Meurice’s Roar / Yoani Sánchez

Image taken from "La Voz católica"

In memoriam for Pedro Meurice Estiú
Archbishop Emeritus of Santiago de Cuba

They called Archbishop Pedro Meurice Estiu “the lion of the East” for his more-than-proven bravery in the face of the arbitrary and authoritarian. That January 24, 1998, in Antonia Maceo Plaza in Santiago de Cuba, his face is serious, deep in thought. Pope John Paul II has just finished his homily and the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba was to address his flock and the Shepherd who had come to visit it. Before taking the podium, Meurice spoke with the priest Jose Conrado Rodriguez Alegre and told him, “This lion is old with a shaggy mane, but it will roar.” He took the microphone and kept his word.

Facing the surprised Santiagans gathered there, and those who were watching the live on television, Meurice’s address seems to interpret our thoughts, to spring from our own mouths. “Holy Father… I present to you a growing number of Cubans who have confused the country with a party, the nation with a historical process we have lived through in recent decades, culture with an ideology.” And on this side of the screen, many of us did not stop applauding, crying, jumping, looking at the shocked and annoyed face of Raul Castro at the foot of the dais. No one had told the Minister of the Armed Forces–in public and before so many witnesses–truths of this nature. Some escaped in fear from that immense square, but others? The boldest? They were chanting the word, “Freedom.”

“This is a people that has the richness of joy, and a material poverty that saddens and overwhelms it, barely letting it see beyond immediate subsistence,” the lion continued to roar. And in our lethargic civic consciousness something began to stir. Meurice had returned to his years of greatest vitality and the swords that emerged from the ground of that Plaza flew in the face of a rebelliousness lost in some corner of history. For a few brief moments we were free. The homily ended, the severe gesture of our current president presaged scoldings for the old lion, but the crook of John Paul II would protect him.

Today, Pedro Meurice has left us, with his nobility of the feline guardian of the litter, leaving us with the responsibility to present ourselves to the world. How are we going to describe ourselves now? Who will be belive that 13 years later we haven’t been able to “demystify the false messiahs”? How will we explain the fear that has led to paralysis, to continuing to wait for others who will roar for us?

Testimony: The Failed Attempts to Make Me an Agent – II / Angel Santiesteban

Photo: Reuters

After two months of hiding in the neighborhood of Güinera, I reappeared in my neighborhood. Everything seemed calm. The good thing was that I had taken advantage of the time to read and create. And I thought I could resume my life.

When I least expected it, they raided my house and arrested me once again. As soon as I arrived at their headquarters, they assured me that I would now spend there as punishment the same length of time that I hadn’t shown them my face. And that is exactly what happened. They kept me in those cells of intense disciplinary rigor for the 60 days that I had remained hidden. There, also, I undertook a process of creation which was my salvation.

In that prison I wrote a story in my memory. I would say one phrase out loud, and then add another word and began to repeat it from the beginning, and so, continually, hundreds of words beginning to be a long story that, in fact, I published. I just remember my cell mates looking at me with fear, as if I was a crazy man who might hurt them. There was one moment when one of them knelt to beg me to shut up, they were tormented, I wasn’t letting them think or sleep. I think they also learned the story.

On the 56th day a certain Germán came to see me, he was one of the state security agents I had always seen at literary events, especially at the activities of the Casa de las Americas. He was accompanied by two others, and when they took me to the office they were seated on the sofa. I had barely entered and looked at them, when my pants fell down, keeping in mind that I wasn’t wearing underwear, and they looked offended. The Germán guy told me that he wasn’t going to get into it with me and assured me that, despite everything, he was a young revolutionary.

I really had to hold myself back, in light of my physical weakness, from my desire to come to blows with them, feeling an immense need to give rein to my anger. Germán assured me that he would work it out soon, but not to forget to “cooperate” with the officials.

At the end of 60 days I had become so thin that when I went to see my mother-in-law, who had known me for ten years, she couldn’t recognize me. When I talked I started to cry, and the feeling came over me of being in the state of calamity.

I had barely entered the apartment when, without even drinking a glass of cold water, I sat in front of the computer and began to write the text I had memorized. In those days of imprisonment my greatest fear was that I would forget the story.

Then I saved it, and on seeing it printed I felt like the sun had come out for the first time since my arrest; I believe I smiled because I understood that I had played a trick on them. If they thought they could keep me from writing, from creating, they had not managed to do so.

And of course, even more than before, I was reluctant to cooperate.

July 20 2011

Heroes Without Weapons / Dimas Castellanos

Dr. Tomás Romay Chacón

In Cuba, with its pregnant history of violent acts, we pay exaggerated attention to episodes of war in detriment to other ways of making history, such as science–forger of knowledge and of culture–that contributes so much to the formation of nationality the nation and the country over centuries. On May 19 of this year we will arrive at the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Academy of medical, physical, and natural sciences of Havana, whose birth was conditioned by the development reached by the productive forces and by the sustained and joint effort of Cubans, who from different political and ideological positions, united their forces for the development of Cuba. In recognition of these heroes, almost anonymous, I am going to mention nine of them.

Tomás Romay Chacón (1764-1849). Physician, cofounder of Newsprint of Havana and of the Economic Society of Friends of the Country, made innumerable contributions to science and culture, but it was in medicine where he made his greatest contributions; in 1794 he presented to the Ordinary Meeting of the Patriotic Society of the Friends of the Country–the first scientific meeting of Cuban doctors–-his dissertation on the malignant fever commonly called black ball met, and discovered it introduced vaccination against smallpox, introduced the studies of anatomy on the cadaver, those of the clinic in the rooms of the hospital and took students to the sources of the sick and to the morgue to practice autopsies. He was one of those who petitioned King Fernando VII about the necessity of creating a science academy on the island. for his activities in preventing disease and promoting the advancement of medicine he is considered “the first great Cuban hygienist” and the initiator of the scientific movement in Cuba. Romay was a man of his time in class, of the established political system, defender of the established political system, admirer of the Spanish monarchy, and intransigent enemy of revolutionary liberalism; irrefutable proof that one can be a force in science, culture and nationality independent of political or ideological affiliation.

José Estévez Cantal (1771-1841). Chemist and botanist. Student of Tomás Romay was probably the first Cuban who received a scientific education in Europe and the first botanist of some importance. Between them they worked on a catalog of plants, begun by Baltasar Boldo, considered as the first floor of Cuba. He was the first Cuban chemist who distinguished himself in the search for varieties of sugarcane and who applied this science to a new branch of therapy: medical hydrology. Thanks to his analysis of the waters of San Diego–the most famous of our mineral medicinal springs–he was able to take advantage of their healing properties. Through Estévez botany, chemistry, and mineralogy were introduced on the island reinvigorating the already advanced movement of cultural and scientific reform.

Esteban Pichardo Tapia (1799-1879). Lawyer and geographer, born in Santo Domingo. Considered “the most prominent geographer of Cuba.” His geographic and cartographic work was the basis for the contour map drawn to scale, made ​​in 1908 by the American Army of Occupation. His main geographical work was the Route Map of the Roads of Cuba. In 1829 he presented the Compendium of Geography of the Island of Cuba for use in colleges and high schools. He also dabbled in literature with a volume of poems and the Dictionary of Cuban Voices, published in 1836.

Felipe Poey Aloy (1799-1891). Researcher and Professor in Natural Sciences. In France, where he met Jorge Cuvier, he published his first entomological studies. In 1838, he presented a project to establish in Havana a cabinet of natural history, which later became part of the University of Havana. He studied The sugarcane borer and avocado pests, bringing wide knowledge of the basics of biology. He is considered “the initiator of the scientific era in the natural history of Cuba” and was one of the 30 founding members of the Royal Academy of Medical Sciences, Physical and Natural Sciences.

Nicolás Gutiérrez José Hernández (1800-1890). Surgeon, founder of the Havana Medical Journal, Cuba’s first magazine devoted exclusively to medicine. He introduced in Cuba chloroform is a surgical anesthetic. On the death of Tomás Romay, Nicolás became the principal figure in the Havana medical community. He was one of the leading personalities in the struggle to found the Royal Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences in Havana, where he held the presidency to which he was reelected until his death.

Francisco Frias Jacott, Count of Pozos Dulces (1809-1877).
Agronomist, science writer and agrarian reformer. Author of the Agricultural Development Program, aimed at laying the foundations for a national identity agro-technology and agro-science to achieve social and economic equilibrium. An ardent supporter of small farms, small industry and the work of the peasant family. He was the first speaker at the Royal Academy of Medical Sciences, Physical and Natural Sciences of Havana, on the theory of Darwin, and was a defender of the Institute for Chemical Research, founded in 1848, and in 1861 he was a promoter of the Cuban Agricultural Institute. In 1868 he was honored for his work: “Report on the livestock industry on the island of Cuba” and “The scientific basis on which rests the view that the destruction of the animal kingdom, involves that of the plant and vice versa.”

Francisco Fernández de Lara Albee (1816-1887). Engineer. Between the repair of the Convent of San Agustín in Havana, his first work, through the construction of the Isabel II aqueduct, he is found prominently in all the material construction of that era. His great work with the use of the waters of the Vento Springs, for which he investigated the entire relationship between the quality and the transfer of the liquid to the Palatino reservoirs. Through this he demonstrated the negative influence of sunlight on the deposited waters; modify the geology of the terrain to adapt it to protect the canal; and ran it under the Almendares River. A project that was not repeated until the middle of the 20th century, when the tunnel under Havana Bay was constructed. For this work he was awarded, first in Philadelphia and later in Paris, with the gold medal, while the Royal development board called him “the most famous of Cuban engineers.”

Aguirre Andrés Poey (1825-1919).
Meteorologist. Precursor in Cuba of research in this field, considered the “true creator of scientific meteorology in Cuba.” In 1848 he prepared an atlas with 28 lithographed maps for primary schools, the first of its kind printed in Cuba. In 1850 he established an observatory at his home where he undertook atmospheric research. In 1855 he produced a catalog of hurricanes entitled “Chronological Table comprising 400 hurricanes and cyclones that have occurred in the West Indies and the North Atlantic from 1493 to 1855;” a work considered essential in this matter.

Alvaro Reinoso y Valdés (1829-1888).
Chemist, physiologist, agronomist and industrial technologist. He replaced José Luis Casaseca at the head of the Chemical Research Institute of Havana, which became the Agricultural Station. In 1862, when Cuba ranked first in the world in sugar production, it stood last in agricultural productivity. To the solution of this contradiction Reynoso devoted all his efforts. In his masterpiece, “An Essay on the cultivation of sugar cane,” published in 1862, he developed a comprehensive system of agro-technical measures to ensure the intensive cultivation of sugar cane, for which he fully analyzed all operations related to the cultivation and harvesting of the grass. Reinoso is considered “Father of the Cuban Scientific Agriculture.” Despite all the time that has passed, Cuba today has not exceeded the sugar crops of a century ago.

Along with these nine heroes of Cuban science it is necessary to recognize the contributions of foreign scientists, including Alejandro Humboldt de Hollwede (1769-1859), José Luís Casaseca Silván (1800-1869) y Ramón de la Sagra Periz (1798-1871). The first, in many respects, knew Cuba better than Cuban themselves, the latter is considered the “father of Cuban chemistry” and the third, the leading Professor of Natural History, who created and directed the Botanical Garden and the Havana Institute of Agriculture.

The review of these famous scientists makes a mockery of the absurd attempt to link homeland and nation with socialism and revolution.

Published in Diario de Cuba (www.ddcuba.com) Friday, May 27, 2011

Crazy Propaganda / Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado

Since June, Cuban television seems like Chavezvision, as its five channels have focused on following the evolution and process of recuperation of the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, and all the direct and telephone communications between Cuba and the people in his cabinet, and every one of his appearances and actions since his return to Venezuela. They rebroadcast it over and over as if they are preparing us for an exam. As we no longer suffer from the long speeches of prior days, now they grind away at us with those of the oil barons.

This narcissistic soap opera that we Cubans have already lived with for far too long has made us suspicious of the tools used by the caudillo rogues to maintain themselves in power. On their Latin flutes they play romantic melodies pleasing to the ears of the majority, to enchant the masses. It even comes to the point that I tend to doubt if the illness of Hugo Chavez is real. This new version of the tropical “reality show,” seems woven by people very skilled in the art of remaining in power and their similarity and relationship with Havana is not coincidental.

But much is at stake, not just the arrogant personal victory of a man of the party — here they mixed, confused and personified the concepts of state, nation and country and focus those on one man — but an entire country and three generations of Cubans who have worked hard for the consolidation of a utopia that is terminally ill.

We are, by adversity, a country hampered by dependency. To our own idiosyncratic anchors we must add historic events that have cemented the subordination. For more than four centuries (from 1492 to 1899) we depended on Spain, until 1959 on the United States, for almost 30 years (until 1989) on the former Soviet Union, and now on Venezuela. If we can point to something comforting in our favor, it is that the durations of our dependency have been diminishing. What is not cut short is the corresponding adulation that is levied, as evidenced with the “native volunteers” in service to Spain during the time of the colonial period, and that is reflected today in the elite of power of our country, when generally (not just now when they say they are sick) they give more media coverage to a foreign president then to the leader of Cuba.

There is a concern in Cuban society with relation to the future if the condition of the Bolivarian leader is real. What will become of Cubans if we stop receiving the daily tons of oil sent to us from Venezuela? Will we return to the Special Period? These are the doubts that are in the street; although many think that the old oligarchic and nepotistic formula of the caudillos will not find an exception in the Venezuelan case and that Chavez will perpetuate himself in power with the naming of his brother as his successor. In any event, I champion the recovery of the leader, but we must look to our own mental health and delete these repeated propagandistic exaggerations that alienate our daily life. Perhaps the illness of Chavez contributes to the inauguration of true reforms with perspective and without the laying manipulations, the structures to put us on the path toward a democratic state of rights and common good. Meanwhile, this is precisely what we must focus on and we must not lose our minds.

July 18 2011

Crazy Propaganda

Since June, Cuban television seems like Chavezvision, as its five channels have focused on following the evolution and process of recuperation of the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, and all the direct and telephone communications between Cuba and the people in his cabinet, and every one of his appearances and actions since his return to Venezuela. They rebroadcast it over and over as if they are preparing us for an exam. As we no longer suffer from the long speeches of prior days, now they grind away at us with those of the oil barons.

This narcissistic soap opera that we Cubans have already lived with for far too long has made us suspicious of the tools used by the caudillo rogues to maintain themselves in power. On their Latin flutes they play romantic melodies pleasing to the ears of the majority, to enchant the masses. It even comes to the point that I tend to doubt if the illness of Hugo Chavez is real.  This new version of the tropical “reality show,” seems woven by people very skilled in the art of remaining in power and their similarity and relationship with Havana is not coincidental.

But much is at stake, not just the arrogant personal victory of a man of the party — here they mixed, confused and personified the concepts of state, nation and country and focus those on one man — but an entire country and three generations of Cubans who have worked hard for the consolidation of a utopia that is terminally ill.

We are, by adversity, a country hampered by dependency. To our own  idiosyncratic anchors we must add historic events that have cemented the subordination. For more than four centuries (from 1492 to 1899) we depended on Spain, until 1959 on the United States,  for almost 30 years (until 1989) on the former Soviet Union, and now on Venezuela. If we can point to something comforting in our favor, it is that the durations of our dependency have been diminishing. What is not cut short is the corresponding adulation that is levied, as evidenced with the “native volunteers” in service to Spain during the time of the colonial period, and that is reflected today in the elite of power of our country,  when generally (not just now when they say they are sick) they give more media coverage to a foreign president then to the leader of Cuba.

There is a concern in Cuban society with relation to the future if the condition of the Bolivarian leader is real.  What will become of Cubans if we stop receiving the daily tons of oil sent to us from Venezuela?  Will we return to the Special Period?  These are the doubts that are in the street; although many think that the old oligarchic and nepotistic formula of the caudillos will not find an exception in the Venezuelan case and that Chavez will perpetuate himself in power with the naming of his brother as his successor.  In any event, I champion the recovery of the leader,  but we must look to our own mental health and delete these repeated propagandistic exaggerations  that alienate our daily life. Perhaps the illness of Chavez contributes to the inauguration of true reforms with perspective and without the laying manipulations, the structures to put us on the path toward a democratic state of rights and common good. Meanwhile, this is precisely what we must focus on and we must not lose our minds.

July 18 2011

Age of Majority / Yoani Sánchez

Image taken from cubamatinal.es

Going to a movie theater to see adult films, buying a beer in some bar, or being hired as an employee, are some of the proofs that we have arrived at the age of majority. When we are fourteen or fifteen years old, every day brings us closer to that legal adulthood we await so anxiously. We approach a milestone that we flaunt in front of friends, while reminding our parents that we are no long so small, that they can no longer treat us like children. But the sensations associated with reaching sixteen are quite distinct from those that overwhelm us when our children reach the age of legal responsibility. It’s exactly then that we realize how physically and mentally immature they are to take on so much responsibility.

I am reflecting on this because my son will reach the age of majority this coming August. He will then be ready–according to the law–to buy alcoholic beverages, to be drafted into the army, or to go to prison. From that moment, nothing he does will be treated by the criminal code as if he were a minor. He could even be called to die or to kill in a war, a not ridiculous option in today’s Cuba. All the teenagers born in the difficult year of 1995 will pass through, in this 2011, the barrier between childhood and adulthood. And I say, without maternal excess, that they are too young, too fragile, to face the burden of being considered adults by a legal system that does not correspond to international norms.

Several weeks ago, the United Nations asked the Cuban authorities to raise the age of majority to 18 years. But there is little hope that such a demand will become fact. Were it to be successful, all the women between 16 and 17 who are selling their bodies to tourists would become minors trapped in child prostitution. And postponing the end of childhood would also deprive the government of a great number of voters–easier to manipulate–in local elections. And, of course, it would temporarily prolong the ascendancy of parents over their children, to the detriment of that of the State over these young citizens.

Now that I am more than twice the age required to exchange the card of a minor for the ID of an adult, I realize they robbed me of a couple of years; that an incorrect legislation placed a responsibility on my shoulders that I did not have the discernment to assume. At that time, I enjoyed it as if it were a letter of freedom, but today I see it as the loss of a legal protection that was my right.

Cuba and its Future: An Incomplete Panel / Regina Coyula

On Saturday I put aside the clutter in my house, which seems endless, so as not to miss the panel “Cuba and its future,” sponsored by the digital space Estado de Sats. The panel was made up of the economist Karina Galvez, Yoani Sanchez as a digital media expert, Wilfredo Vallin as a lawyer, but the name that decided me to travel from Miramar, crammed into the noisy 179 Route full of boys planning to go to the beach, was the political scientist Pedro Campos. I went with the feeling that I would be a witness to an unprecedented and necessary event: The confluence of different opinions with openness and respect; the belief that the solution for Cuba is not in the hands of a group determined by official guidelines.

I can’t say I went in vain. I listened to very thoughtful opinions, met interesting people, but was unable to hear Karina, who was held for three hours at a Pinar del Rio police station when she prepared to travel to Havana, or Campos, who apologized for not attending due to personal reasons.

Pressures. Pressures of various kinds, but pressures nonetheless. But I have confidence that this citizens’ dialog will be openly produced, even without government approval. It is imperative that the Cuban situation, and those who doubt it should consult the political economy manuals. Or stick their heads out the window.

July 18 2011

An Adolescent is Killed for Trying to Eat Genips* in Havana / Laritza Diversent

On the afternoon of July 15, 2011, the town of Mantilla, on Havana’s outskirts, was shocked by the death of Angel Izquierdo Medina, a 14-year-old black teenager, who died from a gunshot to the femoral artery by Amado Interian, a retired police Major.

According to the victim’s family members, three boys, including Angel, entered the property of the ex-police officer, to take genips, also known Spanish limes, from a tree. When the ex-cop caught them in the act, he fired two shots from his pistol. Before retiring, Interian had been a police chief in the area.

The child’s body was laid out in the Mauline funeral home, at the entrance of Santa Amalia residential neighborhood. More than 500 people attended the viewing, most of them fellow students, in shock from the news, and also teachers and neighbors.

“Oh my God he was the same age as my son, because a mischief, that only can be done by an extremist”, said one of the spectators sobbing, while passing by the coffin.

Agents of the State Security Forces dressed in civil clothes took over the funeral home because the mourners had been threatening to protest. Around midnight there were incidents reported at the site, without arrests being made. The burial was on Saturday July 16, 2011, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, in the Christopher Columbus cemetery.

Mantilla is a Havana suburb, with a low income population and high levels of dangerousness. It belongs to the municipality of Arroyo Naranjo, the most violent and poor of the capital city.

So far, we don’t know if the ex-police officer will be prosecuted because of the adolescent’s death. As is usual in Cuba, when things of this nature happen, the official media prefers to keep silent and not to report what happened.

Photo: Mamoncillos. With its sweet flesh, it is one of the most preferred fruits in Cuba. But as with so many fruits, after 1959 they were scarce in the market and could still be consumed only by those who have a tree of Melicoccus bijugatus (its scientific name) in the backyard. The genip along with the sugar apple, soursop, custard apple, cashew, canistel, loquat, plum and apple banana, is listed as one of the extinct fruits after Castros took power. Years after this barbaric event — one of the tasks of the ‘famous’ Che Guevara’s invasion brigade was to uproot fruit trees from the fields where it passed by — little by little the fruits started to reappear again — mangoes, guavas , mamey and avocados — among others fruits that have been always been greatly eaten by Cubans. With the only difference that before the bearded men, with 10 or 20 cents you could buy a mamey or an avocado and now days you cannot find them for less than 10 or 20 cuban pesos. (Tania Quintero)

*Translator’s note: Melicoccus bijugatus, commonly called Spanish lime, genip, genipe, quenepa, mamoncillo, limoncillo, it is a one-inch, round fruit with a green leathery skin at maturity. Each fruit has a large seed inside, the same ovoid shape as the fruit itself , the seeds have a fleshy tan-coloured edible sweet and juicy seed coat.

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Translated by: Adrian Rodriguez

July 19 2011

Long Vacations and My First Story / Claudia Cadelo

I spent weeks debating with myself about taking a serious break from Octavo Cerco. I don’t want to be melodramatic but it is surprising how what began as an exercise in personal freedom has been transformed into a tremendous responsibility. I don’t like it to be so. Because I write because I because it keeps me grounded and not because a week has gone by since I posted.

I finished my personal debate, and have come to the basic conclusion that it’s time for a rest. Between the government, summer and the island I almost lost control last week. No way. I am going to sleep 12 hours a day, and try to stop smoking, take a break from the National News on TV and the newspaper Granma (these last two measures are an imperative for me), and I am going to finish my second story.

Meanwhile, I ask for the forgiveness and understanding of everyone (the trolls and other vermin on the network: don’t chew your fingers, it’s just a little break) and I leave you Pavimento, my first little story, published in Number 8 of Voices magazine, under the pseudonym of Dalila Douceca.

Lichi / Yoani Sánchez

Eliseo Alberto Diego, to his friends simply “Lichi,” talks as if he were writing, narrating the most ordinary stories as if they were literature. I remember some afternoons in his house in Vedado when he would tell us these anecdotes and we couldn’t say, precisely, if they were total inventions or might have some smidgen of reality. Because this big kid full of laughter delights in narrating and narrating. His acquaintances have thus become his receptive “ears” where he has tried out the fiction that later appears in the pages of his books. We set ourselves up, to our infinite pleasure, as the beings on whom he tests and practices–over and over–his work.

Thus, when Lichi the great storyteller told us he needed a kidney transplant, our first thought was that he was trying out another of his poetic tricks. He was, by then, already half Cuban and half Mexican, half poet and half novelist, and now, we suspected, he wanted to boast of being composed of organic material from several people. It seemed, viewed with suspicion, simply his latest invention. But no, he wasn’t talking about a character in the style of those described in “Esther en alguna parte” (Esther Somewhere), or “La eternidad en fin comienza un lunes” (Eternity Finally Begins on Monday), but about himself. His body was writing, for him, the most dramatic of his stories.

I remember that my husband, Reinaldo, offered him one of his kidneys, but Lichi didn’t want to believe him, or wouldn’t allow his friend to face so many battles without one of those organs. Last night we got the news that his body now houses a fragment of a Mexican teenager who died in an accident. The solidarity of a family, the wait–at times not so patient–of the son of the great Eliseo, and the desires of his friends, have combined to begin to give a happy ending to this adventure. Now, when he returns to embellish his stories, we will, inevitably, have to believe him a little more. Because Lichi, the skilled storyteller of our Havana afternoons, has been very close to an experience that only he can tell us.

From Paternalism to the Other Extreme / Fernando Dámaso

Máximo Gómez, the great Dominican promoter of our independence, said that Cubans either don’t reach far enough or reach too far, and without a doubt, he was right. As you can see he knew us very well! Now with this new issue of eliminating  paternalism and gratuities, the correctness of his opinion is ratified one more time. Let’s look at it piece by piece, but first is necessary to make clearthat the so called paternalism and gratuities are undisputed fallacies, which served to mask the miserable wages that Cubans have been receiving for more than fifty years: the government supplied through the commonly named ration card some products, increasingly fewer, at lower prices (subsidized), as well as some services provided free of charge, in order to not raise the salaries and pay the workers what they really should have been paid. Therefore, everything has been paid for with the salaries that the workers didn’t receive.

Today the minimum monthly salary does not exceed $240 pesos national currency (equal to 10 CUC* or 9 US dollars) and the median monthly salary is $440 pesos national currency (20 CUC* — equal to 18 US dollars). If we convert this to a daily basis the wages will be 8 and 16 Cuban pesos national currency, respectively (in either case less than 1 CUC or 1 dollar a day). This is important in order to establish comparisons.

The prices of products that were supplied before as subsidized, now are supplied as “released” (that is unrationed) items (it seems they were in jail), but at a huge price (maybe because the cost of the bail bond). Here are some examples: rice, from 40 to 90 cents a pound, increased to 5 cuban pesos; refined sugar, from 20 cents a pound  to 8 cuban pesos; brown sugar, from 10 cents a pound  to 6 cuban pesos; washing soap, from 20 cents a bar, to 6 cuban pesos; bath soap, from 40 cents a bar to 5 cuban pesos, and liquid detergent, from $3.50 a liter to 25 cuban pesos. If the State truly subsidized these products, how much were the subsidiesequivalent to? Nobody can believe that sugar (the primary national export product back in its heyday) could possibly be subsidized at 7.80 cuban pesos a pound, nor liquid detergent at 21.50 cuban pesos. This is totally absurd.

The question would be, why these exaggerated prices on essential goods? The acquisition of one of them represents a citizen’s salary for a day’s work or more. Is this part of the economic model updating? For these price raises there was no need for any kind of meeting, nor discussions in the social base, neither in the National Assembly: They were just implemented and that’s it. About raising the salaries, which should be the right thing to do, nobody says absolutely anything. The most you can hear is that, it will be done when we are able to produce and increase the production. In other words: Wait for the Greek Calends.

These, unfortunately, are our realities, and it calls attention to the fact that there are still dreamers, who believe we are on the right path towards the solution of our problems. So far, it has only produced a redistribution of the load: Move even more cargo from the imaginary shoulders of the State (in reality it has always been on Cubans shoulders ) to the already overloaded citizens.

*Translator’s note: CUC is a Cuban Convertible Peso, one of Cuba’s two currencies, the other being Moneda Nacional — National Money — or the Cuban peso.

Translated by Adrian Rodriguez.

July 10 2011

The Spaniard Sebastian Martinez will be Judged Monday in Havana / Iván García

The Spanish businessman Sebastián Martínez Ferraté, charged with corruption of minors, pimping and illegal economic activities, will be judged on Monday July 18 at the Provincial Court of Havana, whose official seat is located on Prado, Teniente and Rey. However, trials in the presence of diplomats and the media are usually held in the 10th of October Municipal Court, on Carmen and Juan Delgado.

On a ward of La Condesa, a special prison for foreigners on the outskirts of the capital. Martinez Ferraté has been waiting for a year for a trial whose verdict is known beforehand.

The prosecution requested 15 years’ imprisonment, maybe reduced to 10 or 5. But it is clear that they will have him pay the bill for having made, or contributing to making, in 2008, a documentary showing the full extent of prostitution, including child prostitution.

It also exposed the corruption existing around prostitution on the island. The documentary was shown on Tele Cinco, a private TV channel in Spain. It was a blockbuster.

And a blow to the Cuban authorities. So they began plotting their revenge. It is known that every year the US State Department places Cuba on the list of countries where child prostitution is practiced. Something that bothers the government a lot. And the Sebastián case served to send a message to the insolent foreign visitors who might dare to show the ugly face of the country.

The documentary might be new for those who support the Castros in Spain. But for a Cuban independent journalist it is more of the same.

What the audio-visual documents continues to happen in Cuba. Each day the prostitutes are younger and almost an industry of prostitution has been erected. I’m not saying the police stand around with their arms crossed, but for every prostitute, pimp or child molester put behind bars, four more appear.

Prostitution is a social phenomenon. Dragged down by poverty, lack of opportunity and the desire to emigrate, a legion of women sell themselves to tourists for two 20-dollar bills.

The government has never offered an estimate of the number of people enrolled in prostitution. But there are thousands. The public knows about the increase in prostitution and pimping, and they mention it under their breath.

What bothers the authorities is that the subject is being put on display by the mainstream media. And with child prostitution being a sensitive issue, the director of a hotel chain in Mallorca prepared a trap for Ferraté Martinez.

According to the writer Ángel Santiesteban in his blog, The Children that Nobody Wanted, through a Cuban “friend” related to Martinez, in July 2010, they had ​​him come to Cuba believing that he would be making a documentary about the hotel business. No sooner did he arrive in Havana then he was arrested and put into jail.

The Spaniard sinned by naiveté. The Cuban government does not forgive certain “offenses.” They punish them. Harshly. Sebastian Martinez joined the list of guinea pigs that serve the Castro regime for negotiating future deals.

He will become a currency of exchange. Like the American Alan Gross or local dissidents. There are a range of options for exchanging Martinez. From a line of credit, asking the Spanish politicians to raise support for the unique position of the EU, up to silence and complicity with the regime in Havana.Or anything else. You can figure it out.

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Translated by Regina Anavy

July 18 2011

On Closing / Francis Sánchez

Francis Sanchez, 18 April 2011 — I had promised to publish two other parts of my last post, “Closed for Demolition”. Many days have gone by without my being able to do so. I will no longer do it, because definitely what I had in mind would only add essay-type content. The fundamental thing, the denunciation, is already done, and what remains is the testimony. I will save those texts in order to add other pages to new projects.

I am very grateful to all those who have written comments and who have offered me solidarity because, although it may seem minimal, it is an indispensable nourishment for moving ahead with life. In some way, although at times there is a delay in my being able to know it, I have always ended up becoming aware of what they comment and write to me. But it is true that I could not publish with the necessary frequency, or safety, without harming other people who were helping me. Thank you.

The blog “Man in the Clouds” is a marvelous chapter of my life that I do not regret. Of course, neither am I the one who is closing it–“for now”, I hear the little voice of temptation tell me–I specifically denounce my fear–not so much for me, but for my family–and the things that cause it, because no one is to blame for feeling fear. “No one. Absolutely no one,” says the magnificent writer Eliseo Alberto in the memoir “Report Against Myself.”

What will be most difficult in closing or cutting off is the need for complete freedom of expression, an inalienable right that connects hears and does not depend on any cable. So we will keep on seeing each other in this beautiful site.

The television series “The Reasons of Cuba”, which launched a new catalogue of agents infiltrated into Cuban society, with the direction the revelations took, places in evidence a new period of control or official pressure on national culture and intellectuality, as if the margin of natural life we had left for our development were not already very miserable. The supposed master act of these “agents” did not happen before or after it came out on television, but only now that they have come to achieve something with true impact, and it is this: the mixture of anger, disappointment, nausea, fear, shame, pity, remorse, etc. that can be found by following the tracks that they left among all the manipulated people–colleagues, friends, neighbors, work mates, etc.–whom they tried to provoke and attract with false projects that they made up themselves. Revulsion is said to be a paralyzing feeling. Now, when the coaxial cable that has arrived at the Cuban coast is about to begin to function, and at all levels they are trying to limit access to the new technologies, flagrantly violating the privacy of the mail, which is a violation of the Cuban Constitution, perhaps the punishing blow is taking shape, the censorship that we intellectuals have been waiting for since the “email crisis” of 2007. To criminalize intellectuality and that natural attachment to freedom of expression.

Translated by S.Solá

April 18 2011