PARAMARIBO – Suriname's exports to Cuba might get another dimension in
the times ahead. Preparations are underway to strengthen trade ties with
the island nation and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Lackin hopes the
first transactions will take place in the first half of this year. Those
will involve barter deals with local businesses delivering goods and
products to Cuba in return for Cuban products as payment. This deal was
brokered by of President Desi Bouterse on his visit to Cuba in May last
year. Lackin explains that during the President's visit, Cuban
representatives requested the delivery of crossties for their sugar
industry's railroads. They are also interested in rice. In exchange,
Cuba can supply cement and fertilizer, Lackin says, adding, "We know
Cuba doesn't have much capital or private investments, and we're looking
for some type of barter deals with Cuba." The transactions will be made
by private businesses, however. Furthermore, the possibility of
facilitating sea transport between Suriname and Cuba and better
connections with the region is being considered.

http://www.stabroeknews.com/2012/news/breaking-news/01/04/suriname-barter-deals-with-cuba-pending/

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

http://translatingcuba.com/?p=13502

New customs regulations aimed at countering the "shuttle" trade, have
come into effect in Cuba. Starting with December 30th, customs officials
will confiscate goods and products that are imported into the country by
private individuals "for commercial purposes." Customs will be guided by
two new resolutions of the General Customs of Cuba, which determine the
amount of imported products or goods not considered "commercial
imports." The new resolutions also determine duty rates for allowed
import goods.

As reported earlier by "Granma" newspaper, tourists arriving on the
island are entitled to duty-free import of items of personal belongings,
as well as jewelry, cameras, computers and other items of personal use,
subject to mandatory subsequent removal from the country. For other
categories of passengers a different procedure of goods import and
payment of customs tariffs is presupposed.

In addition, the "Granma" specifically stated that individuals arriving
in Cuba have no right to transport goods and products intended for other
persons in the form of parcels or packages, reports RIA Novosti. (RIAN)

http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/12/30/63151473.html

HAVANA, Dec 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Cuban agricultural workers are allowed to
sell their products directly to tourism companies beginning today as
part of the reforms promoted by President Raul Castro to boost
agriculture and ensure national security.

The purpose of the initiative is to "simplify links between primary
producers and consumers and save transport costs," according to the
official daily Granma, a newspaper of the ruling Cuban Communist Party
(CCP).

The permission for farmers to offer their products directly to tourist
facilities is part of the economic adjustments undertaken by the
president since 2008 and approved at the Sixth Congress of CCP in April.

The programme includes several measures related to agriculture that are
aimed at increasing domestic production and reducing imports.

The country imports each year 80 percent of food it consumes.

Since taking office in 2006, Raul Castro has described the country's
food production as a "strategic issue of national security."

He has made efforts to reform the economy of Cuba, which was hit by the
collapse of the Soviet Union, its former main market, in the 1990s.

One of the first steps of the president was to distribute the idle land
to new farmers.

Official statistics showed that until last Sept, the government had
delivered 1.3 million hectares of idle land, 79.2 percent of which has
been put into use by about 146,000 new private producers.

Last week, the Cuban National Statistic Office reported an increase of
7.2 percent of the country's agricultural production during the first
nine months of this year.

The figures also showed the output increase of private farmers by 15
percent in a year.

The president also tried to stimulate agricultural production by
granting loans to farmers who needed them.

According to Vice President of the Cuban Central Bank Irma Martinez, the
national bank system is ready to enlarge the possibilities of credits to
individuals. — NNN-AGENCIES

http://www.namnewsnetwork.org/v2/read.php?id=177895

HAVANA – Communist Cuba has eased but not ended wildly unpopular
14-year-old restrictions on people moving from the provinces to Havana,
according to a decree published Tuesday.

The only single party regime in the Americas has argued that the rules
were necessary, in the country of 11 million, to limit migration to the
crowded capital of 2.1 million, plagued by severe shortages of water,
housing, transport and jobs.

Former president Fidel Castro signed the domestic migration decree in
1997, setting a list of onerous requirements for people living outside
the capital to meet if they wanted to relocate to Havana.

The restrictions, which amounted effectively to a ban, has been defied
by thousands seeking a better life in Cuba's largest city.

Tuesday's decree, signed by his younger brother President Raul Castro,
says the reasons behind the original decree had not changed.

But it amended the existing rules to include exceptions for spouses,
children, parents, grandparents and grandchildren of those who own
property in Havana, as well as a homeowner's spouse's minor children,
and the handicapped.

Under the 1997 decree, authorities in Havana returned thousands of
people back to their home provinces every year.

Since 2006 Raul Castro's government has ended several unpopular
restrictions. Among other things Cubans are now allowed to rent rooms in
hotels geared to international tourism, sign cell phone contracts, and
buy appliances (a government energy saving measure).

In September, the government authorised Cubans to buy and sell cars, and
this month homes.

Cubans are extremely keen for the government to eliminate its onerous
restrictions on travel abroad.

If Havana makes that move, it could be a stunning wake-up call to the
United States, which as part of held-over Cold War policy, still grants
any Cuban who reaches US soil legal US residency on request. The United
States does not have this policy for nationals of any other country.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20111123-312168.html

- El esperado cable submarino de fibra óptica que conecta a Cuba y
Venezuela está ya totalmente probado y brindando servicios a selectas
entidades de ambos gobiernos, a pesar del secretismo que rodea su
funcionamiento.

Barco Ile de Batz, que transportó el cable hasta la playa Siboney, en
Santiago de Cuba.

El cable -financiado por el gobierno de Hugo Chávez a un costo de $70
millones de dólares- pasó todas las pruebas de aceptación inicial a
mediados de agosto y desde entonces presta servicios a limitados
organismos gubernamentales, según confirmaron fuentes del sector
tecnológico desde la isla.

¿Una institución beneficiada hasta ahora? El Ministerio del Interior de
Cuba (MININT).

La Empresa de Telecomunicaciones Gran Caribe, responsabilizada con la
ejecución del proyecto, y las autoridades de la Empresa de
Telecomunicaciones de Cuba (ETECSA) habían informado previamente que el
cable entraría en funciones en julio, pero hasta el momento no ha habido
ningún pronunciamiento sobre el asunto.

La puesta en funcionamiento del cable ha estado también salpicada por un
escándalo de malversación y corrupción que compromete a altos
funcionarios de ETECSA, muchos de ellos suspendidos y sometidos a una
investigación policial.

Sin una inauguración oficial y en medio de un proceso de reevaluación de
su alcance y perspectivas inmediatas, el cable identificado como ALBA-1
se mantiene casi como un secreto de Estado, pues su puesta en servicio
desmantelaría una buena parte de las versiones oficiales acerca de las
limitaciones de acceso y sobre todo rapidez de la internet cubana.

Tres mil veces más rápido

La velocidad de transmisión del cable es de 320 Gigabytes, lo que
significa tres mil veces más capacidad de conexión que la que tiene Cuba
actualmente.

Las inversiones necesarias en la infraestructura principal que enlaza la
estación de amarre del cable en Santiago de Cuba con la red troncal y de
ahí a la Habana están ya hechas. Las limitaciones para expandir su
acceso al público son más bien políticas que tecnológicas, aunque hay
temas como el mantenimiento del cable en su parte marina que permanecen
aún sin resolverse.

Con una longitud total de 1,600 kilómetros, el cable reposará en el
fondo marino en la mayor parte de su trayecto, beneficiándose de que no
existen corrientes de agua que lo muevan de su trazado original. Solo
fue enterrado en algunos puntos estratégicos para mantenerlo fijo.

Pero no es menos cierto que subsisten problemas vinculados al cable como
el hecho de que Cuba no es miembro del ACMA (Atlantic Cable Maintenance
Agreement), lo que dificulta la garantía de mantenimiento de un cable
sin ruta alterna.

Los países miembros de ese acuerdo internacional, incluido Venezuela,
cuentan con barcos específicamente proyectados y situados para
solucionar interrupciones en mares y puntos de acceso, pero según las
leyes del embargo cualquier embarcación que entre en aguas cubanas no
puede tocar puertos norteamericanos en seis meses ha causado
preocupación entre los servidores.

La inmensa mayoría de los cables del área tocan uno o más puntos bajo
jurisdicción de Estados Unidos.

Con mucha cautela

De todas formas, el gobierno tiene que moverse con cautela sobre el tema
por razones no tecnológicas: ¿cómo explicarles a los blogueros como
Yoani Sánchez y a las personas que tratan de conectarse a internet que
el servicio seguirá costando $7 dólares desde un hotel? ¿cómo justificar
entonces ante los estudiantes universitarios de que los accesos
universitarios siguen siendo lentos y limitados?

Precisamente hoy Yoani Sánchez mostró sus dudas e inconformidad sobre
la situación en un Twitter enviado desde La Habana. "Cable instalado ya
e/ Cuba y Venezuela pero no operativo. Algunos especulan problemas
técnicos, otros hablan de 'miedo' a Internet", escribió la bloguera.
"Nos prometieron que ya para esta fecha el cable de fibra óptica desde
Venezuela nos daria Internet… era mentira!".

Cuba ha reiterado desde el comienzo que priorizará la conexión a la red
de manera organizada para garantizar un "uso social" de las ventajas del
cable, lo que constituye una advertencia poco solapada del control
gubernamental que regirá sobre este proyecto.

Es oportuno señalar que ya se encuentran en Cuba las réplicas y el
control de las bases de datos de las cédulas de identificación y voto de
Venezuela, así como los servicios de pasaporte, lo que permitirá la
emisión, registro, actualización y comprobación de tan significativos
servicios. Y es como para que las aduanas del mundo comiencen a
preocuparse cada vez que vean un pasaporte venezolano.

En resumen, todo parece indicar que la población cubana va a continuar
esperando ante la reticencia de un régimen empeñado en mantener un
férreo control de la información.

* José Remón es Ingeniero Eléctrico en Telecomunicaciones. Trabajó en el
Ministerio de Comunicaciones de Cuba por 25 años. A partir de 1979, se
vinculó a las comunicaciones internacionales con la instalación de la
primera estación de satélite de Intelsat. Fue Gerente de Servicios
Internacionales y, desde 1988, participó activamente en las
negociaciones con compañías de Estados Unidos, supervisando la
administración de las cuentas internacionales. Es autor del estudio que
permitió llegar al acuerdo de las tarifas entre Cuba-EEUU en 1992.
Reside en Miami desde 1994. Laboró en el despliegue de un cable
submarino de fibra óptica que conectó a 10 países de América del Sur con
EEUU. Actualmente es consultor de Telecomunicaciones.

http://cafefuerte.com/2011/11/17/en-funcionamiento-cable-submarino-que-conecta-a-cuba-y-venezuela/

HAVANA TIMES, Nov 14 (IPS) — The creation of co-operatives forms part of
the current "updating" of the Cuban economy, even though no official
information has been provided about the expansion of this form of
business management, which has already been tested, with mixed results,
in agriculture.

This is not a new issue in academic circles. "Years ago, I conducted a
study and proposed, as my personal opinion, to create co-operatives for
the collection, transport and distribution of farm products," economist
Blanca Rosa Pampín, an expert on agricultural issues, said in a recent
interview with IPS.

In her view, this type of self-management could solve the problem of the
buying, selling and distribution of agricultural foodstuffs, which until
now has been based on a state system that slows down the whole process,
discourages producers, causes losses due to transport delays, and drives
up the cost of products.

"The guidelines do not talk about this," Pampín added, referring to the
document approved in April during the Sixth Congress of the governing
Communist Party, which sets the agenda for the Raúl Castro government's
modernisation of the country's economic and social policies.

The document, however, does announce that "first-degree" co-operatives –
where members are individuals or legal entities – will be created as a
socialist form of collective ownership in different sectors, with the
goal of producing and providing useful services for society, with
members using their income to pay for all costs.

It also provides for "second-degree" co-operatives, whose members are
"first-degree" co-ops, with the goal of organising complementary
activities that are related to or add value to the products and services
of member co-ops (involved in production, services or distribution), and
making joint sales and purchases for greater efficiency.

Legal regulations reportedly now being drawn up are expected to
guarantee that co-operatives, as a form of social property, cannot be
sold, nor can their ownership be transferred to other co-operatives,
non-state businesses or individuals. At the same time, the regulations
will serve as the basis for determining the income of workers and the
distribution of profits.

For some analysts, the delay in the materialisation of these initiatives
may be due to the fact that they are changes that the government does
not wish to rush, to avoid subsequent errors or delays. "We are not
going to rush things to meet a timetable," Castro said, referring to the
pace of reforms during a government meeting in September.

For now, the authorities seem to be focusing on the expansion of
self-employment or private enterprise as an alternative for the tens of
thousands of people who have lost their jobs in a slashing of the
bloated public payroll. This includes the distribution of idle state
land to new farmers, under a 2008 law.

But experts say more measures are needed to make the economy grow.

In an article published by the Catholic magazine Palabra Nueva, Camila
Piñeiro, a researcher with the Centre for the Study of the Cuban
Economy, said additional advantages would be provided by legal
regulations for the expansion of co-operatives not limited to agriculture.

"It would allow like-minded people to come together to carry out
activities like those engaged in by self-employed workers, but with
higher levels of productivity and without having to recur to a
concentration of wealth or exploitative work relations," Piñeiro said.

In her opinion, in this country, progress will be made in the
construction of a new economic and social order to the extent that "the
number of genuine co-operatives increases and state and private
enterprises democratise their management," along with other conditions.

"The way that co-operatives are organised internally not only makes them
compatible with democratic socialism, but also essential, although of
course they are not sufficient, nor are they the best way to organise
all economic activities," she said.

In Cuba, Credit and Services Co-operatives (CCS) were formed in the
1960s by land-owning private farmers who voluntarily joined to receive
loans, technology and marketing benefits.

A decade later, the Agricultural Production Co-operatives (CPA) emerged,
made up of farmers who went from being private to collective owners by
selling their land and means of production to the new business entity.

According to economist and agricultural expert Armando Nova, the
positive performance of the CPAs over more than two decades served as a
model for the creation of the Basic Units of Co-operative Production
(UBPC) in 1993.

Over the course of time, however, the UBPCs became "a transfigured form
of state enterprise, with unsatisfactory results," Nova commented in an
article on the issue. In any case, the farmland cultivated by
co-operatives grew from 15 percent in 1989 to 70 percent in 1999.

According to the information provided by the researcher, the CCSs and
private farmers show better results on average than the CPAs, and by
2009 they accounted for 57 percent of total food production with 24.4
percent of arable land.

In Piñeiro's opinion, if co-operatives have been less successful than
private farmers who hire labour, it is due in great measure to the fact
that they have not had the autonomy needed to make purchases and decide
on their production and sales, among other hurdles.

The co-operatives became "distorted by the statist view of socialism
that has predominated," and the fact that many do not see how the group
interests of co-ops can be brought into line with broader social
interests without the direct intervention of the State, she said.

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=55587

Yesterday was payday for retired people and active workers who collect
their pay by debit card. The wandering to and fro by people of various
ages, in search of a Cadeca (a place where money can be exchanged), a
bank that doesn't have long queues (lines) or for an ATM that works,
arouses disgust and some heated remarks between the neighbors of our
neighborhood. It should be noted that the payments to retired people
don't happen at the end of the month as was custom some time ago. One
fine day in one blow, they changed them to the first few days of the
following month, bringing with it the agony of being without a penny
extended, therefore, a couple of days more.

But this was not the case for my neighbor, who still works, and collects
her pay by debit card. She was very needy the same as the vast majority
of people collecting, even more so because she had to make a payment
that had a due date. She went in search of an ATM and that's where here
odyssey began. The one at the Ministry of Transport was broken, the one
at the Cadeca didn't have any cash, the same thing happened at the Bank
of the Ministry of Agriculture, finally, she went through all of the
ATMs and banks in the neighborhood, and couldn't get cash at any of
them, because the only same was working and had available funds, but had
a long line that wasn't moving. She joined that very line and a little
while later she overheard a conversation between two people.

One, an older person said to a young person: I don't know what's going
on, I just went by the agricultural market of the YLW (Youth Labor Army)
and they didn't have anything, nor did the one on Tulipán, nevertheless,
the self-employed individuals in their trucks have everything. How is it
that the State is not able to supply their farmers markets and but the
self-employed can!

The young person, without getting upset, answered: Lady, you yourself
just answered your own question, because the State, as you rightly said,
is not capable, at least that is what it has demonstrated so far.

The woman, without answering back, moved in the line to move away a
little from the young person. Meanwhile, the rest continued complaining
to each other about the slow way that they advanced. Finally, my
neighbor, abandoned the line protesting without being able to achieve
her objective, walking to her house frustrated and indignant, to use a
word that is so in style.

Note: the photo had to be taken from far away, because the guard at the
Cadeca at Panorama and Tulipán wouldn't let me get close with camera in
hand, he told me that I couldn't take photos there, and I told him that
he should show me documentation of the prohibition, and he answered that
it didn't exist, but that it is forbidden.

Translated by: BW

November 7 2011

http://translatingcuba.com/?p=12538

Take Control of Your Super Special Offer Ends Soon. Apply Now!
Motorists pass a broken-down car on a street in Havana

Kicking the ties … Cuba is a museum-on-wheels of old-model American and
Soviet cars, but now the people can buy and sell used vehicles freely.
Photo: Jose Goitia/The New York Times

HAVANA: Until a few weeks ago, Erik Gonzalez's decrepit car did little
more than devour his tiny income. He spent hundreds of dollars fixing
the car, a 30-year-old Moskvich that his grandfather passed down to him
in 2000. Even when it worked, Mr Gonzalez could rarely afford to buy petrol.

Then, overnight, the rattletrap became his nest egg.

Mr Gonzalez put the Soviet-brand car up for sale last month when the
government published rules allowing Cubans to buy and sell used vehicles
freely for the first time in half a century.
Advertisement: Story continues below

The carburettor shot, the battery on its last legs and the headlights
inoperable, but he believes his blue Moskvich will fetch at least
$US5500, a small killing for a waiter whose salary – before tips and
extras – is just $US15 a month.

Like the new law permitting home sales, which comes into effect this
week, the changes headline efforts by the President, Raul Castro, to
remodel Cuba's hobbled economy and spur the private sector.

After decades in which ownership of such big-ticket items was frozen,
the efforts promise to flush money into the market at a time when
officials are trying to stimulate private enterprise and move hundreds
of thousands of workers off the public payroll.

Like several of Mr Castro's changes, the new law created a pocket of
economic liberty in a market that remains tightly controlled. Cubans can
purchase and own more than one used vehicle, and they will no longer
lose their car if they emigrate.

Emilio Morales, president of Miami's Havana Consulting Group, said the
new rules – like earlier decisions to let Cubans own mobile phones and
computers and work in the private sector – simply legalised what many of
them were already doing illicitly and would neither increase Cuba's
antiquated stock of vehicles nor alleviate the country's crushing
transport problem. The move was intended to placate people, not
stimulate the economy, Mr Morales said.

''This is one of their political pressure valves,'' he said.

He would spend the proceeds on building a new kitchen and fixing his
house in a gritty Havana suburb, and then put some of the money aside
for a restaurant he hoped to open with a group of friends.

''If the restaurant is successful, maybe in two or three years I could
buy myself a new car,'' he said. ''Just not a Moskvich.''

The New York Times

http://www.theage.com.au/world/cubans-chance-to-trade-up-is-unlikely-to-jumpstart-economy-20111106-1n222.html

Cuba signed contracts worth over 300 million U.S. dollars at the
International Fair of Havana that ended Saturday, officials said.

Cuba also initiating negotiations and contacts for other business
transactions, said Abraham Maciquez, president of the trade fair
organizing committee.

The Cuban Ministry of Transport signed four documents with companies in
Canada and the Netherlands aimed at providing resources for the recovery
of railroads, motor transportation and ports on the island.

The fair was attended by about 1,500 foreign companies and official
delegations from some 20 countries.

The fair also involved more than 350 Cuban companies in areas such as
health, food industry, electronics, construction, and services, a sector
representing currently 70 percent of the national income.

The "fair is not a bilateral event between Cuba and foreign companies
involved, but an international meeting of trade relations," Maciquez
said. "It is a bridge, aimed at linking our continent with the rest of
the world to promote trade and relations of all kinds in a climate of
peace, tranquility and security."

http://english.cri.cn/6966/2011/11/05/2561s665970.htm

Havana – A conductor and three members of his crew were arrested after
a collision between two trains that left 33 people injured, three of
them seriously, Cuban authorities said.

A freight train headed west toward Pinar del Rio and an eastbound
passenger train with 110 travelers aboard ran into each other Wednesday
morning near the campus of Havana's Jose Antonio Echeverria University,
the Transport Ministry said in a statement.

Investigators' preliminary finding blamed the accident on the freight
train's failure to yield to the other train.

The freight train's conductor and three of his crew "are in custody and
at the disposal of the judicial organs," the ministry said.

A commission of safety experts will conduct a more extensive probe to
"clarify the causes and conditions" behind the collision and to consider
whether civil and criminal charges should be filed, the Transport
Ministry said.

Nineteen people died and 149 others were hurt last year in 106 separate
accidents on Cuban railways, according to official reports acknowledging
an increase in such incidents in recent years.

Most of last year's accidents involved trains' running over cattle or
people or collisions with vehicles at level crossings.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/11/03/cuba-arrests-conductor-and-three-members-his-crew-in-train-collision/

Lawton, La Habana, (PD) Un mensaje recibido a través de las novísimas
redes sociales de telefonía móvil y generado desde la activa blogósfera,
exhorta a rechazar la eventual promoción en enero -nepotismo mediante-
del coronel Alejandro Castro Espín al Comité Central del gobernante y
único Partido Comunista. El llamamiento convoca a impedir la continuidad
de la sucesión dinástica y concluye con un dramático: ¡Ni un Castro más!

El club mundial de dictadores enemigos de la democracia, parece
inspirado en el más rancio absolutismo monárquico. Los casos de Corea
del Norte, Siria y la abortada sucesión de Gadaffi en Libia, dan fe de
una incontestable voluntad de continuismo hereditario. Pero el caso
cubano es diferente. Cinco décadas de dictadura personal totalitaria en
que se logró el sublime horror de la tecnocracia totalitaria, combinado
con lo peor del caudillismo machocrático latinoamericano, no han borrado
del todo la vocación democrática del occidente cristiano en el
imaginario popular cubano, que aun sueña en el inglés adulterado de
Florida o el español deficiente de Telemundo.

El mensaje consiguió filtrarse de móvil en móvil y algunos como el
anciano Gregorio H, que dice y afirma que ya es tarde para cambiar y que
se muere fidelista, comentó mientras bebía el café de un cuentapropista
en Lawton: -La gusanera se adueña de los telefonitos esos –en referencia
a la telefonía móvil- para hacer contrarrevolución con ellos. ¡Están
llenos de odio contra Fidel, contra Raúl y hasta contra sus hijos!

Gregorio supo del mensaje a través de una sobrina que estudia en la
universidad y se lo dio a conocer sólo para molestarlo.

Sobre la posibilidad del encumbramiento de Castro Espín, recogí algunas
opiniones en el almendrón que me transportó hasta Centro Habana, desde
Santos Suárez vía Calzada del 10 de Octubre.
-¡Nunca saldremos de esta gente!- dice el chofer del almendrón. Se
quieren seguir repartiendo todo entre ellos y sus familiares, sus
queridas y el resto de la pandilla. ¡Qué salación le cayó a este país!

Un 'luchador' que viajaba en el almendrón dijo: -El tipo está en el DTI
partiendo cojones en nombre de su papi y su tío. Está luchando lo suyo y
hace méritos. Ninguno de nosotros por más mierda que hablemos conseguirá
impedir que lo metan en la 'mascá'. Esto es de ellos y no hay más na. Lo
único que queda pal que no le guste, es pirarse. ¿Vieron como se echaron
a la jefa de las Damas de Blanco? Esta gente, no quiere soltar…

Lo cierto es que las redes informales hacen lo suyo. Esto a despecho de
los esfuerzos que hace el gobierno para que los mensajes no lleguen a su
destino. Quien suscribe no recibió el mensaje en su móvil, pero tuvo
oportunidad de leerlo y hasta disfrutarlo en el móvil de un vecino y amigo.

En estos momentos espero la confirmación de la última asonada que se
dice protagonizó en las calles de todos los cubanos, Sara Marta Fonseca
con un grupo de seguidores. La oposición se mueve y las redes sociales a
pesar de todos los pesares, acompañan desde la sociedad civil el difícil
camino hacia la libertad y la democracia.

Como un murmullo crece, hasta convertirse en grito una demanda: ¡Ni un
Castro más!

juanchogonzal@gmail.com

http://primaveradigital.org/primavera/component/content/article/117-politica/2573-ni-un-solo-dictador-mas

The other day, watching a triumphalist report on the news about the
unrestricted sale of construction materials and under pressure from his
wife who has been asking him to build a closet in the bedroom for years,
my neighbor Chicho made the trek to the corner of Paseo and 33rd to buy
washed sand, gravel, cement, and four-inch thick blocks. The rest, the
tools and the knowledge, he already had, having been a bricklayer for
more than six years in those long-ago days of the microbrigades*.

He walked from his house to the place hoping to find someone there with
the entrepreneurial spirit to offer to transport the materials, and
indeed, outside was an old Toyota with a little trailer and two men with
wheelbarrows waiting for customers. They gave him a little signal
meaning "we can load up and get out of here right now" and he entered a
kind of office where a woman was filling in the orders and taking money.
"Who's last in line?" he asked, purely as a formality, as there was only
one person at the counter. When it was his turn to be helped he said,
"My dear, put me down for 40 four-inch blocks, a sack of cement, two
sacks of sand and another of gravel."

The woman looked at him as if he were a Martian, and with her best smirk
asked him, "Didn't you see what it said on the chalkboard?"

Only then did he realize that at the entrance there had been a piece of
black cardboard written on in white chalk, but he'd overlooked it in the
excitement of trying to behave like a customer. "My eyesight is poor,"
he fibbed, to justify himself. Then the woman told him, "For sand, you
have to come on Monday and check in early. That same day you can get the
cement and the blocks but the four-inch aren't available now. But look,
the gravel is only available on Thursdays."

"So I have to come twice and pay for two separate deliveries?"

"Look here, son, not only are you near-sighted, you're deaf, or are you
making fun of me?"

* Translator's note:
Microbrigades = "In 1971 a novel form of sweat equity, the
microbrigades, accompanied government investments. Under this system
groups of employees from given workplaces would form brigades to build
housing while other employees agreed to maintain production at current
levels. Housing units were then allocated among the employees from that
workplace…. Microbrigades experienced a revival in 1986 due to several
social forces."
Source: Kapur and Smith, Housing Policy in Castro's Cuba, 2002

12 October 2011

http://translatingcuba.com/?p=12133

Delegación cubana vinculada a fraude sudafricano

Más de 6 millones de Rands provenientes de los contribuyentes
sudafricanos fueron empleados en el viaje y el equipo de intérpretes de
la delegación cubana que asistió al XVII Festival Mundial de la Juventud
y los Estudiantes

Redacción CE, Madrid | 11/10/2011

Más de 6 millones de Rands provenientes de los contribuyentes
sudafricanos fueron empleados en el viaje, el equipo de intérpretes y
las actividades de la delegación cubana que asistió al XVII Festival
Mundial de la Juventud y los Estudiantes, patrocinado por el National
Youth Development Agency (Organismo Nacional para el Desarrollo de la
Juventud, NYDA, por sus siglas en inglés) y celebrado el pasado mes de
diciembre, informó el lunes el rotativo surafricano The Witness.

Según el diario, los gastos aparecen detallados en un dossier de más de
100 páginas, obtenido por el grupo periodístico Media24 Investigations
tras 10 meses de litigio respaldado por la ley de acceso a la información.

El dossier incluye un acuerdo entre el director ejecutivo del NYDA,
Steven Ngubeni, y Cubana de Aviación firmado en noviembre, según el cual
el organismo sudafricano abonó la cantidad de 5,6 millones de Rands (más
de 700.000 dólares) para contratar el vuelo ida y vuelta de un avión
Ilyushin que transportó a la delegación cubana de la Unión de Jóvenes
Comunistas (UJC).

El NYDA firmó otro contrato por 440.000 Rands (una cifra superior a
55.000 dólares) para la contratación de 42 intérpretes cubanos que
acompañaron a la delegación de la UJC durante el evento.

El diario añade que los cubanos manifestaron su respaldo a las denuncias
contra los bombardeos de los "imperialistas" en Libia, apoyaron la
nacionalización en Zimbabwe, así como la redistribución de la tierra,
demandada por el Congreso de Estudiantes Surafricanos.

Los documentos revelados, indica el rotativo, fueron analizados por uno
de los científicos forenses más prominentes de la nación africana, Andre
Prakke, quien declaró que no se respetaron los procedimientos contables
indicados y que existen indicios de fraude y robo.

Por su parte, Ngubeni, si bien ha admitido que no se siguieron los
"procedimientos adecuados" en el proceso de contratación y contable,
defiende la manera en que se aplicó el presupuesto del festival, cuyos
recursos provenían de la lotería nacional y de fondos públicos.

Ngubeni declaró que el NYDA no tuvo más remedio que llevar a la
delegación cubana a Suráfrica, pues "Cuba ha sido uno de los partidarios
más importantes y enérgicos del Festival Mundial. La Federación Mundial
de Juventudes Democráticas pone como condición que los países sede (del
Festival) transporten y alojen a los cubanos".

El rotativo agrega que, según Ngubeni, se trataba de una delegación de
227 cubanos, además de 40 intérpretes, y que la manera menos costosa
para gestionar el vuelo era alquilar un avión.

Medios de prensa de la Isla informaron en su momento que la delegación
multinacional —incluía a jóvenes de otras 27 naciones— viajó a Pretoria
en un IL-96 de Cubana de Aviación.

http://www.cubaencuentro.com/cuba/noticias/delegacion-cubana-vinculada-a-fraude-sudafricano-269190

MORE than R6 million in taxpayers' money was spent to charter a jet to
fly 262 members of the Cuban Young Communist League and their
interpreters to South Africa for the National Youth Development Agency's
(NYDA) abortive festival last December.
Details of the spending are contained in document obtained by Media24
Investigations that show that the NYDA dished out lucrative contracts to
politically-connected businessmen and squandered millions of rands on
their disastrous World Festival of Youth and Students, which cost R106 
million in lottery and public funds.
Shocking details of the NYDA's excesses have been revealed for the first
time in hundreds of pages of documents obtained after a 10-month legal
battle using the access to information law.
One of the country's foremost forensic scientists, Andre Prakke, says it
is clear that proper bookkeeping procedure was not followed and that it
is probable that large-scale theft and fraud were committed.
Prakke, who studied the documents on behalf of Media24 Investigations,
said proper tender procedures were not followed. For example, few of the
contractors submitted tax clearance certificates, which is obligatory.
The festival led to fierce criticism against the NYDA which is being
investigated by the Public Protector.
Among the documents obtained is an agreement signed in November last
year between NYDA CEO Steven Ngubeni and Cubana, Cuban's national airline.
The NYDA paid R5,6 million to hire a 260-seater Ilyushin aircraft to fly
members of that country's Young Communist League to and from South Africa.
The NYDA signed a further contract whereby 42 Cuban interpreters
accompanied the Young Communists to South Africa at an additional cost
of R440 000. Renting of interpreting equipment for the festival ran into
several millions of rands.
During the festival, the Cubans backed the denouncement of air strikes
in Libya by "imperialists", supported nationalisation in Zimbabwe and
threw their weight behind the SA Students Congress calls for immediate
land redistribution.
Several senior NYDA officials also hold positions within the ANC Youth
League. Just three weeks ago, one of the NYDA's directors admitted that
the agency is nothing but an "ANC Youth League-dominated gravy train".
The opening and closing ceremonies at the festival cost R9 million and
were awarded to businessman Julius Mekwa, who recently provided free
facilities for Julius Malema's supporters during his disciplinary
hearing in Johannesburg.
A company belonging to a Springs policeman got a catering contract of
more than R20 million — some R6,5 million paid in advance.
The documents also show that several million rands was spent on flags,
banners, "military-style" caps, rain ponchos, balloons, confetti and
"cheerleaders/models".
The festival goers consumed more than a million rands of Valpré mineral
water, delivered to the NYDA at inflated prices.
Another company, which has a prominent ANC Youth League lawyer as
non-executive chairman, was paid R300 000 to provide "Central and West
African food" — and a R90 000 headstone.
Ngubeni admitted that "proper procedures" were not followed in all
cases, but nevertheless defended the way the money was spent.
Ngubeni said the NYDA had no choice but to bring the Cubans to SA. He
said: "Cuba has been one of the biggest and strongest supporters of the
World Festival. It is a condition of the World Federation of Democratic
Youth that all host countries should transport and accommodate the Cubans."
He said there were 227 Cuban delegates and 40 interpreters and
chartering a plane was the most economical way of getting them to SA.
The cost for the festival rose from R72 million to the final, audited
figure of R106 million. Delegates played kissing games in the sun as
they waited for something to happen.
Last week the NYDA said it had received a "clean audit" from the
auditor-general for the festival's and its own operational spending and
Ngubeni said the organisation hoped to lay the controversy over the
festival "to rest". However, the auditor-general noted at least R26 
million of irregular expenditure relating to the festival and
highlighted other problems such a lack of normal tender procedures.

http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global%5B_id%5D=69802

At 6 a.m. on Oct. 14, 1960, Cuban national radio announced that the
Communist government was nationalizing sugar mills and rum factories —
including the island's most famous business, Bacardi. Cuban marines
quickly headed to Bacardi's office in Havana with a one-page official
document (riddled with misspellings) that gave them control.

However, Fidel Castro and his cabinet made a crucial error, and the
repercussions live on in the world of rum today. They went not only to
the wrong building but also to the wrong city.

Bacardi's headquarters and production facility were in Santiago, on the
other side of the country. The marines responsible for seizing Bacardi
had to catch a commercial flight to get there, and by the time they did,
Bacardi's most valuable possession was gone from Cuba. It had already
left the country, and anything left behind had been killed, completely —
not a cell left alive.

Daniel Bacardi had known he wouldn't be able leave Cuba for several more
weeks, according to Tom Gjelten's book "Bacardi and the Long Fight for
Cuba," and had planned the mass murder — committed by his most loyal
staff — ahead of time. But the carnage was bloodless: What they killed
was the company's unique strain of yeast.

"The yeast is the biggest asset the company has," said Juan Piñera, a
master rum blender for Bacardi.

Piñera speaks in the present tense because the Bacardi yeast strain,
born in Cuba almost 150 years ago in the roots of a sugar cane, lives on
under heavy security in refrigerators at Bacardi's rum plants in Puerto
Rico and Mexico, where Bacardi had the foresight to send it before
Castro's takeover.

Bacardi gives tours of its Puerto Rico plant, along with free cocktails,
though visitors aren't allowed into the building that holds the master
yeast strain. But it is possible, with company permission, to get into
the yeast room in the plant in La Galarza, Mexico — if you beg. You have
to sign a disclaimer. But if you're a fermentation geek, it's the chance
of a lifetime. How many yeast strains built an international company and
were snatched from the grasp of Fidel Castro?

First you enter a bare-bones lab that has large beauty photos on the
wall of the yeast — round white cells against a purple background,
displayed the way others might decorate with shots of movie stars.
Laptops hooked up to cameras on microscopes show the yeast's sluggish
activity; when not being propagated, it appears to subdivide almost lazily.

Most of the conversation about yeast is here in the lab. But you're this
close: You want to enter the inner sanctum. You ask again. And again.
And finally, you're in.

Amazingly, the old, noisy GE refrigerator that holds the precious yeast
isn't even frost-free. The yeast sits in a round container in a gel with
micronutrients, waiting to be propagated. This is a big job: Bacardi
makes 20,000 liters of a solution of yeast, molasses and water each time
it starts to make a new batch of rum.

One might think that the yeast would mutate and evolve over time — it
has been more than 50 years since both Bacardi and its yeast left their
homeland. But Bacardi takes its yeast legacy seriously, using gas
chromatography to make sure each new batch is identical to the last.

The Bacardis love this yeast; they need it to create the style of rum
that made them wealthy. The reason they killed it in Cuba was to make
sure the Cuban government couldn't get it. Bacardi's president at the
time, Pepin Bosch, believed that eventually Bacardi would be its former
government's competitor in the rum business.

That indeed happened, as Castro's government soon began making rum in
the old Bacardi facility, with the help of a few of the Bacardis' most
senior employees. At first they even called the rum "Bacardi," but the
Cuban government lost trademark battles in courts around the world and
soon shifted to the name it uses today, Havana Club.

The products aren't actually all that similar — and the unseized yeast
is a main reason. Rum is distilled from either sugar cane juice or
molasses, a byproduct of sugar production. Because molasses is easy to
transport, rum can be produced anywhere, even in places like New
England, where sugar cane could never grow.

Rum traveled the world for centuries with sailors who stopped in
Caribbean ports of call and was, until the mid-1860s, a famously rough
spirit that could only be smoothed by years of aging.

Facundo Bacardi started his family's company in 1862. Within a few years
he created a lighter style of rum that proved a smash hit. Charcoal
filtering was a big reason, but the Bacardi yeast strain — company
records don't show exactly when Facundo isolated it — also played a key
role. Its special characteristic is that it works fast.

"When you select a race horse, you select a horse that's fast and
strong," Piñera said. "Our yeast was selected in exactly the same way."

Ironically, what was a huge benefit 150 years ago isn't exciting to
spirits aficionados today. The Bacardi yeast strain converts sugar to
alcohol so quickly that fewer esters and congeners are created — meaning
Bacardi Superior actually has fewer flavor compounds than other rums.
(It may also have fewer hangover-inducing compounds.)

Bacardi Superior today tastes light and slightly sweet; in order to
taste much character in it, you have to use a neutral mixer like soda
water. In comparison, a mass-market dark rum will usually have flavors
of caramel and toffee, and a modern artisanal rum, particularly an
agricole rum made directly from sugar cane juice, will have noticeable
vegetal flavors, like celery or asparagus. These are what all rums used
to taste like before the Bacardis' yeast breakthrough.

Why would anyone want to produce a rum with less flavor? Because of its
light body and mild character, Bacardi quickly became Cuba's, and then
the world's, rum of choice for cocktails. Even today, when agricole rums
are all the rage in the cocktail community, some cocktail recipes call
specifically for Bacardi because it doesn't assert itself over the other
ingredients.

"It's an advantage in certain cocktails, absolutely," said Giovanni
Martinez, head bartender at Fig & Olive in West Hollywood. "If I'm in a
hot climate, humid and tropical, I'm not looking for darker flavors. I'm
looking for something bright and light that I can accent with tropical
flavors. I want something tart and effervescent and fruity."

Bacardi is still privately owned, and the family, scattered to Florida
and elsewhere, is still fiercely loyal to its Cuban identity. During
tours, visitors see a slide show in which current chairman Facundo L.
Bacardi says, "The day is drawing near when Cuban exiles will be able to
return home." If so, some of them will be traveling in a test tube with
micronutrients.

food@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-bacardi-20111006,0,1042.story

I don't intend to persuade anyone that Cuba is some kind of hell. Nor to
change the mind of those who imagine that it's a paradise. But it still
bothers me to read in the national press that Washington is taking
measures to tighten the embargo.

I'm not a politician, but every morning is filled with problems, with
transport, with food, with medicines, etc. Everything is a problem and I
don't think that it is because of the US embargo, although it's the
perfect excuse.

After 50 years, the US measure became a matter of policy, and it is a
political measure, not an economic one. In the currency collecting shops
there are US products and Cuba also imports food from that country.
Nevertheless, things are still bad because of the blockade, at least
that is what we read daily in the national press.

On the other hand, the man in the street doesn't notice the embargo
despite the propaganda on the hoardings that reminds him that, in one
week without a blockade, it would be possible to buy 11 railway engines.
All this is immaterial when you are looking for something to eat, or
trying to avoid political persecution, for a pound of coffee and two
pounds of cheese.

There is a single truth; the embargo has not brought down the communist
regime and its removal wouldn't end all the social problems. The sad
thing is that both governments treat it as war of attrition, and others
have to pay the price.

U.S. contractor Alan Gross,expressed his desire to improve communication
between Cuba and other countries, a gesture that is both valued and
appreciated. But that is not enough when facing a sentence in Cuba. This
is an outcome of the political dispute between Cuba and the United States.

If you want to know what I think, I am in favor of the elimination of
the embargo or at least the more detrimental parts of it. I consider it
to be an ineffective measure, though I recognize that the people whose
properties were confiscated by the government deserve fair compensation.

It's time to put forward ideas and to negotiate, if we are truly
interested in the future of Cuba. This is the moment, and the
opportunity. The popularity of the charismatic leader is very low, the
socialist economy is bankrupt and they is no way to deal with the needs
of society.

It just needs the "threat from outside " to disappear for Cubans to act
for themselves, not conditioned by hunger. Those who believe that a
tightening of the blockade will bring us out on the streets beating
cooking-pots are wrong. If it didn't happen before, it certainly won't now.

It's true. Possibly, after a hypothetical elimination of the embargo,
the government will continue to require travel permits to leave the
island, will deport easterners from the capital back to their provinces,
and will not allow us to invest in the economy on equal terms with
foreigners.

Nor will it stop repressing anyone who opposes its policies. That is,
there will no more freedoms. However, the information blockade might
disappear, Cubans could have more contact with other countries and,
above all, there would be no justification for those leaders who have
spent 50 years blaming the blockade for their own failure.

It's time to think, with our feet on the ground, and especially those
who live across the sea, in democracy. It is wrong for them to play
politics with our misery. The embargo is a stone in the shoe, for the
transition.

Translated by: Jack Gibbard

September 18 2011

http://translatingcuba.com/?p=11907

It's a war of power against power. On one side, General Raúl Castro
manages military counter-intelligence, pulls the strings in the major
economic sectors of the nation and has consolidated his cabinet with
loyalists as bullet proof as atomic bombs.

But behind the scenes, his adversaries look at him sideways. They are
high-flying bureaucrats, local business managers, heads of large
wholesale storehouses for food, textile and electronics waste,
construction materials, and managers of tourist facilities.

This fat layer of bureaucrats has dedicated itself to creating a dense
network of diversion and theft at the expense of state resources. They
have created a parallel economy.

For many years, the envelopes with thick wads of cash and all types of
gifts have landed happily in the pockets of certain senior party
officials and dishonest government employees. The local bureaucracy has
taken root in the bone marrow at almost all levels of society.

Like the marabú weed, it will be difficult for Raúl Castro to cut them
off at the root. They are enemy number one. Forget about internal
dissent; for the moment, it doesn't count. It's a fight against the
demons that provoke these systems of command and control and the
military economy.

There are tangible indications that at the first sign of change, the
true opponents of Castro II will go on strike to pull the floor out from
under him in order to slow the economic reforms.

See for yourself. According to the official press, in August the
production of beans tripled over the past six months: 90,000 tons. This
is no small thing. That figure is the amount of grain that is consumed
annually on the island.

However, despite the high cost of black and red beans, which are sold in
private markets at 12 and 15 pesos a pound (half-kilo), only 9% were for
sale. The rest was bogged down in the warehouses.

Or they were distributed by the usual clandestine channels that permeate
life in Cuba. And that work like a Swiss watch. It happens that beans
are sold in the state market at 8 pesos.

The corrupt bureaucrats who control the supply chain prefer to hold onto
them and sell them out the back door, to supply the black market or the
private agro-markets. So they always have beans.

The marketing network is an unresovled matter for the Ministry of
Agriculture. Tons of bananas, fruit or tomatoes rot after harvest, for
lack of packaging or means of transport.

This leaves the door open to the czars and clans who control the food
supply. Who for years have made money thanks to the inefficiency of the
Ministry of Agriculture. To this add the absurd policies of the
government, which stipulates that 80% of the agricultural production of
private farmers must be sold to the state.

At laughable prices. So private farmers must cheat to keep more of their
crop. Or they let their cattle and oxen graze on railroad tracks or the
highway, to be killed by "accident."

Cuban farmers own the livestock, but they cannot market or sell the
meat. Only the state is allowed to do that.

The pricing policy is irritating. A kilo of onions costs one peso and 30
cents in the store. With one peso in Cuba you can only buy a newspaper,
take a city bus, or get a cup of coffee.

Now many farmers steal from their own production. To sell in markets
governed by supply and demand. There a pound of onions sells for 10 pesos.

It's precisely in the collection centers, refrigerated storage and
warehouses where the cartels and mafias operate at full throttle,
enriching themselves and profiting from the food supply.

Right now Raúl Castro is someone they can't stand, someone who is going
to fuck up their business dealings. The only thing left is to fight him.

They use devious strategies. They don't show their true feelings. Nor do
they publicly complain about the government and its policies. They are
kings of pretense. They know how to pull the strings.

To create obstacles they have a panoply of excuses. From lack of oil,
transport, spare parts or a shortage of workers. They know how the
system works better than anyone; they have lived off it for years.

The same thing is happening with construction materials. According to
the official media, industry warehouses are over-stocked with cement,
slabs, floor tiles and toilets.

However, despite being sold without subsidies in the municipal markets,
people who try to repair or build a house always get "No" for an answer
when they ask for certain materials.

Only low-quality materials are for sale. Or something else that is so
expensive that many prefer to buy it on the black market or with hard
currency, for a better rate. Remember that 60% of homes in Cuba are
technically in fair or poor condition.

Therefore, construction materials are in demand and urgently needed to
prevent roof collapses. General Raúl Castro wants the street stalls and
agricultural markets to be saturated with products. So families can have
a glass of milk.

And for the disappearance of so many absurd regulations for traveling or
buying a car or a house. But his wishes and reforms go cautiously
forward at a turtle's pace.

As an adversary, he has a monolithic wall of corrupt people and
bureaucrats who have joined ranks. There are two options: Either he will
demolish them, or they will demolish him.

Translated by Regina Anavy

September 15 2011

http://translatingcuba.com/?p=11898

Havana – Cuba's ANEC economists association is designing a training
program directed at private sector workers so that they can broaden
their knowledge of basic principles of accounting, expenses, costs and
taxes.

Official media outlets reported Thursday that the project takes into
account the "needs" of the private sector, which includes more than
333,000 people and has been growing since in October 2010 the government
of Raul Castro broadened opportunities for self-employment and small
business.

ANEC Vice President Maria Victoria Berrace told the state-run AIN news
agency that the aim of the training course will be "to contribute to the
development and better performance" of people in the expanding private
sector.

Berrace emphasized that entrepreneurs must "understand the laws,
contribute to the state that which is established and achieve dividends
that will return profits to them."

ANEC says that some surveys show that private sector workers face "the
greatest difficulties" at the time they pay taxes, and the group
emphasizes that "Cubans have very little (knowledge)" of those subjects.

The government broadened the scope of private employment last October as
part of a package of economic reforms, a plan that also includes labor
adjustments in the state sector and forecasts in the first phase the
elimination of half a million state jobs to reduce bloated government
payrolls.

As per a decision by the Cabinet, this month the number of activities
that one can pursue privately to earn a living will be expanded to 181,
and the hiring of people in all those areas has already been approved.

According to government figures, currently 10 percent of the workers in
the private sector are employees.

The majority of the business licenses awarded since October have been in
activities such as food preparation, passenger transport and the sale of
"household items."

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2011/09/22/cuba-designing-management-courses-for-private-sector-workers/

Crude and natural gas production

Cuba's domestic heavy-sour crude oil production reflected an increase of
approximately 11 percent, from 47,517 bd in 2009 to 52,623 bd in 2010.
This new production was predominantly the result of new record-breaking
6,000 meter horizontal drilling coastal prospects around the town of
Camarioca, east of the beach resort of Varadero in Matanzas province.

The gross working interest of Cuba's national oil company CubaPetróleo
(Cupet) in 2010 was 31,419 bd, while that of Canada's Sherritt
International Corp. was 21,204 bd. This represents 59.7 percent and 40.3
percent, respectively, of total domestic crude oil production.

Oil-in-place estimates for Cuba's northern oil province range from
1,000- 2,000 mmbo, with recovery ratios of between 6 and 7 percent of
oil in place, determined by the viscosity of the oil and the
permeability of the rocks. Future production is expected to increase,
thanks to planned enhanced secondary oil recovery projects between Cupet
and Russia's Zarubezhneft in the Boca de Jaruco field.

Cuba's domestic crude-oil production peaked in 2003 at 64,018 bd. (Note:
Cuba's Oficina Nacional de Estadísticas reports national crude oil
production in metric tons; a conversion factor of 6.35 barrels per
metric ton was used for this analysis)

Associated natural gas production (97 percent recovery factor) seemed to
be reaching a plateau of approximately 38bcf annually as a result of the
maturity of the Varadero and Puerto Escondido oil fields. Cuba saw its
associated natural gas production increase by more than 40 percent, from
approximately 26bcf in 2005 as a result of its Energas joint venture
with Canada's Sherritt.

Petroleum demand

Cuba's petroleum demand levels have been declining over the past five
years, primarily as a result of conservation efforts and increases in
fuel and electricity prices reflecting international market conditions.
Petroleum demand of 137,025 bd in 2010 reflected a decrease of
approximately 2 percent from 2009 demand level of 139,651 bd.

High-sulphur residual fuel oil/crude oil blend consumption of 89,868 bd
— used as boiler fuel for the electric power sector, steel, mining and
cement industries — represented over 65 percent of total demand.

The second-largest petroleum demand product was diesel at 26,453 bd,
intended for the commercial land transport and rail sectors. Motor
gasoline consumption of 6,184 bd represents the lack of a private sector
vehicle fleet, particularly when you compare it on a per capita basis
with the region's largest mogas consumers of Puerto Rico at about 55 mbd
and the Dominican Republic with demand levels of around 23 mbd according
to EIA figures.

Refinery production

The Havana and Santiago de Cuba refineries continue to run
intermittently, each averaging about 22,000 bd, from boiler plate
capacities of 100,000 bd each.

The 65,000 bd revamped Russian-built Cienfuegos refinery, today a Cupet
(51%) PdVSA (49%) joint venture, ran 55,295 bd in 2010 compared with
57,316 bd in 2009. This refinery is basically a hydroskimming
configuration with a reformer but with two (naphta and distillate)
hydrotreating units, which as of this date have not been revamped and
are not operating. As a result, diesel and mogas qualities do not meet
regional specifications.

Petroleum imports and exports

Cuba imported a total of 113,000 bd of refined products and crude oil
from Venezuela in 2010, compared to 112,000 bd in 2009, according to
PdVSA's 2010 financial reports.

Imports of Venezuelan refined products — avgas, LPG, lubricant base
stock, diesel, and fuel oil — rose to about 14,000 bd in 2010 from about
9,000 bd in 2009. Imports of Venezuelan Mesa 30 crude oil amounted to
99,000 bd in 2010, down from 103,000 bd in 2009.

The majority of Cuba's Venezuelan petroleum import volumes — 93,000 bd
— are part of the Convenio Integral de Cooperación Económica, a barter
agreement of petroleum for goods and services with subsidized payment
terms signed by both countries in October of 2000. Approximately 20,000
bd of total Venezuela crude oil imports represent PdVSA-Caribe equity
tolling volume, which is exported to regional and West African markets
via tenders to international oil trading companies.

Source: Oficina Nacional de Estadísticas de Cuba 2010 Energy Report,
published June 23, 2011.

Jorge R. Piñón was president of Amoco Corporate Development Company
Latin America from 1991 to 1994; in this role he was responsible for
managing the business relationship between Amoco Corp. and regional
state oil companies, energy ministries and energy regulatory agencies."

http://www.cubastandard.com/2011/08/22/pinon-on-energy-cubas-2010-oil-and-gas-analysis/

Ranchuelo, Cuba – www.PayoLibre.com – El reo Rafael Segura Isac se
autoagredió en la cárcel de Canaleta, en Ciego de Ávila, el 14 de agosto
pasado, porque lo cambiaron de fase carcelaria.

Osvaldo Grau Rodríguez, miembro del Presidido Político Pedro Luís
Boitel, expresó que Rafael se cortó los tendones de los dos pies con una
cuchilla de afeitar porque fue trasladado del campamento de trabajo
forzado con internamiento de Navales para el destacamento #3, galera #41
de Canaleta, penal de máxima severidad.

Agregó la fuente, que el traspaso se produjo porque en una requisa
efectuada a Segura le ocuparon una tableta de Carbamazepina, medicamento
que consume desde hace 10 años para la epilepsia por indicación de los
facultativos.

Antes de la vista oral, el uniformado de apellido Tejeda, alias el Cojo,
le propinó una golpiza a Rafael en el interior del vehículo que lo
transportó hasta la sede del tribunal provincial avileño, la cual le
ocasionó contusiones y excoriaciones en su cuerpo, concluyó Grau.

http://www.payolibre.com/noticias/noticias2.php?id=8012

(www.miscelaneasdecuba.net).- A pesar de que el gobierno informa por los
medios de defunción la mejora del transporte y sus servicios eso sólo
queda en propaganda barata pero la realidad habla por sí sola, según
muestran las fotos tomadas en distintos puntos de la capital habanera.

No es mentira que de pasar de rastras con vikingos (los llamados
camellos en La Habana) a ómnibus calurosos pero con mejor confort es
una mejoría en este sector, manifestaba Francisco Días un señor de unos
50 años que día a día llega tarde a su centro laboral por la
inestabilidad del horario de la ruta P-10 según manifestó este.

Es un dolor de cabeza salir algún lugar entre lo infernal que esta el
transporte y el calor que es agobiante, para ir a trabajar me he pasado
hasta 45 minutos esperando la ruta 22, dejaba saber una mulata de unos
28 años quien ejerce como doctora en un médico de la familia en algún
punto de El Vedado que pidió no publicaran su nombre ya que podía perder
su trabajo cuando se entero que yo ejercía periodista independiente.

El transporté en la capital es crítico en los paraderos de los ómnibus
se puedes apreciar la gran cantidad de estos rotos, muchos porque no se
le dieron el mantenimiento programados, otros por falta de repuestos y
presupuesto para adquirir gomas, filtros y otros accesorios, me refería
el jefe de taller de uno de estos paraderos.

La interrogante que tienen muchos cubanos es ¡Si el gobierno es el dueño
de todo en la isla fabricas, empresas, exportaciones e importaciones,
contactos con empresas extranjeras y almacenes cómo es posible que no
sea capaz ni de mantener un medio de transporte en moneda nacional
estable y sin embargo en toda Cuba transitan autos y camiones
particulares fabricados hasta de los años 20 dando un servicio constante
en moneda nacional y abasteciéndose de los recursos del estado!

http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=33250

Cuba's revenues from tourism jumped 13 percent in the first half of the
year compared with the same period in 2010, authorities said.

According to the National Statistics Office, or ONE, figures, total
income from Cuba's tourism sector between January-July amounted to
$990,464, while in 2010 it was $874,513.

Profits are being reported this year in such areas as hotels, retail
sales, gastronomy and transport, and losses in others such as recreation.

Official data indicates that more than 1.5 million foreign tourists
visited Cuba in the first six months of the year, an increase of 10.6
percent over last year.

Canada headed the list of the leading sources of tourists to the island,
followed by Britain, Italy, France and Spain, while Argentina remains
the island's most important and fastest growing market in Latin America.

Tourism, the second largest contributor to the nation's economy after
technical and professional services, last year earned $2.1 billion from
the visits of some 2.5 million tourists.

This year Cuba will welcome 2.7 million tourists, above all from Canada
and Europe, according to tourism ministry estimates.

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=824131

HAVANA (Reuters) – Air travel between the United States and Cuba will
become easier with the opening of charter flights to the forbidden
island from an additional nine U.S. cities announced by Cuba authorities
on Friday.

Cuban travel agency Havanatur Celimar said it added the cities of Tampa,
Fort Lauderdale, Baltimore, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas,
Houston and San Juan, Puerto Rico, to the list from where charter
flights would be accepted.

Cuba is preparing for an increase in visitors from its long-time
ideological foe under a recent loosening of travel restrictions by the
Obama administration.

The United States, which maintains comprehensive sanctions on the
communist-run island and bans tourism to Cuba, does not allow regular
commercial flights between the two countries.

But the Obama administration has lifted all restrictions on Cuban
Americans visiting their homeland and allowed religious, academic and
other professional travel by Americans to Cuba.

Havana Celimar has a monopoly on the Cuban end of U.S. charter flights
and already receives travelers on flights from Miami, New York and Los
Angeles.

The number of U.S. citizens visiting Cuba increased last year by 20
percent, to 63,000, according to Cuban statistics.

Some 350,000 Cuban Americans visited Cuba in 2010 after the Obama
administration lifted all restrictions on their travel.

The travel opening annoyed Cuban American lawmakers who have introduced
legislation in Congress that would reimpose a Bush-era restriction on
Cuban American travel to the island of only one visit every three years
and more strictly enforce the ban on U.S. travel to Cuba.

The lawmakers argue that the Obama administration is helping prop up the
Cuban government, while the White House counters more people-to-people
contact is the best way to undermine the island's communist system.

President Barack Obama has threatened to veto any move to undercut his
people-to-people policy toward Cuba.

Cuba has said it had 2.53 million tourists in 2010, with Canada the
largest provider at nearly 945,000, followed by Britain at 174,000 and
Italy at 112,000.

Tourism is one of Cuba's most important earners of foreign exchange,
with revenues of $2.2 billion last year, and an important provider of jobs.

(Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Anthony Boadle)

Tag: Transport, Tourism, Economy

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE76S6IH20110729?sp=true

Think of Cuba today as a theater in which the curtain is about to go up
on the first act of a performance that created quite a buzz in
rehearsals a decade ago.

Abercrombie & Kent announced new Cuba programs last week, followed a day
later by a similar announcement from the Globus Family of Brands.
Insight Cuba was first out of the gate in June, and according to
director Tom Popper, it didn't take long to fill its inaugural trip,
which departs Miami on Aug. 11.

There are other companies already in the mix as well, and more
announcements from mainstream operators are expected soon.

Fueling all these product announcements is a policy change issued by the
Obama administration in January, which allows U.S. citizens to travel to
Cuba to meet with local Cubans in the "people-to-people" category of
educational and cultural travel.

The administration expanded the definition of group travel to Cuba
beyond strictly religious, educational, humanitarian and cultural travel
to include U.S. travelers who want to meet and share experiences with
local Cubans in all walks of life.

The people-to-people programs were popular during the final years of the
Clinton administration, but they were discontinued in 2004 by President
George W. Bush.

Obama reversed Bush's decision this year, serving to heighten interest
in travel to Cuba by all sorts of groups and triggering numerous
applications for people-to-people travel licenses from the U.S. government.

But while a lot of companies are clearly eager to jump into the fray,
the process of developing a Cuba product requires patience and a deep
understanding of how to navigate the legal minefield of federal
regulations to obtain a license.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control is charged
with overseeing, implementing, licensing and regulating all categories
of travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens.

Travelers, too, are bound by strict rules and regulations. They still
must travel in escorted groups on trips led by authorized, U.S.
government-licensed organizations.

Tour operators like Insight Cuba, A&K and Globus have partnered with or
are associated with nonprofit organizations, some of which already held
a license to offer other categories of travel to Cuba, such as
educational, religious or cultural tours.

Tour operators cannot obtain such a license themselves, under the
current OFAC regulations.

Once companies or organizations have obtained a license to operate
people-to-people programs, they must turn to travel service providers to
handle the travel arrangements for participants in their programs,
including booking hotel accommodations, air, tours and activities in Cuba.

The TSPs — and there are a lot of them — are licensed and appointed by
OFAC to uphold the regulations of the Treasury Department. TSPs
facilitate travel, collect money and provide services for those
individuals or groups who themselves are licensed to go to Cuba.

Many of the TSPs are located in South Florida, and the bulk of their
business involves handling air travel bookings for Cuban-Americans
traveling to Cuba on a general license to visit relatives, a change that
Obama announced in 2009.

In other words, any travel to Cuba must involve two layers of
government-certified entities: a licensed tour operator or nonprofit
travel organization and a licensed TSP.

The official list of TSPs appears as a link on the Treasury Department's
website, at www.treasury.gov/resource-center
/sanctions/Programs/pages/cuba.aspx.

For example, Globus and its partner — the Center for Caribbean Religion
& Culture, which holds the license for the Globus programs to Cuba — are
working with Miami-based Cuba Travel Services, an authorized TSP, to
facilitate all the travel arrangements for the Globus programs.

Globus will launch its series of escorted products in January, starting
with a series of religious travel programs. It plans to expand later
into the people-to-people category of cultural exchange travel.

Departure dates for the religious trips will be announced on Aug. 10, at
which time the program will also begin taking reservations. Program
details and pricing will be posted on the Globus website on that date,
said Mike Shields, managing director for groups and emerging markets.

"There will be series of departures from January through May 2012, which
will resume again in September through the end of the year," Shields said.

The Globus product

Globus' first itinerary will be "A Spiritual, Historical and Cultural
Journey," an eight-day Havana-only escorted package.

Scott Nisbet, CEO for the Globus family of brands, described the program
as a "once-in-a-lifetime experience for Globus travelers."

"This itinerary presents an interesting, insightful opportunity to
connect with a fascinating country we know very little about," he said.
"We are thrilled to be among an elite group of tour companies selected
to transport travelers on this spiritual journey to a bygone era."

The itinerary will incorporate a number of religious sites and
religious-themed activities in Havana as well as offer participants a
walking tour of Old Havana, a tour of the Colon Cemetery, a visit to the
Museum of the Revolution and a ride in a 1950s car.

The trip is priced from $2,889 per person, land only, and includes
accommodations at the Melia Cohiba in Havana, all meals, air-conditioned
motorcoach transport and the services of an in-country host/guide.

Roundtrip charter air from Miami to Havana is extra. Air as well as all
other travel arrangements will be handled by Cuba Travel Services, an
OFAC-licensed TSP.

The A&K product

A&K has operated in Cuba for five years out of its U.K. headquarters,
offering custom and group tours for travelers from countries other than
the U.S. It will launch its Cuba program for American travelers this
fall out of its U.S. office.

Its series of Cuba programs for U.S. travelers, is made possible by a
partnership with the California-based Foundation for Caribbean Studies,
a nonprofit organization licensed by OFAC. The product will consist of
escorted motorcoach programs led by local in-country host/guides.

The 11-day inaugural trip departs Sept. 30, followed by departures Oct.
14 and 17; Nov. 23; and Dec. 12 and 22.

Departures in 2012 "could at least double this year's number, based on
early forecasts," said Scott Wiseman, A&K's president in the U.S. "We've
built upon our experience in Cuba to ensure our guests will discover
Cuba at its most intimate, authentic and in complete comfort.

"Each tour is limited to 24 participants and includes contact with Cuban
people in all walks of life, from artists and architects to musicians
and farms."

Tour participants fly into Cienfuegos, near Trinidad on Cuba's south
coast, spend three nights at the Iberostar Gran Hotel Trinidad and
explore the area before moving on to the Hotel Nacional in Havana for
seven nights.

The tours are priced from $4,325 per person, including accommodations,
meals, air-conditioned motorcoach transport and an expedited visa
process upon arrival.

Itineraries include visits to Havana, the colonial town of Trinidad, the
cultural city of Matanzas, the Cuban countryside, historical sites,
sugar mills, a cigar factory and a rum plantation as well as special
sites open only to A&K participants.

Among the special sites is a private visit to Room 511 in the Hotel
Ambos Mundos, Ernest Hemingway's hideout in Havana, and a tour of Finca
Vigie, the writer's seaside home. Richard Harris, senior vice president
of operations, said that because the tour is offered before the home
opens to general visitors each day, "it is more personalized and
intimate and less congested."

The tour price does not include a $449 charter flight from Miami, a $200
fee to the Foundation for Caribbean Studies nor $55 in visa costs.
CubaTobac
The Insight Cuba product

Insight Cuba, a division of Cross-Cultural Solutions, a nonprofit
organization specializing in people-to-people cultural exchanges around
the world, legally carried 2,500 U.S. citizens to Cuba in the second
half of 2003 alone, according to director Tom Popper.

When Insight received its license in late June from OFAC, "we were
excited to be able to relaunch the people-to-people programs once
again," Popper said.

The firm is offering six distinct products, with more than 130
departures through September 2012. Its inaugural tour, on Aug. 11, is
already sold out.

"Bookings are going swimmingly," Popper said. "We have more than 200
bookings scattered throughout our other departures, and the numbers grow
every day."

Popper ramped up his staff of travel specialists to handle the
additional volume after the Cuba programs were launched. Today, he said,
"We're handling between 500 and 700 emails and phone inquiries a week."

Each of Insight's programs will be limited to 16 participants.

Prices range from $1,695 for the three-night Weekend in Havana tour to
$3,339 for the seven-night Cuban Music & Art Experience tour.

Prices cover all meals, double-occupancy accommodations, motorcoach
transport, domestic flights within Cuba if required, entry fees, guide
services and travel insurance. Most programs run seven nights.

Air is not included in the package price. Insight Cuba works with
Marazul Charters, a TSP licensed for Cuba travel since 1977.

http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Tour-Operators/To-enter-Cuba,-tour-operators-navigate-a-minefield-of-rules/?a=tours

Social processes have an often unpredictable alchemy. Although there are
analysts who persist in wanting to write a universal formula for
uprisings, or another for civil peace, reality is wedded to the
contrary. Cuba, for example, has defied the prognostications of nearly
all the optimists and exceeded the expectations of even the most
hallucinatory minds.

It appears that the specialty of our country is to shatter the forecasts
of Santeria priests, spiritualists and fortune-tellers. For several
decades we have disappointed the predictions of our collapse and, in
particular, the repeated prophecy of a popular revolt. Cubanologists of
all stripes have assured us, on this or that occasion, that the the
island is on the verge of fracture and that the people will throw
themselves into the streets at any moment.

Instead, the sidewalks are indeed full of people, but they are standing
in line to buy bread or eggs, or to submit applications to consulates to
emigrate. Not even the candles lit by the Santeria priests for
tranquility are upended by violence. Those of us who hope for a peaceful
solution are happy because, at least to date, nobody has had to serve as
cannon fodder against the anti-riot squads.

The chimerical formula of explosion foretold by some relies on the
element economic strangulation to inspire a people to rise up in
struggle. There are those who would like to give another turn of the
screw to the United States embargo against the island and cut off all
remittances that come from the outside. According to their hypothesis,
Cubans caught between the rock of their needs and the hard place of an
authoritarian government would choose to overthrow the latter.

I must confess that the mere mention of this theory reminds me of a bad
joke: An ancient leader, being interviewed by a journalist, enumerates
the signs of resistance. The autocrat relates that his people have
survived the economic crisis, the lack of food, the collapse of the
electrical network and the absence of public transport. As he explains
each hardship in this string he appends, again and again, "and yet the
people stand firm." Finally, the daring reporter interrupts him with a
question, "And have you tried arsenic, Commander?"

The thesis that our reality simply needs more economic hardship for the
social pressure cooker to burst is heard, oddly, most often among people
who do not live in the country. The Diaz-Balart amendment to the
Financial Services Appropriation Bills, recently approved by the House
Appropriations Committee of the U.S. Congress, would roll back measures
taken earlier this year by president Barack Obama that eased
restrictions on family travel to the island and liberalized
person-to-person monetary assistance. Voices in support of the amendment
see these bridges as oxygen that feeds the Cuban government, prolonging
its stay in power.

According to the arithmetic of "deprive them to make them react," change
would be just around the corner the day the spigot of foreign aid dried
up once and for all. But in the middle of that proposition, untested in
practice, eleven million people, and an equal number of stomachs, would
be caught. People who did not hit the streets in the devastating years
of the nineties when our plates were nearly empty and our clothes hung
in tatters from our emaciated frames.

During that time of endless hardship, a single popular "uprising"
happened on August 5, 1994, sparked by people desperate to leave the
country, not change things here. As fearful as we might be that the
pressure cooker could reach the bursting point, the reality is that the
vast majority would rather throw themselves into to the sea than face
the repressive forces.

And it is not because a people has a genetic predisposition to bravery
or cowardice, it is simply that there are a vast number of methods to
confront social rebellion. Those that have already touched us are,
without a doubt, efficient to the point of scientific proof.

For those political scientists who veer closer to physics than to social
sciences, it would be enough to shut off the flow of remittances and
travel between Cuban-Americans and the the island for something to begin
to move on the national stage. In their desire to prove such a
conjecture, the theory would be promulgated by them and the bodies of
the martyrs would be borne by us.

Over the course of the experiment and as it moved toward its conclusion,
the swimming pools of the mansions of the olive-green clad rulers would
not lack their supply of chlorine, the satellite Internet of the Maximum
Leader's children would not diminish a single kilobyte in bandwidth, and
the brand name lingerie of so many officials would not cease to flow
through back channels into the country.

Not only would this turn of the screw be unnoticed on the dining tables
of the official hierarchy, but with their full bellies they would
continue to rule over a people with only one obsessive thought: where to
find something to eat every day. The misery that reigns in so many
places would continue to be a mechanism of domination, not one of
disobedience.

Watching the news that filters to us through illegal satellite TV, text
messages, Twitter and email, we feel like guinea pigs in a laboratory
where all decisions are made by others, far from our shores. We have the
sensation of being mere numbers in a calculation as simple as it is
dangerous. Where the result anticipated by the architects of the
"pressure cooker theory" – that it will explode – ignores the fact that
its detonation could provoke a cycle of violence that no one could know
how or when it might end.

18 July 2011

http://translatingcuba.com/?p=10886

If things had gone according to plan, I'd be writing this from Havana,
the first of what I hoped – and maybe still hope, I'm not sure now –
would be a brief series of blogs from the city in which I was born.

But instead I'm writing from a dreary non-beach hotel in Cancun, Mexico,
listening to the rain come down like a machine gun on the roof. The
streets are inundated from the avalanche of water, a fact I discovered
on my little jaunt downtown to the Cuban consulate.

See, supposedly, as a Cuban citizen with a duly recognized Cuban
passport, a trip to Cuba shouldn't be much of a trial. Sure, Cubans –
like most Latin Americans – love a good bureaucracy, but between my own
resigned experience and most of the bureaucrats' own growing experience,
it's been getting better.

Normally, I travel to Cuba via Jamaica, on what I now think of as a
great airline, Air Jamaica. I recall they used to have a champagne
breakfast en route to Havana. But I digress … the poor suckers went
bankrupt and got reorganized and, in the process, friends recommended
the Cuba Network. It's basically a German travel agent that administers
business for Cubana de Aviación, the Cuban national airline.

Normally, I try to avoid Cubana. Not very supportive, I know, but I once
flew Havana to Santiago on Cubana on an old Soviet-era transport that
scared the devil out of me. Besides the fact that the flies buzzing
around seemed to defy the laws governing air pressure, the seats were
worn down to their metal skeletons, and the noise that came from the
engines seemed to suggest an emergency landing … well, almost any
minute. My fear's not rational, but that's the way it is. It's not just
me though: In Cuba, the airline is actually referred to as "La
Milagrosa," the miraculous one.

Anyway, when I finally emerged out of customs in Cancun yesterday – a
mind numbing 2 hours after arrival because the Mexican customs computers
were down off and on – I made my way over to the Cubana counter where I
was promptly informed I didn't have the proper documentation.

You may wonder what that is. See, in most countries, citizens can breeze
in and out with a passport. And I have that. In fact, it's good until
March 12 of next year. I also have a nifty little sticker on my Cuban
passport called the "rehabilatación," a unique Cuban permit that allows
certain citizens to go in and out of the island without having to ask
permission each time.

Yeah, Cubans need to ask permission of Cuba to both come and go from
their own country. Not just me or other Cubans living abroad. Everybody.
If you don't get the permit as a rehabilitación, you have to get an
individual travel waiver each and every time you travel, in and out of
Cuba. (It's like getting a visa to your own country as well as to the
country you're going to.)

But there's one other little thing, called a "prórroga." If you look it
up, it means deferment or some such thing. You may wonder what, exactly,
is being deferred. But your passport, which is good for 6 years, and
your rehabilitación, which runs concurrently, are worthless without a
prórroga, which is only good for two years at a time.

Needless to say, the passport has a fee, the rehabilitación has a
separate fee, and the prórroga has a separate fee. Never mind that they
all work together.

So when I arrived yesterday, all was good except my prórroga but I
wasn't worried. I'd travelled through Jamaica dozens of times with the
same situation and simply gotten my prórroga renewed in Cuba. No such
luck here.

After various attempts to get on the plane via a variety of exemptions
(the consulate here was closed already), I ended up staying the night in
Cancun. First order of business had been to change my flight via email,
since every single Cubana rep at the airport vanished the minute my
flight took off.

This morning, it looked pretty good. The rep in Havana dealt with the
guy in Germany and emailed that all was settled. I was then at the
consulate, enduring a cretin from Italy who kept pointing at the
portrait of José Martí and asking me if that was Camilo Cienfuegos, one
of the revolution's early heroes, then asking if the guy next to Fidel
in another picture was Camilo (it was Che), and also, by the way, Cuban
women … they're really something, aren't they?

Finally, I paid $1,400 Mexican pesos for the prórroga which, as it turns
out, is retroactive, so only good until March 12. Meaning that, if this
trip doesn't work out, it'll have been a complete waste of time and money.

What happened? Well, while I was dealing with the Italian, an email came
in from Havana. The Cubana girl in Havana said someone had cancelled my
flight yesterday, including my return. And that I needed to confirm that
I wanted to fly today. I emailed back that, yes, that was the plan. Two
seconds later, she wrote that it didn't matter because they couldn't
release a flight to without a flight back from Cuba. Oh, and Cubana here
in Cancun is closed. It should be open, yes, but it's not.

I'm headed to the airport now to see what happens. I may write again
from Havana on Monday, if I'm lucky, or maybe back from Chicago. I'll
let you know.

http://www.wbez.org/blog/achy-obejas/2011-07-08/traveling-cuba-cuban-88892

Autorizan a otro aeropuerto a efectuar vuelos a Cuba

El aeropuerto internacional de Fort Myers se convierte en la décimo
segunda terminal aérea de EEUU que recibe autorización para transportar
pasajeros a la Isla

EFE, Miami | 28/06/2011

El Gobierno de EEUU autorizó vuelos desde el aeropuerto internacional de
Fort Myers, en la costa oeste de Florida, a Cuba, convirtiéndose en la
décimo segunda terminal aérea del país que recibe autorización para
transportar pasajeros a la isla caribeña.

Robert M. Ball, director ejecutivo de la agencia Autoridad Portuaria del
condado de Lee, informó hoy que aprecian la designación del Southwest
Florida International Airport (RSW) como "puerta de entrada a Cuba".

"Esta agencia le dará al aeropuerto una oportunidad para desarrollar
relaciones con los operadores de vuelos aprobados y que se prepare para
el futuro cuando los vuelos a Cuba estén totalmente normalizados", dijo
Ball en un comunicado.

La oficina de Operaciones de Aduanas y Protección de Fronteras (CBP)
otorgó la autorización al RWS el pasado 10 de junio al determinar que
"reúne los criterios para proveer vuelos entre Estados Unidos y Cuba".

En enero pasado, el presidente estadounidense Barack Obama aprobó
medidas para apoyar al pueblo cubano "a determinar libremente el destino
de su país" y entre ellas figura el permiso para que todos los
aeropuertos internacionales del país puedan ofrecer viajes fletados y
autorizados a la Isla.

"Siempre que dichos aeropuertos tengan servicios adecuados de aduanas e
inmigración, y que un proveedor autorizado de servicios de viaje haya
expresado interés en prestar servicios entre Cuba y dicho aeropuerto",
según informó la Casa Blanca en esa ocasión.

Otros dos aeropuertos de Florida que recibieron autorización en meses
pasados son Tampa y Fort Lauderdale.

Antes de la decisión de Obama solo tres terminales aéreas
internacionales prestaban el servicio de vuelos a Cuba: Los Ángeles,
Miami y Nueva York.

El RSW transportó más de 7,5 millones de pasajeros en 2010 y es uno de
los 50 principales aeropuertos de Estados Unidos en tráfico de
pasajeros, de acuerdo con datos suministrados por esa terminal aérea.

http://www.cubaencuentro.com/cuba/noticias/autorizan-a-otro-aeropuerto-a-efectuar-vuelos-a-cuba-264680

The Castro dictatorship, which more than ever is fearing its eventual
demise, has launched a wave of repression against members of the
opposition on the island in an effort to quash any public displays of
dissent during its fabricated May Day activities.

Via Radio Martí (my translation):

Wave of repression in Cuba for 1st of May

This Sunday, the Cuban government will celebrate the 1st of May in
support of the socioeconomic reform plans of Raul Castro, which includes
more autonomy for State businesses, the elimination of unnecessary
social subsidies, and the reduction of State services, among other measures.

Cuban opposition leader Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antúnez reported on
Twitter that "Castro fears the protests by the First of May Front,
arresting leaders of opposition organizations — Placetas has been
militarized."

Precisely, the Cuban independent journalist Roberto de Jesus Guerra
informed Radio Marti that in Havana, the political police detained Angel
Moya and the hip hop singer Rodolfo Ramirez Hernandez, known as "The
Primitive."

Yaimi Alfonso informed via telephone that her husband Heriberto
Liranza Romero, leader of the Cuban Movement of Youth for Democracy, was
beaten and detained on Friday by Castro agents in an area close to his
home, and added that his house was surrounded by police. He told her
that the authorities were not going to allow that any members of the
opposition visit him.

Dissidents Ernesto Herrera Biel and Jorge Rodriguez Jimenez were
arrested when they attempted to visit the home of Liranza Romero.

And if that were not enough, members of the Ladies in Support were
harassed by Sate Security, Mayra Morejon said, and added that her
companion, Mercedes Fresneda, told her that her home was under
surveilance by Castro agents.

Members of the Cuban opposition believe that the government has
increased its repression against the opposition on the island,
especially in Havana, to attempt to stop any public demonstrations on
the 1st of May.

On Sunday morning, the government will transport thousands of
Cubans to the "Plaza of the Revoution" to celebrate the International
Day of Workers. It is expected that Raul Castro will preside over the
main event in the Cuban capital.

http://www.favstocks.com/castro-regime-launches-may-day-wave-of-repression-against-opposition/0151938/

Raul Castro votes for new party leader
By PETER ORSI
The Associated Press

HAVANA — Cuba's Communist Party has begun the process of electing new
leaders in a vote that is likely to formally name Raul Castro first
secretary in place of his brother. All eyes are on the selection of the
No. 2 position, which could go to a younger leader.

An official photograph taken by state media from inside the spacious
convention hall where the party confab is taking place shows Raul
placing his vote inside a ballot box. The ballot reads "Candidacy for
Members of the Central Committee." On the ballot, Castro has checked off
a box reading, "Vote for All," an indication he has chosen to approve
the entire slate of candidates.

The candidates themselves are not visible in the picture, and it was not
clear when the new leadership will be announced.

HAVANA (AP) – A new generation of leaders must act decisively and
without hesitation to correct the errors of the past and lead the island
once those who fought in the 1959 revolution are gone, Fidel Castro said
in a column published Monday.

Nearing the close of a critical Communist Party summit called to chart
the course of the island's socialist system and right its flagging
economy, the aging revolutionary leader praised delegates to the
gathering. He wrote that he was impressed by their intellectual
preparation and he believes they are up to the task.

"The new generation is being called upon to rectify and change without
hesitation all that should be rectified and changed," Castro wrote.

"There is no margin for error," he added.

Divided into five committees and meeting behind closed doors, party
delegates are considering more than 300 proposals for economic changes,
many of which were first announced last year. They affect sectors from
agriculture, energy, transport and housing to new rules letting Cubans
go into business for themselves.

State-run Cuban news media have reported intense debate over several
points, such as the need for formal contracts to improve control and
payment of taxes in the agricultural sector; providing credit to
independent workers who need capital to launch their businesses; and
eliminating the island's unique dual-currency system, under which
workers are paid in Cuban pesos, while many imported goods are available
only in a dollar-linked currency that is beyond most people's reach.

One committee gave initial approval to a measure legalizing the buying
and selling of private real estate by Cuban nationals, state television
reported in the afternoon. Islanders have been clamoring for years to
end restrictions which have been in place since the revolution.

Also on the table is a proposal to eventually eliminate the monthly
ration book, which provides Cubans with a basic basket of heavily
subsidized food and other goods.

The ration book is one of the most cherished of subsidies on the island,
but President Raul Castro has repeatedly said it is unsustainable, and a
disincentive to work.

Delegates are scheduled to vote in a full session later Monday on the
whole package of economic proposals, which have undergone extensive
revisions since they were first announced last year. The changes have
not been made public, meaning Cubans won't know precisely what has been
voted on until the measures are approved.

The Party Congress does not have the power to enact the changes into
law, but the suggestions are expected to be acted upon quickly by Cuba's
National Assembly over the coming days and weeks.

The party will also be naming its top leadership before the gathering
wraps up Tuesday following a speech by Raul Castro. At every Congress in
the past, it has ratified Fidel as first secretary and younger brother
Raul as No. 2.

But Fidel recently announced that he was no longer heading the party,
and had effectively been out since falling gravely ill five years ago.
Raul is expected to take his place, leaving all eyes focused on the
selection of a new second secretary.

During his opening speech, Raul proposed that Cuba implement term limits
for politicians at all levels, a stunning proposal in a country that has
been ruled by one Castro or another for the past five decades.

With change in the air, officials have repeatedly emphasized a message
of continuity amid transition to a new generation.

Even a massive civilian and military parade Saturday marking the 50th
anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion was dedicated to Cuba's youth.

Fidel Castro sounded the same theme in his column Monday as he advised
the party to stay faithful to his ideals.

"Their task is even more difficult than the one assumed by our
generation when socialism was proclaimed in Cuba, 90 miles (145
kilometers) from the United States," Castro wrote. "That's why
persisting in revolutionary principles is, in my judgment, the principal
legacy we can leave them."

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/18/2173709/fidel-castro-new-leaders-must.html

Fidel Castro: New leaders must fix Cuban economy
By PETER ORSI
Associated Press

HAVANA — A new generation of leaders must act decisively and without
hesitation to correct the errors of the past and lead the island once
those who fought in the 1959 revolution are gone, Fidel Castro said in a
column published Monday.

Nearing the close of a critical Communist Party summit called to chart
the course of the island's socialist system and right its flagging
economy, the aging revolutionary leader praised delegates to the
gathering. He wrote that he was impressed by their intellectual
preparation and he believes they are up to the task.

"The new generation is being called upon to rectify and change without
hesitation all that should be rectified and changed," Castro wrote.

"There is no margin for error," he added.

Divided into five committees and meeting behind closed doors, party
delegates are considering more than 300 proposals for economic changes,
many of which were first announced last year. They affect sectors from
agriculture, energy, transport and housing to new rules letting Cubans
go into business for themselves.

State-run Cuban news media have reported intense debate over several
points, such as the need for formal contracts to improve control and
payment of taxes in the agricultural sector; providing credit to
independent workers who need capital to launch their businesses; and
eliminating the island's unique dual-currency system, under which
workers are paid in Cuban pesos, while many imported goods are available
only in a dollar-linked currency that is beyond most people's reach.

One committee gave initial approval to a measure legalizing the buying
and selling of private real estate by Cuban nationals, state television
reported in the afternoon. Islanders have been clamoring for years to
end restrictions which have been in place since the revolution.

Also on the table is a proposal to eventually eliminate the monthly
ration book, which provides Cubans with a basic basket of heavily
subsidized food and other goods.

The ration book is one of the most cherished of subsidies on the island,
but President Raul Castro has repeatedly said it is unsustainable, and a
disincentive to work.

Delegates are scheduled to vote in a full session later Monday on the
whole package of economic proposals, which have undergone extensive
revisions since they were first announced last year. The changes have
not been made public, meaning Cubans won't know precisely what has been
voted on until the measures are approved.

The Party Congress does not have the power to enact the changes into
law, but the suggestions are expected to be acted upon quickly by Cuba's
National Assembly over the coming days and weeks.

The party will also be naming its top leadership before the gathering
wraps up Tuesday following a speech by Raul Castro. At every Congress in
the past, it has ratified Fidel as first secretary and younger brother
Raul as No. 2.

But Fidel recently announced that he was no longer heading the party,
and had effectively been out since falling gravely ill five years ago.
Raul is expected to take his place, leaving all eyes focused on the
selection of a new second secretary.

During his opening speech, Raul proposed that Cuba implement term limits
for politicians at all levels, a stunning proposal in a country that has
been ruled by one Castro or another for the past five decades.

With change in the air, officials have repeatedly emphasized a message
of continuity amid transition to a new generation.

Even a massive civilian and military parade Saturday marking the 50th
anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion was dedicated to Cuba's youth.

Fidel Castro sounded the same theme in his column Monday as he advised
the party to stay faithful to his ideals.

"Their task is even more difficult than the one assumed by our
generation when socialism was proclaimed in Cuba, 90 miles (145
kilometers) from the United States," Castro wrote. "That's why
persisting in revolutionary principles is, in my judgment, the principal
legacy we can leave them."

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/18/2173709/fidel-castro-new-leaders-must.html

Cuban communists headed for oblivion
By CARLOS ALBERTO MONTANER
www.firmaspress.

An old and disappointed Cuban communist told me, during a recent brief
encounter in Madrid: "This Sixth Party Congress reminds me of the
atmosphere of sadness and nostalgia one breathes in those theaters that
present their last show before being demolished."

That's a good metaphor.

Fidel Castro's generation is now octogenarian. It's giving its farewell
performance. Fidel, 84, had his intestines removed in 2006, and Raúl,
almost 80, will leave the stage before long. He gave himself a
three-to-five-year period to transfer his authority in full and
facilitate a sort of generational relay "so the heirs may continue the
revolutionary task."

What does all that mean? Nothing, except to stay in power. Although
Cubans continue to repeat slogans, almost no one believes in
Marxism-Leninism, while the government tries to escape from the system's
chronic failures by creating a few spaces that might allow private
initiative to alleviate the disaster of collectivism. While they applaud
revolutionary mottos, young people call Marx "the little old man who
invented hunger."

The adults, in confidence, acknowledge this outlook. After 52 years of
dictatorship, without a hostile parliament or an opposition that could
hinder the government's work, the six basic elements that determine the
quality of life of any modern society have decayed into nightmares:
food, potable water, housing, electricity, communications and transport.

Raúl Castro, a realist who cannot understand why Cuban children can't
drink milk after the age of 7, is not unaware that his brother has been
the worst leader in the history of the republic, founded in 1902. In 56
years of capitalism, despite bad administrations, corruption, frequent
uprisings and periods of military dictatorship, the island became one of
the most prosperous countries in Latin America, and Havana one of the
most beautiful cities in the world. The public sector was mediocre or
bad, but civil society functioned reasonably well.

In contrast, in 52 years of communism, society became pauperized, and
the urban landscape took on the appearance of a bombed territory. The
communist-imposed public sector was terribly clumsy, infinitely worse
than the one in the capitalist era, and civil society (which Raúl is
trying to revive via artificial respiration) was cruelly crushed.

This is the melancholy diagnosis with which Cuban communists must
celebrate their Sixth Congress. Raúl has summoned a docile ruling circle
and asked it to support his timid reforms and legitimize the handpicked
functionaries. The idea is to appoint cadres under the age of 60, but
the ones who existed — Carlos Lage, Felipe Pérez Roque, Roberto Robaina,
Fernando Remírez de Estenoz — were destroyed by the rulers themselves.

Who will emerge as the heir presumptive? The name is whispered (though
no one is certain) of Marino Murillo, a 50-year-old economist, former
Army officer and former Minister of the Economy, despised by the
apparatchiks ("he's a lowly auditor, not an economist," I was told by an
especially shrewd observer), who today is in charge of disciplining the
Party so that, during this Sixth Congress, it will accept, without a
whimper, the changes proposed by Raúl. He is said to owe total
allegiance to the general-president and to be committed to retaining the
basic elements of the communist system, although eliminating paternalism.

Will he succeed? I doubt it. Raúl, with the aid of Murillo, his
ideological stepson, wants to build a socialism without subsidies and a
capitalism without markets. That's impossible.

That monstrosity has to be buried, the way it was done in Eastern
Europe. However, it is not improbable that, after the departure of the
Castros, the armed forces will hold on tightly to power for awhile, but
only until a spark is lit and we see in Cuba a violent finale.

Those who insist on impeding the natural evolution of history end up
provoking devastating catastrophes.

©Firmas Press

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/17/2169612/cuban-communists-headed-for-oblivion.html

Suite para Girón
Miguel Fernández-Díaz
Miami 15-04-2011 – 1:52 pm.

A medio siglo de la invasión, el exilio sigue culpando a Kennedy del
fracaso. Pero, ¿qué cuánta culpa tuvieron los propios cubanos?

Memorabilia de la Brigada 2506, en Miami. (AP)

El plan contra el régimen de Castro aprobado por el presidente
Eisenhower el 17 de marzo de 1960 rezaba "acción encubierta". Eisenhower
mismo dijo al jefe de la CIA, Allen Dulles, que "nuestras manos no
pueden aparecer en nada de lo que se haga". El apoyo aéreo masivo y el
desembarco de los marines se descartaron de antemano, porque de haberse
planificado, la intervención de Estados Unidos no podía negarse y hasta
sobraba la Brigada de Asalto. No en balde la operación corrió por cuenta
de la CIA antes que por el Pentágono. Así y todo, el exilio suele
desfogarse en la vacilación de JFK, a quien llegan a tachar incluso de
cobarde. Quizás convenga más mirar adentro.

Preludio

El 15 de abril de 1961, 8 bombarderos B-26 de la Fuerza Aérea de
Liberación (FAL) salieron a bombardear los aeropuertos militares de San
Antonio de los Baños, Ciudad Libertad (Habana) y Santiago de Cuba. Todos
tenían insignias de la Fuerza Aérea Revolucionaria (FAR) de Castro y al
menos dos llevaban el mismo número: 933. El ataque buscaba garantizar la
premisa crucial fijada por la CIA en memorando del 4 de enero de 1961:
destruir o neutralizar las fuerzas aéreas y navales capaces de ofrecer
resistencia al desembarco, antes de que las embarcaciones anfibias se
acercaran a la playa.

Al regreso los pilotos exageraron. Las fotografías de los aviones espías
U-2 rebajarían los aviones destruidos a cinco, sin poder determinar
cuántos fueron dañados. Según la cuenta que dio Castro el 23 de abril,
sólo aviones fuera de servicio fueron destruidos en Ciudad Libertad, uno
de transporte y otro de combate en San Antonio de los Baños, y uno de
combate y dos aeronaves civiles en Santiago. Desde noviembre 13 de 1960
Castro había recibido un informe de inteligencia de seis páginas sobre
los preparativos de la invasión en Guatemala. No sólo había previsto los
puntos más probables de desembarco, sino también el golpe inicial contra
sus FAR: los aviones fuera de servicio estaban a la vista, pero los
demás habían sido camuflados y dispersados con protección antiaérea. Tad
Szulc había sacado ya el artículo Anti- Castro Units Trained to Fight at
Florida Bases (The New York Times, abril 7 de 1961) y Kennedy no pudo
menos que comentar: "Castro no necesita espías en los EE UU; basta con
que lea los periódicos".

A poco de haber despegado el escuadrón de ataque de la FAL, Mario Zúñiga
salió de Puerto Cabezas (Nicaragua) a Miami en otro B-26 número 933. La
cubierta de uno de sus motores había sido desmontada, tiroteada y
reinstalada para dar la impresión de que el avión había sorteado fuego
antiaéreo. Ya sobre el estrecho de la Florida, Zúñiga paró ese motor y
pidió por radio permiso para aterrizar. En tierra se identificó como
Juan García, pidió asilo político y alegó que otros tres pilotos de las
FAR habían desertado y atacado bases aéreas de Castro. Al este de
Guantánamo se malograba el desembarco diversionista de Nino Díaz y sus
comandos. Un caza T-33 de la FAR salió a explorar y cayó al mar. Su
piloto, teniente Orestes Acosta, sería incluido entre los desertores
anunciados en Miami.

Sin embargo, los reporteros más perspicaces notaron que las
ametralladoras del B-26 de Zúñiga no parecían haber disparado y su nariz
era de metal. Los B-26 de Castro tenían narices de plástico. El
presidente del Consejo Revolucionario Cubano (CRC), José Miró Cardona,
declaró que los ataques habían sido realizados por desertores de la FAR.
Castro replicó que ni Hollywood se hubiera atrevido a rodar semejante
película.

A la queja del canciller castrista Raúl Roa, el representante de
Washington ante Naciones Unidas, Adlai Stevenson, respondió que la
cuestión fundamental no era entre Cuba y EE UU, sino entre cubanos. Y
hasta presentó fotos de Zúñiga y su B-26, sin tener idea del papelazo
que estaba haciendo. Lo que sí discurría ya en serio, bajo la dirección
del comandante Efigenio Ameijeiras, era la redada de anticastristas
reales o imaginarios dentro de la Isla.

Allemande

El 16 de abril, antes que el cortejo fúnebre de las víctimas del
bombardeo del día anterior entrara en el Cementerio de Colón, Castro
tildó a los enemigos de "mercenarios", ratificó el estado de alerta y
soltó que había "hecho una revolución socialista en las propias narices
de Estados Unidos". Entretanto, la Fuerza Expedicionaria Cubana (FEC)
venía llegando al punto de encuentro "Zulú", a unas 40 millas (65 km) de
las costas de Cuba, escoltada por destructores de la marina de EE UU.
Luego seguiría sin escolta hacia Bahía de Cochinos. El dictador
nicaragüense Luis Somoza habría despedido en los muelles de Puerto
Cabezas a la FEC y pedido a sus jefes que le trajeran de vuelta unos
pelos de la barba de Castro.

Los cargueros Houston, Río Escondido, Caribe y Atlántico trajeron casi
1.500 hombres con su armamento, y Lake Charles transportó personal de
infiltración y suministros. Todos navegaron con bandera de Liberia, en
compañía de los buques de asalto anfibio (LCI, por sus siglas en ingles)
Blagar y Bárbara J, bajo bandera nicaragüense. Radio Swan trasmitía
mensajes que aparentaban claves para activar la resistencia dentro de la
Isla: "¡Alerta! ¡Alerta! Mira el arcoiris. El pez se levantará en breve.
Chico está en casa. Visítalo. El cielo es azul…". La Casa Blanca canceló
otras incursiones aéreas para no dar pie a acusaciones por violación del
Derecho Internacional. La CIA protestó, pero el secretario de Estado,
Dean Rusk, se mantuvo en sus trece. La orden llegó a Puerto Cabezas
cuando los pilotos de la FAL ya estaban listos para despegar.

El comandante Juan Almeida, designado por Castro jefe militar en la
región central, pasa por Punta Perdiz, a unos 11 kilómetros de Playa
Girón, y recibe informes de actividad en el mar y de guerrilleros
anticastristas en la zona rural de Amarillas. Los policías de Ameijeiras
y los Comités de Defensa de la Revolución (CDR) han detenido en pocas
horas a miles y miles de sospechosos para dar al traste con la Operación
Generosa, que la CIA había urdido para levantar quinta columna contra
Castro.

La FAR alista cuatro cazas a chorro T-33, cuatro cazas de hélice Sea
Fury y al menos cinco B-26, tanto para el combate aéreo como para atacar
objetivos navales y terrestres. La CIA desconocía que los T-33 estaban
artillados con ametralladoras M-3 y así cogerían mangos bajitos frente a
los B-26 de la FAL, que no tenían ametralladoras de cola.

Courante

Al filo de la medianoche del 16 para el 17 de abril, el jefe de la posta
de milicianos en Playa Girón, Mariano Mustelier, ve unas luces en el mar
y piensa que alguna embarcación perdió el rumbo. Hace señales con las
luces de su jeep y le responden con fuego cerrado: "Llegaron los
americanos", gritó Mustelier y corrió a avisar.

A bordo del Blagar, el agente de la CIA Grayston Lynch recibe un mensaje
espeluznante de Washington: la aviación de Castro no ha perdido su
capacidad combativa. La Brigada de Asalto 2506 comienza a desembarcar a
eso de la una de la madrugada. Poco después Castro despierta con la
noticia y manda enseguida a José Ramón El Gallego Fernández a enrumbar
con el batallón de la Escuela de Responsables de Milicias (Matanzas)
hacia Playa Larga. Así mismo ordenó al capitán Raúl Curbelo Morales que
la FAR atacara los buques de la FEC.

Radio Swan dejó de trasmitir en clave y llamó a la insurrección, con
especial interés en impedir que los aviones de Castro despegaran:
"Rompan sus instrumentos, pinchen sus tanques de combustible". El
embullo llegó al punto de reportar el avance de la fuerza invasora en
todos los frentes y aun el suicidio de Raúl Castro.

La FAR ataca con éxito al carguero Houston, que encalla, y al buque de
asalto anfibio Barbara J. El prurito cubano de ser primero queda
satisfecho con los paracaidistas de la brigada que protagonizan la
primera acción militar de este tipo en América Latina. El fuego
antiaéreo del Blagar tumba un avión de Castro, pero otro consigue
impacto directo de rocket contra el carguero Río Escondido, que llevaba
145 toneladas de municiones y más de 40 mil galones de combustible. Al
escuchar el estruendo, el agente de la CIA Rip Robertson vocifera por
radio en Playa Girón: God Almighty, what was that? Fidel got the
A[tomic] bomb? Su colega Grayston Lynch responde: Naw, that was the
damned Río Escondido that blew.

El CRC difunde su primer boletín con la profecía de que antes del
amanecer los cubanos se levantarán en masa para barrer al comunismo. En
otro afirmaron que muchos milicianos habían desertado, pero un asistente
del jefe de la CIA decía ya que la Operación Zapata colgaba de un
hilito. Al ser notificado de otra acción de paracaidistas en Horquita,
entre San Blas y Yaguaramas, Castro repuso tranquilo que estaban
condenados a muerte y ordenó: "Échenle a las milicias". Y al recibir el
parte de que el batallón de la Escuela de Responsables de Milicias había
tomado el caserío de Pálpite, exclamó con sobrada razón: ¡Ya ganamos!

Sarabande

El 18 de abril los tanques de Castro avanzan hacia Playa Larga, Playa
Girón y San Blas. Los T-33 de la FAR derribaban tan fácil a los B-26 de
la FAL que la CIA ordena bombardear otra vez la base aérea de San
Antonio de los Baños, pero el escuadrón ad hoc no encontró el blanco. El
asesor de seguridad nacional, McGeorge Bundy, reporta a JFK que las
fuerzas armadas de Castro no ceden, no llega la respuesta esperada del
pueblo a la expedición y la situación de la brigada se complica. La CIA
recurre por primera vez a pilotos estadounidenses para acciones
combativas. El Fiscal General, Robert Kennedy, susurra al senador George
Smathers (D-Florida): The shit has hit the fan, pero el CRC declara en
Nueva York que el territorio liberado se expande y cada vez más
campesinos, obreros y milicianos se viran contra Castro. Radio Swan
llama a los habaneros a conectar todos los electrodomésticos y encender
todas las luces para provocar un apagón a las 7:45 de la mañana. En
Naciones Unidas, el delegado soviético lee nota de Jruschov y su colega
estadounidense, la respuesta de JFK, que niega categóricamente la
participación de pilotos de EE UU.

Un batallón de milicianos llega a Cayo Ramona por la noche y ocupa
posiciones para impedir que los brigadistas escapen al interior de la
Isla. Media docena de B-26 de la FAL atacan una caravana de vehículos.
Entre los pilotos hay dos americanos contratistas de la CIA. La caravana
se reorganiza y prosigue su marcha hacia Punta Perdiz.

En su informe del 31 de enero de 1961, el brigadier David Gray aseveró
que la Brigada de Asalto 2506 podría resistir hasta cuatro días en
condiciones de ataque por sorpresa y supremacía aérea, pero el éxito
completo dependía del alzamiento popular en Cuba. Para ello el Pentágono
y la CIA habían preparado 35.000 módulos de combate. Unos 15 mil se
embarcaron en la FEC, junto con cañones sin retroceso, morteros, jeeps y
camiones. Desde abril 10 de 1961, la CIA había informado a Bobby Kennedy
que, en el peor de los casos, la FEC se convertiría en guerrilla. Sólo
que por donde desembarcaron no había fácil acceso al Escambray.

Gavotte

El 19 de abril el almirante Arleigh Burke pide a JFK usar dos cazas a
chorro para tumbar los aviones de Castro, pero el presidente repone que
había advertido que las fuerzas estadounidenses no entrarían en combate.
A regañadientes se autoriza que un escuadrón del portaviones Essex haga
el paripé de escoltar a los B-26 para intimidar a los pilotos de Castro,
pero la CIA y el Pentágono pasan por alto la diferencia horaria entre
Cuba y Nicaragua. A los 9 ó 10 aviones perdidos la FAL sumaría perder el
tiempo sin encontrar aquella escolta.

Para colmo, los pilotos americanos Leo Francis Berliss y Thomas Williard
Ray atacan con su B-26 el central Australia y van alegremente al
re-enganche, para acabar siendo derribados. Logran catapultarse, pero
son liquidados en tierra. Raúl Roa saca a relucir en la ONU el cadáver
de Berliss, con su Número de Seguridad Social (014-07-6921) y todo. El
secretario general (U Thant) admite con prudencia birmana que hay prueba
bastante de que algunos poderes externos están involucrados en la
escalada del conflicto. Adlai Stevenson no encuentra dónde meter la
cabeza tras soltar Roa: Naturally, these planes came from the moon. En
1979 el cadáver de Pete Ray fue repatriado a EE UU y la CIA terminaría
por admitir su vínculo al concederle la distinción Intelligence Star.

Todavía un C-46 logra aterrizar en la pista de Playa Girón con
municiones y equipos para la brigada, pero el Blagar no puede llevar
tres lanchones de suministros sin destructor de escolta. El capitán dijo
por radio que la tripulación cubana se amotinaría. La infantería de
Castro, con apoyo de tanques y artillería, ha tomado Playa Larga, asedia
Playa Girón y antes del mediodía entra en San Blas. El comandante de la
brigada envía su último mensaje a Blagar: I´m destroying all equipment
and communications. I have nothing left to fight with. I´m taking to the
woods. I can't wait for you. El CRC emite su último boletín para aclarar
que Castro había tildado el desembarco de invasión, pero se trataba de
suministro y apoyo a patriotas que venían luchando dentro de la Isla por
meses. Dulles confiesa al ex vice Nixon: Everything is lost. The Cuban
invasion is a total failure. Hasta el presidente protocolar de Cuba,
Osvaldo Dorticós, está en el teatro de operaciones cuando Castro anuncia
la caída del último reducto enemigo (Playa Girón) a las 5:30 pm.

Guigue

El 20 de abril Castro practica tiro con un cañón autopropulsado SAU-100
contra el Houston encallado, luego de comprobar que no habría
participación directa de tropas regulares de EE UU. Esta circunstancia
había sellado la mala suerte de la FEC desde que Eisenhower aprobara, el
18 de agosto de 1960, el presupuesto de $13 millones para la acción
encubierta contra Castro. Tal y como explica Piero Gleijeses en Ships in
the Night: The CIA, the White House and the Bay of Pigs (Journal of
Latin American Studies, Número 27, febrero de 1995, páginas 37-42), la
Casa Blanca y la CIA creyeron que estaban en sintonía con respecto a la
operación y manejaban en realidad nociones diferentes: JFK pensaba que
la Brigada de Asalto 2506 podía pasar a la guerra de guerrillas en las
montañas y la CIA, que JFK recurriría a los marines antes que abandonar
a la brigada.

Al examinar el 8 de diciembre de 1960 el tinglado armado por la CIA
contra Castro, el coronel Edward Lansdale dudó que el pueblo se
levantara por causa de la invasión y puso en entredicho la base política
de aquel montaje. También el almirante Robert Dennison abrigaba serias
dudas y remitió a la CIA, el 20 de diciembre de 1960, un cuestionario de
119 preguntas. Sólo 12 fueron contestadas. El 15 de febrero de 1961, el
subsecretario de Estado para Asuntos Interamericanos, Thomas Mann, pasó
al Secretario de Estado, Dean Rusk, un memorando que desmentía la
invasión como detonante de revuelta popular contra Castro. Mann predijo
que, por el contrario, la Operación Zapata conduciría a la encrucijada
de tener que abandonar la brigada a su suerte, intentar trasladarla
hacia las montañas o intervenir militarmente en Cuba.

Otro subsecretario de Estado, Chester Bowles, advirtió en marzo 31 de
1961 a Rusk que la posibilidad de éxito era tan baja que la invasión
sólo contribuiría a reforzar el prestigio de Castro. Y el asesor
presidencial Arthur Schlesinger alegaría el 5 de abril de 1961 que la
brigada no tenía fuerza suficiente para tumbar rápido a Castro: para
hacerlo había que desembarcar con los marines, pero de este modo Cuba en
1961 sería para EE UU lo que Hungría para la Unión Soviética en 1956.

Los oficiales de la CIA Jacob Esterline y Jack Hawkins visitaron el 8 de
abril de 1961 en su propia casa al jefe de planes, Richard Bissell, para
plantear sus renuncias porque la Casa Blanca había podado tanto la
acción contra Castro que la victoria era técnicamente imposible. Tras
efectuar la autopsia de la invasión, el inspector general de la CIA,
Lyman Kirkpatrick, concluyó en octubre de 1961 que la envergadura de la
operación excedía las capacidades de la CIA. A igual conclusión había
arribado el 11 de mayo de 1961 la comisión del Pentágono presidida por
el general Maxwell Taylor.

http://www.diariodecuba.com/opinion/4151-suite-para-giron

Using imported rails from Russia and concrete ties made in a new Cuban
plant, work crews have concluded reconditioning 15 miles of track along
the island's main trunk railroad within 75 days, Granma reported.

Cuban railroad tracks have deteriorated to the point where they are
causing frequent accidents. The particular stretch of the
Havana-Santiago line in Matanzas province, between Cuatro Esquinas and
Cascajal, had been among the most dilapidated segments, allowing for
only 25 mph speeds. The renovated stretch will allow speeds of 75 mph.

The effort is funded mainly by Venezuela, via the ALBA integration
agreement. In 2007, Venezuela's Banco de Desarrollo (BANDES) agreed to
invest $100 million in infrastructure improvements and repairs to the
island's rail network, to increase average speeds from 25 mph to 62 mph.
In exchange, Cuban rail engineers are providing services in Venezuela.

Deteriorated tracks have led to severe accidents, including on the
560-mile trunk line from Havana to Santiago. To stop the deterioration,
the state rail company has been recycling unused rails from idled sugar
operations as a stopgap measure. In 2010, only 8 miles of track were
renovated.

As part of the large overhaul project of more than 2,500 miles of track,
state railroad company Unión de Ferrocarriles de Cuba last year made
investments at the Solcar rail soldering company in Placetas and the
railroad tie and fastener plant in Santa Clara. The Solcar plant last
year replaced its Soviet-era equipment with a new, automatized MCP 6301
soldering machine and is now able to pre-assemble track segments up to
300 meters long with rails mostly imported from Russia. Meanwhile, the
railroad tie plant in Santa Clara received a highly automatized
concrete-tie making machine.

Tags: Train, Transport, Distribution

http://www.cubastandard.com/2011/04/12/work-on-worn-out-rail-tracks-beginning/

My weekly greeting. Comment for Harold on his work on the Social Contract.

The theme is very interesting: The State's promises of a better future
created expectation in Cuban society and most took on the challenge,
ready to do their part (which is nothing more than their share in the
contract).

The State has failed though it has talked of a subsidized state,
something absolutely debatable. Society has responded in a more or less
conscious way with successive violations of which I can only offer some
examples: Insufficient salaries, embezzlement and "diversion of
resources," insufficient delivery of food rations and high prices in the
free markets and in hard currency, the black market, inadequate and
poorly functioning transport, poor quality education, bribery and the
buying of grades and degrees.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that on the one hand they have
decided to put it aside in view of the fact that the State has not
fulfilled its obligations under the pact.

The apathy of those who should be running this race is a result of the
years of putting the cart before the horse, that being the cart of
politics and the horse of the economy. In our country they have tried to
subordinate economic laws to political interests.

They didn't pay much attention during the era of Soviet subsidies, but
the country's leadership should have learned the lesson of the Special
Period, but the Venezuelan oil subsidies appeared and they stumbled
again over the same well-known stones.

No Cuban needs an outside instigator to be aware of the economic failure
and social crisis; the more damage that a youth that "doesn't take on
the struggle" does to Cuba, the more damage is done by the drain of
young people who believe that only by emigration can they have any hope
of personal success, and I say this although I see nothing terrible in
conceiving the world as a global village. One of the things we tried to
inculcate more than patriotism was jingoism, with the natural rejection
of the brace.

The cycle of historical processes is uneven. Socialism lasted 70 years
in the USSR, and managed to convert a feudal society into an
industrialized one; in Cuba where the economy has taken the fall,
socialism is maintained by firm control of power by the same leadership
that made the revolution against Batista.

There are young people who will make another revolution of which you
speak, whose always restless nature will lead them to find their own
paths and not those marked in advance as if they were in an arranged
marriage since childhood. And it won't take 70 years. Then they will
introduce new forms of social compact.

April 7 2011

http://translatingcuba.com/?p=8907

HAVANA – Cuba's Transport Ministry said Saturday that the Panamanian
vessel with a cargo of salt that sank a week ago in the Caribbean was
manned by a crew of 11 Cubans, eight of whom were rescued while the
other three are still missing.

The shipwreck of the freighter Helga took place on March 19 off the
coast of Belize on a voyage from Mexico to Honduras with a cargo of bulk
salt, the note published this Saturday in the official daily Granma said.

According to the communique, Belize authorities "have carried out an
extensive search by air and sea at the place where the ship went down
and the surrounding areas" since they were first notified of the accident.

As a result, eight of the 11 crew members were rescued and are "in a
good state of health." They returned to Cuba last Wednesday.

Still to be found are the boat's captain, Arturo Edreira, chief engineer
Alexis Gonzalez, and helmsman Nelson Perez.

"Cuban officials are coordinating closely with the authorities in Belize
in the search and rescue operations, while also coordinating the
investigation of the incident with Panamanian maritime authorities," the
note said.

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=14510&ArticleId=390252

Cuban-Venezuelan cooperation projects are adapting to austere times, a
Cuban official said during the 11th meeting of the Cuba-Venezuela
intergovernmental commission at the Alba Hotel in Caracas.

The partner countries are "developing a decisive battle for the
reduction of superfluous spending, for savings, efficiency, rational use
of resources, planning, discipline and the expectation that the projects
have a happy ending," said Vice President Ricardo Cabrisas, who led the
Cuban delegation.

No announcements about specific cutbacks or delays were made during the
event. The most ambitious cooperation projects in Cuba include the
expansion of existing refineries at Cienfuegos and Santiago,
construction of a new refinery in Matanzas, development of a
petrochemical hub around Cienfuegos, and construction of a ferronickel
plant at Las Camariocas.

The meeting was "preceded by intense work," Cabrisas said during the
opening on Saturday. "This will strengthen the economic integration
policy agreed between our countries."

The periodic meetings are keeping track of bilateral agreements and
joint ventures. During the current meeting, 11 roundtables discussed
joint healthcare, food, agriculture, infrastructure, communications,
science and technology projects, tracked the progress of joint ventures,
and laid out the road mapof joint projects for 2011 and coming years.

The Venezuelan delegation is headed by Oil and Energy Minister Rafael
Ramírez; it also includes Higher Education Minister Yadira Córdova,
Tourism Minister Alejandro Fleming, Indigenous Population Minister Nicia
Maldonado, Interior and Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami, Environment
Minister Alejandro Hitcher, Housing Minister Farruco Sesto, and
Transport and Communications Minister Francisco Garcés.

The Cuban delegation includes Foreign Trade and Investment Minister
Rodrigo Malmierca, Communications Minister Medardo Díaz Toledo,
Transport Minister César Ignacio Arocha, Light Industry Minister Damar
del Carmen Maceo, Food Industry Minister María del Carmen Concepción,
and Higher Education Minister Miguel Díaz-Canel.

http://www.cubastandard.com/2011/03/21/venezuela-cuba-cooperation-going-through-adjustment/

How best to empower Cuba's civil resistance
BY ORLANDO GUTIERREZ-BORONAT

People-power revolutions have changed the political landscape of the
world over the last 25 years. Most, such as those in formerly Communist
Central and Eastern Europe, have succeeded. Others, as in China and
Burma, have failed for now.

In those where violence has broken out, it has been instigated by a
repressive regime rather than by the peaceful protesters who began the
movements. Where political change has been brought about civil
resistance, democracy seems to have taken a deeper hold.

Nonviolent popular revolutions have sprung from sustained
civil-resistance struggles. Wishful thinking did not cause these
transitions to materialize out of thin air. They were not products of
improvisation or spontaneous fortune. Disciplined and committed networks
of nonviolent human-rights activists worked courageously for years in
spite of persecution and repression to inspire populations, to organize
them along lines that constituted an alternative to regime control and
to propagate a consciousness that would result in increasingly active
noncooperation by the members of those oppressed societies.

The final acts in these social processes have brought us the dramatic
images of courageous people taking their sovereignty back from the grip
of autocracy.

As many look at the most recent wave of civic defiance in the Middle
East they wonder whether Cuba will be next, as well they should. Many of
the key factors present in other regime transformations are also present
on the island. Widespread citizen noncooperation confirms what survey
after survey indicates: Cubans desire to exercise their individual
freedoms, and they are frustrated by a political and economic system
that refuses to truly open.

Additionally, Cuban streets have been the stage for mass demonstrations,
as took place in 1980 in the Peruvian Embassy in Havana, in 1994 along
the Havana sea wall known as El Malecon, and in 2006 when the people of
Madruga rallied to defend their neighbors.

These instances of large-scale protests by the Cuban people are
important, but they are not the most significant development in Cuba's
path toward freedom. What is critical is that an extensive
civil-resistance movement has flowered throughout the island. As the
release of dozens of political prisoners over the past months shows, the
resistance has gained traction in its efforts. Many of these
organizations of human-rights defenders have come together in the
National Civic Resistance Front, led by former political prisoner Jorge
Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez."

If the Cuban people are to have an opportunity, as befits them, to live
in freedom and dignity, then this citizen vanguard needs support.

This week, the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, which brings together
some of the main pro-democracy organizations of the Cuban-exile
community, will do its part to help those on the island by beginning a
drive titled "We All Are the Resistance" ( Todos Somos Resistencia) for
private support, on a person-to-person basis, for those in Cuba who are
leading the civil-resistance struggle for freedom.

Key artists in this community such as Willy Chirino, Donato Poveda,
Lissette and Luisa Maria Guell, as well as prominent civic leaders such
as former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, have lent their voices and personal
support to this important effort. They know that without money with
which to transport activists, aid families of political prisoners and
empower civil society with the technology to connect to the outside
world the already heroic nonviolent fight of Cuba's dissidents becomes
even more difficult.

This aid cannot depend on the ups and downs of the foreign policy of any
one state, but instead on the steadfast conviction of Cubans that
freedom and democracy are intimately tied to their very sense of
solidarity and national identity and to the help that we, as free
citizens close to their shores, can offer them.

History has thoroughly ratified what ethics indicate: It is freedom and
not tyranny that is the best guarantor of stability. Without the peace
that Cubans need to live their lives as they see fit, Cuba will continue
to be an unpredictable den of oppression doomed to become a failed state.

Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat is a member of the Secretariat of the Assembly
of the Cuban Resistance in Miami.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/14/2114963/how-best-to-empower-cubas-civil.html

Havana – More than 113,000 licenses to start businesses were granted in
the first four months of President Raul Castro's push to expand the
scope for self-employment and entrepreneurship, Cuba's official press
said Friday.

"As a result of the new measures in effect since the end of last year
there are 157,371 self-employed workers in the country, a number that
will soon double," Juventud Rebelde newspaper said.

According to the figures, 68 percent of the new private-sector workers
previously had no formal employment.

Some 20 percent of the licenses granted have been for the "preparation
and sale of food," from home deliveries to opening restaurants.

The other most sought-after option is the contracting of workers, with
15 percent, while permits to transport passengers and goods account for
another 6 percent.

Other licenses in demand were those for makers and vendors of household
items, landlords, builders, carpenters and shoemakers.

Since October when the new regulations went into effect to increase
self-employment, 32 percent of the permits awarded have been in Havana,
home to more than a sixth of Cuba's roughly 11 million people.

The expansion and loosening of restrictions on self-employment in Cuba
is being introduced to help make up for jobs eliminated by the massive
lay-offs contemplated for the "inflated" state work forces, one of the
more significant measures of the plan promoted by President Castro.

The so-called "labor readjustment" in state work forces plans to
eliminate 500,000 public-sector jobs, and its implementation was
supposed to begin in January, but the government has acknowledged a
"delay" in the process.

President Castro said last week at a meeting of the Council of Ministers
that the elimination of the bloated state work forces is a measure that
cannot be locked into "inflexible periods of time," adding that the plan
of economic adjustments should not be applied hurriedly or in an
improvised manner because the possibility of mistakes in its
implementation constitutes the "biggest threat" to the revolution.

Castro acknowledged delays in the start of this process, insisted that
the state "will leave no one unprotected," and said it would take five
years to get Cuba's economic reforms up and running.

The Project of Guidelines for the Economic and Social Policy of the
Party and the Revolution, as the plan of reforms is known that was
created to overcome the economic crisis that has afflicted Cuba for
years, will be ratified at the sixth congress of the ruling Communist
Party, set for the second half of April.

The island's only legal political organization last held a general
assembly in 1997.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/money/2011/03/04/cuba-issues-113000-self-employment-licenses/

SAN FELIU DE LLOBREGAT, Spain, FEB. 25, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Teresa Galbán
lives in Spain now — her friendships and experiences from her years as
one of Cuba's Ladies in White are fresh memories, and her confidence in
the Church is unfailing.

Teresa is a sister of Miguel Galbán Gutiérrez, one of the Cuban
political prisoners released thanks to negotiations by the Church. The
Galbáns and other members of their family agreed to come to Spain in
exchange for Miguel's freedom.

Exile hasn't been easy — though a neonatology nurse, Teresa cannot find
word because paperwork is lost somewhere in Cuban, or Spanish, bureaucracy.

In this interview with ZENIT, Teresa speaks about the efforts of the
Ladies in White and the difficulties and joys of her new life in Spain.

ZENIT: When did you decide to form part of the Ladies in White?

Galbán: When my brother was arrested I knew nothing about politics or
law. Outside Villa Marista in Havana, the headquarters of the general
prison of the regime's political police, I began to communicate with
many of the relatives of those who were held in that dark place. We met
there during visits every week that lasted 10 minutes. Back then we
talked with one another and observed each other. I saw that some of them
were brave, and that also began to give me some courage.

So that's how we began to interact with one another. I understood that
just because a human being wished to express himself freely he should
not have to be imprisoned, and much less sanctioned with a long prison term.

The Ladies in White spoke with me from the time the group was
established, but it was difficult for me to attend their activities,
because I had a young daughter who today is 9 years old, and I lived 55
kilometers (34 miles) from the capital, the place where they began to meet.

Added to this was my mother's situation who, because she didn't
understand the unjust imprisonment of my brother, whom she could not see
because he was in a prison that was 200 kilometers (124 miles) from our
home, was determined to do everything possible not to continue living in
those conditions.

Added to this was the regime's greater repression in areas outside of
Havana. At times, surmounting all these inconveniences, I took part in
Literary Teas and other activities. After the death of my dear mother,
which occurred in October of 2008, I began to attend the church of St.
Rita, with the difficulties of getting back home, since transport in
Cuba is very lacking, and even more so on Sundays.

These impediments never stopped me from expressing my concern over the
inhumane conditions in the prisons, outstanding among which were the
lack of light, water, hygiene, poor food, as well as the ill treatment
my brother was receiving from officials, from the state security
officer, and from the prison guards of Agüica.

ZENIT: What was it like being part of the Ladies in White?

Galbán: I remember the Literary Teas, which are held on the 18th of
every month in Laura Pollán's home, our headquarters. We spoke there of
the prisoners, of their situation, letters were read, poems that some of
them wrote to us, we agreed on forthcoming activities; we prayed and
encouraged one another.

It was admirable in the sense that we consoled one another, shared our
relatives' letters, and gave strength to each other. That grief at the
same time formed a group; we all became friends. In the midst of this
suffering I had the possibility to get to know excellent people, very
battle-hardened, such as Laura, her daughter, Julia Núñez, Bertha Soler,
Loyda Valdés and Reyna Luisa Tamayo, Mirian Leyva, Darelys Velázquez,
Yamilka Morejón, Amanda Hernández e Iraida de la Riva, all whom I admire
and esteem very much.

Another happening that I also recall is when we walked on the streets of
5th Avenue, adjoining the church of Saint Rita, the place where we met
every Sunday, to pray to the Virgin, defender of impossible causes, to
intercede for the liberty of our relatives. And we felt voices that said
"you are very courageous, go on, we are with you." Also, when we
received the news of the release of some of our relatives from prison.

A sad experience was the sacrifice of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, may he rest
in peace. [Zapata died Feb. 23, 2010, of a hunger strike protesting the
prison conditions]. We lived that step by step with much torment, the
moment that Reyna Luisa [his mother] with great sorrow showed us the
blood-stained T-shirt from the beatings of her murdered son; I will
never forget that moment.

ZENIT: Do you think Christians have supported you? To what degree?

Galbán: What better example than the mission that was headed by the
archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who acted as intermediary
before Raúl Castro's government, not only to obtain the release of 52
political prisoners of the so-called Black Spring of 2003, but also when
the Ladies in White were being threatened outside the church of St. Rita
by the state security forces and groveling mobs of "Street Dogs"
(persons of the worst kind).

Now they are free men and Guillermo "Coco" Fariña is alive, thanks to
the intervention of the Catholic Church, which we thank as the only
organization on the island that does not bow to any political tendency.

In my case, from the first moment of my brother's arrest, I cherished
the moral, spiritual and solidaristic support of the parish of my place
of residence, San Julián de los Güines, both of its priest as well as of
the faithful, as well as of the Religious Daughters of Charity, who had
a center in my municipality.

ZENIT: What is the ultimate objective of the Ladies in White?

Galbán: The objective of the Ladies in White, who are a group of women
who dress in the color of peace, visit churches and walk weekly on the
streets of Havana, is to demand from the Communist government of the
Castro brothers, the liberty of their husbands, fathers, brothers and
sons, unjustly arrested in the famous raid known as "Cuba's Black Spring."

ZENIT: How have you been doing in Spain and what support have you received?

Galbán: I am living in San Feliu de Llobregat, Barcelona, with my
brother, my husband and daughters, and the rest of the family, thank
God. Exile is sad; I dream of the day that my homeland will be free and
that I will be able to return to it, where all Cubans will be able to
live in peace.

Since our arrival, we have been greatly supported and backed by the
Spanish people, including support for the cause of liberty and democracy
in Cuba, and this brings us joy. We spent more than seven and a half
years enduring all types of reprisals by the island's political authorities.

In regard to support, we are grateful to the Spanish government for
having brought us to this country with several relatives. Sadly, after
we landed, we have not had any contact with the official authorities,
they placed us at the mercy of an NGO, the Spanish Red Cross, which says
it knows nothing about what we were assured in Havana by officials of
the Spanish Consulate, before getting on the plane that brought us as
exiles to the motherland.

Every day we get up hoping that the government will reflect on its
position and tell us something different from what is happening at present.

ZENIT What would you like to do professionally? What are the obstacles
in your way?

Galbán: I would like to dedicate myself to my nursing profession, to
which I have dedicated 23 years of my life, 14 of them as a specialist
in neonatology.

At present I have not been able to get my studies accredited because the
Cuban authorities only sent my title and grade certificate, which were
legalized before the Spanish Consulate in Havana. In this country we are
also asked for the transcripts. I have been waiting for several months
for the official response to this situation.

At present, sadly, I have not found any employment, or studies of
formation, not even in private health establishments.

http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-31854

Coast Guard interdicts refugees

The U.S. Coast Guard repatriated 30 Cuban migrants this week, including
five men spotted on a raft on Sunday by the Disney Magic cruise ship.
The men were found about 21 miles southeast of Key West. A small Coast
Guard crew boat picked up the refugees to transport them to a larger
cutter for repatriation. The other Cuban refugees were picked up in
separate incidents in groups of seven, 15, two and one. All the Cubans
were returned to Bahias de Cabañas.

In addition, five Haitian migrants were returned to Haiti.

"The U.S. Coast Guard policy is to deter and respond to dangerous,
disorderly and illegal maritime migration by intercepting vessels that
pursue perilous and illegal voyages,'' said Capt. Steven Banks, Seventh
Coast Guard District chief of enforcement, in a prepared statement. "We
continue to maintain a robust presence of cutters and aircraft
throughout the Caribbean to respond to illegal migration and migrant
smuggling activities."

Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, migrants are provided food, water,
shelter and basic medical care.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/10/2061152/coast-guard-interdicts-refugees.html

Urban Tribes Prowl Havana Nights
By Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Dec 17, 2010 (IPS) – A different city emerges on the weekends in
Havana. Young people, whose faces are as strange as they are common,
take possession of the city and reinvent it. They are the "urban
tribes," a global phenomenon that has made its mark on Cuba.

A stretch of about 700 metres of Calle G, one of Havana's main avenues,
is a meeting site for these informal networks. As described by French
sociologist Michel Maffesoli back in 1985, these "tribes" are groups of
young people, ages 12 to 20, who create new forms of human relations and
establish their own behavioural norms.

In Cuba, it is cultural consumption that differentiates the main tribes,
largely based on their musical preferences: the rockers (rockeros) are
divided among metalheads (metaleros), new metalheads, punks, hippies and
freaks (friques); the "emos," devotees to the subgenre of dark,
emotional rock music; the "mikis," dedicated to electroacoustic, disco
and Cuba's native-grown trova music; and the "reparteros," who follow
reggaeton, hip hop, rap and timba (often referred to as Cuban salsa).

"Every urban tribe has its sanctuaries and traditions," states writer
and rocker José Miguel Sánchez (Yoss) in the digital magazine "La Isla
en Peso." Nevertheless, Calle G accepts everyone. The street becomes the
great unifier, even for those who do not embrace any particular identity.

"There really aren't many options for young people. Here you run into
thousands of people, and they might not have much in common with you,
but you build your social life with it," Max, who had made himself
comfortable on a bench on the old Avenida de los Presidents, told IPS.
By day, he works for a state-run transport company.

Only a few academics have turned their gaze to this social phenomenon,
which grew out of the new identities emerging amongst "a young and
adolescent population that needed to differentiate itself," according to
psychologist Daybel Pañellas. A professor at the University of Havana,
she led a study about nights on Calle G.

In a debate organised by the Cuban magazine "Temas," Pañellas said she
does not agree with classifying these groups as tribes, "in terms of a
solid ideology that mobilises a particular social project," with the
exception of the "rockeros," a group that has been well established
since the 1960s.

Some 2,000 youths swarm the area on weekend nights, Friday to Sunday,
and have their spaces marked: first the rockers, then the reparteros and
mikis, and ending with the emos, often spurned by the others due to
their tendency towards melancholy and sentimentality, men and women alike.

According to the academic study of these groups, based on more than 400
interviews, the mikis, reparteros and emos are united in essence for
their aesthetic, musical and entertainment preferences. The rockers,
meanwhile, come from years of resistance against official policies. For
years the government considered them "ideological deviants" and
"counterrevolutionaries."

"We are different from all the rest: in philosophy, clothing, musical
genre, the way we talk and how we behave in society," Alejandro, a
17-year-old rocker who studies electronics, told IPS. "We now have a
calmer philosophy, less conflictive and more centred on ourselves," he said.

Some of Cuba's other cities have their own urban tribe phenomena, to
varying degrees, including Matanzas (west), Santa Clara (central), and
Holguín and Santiago de Cuba (east).

In 2008, Calle G saw a rise of a futuristic aesthetic, with straightened
hair — whether black, blonde or red — moulded into a long fringe that
covered half the face, and in many cases both eyes. In Cuba, this style
is known as "bistec" (beefsteak). However, few people wear the style
very long, due to the tropical climate.

Lila, and 18-year-old emo, explained to IPS why she thinks other groups,
like the reparteros, reject her "tribe": "We are based on feelings. We
are very united and we make our friendship into a brotherhood. The male
emos face more social disapproval because they are seen as 'flojitos'
(weaklings, suggesting homosexual), but they aren't at all."

The emo culture of Europe, dating to the 1980s, is strong on misanthropy
and self-inflicted pain, like cutting. But in Cuba it is nuanced by the
Caribbean identity of "someone who is happy, optimistic, a little
machista, a femme- fatal or Casanova," according to psychologist
Yessabel Gómez Sera.

Gómez Sera, author of "Who Are the Cuban Emos? An Exploratory Study of a
Group of Adolescent Emos," from 2009, stressed that "not all emos cut
themselves. They simply scratch themselves, and then quickly realise
that they can be emo without it."

Meanwhile, the mikis in Cuba are similar to those known as "chetos" in
other Latin American countries. According to Ángel, a self-identified
high-school- aged miki, his "tribe" is characterised by happiness,
"having a good time" and "great outlooks for the present and the
future." He doesn't like that mikis are often seen as materialistic and
superficial.

With stronger local roots, the reparteros emerged from timba music, a
fast and aggressive type of salsa music from the late 1990s. They listen
to "danceable rhythms that are catchy, contagious, and rich… and are
closely tied to fashion," said a young man who didn't want to give his name.

The reparteros arrived relatively recently on Calle G. "It has to do
with humble people, who live in marginal neighbourhoods where there
isn't very much culture," he said, referring to a tribe often
stereotyped as violent and conflictive.

Regardless, the diversity of Cuba's urban tribal identities is reflected
in their aesthetics: borrowing from African styles for the Rastafarians,
imposing and dark for the rockeros, irrevocably androgynous for the
emos, attention grabbing for the reparteros, and clandestine painting
for the graffiti artists.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53897

In separate actions, ordinary citizens in Cuba are increasingly
protesting everything from high taxes to poor bus services. Activists
say civil unrest could result.
BY FRANCES ROBLES
frobles@MiamiHerald.com

The streets of Bayamo, Cuba, are blocked by horse-drawn carriages, whose
drivers for two days have protested a fivefold increase in taxes.

Monday, hundreds of students in Santa Clara erupted in violence when the
Barcelona-Real Madrid soccer match they had paid three pesos to watch at
the Camilo Cienfuegos Theater was replaced by a documentary.

And in the past month, bicycle taxi drivers in Las Tunas and truckers in
Granma have refused to work until their various demands are met, say
activists.

The protests mark a significant departure for Cuba, where rallies are
rare and repressed. As the country's economic crisis worsens, a new
trend appears to be bubbling: Ordinary citizens are daring to speak out
against the government.

Experts say that could become a critical threat to the Raúl Castro
regime, which fears spontaneous protest far more than organized
activism. While few Cubans are interested in politics, issues over
transportation and food could serve as a lightning rod for a fed-up
populace eager for change, experts say.

“These are regular people, real people,'' Yoandri Montoya, a dissident
youth movement leader in eastern Cuba said Wednesday from his cellphone
while “hundreds'' of horse-drawn carriages abandoned their passengers.
“People are taking to the streets because they are waking up to the new
reality.''

He said the protest began 6 a.m. Wednesday because drivers were furious
that their monthly license fee rose from 120 pesos — $5 — to 571, or
roughly $24.

The taxes are part of a vast overhaul of the Cuban economy, which
includes plans to lay off some 500,000 workers in the coming months.

But when horse-drawn carriage drivers were forced to double fares to
cover the increased tax, passengers complained, so the drivers stopped
working, Montoya said.

“Everybody is in the street,'' he said. “This is just the beginning.''

Weeks earlier, truckers who routinely transport people on the back of
their flat-beds also went on strike to protest high gas prices they must
pay with Cuba's dollar-based currency.

Two weeks ago, about 35 bicycle taxi drivers in Puerto Padre stopped
working, because they were not allowed to pick up passengers in areas
where tourists walk, said former dissident Magdelivia Hidalgo.

On Tuesday, dissidents in at least six cities across the country held a
“pots and pans'' protest.

The turn in strategy toward day-to-day issues is considered critical
because the Cuban government in the past months released dozens of
political prisoners, taking the wind out of the sails of one of the
leading dissident groups, the Ladies in White. With their husbands
freed, many of the “Ladies'' now live in Spain.

Hidalgo, now a reporter for U.S.-funded Radio Martí, founded a women's
group in Cuba that stages protests at cafeterias: the women eat and
refuse to pay in the dollar-based currency known as “cucs.''

“People are daring to speak out in ways I have never seen before,''
said Hidalgo, who left Cuba in 2000. “When I called Cuba in the past,
the person who answered the phone would whisper and say, `please hold.'
Now they say, `Oh God, you wouldn't believe how bad things are!' —
knowing full well that if a call is coming in from Radio Martí, someone
from the Cuban government is listening in.''

GOVERNMENT'S ROLE

While the Cuban government routinely stops dissident protests in their
tracks, it has largely caved in to the demands of the civil rights
protests, activists said. After the women's group protests, the
government has signaled that it will eliminate dual currency. Already,
construction and agricultural supplies stores began accepting national
pesos, a major concession.

When a video of students at the Superior Institute of the Arts
protesting lousy food went public last year, the government quietly went
in and improved the menu, said former political prisoner Manuel Vazquez
Portal.

PUBLIC DEBATE

On Wednesday, the Cuban government kicked off a public debate over its
historic plans to loosen rules over private business. The debates,
similar to public gripe sessions that took place shortly after Castro
took over the presidency in 2008, will be held from December until February.

The state-controlled newspaper Granma said Cubans will be encouraged to
voice their opinions and disagreements on the proposed changes through
party organizations, union meetings and workplace sessions.

“At stake is the future of the Cuban nation,'' Granma said.

But the government has only fueled discontent with layoffs, high taxes
and closing workplace cafeterias, Vazquez Portal said.

“One of these days, you're going to have 50 people from some workplace
show up at a pizzeria at the same time as 50 workers from another place
on a day that there is no pizza,'' Vazquez Portal said. “That's when
you're going to have a big social explosion.''

The economic crisis of the early 1990s led to a massive protest on
Havana's seaside boulevard, dubbed the “maleconazo.'' Fidel Castro
responded by letting anyone who wanted out to leave, unleashing the
rafter crisis of 1994.

But Cubans, Vazquez Portal said, know that the economic situation in
South Florida is as bad as Cuba's, so people are resigned to fixing
their problems at home.

“Now what you see is that people would rather take the risk of facing
off against the government over facing off against the sharks and the
sea,'' he said.

Social movements that topple regimes often begin when people suddenly
feel orphaned by a paternalistic government, said Bronislaw Misztal,
chair of the sociology department at Catholic University of America in
Washington, D.C.

For Cuba's scattered protests to gain momentum, a large group such as
teachers, young people or the unemployed need to join in, followed by a
group formerly loyal to the government, he said.

“If it reaches a critical mass, then it may be a process that's very
difficult for the authorities to stop,'' said Misztal, who is from
Poland and has studied Cuba. “The question is: What will make the
Cubans tick? It may be something that surprises us, and then it will be
like fire in a bush.''

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/02/v-fullstory/1954914/cubans-stage-rallies-test-new.html

First Russia and now China have joined the growing list of foreign oil
companies looking to profit from Cuba's potential oil wealth.

Earlier this month, Russian state-backed energy firm Gazprom acquired a
30% stake in four offshore oil exploration blocks offshore Cuba. And
now, a unit of China's state-run China National Petroleum Corporation
(CNPC) has won a contract to expand Cuba's Cienfuegos refinery. The deal
involves CNPC developing a power plant and petrochemicals complex and
also building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal on the same
site.

The CNPC refinery project alone could be worth up to $6 billion and is
part of a broader programme to develop Cuba's energy sector, which has
been long held back by protectionist US sanctions. The deal is also set
to strengthen the Caribbean island's links with China and Venezuela, as
the project will be bankrolled by Chinese loans secured on Venezuelan
oil revenues. The benefit for Cuba is that such links are likely to
allow it to modernise its out-dated refining infrastructure – a process
which is long overdue.

In terms of the numbers, the Cienfuegos refinery is expected to cost a
minimum of $4.5 billion while the LNG terminal would cost an additional
$1.3 billion. Such a high degree of investment by the Chinese – if
completed – could well mark one of the largest ever investments in the
Cuban nation. And as things stand, work on the project is expected to
start at the start of next year, with completion expected by the end of
2013.

On a more qualitative level, the move marks a major step forward for
China in its Latin American energy plans. While for Cuba, the
modernisation of its resources stands to provide an outlet for its hopes
to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, while also laying the
foundations for the Communist island to become a key oil transport hub
for the broader Caribbean basin.

The deal with Cuba follows similar deals (involving the financing of
projects and inking joint ventures) by the Chinese over the past couple
of years; with other Latin American nations such as Venezuela, Brazil
and Ecuador the partners. The aforementioned projects combined are
expected to bring it at least 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Without doubt, the region has become of heightened importance in terms
of China's overseas energy security policy.

Indeed, RoseAnne Franco, at energy and mining consulting firm Wood
Mackenzie in Houston, goes as far as to say that it is a match made in
heaven: "The regions are clearly of complementary interest. China is
looking for energy security while Latin America is eager for new
consumer capital markets."

All the political jockeying aside, what is the prize at stake? Well, the
Cuban government claims to have at least 20 billion barrels of oil off
its coastline. However, external (US) estimates are rather more
moderate. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that Cuba sits on closer
to just 5 billion barrels of oil.

Either way, should relations between Cuba and its powerful neighbour the
US ever be restored, the Caribbean nation would be perfectly positioned
to supply the energy-hungry US market. No doubt China is happy in the
knowledge that the likelihood of this happening anytime soon is rather slim.

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Viva_La_Oil_Revolution_In_Cuba/c8ff5ad8c.aspx

HAVANA, Nov.27 (Xinhua) – More than 81,000 Cubans applied for licenses
to open small businesses or rent their homes since the government
decided in October to expand these activities as part of a plan to
eliminate 500,000 government jobs, the official daily Granma said on
Saturday.

A total of 81,498 Cubans had applied for permits to develope "self
employed" (private) work till Nov. 19, less than a month after the
announcement of new measures for the expansion and flexibility of that
activity, Granma said.

Granma stressed that already 29,038 permits have been delivered and more
than 16,000 requests are under study. 20 percent of the accepted "self
employed" licenses shall be used to produce or sell food, an activity
with great demand on the island.

Another six percent of the permits are for transport activities or
passengers transfer (private taxi drivers) and one percent is associated
with new ways of house renting.

Raul Castro's government in October allowed the opening of small
businesses to help absorb the half a million people, 10 percent of the
workforce, who will lose their jobs from the state bloated sectors.

The private work may be exercised in 178 activities, 83 of them are
allowed to recruit employees for the first time in 50 years of
revolution, a way for the creation of small private companies in the island.

The small private business were eliminated in Cuba on March 13, 1968, as
part of the then so-called "Revolutionary Offensive."

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cuban economy fell to its
lowest point and the licences for private work were reopened, but with
the economic recovery the permits were frozen till Raul Castro' s new
reforms.

The economic adjustment plan designed in Cuba is expected to be ratified
by the ruling Communist Party at its Sixth Congress, scheduled for the
second half of next April.

Editor: Wang Guanqun

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-11/28/c_13625420.htm

Jetting off on a holiday that will involve staying in Cuba hotels could
be made more pleasurable by learning a few words of the local language.

This is according to Sharron Livingston, editor of
thetravelmagazine.net, who suggested taking a list of key words and
phrases might help tourists communicate with locals.

"Preparation is key for when you travel … Understand a little bit
about the culture of a country, so that when you do go there you don't
make any faux pas," she explained.

Phrases such as how much is that?, hello and thank you are great places
to start and may prove useful on a daily basis.

Being open-minded and accepting of new traditions and experiences is the
best way to get used to a city or country where the customs may be quite
different to those elsewhere, Ms Livingston concluded.

Her comments came in response to research from TransPerfect, which
revealed eating in restaurants, navigating public transport and booking
hotels online were the places travellers came up against most
communication problems.

http://www.scuktravel.com/cuba-holiday-news/travellers-staying-in-cuba-hotels-should-practise-the-language-800235485.aspx

Trying to make the sums add up
Raúl Castro unveils his plan for an economy of powerful, more efficient
state companies and the legalisation of small businesses
Nov 11th 2010 | Havana

ON THE rare occasions when Cuba's political leaders want to signal a
change of direction, or even just reaffirm existing policies, they do so
by calling a congress of the ruling Communist Party. Traditionally,
these get-togethers were held every five years or so. But the most
recent one took place in 1997. Since then, economic problems, the
illness that led to Fidel Castro relinquishing the presidency in 2006,
and palpable indecision have led to the repeated postponement of what
would be the sixth congress. Many Cubans had assumed it would never happen.

Now, at last, Raúl Castro, who replaced his elder brother and was
formally named as president in 2008, has summoned the congress for late
April to "make fundamental decisions on how to modernise the Cuban
economic model". The announcement comes shortly after the government
revealed plans to lay off at least 500,000 state workers and encourage
more people to seek self-employment or form co-operatives. The congress
will approve new "guidelines for socio-economic policy" set out in a
32-page booklet released this week.

So are the Castro brothers, in the twilight of their lives, preparing to
lead Cuba towards a mixed economy, similar to that of China? Or are
these reforms just short-term, reversible measures, designed to mitigate
an acute shortage of cash? The government's recently published list of
178 now-permitted lines of self-employment makes disappointing reading
for those who hope for radical reform. If a communist bureaucrat was
asked to present to his superiors a document identifying areas of
private enterprise that posed no threat to the state, this would be it.

Cubans can now legally work for themselves as a clown, a button sewer or
a fancy-dress dancer (in the costume of a 1940s Cuban crooner, Beny
Moré, the list bizarrely specifies). Repairing furniture is allowed;
selling it is not. But the list also includes more conventional trades
such as building and plumbing. State media have stressed that
self-employment should from now on be considered an acceptable way of
life, and those that choose it will no longer be "stigmatised". Even so,
the guidelines insist that the self-employed will not be allowed to
"accumulate property".

One way of interpreting the changes is that rather than creating new
opportunities, they merely legalise what was already a widespread
informal economy of clandestine private enterprise. Cubans working for
themselves will now have to pay taxes, ranging from 25% to 50%. But
allowing widespread private businesses requires a host of other changes.

New wholesale outlets will be set up where supplies can be bought. The
self-employed will be able to hire staff beyond the family. That is a
big change: since the 1960s the use of the words "employee" and
"employer" has been strongly discouraged. No longer will wages be
capped. Individuals will be allowed to rent, buy and sell their homes.

Many Cubans remain sceptical. Plenty remember Cuba's first, limited
opening to private enterprise in the 1990s (following the fourth party
congress, in 1991), when people were allowed to let out rooms and run
their own restaurants. Briefly, such businesses thrived. But as soon as
government finances improved, as cheap Venezuelan oil partly replaced
vanished Soviet largesse, the authorities stopped issuing new licences
for self-employment and suffocated family businesses with draconian
taxes and endless bureaucracy.

"When they talk about 'reform' here, they never really mean it," says
Evelyn, a biology student in Havana. After half a century of life under
the Castros, many Cubans have convinced themselves that nothing will
ever change. They have become experts at making daily ends meet and not
pondering the future. They may be in for a shock.

Cubans' wages are low ($20-30 a month at the unofficial exchange rate)
and they have to augment the state ration book in expensive farmers'
markets. But the state always guaranteed them jobs, workplace perks,
free health care and education, and heavily subsidised housing and
transport. Now it is struggling to do so. On top of the long-standing
inefficiencies of central planning and the difficulties caused by the
American economic embargo have come other blows, including devastating
hurricanes in 2008 and fewer tourists because of the world recession.
The government has repeatedly defaulted on hard-currency payments.

Raúl Castro takes the view that Cuba can no longer afford the bloated
and paternalistic state he inherited from Fidel, and that the state's
payroll should be linked to productivity. Government economists
calculate that 1m workers, or one in four of those employed by the
state, are surplus to requirements. The first lay-offs have begun, with
several hundred redundancies in the ministry buildings which surround
Havana's Plaza de la Revolución.

Officially, unemployment is still only 1.7%. But wander through the
capital, and aside from many people hanging around doing nothing,
beggars are ever more common. There is a new plea from those asking
passing foreigners for money: "There is no work here." As well as
cutting spending on education and health, Mr Castro plans to phase out
the ration book, replacing it with targeted help.

The calling of the party congress marks the culmination of a four-year
debate among Cuba's leaders. Raúl Castro and his allies have clearly won
it, against the more doctrinaire officials promoted by Fidel Castro
after he abandoned the limited opening of the 1990s. Fidel Castro's
health has improved this year. But in his public appearances, and in
rambling essays read out on the evening news, he has stuck rigidly to
comments on world affairs, not domestic issues.

Raúl's victory has been reflected in a gradual shuffling of the
government line-up. Only three ministers appointed by Fidel remain in
office, and none holds economic jobs. Last to go was Yadira García Vera,
sacked as minister of basic industry in September after being publicly
accused of poor management.

Victory for the decentralisers

Raúl, who was previously defence minister, has brought in army officers
to do many jobs. The army is Cuba's most efficient institution and has
played a big role in the tourist industry since the 1990s. The armed
forces' holding company, called GAESA, has emerged as the dominant force
in the economy. It is run by Raúl's son-in-law, Colonel Luis Alberto
Rodríguez. A shadowy figure who speaks English with an impeccable
upper-class British accent (which he says he picked up from his KGB
tutors while a student in the Soviet Union), he boasts that his
organisation controls 40% of the Cuban economy.

That share looks set to grow. Colonel Héctor Oroza, formerly the number
two at GAESA, was recently put in charge of another state conglomerate,
CIMEX, replacing its civilian director. CIMEX is Cuba's biggest company,
turning over more than $1 billion; among other things, it processes
remittances from Cubans abroad and rents property to foreigners.

The new guidelines promise to intensify the decentralisation of the
economy that Raúl favours (and Fidel opposed), granting wide autonomy to
state companies. They will be expected to pay their own way—and
liquidated if they do not. They may be freer to set up joint ventures
with foreign companies, in new "special development zones" aimed at
boosting job creation.

Seemingly in preparation for this, many companies have been purged.
Managers at Habanos, a cigar-maker, have been interrogated over claims
that $60m is missing. In September Pedro Álvarez, the former boss of
Alimport, which handles food imports from the United States, was
arrested at his home and taken away in handcuffs. Several officials at
the ministry in charge of oil and nickel production are said to have
been jailed after being found guilty of taking, and offering, bribes.
"Raúl's men have always been suspicious of some of the civilians who run
Cuban businesses," says a businessman in Havana. "Now they seem to be
getting rid of them all."

The guidelines fail to join up all the dots of the new economic picture,
but together with other recent announcements they do sketch out Raúl's
vision for his country: powerful state companies run by trusted army
officers, an attempt to tax and regulate the black market by allowing
self-employment, and setting wages, prices and employment according to
results and productivity. Social provision will increasingly be the job
of local party officials. The ultimate aim is to boost exports and
reduce reliance on imports, and to unify Cuba's twin currencies of
worthless domestic pesos and stronger "convertible" ones.

The big unanswered question concerns the succession. The party congress
will be followed by a separate conference to discuss internal political
matters, at which clues may be offered. Hidden away in some quiet
streets of the capital are once-famous names tipped as future leaders.
They now live in obscurity. Roberto Robaina, a former foreign minister,
whiles away his time painting watercolours. Felipe Pérez Roque, another
former foreign minister, is said to work as an electrician. Carlos Lage,
de facto prime minister until last year, is believed to be practising
medicine again. Perhaps Colonel Rodríguez is the dauphin now. Or maybe
the Castros will make no succession arrangements.

Either way, whoever takes over will inherit a system in which, for the
first time, there is a small but real place for private enterprise. And
stopping small businesses from growing may prove harder than preventing
them from being set up at all.

The Americas

http://www.economist.com/node/17463421?story_id=17463421&fsrc=rss

The developer behind a proposed End End seaport says cruise ships could
visit Cuba from a home port.

The developer behind the mooted East End port facility says that cruise
ships could use it as a home port in the future.

This could unlock new itineraries as the Cuban market opens up to more
tourism, according to project developer Joe Imparato.

"Cruise ships can certainly visit Cuba and make that part of their
itinerary," he said. "Don't forget also that it's becoming more and more
difficult for people outside the US wanting to board a ship in Fort
Lauderdale to do that because the (airfare) is expensive and (there are)
visa problems and security issues. These folks just want to get on a
ship; they don't want to have to get an American visa. Some of them
can't be bothered or can't get the visa, whatever the reason might be.

"The cruise lines have lost business as a result of that, at least the
business that's emanating out of Florida (and) Texas. There's an element
that has to be addressed, as an opportunity for the cruise lines to
recapture that business," he said.

Michele Paige, president of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association,
said that the industry, particularly in America, is unsure of the exact
facilities that Cuban ports have to offer.

"It's a whole lot of opportunity; there's a lot of pent-up demand,
especially in South Florida, so it's going to be very interesting.
There's a lot of unknown entities. We've heard rumours, but we're not
allowed to work in Cuba right now.

"What's the shape of the infrastructure? Are they able to take ships?
We're not going to put a billion-dollar (facility) anyplace if the
harbour's polluted or there's no place for the passengers to be able to
be transported around," Ms Paige said, adding that the organisation is
not currently working with Cuba in discussing these issues.

European lines

The East End Seaport, said Mr. Imparato, would cover around 1,500 acres,
of which around 100 acres is the actual port basin. The excavation of
the basin would create approximately 14 million cubic yards of fill. The
sale of this would make phase one of the project self-funding, he
explained. Phase two could involve the creation of infrastructure,
including a cargo port, a transhipment point, berthing for mega yachts,
a hydrocarbon storage facility and a home port for cruise ships.

The developer explained that these infrastructure projects in phase two
could follow a different business model.

"(We envision) the cruise ship terminal becoming a joint venture with a
cruise company participating, the government participating and of course
ourselves as developer," he said, adding that the intention is not to
compete with any cruise berthing at George Town. Because of the size of
the port, it would accommodate smaller ships of 2,000 to 3,000 capacity,
possibly from European cruise lines which are actively seeking a base in
the Caribbean.

Airlift required

Home porting, where cruise lines base one or more of their vessels at a
suitable destination from which they start and end their scheduled
tours, requires a certain infrastructure to support it, said Ms Paige.

"The most important thing is airlift," she said. "You have to facilitate
3,000 passengers and some are going to want to come in early, some are
going to want to stay late. Pre- and post- (cruise) you have to have
enough affordable airlift, whether scheduled or charter, to bring in
3,000 passengers," she said.

Mr. Imparato noted that any such home porting would be seven years down
the line if the project was given the green light by government.

"We have a lot of time to plan that airlift, the airport facilities,
transportation, the hotel. Whatever we have, we know we're planning to
put a cruise terminal in there; we're going to do some business along
that line, and we can rise to that occasion.

"I've visited with several cruise lines and discussed this in principle
with them and their reaction is, 'yes, it's a good idea… you'd have to
improve your air support because right now your airlift is not
sufficient to support this.'" He added that should the project be given
the go-ahead, then further discussions would take place.

Economic impact

According to preliminary analysis undertaken by the developers, Owen
Roberts International Airport would have the capacity to handle the
increase in numbers, but it would require carriers to increase their
charter or scheduled flights, he said, adding that his company would
also be analysing the economic impact of associated businesses such as
transportation, hotels, fuel, food and service.

"Think about the people who we could employ if we could home port a
cruise ship: to service the ship, to house the people, to feed the
people, (transportation) and to entertain the people, plus the boost to
Cayman Airways would be phenomenal," Mr. Imparato said.

"We could impose on the cruise lines to employ our people on the ships,
to train them for a career on the ships," he added. "We're a seafaring
nation. Our tradition is seafarers; there's no reason that we couldn't
insist on that being a condition … it would be beneficial for the cruise
line. Why not?"

Home porting benefits

In recent years, Barbados has served as a home port for ships from
several different cruise lines, according to Bajan tourism expert Ian
Bourne. He said that there were several benefits that home porting has
brought to the Eastern Caribbean island.

"If there is a delay in boarding, for example due to a ship quarantine,
which happens from time to time, hotels benefit as a result. There's
also the likelihood that cruise passengers stay longer (after their ship
returns to Barbados)… as they are already in Barbados, they may as
well stay for another five days or 10 days, depending on their budget.
All the ancillary industries of tourism then benefit directly or
indirectly."

Additional pressure

Mr. Bourne also noted that the onus was on the tourism industry to take
care of customer service because home porting brought with it a series
of additional issues and pressures.

"Security can also be tightened up and local people can get squeezed as
a result," he said. "Also, if there's home porting with only approved
vehicles to provide transport for the passengers, it can get cut-throat
in taxis, for example, and people don't feel they are getting an even
slice of the pie."

Over the years, he added, there has also been controversy over the use
of Bajan resources to service the cruise ships themselves.

"Even in the middle of water shortages, in the middle of a drought,
we're selling hundreds of thousands of gallons of water to cruise ships.
People wonder why we (do that) but we also need the money too, which is
a bit of a 'devil and the deep blue sea' dilemma. It's usually a
nine-day wonder; the (ships) do what they do anyway, people holler and
grumble and then life goes on – the water still ends up being sold
because the government approves it," said Mr. Bourne.

He added that the local Bajan traveller has found cruises have become
more affordable as home porting obviates the need to travel to Miami or
San Juan, Puerto Rico, to rendezvous with their ship.

http://www.compasscayman.com/caycompass/2010/11/10/Home-porting-could-crack-Cuban-market/

La identificación de las víctimas será lenta
Agencias
La Habana 08-11-2010 – 10:41 am.

'La diversa procedencia de los extranjeros y el estado de los cuerpos'
dificulta esa tarea, según los expertos.

Equipo forense trabajando en el lugar de la tragedia. Sancti Spíritus, 5
de noviembre de 2010. (REUTERS)

La identificación de los restos de los 68 ocupantes del avión que se
estrelló el jueves en el centro de Cuba avanza lentamente y con
dificultad, debido al deterioro de los cuerpos y a que 28 de las
víctimas eran extranjeros, afirmaron este domingo los investigadores,
reportó la AFP.

"La identificación de las víctimas del accidente aéreo puede tornarse
lenta, básicamente por la diversa procedencia de los extranjeros y el
estado de los cuerpos", dijo a la prensa Reynaldo Rodríguez, jefe de
Medicina Legal de Sancti Spíritus, donde se produjo la tragedia.

El avión, un ATR 72-212 de la aerolínea cubana Aerocaribbean, cubría la
ruta entre Santiago de Cuba y La Habana, y se estrelló el jueves en una
zona de espesa vegetación en Guasimal, Sancti Spíritus, con 61 pasajeros
y siete tripulantes a bordo.

Embajadas de los países de donde procedían los 28 extranjeros están a la
espera de la repatriación de cuerpos. "El equipo forense cubano está
trabajando intensamente", pero "hasta el momento no tenemos ninguna
confirmación oficial", declaró a la AFP Javier Figueroa, consejero de la
embajada de Argentina.

"Nos mantenemos en contacto constante con el Instituto de Medicina Legal
y aportaremos todos los datos que sean necesarios para la identificación
de los 10 argentinos", añadió Figueroa, al destacar que un avión de la
fuerza aérea de su país "está listo" para trasladar a Cuba a los
familiares de las víctimas, sin precisar fechas.

Por su parte, el embajador de México en Cuba, Gabriel Jiménez Remus,
explicó que el gobierno cubano solicitó a su país muestras de ADN para
facilitar la identificación de los siete mexicanos muertos en la catástrofe.

"Esto va a ser un procedimiento profesionalmente serio, pero lento y
doloroso", dijo Jiménez Remus, tras considerar contraproducente que los
familiares de los fallecidos viajen de inmediato a Cuba pues sería
"someterse a 10 o 12 días de angustia".

La identificación de los cuerpos calcinados está a cargo de un equipo de
expertos del Instituto y del Laboratorio de Criminalística del
Ministerio del Interior, encabezado por el forense Jorge González, jefe
del equipo que realizó la polémica identificación de los restos de
Ernesto Che Guevara en Bolivia, en 1997.

González dijo que la Isla está en "plena capacidad" para asumir con sus
propios medios y personal ese trabajo, aunque pidió el apoyo de los
familiares de los extranjeros para facilitar el proceso de identificación.

El avión, un turbohélice que entró en operaciones en 1995, volaba para
la empresa estatal cubana desde 2006, y tenía un promedio de 25.000
horas de vuelo en más de 34.500 viajes, según el fabricante, la
franco-italiana Avions de Transport Regional (ATR).

Se precipitó a tierra tras sobrevolar Guasimal de forma errática y a
baja altura unos 15 minutos, y luego ardió por unas cuatro horas, según
dijeron a la AFP vecinos del lugar.

"Todos los cadáveres están calcinados, excepto dos", dijo el fiscal de
Sancti Spíritus, Rolando Díaz.

Además de argentinos y mexicanos, a bordo del avión viajaban un
venezolano, tres holandeses, dos alemanes, dos austriacos —aunque
Austria dijo que se trataba de dos australianos—, y un japonés, según
las autoridades cubanas.

Una comisión del Instituto de Aeronáutica Civil de Cuba (IACC) investiga
las causas del accidente, tras hallar la caja negra y de voz, y anunció
que preservará el lugar donde cayó el avión hasta el próximo martes, a
la espera de la llegada a la Isla a de un equipo de expertos de ATR.

http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1628-la-identificacion-de-las-victimas-sera-lenta

El gobierno dice ahora que permitirá al fabricante participar en la
investigación
Agencias
La Habana 07-11-2010 – 11:09 am.

Según un vocero del Instituto de Aeronáutica Civil, las autoridades sólo
rechazan la ayuda exterior en el tema de la identificación de víctimas.

Expertos de la sociedad franco-italiana Avions de Transport Regional
(ATR) participarán en Cuba en la investigación sobre las causas del
accidente del ATR 72-212 que se estrelló el jueves en el centro de la
Isla, con saldo de 68 muertos, informó una fuente oficial, según AFP.

"Estamos seguros que técnicos franceses van a participar en el proceso
de investigación, conforme a la convención internacional, y ya se están
haciendo los trámites correspondientes", declaró a la AFP un vocero del
estatal Instituto de Aeronáutica Civil de Cuba (IACC), sin precisar
cuándo llegarán a la Isla los expertos.

"Cuba ha dado la autorización para que los técnicos del fabricante
vengan y les cursó la invitación a través de la embajada de Francia en
Cuba, para que participen como invitados en las investigaciones", añadió
el portavoz del IACC, que prefirió no ser identificado

Destacó que desde el jueves el Instituto creó una comisión para indagar
sobre las causas de la catástrofe, parte de la cual "trabaja en el lugar
de los hechos" y otra hace "estudios de laboratorio" en La Habana.

El equipo de investigadores cubanos halló el viernes la caja negra y de
voz del avión, perteneciente a la compañía Aerocaribbean, que se
estrelló el jueves con 61 pasajeros, de ellos 28 extranjeros, y siete
tripulantes a bordo, en la región de Guasimal, provincia de Sancti Spíritus.

El experto forense Jorge González declaró el sábado al diario oficial
Granma que Cuba "tiene plena capacidad para investigar con sus medios y
su personal la tragedia aérea", para lo cual se activó, además del
equipo que trabaja en Sancti Spíritus, un grupo de expertos en La Habana.

Pero el vocero de la aviación cubana aclaró que González sólo se refería
al proceso de identificación de los 68 cuerpos calcinados por el
accidente, que se realiza en el Instituto de Medicina Legal de La
Habana, y no a la parte técnica de la investigación que corre a cargo
del IACC.

Un vocero de ATR, con base en la ciudad francesa de Toulouse, dijo el
viernes que la empresa y la BEA (Oficina de Investigación y Análisis
sobre la Seguridad de la Aviación Civil) "estaban en contacto" con
Aerocaribbean y "tenían un equipo listo para viajar a Cuba y ayudar en
la investigación si fuera necesario".

http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1619-el-gobierno-dice-ahora-que-permitira-al-fabricante-participar-en-la-investigacion