State Inefficiency, Convenient Business

State Inefficiency, Convenient Business / Cubanet, Ernesto Perez Chang
Posted on May 27, 2015

Cubanet.org, Ernesto Perez Chang, Havana, 22 May 2015 — Attestations
about poor or non-existent attention in Cuban state businesses are so
abundant that few pay attention to them. In order to offer a response to
the indignant, the island's official press searches for causes of such
abuse not in the inefficiency of the state enterprise but in other
absurd factors like poor education or lack of professionalism, which do
not reveal the corrupt essence of a system that, in spite of the proof
of its uselessness, will be kept in place by government will, as is
expressed in the Guidelines of the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party.

Why do we receive better treatment in a private restaurant or cafeteria?
Why do customer demands bother the clerk and managers of a state eatery
and why do they not improve the quality of their offerings? Why do they
hide behind any justification in order to remain closed or to reduce
their public service hours to the minimum?

According to Vladimir Rodriguez, owner of a busy little restaurant in
downtown Vedado, the problem is in the objectives of each:

"As the owner of my business I seek to attract more customers, to offer
more variety. I listen to the opinions of the people, the suggestions, I
serve them like they were kings because it winds up as earnings. In a
state restaurant the earnings do not come from the clients' consumption
and satisfaction but in that quite miserable thing that happens in the
warehouse, in the sale to the black market of everything that arrives to
be produced and sold to the customers, who turn into a nuisance. What
little gets to the table is only to justify the work in case an
inspector comes, but the clerks as well as the manager live on the black
market.

"That is something everyone knows. (…) I worked for years in restaurants
in Havana, even in luxury hotels in Varadero, and what I saw in the
kitchens is nasty. (…) Rice that customers leave on their plates went
back in the casseroles, a bit of meat, salads, the olives, everything
that people leave on the plates is served again. That is way of dealing
with leftovers. That's why I left and opened my own business. I would
not be caught dead in a State restaurant; God only knows what they are
serving you."

For Iraida, a clerk in a private cafeteria in Arroyo Naranjo, the matter
is more complicated: "It is a secret to no one that in the stores as
well as in all the state enterprises the people do not work, they are
going, as they say, to struggle, that is to say, to steal. And the worst
is that the government knows it and "plays the silly goat" [pretends not
to know]. (…) Why? Because it is convenient for them. If they attack the
black market the people will rebel because everyone lives off that, even
them. There, yes, the revolution is over. They promised to create a
wholesale market for the self-employed and even now we continue in the
same way, buying on the black market because there is nothing in the
stores or if there is, it is hidden in the warehouses, so that you have
to buy from a warehouseman, who has a fix with the manager, and so forth
and so on. There you realize that the government is involved in that
mess (…) if it does not benefit with money, at least it does by leaving
it to the people 'to struggle' so that they see the 'blessings of
socialism.' In troubled waters, fishermen gain."

Marta Li, owner of a café in Vedado, illustrates for us with her own
examples what she considers the superiority of private enterprise. "In a
State café no one worries about serving the customer well because it
does not end up as earnings. They sell or not, the salary is the same
for the manager as well as for the sales clerk. They care about what is
left from a liter of oil and the chicken, to resell the cheese and the
spaghetti; they are not sold because no one would buy them. I, on the
other hand, have to constantly create sales strategies; my objective is
that nothing is left, not in the pots or in the freezers, to sell
everything because what I have paid is quite a lot. (…) Since I am close
to the university, I make offers to the students who present their
student ID, I discount the price. Sometimes for someone who buys more
than one pizza or for a repeat customer I give them a free drink. People
come because they know that they will receive good attention. It is not
about lowering prices but giving good service."

A former civil servant of a business enterprise in Havana, who wishes to
remain anonymous because she is currently the owner of a restaurant,
tells us of her experiences in a state business:

"Satisfying the customer is the last of the priorities [of a state
enterprise]. Whatever it may be. They all work in order to steal
everything that can be stolen and in the least time possible. One enters
with good intentions and ends up coming to terms with the corruption
because there is no other path. (…) The socialist economy has neither
feet nor head. When I studied [economics] at the university the
professors themselves said that there is no way to explain the Cuban
economy. And when you try to apply any model you realize that they all
fail. (…) It is not that you propose to steal, it's that you have to do
it because everyone is out for himself. It didn't matter to me or to any
of the workers in all the stores where I worked, which were more than
twenty; it didn't matter if the wages were low or not, not even the
bonus, the salary was a formality, the true earnings are not even on the
counter as many think. Where the money comes from (…) is not the
counter. And be careful with making yourself the conscious one [honest]
because you wind up blaming yourself for everything."

Will they be able someday to prove the efficiency of the socialist state
enterprise, as Cuban leaders claim, based on a couple of suspicious
exceptions? According to the recent statements by Miguel Diaz-Canel,
this "demonstrative work" is one of the main undertakings of "the
country's leadership with the Cuban people." As if half a century of
failures that we Cubans currently suffer did not matter, the government
pushes to prolong an economic experiment behind which is hidden a vast
fabric of corruption.

Against that piece of nonsense, for years it has been very common to
hear on the street a phrase that sums up the inefficiency of state
enterprises: "The government pretends to pay us, and we pretend to work."

Satisfying the customer is the objective of private business. There are
more menu items than in State companies. This snack bar gives students
5% off (photo by author)


About the Author
Ernest Perez Chang (El Cerro, Havana, 15 June 1971). Writer, graduate in
philology from the University of Havana. He studied Galician Language
and Culture in the University of Santiago de Compostela. He has
published the novels: Your Eyes Are in front of Nothing (2006) and
Alicia under Her Own Shadow (2012). At the end of 2014, the publisher
Silueta, in Miami, will publish his most recent novel: Food. He is also
the author of books of stories: Last Photos of Mama Nude (2000); Sade's
Ghosts (2002); Stories of Silk (2003); Variations for the Preliterate
(2007), The Art of Dying Alone (2011) and One Hundred Deadly Stories
(2014). His narrative work has been recognized with prizes: David de
Cuento of the Cuban Gazette twice, 1998 and 2008; Julio Cortazar Latin
American Story prize on its first call in 2002; National Critics Prize
in 2007; Alejo Carpentier Story Prize in 2011, among others. He has
worked as editor for numerous Cuban cultural institutions like the House
of the Americas (1997-2008), Art and Literature Publisher, the Center
for Research and Development of Cuban Music. He was Chief Editor for the
magazine Union (2008-11).

Translated by MLK

Source: State Inefficiency, Convenient Business / Cubanet, Ernesto Perez
Chang | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/state-inefficiency-convenient-business-cubanet-ernesto-perez-chang/

Reporters Without Borders to Hollande: “Mr. President, France should…”

Reporters Without Borders to Hollande: "Mr. President, France should…"
Posted on May 27, 2015

Reporters Without Borders to Hollande: "Mr. President, France should
seek the immediate and unconditional release of Yoennis de Jesus Guerra
Garcia, Juan Antonio Torres, and Angell Santiesteban-Prats."

Note: This post was written by the editor of Angel's blog.

Once again, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) demonstrates its commitment
to the serious situation in Cuba and writes an open letter to French
President Francois Hollande.

On the occasion of the upcoming visit of Hollande to Cuba, they asked
him to live up to the pledge he made in 2003 in a column in Le Nouvel
Observateur, "Tell the Truth", and asked him:

"Mr. President, France should seek the immediate and unconditional
release of Yoennis de Jesús Guerra García, Juan Antonio Torres, and
Ángel Santiesteban-Prats. France can do no less than urge the Cuban
authorities to stop the repression and censorship of purveyors of
independent information."

Thank you from here on behalf of Angel Santiesteban-Prats for the
relentless support provided by RSF for all those in Cuba who suffer the
consequences of exercising the right to freedom of expression and
information inside a dictatorship.

Eternal gratitude,

The Editor of Angel's blog

Cuba: "The silence of the friends of Cuba would be a form of
complicity." (Francois Hollande, 2003)

Published Thursday, May 7, 2015

On Monday, May 11, 2015, French President Francois Hollande will be the
first French head of state to visit Cuba since 1959, and the first
Western leader to do so since the announcement of the resumption of
diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba, announced last December
17. A historic visit, and a historic responsibility: to "tell the
truth," as in the title of the column about Cuba written by François
Hollande (attached here) published in Le Nouvel Observateur in 2003.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) sent an open letter to the President
requesting him to urge his counterpart Raul Castro to improve the
situation—which is dire—of the freedom of information on the island.

François Hollande
President of the Republic
Elysée Palace
55 Rue du Faubourg Saint‐Honoré
75008 París

May 7, 2015

Mr. President,

Before you make your trip to Cuba, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an
organization that defends freedom of information, would like to call
your attention to the situation—which remains very critical—of
professional and amateur journalists in Cuba. This country, which every
year ranks last in the Americas in the 2015 Worldwide Classification of
Freedom of the Press by Reporters Without Borders, ranked 169th out of
180 countries. This position reflects the apparent lack of pluralism and
the difficult and dangerous situation in which journalists and
independent bloggers operate in order to evade censorship and to publish
independent information.

With a historic visit comes a historic responsibility: in the column you
wrote and which was published in Le Nouvel Observateur on February 27,
2003, entitled "Telling the Truth," you stated bluntly: "Silence by the
friends of Cuba would be a form of complicity facing a system that we
condemn elsewhere," and you urged "supporting the Cuban people to the
end and telling the truth about the inhumanity, both of the embargo and
of the Cuban regime. Both are unjustifiable."

You had no doubt about the role of France: "We demand the release of all
political prisoners and the abolition of censorship." In the name of
these principles, France cannot remain silent.

Mr. President, despite the desire for openness that the Cuban government
now displays in the diplomatic arena, it retains an almost complete
monopoly on information and does not tolerate the existence of any
independent media on the island. The traditional press and online media
remain censored; the internet remains under close surveillance.

An exception to this lead cloak: the website of the independent news
agency Hablemos Press. Since 2011 Hablemos Press was inaccessible on the
island, but last March 12th, as part of an anti-cybercensorship
operation, Reporters Without Borders unlocked its website. The Cuban
government did nothing, an exception that should be the rule. Mr.
President, France cannot forget that an opening can only be real and
beneficial to the population if the island is also open to plural and
independent information.

Independent journalists and bloggers continue to exercise their
profession in the midst of a difficult and dangerous situation: their
computers are confiscated and their mobile phones are disconnected; they
are cited by the State Security Department and ordered to change their
editorial slant. Also, they continue to suffer intimidation, smear
campaigns, death threats, assaults, arrests and arbitrary detentions.

Even the World Day of Press Freedom on May 3rd served as a pretext for
repression. Three independent journalists covering the march of the
Ladies in White were arrested in Havana. They had distributed the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Mr. President, France cannot
continue to be silent about the arbitrary imprisonment of journalists.

Cuban authorities seem to increasingly prefer arbitrary detentions of
short duration to prevent purveyors of information from doing their jobs
and to keep them quiet. Yoeni de Jesús Guerra García (a blogger from
Yayabo Press sentenced to seven years in prison in 2014), Jose Antonio
Torres (a journalist from the official newspaper Granma, who was
sentenced in July 2012 to 14 years in prison) and the blogger Ángel
Santiesteban-Prats (author of the informative blog The Children Nobody
Wanted, sentenced to five years in prison in 2013), are all currently
serving long prison sentences.

Their crimes? Having spread information considered "anti-revolutionary"
or "slanderous." Ángel Santiesteban-Prats was sentenced to five years in
prison for "domestic violence with injuries;" he was charged with a
common criminal offense to reduce the political impact of his
imprisonment. Since entering prison he has suffered ill-treatment and
torture. A lack of legal clarity clouds his situation. Mr. President,
France should seek the immediate and unconditional release of Yoennis de
Jesús Guerra García, Juan Antonio Torres, and Ángel Santiesteban-Prats.

France can do no less than urge the Cuban authorities to stop the
repression and censorship of purveyors of independent information.
France should also intervene with the Cuban authorities and ask them to
allow access to Cuba by international organizations defending human
rights and freedom of expression and information, such as Reporters
Without Borders. This, keeping in mind your desired objective: "to tell
the truth."

Thanking you for your attention to this request, Mr. President, I send
my warmest greetings.

Sincerely,

Christophe Deloire

Secretary General

See:
https://hijosnadieeng.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/cuba_dire_la_verite_francois_hollande-2-15fd3.jpg?w=768&h=1050

Source: Reporters Without Borders to Hollande: "Mr. President, France
should…" | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/reporters-without-borders-to-hollande-mr-president-france-should/

The Cuban Market Mirage

The Cuban Market Mirage
BY JOSÉ R. CÁRDENASMAY 27, 2015 - 1:18 PM

It's a safe bet that neither Cy Tokmakjian or Stephen Purvis will be
attending a Brookings Institution event next week on doing business in
Cuba. Canadian and British businessmen, respectively, they each suffered
through Kafkaesque ordeals in Cuba after they did just that, somehow
running afoul of some regulation in Cuba's opaque and arbitrary judicial
system. After being imprisoned for months and robbed of their assets by
the Castro government, they were finally released only after heavy
diplomatic pressure by their governments.

Indeed, of all the justifications for President Obama's about-face on
Cuba policy — that it will serve to moderate the Castro regime's
behavior, improve human rights, or that it will transform U.S.-Latin
America relations — perhaps the biggest whopper in defense of the new
policy is that Cuba's bankrupt economy represents a gold mine for U.S.
producers and investors.

Thus, we are currently being treated to a succession of trade
delegations, assorted junkets, and conferences — encouraged by the Obama
administration — selling the American public on the notion that a U.S.
economic windfall lies right around the corner.

Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, who told the Miami Herald that she
will lead a trade delegation as soon as relations are normalized and
embassies are open, was quoted as saying, "Companies are already going.
Google led a delegation. You're seeing people going to visit. That's
because, as I said, there's enormous excitement — excitement from the
entrepreneurial community in Cuba and excitement here in the United
States about that. I think they deserve our support."

However, if you look hard enough, not all U.S. officials are so
sanguine. Pritzker's own undersecretary for international trade, Stefan
Selig, told the Washington Post, "We are embarking on a process that is
complicated. We should remember Cuba is a small country, and a poor
country. I don't think we should be overly excited about the near-term
economic prospects." U.S. Department of Agriculture under secretary
Michael Scuse recently cautioned an eager Senate panel that it was
important not to "minimize the obstacles" in Cuba, such as the country's
limited purchasing power and its widespread market underdevelopment.

How could it be any other way? The reality of Cuba is that five decades
of centralized political and economic control have impoverished the
island both materially and spiritually. And the prospects are hardly
uplifting. The dead hand of the regime still controls nearly 100 percent
of economic activity and, to the extent there is any semblance of
reform, it exists only at the margins.

For anyone eyeing Cuba from abroad, the Castro government lacks hard
currency and infrastructure, has an abysmal credit rating, and restricts
internet use. As one experienced foreigner points out, "Your state
partner is also the supplier, the employer of your staff, the buyer, the
regulating authority and the entity that taxes you. So it's a complex
place to enter into a normal business transaction."

Pedro Freyre, a partner at the law firm Akerman who knows Cuba told
Politico that, "While I think that the business community recognizes
Cuba's potential, there's also the reality that Cuba is bankrupt. Cuba
is grossly in need of investment … but they don't have a philosophy,
don't have the legal infrastructure to support any kind of mid-level to
even higher-level industry." According to John Kavulich, president of
the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, "This is not Dubai just 90
miles south of the U.S., saying, 'Please sell us your products.'"

To say trading with Cuba involves personal and financial risk is a gross
understatement, as the ordeals of Tokmakjian and Purvis attest. Don't
look for or expect transparency, legal guarantees, and predictability —
none of which the Cuban government is capable of providing. And don't
look for a local economy that rewards innovation, risk taking, or hard
work. That's the Cuban economic reality and no amount of irrational
exuberance and ideological cheerleading changes those facts.

It is clear by now that Obama's reversal of five decades of isolating
the Castro regime rests on little else than hope; hope that just doing
something different could translate into something good developing
organically sometime in the future. But hope is a pretty thin reed on
which to base a policy under such scrutiny, and that means sexing up its
about-face on Cuba by convincing people that there really are immediate
and tangible benefits to it — and that means selling the notion that
bankrupt Cuba is like an overripe mango waiting to plucked by American
business.

Source: The Cuban Market Mirage | Foreign Policy -
https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/05/27/the-cuban-market-mirage/

En Santa Clara escasea hasta la sangre

En Santa Clara escasea hasta la sangre
Ante el agotamiento de las reservas del Banco de Sangre provincial, las
cirugías están paralizadas casi en su totalidad. Solo se efectúan por
urgencias, tales como amputaciones y otras complicaciones
miércoles, mayo 27, 2015 | Villaclara Press

SANTA CLARA, Cuba. – Funcionarios del Banco de Sangre provincial en
Santa Clara, alarmados por el agotamiento de las reservas de este vital
tejido líquido, hacen un llamado a la población e instituciones para que
colaboren con donaciones, según informó a este reportero Idalia Mena,
trabajadora de Salud Pública en la provincia.

Expresó Idalia que las cirugías están paralizadas casi en su totalidad,
solo se efectúan por urgencias, casos comprometidos que no pueden
esperar, tales como amputaciones y otras complicaciones.

Agregó que también se afectan por la falta de sangre los servicios a
pacientes con tratamientos sitostáticos, en Oncología y también el
sector de la Dermatología, además se afecta la producción del plasma,
muy necesario para pacientes inmunodeprimidos.

La Dr. Idalmis Fernández Jure, Directora del Banco de Sangre provincial,
comentó a la radio oficialista que, en efecto, las reservas están muy
bajas, principalmente en los grupos O negativa, B negativa y A negativa.
La asistencia de donantes voluntarios es pobre y la mayoría de las
personas que hoy asisten a donar lo hacen con la intención de
interrumpir un embarazo no deseado, acotó.

Robeisy Zapata, trabajador de los Ferrocarriles de Cuba y periodista
independiente, apuntó que él tiene que donar su sangre con relativa
frecuencia por problemas de salud, pero que últimamente las autoridades
no esperan a que se presente, sino que casi siempre va la enfermera con
un médico a hablarle para que acuda. "Lo más lindo del caso es que uno
llega al banco de sangre y no encuentra alguien que lo atienda. Da la
impresión de que no están trabajando".

(Guillermo del Sol)

Source: En Santa Clara escasea hasta la sangre | Cubanet -
http://www.cubanet.org/mas-noticias/en-santa-clara-escasea-hasta-la-sangre/

Guyana awaits Cuban experts to help revive sugar sector

Guyana awaits Cuban experts to help revive sugar sector

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana's prime minister says Cuba has pledged
to help revive the South American country's sluggish sugar industry.

Moses Nagamootoo says Cuba will send a group of experts to advise the
government on how to rebuild its sugar sector. He made the announcement
after meeting Tuesday with Cuba's vice president in Guyana.

No further details were provided.

Guyana is the largest sugar-producing country in the Caribbean Community
trade bloc, but it has seen a steady drop in production. The government
also says it has run out of money to pay the salaries of workers at the
state-owned Guyana Sugar Corporation.

Cuba has struggled to revive its own sugar industry, though output has
recovered somewhat since 2010's 1.1 million tons, the lowest in a
century. It once regularly produced 6 million tons.

Source: Guyana awaits Cuban experts to help revive sugar sector - Yahoo
News -
http://news.yahoo.com/guyana-awaits-cuban-experts-help-revive-sugar-sector-150318628.html;_ylt=AwrC0CPd5mZVKjcAtTzQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTByZnU4cmNpBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM5BHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--

Byrne Goes To Cuba

Byrne Goes To Cuba
Updated: May 27, 2015 8:35 PM
By Bill RialesCONNECT

Alabama Congressman Bradley Byrne says he is headed to Cuba to see first
hand what the U.S. is up against with negotiations aimed at normal trade
relations with the communist country.

Those negotiations have been ongoing. Attempts at a more normal
relationship with the island nation were a hot topic a few months ago,
but have since grown cold as the Cuban leadership demanded reparations
and more incentives after years of a U.S. embargo.

We caught up with Byrne one day before he will leave to visit Cuba. He
was touring a Baldwin County company, Bay Wood Products. It is one of
many that could benefit from a thaw in our relationship with Cuba.

But Byrne has urged caution when it comes to normalizing trade, even
while realizing what could be a huge economic benefit for the Port of
Mobile, Mobile and Baldwin Counties and the State of Alabama.

He has concerns over the Cubans relationship with Russia, Russian
vessels allowed in the Port of Havana, and the countries sketchy record
of human rights.

The trip will conclude on Sunday. Byrne will travel with a handful of
other Republican and Democratic Congressmen, and a non-profit group that
includes experts on Cuba.

Source: Byrne Goes To Cuba -
http://www.wkrg.com/story/29170249/byrne-goes-to-cuba

Cuba detains Tania Bruguera with Havana Biennial in full swing. How will the art world react?

Cuba detains Tania Bruguera with Havana Biennial in full swing. How will
the art world react?
Carolina A. Miranda
LOS ANGELES TIMES
carolina.miranda​@latimes.com

Performance artist Tania Bruguera was detained and released by
authorities in Cuba on Sunday — as the 12th Havana Biennial opened its
doors to the world. She is seen here reading a text by Hannah Arendt as
part of a performance over the weekend. (Pablo León de la Barra /
#YoTambienExijo)

A Cuban dissident artist detained as the 12 Havana Biennial parties on
'Don't do anything. This is nonviolent.' Cuban performance artist Tania
Bruguera on her recent detention
Watch video of the moment Tania Bruguera is detained in Cuba
The latest edition of the Havana Biennial kicked off Friday, but the
Cuban artist everyone is talking about does not have a piece in the show.

Tania Bruguera was once again detained by the authorities on Sunday
afternoon after staging a performance at her Havana home, in which she
and others read passages from Hannah Arendt's "The Origins of
Totalitarianism." A video by the civil rights group Patriotic Union of
Cuba, embedded in this post, records the moment in which state security
agents approach her on the street.

Bruguera was released that same afternoon. But the detention comes at an
uncomfortable moment for the Cuban government — just as the art world
has descended on the 12th Havana Biennial, an event that has drawn a
jet-setting group of international curators, artists and collectors to
the Cuban capital for exhibitions, parties and private studio tours.

All of it raises questions about Bruguera's continuing legal limbo. The
artist is a Cuban national, but as an internationally recognized artist,
she spends much of her time teaching and staging her work abroad. She
returned to Cuba in December and was first detained just before New
Year's Eve for attempting to stage a performance about freedom of
expression in Havana's iconic Revolution Square.

The Cuban government hasn't formally filed any charges against her, but
Bruguera had her passport confiscated, and it has yet to be returned.
For the time being, she is unable to leave Cuba.

Within the art world, there had been some online talk of a boycott in
advance of the biennial — but that effort didn't garner much steam. For
the most part, the exhibition has proceeded as planned.

But artist Paul Ramirez Jonas says it's not too late for the curators
and artists who are in Havana to do something. In a Facebook status
update he called on the international art community members present in
Cuba to take action: "If you are in Havana please don't act like it is
business as usual — because it isn't. Ask every government official,
curator, and (why not) the artists, as well, about Tania."

"Many of us who chose not to participate in the Biennial or related
shows have done what we could from the outside," he adds. "If you are in
Cuba now is your chance to do something."

Tania Bruguera on her art, her detentions and what happens next
Bruguera couldn't be reached for comment. But in a taped interview with
the a reporter from the Cuban news website Martí shortly after she was
released, she sounds firm in her mission to make art that touches a
nerve — whether it's in Cuba or anywhere else.

"When they were going to take me, I turned around to everyone who was
there and said, 'Don't shout,'" she says. "Nothing. Don't do anything.
This is nonviolent."

Find me on Twitter @cmonstah.

Source: Cuba detains Tania Bruguera with Havana Biennial in full swing.
How will the art world react? - LA Times -
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/miranda/la-et-cam-tania-bruguera-detention-cuba-havana-biennial-20150526-column.html