(www.miscelaneasdecuba.net).- Introduction
In this paper I will attempt to summarize how some Cuban economists
within the island view how the economic situation has been evolving and
some of the policy measures that have been advanced to solve existing
problems.
Full text (22 pages):
http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/media/Web1/ECONOMIA1.doc
http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=29172
HAVANA – A magazine published by the Catholic Archdiocese of Havana is
calling for "fewer restrictions on individual and collective freedoms"
on the communist-ruled island in the interest of achieving
"comprehensive development."
"There are no reasons that can explain the limitations on the exercise
of freedom, nor any arguments that make the excess of unhealthy
bureaucratic controls right," Palabra Nueva editor Orlando Marquez says
in an article posted Friday on the magazine's Web site.
"There are no words or ideology that can defend or justify economic and
social formulas whose inefficiency has long been demonstrated and
unnecessarily suffered," the article continues.
In his opinion, Cubans aspire "to greater development and more
opportunities," which makes it necessary for citizens to be freed "of
excessive controls" in order to develop personal projects.
That, according to Palabra Nueva, would also be beneficial for the Cuban
government since "it would be relieved of unnecessary economic,
bureaucratic and ideological burdens."
Marquez says that Cuba has to focus on "what works and what doesn't
work, preserve the benefits achieved in these years and eliminate
counterproductive policies," instead of "reducing the dilemma to
'capitalism' vs. 'socialism,' the favorite trick of those resistant to
change and political pharisees."
"We must dare to go our own way. Maybe it's enough to take the first
step to discover that the road isn't that rocky, that excessive controls
create more problems than they're supposed to avoid," the Palabra Nueva
article says.
The Catholic Church and the Raul Castro government opened in May an
unprecedented process of dialogue that bore fruit with the Cuban
regime's commitment to progressively release the 52 political prisoners
that were still behind bars of the 75 dissidents jailed in the crackdown
of March 2003.
That dialogue includes other topics to do with the nation's social and
economic situation, according to Cardinal Jaime Ortega, Cuba's Catholic
primate.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=14510&ArticleId=361495
SANTA LUCIA, CUBA — As Cody LeCompte anxiously awaits the end of his
Cuban vacation from hell, dozens of other Canadians have just arrived on
the tropical island eager to begin their holiday in the sun.
A busload of new tourists pulled in early Saturday to the Gran Club
Santa Lucia, the same resort where the Simcoe teen has been detained for
over three months.
It seems most, but not all, are aware of Cody's plight, having heard the
story in the news over the last week or so.
And while it was too late for this bunch to change their travel plans,
many said they would not be renting a car in the Communist country after
hearing the 19-year-old's story.
"Although, there was one man I met in the hotel lobby who was planning
to rent a car until he overheard me talking on the phone to the Canadian
embassy," said Danette LeCompte, who is over $30,000 in debt from trying
to get her son home.
That man is just one of many Canadian tourists who may be spared a
similar fate to Cody thanks to the single mom.
"I've been telling everyone I meet not to rent a car while they're
here," Danette said. "I just don't want anyone else to have to go
through what we've been through."
Many Canadian tourists have started conversations with the LeComptes
about Cody's story not knowing who they are.
And they are stunned when they find out.
"Oh my God! That's you?" one man from North York said to Cody, after the
teen's uncle, Gary Parmenter broke the news.
It's too early to tell how Cuba's tourism industry will be affected, if
at all, in the wake of Cody's story.
"I have had hotel staff tell me though that they've had a lot of
cancellations," Danette said.
Cody has been detained in Cuba since the end of April because of an
accident that wasn't even his fault.
Although the teen's story has been talked about across the country
recently, Montreal native Isabelle Ledoux, 35, hadn't heard anything
about it until she bumped into Danette at the resort.
Ledoux said she has been to Cuba nine times, so she is well aware of the
perils of rental cars.
"We really need to make sure everybody knows about this so it doesn't
happen to anyone else," she said. Ledoux said even though she arranged
her trip to Cuba online, she received a notice in the mail with a list
of warnings on it.
"If my travel agent had told me about these Cuban laws (that can leave a
tourist detained indefinitely), we never would have rented a car,"
Danette said.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/07/31/14890386.html
HAVANA -- Cuba's parliament opened one of its twice-annual sessions
Sunday without its most famous member - Fidel Castro, who once again
missed a chance to share the public stage with his younger brother Raul
despite a string of recent appearances.
The 83-year-old Fidel has not been seen publicly with Raul, who took
over Cuba's presidency, since he stepped down first temporarily and then
permanently four years ago. He also missed a July 26 celebration of
Revolution Day, despite widespread anticipation that the former leader
might show up.
The elder Castro remains a member of parliament, but his chair to the
right of Raul was empty on Sunday. Cuban legislators convene twice a
year and usually do little more than unanimously approve small reforms
put forward by Cabinet ministries and resolutions criticizing the United
States.
Outside Cuba, debate has intensified recently over who is guiding major
government policy following the sudden media blitz by Fidel - who had
almost completely disappeared from public view since emergency
intestinal surgery in July 2006. Such questions are far less common on
the island, but it is not clear whether Fidel and Raul are deliberately
not appearing together in order to make a statement about who is in control.
On Friday, Fidel addressed a Communist youth meeting attended by former
castaway Elian Gonzalez, who is now 16. The ex-president has also turned
up everywhere from discussions with Cuba's diplomatic corps to the
dolphin show at Havana's aquarium.
And after many months of official photographs from his convalescence
that inevitably showed him wearing multicolored track suits, Fidel
Castro has taken to wearing an olive-green shirt and fatigues similar to
the military uniform that was his trademark during his nearly half
century in power - though the latest incarnation is devoid of military rank.
Castro may have skipped the regular parliamentary meeting in favor of
attending a special session in coming days - that he himself called - to
discuss the threat of a nuclear war pitting the United States and Israel
against Iran, further fueled by tensions between North and South Korea.
In a series of essays published by state media, Castro has been
suggesting for weeks that such a conflict could spark widespread global
destruction, though it's unknown if he would personally attend or not.
Before Sunday's parliament session began, Economy Minister Marino
Murillo spoke briefly to reporters about a pilot program that has turned
some state barber shops over to their employees and let them set their
own prices while paying rent.
Murillo said such projects would be extended to other sectors of the
economy but did not elaborate, saying only that "we are of the belief
that the state has to step back on certain activities."
"We can't call them reforms. We are studying a modification of the Cuban
economic model," Murillo said. He added that officials are looking to
"update the Cuban economic model, where the values of socialism come
first and foremost, not the market. We will continue following
centralized planning, but we will loosen up on a group of things."
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/01/1756529/fidel-castro-absent-as-cuban-parliament.html
Havana - Cuba's parliament, the National Assembly, met Sunday to discuss
the country's current economic situation and possible reforms, in the
presence of President Raul Castro.
Although he has made eight public appearances in the past two weeks,
former leader Fidel Castro, 83, was not at the meeting of 600 deputies.
The assembly discussed progress on a variety of current economic woes,
from poor productivity, bureaucracy to corruption, with some of the
blame put on the global economic recession and natural weather disasters.
Sugar and coffee production, two of the mainstays of Cuba's export
economy, are both dramatically down.
When Raul Castro took over rule of the Caribbean communist island from
his brother two years ago, a raft of reforms and initiatives were
promised, but a proposed experiment to allow hairdressers and taxi
drivers to earn money privately appears to have been culled, after
Vice-President José Ramón Machado said he would not allow such
"improvisations."
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/337491,parliament-discusses-economic-plight.html
* Cuban minister: Cuba "updating" not reforming economy
* State "doesn't have to be in charge of everything"
* Says no to markets, private property, market socialism
By Nelson Acosta
HAVANA, Aug 1 (Reuters) - The Cuban government plans to reduce its role
in small businesses, but continue to direct a centralized economy that
eschews markets and private property, a Cuban official said on Sunday.
Economy Minister Marino Murillo said the communist-led island is
"updating," not reforming its fragile economy and does not plan to copy
the market socialism of China or Vietnam.
"We are of the opinion that today the state has a group of activities it
must get out of. The state doesn't have to be in charge of everything,"
he told reporters at a meeting of the National Assembly.
"The state has to be in charge of the economy, of the most important
things," Murillo said.
He cited the example of small barber shops, where barbers have been
allowed for several months to lease their chairs and charge their own
prices, within limits, instead of having the state run the entire
enterprise.
That kind of change "must be extended to other services," Murillo said.
Cuba has been in the grips of an economic crisis the past two years that
has forced it to cut imports, freeze the Cuban bank accounts of foreign
businesses on the island and hold off on paying its bills.
Murillo said the Cuban government is looking at ways to modernize the
island's economy, but that "one cannot speak of reform."
"It's an updating of the economic model where the economic categories of
socialism, not the market, will take priority," he said.
"It lightens a group of things of the economic model, but we are not
going to hand over property," Murillo said.
The government, which controls 90 percent of the economy, owns most
things on the Caribbean island.
EXPECTATIONS OF CHANGE
When Raul Castro replaced older brother Fidel Castro as president in
2008, there were expectations of change in one of the world's last
communist economies.
Many thought that Raul Castro was less of a communist ideologue than his
brother and would move toward opening the economy as communist-run China
and Vietnam have done.
Many Cubans have said they are anxious for changes that will allow them
to make more money.
They receive social benefits such as free medical care and subsidized
food rations, but the average monthly salary is equivalent to $18.
Raul Castro, 79, has tweaked the system with such things as allowing
barbers and taxi drivers to function more like small businesses, but
thus far avoided major changes.
When asked by reporters about the possibility Chinese or
Vietnamese-style changes, Murillo said, "I think the Cuban model is a
very Cuban model. We cannot copy what many people in the world do."
"We can't forget that the most powerful country in the world is our
enemy," he said, referring to the United States.
The United States and Cuba have had hostile relations since the 1959
Cuban revolution that put Fidel Castro in power and transformed the
island into a communist state.
The United States has maintained a trade embargo against Cuba for 48
years, which the Cuban government blames for many of its economic woes.
Raul Castro was set to speak later in the day to the National Assembly
session.
Fidel Castro, 83, is a member of the assembly, but did not attend
Sunday's session. His chair, which is next to his brothers, has been
empty since he fell ill in July 2006.
(Editing by Jeff Franks and Eric Beech)
La Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular aprobó este domingo las
modificaciones a la Ley de la División Político-Administrativa, vigente
desde julio de 1976, entre las cuales se incluye la creación de las
provincias de Mayabeque y Artemisa, asentadas fundamentalmente en el
territorio que ha ocupado hasta ahora La Habana, informó la agencia
estatal Prensa Latina.
Artemisa abarcará los municipios de Caimito, Guanajay, Mariel, San
Antonio de los Baños, Güira de Melena, Alquízar y Bauta, además de los
territorios pinareños de Bahía Honda, Candelaria y San Cristóbal. La
capital de esta provincia será la localidad que le da nombre.
Mayabeque tendrá su capital en San José de las Lajas y estará integrada
por los municipios de Santa Cruz del Norte, Jaruco, Madruga, Nueva Paz,
San Nicolás, Güines, Melena del Sur, Batabanó, Quivicán y Bejucal.
Ambas provincias "tendrán la encomienda de producir alimentos para
satisfacer su demanda y apoyar a la Ciudad de La Habana", indicó Prensa
Latina.
Según la agencia, tras los cambios Ciudad de La Habana recuperará su
nombre histórico —La Habana—. A la capital se le agregará el lado este
de la meseta del Cacahual.
Las modificaciones aprobadas hacen además desaparecer el municipio de
Varadero, en la provincia de Matanzas, el cual se incorpora al de
Cárdenas, "en tanto la Península de Hicacos queda bajo la atención
directa del Consejo de Ministros por su importancia para el desarrollo
económico de la nación", dijo Prensa Latina.
Por último, el municipio de Manuel Tames asimila parte de sus vecinos
Guantánamo y Yateras y traslada su capital para el consejo popular de
Jamaica.
El país quedará dividido en 15 provincias y 168 municipios, entre ellos
el de la Isla de la Juventud.
La ley comenzará a regir desde su publicación en la Gaceta Oficial.
Aprobado un nuevo proyecto de ley de Seguridad Vial
La Asamblea Nacional aprobó también un nuevo proyecto de Ley de
Seguridad Vial, informó la estatal Agencia de Información Nacional.
El Ministro de Transporte, César Ignacio Arocha, afirmó que los
accidentes del tránsito "constituyen la quinta causa de muertes en Cuba,
lo cual obliga a actualizar las regulaciones existentes, en aras de
reducir la tasa de mortalidad y las consecuencias de las transgresiones
de ese tipo".
Dijo que "otras prioridades con vistas a este propósito" son "el
mejoramiento de la red vial y del estado técnico de los vehículos, así
como el incremento de las campañas de educación y de las medidas contra
quienes conducen bajo los efectos del alcohol".
El diputado José Luis Toledo, presidente de la Comisión de Asuntos
Constitucionales y Jurídicos, dijo que en los últimos meses se
realizaron audiencias públicas y reuniones en comunidades y centros
laborales.
Explicó que la imposición de multas, y el sistema de puntos acumulados
por los infractores, fue el tema que más opiniones generó, por las
deficiencias o irregularidades de instrumentación.
