Can Mariela Castro Explain Away Cuba's Support for the Death Penalty for Gays?

Yoani Sanchez - Award-Winning Cuban Blogger
Posted: December 1, 2010 11:49 PM

Can Mariela Castro Explain Away Cuba's Support for the Death Penalty for
Gays?

I still can't believe that the Cuban delegation at the United Nations
added its vote to a group of "countries that include homosexuality as a
crime under the law, including the application of capital punishment for
that reason, in five of them." I didn't invent the quoted phrase, it
comes from a statement published by CENESEX (The National Center of Sex
Education) to try to explain this absurdity, to justify the abominable.
On a peculiar list, where some of the great suppressors of individual
liberties appear, this Island also appears, despite the official
discourse that has assured us for some time that abuse of homosexuals is
chapter from the past.

It goes without saying that no one consulted Cubans before ratifying --
in our name -- a resolution that gives carte blanche to the death
penalty for reasons of the victims' sexual orientation. Not a single
word is said by the official press, no transvestites have been able to
go out and protest in the Plaza of the Revolution or in front of the
Foreign Ministry to demonstrate their displeasure with this act of
political expediency. Initially, it was the Benin delegation that pushed
for a change in the resolution about extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions in the world; two weeks ago the UN didn't remark on whether
the accused faced this situation for loving a person of their own
gender. Frightened, we witness the circle joined by the intolerant, the
complicity established between the doctrinaire, the silence before
violations committed by others, to buy silence for when they themselves
will have need of it.

It is sad that an institution like CENESEX that has worked to promote
respect for diversity, engages in verbal acrobatics so as not to call
things by their name. Mariela Castro, Director of CENESEX, cannot take
cover behind the terse words of a statement where one finds no
condemnation proportional to the mistake committed by our delegation to
the UN. This coming Sunday she will appear on a national television
show, Journeys to the Unknown, to present a documentary that touches on
the theme of tolerance towards gays and lesbians. I think that would be
a good time to explain to us why her response has not been stronger, why
her silence has the ring of an accomplice.

Yoani's blog, Generation Y, can be read here in English translation.
Translating Cuba is a new compilation blog with Yoani and other Cuban
bloggers in English.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoani-sanchez/can-mariela-castro-explai_b_790852.html

Digital Central to Increase Phone Services in Cuba

Digital Central to Increase Phone Services in Cuba

SAGUA La GRANDE, Villa Clara, Dec 1 (acn) Cuban Telecommunications
Company ETECSA recently finished installing a digital central in Sagua
La Grande that will allow a remarkable increase in the telephone
services in the town, located in the province of Villa Clara.

Cuban News Agency

ETECSA's head of the development department in Villa Clara, Yunieski
Bermudez, told ACN the modern technology has a capacity for 900
landlines that will be used for private clients.

More than half of the central's capacity will be used to change the
alternative wireless services provided to a number of clients (limited
to 400 minutes a month) into regular landlines, said Bermudez, who went
on to explain that the action also looks to make the most of the system.

In addition, more than 400 families will be benefited with the regular
telephone service.

ETECSA is also working in the setting of similar centrals in the town of
Vueltas and a highly populated neighborhood of the city of Santa Clara
known as El Condado.

According to official figures, the number of conventional telephone
lines installed in Villa Clara nearly doubled up from 2004 to the end of
2009, when the company (the only one providing the service in the country)
had 60,000 clients.

In the same period, the telephone service rate for every 100 people grew
from 7.5 to 15.5, showing a steady development in the sector.

http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu/idioma/ingles/2010/1201digital-central-increase-phone-services-cuba.htm

Cuba begins public debate of key economic overhaul

Cuba begins public debate of key economic overhaul
By PETER ORSI
HAVANA
December 1, 2010, 1:48PM ET

Cuba on Wednesday began a public debate over landmark plans to lift the
island's struggling economy by liberalizing some private enterprise,
streamlining its vast state bureaucracy by laying off a half-million
workers and repaying billions of dollars in debt.

The sweeping changes, which also would end the country's unusual
dual-currency system and create new ways to buy and sell private
property, were announced earlier this year and outlined in a 32-page
document circulated among party leaders ahead of an all-important
Communist Party Congress scheduled for April -- the first since 1997.

From December until the end of February, Cuban citizens are encouraged
to weigh in on the proposals through party organizations, union meetings
and neighborhood and workplace gatherings nationwide, according to an
editorial published Wednesday in the state newspaper Granma.

"Nobody should remain with an unexpressed opinion, much less be
prevented from expressing it," the editorial read. "The Party demands
the maximum transparency from all its organizations, the greatest
clarity in analysis, the clarification of all doubts and anxieties we
may have within the bosom of the Revolution."

"At stake is the future of the Cuban nation," Granma said.

Although the Communist Party is the only political party allowed in
Cuba, officials point to street-level forums held to discuss issues and
nominate candidates for local office as evidence that the nation is more
democratic than most.

It was not clear how much input ordinary people will actually have on
the shape of the economic reforms, since many of them have already been
announced and the document released last month was extremely detailed.

Nevertheless the Granma article said all Cubans will have "the
opportunity to present their judgment, without hindrance, disagreeing if
that's what they think."

Cuba traditionally holds a Party Congress every five years to announce
major policy changes, but the sixth has been delayed repeatedly as the
country underwent a change in leadership and grappled with a serious
financial crisis.

The document that circulated last month gave a merciless assessment of
the current economic situation, saying the country suffers from
"inefficiency," a "lack of capacity in both production and
infrastructure" and an aging population.

Cuba also owes billions of dollars to foreign companies that have done
business with the island, many of them in Europe.

Still, the document stressed that there will be no change in Cuba's
one-party, socialist political system.

"Only socialism is capable of overcoming the current difficulties and
preserving the victories of the revolution," the document reads.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9JR9GP80.htm

Cuba begins public debate on economic reforms

Cuba begins public debate on economic reforms
2 December 2010 Last updated at 00:11 GMT

Analysis
Michael Voss BBC News, Havana

Cuba is entering a period of potential social upheaval.

Half a million workers are due to lose their jobs in the coming months
as the government attempts to overhaul the island's struggling state-run
economy.

President Raul Castro is also encouraging people to become self-employed
or set up small businesses to help take up the slack.

The government has publicly released a 32-page report listing in detail
the proposals, and this is intended to form the basis of the discussions.

These debates will not touch on the political shape of Cuba's one-party
state nor on replacing the centrally-controlled command economy with a
return to capitalism.

Cuba has launched a public debate on plans to transform its socialist
economy by reducing the role of the state and boosting private enterprise.

Ordinary Cubans are being encouraged to discuss the changes so their
views can be taken into account at a ruling communist party congress
next April.

The government says everyone should have a free say on the future of Cuba.

But it also insists that the "socialist character" of Cuba's political
system will not change.

Under the headline "It is the people who decide", the official Communist
Party newspaper Granma said everyone in Cuba should take part in the
economic debate

It urged people to discuss the changes through Communist Party
organisations, trade union meetings and community groups.

"Nobody should remain with an unexpressed opinion, much less be
prevented from expressing it," it said.

"At stake is the future of the Cuban nation."

However, Granma also stressed that the "socialist character" of Cuba's
political and social system was "irrevocable."

Economic problems

The three-month debating period is presented as the opportunity for the
public to participate in decisions to be taken at the ruling communist
party's sixth congress in April, the first to be held in 14 years.

President Raul Castro called the congress in November, saying it would
"concentrate on solving problems in the economy and updating the Cuban
economic model."

But many details of the economic changes have already been announced, so
it is not clear how much influence the public debate will really have.

In September, President Castro announced plans to lay off around up to a
million state employees - about a fifth of the workforce - and encourage
them to find work in the private sector.

Half of those posts are to go by the end of March, just weeks before the
planned congress.

Restrictions on private enterprise are being eased, with small
businesses allowed to employ staff, borrow money, and sell services to
government departments.

They will also have to pay tax.

Thousands of Cubans have already been given licences to set up private
businesses, and more are registering every week.

Since taking over from his brother Fidel in 2006, Raul Castro has taken
steps to reduce the state's almost total control of the economy, which
has has been gripped by a severe crisis in recent years.

It has suffered from a fall in the price for its main export, nickel, as
well as a decline in tourism.

Growth has also been hampered by the 48-year US trade embargo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11894593

WikiLeaks cables on Cuba show links to terrorists from Colombia, Spain

Posted on Wednesday, 12.01.10
WikiLeaks cables on Cuba show links to terrorists from Colombia, Spain
WikiLeaks cables on Cuba show links to groups from Colombia and Spain --
such as the ETA and ELN -- that have been characterized as terrorists.
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com

Cuba allows Colombian and Spanish groups branded as terrorists to rest
and get treatment on the island, but the groups are unlikely to plan
attacks while there, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable made public by
WikiLeaks.

The cable also touches on corruption, Cuba's penetration of dissident
groups, the Catholic church, the potential for street protests and
Havana's strong intelligence capabilities.

The cable on the Colombian and Spanish groups, sent by the U.S.
diplomatic mission in Havana on Feb. 27 of last year, is notable because
Cuba is on the U.S. list of ``state sponsors of terrorism,'' along with
Iran, Sudan and Syria.

``We have reliable reporting indicating the presence of ELN, FARC and
ETA members here in Havana. That said, they are unlikely to conduct
terrorist operations in Cuba,'' noted the report, signed by mission
chief Jonathan Farrar.

The ELN and FARC are leftist Colombian guerrilla groups, and ETA is a
Basque separatist movement. The State Department and the European Union
consider the three to be terrorist groups.

Cuba has long provided safe haven to some ``demobilized'' ETA members,
with Spain's approval, and to ELN leaders who held peace talks in Havana
with the Bogota government. But Colombian and Spanish news media this
year reported allegations of operational contacts between the ETA and
FARC in Cuba and Venezuela.

The cable noted that the specific activities in Cuba of the three groups
``are largely unknown but Post [the mission] was able to corroborate
that ETA members assisting the FARC had spent time in Cuba.''

``Reporting also indicates that the GOC [government of Cuba] is able to
influence the FARC. The Cuban Communist Party International Department
(PCC/ID) has close relationships with the Clandestine Communist Party of
Colombia [PCC] which serves as the political wing of the FARC, and to
some extent the ELN as well,'' the report added.

The Cuban government allows the FARC, ETA and ELN ``to enjoy R&R [rest
and recreation] in Cuba and receive medical care and other services,''
it added. But ``there is little chance of any operational activity given
the need for safehaven.''

More broadly, the cable noted, ``we have seen no evidence that the GOC
allows hostile intelligence service to plan terrorist, anti-U.S.
operations in Cuba.''

``Conventional wisdom in the diplomatic community is that the GOC is
anxious to avoid giving the United States a rationale to conduct
counterterrorism operations against it,'' the report noted.

The cable was written by the security officer at the U.S. Interests
Section in Havana in reply to a query from Washington asking dozens of
questions about the local security situation.

Cuba's security services ``are professional and capable . . . They are
highly effective at penetrating networks on the island and actively
pursuing individuals they believe to be terrorists,'' it noted. ``One
must note that the GOC believes opposition groups in Cuba are terrorists
sponsored by the United States.''

Apparently responding to a query about possible anti-U.S. protests in
Cuba, the cable noted that the government ``maintains almost total
control over all organizations on the island.''

``The most autonomous large organization is the Catholic Church, which
wields limited autonomy. Any group demonstrating against the United
States would be doing so at the GOC's behest, or at a minimum with their
approval.''

Referring to possible ``impromptu protests,'' the cable noted that some
had been reported and added: ``It is conceivable but not likely that one
of these demonstrations could escalate to violence and spread to other
parts of the city and/or country.''

It also reported police in Havana were ``ubiquitous but appear to have
limited training and outdated equipment'' and noted that a previous
report ``claimed evidence of criminal elements obtaining weapons.''

``Corruption in Cuba is an accepted means of survival. The average Cuban
makes about $18 a month, and low and mid-level police officials earn
similar salaries,'' the cable noted. ``In short, Cuban law enforcement
is confronted with serious and widespread corruption.''

``Some things that are considered corrupt in the United States such as
conflict of interest, double dipping and influence peddling are integral
parts of Cuba's standard operating procedures,'' it added.

Another cable, made public by WikiLeaks Wednesday, was sent by the U.S.
Embassy in Venezuela shortly after Fidel Castro's emergency surgery in
2006. The cable suggests Washington should warn President Hugo Chávez
against intervening in Havana in case of a succession dispute.

The cable, sent by Caracas embassy just after Castro's surgery, noted
reports that Chávez had wanted to fly quickly to Havana ``but the Cubans
waved him off, fearing that his presence would undercut their efforts to
convey a sense of normality.''

While it predicted that Cuba-Venezuelan relations would remain close,
the cable warned that Castro's illness could deprive Chávez of ``a
proven crisis manager, which may increase Chávez's vulnerability.'' And
if there was a ``power struggle'' in Cuba, it added, the ``increasingly
intrusive'' Chávez might try to back his own candidate and perhaps even
``consider intervening militarily'' in Cuba.

``As noted in previous email traffic, Embassy suggests that this may be
an apt time to warn the BRV [Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela] against
intervening in Cuba,'' the cable concluded.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/01/v-fullstory/1953051/wikileaks-cables-on-cuba-show.html

On the cusp of a new social contract?

Posted on Thursday, 12.02.10
On the cusp of a new social contract?
BY MARIFELI PEREZ-STABLE
MarifeliPerez-Stable.com

In April 2011, the Cuban Communist Party will finally hold its congress,
almost 14 years since the last one. Only in wartime did the Communist
Parties in the Soviet Union, China and Vietnam delay their congresses.

Stalin didn't hold one for 13 years after 1939, Mao -- not yet in power
-- let 17 years go by before calling one in 1945 and the Vietnamese met
regularly only after the North-South reunification of 1976.

Since 1997, Cuba hasn't experienced anything like World War II or the
Vietnam War. After assuming the presidency in February 2008, Raúl Castro
announced the congress for late 2009. Subsequently he said that more
time was needed to get economic policy just right. On Nov. 9, Castro at
last made it official, even if the reasons for the long delay have never
been publicly recognized.

By the mid-1990s, the modest reforms issued earlier in the decade hit a
wall. In 1995, Fidel Castro said: ``All openings have entailed risks. If
we have to carry out more reforms, we will do so. For the time being
they are unnecessary.'' By 2003, retrenchment and recentralization had
won the day. In late 2005, he warned that forsaking socialist ideals or
letting markets loose would doom the revolution.

When he fell ill in 2006, Castro divvied up his responsibilities: Raúl
became interim successor, and six others assumed other tasks. In so
doing, the comandante revealed his penchant for bypassing institutions.

Healthcare, education and energy, for example, fall within the purview
of various ministries. Castro, however, had established special programs
in these areas that only he supervised. Funds for their activities,
moreover, weren't assigned through institutional channels: Castro
himself sought them directly from the Central Bank.

Shortly after his brother's illness, Raúl emphasized la
institucionalidad, the notion that institutions matter. Not an
earth-shaking proposition but one that sent a clear signal: The days of
abrupt twists and turns were over. Last August, he told the National
Assembly: ``We must forever banish the idea that Cuba be the only
country in the world where people can live without working.''

If that's an astounding admission, so is the goal of laying off 500,000
workers from the state payroll by next April.

At least another half million will subsequently find themselves holding
pink slips. Alternative sources of employment such as cooperatives and
self-employment should absorb most of the unemployed.

Cuban leaders are more addicted than most to politically correct
rhetoric. Thus, the unemployed are los disponibles (available ones) and
the economic reforms are just an ``updating'' of the Cuban model. The
socioeconomic guidelines that the party congress will duly approve
insist on state command of the economy and an uncompromised equality. If
you're thinking squaring the circle, so am I.

Cuba may be on the cusp of a new social contract. If the reforms take
off, ordinary Cubans will be more responsible for their own well-being
than at any time since 1959.

Eliminating subsidies, reducing social expenditures, hiring other Cubans
and paying taxes require a wholesale transformation of their mind-sets.
Many would thrive, others would not.

Raúl Castro and his cohorts also need to change their ways. As of Nov.
19, more than 80,000 citizens had applied for self-employment licenses:
35 percent obtained them, 15 percent are pending and half were denied.

In 2011, the government plans to purchase $130 million in goods to be
sold to the self-employed. In retrospect, we might look back and see a
crossroads: for the first time, economic policies played themselves out,
without anyone cutting them short. Along the way, Cuban leaders began to
grasp the wisdom of the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's maxim: ``It
doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches
mice.''

While visiting China in 2003, Fidel Castro said: ``I can't really be
sure just what kind of a China I am visiting.'' In China recently,
Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba's national assembly, noted: ``Cuba is
prepared to take advantage of China's experience of development in
reform and opening.''

If we see Cuban leaders trying to square the circle, all bets are off.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/02/1953045/on-the-cusp-of-a-new-social-contract.html

Cuba Jewish groups deny work with jailed American

Posted on Wednesday, 12.01.10
Cuba Jewish groups deny work with jailed American
By PETER ORSI
Associated Press

HAVANA -- The leaders of Cuba's two main Jewish groups both denied
having worked with a jailed American contractor whose family says he was
on the island to hand out communication equipment to Jewish organizations.

Cuban authorities have accused Alan Gross of espionage, though they have
not pressed charges despite keeping him in custody since he was detained
last Dec. 3.

Adela Dworin, president of Havana's Temple Beth Shalom and Cuba's
largest Jewish organization, the Jewish Community House, told The
Associated Press on Wednesday it's possible Gross came to the center as
one of "hundreds" of foreign visitors it receives each year. But she
said she doesn't remember meeting him and he certainly was not doing any
work with her group.

Dr. Mayra Levy, president of the Hebrew Sephardic Center of Cuba, said
the same thing: "I never saw him. He never came here."

Cuba's tightly knit Jewish community is believed to number about 1,500
people, most of whom live in Havana and belong to one of those two
groups. While it is possible Gross was working with one of the other
Jewish groups scattered across the island, the other organizations
represent very small numbers of people.

"As far as I know, none of the three synagogues (in Havana) authorized
any such activity," Dworin said.

Gross' wife, Judy, has denied that her husband was a spy and says he is
a veteran development worker who was helping members of Cuba's Jewish
community use the Internet to stay in contact with each other and with
similar groups abroad. Communications equipment he brought with him was
intended for humanitarian purposes, not for use by the dissident
community, she said.

Dworin said many visitors bring donations - medicine for a community
pharmacy, books, DVDs, computer games, food for religious festivals -
but she stressed that the group would not accept any contraband
equipment, or even have need for it.

"We have all the necessary media to communicate with the entire Jewish
world," Dworin said. "We are able to communicate freely."

"We respect the laws of the country where we were born," she added.

The detained man, a native of Potomac, Maryland, was working for a firm
contracted by USAID when he was arrested. Senior Cuban leaders including
President Raul Castro have accused Gross of spying.

Cuba and the United States have been at odds since shortly after Fidel
Castro's 1959 revolution, and the U.S. has maintained an economic
embargo on the island for 48 years. Havana criticizes USAID for seeking
to promote democratic change in Cuba, saying it uses millions of dollars
to bankroll opposition activity.

In August, Cuba allowed Judy Gross to visit her husband for the first
time since his arrest.

U.S. diplomats insist Gross was not doing anything wrong and have said
his continued detention makes it difficult to improve relations.

Gloria Berbena, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Interests Section in Havana,
which Washington maintains instead of an embassy, said consular
officials last visited Gross in jail Nov. 16. She said that
"unfortunately," she knew of no new developments in his case.

The Cuban government did not respond to requests for comment on the
case. Officials have said previously the case is working its way through
the legal system and there is nothing unusual about the long period
Gross has spent in jail without charge.

Also Wednesday, a group of Cuban religious leaders who traveled to the
United States last week for a religious conference said Washington
officials asked them for help in Gross' case.

The leaders said the matter was raised during meetings with Peter
Brennan, counselor for Cuban affairs in the State Department, and Dan
Restrepo, President Barack Obama's point man on Latin America at the
National Security Council.

Rev. Oden Marichal, secretary of the Council of Cuban Churches, an
umbrella organization encompassing non-Roman Catholic Christian churches
and the Jewish community, said the visitors agreed to help but would not
intervene as negotiators.

"What we made clear to them is that the Jewish community in Cuba ...
told us: 'We never had ties with that gentleman, he never brought us any
kind of equipment,'" Marichal said.

The leaders also presented a petition seeking the release of the "Cuban
Five" - five Cuban agents convicted of spying and sentenced to long jail
terms in the United States.

Cuba maintains the men were not a threat to the U.S. and were only
keeping watch on anti-Castro groups that it accuses of a number of
violent acts, including a 1990s hotel bombing campaign in Havana.

Associated Press writer Andrea Rodriguez contributed to this report.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/01/1952381/cuba-jewish-groups-deny-work-with.html