Translating Cuba

Today is 118 years since the greatest and most timeless of all Cubans fell in combat: José Martí, “the Apostle of Independence.”

The system prevailing in our country for 54 years has been rebaptized him as the National Hero but I, like many, never liked that description, considering it inadequate for such a universal figure, and so we continue to call him what our parents and teachers taught us, when Cuba was a Republic.

The use and abuse of Martí’s thoughts and expressions, taken out of context and applied “conveniently” to reinforce concepts that have nothing to do with his ideology, have only provoked an almost involuntary rejection on the part of many of the citizens in our country, especially among the younger segments of the population, towards the figure of the Apostle, who sometimes even joke about him disrespectfully.

A man of letters, of peace and love, he became involved with weapons, possibly pressured by his own companions, falling mortally wounded, on his first day out on the battlefield without barely having had the opportunity to fight; and this was a man who was capable of uniting all Cubans under the same idea, man who was so desperately needed alive.

So many years after that event that is so sad for most Cubans, his ideas are still the compass that governs the desires of our politicians. Keeping alive our chimera of achieving, sooner rather than later, the chance to see our nation free and sovereign “with all and for the good of all” as Martí dreamed.

19 May 2013

For several days the inspectors of the Ministry of Labor and National Tax Administration Office (ONAT) in the Havana municipality of Cerro have been telling the self-employed workers who sell in the doorways of their homes in the area that they must dismantle their shelves and stands. The only way they can continue doing this work is if they move it inside their homes. And this option is open only to a few, mainly the owners of such dwellings. The rest, who have rented these doorway spaces for their work, will have no option other than to turn in their licenses as self-employed.

But those who can continue to offer their merchandise will not find their future path free of obstacles either. According to what some of these vendors of household items who work on Ayestaran Avenue in Cerro said, the inspectors told them they could not sell foreign clothing nor any article that had been acquired by the self-employed in the State retail market. The only things they will be allowed to sell are items the artisans have made themselves, as self-employed, such as tea towels, tablecloths, handkerchiefs and the like.

That provision makes it clear that the reason for the raid was not only about the public image; that is, to rid the streets and avenues of people crowding around the small traders, a kind of informal economy that proliferates in the cities of almost all of Latin America, and that the Castro regime has tried so hard to avoid.

The other target of this attack — and for some the main one — has been what the authorities classify as “resale.” In other words, the fact that these self-employed offered, at prices higher than the official ones, the same articles that would sell in the State stores, and which in many cases were in short supply in these establishments.

Of course, the higher prices were not due to the greed of the self-employed, but rather because of their not having a wholesale market where they can acquire their goods, so for them the retail price was their costs, and then they had to add a margin for profit to come to their selling price. Ah, but this was never understood by the hard-line Castroites, who wrote many letters to the newspaper Granma asking that these self-employed workers be done away with, calling them “unscrupulous elements who exploit the working people.”

And those who thought this action was confined to Cerro, learned of their error this past Wednesday, May 15. That day, starting early in the morning, a large group of inspectors, accompanied by a police brigade, blocked the doorways on Carlos III Avenue, in the municipality of Central Havana, where there was commercial activity.

A tour we made along that central avenue, in the section between Infanta and Belascoain streets, allowed us to see the magnitude of the repression: Empty stands, racks and shelves; doorways where yesterday life hummed, today mired in the peace of the grave.

This blow against the self-employed operates like a domino effect, not only because many sellers lose their licenses, but also because homeowners lose the rent they charged for the doorways. Thus, a significant group of people who had found a way to sustain themselves, are very likely to become homeless. One lady, who had to close her business, where her two sons sold things in a doorway on Ayestaran Avenue, said, “It seems that the authorities want the young people to have to steal to eat, and then they have a justification to put them in prison.”

And a friend, an economist by profession, who has been well aware of the changes implemented by President Raul Castro, was adamant about the indication of recurrence said, “With these people nothing is certain. It’s one step forward and two steps back.”

Orlando Freire Santana, the author, was born 1959 in Matanzas, Cuba; he has a degree in economics, is an award-winning author of essays and novels, and is an independent journalist reporting from Havana.

Translated from Diario de Cuba

17 May 2013

If the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva saw through a crack the horrors that occur in Cuban prisons, surely it would do two things:

1 – Expel Cuba from the United Nations.

2 – Knowing the alleged violations that are occurring in the prison of Guantanamo Bay, according to accusations from the Castro government, they could send the directors who lead the prisons in Cuba — true concentration camps — to pass a course at Guantanamo, in order to improve their behavior.

The dictatorship, always obsessed with attacking the United States, transmits TV images denigrating what is allegedly happening in Guantanamo Bay.

It’s not my job to defend it or make value judgments about it, this is the role of the American people; my obligation as a Cuban and intellectual is to denounce the terrible tortures that take place in the prison where I have been held and of which I am not a witness.

At present, in the cell, there is a young man with his mouth sewn shut with wire. Today he passed through the prison before the frightened looks from the other inmates.

There are daily fights between prisoners and between them and the guards. I guess this is common in any prison in the world but I am not a specialist to confirm that. But here, when the guards confront a prisoner, the ratio is ten to one, along with their batons and pepper sprays.

The food they serve is a tiny amount and badly prepared. It consists of a few grams o rice, a boiled egg, and a colorless and odorless but always disgusting soup.

The barracks are populated by prisoners who have completed their sentences, and who, because of bureaucratic problems, remained locked up without any consideration. The constant beatings and dungeons are increasing their sentences along with the blackmail to not demand their “rights.”

Silence is the only ally of the Cuban prisoner; talking could lead to a new condemnatory charge in the most arbitrary of decisions.

They wait and resign themselves. They have no alternatives.

That is the stark reality of the Cuban prisoner, who lives without guarantees of his rights or the chance to make demands. Even without reviewing the records of those processed in light of international guarantees applied to the condemned, I can say without any fear of being mistaken that if that were to happen half of the prison population would be freed.

A court that has before it a young man without hope, who, unfortunately, is a part of the children nobody wanted, who has left school and has no place to be nor can he be offered a reliable life project that invites him to get on track that isn’t emigration, the place he can best be held is in jail.

A great part of Cuban youth that has not found a way to go into exile is in prison; and I say this with total confidence, they are following there a criminal course for their future as thugs.

Hopefully the Rapporteur who is sent to Cuba will be able to meet with the people who so greatly suffer the need for him.

Ángel Santiesteban-Prats
Prison 1580
May 2013

18 May 2013

There is still the ration book. Potatoes are scarce, the price of fruit is going through the roof, and drinking a natural orange juice is a luxury. Sanitary pads are only distributed every two months — a package of ten to menstruating women. And connecting to the Internet is still a science fiction story for a large part of the population.

However, sex is liberated. A national sport. According to some, the infidelity between couples is a gene human beings carry. If those verse in it give a tour of Cuba, we can confirm their strange theories.

And they confirm that teenagers of 12 and 13 are “experts” in the field. Unaware that Australian is a continent, or that Henry Lee was in independence fighter in the American Revolution and not the creator of Lee jeans. But when it comes to sex, they have countless stories to tell. For many boys, their fathers teach them from the time they’re small, that the more women they have the more macho they are.

It’s the ABCs of a Cuban father to his son; life is dick. Men don’t cry. And the boss of the house is the one with balls. If in the 19th and 20th century fathers paid prostitutes to de-flower their sons, today it’s not necessary.

Most children are more up-to-date and more promiscuous than their parents. Having a “honey” or a lover is synonymous with masculinity. An athlete of sex. A son of a bitch of the street.

The more lovers, the more drinks friends pay for. In the bars they offer “wise” council about how to get into an impossible female. For hours, they tell sex anecdotes without ceasing to drink like Cossacks, beer and cheap rum.

Sex in Cuba is messy, but it has its hierarchies. Not like the neighborhood pimp that manages a five-star hotel. A capital that’s a general. A boring and monotonous deputy to parliament that’s a mandarin.

The “honeys” of the superiors respect them. Secretly they look at their breasts or butt, but desist from the rude compliment or indecent proposal.  A boss can fire you or make your life impossible if he finds you prowling around his woman.

Meanwhile, the more stars on your epaulette or if your photo appears among the members of the Central Committee, the more chances you have to give major luxuries to your lovers. You can even choose: blondes brunettes, mulatto or black. Or have a collection with one of each. As all are stunning, with pride and discretion we see you on the weekend in exclusive recreational villas for senior officers, or at parties their wives don’t attend.

Being the “honey” of a major character in Cuba, is synonymous with social status. As if rocket-propelled, you climb the ladder at work. All over Havana everyone is talking about the meteoric rise of a famous television report, who is both beautiful and talented. According to the rumors, the lucky guy who sleeps with her is the “boss of the bosses.”

It’s still remembered that in the 90s, when Carlos Aldana was the third strong man on the island, in charge of the ideological sector of the Communist Party, came to have three “darling” journalists, the three well-known.

Even Fidel Castro, between sips of Jack’s Daniel, liked to talk in private about his sexual exploits, like the affair he had with the German Marita Lorenz and she told about it in a book. In a macho-Fidelista Revolution like the Cuban one, having amorous adventures in bulk sets you apart from the pack. A rogue, a pimp. A hallmark of virility that makes the difference.

In a note from Juan Juan Almeida published in Marti News, told about the debauchery of Cuban officials in Angola. He gave a figure, taking from the Ministry of the Armed Forces: 40% of the woman who were on the mission in Angola were harassed or raped. That figure has never appeared in the newspaper Granma. For me, Almeida Jr. is a highly credible source. He lived among the creme de la creme of the Cuban hierarchy. His father, a great person in the opinion of his relatives, took to his bed every woman who stirred his pleasure.

And I pardon their children and wives. The great difference between being the “honey” of a leader and dying of hunger, are luxuries and comforts. The guy with few resources invites you to a movie and buys you popcorn or peanuts. The “bigwig” puts a roof over your head. And if you really satisfy him he buys you a car. And in addition, you climb the ladder in your profession.

There are women who live off their lovers, like the pimps off their prostitutes. And sometimes they have more than one “girlfriend,” they compete to see who gets more and remains preferred. Recently I heard an argument between two hookers. One said to the other, “Yeah, I’m a monster, I bought my boyfriend a motorcycle and three gold chains. The others just give him shirts and sneakers.”

You can live in tile house in Carraguao, or a residence in Miramar. But if you were raised to it, you have to have a “honey.” In a conversation between “tough men,” if you don’t talk about the “girlfriends,” “honeys” or lovers you have, they might label you Catholic or retarded. A bore who doesn’t know how to use the penis God gave you. That is, taking care not to mention or even look at the boss’s lover.

Ivan Garcia

16 May 2013

If in every dream the dreamer is the author of the fable that he lives while he sleeps, in every journey the traveller interacts with his own emotions, the landscape, some passengers and with cities that evoke events and personalities of the past that enrich his memory and the pleasure of travelling.

In my case, traveling through Spain, land of my father, grandparents, siblings, and wife; it is more than just a way of doing provincial tourism, I’m entering an amphitheater of dreams with geography as auditorium, the train or bus as a form of set design, and the people traveling or transiting are the authors.

The name Sagunto takes us back to Hannibal’s audacity, the Cartaginian General that turned the ancient Iberia in an operations base to dominate the Mediterranean and left Sagunto to occupy Rome, whose inhabitants persecuted the Carthaginians and settled in the Iberian peninsula.

Turned into a Roman province like the neighboring Tarragona, Sagunto was more important than Valencia, the current provincial and autonomous capital of which it was subject. Besides the huge Roman castle by the railroad tracks, other monuments recall events and legends that inscribe Sagunto into Spanish history, among this the military uprising of General Arsenio Martinez Campos, considered “the restorer of Spanish monarchy” and “Cuba’s pacifier,” in 1875 and 1878 respectively.

As Sagunto to Zaragoza is almost 180 miles, the traveler crosses the villages that look like picture postcards and is engrossed in orange groves, vineyards, olive trees, pines, poplars, leafless phantasmagoric trees, windmills in the mountains and tunnels that link fields, farmhouses and industrial silos that precede cities with stops. Segorbe, Jérica, Barracas, Sarrión, the celebrated Teruel — Mozarabic modernist capital of ham — Monreal del Campo, Caminreal, Calamocha, Cariñena and others that weave a map of movement adorned at times with snow.

Zaragoza, the fifth largest city in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla, impresses the newcomer with its gigantic modern railway and bus station. Upon leaving we expect the magical encounter with the banks of the Ebro, fertilized in January by the abundance of rain that threatens to overwhelm the bridges.

The Ebro valley with its desert landscape and cold winds in the urban layout of the ancient kingdom of Aragon, natural scenario of Iberian people, Celts, Romans, Goths and Arabs. Around the current Zaragoza — urban and administrative center of the autonomous community of Aragon — are circled dozens of villages in two provincial capitals: Teruel and Huesca. A short distance away are Navarre and France in the Pyrenees and the cities of Castilla la Mancha, Catalonia and Castellon.

When touring Zaragoza we are amazed by the beauty of the Plaza and the Basilica of Pilar, La Seo Cathedral, the Roman stone bridge, the iron bridge of the nineteenth century, the Aljafería — the Moorish palace of joy — as well as the Plaza of the Bulls, the Imprente Blasca and statues of transcendent characters like General Parafox, the heroine Agustina de Aragon, the painter Goya, the writer Baltasar Gracian, Dr. Ramon y Cajal,the filmmaker Luis Buñuel and the Cuban intellectual and patriot José Martí, who lived and studied in the city of Zaragoza.

31 January 2013

Since 2007 my wife and I Yoaxis Marcheco have also been serving as assistant professors at the Luis Manuel González Peña Baptist Theological Seminary of the Trinity Baptist church in the city of Santa Clara.

The magnanimous Office also opposes this, and not just from what has been disclosed verbally, but has also been made evident for months through the freezing of the bank account as client No. 287 in the International Financial Bank (BFI). It is the foreign currency account with about 27,000 USD which remain inaccessible under Account No. 030000000028738.

Of course, here the political sanctions are also shared with Rev. Homer Carbonell, rector of the seminary, who was also, for over twenty years, pastor of this church, and with his family who share his ministries; historically they have also been objects of pressures that are now demanding that the Rev. Homer retire on October 31, 2011 through their “Open Letter to those who love our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now with the upcoming Congress of the General Assembly of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) this month in Cuba and in an huge hypocritical harangue the account suddenly gets frozen, it seems to be a joke for the CLAI, but they already warned that it would be operative for eight months. Could they admit to such nerve?

18 May 2013

In January 2010 the Office used its networks and spokespeople to interfere with my transfer as a pastor in Taguayabon to the Baptist church in Bejucal, then in Havana province, now Mayabeque Province.

According to the spokesman whom they used to communicate with Pastor Ivan Elio García Muñoz who invited me in support of this congregation to be his assistant pastor: “In Taguayabon you have been tolerated, but you will not be in Bejucal.” Which constituted a threat and intimidation to the free exercise of religious freedom in Bejucal Baptist Church.

Given this constraint I myself addressed a thank you letter to that church for considering me but I responded that I given the threats referred to I refused his invitation to avoid pressures announced.

17 May 2013

I, the priest Mario Felix Lleonart Barroso, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in the town of Taguayabon, Cuba, find myself in the painful and distressing need to condemn before the world the manipulation and blackmail of the so-called Office of Attention to Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba of myself, my family and ministries; at least so that they do not occur with impunity.

Without internet access in previous weeks I was able to publish my full complaint through the blog Religion in Revolution. After hours of publication, Granma responded with an article by Dalia González Delgado — “Is there religious freedom in Cuba?” — on April 30. Now I am publishing each complaint separately and in different posts and I welcome the VII Congress of the Latin American Church Council in Havana:

– From mid-2009 the Religious Affairs Office has been harassing the leaders of the Western Cuba Baptist Convention to take action against my person and ministries. These leaders are constantly called to the Office for scolding and pressures not to interfere in my pastoral ministry, nor in the decisions as an autonomous church that is ours, but that is associated with the Baptist Convention, with its own doctrine and ecclesiastical practice of our churches, in this Political Bureau of the Central Committee trying to interfere at all costs violating our fundamental principle of church-state separation.

16 May 2013

Placing zeros to the right seems to be the preferred sport of those who put a price on the homes they sell in Cuba today. A captive market at the end of the day, the buyer could find a lot of surprises in the wide range of classified ads. From owners who ask astronomical sums for their houses, sums that have nothing to do with the reality of demand, to real bargains that make you feel sorry for the naiveté of the negotiator. Many are pressured to sell, some by those with the smarts to realize that this is the time to buy a house on the Island. It is a bet on the future, if it goes wrong they lose almost everything, but if it goes well they position themselves — in advance — for tomorrow. The slow hurry up and the fast run at the speed of light. These are times to make haste, the end of an era could be close… say the smartest.

It’s surprising to see, with barely any notion of real estate, how Cubans launch themselves into the marketing of square meters. They talk about their space, usually with an over abundance of adjectives that make you laugh or scare you. So when you read “one bedroom apartment in central Havana with mezzanine bedroom,” you should understand “room in a Central Havana apartment with wooden platform.” If they talk about a garden, it’s best to imagine a bed with soil and plants at the entrance; and even five-bedroom residences, after a visit, are reduced to two bedrooms partitioned with cardboard. The same mistrust with which people view the photos on the social networks where young people look for partners, should be applied to housing ads here. However, you can also find real pearls in the midst of the exaggeration.

Right now there are at least three parameters that determine the final cost of a home: location, physical state of construction, and pedigree. The neighborhood has a great influence on the final value of the property. In Havana, the most prized areas are Vedado, Miramar, Central Havana, Víbora and Cerro, for their central character. The least wanted are Alamar, Reparto Eléctrico, San Miguel del Padrón and La Lisa. The poor state of public transport significantly influences people’s preference for houses that are near major commercial centers with abundant spaces for entertainment. If there is a farmers market in the vicinity, the asking price goes up; if it is near the Malecon it also goes up. People shy away from the periphery, although among the “new rich,” those who have accumulated a little more capital whether by legal or illegal means, the trend of looking for homes in the outskirts has begun. It is still too early, however, to speak about a trend to locate in greener and less polluted areas. For now, the main premise can be summarized as the more central the better.

The physical state is one of the other elements that defines what a home will cost. If the ceiling is beam and slab, the numbers fall; meanwhile constructions from the 1940s and ‘50s enjoy a very good reputation and appeal. The lowest values are for the so-called “microbrigade works” with their ugly concrete buildings and their little Eastern European style apartments. If the roofing is light — tiles, zinc, wood, ceiling paper — the seller will get less. The state of the bathroom and kitchen are another point that directly influences the marketability of the property. The quality of the floors, if the windows are barred and the door is new — of glass and metal — these are points in its favor. If there are no neighbors overhead, then the seller can rest easy. Also very valuable are houses with two entrances, designed for a large family seeking to split up and live independently. Everything counts, anything goes.

So far it resembles a real estate market like any other anywhere in the world. However, there is a situation that defines, in a very particular way, the value of homes for sale. This is their pedigree. This refers to whether the house has belonged to the family for forever, or if it was confiscated in one of the waves of expropriations in Cuba. If the previous owner left during the Rafter Crisis of 1994 and the State handed the property over to someone new, the price is lower. The same thing happens if it was taken during the Mariel Boatlift in 1980, a time when property was awarded to others after the emigration of those who had lived there up until that time. But where the prices hit rock bottom is with those homes confiscated between 1959 and 1963, when great numbers left for exile. Few want to take on the problem of acquiring a site that later may go into litigation. Although there are some who are taking advantage of this situation to buy real mansions in the most central neighborhoods at bargain prices.

In order to check the location, the state of construction, as well as the legal past of the house, potential buyers are aided by their own experience, a good architect and even a lawyer to dig through the details of the property. Each element adds or removes a cipher, one zero or one hundred to the total price people are willing to pay. In a captive market anything is possible; it’s as if knowledge of real estate has only been sleeping, lethargic, and now returns with amazing force.

18 May 2013