April 2016 – Page 3 – Translating Cuba

Havana Yields To Pressure and Allows Cuban Passengers On Cruise Ships / 14ymedio

Demonstration at the headquarters of Carnival Cruise Lines in Miami. — Demonstration at the headquarters of Carnival Cruise Lines.

14ymedio, 22 April 2016 – The Cuban government changed its immigration policy with regards to maritime travel. The scandal provoked by the refusal of Carnival cruise lines to sell tickets on its cruises to the island to citizens of Cuban origin – a policy subsequently rectified by the cruise line – has forced Havana to authorize the entry and departure of Cuban citizens “regardless of their immigration status” both as passengers or crew members on merchant and cruise ships. Similarly, the same measure will be gradually implemented with regards to pleasure yachts.

The Government issued a news release early Friday that details the new provisions and reminds crew members wishing to enter Cuba by sea that they have to apply for the permits “through the established employment institutions.” continue reading

The note also points out that “Cuban citizens residing in the country will have to have a visa for the country or countries they will visit.”

The Government said that the measure that would have prevented travel between Cuba and the United States by sea was intended to avoid and prevent “terrorist actions” that “Cuba has been the victim of numerous times since the triumph of the Revolution in 1959.” For the same reason, changing immigration policy will be accompanied by an exchange with the US authorities aimed at establishing bilateral measures to ensure national security of both countries.

Carnival signed contracts with Cuban companies last March for the start of cruise operations cruise Cuba and the United States and announced that the first of its cruises would take place on 1 May. However, controversy erupted when the company’s decision not to sell tickets to Cuban passengers came to like, excusing itself by noting that Cuban law did not allow entry by sea to Cubans.

The protests of exiles in Miami, which have reached the courts, led US Secretary of State John Kerry to speak out against the decision of the shipping company, to ensure that it would not discriminate against Cubans. Carnival announced earlier this week that it would allow Cubans to make reservations and that it would try to get the Cuban authorities to modify the contested legislation. The chain of events has finally forced the Cuban government to make a decision that it will allow the signed contract to go forward.

Cuban Economist Omar Everleny Perez Fired For Maintaining Contacts With US / 14ymedio

Economist Omar Everleny Perez. (Palabra Nueva)

14ymedio, Havana, 21 April 2016 — Economist Omar Everleny Perez was expelled from the Center for Studies of the Cuban Economy at the University of Havana, accused of maintaining contacts with representatives of the United States and passing on information about the work of the Center without authorization. An academic and a consultant on the reforms promoted by President Raul Castro, Everleny Perez had been critical of some government measures.

According to a senior academic source, the rector of the University of Havana is responsible for the firing, being the “one who pulls the strings behind the curtain.” continue reading

The news of the expulsion began circulating last weekend, although it occurred a few days after US President, Barack Obama’s visit to the island in late March.

In December 2014, after the announcement of the reestablishment of relations between Cuba and the United States, the expert was excited about the repercussions it would have on the island. “I think the change will be much faster than we think, because the possibilities are endless because it will unlock one of the main problems of Cuba, which is the inflow of foreign exchange,” he said.

Obama’s recent trip to Cuba raised a wave of criticism from the authorities that reflect the concerns of some sectors of the regime to the new situation created by the resumption of diplomatic relations with Washington. The first to speak out, at the end of March, was former president Fidel Castro, who reproached the US president for his “syrupy” words.

On Monday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party Obama’s trip was “a visit in which there was an all out attack on our conception, our history, our culture and our symbols.” The voice of the number two man at the Cuban embassy in Madrid, Miguel Moré Santana was added in a video that recently spread through the social networks, where he called the coverage of Obama’s visit by the Spanish media “a display of cultural, psychological and media war without parallel.”

Everleny Perez, 56, has been viewed for years as an example of what can be done from within the system. His criticisms have been directed on many occasions to the excesses of centralism and he has ensured that Cuban state companies “have many ties to the non-state sector, which has advanced much more.” He has also been a champion of cooperatives, especially in the non-agricultural sector.

In an extensive interview with the magazine Palabra Nueva last February, he called on the government not to establish price controls on agricultural products, and the government decided to do at the beginning of this year, “because we already tried that in the long run the results are not what was hoped for.”

The resolution of dismissal from the Center for Studies of the Cuban Economy, signed on 8 April, speaks of the “permanent separation” of Everleny Perez after more than three decades of collaboration with the university.

Specializing in development economics, Perez met on numerous occasions with foreign scholars, especially Americans, as part of his work at the Center for Studies of the Cuban Economy.

In 2013, he was removed from the management of the institution for defending employees who wanted to publish in unofficial media and he also withdrew his membership in the Communist Party.

This reckoning, rather than an individual matter, is seen as a warning to those excited about an eventual deepening of reforms, similar to what happened when many were enthusiastic about Soviet perestroika in the late nineties.

Government Announces Reduction In Basic Good Prices as of Friday / 14ymedio

A shop with goods for sale in convertible peso (hard currency), Havana. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, 21 April 2016 — The Cuban government has announced a reduction in prices of food and other basic products sold in stores in Cuba convertible pesos (CUC) and Cuban pesos (CUP). The measure, which comes at a time of growing popular discontent over the rising cost of living and shortages, takes effect Friday in the state retail sales network.

A note read on Cuban TV primetime news on Thursday, announced that sales of products such as toilet paper, milk, soap, peas, toothpaste, chicken, corned beef, cookies, instant soft drinks and seasonings, will range from 20 centavos to 2 Cuban convertible pesos. continue reading

The move comes a few days after the conclusion of the 7th Congress of the Communist Party and seek to gradually increase the purchasing power of the Cuban peso in the short term, said the official note.

The text clarifies that the price cuts respond to the Central Report of the party conclave where Raul Castro reiterated that “wages and pensions are still insufficient to meet the basic needs of the Cuban family.”

The regulations provide for a decrease of 6% in the retail price of chicken sold in boxes using a single price in the so-called Hard Currency Collection Stores (TRD) managed by the Ministry of Domestic Trade (MINCIN). The product will experience a drop from 7 to 5 CUC per kilogram.

The so-called “cold light” fluorescent lightbulbs, will also benefit from a 40% discount, dropping from 1.00 CUC to 0.60 CUC while the popular floor mops for household cleaning, will cost 20 cents less.

Among the products most in demand that will have a new price is cooking oil, which will drop from 2.40 CUC a liter to 1.95 CUC.

Among the main complaints of the Cuban population are the high prices that do not correspond to salaries. As reported in the last session of the National Assembly, which met last December, the average monthly wage in the country was 640 pesos, the equivalent of $26 (US) or 26 CUC.

The digital site CiberCuba published the list of prices that will be effective this Friday which appears under the logo of the Ministry of Finance and Prices, although the official announcement said that the list will only see the light this Friday.

The announcement includes the price controls that have been implemented at a growing number of agricultural markets since the beginning of the year. A measure that has not managed to reduce popular discontent.

From the early hours of Thursday afternoon the rumor had spread through Havana’s neighborhoods and customers delayed their purchases to benefit from cheaper food which comes into effect tomorrow.

However, the “definitive” solution to the “complex reality” of prices will only be achieved with “increased productivity and efficiency” in the national economy, explains the official note.

Raul Castro: More Boring and Conservative Than Ever / Iván García

Ivan Garcia, 17 April 2016 — A little bent and dressed in civilian clothes, with a dark blue suit, light blue shirt, no tie, gold metallic glasses, and a star on his bag, Raul Castro Ruz, 84, president hand-picked by his brother Fidel in 2006, among applause advanced to the dais in the corner of the room in the Palace of Conventions west of Havana.

After briefly adjusting the microphone and with a voice more hoarse than usual, the first secretary of the Communist Party began the longest and most boring speech of his political repertoire. continue reading

It was a quarter past ten on the morning of Saturday, 16 April, when the Cuban autocrat began taking stock of the last five years that had passed since the previous congress, held in 2011. In the room a thousand delegates and nearly three hundred guests waited for a transcendental announcement. The speech was broadcast life by Channel 6 on Rebel Radio.

At least in the La Vibora district adjacent to the so-called Red Square, very close to an old bus stop, people were doing other things. At that same time that Raul Castro began his spiel, Rebel TV broadcast the match between Real Madrid and Getafe, a serious competition.

In his apartment, watching the TV, Rene and his two sons chewed their nails watching Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. When asked their opinions about the 7th Congress, which had just opened, neither had anything to say. I was on my way out when the father said, “Sorry man, I’m not up for that humpbacked grindstone.”

Diana, an office clerk, took advantage of the time to wash clothes and clean the house. “Nobody cares about that. Saturday is for doing things around the house and watching movies of the weekly packet at night.”

Of thirty neighborhood residents, only two listened to the speech. A patchwork, but they knew what it was about. For Fabricio, self-employed, was interested in knowing if there would be a new twist that would benefit private entrepreneurs.

“They just announced a wholesale market for private non-agricultural cooperatives and who have leased places from the State. I expected they’d report more about it. Vaguely, Raul talked about a new legal framework for private businesses, but without approving measures that will make the proposals launched by Obama effective. He even said that the policies would not allow the self-employed to concentrate businesses and capital. I hope that before the end of the event they will announce something positive.”

Jose Carlos, retired military, in shorts and slippers, smoking and drinking coffee, saw Raul Castro’s appearance on TV. “I’ll have to analyze the speech later when it comes out in [the newspaper] Granma. But it seemed very conservative and long to me. Raul always stood out for the brevity of his speeches. Strategically, the government is backing off. Obama left Cuba on 22 March, but the sequel he left behind is a concern to more than one in the Politburo. What’s the economic situation of the country? It seems irresponsible to me to slow down measures that could get us out of the doldrums.”

For the former soldier, Raul’s comment about the difference between Democrats and Republicans in the US struck a nerve: “It’s like as if one day we had two political parties on the island, and I led one and Fidel led the other,” the general-president joked. The message for Jose Carlos was, “In Cuba, in the political arena, nothing is going to change.”

Not even many of the opponents followed the speech life. Some were traveling outside the country and others prefer to read it in the press and listen to summaries.

The dissident poet and journalist Jorge Olivera spent two hours and twenty minutes in front of the TV. The speech, little of note. “More of the same. Raul Castro repeated his litany on the economic plane and in the political he kept his foot on the brake. If someone expected something new, they’re disappointed.”

Hildebrando Chaviano, an opposition lawyer and independent journalist, who in the last elections ran for election to the People’s Power, believes that there is a regression to the past. “It’s notable even in the repression. When I returned from a trip to Peru, Customs dusted off their old methods of seizing books and papers. The impact of Obama’s visit has been a Trojan Horse. The government will do what it knows best, exercise social control and repress those who think differently. In any event, something they will have to announce at this congress. Time is running out and so is the apathy of the people toward the system in general.”

Castro II replayed the worn out anti-imperialist rhetoric and the attacks on the OAS. With regards to future business with the United States, his words implied that the government will only accept what benefits state enterprises.

He returned to the exotic Soviet narrative, of hollow slogans and a warlike atmosphere. Language from other times now re-soled with the news that on 2 December there will be a lavish military parage to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the ninetieth birthday of his brother Fidel.

Although he announced a reform of the Constitution, the most striking was the decision to limit to the age of entry into the Central Committee to people 60 or under, and for the Politburo, 70 and under. Putting makeup on the face of the exterior gallery.

An attempt to “rejuvenate” a nation with a low birthrate, an unstoppable exodus (the vast majority of those emigrating are young people) and an accelerated aging of the population.

Like it or not, Cuba will remain a country of ole people. In any case, the “rejuvenation” in the party leadership will begin to be seen in 2018, after Raul Castro retires.

And the old Castro leadership always valued above all good or evil. The rules are for others. Not them.

The Leaders Feel “Threatened” After Obama’s Visit / 14ymedio

Eduardo Cardet, national coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement. (Flickr)

14ymedio, 21 April 2106 — The national coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), Eduardo Cardet, argues that the communist leaders of Cuba felt “very threatened” by the recent visit of US President Barack Obama. “They fear losing power,” he said told the Catholic news agency Aciprensa on Wednesday.

“This entrenchment (of the senior leaders) in that old position demonstrates the fragility they feel, the fear in the face of the change that our people are expecting. The people of Cuba have changed, there is a diversity that is manifesting itself and there is an exhaustion with this official discourse and there is no longer any identification with the message that they want to impose on the people,” he asserts. continue reading

For Cardet, the recently concluded Seventh Congress of the Cuban Communist Party has been “more of the same” and has failed to meet the expectations of the people. However, the coordinator of the MCL admitted that no significant change was not expected at that meeting.

The opposition stressed that even “moderate Communist members” are “extremely disappointed” because they had “the hope that there would be a certain renewal within the core of the party to bring a fresh air, fresh ideas and they have seen that that opportunity has vanished and that nothing really positive has happened.”

Cardet considered the harsh criticism from Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez directed on Monday at the United States president as a proof of the fear of the party leaders of losing power. “Because of this they are returning to these hardline positions,” returning to the rhetoric of confrontation and “pointing to the United States as the empire that is supposedly destroying the Cuban nation and all these fallacies that do nothing to support reconciliation or the normalization of relations,” he said.

The leader of the movement founded by Oswaldo Paya stressed that the continued repression towards the opposition “shows that the Government has no intention of changing with regards to political tolerance” and he invited Cubans to “be united and work hard” to achieve a transition to a state of law.

Foreign Minister’s Criticism Of Obama’s Cuba Visit Betrays Nervousness / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 19 April 2016 — Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez harshly criticized Barack Obama’s trip to Havana this Monday. It was “a visit in which there was an all out attack on our conception, our history, our culture and our symbols,” the minister told the 7th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party.

The Foreign Minister’s comments had the tone of a reflection on the concerns of some sectors of the regime before the new situation created by the resumption of diplomatic relations with Washington. First, it was Fidel Castro with his “Reflection” column at the end of March that reproached the United States president for his “syrupy” words. Later, a video was posted in which the number two man at Cuba’s embassy in Madrid, Miguel Moré Santana, expressed himself with great crudity before the Spanish committees of solidarity with the Cuban Revolution. continue reading

In that video, circulating on the social networks, the diplomat describes the coverage of Obama’s visit in Spanish media as “a display of cultural, psychological and media war without parallel.” In addition, he criticizes that “mercenaries in service to the United States” are used as the only sources of opinion, which he considers “a lack of respect for Cuba.”

The deputy ambassador says, for example, that the Spanish public television channel collected the impressions of Cubans on the arrival of President Obama only through the words of the regime opponent Guillermo Fariñas.

Moré Santana lashes out against the image other foreign media gave of the presence of Obama in the island. “It would seem it was a successful visit,” excoriates the diplomat, but calls the guest a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” and declares that now the Cuban government has to be “more measured” in its “discourse” because it already has diplomatic relations with the United States.

Moré Santana denounces “the constant slanders and campaigns of media contamination” against Cuba, starting with the idea of the embargo “that no longer exists or is on the path to extinction” or assertions that it is not the cause of the country’s economic problems. For the diplomat it is a battle “of the lion against the chained monkey,” because in his opinion the major media are able to influence and manipulate public opinion and also exercise control over social networks.

The diplomat argues that “the Cuban Revolution is experiencing the most difficult moment in its history,” because the mechanisms of destabilization used by the White House are now more subtle and are trying to “corrode” the process from the inside. He criticizes the flexibility measures implemented by the US administration, to ensure that “telecommunications is the number one target” in a new strategy “against Cuba.” They “come and tell us that they will facilitate – a kindness – free access for young Cubans to the Twitter network,” he adds.

Among Obama’s strategies criticized by Moré Santana is having contacted Panfilo “one day before arriving in Cuba… the most famous comedian” on the island. Through this telephone call, he says, Obama “opens the door, the easiest one of all, and that is of empathy,” and with this he “spread… the criticisms and thinking and many Cuban intellectuals who were in public debates” and “all that was effectively smothered.”

According to the diplomat, this policy is part of a plan of the “imperial powers” to “end the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela and create a domino effect that sweeps aside all the progressive and integration processes on the continent.”

Spain Will Disembark in Cuba in May / 14ymedio

The training ship Juan Sebastian Elcano is the best known barquentine of the Spanish Armada. (M. Exteriores)

14ymedio, Madrid, 21 April 2016 – The Spanish Navy training ship Juan Sebastian Elcano will dock in Havana on 11 May, arriving from Puerto Rico, according to Spain’s El Pais newspaper. It is not the first time the iconic Spanish ship has arrived on the island. On ten previous occasions the barquentine visited Havana.

However, according to journalist Miguel Gonzales, an expert in diplomacy, the arrival of the ship will in all likelihood coincide with the visit of the acting Foreign Minister, Jose Manual Garcia-Margallo, along with a business delegation, almost a metaphor for Spain’s landing on the island. continue reading

The Juan Sebastian Elcano, which visited Cuba for the first time in 1029, will continue its journey on the 16^th, heading for Miami, which makes the visit exceptional. “Most veterans do not remember the last time a warship, even it if is a masted schooner, covered the 200 miles that separate Havana from the capital of the Cuban exile in the United States,” the paper reported.

The Spanish daily claims that Spain does not want to lose time and is seeking to strengthen its position in Cuba, hence the economic, diplomatic and symbolic deployment, which will be crowned with the imminent signing of the pact to 375 million dollars in Cuba, notwithstanding the existing 2.5 billion debt owed by Cuba to Spain.

However, this landing will not include a visit from a senior official, due to the political paralysis in Spain since last December’s elections. Uncertainty prevents the prime minister (as of now Maraino Rajoy, in an acting position) from visiting Cuba, nor will King Felipe VI come, as his visit would have to be supervised by a government that, to date, there is no sign of forming.

Between 19 and 20 May the chambers of commerce of the two countries will meet in Havana. Secretary of State for Trade, Jaime García-Legaz, will make his fourth trip to the island in the last year with a group of entrepreneurs who are looking to explore business opportunities in Cuba.

Their Congress / 14ymedio, Luis Tornés Aguililla

The discussions in committees of the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party are guided by members of the Politburo. (MINREX)

14ymedio Luis Tornés Aguililla, San Sebastien, 20 April 2016 – As the priests of old used to say: Ite, missa est, that is: Go out there and tell them what I said, this mess is over now.

They closed the circle, this Communist Party Congress in Cuba that was, as always, a conclave of The Family, ending with its slogans, with its disciplined creeping things who applaud while verifying out of the corners of their eyes whether the compañero sitting next to them dared to not applaud.

It was a formality, a sort of cloister where they proclaimed the dogmatic incantations of a whole life which they themselves don’t believe in, because in Cuba as elsewhere, reality flees from artifice. Those assembled (rolling their eyes at the passion) know very well, as does Raul Castro: that’s it. continue reading

The opening speech of the sub-boss showed a real lack of respect for the Cuban people, especially when the general-president justified the existence of a single party in the political spectrum of the island; he said it with a cruel sarcasm, with that irony old men have when they know they are facing the abyss. It was a mocking self-assurance that we Cubans must not forget because it allows us to measure the enormous ideological fragility in which the regime finds itself.

We know perfectly well that if, at his age, the administrator for the Elder Idiot is amused by such antics, it is simply because the new status quo with the United States permits it. Right now, Castroism is a political circumstance under American control, a control arising from the financial accords with the Paris Club, the exchanges of every kind with the enemy, as if Havana is well worth all the senile tantrums and all the appearances of other times.

It is true that no one wants a civil conflict in Cuba, which would amount to (we have to admit it) three times the horror of the war in Syria given the grisly string of hatred and rancor accumulated since 1959. In that eventuality, the United States “apparatus” would prefer a million times and freedom-killing management of the current stiffs on tenterhooks.

The only viable option for Cuba to not cease to exist as a national entity appears to be the heroic struggle of the opposition on the island, a peaceful struggle whose vector is convincing the people that life is possible without repression, without political exiles, with decent wages and without fear. In the end, Cubans will win the battle, but the road to freedom is long.

Confrontation Between Cubans / Rebeca Monzo

Rebeca Monzo, 16 April 2016 — The government of Cuba classifies the Bay of Pigs as “the first defeat of imperialism in America”; this is a fallacy. The Bay of Pigs (or Playa Girón as it is called in Cuba), was merely a confrontation between Cubans that never should have happened.

A friend, who was married to one of the pilots who fought at the Bay of Pigs, told me that the father of her children, after a few years, disenchanted and irritated by the political situation that our country was being subjected to, decided to resign his post and leave for the United States, establishing himself in Miami. There he was reunited with former compañeros who had also deserted, and they begin meeting with and continue reading

sharing friendly exchanges with some of those other pilots against whom they had fought years earlier, but above all Cubans, feeling their hearts beating for the same homeland, forgetting the differences that had separated them.

One night, at one of the now common dinners where they exchanged experiences, they were all seated at the same table, sharing rich Island food, the pilot of my tory excused himself to go to the bathroom. Moments later, a loud noise was heard, which made the host run to the bathroom and he found his friend there, lying on the floor. Solicitously, he held him in his arms, just moments before he died.

Many years of confrontations, disagreements, misunderstandings and smear campaigns orchestrated by the regime on the island had to pass, so that finally two Cubans who never should have been converted into enemies, were forever united in an embrace.

Open Letter to Cuba’s Foreign Minister / Somos+, Jorge Ros

Mr. Bruno Rodriguez,

I am not going to say that your statements about President Obama’s visit surprised me, because nothing you do surprises me any more. Nor do I concern myself with looking for the logic in it, because there isn’t any. You, or some of you, are totally dogmatic and impractical. Because of this your system doesn’t work, because dogmas that didn’t work in the Cold War, and much less so now, predominate.

You said that President Obama’s visit was an attack. Your blindness doesn’t let you see that the president is extending a hand to Cuba to get it out of this economic slump of what you call socialism and that isn’t remotely socialism that you have caused it to fall into. Your myopia is such that continue reading

you don’t see how badly things are going in the country and you are even proud, I don’t know why, because it should make you feel badly.

Everything Obama said is true. We must respect people and let them express themselves. And we must let the people choose their leaders in a pluralistic way. You say that his saying that was an attack on the cultural and political conceptions of the island. But you made a grave error.

It could be that your cultural and political conceptions are dictatorial and totalitarian. It could be that your vision of the government is a group that decides for everyone, and that has the gift of never being wrong and so you have maintained your unalterable dogma despite its failings. You live still believing in the class struggle, when this concept has been obsolete for dozens of years.

You talk about guarantees for a non-state sector in the economy. I refute that point and want to be very clear. The guarantees that we need to find are that of a productive and sustainable Cuban economy and it is demonstrated that this can only be achieved when the state doesn’t participate in it, and leaves small, medium and large businesses to fulfill their function of production through incentives and a profit for the owners.

The state benefits because successful businesses pay taxes that provide the resources to the state to carry out the functions that belong to it, which is not producing goods. The state must focus on developing the national infrastructure, on establishing an educational system that maximizes the talents of our children, on administering a universal healthcare system that works and where the material needs of such a system are not lacking as in Cuba. You might like to analyze how the Germans do it.

Their workers are protected through modern labor laws and not through making the government function like an employment agency that keeps most of the compensation that the workers should receive. And you have to respect the laws of supply and demand, because no free market system functions well when the state tries to manipulate it.

The function of the state is to create the conditions necessary for the private sector to be successful, because this success benefits everyone: The employers, the workers and the state.

Enough already with the farces and congresses of one party, a party that, if there were freedom, would not win a single election. Enough already with reciting idiocies and repeating dogmas to make the masters happy, enough already with insulting the president of a more powerful nation of the free world that is trying to help us and correct of the mistakes your dogmatism has produced.

My Esteemed Foreign Minister, your position should be to work with this great country that is offering its hand. If your dogmatism and myopia doesn’t allow you to see and recognize it, better you shut up and get out, because Cuba does not need people like you.

Sincerely,

Jorge Ros

Somos+, 20 April 2016

Communist Militancy Expresses Its Disenchantment On The Web / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 19 April 2016 — The 7th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba has confirmed the suspicions of the opposition. Despite the changes in the socio-political context of the island, the Party is not open to the possibility a multi-party political system, nor will there be new “forms of privatization” or “shock therapies” for the economy, as announced by President Raul Castro. But the disappointment transcends the ranks of the opposition and comes from their own membership. Some militants have opened friendly fire against the Party leadership and used their space on the web to express their opposition to the stagnation of the elites. continue reading

“The documents that will be put to the consideration and approval of the VII Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (…) will not be discussed with the membership at the grassroots,” reflected Francisco Rodriguez Cruz, known as “Paquito el de Cuba” and author of the blog of the same name. Rodriguez Cruz published an article before the Party Congress titled, “1,000 People Decide the Fate of the Nation?” “As a communist militant I think that is not enough,” he wrote.

Paquito el de Cuba considers appropriate mechanisms such as regional meetings with leaders of various sectors of society, evaluation assemblies and municipal elections, but considers them insufficient.

“Undoubtedly, these are valid ways. But pale (…) now that these decisions are already signed. I repeat in public, I believe I have the right (…) The changes underway and to come for Cuban society need much more discussion,” he claimed.

Yohan Gonzalez, from the official blog “From My Island,” begins a post titled “The Militant Who Wanted To Be,” by explaining how it was his dream as a young person to belong to the PCC. “I believe that only through membership could I be a good revolutionary and good Cuban,” he recalls. Gonzalez, who confesses he is a socialist and not a communist, returned his membership card to the Union of Young Communists (UJC) and abandoned his aspiration, because he says he would have liked to be a half-militant – “a person committed but realistic, disciplined but critical” – like Paquito el de Cuba, to whom he refers directly.

“The Congress (…) opens having failed to push the popular debate of its documents. I’m sure there are half-militants among the delegates, helpful people, with a capacity to represent. But the future of the country can not be in the hands of a few,” he says.

González regrets the lack of transparency and that Cubans can not access the documents the delegates have, that they don’t address social issues such as emigration, LGBTI rights or racism, and that there are no younger people among the Party elite. “I did not convert myself into this militant, but I have no regrets. Today I am more revolutionary than I wanted to be and more Cuban. I am an equal of that half-militant who will go along with everything that passes in the Congress but in the end will still have the sensation they he could have done much more,” he concludes.

“The time when the fate of Cuba it could be decided by a handful of men is over.” Thus begins the text entitled “The National Plan” by Harold Cardenas Lema, blogger on La Joven Cuba (Young Cuba).

The author gives a good overview of the collective intelligence of the Cuban people, who he considers the best educated in the region, to reproach the not taking into account of this human capital.

“Our country has a thousand and one problems to resolve, some products of the blockade and others very much our own,” he says, before offering a review of the reasons why the citizenry has given “a blank check to the country’s leadership.” Cardenas shows that the bad governments prior to 1959 and the popularity of the Revolution led to a faith in the leadership of the PCC that has no foundation.

“It happens that this consensus was formed more than half a century ago, with a generation that knew capitalism, who experienced the Agrarian Reform Law, the Literacy Campaign. My generation knows only the Special Period, the vicissitudes and the breakdown of values. Can the same consensus work with us? I think not,” he says.

Nevertheless, the blogger proposes an exercise of understanding with the elites with those who think they have a plan. However, his belief that politicians live in a bubble that separates them from reality leads him to doubt the current capacity of the Party to solve Cubans’ problems.

“By now we should have learned to be inclusive and not exclusive when the time comes for collective construction. (…) This nation can temporarily engage in politics with the people or against the people, but permanently without the people is not possible,” he says.

News From the Invisible 7th Communist Party Congress / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar

The first vice president of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel, during the reading of the central report of the Seventh Congress of the PCC in Havana. (EFE)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 20 April 2016 — The most notable departures from the Central Committee of the Party elected at the Seventh Congress are: Rolando Alfonso Borges, who until now headed the ideological department dedicated to controlling the media; Yolanda Ferrer Gómez, who served as head of the International Relations Committee of the National Assembly of People’s Power and who spent long years as a second to Vilma Espin, Raul Castro’s late wife, in the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC); Agustin Lage Davila, brother of ousted Carlos Lage — former vice president of the Council of State and member of the Politburo– and director of an important scientific center; Abel Prieto Jimenez, cultural affairs advisor to the president; and Harry Villegas Tamayo, survivor of Ernesto Guevara’s guerrilla actions in Bolivia.

To those who stepped down is added more than a hundred who died, destitute and retired, who were on the list of the 142 members of the Central Committee elected at the 5th Congress, which was the last time before the just completed conclave that elections were held, as in the 6th Congress they were not. From that list from 1996 there are now only 33 remaining. continue reading

From those who were handpicked over the last 19 years, 32 have keep their positions. It is noteworthy that Joaquín Bernal, the current Minister of Culture who is often presented as a member of the select group, has been left off the list, along with others unknown whom no one would miss. If the math does not fail us, we can assume that there are 77 new entrants, representing more than 50% of the total membership.

The perception of paralysis resulting from a reading of the documents adopted at the event contrasts with this remarkable injection of fresh blood, but it is reinforced by the fact that most of the members of the Politburo have remained in their positions, and especially by the presence of Raul Castro and Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, who have given the impression of being the only ones who know what can be changed in the so-called process of perfecting the system.

If something positive happened at the Palace of Conventions in recent days it is that the prediction that there would be a nepotistic trend, raising some of the heirs to the name of Castro to the highest Party structures, was not fulfilled. Everyone knows how the list of candidates that is “analyzed and discussed” by the delegates is drawn up. It has not transpired that anyone has objected to a name or questioned any absence from the list. So it is designed, and so it was approved by unanimous vote.

If they follow the new requirements established related to age, in the 8th Congress it could be that very few of the current members of the Central Committee will be reelected. But 2021 is too far away to make predictions, and in this game not everything is decided because the dominoes are shuffled face down.

Raul Castro Re-Elected First Secretary Of The Communist Party Of Cuba / 14ymedio

Cuban President Raul Castro and former president Fidel Castro, on Tuesday at the VII Congress of the CCP. (EFE)

EFE (14ymedio), Havana, 19 April 2016 – The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) Tuesday re-elected the country’s president, Raul Castro, as first secretary of the organization, a position he has occupied since 2011, when he replaced his brother Fidel Castro.

The newly elected PCC Central Committee also ratified Jose Ramon Machado Ventura as deputy party secretary, a position he also held since the previous Congress of the organization, held five years ago. continue reading

After three days of meetings, the Seventh Party Congress is closing today, a day when the new composition of the bodies of the party and the Central Committee, the Political Bureau and the Secretariat was announced.

The Politburo now consists of 17 members, with five new members including the sevretary general of the official union, the Cuba Workers Center (CTC), Ulises Guilarte; Health Minister Roberto Morales; and the general secretary of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), Teresa Amarelle.

Completing the list are two women from academia, the rector of the University of Information Sciences (UCI), Miriam Nicado; and the directive of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Cuba (CIGB), Marta Ayala.

In the new composition of the Politburo, no longer members are General of the Armed Forces Abelardo Colome Ibarra, who resigned as Minister of the Interior last October for health reasons; and Adel Yzquierdo, Minister of Transport since September.

Remaining in the Politburo are the first and second secretaries of the PCC, Raul Castro and Machado Ventura; first Deputy Prime Minister, Miguel Diaz-Canel; Economy Minister Marino Murillo; Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez; Vice President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Ramiro Valdes; and deputy chairman of the State Council, Salvador Valdes Mesa.

Also continuing as members are the President of the National Assembly, Esteban Lazo; Minister of the Armed Forces (FAR), Leopoldo Cintra Frias; the first deputy minister of the FAR, Alvaro Lopez Miera; the deputy minister of the FAR, Ramon Espinosa; and the first secretary of the PCC in Havana, Mercedes Lopez.

The new Central Committee, the highest governing body of the Party between congresses, is composed of 142 members, with an average age of 54, lower than the average age of the previous committee elected in 2011, which was made up of 116 members.

In the new committee the representation of women reached 44%, higher than previously, and the percentage of blacks and mixed-race also increased, now accounting for 36%.

The Secretariat of the PCC remains almost unchanged ind its composition and consists of, in addition to Raul Castro and Machado Ventura, Abelardo Alvarez, Jose Ramon Balaguer, Olga Lidia Tapia, Jorge Cuevas and Omar Ruiz. The only novelty is the departure of Victor Gaute, chief of the civilian mission of collaboration in Venezuela.

Civic Engagement of Peruvians / 14ymedio, Manuel Cuesta Morua

An elderly man signs in at the polling station to exercise his right to vote in a school district of La Perla, Callao. (EFE / Eduardo Cavero)

14ymedio, Manuel Cuesta Morua, Havana, 19 April 2016 — In many ways, the elections in Peru reflect in some way the process of democratic maturation in the Americas. I participated in the elections of 2016 as an international observer in response to a shared invitation from Peru’s Political Institute for Freedom (IPL) and the Center for Assistance for Electoral Processes (CAPEL), based in Costa Rica. This was my third experience, after Argentina and Spain, whose electoral processes I also observed.

It was the first time that two representatives of Cuba’s public platform #Otro18 (Another 2018) managed to be present in elections as international observers. This has allowed us to look at the polls from a new angle to gauge the strength of the electoral system as a whole. continue reading

Electoral Integrity is, roughly, a concept that allows us to analyze elections from a conception that goes beyond the day of the vote. We observe the conditions of electoral competition, the degree of independence of the agencies involved in the process, the level of independence and freedom of citizens to elect and to be elected, the role of the press, respect for human rights, the balance of participation among candidates and, of course, the process itself starting from the call for elections through counting the votes and releasing the results, as well as all the logistical conditions.

Electoral Integrity goes to the quality of the process. It precedes the elections, follows them, and follows up post-election, looking at how citizens perceive the process itself. This concept holds that electoral systems are perfectible. A system is not a permanent given, rather every system has to evolve, readjust to technological conditions, and – this is fundamental – respond to changes in context. The main thing is the quality of representation and the clarity of the elections.

The idea is dying, therefore, that good elections are reduced to participation, calm, competition and transparency on the day of the vote.

Based on this concept, I was able to observe that the elections in Peru began long before they were called, at the end of 2015.

I was in Trujillo, the most important center of La Libertad region, in the north of Peru. In the National Organization of Electoral Processes (ONPE) I observed closely the well-oiled electoral architecture for the elections convened this April. I talked to the judges of the National Elections Board (JNE) and with the Organization of Electoral Processes, responsible for overseeing voting and ensuring the necessary logistics.

Voting is compulsory, with corresponding fines for those who do not turn out, but I noticed more civic engagement than fear of harm to one’s purchasing power. Fines respond, in any case, to social classes: 29 soles (the official currency) for the poorest, 90 for the middle classes, and 193 for economically privileged sectors. Probably 29 soles could be very important for the 20% in the lowest band of Peruvian society; however, 80% of the more than 23 million Peruvians who took to the polls could easily pay a fine, for them symbolic, to punish the system.

From here I drew a first conclusion: democracy is a civic virtue in Peru, despite the remnants of political violence. We attended a crowded rally at the end of the Pedro Pablo Kuczynski campaign. The participation of thousands of his followers was a sign that democratic conviction is probably more important than the political and communications capacity, and perhaps the vision, of their leaders.

I noticed that the leadership of the parties responds to the leadership and civic engagement of Peruvians, a fact that solidifies the soil of democracy in that country, although one should not lose the perspective of the importance and value of political leadership in democracy. My doubt arose from whether the presidential candidates shared the stature of their citizens.

A second condition of Electoral Integrity is thus satisfied: the political space for the civic expression of citizens. This is a substantial element to strengthen the relationship between civil society, the citizenry and political parties: electoral transparency.

The behavior of the press is the third essential element for Electoral Integrity. El Comercio, La Republica and Peru 21 , despite their clear backing for one candidate or another, covered the development of the day with good objectivity. The same happened with television. There was a balance in the treatment of candidates and plurality in editorial treatments, with arguments for all ideological tastes.

Peru voted. And, as the daily La Republica headlined on its front page on Monday the 11^th, the voters turned to the right. Adding the votes obtained by Keiko Fujimori (40%), Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (22%) and Alan Garcia (6%), shows that more than 67% of Peruvians voted for continuity while Veronika Mendoza , the candidate of the Frente Amplio (the Left) received only 18% of the votes.

The runoff between Fujimori and Kuczynski, on 5 June, will define the course of Peru for the next five years.

Inability to Differentiate?…or to Recognize Injustice? / Hablemos Press, Eduardo Herrera

Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute, the research scientist’s workplace. Photo/HP

Hablemos Press, Dr. Eduardo Herrera, Havana, 16 April 2016 – Juventud Rebelde newspaper, in its “Letters” section—in which they usually publish cases of social injustice or irregularities—ran an article this past 16 March titled, “Inability to Differentiate,” which recounts how a research scientist with the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute was slapped with a fine for trying to sell an Argentine national soccer team jersey.

The scientist’s name is Marité Bello Corredor, resident of No. 1714, Seventh Street, between Second and Acosta Avenue, Casino Deportivo district, Havana. At the time of the incident, she was on unpaid leave, caring for her sick mother. continue reading

Bello decided to sell the garment because she needed the money, but despite explaining to the inspectors that she is a worker, they imposed a fine on her of 1,500 Cuban pesos (about US$60), according to the article by journalist José Alejandro Rodríguez.

The columnist sees this event as an injustice, and I do not doubt that it is, because the matter pertains to a scientist, someone who makes significant contributions to society. Regardless, in my opinion there is an error in focus, because as it turns out, everyone, equally, should abide by the laws of the land, being that all citizens enjoy equal rights and are subject to equal duties, according to the Constitution.

What is shameful (for the Cuban state) is to see someone who makes a great social contribution having to sell an article of clothing at a bargain price just to survive.

In Cuba, many people who provide important benefits to society do not make a salary that can guarantee them a dignified life. Therefore they are liable to commit crimes without knowing.

A scientific researcher can make approximately US$60 a month—insufficient to feed himself properly, let alone feed a family, even a small one.

Personally, I would have titled José Alejandro Rodríguez’ article, “Incapacity to Recognize,” being that in our country, people’s work is not recognized, because workers are not compensated as they should be. Thus, citizens are discouraged from making greater contributions to society.

Translated by: Alicia Barraqué Ellison