An Opportune Difference Between Cuba and Venezuela

An Opportune Difference Between Cuba and Venezuela / Angel Santiesteban
Posted on April 1, 2014

Thanks to the god of the communication media, in Venezuela the national
and foreign TV hasn't been sold to Chavismo, and they report on events
immediately, without concern for reprisals.

In Cuba we face another reality. The foreign broadcasters (independent
national stations don't exist), rarely look behind the news that would
harm the government, that would immediately put an end to the long
vacations they take in the archipelago living in five-star hotels.

The times I accompanied the Ladies in White, I never saw a TV reporter,
knowing that in some way, their being there would protect them from the
arrests and abuse. If they did their duty, the images of our events
would speak for themselves, and the activists would risk more. But in
most cases, we suffer the beatings and they arrest us without leaving
any witnesses to defend us, save those times when the opposition itself
can record it and upload it to the Internet.

Before entering prison, the only media based in the island that came to
me was the Associated Press (AP) via Andrea Rodríguez, their
correspondent. All the opposition advised me not to grant her an
interview, branded her as a Cuban security agent, used to misrepresent
the evidence, and to manipulate the news to favor the communist
government and harm the opposition.

But I agreed anyway because I am someone who has nothing to hide and
does not avoid talking, and I fell into the trap. The news was delivered
my version amputated in a ghost article, obviously official, of one of
those writers who then signed the letters against me in Cuban Writers
and Artists Union (UNEAC). The author, who also refused to give her name
and the reporter respected that — put my words in doubt and as much as
possible gave the official version.

Following that, I had an exchange with the reporter and told her I
understood she was hardly ethical if she gave my testimony with my name,
and then sought people who doubted my word and refused to give theirs,
staying in the shade, because that position was not transparent.

Later I learned that this "journalist" is married to a former official
from the political police. It doesn't matter how far certain
commentaries goe if they lack impartiality.

The opposition lacks media coverage before the world in terms of real
and direct news, and this marks the great different with the rest of the
countries which, in recent years, have had large social movements.

We need journalists to accompany us in this war against the dictatorship.

Ángel Santiesteban-Prats

Lawton Prison Settlement. March 2014

Please sign the petition to Amnesty International here.
https://secure.avaaz.org/es/petition/Para_que_Amnistia_Internacional_declare_prisionero_de_conciencia_al_disidente_cubano_Angel_Santiesteban/?fbss

31 March 2014

Source: An Opportune Difference Between Cuba and Venezuela / Angel
Santiesteban | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/an-opportune-difference-between-cuba-and-venezuela-angel-santiesteban/

Serious Denunciations Before the IACHR - Human Rights Situation of Journalists in Cuba. The Santiesteban Case

Serious Denunciations Before the IACHR: Human Rights Situation of
Journalists in Cuba. The Santiesteban Case
Posted on April 1, 2014

The lawyer, Veizant Boloy, and the journalists Roberto de Jesús Guerra
and Julio Aliaga have presented before the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights denunciations about the permanent violations of human
rights of the independent journalists, and explained how the persecution
of information professionals operates. They have shown the Commission
the video of the detention of Angel Santiesteban on November 8, 2012.

Cuban journalists reported before the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights that they continue being persecuted in Cuba.

March 25, 2014

Washington, March 25 (EFE). Two Cuban journalists and a Cuban lawyer
reported today before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) that independent reporters "continue suffering persecution" in Cuba.

They explained in a hearing on the subject about the situation of
freedom of expression and the rights of journalists on the island,
organized by the IACHR, an autonomous entity of the Organization of
American States (OEA), at which no representative of Raúl Castro's
government turned up.

"The repression continues against the journalists, the opposition and
citizens who wish to express themselves freely," said the journalist
Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez, of the agency Hablemos Press, who
described himself to the IACHR as an ex-political prisoner.

Guerra Pérez testified that in March, four journalists were detained
while they were performing their work on the island, and he added that
in 2013 the workers in his agency were arrested more than 70 times and
that they had their material confiscated on repeated occasions.

The lawyer Veizant Boloy González, from the center of legal information,
Cubalex, explained that Cuban journalists are submitted to censorship,
incarceration, surveillance and requisition of material.

"The authorities continue persecuting independent journalists," affirmed
Boloy.

"Although the Cuban state projects an image of economic and political
opening, it doesn't take weighty measures to promote freedom of
expression. The medium of diffusion of information continues being in
the power of the State. The citizens continue without participating in
the political life of the country, and the government doesn't take this
into account," added Boloy.

Another journalist, Julio Aliaga, told how he had been detained on
several occasions, and he pointed out that in Cuba the provinces are
"dark zones" as far as journalistic coverage is concerned, owing to the
fact that the international media is centered in Havana.

Aliago requested of the Castro regime that they develop a law that
establishes freedom of expression and abolishes the crimes in the penal
code that affect this right, and the law known as the "gag" law, as well
as modify the law of association.

Furthermore, the journalist appealed to the IACHR that it develop a
report on the situation of freedom of expression in Cuba and that it
invite the government to participate in the inter-American system of
human rights.

The constituents of the IACHR regretted the absence of representatives
of the Cuban executive and recalled that the Commission always invites
the State and notifies it of all the denunciations.

Participants: Hablemos Press Center of Information (CIPRESS)/CUBALEX

State of Cuba

Please sign the petition to have Angel Santiesteban declared a prisoner
of conscience by Amnesty International.
https://secure.avaaz.org/es/petition/Para_que_Amnistia_Internacional_declare_prisionero_de_conciencia_al_disidente_cubano_Angel_Santiesteban/?fbss

Translated by Regina Anavy

27 March 2014

Source: Serious Denunciations Before the IACHR: Human Rights Situation
of Journalists in Cuba. The Santiesteban Case | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/serious-denunciations-before-the-iachr-human-rights-situation-of-journalists-in-cuba-the-santiesteban-case/

The Cuban Parliament Interrupts Its Eternal Vacation

The Cuban Parliament Interrupts Its Eternal Vacation / Juan Juan Almeida
Posted on April 1, 2014

In a small editorial, the newspaper Granma reported that, in accordance
with Article 90, section (a) of the current Constitution, the State
Council of the Republic of Cuba agreed to convene a special session of
the National Assembly of Popular Power to consider the draft Law on
Foreign Investment.

Wow, even in that there is apartheid! Wouldn't it be better to reconvene
to establish the rights of Cuban entrepreneurs? I don't know why I
bother if Cubans already know that in this strange debate the MPs only
attend to shout in unison "Aye."

20 March 2014

Source: The Cuban Parliament Interrupts Its Eternal Vacation / Juan Juan
Almeida | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-cuban-parliament-interrupts-its-eternal-vacation-juan-juan-almeida/

Ley de Inversión: más frenos que avance

Publicado el lunes, 03.31.14

Ley de Inversión: más frenos que avance
CARLOS BATISTA
AFP

LA HABANA -- La nueva Ley de Inversión Extranjera de Cuba, aprobada por
el Parlamento el sábado, enfrenta frenos que pueden afectar la llegada
de capitales a la isla, indispensables para el despegue de la economía,
según funcionarios y analistas.

"Existen obstáculos que frenan y limitan la participación de la
inversión extranjera en nuestra economía", dijo el ministro de Comercio
Exterior y la Inversión Extranjera, Rodrigo Malmierca, indicando que los
principales son "el endeudamiento externo", "los errores cometidos en el
pasado" y "las restricciones provocadas por la escasez de divisas",
además del embargo estadounidense.

El gobierno necesita capitales puesto que las reformas del gobernante
Raúl Castro no han logrado elevar el crecimiento económico, precisamente
por la falta de inversiones.

Malmierca no aclaró cuáles son los "errores" del pasado, pero el
analista cubano Arturo López-Levy, de la Universidad de Denver
(Colorado, EEUU), señaló que la vieja Ley de Inversión Extranjera de
1995 tenía "cuellos de botella".

"La legislación de 1995 nunca fue usada en toda su plenitud y fue
paralizada por el inmovilismo y varios cuellos de botella que la nueva
ley mantiene en parte", dijo López-Levy.

También son obstáculos que la nueva ley prohíba a las empresas
extranjeras invertir en los florecientes negocios privados cubanos y les
impida contratar trabajadores en forma directa, según los analistas.

"Otra limitación de la ley (…) es que se continúe manejando el pago de
los trabajadores por medio de una empresa (externa), que no permite
pagar de manera directa a la fuerza de trabajo", señaló el académico
Esteban Morales, quien ocupó diversos puestos en La Universidad de La
Habana.

López-Levy dijo que la ley debería contemplar las remesas familiares del
exterior, unos $2,600 millones anuales, que en muchos casos han servido
para abrir negocios privados en la isla, como restaurantes o "paladares"
y salones de belleza, entre otros. El sector privado o por "cuenta
propia" emplea ahora a 450,000, casi el 10 por ciento de la fuerza laboral.

"Ese tipo de negocios debería recibir estímulos y promociones fiscales
por sus implicaciones sociales", indicó López-Levy.

Un mejor aprovechamiento de las remesas "es una tarea de la reforma
económica incomprensiblemente pospuesta porque no tiene un alto grado de
complejidad (…), se trata de crear un marco legal para la asociación en
negocios de cubanos que viven en Cuba y en la diáspora", añadió.

Pero las inversiones de cubanos radicados en EEUU enfrentan otro freno:
el embargo a la isla.

Source: Ley de Inversión: más frenos que avance - Cuba -
ElNuevoHerald.com -
http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2014/03/31/1715496/ley-de-inversion-mas-frenos-que.html

Bursting Cuba’s Sugar Cane Biomass Bubble

Bursting Cuba's Sugar Cane Biomass Bubble
March 26, 2014
Erasmo Calzadilla

HAVANA TIMES — What's really going on with renewable sources of energy
in Cuba? The island's official press is brimming with optimism in this
connection, but, do we actually have reason to be so positive?

I will start this post with one of the most widely divulged
"half-truths". According to Conrado Moreno, a high-level Cuban
government expert and official, "during 2011, 78.4 percent of the total
primary energy output came from fossil fuels and 21.6 percent was
produced using renewable sources of energy."

During a presentation on the subject, Projects Vice-President for
CUBASOLAR Julio Torres Martinez said:

"In Cuba, sugar cane is an ideal means of intensively exploiting
renewable sources of energy. This is owed to the high caloric content of
bagasse, which has met as much as 30 percent of the country's energy
demand."

After reading these two comments, one walks away with the reassuring
sense that we're on the right track, as deriving 30 percent of the
country's primary energy from renewable sources is a magnificent
ranking. It is so magnificent, in fact, that it is a little hard to
believe. How did humble Cuba achieve this, when countries with the
highest indices of development in this area barely make it to 10
percent? I smell a rat here, and we're going to find it.

To discover where the trick is, we'll have to wade through some data
published by Cuba's National Statistics and Information Bureau (ONEI)
and crunch some numbers. The first step is breaking down the percentage
of energy produced in Cuba using renewable energy sources (RES), on the
basis of a report for 2010 (1).

RES Contribution (thousands of tons of oil) %
Biomass 938.5 97.7
Others 20.9 2,3
Total 959.8 100
The percentages column (courtesy of yours truly) immediately raises
suspicions. The amount of energy derived from biomass is so huge
compared to all other sources that it could only be the result of
fraudulent information.

We know that Cuban biomass is primarily made up of sugar industry (SI)
sub-products. Let's follow that trail.

Sugar Industry Energy Balance

Is so much energy actually produced using sugar cane biomass? The only
way to find out is to draw up an energy balance for Cuba's sugar industry.

Don't worry, it won't be complicated. We will arrange the system's
inputs and outputs in such a way as to arrive at a simplified and
general formula.

We'll start with the inputs, the energy consumed by the SI:

Fossil fuels. In 2010, the SI consumed some 190 thousand tons of oil
(2). Let us assume we are dealing with tons equivalent (Tep), which is a
standard energy unit.
Electricity. ONEI reports that, during this period, the SI consumed 295
Gw.h.
We mustn't forget the contribution of the sun (we won't need to quantify
it, in our case).
Let us now look at the output:

Most of the energy produced by the SI is contained in sugar. We're not
going to quantify it either.
Then we have electricity, produced using biomass. According to ONEI, the
said industry generated 446 GW.h. that year.
Let us now introduce these data into an equation. The inputs are on the
left and the outputs on the right. Here it goes:

Sun + 190 thousand Tep + 295 Gw.h = sugar + 446 GW.h

We have electricity at either side of this equation because the SI both
consumes and produces electricity. Placing all of the units of GW.h on
one side of the equation and then subtracting, we get:

Sun + 190 thousand Tep = sugar + 151 GW.h

Those eager to present us with optimistic results stop precisely at this
point. The trick consists in presenting the 151 GW.h as net electrical
energy produced using biomass. That trickle of electricity that sugar
refineries afford the country's electrical network has been milked for
all its worth – but let us look at the balance to understand where it is
really coming from.

Tep and GW.h are two different ways of expressing energy amounts, and
each can be converted into the other unit. Since every GW.h is
equivalent to 86 Tep, 151 GW.h represent some 13 thousand tons of oil
equivalent. Introducing these numbers into our equation, we get:

Sun + 190 thousand Tep = sugar + 13 thousand Tep

13 represents 6.8 percent of 190. That is to say, a very small
percentage of the energy invested is recovered from biomass.

Let us now place all of our Tep numbers on one side of the equation and
simplify the formula one last time. The final equation is:

Sol + 177 thousand Tep = sugar

Interpreting the Results

After converting our units and simplifying the equation, what we find is
that the only net energy produced by the SI is that contained in its
sweet sugar crystals, no more, no less. The energy produced using
biomass, derived from the sun and oil invested, is reintegrated entirely
into the system.

Bursting the Bubble

To arrive at the highly inflated figure of 21 to 30 percent of primary
energy produced using renewable sources, experts have lied in different
ways.

They are deceiving us, conceptually, by including industrial biomass as
a primary source of energy, when, in truth, it depends in great measure
on oil (making it more of a secondary source of energy).

They are lying in the same way when they include it among renewable
sources of energy – the clean, environmentally friendly kind that do not
emit greenhouse gases, I mean.

They are deceiving us at the quantitative level when they claim that all
of the sub-products of the harvest are optimally exploited as a source
of energy – when we know this is not the case.

The crudest and most propagandistic lie, however, is that the sugar
industry is self-sufficient and even produces energy. We've demonstrated
that this is entirely false. The percentage of sugar cane biomass that
is actually used to produce energy covers only a miniscule percentage of
our energy spending.

We thus arrive at our conclusion. After clearing away the straw and
bagasse, we've come upon the raw reality: in Cuba, not even 3 percent of
the country's primary energy is produced using RES. Is this the figure
the experts and press hope to conceal under a pile of sugar cane?

I am not bursting this bubble out of sheer pleasure. My intention,
rather, is to demonstrate how precarious the situation is in this area.

When fossil fuel shortages and/or the political crisis in Venezuela hit
our fuel supplies, we're going to have a really tough time. So, isn't it
better to know the truth and act accordingly?

Notes:

I used ONEI data for 2010 because this is the last report that has the
tables I need up to date. The situation hasn't changed considerably since.
According to ONEI, 102,600 tons of diesel and 87,900 tons of fuel oil
were used by the sugar industry. Adding these two figures, we get
190,400 tons of refined oil, which I rounded off to 190 thousand to
simplify calculations.

Source: Bursting Cuba's Sugar Cane Biomass Bubble - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=102637

Cuban doctor in Brazilian program kills himself - official

Cuban doctor in Brazilian program kills himself - official
BRASILIA Tue Apr 1, 2014 2:05am BST

(Reuters) - A Cuban doctor who worked in a Brazilian government program
that hired thousands of foreign physicians committed suicide at a hotel
in the country's capital, the health ministry said on Monday.

The 52-year-old male doctor was found dead in a hotel room in what the
local police said was a suicide, a ministry spokesman said. The ministry
did not release the name of the doctor or more details about the death.

He was one of more than 7,000 Cubans who are in Brazil as part of a
program that hires foreign doctors to tend the sick in slums and remote
rural locations where there are no Brazilian physicians.

Since its start last year the "More Doctors" program has been roiled
with controversy as some Brazilian physicians tried to bar the entry of
Cuban doctors who they said threaten to undermine the country's medical
standards.

The defection of a Cuban doctor over low pay in February also raised
complaints by some opposition politicians who said the physicians were
being exploited.

Under an agreement signed with Cuba through the Pan-American Health
Organization, or PAHO, the Cubans get only one-fifth of the 10,000 reais
($4,100) a month that Brazil pays each physician in the program. The
rest goes to the Cuban state.

Still, most Brazilians living in poor slums that for years lacked the
most basic healthcare have welcomed the Cuban doctors, bolstering the
popularity of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, according to past polls.

An official with the Cuban embassy in Brasilia was not immediately
available for comment.

(Reporting by Alonso Soto)

Source: Cuban doctor in Brazilian program kills himself - official |
Reuters -
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/04/01/uk-brazil-cuban-death-idUKBREA3003520140401?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Brazilian authorities seize cocaine

Brazilian authorities seize cocaine
Updated: 08:28, Tuesday April 1, 2014

Brazilian police have seized 3.7 tonnes of cocaine and arrested 23
people in a major anti-drug operation.

The dismantled racket used containers to export the drugs from the port
of Santos, in the state of Sao Paulo, to Europe, Cuba and Africa, they
said on Monday.

Officers also seized 10 vehicles, a boat, 21 firearms including two
rifles, and 230,000 euros ($A345,000) in cash.

The gang, which had been under investigation since last year, bought the
drugs in Bolivia and transferred them to Brazil through the Paraguayan
border.

Once in Santos, they were put into rucksacks and bags and hidden inside
the containers, without their owners knowing.

Source: Brazilian authorities seize cocaine | Sky News Australia -
http://www.skynews.com.au/world/article.aspx?id=963078