How Much Does It Cost to Have a Child in Cuba? / Fabian Flores

Cuban children playing.

HAVANA — For the second year in a row the London-based organization, Save the Children, has identified Cuba as the best country in Latin America to be a mother. I suspect that the author of this report visited a Cuba on another planet rather than the one in which the mother of my children has to get up every morning.

Millions of Cuban mothers, having embarked on the heroic task of raising their children in a country in ruins, will celebrating Mother’s Day this Sunday. Thinking about this, I decided to investigate how much it really costs to bring a child into the world in the Caribbean’s largest country.

The findings explain in part why the Cuban population remains almost unchanged at around 11,000,000. The annual growth rate in 2011 was 0.6%, the first increase since 2006 according to figures from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONE). Projections indicate that the population with continue to decrease and that by 2025 the island’s population will still be under 12,000,000.

Pregnancy

A woman can count on regular medical attention from the moment her pregnancy is officially confirmed. Each expectant mother receives a daily dose of iron along with a vitamin supplement called Prenatal.

However, a prescription for these vitamins is usually not issued until after the second trimester of pregnancy rather than before. This is the opposite of what is customary in the world’s most medically advanced countries. Physicians themselves advise, “If you get prenatal medications from abroad, throw out the ones you were given here,” casting some doubt on the quality of the tablets Cubans receive. continue reading

A ration book or ration card will indicate that pregnant women are “entitled” to three or four pounds of beef a month as well as an equal quantity of fish.

The deterioration of medical facilities throughout the country makes childbirth a nightmare for most women.

Last year I was surprised to read a comment that got through the filter of an official website, Cubadebate, in response to an article from Save the Children praising Cuba. A respondent, identified as MG, wrote:

“Has anyone visited the maternity hospital ’Fe del Valle’ in Manzanilo, Granma Province??? Because anyone has been there, anyone who has had to put up with its conditions, anyone who has spent any time in childbirth would realize that this article makes absolutely no sense.

“My twin daughters were born last October in this HOSPITAL. There wasn’t enough bed space so they put TWO pregnant women in the same bed (I know that people won’t believe me, but it’s true). There are no washbasins to rinse your mouth in the morning. You have to drain the bathtubs by carrying buckets of water because the toilets are not connected to a drainage system. Just looking at the bathrooms makes you nauseous. The lobby and dining room have been converted to hospital rooms due to  lack of capacity. For those accompanying women having Caesareans, there are no chairs in the recovery area in which to rest, so they have to stand during the entire six-hour recovery period.”

The gift basket

Mothers-to-be are considered “worthy” of a basket of baby goods which include a sheet, and a handful of products. A typical basket consists of three pillow cases, two medium-sized towels, two baby bottles, two little rubber toys, a pantie, a pullover, four bars of soap, an eau de cologne, one tube of cream, one bottle of baby oil, ten muslin diapers, ten yards of sterile diaper cloth and some socks, all for around 85 Cuban pesos (CUP).

A basket of goods provided by the Cuban state.

If you work at a location affiliated with the official trade union, the Cuban Worker’s Central or a government ministry, these organizations will provide you with a more “enhanced” basket on a specific date if it is your first child.

How does one acquire all the products that are needed for a baby’s first year? The average monthly salary in Cuba is around 455 CUP, the equivalent of $20 or 20 CUC (convertible pesos).

Prices for the two most important items — diapers and milk — are exorbitant. Disposable diapers are not produced in Cuba and the purchase price in dollars — between four to twelve dollars a package — makes this product unaffordable for the vast majority of Cubans.

Baby formula is only sold to women whose doctors have confirmed they are unable to breast feed. In hard-currency stores a jar of the baby formula Nan costs a little more than 4 CUC. Other brands sell for 5 CUC.

 Exorbitant prices

In the network of government-owned stores, very few of which sell only baby-related goods, prices greatly exceed the average monthly salary.

“Most people do not buy baby articles in the state-run stores. Instead they get baskets sent to them from overseas,” says Marianela Frómeta, a housewife from Central Havana.

In government-run stores a sheet for a crib costs between 8 and 10 CUC while the crib itself varies from 100 to 120 CUC. A mattress to go with it will add about another 50 CUC. The cost of a stroller varies between 50 and 180 CUC, depending on the features.

But it is not just the “heavy artillery” that is costly in Cuba. Onesies (one-piece outfits called enterizos in Cuba) cost between 3 and 7 CUC. Underwear for either sex costs the same but can go for as much as 10 CUC.

A parent’s stress increases as a baby’s first birthday approaches. Baby shoes alone can cost up to 20 CUC, depending on the size and brand.

“In my case I put together my own basket with things from private stalls combined with what they gave me. I also had seamstresses sew things for me. It was the only way we could afford it,” says Marlom Silvera, a worker at an ironworks factory.

 A parallel market

One of the best sources for acquiring a newborn’s necessities at lower prices is the parallel market. One of the most reliable is a place in Havana on 21st Street between 4th and 6th in Vedado. A private establishment with a wide range of products at more reasonable prices than the chain of state-run stores, it is still expensive for the average Cuban.

“We get most of our products from people who don’t need them anymore and/or who want to sell them, as well from traders who bring thing from Ecuador, the United States or Venezuela. We also have seamstresses who supply handmade items which are much in demand,” says the owner of the business, who does not want her identity made public.

As the owner explains it, the advantages for her customers are considerable.

“In the state-run stores a baby bottle costs between 1.50 and 5 CUC. Here they’re all 2 CUC. That’s why we have more customers. We also have items that you normally cannot find, like pacifiers, playpens and other accessories,” she says.

In the interior of the country mosquito nets are sold in the parallel market for 300 pesos (12 CUC) and muslin diapers for 6 pesos apiece.

The drama of food 

This is one of the most critical subjects during a baby’s first months of life. The cereal supply is limited in the extreme and, when it is available, costs between 5 and 10 CUC a box.

“I think the most expensive thing about having a child is Cuba is his feeding. Produce and meat quickly eat up a month’s salary,” notes Joel Gutiérrez, a self-employed worker.

“At the local store they give you milk that is not of very high quality and some baby food that I it pains me to feed him,” he adds. “Sometimes you’ll get an imitation cereal called Fortachón, but it’s not enough. When will it all end?”

A similar opinion was echoed in remarks by the respondant “MG” in Cubadebate. He writes, “I am the father of twin girls and earn a basic monthly salary of 432 pesos. Do you know how much Nan-Pro baby formula costs? In the hard currency store one can sells for almost 5 CUC. That’s 125 pesos. When the girls were born they were not getting the formula they needed because in all of Granma (Province) this product, which is sold in pharmacies, was in short supply. The girls’ mother recently graduated, does not work and does not earn a salary. Do they think I can support two girls on my salary alone? You’ll spend an entire month’s pay on food for just one child in one or two weeks.

Adding up the prices for a baby’s basic necessities after visits to various stores, we were able to calculate that the initial costs for raising a child in Cuba in the first six months of life vary from 700 to 750 CUC (depending on the prices individual stores charge).

Other prices in state-run hard currency stores:

Mosquito net: 30-40 CUC

 Wash basin: 5-12 CUC

Walker: 18-25 CUC

Baby bag: 20-25 CUC

Baby wipes: 1-3 CUC

Large towel: 10-12 CUC

Gerber baby food: 0.80-1.20 a jar

Nestlé cereal: 3-5 CUC

 Toys: 5-30 CUC

 Baby powder: 2-6 CUC

Playpen: 15-20 CUC

Infant medications from international pharmaceutical companies: 9-15 CUC

This article is the result of an investigation lasting more than six months and carried out in collaboration with the editors of Café Fuerte.

Translated from Café Fuerte. Originally posted 11 May 2013.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo Will Never be Forgotten / CID

OZT 2Yesterday, May 15, an emotional meeting of the Holguin CID delegation remembered the birth of the martyr Orlando Zapata Tamayo on May 15, 1967. The story of his humble and courageous life stressed the authenticity of his patriotism. To him the country was sacrifice and duty. His clash against tyranny involved no desire for publicity nor even the slightest trace of a dubious role.

Ricardo MedinaThe testimony of those who were his fellow prisoners, as in the case of Ricardo Santiago Medina, member of the National Executive Committee of the CID, is that of a true Christian who knew that the freedom of Cuba could only be achieved with evolution and boldness.

The day of his death on February 23, 2010, after a more than eighty day hunger strike without proper assistance, OZT carried a cumulative sentence of 36 years in prison for peaceful protest that in any democracy wouldn’t even lead to a fine.

ReinaThe regime thought that because of was a poor and unknown black man his murder would go unpunished. They never imagined that given the seriousness of her son’s condition, Reina Luisa Tamayo’s  desperation touched the hearts of millions of people. Nor did they calculate that once they consummated the crime, Reina would write one of the most moving and courageous pages in the history of Cuba denouncing the tyranny in the streets of our country.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo was a legitimate opponent. He always put his life on the frontline. He had the courage to maintain his dmeands and his opposition to the bitter end. Orlando was a direct incarnation of the historic political prisoners, the ones who when no one in the world listened maintained the dignity of the struggle for democracy at the cost of extraordinary personal sacrifice.

For those involved in the final battle against the Castro regime and to all the people of Cuba who aspire to the change that is coming, Orlando Zapata Tamayo should not be a patriotic memory, but a living example by which we must measure all the pretenders to leadership.

16 May 2013

 

From the Blog “Resilient Youth: In the Collective Intelligence is the Power of Society” / Reyner Aguero

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Reyner Aguero

On the afternoon of May 14 a meeting was held at the University of Camaguey with students and teachers, led by former G2  agents along with other higher level officials from Cuban Counterintelligence.

All this focused on the issue of ideological subversion with the objective of showing the students supposed CIA cables leaked to G2, to try to counter the discontent and the new mentality that is taking hold of young people in the face of the current political-social situation in the country.

I was invited to this event so that, in some way, the information presented would influence my ideas and political positions taken in recent years.

Something that is intolerable and never tolerable is how they criticize, demonize and mock great people (among these there is a major emphasis on Yoani Sanchez, Antonio Rodilies and Eliecer Avila) without giving them the chance to enter into an open debate, and denying the public the chance to decide which arguments they believe and which they don’t.

I would like to touch on so many other topics, but the inequality of the coalitions obliges me to be precise in the face of an action so hugely unjust. Simply touching on the topic of plurality, of the right of the accused to defend themselves in public, and also to criticize. This action generated a series of controversies some of which are expressed in my Twitter account (@reyneraguero1).

As with everything, something useful comes from all this. I confront a fear I  had never before thought I had the courage to face. Among the arguments, many found reason in my words to the point that a dean (a  woman Doctor), after expressing that “Cuban and the universities must be only for the Revolutionaries,” recognized her failure to express the maxim of Jose Marti, “With all and for the good of all.”

Then she defended my right to take part (in a particular way), and in the form of a harangue cried that they never should have expelled me from the university. The applause of the crowd followed, apparently unaware that I had been prohibited from studying in my country.

Later different people took the floor but with very little chance to respond to them. However, I was more satisfied than ever for having launched my grain of sand in the Plural Cuba that so many of us want to build.

(Forgive the editing errors for lack of time and connection problems.)

Reyner Aguero (@ reyneraguero1) / Juventud Resiliente

25 May 2013

The Victory in Venezuela Raul Castro Didn’t Want / CID

The April 14 elections in Venezuela should have strengthened the Castros’ influence in the South American country. The one chosen, Nicolas Maduro , was Havana’s man. The electoral victory would legitimize him in Venezuela, in the world and within the ranks of the Chavistas. The Venezuelan opposition would be demoralized. They would not have to use violent repression to neutralize it. The dictatorial machinery would drown it slowly drown.

There was no reason to doubt the election results. On the death of Chavez the media and pollsters reported that the popularity of Maduro assured him the presidency by a substantial margin. The Castro regime ruling elite was happy, Venezuelan oil would continue to maneuver a transition the Vietnam model.

With the triumph of Maduro the Cuban democratic opposition would be demoralized. Immigration reform and the exit of dissidents would leave the impression that the era of change had begun. Eventually the Obama administration would allow U.S. Tourism to travel to Cuba to spend billions of dollars. Then they would lift the embargo and investments coming from the United States would save the recycled dictatorship.

Then the unexpected happened. Maduro’s campaign began to take on water while Enrique Capriles improved his position. Nor did the pre-planned fraud scheme ensure victory for Maduro. The Chavista power elite was forced to resort to crude methods of intimidation and fraud. And they still didn’t win, they had to steal the election.

The rest is developing day by day. Nicolas Maduro has been losing prestige inside and outside of Venezuela. The Venezuelan opposition has acted very cleverly to demand a vote recount and calling for international solidarity.

Raul Castro and his octogenarian never imagined a scenario as unfavorable and potentially unstable. Definitely not the victory they planned, expected and needed.

9 May 2013

The Morality of the Survivor / Dimas Castellanos

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What is taken here is for the PEOPLE.

In the expanded meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Friday May 13, the head of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment reported on the irregularities in the operation of businesses with foreign capital and international contracts; the Minister of Economy and Planning spoke about the irregularities and criminal activity in the marketing of fuels; while the Comptroller General of the Republic recognized that although there are improvements in the evaluations with respect to previous reviews, serious problems and vulnerabilities persist.

An objective analysis on the subject should begin to banish the use of euphemisms to sugarcoat reality. It is not about irregularities, but rather a marked deterioration of ethics, of corruption, which if it didn’t begin in 1959, it was after that date that it expanded from the political-administrative sphere to all social relations to become a culture and to act as a brake on government projects themselves.

This phenomenon, which starts in the economy and even reaches the spirituality of Cubans, is one of the factors that shows the structural character of the current crisis and explains the failures in the attempts to overcome it with limited changes to the economy.

Among the factors that condition this reality is the disappearance of the tens of thousands of proprietors who were replaced by “bosses,” the total implementation of the “property of the whole people” and the failure of wages and pensions; it was a combination of harmful agents that have led to robbery, theft, bribery and deception in order to survive. It is also because the moral standard is a collection of socially accepted norms, that change depending on purposes, interests and social conditions, such that survival is a form of morality that emerged from the profound structural crisis we’re immersed in. continue reading

The changes that are being implemented in Cuba under the label of the Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the Communist Party, are faced with the worst situation in respect to moral conduct that our history has ever known. Survival, reflected in multiple frustrations, has generated disinterest, hopelessness and escapism reflected in a morality that employs a patriotic vocabulary with a distinct content. Now the struggle, is not designed for the purpose of abolishing slavery, achieving independence and overthrowing tyranny, but rather to survive; nor is it about “Freedom or Death” or “Fatherland or Death,” but about “Life or Death” which is the slogan of the survivor.

The explanation of the former lies in that the first human morality is the preservation of life and when social conditions close every possibility of realization, people have only two paths: renounce life or survive. Thus, in the face of inadequate wages, Cubans respond with activities at the margin of the law; to the impossibility of being entrepreneurs, through the State track, that is, government expenditures and utilities in particular; the shortages, theft from the State, which is ultimately the property of “all the people”; the shutting down of all possibilities to escape to exile; the so-called ideologies, with the apathy; meanwhile the verbs escape, struggle and resolve, designate the actions to acquire the necessary “extras,” that is, to survive.

Official journalism does not seek the causes

Given this stubborn reality, the State limits itself to repression: more police, surveillance, restrictions and inspectors; all actions about the effects without taking into account the causes, among them the shift toward totalitarianism that erases the citizen from the Cuban scene. But what strongly draws our attention, as we see in the following and small sample of articles, is the insistence over the years on the effects and the ignorance of the causes:

The May 22, 200 issue of the newspaper Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth) published “The Hunter of Deceptions,” referring to a popular inspector charged with detecting violations in quality, weight, price and the selling items of outside the unit. According to this inspector when the evidence of the crime was placed before the the offender, some consumers are bothered and defending their own victimizer. That is, the “victims” defended their victimizers, a fact demonstrative of the social acceptance of the morality of the survivor.

On Saturday November 28, 2003, the newspaper Granma published “Violations of Prices and the Never-ending Battle,” in which an official of the Department of Price Supervision of the Ministry of Finance, said that in the first eight months of this year, in 36% of establishments inspected they found irregularities; in the case of markets, fairs, plazas and agricultural outlets, the index was above 47%, and in food it reached 50%.

On Saturday December 24, 2005, Granma reported that at the regular session of the National Assembly of People’s Power, Pedro Ross, then Secretary General of the CTC, said: “There are workers who react, but others don’t and continue to justify the theft and other misconduct.”

On Monday, February 16, 2007, Granma’s article “Cannibals in the Towers,” addressed the theft of the structures that support the high voltage electric transmission network. In 2004, 1,648 of the structures disappeared on the 220 thousand volt network, and 545 in the 100 thousand volt network; in 2005 they stole 532 and 544 respectively; in 2006, after strengthening surveillance, technical measures and sanctions, 267 and 1,827 disappeared. There was a decrease in 220,000 network only because the bolts were welded up to 6 yards high, but then the daring fighters climbed above that height. Similarly the conductor cables were stolen, to sell the aluminum and copper contained in them.

On Friday, October 26, 2010 Granma published “The Price of Indolence.” It turns out in the commune of Corralillo, in Villa Clara, more than 300 homes were built with stolen materials and resources. In 240 of the homes inspected over 10,000 feet of rail tracks had been used, and in 82% railroad tracks from the Ministry of the Sugar had been used, which came from the dismantling of over 15 miles of railway lines, and pieces from over 59 high voltage towers were also used.

More recently, in Juventud Rebelde of February 19 and 26, 2012, the Comptroller of the Republic said in an interview: “In our experience, the causes of corruption range from the fact that there was no control of the contracts, because those whose job it was didn’t do it, and those who had to audit it either didn’t audit it or didn’t do so in depth.”

And to all this must be added the constant diversion of resources, countless lawsuits, including against senior government officials.

What neither Granma nor Juventud Rebelde have established, as journalists, is the relationship between, corruption on the one side and  on the other absolute state ownership, poverty wages and the inability to be entrepreneurs. What they have done is demonstrated the futility of repression, if not accompanied by measures to address the causes, then, surveillance, police, simple inspectors, comprehensive inspectors, or inspectors of the inspectors, are Cubans with the same needs as the rest of the population and therefore practitioners of the  predominant morality.

To change the course of events they will have to extend, although quite late, the economic changes to other social spheres, which means returning civil liberties, without which the formation and the predominance of the civic behavior required by present and future Cuba will be impossible.

From Diario de Cuba

23 May 2013

Communication About the Situation of Angel Santiesteban in Prison 1580 / Angel Santiesteban

In just three days on May 28, it will be three months that our brother and friend Angel Santiesteban Prats has been locked up in a Castro regime concentration paying the price of an unjust sentence for crimes he did not commit. We issue this statement to denounce to international public opinion his living conditions and the treatment he and those with whom he shares this hell receive; people whose principles of solidarity and commitment to the dignity they still have not been able to kill.

Yesterday, May 24, Angel finally received the much awaited visit from his family and friends, a visit he is allowed only once a month. This is what has happened to him in Prison 1580:

– His jailers, obeying orders from the top brass of the criminal State Security, determined who would come to see him and who wouldn’t, violating Angel’s right to receive them and his visitors’ rights to see him.

– Knowing that Angel hardly eats, family and friends have brought food, as usual. They let in some, but the juice boxes he always keeps in reserve for when it has no food, were opened by the guards. It seems they do not understand that you can not hide powder in a liquid medium.

– Before he could go to meet their relatives, Angel was stripped and checked twice, as if he were an armed criminal. It seems they have not yet realized that his only weapons are his courage and his words.

After the visit, we denounce that the repression against Angel and his companions increases more every day.

Angel has again spent four days in a punishment cell and they have seized all the letters and papers in his possession.

All his companions are being threatened, especially those who are closest to him, and are searched constantly, as his is family. One of his companions, whose letters were also seized, was transferred to a prison in Santa Clara, violating another law: that prisoners remain close to their homes and their families.

In a new attempt to dissuade him, they have offered to send Angel to a painted, clean and well-lit cell where he could write in peace, where he could hang what he wanted on the walls and even sunbathe. He went to see it, but rejected it outright on discovering that the sole purpose of so much generosity was to further isolate him from the rest of the prisoners. Finally, he was held in a tiny, uninhabitable cell with the mattress taken out from 6am to 6pm.

Given these flagrant violations of Angel’s rights of and the rights of all inmates in Prison 1580, we want to make it clear once again that we hold Raul Castro responsible for the integrity of Angel and that of all his companions. And we also want to once again appeal to the conscience of the “journalists” of the Commission who visited Castro’s jails and who stamped with their hypocrisy the abuses that have been committed against prisoners, whether common or of conscience, for 54 years.

Everything that happens in 1580 is repeated in all the prisons of the island and the “journalists” know it, as all the government friends of the dictator Castro also know.

We demand an end to the repression and violation of human rights of Angel and all his companions. We also demand that Angel be released immediately and be given to a new trial with all procedural safeguards he never had.

It is time that the regime understands that the world is watching what they are doing with Angel and that sooner or later they will pay for it.

And echoing what Angel wrote in a post a couple of days ago, we expect the Rapporteur that the UN sends to Cuba to be honest and to visit those whom he should visit and collect their complaints.

On behalf of the family and friends of Angel Santisteban-Prats,
The Editors

25 May 2013

On May 20 in Camagüey: Ten Arrested and the Opposition Beaten Up / CID

Camaguey carreteraThis May 20th when the CID delegation in the capital of Camagüey gathered to celebrate Independence Day, they had to suspend the meeting to go urgently to the corner of Carretera Central and 20 de Mayo street to support two distressed Cuban families who had spent the night on the street as a result of an eviction.

At the time of publication the situation surrounding this event was developing. When the State Insecurity and Housing department  agents arrived on the scene, they found neighbors extremely annoyed by the distress of the families of Marlene Chavarría Abreu and Damaris Álvarez Abreu.

The major in charge of the State Insecurity agents asked Virgilio Mantilla Arango, CID National Vice President to give him time to see how they could resolve the situation. He needed to calm the spirits of families, the neighbors and the CID activists. The major wanted to talk with the families. continue reading

Mantilla Arango spoke with the parties and all agreed to give the major a more reasonable time to see if he could solve the case. The first step was agreed to was that representatives of the Housing department would move the families to a shelter.

Under the truce, CID activists went to the house of the Camagüey Coordinator of the United Campaign for Human Rights to be held on May 20. A total of thirty members of the opposition participated in the patriotic event remembering the long struggle for the independence of Cuba.

At the end of the meeting State Insecurity showed its other side. When the opponents retired to their homes minions jumped into action violently beating several and arresting ten of them.

22 May 2013

Salve, Erasmo / Mario Lleonart

The Church should ask for those rights not only for themselves, but they should ask for all their people. Dagoberto Valdés Hernández

It seems that The Praise of Folly by Erasmus of Rotterdam remains in effect.

Much of his paragraphs, as well as his original illustrations came to life in a context apparently as distant in space and time from the Europe of the XV and XVI centuries as it appeared to be from the Caribbean Cuba in the days that elapsed between 26 and 28 March 2012.

On one side the world beheld another of those generals-turned-chief-of state declare with all calm, as he welcomed the Bishop of Rome: “Religious freedom is respected by the Revolutionary Government which I head.”

On the other hand the pontiff was heard emitting a phrase as magisterial as it could be taking into account the theologian who also embodies a task to which he should have been devoted: “God not only respects human freedom, but it appears to need it.”

The irony is that while all the protocol loaded with hypocrisy and compliments took place in public spaces, hundreds of dark, damp dungeons throughout the island were crowded, not with brutal criminals or delinquents  conspiring to do damage to either of the two octogenarian politicians, but peaceful people, writers, artists, journalists, and some even faithful Catholics, deprived of participating in the masses held, a practice that indeed continues to take place every Sunday to dozens, if not hundreds, as it did during the Pope’s visit to Cuba. continue reading

Added to all those literally detained, dozens of others were immobilized and incommunicado in their homes under strict surveillance. The media monopoly on the island, including of the telephone systems, took advantage of its unjust hegemony to extort and breach agreements with their hundreds of their own customers who were thus affected by the improvement of operating technology that had been implemented recently in Cuba, carried out by the authorities themselves, and that silences fixed and mobile phones in what has come to be called Operation Vote of Silence, ordered and directed by the criminal Organs of State Security.

In this way this misrule of Cuba incurred in the violation of its own laws that they trampled, always to the detriment of the individual, ignoring Law No. 62/87 of the Penal Code (Updated) included in Book II, Title IX, Chapter 1, Section III, Article 286 where it warns that anyone who commits violence without legitimate reason over another or makes threats in order to compel them at that moment to do something they do not want to do, whether right or wrong, or to tolerate someone else doing it, or to prevent them from doing what the law does not prohibit, or by other means prevents another from doing what the law does not prohibit or exercising their rights, will be punished and sentenced to imprisonment or fines as the case.

12 May 2013

Being a Dissident and a Practitioner of Santeria, a Difficult Path / Luis Felipe Rojas

The first Cuban vice-president, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez visited the headquarters of the Cultural Yoruba Association of Cuba this past Monday, days after the Department of State published a document in regards to religious freedom, which alleges that there have been some advances as far as Cuba’s approach in these matters.

While the second-in-line of the Cuban government was saying goodbye to the babalaos –– the Santeria priests — of the official association, throughout the streets of Cuba other Santeria leaders are looked down upon for not joining the organization run by the Office of Religious Affairs, for abiding by other rules, for carrying weapons to carry out animal sacrifices and even for being dissidents, a charge which turns out to be quite heavy to bear.

The babalao Gesse Castelnau Ruiz considers that the meeting of Diaz-Canel with the Yoruba Cultural Association of Cuba is manipulative in its essence, as this religious group accepts only Communist party members or citizens who are committed to the government. continue reading

In the Havana municipality of October 10 there is another Yoruba Association of Cuba, named “Lazaro Cuesta,” which also issues a “Letter of the Year,” parallel to that located in Old Havana. In this regard, the priest of Ifa, Castelnau states that just recently they went to that organization to apply for a license to carry the weapons intended for animal sacrifices and were denied for being active regime opponents.

A drum circle for the health of the deceased former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a rite of sacrifice and worship of the five Cuban intelligence spies imprisoned in the U.S., or for the recovery of former President Fidel Castro, have been three of the last three demonstrations of the Yoruba Cultural Association of Cuba to the government adhering to the government’s designs.

Carrying weapons without official authorization, issuing the Letter of the Year parallel to that of the official association, showing their openly rebellious activism or attempting to provide religious services to foreign visitors, are all part of the causes of harassment experienced in the capital or provinces such as Villa Clara and Holguin.

“I have taken very well to being a babalao and dissident, me and my family, where there are four more babalaos. They did not let us participate in activities organized by that association, nor did we want to. They have confiscated my batá drums for Zanja Street police station because they say they have things inside and have to search them. There is no freedom of religion and expression,” the Yoruba priest concluded.

A religion divided

Iyalocha (priestess of Ifa) and Lady in White, Jessica is a young woman who believes in the powers of Orula and that all men and women are born free and have equal rights. Because of this she wears a fardo that has cost her arrests, police repression and the refusal to allow her to be in the Yoruba Association, based on the Prado in Havana.

Jessica thinks that the practice of the cult of the Orishas in Cuba is divided, and says that “This happened since they opened the Prado Street headquarters, which is governed entirely by the Cuban government.”

Several babalaos and practitioners agree that the Cuban Santeria guru, Lazaro Cuesta, would feel betrayed because he created the first Yoruba Association of Cuba in the municipality of October 10, and it was from there that the “only true Letter of the Year” is issued Jessica said, somewhat affected.

“Many Santeria followers don’t go to Meadow Street headquarters, for the simple reason that there can’t be two letters. I dare say that 90% of the Cuban people who believe in Ifa are governed by the letter issued in the municipality October 10 which was the first that came out.”

Cuba currently has Letters of the Year and for those Santeria followers who originally went to the house of October 10, this duality is a sacrilege.

Declarations of the Iyalocha and Lady in White Jessica C.

Jessica recalls that the official association came to offer a Tambor (a religious ceremony) for the health of President Hugo Chavez and on this occasion the Cuban Santeria followers had to use drums at the Prado headquarters site because most Cuban babalaos will not lend themselves to such a propaganda show. In the images the musician Papo Angarica  could be seen cheering the Venezuelan leader, as on other occasions he had done for the cause of the five spies or any other partisan mandate.

“Christians say we are evil and Chavez was a Christian, then how did they set the Santeria to pray for a Christian? All the world realized it was a media circus,” says the iyalochaa Jessica Castelnau.

24 May 2013

From Cuba, With Love

Dear readers, feisbuseros (Facebook) friends, my Twitter people: Thanks for the massive birthday greetings, if it were possible, I would be as attentive as you are; it’s not from disinterest that I don’t respond to comments nor follow Twitter accounts, nor more often recommend in #foloufraidei, nor update Facebook. Someday, someday …

24 May 2013

My Relationship with Antonio Castro

On 19 October 202 AD, the Roman general Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal in the Battle of Zama, near Carthage. It has nothing to do with it, but on the same date, but much later, born in Cuba was Dr. Antonio Castro Soto del Valle, the brand new golf champion, the fourth of five sons born to the union of the former dictator and Fidel Castro with Castro Soto del Valle (a woman whom I respect for her exceptional performance of her role as mother).

Let me clarify, I say that it is exceptional because one warm winter night, at the end of 2004, when the power of MININT and the frenzy of Raul was falling on me, Antonio approached me wife, took a two dollar bill from his wallet and looking into her eyes said, “They say it brings good luck; take it, you’re going to need it. Raul tried to do away with me; but my mother is alive, JJ’s isn’t.”

My relationship with Antonio was always affable, distant, and sincere, nothing more. His marriages, wives and children is not an issue here.

As a child — according to the bodyguards — Tony was shy, obsessive, curious and capricious; but his history teacher during the time he studied at La Lenin High School described him as a fickle student, not too neat, who didn’t wear his last name easily and suffered repeated identity crises and depression.Perhaps this frustration became a counterweight of advance and then deployment. continue reading

It’s worth pointing out that with the halo of mystery and security, a constant in his life during his student years, his teachers were active members of the general directorate of MININT personal security cross-dressing as teachers, who marked extensive gaps in the cognitive and instructive processes of the young Castro Soto del Valle.

When, under his father’s orders, they broke the shell of secretiveness, Antonia, eager to socialize, was rediscovered and emerged to the ordinary world with three attractive adjectives: famous, right and powerful; in other words, a potent magnet of attraction. What many are asking is why, not being the oldest, nor the youngest, nor the last, nor the preferred, it is he who is “without equal.”

Of course, the stereotype of beauty is influential: Antonio is blond, handsome, rich in stature and exaggerated in ego. It’s the manly image of any lead actor. And he’s famous as a good doctor.

Educated like a king, and fascinated by monarchies, he is a sophisticated mortal who has charm, elegance and good taste. Friendly when he wants to be and overwhelming when contradicted.

But the key to his success lies in the art of seduction. He knows well that his last name, more than an icon, is a commercial trademark and he handles masterfully and in detail his personal marketing.

His immodesty and glamor are undoubtedly his strongest attraction; he enjoys being different but repulses those who flatter him, he has temporary sensitivity for ordinary Cubans (whom, logically, he will inherit as subjects), those whose only property is their ID cards.

Tony is a cool guy, who born in half disaffection assume that, even though born in power, all human beings are like our environment and as such we should be understood.

23 May 2013

Stride for Stride / Fernando Damaso

Since its installation in power, the Cuban government has always moved stride for stride with the corresponding thick ideological cover. Each year was given a name, which was supposed to serve as an incentive for work during its twelve months. Thus, 1959 was the Year of the Liberation, but it really meant, by the measures taken, rather than the liberation, the violation of all existing rights and freedoms. Then came many others which, above all, were more than just names without concrete results, until they lost interest in the practice and it become routine, and then they started to put the focus on slogans for extensive periods of time.

One of the most interesting was the so-called Battle of Ideas, where everything that is done or undone formed a part of it, from fixing a pothole, repairing a bodega, replacing a bulb in the street, tilling the land, holding a rally, reaping the harvest, etc.

It was so important that he even had his ministry and minister, who seemed drawn from the pages of George Orwell’s novel 1984. I came to constitute a little parallel private government within the existing, complicating everything even more that is already was. continue reading

When he stepped down from the presidency for health reasons, the ministry, the minister and the Battle didn’t last very long, although the formula was not abandoned and reappeared in the Guidelines of the Party and the Revolution.

Since then, everything that is planned, done or undone forms a part of them, now with the addition of its corresponding little number: everyone works in compliance with some guideline, be it number 10, number 83, number 104, or any other up to 313 and, necessarily, it has to be put on the record.

I dream of the time when in my country things are done because they must be done, and the government implements them because it’s their obligation and reason for being, without any ideological cover, let alone strides that usually have always fallen on deaf ears.

22 May 2013

Prison Diary XX. With his mouth sewn shut and smeared with excrement, a young man demands his rights

I found myself, like most of the time, writing on my bed when I heard the call, “Political, Political”; and they came to me in haste. Outside, they told me, there was a man who sewed his mouth shut with wire, come.

Really, to think about the scene makes me bitter. “I’m not a maxillofacial doctor, why, then, my presence?” I said, trying to avoid it. It was he who was calling, they told me, “He wants to talk with you.” Then, I couldn’t stay away. As I approached I heard his desperate voice, calling me, between lips barely open.

To describe the horror in a way that someone who hasn’t seen it can imagine it, is not possible: he stopped in front of the patio door that leads to my hut, his body smeared with fecal waste, holding a pail of dung with the aim of evading the guards who didn’t dare to force him back to his cell. The worst were his lips sewn with wire. The first question I asked myself was what level of desperation, helplessness and sadness could have forced him to commit such a folly, because by his aspect he doesn’t seem to be mentally ill.

With difficulty I could understand that he was desperate because the guards did not want to hear his being right. They just threatened and beat him every time he demanded his rights, and this had led him to take that step. Several times he assured me he wasn’t crazy: he tells me that if the Rapporteurs of the Commission of Human Rights come to see me, don’t be afraid to tell the truth.

I nodded my head in agreement, I’m always overwhelmed by the anxiety of my powerlessness to help. I wouldn’t have minded touching and cleaning those lips that were beginning to show signs of infection, a reason for their taking him to the nurse in those conditions. continue reading

I swore that within my humble means, I would inform international public opinion, and if the Rapporteurs came to Cuba, I would talk to them about him.

Before he left I tried to convince him that he had accomplished his purpose; the prison and its leadership felt the guilt of not having listened, the other inmates as well, so I asked if it made sense to continue in such conditions, to the point of putting his life in danger. He said, “Yes, Political, don’t think that I came to you without knowing who you are, in the cell told me how they force-fed you, if you weren’t there or in the hospital.”

I could only ask God to protect him.

Finally he responded to the constant order of the guards to continue to his cell.

“Don’t forget me, Political,” he said, and I couldn’t stop my eyes from tearing up. In those few minutes we had shared between us a solidarity and brotherhood which rose above the difficult situation in which we live.

“I embrace you,” he said. “I you, as well,” I responded and he walked proudly to the dirty and dark recesses of the punishment cells.

Ángel Santiesteban-Prats
Prison 1580. May 2013

22 May 2013

Universal / Yoani Sanchez

sif2013Someone sitting at the table behind spoke in French, while in chairs at the side two Brazilians exchanged ideas. Two steps further on some activists from Belarus were talking with some Spaniards who had also come to the Stockholm Internet Forum. An event that began on May 21 in the Swedish capital bringing together people interested in digital tools, social networks and cyberspace. A real Tower of Babel where we communicate in the lengua franca of technology. The global and virtual village is now contained in an old factory on the edge of the sea. And in the midst of this back and forth of analysis and anecdotes, are six Cubans, also willing to contribute their labor as cyber activists.

This is without a doubt the most enjoyable stage of my long journey and not because other places haven’t been filled with beautiful impressions and lots of hugs, but because here I have met up with several colleagues from the Island. Some of the people who, in our country have grabbed hold of new technologies to narrate and to try to change our reality, today are gathered here. The young attorney Laritza Diversent, the director of Estado de SATS, Antonio Rodiles, the keen blogger Miriam Celaya, the information engineer Eliecer Avila, and joining us for one day as well, the independent reporter Roberto Guerra. Here in Stockholm it has felt rather like Cuba, though certainly not because of the weather.

The Internet Forum has allowed us to feel like citizens of the world, to share experiences with those who live in different situations but, in essence, surprisingly similar ones. It’s enough to chat with another attendee for a little while, or to listen to a talk, to realize that in every word spoken here is the eternal human quest for knowledge, information… freedom. Expressed on this occasion through circuits, screens and kilobytes. This meeting has left us with the sensation that we are universal and that technologies have made us into people capable of transcending our geography and our time.

like_webb23 May 2013