Translating Cuba – Page 740 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Young Cuban Journalists Look at Their Profession / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar

The official press knows that it can criticize an official, but not a government policy. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 8 February 2017 – Now underway is the second meeting of young journalists at the Jose Marti International Journalism Institute in Havana. The main objective of the event, organized by the Cuban Journalists Union (UPEC), is to discuss “journalism and citizen participation, and communication in the context of updating Cuba’s social-economic model.”

The news reports published in the official press, in addition to reviewing the 24 proposals from the previous meeting, held in December 2015, reiterate “the urgency of a change in the routines of production and a transformation of the management model.”

It is likely that the young participants of this experience will leave with the belief that national journalism is on the verge of change, and that they will have a role in its transformation. This would be the healthiest mistake of their professional career. continue reading

The vast majority of those in charge of deciding what can be published and what must be silenced know perfectly well how diffuse are the limits of their responsibility

Imbued with this useful error, they will return to their newsrooms convinced that the sacred verse of “changing everything that should be changed” will be applied to the mass media so that the press will finally fulfill its social role of keeping the population informed about what is really happening in the country.

The vast majority of those in charge of deciding what can be published and what must be silenced know perfectly well how diffuse are the limits of their responsibility. They know, for example, that they can berate the negligence of an administrator at a collection point where the bananas are rotting on a truck, but they can never criticize the evil effects of the excessive centralization of public administration.

When it comes time to choose, these leading cadres prefer to censor rather than declassify, because, as they know, no director of a newspaper or radio station ever been dismissed for silencing a criticism or hiding complaints in a drawer.

When these impetuous kids return to their media with a new shot of adrenaline, their more experienced colleagues will take the time to explain to them that since the 3^rd UPEC Congress, held more than 40 years ago, it seemed that everything would change if they fulfilled the theme of that event: “For a critical, militant and creative journalism.”

Since then, there as been a lot of talk from the podiums about the culture of secrecy and the essential need to undertake rigorous analysis of the problems that afflict the population.

A brief inventory of recent information lacunae could justify a certain pessimism about the future of Cuba’s official journalism. The most notorious example is that no one has reported on the cause of death of ex-president Fidel, despite the fact that his passing is the news that has occupied the most space in the media since the end of last year.

No journalist has tried to explain in the official media why Marino Murilla, in the last session of parliament, did not not offer his traditional progress report with regards to the implementation of the Party guidelines, nor what has been the fate of the new electoral law that Raul Castro announced in February 2015 would be forthcoming, but about which nothing more has been heard.

Silence reigns over such important topics as the date when the country’s dual currency system will end, or when the United Nation’s human rights covenants will be ratified, or the depth of the dredging in Mariel Bay

Silence reigns over such important topics as the date when the country’s dual currency system will end, or when the United Nations human rights covenants will be ratified, or the depth of the dredging in Mariel Bay, just to mention a few topical issues.

If we go back a decade, it comes to mind that there have been no explanations about how the super-entity called the Battle of Ideas ended, which was led by Mr. Otto Rivero, of whom nothing more has ever been said. Nor is there any official report on the ouster of Carlos Venciaga, a member of the Council of State, nor about that of the army of social workers who had become omnipresent, but which are now nowhere to be seen.

Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel spoke with reporters Monday afternoon and emphasized “the need to perfect” the work of the media. In passing, he called attention to ways to confront “the platforms of ideological political subversion,” which target young people. Curiously, among these platforms appear all of Cuba’s independent journalism, which finds among its principal niches all the information that is never talked about in the official press.

Dangerous Current / 14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez

This mess of bad connections is likely to have been conceived as an interim solution that has become permanent. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 8 February 2017 – In Central Havana where people live in very close quarters, popular speech develops at a dizzying speed and the illegal sellers have their kingdom among the corridors and passageways. But this part of the city is also among the few areas with an underground electrical system, an installation that has the great advantage of not suffering damages due to the collapse of polls or the effects of strong winds.

In the emerging Cuban real estate market, being located in an area where the wires run under the street adds a lot of value. The sellers boast of this detail, pointing to it with the same pride that others declare the high quality of their house because it was “constructed under capitalism,” or – and it’s the same thing – before 1959.

At the central corner of Galiano and Dragones there was once a discreet rewiring, barely perceptible, that has now become a public threat. This mess of connections was probably conceived as a temporary solution that has now become permanent. Passersby avoid it, the neighbors up above avoid throwing water from their balconies and parents make haste to warn their children, “don’t touch it.”

Maybe someone should hang a sign that says, “Dangerous Current.” Not only to warn of the risk of accidental contact, but also to point out how usual and common these kinds of scenes have become in the capital. A detail that no owner will reveal in the sugar-coated descriptions they publish to sell their house.

Airbnb, The Cuban Experience / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar

The bathroom of the RentArte lodging managed by the artisan and blogger Rebeca Monzó in Nuevo Vedado, Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 7 February 2017 — Rustic, elegant or family friendly. These are the preferred accommodations offered by Airbnb in Cuba. The hosts, for their part, prefer serious customers who pay well, but above all value the ability to directly manage their rental, two years after the huge international private rental platform opened its services in Cuba.

“There is nothing like Airbnb,” said Jorge Ignacio Guillén, a student of economics who rents out a house in the town of Soroa, Artemisa. Surrounded by lush vegetation, orchids and birds native to the area, the accommodation is described as “rustic” and in direct contact with nature. continue reading

The young man helps his family manage the home’s profile on the California website specializing in vacation rentals. Guillén signed up a year ago and his family’s house is now is one of the more than 4,000 rental options that Airbnb claims exist on the island.

Airbnb listings in Cuba range from exclusive mansions with pool that can cost up to $1,000 a night depending on the number of rooms, to single rooms with a bed or bunk for about 10 dollars

The San Francisco-based company, created nine years ago, expanded its services to Cuba in April 2015, just months after the announcement of the diplomatic thaw between Washington and Havana.

The offerings on the island range from the most luxurious to the simplest. From exclusive mansions with pools that can cost up to $1,000 a night depending on the number of rooms, to single rooms with a bed or bunk for about 10 dollars*. Hot running water, coffee upon awakening or a minibar are some of the options to choose from.

Of the more than 535,000 self-employed workers in the country at the end of 2016, at least 34,000 dedicate themselves to renting homes, rooms and spaces. An unknown number offer a house or a room “under the table,” without a state license and without paying taxes.

On the island, entrepreneurs need to obtain a rental license, in accordance with the regulations on self-employment implemented in the mid-1990s. Owners of registered rentals must pay license fees and taxes deducted from personal income. These vary depending on the location of the property, the square footage allocated to the rental, and the occupancy numbers.

Airbnb registration is simple. The first step is to fill out a detailed form about the accommodation you are offering and the guests you wish to host. Within a few minutes you will receive an email welcoming you to the platform. The last step is to attract customers, who will rate the accommodation through the company’s website.

The Guillén family has wanted to do everything legally to be able to take advantage of the growth in tourism. Last year, the number of foreign visitors reached 4 million, 6% more than the 3.7 million visitors initially forecast, according to the Ministry of Tourism (Mintur).

Most of the rooms offered on Airbnb are located in Havana, but other destinations such as Trinidad, Viñales, Santiago de Cuba and Matanzas are gaining prominence. The Cuban market stands out as the fastest growing in the history of the company.

Guillén learned about the service through a friend outside the island and as soon as he had the opportunity to connect to the internet he posted his advertisement. “From then to now business improved a great deal and we are finding a lot more customers,” he tells 14ymedio. Also, the new customers “are much better, more serious and more respectful,” and “they pay more,” he summarizes.

The family is offering “a simple country house,” and puts its guests in touch with a guide service and horseback riding. After the reservation, all the information is shared via email, the most fragile part of the operation due to the low connectivity to the internet still experienced in Cuba.

House being prepared for rent on Airbnb by Jorge Ignacio Guillén in Soroa (14ymedio)

Rebeca Monzó, a craftswoman and blogger who has a room for rent on Airbnb, complains of the difficulties involved in managing the service without internet access. Although an email account on the government Nauta service has alleviated the problem, responding immediately when she receives a reservation message is complicated.

Monzó, who has made clear her preference for “stable, professional and retired couples,” will receive her first customer in February, “a Mexican filmmaker who is coming with his wife.” For this coming March she already has another confirmed reservation.

The increase in the number of days of occupation per year is one of the advantages for local entrepreneurs who have joined Airbnb. Guillen confesses that although he still has “much to learn about the management of the platform,” he does manage, through it, to “maintain a good number of reservations.”

After the difficulties of eight years of construction to get their property ready in Soroa, a beautiful natural area, the young man’s family is reaping the fruits of their labors. However, they recognize that the most difficult thing continues to be “always having on hand the necessary supplies to meet basic needs,” because “there still is no wholesale market in the country.”

In Monzó’s Havana neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado, “almost everyone who rents to tourists has signed up for the service. The customer pays from their own country directly to Airbnb,” and then “they send an Airbnb representative to the house who brings the money in cash,” she says. It is the same formula frequently used by Cubans abroad to send remittances to family on the island.

But for Monzó, the business is far from a source of great profits. “When I signed up, I wasn’t thinking about being able to buy a yacht. I was just thinking I’d like to have a well-stocked refrigerator.”

*Translator’s note: Looking at the listings on Airbnb’s site as of today, single room rental rates (two guests) appear to be concentrated in the range of about $25-$35 (with many that are more and less than that). A professional employed by the state in Cuba earns roughly $40 a month; physicians earn roughly $60 a month.

More Than 50% Of Cuba’s Political Prisoners Belong To UNPACU, According To Human Rights Group / 14ymedio

Police search during the arrest of Karina Gálvez, in Pinar del Río. (Coexistence)

14ymedio, Havana, 6 February 2017 – A report released this Monday by the National Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) counts 478 arbitrary arrests against dissidents throughout the island during the month of January. The text states that during the past month, there were 20 arrests more than in December 2016.

The independent body documents “12 cases of physical aggression and 11 cases of harassment” of opponents, a situation that is part of the “policy of intimidating repression” that “has prevailed in Cuba for nearly six decades.”

The CCDHRN affirms that the Ladies in White movement continues to be a priority target of political repression, although the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) also is a particular target of “the arbitrary arrests and destructive raids against its members.” continue reading

UNPACU, an opposition organization with a strong presence in the east of the country, has been the victim of “plundering of their means of work (laptops , cameras, mobile phones, etc.).” These police acts have been carried out “with a great deal of political hatred,” the Commission points out.

The report conveys the concern of the CCDHRN on “the situation in prison of Dr. Eduardo Cardet, general coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement, who has just been adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.”

For ordinary prisoners, “material conditions and abuse continue to worsen” in the nearly two hundred prisons and prison camps on the island

The concern extends to the “arbitrary detention for several days, of Karina Galvez,” a member of the editorial board of the magazine Coexistence, accused of the crime of tax evasion and now awaiting trial. The economist was released on bail on January 17 after six days of detention.

The Commission states that “the number of politically motivated prisoners in Cuba is still over 100, of which 55 are active members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba.” For ordinary prisoners, “material conditions and abuse continue to worsen” in the nearly two hundred prisons and prison camps on the island.

The text states that the Government “continues to use prisoners as semi-skilled labor in various jobs for commercial purposes,” including “the production of charcoal for export, mainly to Europe and the United States of America,” referring to the recent shipment of charcoal made from the invasive marabou week to the United States.

Last year the CCDHRN documented a total of 9,940 arbitrary arrests, a figure that “places the Government of Cuba in the first place in all of Latin America” with regards to arrests of this type, according to a report by the independent organization.

Black Gold / 14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez

The liter of gas that in an official establishment costs 1 CUC here has a price of 15 CUP, 40% less. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 6 February 2017 — In a dark corner along the national highway, with no lights to identify it, the connoisseurs of the secret enter an unpaved road. A few minutes earlier they had called from their cell phone asking if there were any ripe papayas. They park in the middle of a banana grove and open the fuel cap.

In the middle of nowhere, a barefoot, shirtless man carries a plastic jerrycan and with the help of a funnel fills the gas tank of an unlicensed taxi, that runs between Cienfuegos and Havana. It all happens in silence, barely uttering a word.

The scene repeats at different points along Cuba’s roads. These “gas stations” are not announced in the yellow pages of the phone book, nor do they appear on the on-line ad site, Revolico. They are the clandestine suppliers of fuel that comes from the state warehouses, especially those dedicated to agricultural uses. continue reading

A liter of gas, which in an official establishment costs 1 Cuban convertible peso (roughly $1 US), here has a price of 15 Cuban pesos (CUP), some 40% less. The cheapest that can be found is 12 CUP, and, very exceptionally and only between friends, 10 CUP. Gone are the times when a liter could be had for 8. The rise in prices was due to a drastic reduction in the quotas the state delivers to farms and cooperatives after Venezuela reduced the supply of hydrocarbons it sends to the island.

The rise in prices was due to a drastic reduction in the quotas the state delivers to farms and cooperatives after Venezuela reduced the supply of hydrocarbons it sends to the island.

The so-called black gold has the power in this country to become even darker in the “irregular” market. In official events they have declared that there are municipalities where, for months, the state gas stations have not sold a single liter of fuel, even though private vehicles continue to circulate without serious problems.

In the middle of last year, the authorities imposed price caps for private transport in the capital and other areas of the city, but the drivers have found several tricks to evade the restrictions. A good part of them circulate with fuel bought in the informal market. If they had to buy their fuel at the state gas stations their fares would go through the room and be unaffordable to the passengers, but an invisible hand is in charge of getting around the government’s measures.

Eusebio Leal’s Social Programs in Old Havana Disappear under GAESA / Juan Juan Almeida

Juan Juan Almeida, 2 February 2017 — On July 30, 2016 the new military management that officially took over the Cuban tourism company Habaguanex and other business entities that had belonged to the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana is planning to satisfy its own own financial needs by doing away with social programs now operated by the People’s Council of Old Havana.

Their goal is to create 725 new hotel rooms. To do that, their plan calls for identifying buildings and plots of land which can be used for tourist lodgings by changing their current use and converting them into hotels.

Number 13 on a list entitled “Hotel Development Strategy” is the area’s Bethlehem Convent, currently the Day Center. It appears to be one of the buildings that will soon be converted into accommodations for tourists. continue reading

It amounts to an illogical and unpopular action, one that will undoubtedly cause a dramatic drop in the resources available for social welfare projects.

The Bethlehem Convent, located at 512 Compostela Street, is an 18th century building that now serves as as a full-time residence for the elderly and an activity center facility for other seniors who spend the day there.

Its clients, who have gotten on in years, participate in physical exercise activities as well as art, computer, leather-working, theater and music classes. It is a nursing home that also houses a children’s day-care center as well as a physical therapy clinic, pharmacy and ophthalmology and optometry service.

During natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods the Bethlehem Convent also adapts its facilities to provide protection to vulnerable sectors of the population and people living in areas at greater risk. It is perhaps for this reason that this humanitarian project receives international support and cooperation, especially from Italy and Spain.

The decision to replace the management of Habanguanex with a military regiment intentionally and maliciously ignores the fact that housing represents one of Cuba’s biggest problems. It puts a “temporary” halt to the construction of protected residences, a program which houses people living in precarious conditions, while prioritizing resources and funds to complete what will be the luxurious Hotel Packard.

“The most important social programs run the risk of falling into a death spiral and ultimately disappearing. The military was waiting for the perfect moment to gobble up Habaguanex and the failing health of [the Historian of the City] Eusebio Leal gave them an opening,” says an outraged official at the Office of the Historian.

“How many social programs designed specifically for Cubans are there in Varadero or any of the other tourist developments run by Gaviota?* None. They only have hospitals for foreigners. The ’development strategy,’ which they have distributed to us in the form of a very well-illustrated brochure, is aimed at turning Old Havana into an asphalt Varadero. I understand that they develop hotels. But what will happen to the policy of ’restoring buildings without forgetting the soul of its inhabitants,’ which we defended for years?” asks the woman, who might almost be described as a “veteran” of Eusebio Leal’s team.

*Translator’s note: Varadero is a large-scale, high-end seaside resort village catering to foreign tourists and occasionally to Cuban nationals who can afford to pay in hard currency. Gaviota is a state-owned, military-run tourism company that owns and runs a string of luxury hotels throughout the country.

“I come from the street, but I did not want to stay there,” says ‘El Sexto’ / 14ymedio, Mario Penton

Danilo Maldonado (El Sexto) after his release from prison. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 3 February 2017 — The uniform haircut imposed upon entering the Combinado del Este prison contrasts with the stains of fresh paint on the shoes of the super tall man, who stands nearly 6’5″. Danilo Maldonado Machado, known as ‘El Sexto’ (The Sixth), a graffiti artist and human rights activist in Cuba, embodies the antithesis of the New Man forged by the Revolution.

After being imprisoned for 55 days for painting graffiti on a wall of the Habana Libre hotel, Maldonado was released on 21 January. He is currently visiting Miami to promote his art and to thank the Cuban community there for their support.

His life has not been easy. He was born in 1983 and grew up in the years of the Special Period when the Soviet subsidies ended and the island was plunged into misery. Originally from Camaguey, he had to share a roof in Havana with another family and take on the weight of a home without a father. continue reading

His art is street art. He never went to an academy. As a child he tried but was rejected for being “very small”

“In those years I was selling milk caramels in the neighborhood to help my mother get by,” he recalls.

“Sometimes we did not even have fifty cents to buy milk. The rebellion against poverty and oppression began at that time.”

His art is street art. He never went to an academy. As a child he tried but was rejected for being “very small.” Leonel, a teacher in the House of Culture in his neighborhood, took him under his wing and showed him the first strokes.

“From there I wanted to get out what I had inside, but I did not know how,” he says.

The first time that Maldonado went to prison was due to a robbery at a warehouse on a Cuban Army tank base. At that time he was serving his compulsory military service. He was sentenced to six years in prison. The prison experience changed him “forever.”

“Prison is a place where you find many types of people, with different cultures and points of view. Learning to live among them, to live together, is one of the great lessons that experience left me with,” he says.

His artistic name, El Sexto (The Sixth) occurred to him in the midst of the Cuban government’s campaign to bring back “The Cuban Five” – spies imprisoned in the U.S.

In prison he also learned that respect is not gained through violence but “with principles and with acting in the right way of.”

Maldonado does not hide that he had a troubled past.

“I have been involved in many things in my life that have made me what I am. I do not come from a monastery. I come from the street but that is not where I wanted to stay,” he answers when asked about the campaign against him pushed by bloggers working for the Cuban government who accuse him of being addicted to drugs.

“People change, they have the right to do it. I do not like even the smell of drinking,” adds the artist.

His artistic name, El Sexto (the Sixth), came in the midst of the campaign by the Cuban government to bring back the five Wasp Network spies imprisoned in the United States, who were known in Cuba as “The Five Heroes.”

He called himself “The Sixth Hero,” who represented the voice of the Cuban people, “the hostage” of the dictatorship, according to Maldonado.

Maldonado has been arrested three times for political reasons

“They (the Government) put them on television, like they are part of your family. I want people to know the message of freedom and to open their eyes. So I understood I had to come to them with a message that was sarcastic and that everyone could understand,” he says.

“You cross out my things, I cross out yours,” he wrote, about the stupid black spots that officialdom uses to try to hide graffit in the capital. In addition, he distributed leaflets with subservise phrases and invited the whole world to be free and happy.

“I am doing my work: being free. I would like others to see that it is possible to be free and to break with the government,” he says when asked about his role in Cuban culture.

Maldonado has been arrested three times for political reasons. In 2014 he attempted to stage a street performance titled Animal Farm. He proposed to release two pigs in Havana’s Central Park. On the backs of piglets, which were painted green, the names of the Cuban rulers were also painted: Fidel on one piglet and Raúl on the other.

The idea was that whoever captured the piglets could keep them as a prize. It was easy to imagine what the winners would do with them. The daring act, which never came to fruition, cost him ten months’ imprisonment in the Valle Grande prison.

El Sexto has been imprisoned for joining the Ladies in White in their Sunday protest marches to demand the release of political prisoners

The conditions in the Cuban prisons, the dirt, the bad food and the degrading treatment to the inmates were documented by him in a diary. In addition, the artist was able to take photographs that he clandestinely sneaked out of Valle Grande to support his complaints.

Art and his activism go hand in hand. Sometimes both activities are scandalous.

“There are people who accuse me of calling the flag a ‘rag’ or reproach me for a work of art made with the bust of José Martí. For me what is truly sacred is human life, above any other symbol created by society. I believe in life and in respect for it,” says Maldonado.

El Sexto has been imprisoned for joining the Ladies in White in their Sunday protest marches to demand the release of political prisoners, and has been part of the ‘We All March’ campaign.

Laura Pollán, the deceased leader of the Ladies in White and Oswaldo Payá, the deceased leader of the Christian Liberation Movement, are tattooed on his skin, along with a petition for the release of Leopoldo López, a Venezuelan politician currently a political prisoner in that country.

In 2015, Danilo Maldonado received the Vaclav Havel Prize, for “creative dissent, the display of courage and creativity to challenge injustice and live in truth”

“I am worried about the situation of political prisoners in Cuba, Eduardo Cardet and many others,” he says. He is also trying to sensitize the international community to the drama of thousands of Cubans who were stranded in Latin America following Barack Obama’s repeal of the wet foot/dry foot policy, shortly before he left office.

“These are our brothers, we should unite to help them. As long as we Cubans do not join together, we will not change the situation of our country,” he laments.

In 2015, Danilo Maldonado received the Vaclav Havel Prize, awarded to people “who participate in creative dissent, display courage and creativity to challenge injustice and live in truth.”

Currently, El Sexto is preparing an art exhibition in the United States. He also plans to travel to Geneva to talk about human rights in Cuba and plans to attend the Oslo Freedom Forum.

_______________________________

This article is part of an agreement between 14ymedio and the Nuevo Herald.

Video Room Fits in a Container / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Santiago de Cuba, 31 January 2017 — The movie theater with cushy chairs, carpets and a purring projector is a thing of the past. Now, the films are broadcast on huge flat-screen TVs or inside a container for the transportation of goods, such as the one located on San Miguel Street at Victoriano Garzón Avenue in Santiago de Cuba.

At the end of last year, this metal box was set up as 3D movie theater, operated by the state. The improvised place started out as the butt of jokes about the high temperatures in structure under the summer sun, but now its showings play to a full room, due in part to the few recreational options that characterize the nightlife of the area. continue reading

A worker at the Provincial Film Center, who preferred anonymity, commented to the media that the aim of the initiative is to displace the private movie rooms

Marcos Luis Rondin Castro, a worker at the peculiar installation, told Tele Turquino that the plan is to make the container mobile to “bring the new technologies to places where the conditions for these type of projections do not yet exist.” However, the “dark box” still can’t be moved in the absence of a rolling base that the state needs to construct.

The container offers five daily showings, two for children and three for adults over 16 years. The high demand for the service is also due to its proximity to some of the city’s 18-story apartment buildings, where hundreds of families live. The improvised venue has a capacity for 24 spectators at a price of 10 Cuban pesos (roughly 40¢ US).

In November 2013 Raul Castro’s government ordered the closure of the private and popular movie rooms managed by self-employed worker

A worker at the Provincial Film Center, who requested anonymity, told 14ymedio that the aim of the initiative is to displace the private movie rooms. Although these premises were closed down by the state more than three years ago, there are still some operating illegally.

Yoanis Maceira Robert, administrator of the 3D Room, explained to this newspaper that the people of Santiago were “accustomed to the video rooms that were built in different locations that no longer exist,” which is why he hopes that the rolling cinema will be received with enthusiasm.

In November of 2013 the government of Raúl Castro ordered the closure of the private and popular movie rooms managed by self-employed workers. The entrepreneurs ran the movie rooms under a license to operate recreational equipment, but the authorities then prohibited these operations.

Government Invites Doctors Who Fled To Return To Cuba / 14ymedio

A group of Cuban doctors stranded in Colombia protests about the delay in US visas. (Archive)

14ymedio, Miami, 3 February 2017 — The Ministry of Public Health released a statement Thursday in the official newspaper Granma to reiterate the willingness of Cuban authorities to take back health professionals who have “defected” from medical missions abroad.

The announcement comes three weeks after the outgoing U.S. president, Barack Obama, eliminated the Cuban Medical Professional Parole (CMPP) program. This initiative, established during the Bush administration in 2006, facilitated the arrival in the United States of more than 8,000 Cuban doctors who were in other countries. continue reading

In 2014 the Cuban government, for the first time, offered health professionals who had defected, or tried to, a chance to rejoin the national system

“This kind of offering is not new,” said Yisel, a comprehensive general practitioner who left the island in 2015 via Ecuador. “The national health system has run out of workers because of the way they exploited us.” She currently resides in Miami.

Cuban health personnel who have taken advantage of the US Cuban Medical Professional Parole program

In 2014 the Cuban government, for the first time, offered health professionals who had defected a chance to rejoin the national system. The following year, Granma published an extensive article where medical personnel were guaranteed a similar job location to what they had before leaving the country.

“Including those victims of the deceptive and vulgar practice of brain-drain,” said the Communist Party organ at that time.

“Nobody wants to return because what they offer is the same thing that we had,” explains the doctor.

Wages were raised in March 2014. Today, doctors in Cuba earn $60 a month. However, after the massive export of health services, professionals who remain on the island have to work double shifts in hospitals and working conditions have significantly worsened.

The Cuban government has been heavily criticized in international forums for the conditions under which it contracts for its medical staff

“The international medical collaboration that Cuba provides has as its principles volunteerism and the integral attention to the needs of the personnel inside and outside the country,” explains the official note. In addition, it adds that those who work abroad “are guaranteed a stipend, health care, food, accommodation and air and land transportation.”

The Cuban government has been heavily criticized in international forums for the conditions under which it signs agreements to contract for the employment of its medical staff. Most of the earnings, which the authorities acknowledged amounted to $8.2 billion in 2014, remain in the hands of the Cuban state.

According to the note published by the official press, there are three types of collaboration agreements: “one in which Cuba assumes the expenses, another where it shares them with the receiving country and the third in which they are paid.”

The note does not mention the twenty Cuban health professionals who are in immigration limbo in Colombia after escaping medical missions

The Ministry of Health explains that the resources obtained from the work of the doctors are used to support the national health system and offset the expenses of Cuban solidarity missions.

The note does not mention the twenty Cuban health professionals who are in immigration limbo in Colombia after escaping medical missions without knowing about the suspension of the CMPP.

Currently, more than 50,000 Cuban health workers are spread across 60 countries in missions mandated by the Government

Hundreds more awaited the processing of their refugee applications in other countries and await an American US visa in precarious conditions.

Currently, more than 50,000 Cuban health workers are spread across 60 countries in missions mandated by the Government.

Police in Holguin Pursue a Cuban and Three Foreigners / Juan Juan Almeida

Juan Juan Almeida, 23 January 2017 — At nine at night on 19 January in the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood in the eastern province of Holguin, suddenly out of nothing there was a bustling scene of police chase going after a Cuban citizen and three foreigners, carrying cocaine in a white car with tourism plates.

“On Thursday afternoon there was an alert about an exchange of gunfire between unknown subjects very close to the Damian River in Yareyal. The police responded but the subjects had already absconded,” says a person who unwittingly was a witness, and very kindly sent us a sketch of the route followed by the cars during the raid. continue reading

The pursuit began in Yareyal People’s Council, a little village between Las Tunas and Holguin, next to the Central Highway, shortly after a patrol car located the suspect vehicle heading toward Holguin.

Apparently, members of the anti-drug group suspected that the site was being used by criminal gangs as a repeat hideout for drug shipments and so they had set up a technical-police detection device.

After the accident on the Central Highway, and after having put the drivers, residents and passers-by on this route in danger daily, the pursuers turned at the corner of K Street with Juan Morena and continued fleeing on foot.

“That shows they were not from here, and didn’t know the area. On K Street, where they decided to get out of the car and take off running, they were surrounded because it’s a dead-end alley and so they caught them. They practically surrendered,” said a person from Holguin, a neighbor who lives on Juan Moreno Street.

“They were hot on the heels of the three guys, they let the tourist car crash and with several bullet holes in the bad. The gunfire was set, they got out of the car, ran toward K Street and there some armed and hooded guards caught them, like in the American films.

“They took the pistols, and then let the dogs loose and they immediately found the drugs in the trunk and under the seats. They took out several packets which I assume were narcotics. They didn’t allow me to take photos, I took out my cellphone but they set up a security cordon and didn’t let me get close.”

The suspected traffickers were arrested, they still haven’t identified them, and they’re being held at a detention center on the outskirts of Holguin province. These sites, which are scattered through the country, and fulfill common and police functions they call “All the World Sings.”

Manipulation and Manipulators / Fernando Dámaso

Fernando Damaso, 5 February 2017 — To say that the history of Cuba has been manipulated over the last 58 years is nothing original. Subjected to “ideological accommodation,” with the objective of using it for the narrow interests of the established power, important people and events have been ignored or misrepresented, and others that are insignificant have been elevated to much greater importance. Also they have elevated, much more than warranted, the thinking and actions of some questionable figures, for the sole intention of holding onto power way too long, to the extreme of comparing them advantageously with truly important national figures. continue reading

The most mistreated and manipulated has been Jose Marti, who has been credited with events he was never responsible for and even named a “great disciple,” sometimes considered greater than he was. In addition, they have assigned him, in his historic journey, an annoying and undesirable traveling companion, resulting in concentrating “his thinking, the disposition of Cespedes, the machete of Maceo, the delivery of Agramonte and the force of Gomez,” something unheard of and never before seen in Cuba, not even in the darkest days of Machado, when he was considered “the eminent one” and the unbridled praise of his sycophants abounded.

The founding fathers of the nation were always respected by the government of the day, and were never politicized, as happens now. It could be due to the lack of real values in the current figures.

It seems that some historians, in their eagerness to enjoy some of the few crumbs offered by power, have lost respect and have forgotten that, in the end, “History will not absolve them, either.”*

*Translator’s note: A reference to Fidel Castro’s statement “Go ahead, condemn me, history will absolve me” which he is said to have declared at his trial for the attack on the Moncada Barracks, an event which is considered the start of the revolution, although it failed and Fidel Castro was imprisoned for his part in it.

Cordoba Park: Internet, History and Business / Iván García

Córdoba Park, before it was a wifi zone. In the background, the statue of Emilia de Cordova, made by the Italian sculptor Ettore Salvatori. From Radio Rebelde website.e

Ivan Garcia, 27 January 2017 — As soon as the sun warms this frigid tropical autumn, Cordoba Park, located at San Miguel, Revolucion, Lagueruela and Gelanert, in the Havana neighborhood of La Vibora, resembles a picnic and leisure area.

Young people sit on the lawn and some families spread large towels as if they were at a pool or on the shore. Others bring folding chairs or armchairs so that the elderly, through the IMO application, can converse comfortably with their relatives across the Straits of Florida.

Also the hustlers arrive, the ones that survive from what falls off the back of the trucks, with a special nose to detect when, in certain environments, theycan make money. This is the case of Ricardo, who on the side of the park’s main gazebo, blows up a red and blue inflatable and charges five Cuban pesos (about 20 cents US) per child. continue reading

“It’s only for children under ten or whose weight is less than sixty pounds,” he tells a heavy girl who wants to jump on the inflatable with two friends. But they insist and Ricardo tells them that the inflatable “is not made for young people or adults. And I have to take care of it, because it supports me, it’s how I feed my children. You will have to entertain yourselves with something else.”

In Córdoba Park, more than 1,300 feet across, there is one of the two Wi-Fi zones in the municipality of 10 de Octubre, which are a part of the 34 open zones in Havana and the 200 operating throughout the Island. Since the Wi-Fi zone opened, on March 30, 2016, the place has become an open air locutorium, where we learn about the lives and miracles of people.

But those who come daily, to connect to the Internet, do not know that the park was located in front of the house of Emilia de Cordoba y Rubio, born on 28 November 1853 in San Nicolás de Bari, the first woman mambisa (independence fighter), who had an extraordinary desire to serve Cuba.

When Emilia de Cordoba died, on 20 January 1920, neighbors and friends, including journalist and the patriot Juan Gualberto Gómez (1854-1933), asked that her memory be perpetuated. In addition to putting her surname to the park, on 20 May 1928, a marble statue by the Italian sculptor Ettore Salvatori was unveiled, considered the first monument in the capital of the Republic dedicated to a Cuban woman.

A young woman talking in Portuguese with a Brazilian friend knows nothing of this history as she shamelessly asks for “a hundred or two hundred dollars, or whatever you can, because we are at the gates of the end of the year and I’m broke, without a single cent.”

Nor does the family that is trying to crowd around the screen of a Smartphone, to see their relatives in Hialeah and ask them about hourly wages or rents in Miami, know who Emilia de Cordoba was, though they know what kind of car their family bought and whether or not they already bought the iPhone 7 they asked them for.

“Mi’jo, this place is a mess. After the death of you-know-who things look ugly. Look, see if when you get yourself settled you can send us more money and start working on getting us out of this shit,” asks the older woman.

It is common to see women and men kissing their lovers or wives by sticking their mouths on the screen of the tablet or cell phone. A slender mixed-race woman, who wears shorts that show more than they hide, runs the phone up and down her body with no timidity and, smiling, tells her presumed partner, “So you can see a sample.”

In a corner of the park, the one that borders Gelabert Street, a group of boys, at full volume, have mounted their particular recital of reggaeton, with two portable speakers that work through the Bluetooth of their phones.

Music is a good pretext for attracting customers. “Hey old man, Connectify a caña (one convertible peso or twenty five Cuban pesos)”. They promote the application that makes the internet connection cheap, but slows the speed in an unbearable way.

Others lurk around the park, and in a low voice they proclaim, “Wow, your card, three bars.” It is one of the most common businesses in public places with wifi. “The business is simple. You buy the internet cards in an ETECSA center at two chavitos (CUC) and then resell them for three. For each card I sell I earn 1 CUC. In one day I can earn 20 or 30 fulas (another slang term for CUCs),” confesses a kinky-haired white guy wearing a shirt with Luis Suarez, a forward for Barcelona.

On Monday, December 12, the good news was the announcement of an agreement between the multinational Google and ETECSA, the inefficient state telecommunications company, to improve the Internet connectivity of Cubans. According to Deborah, the company’s engineer, “this does not mean that the transmission speed will improve dramatically, but those using Google will have a noticeable improvement, like from the sky to the moon.”

Since 4 June 2013, when ETECSA opened the first 118 internet rooms throughout the country, and despite the high cost (one hour costs the equivalent of two days of salary of a professional), today about 250,000 people access the information highway in different provinces, either from an internet room or a Wi-Fi zone, every day.

Although most are not exactly searching for information. “Some 80 percent of those who connect use the Internet as a communications tool or to access social networks,” says an ETECSA engineer who works in a network traffic office.

For three and a half years now, the Internet has been an event in Cuba. You can use it to ask for money, find lovers or make friends. And those who want to inform themselves can do so on uncensored national or international sites. But as for websites considered “counterrevolutionary” by the regime, they cannot be accessed from the Greater Antilles. This is the case with Diario de Cuba, Cubanet, Cubaencuentro and Martí Noticias, among others.

Connecting to the internet on the Island has become all the rage. It is synonymous with modernity. Or a weekend getaway with the wife and children to a park with wireless connection, to talk with family and friends in Miami or Madrid.

It is the closest thing to what happened three decades ago, when people in their free time stood in long lines at Coppelia to have an ice cream, or walked along La Rampa or sat down to converse or to take in the fresh air along the wall of the Malecon.

Cuba Does Not Need US Investment To Develop Its Economy / 14ymedio, Pedro Campos

No one explains why the abundant income from tourism, among other sectors, does not allow improvement in domestic investment. (EFE)

14ymedio, Pedro Campos, Miami, 2 February 2017 – A previous article addressed the economic policy of the current Cuban government to hinder the private economy – forbidding investment from Cubans on the island and abroad – and favoring foreign investment, mainly from the United States, which could lead Cuba to a situation of virtual annexation to the United States. Meanwhile it appears that allowing free investment, and allowing employers to hire workers directly, versus requiring them to contract only through the state, is something that the state-socialist system is not willing to accept.

But, does it have to be like this to develop the country? Does Cuba have to depend on US and foreign investment in general?

My clear answer is no. Cuba does need investment and the international market for its development, but it does not have to rely on US investments or foreign capital to develop its economy. continue reading

An analysis of four basic elements suggests that Cuba could solve its investment needs without having to turn to US or foreign capital in general, as the government, official Cuban economists and others suggest, who do not imagine the island anything but subject to the US.

1. Due to the lack of transparency in the government’s economic data it is unknown what is or could be invested, how much is squandered in the bureaucratic treasury at all levels, how much is wasted in the bad paternalistic-populist democracy, or where that money goes. There is such a lack of transparency about the investments and payments of the nation, no one explains what so much money from taxes of all kinds, remittances, the sale of medical and professional services abroad, or tourism, is spent on, and the national investment is so low.

A change from the current hyper-centralization to democratic control of revenues and budgets should shed light on the existence of the enormous amount of capital currently being wasted

A change from the current hyper-centralization to democratic control of revenues and budgets should shed light on the existence of the enormous amount of capital currently wasted that could increase the amount to be invested from the nation’s own resources. We are thinking about the necessary reduction in the Armed Forces, the apparatus of State Security, the enormous services abroad, the big bureaucracy lazing around in all the ministries and their provincial and municipal branches, the outreach and propaganda apparatus, and the costs of the system of organizations of the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” How much money could be freed up for investments through these reductions?

2. There are enormous fortunes within Cuba that do not display their possibilities due to the current limitations and their fears of being audited. If the inviolability of private capital and property were guaranteed by law and clear relations of free trade were established, this internal capital could be developed, private banks could be generated to facilitate loans to private entrepreneurs and associates, to import the means and resources necessary for internal development and economic movements and associations could strengthen their opportunities. There are imprecise calculations of the thousands of millions of dollars, Cuban convertible pesos, Cuban pesos, stored in banks and mattresses awaiting changes in Cuba.

3. According to different sources, Cuba is receiving between three and five billion dollars a year from remittances, sent back to the island by Cubans abroad. Much of that revenue is being invested in private businesses and another part in using the services they generate. So there is a positive predisposition in the diaspora to support micro-enterprises with micro-investments. If conditions were established in Cuba for the development of free enterprise, this small capital could grow enormously, multiply and expand in a few years.

4. There is a great deal of capital in the hands of Cuban Americans in the United States, a part of which they would be willing to invest in Cuba if a new system of laws, in a State of law, guaranteed private property and free markets, independent of a future analysis of nationalization and compensation*. Because of their Cuban origin, and for some because of their historic ties with specific production sectors on the island, they would be in better conditions than any foreign capital to engage in the Cuban economy and push its development. They bring capital, techniques, knowledge, markets and transportation systems.

The interaction of these four factors would enable a self-sufficient economy, which should not be confused with the absurdity of an autarchic economy

Thus, by simply facilitating the internally accumulated Cuban capital, reorganizing that of the government, and favoring that of emigrants – large, medium and small – with full guarantees, Cuba could receive a large injection of capital of national origin, capable of changing the economic landscape in a few years.

It would not be necessary to have investment from the United States or from other foreign countries. There would be no dependence on American capital. It would not be necessary to be virtually annexed to the United States. Cuba would trade with the United States like the rest of the Caribbean, the American continent and the world.

The interaction of these four factors would enable a self-sufficient economy, capable of generating, itself, the means and resources to resolve the needs of the population with domestic products, exchanged or acquired in the international market. This should not be confused with the absurdity of an autarchic economy that tries to survive without an external market.

How to do this will be the subject of another article.

*Translator’s note: “Nationalization and compensation” refers to the nationalization of private businesses and property in the early days of the Revolution, and the demands on the part of some for compensation for what was taken from them.

Colombia Sugar Mill, A Giant That Is Slow To Wake Up / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar

The sugar mill town of Colombia in Las Tunas. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 4 February 2017 — Colombia’s sugar mill whistle sounded again at the end of January, like a giant awakened from a seven-year-long lethargy. The residents in the area breathed a sign of relief: the driving force behind the local economy seems to be the sugar mill, but technical and organizational problems have delayed its start.

The directors of the colossus announced three weeks ago that everything was ready for the industry to join the current harvest. The local press announced the start for 25 January, but the lack of some parts and other setbacks have prevented meeting that target. The peasants of the surrounding area fear that their mill will be shut down again, plunging the town into somnolence.

The sugar industry defined almost three centuries in our national life, and was the island’s main economic base, determining our language, our customs and even our identity, strongly tied to the sugar plantation and the mill. But what looked like a rising sector suffered severe reversals in the last two decades.

But all that is ancient history. Sugar production began to slide down the slope of failure. (14ymedio)

In the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country was faced with the reality of an inefficient agroindustry, with a great technological obsolescence and an international market where the national product was worth less and less.

The peasants in the environs are afraid that their ingenuity will remain standing again, plunging the village into drowsiness

The cuts reached as far as the Colombia sugar mill, which because of its importance in production many believed would never turn off its boilers. Rogelio, 40-years-old and a neighbor of the mill, recalls how in the past, as late afternoon fell, a parade of “ragged men with machetes in their hands, tired and covered with ashes from the cane burning, passed in front of my house.”

He states that “every day at six-thirty in the afternoon the bagasse (the cane waste) filling the air forces us to close doors and windows” and that it was always “accompanied by the mill whistle” that could be heard throughout the town.

But all that is ancient history. Sugar production began to slide down the slope failure. In June last year, Noel Casañas Lugo, vice president of the Azcuba Sugar Group, acknowledged that the production of the last harvest only reached 80% of the predicted plan and remained below the 1.6 million tonnes of sugar achieved in 2015.

Vandalism affected part of the technology and the mill also lost skilled labor. (14ymedio)

Colombia is one of the four main urban centers of the province of Las Tunas and the mill began to operate in 1916. The large wooden houses built on stilts hark back to that time, as do the memories that the families pass on by word of mouth about the power of a machinery that did not stop grinding up the cane in every harvest.

The knowledge acquired in long hours of labor was transferred between generations without the involvement of any schools and the whole town revolved around the mill. It beat to the rhythm of the chimney and seemed to languish between the harvests.

The sugar industry defined almost three centuries in the national life. (14ymedio)

The Las Tunas mill was selected for its productive results as a “pilot model” to integrate into the Business Improvement plan at the end of the last century. But even that did not save it from an abrupt closure at the beginning of this millennium. Its workers, then, were given the most difficult task, one for which they were the least prepared: to stop producing sugar.

The peasants and workers tried to mitigate the situation by sowing potatoes and tobacco where before there had been cane, but the majority were unemployed. The town paused. There were neither rows of ash-covered workers nor bagasse floating in the air … and much less economic prosperity.

In 2011, the Ministry of Sugar was weakened and the new Azcuba Sugar Group was created, subordinated to the State Council. But the new institution has not been able to revitalize the sector, which is also affected by low wages, technical difficulties and the exodus of people from the countryside to urban centers.

In the last month qualified technicians have come from other provinces to readjust the framework of the industrial complex. Every time an anxious neighbor asks about the date when work will be resumed, the response is spare and imprecise: “next week.”

Colombia is one of the four main urban centers of the province of Las Tunas and the mill began operating in 1916. (14ymedio)

To meet its production forecasts, the province of Las Tunas depends on Colombia joining in the harvest, along with the Antonio Guiteras mill, which is not experiencing its best moment, and Majibacoa, which has managed to maintain a stable crop, according to a recent report from the local press.

The 17,462 tonnes of sugar called for in the plan is a challenge for an industry that has suffered such a long-term stoppage, along with vandalism of the technology and also the loss of skilled workers. Administrators have mobilized veteran workers and ensure that “all key posts of the sugar mill are covered,” according to statements to the press by Elido Suarez Nunez, head of industrial maintenance.

The town seems to be living in a carnival. Like in one of those popular festivals where it is not known if at the end of the night a colorful and friendly giant will appear surrounded by lights and sounds, or instead there will be a return to darkness and boredom.

“I Did Not Enter This House Through The Window” / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar

Every night when Bisaida Azahares Correa goes to bed and looks at the ceiling, she is afraid that when the sun comes up she will have leave the house where she lives with her two children. This dwelling in the Siboney neighborhood is her only chance of not ending up sleeping on the street, but its walls are also the source of her major headaches.

The phrase “forced extraction” makes this well-spoken and straight-talking woman shudder. The first time she read those two words together was six months after her husband, Dr. Nelson Cabrera Quesada, left on a medical mission to Saudi Arabia. Since then her life has been turned upside down.

Life in the converted garage revolves around the impending eviction. A situation that contrasts with the large mansions and opulent chalets – where life seems almost bucolic – that surround the modest home of the family. continue reading

Analysts estimate that the country has a deficit of 600,000 homes, but in the last decade housing construction has fallen by 20%

A few yards away, the presence of bodyguards betrays the place where Mariela Castro lives, the daughter of the Cuban president. Nearby is also the spacious home of Armando Hart, former Minister of Culture. All are Bisaida’s neighbors, but they are not aware of the drama that defines the life of this almost 50-year-old woman.

The Cuban authorities have recognized that the housing problem is the primary social need in Cuba. Analysts estimate that the country has a deficit of 600,000 homes, but in the last decade housing construction has fallen by 20%.

In the midst of this situation, the so-called “forced removals” of those who have occupied an abandoned state “shed,” a property closed for years due to the emigration of its owner, or who have erected a house on vacant land, are frequent. But Bisaida’s case is different.

An official notification recently ordered the family to leave the property because it is owned by the University of Medical Sciences. The woman vehemently questions that statement. She says that in 2005 she settled in the house with her husband and their children to care for the doctor’s grandmother.

After the death of the lady, the couple did everything possible to regularize the situation of the house that had been given to Cabrera Quesada’s grandfather in 1979 when he worked as an administrator in the department of International Relations at the university. After living there three years, the teacher won the right to have the property separated from the institution and turned over to her

Among the worst moments Bisaida remembers is the day they showed her husband a document that declares they are illegal occupants

The law recognizes that “at the end of a housing claim” after a tenant lives there for 15 years, “the municipal Housing Directorates issue a Resolution-Title of Property in favor of the persons with the right and who agree to pay the total in 180 monthly payments.” In this case, the family says they have settled the debt with the bank.

However, the twists and turns of the bureaucracy made the legal transfer into the hands of the family impossible. The grandfather ended up retiring and emigrating to the United States, although his wife remained as the principal resident of the house until her death. Since then the family has repeatedly tried to obtain the housing papers, but they have only received threats.

Among the worst moments Bisaida remembers is the day they showed her husband a document that declares they are illegal occupants. They were given fifteen days to leave the house. Although the doctor wrote letters of complaint “to all levels,” the answer to his claim can be summed up in two intimidating words: “no place.”

The woman, who is recovering from breast and uterine cancer, says her husband “has not had the support of any of the ministries involved in his case nor of the University.”

They fear that once outside the house the authorities take advantage to block the access or place an official seal on the door

“All I want is justice, my husband’s grandparents lived here for decades and we’ve been here twelve years,” complains Bisaida. She is not demanding a gift or violating the law for her own pleasure. She only wants the house to be passed on as personal property, as stipulated in Resolution No. V-002/2014 of the Minister of Construction, Regulation of Linked Homes and Basic Means.

Their situation forces them to live virtually locked up.

“We are afraid to leave,” the woman laments. They fear that once outside the house the authorities will take advantage to block access or place an official seal on the door.

“I did not enter this house through the window,” says Bisaida. She shows the address that appears on her identity card and that matches letter by letter with the location of the small garage.