South Africa: Cuban Bailout – Minister Davies Must Account to Parliament
South Africa: Cuban Bailout – Minister Davies Must Account to Parliament6 February 2012
press release
The South African government has wasted R600 million on sustaining the failed Cuban state, including what government has called a "solidarity grant". This follows a R1.4 billion Cuban bailout that President Zuma authorised in December 2010.
When the Parliamentary session reconvenes, the Democratic Alliance (DA) will request that the Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, appear before Parliament to explain what economic objectives are achieved by this decision.
We want to know how this cash injection for Cuba will help the millions of South Africans who live below the breadline.
Cuba has a tiny economy and little to offer South Africa by way of trade. Our trade with Cuba is unlikely to ever exceed R100 million per year. And at the same time, we have our own massive domestic problems in housing, energy, infrastructure, unemployment and a host of other areas.
It is difficult to justify giving the Cuban regime R2 billion in handouts when our own people are suffering daily.
The R600 million Minister Davies handed out on Friday consisted of credit write-offs, new credit lines and some cash payments. It also includes a R100 million "solidarity grant", which will not need to be paid back to South Africa.
The Cuban regime has a long track record of failing to pay back our loans. In 2010, South Africa had to write off R1.1 billion in bad Cuban debt, and on Friday we wrote off another R250 million in bad debt.
It is a tragic irony that a portion of the Cuban handout is earmarked to promote food security in Cuba, when our own food security is under threat here at home.
We have recently been forced to import maize at a very high price, affecting millions of South Africans who rely on maize-based products as staple food.
The time has come for South Africa to invest in strategic partnerships that deliver prosperity for our people. Maintaining symbolic friendships at enormous costs do not help the South African people.
Geordin Hill Lewis, Shadow Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry
Housing market blooms in Cuban provinces
Housing market blooms in Cuban provincesBy Marc FrankSANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba | Mon Jan 9, 2012 3:53pm EST
(Reuters) – Hundreds of handwritten signs stuck on doorways and in windows announce "se vende" or "for sale" in provincial cities and towns across Cuba as the island's nascent housing market begins to bloom.
Buyers walk the streets looking at homes the whereabouts of which were passed along by word of mouth as sellers outside of Havana have limited access to the Internet or other means to advertise their sales.
There are hovels and there are splendid little places tucked between crumbling buildings. There are two-story homes in need of repair and a few in immaculate condition. Some places go for the equivalent of a few thousand dollars, others for much more.
Buying and selling homes was banned for decades in Cuba. The best one could do was trade dwellings in what Cubans call a "permuta" and expand or decrease the size of where you lived by a single room.
That all changed when the ban was lifted in November, along with much of the previous paperwork and bureaucratic tangles, though Cubans can still own just one home and vacation place and non-resident foreigners are excluded from the market.
The measure appears to be the most popular yet as President Raul Castro, who replaced his ailing brother Fidel in 2008, works to reform the Soviet-style economy and gradually lifts some of the more onerous restrictions on people's daily lives.
Trading one's home was a nightmarish process that could take months and even years under the old system, and often required bribes and under-the-table payments.
The new system requires a simple notary and payment through the bank and appears to be working relatively well according to more than a dozen people selling their homes from one end of the island to the other.
"The new law is really good because there are people who get divorced, or who have money but no place to live, or live in a big place and want a smaller one, or have big families in a little place and want something larger and now with this law they can meet their needs much more easily," Tania Vigaroa, in the process of selling her home in eastern Holguin, said.
Most of the sellers say they would like to move to a smaller home and that permutas plus payments are now to difficult to find because people prefer to buy or sell.
In neighboring Santiago de Cuba the other day a haggard looking receptionist at the San Pedro notary office, where the waiting room was full, said the three notaries working there had no time to talk.
"This place has been overflowing since they changed the law, every day is the same," said receptionist Milaidy, who asked that her last name not be used, adding there were three other offices in the city.
Most sellers have become used to strangers on the prowl for a home. They are a hospitable lot, welcoming the passerby to come in for a look.
"I'm asking $55,000. The house has three rooms, two bathrooms, a big back yard, kitchen, dining room and living room and this is right near the center of town," said Jose Ramirez in the city of Ciego de Avila, in central Cuba.
"A number of people have come by so we will see. It's a respectable sum, but my daughter was recently divorced and lives across town and I want to be near her for support. There is a house over there that costs exactly the same amount," he said.
Some 60 miles to the east, in the city of Camaguey, bicycle-taxi driver Roberto Sosa says "no problem," when asked to peddle the Cuban version of a rickshaw around town for a look at what's on the market.
OVERSEAS INTEREST
An hour and five homes later one place catches the eye on Virgin Street. The neighborhood needs a plaster and paint job and the road needs paving, but the half-block-long, five bedroom single story house, freshly painted and with new tile floors, is splendid.
"We want $35,000 and have a possible buyer, but she is checking with her family in Miami," said the owner's son, who gave his name only as Santiago.
Bicitaxi peddler Sosa wasn't surprised.
"Most of the houses sold are (being bought) with the help of family abroad, if not it wouldn't be possible because their value is going up a lot now," he said, pointing out most local residents make only the equivalent of $20 or $30 per month.
Emilio Morales in Miami wasn't surprised either.
"A number of law firms, mainly here in the United States and Spain, have already called asking about the law for clients who want to know how they can buy property in Cuba," the former marketing strategist for CIMEX, one of the largest state-run trading and retail corporations on the island, said in a telephone interview.
Morales, now CEO of The Havana Consulting Group, a startup company specializing in potential Cuban markets, including residential real estate, said there was plenty of interest.
"Here in Miami there are a lot of people interested in buying property in Cuba for diverse reasons, some to start restaurants, cafeterias or other businesses and others to have a place to retire and live out their old age," he said.
(Editing by Jeff Franks and Cynthia Osterman)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/09/us-cuba-house-idUSTRE8081ZS20120109
Cuba publishes regulations on loans for house building
Cuba publishes regulations on loans for house building2012-01-05 03:34:53 GMT2012-01-05 11:34:53(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
HAVANA, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) — Cuba on Wednesday published regulations for granting loans to individuals for house building and purchase of construction materials, the official daily Granma reported.
Under the new decree, which will come into force on Jan. 15, Cuban nationals will be eligible to get a grant of up to 80,000 Cuban pesos (3,300 U.S. dollars) in aid to build, repair or refurbish their homes.
The grants will cover all natural persons who live in "vulnerable conditions" and are unable to afford building materials or hire construction workers.
The regulations give priority to families affected by disasters such as hurricanes, floods, landslides and fires, as well as others considered as socially critical cases.
The Granma said that such grants are in line with the government principle of "eliminating undue gratuitousness and excessive subsidies, while compensating people in need instead of subsidizing products in general."
The shortage of housing is one of the main problems affecting Cuban people, especially after hurricanes demolished over huge numbers of houses in the eastern provinces and the Isle of Youth in 2008.
The government has previously planned to build about 62,000 apartments every year, but figures of the finished homes reached only half of that last year due to the lack of funds and inefficient organization.
The government is encouraging people to "build their own houses with their own efforts" as an alternative to solving the problem.
The scheme also includes running TV programs on construction skills and the "liberalization" of the sale of building materials to the public, previously restricted for decades.
Cuba to grant home repair subsidies
Cuba to grant home repair subsidiesBy Andrea RodriguezAssociated Press / January 4, 2012
HAVANA—Cuba is launching a plan to subsidize the construction and repair of private homes, an effort the communist government hopes will lead to better use of limited funds and stimulate private enterprise.
Under the program, citizens will be eligible for as much as 80,000 Cuban pesos ($3,300) in aid to build a family home, though most will get far less.
Those whose homes have been damaged by hurricanes or other natural disasters will get priority under the plan, which was published into law in the Official Gazette on Wednesday. Recipients of the subsidy will be required to demonstrate economic need, and all funds will be held in a state run bank account to ensure they are spent properly.
Previously, the government would pay for home repairs without regard to the recipient's economic situation in a program that was rife with corruption and inefficiency and contributed to a severe housing shortage on the island.
"This is another step to eliminate unnecessary and excessive subsidies by compensating only those people who need them," said the Communist Party daily Granma, which also reported on the changes.
According to government statistics from 2005, the latest available, the island had a shortage of some 500,000 homes to meet the needs of its 11.2 million citizens. Yet in 2010, only 33,000 new homes were built, about two thirds of them by the state.
The shortage has meant that many live in crowded multigenerational apartments that are crumbling from neglect. Even divorced couples often have trouble disentangling themselves, forced to cohabitate for years because there is nowhere else to go.
The new plan is the latest in a raft of economic reforms enacted by President Raul Castro over the past year or so. The Cuban leader has legalized a real estate and used car market, and encouraged hundreds of thousands to go into business for themselves. The program comes on the heels of the government's approval of bank loans for Cubans wishing to start a business or fix up their home.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2012/01/04/cuba_to_grant_home_repair_subsidies/
A First Step / Dimas Castellanos
A First Step / Dimas CastellanosDimas Castellanos, Translator: Unstated
On Thursday November 10 Decree-Law 288 on the legalization of the sale of homes took effect. Complemented with six ministerial resolutions, the decree significantly changes the legislation in effect in this area since the 60′s of last century.
With the new provisions Cubans, formal owners of property, become actual owners. Now they can not only exchange, but also donate, assign or sell their home to other Cubans living in Cuba, to those with residence abroad or to foreigners permanently residing in the country. To make use of this right requires that the property be registered at the Land Registry, along with a statement on the legality of the funds involved, and payment of a tax of 4% per transaction. The price of the property is as stated by the parties, provided that it is not less than the discounted value of the same. And the transactions will be conducted in Cuban pesos through the National Bank.
Now homes owned by Cubans who leave the country permanently will continue to be confiscated but the State will transfer the property to the co-owners or family members up to the fourth degree of consanguinity, for free. That is spouses, children, parents, grandparents, siblings, nephews, uncles and cousins, or persons who, with the owner's consent, have resided for five or more years in the building.
An assessment of the scope of the new Decree-Law requires that we look at its background.
For years, the population growth, the aging of the housing stock, its deterioration because of lack of maintenance, increasing collapses of existing buildings and the slow pace of construction, formed a tricky situation. The Cuban model is more useful for distribution than productions, and involved itself in resolving the problems while circumventing the participation of citizens.
To that end a "battle for housing" began which ended in complete failure. From 1960 to 1970 they tried to produce 32,000 apartments a year, but the average did not exceed 11,000. From 1970 to 1980 there was a plan for 38,000, but they barely reached 17,000. In the decade of 1980s, the plan amounted to 100,000 homes a year, but the average did not exceed 40,000. Only in the 1990s, did it surpass 40,000, but then it declined. In September 2005, the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers announced another plan of 100,000 new homes per year, which also failed.
When the housing shortage created a frenzy of occupations and illegal construction, the government turned the focus from plans for construction to controlling the widespread disorder. The Law No. 48-Housing Act, enacted in December 1984, authorized the transfer of ownership to onerous "usufruct" and legitimate occupants, and allowed the legalization of homes that had been built outside the law. This measure gave formal ownership to about 750 thousand families, but its scope was limited to legalizing existing arrangements and putting an end to the lack of control. Illegalities, however, continued their march.
Four years later, in December 1988, a new Housing Act was promulgated. In one of its paragraphs it made that the personal property of the house was understood as the right of enjoyment thereof by the owner and his family, but could not become a mechanism of enrichment or exploitation. That is, the owners were forbidden to sell their property. This law could not prevent black market sales and construction.
In July 2000 Decree-Law 211 was issued authorizing physical inspections of buildings, requiring institutional approval for housing swaps, and giving state officials the right to determine the legitimacy of the property, undermining the rights recognized in the General Law 1988. In the same direction, in February 2001, new Decree-Law was adopted that effectively eliminated the sale between private parties and awarded and Municipal Housing Authorities the right of confiscation. So the box was closed.
The recent provision recognizing the right of the owner and removing the prior authorization of the Housing Authorities, is a recognition of the absurdity of the above laws. Its limitation is that it is directed to the sphere of circulation: property can change hands, but one cannot build new homes. If one of the objectives of the recent legislation is "to contribute to solving the housing problem," then the right to property must be complemented by measures aimed at building and repair.
According to official figures in 2010 there was a national deficit of about 600,000 homes, more than half of the existing homes were in poor condition, and 85% were in need of repair. However, the reality is that the figures are higher.
Between 2001 and 2005 four hurricanes: Michelle (2001), Charley and Ivan (2004) and Dennis (2005) caused severe damage to housing. Then, in 2008, about half a million homes were damaged or completely demolished by the atmospheric phenomena of Fay, Hannah, Gustav and Ike. Given the failures of the construction plans, population growth and constant collapse of existing buildings, a conservative estimate shows a deficit of about one million homes in a population of more than 11 million. As the current population growth demands an annual 50,000 new houses, it would take several decades building a 100,000 homes a year to solve the critical housing problem.
The solution of the problem demands that citizens participate in parallel with the State, along with the creation of small and medium enterprises — private or cooperatives — for construction materials, repair, sale of materials, transport and alternative financing. It also requires multidisciplinary studies. In short, the joint participation of State and Society.
In this problem, Decree-Law 288 is only the first step. Important because it will generate a change in attitude among Cubans and because it is recognition, so far denied, of the right of ownership. Of course, this is only a first step.
Translated by Unstated
November 15 2011
Repression still the rule, but Cuba sees year of change
Posted on Saturday, 12.31.11CUBA
Repression still the rule, but Cuba sees year of change
Now you can get a loan, buy a house and — maybe soon — travel abroad more easily. But the Castro government has no desire to ease its authoritarian ways.By Juan O. Tamayojtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com
Joe Garcia, a former executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, likes to joke about the chat he might have today with the late Jorge Mas Canosa, founder of the powerfully anti-Castro exile lobby.
Garcia says he would tell Mas Canosa that Cuba's rulers have abandoned their dream of an egalitarian utopia, and that even Fidel Castro had confessed that his model of sub-tropical communism "does not work."
He would add that Raúl Castro is now allowing Cubans to start more small businesses, recognizing their right to sell homes and vehicles and even embracing foreign investments in those icons of capitalism — golf resorts.
"Jorge would immediately say, 'It's over. We won!'" said the smiling Garcia, a South Florida Democrat who keeps tabs on developments in Cuba and has made two unsuccessful bids for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Castro critics would disagree strongly and portray the changes as nothing more than lipstick on the rotting corpse of a Soviet-styled economy. Raúl Castro himself timidly calls the changes not "reforms" but "updates" and has vowed to keep central planning as the backbone of the island's economy and prevent any accumulation of private wealth.
Yet the changes clearly reflect an ambitious effort to address the structural flaws of Cuba's communist system, abandon its culture of paternalism and attack its parasitic bureaucracy — without risking the government's power to repress dissent.
In a nutshell, Castro's goal is to slash a bloated state sector that controls an estimated 80 percent of the economy, and to allow more space for small-scale enterprises that can produce more efficiently, pay taxes to the government and often can count on financial support from relatives or friends abroad.
It's not been easy. Pushback from entrenched ideologues and bureaucrats appears to have undercut some of the changes, and cuts in the ration cards that provide basic food items at highly subsidized prices have pummeled Cuba's neediest.
A Catholic church in Havana reported a hefty increase in the number of people at its free lunches in recent months. And the government reportedly stopped disability and other aid payments to about 3,000 people in the city of Santa Clara this year.
But many reforms are under way, and the pace of change increased after a congress of the ruling Communist Party of Cuba in April gave a broad endorsement to Castro's 300-plus proposals for change.
SLOWLY UNDOING NATIONALIZATION
Perhaps the most important reform for the average Cuban was the decision in 2010 to permit an expansion of private economic activity in a country that nationalized every single business in 1968, down to push carts that sold hamburgers.
Today, 357,000 people have licenses for "self-employment" — in tightly controlled categories such as party clowns and street vendors of music CDs — and most have incomes well above the official average salary of $20 a month.
For the first time this year, private entrepreneurs were allowed to hire employees — previously "the exploitation of man by man" — rent some state-owned storefronts and even list their services in the island's phone book, which once rejected them as too "consumerist."
Many state-owned businesses, such as locksmiths, carpentry shops and repair centers for electrical appliances such as rice cookers, will be turned into private businesses, according to an official announcement a month ago.
The government also postponed some taxes and fees and reduced others when it became clear they would drown the new businesses, and promised bank loans to the enterprises and to hire some of them to work in areas like construction.
But the initial rush to obtain self-employment licenses appeared to be slowing down, and official figures indicate that nearly 20 percent of those who recently received licenses in Havana surrendered them later, apparently because they could not make a profit.
Cubans complain that the permitted activities are too limited, that there are no legal wholesalers for the raw materials they require — lumber for carpenters, for instance, — and that some taxes and fees remain unfair. Those who rent rooms to tourists pay the same fees regardless of their occupancy.
0BTAINING LOANS TO FIX UP A HOME
Changes in the government's banking monopoly, which has never offered credit cards, never mind a toaster, also mean that Cubans can now obtain loans to build or renovate homes and pay for materials as well as labor.
Private farmers can open previously unavailable bank accounts to handle their money, and loans can rise above the old limits — and go even higher if the borrower has a co-signer or collateral.
Some of the new entrepreneurs are eager to apply for those loans but less eager to put their money in government banks, amid fears that the government could seize their accounts in case of a financial crisis.
PUTTING FALLOW LAND TO BETTER USE
Castro also stepped up his attack on Cuba's second most vexing problem: the myriad failures in agriculture that forced the island to import $1.5 billion in food last year — estimated at 60 to 80 percent of its total consumption.
As of November, 3.4 million acres of fallow state lands had been leased to 170,000 private farmers. Farmers also were permitted to sell directly to consumers and tourist centers, which pay better prices and therefore help to increase production.
Another change coming soon will increase the limits on the leases from 33 to 165 acres and from 10 to 25 years, and will allow relatives and in some cases laborers to inherit the leases, according to news media reports.
The upcoming change also for the first time would allow the farmers to build homes on the leased land, and promises the government will reimburse the farmers for any improvements should they lose their leases, added the reports.
Yet nearly two million acres still remain fallow and farmers must do most of their business through Acopio, the notoriously inefficient state agency in charge of buying their products and getting them to market — but which regularly allows them to rot on the way to market and fails to pay the producers.
Communist Party officials in some provinces are alleged to be grabbing the best leased acres for themselves and getting all the supplies they need, like seeds and fertilizers, while other farmers get only part of their needs.
HOMES FOR SALE — AND ALSO CARS
Also generating a buzz has been Castro's easing of the restrictions on the sale of homes and vehicles — at times hailed as an unprecedented recognition of private property rights, at times dismissed as merely legalizing what had been going on illegally for years.
The permission to buy and sell homes immediately turned the properties into potential cash and erased the unwieldy requirements for the previously allowed permutas — swaps of homes of roughly equal size or value.
More than 4,000 "for sale" signs had gone up as of late December and the government lifted most restrictions on the sale of construction materials to private buyers, cut prices and made a deal with Brazil's version of Home Depot to import supplies.
The government reported last week that since the change went into effect it had registered 360 homes sales and nearly 1,600 "donations" — most likely efforts to legalize previous sales that did not fulfill all government requirements.
Cuba faces a critical housing shortage, officially put at 600,000 units in a country of 11.2 million people. Many properties have been subdivided many times over the decades to accommodate more families, making for a messy trail of ownership rights.
The government also announced that it registered 3,310 sales of vehicles and 994 "donations" in just the first month of the new regulations allowing the sale of all used cars and trucks.
Previously, only pre-1959 vehicles could be bought and sold without restrictions. Today, all used vehicles can be sold. But new vehicles are sold only to Cubans who are approved by the government and earned their money working for the benefit of the country — like doctors who work in Venezuela.
THE SAME INEFFICIENT CENTRAL PLANNING
Less clear is the impact of Castro's campaign to reduce the direct controls that the government exercises over the economy, and to give the managers of state-run enterprises more autonomy to run their business more efficiently.
The Ministry of Sugar, for example, which ran Cuba's once-premier industry as it plunged into disaster over the past decade — the 2006 harvest was the worst since 1905 — was turned into a state enterprise. So was the island's postal service.
But the new "enterprises" apparently will still depend on the same central government planning system that proved inefficient in the past — in the case of the sugar harvest, failing to ensure the timely delivery of supplies like fuel and spare parts.
Government officials have raised the possibility of allowing foreign investments in the sugar sector, and already have approved foreign financing for half-a-dozen golf resorts to be built on state lands leased out for 99 years.
NEXT UP? MAYBE UNFETTERED TRAVEL
Castro also has said that he's working on the one reform unquestionably and most urgently desired by Cubans — the right to travel abroad without an exit permit that is expensive and must be approved by State Security agents.
Most Cubans also want to ease the restrictions on the return of relatives and friends living abroad, and an abolition of the "definitive exit" category, which punishes those who leave the island to settle permanently in another country.
Castro told Cuban lawmakers on Dec. 23 that he understood the calls for reforms of the migration policy, but said that changes will have to come slowly because of the continued hostility of the U.S. government. Any Cuban who sets foot on U.S. territory is allowed to remain and receives U.S. residency.
CLOSING CLINICS, CUTTING SPENDING
Raúl Castro's reforms have come at a price.
As he slashed government subsidies, he had to cut spending on some of the sectors the revolution still holds out as its iconic "victories" — health, education and welfare — greatly damaged since the end of the Soviet Union's massive subsidies in 1991.
Several neighborhood clinics are being closed in favor of more regional facilities, universities are cutting enrollment in some study areas and a dozen or so food items once sold through the ration cards are now available only at much higher prices.
What's more, some of the reforms announced by Castro, now in his sixth year in power after succeeding ailing brother Fidel, were postponed or dropped amid reports of stiff opposition from within the ruling hierarchy.
A plan to lay off 500,000 state employees — a whopping 10 percent of the public payroll — between October of 2010 and April 1 of 2011 was postponed without a new deadline. And a scheme to tie wages to a worker's individual productivity, announced with much fanfare in 2008, has not been mentioned for nearly two years.
Meanwhile, the basic outline of Cuba's political system has not changed: one-party rule, tight controls on of the mass media and varying levels of repression for those who actively oppose the government.
WHAT IT ALL MEANS STILL HARD TO SAY
To Castro's critics, all the changes amount to worthless cosmetic surgery, a confession of failure in 53 years of what the Castros call "building socialism." After all, they say, private enterprise existed and houses could be bought and sold under the Batista dictatorship, before the Castros' 1959 revolution.
To supporters, they are part of a slow but sure-footed campaign to eliminate a number of senseless economic constraints, move toward a more productive brand of socialism and keep the Cuban Communist Party in power.
The only certainties are that Cuba is in the midst of complex changes — which may or may not lead to a more productive brand of socialism — and that the Castro government has no intention of easing its authoritarian and coercive political system.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/21/v-fullstory/2568650/repression-still-the-rule-but.html
A Little Report about Governmental Fraud / Ángel Santiesteban
A Little Report about Governmental Fraud / Ángel SantiestebanAngel Santiesteban, Translator: Regina Anavy
The last thing able to survive from our Cuban heritage is housing, owing to the totalitarian will of Fidel Castro, who dictated for more than 50 years that everything was his property and only he would decide what was whose and when it stopped being so. Fortunately or unfortunately, the family home was the only thing that couldn't be sacrificed to survive the debacle that has lasted over 50 years. Soon that ban on the sale of real estate will be a memory.
In the 1980s, the Cuban people were robbed of jewelry inherited from their ancestors; the elderly, to satisfy their children and grandchildren and alleviate their extreme poverty, handed over their goods in exchange for a few "chavitos" [Cuban convertible pesos], which had value only in hard-currency stores, where the prices of the items were laughable. And everything worked like a robbery because there were no other stores where they could get these products, which were nothing special, other than the opportunity to acquire them.
Having dollars in those days could send you to prison for many years. People were confronted with the perfected gears of a governmental blackmail, which left some in bad shape, those who refused to sacrifice the memory of their ancestors for their family. In the end, the old women who gave up their engagement rings, relics that they exhibited on their hands as a window into profound feelings, did it with a mixture of pain and satisfaction, to please their families. They were left with the perception that they were duped like the Indians at the arrival of the Spanish, when they traded gold nuggets for stained glass.
The State also bought their porcelain vases, silver and gold, paintings that their ancestors hung on the walls to admire, design furniture, wealth that went into the coffers of politicians or their families and that now rest in safe deposit boxes in foreign banks. If I may say, it reminds me of the Jewish Holocaust, where they even removed gold teeth by force.
Our people are like the sugar cane: squeezed.
Cuban society has been sacked spiritually and materially, like the cane, which is repeatedly passed through the mill, where it loses consistency, becoming bagasse and powder. What's painful is that everything happens in total silence, under the auspices and complicity of Cuban officials and intellectuals, who don't comment because of the fear that always accompanies them in their artistic souls. They remained silent before the grand theft that exchanged jewelry for bread. For once they didn't fulfill the role, so vaunted, that makes intellectuals the voice of society, its defender, its living memory. Instead, they preferred to turn their backs on the people, and history will recognize this in its righteous assessment.
But circumstances have changed so much for the ruling elite, that it has no choice but to revise its extreme methods and wave the flag, always for the sake of its benefit, ignoring the repeated and lengthy speeches that claimed that "private property will never return to Cuba." Have you ever wondered how much pain it must cause Fidel Castro to see how the whole house of cards he forced us to visualize is crumbling? He wanted us to believe it as if it were true and palpable. What must be happening and what plans do they have for beginning to return some small freedoms that they took away before and that makes them feel they are losing their valued power? Surely it's the same feeling of helplessness the masters felt when they were forced to free their slaves. For let's not deceive ourselves, no measure of this Government will ever improve things for the people, not even to restore the freedoms and rights that correspond to being human.
The right to be born….in the wrong place?
Now the government has approved the sale of houses, something that had already been announced. But it's also been more than a year, as "by chance" they began in Cuba, after 50 years of stagnation, to update the property registrations. Everything has been done with the utmost urgency. It has been a so-called mandate for the state enterprises, with the inescapable management of citizens for any procedure involving their homes. In each municipality offices were opened to enter into the books the names of the current owners, with extreme urgency and pressure. They know that time is running out. The locals have handed over premises for these offices, given training courses, printed flyers that have been corrected, and delivered computers, files and office supplies. Visits by the Provincial Director of Justice and political officials are constant. They also are pressured with other requests. They have to answer for how much the total climbs when they get an entry on the books. The first person who began this task, as part of his duties as Prime Minister (Mayor of Havana), Juan Contino Aslan (may his small power rest in peace), was dismissed and now is on the "pajama plan," (like his predecessors and political mentors, who allotted houses to their mistresses).
The Government of Cuba never makes a move that will not bring it compensation. But in this case, all the trappings lead us to the true intent, which is to take back the properties belonging to the old owners, who have left the country or died in Cuba.
The goal is to erase the past. When the State gets in its possession all the old properties, it will make them disappear and, with the registration, only the updated properties will remain. No property owner whose property was "nationalized" beginning in 1959, nor their heirs, will be able to reclaim something that doesn't exist and that they can't prove officially.
Perhaps some have conveyed their properties from exile, but they were the minority. And you might think it's a commendable gesture of the Castros to assure Cubans that they will not be thrown into the street when the inevitable political change appears, but that would be naive. The real reason is that the power elite is trying to hide the family estates that were seized or inventoried after the departure of their original owners. Inside the great mountain of paper that contains the entries, the personal properties will be lost. By the way, this will reassure the generals and acolytes that they will not lose the confiscated property given to them when they came to power.
The country is bleeding
The Cubans, in this carnival of small, unknown freedoms, in their desperation to change their reality, in the desire to fulfill some dreams, especially that of emigrating, now can sell their homes. Those who wish to stay on the island immediately think about how that money will solve all their pressing needs: eating, dressing and sleeping without the torture of not knowing what you will eat the next day. The government is already warning that it is "not responsible for the bad decisions of owners who spend the money and end up in homes in poor condition that may fall down, or for those who are wandering around without a roof over their heads."
Once again, we wonder what function this supposed revolution had, which presumably was made to guarantee people a secure life with equal rights. What do we gain from suffering a dictatorship for more than 50 years, if at the end we find ourselves selling the only things we posses, the only things we could keep? And what's worse, it's a "socialist" state that has nothing to do with its people, who were its only standard and justification in this long march of agony.
The Comandante's bag
As a child, we thought the "coconut" would come for us, for our body; it would come to take us away for not eating all our sweet potatoes, or for not going to bed on time. After growing up we knew that the man with the bag, the bogeyman, had passed through our lives, and he took in his bundle more than wealth and family belongings. He took the lives and dreams of my grandparents, parents, siblings, friends, those relatives who still grasp me with their nails and their teeth so they won't be snatched, and already he controls my children and now, if we permit him, our grandchildren.
The Cuban State, for more than half a century, has held up the monster of "capitalism," which it constantly criticized, to children who were frightened that the "coconut" would come, and by studying so thoroughly the original, it now has become the reflection and has converted itself into the image of "the bogeyman who is coming to take us away," in order to frighten us with capitalism as communist propaganda.
We Cubans have been scammed. The socialist State is slowly giving way to ideas with which they can perpetuate the dictatorship, a frank regression to capitalism. With the difference that now it will be more vulnerable, because there is no knowledge of either family or social infrastructure, which is necessary to meet and sustain a dignified life.
The big difference is in who wins at the considerable sacrifice of millions of Cubans in this more than half a century. The Castro family lives in luxurious mansions They own several cars and yachts. They travel constantly and have prosperous businesses, fortunes and properties in other countries. They definitely enjoy an income that allows them to live like millionaires.
The beginning of the 21st century has begun to be their end. They sense that they are running out of time. The only thing I don't know is how and what they will develop for the family to maintain its status and wealth, and to ensure, of course, that it will not be returned later to the Cuban people.
While they prolong the strategies for usurious benefits for the Castro family, the Cuban peoples' dreams of freedom and a prosperous economy are put off and continue being deferred.
Ángel Santiesteban Prats
Translated by Regina Anavy
November 16 2011
Cuba’s title recording system, part 3
Analysis: Cuba's title recording system, part 3By José Manuel Pallí, Esq.
What is it the Cuban authorities are trying to achieve by reforming the island's land title recording system? It is clear that they want Cubans to record their socialist "personal" property rights over housing with the Registro de la Propiedad, perhaps to solidify those rights in the face of future claims against them.
The reform, or recovery rather, of the Cuban land title recording system began in earnest in 1998, with Decreto Ley 185/98, which modified Chapter IX (Registro de la Propiedad), articles 116 to 121 of Cuba's Housing Law (Ley 65/1988 or Ley General de la Vivienda).
The 1998 version of article 118 read almost like the provisions in Decreto Ley 288 that recently modified articles 69.1 and 70.1 of the same Housing Law: In both cases, the modified law seems to mandate the use of a notarial document and the recordation of the titles in the Registro de la Propiedad. Article 118, as modified by DL 185 back in 1998, called for the recordation of the transactional title document after the transaction occurred ("…deberán ser declaradas mediante escritura pública, la que se presentará para su inscripción en el Registro correspondiente."). The changes introduced to articles 69 and 70 this past November are more emphatic in requiring the recordation of all titles, since they stipulate no transaction over housing can take place unless the notary has evidence that the corresponding titles are already recorded. Among the procedural rules for the recordation of titles and other documents found in Resolución 114/2207 of the Housing Institute discussed below, we find, in its article 2.1, a period of 60 days from the date of the execution of the notarial document for the recordation of a conveyance (transferencia de dominio u otro derecho real). There is no necessary contradiction between all these provisions, and the Fourth Final Provision (Disposición Final Cuarta) in DL 288 would otherwise take care of any, since it does away with all egal provisions that contradict those contained in that piece of legislation ("se derogan … cuantas disposiciones de igual o inferior jerarquía se opongan a lo dispuesto por el presente Decreto-Ley"), a legislative technique that makes reading Cuban Law the thrilling endeavor it is. What there is is a sense of frustration on the part of the Cuban legislator with not getting the results it wants.
Our Miami folklore assumes that most people in a totalitarian regime like Cuba's just follow the marching orders, the exception being the few courageous ones who dare to dissent. But the Cuban government's apparent frustration with the 13-year long — and counting — saga of getting Cubans to record their titles in the Registro de la Propiedad should dispel those beliefs.
In May 2003, the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers (comité ejecutivo del Consejo de Ministros) adopted Acuerdo — literally an agreement, stuff we in the bipartisan United States seldom see these days — No. 4799, whereby the Cuban government called for strengthening its administrative control over the country's housing stock, and over land in general (control del patrimonio inmobiliario del paìs) by pursuing the recording of all land parcels (inmatriculación) and of all title documents (inscripción) showing property rights over said parcels and identifying the holders of those rights. As a result of this directive, a set of rules and procedures for the organization and operation of the land title recording system was adopted by the Ministry of Justice (MINJUS) through Resolución No. 249/2005. But the provisions in this piece of legislation were soon found lacking, and Resolución No. 114/2007, which sought to implement a more agile and effective recording process, superseded it.
Article 1.2 of Res. 114/2007 refers to the Registro de la Propiedad's recording entries as being a guarantee of legal certainty (garantía de seguridad jurídica) in all matters affecting real property rights. The question is whether this pronouncement marks a shift from a reform driven by a governmental urge to "control" to one that pursues legal certainty, for the benefit of individuals and society as a whole, as its ultimate goal. If the latter, this could have been seen as a strong inducement and incentive to record their titles by those who became "owners" thanks to the Cuban Revolution.
And I call it a shift because no lesser figure than Juan Vega Vega, the distinguished professor of law and director of the urban reform of the 1960, is on the record — in his book, Comentarios a la Ley General de la Vivienda, that comments on Cuba's 1984 Housing Law — saying that the Revolution only needed a Registro as a tool for urban control. According to Vega Vega, there is no better legal certainty or guarantee than that arising from the occupation of a given housing unit by its owner, so he considered the "old anachronistic registry" obsolete. But he believed Cuba (its government) needed to know everything about its housing stock (fondo habitacional), especially every piece of information regarding its actual tenure at a given point in time. This set of priorities led to the "creation" in 1984 of a Housing Registry (Registro de la Propiedad de la Vivienda y los Solares Yermos), an experiment whose utter failure gave way to the reform that began in 1998, as we note above.
The "control"-driven registries or cadasters — a cadaster is the proper receptacle for the kind of information tied to the the state's control needs, having fiscal effects, whereas a sound title recording system has legal effects — were a staple among the aspirations of all the countries then dwelling behind the Iron Curtain. During the Soviet era, Russia achieved a very high level of proficiency in its cadastral system, which was focused, for instance, in assessing the productivity of the soil in Russian lands, though not in assigning property rights over them.
But it should be pointed out that, long before the 1917 Revolution, Russians saw land tenancy from a perspective that emphasized its communal, social function, a conception that was quite different from the one prevailing in Western Europe and in the United States, where land is just another asset — or a commodity even — subject to market rules that price it accordingly. Cuba's history prior to the 1959 Revolution shows its alignment with the Western concept of property rights over land. And Cuba's Housing Law of 1988 (the second Ley General de la Vivienda) explicitly acknowledged that old Registro de la Propiedad from 1880 that so efficiently assigned property rights (and which was called obsolete only four years before) as a valuable accessory to the stillborn Housing Registry, with a significant "historical value" (in the words of another brilliant Cuban lawyer, Rodolfo Dávalos Fernández).
But whether there is a true shift in priorities and policies or not, it is apparent that Cubans are less than enthusiastic when it comes to volunteering the information required for the recording of their real property (or housing) titles with the Registro de la Propiedad. That's to the point that less than 10 percent of the housing units in Cuba are said to be presently in compliance with the recording requirements found in the Housing Law and in the regulations governing Cuba's land title recording system.
Resolution 114/2007 (containing "Las normas y procedimientos para la organización y funcionamiento del Registro de la Propiedad") reads very much like its counterparts in other countries, which, like Cuba, are part of the universe of Civil Law. Among the documents and titles that can be recorded — they are listed in article 4 of Res. 114/2007 del MINJUS — we find the Actas de Notoriedad, a very useful little document that the Spanish recording system resorts to when in need of curing gaps or other imperfections in its otherwise very efficient clock-work (Article 4.15: En el Registro de la Propiedad se inscriben los títulos y documentos siguientes: …15. Las actas de notoriedad, cuando proceda, en los casos de recuperación del tracto registral).
The modification to these operational guidelines for the Cuban recording system introduced by Resolución No.342/11 of the INAVI (Cuba's National Housing Institute) simply makes the necessary adjustments required under DL 288/11 in order to get into the Registro de la Propiedad all the data pertaining to the internal building activities (acciones constructivas internas) conducted in a given housing unit, such as additions and refurbishments (ampliaciones y rehabilitaciones). The recordation of this "internal construction" data was previously barred under Resolución No. 50/2009 del INAVI.
I am hopeful that this slow and convoluted process of reformation/recovery of the Cuban land title recording system will eventually lead to something very similar to what Cuba had before the 1959 Revolution. A heavy dose of goodwill, together with mediation and consensus building skills and the savvy use of tools like the actas de notoriedad may even go a long way in dissipating many of the clouds presently menacing Cuba's future when it comes to determining who owns what.
Of course, some may see my hope as little more than an exercise in wishful thinking. After all, I am writing from Miami, the world's capital of wishful thinking. But there is an even more ludicrous — and even perilous — exercise in the same field: Thinking that the Cuban people will gamely accept and adopt the real estate transactional model — whether it is a Chinese or an American model — one has in store for them. And their present rulers' travails in trying to get them to record their title documents should serve as exhibit Number One in that regard.
José Manuel Pallí is a Cuban-born member of the Florida Bar, originally trained as a lawyer in Argentina, and president of Miami-based World Wide Title. He can be reached at jpalli@wwti.net.
http://www.cubastandard.com/2011/12/21/analysis-cubas-title-recording-system-part-3/
Who Do Cuba’s Authorities Think They’re Kidding?
Who Do Cuba's Authorities Think They're Kidding?December 21, 2011Dariela Aquique
HAVANA TIMES, Dec 21 — Any moderately intelligent people would soon figure out they were being duped, especially if the device was so obvious to the point of underestimating the reasoning ability of those being "fooled."
The astute tricks being played by the country's authorities are obvious. They are absolutely stop gap and respond to today's Cuba, where expressions of discontent, dissatisfaction and disapproval of the political system are increasing.
In the first place, all of these maneuvers, resolutions, bills or whatever they're being called are late. They should have been issued years ago, though it would have been better if what is being rescinded had never been issued at all.
Logic dictates that all those prohibitions were unreasonable and harmful to the people and even worse for the nation.
It smells a little strange that after so many taboos, we are now reaching these new levels of openness, and so suddenly, one after another (of course one cannot refuse to believe "in change, human improvement and the utility of virtue," as Marti once said). But in the case of these regimes, one needs to be suspicious.
The lack of credibility that plagues their actions, the unpopularity of their plans and the level of demystification of their heroes have caused them to gradually condition society by giving Cuba a number of palliatives to mitigate the unbearable pain of its citizens, deprived of political, legal, civic rights.
But those palliatives are only that, painkillers for a condition that continues to exist. The torment will not cease without total removal.
I've thought a bit about this and it turns out:
- The Cuba of UMAP (labor camps for anti-establishment individuals in the 1960s), of the ideological "parameters" and witch hunts of the 1970s, is now immersed in a campaign against homophobia (pleasing a social sector that can be quite defiant in extreme situations, and giving the country a new international image). However, it is being argued that Cuban society is not prepared for the legalization of relations between homosexuals, and marches and ceremonies of groups will be convened only if supervised and permitted by CENESEX and Mariela Castro, the institution and the individual who initiated this crusade.
- The Cuba where Cubans were denied access to hotels and tourist facilities designed for hard currency generation has today opened its doors to everyone (pleasing many people who have pockets deep enough for vacations and stays in these resorts. The tourists don't ask many questions; the Cuban presence makes for a better picture of the island and its people; and hustlers have an easier time, becoming less hostile in their aggressive in their interactions with foreigners.
By the way, currency in the hands of nationals is collected and registered in offices and files of such resorts, giving more control with the first and last names of people and their income levels.
- The Cuba that once crucified the words "business" and "private property," now allows self-employment and small independent enterprises (pleasing a group avid for private enterprise, the government collects taxes at sky-high rates, saves on the payment of wages, doesn't have to secure some jobs and the domestic economy is made to seem to be reviving).
Yet most everyone knows it's really not like this, but nonetheless resigns themselves to it. By virtue of not having been allowed anything, they now feel like getting whatever they can, and with many people scurrying around — daily — they will be too busy to dwell on certain analyses or engage in any activity that endangers their little business.
-The Cuba where personal property seemed more like the property of the state, is now allowing the sale and transfer of properties such as homes and cars (the government is agreeing to permit owners to sell what belongs to them in the name of facilitating and enhancing the economic and social development of people. However, this is being done for no other reason than to benefit itself, charging a percentage on both sides of the transactions).
By the way, it should be pointed out that these same transactions that were carried out but illegally in the past will not be viewed as legal now, thus causing the beginning of new illegalities. But what will be exposed in the process will be many of these tricks that were carried out by the public through their lawyers and the staffs of Housing Department offices in acquiring and selling their homes and cars.
-The Cuba where freedom of expression was a utopia after 1959, is now advocating the "derecho a la palabra" (the right to speak), criticism by citizens (thus allowing an irrevocable human right). Departments in the provincial headquarters of the Communist Party are now empowered to register people's concerns and complaints.
Nevertheless, they will not accept proposals for change or questioning under this "permission." What is demanded in universities is more combativeness against any expression of dissent and increasingly more political discussions at the different educational levels, trying to manipulate the next generation, using history and creating an awareness of the advantages of socialism as a fair and preferable system, and the only one possible in Cuba.
-The Cuba of the absolutely official and centralized press, today is ironically making mention of a free unbiased press (without changing anything here, it's pure rhetoric) every day waging fiercer wars against independent and alternative journalism, calling it cyber-dissidence, and every day blocking more sites so people are denied use of them, not to mention all the efforts made to postpone and delay access to the Internet by Cubans.
That's why to me (and for many others) any of the new measures being put in place meet no other goal than to try to divert attention from the real problem: the need for an immediate change of policies and the authorities in place in Cuba.
Their palliatives, in concrete terms, are doing nothing but strangling the real possibilities for growth, prosperity and individual freedoms. Since this heartfelt desire is so exploited, and was abandoned so many years ago, I (and many others) have to wonder: Who are they kidding?
Cuba’s title recording system
Analysis:Cuba's title recording system,part 1 – 2By José Manuel Pallí, Esq.
Cuba's title recording system, part 1By José Manuel Pallí, Esq.
I apparently raised more than a few eyebrows by claiming that Cuba's land title recording system before Castro was much better than anything we have ever had in the United States. At the risk of stepping on even more toes, here is why I said what I said.
First, let me make clear that my statement is not born of any claim to Cuban exceptionalism: Cubans can hardly brag about the recording system they had back in 1959, since it was the creation of Spaniards in the middle of the 19th century, who in turn followed ideas originally developed in Germany. Of course, back then Cuba was part of Spain (it was one of Spain's provincias de ultramar), and, as a matter of fact, Cuba tasted this Spanish Recording Law (known in its original version as the Ley Hipotecaria de Ultramar) even before it was in effect in the mainland.
And I am not saying that our court-run recording system in the United States is not serviceable as it is. I am saying it can be very much improved if we would only look at what other countries are doing — and have been doing for eons — with theirs. By humbly acknowledging the possibility that others may have a better answer for problems such as mortgage fraud, certainty as to who owns a given secured loan when the time comes to foreclose on it, or people entering into contracts they do not understand the consequences of, we may begin to resolve some of the issues that are keeping us mired in this never-ending "financial crisis" and clogging our justice administration system.
There are two main varieties of land title recording systems. The United States one is the less elaborate, and it simply records and publicizes a private document, assigning a priority to it, based on its date of recordation. All you need to do to have your document recorded is take it to the courthouse and present it, making sure it meets certain minimal formalities, which are the only thing the record keepers review prior to recording it. It is a system that records and publicizes documents.
In the kind of Spanish (German-inspired) recording system in place in Cuba before Castro, the registrar in charge of the recording office reviews the (usually "public" or notarial) document presented for recordation, checking on it from several angles, its completeness and its abidance by the applicable laws among them. The transaction contained in that same notarial document has been previously reviewed to mostly the same extent by a Civil Law Notary, an independent or third-party lawyer who makes sure that the parties (signatories) to the document or transaction fully understand its meaning and consequences. In essence, what this fellow does is make sure the document is legally effective, so as to accomplish what the parties freely will to do. The combination of this strictly reviewed notarial document (which in Civil Law carries a high evidentiary value that makes it almost self-proving), the pre-recordation review by the Registrar (calificación notarial y registral), and the legal principles on which the Spanish recording system is based, make the rights of the owner (of a piece of real property, of the mortgage encumbering it, or of any other real property rights he claims over it) of record virtually unassailable. So it is said to be a system that records (and even more importantly, assigns) real property rights, not just documents. The recording entries of such a system are sort of iron-cladded against the claims of those who may try to question the rights of the owner of record, which rights are thusly said to be legitimized by their recordation.
There are other reasons why this "recordation of rights" system is much better than ours:
•The information pertaining to each piece of land is concentrated in a single entry (called a folio real), which rules out the need to resort to extended and cumbersome searches through grantor / grantee indexes.
•Its emphasis on preventing legal disputes through the power of review both civil law notaries and registrars have, results in there being relatively few lawsuits over land titles in those societies that opt for it.
•Even if the system is not absolutely risk free – no system is, but, I insist, this Spanish recording system is, conceptually, much stronger than ours — it makes title insurance or other such products unnecessary.
And I happen to know a thing or two about how our title insurance-aided system works when compared with these recording models in place on almost every Civil Law jurisdiction in the world, having spent many years trying to "extrapolate" title insurance into other cultures.
My many friends in the title insurance industry have always seen its international expansion from the very American perspective of "if it works for us, it should work for everybody else." While I was already well into my project of acculturating title insurance to civil law habitats, beginning with Mexico, an American working for one of the largest American title insurance underwriters asked himself a very simple question: 'Why don't they have it in Canada?', where he happened to live. With dedication, well-honed selling skills and hard work, he turned this underwriter's Canadian venture into a relative success.
But then it all became a matter of finding how to sell – an endeavor we are still unquestionably number one at — American title insurance abroad, and any need to acculturate it or translate it into other people's needs became an afterthought. So even today, about 99 percent of the very few policies issued over Mexican real property titles are bought by Americans.
The real question is, why do we have title insurance when no other advanced – nor underdeveloped — nation in the world has ever found any use for it? And the answer brings me back to the theme of this little essay: Because our recording system (and even our real estate transactional system) is a lot more frail and uncertain than it should be, or than we, as the Greatest Nation on earth, deserve it to be.
And this is not news to a lot of folks in the United States. The last chapter of the first version of RESPA (the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act) contained suggestions about how to change and improve our recording system. Nothing ever happened, of course, for the same reason it is very difficult to rid our Internal Revenue Code of a long list of loopholes and tax breaks.
Besides, title insurance is as wired into our financial system as the so-called rating agencies are – hard to believe in them, but at what price the disbelief. We do need title insurance, and we need it, even if it does not always work as we expect it to work. It has not happened yet, but I would not be surprised to read in the near future about the industry's claims that their policies are only "opinions," just as those of the rating agencies … And even then, we may still be unable to live without it.
In my next piece, I will try to explain where the Cuban recording system stands today – its operating guidelines were altered by some provisions published by the Cuban government the same day they published Decreto Ley 288/2011, the law that facilitated home sales in Cuba — and explore whether title insurance might prosper one day in the still forbidden island.
Cuba's title recording system, part 2By José Manuel Pallí, Esq.
Cuba's laws went through a tidal change as a result of the new conception of socio-economic relations — property rights included — the Cuban Revolution brought to the island. One of the early victims of this process was the excellent title recording system Cuba inherited from Spain, and which, by 1959, had served Cuba well for almost 80 years. It was essentially dismantled.
A succession of laws and regulations containing provisions affecting the recording system were adopted in order to set aside the "old" Registro de la Propiedad. They included provisions in the Agrarian Reform Laws, Urban Reform Laws and Housing Laws, which created new registries that would replace the existing one, segregating the recording of titles to urban lots from from that of rural land, for example. However, most of these new recording schemes were never even implemented. The overseers of this revolutionary (in name only) recording system were diverse. They ranged from the Agrarian Ministry to the Housing Ministry to the municipalities, but the registro's natural and sensible connection to the legal system under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice called for under pre-revolutionary law was eliminated. The result: For almost 30 years there was no land title recording activity in Cuba.
But in the early 1990s, as the world dramatically changed and Cuba was left without the Soviet life support system, the consequent realization that an opening of Cuban society was, eventually, inevitable, gave way to a reassessment of a well-conceived and operated land title recording system. Cuban lawyers were well aware that their 1880 Mortgage Law (Ley Hipotecaria) remained part of their laws. It had never been formally abrogated or rescinded, though technically, it appeared to be superseded by some of the provisions I refer to above. They in turn, in my understanding, resorted to it as a blueprint for the reform, if not necessarily a re-birth, of their recording system.
This reform process began in 1998, with the sanction of Decreto Ley 185/98, which modified Cuba's Housing Law, just as the recent "Cubans can now sell their houses" Decreto Ley 288/11did. And, subtly — even unassumingly — Decreto 185, in my opinion, opened the door for the old "Spanish model" Registro de la Propiedad to be brought back to life. The Spanish seal was made even more evident by the fact that most of the very bright and capable lawyers that were to be put in charge of the Cuban land title recording system were being trained in Spain, by Spanish registrars. The Colegio de Registradores de Valencia was assigned this task through an agreement between the Spanish and Cuban governments (Spain's government was then presided by don José María Aznar). This was a teaching process that, surprisingly, seems to have waned over the past almost eight years of Socialist government in Spain. But the brand-new Spanish government is led by don Mariano Rajoy, a politician who is also a Registrador de la Propiedad by trade, and despite the fact that, amid the chaotic events that frame his inauguration, Cuba may not be for him the Number One priority we Cubans believe it should be, Rajoy's advent may turn out to be excellent news for the reform of the recording system in Cuba.
This 1998 law also gave back to the Ministry of Justice the supervision over the recording system. It marks the starting point of a careful, stage-by-stage re-evaluation of Cuba's recording needs, and an even more cautious implementation of what seems to be akin to the Spanish system of old, as I could see for myself when I was allowed to visit the recording office at La Lisa back in January 2003, one of the registros then serving Havana (I felt as if I was at any small town recording office in Spain). If you want to explore the topic any further — or if you are having trouble with insomnia — you may browse (or drowse) through these two pieces I wrote years back, when Cuba's reform of its registros was in its early stages:
http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume15/pdfs/palli.pdf
and
http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume17/pdfs/palli.pdf
The same day Decreto Ley 288/11 was published in the Gaceta Oficial de Cuba, and in the very same issue of the Gaceta, you will find Resolución No. 324/11, issued by Cuba's National Housing Institute (Instituto Nacional de la Vivienda or INAVI), which adopts a procedure for bringing real property titles up to date (Procedimiento para la Actualización de los Titulos de Propiedad y su Inscripción en los Registros de la Propiedad), under the light of the changes brought by Decreto Ley 288.
This resolution from the INAVI — and the way it apparently interacts with other recording rules and regulations in force in Cuba, mainly Resolución 114/2007 of the Ministry of Justice, which establishes the rules and procedures for the organization and operation of Cuba's land title recording system (Normas y Procedimientos para la Organización y Funcionamiento del Registro de la Propiedad) — will be the subject of my next column here on Cuba Standard. I may even venture into crystal ball territory and try to discern more clearly what the recording needs Cuba pursues really are, what it is that is really driving this reform of its recording system, and how effective the reform has been thus far. I may not even have to borrow one of those tools of Miami based–meaning without setting foot in Cuba — cubanology. I am told a couple of them are already available in local pawn shops.
Part 1:http://www.cubastandard.com/2011/12/01/analysis-cubas-title-recording-system-part-1/
Part 2:http://www.cubastandard.com/2011/12/12/analysis-cubas-title-recording-system-part-2/
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