Dancing and Having a Good Time at the 8th Congress with the National Symphony of Birania*!

Another UNEAC* Congress has come and gone and our reality remains immovable. The existential problems do not mutate; the intellectuals continue speaking sotto voce, watching their backs to make sure they are not overheard and then betrayed by their own colleagues, neighbors, coworkers, and even family.

Another useless congress, and the officials are still the same: those who were once persecuted, expelled, marginalized, and abused, today (when politicians hide their prejudices) serve with the joy of the slave who once a week is allowed to bathe in the river and therefore believes he is free. continue reading

If in the past a three-day Congress was not sufficient to prevent social decline—so that currently the state is forced to consider the excessive growth of juvenile delinquency, lack of ethics in civic life, and poor general education—now with two days of planning, we can only hope that incivility increases, and that like a virus it accommodates itself into society and causes greater havoc.

We have become a people who do not express their feelings, their dreams, their true opinion of the government, who exert no criticism, but—as if it were a national sport—practice hypocrisy, envy, hatred, and opportunism.

Act of repudiation in front of the headquarters of the Ladies in White

Never before 1959, the times when the Communists taught us that we were poor and submissive, have we had a young generation so warped and antisocial.

While going through the motions of holding another Congress, social problems multiply, the level of bad taste rises, and mediocrity and opportunism reach new heights.

Art that is genuine and profound seeks other horizons. I don’t remember where I heard that “the Ninth time’s the charm.”

Ángel Santiesteban-Prats

Lawton Prison, April 2014

To sign the petition to have Amnesty International declare Cuban dissident Ángel Santiesteban a prisoner of conscience, follow this link.

*Translator’s Notes:
Birania –  from Birán, the name of Castro’s father’s ranch, and his birthplace, used metaphorically to describe Cuba as his personal plantation.
UNEAC – The National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists

Translated by Tomás A.

21 April 2014

God Help Venezuela! / Angel Santiesteban

The first feature of all dictatorships is to see those who think differently as the enemy. This is how Nicolas Maduro sees former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who ventured to say that Venezuela should assemble a political coalition to govern. Maduro immediately ridiculed Lula’s comment.

The Venezuelans are living in the last gasps of democracy; with every minute that goes by their freedom is being choked off and, as in the sixties in Cuba, they will be cheated with dreams of goldfish, which in the end, as in the archipelago—half a century after so many sacrifices—never came true and never will. continue reading

It hurts to see how history repeats itself, which is why the Cuban people still suffer today. Our spirit goes out in support to dear Venezuela, so that they can get rid of that straitjacket called “the revolution” with its “21st century socialism.” God save and free them, and do the same for us.

We don’t hide the fact that we pray earnestly for success in their fight for freedom, because to the extent that they succeed in restoring democracy, they will deprive the Castro dictatorship of the oxygen by which it still remains in power, and therefore we can expect our reality to be transformed sooner than the island’s tyrants have planned.

If God helps Venezuela to restore the rule of law, He will be indirectly promoting freedom in Cuba.

Ángel Santiesteban-Prats

Lawton Prison, April 2014

Follow the link to sign the petition for Amnesty International to declare Cuban dissident Angel Santiesteban a prisoner of conscience.

Translated by Tomás A.

28 April 2014

The May Parrot / Juan Juan Almeida

On April 28 the newspaper Granma published the plan for ensuring transportation to the International Workers’ Day parade in order to facilitate Cubans from various municipalities getting to the Plaza of the Revolution. All very spontaneous.

“A colorful parade, flavored with socialism, in which, formed into blocks, more than a million people participated, comprising everyone from Havanans to Palestinians. Hundreds of thousands of workers, employees, and students paraded with the colors of the Cuban flag, shouting slogans supporting the revolution, socialism, and the leadership of Fidel and Raul Castro.” OK, I’m not really a prophet, but those are the words, more or less, that are published every May 1st. A bunch of crap.

Translated by Tomás A.

29 April 2014

Recollections of Police Extortion: A “Rebar” / Frank Correa

Police on patrol in Havana. Photo from Internet
Cuban police on patrol in Havana. Photo from Internet

HAVANA, Cuba – I recently participated in a course on Criminal Procedure taught by Dr. Wilfredo Vallin, an independent lawyer, to members of civil society. We learned what the law requires and how police are supposed to act when making stops, searches, seizures, or arrests.

Each one of us there related some personal experience of police misconduct. Dr. Vallin explained to us in each case what kind of violation of the law had been committed by the officers. We finally reached the conclusion that ignorance of citizens’ rights is the primary cause that encourages these infractions.

We learned that to carry out the search of a home, a warrant signed by a prosecutor and two witnesses is needed. The search warrant must describe the “specific object” being sought: they cannot seize any property other than that “specific object.” In addition, everything seized must appear on a list, and a copy must be delivered to the person affected. The confiscations must be presented in court, and if invalidated must be returned.

We had a slew of examples of violations of this law. As with the other one, Dr. Vallin explained: on the street, only a uniformed police officer can stop you, never a plainclothes officer. And to perform a search a police officer must present a warrant, or else take you to a police station and search you there. This is a law that is violated in Cuba every day; just ask the hundreds of street vendors who are stopped, searched, and deprived of their property in full public view.

We also learned that you cannot be detained in a police station for more than twenty-four hours without an arrest warrant. After that time an investigator must be assigned to you, who has three days to present the prosecutor with a report of the completed investigation. The prosecutor has three more days to issue a decision—of a fine, detention, or immediate release. Many of those attending the course complained of spending days in a jail cell without any compliance with this law.

I remembered the meetings of the Agenda for Transition, in Jaimanita. And how they detained me when I left my house in the morning so I could not cover the news! They locked me in a cell in the 5th precinct station, popularly known as “The Warehouse,” along with other dissidents also prevented from attending the meeting. Without a word of explanation, they left us among dozens of common prisoners until late afternoon. Then the “file folder” (receptionist) called us one by one, gave us our identity cards and let us go.

I also remembered the time I was on a corner in Old Havana, talking with my friends “El Mapa” and “Pulu,” when I saw boy dressed in a school uniform coming down the sidewalk, followed by a row of detainees. In his hand he was carrying a bundle of identity documents and asked us for ours and told us to get in the line.

I was stunned, watching how the men meekly followed single file toward the police station in  Dragones, but when I started to protest, “El Mapa” told me:

“Don’t even open your mouth! He’s a policeman disguised as a student . . . and he’s vicious! Now they’re going to lock us up and search us . . . then they’ll let us go for a ’rebar.’”

Without understanding anything I followed the line to a vast courtyard inside the station. A captain ordered us to stand facing the wall and empty our pockets. We complied. They didn’t find any drugs, or weapons, or anything that would incriminate the men against the wall, who didn’t let out a peep.

Then he left, and we sat on the stones in the yard or on the floor, helpless, without an arrest warrant, without having committed any crime, and not knowing how to assert our rights . . . or to whom.

After a while I saw that the men began to leave, one by one. Before leaving, “Pulu” passed me the sign: the passage to the street cost a “rebar” (1 cuc, national currency equivalent to one dollar). This was well-known in the neighborhood about their police, but I, who believe that bribery is one of our worst crimes, was not going to contribute to it.

I remained alone in the yard, with three other poor devils who had no “rebar.” Our passport to freedom that afternoon was to carry a heavy iron tank between the four of us and load it on a wooden cart in the kitchen.

Afterward they handed us back our documents. Without even thanking us for loading the tank on the cart.

Cubanet, April 4, 2014

Translated by Tomás A.

Eleven Years Since the Regla Ferry Hijacking / Lilianne Ruiz

The Regla Ferry
The Regla Ferry

HAVANA, Cuba – On April 12, 2003, media throughout the world carried the news of the execution of three young Cubans for their involvement in the hijacking of the Regla-based ferry, the “Baraguá.” They were trying to flee the country and get to the United States.

Leftist newspapers, sympathetic to the Cuban regime, tried to justify the act, writing: “the government wanted to strike at the roots of airplane and boat hijackings.” They admitted that the punishment was intended to send a message, meaning that none of the accused was entitled to a fair trial.

Some went further. Heinz Dieterich Steffan (who later became the ideologist of “Socialism of the XXI Century”), told on his website how the then-president of Cuba, Fidel Castro, was sending a message to the White House: “You have declared war and your first soldiers have fallen.” And he later added: “I want you to know how to interpret the message of the firing squad, so there is no more bloodshed.”

The executions occurred just over a week after the group of 11 young men, armed with a gun and a knife, had diverted the ferry some 30 miles offshore.

How did it all happen?

The hijackers, upon boarding the boat, fired a shot in the air and one yelled: “This is fucked! We’re going to the U.S.!” After 30 miles the fuel ran out and the boat drifted. The sea was very choppy, so in an act of tragic naivety they agreed to be towed to the port of Mariel with the promise that the authorities there would give them fuel.

They didn’t tie anyone up (as—according to family members of the accused—the prosecution claimed). If they had, how do you explain that upon arriving at Mariel some passengers, at a signal from security agents, jumped into the water? Enrique Copello Castillo, who tried to prevent one of the foreigners on board from escaping, had the gun. But he didn’t use it even when the situation got out of his control. This shows that he was not a criminal, just a young person desperate to reach the United States, in search of freedom and the chance for personal advancement.

The three executed
The three executed

On April 8, 2003, after a summary trial, the sentence was issued: Enrique Copello Castillo, Bárbaro L. Sevilla García, and Jorge Luis Martínez Isaac were condemned to death. The rest of those involved in the attempted hijacking were given prison sentences: life imprisonment for Harold Alcala Aramburo, Maykel Delgado Aramburo, Ramon Henry Grillo and Yoanny Thomas Gonzalez; 30 years for Ledea Wilmer Perez; and from 2 to 5 years for the women traveling with them.

In March of that same year, the government had jailed 75 human-rights activists, independent journalists, and political dissidents. These were in the Villa Marista prison when the hijackers were taken to that infamous headquarters of the  Cuban political police. Ricardo González Alfonso, the now-exiled independent journalist and one of the 75, has left behind a disturbing account of the last hours of Enrique Copello Castillo, who shared his cell.

The day of the trial, a State Security captain took him to an office to explain that, although they were seeking the death penalty for Copello Castillo, there was a chance he would not be executed. He therefore asked for González Alfonso’s cooperation in helping save the condemned man’s life if he tried to commit suicide. In light of what happened on April 11, when the condemned were taken before the firing squad without notice to their families, it can be interpreted that the captain was in charge of “supply”: he could not allow the scapegoats to escape their own sacrifice. How could they make an example of Copello Castillo if he had not attended his own execution?

Danger Zone

On San Francisco Street in Havana, between Jesus Peregrino and Salud streets, is the building where Bárbaro L. Sevilla García lived with his mother, Rosa Maria. Some neighbors remember what happened on April 11, 2003. The street was full of cars with military license plates from 6:00 am., forming a police blockade. Some women from the Interior Ministry knocked at the door of Rosa Maria to tell her that her 22-year-old son had been shot at dawn. The woman started screaming and ran out to the street naked, yelling the whole time: “Down with Fidel!” and “Murderers!” Afterward she was forced to leave the country, say the neighbors, who did not give their names for out of concern for their safety.

A short time later police began moving into the building on the corner, on Salud Street. Even today the area is considered “dangerous.” Neighbors also warned this reporter not to take pictures of the demolished middle balcony where the mother and her son lived, because the green building on the corner of  Jesús Peregrino is the DTI (Department of Technical Investigations), a division of the Interior Ministry.

Harold-Alcala-Aramburu-y-Maikel-Delgado-Aramburu-junto-a-su-abuela-de-90-años-Foto-de-Lilliane-Ruiz-300x200
Harold Alcala Aramburu and Maikel Delgado Aramburu with their 90-year-old grandmother. Photo: Lilianne Ruiz

They did not use explosives, but charge will be used in court

Why so much harshness and speed in the execution of punishment if there was no alleged injury or loss of life during the kidnapping? The lawyer Edilio Hernández Herrera, of the Cuban Legal Association (AJC, independent), has prepared a legal opinion that reveals how the law was broken in Case 17 of 2003.

The defendants were tried for the crime of Acts of Terrorism. Law No. 93 “Against terrorism” was published on December 24, 2001, in the Official Gazette.

In the opinion of Hernández Herrera, the portions of the law that apply to the crime committed would be Articles 14.1 and 16.1.a, pertaining to the taking of hostages and acts against the safety of maritime navigation. But the court sentenced the boys for acts that certainly did not happen. The other offense charged, from Articles 10 and 11.c, referred to “acts committed with explosives, chemical, biological or other substances.” With this they intended to justify the sentences of the death penalty and life imprisonment.

Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, an economist and independent journalist, one of the political prisoners of the Case of the 75, shared a cell in Villa Maristas with Dania Rojas Gongora, age 17, who was on the boat. She was the girlfriend of Jorge Luis Martínez Isaac, who was shot. The girl told how another mother learned that her son had been shot the day she was to bring him toiletries. The last time Dania saw her boyfriend alive, one of the guards said sarcastically: “Plan now how many children you are going to have.”

Roque Cabello has no doubt in stating:

“The dictator Fidel Castro wanted blood. He was furious also because in the midst of this, sending the 75 political dissidents to prison was turning out to be a fiasco. That gained worldwide condemnation. It was his decision: execution and life imprisonment for these young people. So those who are now continuing to serve a life sentence are prisoners of Fidel Castro.

Cubanet, April 11, 2014, Lilianne Ruiz

Translated by Tomás A.

Homage to an Absentee / Juan Juan Almeida

The truth is that Cuba continues to be more surrealist than André Breton himself. You would think that only in the theater could an absent honoree be honored; but no, a recent tribute organized by the Archdiocese of Havana for the eminent professor Carmelo Mesa Lago on the occasion of his 80th birthday had to take place without the presence of the honoree, after the Cuban authorities denied him entry to the island.

Anyway, (to paraphrase the saying from Don Giuseppe Lampedusa’s novel The Leopard) in Cuba they changed everything so that nothing changes.

Translated by Tomás A.

20 March 2014

Retired but Not Gone Away / Mario Lleonart

On Friday, November 22, we made another stop on our U.S. itinerary that we will never forget. At the invitation of the Fellowship of Hispanic Churches, we participated in a tribute paid to retired pastors. Honor to whom honor is due, or as the Scripture says in Hebrews 13:7: ̈ Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you; Consider the result of their conduct, and imitate their faith.”

This special occasion took place in Gethsemane Baptist Church in Miami at 5298 NW 7th St. The meeting was full of fond feelings. The pastor of the local church Felipe Rodriguez, moderator of the radio program “Building Lives,” which airs daily from 7 – 8 p.m, on 1450 AM, who was in an evangelistic campaign in our church in Taguayabon in 1993 while serving as pastor in Regla, blessed everyone with a few inspired words from Galatians 1:6 – 2:5 from which he set out seven truths he learned from the honorable elders: the one called by God preaches the true gospel (1:6-7); is radical (1.8-10); has a divine message ( 1:11-12); is set apart by God’s grace (1:15); is prepared by God (1:17-18); preaches with his testimony (1:24); and identifies the false brethren and does not submit to them even for a moment (2:4-5).

My wife Yoaxis  and I had the blessing of greeting such worthy elders. To share the table with Dr. Marcos Antonio Ramos, who prefers to be known as “Tony” the son of “Cheo”, showed us that even if they are retired they have by no means gone away. Some of them we knew from Cuba, as in the case of those who were our pastors in my early childhood: Isabel and Esteban Estrada, as well as Dora and Leoncio Veguilla, who for years occupied the highest offices of our Association in Cuba.

I was moved to find there the widow of former Taguayabon pastor Obed Guzman, the moderator for many years of the “Baptist Hour” program in Miami that we listened to from Cuba. It was also very moving for us to to be embraced by the widow of the great Jorge Comezañas. One of the most beautiful moments was the wedding sendoff of Rafael Melian (Felo) and Miriam Sánchez Parodi, who will move to Jacksonville in January.

The author with one of those retired but not gone away, Dr. Marcos Antonio Ramos, along with the leaders Pablo Miret and Luis Estevez
The author with one of those retired but not gone away, Dr. Marcos Antonio Ramos, along with the leaders Pablo Miret and Luis Estevez

As a continuation of Friday, on Sunday morning I attended the first service of Northside Baptist Church Pastor Adalberto Cuellar, also retired, who baptized my parents and many other relatives in Cuba because he was pastor at our church in Taguayabon in the hardest times, just as they got up the nerve to put a stamp on our door between November 1963 and December 1964. In our area, the work of this man of God, who remained unwavering in difficult times, still survives.

Leaders like Pablo Miret, Andrés Olivares, Luis Estevez, and Nathaniel Vicens struggled and performed a work of genuine servants “washing the feet” of so many heroes and reaching the goal. I embrace them for the gracious invitation and thank them for the master’s class that was given to me that day, fantastic for my ministry in the midst of an aging country, in the most-aged province, and with the fate of lacking an entire generation of senior pastors who, like most of those present that day, had to leave Cuba in a choice that I do not judge, as a result of one of the greatest persecutions that we believers have suffered in the entire continent.

Translated by Tomás A.

25 November 2013

18th Century Mansion – Forgotten but Not Gone / Camilo Ernesto Olivera Peidro

The Casa de las Cadenas, in Guanabacoa, could collapse on several families. It has withstood hurricanes, but now needs help.

HAVANA, Cuba. – The walls have stood for nearly 270 years. But the degree of deterioration in the old house is worrying. Wood and tile ceilings on the second floor have been collapsing, not only because of the climate, but also from neglect. Roots from shrubbery and prickly pears crisscross those interior walls that are exposed to the outside. The exterior walls are cracked. Several families still live on the ground floor of the building.

The Casa de las Cadenas also gives its name to one of the oldest streets in Guanabacoa. Some time ago the local historian, Pedro Guerra, said that it is one of the most important historical buildings in the western part of the island. Built in the early eighteenth century, it was the first two-story house in town.

It is located in the heart of the designated Historic Center of Guanabacoa. It has been recognized by the government’s National Monuments Commission. According to oral tradition, documented by Elpidio de la Guardia, in his History of Guanabacoa:

Religious images were sheltered there by the Parish Mayor following a severe storm that destroyed the town in 1730. Masses were officiated there during that time. In return, the owner of the house was accredited by King Philip V of Spain to grant asylum to fugitives from justice. Only two other buildings throughout the Spanish Empire had this prerogative.

As happened with other structures in the oldest part of the capital during the last century, the Casa de las Cadenas was converted to a rooming house. In 2009, Nilda Maria Peralta, the last tenant on the second floor of the building, who was later evacuated, lamented about the apathy of the authorities regarding the plight of the place:

“There are nights I don’t sleep, worried because there could be another collapse and I’m alone up here. What is sadder is that nobody cares.”

Five years later, the deterioration continues:

“Most of us who live here have neither the expertise nor the financial resources to repair a historic building like this; that’s up to the government,” one of the tenants told this reporter.

A local man, with a mixture of irony and bitterness said:

“Hopefully resources will appear and they will ’grab’ them to restore it soon, because when this house says ’I’m going down,’ there will be deaths . . . What’s holding it up is the same miracle that kept it from being destroyed by that hurricane that came through during the Spanish times.”

Another man, who had been silent, said:

“But what can you expect from a government that doesn’t even maintain its city hall?”

He was referring to the nearby old mayor’s palace, which now belongs to the People’s Power. The property is showing obvious signs of deterioration.

The photos that accompany this text corroborate the sad state of the Casa de las Cadenas, that historic symbol of the once beautiful Guanabacoa, which is about to completely collapse under the weight of time and neglect.

Cubanet, March 5, 2014.

Translated by Tomás A.

William Soler Pediatric Hospital Worries the Government / Ernesto Garcia Diaz

William Soler Hospital – Photo by Ernesto García

HAVANA, Cuba – On Saturday morning, the President of the National Assembly of People’s Power, Esteban Lazo, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party, visited  the William Soler Pediatric Teaching Hospital, located in the Havana municipality of Boyeros. The hospital’s guarded entry is closed for repairs. Emergency cases and patients requiring daily care are treated in the specialty clinics, adjacent to the hospital.

President Lazo came to the Children’s Hospital accompanied by Mercedes López Acea, the Party’s First Secretary in Havana, as well as a delegation of leaders from the health sector.

The center visited by Lazo is experiencing one of the worst infrastructure crises of the last twenty years, which is compromising care to children hospitalized there and impeding the provision of services to other provinces of the country.

The motorcade in which Esteban Lazo arrived – Photo by Ernesto García

The hospital’s situation is critical. Most of its inpatient and operating rooms are worn out from lack of maintenance, which, as shown by this visit, has begun to worry the government, because of unfavorable public opinion.

Esteban Lazo, who holds one of the top positions in the Cuban chain of command, left after spending an hour in the health facility, without providing any statements to those waiting outside.

Cubanet, March 17, 2014, Ernesto García Diaz

Translated by Tomás A.

The Press That Disinforms / Ivan Garcia

For Castroist ideologues, the activists in Kiev and the Venezuelan students are fascists, Kim Jong-un doesn’t traffic in weapons with Havana, and Beyoncé never visited the Island.

There is an abysmal gap between everyday reality and the information provided by a clueless official press.

News of the Castro regime’s blatant arms smuggling with North Korea, in violation of the UN embargo against the Pyongyang dynasty, was never reported in Granma, Juventud Rebelde, Workers, or any of the 15 provincial press organs.

To date, the boring and disoriented national media—print, radio and television—have not reported on the space opened for dialogue with the Catholic Church. Or about local news that has had national repercussions, such as the protest in Havana by self-employed workers, or the unusual walk of a nude woman in the city of Camagüey.

They also overlook less controversial topics, such as the visit to Cuba of major leaguers Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Larkin, or celebrities such as Beyoncé and her rapper husband Jay Z.

Nor are they interested in letting their readers or viewers know that Cuban artists and musicians living abroad are visiting the island and performing, such as Isaac Delgado, Descemer Bueno, and Tanya, among others.

Thye are not willing to publish a single article analyzing the insane prices of auto sales or internet services.

On international matters, the old trick is to tell only part of the story. For those who only read the official media and do not have access to other sources, the protesters in Ukraine, Venezuela, and Turkey are terrorists and fascists.

The official Cuban media have never reported that the dictator Kim Jong-un summarily executed his uncle. They have also remained silent about the atrocities taking place in the concentration camps in North Korea. And about the degrading treatment of women in Iran.

Newspaper space is usually filled by low-key commentaries on culture and sports, television program notes, upbeat news about national agricultural production, or the smooth progress of the economic reforms dictated by Raul Castro and his advisers.

Apparently it is considered inappropriate to inform Cubans of the talks between the Cuban-American sugar millionaire Alfonso Fanjul and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. Nor is it believed desirable for ordinary people to know that Antonio Castro, son of Fidel Castro, is playing in golf tournaments.

Or that businessmen with bulging wallets recently paid $234,000 for a handcrafted humidor filled with Montecristo cigars at the XVI Festival del Habano, where the most famous guest was British singer Tom Jones.

Local information is governed by inflexible ideologues who presume that behind the vaunted freedom of the press hides a “military operation of the U.S. secret services.”

And they take this seriously. As if it were a matter of national security. So the official journalists are soldiers of information. Disciplined scribes.

For the Talibans of the Communist Party, the internet and social networks are modern means of promoting capitalism from a distance. The new times have caught them without many arguments. They claim to have the truth, but they are afraid to let their citizens see for themselves.

The readings of certain information should be presented by the magnanimous State. They think, and believe, that their naive compatriots are not prepared for, nor sufficiently inoculated against, the propagandistic poison of the world’s media.

Not even Raul Castro has managed to break the stubborn censorship and habitual sluggishness of the official press. For years, Castro talked about turning the press into something credible, entertaining, and appealing. But nothing has changed.

For external consumption—by outsiders interested in Cuba and, above all, two million exiles scattered around the world—they have opened official websites and blogs, trying with their own voice to promote the illusion of an opening.

For internal consumption, the soldiers of the word remain.

Iván García

Translated by Tomás A.

From Diario de Cuba, 17 March 2014

The .cu / Anddy Sierra Alvarez

Web domain for newcomers or daredevils.

For many, the designation .cu is a way to identify the country on the internet. But for the most accomplished netizens it remains a place very little in demand.

The .cu indicates mistrust, ease of hacking, promotion of the reading of personal sites by third parties—little privacy. Anyway, there are no encrypted sites [https] to protect visitors.

Why does .cu even exist? For those who want to share with the DSE (Department of State Security). For that reason it has ceased to be a domain visited by Cuban dissidents. Except for rookies with only a few hours in front of a computer.

To summarize, I would use .cu, but only when accompanied by a good HTTPPSSSSSSSSSSSS

Translated by Tomás A.

14 March 2014

Snipped / Regina Coyula

Like anyplace else, a successful business has many ingredients. Here many have failed because they engaged in activities they knew nothing about. But others prosper, become very visible, and then fall under the evil gaze of those who would give up an eye if they could see a neighbor get screwed over.

A quiet street of Nuevo Vedado had frequently become jammed with people, all wanting to buy at La Fontanella, a bakery that began modestly but then put up an eye-catching lighted sign. What began as a business in part of a house became exclusively a factory and sales outlet, with rotating shifts, open to the public from nine in the morning until nine at night.

Such prosperity drew attention and/or aggravation, and Monday dawned this week to find the business closed. The commentaries are various: stolen flour; workers walking off; problems with the ownership of the old family home, now converted into a bakery. The truth is that La Fontanella had become a troublesome twig on that bonsai which Minister Murillo, and the updating of the economic model, had designed to be kept well pruned.

Translated by Tomás A.

7 March 2014

Fidel, the Lawyer Who Never Won a Case / Rene Gomez Manzano

Fidel Castro, “a lawyer without any cases”

The awarding of the National Law Prize to Fidel Castro—who abolished the judicial branch, established “revolutionary courts,” did away with procedural guarantees, and outlawed unfettered advocacy—is a mockery of justice.

I acknowledge that when I read that item my first thought was: “But hadn’t he already been given that?” We know that in these totalitarian regimes dominated by Marxism-Leninism, the bosses, by virtue of being that, are destined for all the distinctions, recognitions, and awards that have been or might be given. That the alumnus Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz had not been previously considered when this Prize was first granted probably cost some bureaucrat in the judicial sector a good scolding.

Now that it is an accomplished fact we should ask: What objective reasons exist for granting it? Was it based on the person’s performance before or after coming to power? The dilemma warrants that we briefly address these issues in order to give a response.

The professional practice of the older Castro after graduating as a lawyer was practically nil. In this he is no different from other figures who have gotten into history carrying a law degree. Internationally: Robespierre, Karl Marx, Lenin. In Cuba: Agramonte, Céspedes, Martí. These are just a few examples.

Fidel and his logorrhea

Of course I’m not making value judgments, simply naming people who, for better or worse, have earned a place in history. “Lawyer” is the title that is generally used to describe those figures. Although the appellation is not false, it is not really accurate nor illuminating. To more accurately describe what is common in these characters, we have to use a slightly longer phrase: “Lawyers without cases.” continue reading

This last characteristic is what distinguishes these beings. Unlike their colleagues, their activity is not devoted to drafting legal documents, outlining legal theories, or obtaining the acquittal of an accused. No; in the universities they were outfitted with the same tools, but they use them, if at all, to achieve more ambitious and broader political or social objectives. If they represent a clientele, it is political and not professional.

In the case of Fidel Castro, the grantors argue that the Prize is granted “to mark the 60th anniversary of his self-proclaimed defense ’History will absolve me.’” According to Granma, the obliging colleagues of the association of legal officials described this document as “a seamless legal piece . . . that has transcended the boundaries of space and time.”

We know that if anything has characterized the honoree, it is his overwhelming verbosity (rightly documented in The Guinness Book of Records). But the tens of thousands of pages containing his discourses, such as History Will Absolve Me, cannot be found anywhere else; they are not quoted in history books or cited alongside philosophers of past centuries. Haven’t the obsequious jurists noticed? Can’t they draw any conclusions from this?

José Ramón Machado Ventura received the National Law Prize on behalf of Fidel

In his plea, Castro criticized the mechanism (reminiscent of the classic tale of the chicken and the egg) established in the Constitutional Laws of the Batista regime: The President of the Republic appointed the ministers, and these in turn elected him. The curious thing is that after the climb to power of the revolutionary team in 1959, the Basic Law established exactly the same vicious mechanism.

A detailed description of the illegal acts perpetrated by the recipient during the scores of years of his absolute rule would require a collection of books. He did away with the judicial branch, established “revolutionary courts” composed of guerrilla fighters lacking legal education, eliminated procedural guarantees, outlawed the unfettered practice of law, and converted the prosecution into a body guided by political criteria. In a word, he dismantled the solid Cuban legal system.

If the bureaucrats of the Union of Cuban Jurists consider that the perpetrator of such acts deserves the National Law Prize, they are saying very clearly what they really think about this award, which they both created and bestowed.

Cubanet, March 6, 2014  /  René Gómez Manzano

Translated by Tomás A.

Former Commander Huber Matos Dies

Huber Matos

Former commander of the Cuban revolution Huber Matos Benítez, one of the most important figures of the opposition to the regime of the Castros, died early Thursday morning in a Miami hospital, reported his organization Independent and Democratic Cuba (CID). He was 95.

Matos (born in Yara, Granma province, on November 26, 1918) had  been admitted two days earlier to Kendall Regional Hospital “where he was diagnosed with a massive heart attack” according to the CID report.

“On the 26th he asked to be disconnected from breathing equipment because he wanted to say farewell to his wife María Luisa Araluce, his children and grandchildren,” it added.

The organization said that during his hospitalization Matos received call from Cuba from the principal leaders of his party, “who affirmed that the organization would not rest until the island was free.” continue reading

According to CID, shortly before he died Matos declared “The fight goes on. Long live free Cuba!”

There will be a wake in Miami next Sunday for the former commander, who participated in the struggles that brought Fidel Castro to power and then spent 20 years in prison on the island for dissenting from the direction that the regime took.

CID said that Matos requested that his body be taken to Costa Rica, the country that welcomed him when he was first exiled in 1957 and from which he went to the Sierra Maestra to join Fidel Castro’s men.

Costa Rica was also Matos’s first destination in 1979 when he was released after serving two decades of political imprisonment imposed by the regime.

“I want to make my trip back to Cuba from the same land whose people always showed me solidarity and affection; I want to rest on Costa Rican soil until Cuba is free and from there to Yara, to rejoin my mother and my father and all Cubans,” Matos explained about his wishes.

Huber Matos, a school teacher, opposed the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. He was captured in 1957 for participating in operations providing logistical support to the rebels who were in the Sierra Maestra, but managed to escape into exile in Costa Rica.

In the Central American country he gathered weapons that arrived on a cargo plane in the Sierra Maestra and were instrumental in the offensive against Batista’s troops.

Because of his courage and leadership, Matos was the rebel who rose fastest through the  ranks to commander, as head of the Antonio Guiteras 9th Column, in charge of the positioning, surrender, and capture of the city of Santiago de Cuba.

In 1959 he was named Commander of the Army in Camaguey province. Having discussed several times with Fidel Castro the increasing alignment of the revolution with communism, he resigned, stating that this was a betrayal of the democratic principles that the Revolution had promised the Cuban people. In response, Castro ordered his arrest on October 21, 1959, a week before the mysterious disappearance of Camilo Cienfuegos, who according Matos shared his concerns.

Matos was subjected to a summary trial for sedition in December 1959. During the process, he insisted on denouncing the deviation from the goal of the revolutionary movement for which he and others had risked their lives.

He was sentenced to twenty years in prison, which he served in full.

In exile, Matos tirelessly denounced the betrayal by the Castro regime.

In 1980 in Caracas he founded Independent and Democratic Cuba, with social democratic leanings, today headquartered in Miami, and claiming activists throughout the island.

In his autobiography How Came the Night, which, according to CID has sold over 100,000 copies and that circulates clandestinely in Cuba, Matos recounts in detail his participation in the revolutionary army, his subsequent imprisonment and the tortures to which he was subjected.

Diario di Cuba, 27 February 2014

Translated by Tomás A.

Havana Hustling / Ivan Garcia

oficios-de-buscavidas-620x330This time the phone call came in the middle of the night and the message was grim.

Edania, a retired teacher who has set up a small business of making phone calls and taking messages for the neighborhood, hurried to give the bad news to a family that lives two doors down from her house, in the rundown neighborhood of La Cuevita in San Miguel del Padrón, in the northern part of Havana.

“The thing is taking off like wildfire,” says Edania. “The retired people can’t afford it, so I decided to take advantage of the fact that I’m one of the few people with a phone in the neighborhood. I started charging one Cuban peso to pass on messages and two pesos for local calls in Havana. If the call is outside the city, I charge 3  pesos per minute. Many people are providing this service, which is one of the officially recognized self-employment businesses, but I have no intention signing up at the tax office. I only get 150 or 200 Cuban pesos per month [$6-8 USD], which barely supplements my meager pension. I don’t charge for funeral news.” continue reading

In the interior of the island as well as in the capital it has become common for neighbors who have telephones to charge for calls. Richard, a retired resident of the Diez de Octubre district of Havana, has a small money box next to his phone with a list of the various call charges.

“I also sell mobile phone cards. I buy them for 10 CUCs [about $11 USD] and sell them for 11; the ones that cost 5 I resell for 6. But apparently someone in the neighborhood has been talking, because the state inspectors have visited me, demanding that I legalize the business. I told them to go to government offices and demand better pensions for the old people, and then come back and see me,” says Richard.

After the vaunted economic reforms in Cuba—an exotic blend of wildly exploitative state capitalism mixed with Marxist speeches and slogans by Fidel Castro—a torrent of quirky trades flooded the Havana neighborhoods.

The elderly are the losers in this wild mixture of everything from sidewalk pastry vendors to high-quality eateries. In the world of self-employment, everything is available.

From people who offer pirated DVDs of Oscar-nominated movies for 25 Cuban pesos, to elderly public-restroom attendants.

In this spectrum of emerging trades, you find “experts” in umbrella repair, button-covering, funeral cosmetology, matchbox-refilling, and shoe repair. For 50 Cuban pesos they’ll carry buckets of water and fill your 60-gallon tank.

Havana is a tropical bazaar. A hive of hustlers. On the avenue that encircles the old port of Havana, a diverse group of citizens converges to try to earn a living.

Right next to Maestranza children’s playground, Delia, decked out in a floral costume, works as an itinerant fortune teller. “I charge ten Cuban pesos for each card-reading. If you want an in-depth session then the price goes up to 25. It’s even more expensive for foreigners, who can afford more.”

Several tourist buses stop at Avenida del Puerto. As the visitors take photos of the Bay and the Christ of Casablanca statue, street musicians sing old boleros and guarachas, trying to attract their attention.

Leonel is one of them. “For 20 years I’ve devoted myself to making soup (singing while the customers ate). There have been good and bad days. But I’ve always made more than the wages the state paid. When no one in Cuba remembered Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer, or Pio Leyva, God rest their souls, they also had to work as lunchtime entertainers, and to sing in seedy bars. They were lucky that a producer like Ry Cooder lifted them out of poverty,” Leonel said, playing a ranchera as he approached some Mexican tourists, hoping to pass the hat.

A dilapidated port-a-potty, serving as a urinal for the customers of three bayfront bars, is looked after by two rickety old men.

They charge one peso to urinate, three to defecate. “It’s because the toilet is clogged. We have to carry a greater quantity of water,” they say. They get the water for flushing right out of the bay, with a can tied to a rope.

“It’s hard work. We’re here up to twelve hours. But when I get home with 10 or 15 CUCs, I ask the Lord to give me strength to live a few more years so I can help my wife, who’s bedridden after a stroke,” says one of the old men.

The buses are now gone. A quartet of street musicians, all elderly, lean against the sea wall, waiting for new tourists.

“It’s been a long journey to return to the beginning. Before the Revolution I was already a soup peddler. For me nothing has changed. Except that life is more expensive and I’m older,” says the singer and guitarist. His dream is that on some tourist bus, a guy like Ry Cooder will come and rescue him from oblivion.

Iván García

Photo: In central areas of Santiago de Cuba, which like Old Havana are usually frequented by tourists, musicians also look for a living in streets and parks. Taken from Martí News.

Translated by Tomás A.

17 February 2014