Cuban intellectuals and artists from both sides of the Florida Straits in a meeting organized by the Center for Coexistence Studies. (File 14ymedio)
14ymedio, Dagoberto Valdes, 25 November 2016 — At the stroke of noon today, 25 November 2016, two officials from State Security came to my house, Major Joaquin, who participated in my interrogation on 27 October, and another official.
Major Joaquin said that they came to inform me that I would not be permitted to hold the meeting planned by the Center for Coexistence Studies for this weekend, the 26th and 27th of November, because this is considered a provocative activity, because those invited are “ringleaders of the counterrevolution” because of doing so barely hours from the 60th anniversary of the landing of the [yacht] Granma [that brought Fidel and Raul Castro and other revolutionaries from Mexico]. continue reading
I asked them what they meant by a provocative activity and being “counterrevolutionary ringleaders,” because Coexistence is a project of study and thinking for the good of Cuba, and does not engage in provocations nor consider people to be “ringleaders.” These meetings are to think about solutions and proposals for the progress of our Nation and, in this specific meeting, it is to study the theme “Culture and Education in the future of Cuba.” He responded that it was an order from the high command of the Country and they would follow what is established, when and how they considered appropriate.
I asked if they were closing Coexistence, they told me no, but they would evaluate each activity we organized and would act as appropriate. I stated that I considered they were already carrying out the threat received at the interrogation summons from less than a month ago and which they assured me that “starting from today your life is going to be very difficult.”
Thus, continues the harassment of the Coexistence Studies Center that the Cuban authorities began as of 1 September 2016.
Danilo Maldonado, known as El Sexto (The Sixth). (Artist File)
14ymedio, Havana, 24 November 2016 — Police informed the graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado – known as ‘El Sexto’, (The Sixth) – that he can not leave the country because he is “regulated,” having been accused in a legal process due to a complaint by his ex-wife. He received the information within a few minutes of an official at the Zapata and C Police Station, in El Vedado, telling him the exact opposite.
The artist has attempted, this Tuesday, to travel to the United States after receiving a police summons, but was not able to board the plane. continue reading
El Sexto detailed to 14ymedi that earlier this week he received at the home of his mother, Maria Victoria Machado, a summons for 22 November for an “interview.” The uniformed officer who delivered the citation told the family that it was related to “a complaint for harassment” made by his ex-wife.
However, when he presented himself on Tuesday morning in response to the citation, police officials were not able to give him any more details about the presumed accusation. Maldonado tried to travel that same day, but at the airport an immigration official confirmed that he was “regulated” by the National Revolutionary Police (PNR).
On Thursday the artist went to the Vedado police station to demand an explanation of his case. There they told him he could not travel, but a few minutes later he received contrary information.
Reporter Sol Garcia Basulto was arrested on the night of November 3 when she was preparing to travel to Havana. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Pedro Armando Junco, Havana, 23 November 2016 — I learned via the internet that 14ymedio’s Camaguey correspondent, Sol Garcia Basulto, was illegally and arbitrarily arrested on the night of November 3 when she was travelling to Havana to get a visa for her passport.
As she herself relates, she had won a trip abroad for a journalism course. She would not qualify for enrollment in a Cuban university journalism school because her political ‘wood’ is not suitable for the construction of that ‘national informational edifice.’ Her case is not isolated. There are many young students of this profession whose careers are interrupted for the least ideological slip-up or who, when they manage to graduate, have doors to jobs closed on them. They are innumerable, the names of the recent graduates who have crossed the Strait or who are marginalized within the country and take on any self-employment that is often as distant from their abilities and aspirations as they ever imagined. continue reading
Sol’s case is in keeping with a repressive wave that is playing out across the Island against opponents and independent journalists in order to put a stop to that avalanche of popular dissatisfaction that is growing among the citizenry because that handful determined to complain is the only representation of the people’s discontent. The system is not content with excluding them from the official media – the only media accessible to the population – but intends to eliminate them because of new technologies that one way or another allow what’s happening within Cuba to be known.
The most significant thing about Garcia Basulto’s detention, if the objective was to prevent her trip abroad, is that they could have visited her at her home and withdrawn her passport; taken her off the bus at the Camaguey terminal before it took off; or even summoned her to the police station. However, they waited for the bus to leave the city, and then they stopped it in the middle of the road, boarded it and handcuffed her like a common criminal. This is one more kind of mistreatment that so many of the Cuban population suffers.
I know Solecito – as I call her – and I know that she is a young woman of character. She raises her daughter alone because the father is a prisoner. I am not unfamiliar with that journalistic aspiration that has not been able to develop, as I said before, because of its dissident tenets. I have seen her often and read her work in the independent magazine Cuba’s Time which, by the way, is not at all “counter-revolutionary” except when its collaborators touch a sore spot of some public official – I even think that the State could take the articles that are written there as a reference to discover the administrative deficiencies of many revolutionaries who bleed public assets for their own benefit, as is well known.
I am at once saddened and indignant that the changes of openness promised to the people are the object of a double standard – to use this phrase that they like so much – and that now that the president general assures that there are no political prisoners, they stop and humiliate those who don’t submit to the system. It is possible that there are no political prisoners in Cuba; but political arrests increase daily.
The bad time that they gave to Solecito will not change her way of thinking but will increase her condemnation of those who oppress her. Maybe a friendly and convincing attitude together with facilitating her trip would have made her change her view and respond empathetically when the time came to practice non-professional journalism. But instead, the sad and regrettable event has brought to international light a new name that will have to be taken into account from now on.
In a small street of Santa Clara a family leads their cattle to graze in broad daylight.(14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, 23 November 2016 — Cows, goats and calves are a constant presence on the streets of Cuban roads. The lack of stables that can be properly closed, problems in buying wire to fence off land, along with the negligence of the owners, have made the sight of animals on the road commonplace.
In a small street of Santa Clara a family leads their cattle graze in broad daylight. To the poor condition of the pavement we add the potential danger that the ruminants run along the way. A risk that often ends in a fatal outcome.
In the first four months of this year 3,702 traffic accidents occurred on Cuban roads, with a total of 244 deaths. Among the most frequent reasons were the poor state of roads, speeding, consumption of alcohol, improper signaling, lack of attention on the part of drivers to controlling their vehicle and, unfailingly, animals roaming the roads unchecked.
Participants in the courses of Somos+’s Academy 1010. (Somos +)
14ymedio, 23 November 2016 — Academy 1010, an initiative of the Somos+ (We Are More) Movement, experienced a second day of police harassment with a strong State Security operation around the homes of several activists, including arrests and deportations to home provinces. Today, no participants were able to reach the Havana site where courses on civil society, technology and human rights were to be held, according to information from the president of this opposition organization, Eliecer Avila, speaking to 14ymedio.
Joanna Columbié, director of the Academy initiative, said that since Monday “a cordon of patrol cars” has surrounded Avila’s home, the intended site of the conferences and classes.
“I am surprised and indignant because we never imagined that an eminently academic activity would bring a wave of arrests and arbitrary acts as if we were doing something terrible, against the law,” said Avila. continue reading
During the first day of activities, five students who managed to get close to the site were arrested, while others have been unable to leave their home provinces, said Columbié. On the opening day only “seven students were able to come” and “they received their classes normally,” she added.
Those arrested so far are Yoan Valdivieso, Pedro Acosta, Georlis Olazabal, Norberto Leyva and Alexei Gamez. From the latter the police confiscated the laptop he travels with, and threatened to prosecute him under the crime of “receiving stolen goods.”
From their home provinces, the political police will not allow Agny Almanza, Javier Rojas and Pedro Escalona to travel to the capital. Georlis Olazabal is being deported right now to the province of Camagüey.
Starting Sunday, Columbié and Avila were warned by State Security agents that they would prevent participants from getting to the conference and accused them of trying to “subvert the political order of the country.”
Through Academy 1010, Somos+ is proposing to provide “the necessary knowledge to empower hundreds of young Cubans to serve as political candidates.”
The unconcluded debts of Raul Castro’s mandate are exactly those that would directly impact citizens’ lives
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 22 November 2016 – In the next 40 days, before the end of the year, the Cuban Communist Party must hold its second Central Committee Plenum and approve the final version of the documents issued by their most recent congress. It is expected that there will also be a meeting of the Council of Ministers and a third session of the 2016 National Assembly of People’s Power. These three events will mark the beginning of the last year of Raul Castro’s government, and the deadline for the fulfillment of his pending promises.
Not included in this list are details such as the glass of milk he promised every Cuban in July of 2007, or the eradication of the invasive marabou weed from the Cuban countryside, the unresolved problems of his administration which include ending the dual currency system, eliminating the rationing system, ratifying the United Nations human rights covenants – signed by Cuba but never ratified – and achieving efficiency in the state socialist enterprise. continue reading
The list of outstanding promises also includes producing food that is affordable to Cuban wallets, achieving the necessary volume of foreign investment, promulgating a new electoral law, and ensuring that wages become the main source of income, as well as leaving behind the conceptualization of and a viable program for, an economic, political and social model for future generations.
In this regard, only the theoretical commitments appear to be on track to be completed, while the unconcluded debts of Raul Castro’s mandate are exactly those that would directly impact citizens’ lives. Although the conceptualization never moved beyond an intellectual exercise, the program to 2030 rests on conjectures and promises for which Castro will have no opportunity to respond.
In the coming months, there would have to be a surge in the average private enterprise and the opening of the wholesale market so necessary to satisfy the demands of workers in the private sector. The countdown for the ending of unearned freebies and inflated payrolls is entering its final minutes.
Before the conclusion of his time in the presidential chair, Raul Castro has the responsibility to adopt measures that will lessen the emigration hemorrhage, structure an effective plan to address the demographic problem, and finally bring before parliament a law to regularize same sex relationships.
Before handing over power, Fidel Castro’s younger brother should decriminalize political dissent and propose a dialog so that the different viewpoints gaining force in the country can seek consensus to avoid more dramatic confrontations.
Will the general president bring such a demanding agenda to a conclusion, or does he intend to leave such tasks to his successors?
In the more than 400 days left to him as president of the Councils of State and of Ministers, Raul Castro will be forced to pick up the pace. Time, implacable, is running out. In the final stretch that remains of his mandate he will no longer have space for experiments or leisurely actions. There will be no pause, but much haste.*
*Translator’s note: Raul Castro promised to update the country’s economic, social and political model “without haste, but without pause,” and the phrase has become a centerpiece of his tenure.
On Sunday night, the activist Henry Constantín was detained at Customs at the Ignacio Agramonte International Airport of Camaguey, on his arrival from Miami. The dissident was taken to a police station where they confiscated his cellphone and laptop, according to what he told 14ymedio. The independent journalist was released around ten at night and says he will begin the legal process to recover his belongings.
Constantín arrived in Cuba around four in the afternoon on a American Airlines direct flight and was held at the airport until after eight o’clock at night. The officers of the General Customs of the Republic insisted on seizing their belongings to “review their content,” but the activist emphatically refused. continue reading
Constantín, who is the director of the literary magazine Time for Cuba, told them they could search the devices in his presence, but not out of sight. After four hours of waiting, Constantín was taken to a police station in the Montecarlo neighborhood.
At the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) unti, the soldiers took his “prints of all kinds,” he explained to this newspaper. The reporter refused to sign the record of the seizure of objects when the police told him that they would not give him a copy of the document.
After the Immigration Reform implemented by the Government in 2013, it has become a common practice to confiscate computers, video cameras and cellphones from activists arriving in the country.
Regular troops of the Revolutionary Armed Forces parade in military exercise. (Archive)
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 20 November 2016 — Tiredness, in the voice of the friend who calls and asks when they are going to mute the sirens that have been going off since morning. Exhaustion, in the neighbor who couldn’t get home in time after work because traffic was diverted due to military maneuvers. Annoyance in the young reservist who was ordered to participate in military exercise on the exact days he was planning a getaway with his girlfriend.
The three days devoted to “Bastión 2016” have left many Cubans feeling extremely saturated. Especially because after 72 hours of aggressive confrontation, and just when it seemed that the nightmare of machine guns was over, the government decreed this Saturday and Sunday to be National Days of Defense. For those who don’t want to fight… three bullets. continue reading
Exhausted from so much “trench warfare” and too many allusions to the enemy, we wonder if it wouldn’t be more coherent to use all those resources to alleviate daily problems. To reverse the chronic difficulties of urban transport, the quality of the bread in the ration market, or the shortages of medicines in the island’s pharmacies, would be better destinations for the little money contained in the national coffers.
Why waste money on fuel for war tanks that could be used to improve elementary school lunches?
The threat of battle is part of the mechanisms of control. The trench is the hole where we are immobilized and reduced; the platoon erases our individuality; and the canteen filled with water that tastes of metal and fear exorcises our demons of prosperity.
The war games have reminded us that we are only soldiers. As the bugle’s roar pulls the uniformed from their beds, these days of military exercises have awakened the country from any dreams of citizenship.
Carlos Bernabé talks to 14ymedio about his experience in Cuba. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 20 November 2016 — The corner of Infanta and San Lazaro just awoke from its always busy Friday night. In the bakery of the El Biky restaurant, Carlos Bernabé tastes one baked treat after another. Faced with a delicacy filled with coconut, the demanding eater suggests “only the madeleine could be improved.”
He says it knowingly, because the Spaniard comes from a family of bakers in Valencia and presides over the Indespan company. His excitement to explore new horizons has brought him to the island several times in the last five years. He says that the challenge here is to “encourage innovation in the bread and bakery sector.” continue reading
Barnabas takes a bite of his pastry and a sip of coffee. He explains that his firm has done innovated research “in the field of healthy baking.” Outside the windows of the café where he speaks with 14ymedio, the sun begins to shine through everywhere, defying the clouds and traffic.
Over a year ago the entrepreneur came to train and supply the employees of La Antigua Chiquita bakery, and he affirms that “since then, the bakery has exclusively dedicated itself to preparing breads and pastries for the celiac population.” Celiac is a disorder that obliges those who suffer from it to each gluten-free foods.
Barnabas boasts that the breads and pastries prepared under his company’s methods “become medication.” He evaluates the initiative that started at the bakery on Carlos III Street as “a resounding success” because “it is the first bakery in Cuba that offers good quality products for celiac sufferers,” and that has been able to maintain a stable supply of products.
The businessman has not wanted to stay only in Havana and the project is expanding to other provinces. On his most recent trip he helped to “set up the second gluten-free bakery for celiacs,” now in Santa Clara. In this effort he was accompanied by two bakers from his team in Valencia.
This type of preparation “was totally unknown” to the Cuban employees, but after three days of practice “they know how to make different kinds of products such as breads, hamburger buns, pizzas, cakes and muffins,” says Indespan’s president.
Carlos Bernabe works with bakers in Santa Clara. (Courtesy of the interviewee)
In these last five years, while promoting his ideas on the island, he has been approached at his presentations by everyone “from crying children” to “mothers of adult children who were finally able to eat warm bread.” He found that many felt socially excluded because at parties and recreational activities “all the sweets contained flour, contained gluten,” which is dangerous to their health.
Last Friday Barnabas did a demonstration at El Sylvain on Calzada de 10 Octubre in Havana in which he made breads and desserts for diabetics, “with zero sugar,” he says.
He explains that in this effort to introduce formulas and methods for healthy eating in Cuba, he has found “great support” and “those responsible for the bakeries are very concerned about it.” He maintains “a fluid conversation with all those involved so he doesn’t run out of supplies,” and in order to avoid “celiacs not having their food, their medicine.”
The baker is not done in terms of projects. He plans to increase the variety of products and on his next trip will bring “gluten-free pasta so celiacs can make spaghetti, cannelloni and lasagna at home.”
He estimates that there is a need for more than “five hundred bakeries of this type” throughout the country to satisfy the demand. “The important thing is to start on the path and then offer the facilities necessary for the self-employed to be able to continue,” he says, in relation to the private sector.
However, to achieve this “the most important thing” is “to improve the supply of raw materials.” In his conversations with Cuban entrepreneurs he has learned that “their main problem is supplies,” stable supplies “to make bread for diabetics or to get mixes.”
There needs to be “in the very near future, a way for private individuals to get the raw materials necessary to give the population a quality product,” Bernebé emphasizes. Having a wholesale market still seems like a dream, but even though the projects are “going slowly” the baker believes that “we have to keep pushing.”
Onel Vara Fernández has a license to make and sell items for the home, in Camagüey. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Sol Garcia Batista, Camaguey, 19 November 2016 – With an incredible facility with recycled metals and plastics, Onel Vara Fernandez holds a license as a producer and seller of articles for the home* in Camaguey. For the last 22 years, this tenacious entrepreneur has engaged in high and low skilled work, working for himself in Cuba, an experience he shares with the readers of 14ymedio.
14ymedio: How do you recall the reintroduction of the private sector in the 1990s?
Onel Vara Fernández: The self-employed worker, or independent worker as it should be called, has already been around for 22 years, starting in November of 1994 with six types of trades. I am the founder of working on my own account, when I took out a license and started working as an artisan.
14ymedio: Are workers who choose this type of non-state work well looked upon? continue reading
OVF: At the beginning, an independent worker was seen as a dissident, an opponent. They gave us the name of “Merolicos” after a character in a [Mexican] telenovela from that time. At that time everything that was outside the state was viewed badly because with the triumph of the Revolution here, everything disappeared, even the shoeshine boys**. But I have been a person who never had a desire to leave the country, on the contrary, I have preferred to stay here and to continue to defend it. To me, the idea is to better it, not to criticize the government.
14ymedio: What types of articles do you produce.
OVF: Almost everything used in a house, from electrical boxes and spare parts from different appliances, such as washing machine agitators and pullies and even spools of thread.
14ymedio: Did you receive training for this work?
OVF: My work has nothing to do with what I studied, I was a technician in a machine shop. However, everything I use for my work I make myself, from the tools and molds to the machines to shape plastics or rewind cable reels, all in a general sense, I do it not only because I need to, but I like to make things.
14ymedio: What role does independent work play in Cuban today?
OVF: A high percentage of society lives off their own work. In addition to the official worker, the helpers benefit from it, those who sell the product, and their families, children, and the elderly.
14ymedio: Do you think the State appropriately values the work of the self-employed?
OVF: The State could be more appreciative of the work of entrepreneurs. I have seen electrical boxes made outside the country, stamped with “Made in Italy.” These electrical boxes come from the State warehouses and agencies, the State imports them but they’re no different from the ones I make. Why go to another country to find these products, if there are independent workers producing this type of item? We do it with the same quality and the with recycled plastic, which is more ecological and economical. But the State fears the people getting rich.
14ymedio: Do you think the category* “producer-seller of useful household articles” really defines your occupation?
OVF: The term with which they define me doesn’t seem right. I consider myself more of a goldsmith, that is the profession that includes manual labor. Before, we paid 100 pesos for a license to be an artisan that includes almost everything you can make and sell, but now you need about five licenses to do the same thing, because that way the National Office of Tax Administration (ONAT) gets more money. It allows the inspectors to have greater control over the worker. But the State fears people getting rich.
14ymedio: What role will the private sector play in the development fo the country?
OVF: The future of this country is in independent workers, because despite being persecuted by inspectors, we are less within the reach of the State and it restricts production, even in its own companies. But the independent worker is not in their hands. I can work however I want, with whatever raw materials and when I want, this gives me a wider margin for creativity.
We are also more aware of the needs of the people. This is a point in our favor because the State is distant from others, isolate, but the independent worker knows what they can sell, because it is what they themselves need, their family, their neighbor, the people they know.
14ymedio: And how does the US embargo affect your work?
OVF: The blockade is a political strategy that the leaders of this country use to justify everything bad they do. They caused the blockade to become law when they shot down the American [Brothers to the Rescue] planes in 1992. They did it precisely for that reason, to have an external enemy to blame. However, the blockade has benefitted the self-employed workers. Thanks to it Cuba has not experienced the consumer society and so it has developed the independent worker.
In developed countries people use things and then throw them away. Here we have learned to live thirty years with a Russian washing machine. When it breaks an independent worker is the one who has the parts. We have learned to engineer it and that makes us stronger. When an independent worker can develop their industry everyone wins. Now all that’s lacking is that they let us do it and it has nothing to do with the United States blockade.
Translator’s note:
*Cuba has a limited list of allowed lines of work for which people can get licenses to work independently. This is one of them.
** Fidel Castro moved quickly to nationalize major industries and foreign-owned business, and finally, in 1968 in the so-called Revolutionary Offensive, eliminated all private enterprise, taking over “mom and pop” businesses and, notably, even shoeshine boxes.
14ymedio, Leandro Cansino, Stockholm, Sweden, 19 November 2016 – Lorena just turned five. How exciting is the first day of school! She spent days looking at her red and white uniform, perfectly ironed and ready for the princess to wear on her first day of classes. Now it’s Monday and last night Lorena could barely sleep from excitement, she eats her humble breakfast, but it doesn’t matter, her mind is focused on her first day of school. She is so lucky, she got Ana for her teacher, the one with the best reputation in the area, both for her professionalism and also for her tenderness in teaching. It seems one of those day where everything is rose-colored.
How sweet Lorena is. She sits right in the middle of the classroom, her little angel’s feel don’t reach the floor, she jiggles her legs from happiness, looking all around at her little classmates, some that she knows and others new to her, but she smiles at everyone, her happy face is welcoming, and, what luck, on the wall to her right is a picture of Camilo Cienfuegos with his impressive beard and smile. Lorena couldn’t be any happier! continue reading
The months pass and Lorena now knows what vowels and consonants are, and has learned how to divide words into syllables and even how to mix primary colors and draw a beautiful sun. She is smart and accepts any challenge, asks if she doesn’t know something, has no fear of being wrong, and is responsible for the mural in the classroom where there is only room for a verse by José Martí that her mother helped her write holding the pencil. She doesn’t even have to look having memorized it and can recite them all and when she does she does it from the heart. She is brilliant, it’s a blessing.
Lorena’s mother, Betty, is a housewife and very particular about her home. She suffers from a cocktail of slow and painful illnesses that don’t allow her to work, but she has no unemployment insurance because as long as she’s been alive, it has never existed. Still, she is very well educated, she likes to plant flowers and develop new gradening techniques. Her garden is the envy of the neighborhood.
What to say about Pablo, Lorena’s father and Betty’s happy husband. They have spent many years together and he never abandoned them despite his wife’s infirmities. Pablo, or Paco as he’s called in the neighborhood, is a family man, lord of his castle. He is an industrial engineer, although long ago he took the proud title down from his wall because he was fired from his company for believing that freedom of expression and the Communist Party went hand in hand; those books tricked him. Paul is in a league of his own, he is a living encyclopedia, but no one will hire him because he is infected with incurable ideological problems.
His new industry is a 28-inch Chinese bicycle designed to perfection to sell handmade brooms, mops and brushes. He is not a beefy guy with tough hands and always relied on the power of his pencil and ruler, but now the wounds and calluses are becoming apparent. Still, Pablo is a fighter, he has only one goal: the future of his family, at any cost, without looking back.
Lorena has been in school for some time and she adapted easily and has passed her grade with excellent marks worthy of eternal applause. She is very focused on her studies, everything interests her, and even in the boring Cuban History classes she imagines the battles in the fields of the island, defending the sanctified land from the enemy invader.
Lorena passes almost unnoticed, but her shoes are broken and it as if she suddenly wants to talk and she sees the holes on both sides showing the color of her socks, with the damn holes getting bigger every day. She no longer wants to go out to recess, much less kick the ball, she’s afraid the shoes will completely fall apart and shame her. In the classroom she doesn’t wriggle happily like before, swinging her feet, and although she knows the answers to the arithmetic problems she doesn’t want to go to the board, but Camilo still smiles that smile of the peaceful captain and she finds solace for now.
Lorena doesn’t say anything to her parents, she knows they noticed weeks ago and knows that for now there are no chances of retiring the shoes. She remembers her Papá getting home almost after dark some days back, on his bicycle under a tremendous downpour, totally soaked, poor Paco. Betty almost cavalierly tossed him a towel and prepared a delicious coffee for him. From his damp wallet Paco took out a notice of a ridiculously astronomical fine imposed for not having a receipt for the purchase of the rusty wire that he wraps his brooms with. The fine is the equivalent of what he earned in six months working as an engineer. Lorena doesn’t understand that the people who imposed that fine on her dad were the same ones who defended the poor workers of the enslaving enemy oppressor.
Ana is such a nice person she understand everything that happens to her students without even asking. All the parents come to collect their children in the afternoon and she can interact with them a bit, understand the situation of Lorena and her family, but she has no power to help, and tries to hide her own tears because she is so caring and feels as if the students were her own children.
Lorena asks herself a lot of questions, but she understands nothing and knows that there are grown-up things, but she can’t help noticing how Rita, her little friend with the long braids and plastic barrettes adorning her head comes to school with a different pair of beautiful shoes every day, and a bright blue backpack that says ‘Disney’ on it, with a package of crayons whose colors are a mystery because the names of them are not written in Spanish.
It’s curious, because Rita’s mother is criticized by many in conversations she has overheard for giving hugs and kisses to men of unknown nationalities, and even making phone calls on a phone that belongs only to her and has no wires. Everyone is amazed and, although they criticize her behind her back, they all respect and even smile at her.
Lorena now wonders whether she is really living in the golden age, or if she read the book wrong because she doesn’t know how to read correctly. Everything happens around her, except the broken shoes, which look as if they will be with her for a long time to come.
14ymedio, Miami, 19 November 2016 –The non-governmental organization Amnesty International (AI) called on Friday to take “urgent action” to protect members of Cubalex, an NGO not recognized by the Cuban government against which there has been a resurgence of actions.
“Since September, the Cuban authorities have intimidated members of Cubalex, which provides free advice in Havana on legal matters and human rights,” AI said, detailing the raid on the organization’s headquarters where they confiscated laptops and documents,” according the Cubalex director Lartiza Diversent. continue reading
AI also mentioned the humiliating treatment of the security forces, including forcing at least one woman to disrobe. In addition, the Havana Provincial Prosecutor gave notice that Cubalex is under investigation regarding taxes.
AI also detailed the testimonies of two members of Cubalex who were summoned for interrogations, which lasted about an hour and 45 minutes. The authorities have also summoned people who have taken advantage of the legal advice offered by Cubalex.
“The director of Cubalex [Diversent] reported that in her recent travels she had been detained and interrogated several times at the airport. She believes that her home, which is used as a base for the activities of Cubalex, is under surveillance,” says the AI appeal.
AI aims to sensitize international public opinion in order to allow members of Cubalex “and all other lawyers and human rights activists” to operate freely without harassment and intimidation.
Amnestey International also urges that the criminal justice system not be used abusively, nor that civil litigation be used to attack or harass human rights activists;
It calls for ensuring a safe and supportive environment in which it is possible to defend and promote human rights without fear of retribution, retaliation or intimidation.
Paladar Don Quijote, on centrally located Calle 23 in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 16 November 2016 — Rarely does the official press offer journalistic work of any interest, so a report that was published a few days ago is greatly appreciated. The work was published following controls recently directed by the Government to a total of 32 private restaurants in Havana (“Private Restaurants in the Capital Control and Success, in that Order?” by Yudy Castro Morales), a piece that reflects, in an unusually objective manner, some of the limitations that hinder the performance of private restaurants in Havana.
Weeks earlier, the State press monopoly had made mention of certain irregularities that had been detected in the sector, such as violations in urban planning regulations, illegalities in procedures for the sale of homes, “the importation of goods for commercial purposes,” tax evasion and violation of established limits related to activities for which licenses were issued.
The unprejudiced use of terms as demonized as “private restaurants,” “business” and “prosperity,, among others, is surprising
Indirectly, it also suggested that some of these establishments had become “scenarios for the dispensing of drugs, pimping and prostitution,” as well as for money laundering, which collaterally constitutes tacit acknowledgement of the proliferation of unspeakable evils within the impeccable socialist culture.
All of this, in addition to the closure of numerous restaurants and cafés and the suspension of the issuing of new licenses for this type of self-employment business created a climate of uncertainty about the fate of the private restaurant industry, popularly known as paladares*.
This uncertainty is now beginning to dissipate, at least partially, when the most official newspaper of Cuba not only deals with the results of the mentioned inspection in the capital, but disseminates critical testimony and demands from several owners of some of Havana’s privately owned restaurants.
The absence of revolutionary slogans and of political-ideological allusions of the kind that usually overload articles in the official press is another unusual feature of the article, and equally surprising is the unprejudiced use of terms as demonized as “private restaurants,” “business” and “prosperity,” among others.
Some insightful rumors considered that the official strategy consisted in selecting certain prestigious restaurants and offering them legal advantages in exchange for adhering to certain norms
In fact, problems detected by the State audit during inspections do not, in themselves, constitute a novelty: closing schedule violations, direct hiring of performers that liven up some private locations –without going through a State Agency where they are required to be registered – problems with employees’ contracts, noise pollution, illegal merchandise, smuggling and the crime of receiving stolen goods are real and well-known transgressions, in both the private and the State sector.
For that reason, some insightful rumors considered that the official strategy consisted in selecting certain renowned restaurants and offering them legal advantages in exchange for adhering to certain norms and commitments with sectors of the State entrepreneurship. The State-Godfather protects those who are loyal to it, in its best Mafioso style.
Should this rumor be true, it would not be anything new. It is popularly spoken of – though obviously unverifiable – that the owners of some of the most successful paladares have some kind of link with the power authorities and have enjoyed official tolerance in exchange for political compliance, whether fake or not.
The ideological commitment/control mechanism is (also) a longstanding practice in the gastronomic sector. During the decades of the 70’s and 80’s, restaurant, bar and cafeteria management – all of them State-owned – were very coveted jobs, since they were consistent and secure sources of illicit proceeds from the smuggling of products diverted from the official network and resold at premium prices in the black market.
Whoever has not lived in a society accentuated by shortages and subjected to a ration card to acquire their sustenance may not understand the enormous economic power that is derived from the management of foodstuffs.
So significant were the gains in the gastronomic industry that the Upscale Restaurant Enterprise in the capital gave those jobs to “team-players” of the Communist party and to intermediate leaders with a proven historical track record of loyalty to the system.
So significant were the gains in the gastronomic industry and so coveted the management jobs at prestigious restaurants, such as El Polinesio, La Torre, El Conejito, el Mandarín, Las Bulerías, Montecatini, among many others – some of the famed restaurants as well as many others – that the Upscale Restaurant Enterprise in the capital gave those jobs to “team-players” of the Communist party and to intermediate leaders with a proven historical track record of loyalty to the system.
This clientele-centered procedure created a sort of undercover middle class, whose advantages over the working class were based on their ability to access consumer goods and services that were just not available to the latter, in the same way that the standards of living and the ability of the current private owners of the most successful paladares are far beyond the possibilities of the vast majority of Cubans.
The difference between those State administrators of yesteryear and the current owners is that the former dealt with public goods, since private property was banned then, and the latter operate with private capital, but the common denominator among them is that the power — which arbitrarily dispenses approvals, punishment or pardons — controls and manipulates them from the point of view of their dependence on improprieties in following the laws in order to thrive, on both sides.
Thus, the prosperity of the ‘Private Manager’ depends, to date, on his ability to misappropriate State assets entrusted to him without being discovered, while the success of the ‘Private Owner’ depends on his ability to violate the law, be it accessing the underground market to acquire the goods that he needs or through the evasion of taxes and other regulations.
The prosperity of the ‘Private Manager’ depends, to date, on his ability to misappropriate State assets entrusted to him without being discovered, while the success of the ‘Private Owner’ depends on his ability to violate the law
But what is really novel in the journalistic report in this case is that it has given space to the voices of the presumed victims in the Government press — the ever-demeaned private owners, or “entrepreneurs” — and that these voices have expressed themselves so critically and so freely about the multiple constraints imposed by the State system that regulates self-employment.
Included among the major constraints that were listed are the lack of wholesale markets and the insufficient supply of the retail networks, the unfeasibility of joining importing entities in order to acquire consumables and equipment that are lacking in retail networks, the express prohibition for the private sector to import products that are not commercialized in the State entities, among them, certain types of alcoholic drinks that are in high demand, the restriction of allowed seating (50 chairs in total, whether under a cafeteria or a restaurant license) which “negatively affects the business,” especially those that provide services to the official tourist agencies which, on occasion, in the face of the great demand and the limits on authorized seats, push the license-holders to violate those limitations.
Criticisms were even directed at State and cooperative management nightspots, described by owners of paladares as deficient in “not offering quality services,” which makes one think that perhaps soon, and in light of the growing wave of tourists, this kind of establishment, which at the moment is exclusively State owned, might become privately owned.
What is really novel of the journalistic report in this case is that it has given space to the voices of the presumed victims in the Government press and that these voices have expressed themselves so critically
“We are willing to pay the established taxes (…) but we want profitable businesses,” stated an owner, implicitly demonstrating the financial capacity that the elite in the industry has attained.
But, in addition, the report allows us to perceive certain nuances that make a small but significant difference, in a journalism that is habitually flat and uncritical. There is a case, for example, of an owner who, as a taxpayer, demanded to know more about the fate of the taxes he pays the State, something that was considered a heresy until recently.
Of course, these are wispy and sparse signals, but they forecast the possible evolution of private capital, though reduced to an elite sector that, despite its fragility, begins to feel independent and to consider itself useful and necessary for the survival of an obsolete and unproductive system in crisis.
Of course, official responses to the claims of private owners have not been published. No one knows for sure how much was “allowed” or how audacious this infrequent journalistic report and these demands really are. At the moment, it is worth paying close attention to the direction of private Havana restaurants. Let’s not forget the old saying: “God writes straight with twisted lines.”
*Translator’s note: Paladar (plural: paladares) (Portuguese and Spanish for “palate”) used in that sense in the Spanish speaking world, however in Cuba, it is used exclusively to refer to restaurants run by the self-employed. Mostly family-run businesses, paladares are fundamentally engaged to serve as a counterpart to State-run restaurants for tourists seeking a more vivid interaction with Cuban reality, and looking for homemade Cuban food.
The term in popular usage has its origin in the Brazilian soap opera Vale Tudo”, broadcast in Cuba in the early 1990s. Paladar was the name of the chain of restaurants. The airing of that soap opera coincided in time with the first issue of licenses for the self-employed in Cuba, so popular culture gave this name to the then-new type of establishments.
Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Guyana. (Youtube)
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, 15 November 2016 – He doesn’t yet know how to find Guyana on a map, but he proudly shows off a plane reservation from Havana to Panama City and finally to Georgetown. Samuel, a fictitious name to avoid reprisals, was counting the hours this Saturday before boarding his plane to the small nation, a new port of entry for Cubans on their route to the United States.
With the visa restrictions imposed by Ecuador since the end of last year, the routes islanders must follow to emigrate have been redefined. The lax entry regulations, which don’t require visas from Cubans, have made Guyana a first step on the long route of thousands of miles during which emigrants pass through at least seven countries.
“I sold everything, the apartment I inherited from my mother, my home appliances and my almost new motorbike,” Samuel told 14ymedio at José Martí International Airport. With the money, he managed to buy a ticket to the South American country, some 840 dollars round trip, although he says it will be a journey with no return.
“They explained everything to me,” says this young Holguin native. “Several friends have already taken the same route and gotten to Miami,” although they also warned him that it is “a long and complicated journey, where anything could happen.”
The line at the counter of Panama’s Copa Airlines is full of people like Samuel. A couple kissing intensely on Saturday, before the man checked his suitcases bound for Georgetown. A few yards away, Samuel bent nervously, again and again, looking over his hotel booking.
“I will not be staying in this place but I need a reservation to avoid problems when entering Guyana” he explains. As soon as he lands he will contact Ney, a Mexican woman with a Uruguayan cellphone number who will put him in contact with the coyotes who will guide him through the first part of the journey.
“I have to pay $6,000, little by little, but they guarantee I will be at the United States border before the end of November,” he says. He does not know anyone in Guyana and does not want to think about the idea of having to stay in that country. “I do not speak a word of English and I’ve had enough of little countries like my own,” he jokes, as he approaches his turn at the Copa Airlines counter.
He is carrying a suitcase that weighs almost nothing. “I have nothing, what I didn’t sell I gave away.” His only possessions of any worth are a smart phone, a watch and about 8,000 dollars that remain after getting rid of all his property in a hurry. “With this I have to get to Miami because I don’t have even a single cent more,” he says.
Samuel carries contact numbers for Paulo and Adele, a small family business that operates a bus route between Guyana and Brazil. “A cousin gave me these numbers in case I change my mind and he wants me to go to Rio de Janeiro, where he runs a gym.”
Samuel has a degree in physical culture and he believes he can have a future “in some fitnessss center because there are so many of those in Florida,” he says, pronouncing the word with a very long, almost ridiculous, “S” sound, but he is also willing “to lay bricks doing construction work in the hot sun.”
After a couple of years working as a physical education teacher, the young man is ready to “conquer the world” if he can. For now, his challenges are more modest: to get to the Cheddi Jagan Airport in Georgetown and convince the immigration agent that he’s a tourist planning to sightsee and shop, to avoid being deported.
“I will just grab my suitcase and rush to the first taxi that passes by.” The airport is more than 25 miles from the city, but Samuel predicts that he will be laughing the whole time because he will be “over there, far from this shit.”
Each day about fifty Cubans depart from Terminal 3 of Havana’s International Airport heading to Guyana, according to an employee of Copa Airlines. The numbers could skyrocket if people fear that the Passport and Visa Service of that country will be closed to islanders, as happened with Ecuador.
The victory of Donald Trump is also an incentive for emigration, with the expectations that the Cuban Adjustment Act will be repealed. “It’s now or never,” says Samuel, with ticket in hand. The young man steps toward the immigration booth, where an official will affix the stamp to leave the country. That clicking sound on the paper will be his shot to take off.
The nation’s capitol building has again become the headquarters of the Cuban National Assembly, although restoration work is not yet completed. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, 17 November 2017 – The inauguration of the National Capitol building as the headquarters of Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power was treated with a minor notice on the second page of the Communist Party newspaper Granma, with the central focus being the presence, at the site, of Tran Dai Quang, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The president of the Cuban parliament, Esteban Lazo Hernandez, solemnly declared that this Wednesday was “an historic day for us,” and explained to the Asian delegation how the National Assembly works. Eusebio Leal then led a tour of the restored areas.
The inauguration lacked pomp or a formal prior notice. Nor it was attended by all the deputies, nor was the ceremony broadcast live on national television.
Outside the re-inaugurated dome, scaffolding continues to fill the scene, while construction dust and noise leaves no doubt that the most emblematic building of the Republican era is not yet ready to properly receive the parliament of socialism.
14ymedio, Dagoberto Valdes, 25 November 2016 — At the stroke of noon today, 25 November 2016, two officials from State Security came to my house, Major Joaquin, who participated in my interrogation on 27 October, and another official.
