Category: Translator: lapizcero

Sugarcane Flower

Ecuación gráfica del daño ocasionado con el cierre de las dos terceras partes de los centrales en Cuba.

(diagram)  Closing of sugar mills >> reduces direct employment of workers in the sugar agro-industry >> diminishes planting of sugarcane >> reduces production of derivatives of sugarcane >> depresses services and production related to the sector >>  impoverishes the quality of life of communities of farm workers >> affects in general sugar production >> hurts the country’s economy.  (end diagram)

As if we were dealing with an erotic passage, each day, the arbitrary and improvised nature of the system or policy of prices in Cuba gets undressed.  Like the policy itself – being designed by the pyramid of power, we find it capricious and illogical sometimes – permeates all societal strata and impacts the actions and speech of diverse aspects of our reality, including household finances.  Like a well established culture of sultanístico volunteerism, many prices seem to be determined from the fly of the pants of some leaders, independent of the law of supply and demand; even more, after a process as long as the Cuban, January 1 of 2012 will mark fifty-three years of doing and undoing at the whim of the original “guides”.

I say this because after “digesting”and concatenating certain news offered in different occasions by the newspaper Granma, mouthpiece of the Communist Party, regarding the sugar cane agro-industry, sugar cane itself, the mills and the equipment required for its exploitation, I reflect on this important sector which for centuries was the fundamental industry of our country.

The problem is not simple, happening first because a bad decision to close two thirds of the sugar mills in Cuba with the consequent decapitation of the economic activity of the sugar mill communities and the whole infrastructure created around the mills, affecting other rural communities that exist around these agro-industrial centers; which led to a reduction in the number of jobs in planting and harvesting of the cane, depressed production of syrups, electric energy and other derivatives of sugarcane such as alcohol, animal feed, waste for furniture making, etc.

It may be central to the economy to diversify agricultural production, but fighting the monoculture should not be accomplished by destroying the sugar industry, but rather through the creation of other productive sectors or agro-industrial bases so as to avoid dependency on a single product.  The bad decision to close sugar mills occurred in the very moment when it was booming and expansion of ethanol in an international scope was occurring; which suggests a lack of foresight and resulted in the lack of one important source of income for the country.

The economic determinations of a state should be subject to satisfying the needs of citizens and always oriented towards that purpose, it is not fair or smart to subject them to the irresponsible or irrational whims of one person or group of them in detriment to the well-being and quality of life of the majority.  Another element of importance is evidenced by the potential loss of sugar traditions by reducing the number of employees involved in agricultural industry; moreover, the waste of the resources invested in developing intangibles over the centuries to foment sugar culture.  Equally it seems they forgot or ignored the importance of multiple sugar mills to insure sugar culture areas that are as near as possible to the mills.

In the newspaper they also pointed out the reduction in price for inputs and the doubling in what independent producers are paid for a ton of sugarcane. Here I go back to the old proverb “better late than never”, but why did we wait this long?  It would be good if the population knew who sets the prices for plows and other agricultural implements.  The extinction of the Sugar Ministry transpired as well and the creation in its stead of an Entrepreneurial Group of the Sugar Agro-industry.

In the same way, they mentioned the deficiency in diverse aspects in the Ministry of Agriculture and “(…) the approval of instructions from the President of the State Council and the Ministers to shed light on the general policies and work plans of the entities, Organisms of the Central Administration of the State, other national entities and the Local Administrations of Popular Power.”  Isn’t it the excessive centralization that has damaged ostensibly their development and prevented the positive functioning of Cuban society in the economic, political and social realms?  So many contradictions persuade us that we cannot advance with the controlling way of thinking of the mega-proprietors of a country.

Production is stimulated precisely by decentralizing and interesting workers in a common project, and in the results of their labor, the opposite of what they have done for more than 50 years and apparently intend to continue doing.  If they are unwilling to institute the foundation so society grows and develops healthy in support of better individual and collective productive yields, it is time for a real liberation of mindsets and a transition towards more just and efficient models for the development of Cuba.

Translated by: lapizcero

October 4 2011

Refoundation and Pluralism / Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado

It is true that José Martí founded a political organization, the Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Cuban Revolutionary Party), Fidel Castro founded the Partido Comunista de Cuba (Cuban Communist Party), and many people in our country and the world, just like them, have maintained their membership in the different institutions that they have erected so that from them they can work towards and develop their respective proposals. Notwithstanding, they disrespect or do not know the rights of the rest of their compatriots to legally create organizations and launch them towards their Motherland’s paths of history for the benefit of the nation and the interests of all her children wherever they might be.

The justification so often bandied about by the Cuban government and its mouthpieces — that in Cuba we have a single party system because Martí founded only one party — is ridiculous. If we depart from that weak argument, then we must answer that we should have refounded Martí’s party a few years ago – we owe it to him – as a political alternative to the existing Communist party. Or is it that this is a right that only pertains to descendants of the Movimiento 26 de Julio (26 July Movement)? That they respect everybody’s rights – not only a part of them – and legalize Cuban organizations, is the best way to honor Marti, the Apostle. Let us unfurl one of the mottoes of his profound political thinking, collaborating with all and for the benefit of all which is the best way to truly fulfill his dream, and restore, based on ethics, the inalienable right for all times of creating new parties.

Translated by: lapizcero

October 18 2011

Refoundation and Pluralism

It is true that José Martí founded a political organization, the Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Cuban Revolutionary Party), Fidel Castro founded the Partido Comunista de Cuba (Cuban Communist Party), and many people in our country and the world, just like them, have maintained their membership in the different institutions that they have erected so that from them they can work towards and develop their respective proposals. Notwithstanding, they disrespect or do not know the rights of the rest of their compatriots to legally create organizations and launch them towards their Motherland’s paths of history for the benefit of the nation and the interests of all her children wherever they might be.

The justification so often bandied about by the Cuban government and its mouthpieces — that in Cuba we have a single party system because Martí founded only one party — is ridiculous. If we depart from that weak argument, then we must answer that we should have refounded Martí’s party a few years ago – we owe it to him – as a political alternative to the existing Communist party.  Or is it that this is a right that only pertains to descendants of the Movimiento 26 de Julio (26 July Movement)?  That they respect everybody’s rights – not only a part of them – and legalize Cuban organizations, is the best way to honor Marti, the Apostle.  Let us unfurl one of the mottoes of his profound political thinking, collaborating with all and for the benefit of all which is the best way to  truly fulfill his dream, and restore, based on ethics, the inalienable right for all times of creating new parties.

Translated by: lapizcero

October 18 2011

To Be Or Not To Be / Jeovany J. Vega

Photograph by Orlando Luis Pardo

The eternal dilemma, to be or not to be, is the capital crossroad that became evident in the life of every Cuban since the 26th of July 1953. This date initiated the stage of struggle that placed into tension the Cuban society of that moment. The verticality that that generation imposed on the enterprise was conducive to the victory of 1959, gave culmination to an exploit that was supported by the majority of sectors of Cuban society of the time. The Revolution triumphed amidst absolute popular jubilation, with the unconditional support of more than 90% of the population. A contribution to this was the discontent engendered by the deep social and political crisis into which Fulgencio Batista and his horde of assassins and corrupts sank the country after their taking of power with the military coup of March of 1952. This, along with the tradition of struggle that spanned the first half of the last century, created the conditions for the overthrow of that dictatorship.

After the triumph, the official discourse, gradually more and more radical, led to, among other consequences, what I would call the great error of the Cuban Revolution: The “revolutionary offensive” of 1968 by which the government of Fidel Castro “intervened” – that is to say, confiscated – all the small enterprises and family businesses, all the way down to the shoe shine stands. This definitively deprived the political Leadership of the country of the support of that not insignificant sector of the population; but this is a matter that is more complex and merits its own post.

Precisely because of the traumatic nature of the history that occurred, I have always been grabbed by incredulity when I hear a Cuban of today expressing that he has no political opinions, as if this was possible in a society as polarized as ours, where there is practically nobody that doesn’t have a relative, a friend, or an acquaintance, that lost their small business, launched himself to the sea looking to escape, or suffered somehow from the lack of civil guarantees. I am of the opinion that the same gregarious and thinking nature of man, imposes on him having a perspective on our social issues, all according to his intellect, his cultural baggage and the degree of information he possesses. That this individual does not dare assume an active militancy or frontal critique, that is a matter for a different discussion, but it is almost always subject to its own judgement.

There will always be the estranged, those who sway to the flux of circumstances like kelp in the bottom of the ocean. In this bundle belong both the fanaticism of the communist militant, who refuses to accept evidence in front of his nose, as well as the “high religiosity” of the believer, that prevents him from involving himself in any matter related to “worldly things” since it contaminates his pure hands. To this we have to add those opportunists who know that by opening their mouths they would lose their slice of the pie, or those who simply see with indifference how this country declines, without moving a muscle unless it is to protect their pocketbooks or to look at the shine of their acrylics. All of them, nonetheless, protest in the intimacy of their kitchens, before the empty pots, or before the thousand faces that reflect misery, but are incapable of expressing themselves publicly, either from indolence or pure cowardice.

At this point, we enter the topic of this dual morality that sinks more than one Cuban up to his neck in manure. In this manner, those who question a physician for talking with sincerity about his honestly earned salary, can be the same ones who embezzle the finances of a state enterprise, or mishandle the people’s resources by appropriating merchandise from a store. In fact, a considerable part of administrators, at all levels of organization, are active Communist militants, and for this, everywhere that a corruption scandal erupts, there is always a “combative” nucleus of the Party and a Union that never saw the corrupts coming, but – such a paradox! – are scandalized if 300 workers sign a document and deliver it to their Ministry. But all those who embezzle, steal or mishandle, can be seen later waving flags and voicing slogans in the parades around the Plaza.

Thus, between the utopia of dreams and the disenchantment of reality, between the to be and the not to be, we see how the promise of the “New Man” dissipates. Maybe it is because this man – not Cuban, not Anglo-Saxon, not Communist or Christian, but a man sui generis – is still not ready to be emancipated from his egotism, to extend his hand in exchange for nothing except the joy of serving. Some day this spiritual hatching will come and this excellent creature, child of man and God, will be reborn, but in the meantime, we have to remember, with each step, the solemn declaration of our Martí, farsighted and sublime, when he said “… a nation is made from men as they are, not as they should be”.

Translated by: lapizcero

October 4 2011

The Gastronomic Slums / Fernando Dámaso

Photograph by Rebeca

In the section Acuse de Recibo (“Acknowledgement of Receipt”) of the daily Juventud Rebelde (“Rebel Youth”) for 9/25/11 there is an article titled El Potín, y mucho más (“The Potín and Much More”), where a citizen and the journalist show the deplorable state of this formerly elegant commercial establishment, with regards to the paltry services it provides and its anti-hygienic facilities.  The article by itself is sufficiently explicit and I will not repeat it, rather use it as the foundation to delve and expand on the problems of the so-called State Gastronomy.

If this Potín in El Vedado (at the intersection of Línea and Paseo) is in crisis, its sibling in Old Havana (O’Reilly Street) is a sad reminder of the past: the only remains are its name embossed on the granite floor and the deteriorated facade, the once elegant place turned into a primitive and dark warehouse.  Something similar has happened with the majority of the gastronomic establishments that existed in the decade of the fifties, that were the pride and points of reference of our city: either they have ceased to exist, most converted to ruins, or they are true slums.

The same fate overtook the so-called Beach Clubs, belonging in their time to different workers’ or employees’ federations (telephone, hardware, retailers, bank, pharmaceutical, etc.) that were handed over later to the unions, and today (and for many years) in death-throes and in a total state of abandonment.  Why were they nationalized? Maybe to let them be destroyed?

Such measures, demonstrating their absurdity with the passing of years, can only be explained in the minds of people ambitious for power, who desired to be absolute rulers of everything, without taking into account their shortcomings, nor thinking about the social consequences of their adventurous decisions. Nowadays, when there is so much talk of updating the Model, even if the lost is irretrievable, it would be good that the eternally failed State Gastronomy should be laid on the table, along with other problems, and that real steps be taken for handing them (with their dilapidated facilities and inadequate equipment) to entrepreneurs who, in the short time of running their businesses, have demonstrated initiative, responsibility, organizational capacity, efficiency and quality, things that state entities have never accomplished (and much less maintained).

If we must learn from mistakes, as the never tiring refrain of mass media goes, at least we can begin to move forward learning from this, giving it a solution, so we can end, once and for all, all the discredited and inoperative gastronomic slums, called cafeterias and restaurants, that constitute an offense to our cities and towns.

Translated by: lapizcero

October 1 2011

Cuban Government Authorizes the Sale of Cars / Laritza Diversent


Tuesday the 27th, the government published in the Gaceta Oficial de la Republica (Official Gazette of the Republic) a legislative package that regulates the sale and donation of automobiles between private citizens. The new legislation will become effective October 1st.

Translated by: lapizcero

September 29 2011

The Cuba We Have and the One We Want

A collaboration with Rafael Leon Rodriguez, General Coordinator of the Cuban Democratic Project from the event “Cuba today, Cuba tomorrow” that took place Saturday, September 17 in Miami, FL.

The latest measures adopted to make self-employment more flexible, after the publication by the Official Gazette of the extraordinary issues 28 and 29 last Friday September 9th, containing the resolutions and law decrees  that legalize them, drive one to think that the political will of the highest Cuban authorities exists so as to continue down the path of economic reforms.  Some reductions in tax quotas, the raising of the number of customers allowed in private eating establishments (“Paladares“) to 50, and the lowering of minimum quotas for renting rooms by 25% attest to this.

Despite many material limitations, since wholesale markets have not been established, an important sector of society directs its interest toward these new modalities of employment and economic pursuits, that already amount to 181 approved activities.

On the other hand, expectations regarding modifications to Resolution 259 (private profit from use of productive land) that entail being able to hold farms beyond ten years, the possibility of building permanent housing on them and the long-awaited increase of areas assigned to this production mode, push forward this new sphere of agricultural production.

Since the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party last April, during which the nominated Guidelines for Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution were approved, to date, one can state that a deceleration in the implementation of some of the measures that affect the population directly, such as elimination of subsidies for the basic family basket, and the reduction of payrolls in some work centers, which would increase unemployment. These government political decisions certify that there is a preoccupation on the part of authorities with preventing social irritants that would endanger their control and public order. Nonetheless, one can visualize their intention to confront State bureaucratic resistance to changes, since these, in some measure, affect the special interests of the strata of society dedicated to the administration of the State.

In the midst of a global economic crisis, when unconditional supporters of Cuba’s governing elite continue to diminish and with unfavorable prospects of their being able to stop this process, it is significant that they stay the course in the direction chosen for the transformations that have been proposed. We know that the conservation of political power has been, and is, the first priority of the authorities, guaranteeing thus dynastic succession, and from this comes the immobility towards recognizing an independent civil society and political opposition and the signing of the United Nation’s Pact of Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Nonetheless, and independently from the causes that motivated it, Cuban authorities decreed an amnesty last year that benefited a large number of political prisoners or prisoners of conscience and allowed many of them to leave the country with their relatives.  They have reiterated that by the end of the year they will liberalize, in some measure, travel restrictions from or into Cuba for Cuban citizens, and will end legal obstacles for the sale, purchase and transfer of houses and automobiles.  All these measures have been happening and developing without external increased flexibility towards the authoritarian government by the forces that participate and in fact have influence on the Cuban topic: the government of the United States with their embargo and the European Union with their Common Position.

On several occasions the thesis of the double blockade has been supported:  the embargo of Cuba by the US government  and the blockade from Cuban authorities toward the people with regards to innumerable restrictions to liberty and rights that limit their chances of reaching a dignified standard of living.  In some fashion, we find ourselves now in a transitional context that can facilitate, after a fifty-year wait filled with obstacles and failures, a peaceful aperture towards a democratic state based on the rule of law that will allow us to succeed in the search for liberties and the common good.  Any way you look at it, the so-called Government Economic Model is a failure and has no solution.  Against it conspire, not only the natural laws of economics but also the State bureaucracy, with its endemic petty corruption and the aging of the ruling caste.

With regards to civil society, independently of a specific cases and facts, the non-violent political opposition has not demonstrated, to date, that it possesses the ability to mobilize the population so as to impose its demands, although increasingly it has become the popular reference point for the nature of real change.  Nonetheless, Cuban totalitarian authorities, certainly concerned by the current events in the North of Africa and other potential conflict areas, seem irritated and react, in certain occasions disproportionately, to situations that don’t justify it.

There is an imaginative collection of varied prospective visions regarding Cuba, arising as much from current living circumstances as from our recent history and the supposed events that, in a near future, could develop.  A part of these visions includes specific elements that are shared and essential for Cuba to steer in the direction of liberties and democracy.  Among them are:

  • The liberation of all prisoners held for non-violent political motives that still remain in prison, after the last amnesty.
  • Ratification and implementation by Cuban totalitarian authorities of the United Nation’s Pact of Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
  • Recognition by the Cuban totalitarian authorities of an independent civil society and of political pluralism in Cuba.
  • Implementation of the right to information, the right to inform others and access to the Internet

Another topic of transcendental importance is the participation of the Cuban diaspora in the reconstruction of the nation.  Not only from necessary economic considerations, but also towards the reconstitution of the plural national spirit and restitution of its traditional unique traditions.  In this direction, the totalitarian authorities of the islands have an obligation to recognize the nationality of all Cubans who live in foreign lands, including recognition of double nationality in those cases where new legislation created to this effect deem it appropriate.

In another sphere, ingrained opinions are debated regarding the need to obtain unity among the different sectors of the non-violent political opposition.  Some prefer joining rather than uniting.  Historically, the Cuban non-violent opposition has been plural, and this has defended it from the insidious activities of the political police, among other matters.  Joining, based on common arguments and aspirations, appears to be what is most convenient.

There is a long list of potential steps that could be taken to move in the direction of nursing and providing impulse to the irreversible political changes in Cuba; in summary, it would be enough to bring back the magic formula of creating bridges and removing obstacles, so as to bring closer, in trust, in solidarity and in peace, all of us, the Cubans.

Rafael Leon Rodriguez
General Coordinator
Cuban Democratic Project
San Cristobal de la Habana, 11 September 2011

Translated by:  lapizcero

September 19 2011

Cuban Secret Services: Sticks and White Glove / Iván García


The problem is the street. General Raúl Castro will not permit an Arab Spring in Cuba. He will do whatever needs doing to detain irate opponents. He wants to isolate the potential short-circuit that could turn into a street protest.

The island is a petri dish for cultivation of popular anger. The logical erosion of 52 years of ineffective government, with a handful of absurd regulations in the political, migratory and economic spheres, incapable of putting on the table with any stability meat, vegetables, fruit, and other food and a glass of milk, at accessible prices, all provoke annoyances among the population of the heart of Cuba.

It converts the street of certain poor neighborhoods, marginal and primarily black, like San Leopoldo, Los Quemados, Palo Cagao, Zamora, Pocitos, Belen, Colon, Jesus Maria into ticking timebombs.

A sensitive abrasive surface of the matchbox. With the smallest scratch it can catch fire. If one analyzes the policy of Intelligence Services to dismantle, terrorize and silence the street dissidents, we see a worrisome scaling of violence the last few weeks.

Other than beatings and verbal abuse, they use official alternative media to inflame the anger of their sympathizers. The mobilization orchestrated by government bloggers under the label “Twitter #y no saldran a la calle” is condemnable.

It has always been profitable business for the Castro brothers to polarize civil society. Belittle those who think differently. The spent speechifying accusing dissenters of being “turncoats, mercenaries and annexationists” is old hat and puerile.

Fatherland is not synonymous with Socialism or Fidel Castro. Mercenaries, as defined in the United Nations statutes, are those outsiders that through the exchange of money are at the service of a foreign government.

It is not the case. All the street dissidents are Cuban born. Even the accusation by the regime that they pour onto the street for money is not compatible with mercenary behavior.

In any event, we could call them “salary men”. But I ask myself – what sensible person would risk beating and prison for 30 convertible pesos, as the government media claims?

It’s one or the other: either they are insane or they are desperate. Moreover, the theory that all opposition sells itself for a fistful of dollars is risible. Is there nobody honest enough to dissent for ideals?

State Security has never seized firearms or C-4 from opposition members. Not even a firecracker. The only things they have seized have been computers, telephones and books. Then, they are peaceful. And have a right to protest in public to show their disapproval of the government.

To speak of annexationism in the 21st century makes us laugh. Annexationism was an undercurrent of the 19th Century, that, by the way, was embraced by many of the fathers of Cuban independence.

Nobody in their right mind wants to raffle away the Fatherland nor tender it to any foreign power. It is only smoke and mirrors from the Castro regime media that seeks to discredit those who oppose them.

If anybody has allied themselves, dangerously, almost in an annexationist way, it has been Fidel Castro himself. Up to 1992, an article in the Constitution of the Cuban Republic recognized the alliance between Cuba and the USSR.

The island had Russian military bases like Study Center #11, or Finca Lourdes, devoted to electronic spying. And nobody in the Cuban parliament stood up to denounce it.

Yes, it is true, the Platt Amendment and the concession of a military base in sovereign territory in Guantanamo elicits repudiation. But the intelligentsia and the politicians of the era expressed their unhappiness in all forums, Congress included.

Beginning in 1959, Castro’s dictates could not, and still can’t be questioned. They are divine laws. Sacred. Absolute. With all its blemishes, the Dissidence is a mirror help up to today’s society and the ills suffered by the governing hierarchy.

There is an opposition sector, banal, corrupt and comfortable. There are also honest opposition members with initiatives of dialog and future.

Lately a certain academic racism has sprung between some of these newly minted dissidents. But not in all. There are valuable and talented citizens in the opposition spectrum. It doesn’t matter whether 30 or 70. Age is not a determinant.

What it is about is not letting one be carried away by excessive ego or craving for the limelight. To come together must be the goal. The carrot and stick strategy that State Security follows is on balance defensive.

On the one hand, they allow meetings, debates and even teaching to certain determined opposition groups, and on the other, they use paramilitaries for verbal lynchings and beatings against those that protest in the streets. They must know why they follow these tactics.

Opposition members, independent journalists and alternative bloggers must set aside conspiracy theories or apparent actions of secret services. They have no proofs in their hands. They are not mind readers either.

Those who publicly oppose the Castros, whether through a blog, web, opposition party or shouting in the streets, whatever their positions they are not enemies.

The enemies are the corrupt procreated by the regime itself and the clans that emerged during 52 years in totalitarian power.

Watch: Video of the clash between opposition members and government loyalist, this last September 24th, in Rio Verde, a suburb of Havanna.  Read: Tomakjian case changes last names of Castro regime in a power readjustment.

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Translated by: lapizcero

September 30 2011