Author: Juan Juan Almeida

It is more likely that, in the interim, Cuba will return those suspected of involvement of more ordinary crimes such as money laundering, counterfeiting, and insurance, credit card and/or Medicare fraud.

Extradition is a judicial tool that can be described as being either “active,” such as when one country formally requests another country hand over a certain individual, or “passive,” as when a country makes the request to a point of contact (i.e., a human being).

In other countries it is handled in different ways but in Cuba a “passive” extradition request is made through diplomatic channels. After being reviewed, it is passed on to the executive branch. Since there is no separation of powers in Cuba, the judicial branch is then ordered to process and resolve the case.

We saw the most recent example of an active deportation in 2004 when an Argentine businessman with Mexican citizenship, Carlos Agustín Ahumada Kurtz, was detained in a house in Nuevo Vedado and later deported from Cuba after an extradition request was made by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A very different case was that of Robert Vesco. A Cuban judge ordered his extradition but the executive branch, in the person of Fidel Castro, refused to turn him over, citing risks to national security, although there were some who argued the issue had more to do with “family assets.”

Cuba does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S. but that does not mean a person cannot be extradited. Herein lies a useful tool which the Cuban government uses. According to international law, in the absence of a treaty, the laws of the country to which the claim is submitted determine whether a person can be handed over or not.

William Guillermo Morales fell victim to his own bomb.* The other subterfuges were hidden in the legal procedure itself. As mentioned earlier, the process begins with a diplomatic memorandum requesting the provisional detention of the person in question for the purpose of extradition. But it has to meet certain requirements. The requesting government has to provide data identifying the individual to be detained. It must also show proof of an arrest warrant, commit to formalize the extradition request by a specified date, agree to reciprocity and acknowledge that the case is in fact an emergency situation.

I should point out that “an emergency situation” is taken to mean the individual being sought poses a flight risk from the country being petitioned.

Given their status as political refugees, might one think that Joanne Chessimard and William Guillermo Morales would be strongly motivated to flee the island? Perhaps, but where would they go? Venezuela is not an option. President Maduro has as many chromosomes as a horse (Equus asinus). The last thing he wants is a problem like this.

Those with political refugee status in Cuba know that some future negotiated agreement might subject them to cross-border detention (or adduction). More than a possibility, for them extradition is a distant, dream-like vision of reality.

*Translator’s note: A member of the FALN (Fuerzas Armadas Liberacion Nacional), an organization advocating for Puerto Rican independence through acts of violence. On July 12, 1978, Morales was working on a bomb at a house in East Elmhurst, New York, when it exploded. Morales was severely injured, taken to a hospital and was later transferred to the Bellevue Hospital prison ward. Morales escaped from Bellevue and fled to Mexico, where he was captured in May, 1983. He was eventually handed over to Cuban authorities and is believed to still be in that country.

To Panama will go part of Cuba’s opposition and Cubans in exile. But I think the preferred topic to speak of will be the hundred, maybe more, of actors, students, intellectuals, artists, farmers, private vendors, members of cooperatives, businessmen and academics who, also as representatives of Cuba’s civil society, were zealously selected to travel to said Summit and to dramatize an entire spectacle with a gelatinous dynamic. In this spectacle we will see one or two desertions and special acts with tones that are sentimental, democratic, multiracial, polytheistic, progressive and pluralistic.

This is what the ex Minister of Culture and current presidential adviser Abel Prieto anticpated when he said on March 17 that “the Cubans who attend the Summit in Panama have to be prepared to confront the stereotypes created around the idea that Cuba has a monolithic society.”

The story will begin when upon the end of the Summit, Cubans return to the island to confront the real scenario with the new changes in everyday life. Venezuela cut by more than half the amount of oil it sends to Cuba and although it is logical to understand that Havana and Caracas, so long as they maintain inscrutability and motivate speculation are keeping quiet, one only has to turn the page to see that there is no objective possibility for Venezuela to continue to subsidize oil while facing its own extreme difficulties.

An even worse case is Brazil; the exploration of oilfields below the ocean would provide an income of millions of euros. Based on this there were agreements signed and commitments made, Brazilian oil will be the “goal of the future” but the fall in crude oil prices and the recent scandal related to Petrobas, sank the South American giant into the worst of its crises and into a political paralysis that will have its consequences in Cuba and on the Port of Mariel megaproject which is suddenly halted due to a lack of capital.

Cuba’s medical delegations abroad will continue because the government will use the military’s budget in order to not alter any precepts. But the return of electricity blackouts, in the present circumstances in the island, where everyone likes to play at leading and democracy, will force replacing the decadent debate of the “lefts and rights” for the need to choose between “politics and economics”.

Doubtlessly, that does erode the government’s strength and will force it to retreat to allow new alternatives for the development of the citizenry, which will resourcefully find the legal and/or natural mechanisms to improve the wellbeing of self, family and nation. In that order, because the reverse is called utopia.

Translated by: P.V.M.

Alejandro is not a member of the Secretariat nor the Politburo nor the Central Committee nor the National Assembly. Nor does he represent (or claim to represent) any major social group. This is why I believe his sister Mariela is better poised to compete for the same office.

Alejandro wrote a book, The United States: The Price of Power, translations of which we can find in several languages. But, although available, it remains practically invisible, having failed to garner the respect of artists and intellectuals who, among other things, know that the author of this indigestible work is really Juan Francisco Arias Fernandez, also known as Paquito, his faithful squire.

Yes, Alejandro is a military man. He is also cold, calculating and ambitious. But he lacks influence with the military’s commanders. Some of them, the oldest officers, formed their ties during the battles in the Sierra Maestra. Others, the mid-level officers, did so during Cuba’s wars in Nicaragua, Ethiopia and/or Angola. The rest, those comfortable in the wheeling and dealing of the marketplace of influence, belong to a group none of whose members would consider jeopardizing a profitable present by clinging to a past that has no future.

Vilma and Raul’s son does not fit into any of the Castro categories. Though he did pass through Angola, he did not take part in the war. After a shooting accident during training practice in Luanda, he returned to Havana and was decorated as though he had been wounded in battle, something that remains a source of jokes even today.

Of course, they can handpick him. They can make him president or field marshal. Even Raul knows that appointing Alejandro would establish a precedent that would withstand the culture of silence and the fear of the Cuban people. But it would amount to a slap in the face to the intelligentsia, and would turn a hierarchical structure like the military into a tinderbox and every general into a lighted match.

Bets are only made when the chips are on the table. To put it simply, Alejandro is someone who will remain relevant only as long as Raul Castro is alive.

To avoid being surprised by the how, when and why, it is worth asking if the Cuban government is preparing the groundwork for an overhaul of its own political system.

Based on what has already been published, the new electoral law will govern the elections of 2017. Interestingly, it will not only be when the year the men and women who will govern the island after February 2018 will be elected but will also mark the end of the controversial ten-year term of General Raul Castro who — as he himself proposed — will give up the Cuban presidency.

On any streetcorner of the world one can proselytize, arouse awareness, seek financing, organize marches and so forth. But I am inclined to think that real political opposition only takes in parliament. That is why I am trying to catch the attention of those who can now demonstrate they are truly worthy of the title “leaders of the opposition” because — as I have often heard — this legislation will extend to the entire country an experiment that for some time now has been quietly carried out (with some success) in the western provinces Mayabeque and Artemesia. It represents a new model of governance which involves a separation between the leadership of the party and that of local governments.

The current electoral law lays out the procedure for the election of deputies and for the selection of members of the Council of State as well as for it president, who also serves as chief-of-state and head-of-government of the Republic of Cuba. Why diminish the powers of the next president? Because military leaders do not want happening in Havana what happened in Moscow under Mikhail Gorbachev.

Of course, multi-party democracy is not an option in Cuba but let’s acknowledge that this could be a step towards dismantling the monopoly on power that the Communist Party has exercised for more than half a century and could facilitate the election of citizens (not party members) to the ranks of deputies in Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power.

It should be noted that the Cuban parliament, with 612 members, is the largest legislative body in the hemisphere. It is ridiculous, even laughable, that a country with little more than 11 million people has a legislative body that exceeds the number of members in the U.S. House of Representatives. The new electoral law will reduce the number of parliamentarians both because it makes sense and because, as the song by Puerto Rico’s Gran Combo goes, “there’s too many people for this bed.” Today’s 612 deputies simply will not fit in the renovated semi-circular chamber in the national capitol that will house the next assembly.*

*Translator’s note: The Capitolio, or capitol building, was the seat of Cuba’s legislature until the Cuban Revolution. Until recently it housed the Cuban Academy of Sciences. It has been undergoing restoration and renovations in anticipation of serving as the seat of Cuba’s National Assembly.

To do business in Cuba, first you have to be very clear that trading activity on the Island answers only to the political decisions of the Government, and to the State budget, in that order, the first deciding what company does business, and the second determines what the company is paid.

The Cuban commercial structure is hierarchical and, to a certain point, disciplines; but the system is corrupt. Therefore, there are entrepreneurs who earn more in Cuba than in any other place in the world. But they are not doing business, but buying paper.

Let me explain: The confirmed Letter of Credit is a bank tool that is governed according to international norms, where the payer buys the merchandise and indicates the bank, upon confirmation of the funds, which makes payment according to certain clauses; and the banking entity that guarantees assumes the obligations starting from receiving certain documentation such as the invoice, customs certificates.

After the freezing of financial assets which happened in 2009, none of the businesses located in the country accept payments in Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC). Since then, and by political resolution, payment is only in Letters of Credit confirmed by first line banks (Royal Bank, Republik Bank, etc.) to certain and determined foreign companies. The rest pay in unconfirmed Letters of Credit, paid in 120 to 260 days and backed by the Central Bank of Cuba, the Cuban International Financing Bank, or offshore banks located in tax havens.

Negotiating with Cuban banks as work that never ends. The negotiation of who decides is risky and to earn more than 50% is to buy this kind of stamped and supported paper debt, I repeat, by offshore banks located in tax havens.

No bank in the world pays more than a small percentage in interest. Buying Letters of Credit in Cuba is a lucrative business. The danger is that, as the document is “unconfirmed,” dealing with the time required (120 to 360 days) the Cuban bank doesn’t pay because either they haven’t received the government order or because the state budget lacks financial fluidity. In any case, the renegotiation of the document and everything is a question of waiting, or more to the point, of waiting to have a contact who is politically important and/or a bank official who, after receiving 5% of the transaction, as a bribe, will authorize final payment of the full amount owed.

Doing business in Cuba is a real achievement and a true adventure; and, if you’ll allow me, let me suggest that before you begin, educate yourself.

But as we now know, these national treasures perished. Insidious died of a heart attack and Azabache (either because he was beautiful or because he was black) had his image stamped onto a photograph which, like a majordomo, greets generals and tourists at the entrance to the above-mentioned facility.

It was then that the historic, aesthetic and hysterical leader, saddened by the loss of his steed, authorized the importing of twelve different breeds of horses from which to select his Bucefalo, encourage the breeding of horses, export them overseas either as animals or semen, and crossbreed them with local stock.

As a result, horse breeding took off and today the country can boast of more than 300,000 thoroughbreds scattered among various farms. Most are managed by a state conglomerate, Flora and Fauna, under the direction of the Revolutionary commandant Guillermo García Frías. Some are raised on Cuban plantations such as El Alacazar — located in Contrammaestre, Santiago de Cuba — which is owned by Señora María Antonia Puyol Bravo (known as La Doña).

Horses are exported in a prescribed manner. From El Alcazar, come purebred Spanish horses. From Escaleras de Jaruco (in Mayabeque province), there are also Spanish thoroughbreds. From the Belen farm an American breed, Morgan, is exported. From Rancho San Vicente (20 kilometers south of the city of Camaguey) they are Arabian purebreds. From Guatiba (Matanzas province) there are Creole pintos. From Escambray come Appaloosas. And from Rancho Azucacero (Artemesia province) come jumping and show horses that have been imported from Holland since 2005. These are auctioned off at the Equestrian Club in Lenin Park’s riding school during the Remate Élite Habana, which takes place every year in the Cuban capital.

There is talk of a trail of tainted money behind the scenes at the auction, but no one has been able to prove it much less conduct an audit. Cuba’s problem is not corruption but the immunity of certain corrupt officials who — as one might expect — are so high up that they are beyond the judicial reach of the comptroller general.

Every January more and more foreigners attend this event, which this year attracted exiled Cuban businessmen, who were much more interested in showing off their lifestyles than indulging their newfound passion for horses.

Far be it from me to judge but I know that — as my grandmother used to say — “crises are moments of great opportunity” and these compatriots travelled to Cuba to defend, in their own way, the right of every Cuban to own his or her own horse.

18 February 2015

Do I like it? Of course not, I know all the high level Cuban leaders, I know that they are structured to crush without remorse everyone who goes against them; they are criminals and they are dictators. But our opposition has nothing to offer because, in addition to fighting for power using the ideal recipe to fall into disaster, they seem not to understand that the solutions to social problems are found in real politics and not in international marketing. Neither the victimhood silliness nor the wise man arrogance have any appeal. Therefore, their actions lack a mobilizing effect.

None of our opponents, for example (using the off-repeated campaign of General Raul Castro against corruption), has talked about pushing a “law of transparency” project, in which every member of the government and the Cuban State is obliged to create direct on-line access so that everyone, at any time, can have a look to know how much they earn, how much they have and what they are spending the national budget on.

Nevertheless, we must support them and it seems significant that the debate about Cuba came to Washington in the form of invited guests from the Cuban opposition. From my point of view, this invitation signifies a real push and a protective umbrella for these brave voices who, from within Cuba, leave their lives in the streets. But if what the government of the United States wants is “To understand the impacts of the political changes on Human Rights and Democracy in Cuba,” then, in addition to dissidents and opponents, it must also invite some of those people who, although we have not applied to them the deserved title of leaders, are the true vanguard, who inspire and represent the dreams of Cuban youth and our civil society.

I am referring, obviously, to those new and successful Cuban entrepreneurs (I detest the word “self-employed”) who are emerging within the Island, channeling the social disconnect, and creating an attractive zone of visual comfort to the still reduced but growing sector that dreams of emigrating there. Not listening to that social group that is ever more powerful, more influential and that applauds the rapprochement between Cuba and the United States because they want to benefit from it, is like wishing the black clouds of today will continue to form a part of the eternally impoverished national landscape.