The Only And Final Beer / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Havana, 30 November 2016 — For many tourists who have
experienced recent days in Cuba it has been especially difficult to
enjoy a mojito, relax with a daiquiri, or sip a beer to deal with the
heat. With the declaration of national mourning, the government has
prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages for nine days, and also
cancelled all cultural activities and placed tight controls over music
in public and private places.
However, at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport, rum and beer are
still for sale, but only in the area beyond the security controls and
emigration booths. This Wednesday, the line at the café in Terminal 3
was longer than usual. Many wanted to once again feel "something cold
that soothes the soul" on their tongues, said a Spanish traveler.
Only inside hotels and in the restricted areas of the airport terminals
has the sale of these products been allowed. The restrictions include
the emblematic Floridita Bar, which will be closed until after the
mourning period, and the Bodeguita del Medio, which right now is empty
and sad; both are famed for the "regulars" who drank there, including
Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Ernest Hemingway, among others. "This is the
only and last beer I've been able to drink in Cuba," joked the Spaniard
from Madrid, while enjoying a cold Cristal, tempting and unattainable
for those on the outside.
Source: The Only And Final Beer / 14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-only-and-final-beer-14ymedio/
Thursday, December 1, 2016
The Political Testament Of Fidel Castro
The Political Testament Of Fidel Castro / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 29 November 2016 – Under the shadow
of national mourning after the death of Fidel Castro, Cubans have been
called to sign, as an oath, some words spoken by the former president in
May of 2000, in which he left for posterity his concept of Revolution.
"Revolution is a sense of the historic moment; it is changing everything
that must be changed; it is full equality and freedom; it is being
treated and treating others as human beings; it is emancipating
ourselves by our own efforts; it is challenging powerful dominant forces
within and outside the social and national sphere; it is defending the
values we believe in at the price of any sacrifice; it is modesty,
selflessness, altruism, solidarity and heroism; it is fighting with
audacity, intelligence and realism; it is never lying nor violating
ethical principles; it is a profound conviction that there is no force
in the world capable of crushing the force of truth and ideas.
Revolution is unity, it is independence, it is fighting for our dreams
of justice for Cuba and the world, which is the foundation of our
patriotism, our socialism and our internationalism."
More than a definition, the text should be understood as a personal
assessment of the political process in which Fidel Castro played the
starring role. In the absence of a solid theoretical thought, the
exegetes of the Commander in Chief have made use of the poetics of his
rhetoric to extract, something like that, as a political testament.
The phrase chosen has the turns of an oratory delivered to captivate
those congregated in a plaza, where almost all license is permitted,
while sounding good and conquering the ears. But read at a distance and
analyzed as a thesis, it lacks programmatic solidity.
In the phrase, the term Revolution is ambivalent and is presented both
as a result obtained and reached for. At other moments the statement
seems a method to achieve certain goals, the final fruit of a process,
or a tie to moral values close to the Decalogue of good behavior.
The contradictions of the concept stated by Castro for more than fifteen
years ago have discouraged academics of the official environment and
organic intellectuals from analyzing it. Instead, they have chosen to
sanctify the verse so as not to be seen to be committed to rigorously
dissect it.
When Castro mentions that Revolution is the sense of the historic
moment, it only confirms that he lacks the political instinct to
perceive the wealth of opportunities that such processes trigger,
something that rests exclusively in the capacity of certain individuals
to take advantage of the situation.
On the other hand, the substantial difference between Revolution and
reform resides in the way transformations are realized, but these words
avoid pointing out the violent and radical character of the process they
promote. The absence of this precision constitutes the most important
conceptual deficit of the text.
In the horizon of almost all social revolutions is equality, but
a process of such a nature is not needed to try to achieve it. Freedom
has historically been most affected by revolutions. In particular, the
freedoms of expression and association, and, in the case of socialist
revolutions, economic freedoms.
The inaccuracies in the text does not end there.
In the words extolled today, Castro defines his creature as the capacity
to treat others and to be treated as human beings. It is the promise of
the lowest profile that a politician could project and, most obvious,
that includes a concept for posterity that is, at least, a disturbing
gesture.
The confusion rises in tone when the leader invites us to "emancipate
ourselves by our own efforts," without specifying if he speaks from the
working class that must shake off the "chains" of exploitation, or if it
is a nationalist-style demand to eliminate dependency on some foreign power.
In the first case, it would be renouncing alliances with other sectors
such as the peasantry, while following the second to the letter leads to
renouncing proletarian internationalism.
The act of "challenging dominant forces" differs if you are in an
insurrectional period, or it is several years after the beginning of the
Revolution. When Castro stated this concept, power in Cuba lay in the
Communist Party and especially in his own will, which did not accept the
slightest challenge.
The voluntarism of the orator stands out when he calls for "paying
whatever price necessary," while he appropriates Christian values by
promoting modesty, selflessness, altruism, solidarity and heroism. The
call to never lie or violate ethical principles reinforces the character
of the commandments of a religion.
The text also extols audacity, intelligence and realism, guidelines that
are more appropriate to succeed in business than to drive social
transformation. Emphasizing these assertions with the conviction that
"there is no force in the world capable of crushing the strength of
truth and ideas": pure idealism, alien to the dialectical materialism of
Marxist inspiration.
Unity does not make the Revolution, nor is independence a conquest in
the midst of a globalized world that has put an end to borders, so all
that is left to the orator to base his concept on is "our patriotism,
our socialism and our internationalism "and to fight for "our dreams of
justice," without substantiating any.
The conceptual gap of the definition of Revolution that, as of this
Monday, millions of Cubans have signed, leaves their hands free for
whatever future decision is taken by whoever relieves the current
historic generation. On this foundation stone, one can erect anything.
Source: The Political Testament Of Fidel Castro / 14ymedio, Reinaldo
Escobar – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-political-testament-of-fidel-castro-14ymedio-reinaldo-escobar/
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 29 November 2016 – Under the shadow
of national mourning after the death of Fidel Castro, Cubans have been
called to sign, as an oath, some words spoken by the former president in
May of 2000, in which he left for posterity his concept of Revolution.
"Revolution is a sense of the historic moment; it is changing everything
that must be changed; it is full equality and freedom; it is being
treated and treating others as human beings; it is emancipating
ourselves by our own efforts; it is challenging powerful dominant forces
within and outside the social and national sphere; it is defending the
values we believe in at the price of any sacrifice; it is modesty,
selflessness, altruism, solidarity and heroism; it is fighting with
audacity, intelligence and realism; it is never lying nor violating
ethical principles; it is a profound conviction that there is no force
in the world capable of crushing the force of truth and ideas.
Revolution is unity, it is independence, it is fighting for our dreams
of justice for Cuba and the world, which is the foundation of our
patriotism, our socialism and our internationalism."
More than a definition, the text should be understood as a personal
assessment of the political process in which Fidel Castro played the
starring role. In the absence of a solid theoretical thought, the
exegetes of the Commander in Chief have made use of the poetics of his
rhetoric to extract, something like that, as a political testament.
The phrase chosen has the turns of an oratory delivered to captivate
those congregated in a plaza, where almost all license is permitted,
while sounding good and conquering the ears. But read at a distance and
analyzed as a thesis, it lacks programmatic solidity.
In the phrase, the term Revolution is ambivalent and is presented both
as a result obtained and reached for. At other moments the statement
seems a method to achieve certain goals, the final fruit of a process,
or a tie to moral values close to the Decalogue of good behavior.
The contradictions of the concept stated by Castro for more than fifteen
years ago have discouraged academics of the official environment and
organic intellectuals from analyzing it. Instead, they have chosen to
sanctify the verse so as not to be seen to be committed to rigorously
dissect it.
When Castro mentions that Revolution is the sense of the historic
moment, it only confirms that he lacks the political instinct to
perceive the wealth of opportunities that such processes trigger,
something that rests exclusively in the capacity of certain individuals
to take advantage of the situation.
On the other hand, the substantial difference between Revolution and
reform resides in the way transformations are realized, but these words
avoid pointing out the violent and radical character of the process they
promote. The absence of this precision constitutes the most important
conceptual deficit of the text.
In the horizon of almost all social revolutions is equality, but
a process of such a nature is not needed to try to achieve it. Freedom
has historically been most affected by revolutions. In particular, the
freedoms of expression and association, and, in the case of socialist
revolutions, economic freedoms.
The inaccuracies in the text does not end there.
In the words extolled today, Castro defines his creature as the capacity
to treat others and to be treated as human beings. It is the promise of
the lowest profile that a politician could project and, most obvious,
that includes a concept for posterity that is, at least, a disturbing
gesture.
The confusion rises in tone when the leader invites us to "emancipate
ourselves by our own efforts," without specifying if he speaks from the
working class that must shake off the "chains" of exploitation, or if it
is a nationalist-style demand to eliminate dependency on some foreign power.
In the first case, it would be renouncing alliances with other sectors
such as the peasantry, while following the second to the letter leads to
renouncing proletarian internationalism.
The act of "challenging dominant forces" differs if you are in an
insurrectional period, or it is several years after the beginning of the
Revolution. When Castro stated this concept, power in Cuba lay in the
Communist Party and especially in his own will, which did not accept the
slightest challenge.
The voluntarism of the orator stands out when he calls for "paying
whatever price necessary," while he appropriates Christian values by
promoting modesty, selflessness, altruism, solidarity and heroism. The
call to never lie or violate ethical principles reinforces the character
of the commandments of a religion.
The text also extols audacity, intelligence and realism, guidelines that
are more appropriate to succeed in business than to drive social
transformation. Emphasizing these assertions with the conviction that
"there is no force in the world capable of crushing the strength of
truth and ideas": pure idealism, alien to the dialectical materialism of
Marxist inspiration.
Unity does not make the Revolution, nor is independence a conquest in
the midst of a globalized world that has put an end to borders, so all
that is left to the orator to base his concept on is "our patriotism,
our socialism and our internationalism "and to fight for "our dreams of
justice," without substantiating any.
The conceptual gap of the definition of Revolution that, as of this
Monday, millions of Cubans have signed, leaves their hands free for
whatever future decision is taken by whoever relieves the current
historic generation. On this foundation stone, one can erect anything.
Source: The Political Testament Of Fidel Castro / 14ymedio, Reinaldo
Escobar – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-political-testament-of-fidel-castro-14ymedio-reinaldo-escobar/
Fidel Castro Was Anything But Courageous
Fidel Castro Was Anything But Courageous / 14ymedio, Andres Oppenheimer
14ymedio, Andres Oppenheimer, 28 November 2016 – It is not elegant to
criticize someone who has just died, but seeing the messages from the
heads of state around the world exalting the supposed courage of the
recently deceased Cuban leader Fidel Castro, the truth must be told:
Castro was anything but courageous. On the contrary, he was a coward.
In the first place, he was a coward for not allowing a free election in
57 years, from the time he took power in 1959. Only someone who is
afraid of losing doesn't desire to measure himself against others in a
free election.
In the second place, Castro was a coward because he never allowed a
single independent newspaper or non-government radio station or
television channel. His critics didn't even have access to the official
channels. It was as if they did not exist.
Castro gave the vast majority of his interviews to journalists, models
or sports figures who revered and honored him. And the few interviews he
gave to serious journalists were monologues, in which he did all the
talking.
I remember in the late 1980s, when I asked the Colombian Nobel Prize
winner Gabriel García Márquez to intercede for me to ask for an
interview with Castro. He laughed and said: "Why do you want an
interview with Fidel? He never says anything in an interview that he
hasn't said in one of his five hour speeches."
Castro's fear of losing his omnipresent image as Maximum Leader was such
that he forbade the media to talk about his private life. He had to be
portrayed as a demigod who had sacrificed his life for the public
good. For decades, the names of his wife and children were a state secret.
When I traveled to Cuba in the early 1990s, a journalist from the
newspaper Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth) the communist youth paper, told
me he had been reprimanded by his boss for trying to publish a photo of
Castro eating dinner. The commander could never be shown eating, said
the journalist.
Even the circumstances of the death of Castro may have been a government
montage: Cuban official media say he died on November 25, which is the
same day that Castro and his guerrillas left the Mexican port of
Veracruz on the yacht Granma in 1955 to start their armed insurrection
in Cuba.
Did they tamper with the date of his death to show it as a heroic
journey to the afterlife, which coincides with the date of the beginning
of his revolutionary epic six decades ago?
Third, Castro was a coward because he did not allow any independent
political party. According to the Cuban Constitution drafted by Castro,
only the Communist Party, which he presided over for decades, is allowed
on the island.
Castro used the United States trade embargo as an excuse to prohibit
independent political parties and freedom of assembly. Even after he
handed the presidency to his brother Raul, although he remained a
powerful figure behind the scenes, the Cuban regime intensified
repression of the peaceful opposition despite the normalization of
relations between the United States and Cuba that began under President
Obama in 2014.
According to the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National
Reconciliation, an unofficial group, documented political arrests have
soared from 6,424 in 2013 to 9,125 so far this year.
Fourth, Castro was a coward because he never allowed international
financial institutions to monitor or verify the positive economic
statistics of his government.
Castro boasted that Cuba reduced poverty and improved health and
education, and much of the international press believed it,
unquestioningly. But unlike most countries, Castro never allowed the
World Bank or other credible international institutions to undertake
independent studies on the island.
He boasted of the educational progress of Cuba, but never allowed Cuba
to participate in the International Student Assessment (PISA) testing
program. In fact, many studies show that other countries such as Costa
Rica made more social progress than Cuba, without paying the price of
mass executions, imprisonments and exiles.
Fifth, Castro never allowed international human rights organizations to
conduct on-site investigations into human rights abuses. According
to the research group Cuba Archive Castro was responsible for 3,117
documented cases of executions and 1,162 cases of extrajudicial
executions. In any other country, he would have been declared a war
criminal.
I am sorry, but the conventional narrative that Castro was a courageous
revolutionary who defied ten US presidents and survived numerous
assassination attempts does not impress me at all.
Courageous leaders are those who have the courage to compete with others
in free elections. Castro was a coward who never dared to allow the
Cuban people to exercise their basic rights, and who condemned
his island to misery.
His death should be a reminder that there is no such thing as a good
dictator. Whether a right-wing autocrat as Augusto Pinochet or a leftist
like Castro, all dictators are bad and, deep down, cowards.
______________________________________
Editor's Note: This article was previously published in Spanish in the
newspaper El Nuevo Herald. It is reproduced with the permission of the
author.
Source: Fidel Castro Was Anything But Courageous / 14ymedio, Andres
Oppenheimer – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/fidel-castro-was-anything-but-courageous-14ymedio-andres-oppenheimer/
14ymedio, Andres Oppenheimer, 28 November 2016 – It is not elegant to
criticize someone who has just died, but seeing the messages from the
heads of state around the world exalting the supposed courage of the
recently deceased Cuban leader Fidel Castro, the truth must be told:
Castro was anything but courageous. On the contrary, he was a coward.
In the first place, he was a coward for not allowing a free election in
57 years, from the time he took power in 1959. Only someone who is
afraid of losing doesn't desire to measure himself against others in a
free election.
In the second place, Castro was a coward because he never allowed a
single independent newspaper or non-government radio station or
television channel. His critics didn't even have access to the official
channels. It was as if they did not exist.
Castro gave the vast majority of his interviews to journalists, models
or sports figures who revered and honored him. And the few interviews he
gave to serious journalists were monologues, in which he did all the
talking.
I remember in the late 1980s, when I asked the Colombian Nobel Prize
winner Gabriel García Márquez to intercede for me to ask for an
interview with Castro. He laughed and said: "Why do you want an
interview with Fidel? He never says anything in an interview that he
hasn't said in one of his five hour speeches."
Castro's fear of losing his omnipresent image as Maximum Leader was such
that he forbade the media to talk about his private life. He had to be
portrayed as a demigod who had sacrificed his life for the public
good. For decades, the names of his wife and children were a state secret.
When I traveled to Cuba in the early 1990s, a journalist from the
newspaper Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth) the communist youth paper, told
me he had been reprimanded by his boss for trying to publish a photo of
Castro eating dinner. The commander could never be shown eating, said
the journalist.
Even the circumstances of the death of Castro may have been a government
montage: Cuban official media say he died on November 25, which is the
same day that Castro and his guerrillas left the Mexican port of
Veracruz on the yacht Granma in 1955 to start their armed insurrection
in Cuba.
Did they tamper with the date of his death to show it as a heroic
journey to the afterlife, which coincides with the date of the beginning
of his revolutionary epic six decades ago?
Third, Castro was a coward because he did not allow any independent
political party. According to the Cuban Constitution drafted by Castro,
only the Communist Party, which he presided over for decades, is allowed
on the island.
Castro used the United States trade embargo as an excuse to prohibit
independent political parties and freedom of assembly. Even after he
handed the presidency to his brother Raul, although he remained a
powerful figure behind the scenes, the Cuban regime intensified
repression of the peaceful opposition despite the normalization of
relations between the United States and Cuba that began under President
Obama in 2014.
According to the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National
Reconciliation, an unofficial group, documented political arrests have
soared from 6,424 in 2013 to 9,125 so far this year.
Fourth, Castro was a coward because he never allowed international
financial institutions to monitor or verify the positive economic
statistics of his government.
Castro boasted that Cuba reduced poverty and improved health and
education, and much of the international press believed it,
unquestioningly. But unlike most countries, Castro never allowed the
World Bank or other credible international institutions to undertake
independent studies on the island.
He boasted of the educational progress of Cuba, but never allowed Cuba
to participate in the International Student Assessment (PISA) testing
program. In fact, many studies show that other countries such as Costa
Rica made more social progress than Cuba, without paying the price of
mass executions, imprisonments and exiles.
Fifth, Castro never allowed international human rights organizations to
conduct on-site investigations into human rights abuses. According
to the research group Cuba Archive Castro was responsible for 3,117
documented cases of executions and 1,162 cases of extrajudicial
executions. In any other country, he would have been declared a war
criminal.
I am sorry, but the conventional narrative that Castro was a courageous
revolutionary who defied ten US presidents and survived numerous
assassination attempts does not impress me at all.
Courageous leaders are those who have the courage to compete with others
in free elections. Castro was a coward who never dared to allow the
Cuban people to exercise their basic rights, and who condemned
his island to misery.
His death should be a reminder that there is no such thing as a good
dictator. Whether a right-wing autocrat as Augusto Pinochet or a leftist
like Castro, all dictators are bad and, deep down, cowards.
______________________________________
Editor's Note: This article was previously published in Spanish in the
newspaper El Nuevo Herald. It is reproduced with the permission of the
author.
Source: Fidel Castro Was Anything But Courageous / 14ymedio, Andres
Oppenheimer – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/fidel-castro-was-anything-but-courageous-14ymedio-andres-oppenheimer/
Cuban Government Imposes Mourning By Force
Cuban Government Imposes Mourning By Force / 14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez
14ymedio,Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 29 November 2016 — Eulalia has two
obsessions in her life: listening to music and sitting in her easy chair
in the doorway of her home in the city of Alquízar, Artemis. There, she
watches the evening fall and keeps an eye on her chickens so they won't
end up "in other people's pots." As of Saturday she has not listened to
her boleros because the police are patrolling the streets to prevent
people from drinking alcohol, listening to music, or holding any
celebrations that contrast with the national mourning decreed for the
death of Fidel Castro.
"I was here in the doorway when they picked up the pedicab driver," said
Eulalia, a retired 80-year-old with two children in the United States.
The woman watched a scene this Sunday she will never forget: a uniformed
officer stopped the driver because "he had some speakers with music and
they told him to turn them off."
The entrepreneur refused to comply and the scene ended with a violent
arrest. "In this town not even a fly moves," said the elderly woman, who
believes that everyone should honor their dead however they please. "But
to force a whole nation… that seems like extremism to me," she added.
The scene is repeated everywhere. "My daughter turned 15 on Sunday" — a
milestone birthday in a girl's life often celebrated with as big a party
as the parents can afford — "and we had to cancel the planned party
because the police came by a few hours ahead of time and told us not to
do it," explained Ramon Carvajal, a resident of Havana's La Vibora
neighborhood. "We had planned to play the music softly behind closed
doors, but we couldn't do even that."
On the other hand, in the emergency room of Calixto Garcia Hospital one
of the guards welcomes the measure because, "since they suspended the
sale of alcohol it's quiet here, peaceful."
There are also those who want to sincerely express their sadness at the
death of the man who dominated the life of this island for more than
half a century. That is the case for a cameraman with the Cuban
Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) for whom the president "was
like one of the family, like a father who has always been close and now
is gone."
This pain is shared by Humberto, who drives for the Panataxi company,
and fears that Raul Castro will not follow the path of his brother,
"because he is not the same and there is a great difference in terms of
charisma." He also fears that after the funeral "everything will be
forgotten and the government itself with throw aside what has been
achieved here."
"We lost the Great One," said a newspaper seller this Sunday outside the
Payret movie theater in Old Havana. "That man had a power, aché, and he
was protected by a powerful dead," explained the man, referencing the
Afro-Cuban religions and the energy of the universe. "But I hope that
now he will look after us from the other side."
Nights in Havana are unrecognizable. "Nobody wants to risk their neck
and people are waiting for all this to be over," says Mizzy, a
transvestite who frequents Las Vegas caberet on Infanta Avenue. "What's
going to happen when they open up the sales of rum and beer again… there
are going to be deaths and injuries in the lines," he jokes. "Even
inside our homes we have to be careful, because the chivatón, the
snitch, is making waves," he explains, speaking of the whistleblowers
who alert the police if there are celebrations in any home.
However, it is not only amusements and drinks that are regulated. "I'm
building a house and I have to haul out some debris but no trucks want
to move in these conditions," says a resident of La Timba neighborhood.
"I had arranged with some friends to take the left over wood and bricks,
but they say there is a lot of control on the streets."
The government intends to present a picture of massive acknowledgement
and pain. It seems to have achieved it because the foreign press doesn't
look any deeper. The scenes on national television are of mourning and
homage to the deceased, the announcers are wearing barely any make-up
and two well-known presenters were captured on an open camera discussing
whether to open the program with the usual "Good morning."
"I'm looking for a DVD with movies because no one can stand this," a
retired ex-official from the Ministry of Foreign Trade told one of his
daughters, looking at the repetitive programming flooding the national
TV channels. "This is counterproductive, television is going to lose the
little audience that remains and then they won't be able to complain
that people prefer the Weekly Packet," he added.
In Sancti Spiritus, the residents are complaining that the Rapid
Response Brigades are roaming the streets and the city appears to be
under a state of siege. "People stay inside, there are a lot of
uniformed police and black berets," source who prefers to remain
anonymous told 14ymedio.
At dawn on 26 November, a few hours after the announcement of Castro's
death, two evangelical pastors were arrested in Manatí, in Las Tunas
province. The police forcefully entered the home of Rafael Rios Martinez
and his wife, Maria Secades, and arrested them for the mere fact
spreading their religious message through the speakers used during their
worship service.
No one wants to cross the line to disturb officialdom. "You have to sit
out the weather and wait," says Eulalia from her doorway in
Alquízar. The woman says that all these controls are designed to
"prevent scenes like in Miami, people are toasting and
celebrating." However, despite her age, she is determined to celebrate
the event: "On New Year's no one will forbid me from singing and getting
drunk; it will be late but it will be."
Source: Cuban Government Imposes Mourning By Force / 14ymedio, Marcelo
Hernandez – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-government-imposes-mourning-by-force-14ymedio-marcelo-hernandez/
14ymedio,Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 29 November 2016 — Eulalia has two
obsessions in her life: listening to music and sitting in her easy chair
in the doorway of her home in the city of Alquízar, Artemis. There, she
watches the evening fall and keeps an eye on her chickens so they won't
end up "in other people's pots." As of Saturday she has not listened to
her boleros because the police are patrolling the streets to prevent
people from drinking alcohol, listening to music, or holding any
celebrations that contrast with the national mourning decreed for the
death of Fidel Castro.
"I was here in the doorway when they picked up the pedicab driver," said
Eulalia, a retired 80-year-old with two children in the United States.
The woman watched a scene this Sunday she will never forget: a uniformed
officer stopped the driver because "he had some speakers with music and
they told him to turn them off."
The entrepreneur refused to comply and the scene ended with a violent
arrest. "In this town not even a fly moves," said the elderly woman, who
believes that everyone should honor their dead however they please. "But
to force a whole nation… that seems like extremism to me," she added.
The scene is repeated everywhere. "My daughter turned 15 on Sunday" — a
milestone birthday in a girl's life often celebrated with as big a party
as the parents can afford — "and we had to cancel the planned party
because the police came by a few hours ahead of time and told us not to
do it," explained Ramon Carvajal, a resident of Havana's La Vibora
neighborhood. "We had planned to play the music softly behind closed
doors, but we couldn't do even that."
On the other hand, in the emergency room of Calixto Garcia Hospital one
of the guards welcomes the measure because, "since they suspended the
sale of alcohol it's quiet here, peaceful."
There are also those who want to sincerely express their sadness at the
death of the man who dominated the life of this island for more than
half a century. That is the case for a cameraman with the Cuban
Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) for whom the president "was
like one of the family, like a father who has always been close and now
is gone."
This pain is shared by Humberto, who drives for the Panataxi company,
and fears that Raul Castro will not follow the path of his brother,
"because he is not the same and there is a great difference in terms of
charisma." He also fears that after the funeral "everything will be
forgotten and the government itself with throw aside what has been
achieved here."
"We lost the Great One," said a newspaper seller this Sunday outside the
Payret movie theater in Old Havana. "That man had a power, aché, and he
was protected by a powerful dead," explained the man, referencing the
Afro-Cuban religions and the energy of the universe. "But I hope that
now he will look after us from the other side."
Nights in Havana are unrecognizable. "Nobody wants to risk their neck
and people are waiting for all this to be over," says Mizzy, a
transvestite who frequents Las Vegas caberet on Infanta Avenue. "What's
going to happen when they open up the sales of rum and beer again… there
are going to be deaths and injuries in the lines," he jokes. "Even
inside our homes we have to be careful, because the chivatón, the
snitch, is making waves," he explains, speaking of the whistleblowers
who alert the police if there are celebrations in any home.
However, it is not only amusements and drinks that are regulated. "I'm
building a house and I have to haul out some debris but no trucks want
to move in these conditions," says a resident of La Timba neighborhood.
"I had arranged with some friends to take the left over wood and bricks,
but they say there is a lot of control on the streets."
The government intends to present a picture of massive acknowledgement
and pain. It seems to have achieved it because the foreign press doesn't
look any deeper. The scenes on national television are of mourning and
homage to the deceased, the announcers are wearing barely any make-up
and two well-known presenters were captured on an open camera discussing
whether to open the program with the usual "Good morning."
"I'm looking for a DVD with movies because no one can stand this," a
retired ex-official from the Ministry of Foreign Trade told one of his
daughters, looking at the repetitive programming flooding the national
TV channels. "This is counterproductive, television is going to lose the
little audience that remains and then they won't be able to complain
that people prefer the Weekly Packet," he added.
In Sancti Spiritus, the residents are complaining that the Rapid
Response Brigades are roaming the streets and the city appears to be
under a state of siege. "People stay inside, there are a lot of
uniformed police and black berets," source who prefers to remain
anonymous told 14ymedio.
At dawn on 26 November, a few hours after the announcement of Castro's
death, two evangelical pastors were arrested in Manatí, in Las Tunas
province. The police forcefully entered the home of Rafael Rios Martinez
and his wife, Maria Secades, and arrested them for the mere fact
spreading their religious message through the speakers used during their
worship service.
No one wants to cross the line to disturb officialdom. "You have to sit
out the weather and wait," says Eulalia from her doorway in
Alquízar. The woman says that all these controls are designed to
"prevent scenes like in Miami, people are toasting and
celebrating." However, despite her age, she is determined to celebrate
the event: "On New Year's no one will forbid me from singing and getting
drunk; it will be late but it will be."
Source: Cuban Government Imposes Mourning By Force / 14ymedio, Marcelo
Hernandez – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-government-imposes-mourning-by-force-14ymedio-marcelo-hernandez/
She is a Castro capitalist. And here is why she mourns the dictator’s death
She is a Castro capitalist. And here is why she mourns the dictator's death
BY TIM PADGETT
tpadgett@wlrnnews.org
HAVANA
Hundreds of thousands of Cubans filled Havana's Revolution Square
Tuesday night to bid farewell to Fidel Castro, who died Friday. We can't
know how many of them will actually miss the communist leader. But some
of the mourners are not who you'd expect.
Marianela Pérez is an independent Cuban entrepreneur who owns
Pizzanella, a popular paladar, or private restaurant, in Havana's Playa
district. The place is so popular that Pérez is adding a gourmet
expansion into the building next door.
Pérez doesn't have exile relatives in Miami. But she travels to the city
frequently to buy supplies and learn skills from restaurants like
Stanzione Ottanta Sette in Coral Gables. Ask Pérez what drove her to
become a successful business proprietor, and she'll tell you:
"Ambición." Ambition.
"Every human being feels it eventually, and so did I," Pérez said. "I
was working for the state cell phone company and making a pretty modest
salary, but I knew I wanted to own my own business" when the government
opened up the private sector in 2010.
It's paid off. Pérez has turned a tiny pizza cafe into a smart and
thriving Cuban-Italian bistro whose revenues have grown 15 to 20 percent
a year she started it in 2011. She shook President Barack Obama's hand
during his visit here this year.
So why would a model capitalist like her mourn the passing of Fidel
Castro, whose dictatorial communist rule railed against free enterprise?
"I'm one of many people who thank the Cuban Revolution for the education
and other benefits that prepared me to run a business," Pérez said. "I
don't consider that a contradiction."
That may be hard for Americans — especially Cuban Americans — to
understand. But in his later years, polls showed about a third of Cubans
still admired Castro.
And many of them were in Revolution Square Tuesday night.
Tim Padgett is the Latin America correspondent for WLRN-Miami Herald
News. His reports can be heard on 91.3 FM and read online at WLRN.org
Source: Castro capitalists: Why some Cuban business owners mourn Fidel
Castro's death | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/fidel-castro-en/article117894398.html
BY TIM PADGETT
tpadgett@wlrnnews.org
HAVANA
Hundreds of thousands of Cubans filled Havana's Revolution Square
Tuesday night to bid farewell to Fidel Castro, who died Friday. We can't
know how many of them will actually miss the communist leader. But some
of the mourners are not who you'd expect.
Marianela Pérez is an independent Cuban entrepreneur who owns
Pizzanella, a popular paladar, or private restaurant, in Havana's Playa
district. The place is so popular that Pérez is adding a gourmet
expansion into the building next door.
Pérez doesn't have exile relatives in Miami. But she travels to the city
frequently to buy supplies and learn skills from restaurants like
Stanzione Ottanta Sette in Coral Gables. Ask Pérez what drove her to
become a successful business proprietor, and she'll tell you:
"Ambición." Ambition.
"Every human being feels it eventually, and so did I," Pérez said. "I
was working for the state cell phone company and making a pretty modest
salary, but I knew I wanted to own my own business" when the government
opened up the private sector in 2010.
It's paid off. Pérez has turned a tiny pizza cafe into a smart and
thriving Cuban-Italian bistro whose revenues have grown 15 to 20 percent
a year she started it in 2011. She shook President Barack Obama's hand
during his visit here this year.
So why would a model capitalist like her mourn the passing of Fidel
Castro, whose dictatorial communist rule railed against free enterprise?
"I'm one of many people who thank the Cuban Revolution for the education
and other benefits that prepared me to run a business," Pérez said. "I
don't consider that a contradiction."
That may be hard for Americans — especially Cuban Americans — to
understand. But in his later years, polls showed about a third of Cubans
still admired Castro.
And many of them were in Revolution Square Tuesday night.
Tim Padgett is the Latin America correspondent for WLRN-Miami Herald
News. His reports can be heard on 91.3 FM and read online at WLRN.org
Source: Castro capitalists: Why some Cuban business owners mourn Fidel
Castro's death | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/fidel-castro-en/article117894398.html
Detained Cuban artist who mocked Castro’s death ‘was badly beaten,’ family says
Detained Cuban artist who mocked Castro's death 'was badly beaten,'
family says
BY ABEL FERNÁNDEZ
abfernandez@elnuevoherald.com
Cuban dissident artist Danilo "El Sexto" Maldonado, who was detained by
authorities on Saturday after mocking Fidel Castro's death, was severely
beaten, according to relatives who saw him at the detention center in
Guanabacoa.
"Danilo's mom saw him," the artist's girlfriend, Miami resident
Alexandra Martinez, 24, said late Tuesday. "He was badly beaten upon
entering Guanabacoa and suffered a severe asthma attack."
Authorities also confiscated his cell phone, she said.
Martinez said Maldonado's mother, Maria Victoria Machado, was allowed to
visit her son at a Guanabacoa police station, on the outskirts of
Havana, for the first time since he was violently detained Saturday
morning at his Havana apartment. Relatives called the arrest by Cuban
State Security a "kidnapping."
On Friday night, after hearing the news about the death of Fidel Castro,
Maldonado went around the city and drew several graffiti, including one
with his signature and the words "Se fue" (He's gone) on a wall at the
iconic Hotel Habana Libre, where Castro took up temporary residence in
1959 following his triumphant entrance into Havana alongside rebel
fighters, including brother Raúl Castro.
He also posted a video on Facebook mocking Fidel Castro's death and
urging viewers to "come out to the streets...and ask for liberty."
Since he was hauled away by authorities, Maldonado has been transferred
to at least three police stations in the Cuban capital.
Maldonado is accused of damaging public property, his girlfriend said.
But no official charges have been issued yet.
Martinez said that shortly after 11 a.m. Saturday, she received a call
from Maldonado saying that State Security agents entered his apartment.
According to neighbors, four uniformed officers and five others in
civilian clothes dragged Maldonado to a patrol car as he shouted, "Abajo
Fidel, Abajo Raúl!"
Several human rights organizations, as well as relatives and friends are
calling for the immediate release of Maldonado, who was scheduled to
participate this week at Miami Art Basel.
Maldonado's relatives said that the Cuban government is trying to
silence him during the national mourning over Castro's death.
Maldonado, 32, attempted to carry out a performance in 2014 at a park in
Havana featuring two pigs painted in green with the names "Fidel" and
"Raul." He was imprisoned without trial for 10 months.
Maldonado is the recepient of the Václav Havel International Award for
Creative Dissent awarded by the Human Rights Foundation.
ABEL FERNÁNDEZ IS ON TWITTER @ABELFGLEZ
Source: Cuban artists 'El Sexto' is beaten by authorities, family says |
Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/fidel-castro-en/article117981758.html
family says
BY ABEL FERNÁNDEZ
abfernandez@elnuevoherald.com
Cuban dissident artist Danilo "El Sexto" Maldonado, who was detained by
authorities on Saturday after mocking Fidel Castro's death, was severely
beaten, according to relatives who saw him at the detention center in
Guanabacoa.
"Danilo's mom saw him," the artist's girlfriend, Miami resident
Alexandra Martinez, 24, said late Tuesday. "He was badly beaten upon
entering Guanabacoa and suffered a severe asthma attack."
Authorities also confiscated his cell phone, she said.
Martinez said Maldonado's mother, Maria Victoria Machado, was allowed to
visit her son at a Guanabacoa police station, on the outskirts of
Havana, for the first time since he was violently detained Saturday
morning at his Havana apartment. Relatives called the arrest by Cuban
State Security a "kidnapping."
On Friday night, after hearing the news about the death of Fidel Castro,
Maldonado went around the city and drew several graffiti, including one
with his signature and the words "Se fue" (He's gone) on a wall at the
iconic Hotel Habana Libre, where Castro took up temporary residence in
1959 following his triumphant entrance into Havana alongside rebel
fighters, including brother Raúl Castro.
He also posted a video on Facebook mocking Fidel Castro's death and
urging viewers to "come out to the streets...and ask for liberty."
Since he was hauled away by authorities, Maldonado has been transferred
to at least three police stations in the Cuban capital.
Maldonado is accused of damaging public property, his girlfriend said.
But no official charges have been issued yet.
Martinez said that shortly after 11 a.m. Saturday, she received a call
from Maldonado saying that State Security agents entered his apartment.
According to neighbors, four uniformed officers and five others in
civilian clothes dragged Maldonado to a patrol car as he shouted, "Abajo
Fidel, Abajo Raúl!"
Several human rights organizations, as well as relatives and friends are
calling for the immediate release of Maldonado, who was scheduled to
participate this week at Miami Art Basel.
Maldonado's relatives said that the Cuban government is trying to
silence him during the national mourning over Castro's death.
Maldonado, 32, attempted to carry out a performance in 2014 at a park in
Havana featuring two pigs painted in green with the names "Fidel" and
"Raul." He was imprisoned without trial for 10 months.
Maldonado is the recepient of the Václav Havel International Award for
Creative Dissent awarded by the Human Rights Foundation.
ABEL FERNÁNDEZ IS ON TWITTER @ABELFGLEZ
Source: Cuban artists 'El Sexto' is beaten by authorities, family says |
Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/fidel-castro-en/article117981758.html
American trims daily flight schedule to Cuba, citing weak demand
American trims daily flight schedule to Cuba, citing weak demand
BY JACK KASKEY AND MARY SCHLANGENSTEIN
Bloomberg
U.S. airlines were ecstatic earlier this year when it was announced that
commercial flights would resume to Cuba after more than 50 years, with
one executive at a major carrier calling it almost a "once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity."
Yet as U.S. airlines began flights this week to Havana, the long-awaited
travel surge to Cuba is already in doubt.
Citing weak demand, American Airlines trimmed plans for almost a quarter
of its flights to Cuba early next year. And in a potentially crippling
blow, President-elect Donald Trump is threatening to rescind new relaxed
policies with the island nation, leaving the future of travel there in
limbo. Already, Trump's comments have prompted some travelers to
accelerate plans to visit Cuba before his inauguration or to delay them
until he makes his policies clear.
"People are afraid Trump is going to close the border again, and then it
will be impossible to go there," said Alexandre Chemla, founder of
Altour, the largest independently owned U.S. travel agency. "It's a
wait-and-see situation because of Trump and everything he said."
American's decision isn't related to Trump's potential pullback from
Cuba, said Matt Miller, an American Airlines spokesman, noting the
carrier implemented its cut the weekend before the presidential election.
The uncertainty represents a stark turnaround from March when U.S.
airlines sought permission to fly almost 60 daily round trips to Havana,
triple the 20 daily frequencies authorized under the agreement between
the U.S. and Cuba. They also applied for 10 daily round trips to each of
nine other destinations on the island.
That followed President Barack Obama's executive orders last year
clearing the way for travel agents and the public to book direct flights
to the communist nation as long as travelers qualify under 12 accepted
reasons for a visit, such as educational activities or visiting family.
A U.S. trade embargo continues to impose conditions on travel and commerce.
Eight airlines, including American, began initiating service to Havana
this week, with a total of 500 flights to the city expected to have been
completed by year end, according to the U.S. Department of
Transportation. Flights to smaller Cuban cities began earlier this year.
Any cutback to Cuba flights isn't likely to hurt the airlines' business
in a material way.
When U.S. carriers sought permission earlier this year to offer flights
to Cuba, Southwest Airlines' chief commercial officer, Bob Jordan, said,
"the pent-up desire to be able to travel to Cuba is tremendous" after
decades without commercial service.
"I wouldn't call this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it's pretty
close," he said at the time.
In American's application for flights, Chief Executive Officer Doug
Parker boasted that his airline had flown more U.S.-Cuban charter
flights than any other carrier over the last 25 years. That means that
American "is ready on day one to offer the benefit of a full schedule of
reliable frequencies to Cuba," Parker said.
Now, his airline is the first to backtrack. It will cut daily round-trip
flights between the U.S. and Cuba to 10, from 13, starting in
mid-February because of lower than expected demand, Miller said. The
company also will fly smaller jets on two routes, he said.
Other carriers, including Delta and Spirit, said bookings so far are in
line with expectations. Southwest declined to comment. But airlines have
kept fares low to fill seats, said Paul Berry, spokesman for Spirit,
known as an ultra-discount carrier.
"When fares are as low as ours, that means there's a lot of capacity,"
Berry said.
Olga Ramudo, owner of Express Travel in Coral Gables, said she expects
other airlines to follow American's lead and reduce service. There's too
much seat capacity, she said, particularly since Cuba lacks the kind of
hotel and transportation infrastructure that U.S. travelers generally
expect.
On Monday, days after the death of former Cuban President Fidel Castro,
Trump reiterated on Twitter a campaign pledge that he will "terminate"
Obama's new trade policies with the island nation unless it agrees to "a
better deal."
Some investors speculated that Castro's death could pave the way for
improved relations with the U.S. The $37 million Herzfeld Caribbean
Basin Fund, which holds stock in airlines, cruise lines, builders and
other companies that could gain if the U.S. lifts trade restrictions,
climbed 9.4 percent Monday, the biggest increase in nine months.
But that is wishful thinking if Trump rescinds Obama's policies, said
Erika Richter, spokeswoman for the American Society of Travel Agents.
She said tighter restrictions could hurt a range of business interests
in addition to airlines.
"We are trying to keep things as they are, where Americans have a right
to travel anywhere on the globe," she said.
BLOOMBERG'S MICHAEL SASSO CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.
Source: American trims daily flight schedule to Cuba, citing weak demand
| Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article118159323.html
BY JACK KASKEY AND MARY SCHLANGENSTEIN
Bloomberg
U.S. airlines were ecstatic earlier this year when it was announced that
commercial flights would resume to Cuba after more than 50 years, with
one executive at a major carrier calling it almost a "once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity."
Yet as U.S. airlines began flights this week to Havana, the long-awaited
travel surge to Cuba is already in doubt.
Citing weak demand, American Airlines trimmed plans for almost a quarter
of its flights to Cuba early next year. And in a potentially crippling
blow, President-elect Donald Trump is threatening to rescind new relaxed
policies with the island nation, leaving the future of travel there in
limbo. Already, Trump's comments have prompted some travelers to
accelerate plans to visit Cuba before his inauguration or to delay them
until he makes his policies clear.
"People are afraid Trump is going to close the border again, and then it
will be impossible to go there," said Alexandre Chemla, founder of
Altour, the largest independently owned U.S. travel agency. "It's a
wait-and-see situation because of Trump and everything he said."
American's decision isn't related to Trump's potential pullback from
Cuba, said Matt Miller, an American Airlines spokesman, noting the
carrier implemented its cut the weekend before the presidential election.
The uncertainty represents a stark turnaround from March when U.S.
airlines sought permission to fly almost 60 daily round trips to Havana,
triple the 20 daily frequencies authorized under the agreement between
the U.S. and Cuba. They also applied for 10 daily round trips to each of
nine other destinations on the island.
That followed President Barack Obama's executive orders last year
clearing the way for travel agents and the public to book direct flights
to the communist nation as long as travelers qualify under 12 accepted
reasons for a visit, such as educational activities or visiting family.
A U.S. trade embargo continues to impose conditions on travel and commerce.
Eight airlines, including American, began initiating service to Havana
this week, with a total of 500 flights to the city expected to have been
completed by year end, according to the U.S. Department of
Transportation. Flights to smaller Cuban cities began earlier this year.
Any cutback to Cuba flights isn't likely to hurt the airlines' business
in a material way.
When U.S. carriers sought permission earlier this year to offer flights
to Cuba, Southwest Airlines' chief commercial officer, Bob Jordan, said,
"the pent-up desire to be able to travel to Cuba is tremendous" after
decades without commercial service.
"I wouldn't call this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it's pretty
close," he said at the time.
In American's application for flights, Chief Executive Officer Doug
Parker boasted that his airline had flown more U.S.-Cuban charter
flights than any other carrier over the last 25 years. That means that
American "is ready on day one to offer the benefit of a full schedule of
reliable frequencies to Cuba," Parker said.
Now, his airline is the first to backtrack. It will cut daily round-trip
flights between the U.S. and Cuba to 10, from 13, starting in
mid-February because of lower than expected demand, Miller said. The
company also will fly smaller jets on two routes, he said.
Other carriers, including Delta and Spirit, said bookings so far are in
line with expectations. Southwest declined to comment. But airlines have
kept fares low to fill seats, said Paul Berry, spokesman for Spirit,
known as an ultra-discount carrier.
"When fares are as low as ours, that means there's a lot of capacity,"
Berry said.
Olga Ramudo, owner of Express Travel in Coral Gables, said she expects
other airlines to follow American's lead and reduce service. There's too
much seat capacity, she said, particularly since Cuba lacks the kind of
hotel and transportation infrastructure that U.S. travelers generally
expect.
On Monday, days after the death of former Cuban President Fidel Castro,
Trump reiterated on Twitter a campaign pledge that he will "terminate"
Obama's new trade policies with the island nation unless it agrees to "a
better deal."
Some investors speculated that Castro's death could pave the way for
improved relations with the U.S. The $37 million Herzfeld Caribbean
Basin Fund, which holds stock in airlines, cruise lines, builders and
other companies that could gain if the U.S. lifts trade restrictions,
climbed 9.4 percent Monday, the biggest increase in nine months.
But that is wishful thinking if Trump rescinds Obama's policies, said
Erika Richter, spokeswoman for the American Society of Travel Agents.
She said tighter restrictions could hurt a range of business interests
in addition to airlines.
"We are trying to keep things as they are, where Americans have a right
to travel anywhere on the globe," she said.
BLOOMBERG'S MICHAEL SASSO CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.
Source: American trims daily flight schedule to Cuba, citing weak demand
| Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article118159323.html
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