LA POTENCIA MÉDICA CUBANA: ¡MENTIRAS Y FRAUDE!
LA POTENCIA MÉDICA CUBANA: ¡MENTIRAS Y FRAUDE!2009-07-31.Odalys Zurma González Naya, Periodista Independiente
(www.miscelaneasdecuba.net).- Oreste Nieves Tablomente de 77 años de edad fue dado de alta el viernes 24 del hospital necesitando todavía atención médica, con un padecimiento de cáncer de pulmón donde el oxigeno le era necesario las 24 horas del día.
El sábado 25 a las 10 a.m. fue llevado urgente para el policlínico Rene Baldías Morales en Santiago de las Vegas, municipio Boyeros, en busca de ayuda médica. Al llegar a el policlínico el médico de guardia se encontraba ausente.
Al rato este apareció y le suministraron un balón de oxigeno con un poquito y le plantearon a sus familiares que no disponían de más medios pues tenían 2 balones pero eran para casos de urgencia. Argumentaron que la fábrica de oxigeno tenia problemas y que no podían usar las reservas en un solo paciente.
La familia angustiada pide de favor una ambulancia para trasladar al enfermo y le dicen que tampoco es posible y que la ambulancia también es para casos de urgencia.
Debido a lo irritante de la situación el nieto del señor Orestes Nieves, Ernesto Leonardo Soler Nieves alterando el tono de voz dice: "Este país es un fraude, dicen que son una potencia médica y todo es mentira, la atención medica es pésima, a mí abuelo no lo vamos a sacar de aquí porque el no es un perro para morir en la casa asfixiado".
El médico al ver el escándalo y que las demás personas lo apoyaban decidió rápidamente llamar a la ambulancia y trasladar al anciano hacia el Hospital Nacional "Enrique Cabrera" donde lamentablemente fallece horas después.
LA POTENCIA MÉDICA CUBANA: ¡MENTIRAS Y FRAUDE! – Misceláneas de Cuba (31 July 2009)http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=22029
Cuba Still Has The Lowest Mobile Phone Penetration In Latin America
Cuba Still Has The Lowest Mobile Phone Penetration In Latin AmericaThe Cuba – Telecoms, Mobile, and Broadband profiles the fixed-line, mobile and broadband markets in CubaPublished on July 31, 2009by Press Office
Cuba – Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband
The Cuba – Telecoms, Mobile, and Broadband profiles the fixed-line, mobile and broadband markets in Cuba.
Cuba still has the lowest mobile phone penetration in Latin America, one of the lowest levels of Internet penetration, and is among the five lowest in terms of fixed-line teledensity. Cuba's fixed-line services are a monopoly in the hands of government-controlled Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba SA (Etecsa), while mobile services are provided exclusively by Cubacel, a subsidiary of Etecsa.
There remains substantial state controls over the right to own and use certain communications services, such as the right to access the Internet. Although Raul Castro, who was made President in February 2008, is more reform-minded than was his brother Fidel, the liberalisation of Cuba's telecommunications sector, as with the liberalisation of other government controls over Cuban life, is expected to occur slowly over the next five to ten years.
This report contains overviews, analyses and statistics of the Cuban fixed-line, mobile and broadband markets.
Key highlights:• In March 2008 Raul Castro, shortly after taking the reins of power, issued a decree stating that Cubans could henceforth legally own and use mobile phones by taking out pre-paid subscriptions. Nevertheless, the same decree stipulated that contracts must be paid for in Cuban Convertible Pesos, a currency which, in spite of a thriving black market, is officially only available to foreigners.• A significant new deployment in coming years includes a new submarine fibre-optic cable linking Cuba and Venezuela in 2010. The cable is expected to triple Cuba's capacity for communications abroad as well as free the country from its current reliance on the slow and unreliable Internet access it employs via US satellite systems.• Whilst Cubans are still prohibited from general access to the Internet, soon after Fidel Castro's retirement a number of electronic goods joined the list of legally accessible products, including personal computers.• In early 2009 the government gave hope to many Cubans when it stated that it was not "currently" planning to legalise Internet services for the general public, as happened with mobile phones in 2008, but that it remained a possibility that "is not being discarded".• Whilst Etecsa reportedly increased its subscriber base by more than 130,000 during 2008, in January 2009 the incumbent mobile provider stated that it intended to add a further 250,000 subscribers during 2009, reaching a total 1.6 million mobile subscribers by 2012 or 10% of the population.
Cuba – Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband: http://www.companiesmarkets.com/r.ashx?id=N2MYYMQ8L83922
OfficialWire: Cuba Still Has The Lowest Mobile Phone Penetration In Latin America (31 July 2009)http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=12589
Cuba to create agency to fight corruption "cancer"
Cuba to create agency to fight corruption "cancer"ReutersBy Marc Frank Marc Frank – Thu Jul 30, 4:26 pm ET
HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba's National Assembly will set up a powerful new agency on Saturday tasked with fighting corruption, which President Raul Castro has called a "deadly cancer" plaguing the communist-ruled island's economy.
In his regular Thursday spot on state television, Cuba's top economic commentator Ariel Terrero said the Comptroller General's Office, to be created through new legislation, will try to ensure that state revenues are properly used.
The office will replace the Ministry of Auditing and Control and be attached to the Council of State. It will have sweeping powers to audit and control all government and economic entities.
"This will … help avoid or limit the possibility (of corruption) and respond to corrupt acts," said Terrero, who regularly comments on economic affairs in the state media.
Raul Castro, who took over the presidency from his ailing elder brother Fidel Castro last year, has vowed to make the struggling economy more efficient and productive. This includes cracking down on graft, he has said.
Cuba's campaign against corruption in its society and economy has been a long one, with what leaders consider high stakes for the future of the communist system installed after Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution.
Transparency International, a leading organization in the global fight against corruption, ranked Cuba 65th of 180 countries on its 2008 corruption index, better placed than most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
But fighting corruption is not easy on an island gripped by economic crisis where inequality is growing and the average wage of ministers and company managers is between $40 and $100 per month including bonuses.
One western diplomat said replacing the Auditing Ministry with the Comptroller's Office was a "cosmetic" step, as most Cubans, from the humble to the privileged, struggle to make ends meet, often involving illegal transactions.
Diversion of goods to the black market and retail-level theft are so widespread that many people hawk their stolen wares in front of shopping malls.
SOCIALIST MORALITY
Former leader Fidel Castro once warned the country that corruption played a big role in the demise of the Soviet Union, for decades Cuba's biggest economic benefactor, whose collapse plunged the Cuban economy into crisis in the early 1990s.
"Socialist morality must be preserved … We can't let the idea get around that we can be bribed," he said.
Current President Raul Castro, who served for decades as defense minister, has also spoken out often about corruption and its insidious effect.
"The deadly cancer has metastasized from our knees up to here (pointing to his chest)," he told national leaders in a closed-door speech in March 2006, according to a source who saw a video of the meeting.
In March of this year, Raul Castro took the dramatic step of replacing most of his cabinet, in part on grounds they were too cozy with foreign businessmen and lax in controlling graft beneath them.
Official information on corruption in Cuba is sparse but, in 2000, Attorney General Juan Escalona, testifying before a parliamentary committee, reported his office began the prosecutions of 5,800 white-collar criminal cases.
Foreign businessmen report that corruption at the very highest level of government is rare. But kickbacks are relatively common among state-run company managers and even more so at government offices where Cubans go to take care of housing and other problems.
"The other day I went to legalize my home and the housing director said 'you have two choices, pay me $600 or wait two years,'" one Havana resident said.
(Editing by Jeff Franks and John O'Callaghan)
Cuba to create agency to fight corruption "cancer" – Yahoo! News (30 July 2009)http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090730/wl_nm/us_cuba_corruption_1
Cuba shuts factories, cuts energy to save economy
Cuba shuts factories, cuts energy to save economyBy WILL WEISSERT (AP) – 2 hours ago
HAVANA (AP) — It's hard to find a spare tire in Cuba these days, or a cup of yoghurt.
Air conditioners are shut off in the dead heat. Factories close at peak hours, and workers go without their government-subsidized lunches.
Cuba has ordered austere energy savings this summer to cope with rising budget deficits and plummeting export profits, and the Communist Party Central Committee on Friday lowered 2009 economic growth projections by nearly a full percentage point. The committee also announced that it was suspending plans for the first Communist Party congress in 12 years in order to deal with the financial crisis.
A report in official Cuban newspapers cited President Raul Castro as saying the island is struggling through a "very serious" crisis and hinted that further belt-tightening was on the way.
The government already has imposed conservation measures even as it continues to get free oil for services from Venezuela, fueling rumors that Cuba is selling President Hugo Chavez's crude on the side to raise cash.
More likely, the shortages result from a global recession that hit an already struggling economy still reeling from last year's hurricanes. President Raul Castro scolded Cubans in a national address Sunday to work harder because they have no one to blame but themselves.
"The only thing I know is that we're screwed," said one 27-year-old who only gave the name Raul because he sells cement and housing materials on the black market. "I don't work. I find a way to survive."
The latest cuts are small compared with strict measures imposed during the so-called special period, when Cubans nearly starved after subsidies dried up with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Nor are they as severe as the blackouts of 2004, when technical problems at power plants left much of the island in the dark for hours at a time. Fans and water pumps were idled. Milk and food spoiled, while electrical surges damaged refrigerators, televisions and other costly appliances.
Still, every bit of belt-tightening stings in a country where almost everyone works for the state and average wages are less than $20 per month.
The price of nickel, Cuba's chief export, is down more than 50 percent from last year, according to Toronto-based Sherritt International Cooperation, Cuba's largest energy partner.
The company's oil production on the island was down 19 percent last quarter compared to the second quarter of 2008, mainly because Sherritt suspended drilling earlier this year when Cuba fell behind on its payments.
The government and Sherritt have worked out a plan to pay down the debt, and the company says Cuba has been sticking to it. But the situation could have spurred the mandatory energy savings. Neither Sherritt nor the Cuban government would provide more details.
Or Cuba may be trying to save unused oil to bolster strategic reserves while prices are still relatively low, said Dan Erikson of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.
But he also said the strict measures lend credence to whispers that Cuba is selling Venezuelan oil overseas — something the communist government did with some of the discounted oil it got from the Soviet Union.
"It's been alleged they've been selling Venezuelan oil on the side. They've denied that, but if they are open to doing it, now would be the time," Erikson said. "Cuba's in a real cash crunch."
Beginning June 1, the government ordered energy conservation measures as part of a broader plan to cut the national budget by 6 percent. Central planners also announced Friday they were revising their economic growth projections downward, from 2.5 percent to 1.7 percent. As recently as December, they had projected 6 percent economic growth in Cuba.
These days, most countries would cheer any economic growth. But Cuba counts what it spends on free health care and education, monthly food rations and other social programs as production — making economic growth figures dubious.
The island's economic woes began in earnest with three hurricanes last summer that caused more than $10 billion in damage and wiped out some of the food and grains the government had stockpiled to insulate itself from rising commodities prices.
How much Cuba has spent on hurricane recovery is unclear. But Castro said the government has rebuilt or repaired 43 percent of the 260,000 homes damaged or lost in the storms.
Cuba consumed about 150,000 barrels of crude oil a day in 2008, of which 52,000 were produced domestically and 93,000 imported from Venezuela, said Jorge Pinon, an energy fellow at the University of Miami's Center for Hemispheric Policy. Half is used to generate electricity, according to Cuba's Ministry of Basic Resources.
Though the numbers leave the country 5,000 barrels a day short, Pinon said natural gas production last year covered the energy equivalent of 20,000 barrels of oil daily and kept the power plants running smoothly.
"Cuba, from a petroleum point of view, is balanced," he said. "It's not running out of oil."
So far the power-saving measures have been confined to state-run businesses and factories, though many Cubans fear they will soon hit residential users as well.
Workers at a tire factory in San Jose de las Lajas, a rugged farming town 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Havana, said production is down and the factory goes dark when demand for electricity is high — leaving gas stations and mechanics short on spare tires.
In the central province of Cienfuegos, a large dairy that supplies ice cream and other products to much of the country and exports cheese has been ordered to cut production, according to the Communist Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde. Yogurt is scarce in Havana — sold only in upscale grocery stores that cater to tourists and are too expensive for most Cubans.
Some government office workers say their hours have been cut to between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., and others are being told to come in only twice a week.
State companies also have stopped offering employees low-cost lunches in worker cafeterias to save power.
Other government offices, businesses, banks and stores have ordered air conditioners turned off for much of the day, rather than close early.
Customer service, never stellar in state-run institutions, has suffered even more. In the sweltering banks, barbershops and boutiques, listless employees are more interested in fanning themselves than serving sweating customers.
The Associated Press: Cuba shuts factories, cuts energy to save economy (31 July 2009)http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5imudiAMyQKB9X9NPa85flRmPVmYAD99PEMPO2
`Cuban Five’ defendants to get new sentences Oct. 13
Posted on Thursday, 07.30.09`Cuban Five' defendants to get new sentences Oct. 13Associated Press
A Miami federal judge has set an October date to impose new sentences on three of the so-called “Cuban Five'' accused of spying in the United States.
A federal appeals court last year ordered new sentences for Fernando Gonzalez, also known as Ruben Campa; Luis Medina; and Antonio Guerrero. Medina and Guerrero had been serving life terms, and Gonzalez was sentenced to 19 years.
The appeals court ruled their sentences were too long.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard will impose new sentences on Oct. 13.
The five men were convicted in 2001 of acting as unregistered Cuban agents and of espionage conspiracy for attempting to penetrate U.S. military bases. The U.S. Supreme Court in June refused to review the case. They are considered heroes in Cuba.
`Cuban Five' defendants to get new sentences Oct. 13 – Cuba – MiamiHerald.com (30 July 2009)http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/1164010.html
Cuba suspends plans for Communist Party congress
Posted on Friday, 07.31.09Cuba suspends plans for Communist Party congressBy WILL WEISSERTAssociated Press Writer
HAVANA — Cuba on Friday suspended plans for a Communist Party congress and lowered its 2009 economic growth projection to 1.7 percent – nearly a full percentage point – as the island's economy struggles through a "very serious" crisis.
In a closed-door meeting of the Communist Party Central Committee, officials agreed to postpone indefinitely the first congress since 1997, which had been announced for the second half of this year.
The gathering was to chart Cuba's political future long after President Raul Castro and his brother Fidel are gone. Instead, top communists will try and pull their country back from the economic brink.
Cuba lowered its 2009 growth estimate from 2.5 percent to 1.7 percent, but even that figure is dubious given that it includes state spending on free health care and education, the food Cubans receive with monthly ration booklets and a broad range of other social services.
The revision downward was the second of its kind this year. As recently as December, central planners said they thought the Cuban economy would grow by 6 percent in 2009.
The country's economic problems began last summer, with three hurricanes that caused more than $10 billion in damage. The situation has worsened with the onset of the global financial crisis and subsequent recession.
The 78-year-old Raul Castro succeeded his brother as president more than 18 months ago, but it's the soon-to-be 83-year-old Fidel who remains head of the Communist Party.
Party congresses historically have been held every five years or so to renew leadership and set major policies, but the government has broken with that tradition over the past decade.
Information about the Central Committee meeting occupied the entire front page of the Communist Party daily Granma and a full page inside cited Raul Castro as reporting that "things are very serious and we are now analyzing them."
"The principal matter is the economy: what we have done and what we have to perfect and even eliminate as we are up against an imperative to make full accounts of what the country really has available, of what we have to live and for development," the newspaper said, citing the president.
It said authorities would postpone the sixth Party congress "until this crucial phase … has been overcome," but did not say when that might be.
Waiting for his copy of Granma when it hit newsstands at 7 a.m., Raul Salgado, a 72-year-old retiree, said, "I want to know what's happening, or better yet, what's going to happen."
"I don't think it matters much to the people if there is a congress or not. What the people want here in Cuba is to know what the government is going to do to get out of such a terrible situation like the one in which we're living," Salgado said.
Cuba has begun a major push to conserve energy in an attempt to save some of the imported oil it uses to run power plants. State-run factories have been idled during peak hours, air conditioners have been stilled at government offices and some work hours shortened.
Granma made it clear more cutbacks were coming, but did not give details. Cuba's rubber-stamp parliament convenes Saturday for one of its two full sessions a year and could unveil new energy-saving plans then.
Cuba suspends plans for Communist Party congress – World AP – MiamiHerald.com (31 July 2009)http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1165623.html
Castro aide’s grandson faces drug charges in Miami
Posted on Friday, 07.31.09Castro aide's grandson faces drug charges in Miami
A Miami man who is the grandson of Jesús Montané Oropesa — a leader of the Cuban revolution and confidante of Fidel Castro — was charged this week with supplying cocaine from Miami to a New York-based smuggling ring.
Police said Yotuhel Montané, 36, provided cocaine on several occasions over the past few years to a gang led by Eric “Fat Eddy'' Rodriguez in Brooklyn.
Montané's grandfather fought alongside Castro against the Fulgencio Batista regime and was later Cuba's minister of tourism and communications. From 1988 until his death in 1999, Montané Oropesa was Castro's personal assistant.
If convicted, Montané, who was arrested in Miami on July 16, could face a life sentence.
– WILFREDO CANCIO ISLA
Castro aide's grandson faces drug charges in Miami – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com (31 July 2009)http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1165192.html
Cuba reduce perspectivas de crecimiento y anuncia medidas ‘nada gratas’
Publicado el viernes, 07.31.09Partido Comunista suspende su congresoCuba reduce perspectivas de crecimiento y anuncia medidas 'nada gratas'Por EFELA HABANA
LA HABANA — El Gobierno cubano redujo del 2.5% al 1.7% la expectativa de crecimiento de la isla para 2009, en el segundo recorte anunciado de una previsión inicial del 6%, al tiempo que anunció medidas "difíciles y nada gratas''.
El vicepresidente del Consejo de Ministros y titular de Economía y Planificación, Marino Murillo, anunció el nuevo ajuste en un informe presentado al pleno del Comité Central del Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) que encabezó el miércoles el mandatario Raúl Castro.
Según datos oficiales, el crecimiento de la economía cayó del 12.5% en 2007 al 4.3% en 2008, y la primera reducción al 2.5% de la previsión para este año fue tildada de ''optimista'' por economistas independientes.
El informe señala que 2010 "será igualmente difícil'' para Cuba, e indica que a partir de ahora se deben cumplir "premisas'' económicas como la "descentralización'' de los productos y servicios "que más ingresos aportan'', y garantizar que los aumentos de producción reduzcan importaciones.
Según el comunicado divulgado por los medios cubanos, Raúl Castro, segundo secretario del PCC -el primero es aún su hermano mayor Fidel-, "alertó'' sobre la importancia de que los cubanos comprendan que las medidas son "difíciles y nada gratas, pero sencillamente inaplazables''.
''La revolución está decidida a enfrentar los graves efectos negativos de la compleja situación que vive hoy la economía mundial y el derivado de nuestras propias insuficiencias'', dijo el mandatario.
El pleno del Comité Central del PCC también aprobó aplazar indefinidamente su VI Congreso, anunciado por el presidente en 2008 para fines de 2009 y que debe adoptar decisiones cruciales para el futuro de Cuba, como la continuación de Fidel Castro como primer secretario.
El general afirmó que el pueblo "sabe crecerse ante las dificultades'' y resaltó ''la rápida y positiva reacción'' ante las medidas adoptadas por su Gobierno en junio pasado para disminuir el consumo de energía.
Según el comunicado, dijo que "nadie, menos aún un dirigente, tiene derecho a encerrarse en el estrecho marco del ámbito en que se desenvuelve; todo el mundo está obligado a pensar y contribuir a la solución de los problemas del país''.
También llamó a "estimular el debate y la sana discrepancia'' para encontrar las mejores soluciones, y agregó que "el trabajo ideológico debe brindar argumentos sólidos, favorecer el intercambio de criterios y eliminar lo superfluo, la fanfarria y la simple repetición de consignas''.
''Cuanto se ha alcanzado en el incremento de la capacidad defensiva del país, confirma que cuando se adoptan medidas adecuadas y se controla correctamente su ejecución, se obtienen resultados'', añadió el general.
Insistió en que "el frente económico'' es "esencial'' para la seguridad nacional, y destacó que la producción de alimentos es un asunto de "máxima prioridad'' ante los altos precios del mercado mundial y "para estar en condiciones de enfrentar situaciones aún más complejas''.
Cuba atraviesa una de las coyunturas económicas más graves del actual régimen, que cumplió 50 años en enero pasado, debido a las repercusiones de la crisis financiera global y los destrozos de 10,000 millones de dólares que dejaron en 2008 tres huracanes que azotaron la isla.
Este sábado Raúl Castro presidirá una sesión ordinaria de la Asamblea Nacional, durante la que se espera el anuncio de nuevas medidas económicas.
Cuba reduce perspectivas de crecimiento y anuncia medidas 'nada gratas' - Ultimas noticias – El Nuevo Herald (31 July 2009)http://www.elnuevoherald.com/ultimas-noticias/story/509153.html
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