The first day of January usually begins with loudspeakers blaring, blasting songs and slogans. On the anniversary of the Cuban Revolution the government organizes activities and parties to energize the enthusiasm the date already provokes. However, this year no attempt to commemorate the date is being made. The morning dawned quietly, calmly, in silence. Many speculate that such austerity is motivated by the serious state of health of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He was operated on in Cuba in early December and his current situation is surrounded by great secrecy.

But Cubans have learned to read information even where there is none. Such a complete lack of celebration around the most important government anniversary has set off the alarms. There are those who say the mourning is due to the premonition of an economic collapse, if it comes to pass that Chavez is gone. And others predict that the tenant of Miraflores Palace will not return to his country alive, given the sequence of postoperative complications he has suffered. Beyond the speculations, the fact is that Cuba in 2013 would be very different in the absence of its principal economic mentor.

So people scan the horizon, trying to sniff out the news carried on the air from the Plaza of the Revolution. Divination is a common practice in all Cuban homes these days. And this January first, so dull and silent, is a sign that something isn’t going well. Terminal exhaustion of a system? Fear before the possibility of losing the substantial Venezuelan subsidy? Or simply compassion for a dying man? We don’t know for sure, but what is clear is that today there is neither energy nor reasons for celebrations.

Yoani Sanchez

1 January 2013

For me 2013 has special connotations. I have a personal prophecy that I’ve only told my friends and that came into my head in a dream in the middle of a hangover, after the party for the arrival of the year 2000.

The dream in question was a conversation in which I was debating how comparable two dates were, one was the first of January 1959 and the other the 13th of April 2013. That’s all I could remember when I woke up and since then I have been waiting for this day.

So I leave it there. I promise not to kick myself if something happens on that day and I accept ahead of time all the jokes that will come my way when absolutely nothing happens.

Reinaldo Escobar

31 December 2012

Someone has to be at the foot of the aircraft steps, to say goodbye, holding the handkerchief and wiping their eyes. Someone has to receives the letters, the brightly colored postcards, the long distance phone calls. Someone has to stay and look after the house that once was full of children and relatives, watering the plants they left and feeding the old dog that was so faithful to them. Someone has to keep the family memories, grandmother’s mahogany dresser, the wide mirror with the quicksilver coming loose in the corners. Someone has to preserve the jokes that no longer spark laughter, the negatives of the photographs never printed. Someone has to stay to stay.

This 2013, when so many await the implementation of Immigration and Travel Reform, could become a year where we say “goodby” many times. While I respect the decision of each person to settle here or there, it doesn’t fail to sadden me to see the constant bleeding of creativity and talent suffered by my country. It’s frightening to know the number of Cubans who no longer want to leave here, or raise their children on this Island, or realize their professional careers in the country. A tendency that in recent months has had me saying goodbye to colleagues and friends who leave for exile, neighbors who sell their homes to pay for a flight to some other place; acquaintances who I haven’t seen for some weeks whom I later learn are now living in Singapore or Argentina. People who are tired of waiting, of postponing their dreams.

But someone has to stay to close the door, turn the lights off and on again. Many have to stay because this country has to be reborn with fresh ideas, with young people and future proposals. At least the illusion has to stay, the regenerative capacity must remain here; the enthusiasm clings to this earth. In 2013, among the many who remain, one must definitely be hope.

Yoani Sanchez

1 January 2013

In 2012 this site, Translating Cuba, had:

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Millions and millions of thanks to our readers,

and to those who make this site happen: our TRANSLATORS!

Make a resolution to help translate Cuban bloggers, and bring their voices to the world! …Please.

The official press is full of articles on the refurbishing of parts and equipment that have been out of service for ten, twenty, thirty years or more, as well as on the use of primitive tools and techniques in agricultural production. These are presented as great achievements. They include reports on equipment installed in a sugar mill in 1898 that is kept running 104 years later, adaptations to a part that allowed it to be used for the first time in thirty years, reconstructing a railroad car from an old unused one, building a bus from the chassis and motor of a discarded truck, adapting cement mixers to build low-cost housing with hurricane-resistant roofs, and other such examples. There are similar reports on agricultural production involving the use of old machetes, mattocks and wooden hoes, and on fields being tilled by ploughs pulled by oxen. All are presented under the pretext that this is being done for ecological reasons.

This laborious work, to which people have dedicated time and effort in order to incorporate these things into the production process in the first instance, and making the land productive using rudimentary methods in the second,deserves respect. It is a shame, however, that their value is, in the first case, ephemeral since sooner or later, given their overuse and physical deterioration, they will again break down and have to be put out of service. In the second case the output will be minimal, and will have resulted in excessive days of work and physical exhaustion. This will, in both cases, lead to the rapid aging of parts, equipment, tools and techniques. In other words, these things will have once again become obsolete.

Relying on the use of outdated means and methods to achieve productive economic development is an effort doomed to failure. The reality is that the problem of aging affects the entire country in terms of technology (to say nothing of demography). For many years the need to provide replacements for nation’s industrial parks was forgotten, letting time pass without making investments to keep factories technologically up-to-date. The result is an unproductive inventory of old ironwork whose value is only as scrap.

The truth is that financial resources are currently unavailable to renovate factories and build new ones, or to modernize agricultural production. This does not, however, justify being deceitful by exalting the alleged economic advantages of refurbishing old parts instead of purchasing new, technologically more advanced equipment, or of tilling the earth with ox-drawn ploughs instead of with modern farm machinery. A country cannot develop economically based on erroneous assumptions, much less with a level of backwardness like our own.

Fernando Damaso

December 29 2012

The last days of December, a good time to walk the streets and capture the differences of this 2012 compared to the previous year. The agricultural markets are better stocked although prices have almost doubled in the last twelve months. Private restaurants are springing up all over the capital and snack bars run by the self-employed compete on menu items and décor. Numerous houses have “For Sale” signs and many families are packing their suitcases waiting for the new Immigration and Travel Reforms to go into effect. Some have seen their wallets get fatter while for others the only thing that has grown is scarcities. The contrasts in Cuba are also growing.

“Updating the model” is the name the government has given the island’s current process of economic reforms. A series of flexibilities that encourage domestic production to reduce imports, but that maintain State control and central planning. The key achievements have been delivering idle land in a form of leasing known as usufruct, the expansion of self-employment, and the conversion of State-owned establishments to cooperatives. However, among the main tasks still incomplete are eliminating the dual currency system, ending the rationing system, and increasing salaries at least enough to cover basic needs. As long as salaries do not allow workers to have a decent life, many people will turn to emerging enterprises, many of them illegal and tied to the tourism sector.

Among the boldest steps taken by Raul Castro’s government is granting permission for the sale of homes. In a society where it was banned for decades, the authorization has caused a real shock. It brought back speculation, stratospheric prices and redistribution of the population in cities according to people’s purchasing power. True innovations for generations of Cubans who had resigned themselves to sharing space with grandparents and parents. However, in most cases those who have already managed to buy a house have been able to do so thanks to remittances from family abroad, profits from self-employment, or the diversion of State resources. Illegal Cuba continues and gains strength.

The fight against corruption appears to be a losing battle. A few days ago Gladys Bejerano herself, Comptroller General of the Republic, declared that of the state enterprises audited 72% had been classified as “deficient or bad, lacking in comprehensive systems of control.” Raul Castro has reduced the mammoth number of ministries inherited from his brother, merging some and dismantling others. Cases of officials imprisoned or under investigation are the order of the day, although they are not accompanied by a policy of transparency of information, especially when the irregularities involve senior Communist Party leaders.

Last year the fears of many were focused on the process of “payroll rationalization” that threatened the possible dismissal of between half a million and 1.3 million state workers. But the dreaded plan has been delayed and even halted in several bureaucratic, business and production-related endeavors. Some breathe a sigh of relief at keeping their jobs, but in most cases the efficiency of State enterprises has been seriously hampered by retaining an excess of unnecessary personnel. This is perhaps one of the clearest examples of Raul Castro’s reforms being hesitant and ambiguous, torn between pragmatism and a fear of popular discontent. Some believe that this tendency of “two steps forward, one step back” comes from conflicts and struggles in the upper echelons of the government. The apparent battle between a reform-minded sector and another, more conservative, feeds popular fantasies and even serious analysis.

Preventing the accumulation of capital also seems to be one of the great scourges of the new transformations. The guidelines discourage contracting for labor beyond five workers; establish excessive taxes for the private sector; prevent a single person from buying more than one home and even having more than one phone line. All are policies that confirm the intention to limit individual wealth. The main fear of the government centers on the possibility that economic reforms will create a foundation to demand political reforms. That is, that the ability of many to achieve material and financial autonomy from the State will inevitably spark desires for autonomy in the civic arena and increase pressures for respect of human rights.

Although the changes are aimed at expanding the private sector and strengthening national production, they have not yet achieved a significant improvement in macroeconomic indicators. Nor have they achieved an improvement in the living standards of the Cuban people. Our plates and our pockets demonstrate – better than any statistical analysis – how insufficient Raul Castro’s reforms have been. Scarcity of essential goods, inflated prices and increasing inequalities between rural and urban areas contradict the triumphalist phrases. Add to this a further impoverishment of Afro-Cubans, who have less access to remittances from family abroad – because fewer Afro-Cubans have emigrated – and who are discriminated against for jobs in tourism. Cuba’s social differences can no longer be hidden with political slogans. Hence, 2013 will come to an island balanced between hope inspired by new flexibilities, and frustration at the excessively slow pace of change.

Yoani Sanchez

30 December 2012

Havana does not seem very aware that despite the crisis, the year-end holiday spirit is inundating other cities worldwide. Some lighting and modest Christmas trees give a vague nod to the year moving on. The state restaurants have barely hired an expert calligrapher to write “Happy 2013” in their windows, topped by a couple of bells; this could also be done “spontaneously” with sometimes painful results.

But if the restaurants in the hands of the State offer a grim picture, the opposite happens with the restaurants appearing in the private sector, many of which have left no details to change in the organization of their festivities for the holidays.

Some local landmarks with more than 15 years behind them, such as La Guarida, La Cocina de Liliam or Le Chansonnier, take these days off; but other veterans, such as La Casa, offer an attractive Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve dinners. They will also open a snack bar on which they’ve put the finishing touches.

The private restaurants known as paladares (palates) appeared in the last two years thanks to the legal changes making this kind of effort possible, surprise us with the facilities and the professionalism of their staff. Within the gourmet category some stand out: Habana Chef, Calle 10, La Moraleja and La Galería. They are large homes adapted with good taste and functionality to the needs of a restaurant.

While some serve their usual menu during this time, La Galería, now a year-and-a-half old, offers a Christmas Eve menu far from ordinary, with salmon canapes, queso fresco with vegetables, where you can choose between banana fritters stuffed with fried meat, or crudo marinated with basil and balsamic sauce; pork loin stuffed with ham, olives and peaches in red wine reduction, berries and lemon garnish, with tamales, or turkey stuffed with olives in plum sauce perfumed with Chardonnay, accompanied with roasted sweet potatoes with bacon, and for dessert fritters with ice cream and fruit sauce or coconut cake with dried fruits in the Arab style, this plus a selection of candies, grapes and wines. To end the year, another equally exotic menu also includes grapes and a champagne toast at midnight, live music and open bar.

Not far behind is the recently opened París ’50. French cuisine and French-Caribbean that offers a Christmas Eve dinner with dishes including petit fours, seafood gratin with tartar sauce, turkey stuffed with ground beef, truffles, nuts and raisins in wine, garnished with peas and potatoes Provencal, and yule log and nougat for dessert. They also plan to have for the New Year dinner and live music.

When you have a corner as perfect as that at L and 25th, opposite the Hotel Habana Libre, you have to take advantage of it. Wow! A snack bar with chef offered dinner on the 24th. On the 31st they won’t open, like the 15th Floor.

The prices at these sites ranges from 25 to 50 CUC per person. So what are the most economical?

La Rosa Negra offers only carry out. For less than 12 CUC you can get over two pounds of garlic pork, or a pound of smoked loin, plus a pound of rice and beans and a pound of yucca with garlic sauce. La Taraquera offers three traditional plates where pork and yucca alternate with matajíbaro — a dish from Camaguey — and tamales with a bottle of wine, nougat and a cup of cider for 25 CUC per couple. El Farallon, as of two days ago, had not planned a special menu, but it planned to remain open with additional take-out service. At Blanco y Negro, at 12th and 23rd, for 7 CUC a person they will offer every day until January 2nd a traditional menu with 10% discount on take-out. At Paris ’50 you can take home with the same meal without drinks and dessert for 15 CUC.

Young faces, impeccable presence, professionalism. The private dining raises the bar to heights unreachable by the deteriorating State restaurants. There is a migration of personnel trained in the chef and cooking schools toward this sector, one of the few that is expanding.

Who will be the clientele in these places that have taken such care with their menus? Foreigners, some Cubans “who can,” some who make a special day of the date. These are not prices for ordinary people. Most people will eat at home on the 24th, with more or less austerity, more or less devotion, and there will be those who will have no special foods. And even on the 31st, greatly celebrated as the anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution, many will follow the Cuban custom of throwing a bucket of water off the balcony or out the window or door at midnight, with the secret hope of a new year that will truly be new.

Regina Coyula

25 December 2012

Translated from Diario de Cuba.

Readers, something light, in keeping with the season. In one of those conversations to fill the time between people who barely know each other, the topic of Divas came up. In Cuba, Alicia Alonso, distantly followed by Rosita Fornés; but neither Rita Montaner, nor Omara Portuondo, who were cited, are considered to be by me. Instead, I put forward Bola de Nieve (Snowball).

Diva (and Divo) is more than fame and career. Also each era has their own. Nearly a century ago Valentino’s status was undisputed, but today he would be ridiculous. The quintessential diva is Greta Garbo, but at that time Louise Brooks seemed much more interesting to me. Marilyn Monroe doesn’t impress me, but Sophia Loren, still today, has a powerful presence.

Sara Montiel and Carmen Sevilla are two nothings compared to La Faraona. And what can I say about Clark Gable? If he cleaned the Vaseline out of his hair, he could be a gallant or villain right now. Better a gallant, and that we see him take off more than the Vaseline. And the same for Ava Gardner with a slight makeover.

The way they’re presented in the news has made other artists, athletes and supermodels Divas just as much as the movies.

Mick Jagger, Cher, Andy Warhol, Tina Turner, Freddie Mercury, Usain Bolt, Cary Grant, Maria Felix … But everyone has their own.

Regina Coyula

December 27 2012