Eating in Havana / Regina Coyula #Cuba

The Gallery Bar at the corner of 12th and 19th, Vedado.
The Gallery Bar at the corner of 12th and 19th, Vedado.

Havana does not seem very aware that despite the crisis, the year-end holiday spirit is inundating other cities worldwide. Some lighting and modest Christmas trees give a vague nod to the year moving on. The state restaurants have barely hired an expert calligrapher to write “Happy 2013” in their windows, topped by a couple of bells; this could also be done “spontaneously” with sometimes painful results.

But if the restaurants in the hands of the State offer a grim picture, the opposite happens with the restaurants appearing in the private sector, many of which have left no details to change in the organization of their festivities for the holidays.

Some local landmarks with more than 15 years behind them, such as La Guarida, La Cocina de Liliam or Le Chansonnier, take these days off; but other veterans, such as La Casa, offer an attractive Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve dinners. They will also open a snack bar on which they’ve put the finishing touches.

The private restaurants known as paladares (palates) appeared in the last two years thanks to the legal changes making this kind of effort possible, surprise us with the facilities and the professionalism of their staff. Within the gourmet category some stand out: Habana Chef, Calle 10, La Moraleja and La Galería. They are large homes adapted with good taste and functionality to the needs of a restaurant.

While some serve their usual menu during this time, La Galería, now a year-and-a-half old, offers a Christmas Eve menu far from ordinary, with salmon canapes, queso fresco with vegetables, where you can choose between banana fritters stuffed with fried meat, or crudo marinated with basil and balsamic sauce; pork loin stuffed with ham, olives and peaches in red wine reduction, berries and lemon garnish, with tamales, or turkey stuffed with olives in plum sauce perfumed with Chardonnay, accompanied with roasted sweet potatoes with bacon, and for dessert fritters with ice cream and fruit sauce or coconut cake with dried fruits in the Arab style, this plus a selection of candies, grapes and wines. To end the year, another equally exotic menu also includes grapes and a champagne toast at midnight, live music and open bar.

Black rice with squid ink, from the Chef Art Restaurant in Havana
Black rice with squid ink, from the Chef Art Restaurant in Havana

Not far behind is the recently opened París ’50. French cuisine and French-Caribbean that offers a Christmas Eve dinner with dishes including petit fours, seafood gratin with tartar sauce, turkey stuffed with ground beef, truffles, nuts and raisins in wine, garnished with peas and potatoes Provencal, and yule log and nougat for dessert. They also plan to have for the New Year dinner and live music.

When you have a corner as perfect as that at L and 25th, opposite the Hotel Habana Libre, you have to take advantage of it. Wow! A snack bar with chef offered dinner on the 24th. On the 31st they won’t open, like the 15th Floor.

The prices at these sites ranges from 25 to 50 CUC per person. So what are the most economical?

La Rosa Negra offers only carry out. For less than 12 CUC you can get over two pounds of garlic pork, or a pound of smoked loin, plus a pound of rice and beans and a pound of yucca with garlic sauce. La Taraquera offers three traditional plates where pork and yucca alternate with matajíbaro — a dish from Camaguey — and tamales with a bottle of wine, nougat and a cup of cider for 25 CUC per couple. El Farallon, as of two days ago, had not planned a special menu, but it planned to remain open with additional take-out service. At Blanco y Negro, at 12th and 23rd, for 7 CUC a person they will offer every day until January 2nd a traditional menu with 10% discount on take-out. At Paris ’50 you can take home with the same meal without drinks and dessert for 15 CUC.

Young faces, impeccable presence, professionalism. The private dining raises the bar to heights unreachable by the deteriorating State restaurants. There is a migration of personnel trained in the chef and cooking schools toward this sector, one of the few that is expanding.

Who will be the clientele in these places that have taken such care with their menus? Foreigners, some Cubans “who can,” some who make a special day of the date. These are not prices for ordinary people. Most people will eat at home on the 24th, with more or less austerity, more or less devotion, and there will be those who will have no special foods. And even on the 31st, greatly celebrated as the anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution, many will follow the Cuban custom of throwing a bucket of water off the balcony or out the window or door at midnight, with the secret hope of a new year that will truly be new.

Regina Coyula

25 December 2012

Translated from Diario de Cuba.

Diva-search / Regina Coyula #Cuba

Bola de Nieve

Readers, something light, in keeping with the season. In one of those conversations to fill the time between people who barely know each other, the topic of Divas came up. In Cuba, Alicia Alonso, distantly followed by Rosita Fornés; but neither Rita Montaner, nor Omara Portuondo, who were cited, are considered to be by me. Instead, I put forward Bola de Nieve (Snowball).

Diva (and Divo) is more than fame and career. Also each era has their own. Nearly a century ago Valentino’s status was undisputed, but today he would be ridiculous. The quintessential diva is Greta Garbo, but at that time Louise Brooks seemed much more interesting to me. Marilyn Monroe doesn’t impress me, but Sophia Loren, still today, has a powerful presence.

Sara Montiel and Carmen Sevilla are two nothings compared to La Faraona. And what can I say about Clark Gable? If he cleaned the Vaseline out of his hair, he could be a gallant or villain right now. Better a gallant, and that we see him take off more than the Vaseline. And the same for Ava Gardner with a slight makeover.

The way they’re presented in the news has made other artists, athletes and supermodels Divas just as much as the movies.

Mick Jagger, Cher, Andy Warhol, Tina Turner, Freddie Mercury, Usain Bolt, Cary Grant, Maria Felix … But everyone has their own.

Regina Coyula

December 27 2012

Professionals / E. Javier Hernandez H. #Cuba

Lic. Edilio Javier Hernández H.

There is a group of professionals in our society called to play an important role in the restoration of harmony between the people and the government, in the context of a Rule of Law which is seriously damaged, cracked and corrupt. We differentiate ourselves from the professionals of the health service, because apathy, idling, and ignoring of the Hippocratic Oath directly and lethally affect the general public.

Many professionals have decided to get rid of the connection with the impositions, demagogy, corruption and double standards, not agreeing to any more exploitation or manipulation or messing about indefinitely in bureaucracy.

We have recognised a new open group (years ago I knew about two of them who browsed the health website infomed) of surgeons and doctors from the Calixto Garcia Hospital, who courageously say what the majority of the Cuban population think but do not dare to express, about the administrative chaos experienced by our society in all the administrative structures and organisations of the state

All praise to those doctors who step forward for other professionals and intellectuals who stick their heads in the sand like ostriches when they see any danger. There are numerous examples of official and social associations, congresses, events and workshops, which act as umbrellas or windbreaks, shielding themselves against the rain and gusts of disappointment, frustration and unachievable hopes, which are our reality.

It seems also that analysis of the Lineamientos (Guidelines) has failed to serve as a problem bank or a generator of ideas to take forward as action to break through the inertia. Is it so hard, considering that the leaders don’t account to us for what they are managing, or say when things they are doing will be completed, or not, or tell us how much longer we will have to wait or continue to trust in them.

In tribute to those brave doctors, I would like to say to the other professionals in our country:

I still like my work; how much could we do, how much could we change if only some tribunal lawyers, some prosecution lawyers, legislative lawyers, defence lawyers, or consultants were to stop submitting and giving in to law which is ideological and burdensome, above all imposed by all the well-known organisations, the Party, the Military and the Ministries.

These are extracts from the Eighth Congress of the United Nations on Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Criminals, which took place from 27th August to 7th September 1990 in Havana, Cuba:

… considering that the appropriate protection of human rights and fundamental liberties which may be invoked by every person, whether they be economic, social and cultural or civil and political, requires that every person have effective access to legal services provided by an independent legal profession.

the Basic Principles of Legal Practice which appear below, which have been formulated in order to assist member states in their task of promoting and guaranteeing the proper performance of lawyers, should be taken into account and respected by governments when framing their legislation and practice in their countries, and should be brought to the attention of lawyers, and others such as judges, prosecutors, members and officials of the executive and legislative powers, and the public in general …

 Access to expert assistance and legal services

1. Every person is entitled to seek the assistance of a lawyer of their own choosing, in order that they may protect and demonstrate their rights and and defend them in all stages of the legal process.

2. Governments will ensure that they establish efficient procedures and adequate mechanisms to enable effective and equal access to expert assistance on the part of all persons within their territory and who are subject to their jurisdiction, without any kind of distinction, such as discrimination based upon race, color, ethnic origin, sex, language, religion, their opinions whether political or of other type, national or social origin, economic situation or position, birth, or other condition.

The sentences of tribunals will gain greater conviction and their debates greater majesty.

The lawyers will be more highly regarded; the guarantees are to be published and affirmed.

For people to be free, their rights have to be clear. For people to govern themselves,  their rights have to be common …

From Nuestra América, José Martí.

We still have time to set an example to other professions.

Translated by GH

December 21 2012

Christmas of 2012 / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo




(Translation from the original Spanish “Navidades de 2012″ of OLPL by El Niño Atómico, juanrpollo@aol.com)

This prayer
is
actually
a plagiarism.

It was read
ten years ago
her voice cracked with anger
by a girl
who was dying of cold
by a spring
without a name
in Matanzas.

It was
the Christmas of 2002
and we
were saying goodbye
to ourselves.
None thought
we’d survive too long.

It was Cuba
and the illuminated sadness
of each December
and new year’s eve
crackled
in our desolate
sexes
with a silence
so
atrocious.

She wanted to die
but dared not as much
sitting
alone
in her long table without parents
after days of fears
which ended
in decades of betrayals.

I would have liked
to bring death closer to her
with my hands of loving her
of smearing
the wonders and lies of love
but I dared not, either
and that mediocrity
was our pettiest fear
and penultimate betrayal.

I remember her now
as then
reading her poem
“Christmas of 2002″.
A fucking awesome poem.
Inalienable
instinctive
unpronounceable.

She read and wept.
She unread herself in tears
rather physiological
for no other reason
than hearing herself reading in Cuba
her own poem without a country.

In a tin cup
we toasted with bodega wine
that became the blood of the child God
in every sip
and every kiss without lips
without even a drop
going down
our throats.

The naked walls
like us.
From the ceiling hung
a dim couple
of saving bulbs.
In the neighborhood TVs
rang the hollow laughter
of a proletarian country
that demonic grin
that is all homeland in perpetuity.

We were excited.
We were crazy.
We could give birth to creatures
taken out of our heads.
We starred in a domestic gospel.

Never before the abyss of the sacred
looked at us from so deep.
Each slightest act
was immediately inscribed in eternity.

At twelve o’clock
she lowered his head
on the Formica table
and surrendered.

Dead tired.
Dead of words.
Dead time.
Dead of us.
Dead of treason.
Scared to death.
Really dead.

I carried.
I put her in her bed
as if in a womb
or a coffin.

I turned off the lights in her house
or crib
or manger
in a river neighborhood of Matanzas.
I laid at her feet.

The window open
to the sky’s clockwork.
The stars turned
always counterclockwise.

Then I began to cry
with that dirty silence
that scares even the suicides.
Crying of beauty
crying of gratitude
crying of humility
crying of perfection
and of being ephemeral.
How long will I take
to be able to tell this?,
I thought.

Ten, a hundred or a thousand more new year’s eves?
How many more times will in Cuba
again
be those
Christmas of 2002?




Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo

Hold on and wait a few minutes please. The lines are busy. / Rodrigo Chavez Rodriguez #Cuba

1356696026_chavezLic. Rodrigo Chávez Rodríguez

Shall we carry on waiting a few minutes? When we have already waited decades, we continue every day a bit more painfully dealing with the lines, or rather the twists of this “planet Cuba”

When I talk about twists, what I am obviously getting at is that at least they should give us some idea of how to follow the tricky route to actually communicate something, which is every day more controlled by the armed institutions of our Republic of Cuba. PNR*, DTI*, Immigration and Aliens, DSE* (Eyesight Test, known as Cajoteros because of its old initials KJ, as in “KT”, meaning illegal Phone Tapping).

We are also becoming subject to the latest technology such as “KE” (Checks in the Ether), “KF” (Checks on Films), “KM” (Microphone Checks) and the customary checking over letters and documents official and unofficial “KC” (Correspondence Checks) , like those to do with Illegal Arrest, without any legal recourse and completely ignoring what is expected and established in the Laws of this PLANET CUBA, on the part of the police instructors (DTI, DSE), who expect to be called Lawyers, when all they have is a Degree in Rights, which isn’t the same thing. Respect them!

Everyone is subject to this. From a Cuban citizen or foreigner of any position in society, to a tourist and including political leaders, and accredited diplomats both national and visiting.

Our Public Prosecutor will watch out for the true and only legality in any proceeding, delivering with absolute and clear justice its verdict and firm sentence via POPULAR TRIBUNALS, or, as applicable, those of the People, in relation to people of whatever position in society.

Those who find it impossible to give in to the powerful, will not be waiting for a few minutes please nor GETTING OFF THE LINE

In this way, phone calls are not guaranteed, and calls for our RIGHTS confirmed in our CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC, in the unknown UNITED NATIONS AGREEMENTS, which are  unknown to the great majority of the population and whatever RIGHTS experts.

Don’t hang up, don’t let them carry on making us wait any longer, for the only opportunity to speak more and more clearly. Don’t block the lines PLEASE.

Translator’s Notes:
PNR: National Revolutionary Police
DTI: Technical Department of Investigations
DSE: Department of State Security

Translated by GH

December 28 2012

Hallucinations? / Miriam Celaya #Cuba

Pierrot and Harlequin. Work by Paul Cezanne

Apparently, two weeks of home confinement, a prisoner of TV, have left me somewhat dopey. Flat out in bed, in a forced rest and without Internet access — except through some merciful friends who texted me with information not reported here, and another one who brought me a recap of news articles he downloaded from the web — I resigned myself to follow televised excerpts of the Seventh Legislature of the National Assembly and news of the schedules. In addition, I listened patiently to all the “reports” of each of the ministers, and I even stoically put up with the General’s euphoric speech in his eternal boring and nasal manner. It’s all in vain, it turns out I don’t understand a thing. The worst part is that Cuban TV seems to cause hallucinations.

I don’t understand, for example, why the “complete” repair of a stretch of 24 km of rail — which has a total of 800 km — conducted throughout the year 2012, is considered an achievement. If one adds the additional fact that the plan for 2013 is to “complete” 40 km of this important pathway (suggesting that only 16 km will be repaired in the coming year), is it not also a plan to go in reverse?

Another issue is that, if almost all parameters projected for 2012 have failed, such as agricultural production, housing construction, production of construction materials, the export plan (with an alarming increase imports of food and other goods), etc. If, in addition, the eastern region was hit by a vicious hurricane that caused huge losses to the economy and the already inadequate and deteriorating housing stock, if an important coffee crop and other crops were lost, among other items, and the few sugar mills we still have, which should have started producing sugar this harvest have been unable to do so… I wonder how it is that the economy has registered a growth in GDP of a respectable 3.1% and what indicators the General took into account to declare that, in the year about to end, “the favorable growth trend was preserved”; that we have been able to maintain a positive correlation between the growth in median income and productivity, which contributes to the internal financial stability” and that Cuba moves ahead in a “gradual reduction of its external debt, on the basis of strict compliance with its financial commitments”? I am so very confused!

I must confess that in the midst of fragments of this and that official trite speech which I have been listening to these past few days, unsurprisingly, I fell asleep. Let my reading friends have consideration for the real torture my brain, already sluggish because of the flu, underwent. The truth is that, though much of it was about economics, I never heard anyone speak of numbers, nor did I find out for sure what the total budget for 2013 was, though it was approved unanimously, as always, by our seasoned representatives. Small omissions that make me suspect that perhaps they too were suffering, like me, from a bad case of the flu and that’s the reason they were somewhat obtuse.

Closing this post, the stellar news this Sunday, December 16th, just released a report that has increased my confusion: Fidel Castro Ruz has been nominated for deputy of the National Assembly. How do you like that? In other words, the zombie politics includes reintroducing the Decrepit in Chief in life, symbolically, I would imagine, through the superior organ of the “people’s power”. Or maybe such a great farce is only one of those morbid pre-mortem tributes which are the fashion in Cuba in which old age seems to be the greatest merit of the honoree. I wouldn’t be surprised if they invent the post of “Absent Deputy”… just saying. Nothing new: in some ways it reminds me about the case of that other dictator, Augusto Pinochet, who achieved his last fantasies of retaining some political power through his appointment as Senator for Life. Latin-American dictatorial histories have a curious recurrence.

But we must not be too surprised. In short, judging by the inefficiency of the system, dusting off the sacred mummy could very well be part of Raul’s strategy for the “renovation” he has undertaken in this kingdom of the dead.

By Miriam Celaya

Translated by Norma Whiting

December 17 2012

Couldn’t the Journalist Wait? #Cuba

By Osvaldo Rodríguez Díaz

In the month of November 2011, the concern and emotional state of the family and friends of an accused person reached an intolerable level. They were shocked at the in-your-face and disrespectful manner in which the press referred to the defendant.

The following appeared in the newspaper Granma on 8 November 2011 in a piece headed Theft and Killing of Cattle:

One of the accused, ex-director of CENOP, in a municipality in the capital city, refers, in a totally impertinent manner, to the insecurity of the control arrangements, which he took advantage of, in order to carry out illegal acts, and he boasted of having got round the requirements of laws and decisions, making use of wide open gaps in the arrangements. 

We don’t know how the journalist got access to the information during the preliminary investigation stage, as neither the attorney nor the lawyer, as parties in the legal procedure, were notified of this.

The obvious concern of the relatives of the accused was that this report in a national newspaper could, from that moment, have a negative influence on the views of the judges appointed to deal with the case, which is unhealthy in terms of due process, apart from the fact that in our country we have complained when other parts of the media have got up to such tricks for this kind of purpose.

Fortunately, the judgement has already occurred and it is possible that the tribunal members were not aware of the aforementioned article.

The journalist doesn’t know whether the information provided by the accused is very useful, and it is a great source of regret that tribunals take it into account as mitigating circumstance, by way of Article 52 of the Penal Code.

But, remarkably, the same journalist says that, taking into account similar judgements (to those of the accused, presumably),the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI) now expects to make the procedures more flexible in order to deal with the present gaps.

Beware: every accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in open court; couldn’t the journalist have waited for that?

Also, it wasn’t proved in the judgement that the accused would obtain any personal benefit, but would only assist the owners of the cattle in getting the better of the bureaucrats.

Translated by GH

December 26 2012

Guillermo Garcia, a Stallion Difficult to Characterize / Juan Juan Almeida #Cuba

Comandante de La Revolución Guillermo García
Commander of the Revolution Guillermo García

The Commander smiled and said, more with an air of conviction than inclination to repentance, “Gentlemen, gentlemen, we are of a certain age, and certainly will not be returning to school; but to prisons, nobody knows.”

This true story sums up the personality of a gentleman whom I should not describe with adjectives. A man for whom yachting is an ordeal, and although he does it with the boss, sailors, servants, bodyguards, and a very heterogeneous range of escorts, as he sets foot on land again he repeats, “The sea is no place for farmers.”

Guillermo García Frías is one of the Commanders of the Revolution, a very picturesque type difficult to characterize, to describe as stupid or genius. A native of El Platano in the heart of the Sierra Maestra, Pilon municipality, Granma province, he possesses an interesting view of life.

Not long ago someone threw him a party to try to reunite his countless children. No lack of food, beverages, cheerful guateque chords enlivened with cockfighting, pile driving, a greased pole, décimas, and the infectious beat of his inseparable and legendary oriental organ. But the singular touch was when Varguitas (his loyal chief of bodyguards), presented his sons and Guillermo asked, “What about you, my boy, whose son are you, who’s your mother?”

I remember once we traveled to Las Coloradas in Bayamo in the executive helicopter. I was born on December 2 and, as a birthday present, for many years I was invited to the ceremony commemorating the landing of the yacht Granma. On that occasion, perhaps from nervousness, or excess alcohol, Guillermo did not stop talking; and taking advantage of his permissive tone, irreverent, folksy, while his conversation was passing what appeared to be an analysis of the socio-political situation in Cuba, I approached him and disagreed with great respect, “…but Guillermo, in Cuba there is discontent, there is even dissent.”

“You think so?” For a second he looked something he didn’t find, called out to his security chief and without arrogance ordered, “Varguitas, serve us some Jim Beam and tell the driver to slow this thing up a little bit so that we can look at the faces of the people in the city.”

His order was carried out ipso facto, and in the brief descent we began to discover distracted people walking with their heads down, barely knowing they were being spied on. Children playing, running happily looking at the sky, trying to reach our craft like a dream. Old men who raised their arms and toothlessly smiled saying goodbye. And at every three or four corners we could see a small group of friends gathered around a bottle of rum or a game of dominoes.

“Look, my boy,” Commander Guillermo begin to prophesy with a definite aesthetic that I still can’t place, between shameless irony or wisdom, “There will always be the discontented, but there is no dissent, just a few dissidents who share the same passion of us, the leaders: Power.”

He paused, took a breath, swallowed a sip of his favorite Bourbon Whiskey and continued, “But these dissidents are lost competing among themselves, passionate in seeking outside what they don’t want within.”

Within grandiosity he approached the window and, with more guilt than pain, passed sentence, “These people you see have not lost their values, but time has petrified them, the inertia they are used to makes them behave like oxen facing cows in heat. Smart people say this is called Entropy.”

Juan Juan Almeida

December 25 2012

The Turn of the Outraged / Jeovany Jimenez Vega #Cuba

In March 2007 the Attorney General of the Republic replied just once to the first of three applications by two doctors who had been unjustly disqualified. It wasn’t just a technical report issued by a non-political and autonomous body against two citizens who considered their rights had been fundamentally violated, but this retrospective response was a vendetta, a written crucifixion using biased and politically-chargedlanguage.

But for some mysterious reason, and in spite of the fact that more than five years have passed, I woke up this morning with a couple of doubts circling in my mind. This is what they were about: if, hypothetically, the two people affected were now to decide to file a lawsuit at the Peoples’ Tribunal against those responsible for the serious injury suffered, what process would they have to follow? Would it now be considered appropriate for our Attorney General to accuse these officials – who doubtless still occupy public service positions – of having subjected us to public humiliation and grave professional and family damage?

Above all, the conclusion would unavoidably be drawn that we should be reinstated in our profession and recompensed for the salary owed to us to cover the period in which we had been disqualified; the implication would be clear that it was a total injustice, and that in order to throw the book at us they played with the truth, they slandered us and, obviously, someone was responsible. Today I would ask our “honorable” Attorney General who five years ago dismissed all the evidence in our favour, if we still have the right to accuse those persons who, enjoying full authority, never did anything.

I wonder if one could still proceed on the grounds of perjury and defamation against the then Provincial Director of Health of Havana, Dr Wilfredo Lorenzo Felipe, who is now Municipal Director of Health of Guanajay, and his wife, Doctor Beatriz Torres Pérez, who was then Dean of the Western Branch of the Institute of Medical Science of Havana, against the then Minister of Public Health, Dr. José Ramón Balaguer Cabrera, who is now the Head of International Relations of the Central Committee of the Party, who ignored the 10 letters sent to him, and the present-day Minister, Dr. Roberto Morales Ojeda, who ignored several others.

I wonder if one could proceed against the President of Parliament,Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada on the basis of perversion of the course of justice, and against Esteban Lazo, Vice President of the Council of State, and Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, First Vice President of the Council of State, or Raul Castro, our President, who received four letters which were not replied to – just a question. All these persons, even if they weren’t responsible for what happened, at least knew about it for years and did nothing about it.

Moving on, I ask myself if the Attorney General of the Republic would consider it to be in order to commence an action for perversion of the course of justice against itself as an institution, for having, since mid-2007, rejected the evidence which should have resulted in our immediate readmission, as it showed that the facts were twisted in order to punish us for political reasons. I am supposedly living under a Rule of Law – as my government assures us – which gives me the authority, I believe, as an ordinary citizen — perhaps Citizen Zero — to place before the relevant powers such resources as I believe necessary to guarantee my personal liberties.

I am not proposing to dig around in the shit. My long and patient struggle to return to work in my profession has made me grow and rise above my miseries. Now I am only driven by curiosity, because although I have the right to feel resentment still, nevertheless I have decided to follow the noble advice of Reinaldo Escobar and Yoani Sanchez, those blessed miscreants who, just a few hours after my reinstatement, proposed that from that moment I should concentrate on my health and forgive everything; after everything it was those “warmongers” who – paradoxically – put it to me that I should have the courage and stature to forget.

by Jeovany Jimenez Vega.

Translated by GH

November 13 2012

 

A Smoky Exploit / Regina Coyula #Cuba

During these final days of the year the chatter in my neighborhood has focused on a woman who traded up from a nice little house to a gorgeous residence on a corner lot. This neighbor spared no expense in order to create the home she wanted. An array of private and state-owned trucks delivered material to the site where a building team repaired and remodeled the home over the course of more than a year, following the owner’s instructions. Residents of Nuevo Vedado are used to seeing nice houses—ones that are in good repair and well-maintained—but they were astonished by the magnitude of this project. When they told me about it and I later saw the house, all I could say was, “They are waiting for her to finish it so they can seize it.”

I do not know if the house was ever completed, but the owner was fired from her job. It is rumored that she is facing investigation at a farm called “La Campana,” which I believe is the place where corruption cases are handled. The police conducted a search and filmed the entire house, but the neighbors found out, to their great surprise, that the remodelling project was not the cause but a consequence. It seems the owner, who was recently fired as director of a cigar factory, is under investigation for matters related to the factory’s output.

Since November we have known about the detention of the company’s general manager related to the shipment of contraband cigars to Europe. I won’t deny that I immediately thought of my neighbor, the director of that same company. For a long time she emerged unscathed after anonymous and on-the-record accusations were made by her own workers.

I understand she was very confrontational, and was even offered the directorship of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution to which she belonged. She also active in the Cuban Communist Party and cracked the whip at her workplace. I am not surprised. Someone told me it was a shame what had happened—it was a way of personally profiting by robbing the state because, if these managers are harming anyone, it is their employer.

The neighbor has not been tried and remains innocent until proven guilty. But I am not happy about this. Corruption depletes my county’s patrimony and that of all its citizens. Anyone who has followed the recent history of Russia and the other Soviet republics will know that many of the USSR’s now-discredited company managers shielded themselves as they set about getting rich. With of all their stolen gains, they are now rich and powerful businessmen, mafiosi or both. When it comes to the multi-million dollar tobacco industry, it seems that robbery is practiced on a grand scale.

Regina Coyula

December 25 2012

A Complex Scenario / Fernando Damaso #Cuba

Photo: Peter Deel

When power has been exercised unilaterally in a country by one person for too long—applying formulas capriciously by using political and state institutions and organizations, as well as others created specifically to implement them—it becomes very difficult for whoever replaces him to effect profound and substantial change, regardless of whether or not there is the will to carry it out. Unfortunately, this is the situation in which Cuba currently finds itself.

To systematically dismantle a system that, in spite of its innumerable and repeated promises, has not only been unable in more than fifty years to resolve the economic, political and social problems, but has aggravated them while creating new ones, is a very complex task. Adding to the difficulty is the intention to carry out this process without affecting the already very diminished reputation of the former leader. Complicating things further is the fact that the person carrying out this task is someone intimately linked to his predecessor by familial bonds as well as by shared responsibilities, and whose efforts are either supported or questioned within his own inner circle.

Given this complex scenario, it is understandable that the economic measures, which have thus far been approved, are so shallow and that their implementation so slow. The stated rationale for these measures also ignores the need for social and political changes by refusing to even mention them. Even if we assume there is a desire to “update the model,” this will not solve the problem since it is precisely the “model” itself that is not working. Dedicating a large amount of the time remaining to drafting a framework of laws, rules, regulations and limitations with the goal of salvaging it can only lead to the most abject failure.

No one will deny that a country needs laws and regulations to assure organized development and harmony among its citizens, but that is one thing and this is another. Laws which are approved and applied like a straight jacket to prop up something that is being maintained by “miraculous stasis,” will not satisfy people’s expectations. It seems that this is what is happening in our country when what it is really needed is for change to be deepened, broadened and accelerated.

Fernando Damaso

December 26 2012

This Is Not Spoken Of / Yoani Sanchez #Cuba

Brick by brick Eliécer builds the pen for the pigs, washes the floor with a hose and feeds the plump sow that recently gave birth. A neighbor passes by and shouts to him, “Hey! ‘Your friend’ Alarcón is no longer in Parliament!” The words are out of sync with the situation, bringing a dose of highly charged politics to the harsh day-to-day. But for the young man from Las Tunas such contrasts are already common.

Five years ago he was in a meeting room at the University of Information Sciences with a microphone in his hand. Today, he tries to earn a living in the midst of the material shortages and misunderstandings of a provincial town.

When the list of deputies to the Eighth Parliament was published a few days ago, many immediately thought of Eliécer Ávila. In January of 2008, then a student at the University of Information Sciences (UCI), he questioned the President of the National Assembly who responded with Manichean — and even ridiculous — arguments.

The video of that moment spread with a velocity unprecedented in the newly opened alternative networks for distributing audiovisuals. This event contributed to the acceleration of the countdown for Ricardo Alarcón. A fall from grace already anticipated by his not being included in Fidel Castro’s proclamation when he delegated power to the men he most trusted. The veteran diplomat become parliamentarian was not among those chosen to occupy one of the major posts of the government. It only remained for his replacement to become effective, which — at the slow-moving pace of the Cuban Nomenklatura — will occur in February 2013.

Beyond the ousted official and a young man with the energy and clarity to go much further, it’s worth analyzing how the news has played in the Cuban press. Over the entire week it has published the name and a short biography of each deputy. It has also analyzed the percentage of women, farmers and young people who will occupy the seats in the Palace of Conventions… but without a single word about the current parliamentary president who will step down from his post.

Can you imagine a press, truly attentive to reality, that doesn’t mention what is spoken about in every street, every corner, every Cuban house? Can you conceive of Eliécer Ávila’s neighbors having a better “nose for the news,” being better informed, than all the reporters of the newspaper Granma?

Yoani Sanchez

New Zealand Butter / Yoani Sanchez #Cuba

atrapadosThe chicken comes from Canada, the label on the salt says it comes from Chile, the “tropical marinade” is “Made in the USA” and the sugar is from Brazil. The milk has a Dutch cow on the tetra pack, the lemon juice was processed in Mexico and the hamburger meat advertises in large letters that it is “one hundred percent Argentine beef.” The cheese package says that it’s Gouda from Germany, and the cookies have some Chinese characters explaining their origin, while the rice was cultivated in the paddies of Vietnam. We are drowning in the foreign!

So I asked an economist friend why the butter from the kiosk in our neighborhood is from New Zealand. Is it because we can’t produce such a basic food? And, I demanded, isn’t there some place closer we could get it from? The young woman, a graduate from the University of Havana, responded with the same phrase as the title of one of our comedy shows, “Let me tell you…” Then she told me that after finishing her studies they assigned her to complete her Social Service in an agency of the Ministry of the Food Industry. There, the fat freight invoices paid to transport goods from distant countries came to her attention. She took a list of some of them to the director, among which was one for powdered milk bought from some distant place in Oceania. The man cleared his throat and told her, “Don’t get mixed up in this because it’s rumored that the factory over there is owned by a Cuban higher-up…”

It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that individuals well-placed in the framework of power of this country own industries abroad under cover names. Equally unacceptable would be privileging the importing of products from these companies over ones that are closer and cheaper. That is, that so much money from the national coffers would end up in the pockets of a few — also nationals — who are the same people who decide where to buy from. Like a skilled magician passes a wad of bills, without our being able to see it, from his left hand to his right hand. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why certain brands — really bad and exorbitantly priced — monopolize the shelves in our stores. The old trick of “buying from yourself” would cause the country to incur excessive charges and crowd out domestic products of higher quality and lower cost.

I know, reader, that all this seems to be the fruit of great paranoia on the part of my friend… and on mine as well; but I hope that one day we’ll know, we’ll know everything.

27 December 2012