Category: Fernando Damaso

After the Cuban team stayed on the road following a fifth place finish in the Third World Baseball Classic, having been being beaten five consecutive times in the five games scheduled, on top of that by a U.S. team composed of college freshmen and sophomores, the authorities governing national baseball, supported by some sportswriters, have turned up applauding, having won the Rotterdam Tournament in the Netherlands, with the Cuban national team, and now with the successes in the 3rd Tournament of Challengers in Canada, with the team from Ciego de Avila, also professionals and with some players from the national team.

All the fans know the serious problems of Cuban Baseball and its sustained decline, as well as the reluctance of the sports authorities to confront and resolve them, in order to maintain archaic concepts. Pretending to erase past defeats with current Pyrrhic victories in lower-quality tournaments against inferior teams will not convince anyone. (The team from the United States, called NWCAA, which stands for Northwest County Athletic Association, consists of players under 19 years old from St. Louis, Missouri; the Japanese were represented by JX Eneos, champions of the Yokohama City Industrial League; and of the same caliber, Canada’s team, the worst of all. The only team made up from a nationwide selection is the one from Chinese Taipei). There are none so blind as those who will not see!

It is also possible that all the current fuss has been stirred up as a smokescreen to obscure the poor performance of the Cuban delegation at the recently concluded 14th World Athletics Championships in Moscow, as well as the setbacks suffered in the 15th World Watersports Championship in Barcelona, in the 21st Volleyball Grand Prix by the women’s team, and by the three chess players who failed to qualify for the World Cup, held in Norway. It is a formula already applied on other occasions, under the slogan of “turning setback into victory,” with the goal of trying to keep some threadbare flag flying, in this case that of so-called “socialist sport.” We expect more of the same, until the time when real changes occur.

22 August 2013

In giving new names to things that already exist, we Cubans in the last century were profligate. We began by getting rid of the original names of various businesses and commercial establishments, and replacing them with a letter and number code that no one understood.  For example, a bodega which had always been called La Complaciente was renamed Establishment E-14. This brilliant initiative used up all the letters of the alphabet, combining them with numbers. These coded labels were part of larger entities, labeled “consolidated,” that encompassed everything. There was Consolidated Meat (notable for its absence), Consolidated Leather (ditto), Consolidated Bread, Consolidated Beverage and so on. Over time the changes continued, leading to unions, complexes, groups, chains and more.

The problem has always been an unwillingness to call things by their well-known and widely recognized names. Thus, the economic crisis became the “Special Period,” failures became “corrections,” reforms became “updates,” an independent worker became “self-employed,” corruption became “resource diversion,” a prostitute became a “hustler,” a restaurant became a “paladar,” an opposition figure became a “mercenary,” a private farming business became an “agricultural co-operative,” a small private business became a “non-agricultural co-operative” or “a new type of co-operative,” a client became a “user,” and so on to infinity.

How easy it would be to use the Spanish language correctly! This way, we would all understand each other better and foreign visitors would not have to work so hard trying to understand all this strange terminology. By refusing to call bread “bread” and wine “wine,” you end up with linguistic obfuscation.

Like water — try as one might to impede its flow, one way or another it always finds its own level — sooner or later this absurd terminology will be a thing of the past and forgotten, obviating the need for a Dictionary of the New Cuban Language. Then a crisis will be a crisis, a failure will be a failure, a reform a reform, a worker a worker, a business a business, and so on. Let’s go back to speaking and understanding each other in Spanish!

17 August 2013

Cuba’s state-run press has been commenting on the protests by students in Chile and their demands for free education. Not surprisingly, it has used these protests to generate propaganda extolling the benefits of Cuba’s own form of free education. I have no intention of reiterating the well-known and long-standing deficiencies in the Cuban education system, or for that matter in the healthcare system, both of which have been funded by subsidies, first from the former Soviet Union and later from Venezuela, courtesy of Hugo Chavez. Instead, I would like to imagine what “the morning after” might be, with some personal considerations in mind.

In spite of the economic difficulties it would entail, I believe that the new Cuban state would be obligated to guarantee that both education as well as healthcare remain free to all citizens, which logically should be of better quality than the systems currently in place. To realistically deal with the associated costs, it will also have to allow for the existence in both sectors of private institutions for those who have the financial resources and the inclination to make use of them.

The false and demagogic egalitarianism underlying both of these cost-free systems is in reality based solely on a shared misery endured by most of the population even as the differences between one citizen and another becomes increasingly evident every day. On the morning after — no matter how quickly it comes — these differences will be even greater, a result of “updating the model” and the “change” that will ultimately occur in any event.

We will have to confront it with our feet planted firmly on the ground and without unreal utopian visions. Undoubtedly, free state institutions will co-exist alongside private ones, as they do in most countries. Citizens will choose to access one or the other based on their own economic conditions and personal preferences. The false concept of the patriarchal state which controls, guarantees and decides everything has, after fifty-four years, been roundly proven to be a failure. It must fade away and be replaced by a modern, democratic state — one marked by economic efficiency and social justice — whose potential will be determined by the nation’s wealth, which will be the product of the initiative and hard work of all its citizens.

13 August 2013

If there is one thing that has always bothered me, it is the annoying habit that most politicians, scientists, cultural figures, athletes and others visiting the country at the invitation of the the authorities have of telling us Cubans how good we have it, how happy we are, what wonderful health care and education systems we enjoy, how productive and well-developed our agriculture is, how much we have achieved in culture and sports and other nonsense of this sort. This is like “showing a top how to spin.” They repeat the official propaganda lines like trained parrots, displaying a complete ignorance of our day-to-day reality and putting people off.

It is repeated so often that it seems to have become a global pandemic. The contagion has affected people from Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States, Europe, Asia, the Arab world and elsewhere.

At times I think it is nothing more than a “diplomatic wildcard,” a way to court those in powerful with the goal of securing more invitations and future support. A form of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.”

If they realized that these simplistic and irresponsible statements are immediately seized upon and repeated in the official media as part of its continuing and systematic ideological propaganda campaign against the population and how bad they sound to the citizens who have to put up with the system they are praising, perhaps they would act differently. But this would be like “trying to get pears from an elm tree.” It is precisely because they behave in this way that they are routinely invited back and find themselves on the “friends list.” That is to say, friends of the government, not really of the Cuban people, whom they do not know.

I prefer modest visitors, the kind with backpacks slung across their shoulders, who stroll through our city, dirty and in ruins, mingling with ordinary Cubans and asking them questions, eating ten-peso pizzas for which they have not paid in hard currency while sitting on a carton in the street, drinking from plastic water bottles because they are aware of the dangers of drinking from the tap, and using the inefficient public transport system. Those are the people who know us and can say who we are and how we live!

9 August 2013

For health reasons I have to regularly visit a clinic in a hospital which for a long time now has been undergoing repairs which seem as though they will never end. I do not know if it is because it is just taking a long time or because of poor quality which causes things to have to redone on a regular basis.

I have noticed that there is a profusion of propaganda slogans in evidence at these facilities extolling the virtues of the Cuban health care system along with the requisite color images of its “maximum creator.” As though by decree all the posters and even the receipts now carry the tagline “Healthcare in Cuba is free but it costs.” This is true. It costs every citizen the salary not paid for the work performed during his or her lifetime. 

It is not the “attentive, noble and magnanimous” state that pays for it. The money does not come out of its treasury but out of the pocketbooks of each of its citizens. The stated costs of a treatment or surgical intervention that a citizen receives are based on figures from so-called first-world countries. However, the stated value is not applicable here, where surgeons and other specialists receive poverty-level salaries. They are more than paid for by the majority of citizens making contributions for services they do not use because they enjoy good health.

It is a formula which guarantees the state always comes out ahead. It is worth noting, however, the benefits from medical treatments or surgery and those who pay for them are citizens.

1 August 2013

It’s no secret that in our society, and even within the government itself, different positions are debated about how to confront and resolve our economic, political and social crisis. The honeymoon era, based on a supposed monolithic unity of all the components of the nation, which ultimately was never for real, has been left behind and is just a bad memory, displaced by the winds of change of different intensity and direction.

In recent days, some characters of known inflexible affiliation, fearful of losing their precarious positions and privileges, even with the small and slow changes introduced mainly in the economy, have targeted the so-called new rich,  principally the successful self-employed, preaching to unleash a witch hunt, something we have always had plenty of: for example Bird-on-a-Wire*, The Battle Against the Pots**, etc.

The demons being exorcised now are quinceañeras (huge parties for girls’ 15th birthdays), dressing in the latest fashions, listening to contemporary music, eating ham shank, drinking Coca-Cola and preferring Disney cartoons. Also included are some owners of vehicles dedicated to passengers and cargo which, according to these characters, has nothing to do with the culture. It seems incredible, but it is real. The absurd proposals to change the situation do not bear repeating…

Nevertheless, times have changed and people have as well, though perhaps not as much as we would have liked, but if, before, prosperity was punished by word and deed, now, at least in words it is not the case and, indeed, it is emerging strongly, hence the spear launched against it.

For myself, I don’t care about the new rich, provided they have obtained and obtain their wealth with their talent, initiative, hard work and determination. Both those who have become rich from the spoils of ancient wealth for their riches, arguing the necessity of converting it into the property of the whole people, which they did, transforming it into state property where some, acting within the state, obtained and derived their wealth, positions and privileges, adding to them at the expense of the misery of the citizens.

Nor have I ever believed in a false equality, which really only equaled poverty for the majority of the population, while a privileged elite has remained and continues “on top the ball,” as a popular song says, far above ordinary Cubans.

Translator’s notes:
*Bird-on-a-Wire was a police operation in February 1982 against speculators who were cornering rural markets and charging exorbitant prices for the goods.
**The Battle Against the Pots: The “pots” (wealthy people) were accused of diverting state resources to meet their own needs (for example, using a state-owned crane to lift a water tank onto an individual’s house).

23 July 2013

In Cuba, although before there was, currently their appears to be no effective organization to protect animals, although there is talk of one, Aniplant (Society for the Protection of Animals and Plants), which doesn’t appear in any telephone directly, and whose activity is so non-existent it lacks a presence and activism.

The outrages committed daily, mainly against dogs and cats, caused anger and pain to sensitive citizens in the face of their helplessness to avoid them. The so-called stray dogs and cats that roam our towns and cities trying to survive — many of them abandoned to their fate by their original owners, who use them as pets when they are young and then when they grow up and require responsibility dispose of them like a useless old shoe — are the objects of absurd beatings, tortures and even acts of vandalism that kill them, as denounced on Tuesday the 15th in the Rebel Youth newspaper under the title “Diary of death and kindness,” without the authorities of public order, or any other, taking action on the matter, nor those responsible being prosecuted.

This reality, palpable at any time in the streets of our neighborhoods, shows the  citizen ignorance that exists, regardless of the vaunted but very questionable education we are said to possess, which seems to leave much to be desired and be more bark than bite, considering the serious problems in education for years now.

Oddly enough, it is precisely the youngest (teens and even children) who are involved in these inhumane acts, with the complicity or indolent gaze of adults, which, rather than stop them and get their attention, often to find it funny or participate in it.

Among the many evils present, dozens of them denounced recently by the highest political authority, the lack of animal protection, with institutions and laws that safeguard the street stray, is one more, which must not be allowed not to escape our attention, if we live in a civilized society.

20 July 2013

The Cuban government has rejected the term reform in relation to anything having to do with the changes being introduced, principally in the economy, preferring to use the term updating. Perhaps they fear being tagged as “reformers” and prefer to be called “updaters.” Nevertheless, it is not the terminology that matters; it is the content.

Until now, the updates that have been carried out have been positive in comparison to the ongoing stagnation of previous years. Due to their lack of substance and the delays in implementation, however, they have had little impact on the lives of average Cubans.

The buying and selling of homes and automobiles amounts simply to legalization of activities which for many years were carried out illegally. And those who carry out such transactions can do so only because they have access to resources and assets, a situation not shared by a majority of Cubans.

In addition to having the freedom to do so, there are other things that are necessary in order to be able to travel overseas, not least of which is having the financial means. Of almost equal importance are cell phones and an internet connection, which costs 4.50 CUC an hour at businesses that sell access.

To date, those who have benefitted from the updating have mainly been owners of well-maintained residential real estate. They have been able to sell at a high price, buy something smaller and pocket some of the money, or move in with relatives and pocket all of the money.

Other beneficiaries include car owners who prefer to get rid of their vehicles rather than have to deal with the high cost of operation and maintenance.

There are also those who have acquired financial resources, either legally or illegally, and have purchased these assets. They are generally the same people who own mobile phones and can afford to pay the high cost of internet access.

Then there are those who sell a home or a car, or receive money from relatives overseas, and use the capital to open their own private businesses, usually in the food service sector. In short what this amounts to is a budding form of capitalism subject to state control.

For the updating to really benefit the average Cuban, it would be necessary to extend opportunities for self-employment to all jobs and professions, something that is currently not allowed. Some people might be concerned about this happening in health care and education services, but it would really present no problem. Some of these professionals could work for the state (as they used to do) or for private institutions such as clinics and schools which provide private consultations and classes.

It is true that fifty-four years of doing the same thing dulls the brain and creates a governmental and societal conformism that is difficult to eradicate. But times and people change, and we must audaciously embrace the new.

The fact that a majority of young professionals aspire to join the exodus in order to realize their life goals should serve as a warning that this process of updating — with its many limitations and excessive slowness — has not brought real benefits to most Cubans.

The average monthly salary is no more that 440 Cuban pesos (the equivalent of 20 CUC, or about $20 USD), an amount that is inadequate to guarantee even a financially precarious life given the high cost of consumer goods — both agricultural and manufactured – and their continued rise in price.

17 July 2013

This past week has given us the media circus orchestrated by Mr. Evo Morales, self-titled first indigenous president of his country (if I remember correctly, his predecessor was also of indigenous origin), together with his friends. Nobody talks about his irresponsible statement in Moscow, when he said he was willing to take Mr. Snowden with him, triggering the subsequent situation, and focusing all attention on the rejection by four European countries of permission to land in their territories to refuel the coca-president’s plane (the Pachamama One), magically transforming it into an attack on all indigenous Americans and all Latin Americans, orchestrated by the government of the United States.

In our history and our fiction folkloric characters abound, from Duvalier and Trujillo in the first category, to Pito Perez and Aureliano Buendia in the second, without going too far back. It seems that the saga continues. After the Pachamama and trying to impede development by indigenous backwardness — from his homophobic statement that chicken meat has genes that produce homosexuality, to wanting to introduce coca leaf in place of chewing gum; from his claim on part of the territory of Chile, to this current comic theater — what will the multinational president’s next genial gaffe be? We confidently expect we won’t have to wait long. Anyway, we should be thankful that he introduces a note of humor into the politics of our region. At least he makes us laugh!

What is incomprehensible is that governments and institutions spend time and resources on these farcical politicians and false nationalism, when there are so many serious problems to solve.

14 July 2013

It is good that the President, although not part of his core responsibilities and somewhat belatedly, has spoken publicly about the loss of ethical values and disrespect for morality, problems about which many citizens had been warning, without being heard, for many years. It is also good to have noted the deterioration of moral and civic values such as honesty, decency, shame, decorum, honor and sensitivity to the problems of others as well as to have come to the conclusion that we have regressed in citizen culture and civics and that we are a society increasingly schooled, but not necessarily more educated.

Although in his statement he did not discuss the many causes that have provoked this terrible situation, preferring to blame the so-called Special Period, ignoring that material misery generates moral misery, that man thinks as he lives, and you can not demand of a population that mostly moves in the margins or close to it, not to be more or less marginal, or not to steal from the State when it steals from them with low wages, the dual currency and the high prices they must pay for services and products.

The balance of the above is positive, especially when it calls for the establishment of a climate of order, discipline and exigency in Cuban society and states that can not become one more campaign. Aware of our extremism, I hope that this call does not become a call for a new witch hunt, and that they take appropriate measures to avoid it.

From all of the above, the reference to the reversal in citizen culture and civics is of great importance. Our Apostle, José Martí, spoke of the need “to be educated to be free.”A society cannot be  truly free if it is not educated, regardless of all the instruction its citizens receive. It’s a truth as big as a temple.

Nor can a free society function without the daily practice of citizenship, which includes, among many things, both the performance of duties as well as the exercise of rights, in full harmony. I think the president, who confessed having meditated a great deal about all this, is aware of the real extent of his plans and their application in practice shows it.

11 July 2013

In defense of the current Cuban model and its updating within the straitjacket of the so-called Guidelines, some citizens are frightened by the idea of the possible restoration of capitalism in Cuba, mechanically repeating verbally and in writing all the propaganda that has been overwhelmingly spread by the news media. Nobody stops to point out the negative aspects of the current model (its main critics lie precisely within them), they simply deny the positives of change.

Fifty-six years of capitalism in Cuba, despite its shortcomings, problems, fratricidal conflicts, dictatorships, politics, theft of public funds and other misfortunes, represented development and wealth, unlike fifty-four years of socialism, even with its many misfortunes, which have only represented underdevelopment, involution, lack of productivity, backwardness, poverty and accumulation of problems, both old (lack of housing, unemployment, racial discrimination, etc.) and new (lack of possibilities, exodus, inefficient services, social indiscipline, arbitrariness, bad manners, rudeness, etc.). These realities, however much they try, cannot be hidden: they appear whenever you explore, even superficially, our past and present history.

In recent days, at the current session of the National Assembly, they have repeated the need to perfect the socialist state enterprise, forgetting its failure for seventy years in the former USSR, forty in the former socialist countries, and fifty-four in Cuba. They also have declared that socialism is the compass. Ideological stubbornness has never solved any problem.

To continue parroting these absurdities is to lose resources and time. What’s important is to end the current impasse and join the real world. The work isn’t easy, but it will only get harder if we don’t all join together in our efforts to achieve it.

8 July 2013

One of the main sources of my posts is the newspaper Granma, not only for what it says, but also how it says it and for what it doesn’t say. Although sometimes it publishes this or that interesting letter, the Letters to the Editor section from last Friday was priceless: either everyone who wrote supports the “Cuban model,” or they only publish this type of letter.

A reader, after pondering the existence of this section, and linking it with objectives 70 and 71 of the guidelines (which couldn’t be ignored), and also with 16, without adding anything new, finished in slogan-style, with the official sentiment: Our worst enemy is our own mistakes.

A fancier defends the breeding of carrier pigeons and ornamental pouter pigeons by the members of the respective federation and association, and denounces the so-called pigeon-raisers who profit off them, making it clear that the Pigeon Fanciers Federation gives its unconditional support to the Revolution. I think this assertion does not include the opinion of the pigeons themselves.

Another reader complains that in a town he visited, there has been no water for three months because the engine that supplies it is broken, and explains that all the measures taken by the authorities to solve the problem have been unsuccessful. He complains about the charge of 50 Cuban pesos for every water delivery and adds that he understands that the blockade, the hard work of the leaders, etc. has prevented a solution to the problem, and ends with the same slogan as the previous writer, that this Revolution can only be destroyed by ourselves.

A hothead, shield raised high, states that each patient should be informed about how much their treatment costs the State, forgetting that the State, with what it doesn’t pay citizens in their penurious wages, has many more financial resources at its disposal to distribute to the services of health and education.

Despite its small size, this sample demonstrates how low the level of public awareness still is, and how much we have to advance to be able to have a true civil society.

19 June 2013