Author: Fernando Dámaso

Taking advantage of the presence of foreign journalists, politicians, investors and numerous visitors on the occasion of the Second Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, in the days leading up to it and even during the summit itself, the Cuban government has deployed a massive publicity campaign, using all the available media, about the so-called “achievements” of its socialism, particularly in healthcare and education, as a means of trying to attract foreign investment in the Mariel Special Development Zone, through continuous messages, interviews and statements, assessing their multiple advantages. Ironically, this port that was used in 1980 as an exodus point for 123,000 Cubans, is now offered by the same authorities to welcome foreign capital, tax-haven included.

The result of a collaboration between Brazil and Cuba — with the first providing capital and the latter direction the construction — the Mariel Special Development Zone is betting on the displacement in the region of super-vessels, once the expansion project gets underway in the Panama Canal, and the need for deep water ports, modern port facilities, as well as the location of manufacturing plants within the port properties, with special tax treatments.

Undoubtedly, the Brazilian investment is more for “the day after” than for the present, with the objective of assuring an important economic presence in the Cuba of the future. The current statements are only a part of the “third world stage setting” so fashionably right now, where it’s the style to resuscitate the heroes of independence, in order to serve as “moral guarantors” for the politicians.

Another element to take into account is that its importance will only materialize of the United States eliminates the sanctions currently imposed on Cuba, including the so-called “blockade.” Without this it would be very difficult to attract super-vessels to this Cuban port, and even more so the foreign investments in manufacturing plants, whose products could not be sold in the United States. And so it’s easy to understand: this is a gamble with a great deal of uncertainty.

If we add to this the possibility that the next president of the United States will not be a Democrat but rather a Republican, do to the loss of acceptance among the citizenry of the current leader because he has failed to fulfill many of his campaign promises, the panorama becomes even more complex.

In any event, the gamble is already made and here, fortunately, there is no stepping back, because the capital is Brazilian and also has its interests. It only remains to pray, cross one’s fingers and hope it comes to pass, because for Cuba, discarding for now the false illusion of finding oil, it’s the only potential economic effort that can help us overcome the crisis in the near future, as long as the benefits reach down to ordinary Cubans and don’t remain solely at the heights of power and those who surround it.

31 January 2014

Recently I have visited some neighborhoods of the city, dodging puddles of putrid water and cave ins, in search of the real situation of private and state businesses.

the first, despite the abusive taxes and absurd regulations, they are developing successfully, some more than others which is logical, depending on the initiative and expertise of their proprietors, and every day new ones appear, filling with life the spaces vacant for too long in our city.

They reflect Cubans’ creativity and desire to triumph, presenting nice, modern, clean, well-lit places with quality offerings and good service, despite the fact that, for the most part, their prices are out of reach to the ordinary Cuban, which makes them elitists, because their customers are mainly — in addition to foreign residents and visitors — the citizens who enjoy a more comfortable economy, working in areas where freely convertible money circulates, or receiving remittances from abroad. continue reading

It’s almost obligatory to write about the Second Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), to be held in Havana on the 28th and 29th of the present month. To demonstrate efficiency, the organizers have already prepared the installations for the Summit, repaired and decorated the roads by which the participants, guests will travel and taken all the corresponding security measures. As always, those affected have been the citizens, who for some days have collided against the prohibited access, rerouted transit and many other regulations applied by the authorities.

CELAC, as we know, does not have among its interests the economic integration of the region; rather it is an instrument of coordination and agreement for Latin American and Caribbean cooperation. Thanks to this, the United States and Canada –possessors of great natural resources and developed economies — have been excluded from membership. That is, from its beginning, its principal promoter, the late Venezuelan president, applied the politics of his master, the ex-president of Cuba. It seems Canada was excluded so that the United States could be.

Although CELAC doesn’t interfere with the politics of each member country, it’s absurd to proclaim respect for the uniqueness of each individual,for diversity and  differences, when the member countries don’t do so and harass people within their own territory. At least, respect for individuals should constitute a moral imperative.

Thirty-three countries are members and it’s notable that the majority — although the most radical criticize the politics of the United States — have continued to belong to the Organization of American States (OAS), headquartered in Washington, with the exception of Cuba, expelled in the early years of the sixties, for not sharing the organizations democratic principles, and its inclusion has been proposed for some time, declined by the Cuban president, perhaps not wanting to support a new expulsion, its political interests not coinciding with those of the organization.

Despite these absurdities, the idea of regional cooperation at all levels is positive, whenever the Latin American and Caribbean presidents are capable of putting the ideological and political interests of the region ahead of their own, and engaging and respectful and responsible relations among themselves and with their close neighbors and the rest of the world. On an ever more globalized planet, its impossible to develop in isolation.

24 January 2014

Much is written and spoken in the official media about the upcoming 20th Congress of the Cuban Workers Center (CTC) and its importance to the workers. Nothing is further from the truth, considering that the CTC is a government organization designed for total control of the union movement in the interest of the Party and the State.

For many years, practically since the disappearance of Lázaro Peña as an authentic labor leader and Secretary General of this organization, it was converted into one of the many governmental tentacles to control the citizenry, in this case the workers.

Its conversion was being prepared from before, by the Aclaraciones [Clarifications] section of the newspaper Hoy [Today], organ of the Communists, written by its director Blas Roca (author also, in 1943, of the pseudo-scientific pamphlet “The Fundamentals of Socialism in Cuba” in which he tried to fit Cuban history within the dogmas of Marxism-Leninism and Stalinism), where he delineated and established a kind of Revolutionary Code about how the workers should behave in the new society: no restoring to strikes, following the Party’s and government’s orders, and prioritizing duties in detriment to rights.

Thus, they repealed by decree the independent employers and a unique and infallible employer: the State, whose strong and unconditional ally was the CTC.

This role, totally detached from the interests of the workers, was later sanctioned with laws and decrees, and with the designation from top to bottom of prefabricated union leaders, with no real influence over its representatives, ready to exercise its role as guardians of the flock, and prevent the appearance of true leaders.

Now, with the appearance of self-employed workers, one of the great preoccupations of the CTC is how to integrate the flock of the established syndicates, and not allowing them any affiliation or, even worse, creating their own unions rather than the existing and sanctified ones.

The CTC and its unions, who in all their years have responded to the Party and the government and never defended the rights of the workers, lack the credit to define themselves as their maximum representatives, and try to adapt themselves to the so-called “updating of the model” to be in tune with the moment, but without giving an inch on any of its prerogatives. A very difficult task before an ever more disbelieving population, tired of so many stories and storytellers.

20 January 2014

Official propaganda has always defended the view that the recognized social organizations in Cuba, are NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations). Although it is a lie, because they are organized and led by the party, but outside of Cuba they are deluded and believe it, and they even provide them with financial assistance, in addition to political support.

It is no secret to anyone that every time one of them (FMC, CTC, CDR, ANAP, FEU, FEEM, UPEC, UPC, UNEAC, etc.) holds their conference, the person appointed by the party and head of the organizing committee will be the next secretary general or president, as appropriate. If the head of the commission is the general secretary or president currently in office, it means they will remain in office.

This has happened before and is happening now with the upcoming CTC (Cuban Workers Center) congress to be held in the first quarter of this year: the head of the organizing committee, a party cadre who was formerly first secretary of a province, will be the next secretary general even if he has never done anything with the union nor is recognized as a leader of the workers.

The method has become so widespread, it is already accepted as normal by most citizens. Reading an article in the Granma newspaper on 26 December 2013, the journalist, writing about the merits of a leader who is 80 years old, without any modesty, said: he was chosen by Arnaldo Milian, first secretary of the Territory Party to direct the FMC (Federation of Cuban Women). Crystal clear. The Party, though it denies it, is who chooses and appoints anyone who has any connection with power, either as minister, president of an institution or agency or officer of any social organization.

As a result, in this very closed circle, where they will admit of no differences, it is difficult to analyze something democratically and, even more, to find solutions to national problems, as everyone responds unconditionally to what the director of the orchestra says. This explains the repeated unanimous approval of the agreements at conferences and in reports and the legislation in the National Assembly.

16 January 2014

The work of the self-employed, which the authorities are reluctant to delegate by its true name of private work, trying to maintain at all costs the fig leaf of their tropical socialism, with its back and forth, advances and retreats, has represented one option for the survival of thousands of Cubans (according to the latest official figures, 442,000). However, it has had no effect on increasing production, since it is limited to a narrow space in the area of services.

If we take a look inside at the Cuban industrial base, it makes you want to cry, for its technological backwardness and accumulated obsolescence, with little maintenance, poor repairs and primitive adaptations to prolong its operation, but no chance to compete because of the low quality of its diminished production.

The few centralized active sugar mills can’t escape this evil, true industrial dinosaurs, with repeated interruptions from breakdowns during the manufacturing process. Light industry, which in the fifties was modern and productive, has disappeared, and what’s left, also obsolete, is incapable of producing the minimal  necessary for consumption by the population, forcing them to import what’s needed with the consequent expenditures in hard currency. continue reading

In this first trimester of the year, Cuban citizens and foreigners who have businesses in the country must present their legal declarations of income for 2013 and pay the corresponding taxes. The taxes paid, excessively elevated, vary, and all are directed solely to collecting essential resources for the State.

The ordinary Cuban lacks the culture of paying taxes (as well as others), because before 1959 the only ones who paid taxes were the owners of businesses, land, buildings, vehicle, boats, shops, etc. With the appearance of private labor (what is not called self-employment) they began to establish taxes on labor “to avoid enrichment and control,” and within this straitjacket, its possible to develop far beyond what the authorities consider acceptable.

Most of the current taxes, rather than meant to stimulate productive growth and job creation, work to limit it.

This is not the case, however, with the so-called Mariel Special Zone where, in order to attract foreign investors (but not Cubans, whether inside or outside the country), they have established a special tax regime with great advantages. It is ironic that a government that never tires of talking about defending the sovereignty and independence of the country so grossly discriminates against Cubans. continue reading

The year 2014, complicated for the authorities, is no less so for the peaceful opposition. If the government is forced to deepen, widen and accelerate its reforms, faced with demands from citizens who are worried about the present and tired of waiting for a bright future that never comes and always seems further and further away, the opposition, without trying to achieve unity, must agree on a common platform where at least some of the nation’s immediate interests are addressed in a way that will make possible the passage from the totalitarian regime to democracy.

Among these could be: economic restructuring and, in addition to state ownership, recognizing private property with all its rights and duties, freeing the productive forces, both in the countryside and in the towns and cities; the formation of political parties and organizations that truly represent the variety of Cuban society, rejecting the absurd, obsolete and unnatural concept of a single party; the restoration of all civil liberties, first of all the right of expression, assembly and the press; the dismantling of the repressive apparatus and reduction of armed forces to the minimum necessary for the tasks assigned to them, so that they are no longer a burden to the country; and the revision and adaptation of the judicial system to the new conditions. Although these are not all, they could be used to start, adding to them later, according to how events unfold. continue reading

Anyone who has had the strength to watch and listen to the sessions of the National Assembly of People’s Power has reached the conclusion that 2014 is looking grimmer and grimmer.

After detailing a string of failures from various causes in both manufacturing and services, we are once again told that in the new year we will have to work smarter and more efficiently. In other words it is still all about good intentions and slogans which, as we have seen, solves nothing.

No matter how necessary, each measure to be taken must first be analyzed by a commission and then tried out in a provincial laboratory (usually Aremisa or Mayabeque) before it is implemented. Results, if any, are slow. continue reading

A few days hence will mark fifty-five years of a political, economic and social phenomenon that in January 1959 completely disrupted the fate of the Cuban nation. The so-called revolution became a devolution.

The results, as seen over time, are not too flattering. As well as the divisions and fractures caused to the Cuban family and its dispersal throughout the world, the loss of values — acknowledged by the current president — represents an account balance of which no one can be proud.

If we add an unproductive and inefficient agricultural system, an outdated and primitive industrial base, lack of transport and poor quality of services, including health and education, building collapses or buildings miraculously still standing, the decline in sports, the lack of environmental cleanliness, repression, lack of individual freedoms and many other evils, on balance the results have been negative.

Nor can we forget the thousands of people who have disappeared — eaten by sharks while attempting to flee across the Florida Straits — or those who have been executed, or those who have been killed and wounded in the overseas conflicts.

All these absurdities can be summed up in ten words written by José Martí — a man who lived nineteen of the most fruitful years of his life in the United States, writing hundreds of unforgettable pages about that country, which he admired and respected — hours before his death in combat: “I have lived inside the monster and know its entrails.”

These words have been manipulated and used as an anti-imperialist banner. The most hare-brained schemes have been hatched and executed in his name, dragging along a fanaticized people.

Rather than the words of Martí, everything has really been based on the writings of the leader of the insurrection* during its final days when he said, “My true destiny is to fight against the United States.” This highly personal and rather egocentric criteria was the basis for everything that came thereafter, everything for which the entire nation was sacrificed.

Today, fifty-five years after this event, we have in many ways regressed, much has been lost, pain and death have been left in its wake, as though this is something to be celebrated, despite the official slogan “Cuban Festivities.”

The lack of a coherent economic policy and other shortcomings, as well as more instability resulting from decisions that have been made, promise to make every day in the future even more dark and gloomy.

Aware of this reality and trying to fight peacefully for change, I wish my readers a very merry Christmas, a happy New Year and a healthy 2014 in which their dreams and wishes might be fulfilled.

*Translator’s note: I.e. the 1959 Revolution and its leader Fidel Castro

23 December 2013

Violence in Cuba has a long history: it started with clashes between the aborigines fighting for territory, continued with colonization and slavery, and increased during the struggles for independence, where Spaniards and Cubans made unlimited use of it.

On the establishment of the Republic, it ceased to be practiced between Cubans and Spaniards, and went on to become the way of resolving contradictions among the former: the reelection bid of Estrada Palma, the violent struggles between parties, the rise of so-called independents of color, drowned in blood, and the dictatorships of Machado and Batista, plus gangsterism between them, are all clear examples.

The so-called centenary generation and their followers practiced it in the fifties, with assaults on barracks, sabotage, attacks and planting explosives in public places — things that today would be classified as terrorism — reaching its climax in the insurrectional fight in the mountains to take power. They achieved this, and instead of stopping, the violence grew with the executions, fighting the rebels and repression of those who did not share the ideas of the victors, continuing to this day with the repudiation rallies, beatings, imprisonment and prosecution of the peaceful opposition.

The powers-that-be, established for 55 years, have made this their form of governing. At first they tried to extend it to Latin America and Africa as guerrilla movements, and later with their direct participation in foreign wars, but they lost their financial and logistics support with the disappearance of the Soviet Union, and had to retreat and concentrate on the internal.

Today, violence exercised by the government spreads its harmful influence over Cuban society and prevents its economic, political and social development, blocking the way for dialogue and peaceful resolution of the problems. Hopefully in the next year, with the help of all, this situation will start to reverse itself and they will begin to behave intelligent beings, where reason comes first and not force..

19 December 2013

The violence organized by State Security to repress those who think differently on Human Rights Day, in Havana as well as in other provinces, shows once again the true roots of the repressive regime. While in South Africa the President tried to confuse people by talking about tolerance, respecting differences, dialog and peaceful solutions to problems, here his henchmen did the exact opposite.

The beating of the Ladies in White and L and 23rd streets, the refusal to allow a space to hold the Puños Arriba (Fists High) concert of the Cuban Hip Hop Movement (an end finally achieved in a circus tent), and the harassment outside the Estado de Sats site, quickly reflected on the Net and reported by the foreign press as front page news, show the forces of order, henchmen, enraged people, young pioneers and students with their teachers in the lead, actively participating in these acts of repudiation. What will UNICEF say about the this, about the use of children without permission from their parents, in these shameful and degrading acts? Is this how the Cuban state educates our children?

Despite the visits to people’s homes to sow fear, despite the preventative detentions, the blocking of access, and the statements that we have the strength to stop them, the planned events were held, and although they could have been inconsequential, this government violence elevated their importance and brought them to the world’s attention. One more mistake by an outdated regime used to ignoring the opposition, doesn’t understand that the only way to resolve the national problems needs the participation of everyone, without exclusions.

To suppose that developing messianic formulas in air-conditioned offices by governmental commission will provide viable solutions, shows the stupidity of the principal leaders. If they don’t listen to all the opinions and if they don’t take into account political discrimination, it will only be more of the same which, after being developed, will be submitted to the citizens for their approval without them or their legal representatives participating in its preparation. The old saying that man is the only animal who trips twice over the same stone, can be applied to the Cuban government, affirming that the setbacks have been and are many.

15 December 2013

There are those who think that, given the ongoing deterioration to the healthcare, education and athletic systems, the main monuments to Cuban socialism are the plazas of the revolution, built mostly in provincial capitals and in some municipalities.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The main monuments to Cuban socialism are the countless failed projects and plans scattered throughout the country.

Remember there was the Havana greenbelt, which was going to solve the capital’s agricultural needs and even produce coffee for export. There was the Harvest of Ten Million, which would have placed us at the forefront of world sugar production. There was the Havana Metro, whose offices, subway lines and stations would have alleviated the problem of public transport. There was Nuclear Electro Cienfuegos, which would have addressed the electrical power shortage.

There was a textile plant in Santiago de Cuba, which would have produced all the fabric necessary to clothe every Cuban. The towel factory, which would have manufactured ten million towels annually, one for every Cuban at the time. The plan for growing micro-jet bananas, which were supposedly adaptable to climate variations anywhere in the country. The candy and soft drink factories in every province, which were supposed to meet the needs of children. The list goes on and on, but you get the idea.

One crazy idea after another, none of which were based on economic reality. We have spent too many years applying fanciful economic policies based on volunteerism, presenting imaginary ideas as though they were attainable realities, with the goal of keeping hope eternally alive for a people mired in poverty. It would be best if, in this time of economic “updating,” we did not add any new “monuments.” The ones we already have are more than enough to guarantee that no one forgets what socialism in Cuba represented.

11 December 2013