tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34407667582771607622024-03-13T19:03:20.938-07:00Cuba Human Rightsnews about Cuba focusing on Human Rights and daily lifeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger18883125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-46658565310885690342017-07-17T08:08:00.001-07:002017-07-17T08:08:38.959-07:00The Mistakes of Raúl CastroThe Mistakes of Raúl Castro
<br>
<br>14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 15 July 2017 – In his most recent
<br>public speech before Parliament, General-President Raul Castro offered a
<br>self-criticism about "political deviations" under which the private
<br>sector and cooperatives are governed. "Mistakes are mistakes, and they
<br>are mistakes… they are my mistakes in the first place, because I am a
<br>part of this decision," he emphasized.
<br>
<br>In the list of mistakes he didn't mention, he should have put in first
<br>place the absence of a wholesale market to serve these forms of economic
<br>management. It that option existed, honest entrepreneurs wouldn't have
<br>to turn to the diversion of state resources to get raw materials and
<br>equipment to allow them to produce goods and services in a profitable way.
<br>
<br>The greatest advance in this direction has been opening shopping centers
<br>were goods are sold "wholesale," meaning in large volume sacks or boxes,
<br>but with the retail price per unit unchanged.
<br>
<br>If, in addition, self-employed workers were allowed to legally import
<br>and export commercially, with the required customs facilities, then
<br>these forms of management would be on an equal footing with the state
<br>companies, and be able to perform efficiently.
<br>
<br>The underreporting of income to evade taxes is a problem that exists in
<br>most countries where citizens must pay tribute to the state treasury. As
<br>a rule, evasion of these payments is seen as a dishonest act where taxes
<br>are fair, and as an act of self-defense where the state tries to suck
<br>the blood out of entrepreneurs.
<br>
<br>When governments have the vocation to grow the private sector, they
<br>reduce taxes, whose only role is to redistribute wealth and increase the
<br>financial capacity for social spending, but not to act as a drag to
<br>reduce individuals' ability to grow and prosper.
<br>
<br>Raúl Castro's most profound mistake, when he decided to expand
<br>self-employment and the experiment of non-agricultural cooperatives, has
<br>been to do so with the purpose of depriving the state of "non-strategic
<br>activities, to generate jobs, deploy initiatives and contribute to the
<br>efficiency of the national economy in the interest of the development of
<br>our socialism."
<br>
<br>This opportunistic vision, of using an element alien to the economic
<br>model as the fuel to advance it, generates insurmountable
<br>contradictions. An entrepreneur who starts a business is interested in
<br>increasing his profits (according to Karl Marx) and growth. He does not
<br>care that hiring workers will reduce unemployment and that their
<br>particular efficiency will have repercussions on the country's
<br>economy. Much less, that his good performance contributes to perfecting
<br>a system that takes advantage of his success in a circumstantial way.
<br>
<br>The entrepreneur dreams that in his country there are laws that protect
<br>his freedom to do business, that his money is safe in the banks, and
<br>that he has the right to import and export, to receive investments, to
<br>open branches, to patent innovations without fear of unappealable
<br>seizures or sudden changes in the rules of the game. Without fearing a
<br>report will arrive on the president's desk detailing how many times he
<br>has traveled abroad.
<br>
<br>The entrepreneur would also like to be able to choose as a member of
<br>parliament someone proposing such laws and defending the interests of
<br>the private sector, which he does not see as a necessary evil, but as
<br>the main engine to advance the country. Not understanding this is Raul
<br>Castro's principal mistake.
<br>
<br>Source: The Mistakes of Raúl Castro – Translating Cuba -
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/the-mistakes-of-raul-castro/">http://translatingcuba.com/the-mistakes-of-raul-castro/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-50789785120003427102017-07-17T08:07:00.001-07:002017-07-17T08:07:37.509-07:00Average Wages Rise but Nobody in Cuba Lives on Their SalaryAverage Wages Rise but Nobody in Cuba Lives on Their Salary
<br>
<br>14ymedio, Mario Penton and Luz Escobar, Miami and Havana, 14 July 2017 —
<br>Ileana Sánchez is anxiously rummaging through her tattered wallet,
<br>looking for some bills to buy a toy slate for her seven-year-old
<br>granddaughter who dreams of becoming a teacher. She has had to save for
<br>months to get the 20 CUC (Cuban convertible pesos, roughly $20 US) that
<br>the gift costs, since her monthly salary as a state inspector is only
<br>315 CUP (Cuban pesos), about 12 dollars.
<br>
<br>At the end of June, the National Bureau of Statistics and Information
<br>(ONEI) reported that the average salary at national level reached 740
<br>CUP per month, slightly more than 29 CUC. However, the increase in the
<br>average salary does not represent a real improvement in the living
<br>conditions of the worker, who continues to be able to access many goods
<br>and services only through remittances sent from family abroad, savings
<br>and withdrawals.
<br>
<br>"I do not know who makes that much money, nor what they base these
<br>figures on, because not even with the wages my husband earns working in
<br>food service for 240 CUP a month, along with my wages, do we get that
<br>much," says Sanchez.
<br>
<br>The ONEI explains that the average monthly salary is "the average amount
<br>of direct wages earned by a worker in a month." The calculation excludes
<br>earning in CUC. However, the average salary is inflated by the increases
<br>in "strategic" sectors, such as has happened in healthcare, where the
<br>pay has been more than doubled, while in other areas of the economy
<br>wages have remained practically unchanged for over a decade.
<br>
<br>"If you buy food you can not buy clothes, if you buy clothes you can not
<br>eat, we live every day thinking about how to come up with ways survive,"
<br>she says in anguish.
<br>
<br>Most Cubans do not support themselves on what they earn in jobs working
<br>for the state, which employs 80% of the country's workforce.
<br>
<br>President Raúl Castro himself acknowledged that wages "do not satisfy
<br>all the needs of the worker and his family" and, in one of his most
<br>critical speeches about the national reality in 2013, he said that "a
<br>part of society" had become accustomed to stealing from the state.
<br>
<br>Sanchez, on the other hand, justifies the thefts and believes that the
<br>"those who live better" are those who have access to dollars or those
<br>who receive remittances. "Anyone who doesn't have a family member abroad
<br>or is a leader, is out of luck," she says.
<br>
<br>According to the economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago, when speaking of an
<br>increase in the average wage, a distinction must be made between the
<br>nominal wage, that is, the amount of money people receive, and the real
<br>wage, adjusted for inflation.
<br>
<br>A recent study published by the academic shows that although the nominal
<br>wage has grown steadily in recent years, the real wage of a Cuban is 63%
<br>lower than it was in 1989, when Cuba was subsidized by the Soviet Union
<br>and the government had various social protection programs. At present,
<br>the entire month's salary of a worker is only enough to buy 10.3 whole
<br>chickens or 7.6 tanks of liquefied gas.
<br>
<br>Among retirees and pensioners, the situation is worse. The elderly can
<br>barely buy 16% of what a pension benefit would buy before the most
<br>difficult years of the so-called Special Period – the years of economic
<br>crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union – according to Mesa-Lago.
<br>
<br>Or by another measure, spending an entire month's salary a worker can
<br>only afford 19 hours of internet connection in the Wi-Fi zones enabled
<br>by the state telecommunications monopoly, Etecsa, or 84.5 minutes of
<br>local calls through cell phones.
<br>
<br>To buy a two-room apartment in a building built in 1936 in the central
<br>and coveted Havana neighborhood of Vedado a worker would need to save
<br>their entire salary for 98 years, while a Soviet-made Lada car from the
<br>time of Brezhnev would cost the equivalent of 52 years of work.
<br>
<br>However, the island's real estate market has grown in recent years at
<br>the hands of private sector workers who accumulate hard currency, or by
<br>investments made by the Cuban diaspora. In remittances alone, more than
<br>three billion dollars arrives in Cuba every year.
<br>
<br>According to Ileana Sánchez, before this panorama many people look for
<br>work in the areas related to state food services or administration where
<br>they can steal from the state, or jobs that provide contact with
<br>international tourists such as in the hotels.
<br>
<br>Other coveted jobs in the private sphere are the paladares – private
<br>restaurants – and renting rooms and homes to tourists where you can get
<br>tips. The "search" (as the theft is called) has become a more powerful
<br>incentive to accept a job than the salary itself.
<br>
<br>Although, according to the document published by the ONEI, workers in
<br>the tourism and defense sector earn 556 and 510 pesos on average, many
<br>of them receive as a bonus a certain amount of CUC monthly that is not
<br>reflected in the statistics, and they also have access to more expensive
<br>food and electrical appliances than does the rest of the population.
<br>
<br>Among the best paid jobs in CUP, in order of income, are those in the
<br>sugar industry, with 1,246 CUP on a monthly basis, and in agriculture
<br>with 1,218. Among the worst paid jobs according to the ONEI are those
<br>working in education, with 533 CUP, and in culture with 511.
<br>
<br>For Miguel Roque, 48, a native of Guantánamo, low wages in the eastern
<br>part of the country are driving migration to other provinces. He has
<br>lived for 12 years in the Nuclear City, just a few kilometers from
<br>Juraguá, in the province of Cienfuegos, where the Soviet Union began to
<br>build a nuclear plant that was never finished.
<br>
<br>"The East is another world. If you work here, imagine yourself there. A
<br>place stopped in time," he explains. Roque works as a bricklayer in
<br>Cienfuegos although he aspires to emigrate to Havana in the coming
<br>months, where "work abounds and more things can be achieved."
<br>
<br>The provinces where average wages are highest, according to the ONEI,
<br>are Ciego de Avila (816 CUP), Villa Clara (808 CUP) and Matanzas (806
<br>CUP), while the lowest paid are Guantanamo (633 CUP) and Isla de la
<br>Juventud (655 CUP).
<br>
<br>"Salary increases in the east of the country are not enough to fill the
<br>gaps with the eastern and central provinces," explains Cuban sociologist
<br>Elaine Acosta, who believes that cuts in the social services budgets are
<br>aggravating the inequalities that result from the wage differences.
<br>
<br>"It is no coincidence that the eastern provinces have the lowest figures
<br>on the Human Development Index," he asserts.
<br>
<br>Source: Average Wages Rise but Nobody in Cuba Lives on Their Salary –
<br>Translating Cuba -
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/average-wages-rise-but-nobody-in-cuba-lives-on-their-salary/">http://translatingcuba.com/average-wages-rise-but-nobody-in-cuba-lives-on-their-salary/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-32514374645960939172017-07-17T07:13:00.001-07:002017-07-17T07:13:47.348-07:00Un ‘Google cubano’ que responde a intereses del GobiernoUn 'Google cubano' que responde a intereses del Gobierno
<br>El buscador C.U.B.A. sigue sin ganar popularidad
<br>Lunes, julio 17, 2017 | Eliseo Matos
<br>
<br>LA HABANA, Cuba.- El buscador de contenidos C.U.B.A , una especie de
<br>Google nacional para acceder a las publicaciones de la intranet en la
<br>Isla, es manipulado por las autoridades cubanas de acuerdo a sus
<br>intereses políticos.
<br>
<br>C.U.B.A (Contenidos Unificados para Búsqueda Avanzada) surgió en julio
<br>del 2015 con el objetivo de que quienes no tienen acceso a Internet
<br>pudieran consultar las publicaciones y digitales bajo el dominio *.cu.
<br>
<br>Sin embargo, pese a que los desarrolladores del sitio aseguran que "el
<br>usuario puede tener una visión más amplia acerca de un mismo tema al
<br>contar con varias fuentes de información y diferentes materiales de
<br>consulta", la realidad muestra una versión parcializada de toda historia.
<br>
<br>Al ingresar en el buscador, y poner términos como Fidel Castro,
<br>socialismo, o revolución, todos los resultados llevan a enlaces de
<br>páginas en las que se defiende ciegamente al régimen castrista.
<br>
<br>En cambio, al colocar los términos Estados Unidos, cubanoamericanos y
<br>otros semejantes, el buscador lleva al usuario a enlaces en los que se
<br>habla peyorativamente de entidades norteamericanas y de opositores cubanos.
<br>
<br>¿Está C.U.B.A a la altura de ser un Google cubano?
<br>
<br>Según Lázaro Marimón, quien a menudo se conecta en un Joven Club de
<br>Computación para navegar en Internet, "este buscador está muy limitado
<br>pues siempre lleva a los mismos sitios nacionales, mientras que con
<br>Google, Yahoo o Bing las posibilidades de encontrar mayor y mejor
<br>información son más amplias".
<br>
<br>La poca divulgación, aceptación o uso por parte de los usuarios de este
<br>y otros proyectos se debe a que los mismos constituyen malas copias de
<br>plataformas internacionales ya existentes.
<br>
<br>Un ingeniero y profesor de la Universidad de Ciencias Informáticas
<br>(UCI), cuya identidad solicitó dejásemos en el anonimato, explicó a este
<br>medio que "es sumamente difícil adaptar a las personas al uso de
<br>plataformas como estas pues ya conocen otras más eficientes y atractivas
<br>en la Internet".
<br>
<br>Agrega que la ventaja de C.U.B.A está en el heho de que agrupa todos los
<br>contenidos nacionales, pero que sigue siendo una copia bastante poco
<br>atractiva. El informático de 28 años agrega que las copias forzadas no
<br>perduran y que así como La Tendedera es una imitación de Facebook,
<br>Reflejos es una copia de WordPress y La Mochila una semejanza del
<br>paquete, este buscador nacional viene a ser un intento fracasado de
<br>Google que pasará sin luces ni sombras".
<br>
<br>Concluye argumentando que dichas imitaciones son un intento desesperado
<br>del gobierno cubano por justificar la falta de acceso de Internet en la
<br>Isla con "supuestas alternativas", así como para controlar más la
<br>información a la que los usuarios acceden.
<br>
<br>Source: Un 'Google cubano' que responde a intereses del Gobierno
<br>CubanetCubanet -
<br><a href="https://www.cubanet.org/actualidad-destacados/un-google-cubano-que-responde-intereses-del-gobierno/">https://www.cubanet.org/actualidad-destacados/un-google-cubano-que-responde-intereses-del-gobierno/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-64616855062205858762017-07-17T06:42:00.001-07:002017-07-17T06:42:19.356-07:00Discriminatory prices: how much do things cost?Discriminatory prices: how much do things cost?
<br>FERNANDO DÁMASO | La Habana | 17 de Julio de 2017 - 12:05 CEST.
<br>
<br>The establishment of Cuba's two different currencies (CUC and CUP), and
<br>their different applications (1x24, 1x10, 1x2 and 1x1), according to the
<br>Government's convenience, besides sowing economic chaos, also features
<br>an immoral component for those affected by it.
<br>
<br>Setting aside the unfair and all too well known problem of being paid
<br>wages in CUP and having to make purchases in CUC, as well as the
<br>exorbitant prices of products, there are other no less arbitrary
<br>manifestations, such as the 12.5% (10 in taxes and 2.5 for the
<br>procedure) subtracted from every dollar when exchanged for CUC.
<br>
<br>A Cuban citizen residing abroad must pay for his passport at a price
<br>four to five times greater than that paid by a resident on the island,
<br>which is 100 CUC, and must renew it every two years at the price of 20
<br>CUC. That is, a passport, which is valid for only six years, actually
<br>costs him 140 CUC.
<br>
<br>The resident abroad, after adding up the initial price and the costs of
<br>renewals, must pay much more. Moreover, those visiting the country must
<br>pay for everything in CUC starting right at the airport – perhaps as a
<br>subtle form of punishment for residing outside it, and as an indirect
<br>recognition that those living abroad can afford it, as they enjoy better
<br>economic conditions than in Cuba.
<br>
<br>Visiting a museum has one price, in CUP, for Cubans, and the same
<br>figure, but in CUC, for foreigners and Cubans living abroad. The Museum
<br>of the Revolution, for example, costs Cubans 8 CUP, but 8 CUC (192 CUP)
<br>for foreigners and Cubans living abroad; attending the 9:00 PM cannon
<br>ceremony at the fortress of La Cabaña costs the same as the entrance to
<br>the aforecited museum; entrance to the National Aquarium costs 10 CUP
<br>and 10 CUC (240 CUP), in each case, while access to the Havana Zoo costs
<br>2 CUP and 2 CUC (48 CUP), for the two respective groups.
<br>
<br>These discriminatory prices also apply at many other cultural, musical,
<br>and athletic facilities, and more. Foreigners are provided medical care
<br>at clinics and hospitals that charge them in CUC. The most extreme
<br>example of this occurs when, at a low-price, run-down, state-run
<br>gastronomic establishment, the foreigner or Cuban resident living abroad
<br>is asked to pay 2 CUC (48 CUP) for a simple glass of cola, which is sold
<br>to a Cuban resident for 2 CUP.
<br>
<br>Even at the Cementerio de Colón (Columbus Cemetery), access to which was
<br>previously free for visitors, foreigners are now charged 5 CUC, even if
<br>they do not form part of a group led by a tour guide. To ensure this
<br>they are only allowed to enter through the main door on the Calle
<br>Zapata, and they are barred access through any of the other three doors.
<br>
<br>Foreigners, in addition to this monetary discrimination, face both
<br>institutional and private tourist harassment, in the form of roaming
<br>musicians, flower sellers, costumed characters; illegal vendors of
<br>cigarettes, medicines and rum; managers of rooms, restaurants and
<br>paladares; and even female and male prostitutes, who descend on them
<br>like a swarm of flies.
<br>
<br>There is certainly nothing wrong with charging for entrance to certain
<br>sites of interest, in order to cover the costs of their maintenance, as
<br>the gratuity policy, erroneously applied for years, proved a failure.
<br>But equal prices must be applied, as is done in countries all over the
<br>world, and not through this form of monetary apartheid.
<br>
<br>This evil, like an epidemic, has spread to taxi drivers, whether state
<br>or private, who charge everyone, for a trip to or from the airport (17
<br>km), 25 CUCs during the day and 30 CUCs early in the morning, 15 o 20
<br>CUC from Nuevo Vedado to Old Havana or vice versa, and the same if they
<br>cross the 23rd Street bridge or any of the tunnels towards Municipio
<br>Playa, or they travel to the eastern beaches (25 km). An individual taxi
<br>trip to Varadero (140 km) costs 100 CUC and, if a group, 20 CUC per
<br>person. In this last modality: Trinidad (335 km) costs 30 CUC, Viñales
<br>(189 km) is 20 CUC and Cienfuegos (254) is 25 CUC.
<br>
<br>This monetary chaos, established and encouraged by the authorities,
<br>seems to be just one more of the many originalities of "prosperous and
<br>efficient socialism", now also described as "sovereign, independent and
<br>democratic", according to the latest official statements, despite the
<br>discrimination between Cuban nationals living on the island, those
<br>living off it, and foreign nationals.
<br>
<br>This reality seriously calls into question the Cubans' proverbial
<br>hospitality, much touted in the State's tourist propaganda.
<br>
<br>Source: Discriminatory prices: how much do things cost? | Diario de Cuba
<br>- <a href="http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1500285944_32613.html">http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1500285944_32613.html</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-40197432818724889642017-07-16T14:15:00.001-07:002017-07-16T14:15:09.101-07:00Prosperous Cuban Entrepreneur ArrestedProsperous Cuban Entrepreneur Arrested / Juan Juan Almeida
<br>
<br>Juan Juan Almeida, 16 June 2017 — Alejandro Marcel Mendivil, successful
<br>entrepreneur, owner of El Litoral, a restaurant located at Malecon #161,
<br>between L & K, and the restaurant Lungo Mare, located in 1ra Esquina C,
<br>in the Vedado district, was arrested in Havana on June 8.
<br>
<br>The reasons are not clear. Some claim that Marcel Mendivil is accused of
<br>money laundering and ties to drug trafficking; and others claim that if
<br>you are "noticed" in Cuba, it has a price.
<br>
<br>"Alejandro is a young man hungry for challenges and pleasure. He has
<br>money, social recognition, he helps all his neighbors, has ties to
<br>diplomats as important as the ones in the American Embassy. He also has
<br>dealings with high ranking Cuban military and maintains very important
<br>access to the government elite. His ambitions go beyond those of common
<br>entrepreneurs, and to that add that the fact that he has charisma. Isn't
<br>that a lethal combination? Alejandro is no drug trafficker or money
<br>launderer; he only tested power and ended up making it angry," says one
<br>of the neighbors of his restaurant El Litoral, a retiree from the
<br>Ministry of the Interior.
<br>
<br>"It was early in the morning, says an employee, the sea was flat as a
<br>plate when the operative began. Not even the Interior Ministry (MININT),
<br>nor the state officials gave any explanations in order to close the
<br>restaurant. They (the police) only told the employees that were present
<br>that we had to leave the place and look for another job in another
<br>restaurant because this closure was going to last. We were closed once,
<br>when an issue with the alcohol, but Alejandro solved it".
<br>
<br>"They got in and identified themselves as members of the State
<br>Security's Technical Department of Investigations (DTI). They checked
<br>the accounting, the kitchen, lifted some tiles from the floor and they
<br>even took nails from the walls. An official with a mustache, who
<br>wouldn't stop talking with someone on his BLU cellphone, was saying that
<br>they would find evidence to justify the charge of drug trafficking."
<br>
<br>"That looked like a theater, but with misleading script. It was not the
<br>DTI. In fact, Alejandro was not jailed at 100 and Aldabo, but rather
<br>held incommunicado in Villa Marista (a State Security prison). The whole
<br>thing was a State Security operation to put a stop Alejandro, who was
<br>earning money working and was becoming an attractive figure; in a
<br>country such as this one, where leaders, all of them, are very weak."
<br>
<br>The incident is timely to a discussion held during the extraordinary
<br>session of the National Assembly of People's Power, which took place
<br>last May 30, where the Cuban vice-president Marino Murillo asserted that
<br>the new model of the socialist island "will not allow the concentration
<br>of property or wealth even when we are promoting the existence of the
<br>private sector."
<br>
<br>According to sources consulted in the Prosecutor General of the Republic
<br>of Cuba, there are plans for measures similar to those taken against
<br>Marcel Mendivil for these wealthy and influential owners of a paladar
<br>(private restaurant) located in Apartment 1, Malecon 157, between K&L,
<br>Vedado. And also against another one in Egido 504 Alton, between Montes
<br>& Dragones, Old Havana, in addition to two in Camaguey that were not
<br>identified.
<br>
<br>Translated by: LYD
<br>
<br>Source: Prosperous Cuban Entrepreneur Arrested / Juan Juan Almeida –
<br>Translating Cuba -
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/prosperous-cuban-entrepreneur-arrested-juan-juan-almeida/">http://translatingcuba.com/prosperous-cuban-entrepreneur-arrested-juan-juan-almeida/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-85915361248248282672017-07-16T13:27:00.001-07:002017-07-16T13:27:58.134-07:00Cuba courted in diplomatic push on Venezuela crisisCuba courted in diplomatic push on Venezuela crisis
<br>Colombian president flies to Havana to seek support for regional
<br>John Paul Rathbone in Miami
<br>
<br>Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia's president, was set to fly to Cuba on
<br>Sunday on a mission to convince Havana to support a regional diplomatic
<br>push to staunch Venezuela's growing crisis, which has left 90 dead after
<br>three months of protests.
<br>
<br>The initiative, which Argentina and Mexico are understood to support, is
<br>controversial but potentially effective as socialist Cuba is Venezuela's
<br>strongest ally and its intelligence services are understood to work as
<br>close advisers to Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela's embattled president.
<br>
<br>"Santos is one of the few people, perhaps the only one, who knows the
<br>three key players well," said one person with an understanding of the
<br>situation. "He knows Maduro and Venezuela, he knows Raúl Castro, and he
<br>knows Donald Trump and the US state department."
<br>
<br>The diplomatic initiative comes at a critical time for Venezuela, as Mr
<br>Maduro moves to rewrite the Opec country's constitution to cement the
<br>ruling Socialist party's control by installing Soviet-style communes. An
<br>early gauge of the regional diplomacy's success will be if Mr Maduro
<br>cancels the July 30 constitutional convention to create a legislative
<br>superbody.
<br>
<br>Venezuela's opposition on Sunday mounted a symbolic referendum against
<br>the convention, which polls show three-quarters of Venezuelans oppose.
<br>The convention is widely seen as a point of no return for Venezuela.
<br>
<br>Early indications suggested the referendum was passing peacefully.
<br>Opposition activists posted photographs on social media of long lines of
<br>people outside impromptu polling stations, not only in Venezuela but in
<br>towns and cities worldwide, from Australia to Malaysia to Saudi Arabia
<br>and Italy, where Venezuelans living abroad were invited to vote.
<br>
<br>Julio Borges, the head of the National Assembly, or parliament, told a
<br>news conference in Caracas on Sunday he hoped the exercise would serve
<br>as "a great earthquake, that shakes the conscience of those in power".
<br>
<br>The government has played down the popular vote, which is non-binding.
<br>It says the real election will come on July 30, although some analysts
<br>have suggested there is still time for Mr Maduro to change his mind.
<br>
<br>"To the extent that the [opposition referendum] prompts even
<br>more . . . pushback . . .[it] could prompt [Maduro] to back down," Risa
<br>Grais-Targow, analyst at Eurasia, the risk consultancy, wrote on Friday.
<br>But "if Maduro does hold the vote on 30 July, it will represent a new
<br>apex in the country's ongoing political crisis. It will also test the
<br>loyalty of the security apparatus, as the opposition will likely
<br>mobilise significant protests across the country".
<br>
<br>Mr Santos has worked closely with Havana, Washington and Caracas over
<br>the past six years as part of Colombia's peace process between the
<br>government and the Farc guerrilla group. But his Cuba visit, part of a
<br>long-schedule commercial mission to Havana, is also a sign of mounting
<br>international exasperation over Venezuela.
<br>
<br>At the recent G20 meeting in Hamburg, Mauricio Macri, the Argentine
<br>president, backed by Mariano Rajoy, Spanish prime minister, implored
<br>other heads of state to "take note of the situation in Venezuela, where
<br>they do not support human rights".
<br>
<br>The crisis in Venezuela has drained the country's foreign reserves with
<br>figures released on Friday showing the central bank's coffers had
<br>dropped below $10bn for the first time in 15 years.
<br>
<br>The fall in reserves is likely to rekindle fears that Caracas might
<br>default on its debt obligations this year. The state and its oil
<br>company PDVSA are due to make capital and interest repayments of $3.7bn
<br>in the fourth quarter.
<br>
<br>Despite widespread concern over Venezeula's plight, there has been
<br>little concrete action from other countries besides the US and Brazil.
<br>Washington has placed targeted financial sanctions on some Venezuelan
<br>officials while Brazil suspended sales of tear gas to the Venezuelan
<br>government.
<br>
<br>Rex Tillerson, US secretary of state, last month said the US was
<br>building a "robust list" of other individuals to sanction. A more
<br>extreme US policy option that has also been discussed in Washington is
<br>to ban sales of Venezuelan oil into the US market.
<br>
<br>US refiners have lobbied the White House against including crude imports
<br>in any broader potential sanctions package as Venezuela is the US's
<br>second-biggest foreign supplier to the gulf coast. A ban could also have
<br>an impact on domestic fuel prices.
<br>
<br>Cuba would make an unusual ally in an internationally-mediated attempt
<br>to broker peace in Venezuela as it receives subsidised oil from Caracas
<br>in return for medical services. Relations with Washington have also
<br>cooled after Mr Trump partially rolled back the US rapprochement in
<br>June, courting support from conservative Cuban-American legislators in
<br>Washington.
<br>
<br>But Havana could usefully offer safe haven exile for Mr Maduro's senior
<br>officials who, with a bolt hole to flee to, would no longer need to
<br>fight to the last.
<br>
<br>Additional reporting Gideon Long in Bogotá
<br>
<br>Source: Cuba courted in diplomatic push on Venezuela crisis -
<br><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/0bcdff72-6a07-11e7-bfeb-33fe0c5b7eaa">https://www.ft.com/content/0bcdff72-6a07-11e7-bfeb-33fe0c5b7eaa</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-89730277905043458442017-07-15T07:07:00.001-07:002017-07-15T07:07:07.223-07:00Cuba Awaits New Trump ProposalsCuba Awaits New Trump Proposals / Iván García
<br>
<br>Ivan Garcia, 14 June 2017 — What you lose last is hope. And those who
<br>have plans to immigrate to the United States maintain bulletproof optimism.
<br>
<br>Close to a small park in Calzada street, next to Rivero's funeral home,
<br>dozens of restless people await their appointment for the consular
<br>interview at the American Embassy located at the Havana's Vedado district.
<br>
<br>Ronald, a mixed-race man of almost six feet, requested a tourist visa to
<br>visit his mother in Miami. Before going to the embassy he bathed with
<br>white flowers and sounded a maraca gourd before the altar of the Virgen
<br>de la Caridad, Cuba's Patron Saint, wishing that they would approve his
<br>trip.
<br>
<br>Outside the diplomatic site, dozens of people await restlessly. Each one
<br>of them has a story to tell. Many have had their visas denied up to five
<br>times while some are there for the first time with the intent to get an
<br>American visa; they rely on astrology or some other witchcraft.
<br>
<br>Daniela is one of those people. "Guys, the astral letter says that Trump
<br>instructed the embassy people to give the biggest possible number of
<br>visas," she says to others also waiting.
<br>
<br>Rumors grow along the line of those who read in social media — never in
<br>the serious news — that Trump, in his next speech in Miami, will reverse
<br>the reversal of the "wet foot-dry foot" policy.
<br>
<br>In a park on Linea Street with Wi-Fi internet service, next to the
<br>Camilo Cienfuegos clinic, two blocks from the United States Embassy,
<br>Yaibel comments with a group of internet users that a friend who lives
<br>in Florida told him that Trump was going to issue open visa to all Cubans.
<br>
<br>The most ridiculous theories circulate around the city among those who
<br>dream to migrate. The facts or promises made by Trump to close the
<br>faucet of immigration mean nothing to them.
<br>
<br>Guys like Josue holds on to anything that makes him think that his luck
<br>will change. "That's the gossip going on. Crazy Trump will open all
<br>doors to Cubans… Dude we are the only country in Latin America that
<br>lives under a dictatorship. If they give us carte blanch three or four
<br>million people will emigrate. The Mariel Boatlift will be small in
<br>comparison. That's the best way to end this regime. These people — the
<br>government — will be left alone here"… opines the young man.
<br>
<br>In a perfect domino effect, some people echo the huge fantasy. "Someone
<br>told me that they were going to offer five million working visas to
<br>Cubans. The immigrants would be located in those states where they need
<br>laborers. The people would need to come back in around a year, since the
<br>Cuban Adjustment Act will be eliminated," says Daniela, who doesn't
<br>remember where she heard such a delirious version.
<br>
<br>Now, let's talk seriously. If something Donald Trump has showed, aside
<br>from being superficial and erratic, it is being a president profoundly
<br>anti-immigrant. But more than a few ordinary Cubans want to assert the
<br>contrary.
<br>
<br>The ones who wish to immigrate are the only segment that awaits with
<br>optimism good news from Trump. The spectrum of opinion of the rest of
<br>the Cubans ranges from indifference to concern.
<br>
<br>In the local dissidence sector, the ones who believed that Trump was
<br>going to open his wallet or go back to Obama's strategy towards dissent,
<br>became more pessimistic after the White House announced a decrease of
<br>$20 million dollars for civil society programs.
<br>
<br>"Those groups that obtained money thanks to the Department of State are
<br>pulling their hair out. But the ones that receive financing from the
<br>Cuban exiles are not that unprotected," indicates a dissident who
<br>prefers to remain anonymous.
<br>
<br>The Palace of the Revolution in Havana is probably the place where
<br>Trump's pronouncements are awaited with the greatest impatience. The
<br>autocracy, dressed in olive green, has tried to be prudent with the
<br>magnate from New York.
<br>
<br>Contrary to Fidel Castro's strategy, which at the first sign of change
<br>would prepare a national show and lengthy anti-imperialist speeches,
<br>Raul's regime has toned that down as much as possible.
<br>
<br>In certain moments they have criticized him. However, without
<br>offensiveness and keeping the olive branch since the government is
<br>betting on continuing the dialogue with the United Estates, to lift the
<br>embargo, to receive millions of gringo tourists and to begin business
<br>with American companies.
<br>
<br>Official analysts are waiting for Trump to act from his entrepreneur
<br>side. The autocracy is offering business on a silver plate, as long as
<br>it is with state companies.
<br>
<br>According to a source that works with Department of Foreign trade, "The
<br>ideal would be to continue the roadmap laid out by Obama. With the
<br>situation in Venezuela and the internal economic crisis, the official
<br>wish is that relations with the United States deepen and millions in
<br>investments begins. The government will give in, as long as it doesn't
<br>feel pressured with talk about Human Rights.
<br>
<br>"I hope that Trump is pragmatic. If he opens fire and returns to the
<br>scenario of the past, those here will climb back into the trenches.
<br>Confrontation didn't yield anything in 55 years. However, in only two
<br>years of Obama's policy, aside from the panic of many internal leaders,
<br>there was a large popular acceptance," declares the source.
<br>
<br>In Havana's streets Trump is not appreciated. "That guy is insane. Dense
<br>and a cretin and that's all. If he sets things back, to me it's all the
<br>same. The majority of ordinary Cubans don't benefit from the agreements
<br>made on December 17. Of course, I think it was the government's fault,"
<br>says Rey Angel, worker.
<br>
<br>And the reestablishment of the diplomatic relations and the extension of
<br>Obama's policy to get closer to the the island's private workforce,
<br>caused more notice in the press than concrete changes.
<br>
<br>The people consulted do not believe that Trump will reduce the amount of
<br>money sent in remittances by Cubans overseas, or the number of trips
<br>home by Cubans living in the United States. "If he does, it will affect
<br>many people who live off the little money and things that family living
<br>in the North (United States) can send", says a lady waiting in line at
<br>Western Union.
<br>
<br>The rupture of the Obama strategy will decidedly affect the military
<br>regime. And it looks like the White House will fire its rockets against
<br>the flotation line. But anything can happen. Trump is just Trump.
<br>
<br>Translated by: LYD
<br>
<br>Source: Cuba Awaits New Trump Proposals / Iván García – Translating Cuba
<br>-
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/cuba-awaits-new-trump-proposals-ivan-garcia-ivn-garca/">http://translatingcuba.com/cuba-awaits-new-trump-proposals-ivan-garcia-ivn-garca/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-21094325785440299542017-07-15T07:06:00.001-07:002017-07-15T07:06:07.583-07:00Parliamentary KaraokeParliamentary Karaoke
<br>
<br>14ymedio, Generation y, Yoani Sanchez, 14 July 2017 — Wednesday
<br>night. The neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado is sliding into the
<br>darkness. Catchy music resonates in the Hotel Tulipán where
<br>parliamentarians are staying during the current regular session. They
<br>dance, drink under the sparkling lights of the disco ball and sing
<br>karaoke. They add their voices to a programmed score, the exercise they
<br>know how to do best.
<br>
<br>With only two sessions a year, the Cuban legislative body gathers to
<br>stuff the population full of dates, figures, promises to keep, and
<br>critiques of the mismanagement of bureaucrats and administrators. A
<br>monotonous clamor, where every speaker tries to show themselves more
<br>"revolutionary" than the last, launching proposals with an exhausting
<br>generality or a frightening lack of vision.
<br>
<br>Those assembled for this eighth legislature, like their colleagues
<br>before them, have as little ability to make decisions as does any
<br>ordinary Cuban waiting at the bus stop. They can raise their voice and
<br>"talk until they're blue in the face," and enumerate the inefficiencies
<br>that limit development in their respective districts, but from there to
<br>concrete solutions is a long stretch.
<br>
<br>On this occasion, the National Assembly has turned its back on pressures
<br>that, from different sectors, demand new legislation regarding the
<br>electoral system, audiovisual productions, management of the press, same
<br>sex marriage and religious freedoms, among others. With so many urgent
<br>issues, the deputies have only managed to draft the "Terrestrial Waters
<br>Bill."
<br>
<br>Does this mean that they need to meet more often to fix the country's
<br>enormous problems? The question is not only one of the frequency or
<br>intensity in the exercise of their functions, but also one of freedom
<br>and power. A parliament is not a park bench where you go to find
<br>catharsis, nor a showcase to demonstrate ideological fidelity. It should
<br>represent the diversity of a society, propose solutions and turn them
<br>into laws. Without this, it is just a boring social chinwag.
<br>
<br>The parliamentarians will arrive on Friday, the final day of their
<br>regular session, in front of the microphones in the Palace of
<br>Conventions with the same meekness that they approached the karaoke
<br>party to repeat previously scripted choruses. They are going to sing to
<br>music chosen by others, move their lips to that voice of real power that
<br>emerges from their throats.
<br>
<br>Source: Parliamentary Karaoke – Translating Cuba -
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/parliamentary-karaoke/">http://translatingcuba.com/parliamentary-karaoke/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-79623035811760333152017-07-15T06:38:00.001-07:002017-07-15T06:38:11.997-07:00Familia de violinista que tocó para Trump niega acusación de Cuba de que su padre mató a Frank PaísFamilia de violinista que tocó para Trump niega acusación de Cuba de que
<br>su padre mató a Frank País
<br>LUIS DE LA PAZ
<br>Especial/el Nuevo Herald
<br>
<br>Durante la visita del presidente Donald Trump a Miami el 16 de junio, el
<br>violinista cubano Luis Haza interpretó el himno de Estados Unidos en el
<br>emblemático teatro Manuel Artime de La Pequeña Habana. Este hecho hizo
<br>que el Presidente mencionara la masacre de la Loma de San Juan en
<br>Santiago de Cuba, el 12 de enero de 1959, en la que fueron fusiladas 71
<br>personas, apenas 12 días después del triunfo de la llamada revolución
<br>cubana.
<br>
<br>Entre los fusilados estuvo Bonifacio Haza Grasso, comandante de la
<br>Policía Nacional en Santiago de Cuba en los días finales del gobierno de
<br>Fulgencio Batista y padre del violinista invitado al encuentro con Trump.
<br>
<br>Como respuesta, el gobierno cubano a través del sitio Cubadebate,
<br>plataforma de propaganda, reaccionó airado minimizando el virtuosismo
<br>del violinista y señalando que Trump no mencionó en su discurso que "el
<br>padre de Luis, Bonifacio Haza Grasso, fue uno de los asesinos del joven
<br>líder revolucionario Frank País". Este 30 de julio se cumplen 60 años de
<br>la muerte de País, líder del Movimiento 26 de Julio –y su jefe de acción
<br>y sabotaje en todo el país–, en las calles santiagueras, a los 22 años.
<br>
<br>Cubadebate basa su afirmación en un texto aparecido en ese mismo portal
<br>en agosto del 2014, firmado por el contralmirante retirado José Luis
<br>Cuza Téllez, a quien mencionan como compañero de Frank País. En el
<br>artículo se apunta claramente que el teniente coronel José María Salas
<br>Cañizares, supervisor de la Policía Nacional, ejecutó personalmente a
<br>Frank País y a su compañero, Raúl Pujol.
<br>
<br>"Golpearon brutalmente a Pujol, que cayó inconsciente […] a adonde fue
<br>Salas y le ametralló toda la espalda con una ráfaga larga. Se viró para
<br>donde estaba Frank y le tiró los últimos proyectiles que le quedaban",
<br>escribe el Contraalmirante. De manera que la acusación de Cubadebate
<br>queda desmentida en sus propias palabras. Sólo se afirma en el trabajo
<br>que Bonifacio Haza Grasso estaba en el lugar.
<br>
<br>
<br>El líder del Movimiento 26 de Julio Frank País.
<br>Sin embargo, otro de los hijos del comandante Haza Grasso, Bonifacio L.
<br>Haza, afirma que su padre amaneció enfermo el día de la muerte de Pujol
<br>y País. "Mi padre amaneció enfermo con un ataque a la vesícula […] lo sé
<br>porque yo estaba allí, y mi madre nos decía que guardáramos silencio
<br>para que mi padre pudiera dormir hasta que se le pasara el dolor […].
<br>Ese día nos llegó la noticia que Frank País había sido muerto", dijo.
<br>
<br>En el 2012, Bonifacio L. Haza, que reside en Vero Beach, en el centro de
<br>la Florida, publicó el libro de memorias Escritos sobre la arena, donde
<br>detalla muchos de los episodios en la vida de su padre, y en particular
<br>sobre la ejecución en la Loma de San Juan. Allí, sentencia: "Algunos
<br>fueron ejecutados por el solo hecho de haber pertenecido o colaborado
<br>con el Ejército y la Policía Nacional".
<br>
<br>Como líder del movimiento 26 de Julio, Frank País tenía la misión de
<br>articular las acciones de sabotaje, por lo que usaba una pistola STAR
<br>calibre 38 para sus acciones. Estos datos corresponden al artículo del
<br>contralmirante Cuza Téllez, lo que hacía a País un hombre peligroso y
<br>buscado por las autoridades.
<br>
<br>En el libro se destaca que el comandante Haza Grasso estuvo al frente de
<br>la Policía Nacional en Santiago de Cuba mientras el ejército combatía a
<br>los guerrilleros en la Sierra Maestra. "Su trabajo era mantener el orden
<br>público, no pelear contra los alzados", señala su hijo, quien describe a
<br>su padre como un hombre que "no fue extremista y no estuvo de acuerdo
<br>con el golpe del 10 de marzo de 1952". Luego añade que su padre ejerció
<br>como intermediario para propiciar las conversaciones entre el Ejército
<br>Nacional y el Ejército Rebelde. Algunas fotos de la época muestran a
<br>Fidel y Raúl Castro, conversando con Haza Grasso, el 1ro. de enero de
<br>1959 en El Caney "para ultimar la entrada de los rebeldes que habían
<br>proclamado la victoria", tras la huida de Batista hacia República
<br>Dominicana.
<br>
<br>Para Bonifacio L. Haza, "la masacre de los 71 no fue un hecho fortuito.
<br>La evidencia sugiere que esto fue un acto premeditado, planeado, y
<br>preparado con anterioridad"; añadiendo: "la trinchera de unos 40 metros
<br>de largo, donde caían los cuerpos de los ejecutados, fue cavada antes de
<br>que fueran condenados a muerte". Así lo resalta en su libro.
<br>
<br>El sacerdote Jorge Bez Chabebe que asistió en sus horas finales a
<br>algunos de los fusilados en la Loma de San Juan, y autor del libro Dios
<br>me hizo cura, le expresó al periodista Pedro Corzo, en una entrevista,
<br>que al llegar al sitio de las ejecuciones se encontró que habían abierto
<br>"un hueco largo y profundo", y que el capitán Fernando Vecino Alegret,
<br>que luego ejerció como ministro de Educación Superior, estaba al frente
<br>de las ejecuciones. En su testimonio menciona que intentó intervenir
<br>para evitar la masacre, pero fue inútil. El propio Vecino le dijo que si
<br>no los ejecutaba, lo iban a fusilar a él.
<br>
<br>El periodista Luis González Lalondry apunta que Haza Grasso como jefe de
<br>la policía de Santiago de Cuba "era muy blando con los rebeldes y no
<br>seguía las órdenes que recibía de La Habana", por eso enviaron a
<br>comandar la zona a Salas Cañizares. Lalondry añade: "Bonifacio era una
<br>persona muy decente, una bella persona, pero eso lo hacía bastante débil".
<br>
<br>Quién ametralló a Frank País
<br>Lalondry afirma que ni Haza Grasso, ni Salas Cañizares ejecutaron a
<br>Frank País. Señala directamente al sargento Manuel "El Gallego" Fabelo,
<br>que era el ametrallador de Salas Cañizares. "Eso me lo confesó el propio
<br>Fabelo aquí en Miami durante un encuentro en 1961", sentencia Lalondry,
<br>para luego añadir: "Frank País y su gente ponían bombas, petardos,
<br>mataban a policías y guardias rurales para quitarles las armas. Eran
<br>gentes muy violentas, por eso cuando supieron dónde estaban escondidos
<br>los cercaron. En medio de todo aquel operativo, Fabelo lo vio y le
<br>disparó varias veces". Lalondry añade que durante el testimonio del
<br>ametrallador de Salas Cañizares, éste le dijo que no supo a quién había
<br>matado hasta que la noticia corrió. Fabelo murió hace algún tiempo en
<br>Los Ángeles, California.
<br>
<br>Lalondry describe a Frank País como "un asesino completo, un hombre que
<br>era maestro, pero que Fidel Castro lo convirtió en un monstruo". Durante
<br>la convulsa época previa al triunfo de la revolución castrista, el
<br>periodista se desempeñaba como comentarista del programa de radio La
<br>juventud con Batista, en Santiago de Cuba, por lo que personalmente
<br>Frank dio la orden de eliminarlo.
<br>
<br>"Frank País quería matarme porque, decía que yo le estaba haciendo mucho
<br>daño y había que parar ese programa de radio", dijo Lalondry, detallando
<br>varios intentos de asesinato. "En una ocasión me siguieron varias
<br>cuadras. Yo apuré el paso y ellos hicieron lo mismo. Logré subir a una
<br>guagua y vi a uno de ellos haciendo un gesto con la mano llevándosela al
<br>cuello, indicándome que me matarían. Eso lo denuncié en mi programa de
<br>radio".
<br>
<br>El Movimiento 26 de Julio tanto en la Sierra Maestra, donde estaban los
<br>rebeldes, como en el clandestinaje, que encabezaba País, motivaron actos
<br>violentos, que al salir Batista de Cuba le abrió las puertas a Fidel
<br>Castro para una serie de juicios sumarísimos y ejecuciones, en muchos
<br>casos, arbitrarias.
<br>
<br>Un fusilamiento injusto
<br>Uno de las ejecuciones injustas parece ser la de Bonifacio Haza Grasso.
<br>"Él fue Jefe de la Policía, pero al triunfar la revolución "se paseó por
<br>las calles de Santiago con un brazalete del Movimiento 26 de Julio en su
<br>brazo", apunta Lalondry. Aun así, hubo un giro inesperado y Haza Grasso
<br>es uno de los fusilados en la Loma de San Juan. "Haza Grasso fue el
<br>último que fusilaron, cerca de las 9 de la mañana", expresa Lalondry
<br>citando al padre Chabebe, presente en las ejecuciones.
<br>
<br>Bonifacio hijo confirma que su padre recibió el brazalete del 26 de
<br>Julio. "Yo no recuerdo cuándo exactamente se lo dieron, pero sí lo tenía
<br>atado al brazo", recuerda, para añadir que Raúl Castro "ascendió a mi
<br>padre a Ayudante del Jefe del Ejército, cargo que desempeñó por 8 días,
<br>vistiendo el uniforme azul de policía, pero con el brazalete del 26 de
<br>Julio".
<br>
<br>Entonces, qué motivó el giro para deshacerse de Haza Grasso, si de
<br>alguna manera había asumido el lado de los triunfantes rebeldes. Su hijo
<br>afirma: "Mi padre fue usado por Fidel y Raúl como puente para proyectar
<br>una imagen inicial democrática. Cuando ya no lo necesitaron, decidieron
<br>hacerle un número 8, acusarlo y fusilarlo. Sencillamente a mi padre lo
<br>fusilaron porque no lo necesitaban más. Lo engañaron y él cayó en la
<br>trampa".
<br>
<br>Tanto Bonifacio L. Haza como el padre Chabebe y Lalondry, señalan
<br>directamente a Raúl Castro como la persona que dio la orden de
<br>fusilarlo. "Hubo un juicio donde el chofer de un carro fúnebre acusó a
<br>Haza Grasso de la muerte de cuatro jóvenes rebeldes", manifiesta
<br>Lalondry, algo que corrobora Haza. "Tras ese juicio, Raúl llama a Haza
<br>Grasso al Moncada, donde lo humilla públicamente y le arranca el
<br>brazalete del 26 de Julio del brazo", concluye Lalondry.
<br>
<br>Bonifacio L. Haza está convencido que el Che, Fidel y Raúl tenían un
<br>plan secreto para llevar a Cuba al comunismo, por lo que mientras les
<br>convino, utilizaron a ciertas personas, entre ellas a su padre, para
<br>mantener engañado al pueblo, mientras consolidaban su propósito.
<br>
<br>Ante la pregunta de por qué desempolvar todo esto seis décadas después,
<br>Haza piensa que como una respuesta desesperada a las palabras del
<br>Presidente en Miami: "el discurso del presidente Trump, llamando la
<br>atención sobre la masacre de los 71 en la Loma de San Juan, puso al
<br>régimen en la disyuntiva de ignorar lo que dijo Trump, o arremeter
<br>contra la memoria de nuestro padre por la presencia en el acto de mi
<br>hermano Luis. Optó por la segunda, con todo tipo de calumnias, para
<br>desviar la atención de los crímenes de Raúl Castro", concluye.
<br>
<br>Source: Familia de violinista que tocó para Trump niega acusación de
<br>Cuba de que su padre mató a Frank País | El Nuevo Herald -
<br><a href="http://www.elnuevoherald.com/opinion-es/trasfondo/article161558933.html">http://www.elnuevoherald.com/opinion-es/trasfondo/article161558933.html</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-77735791396144441252017-07-15T06:20:00.001-07:002017-07-15T06:20:15.863-07:00Trump administration again suspends a part of Cuba embargoTrump administration again suspends a part of Cuba embargo
<br>By JOSH LEDERMAN Published July 14, 2017 Markets Associated Press
<br>
<br>WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is suspending for another six
<br>months a provision of the U.S. embargo on Cuba.
<br>
<br>The State Department says it has told Congress that it will keep
<br>suspending a provision of the Helms-Burton Act that deals with property
<br>seized from Americans. The provision lets Americans use U.S. courts to
<br>sue non-American companies that operate and deal with property
<br>confiscated after Fidel Castro's revolution.
<br>
<br>It's the latest sign that President Donald Trump is not fully reversing
<br>President Barack Obama's opening of relations with Cuba. Last month
<br>Trump announced he was rolling back some changes, but he left others in
<br>place.
<br>
<br>The law has been in place since 1996. Recent U.S. presidents have
<br>repeatedly suspended the lawsuit provision for six months at a time.
<br>
<br>Source: Trump administration again suspends a part of Cuba embargo | Fox
<br>Business -
<br><a href="http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/07/14/trump-administration-again-suspends-part-cuba-embargo.html">http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/07/14/trump-administration-again-suspends-part-cuba-embargo.html</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-58953257410031772392017-07-15T06:16:00.001-07:002017-07-15T06:16:59.336-07:00Cuba’s Raul Castro dismisses harsher US tone under TrumpCuba's Raul Castro dismisses harsher US tone under Trump
<br>- Castro's comments to Cuba's National Assembly were his first on
<br>Trump's June announcement of a partial rollback of the Cuba-U.S. detente
<br>- He also rejected any "lessons" on human rights from the U.S., saying
<br>his country "has a lot to be proud about" on the issue
<br>The Associated Press
<br>
<br>Cuban President Raul Castro denounced President Donald Trump's tougher
<br>line on relations with Havana on Friday, calling it a setback but
<br>promising to continue working to normalize ties between the former Cold
<br>War rivals.
<br>
<br>Castro's comments to Cuba's National Assembly were his first on Trump's
<br>June announcement of a partial rollback of the Cuba-U.S. detente
<br>achieved by then-President Barack Obama. They contained echoes of the
<br>harsh rhetoric of the past.
<br>
<br>"Any strategy that seeks to destroy the revolution either through
<br>coercion or pressure or through more subtle methods will fail," Cuba's
<br>president told legislators.
<br>
<br>He also rejected any "lessons" on human rights from the U.S., saying his
<br>country "has a lot to be proud about" on the issue.
<br>
<br>Surrounded by Cuban-American exiles and Cuban dissidents in Miami, Trump
<br>announced last month that the U.S. would impose new limits on U.S.
<br>travelers to the island and ban any payments to the military-linked
<br>conglomerate that controls much of the island's tourism industry. He
<br>said the U.S. would consider lifting those and other restrictions only
<br>after Cuba returned fugitives and made a series of other internal
<br>changes including freeing political prisoners, allowing freedom of
<br>assembly and holding free elections.
<br>
<br>Trump's policy retained elements of Obama's reforms but tightened
<br>restrictions on travel and employed harsh rhetoric on human rights.
<br>
<br>On Friday in Washington, the Trump administration said it was suspending
<br>for another six months a provision of the U.S. embargo on Cuba.
<br>
<br>The State Department said it told Congress that it will keep suspending
<br>a provision of the Helms-Burton Act that deals with property seized from
<br>Americans. The provision lets Americans use U.S. courts to sue
<br>non-American companies that operate and deal with property confiscated
<br>after Fidel Castro's revolution.
<br>
<br>Speaking to the National Assembly, Castro called the Trump
<br>administration's policies a "setback," though he reiterated his
<br>government's position that it would work to normalize relations with
<br>Washington.
<br>
<br>Earlier in the legislative session, Economy Minister Ricardo Cabrisas
<br>announced that Cuba's economy is growing again after a dip last year.
<br>
<br>Cabrisas said the economy grew around 1 percent in the first half of
<br>2017. That puts GDP growth on track to hit 2 percent for the year.
<br>
<br>The government said the economy shrank last year by 1 percent amid
<br>falling support from troubled Venezuela. That was the first decrease
<br>reported in two decades. Cabrisas said that instability in the supply of
<br>Venezuelan oil weighs on the country but tourism, construction,
<br>transportation and communications were growing.
<br>
<br>Foreign media did not have access to the National Assembly session.
<br>
<br>Source: Cuba's Raul Castro dismisses harsher US tone under Trump -
<br><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/15/cubas-raul-castro-dismisses-harsher-us-tone-under-trump.html">http://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/15/cubas-raul-castro-dismisses-harsher-us-tone-under-trump.html</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-19418088498899291972017-07-15T06:14:00.001-07:002017-07-15T06:14:44.087-07:00Cuba says GDP recovers, up about 1 percent so far in 2017Cuba says GDP recovers, up about 1 percent so far in 2017
<br>By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
<br>HAVANA — Jul 14, 2017, 5:59 PM ET
<br>
<br>The Cuban government said Friday that the economy is growing again
<br>following a decline last year that was the first drop reported in two
<br>decades.
<br>
<br>Economy Minister Ricardo Cabrisas said at the opening session of the
<br>National Assembly that Cuba's GDP grew just over 1 percent in the first
<br>six months of 2017 and is on track to hit an estimated 2 percent for the
<br>full year.
<br>
<br>The rebound came despite the economic crisis in Venezuela, which
<br>provides oil and other support to the island. The government said Cuba's
<br>economy shrank last year by 1 percent amid falling help from Venezuela,
<br>which is struggling with triple-digit inflation and widespread shortages
<br>of food and other basic goods. The decrease was the first reported by
<br>Cuba in years.
<br>
<br>Cuban media quoted Cabrisas as telling the assembly that instability in
<br>the supply of Venezuelan oil weighs on the country's economy but
<br>tourism, construction, transportation and communications are all growing.
<br>
<br>Foreign media were not allowed to attend the session, which was presided
<br>over by President Raul Castro.
<br>
<br>Some growth in tourism is due to the normalization of relations with the
<br>U.S. that was started by President Barack Obama and is now threatened
<br>under President Donald Trump.
<br>
<br>Source: Cuba says GDP recovers, up about 1 percent so far in 2017 - ABC
<br>News -
<br><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cuba-gdp-recovers-percent-2017-48647002">http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cuba-gdp-recovers-percent-2017-48647002</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-23583519097307375242017-07-14T09:49:00.001-07:002017-07-14T09:49:08.549-07:00Higher TaxesHigher Taxes / Fernando Dámaso
<br>
<br>Fernando Damaso, 6 July 2017 — It is no secret among Cubans that their
<br>government is inept and inefficient. Fifty-eight years of failure attest
<br>to this.
<br>
<br>With the emergence of self-employment, however, officials have found a
<br>way to fill the state's coffers without having to devote resources or
<br>effort to it. It's called taxes.
<br>
<br>They have devised (and continue to devise) taxes of all kinds to drain
<br>citizens who have decided to work for themselves rather than depend on
<br>the state.
<br>
<br>The recent tax increase on the sale of homes is one example and there is
<br>talk of increases in other areas as well. A contract was recently
<br>announced in which homeowners would provide rooms to Public Health
<br>clients in order to care for those who are ill or need medical attention.
<br>
<br>As logic would have it, it would be at the homeowner's expense even
<br>though every medical tourist's insurance pays for it. Never in Cuban
<br>history, even during the colonial era, has there been a government that
<br>exploited its citizens more than this one.
<br>
<br>No one disputes the need for taxes as a contribution to the maintenance
<br>of the state and its social services. But the assumption is that the
<br>state will create wealth and not use taxes as its main source of income.
<br>There is also no entity or authority that exercises control on citizens'
<br>behalf over the expenses of the state. The so-called Comptroller General
<br>of the Republic exercises this role only over her own ministry, not over
<br>the president or vice-presidents.
<br>
<br>According to the legislation passed last month at a special session of
<br>the National Assemby, "the accumulation of property and weath by
<br>citizens is not and will not be permitted."
<br>
<br>Fortunately for the citizens, the laws are made by men, and when they
<br>disappear most of the time the laws disappear as well. Nothing is
<br>eternal. To believe otherwise shows a lack of intelligence.
<br>
<br>Source: Higher Taxes / Fernando Dámaso – Translating Cuba -
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/higher-taxes-fernando-dmaso/">http://translatingcuba.com/higher-taxes-fernando-dmaso/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-34327190376303187262017-07-14T09:47:00.001-07:002017-07-14T09:47:03.670-07:00How Cubans See the Crisis in VenezuelaHow Cubans See the Crisis in Venezuela / Iván García
<br>
<br>Iván García, 11 July 2017 — After painting the facades of several
<br>buildings along 10 de Octobre street, the workers of the brigade shelter
<br>from the terrifying heat in doorways, eating lunch, having a smoke or
<br>simply chatting.
<br>
<br>These days, in Havana's La Vibora neighborhood, in the area between Red
<br>Square and the old Bus Terminal, there is a hive of workers dedicated to
<br>converting the one-time terminal into a cooperative taxi base.
<br>
<br>The work includes asphalting the surrounding streets and a quick splash
<br>of cheap paint on the buildings along the street.
<br>
<br>"They say that Raul Castro or Miguel Diaz-Canel is going to come to
<br>visit the Luis de La Puente Uceda Limited Access Surgical Hospital and
<br>to inaugurate the taxi base," says a worker sweating buckets.
<br>
<br>When they finish talking about the poor performance of the national
<br>baseball team against an independent league in Canada, a group of
<br>workers comment on the street protest that have been going on for more
<br>than a month, led by the opposition in Venezuela, and how much the
<br>economy and energy picture of Cuba could be affected.
<br>
<br>Yander, in dark blue overalls, shrugs his shoulders and responds, "I
<br>don't follow politics much. But I hear on the news is that place
<br>(Venezuela) is on fire. According to what I understood, the Venezuela
<br>right is burning everything in their path. They're as likely to burn a
<br>market as they are some guy for being a chavista [supporter of Maduro's
<br>government]. If Maduro falls off his horse, things are going to get ugly
<br>in Cuba. The oil comes from there
<br>
<br>Opinions among the workers, students, food workers consulted about
<br>Venezuela, demonstrates a profound disinterest in political information
<br>among a wide sector of the citizenry.
<br>
<br>Younger people are active in social networks. But they pass on political
<br>content. Like Susana, a high school student, who with her smartphone is
<br>taking a selfie which eating chicken breasts in a recently opened
<br>private care, to post later on Instagram. When asked about the Venezuela
<br>challenge, she answers at length.
<br>
<br>"You can't fight with a political grindstone. What are you going to
<br>resolve with that. You're not going to change the world and you can make
<br>problems for yourself. I heard about Venezuela on [the government TV
<br>channel] Telesur, but I don't know why they started the protests. Nor do
<br>I know why there have been so many deaths. The only thing I know is that
<br>Cuba is strongly tied to Venezuela by oil. And if the government
<br>changes, if those who come, if they are capitalists, they will stop
<br>sending us oil. So I want Maduro to remain in power," explains Susana.
<br>
<br>Not many on the island analyze the crisis in Venezuela in a wider
<br>context. The South American nation is trapped between the worst
<br>government management, a socialist model that doesn't work, and the
<br>hijacking of democratic institutions.
<br>
<br>Ordinary Cubans don't know to what point the Castro regime is involved
<br>in the design of the the local and continentals strategies of Chavismo.
<br>Opinion in Cuba is fueled by a myopic official press and Telesur, a
<br>propagandistic television channel created with the petrodollars of Hugo
<br>Chavez and Rafael Correa.
<br>
<br>Except for specialists and people who look for information in other
<br>sources, most of the Cuban population believes that the violence
<br>originates with the opposition, classified as terrorists and fascists by
<br>the official media.
<br>
<br>They know nothing of the fracture within chavismo itself, as in the case
<br>of Attorney General Luisa Ortega or the former Interior Minister Miguel
<br>Torres. Nor that at least 23 of the 81 who have died in more than ninety
<br>days of protests, was due the excessive use of violence by the
<br>Bolivarian National Guard.
<br>
<br>Alexis, a private taxi driver, believes that the state press sweeps
<br>under the carpet any news that shows the brutality of the chavista
<br>regime. His concern is that "if they're fucked, we're fucked too. Man,
<br>then the blackouts will start, the factory closures, and eating twice a
<br>day will be a luxury. There's no certainty about the origins of what is
<br>happening in Venezuela. I suppose the Venezuelans would like to free
<br>themselves from a system like ours. If they manage to do it then Cuba
<br>isn't going to know what to do with itself."
<br>
<br>A wide segment of Cubans think that if the street protests in Venezuela
<br>end up deposing Maduro, given the domino effect, hard times will return
<br>to the Cuban economy.
<br>
<br>"These people (the regime) have never done things well. That is why they
<br>are always passing the hat to survive or live off favors from others. We
<br>have not been able to made the earth produce. Everything we have we
<br>export. We are a leech. Thanks to the Venezuelan oil and the dollars
<br>that come from relatives in Miami, the country has not sunk into
<br>absolute misery," points our Geraldo, an elderly retiree.
<br>
<br>Geraldo clarifies, "It's not out of selfishness, political blindness or
<br>love of Maduro that many Cubans are betting on the continuity of
<br>chavismo. It's pure survival instinct."
<br>
<br>And the fact is that the economy has not yet hit bottom. Statistics and
<br>predictions forecast new adjustments and an economic setback if there is
<br>a change of government in Miraflores Palace.
<br>
<br>Cuba is still not at the level of Haiti, the poorest country in Latin
<br>American, but it is headed that way. As the former USSR was, Venezuela
<br>is our lifeline.
<br>
<br>Source: How Cubans See the Crisis in Venezuela / Iván García –
<br>Translating Cuba -
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/how-cubans-see-the-crisis-in-venezuela-ivn-garca/">http://translatingcuba.com/how-cubans-see-the-crisis-in-venezuela-ivn-garca/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-42429880613481869832017-07-14T09:45:00.001-07:002017-07-14T09:45:42.672-07:00The Death of a Cuban Doctor in Ciudad Tiuna, CaracasThe Death of a Cuban Doctor in Ciudad Tiuna, Caracas / Juan Juan Almeida
<br>
<br>Juan Juan Almeida, 19 June 2017 — Teresa Sulien Castillo Sotto, a
<br>27-year-old Cuban doctor born in Bayamo, died due to multiple fractures
<br>and traumatic brain injury on the night of Tuesday 13 June, at 10:20 PM,
<br>after jumping off the 8th floor of the C-05 building of Ciudad Tiuna in
<br>Tiuna Fort.
<br>
<br>"It's a delicate issue that they are treating with great tact and major
<br>caution," comments a member of the National Coordinating Department
<br>(COOR), which, along with the National Directorate of the Cuban Medical
<br>Mission in Venezuela (MMCVEN), located in the Crillon Hotel. "We are
<br>talking about the death of a cooperating doctor within a military
<br>community where the only ones who enter are Cubans who are linked to
<br>some military person, people with overwhelming confidence, cases that
<br>call for control, or some of the collaborators who are related to Cuban
<br>leaders."
<br>
<br>Tiuna Fort is an enormous military installation, the most important in
<br>Caracas, and also in Venezuela which, among other things, is the
<br>headquarters of the Ministry of People's Power, the General Command of
<br>the Army, the official residence of the vice president, and sports,
<br>cultural and financial facilities. It was in this urban complex where,
<br>in apartment 10-F, the young Cuban doctor lived.
<br>
<br>Several officials from the Homicide Division of the Scientific, Penal
<br>and Criminal Investigations Corps (CICPC) came to the scene of the
<br>tragedy. The prevailing narrative is that Teresa made the tragic
<br>decision to kill herself because she found, on the cellphone of her
<br>husband, also a Cuban doctor, compromising text messages involving
<br>another woman. However, on her personal profile on Facebook, the
<br>deceased young woman appears as single.
<br>
<br>That night, troops from the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service
<br>(SEBIN) and Cuban officials who have not been identified, put Teresa's
<br>body in a van, took it to the morgue and did not allow members of the
<br>CICPC to preserve the scene of the tragedy nor to collect expert evidence.
<br>
<br>The next day, Wednesday, three Cuban citizens came to the morgue in cars
<br>with official plates with the intention to accelerate the paperwork to
<br>collect the cadaver of the Cuban doctor. They accomplished this the same
<br>day and at four in the afternoon, after establishing contact with high
<br>level officials of the Bolivarian government and the representatives
<br>from the Cuban embassy.
<br>
<br>"Normally what happens," my interlocutor continued to explain, "they
<br>close the box in the morgue and send it to Maiquetia [the International
<br>Airport]. There, they finish the paperwork, and with the first flight
<br>they head to Cuban, accompanied by two officials dispatching the coffin
<br>and then the family members. In extreme or strange situations, the
<br>deceased is simply buried and they don't even allow them to hold a funeral."
<br>
<br>"What they don't want to reveal," my informer breathes deeply and adds,
<br>in a tone appropriate to the shocking confession, "is that Teresa
<br>maintained a close relationship with a military man, an official with
<br>the National Guard who was captured by SEBIN for being involved with the
<br>right and the opposition marches against chavismo. They used the girl as
<br>an informer, she couldn't refuse, because it would mean cancelling her
<br>mission, expulsion, threats and a ton of other things. She felt cornered
<br>with no alternative. She couldn't do anything other than betray her
<br>friend and, in an act of honor, with a certain touch of ethics, she
<br>committed suicide, or she was pushed to suicide."
<br>
<br>The body is already in Cuba, having left on Thursday the 15th in an A320
<br>airplane of Cuban Aviation on the Caracas-Havana route.
<br>
<br>Source: The Death of a Cuban Doctor in Ciudad Tiuna, Caracas / Juan Juan
<br>Almeida – Translating Cuba -
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/the-death-of-a-cuban-doctor-in-ciudad-tiuna-caracas-juan-juan-almeida/">http://translatingcuba.com/the-death-of-a-cuban-doctor-in-ciudad-tiuna-caracas-juan-juan-almeida/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-86724864927051999112017-07-14T09:10:00.001-07:002017-07-14T09:10:43.625-07:00TWO CUBAN PLAYERS DESERTING THE TEAM JUNIORTWO CUBAN PLAYERS DESERTING THE TEAM JUNIOR
<br>magictr | July 14, 2017 | News
<br>Stéphane Bouchard
<br>Friday, 14 July 2017 00:00
<br>
<br>JONQUIÈRE | Two players from the cuban national team junior tour against
<br>the teams of major League baseball junior élite du Québec, missing since
<br>Tuesday.
<br>
<br>These two players have left of their own accord, in the night of Monday
<br>to Tuesday. On the morning of 11 July, the two players were no more in
<br>their room.
<br>
<br>According to what we have learned, does anyone know where are the
<br>baseball players, who have been missing after a game against Buffalo,
<br>Saint-Eustache. It is suspected that both players have left their team
<br>to not return to live in Cuba.
<br>
<br>"No detail "
<br>
<br>The junior national team of Cuba was yesterday at the Stade
<br>Richard-Desmeules, where she faced the Travelers from Jonquière, in the
<br>ninth match of this series of 15.
<br>
<br>Met on the premises, the secretary of the road for the tour of cuban and
<br>communications director for the major League baseball junior élite du
<br>Québec (LBJEQ), Antoine Desrosiers, did not want to comment on this
<br>situation, claiming to have "no detail" on this story.
<br>
<br>The president of the league, Rodger Brulotte, preferred him not to
<br>comment on the departure of two cuban players. "Our role at the LBJEQ is
<br>to promote the sport of baseball. We do not interfere in political
<br>issues ",-he said. Mr. Brulotte was in the hands of the leader of the
<br>team of Cuba to explain the desertion of the two players.
<br>
<br>Security measures
<br>
<br>Maxim Lamarche, director general of Baseball Quebec, has not returned
<br>our calls yesterday evening.
<br>
<br>The leaders of the team cuban, however, had already anticipated the
<br>possibility that a player might want to go without leaving traces, by
<br>putting in place special measures of surveillance and security.
<br>
<br>For example, it was forbidden to go to the locker room alone. The
<br>players were accompanied at all times and must abide by clear guidelines
<br>as to their comings and goings.
<br>
<br>Student residences
<br>
<br>During their stay, the players were accommodated in the student
<br>residences of the college Ahuntsic.
<br>
<br>The tour of the cuban national team has the goal of promoting the sport
<br>of baseball throughout the province, and to "continue to weave links
<br>between Cuba and Canada," says Antoine Desrosiers. He didn't want to
<br>dwell on the impact of these desertions on the links between the two
<br>countries.
<br>
<br>This tour is also a way to prepare for the junior team cuba at the world
<br>championships.
<br>
<br>Source: Two cuban players deserting the team junior | The Sherbrooke
<br>Times -
<br><a href="https://sherbrooktimes.com/two-cuban-players-deserting-the-team-junior-2/12941">https://sherbrooktimes.com/two-cuban-players-deserting-the-team-junior-2/12941</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-55993767360745907112017-07-14T05:42:00.001-07:002017-07-14T05:42:12.404-07:00UM names interim director for the Institute of Cuban and Cuban-American StudiesUM names interim director for the Institute of Cuban and Cuban-American
<br>Studies
<br>BY NORA GÁMEZ TORRES
<br><a href="mailto:ngameztorres@elnuevoherald.com">ngameztorres@elnuevoherald.com</a>
<br>
<br>The University of Miami has appointed founder and former senior fellow
<br>Andy Gómez as interim director of the Institute of Cuban and Cuban-
<br>American Studies.
<br>
<br>Gómez, who retired from UM in 2012 with a Presidential Medal, replaces
<br>Jaime Suchlicki, who will leave ICCAS on Aug. 15, according to a UM
<br>statement.
<br>
<br>He said he was "honored" to be asked to return.
<br>
<br>"First, we need to honor Jaime Suchlicki for his work and dedication to
<br>the university," Gómez said. "My intention here is to preserve some of
<br>the legacy that Suchlicki created ... part of the good work that has
<br>been done ... and to begin to move forward in some of the programming
<br>aspects of ICCAS, but more importantly to begin a search for a permanent
<br>director. That is going to take some time."
<br>
<br>Gómez was assistant provost of UM between 2005 and 2012, and dean of the
<br>School of International Studies between 2001 and 2004. More recently, he
<br>traveled to Cuba for Pope Francis' 2015 visit to the island. He and his
<br>family also support two programs at the Church of Our Lady of Mercy in
<br>Havana.
<br>
<br>Following UM's recent announcement of his departure, Suchlicki publicly
<br>refuted insinuations that he was retiring stating that he was
<br>"resigning" due to differences with President Julio Frenk on the
<br>university's mission for Cuban studies. He further stated that he had
<br>received notice that the ICCAS would close in August and that he had
<br>plans to move the institute to another location.
<br>
<br>An official at the University of Miami disputed Suchlicki's version of
<br>what transpired. Jacqueline R. Menendez, UM's vice president for
<br>communications, said there are no plans to close the center.
<br>
<br>The controversy has raised some concern among members of the
<br>Cuban-American community.
<br>
<br>The National Association of Cuban Educators (NACAE) sent a letter to
<br>Frenk requesting that ICCAS not be closed because it could be
<br>interpreted as a "lack of support for the Cuban community." The Mother's
<br>Against Repression group asked Frenk to hold off on a decision so that
<br>members of the Cuban-American community, lawmakers and donors could
<br>weigh in.
<br>
<br>Gómez's appointment puts an end to speculation about an immediate
<br>closure of the institute.
<br>
<br>Founded in 1999, ICCAS for years received several million dollars from
<br>the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to
<br>finance the Cuba Transition Project. But the administration of former
<br>President Barack Obama cut those funds significantly and ICCAS cut some
<br>of its staff. Its digital site is has become outdated and several of its
<br>databases are no longer available.
<br>
<br>Gómez said his priorities include looking at ways to provide more
<br>"meaningful information" on the website, raise funds for the institute
<br>and attract a younger audience to events at Casa Bacardí.
<br>
<br>ICCAS' academic rigor has been questioned some some in the field of
<br>Cuban studies. Many other U.S. universities have already developed
<br>institutional relationships with their Cuban counterparts and
<br>established study abroad programs.
<br>
<br>Events at Casa Bacardí, by contrast, often feature speakers from the
<br>island's dissident movement and members of anti-Castro organizations in
<br>exile.
<br>
<br>"ICCAS has suffered a little bit by being, at times, too political to
<br>one side," said Gómez. "I think institutes have to find a balance and
<br>stay in the middle.
<br>
<br>"I strongly believe in academic freedom," he said. "...ICCAS should be a
<br>center for everybody to feel comfortable to come and share different
<br>points of view. I know that is always a bit challenging in our community
<br>but we have come a long way."
<br>
<br>Follow Nora Gámez Torres en Twitter: @ngameztorres
<br>
<br>Source: UM names interim director at ICCAS | Miami Herald -
<br><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article161288108.html">http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article161288108.html</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-16947551367926505792017-07-13T14:31:00.001-07:002017-07-13T14:31:40.819-07:00Raul Castro Apparently Decided to Change His Personal ImageRaul Castro Apparently Decided to Change His Personal Image / Juan Juan
<br>Almeida
<br>
<br>Juan Juan Almeida, 11 July 2017 — The President of the Councils of State
<br>and of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba recently underwent cosmetic
<br>surgery to improve his chin. The chief of Cuban communists wants to be
<br>rejuvenated so that young people won't feel they are being governed by
<br>an old man of 86.
<br>
<br>The absurdity is that a process so normal and ordinary acquires, on the
<br>island, the unusual dimension of a "State Secret." The problem that
<br>arises from such a "mystery" is that as a recognized public figure he is
<br>under the magnifying glass of the public observer who, from now on, will
<br>compare his current appearance with old photographs of him.
<br>
<br>Apparently, and this could not be confirmed, patient Raul Castro refused
<br>general anesthesia for fear of bad intentions. The truth is that the
<br>operation on the president was performed by a Cuban eminence of cosmetic
<br>surgery, a celebrity of the guild, of whom I will only say that he is an
<br>assistant professor and first class specialist in plastic surgery,
<br>because I want to protect his identity from future attacks or implacable
<br>witch hunts. Some time ago he had problems at CIMEQ hospital, and later
<br>started to work in one of the most well-known teaching hospitals in Havana.
<br>
<br>General Raul Castro is a man of particular appetites that grew over
<br>time, the influence of alcohol and a real frivolity. It is normal with
<br>this surgery to try to correct the traces of a person's excesses,
<br>without exaggerating or abandoning his disagreeable natural aspects.
<br>However, he is not the first president, nor will he be the last, who
<br>tries to improve his image using surgical techniques.
<br>
<br>Plastic surgery ("plastic" derives from the Green "plastikos" which
<br>means to mold or give shape) is the medical specialty that deals with
<br>the correction or restoration of the form and functions of the body
<br>through medical and surgical techniques.
<br>
<br>In 1994, while Libya was faced with an international embargo, a group of
<br>Brazilian doctors traveled to Tripoli via Tunisia, to perform a hair
<br>implant and neck surgery on the now deceased Muammar Ghaddafi.
<br>
<br>In 2011, the former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi underwent a
<br>long cosmetic surgical procedure on his jaw which, according to reports
<br>from his personal doctor, lasted more than four hours.
<br>
<br>Argentina's former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner also
<br>succumbed to vanity and was remodeled with the help of the scalpel.
<br>
<br>And although the Kremlin spokespeople insist on the contrary, one only
<br>has to look at old photos and images of President Vladimir Putin and
<br>compare them to recent ones. The change is obvious.
<br>
<br>It is normal that the Cold War raised the conflict between ideologies
<br>and the leaders of that time needed to focus on strategy and wisdom.
<br>Then, with the coming of globalization, nationalist discourses lost
<br>political strength. Now, in today's world, several leaders, some fierce,
<br>some bullies, prostitute their political ends paying special attention
<br>to self-promotion on the internet and on social networks.
<br>
<br>Raul Castro cannot escape the desire to look like a modern old man and
<br>subjects himself to discrete adjustments with the truculent intention of
<br>showing himself to be less despicable.
<br>
<br>Source: Raul Castro Apparently Decided to Change His Personal Image /
<br>Juan Juan Almeida – Translating Cuba -
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/raul-castro-apparently-decided-to-change-his-personal-image-juan-juan-almeida/">http://translatingcuba.com/raul-castro-apparently-decided-to-change-his-personal-image-juan-juan-almeida/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-24289305538982846232017-07-13T14:30:00.001-07:002017-07-13T14:30:39.909-07:00Work Accident Takes The Lives Of Two Cuban Builders In CaibariénWork Accident Takes The Lives Of Two Cuban Builders In Caibarién
<br>
<br>14ymedio, Havana, 11 July 2017 — The collapse of a wall during the
<br>reconstruction of the Hotel Commercio in Caibarién, in the province
<br>of Villa Clara, cost two workers their lives on Tuesday and left eight
<br>others injured. The crew was working on rehabilitating the property, as
<br>confirmed to 14ymedio by a resident who lives nearby.
<br>
<br>The work accident occurred when a wall collapsed which caused a part of
<br>the second floor of the build to collapse, the local press reported.
<br>
<br>The deceased are Dorian Toledo Pascual, 40, and Felix Morales Dominguez,
<br>28, both residents of Caibarién. According to statements by the
<br>authorities, both were buried under the hotel debris. The builder
<br>Richard López Pérez is in critical condition and Andrés Estévez Báez, is
<br>in serious condition.
<br>
<br>The less serious injured are at Caibarién Hospital, where all the
<br>injured received first aid, 14ymedio confirmed by telephone.
<br>
<br>After the accident, several fire rescue crews deployed to search through
<br>the debris, where they found the workers trapped in the rubble, but two
<br>of them were found dead.
<br>
<br>For years, the Hotel Comercio has experienced a long process of
<br>deterioration. The current rehabilitation work is intended to allow it
<br>to to reopen its doors at the end of 2018.
<br>
<br>Source: Work Accident Takes The Lives Of Two Cuban Builders In Caibarién
<br>– Translating Cuba -
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/work-accident-takes-the-lives-of-two-cuban-builders-in-caibarien/">http://translatingcuba.com/work-accident-takes-the-lives-of-two-cuban-builders-in-caibarien/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-14935162833965350042017-07-13T14:29:00.001-07:002017-07-13T14:29:53.922-07:00Trafficking in Goods, a Strategy to Survive in CubaTrafficking in Goods, a Strategy to Survive in Cuba / Iván García
<br>
<br>Iván García, 28 June 2017 — On Havana there are illegal stores for all
<br>tastes. Pirated jeans at 20 CUC, copies of Nike shoes at 40 CUC and
<br>imitation Swiss watches at 50 CUC. People with higher purchasing power
<br>mark the difference. By catalog, they buy fashions, smartphones, LED
<br>lights, Scotch whiskey, Spanish wines.
<br>
<br>And although the General Customs of the Republic of Cuba applies
<br>retrograde and severe laws on the importing of merchandise, rampant
<br>corruption always opens a gateway to singular private commerce. Although
<br>there are no exact figures, it is calculated that it moves twice as much
<br>money on the island as does foreign investment.
<br>
<br>Let me present Rolando, the fictitious name of a guy who has been a
<br>'mule' for three years. "My grandparents live in Miami and to supplement
<br>their pension, they became 'mules'. They took the orders to customers'
<br>homes, whether it was clothing, medicine, household goods or
<br>dollars. When travel abroad became flexible in 2013, I obtained a
<br>multiple-entry visa for the United States. Every year I travel seven or
<br>eight times and I bring stuff either for family use or to resell. All
<br>for a value of four to five thousand dollars."
<br>
<br>The complicated Customs regulations only allow Cubans to import certain
<br>goods once a year and to pay the customs fees in Cuban pesos — rather
<br>than convertible pesos, each of which is worth 25 times as much — but by
<br>means of bribes under the table the provisions of the law can be evaded.
<br>
<br>Yolanda, an assumed name, is dedicated to bringing garments and hair
<br>products. "In Cuba, the stake fucks anyone who follows the letter of the
<br>law. This is the case for Cubans living in other countries when they
<br>send things by mail: they can only send three kilograms and if the
<br>package exceeds that weight, every additional kilogram is taxed at 20
<br>Cuban convertible pesos (CUC). A real abuse.
<br>
<br>"What do those of us who dedicate ourselves to this business do? We have
<br>good contacts in Customs and so we can take all the stuff through. You
<br>pay the people according to what you bring. If you bring in goods valued
<br>at $10,000, for example, you have to give them $200 and a "present"
<br>which can be a flat screen TV, a home appliance, or some clothing."
<br>
<br>According to Yolanda, "Palmolive, Colgate, Gillette or Dove toiletries
<br>sell like hot cakes in Cuba. If you buy in the free zone of Colon,
<br>Panama, you earn a little more. In Miami, it depends on the place: in
<br>small stores and wholesale markets you get more for you money. Gillette
<br>deodorants purchased wholesale will come out at $1.50 and in Havana they
<br>will be sold at 5 CUC (roughly $5 US).
<br>
<br>"An appliance or television is not profitable if you buy it at Best Buy,
<br>you have to buy it in Chinese stores or have a contact that sells it
<br>wholesale. The problem of the electrical appliances is that they weigh a
<br>lot, that's why they are shipped by boat.
<br>
<br>"With the exception of certain items that my regular customers order
<br>from me, the rest I buy to sell in quantity to the resellers. On a trip,
<br>apart from recovering expenses, I can earn up to 800 CUC. And I am a new
<br>'mule' in this market, the ones that spend more time, they earn three
<br>times more, because they bring more expensive items such as car parts
<br>and air conditioning equipment."
<br>
<br>Several 'mules' consulted believe that the best places to buy
<br>merchandise are Panama, Miami, Peru, Ecuador and Mexico. "Moscow is
<br>expensive for the cost of the plane ticket. But if you have the way to
<br>bring into the country large quantities of parts and components for cars
<br>and motorcycles, you earn a lot of money. Any trip leaves a percentage
<br>of profits that ranges from 30 to 100 percent," says Rolando.
<br>
<br>Recently, the Wall Street Journal published a report on the traffic of
<br>automobile parts between Moscow and Havana: "They travel 13 hours, sleep
<br>crowded in emigre apartments and ask for borrowed coats and boots to
<br>rummage and bargain in a cold weather looking for used parts of the
<br>Russian capital. But do the accounts: a Lada car of the Soviet era in
<br>good conditions sells on the Island for 14 thousand dollars."
<br>
<br>The current collection of Soviet-era vintage cars has made the supply of
<br>parts and components for these cars into a highly profitable
<br>business. "In Russia there are few Moskoviches, Ladas and Volgas
<br>manufactured in last century still running. With the help of Cubans
<br>residing in Moscow, full cars are bought for the equivalent of 300 or
<br>500 dollars and scrapping them for pieces increases the values
<br>tremendously. There are also small businesses where you can packaged new
<br>parts," explains Osiel, dedicated to the selling of car parts bought in
<br>Russia.
<br>
<br>It may seem like an unimportant business, but a Soviet-era car, with an
<br>American chassis and parts from up to ten different nations, costs
<br>$10,000 to $20,000 in Cuba.
<br>
<br>In the Island you find 'mules' specializing in the most diverse
<br>branches. "I only buy smart phones, tablets, PCs and laptops. After
<br>paying the respective bribe, in a single trip I bring in up to ten
<br>phones, five or six tablets, two PCs and four laptops. The profits can
<br>exceed 3,000 CUC. Smartphones are a gold mine. Companies buy them, then
<br>through payment they activate to unlock them and there are those who
<br>know how to 'crack' them. In Havana, the iPhone 7 or Samsung 8 is
<br>cheaper than in Miami," says Sergio.
<br>
<br>At the beginning, the 'mules' started as a business managed by Cubans
<br>living in the United States and they moved any amount of money and
<br>stuff. The parcels are delivered personally to people in their homes.
<br>
<br>After the olive-green state did away with the so-called White Card — the
<br>travel permit you use to have to have — that blocked Cubans from
<br>traveling freely, thousands of compatriots on the island decided to
<br>become 'mules' and started to traffic in goods.
<br>
<br>According to Rolando, "It has many points in its favor: you do not work
<br>for the government and do not depend their shitty wages. On each trip,
<br>you earn a ticket that makes your life more comfortable, you disconnect,
<br>meet people and travel to clean cities and well-stocked stores. And the
<br>government has not opened fire on the 'mules' as much as they have on
<br>the self-employed."
<br>
<br>In addition, they don't pay taxes to the state for their underground
<br>business.
<br>
<br>Source: Trafficking in Goods, a Strategy to Survive in Cuba / Iván
<br>García – Translating Cuba -
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/trafficking-in-goods-a-strategy-to-survive-in-cuba-ivn-garca/">http://translatingcuba.com/trafficking-in-goods-a-strategy-to-survive-in-cuba-ivn-garca/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-62077466585656194822017-07-13T14:28:00.001-07:002017-07-13T14:28:47.872-07:00Cavities and Abscesses in the Oral Health SystemCuba: Cavities and Abscesses in the Oral Health System / Juan Juan Almeida
<br>
<br>Juan Juan Almeida, 23 June 2017 — Located in the stately building with
<br>its exquisite art-deco style, at the Havana intersection of Salvador
<br>Allende Avenue (formerly Carlos III) and G Street, is the Cuban symbol
<br>of the oral health system. Officially known as the Raúl González
<br>Sánchez Dental Medicine Faculty, it is also on the point of collapse.
<br>
<br>"The budget is tighter than the screws on a submarine. Most of the time
<br>the autoclaves used for sterilization don't work, nor is there aseptic
<br>paper to wrap the dental instruments in; but the human material is
<br>there. Prices fluctuate between 15 and 300 CUC, according to the
<br>treatment or the urgency," says a person who travelled from Miami to be
<br>treated in the "signature" Havana institution.
<br>
<br>"There is no air conditioning in the treatment room, the windows are
<br>open and they have to position the chairs to avoid facing the sun. So
<br>you either bring a fan, or spend an extra 50 CUC to be treated in an
<br>operating room where there is only hygienic equipment, green clothing
<br>and adequate air conditioning. Being treated in Cuba, besides being
<br>cheap is folkloric," my interlocutor continues, in tone so celebratory
<br>it provokes indignation. The saliva extractors are broken and so you
<br>have to bring a bottle of water and towel. And when the slime
<br>accumulates the dentist says, "spit it out."
<br>
<br>According to the constitution currently in force on the island, the
<br>Cuban state guarantees free medical attention to the population as one
<br>of the fundamental social paradigms; but the Healthcare system is
<br>suffering the restrictive effects of lack of resources because of the
<br>economic crisis, neglect, corruption and negligence, which among other
<br>things is a consequence of political mistakes.
<br>
<br>"The politics of the country stipulate that the attention of every
<br>dental clinic should be free from payment; but then there is what we
<br>experience," explains a professor of the fames institutions, who prefers
<br>to remain incognito, because to survive he has, at home, an old dental
<br>chair, a light and a pedal machine.
<br>
<br>"Unless it's an emergency, getting a regular appointment is very
<br>complicated and the receptionists charge for facilitating it. We have to
<br>live," he breathes deeply and recites his price list. "For a mouth exam,
<br>prophylaxis, a light filling and a clinic diagnosis — 15 CUC. We visit
<br>many patients, the majority with chewing problems, gingivitis,
<br>periodontal disease. These conditions require long treatments, and this
<br>case they cost 2 to 10 CUC per visit. There are more expensive ones that
<br>require complex operations that in some other country would cost around
<br>$10,000 or more. Of course, the difficulties of the country force us to
<br>tell patients that to avoid problems they should bring their own
<br>anesthesia and the braces should they need orthodontic treatment."
<br>
<br>"Our prices," concludes the professional, "vary depending on the
<br>patient. If it's a Cuban living in Cuba, a Cuban living abroad, or a
<br>foreigner."
<br>
<br>Source: Cuba: Cavities and Abscesses in the Oral Health System / Juan
<br>Juan Almeida – Translating Cuba -
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/cuba-cavities-and-abscesses-in-the-oral-health-system-juan-juan-almeida/">http://translatingcuba.com/cuba-cavities-and-abscesses-in-the-oral-health-system-juan-juan-almeida/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-50341208045169775852017-07-13T14:27:00.001-07:002017-07-13T14:27:32.320-07:00Bread In Cuba’s Rationed Market Is An Unsolved ProblemBread In Cuba's Rationed Market Is An Unsolved Problem
<br>
<br>14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 9 July 2017 — With a sharp knife and the
<br>skill of a surgeon, Luis Garmendia, 68, slices the bread from the
<br>rationed market into six small slices. Like so many Cubans, this retiree
<br>cannot afford to buy from the liberated (unsubsidized) bakeries and
<br>considers that, every day, the quality of the basic product is "worse."
<br>
<br>In the Havana neighborhood of Cerro, where Garmendia lives, the ration
<br>bread 'starred' in the last assembly of accountability with the local
<br>People's Power delegate. "Since I started going to those meetings, the
<br>same problem arises, but it is not solved," he protests.
<br>
<br>The capital has 367 establishments dedicated to producing "ration
<br>bread." Most have serious technical difficulties, according to a recent
<br>report on national television. In the last three years at least 150 of
<br>them have been renovated but customer dissatisfaction continues to grow.
<br>
<br>The taste, size and texture of the popular food are at the center of
<br>customer criticisms. Hard, rubbery, and weighing less than the required
<br>80 grams (2.8 ounces), are the characteristics most commonly used to
<br>describe "ration bread." Its poor quality has become a staple in the
<br>repertoire of comedians.
<br>
<br>The product's bad reputation leads families that are more financially
<br>comfortable to avoid consuming it. "Now we Cubans are divided between
<br>those who can eat flavorful bread and those of us who have to make do
<br>with this, subsidized and flavorless," says Garmendia while displaying a
<br>bread roll this Friday.
<br>
<br>According to María Victoria Rabelo, director general of the Cuban
<br>Milling Company, "It is sad and frustrating to hear the opinions of the
<br>population," regarding the rationed product. Her entity is in charge of
<br>producing and commercializing the wheat flour used throughout the
<br>country for the manufacture of bread, confectionery and its derivatives.
<br>
<br>In the informal market flour is highly valued especially by private
<br>business owners who make pizzas, sweets and breads. The diversion of
<br>resources from state-owned establishments has become the main source of
<br>supply to the retail sector and affects the quality of the regulated
<br>product.
<br>
<br>"I have to take care of each sack of flour as if it were gold," says the
<br>manager of a bakery in Marianao's neighborhood, who preferred
<br>anonymity. "They also steal other ingredients involved in the process,
<br>such as the improver, fats and yeast," he details.
<br>
<br>"I am the third administrator to have this establishment in five years,
<br>the others exploited it to steal," says the state employee. For years
<br>the business of state bakeries "has been robust, because there is a lack
<br>of controls and demand has grown as there are more cafes and
<br>restaurants," he says.
<br>
<br>The profession of baker has been a gold mine. In spite of the low
<br>salaries in the sector, which doesn't exceed 30 CUC a month, there is a
<br>high demand to work in these establishments. "I know people have become
<br>millionaires with the resale of ingredients or of the product," says the
<br>administrator.
<br>
<br>"There are places where employees at the counter pocketed at least 400
<br>CUP per day just selling the bread that is destined for the basic basket
<br>under the table." Inside, near the ovens, "workers can get away every
<br>day with up to 800 Cuban pesos [Ed. note: more than the average monthly
<br>wage]," he confirms.
<br>
<br>Each ingredient has its own market. "The baked bread is much sought
<br>after by paladares (private restaurants), coffee shops and people who
<br>organize parties," he adds. While "the yeast and improver end up in the
<br>business of selling pizza and the fats have a wider clientele."
<br>
<br>The administrator of the bakery on Calle 19 and 30 in Playa, Reina
<br>Angurica, believes that in order to avoid embezzlement, she must "talk
<br>to the workers, communicate with them and not allow illegal
<br>productions." In their place they meet weekly "to talk about the
<br>short-term problems of the bakery and to eradicate them," she told the
<br>national media.
<br>
<br>The Cuban Milling Company imports 800,000 tons of wheat each year which
<br>is processed in five mills throughout the country, three of which are in
<br>Havana. "Strong wheat or corrector" is mixed with "weak" wheat to
<br>produce the flour sold to the food industry.
<br>
<br>The ration market bread is made with a "weak or medium strength flour"
<br>ideal for achieving soft texture. However, the wheat blend has been
<br>affected by import irregularities and the state bakers are only
<br>receiving strong flour, more suitable for a sturdier bread.
<br>
<br>With more than 7,500 workers in the capital and a daily consumption of
<br>200 tons of flour, the Provincial Food Industry Company is directly
<br>responsible for the ration bread. But the entity is floundering
<br>everywhere because of the lack of control, hygiene problems and the poor
<br>quality of its products.
<br>
<br>In some 1,359 inspections carried out in the last months in the
<br>facilities of this state company, there were 712 disciplinary measures
<br>imposed for irregularities in the preparation of the product. The
<br>problems detected ranged from indisciplines and diversion of resources
<br>to lack of cleanliness.
<br>
<br>For María Victoria Rabelo, from the Cuban Milling Company, the
<br>technological difficulties or the problems with the raw material are not
<br>the keys to understanding the current situation: one must "dignify the
<br>profession and, without speaking with demagoguery, bring love to what we
<br>do," she says with determination.
<br>
<br>But in Cerro, where Garmendia is waiting every day for a miracle to
<br>improve the rationed bread, the words of the official sound like
<br>Utopia. "I do not want anything fancy, I just want it to be tasty and
<br>softer, nothing more," says the retiree.
<br>
<br>Source: Bread In Cuba's Rationed Market Is An Unsolved Problem –
<br>Translating Cuba -
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/bread-in-the-rationed-market-is-an-unsolved-problem/">http://translatingcuba.com/bread-in-the-rationed-market-is-an-unsolved-problem/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-22451855114295194682017-07-13T14:25:00.001-07:002017-07-13T14:25:51.654-07:00Taxi Driver Arrested In Havana After Being Accused Of RacismTaxi Driver Arrested In Havana After Being Accused Of Racism
<br>
<br>14ymedio, Havana, 10 July 2017 – The driver of a private taxi was
<br>arrested after being accused of racial discrimination by Yanay Aguirre
<br>Calderín, according to a report Monday in the weekly paper Trabajadores
<br>(Workers). The event has generated numerous articles in the official
<br>press which is making an example of the case.
<br>
<br>On 2 July, the same weekly published an article by Calderín, a law
<br>student who is black, where she related how she engaged the taxi and was
<br>treated aggressively by the drive due to the color of her skin.
<br>
<br>According to prosecutor Rafael Ángel Soler López, head of the Office of
<br>Attention to the Citizenry of the Attorney General's Office, "We cannot
<br>yet anticipate what the end of the process will be," since they are now
<br>"investigating to be able to prove the criminal act before the courts."
<br>
<br>The Cuban Penal Code establishes a penalty of between six months and two
<br>years of deprivation of liberty, or a fine of between 200 and 500 CUP,
<br>to anyone who denies "on the grounds of sex, race, color or national
<br>origin the exercise or enjoyment of the rights of equality established
<br>in the Constitution."
<br>
<br>Aguirre Calderín, who does not specify the exact date of the events,
<br>took the private car on Avenida 41, in the Marianao municipality, but
<br>when she wanted to change her destination, the driver reacted "very
<br>upset" and "very violently." The young woman explains that at that
<br>moment the driver shouted that "every time there is a black person in
<br>his car it's the same" and that for that reason "he could not stand them."
<br>
<br>Calderín then rebuked the driver, whom she accused of offending her, to
<br>which the taxi driver responded by asking the passenger to get out of
<br>the car before arriving at the place initially designated by her. At
<br>that moment the complainant took a photograph of the car with her cell
<br>phone and noted the number of the license plate, which facilitated the
<br>arrest of the driver by the police.
<br>
<br>Source: Taxi Driver Arrested In Havana After Being Accused Of Racism –
<br>Translating Cuba -
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/taxi-driver-arrested-in-havana-after-being-accused-of-racism/">http://translatingcuba.com/taxi-driver-arrested-in-havana-after-being-accused-of-racism/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-39654915654160655922017-07-13T14:24:00.001-07:002017-07-13T14:24:52.818-07:00Cuban Government Fires Off One Lie After AnotherCuban Government Fires Off One Lie After Another / Iván García
<br>
<br>Ivan Garcia, 3 July 2017 — The fan stopped turning around 3:30 in the
<br>morning, when in the middle of a heat wave, a black out forced Ricardo,
<br>his wife and their two children to sleep on a mat on the balcony of
<br>their apartment in the Lawton neighborhood, a thirty minute drive from
<br>central Havana.
<br>
<br>Several areas were left dark and lit only by candles and lanterns,
<br>dozens of neighbors complained with rude words and sharp criticisms of
<br>of the poor performance of state electricity and water companies.
<br>
<br>The blackout lasted for seven hours. "I couldn't iron my children's
<br>school uniforms and they are in the midst of final exams. I sent them to
<br>school in street clothes. Nor could my husband and I go to work. When I
<br>the light came on, after ten in the morning, we lay in bed for a while.
<br>The situation is already so bad no one can stand it. It's one problem
<br>after another. The water crisis, which is still affecting us, public
<br>transportation is the worst, food prices don't stop rising and now this
<br>black out in the middle of this terrible heat," says Zoraida, Ricardo's
<br>wife.
<br>
<br>Almost a month after a break in one of the main pipes that brings
<br>potable water to Havana, and then an intense information campaign on the
<br>part of the office press, filled with justifications and an exaggerated
<br>optimism, where radio, TV and newspapers report the hours there will be
<br>water in each neighborhood, after the repairs, completed two weeks ago,
<br>and with the promise that service would gradually return to normal in
<br>the different zones of the capital, they are still suffering the affects
<br>and the media doesn't offer any explanations.
<br>
<br>"Some 200,000 people are still affected and are receiving water every
<br>three days. By Thursday, June 22, it was expected to regularize the
<br>service, but some problems have arisen," said an official of Aguas de La
<br>Habana in the municipality Diez de Octubre, the most populated of the
<br>capital's districts.
<br>
<br>The affected Havanans don't stop complaining. "In my house, the tank
<br>that we have on the roof does not have the capacity for the water to
<br>last three days. Although we try to save it, in the bathroom, kitchen
<br>and laundry, the water that we are able to collect is spent in two
<br>days. The government comes up with one lie after another. First it was
<br>reported that the break was a matter of a week, at most two. And we're
<br>going on for a month now. Instead of responding with so much noise to
<br>Trump's measures, they should focus on improving the living conditions
<br>of Cubans," complains Mario, a resident of Luyanó, a working-class
<br>neighborhood in the south of the city.
<br>
<br>Rumors about the resurgence of the perennial economic crisis that Cubans
<br>are experiencing, spread throughout the city. "I have it on good
<br>authority, from a friend of my brother who is in the party, I know that
<br>by summer the government is going to make new cuts in companies' fuel
<br>consumption, and they will close unproductive factories and industries
<br> until further notice. The scarcity is noticeable. The state farm
<br>markets are empty and the shortages in the hard currency stores are
<br>obvious. It is said that in the upcoming session of the National
<br>Assembly of People's Power, on July 14, they are going to announce new
<br>measures of cuts. Thing looks ugly," says Miriam, housewife, at the
<br>entrance to a bodega in Cerro municipality.
<br>
<br>Diario Las Américas could not verify those comments and rumors.
<br>
<br>A banking official who prefers anonymity believes that the country's
<br>financial situation is "quite delicate." He says, "There is not enough
<br>currency liquidity. Even payments of the various debts contracted with
<br>foreign companies are not being made. Tourism, which contributes about
<br>$3 billion in revenue, devours almost 60 percent of that revenue in the
<br>purchase of inputs. Remittances are the lifeline, but with shortages in
<br>foreign exchange stores and high prices, many people are spending their
<br>convertible pesos on the black market or in the parallel trade of the
<br>'mules' that bring products from abroad. A large part of that money is
<br>not being returned to the state coffers, as people involved in these
<br>activities either save it or use it as an investment in their business."
<br>
<br>To minimize reality, the olive-green autocracy uses anti-imperialist
<br>discourse and condemnations of Donald Trump's new policy of restrictions
<br>as a smokescreen.
<br>
<br>"That narrative has always worked. But people on the street know that
<br>this discourse is exhausted. They can't justify all the national
<br>wreckage and the poor performance of the public services with the
<br>economic blockade of the United States nor with the recent aggressive
<br>policy of Trump. Cubans are at their limit with everything. It is not
<br>advisable to think that Cubans will always be silent. Situations such as
<br>blackouts and cuts in the water supply make people angry and their
<br>reactions could be unpredictable," warns a sociologist.
<br>
<br>With finances in the red, an economic recession that threatens to turn
<br>into a crisis of incalculable consequences, and grandiose development
<br>plans that sound like science fiction to ordinary Cubans, the
<br>authorities are facing a dangerous precipice.
<br>
<br>Six decades of selling illusions and with unfulfilled promises are
<br>already coming to an end. And it could be less than happy.
<br>
<br>Source: Cuban Government Fires Off One Lie After Another / Iván García –
<br>Translating Cuba -
<br><a href="http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-government-fires-off-one-lie-after-another-ivn-garca/">http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-government-fires-off-one-lie-after-another-ivn-garca/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440766758277160762.post-56931301687932090362017-07-13T14:23:00.001-07:002017-07-13T14:23:53.672-07:00If Trump Ends Our Remittances?If Trump Ends Our Remittances? / Iván García
<br>
<br>Ivan Garcia, 8 July 2017 — Without too much caution, the CUPET tanker
<br>truck painted green and white begins to deposit fuel in the underground
<br>basement of a gas station located at the intersection of Calle San
<br>Miguel and Mayía Rodríguez, just in front of Villa Marista, headquarters
<br>of State Security, in the quiet Sevillano neighborhood, south of Havana.
<br>
<br>The gas station, with four pumps, belongs to the Ministry of the
<br>Interior and all its workers, even civilians, are part of the military
<br>staff. "To start working in a military center or company, be it FAR
<br>(Revolutionary Armed Forces) or MININT (Ministry of the Interior),
<br>besides investigating you in your neighborhood and demanding certain
<br>qualities, you have to be a member of the Party or the UJC (Union of
<br>Young Communists)," says one employee, who adds:
<br>
<br>"But things have relaxed and not all those working in military companies
<br>are 100 percent revolutionary. And like most jobs in Cuba, there are
<br>those who make money stealing fuel, have family in the United States and
<br>only support the government in appearances."
<br>
<br>Let's call him Miguel. He is a heavy drinker of beer and a devotee of
<br>Santeria.
<br>
<br>"I worked at the gas station six years ago. It is true that they ask for
<br>loyalty to the system and you have to participate in the May Day marches
<br>so as not to stand out. But it is not as rigorous as three decades ago,
<br>according to the older ones, when you could not have religious beliefs
<br>or family in yuma (the USA). I do not care about politics, I'm a
<br>vacilator. I have two sons in Miami, and although I look for my
<br>shillings here, if Trump cuts off the remittances to those of us who
<br>work in military companies, Shangó will tell me what to do," he says and
<br>laughs.
<br>
<br>If there is something that worries many Cubans it is the issue of family
<br>remittances. When the Berlin Wall collapsed and the blank check of the
<br>former USSR was canceled, Fidel Castro's Cuba entered a spiraling
<br>economic crisis that 28 years later it still has not been able to overcome.
<br>
<br>Inflation roughly hits the workers and retirees with a worthless and
<br>devalued currency, barely enough to buy a few roots and fruits and to
<br>pay the bills for the telephone, water and electricity.
<br>
<br>Although the tropical autocracy does not reveal statistics on the amount
<br>of remittances received in Cuba, experts say that the figures fluctuate
<br>between 2.5 and 3 billion dollars annually. Probably more.
<br>
<br>Foreign exchange transactions of relatives and friends living abroad,
<br>particularly in the United States, are the fundamental support of
<br>thousands of Cuban families. It is the second national industry and
<br>there is a strong interest in managing that hard currency.
<br>
<br>"Since the late 1970s, Fidel Castro understood the usefulness of
<br>controlling the shipments of dollars from the so-called gusanos
<br>('worms,' as those who left were called) to their families. When he
<br>allowed the trips of the Cuban Community to the Island, the Ministry of
<br>the Interior (MININT) had already mounted an entire industry to capture
<br>those dollars.
<br>
<br>"Look, you can not be naive. In Cuba, whenever foreign exchange comes
<br>in, the companies that manage it are military, or the Council of State,
<br>like Palco. That money is the oxygen of the regime. And they use it to
<br>buy equipment, motorcycles and cars for the G-2 officials who repress
<br>the opponents and to construct hotels, rather than to acquire medicines
<br>for children with cancer. And since there is no transparency, they can
<br>open a two or three million dollar account in a tax haven," says an
<br>economist.
<br>
<br>The dissection of the problem carried out by the openly anti-Castro
<br>exile and different administrations of the White House is correct. The
<br>problem is to find a formula for its application so that the stream of
<br>dollars does not reach the coffers of the regime.
<br>
<br>"The only way for the government not to collect dollars circulating in
<br>Cuba, would be Trump completely prohibiting transfers of money. It's the
<br>only way to fuck them. I do not think there is another. But using money
<br>as a weapon of blackmail to make people demand their rights, I find
<br>deplorable. I also have the rope around my neck. I want democratic
<br>changes, better salaries, and I have no relatives in Miami. But I do not
<br>have the balls to go out in the street and demand them," says an
<br>engineer who works at a military construction company.
<br>
<br>Twenty years ago, on June 27, 1997, the Internal Dissident Working Group
<br>launched La Patria es de Todos (The Nation Belongs to Everyone), a
<br>document that raised rumors within the opposition itself. Economist
<br>Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, along with the late Félix Antonio Bonne
<br>Carcassés, Vladimiro Roca Antúnez and lawyer René Gómez Manzano, tried
<br>to get those Cubans who received dollars to commit to not participate in
<br>government activities or vote in the elections, all of them voluntary.
<br>
<br>It is true that the double standards of a large segment of Cubans upset
<br>the human rights activists. With total indifference, in the morning they
<br>can participate in an act of repudiation against the Ladies in White and
<br>in the afternoon they connect to the internet so that a family member
<br>expedites the paperwork for them to emigrant or recharges their mobile
<br>phone account.
<br>
<br>This hypocrisy is repulsive. But these people are not repressive. Like
<br>millions of citizens on the island, they are victims of a
<br>dictatorship. In totalitarian societies, even the family estate is
<br>perverted.
<br>
<br>In Stalin's USSR a 'young pioneer' was considered a here for denouncing
<br>the counterrevolutionary attitude of his parents. There was a stage in
<br>Cuba where a convinced Fidelista could not befriend a 'worm', or have
<br>anything to do with a relative who had left the country or receive money
<br>from abroad.
<br>
<br>I understand journalists like Omar Montenegro, of Radio Martí, who in a
<br>radio debate on the subject, said that measures such as these can at
<br>least serve to raise awareness of people who have turned faking it into
<br>a lifestyle. But beyond whether regulation could be effective in the
<br>moral order, in practice it would be a chaos for any federal agency of
<br>the United States.
<br>
<br>And, as much frustration as those of us who aspire to a democratic Cuba
<br>may have, we can not be like them. It has rained a lot since then. The
<br>ideals of those who defend Fidel Castro's revolution have been
<br>prostituted. Today, relatives of senior military and government
<br>officials have left for the United States. And the elite of the olive
<br>green bourgeoisie that lives on the island likes to play golf, drink
<br>Jack Daniel's and wear name-brand clothes.
<br>
<br>If Donald Trump applies the control of remittances to people working in
<br>GAESA or other military enterprises, it would affect more than one
<br>million workers engaged in these capitalist business of the regime,
<br>people who are as much victims of the dictatorship as the rest of the
<br>citizenship.
<br>
<br>The colonels and generals who changed their hot uniforms for white
<br>guayaberas and the ministers and high officials, do not need to receive
<br>remittances. Without financial controls or public audits, they manage
<br>the state coffers at will. One day we will know how much they have
<br>stolen in the almost sixty years they have been governing.
<br>
<br>Source: If Trump Ends Our Remittances? / Iván García – Translating Cuba
<br>- <a href="http://translatingcuba.com/if-trump-ends-our-remittances-ivn-garca/">http://translatingcuba.com/if-trump-ends-our-remittances-ivn-garca/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0