageous to the overall economy, thus there's
consensus around the need to change this situation. I sincerely believe
that the country (meaning us Cubans) wants to live with a single
currency, which is now a palpable reality that is recognized in retail
trade daily in both state and private commerce.
The time remaining until an executive order changes the current
situation is a logical process of arranging elements on a complex plane
of — if the expression fits — economic relations of this invention
called "socialism" (which can't ignore the market and its categories and
therefore must address them responsibly, without fear and without reproach).
As I was recently told by a former student, who is now a university
professor, we're socializing poverty, but we must learn to create wealth
in order to distribute it fairly. Socialism isn't defined solely on how
wealth is produced, but also in considering the most balanced way
possible for distributing it.
Countries like Norway, Denmark and Japan, examples of nations with high
United Nations Human Development Indexes (HDI), demonstrate one path.
I firmly believe (getting back to the subject), that it's essentially a
cultural problem.
—–
Vicente Morin Aguado. morfamily@correodecuba.cu
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=79015
September 24, 2012
Vicente Morin Aguado
HAVANA TIMES — A man (who was over 60 and with a plastic bag full of
packets of detergent that he was trying to sell to me) commented quite
clearly: "I don't understand all this with us having two currencies. I
buy these packets at the hard-currency store in convertible pesos and I
sell them in domestic currency. I'm hoping to make a little profit,
because to get these smaller packets you have to stand in line forever,
and you can't find them just anywhere."
I thought to myself about how when I buy a pack of cigarettes at the
corner store, using either of the two currencies, I always get change –
except for when I pay with hard-currency CUCs, I'll lose a little –
roughly a peso (about 4 cents USD).
The logic is that if I didn't take the time to go to the money exchange
center beforehand, then that was my problem. In short, I just take the
hit. A peso isn't as much as the time, cost and trouble of going to an
exchange center, which aren't always open.
Actually, starting from when dollarization began back in the days of the
fall of the Berlin Wall, followed by the institutionalization of the
"Chavito" (hard currency CUCs), to the reform guidelines issued by the
Sixth Party Congress" (which endorsed the popular demand to end the dual
currency situation), we Cubans have had at least two currencies, and
we've always been willing to trade with them according to our needs or
depending on how many of each of them we possessed.
I don't think we're seeing the "beginning of the end of the dual
currency." Practice, the supreme criterion of truth, tells us that my
friend selling the detergent was right with his simple reasoning. The
"patently obvious" truth is that many people forget when it comes time
to explaining issues, which are seemingly complex but are really quite
simple.
What is money but the universal equivalent of all commodities? It is
printed on paper according to the laws of the state and needs in light
of the natural limitation on the movement of precious metals. In grade
school arithmetic we can understand that this involves a common
denominator, therefore we can understand the position of the gentleman
with the packets of detergent.
It's the same to me if a TV costs 300 CUCs or 7200 CUPs (at an exchange
rate of 1:24). Anyway, the important thing is to have the money, whether
it comes from remittances sent from "the beyond," or whether it's earned
by selling avocados or it's the payout from "La Bolita" (playing the
numbers).
In a day, the state could change this situation through an executive
order (mathematically at least), but the trauma would be huge if we took
into consideration the complicated accounting of a country marked by
widespread corruption, where the economy would need to restructure
itself internally before carrying out the simple act of transitioning to
a single currency, where previously — and this is not a typo — the are
four denominations.
Let me explain. In the popular sense, we have the Cuban Peso, or
"domestic currency," called CUP. But we also have the Cuban Convertible
Peso, identified by the initials "CUC," which is equal to the US dollar
that was previously in circulation here.
There are, however, two more currencies: The ledger book CUC and CUP. In
terms of business economics, at the level of bank accounts, these have
values that don't coincide with the concurrency at the street level.
In any case, this involves four currencies, which is a real puzzle for
our economists.
Any hotel pays its workers in CUPs while charging tourists in CUCs (with
both currencies in circulation). But they also carry out banking
operations with these same denominations through checks or other
variations in which tangible cash is never touched.
As all this is very disadvantageous to the overall economy, thus there's
consensus around the need to change this situation. I sincerely believe
that the country (meaning us Cubans) wants to live with a single
currency, which is now a palpable reality that is recognized in retail
trade daily in both state and private commerce.
The time remaining until an executive order changes the current
situation is a logical process of arranging elements on a complex plane
of — if the expression fits — economic relations of this invention
called "socialism" (which can't ignore the market and its categories and
therefore must address them responsibly, without fear and without reproach).
As I was recently told by a former student, who is now a university
professor, we're socializing poverty, but we must learn to create wealth
in order to distribute it fairly. Socialism isn't defined solely on how
wealth is produced, but also in considering the most balanced way
possible for distributing it.
Countries like Norway, Denmark and Japan, examples of nations with high
United Nations Human Development Indexes (HDI), demonstrate one path.
I firmly believe (getting back to the subject), that it's essentially a
cultural problem.
—–
Vicente Morin Aguado. morfamily@correodecuba.cu
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=79015
Cuban hunger strikes deserve our attention
Cuban hunger strikes deserve our attention
Posted on September 24, 2012 by Carlos Estevez
While dozens of activists flocked to Washington Square Park for last
weekend's Folk Festival, a couple dozen Cuban dissidents conducted
hunger strikes throughout Cuba. The protesters in the park consisted
mainly of fringe groups opposed to capitalism — socialists and remnants
of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Cuban dissidents sought the
release of Jorge Vázquez Chaviano, a man who remained incarcerated even
after fully serving his prison sentence. The Cuban government failed to
provide a reason for prolonging his captivity — imposing a judgment
without trial, as per usual.
The OWS activists sang tunes about protest while the anti-capitalists
held up banners denouncing greed and debt. They presented an array of
serious issues coupled with dubious solutions. The socialists in
particular advocated an alternative form of government able to
circumvent most of the ills faced by the United States. Their methods
were far tamer than a hunger strike, and yet they garnered far more
media attention.
Those demonstrating in favor of socialism packed their belongings at
nightfall and simply returned to enjoying the full benefits of the
capitalist society in which we live. For those demonstrating against the
self-declared socialist government in Cuba, nightfall only meant the
inevitable continuation of hunger and exhaustion. In recent years, these
hunger strikes have ended in death simply because of the Cuban
government's adversity to negotiation.
Surprisingly, such a blatant abuse of human rights did not receive
widespread media attention in the United States. Within our campus, even
among those immersed in activism and politics, few could speak of the
Cuban dissident movement with authority. This creates a paradoxical
situation in which a society deeply concerned with freedom and human
rights ignores the plight of a country located only ninety miles away
from our coast.
Two major factors account for the lack of mainstream debates on Cuba:
national security and public opinion. Cuba does not pose a liability to
U.S. security nor does it possess significant economic assets. As a
result, Cuba's opposition movements have seldom garnered the media
attention given to many countries of the Arab Spring. Yet Cuba's
democratic spring has dragged on for the past 20 years. Dissident
movements against the authoritarian government have been met with
imprisonment, torture and even execution.
Many believe Cuba boasts exemplary education and health care systems —
even though the country is poor. These myths form part of the official
government propaganda, which advertises Cuba as a country oppressed by
U.S. influence. For example, the socialists at Washington Square Park
advertised their message through the iconic image of Che Guevara. A
prima facie, his image evokes an exalted notion of revolution, hope and
the struggle for the working classes. The less glamorous truth regarding
Guevara involves the routine execution of prisoners without trials and
his role in creating Cuba's current government. This duality helps us
understand a country that some decry for its human rights records while
others laud for its apparent progress.
Back in Cuba, dissidents halted their hunger strike after the government
announced Chaviano's ensuing release. The courage of thirty citizens
prevailed against a 50-year-old dictatorship. This episode highlights a
continuous struggle for freedom within Cuba that will gain momentum as
more people learn the truth. Unfortunately, this attention has yet to
gain a foothold in the United States.
A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Sept. 24 print
edition. Carlos Estevez is a contributing writer. Email him at
opinion@nyunews.com.
http://nyunews.com/index.php/2012/09/24/estevez/
Posted on September 24, 2012 by Carlos Estevez
While dozens of activists flocked to Washington Square Park for last
weekend's Folk Festival, a couple dozen Cuban dissidents conducted
hunger strikes throughout Cuba. The protesters in the park consisted
mainly of fringe groups opposed to capitalism — socialists and remnants
of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Cuban dissidents sought the
release of Jorge Vázquez Chaviano, a man who remained incarcerated even
after fully serving his prison sentence. The Cuban government failed to
provide a reason for prolonging his captivity — imposing a judgment
without trial, as per usual.
The OWS activists sang tunes about protest while the anti-capitalists
held up banners denouncing greed and debt. They presented an array of
serious issues coupled with dubious solutions. The socialists in
particular advocated an alternative form of government able to
circumvent most of the ills faced by the United States. Their methods
were far tamer than a hunger strike, and yet they garnered far more
media attention.
Those demonstrating in favor of socialism packed their belongings at
nightfall and simply returned to enjoying the full benefits of the
capitalist society in which we live. For those demonstrating against the
self-declared socialist government in Cuba, nightfall only meant the
inevitable continuation of hunger and exhaustion. In recent years, these
hunger strikes have ended in death simply because of the Cuban
government's adversity to negotiation.
Surprisingly, such a blatant abuse of human rights did not receive
widespread media attention in the United States. Within our campus, even
among those immersed in activism and politics, few could speak of the
Cuban dissident movement with authority. This creates a paradoxical
situation in which a society deeply concerned with freedom and human
rights ignores the plight of a country located only ninety miles away
from our coast.
Two major factors account for the lack of mainstream debates on Cuba:
national security and public opinion. Cuba does not pose a liability to
U.S. security nor does it possess significant economic assets. As a
result, Cuba's opposition movements have seldom garnered the media
attention given to many countries of the Arab Spring. Yet Cuba's
democratic spring has dragged on for the past 20 years. Dissident
movements against the authoritarian government have been met with
imprisonment, torture and even execution.
Many believe Cuba boasts exemplary education and health care systems —
even though the country is poor. These myths form part of the official
government propaganda, which advertises Cuba as a country oppressed by
U.S. influence. For example, the socialists at Washington Square Park
advertised their message through the iconic image of Che Guevara. A
prima facie, his image evokes an exalted notion of revolution, hope and
the struggle for the working classes. The less glamorous truth regarding
Guevara involves the routine execution of prisoners without trials and
his role in creating Cuba's current government. This duality helps us
understand a country that some decry for its human rights records while
others laud for its apparent progress.
Back in Cuba, dissidents halted their hunger strike after the government
announced Chaviano's ensuing release. The courage of thirty citizens
prevailed against a 50-year-old dictatorship. This episode highlights a
continuous struggle for freedom within Cuba that will gain momentum as
more people learn the truth. Unfortunately, this attention has yet to
gain a foothold in the United States.
A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Sept. 24 print
edition. Carlos Estevez is a contributing writer. Email him at
opinion@nyunews.com.
http://nyunews.com/index.php/2012/09/24/estevez/
44 senators write Cuban president about Md. man
44 senators write Cuban president about Md. man
JESSICA GRESKO, Associated Press
Updated 8:25 a.m., Tuesday, September 25, 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) — Forty-four senators have written to Cuba's president
to call for the release of a Maryland man imprisoned in Cuba for almost
three years.
The one-page letter released Tuesday is signed by 34 Democrats, nine
Republicans and independent Joseph Lieberman. It says that the detention
of Alan Gross is a major obstacle to improving relations between Cuba
and the United States.
Among the letter's signatories are both of Maryland's senators,
Democrats Benjamin Cardin and Barbara Mikulski, as well as two former
presidential candidates, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz.
"As we approach the three year anniversary of Alan's imprisonment, we
call on you to take action and grant him the belated release his
situation warrants," the letter says.
It urges Cuban President Raul Castro to release Gross on humanitarian
grounds.
Gross was working as a U.S. government contractor when he was arrested
on Dec. 3, 2009. The 63-year-old was sentenced to a 15-year prison term
for crimes against the state after he brought restricted communications
equipment to the communist island nation while on a democracy-building
program.
"Members of the Senate have traveled to your country, written to you and
your dignitaries, and employed other creative means to encourage Mr.
Gross's release. Yet these attempts thus far have been futile, and Mr.
Gross's ongoing detention in your country presents a major obstacle to
any further actions to improve our bilateral relations," the letter says.
The letter was dated Monday and addressed to the Cuban Interests Section
in Washington, which Cuba maintains instead of an embassy. A spokesman
for the Cuban Interests Section did not immediately respond to a request
for comment Tuesday morning.
"Until Alan is released and returns home, we will let the world know how
Cuba is violating the rights of an individual American citizen," Cardin
said in a statement released along with the letter.
___
Follow Jessica Gresko at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/44-senators-write-Cuban-president-about-Md-man-3892479.php
JESSICA GRESKO, Associated Press
Updated 8:25 a.m., Tuesday, September 25, 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) — Forty-four senators have written to Cuba's president
to call for the release of a Maryland man imprisoned in Cuba for almost
three years.
The one-page letter released Tuesday is signed by 34 Democrats, nine
Republicans and independent Joseph Lieberman. It says that the detention
of Alan Gross is a major obstacle to improving relations between Cuba
and the United States.
Among the letter's signatories are both of Maryland's senators,
Democrats Benjamin Cardin and Barbara Mikulski, as well as two former
presidential candidates, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz.
"As we approach the three year anniversary of Alan's imprisonment, we
call on you to take action and grant him the belated release his
situation warrants," the letter says.
It urges Cuban President Raul Castro to release Gross on humanitarian
grounds.
Gross was working as a U.S. government contractor when he was arrested
on Dec. 3, 2009. The 63-year-old was sentenced to a 15-year prison term
for crimes against the state after he brought restricted communications
equipment to the communist island nation while on a democracy-building
program.
"Members of the Senate have traveled to your country, written to you and
your dignitaries, and employed other creative means to encourage Mr.
Gross's release. Yet these attempts thus far have been futile, and Mr.
Gross's ongoing detention in your country presents a major obstacle to
any further actions to improve our bilateral relations," the letter says.
The letter was dated Monday and addressed to the Cuban Interests Section
in Washington, which Cuba maintains instead of an embassy. A spokesman
for the Cuban Interests Section did not immediately respond to a request
for comment Tuesday morning.
"Until Alan is released and returns home, we will let the world know how
Cuba is violating the rights of an individual American citizen," Cardin
said in a statement released along with the letter.
___
Follow Jessica Gresko at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/44-senators-write-Cuban-president-about-Md-man-3892479.php
US-Cuba relations make little progress
September 25, 2012 3:09 pm
US-Cuba relations make little progress
By Marc Frank in Havana
When Barack Obama won the US presidency in 2008, many believed he would
make significant progress in Cuban relations, so resolving one of the
last conflicts of the cold war.
But four years later, US-Cuba relations remain stuck in much the same
time warp, and whether Mr Obama or his Republican challenger Mitt Romney
becomes the next US president, few expect a significant breakthrough –
although the region's changing ideological landscape could prompt the
beginnings of a shift.
Mr Obama lifted all restrictions on Cuban American visits soon after
taking office, and in December 2010 reversed a Bush Administration ban
that led to a surge in so-called people-to-people visits, which are for
educational purposes rather than tourism. But he has also stepped up
financial sanctions under anti-terrorism laws, and this year issued
tough new travel guidelines.
"The US position on Cuba continues to undercut our strategic position in
the region and a breakthrough would greatly enhance Obama's foreign
policy legacy through solving a problem far simpler than many other
global issues," said Julia Sweig, a senior fellow on Latin America at
the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations.
"There is no question that Obama's first term disappointed many when it
comes to Cuba, but I think it premature to assume this status quo under
a second term," she added.
Mr Romney, if he wins, is, meanwhile, expected to tighten travel and
adopt a more aggressive public stance towards Havana, encouraged by
powerful Cuban-American legislators in the key electoral state of Florida.
The two countries' latest, seemingly intractable, conflict is over the
fates of jailed US contractor Alan Gross and five Cuban intelligence
agents. Mr Gross was arrested in 2009 for participating in a US project
to set up an internet platform covertly in Cuba. He is currently serving
a 15-year sentence.
The Cuban agents were imprisoned in the US 14 years ago for infiltrating
exile organisations and military installations in Florida. Following Mr
Gross' arrest, immigration and mail service talks restarted under Mr
Obama were again suspended, and US diplomats say there will be no
progress until Mr Gross is released.
Another factor limiting improved US-Cuban relations is the conservative
tide that washed over Washington after the 2010 Congressional elections
and that brought Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio to office and
saw another hard-line Cuban American, congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,
appointed head of the House Foreign Relations Committee. Both lawmakers
oppose contact with Cuba and are particularly incensed by
people-to-people exchanges.
"This is nothing more than tourism . . . a source of millions of dollars
in the hands of the Castro government that they use to oppress the Cuban
people," Mr Rubio charged during congressional hearings last year.
As many as 400,000 Americans visited Cuba in 2011, with as many as
70,000 of them not of Cuban heritage. They may have boosted the
government, but were also important clients for the hundreds of small
businesses that have opened in Cuba – part of Havana's broad, if
hesitant, market-oriented reforms.
Mr Rubio, according to his office, then blocked the administration's
nominee for undersecretary of state for Latin American affairs, Roberta
Jacobson, until it agreed in March to roll back the travel programme.
Tougher new regulations quickly followed.
"Under the new guidelines, applications often run to more than 100
pages, compared with just a few when the people-to-people programme
began, and they are usually sent back for not meeting vague criteria,"
said Bob Guild, vice-president of Marazul Charters, the oldest US
company taking people to Cuba.
Although pro-embargo forces are expected to remain a strong influence in
Congress even if Mr Obama wins, some advocates of a new Cuba policy hope
he will use executive privilege to get round them.
One factor that could change the state of play is if Cuba is taken off
the list of state sponsors of terrorism – as the US State Department did
with North Korea in 2008 and Libya in 2006 – for helping broker peace
talks between the Colombian government and the country's Marxist Farc
rebels. If the Farc lay down their weapons that could help lead to Mr
Gross' release, opening the way for further advances.
"With the peace talks of the Colombian government with the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) under the partial sponsorship of Cuba,
it will be very difficult to keep Cuba on the terrorism list," Tony
Zamora, a Miami-based lawyer, anti-embargo activist and Bay of Pigs
veteran, said. The first round of peace talks is due to begin in Oslo on
October 8, and continue in Havana.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2ca94f5e-070a-11e2-92ef-00144feabdc0.html#axzz27UyEuKq6
US-Cuba relations make little progress
By Marc Frank in Havana
When Barack Obama won the US presidency in 2008, many believed he would
make significant progress in Cuban relations, so resolving one of the
last conflicts of the cold war.
But four years later, US-Cuba relations remain stuck in much the same
time warp, and whether Mr Obama or his Republican challenger Mitt Romney
becomes the next US president, few expect a significant breakthrough –
although the region's changing ideological landscape could prompt the
beginnings of a shift.
Mr Obama lifted all restrictions on Cuban American visits soon after
taking office, and in December 2010 reversed a Bush Administration ban
that led to a surge in so-called people-to-people visits, which are for
educational purposes rather than tourism. But he has also stepped up
financial sanctions under anti-terrorism laws, and this year issued
tough new travel guidelines.
"The US position on Cuba continues to undercut our strategic position in
the region and a breakthrough would greatly enhance Obama's foreign
policy legacy through solving a problem far simpler than many other
global issues," said Julia Sweig, a senior fellow on Latin America at
the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations.
"There is no question that Obama's first term disappointed many when it
comes to Cuba, but I think it premature to assume this status quo under
a second term," she added.
Mr Romney, if he wins, is, meanwhile, expected to tighten travel and
adopt a more aggressive public stance towards Havana, encouraged by
powerful Cuban-American legislators in the key electoral state of Florida.
The two countries' latest, seemingly intractable, conflict is over the
fates of jailed US contractor Alan Gross and five Cuban intelligence
agents. Mr Gross was arrested in 2009 for participating in a US project
to set up an internet platform covertly in Cuba. He is currently serving
a 15-year sentence.
The Cuban agents were imprisoned in the US 14 years ago for infiltrating
exile organisations and military installations in Florida. Following Mr
Gross' arrest, immigration and mail service talks restarted under Mr
Obama were again suspended, and US diplomats say there will be no
progress until Mr Gross is released.
Another factor limiting improved US-Cuban relations is the conservative
tide that washed over Washington after the 2010 Congressional elections
and that brought Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio to office and
saw another hard-line Cuban American, congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,
appointed head of the House Foreign Relations Committee. Both lawmakers
oppose contact with Cuba and are particularly incensed by
people-to-people exchanges.
"This is nothing more than tourism . . . a source of millions of dollars
in the hands of the Castro government that they use to oppress the Cuban
people," Mr Rubio charged during congressional hearings last year.
As many as 400,000 Americans visited Cuba in 2011, with as many as
70,000 of them not of Cuban heritage. They may have boosted the
government, but were also important clients for the hundreds of small
businesses that have opened in Cuba – part of Havana's broad, if
hesitant, market-oriented reforms.
Mr Rubio, according to his office, then blocked the administration's
nominee for undersecretary of state for Latin American affairs, Roberta
Jacobson, until it agreed in March to roll back the travel programme.
Tougher new regulations quickly followed.
"Under the new guidelines, applications often run to more than 100
pages, compared with just a few when the people-to-people programme
began, and they are usually sent back for not meeting vague criteria,"
said Bob Guild, vice-president of Marazul Charters, the oldest US
company taking people to Cuba.
Although pro-embargo forces are expected to remain a strong influence in
Congress even if Mr Obama wins, some advocates of a new Cuba policy hope
he will use executive privilege to get round them.
One factor that could change the state of play is if Cuba is taken off
the list of state sponsors of terrorism – as the US State Department did
with North Korea in 2008 and Libya in 2006 – for helping broker peace
talks between the Colombian government and the country's Marxist Farc
rebels. If the Farc lay down their weapons that could help lead to Mr
Gross' release, opening the way for further advances.
"With the peace talks of the Colombian government with the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) under the partial sponsorship of Cuba,
it will be very difficult to keep Cuba on the terrorism list," Tony
Zamora, a Miami-based lawyer, anti-embargo activist and Bay of Pigs
veteran, said. The first round of peace talks is due to begin in Oslo on
October 8, and continue in Havana.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2ca94f5e-070a-11e2-92ef-00144feabdc0.html#axzz27UyEuKq6
Cuban Journalist Charged with Disrespecting Castros
Cuban Journalist Charged with Disrespecting Castros
by IWPR September 25, 2012
By Yaremis Flores
Press rights group highlights absurdity of arresting Calixto Ramón
Martínez Árias for reporting on matters of public interest.
An independent journalist in Cuba, Calixto Ramón Martínez Árias, is to
be charged with being disrespectful towards Raúl and Fidel Castro, the
country's current and former presidents.
Martínez Árias, a correspondent for the independent news agency Hablemos
Press, was detained on September 16. If convicted, he could face a
prison sentence of one to three years.
The authorities maintained silence on Martínez Árias's detention for
nearly 72 hours, until Captain Marisela of the Santiago de las Vegas
police department in Havana province announced that the detainee was to
be charged with "the crime of aggravated disrespect".
In Cuban law, the criminal offence of "disrespect" is a broad term
covering defamation or other insults towards government officials, and
carries more severe penalties when the head of state or another top
figure is involved.
The authorities have not yet said when and how they believe Martínez
Árias insulted the Castro brothers.
The journalist was detained at Havana's international airport while
investigating a story about a damaged shipment of medicines sent by the
World Health Organisation.
The law requires the police to allow communication with detained
persons, but in this case access was not only obstructed, but a lawyer
and editor were themselves temporarily detained when they made inquiries
about Martínez Árias.
Hablemos Press director Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez went to the
Santiago de las Vegas police station the day after Martínez Árias's
arrest to ask for information.
"The officer there told us that [Martínez Árias] had been transferred to
another station, without giving any more details," he said.
At one in the afternoon of September 19, Guerra Pérez returned to the
police station, accompanied by independent lawyer Veizant Boloy, and
they demanded to be informed of Martínez Árias's legal situation.
Instead of being allowed to communicate with him, the two were detained.
"We asked Captain Marisela if we could see [Martínez Árias] and give him
some toiletries. Then a State Security Department agent who called
himself Yuri appeared, accompanied by a police officer," Boloy said.
"They asked for our identification and took us to the cells."
Boloy and Guerra Pérez were held for seven hours, then released.
"Our detention and everything that happened at the station was
authorised by Major Arnaldo Espinosa, head of the Santiago de las Vegas
Station," Boloy said, "although it is State Security officers who are
really in charge."
Their detention did allow them to confirm that, contrary to what Guerra
Pérez had been told, Martínez Árias was being held at the same police
station.
"When we went down to the cells we shouted Calixto's name. He answered
us, surprised. We saw wounds on his face caused by blows from officers,"
Guerra Peréz said.
He added, "On the Monday [September 17], they lied to us. Calixto was
always at that station."
Guerra Peréz reported later that on September 20, Martínez Árias was
treated for a swelling in his left eye at the National Hospital, and
then transferred to the prison known as "El Vivac" in western Havana.
Prosecutors have yet to confirm when the detainee will be able to engage
a lawyer. Only lawyers belonging to the National Organisation of
Collective Law Offices are allowed to defend citizens in court cases.
The Inter-American Press Association has condemned Martínez Árias's arrest.
"It is a contradiction that a journalist faces possible imprisonment for
reporting on matters of public interest, when these matters should
really be an alert [for the need] to fix the problem," Gustavo Mohme,
head of the association's Committee on Freedom of the Press and
Information, said on September 21.
Martínez Árias has been detained on numerous occasions while working as
a journalist, but this is the first time he has been charged with an
offence.
In an interview at the end of August, he said his mission as an
independent journalist was "to break down the wall of silence that the
government has imposed on this island, and to report human rights abuses".
Yaremis Flores is an independent lawyer and journalist in Cuba.
Source: IWPR
http://www.groundreport.com/Politics/Cuban-Journalist-Charged-with-Disrespecting-Castro/2948233
by IWPR September 25, 2012
By Yaremis Flores
Press rights group highlights absurdity of arresting Calixto Ramón
Martínez Árias for reporting on matters of public interest.
An independent journalist in Cuba, Calixto Ramón Martínez Árias, is to
be charged with being disrespectful towards Raúl and Fidel Castro, the
country's current and former presidents.
Martínez Árias, a correspondent for the independent news agency Hablemos
Press, was detained on September 16. If convicted, he could face a
prison sentence of one to three years.
The authorities maintained silence on Martínez Árias's detention for
nearly 72 hours, until Captain Marisela of the Santiago de las Vegas
police department in Havana province announced that the detainee was to
be charged with "the crime of aggravated disrespect".
In Cuban law, the criminal offence of "disrespect" is a broad term
covering defamation or other insults towards government officials, and
carries more severe penalties when the head of state or another top
figure is involved.
The authorities have not yet said when and how they believe Martínez
Árias insulted the Castro brothers.
The journalist was detained at Havana's international airport while
investigating a story about a damaged shipment of medicines sent by the
World Health Organisation.
The law requires the police to allow communication with detained
persons, but in this case access was not only obstructed, but a lawyer
and editor were themselves temporarily detained when they made inquiries
about Martínez Árias.
Hablemos Press director Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez went to the
Santiago de las Vegas police station the day after Martínez Árias's
arrest to ask for information.
"The officer there told us that [Martínez Árias] had been transferred to
another station, without giving any more details," he said.
At one in the afternoon of September 19, Guerra Pérez returned to the
police station, accompanied by independent lawyer Veizant Boloy, and
they demanded to be informed of Martínez Árias's legal situation.
Instead of being allowed to communicate with him, the two were detained.
"We asked Captain Marisela if we could see [Martínez Árias] and give him
some toiletries. Then a State Security Department agent who called
himself Yuri appeared, accompanied by a police officer," Boloy said.
"They asked for our identification and took us to the cells."
Boloy and Guerra Pérez were held for seven hours, then released.
"Our detention and everything that happened at the station was
authorised by Major Arnaldo Espinosa, head of the Santiago de las Vegas
Station," Boloy said, "although it is State Security officers who are
really in charge."
Their detention did allow them to confirm that, contrary to what Guerra
Pérez had been told, Martínez Árias was being held at the same police
station.
"When we went down to the cells we shouted Calixto's name. He answered
us, surprised. We saw wounds on his face caused by blows from officers,"
Guerra Peréz said.
He added, "On the Monday [September 17], they lied to us. Calixto was
always at that station."
Guerra Peréz reported later that on September 20, Martínez Árias was
treated for a swelling in his left eye at the National Hospital, and
then transferred to the prison known as "El Vivac" in western Havana.
Prosecutors have yet to confirm when the detainee will be able to engage
a lawyer. Only lawyers belonging to the National Organisation of
Collective Law Offices are allowed to defend citizens in court cases.
The Inter-American Press Association has condemned Martínez Árias's arrest.
"It is a contradiction that a journalist faces possible imprisonment for
reporting on matters of public interest, when these matters should
really be an alert [for the need] to fix the problem," Gustavo Mohme,
head of the association's Committee on Freedom of the Press and
Information, said on September 21.
Martínez Árias has been detained on numerous occasions while working as
a journalist, but this is the first time he has been charged with an
offence.
In an interview at the end of August, he said his mission as an
independent journalist was "to break down the wall of silence that the
government has imposed on this island, and to report human rights abuses".
Yaremis Flores is an independent lawyer and journalist in Cuba.
Source: IWPR
http://www.groundreport.com/Politics/Cuban-Journalist-Charged-with-Disrespecting-Castro/2948233
Monday, September 24, 2012
Cuba will use sampling to test census results
Cuba will use sampling to test census results
Published September 24, 2012
EFE
Cuba's 2012 Census, whose phase of compiling data ends Monday, will be
submitted to random sampling in order to check the quality of the
Communist-ruled island's first population count in a decade.
The national Census director, Juan Carlos Alfonso, told official media
that according to international practices, from Sept. 29-Oct. 8 a
so-called "recensus" will be taken among 100,000 people chosen at random.
Alfonso said that the purpose is to determine whether there have been
any omissions or duplications and to evaluate the quality of the
responses obtained.
Up to last Saturday almost 10 million of Cuba's 11.2 million people had
been counted in the Census.
Alfonso said that during the work of taking the Census, which began
Sept. 15, there have been no important mishaps and the process was
carried out in line with the established timetable.
The new Census will reflect the number and geographical distribution of
the population, its composition by sex and age, skin color, educational
level, job situation and marital state.
It also seeks to quantify the total number and type of households and
families, number of homes and their state of repair, the different
sources of employment and more.
This is the 18th Census taken on the island since colonial times, and
following the victory of the 1959 Revolution, three Censuses have been
taken.
According to figures of the National Statistics Office, or ONE, Cuba
closed the year 2011 with some 11,232,000 inhabitants, of whom more than
1.9 million are under 15. EFE
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/09/24/cuba-will-use-sampling-to-test-census-results/
Published September 24, 2012
EFE
Cuba's 2012 Census, whose phase of compiling data ends Monday, will be
submitted to random sampling in order to check the quality of the
Communist-ruled island's first population count in a decade.
The national Census director, Juan Carlos Alfonso, told official media
that according to international practices, from Sept. 29-Oct. 8 a
so-called "recensus" will be taken among 100,000 people chosen at random.
Alfonso said that the purpose is to determine whether there have been
any omissions or duplications and to evaluate the quality of the
responses obtained.
Up to last Saturday almost 10 million of Cuba's 11.2 million people had
been counted in the Census.
Alfonso said that during the work of taking the Census, which began
Sept. 15, there have been no important mishaps and the process was
carried out in line with the established timetable.
The new Census will reflect the number and geographical distribution of
the population, its composition by sex and age, skin color, educational
level, job situation and marital state.
It also seeks to quantify the total number and type of households and
families, number of homes and their state of repair, the different
sources of employment and more.
This is the 18th Census taken on the island since colonial times, and
following the victory of the 1959 Revolution, three Censuses have been
taken.
According to figures of the National Statistics Office, or ONE, Cuba
closed the year 2011 with some 11,232,000 inhabitants, of whom more than
1.9 million are under 15. EFE
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/09/24/cuba-will-use-sampling-to-test-census-results/
Cuba's Ladies in White say celebration blocked
Cuba's Ladies in White say celebration blocked
Published September 24, 2012
EFE
The dissident Ladies in White group denounced repressive action by the
Cuban government to keep its members from taking part in activities they
organized to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Mercy, patroness of
prisoners.
"The purpose of the repression is to keep us from taking part in the
four days of activities honoring former political prisoners" that began
Friday with a Mass in remembrance of deceased Cuban dissidents like
Laura Pollan, Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero," Ladies in White
spokeswoman Berta Soler told Efe.
More than 40 Ladies in White from different provinces, according to the
dissident, were stopped from traveling to Havana and were sent back home.
"We don't know where some of them are," Soler said Sunday.
The homes of some 12 members who live in Havana "were under siege by
state security forces, and when they came outside they were arrested,
while others were detained (Sunday) before reaching Santa Rita Church,
Soler said.
The street where the group has its headquarters at the home of its late
leader Laura Pollan in the Centro Habana neighborhood, is blocked to
traffic and police are allowing no pedestrians to enter unless they live
in that avenue, Soler said.
Soler made her statement upon leaving Mass in the Havana parish of Santa
Rita, where the group goes every Sunday after making a peaceful march on
behalf of human rights and freedom for political prisoners.
Some 30 women attended the religious service on Sunday and then marched
down Fifth Avenue in the Cuban capital.
The group was to hold a vigil to Our Lady of Mercy later and on Monday
planned to go to the church of the same name to plead for freedom for
political prisoners and human rights, Soler said.
The Ladies in White movement was founded to demand the release of
opposition members of the so-called "Group of 75," who were sentenced to
prison for up to 28 years during the government crackdown known as the
"Black Spring" of 2003, accused of conspiring with the United States.
The last 52 dissidents of that group of prisoners were freed between
mid-2010 and early 2011 following a negotiation of the island's
government with the Catholic Church.
The Cuban government considers members of the internal dissidence to be
"counterrevolutionaries" and "mercenaries" doing the bidding of the
United States. EFE
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/09/24/cuba-ladies-in-white-say-celebration-blocked/
Published September 24, 2012
EFE
The dissident Ladies in White group denounced repressive action by the
Cuban government to keep its members from taking part in activities they
organized to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Mercy, patroness of
prisoners.
"The purpose of the repression is to keep us from taking part in the
four days of activities honoring former political prisoners" that began
Friday with a Mass in remembrance of deceased Cuban dissidents like
Laura Pollan, Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero," Ladies in White
spokeswoman Berta Soler told Efe.
More than 40 Ladies in White from different provinces, according to the
dissident, were stopped from traveling to Havana and were sent back home.
"We don't know where some of them are," Soler said Sunday.
The homes of some 12 members who live in Havana "were under siege by
state security forces, and when they came outside they were arrested,
while others were detained (Sunday) before reaching Santa Rita Church,
Soler said.
The street where the group has its headquarters at the home of its late
leader Laura Pollan in the Centro Habana neighborhood, is blocked to
traffic and police are allowing no pedestrians to enter unless they live
in that avenue, Soler said.
Soler made her statement upon leaving Mass in the Havana parish of Santa
Rita, where the group goes every Sunday after making a peaceful march on
behalf of human rights and freedom for political prisoners.
Some 30 women attended the religious service on Sunday and then marched
down Fifth Avenue in the Cuban capital.
The group was to hold a vigil to Our Lady of Mercy later and on Monday
planned to go to the church of the same name to plead for freedom for
political prisoners and human rights, Soler said.
The Ladies in White movement was founded to demand the release of
opposition members of the so-called "Group of 75," who were sentenced to
prison for up to 28 years during the government crackdown known as the
"Black Spring" of 2003, accused of conspiring with the United States.
The last 52 dissidents of that group of prisoners were freed between
mid-2010 and early 2011 following a negotiation of the island's
government with the Catholic Church.
The Cuban government considers members of the internal dissidence to be
"counterrevolutionaries" and "mercenaries" doing the bidding of the
United States. EFE
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/09/24/cuba-ladies-in-white-say-celebration-blocked/
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