Translating Cuba

I am not going to talk about the flavor most in demand by everyone, but rather about the local ingenuity, which manufactures, in the midst of difficulties and shortages, the gastronomic inventions that make it possible to find tons of things, water “in paper money,” to satisfy one’s thirst and survive. In my Havana, where in the ’90s they invented “floor rag steak*,” pizza with melted condoms instead of cheese, and plastic ham, it’s been easy for today’s self-employed to create a generic ice cream flavor, that consists of coloring the fake stuff with a sweet and universal taste.

I refuse to buy ice cream in the private sector any more. It doesn’t matter what color it is, if it’s in a cone, ice cream bar, salad or bowl: it all tastes the same. I feel like a little girl who’s been ripped off with a box of culinary colors. In a country that calls itself democratic where there is no democracy, that says there is freedom but we’re not free, it’s natural that everyone — literally — “swallows the bitter pill” of the scam.

This new and authorized disrespect for the consumer, is one more in a long and historic list of State irregularities — like almost everything in Cuba — in the restaurant industry. It is the universal flavor of a government that has educated three generations to make them believe in what doesn’t exist, in what is actually a big lie.

We promote and encourage foreign investment in our country in this area as well, but morally we must begin with Cubans — immigrants and here at home. Unlike the former socialist republics, we have the advantage of capital that can break the economic inertia. It would be a stretch, but it would be possible with political will, to acknowledge that part of our people who “got their feet wet” in search of greener pastures, of places to live that are less suffocating and more just. It’s time for them to open the doors of citizen rights — doors that never should have been closed — to our compatriots abroad.

It would then be possible that we could all enjoy the enormous ice cream of human brotherhood and the delicious flavor of reconciliation between a captive people and its diaspora.

*Translator’s note: “Floor rag steak” is exactly that.  This video, easy to follow even if you don’t understand Spanish, shows how it is made.

6 April 2013

Fundamentalism and oppression. Both are ingredients essential to dictatorships and cause fear and immobility and societies. Fundamentalism, whether religious or ideological, is the banner of totalitarian regimes and the quintessential seasoning of the armies and police of oppressive governments. They are the two drugs that produce the group’s eternal dream of remaining in power, to the detriment of the sociopolitical, cultural and economic development of the whole country.

Worth comparing, for example, to what Japan was before and after 1945 and how it exchanged futons for beds, har-kari for mea culpas, and how it evolved from feudalism to be one of the major economic powers of the world. The Korean case is even more illustrative. A people divided by two different government systems: the north, abusive and a violator of people’s fundamental rights, evidence of a manipulated egalitarianism and fictionalized uniformity, while in the south, citizens go on strike, demand their rights, elect governments, produce …

I think of Cuba and what we have and what we will become — if God lets me live — and I feel more optimistic. And so, some time ago I started moving and exercising my right to think, speak and act with freedom of conscience, despite the fifty-year dictatorship that oppresses us, nor do I rest in planting the seeds. Now we are beginning to see the positions…

4 April 2013

Arts Cuba announced this Wednesday the results of the “Home Through the Window” contest in the genre of Poetry, held in 2012 for authors living in Cuba. First place went to “The Fire of the Meek,” by Daykel Angula Aguilera from Holguin, a poet, storyteller, and audiovisual artist.

Second place went to “There is a Place Called Solitude” from the writer
Isbel González González, living in Sancti Spiritus. Third place went to “Levels of Euphoria” by Ricardo Lopez Lorente, resident in Havana.

The “Home Through the Window” Poetry contest was organized by Arts Cuba “for the purpose of opening a window to the national, international and online distribution of literature and art created by individuals on the Island.” About 70 authors submitted around 300 works, a considerable participation considering the existing difficulties of Internet connection in Cuba.

The criteria for choosing the winners were: originality, relevant theme, creativity, style, and quality of writing.

Arts Cuba released an eBook (a book in digital format) with poems of the winners and several finalists (15 authors in total), which, with a foreword by poet Joaquín Gálvez, may be read free of charge, and/or downloaded, by clicking on this link: ArteCuba.org

29 March 2013

The statistics are troubling. For more than thirty years the average Cuban woman has given birth to less than one daughter during her entire reproductive life. A population that does not regenerate gets old. And decreases. This means that in absolute terms Cuba has begun to lose inhabitants.

There was a report issued by the National Office of Statistics in 2011 which notes that the cumulative age of the country’s three strongmen – Fidel Castro, his brother Raúl and José Machado Ventura – is 250 years.

More dramatically, more than twenty thousand people between the ages of 10 and 45 emigrate each year. One of the government’s solutions to counteract the aging and decline of the population has been to raise the retirement age to 60 for women and 65 for men.

A pension in Cuba – between 150 and 300 pesos (6 to 12 dollars) — barely covers even 25% of a retiree’s basic needs. If a citizen hopes to have breakfast and two decent meals a day, he will need at least 2,600 pesos (100 dollars) a month.

Added to this is the serious housing problem. Some 62% of homes in Cuba are in a fair to poor state of repair. Three or four generations must live together under the same roof. When more space is needed, it is often the aged person who is displaced. The best option is for grandparents to live with their grandchildren. The worst is for families to send them to some decrepit state institution.

With its lack of sanitation, poor treatment and even worse food, death’s worst waiting room is a state-run hospice.

By 2012 more people were dying than were being born in the country. The weak economy does not guarantee a comfortable life for the two million people over the age of sixty. Today the median age is 38 years. By 2025 it will rise to 44 and almost 26% of the population will be over the age of 60. By 2030 more than 3.3 million people will 60 or older.

Currently, the percentage of Cubans over the age of 60 is 17.8%. The segment of the population 14 years or younger is 17.3%. The ideal solution would be to adopt policies that encourage women to have two or more children.

European countries with a welfare state pay a stipend to mothers who have more than one child, but public funds for this in Cuba are minimal.

Since Raúl Castro inherited power from his brother, the number of construction projects  that do not turn a profit, such as social service and leisure facilities, has declined to almost zero. Investments are made only in buildings that generate hard currency, like those in the tourism industry, or which are strategically important, such as petrochemical plants and waterworks projects in the eastern region.

We should not have to wait for a session of the one-note national legislature to announce financial incentives to encourage women to have more than one child. Otherwise, Cuba’s accelerated aging problem will be an issue that a future government will have to address.

Life dictates that by 2025 the Castros will be either resting in some mausoleum or will be two very sickly old men nearing the century mark. In addition to encouraging spectacular economic growth, the next president will also have to renegotiate the country’s external debt and try to create a coherent, inclusive and democratic society

All such efforts will have to be taken up with an aging human capital. A growing segment of women, both professional and non-professionals, are postponing starting families due to material shortages. Convincing them that Cuba needs to rejuvenate itself by increasing the number of girls will be a vital task.

It is yet to be seen if within ten years leaving for Florida will still be the chief priority for many Cubans. We hope not. Otherwise, if you are the last one to leave, please turn out the light in El Morro.*

Iván García

Photo from 100 Photos of the Older Generation

*Translator’s note: The iconic lighthouse at the Morro fortress overlooks the Havana harbor.

2 April 2013

Editor’s note

I just got this telephone message from Angel Santiesteban-Prats in which he informed me that they wanted to take him to the Salvador Allende military hospital against his will. I am making this communication public right now in hopes of what the response has been of those who are supposed to transport him.

I hope to have more information in the coming minutes.

Message from Angel Santiesteban

I’ve never been in favor of sensationalist or tabloid news, so I’ve preferred to remain silent until now, when the circumstances warrant making it known.

With 10 days of finding myself in prison dark spots began to appear on my face, which I only paid attention to when they also appeared on my arm. I went to consultation of the prison doctor who sent me to the dermatologist who gave me an appointment for the next day at the surgery, where the doctor applied a substance to the marks causing burns. The specialist explained to me this is the procedure for this type of skin cancer that usually appears in white skinned people after 40 years. Days later the scabs were falling off leaving a pink colored area.

Today, April 5, they sent for me from the medical station to inform me that they would be taking me to the Salvador Allende hospital for a checkup, particularly for these spots that were treated. I refused outright, I will not go to any military health center and my position is firm.

They also told me that Antonio Rodiles cannot visit me any more, as he has on two previous visits. When asked the reason they said he wasn’t family, nor is he a friend who ideologically makes “a positive contribution to the revolutionary process.” I let them know that I was here precisely for my ideas which agree with those of Rodiles, and the officer shrugged, a gesture which implies that there are “orders from above,” where a General, not a Captain, rules.

Now I’m waiting for them to come and hospitalize me. I don’t know what will happen in the face of my refusal to go with them and what their reaction will be.

Ángel Santiesteban-Prats

La Lima Prison, Guanabacoa, 1:00 PM

5 April 2013

By: Ignacio Estrada. Photos: Ignacio Estrada.

Havana, 5 February 2013. Last Sunday, February 3, the disabled minor Keylis Caridad Alemán Rodríguez, received as a gift a donation made in the name of the Cuban National Council of Churches.

The donation was given to the minor in the presence of her mother Yamayki Rodríguez, the same day her daughter turned sixteen. Keylis could get the gift of a new wheelchair; alleviating her lack of one will allow her to resume her daily activities.

The donation was possible because of the efforts of the organization the Cuban League Against AIDS with the Cuban Council of Churches, an institution that did not hesitate for a second in facilitating the acquisition without any cost to the child.

The new wheelchair was received by the disabled child with joy and she gave thanks for the gift with tears in her eyes, grateful that her situation — which was so dire — was improved.

Yamayki said she was thankful for what her daughter received, and at that moment remembered everything that Keylis had had to deal with since she was very little, describing everything from her heart surgery to the malformations in her hips, knees and ankles.

Keylis sent a recorded message of thanks to the Cuban Council of Churches and I cite it: I thank this institution for allowing me to navigate again… a message that ended with tears in her eyes.

Keylis Caridad Alemán Rodríguez lives at No. 38 Agramonte Street in the municipality of Santo Domingo in the province of Villa Clara.

7 February 2013

The literature of Mario Vargas Llosa has prompted several key turning points in my life. The first was 17 years ago, in a summer of blackouts and economic crisis. Under the pretext of borrowing “The War of the End of the World,” I approached a journalist expelled from his profession for ideological problems, with whom I still share my days. I keep that copy with its yellowed cover and detached pages, because through it dozens of readers have discovered this Peruvian author censored in the official bookstores.

Then came university, and while preparing my thesis on the literature of the dictatorship in Latin America his novel “The Feast of the Goat” appeared. The inclusion in my analysis of that text about Trujillo did not sit well with the panel evaluating me. Nor did they like that among the characteristics of American caudillos, I highlighted exactly those also flaunted by “our” Maximum Leader. Thus, for the second time, a book by the now Nobel Prize winner in Literature marked my existence because it made me realize the frustration of being a philologist in Cuba. Why do I need a title, I told myself, that announces I am a specialist in language and words, when I can’t even freely unite phrases.

So Vargas Llosa and his literature are responsible, in a direct and “premeditated” way, for much of what I am today: from my matrimonial happiness and my aversion to totalitarianism, to my having reneged on philology and turned to journalism.

I am prepared now, because I fear the next time one of his books falls into my hands its effect will last another 17 years, or once again slam the door on a profession.

6 April 2013

Nutritious Diet

The prisoners I share this barracks with tell me they read in the newspaper Granma that the 5 spies condemned in the U.S. complained because their jailers had offered them chicken twice. That is, they were protesting because they repeated the menu.

When I was free, I always heard these comments that seemed absurd and I immediately looked for a way to find someone on the internet to verify with. Now, in the conditions in which I survive in this prison it’s impossible to verify anything.

The truth is that it makes me laugh the way the prisoners here with me hear the news. I’ve heard several times, and I always have to laugh: this repetition of chicken that the spies complain of would be a reasons for a celebration among the inmates in this prison.

Some Fridays, on a holiday, they deliver what is normally recognized as a fourth of a chicken. That day the dining room is full. The other days it’s preferable to be on hunger strike. I myself, for example, spent five days without going to the dining room. I prefer to survive on cookies and toast that my family brings and that I keep, like a treasure, in a sack.

I have also read the statements of the Spanish political, Angel Carromero, who was driving the car in which we lost Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero. He said that his six months of imprisonment in Cuba was enough to leave him traumatized and needing medical help.

We have to remember that Carromero was held in a special prison for foreigners, that he also had the oversight of the embassy, and the obvious treatment of the political police to “sweeten him up,” so that the real version of what happened that fateful day won’t come to light.

We should ask, regardless of any prison, wherever it is, it’s always difficult to face and endure, what’s left for us who are in these inhumane prisons, with almost no food and with the extra weight of the known evil prosecutions for justice?

Neither the 5 spies nor Carromero know what a prison really is.

Ángel Santiesteban-Prats

La Lima Prison. April 2013.

5 April 2013

Snapshots provided by HABLEMOS-PRESS

This graffiti speaks for itself; it appeared on the Facebook wall of the independent journalist Roberto de Jesus Guerra Perez. Later I will add all available information.

5 April 2013

The prisons barracks are overcrowded with prisoners who, for the most part, have committed the crime of “embezzlement.” They have stolen State assets, which according to “socialist legality” belong to the people, public good managed by the Castro brothers for more than fifty years, plunging the country into poverty.

A contradiction: if the goods belong to the people, and they, due to hunger, take an infinitesimal part of their property, they commit no offense and therefore they should not be punished.

In any event, this is only in theory; in practice they are serving time for it, while complaining about the impossibility of surviving on the wages of their work.

“If I don’t take what I consider I’ve earned by my efforts, I can’t feed my family. In my case I did it because I wanted to buy a pair of shoes for my daughter for her fifteenth birthday,” a man with teary eyes told me. Another approached to tell me that he is in prison for selling at satellite dish, the dish only, not the receiver, eyes wide as if looking into the abyss. “They exaggerated in the search they made of my home. When they searched a neighbor, looking for drugs, it wasn’t so exhaustive; in my case, because of the lack of information, they are worried about people seeing images of freedom.”

A great part of this mass of “embezzlers” are directors of companies, buyers, warehouse managers… anyone who has within their reach some item that can sell, buy, rent, and profit from that will then serve to acquire the elements vital to the lives of their children.

In a corroded, worn-out society, where young people, the children nobody wanted, only think about leaving the country or stealing to survive, it’s logical to think that the prisons are overcrowded with the worst fed.

The dictatorship ignores the demands of a society to have, in the political and economic order it offers its citizens, most of all its young people, a reality that guarantees present and future prosperity.

Ángel Santiesteban-Prats

La Lima Prison, March 2013

3 April 2013

Following the tradition of ancient Roman warriors, the Cuba soldiers, after finishing their missions and/or conflicts in foreign territories, return to the fatherland carrying some live trophy.

Some chose to bring adopted children (whom they later abandon), others import women of unusual physiques that, not willing to put up with certain treatment, end up returning to their origins.

The most bizarre are brought as souvenirs, chimpanzees, macaws, giant tortoises, meerkats, and something more than anecdotes to show and remember.

And for mere competition, the current Cuban emperor assembled a hunting paradise hidden among the rugged beauty Cayo Saetia; an island located in the southeast of Holguin between Nipe Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Where they can shoot buffalo, bulls, eland antelope, warthogs, zebras, camels, ostriches, fancy reptiles and other animals from distant latitudes.

Lovers of the natural (not nature), and like Nero, in this effort to give the people bread and circuses, in 2011 accepted a donation of African animals that traveled from the Etosha National Park in Namibia, to the National Zoo in Havana.

The humanitarian operation was called “Noah’s Ark II”, and eventually raised questions from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which issued statements expressing concern that these animals caught in the wild, would have to endure a long and tiring flight to a new destination, and it was not known whether any animal welfare organization had reviewed the Cuban facilities, its standards of care and insertion into social animal life.

The reality is that the imported specimens, like any foreign tourist, can count on close attention; the problems were more adaptive.

The black-backed jackal suffered severe depression upon discovering that the lack of fur on his Cuban counterpart is not a typical Caribbean hairstyle but is the result of a severe scabies. The  foreign ungulates had a similar reaction on finding that their island equivalents didn’t need hooves, the veterinarians removed them and sold them at very good price on the black market for hand crafted barrettes.

In the carnivores’ area passivity reigns. Cheetahs, spotted and brown hyenas have seen their share of food decline considerably but they live convinced that this reduction is a global campaign against obesity. Due to the lack of water a small sedition in the hippo’s ponds was organized; but everything was sorted out, after a long chat, the artiodactyla — the cloven-hooved — came to understand that Cuba is a “blockaded” country.

Serious trauma, that of a lion that traveled to breed and seeing the Cuban lionesses feeding on bananas and fish heads, none will meet and they have a bad character.

For the rest, everything’s normal. The National Zoo is ready, waiting on the 26th.

2 April 2013