In Cuba, Hopes for a New Capitalist Season
In Cuba, Hopes for a New Capitalist SeasonCastro Resignation Could Open a Path For Small Businesses
By Manuel Roig-FranziaWashington Post Foreign ServiceSunday, February 24, 2008; A15
COJIMAR, Cuba, Feb. 23 — Idalberto Estrada really wanted to make a sale.
He slashed a slender blade through the barklike brown skin of a yucaroot, a staple of the meager Cuban diet. A woman with brightly dyed redhair leaned in skeptically, examining the root's white flesh beneathEstrada's sidewalk umbrella in this Havana suburb.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Estrada, 37, said, smiling hopefully.
The woman handed over a faded peso, and Estrada sighed with relief,knowing he was closer to breaking even for the day. In a country wheremore than 97 percent of adults work for the government and most privatebusinesses are illegal, Estrada is an entrepreneur, opting for the risksand rewards of a tiny business over working for the state.
Estrada's experience as a mini-capitalist in this socialist nation wasmade possible by a mid-1990s reform that legalized about 150 types ofmicro-businesses and was pushed for by Fidel Castro's brother, Raúl.Fidel, 81, announced his retirement Tuesday after half a century ofdominance, and Raúl, 76, is expected to be named president when theNational Assembly meets Sunday.
Estrada and the 100,000 to 150,000 other self-employed Cubans provide aglimpse of what the future might look like here, and help explain someof the low-intensity excitement about the possibility of historicchange. Estrada sometimes earns three or four times what he made beforequitting the Cuban navy six years ago, when his pay was the equivalentof $17 a month. He still struggles to make ends meet, but he is muchbetter off than the overwhelming majority of his neighbors who live inrotting homes with spotty plumbing and have to feed themselves on statesalaries as low as $11 a month.
Raúl, who has been interim president in the 19 months since Fidelunderwent multiple intestinal surgeries, has stoked hopes of even moredramatic change by hinting for months about "structural and conceptual"shifts in Cuba's economy. Economists and many islanders see much inRaúl's track record to suggest that he may expand private businessopportunities and perhaps even restore some of the vaunted mid-1990sreforms that his all-powerful brother dismantled.
"I see it as a great possibility that Raúl will make changes to Cuba'seconomy," Óscar Espinosa Chepe, a former Cuban government economist anddiplomat who was imprisoned in a 2003 crackdown on dissidents, said inan interview. "He is much more pragmatic than his brother."
For all the expectations of a Raúl Castro presidency, there is still ahint of suspense in the capital of Havana. Cubans, who love politicalgossip, have speculated since Tuesday about possible alternativescenarios, including the appointment of a puppet president from theCouncil of State, the selection of Vice President Carlos Lage instead ofRaúl or a theatrically staged demand by the National Assembly for Fidelto reverse his decision and make a triumphant return to the presidency.But even in the unlikely event that Raúl is not named president, hewould still be expected to play a huge role in shaping Cuba's economy.
Raúlpushed to make some self-employment legal in the mid-1990s as Cuba'seconomy was staggering and its populace starving after the Soviet Unioncollapsed. Besides allowing produce vendors, the government also begangranting licenses for guesthouses, mechanic shops and small restaurants,known as paladares.
But the biggest change Fidel let his brother talk him into was allowingmore tourism. About 270,000 tourists went to Cuba in 1989. By 2006, thatfigure had jumped to 2.2 million, with nearly one in four touristscoming from Canada, according to the Cuban government. Once a bargain,Havana is now one of the most expensive cities to visit in LatinAmerica, with rooms at more than half a dozen top hotels going for $200to $600 a night.
The influx of foreign money from tourism and joint ventures in mining,tobacco and citrus stabilized Cuba's economy in the late 1990s and early2000s. (The Cuban government keeps up to 30 percent of profits.) Andthat's when Fidel Castro's government began taking back some of thebusiness liberties it had granted.
The longtime leader complained about "inequalities" that self-employmentwas creating and railed against a "new rich class" that was paid bytourists in U.S. dollars that had much more buying power than the Cubanpeso. In 2004, his government stopped granting self-employment licensesfor 40 types of businesses. Among those who could no longer work forthemselves were masseuses, magicians and clowns. Other businessesremained technically legal but were effectively closed because licensesweren't renewed.
The number of self-employed Cubans plummeted from 200,000 in themid-1990s to 100,000 now, according to Antonio Jorge, a recently retiredFlorida International University economics professor who was a topfinance official in the first two years of Fidel's reign. The Cubangovernment says 150,000 people are self-employed.
There was also a major crackdown on paladares, the small restaurantsthat were thriving because their owners were preparing meals that werefar superior to the drab offerings in most state-run restaurants. In thelate 1990s, it was estimated that Havana had more than 1,000 paladares;some of their owners were achieving worldwide fame. Now, there may befewer than 100, said a Cuban government economist who spoke on conditionof anonymity for fear of repercussions.
Privately, another Cuban official justified many of the closings, sayingpaladares were shut down for sanitation violations. But the Cubangovernment economist said the majority were forced out of business bythe state, which then clandestinely became the real owner of severalsuccessful paladares that pretend to be privately owned. Other paladaresstayed in business by bribing government officials.
"They want to get rid of us all," said a paladar owner who asked thathis name not be revealed.
Raúl Castro hasn't focused on Cuban restaurants in his public speeches,but he speaks frequently about the farmers who supply them. Jorge andthe government economist each predicted that Ra¿l might begin deedingfarmland to campesinos, or poor farmers. During a speech last July, Raúl– who is known for his wry, biting humor — said he'd admired themarabú growing on the roadsides. Marabú is a thorny bush that spreadsacross untilled fields. The message was clear: Cuba'sgovernment-controlled farmers were not doing their job well. Currently,half of Cuba's arable land is not cultivated, but many here believeprivate ownership of some farmland would free farmers to produce more ina country that imports 80 percent of its food.
Estrada, the Cojimar produce vendor, often buys his squash and yuca fromJosé Francisco Anaya León, a 58-year-old Cuban. Unlike Estrada, AnayaLeón is not self-employed. He farms government land, then sells threesquash at very low prices to the government for every one he sells tovendors such as Estrada at a higher price.
Anaya León may have a guaranteed buyer for most of his crop, but hedoesn't make enough to live decently. Estrada said he has no guaranteedbuyers, but he flipped a cabbage in his hand and smiled anyway.
"Everybody in the world would want this, to be independent," he said."Human beings are ambitious."
Cuban exiles trapped in emotional limbo
SOUTH FLORIDA | CUBAN EXILESCuban exiles trapped in emotional limboIs Castro dead or alive? Will there be change in Cuba? Now, an FIUprofessor has given a name to the emotional seesaw that plagues manyMiami exiles — unresolved mourning.Posted on Sun, Feb. 24, 2008BY LUISA YANEZlyanez@MiamiHerald.com
At the Ferdinand Funeral Home and Crematory in Little Havana, familyafter family gathers at the exile community's oldest parlor to pay theirrespects to abuelo or abuela. The refrain is often one of regret: FidelCastro outlived their loved one.
For those Cubans left behind facing their own mortality, the yearningfor change on the island continues, and so does the toll of 49 years ofwaiting for closure.
Now, Florida International University professor Eugenio Rothe hasidentified a name for the unique psychological condition of so manySouth Florida exiles: “unresolved mourning.''
It's a term first coined by psychologist Sigmund Freud who used it todescribe someone who cannot come to grips with the death of a loved one.
Rothe, who has spent years studying the exile psyche, makes the casethat unresolved mourning is precisely the malaise faced by exiles wholive in a city where any news about Castro brings a flurry of hope thathe will die — and they will regain a lost life.
Last week's bombshell about Castro's retirement was just the kind ofnews Rothe suggests reopens wounds so many Cubans fight to bury.
Many members of what is now called ''the historic exile'' — thoseforced to leave in the 1960s as adults — felt a wave of melancholy, asthey were reminded all over again of their loss and heartaches. It's allpart of the emotional bungee cord that snaps exiles throughout SouthFlorida at the hint of news about Castro and Cuba.
''For those older exiles, Cuba is like a dead person who somehow remainshalf alive, like a zombie, because they have never completed theirmourning process of disconnecting and forming new bonds,'' said Rothe,who will teach at FIU's new College of Medicine and has publishedseveral articles and studies on the mental health of Cuban refugees.
Many exiles — ''emotionally injured'' when their lives were derailed byCastro's rise to power — reside within this emotional limbo, saidRothe, co-author of a paper on exile nostalgia which will soon bepublished in the Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies. ''In Miami,there is a constant reactivation of old wounds as exiles are bombardedwith major news events related to the island or Castro so they can nevercompletely let go,'' said Rothe, the son of Cuban exiles.
It was 12 years ago Sunday, for example, that the Cuban government shotdown two Brothers to the Rescue planes, killing four local fliers. Noone has been brought to justice, though U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinenand Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart have called for a federal governmentindictment of Raúl Castro, who as defense minister authorized the shooting.
In 2000, there was the bitter and drawn out battle between exiles andCastro to keep Elián González with his Miami relatives. The boy, whosemother drowned at sea attempting to escape Cuba, eventually was returnedto his father in Cuba.
And most recently, in June 2006, the announcement that an ailing Castrowas temporarily handing power to his brother Raúl, who Sunday isexpected to be named Cuba's next leader by the National Assembly.
All these events, Rothe said, have impacted the historic exiles'recovery from the loss they experienced decades ago.
Rothe said that even the typical mourning process — denial, anger,bargaining, depression and acceptance — is different for Cubans inSouth Florida than it is for other Cubans because they are sogeographically close to their homeland.
''They have a relationship with Cuba that is never allowed to die,''said Rothe, who added that exiles with feelings of unresolved mourningare destined for disappointment.
''At first they enjoy the bittersweet feel of the nostalgia, but thenthey are reminded that the past will never be again. Depression sets inwhen they realize what they yearned for can never be again,'' Rothesaid. “The old Cuba they knew is gone.''
The angst of unresolved mourning over Cuba, Rothe said, can be passed onfrom generation to generation.
Beba Sosa, daughter of beloved Cuban senator Emilio Ochoa — until lastyear the last remaining signer of Cuba's historic 1940 constitution –says during days like these, her father, who lived to be 99, is often onher mind. ''He wanted to go back until the last minute of his life,''she said.
“He would tell me that he knew he was too old to hold a political post,but that he would like to offer advice to others.''
Near the end of his life, Sosa said: “He hated that he would not liveto see the changes.''
For Raúl Martinez, the former mayor of Hialeah who is running for thecongressional seat now held by Lincoln Diaz-Balart, news of Castro'sresignation was bittersweet.
He immediately thought of his father, Chin, a staunch anti-Castrofighter who died a year ago last week at 82.
Martinez watched his father readjust his life.
''My father came to Miami in April of 1960 thinking by that Decemberhe'd be back home to roast his Nochebuena pork,'' Martinez said. “Helike many older exiles didn't get to go back and see the old countryagain.''
For some Cubans, even death provides no escape from the circle ofunresolved mourning.
Fernando Caballero, owner of Ferdinand Funeral Home on Calle Ocho inLittle Havana, says he hears the same request from Cubans preparing aloved one's burial.
''A family member will usually ask at some point if the body can betaken back to Cuba — once Fidel falls,'' Caballero said. “With theproper paperwork, the answer from us has always been yes. We'll helptake them back.''
Miami Herald staffer David Quinones contributed to this report.
Facts about Cuba’s one-party political system
Facts about Cuba's one-party political systemReutersPublished: Saturday, February 23, 2008
Cuba's National Assembly is widely expected to name Raul Castro as headof state on Sunday following Fidel Castro's announcement on Tuesday thathe is retiring. The following is an outline of Cuba's one-partycommunist system.
* Cuba is a one-party socialist republic, in which political power isvested solely in the Cuban Communist Party (PCC). The political systemis enshrined in the Cuban Constitution approved by a national referendumin 1976. Another referendum in 2002 made socialism "irrevocable."
* The PCC was founded in 1965 by merging various parties andrevolutionary groups under Fidel Castro's leadership. All otherpolitical parties were banned.
* Until Tuesday, Fidel Castro held the three top political leadershipposts on the island: head of state (as president of the Council ofState), head of government (as president of Council of Ministers) andfirst secretary of the party. He has stepped down as president butretains the party post.
* The National Assembly is the Cuban legislature with 614 delegates whoare elected every five years. Half of them emerge from municipal andprovincial assemblies called People's Power (Poder Popular). Delegatesare not required to be members of the party but most are.
* At its first session every five years, the National Assembly approvesa slate of 31 members of the Council of State, the highest executivebody headed by the president, a first vice president and fivesecond-tier vice presidents.
* On Sunday, the National Assembly is expected to confirm Fidel Castro'sbrother, Raul Castro, as Cuba's new head of state following the ailingleader's announcement he is retiring.
* Cuban society is organized into "mass organizations" of workers,students, women and farmers. The biggest is a network of neighborhoodblock committees, known as the Committees for the Defense of theRevolution, whose stated task is to mobilize political support for thegovernment and defend the political system against crime and"counter-revolution." Critics say they facilitate political control overthe population.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=89899471-8080-4784-891f-84cbac89afa1
Facts about Cuba’s Communist party
Facts about Cuba's Communist partySun Feb 24, 2008 1:15am EST
(Reuters) – Fidel Castro retired as Cuba's head of state this week after49 years in power, but he retains a powerful position at the head of theruling Communist Party.
Here are some facts about the party:
* The Cuban Communist Party (PCC) has 820,000 card-carrying members, outof a total population of 11 million on the island. The party was foundedin 1965, merging various revolutionary groups under Castro's leadership.All other political parties were banned.
* All top level government and military officials are party members, asare most lower-level functionaries, and leaders of labor and other massorganizations. The Cuban Constitution adopted in 1976 states that thePCC is the "highest directing force" of the Cuban state and society.
* Fidel Castro has held the post of first secretary and Raul Castro hasbeen second secretary since the party's founding.
* A party congress is held every five years to elect the CentralCommittee — currently 134 members — and set general policy guidelines.However, the last congress was held more than 10 years ago in 1997.Party insiders say a congress may take place during the next 12 months.
* The Central Committee elects from its members a 25-member PoliticalBureau responsible for day-to-day decisions, and a 12-member secretariatthat carries out those decisions.
* The party's youth organization, the Union of Young Communists, hasaround 600,000 members.
(Reporting by Marc Frank in Havana, Editing by Michael Christie andFrances Kerry)
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSN2226406020080224
Cuba oil production dropping, expert says
Cuba oil production dropping, expert saysFri Feb 22, 2008 11:11pm GMT
MIAMI, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Cuba's oil production, which peaked at 65,000barrels per day in 2003, has fallen to 51,300 bpd due to decliningoutput from the country's primary oil field, a Miami-based energy expertsaid on Friday.
Jorge Pinon, a former oil company executive and now energy fellow at theUniversity of Miami, said the Varadero field, east of Havana, has beendepleted by years of pumping.
"Varadero field was discovered in the 1970s. This is a very old oilfieldand that field is going through its natural decline," Pinon said atconference on Cuba at Florida International University.
Pinon said Sherritt International (S.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), aCanadian joint venture partner with Cubapetroleo (Cupet), is planning touse enhanced recovery methods to squeeze more oil from Varadero.
The 51,300 bpd average includes oil and liquids produced from naturalgas processing, he said. The latter accounts for 1,200 to 1,500 bpd, headded.
He said the cost of producing oil in Cuba is about $1.77 a barrel.
Pinon said Cuba consumes about 145,000 bpd, with 90,000 of that importedfrom Venezuela.
(Reporting by Jeff Franks; Editing by David Gregorio)
‘Surrounded by Water’ illustrates the hopes and fears of isolated Cubans
Mixed feelings on the horizon'Surrounded by Water' illustrates the hopes and fears of isolated CubansBy Cate McQuaidGlobe Correspondent / February 24, 2008
An endless sea made up of thousands of small fish hooks rendered infelt-tip pen looms in Yoan Capote's drawing "Isla (Diptico-estudio paraunos cuadros)", the art work given center stage in "Surrounded by Water:Expressions of Freedom and Isolation in Contemporary Cuban Art," atBoston University Art Gallery.
Surrounded by Water: Expressions of Freedom and Isolation inContemporary Cuban Art
At: Boston University Art Gallery, 855 Commonwealth Ave., through April6. 617-353-3329. bu.edu/artmore stories like this
The image, at once lulling and barbed, sums up the mixed feelingsinhabitants of an isolated island nation might have toward the ocean. Itfills the gaze; it provides food and jobs; it's a wall, but also abridge to what lies beyond. This captivating drawing is a study for alarger piece, in which Capote mounted actual fishhooks on a wood panel.That would be a sight to see.
A study feels a bit like a cheat. That uneasy feeling of thenot-quite-realized plagues "Surrounded by Water," which was curated byNatania Remba, a master's degree candidate in art history at BU. Theseworks of art are often striking; they were made by a range of artists,from established to emerging. But it's a smallish exhibit, with work byabout 15 artists. Remba makes a sturdy effort, but the giant topic ofwater as a metaphor in Cuban art could go much deeper. "Surrounded byWater" just skims the surface.
Water pervades any island culture. It's intrinsic to the economy andpolitical relationships, to religion and mythology. In Cuba's case, thewater literally creates a boundary between Cuban society and the outsideworld, one that has been reinforced by the isolationist policies ofFidel Castro, who resigned last week after nearly 50 years as Cuba'spresident. Manuel Piña's moving black-and-white photo from the "Aguasbaldias (Waters of the Waste Land)" series, depicts a young man leapingfrom the sea wall toward the water. His body surges forward, but Piñacaptures him at the moment before his foot leaves the wall. He's stilltied to his native soil.
For Piña, the sea offers freedom. Luis Cruz Azaceta plunges his"Swimmer" into threatening waters. The tense mixed-media painting sets alone man making his way along a ribbon of orange through heaving,spinning abstracted waves. His work evokes the unsanctioned passagebetween Cuba and the US.
The archetypal story of that crossing, that of Elián González, plays outin "Le edad de oro (The Golden Age)," a telling video triptych by JoséÁngel Toirac, Meira Marrero Díaz, and Patricia Clark. US news clips ofthe boy's story run on one video; Cuban news clips on another, spellingout what a political pawn Elián became. The middle video follows agentler route, matching images of Elián with pages from a 19th-centurychildren's book by José Marti, a leader of Cuba's independence movement.That video celebrates children's innocence and their agency.
Ernesto Pujol's ink drawing "Cuba y Jamaica" refers to his family'semigration to Puerto Rico. He maps the Cuban archipelago, then draws agrid of sharks over the map, suggesting danger not just in the water,but in the fraught political and economic relationships that Cuba haswith its neighbors.
A line from a 1943 poem by Virgilio Piñera provides the title for SandraRamos's powerful print, "La maldita circunstancia del agua por todaspartes (The Accursed Circumstance of Water All Around)." The artistdepicts her own body in the shape of Cuba, then appends the face ofAlice in Wonderland from a 19th-century engraving, suggesting reverieand a dream world, slyly referring to the alleged socialist utopiabrought on by the Cuban revolution. She's pinned there by palm trees,which could also serve as propellers that might lift her away.
Some of the art is just about beauty. Photographer Tomás Sánchez makesgorgeous landscape paintings that dwell on water as a mystical force. In"Orilla," we look over shimmering water into a forest, only to glimpse aveil of mist glowing through the trees.
José Bedia makes work that embraces the complex stew of Cuban culture.In the circular canvas "Amar duele y vivir sin tu amor no se puede (LoveHurts and Living Without Yours is Impossible)," he evokes immigrationand emigration, the mix of cultures in Cuba. A statue of a Yoruba deityruns up the middle, and paddlers navigate canoes up paths of runningwater along each side.
Several artists use water to make other political points: Rocío García'suntitled acrylic-on-paper work flouts the tradition of the male gaze onthe female nude by focusing on an attractive nude man, who dangles hishand in a pool; a shark hovers just below the surface. I assumed thework had homoerotic content (and perhaps it does, although García is awoman), but in her catalog essay, Remba declares this image is fraughtwith feminist imagery: "The shark symbolizes danger in the ocean of painencountered by women attempting to defy patriarchal definitions ofwomanhood."
Here in the US, that sort of symbolism feels like a throwback to the1980s. In Cuba, feminism has been slow growing; the University of Havanaonly instituted a women's studies program in 2005. Perhaps that lag isdue to Cuban culture; perhaps it has to do with Cuba's isolationism.
Much of the art here addresses the gulf between Cuba and its neighbors,and not only by delving into it as a subject. There is not much of alocal market for art in Cuba; if artists want to sell their work, theyhave to reach beyond their borders. The international market for Cubanart took off in the mid 1990s, after Fidel Castro legalized the dollarand opened Cuba to tourism.
The duo of Los Carpinteros, Marco Antonio Castillo Valdés and DagobertoRodríguez Sanchéz has shot to acclaim internationally. They remain inCuba, making art that is slyly critical of the socialist establishment;their work comically comments upon the dearth of artistic materialsavailable in Cuba. Here, their "Sandalia" is a pair of cast-rubberflip-flops etched with maps of Havana. Ironically, the artists use cheapmaterial to make high-priced sculptures of throwaway sandals.
The water theme entices, but it can be used to touch on just about anythemes that arise in Cuban art. Does "Sandalia" really belong here? Aresandals a water image? If Remba had narrowed her vision to fit herspace, her exhibit would satisfy. As it is, it merely teases.© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2008/02/23/mixed_feelings_on_the_horizon/?page=full
Castro rejects idea of major political change on eve of Cuba’s leadership change
Castro rejects idea of major political change on eve of Cuba'sleadership changePosted on Sun, Feb. 24, 2008By ANITA SNOW
HAVANA –(AP) — Fidel Castro on Saturday rejected the idea of major politicalchange after Cuba's parliament chooses a new president — his finalpublished comments as the nation's longtime leader.
The article on the front page of the Communist Party Granma was one of aflurry of recent columns and announcements from Castro, who is retiringafter 49 years as head of Cuba.
Writing under his new title, ''Comrade Fidel,'' the 81-year-old Castroscoffed at suggestions in news reports that his retirement, announcedTuesday, would lead to political changes aided by Cuban exiles in theUnited States.
''The reality is otherwise,'' Castro wrote. He quoted approvingly fromother articles that said his retirement showed the failure of U.S.officials to affect Cuba's political transition.
Castro said he would now lay his pen aside until lawmakers decide Sundayon his replacement as president of the island's supreme governingauthority, the Council of State. Castro's 76-year-old brother Raul, thedefense minister, is his constitutionally designated successor as firstvice president, and is widely expected to be named president.
The younger Castro has headed Cuba's caretaker government for 19 months,since Fidel announced he had undergone emergency intestinal surgery andwas provisionally ceding his powers.
In a separate report, Granma said ''all the conditions have beencreated'' for Sunday's meeting of the 614-member parliament, whosemembers were elected on Jan. 20. Renewed every five years, theparliament known as the National Assembly is charged at its firstgathering with selecting a new 31-member Council of State headed by thepresident.
Fidel Castro has held the position of president since the currentgovernment structure was created in 1976. For 18 years before that, hewas prime minister — a post that no longer exists.
He will remain the head of the Communist Party and a member of theNational Assembly, to which he was re-elected to last month.
In a similar column on Friday, Castro wrote that preparations for theparliament meeting ''left me exhausted,'' and that he did not regret thedecision to resign.
''I slept better than ever,'' he wrote. “My conscience was clear and Ipromised myself a vacation.''
In the eastern Cuba district that Fidel Castro represents as a lawmaker,residents on Saturday debated who should replace him.
''Fidel is the greatest for us, but the most important thing now is thathe rests and takes good care of himself,'' said 72-year-old retiree JuanAlvarez. ''I think that he made an intelligent decision — like all thedecisions he made'' since launching Cuba's revolution in the mid-1950s.
Alvarez said he was willing to accept whoever is chosen by the NationalAssembly, “and if it is Raul, well, that would be correct.''
Sitting with him in a park in the town of El Cobre, on the outskirts ofSantiago, was 70-year-old Javier Solano, who noted that Raul Castro wasno longer young, either.
''It would be good to look for a young replacement, like Fidel himselfsaid in one of his writings, so that Cuba can show the world it is notlike they say, that here there is only Fidel and Raul,'' said Solano.“There is a whole nation as well behind them.''
——
Associated Press Writer Anne-Marie Garcia contributed to this reportfrom Santiago, Cuba.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/431124.html
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