<![CDATA[The Green Screen

<![CDATA[The Green Screen - All Forums]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/ Fri, 18 May 2012 18:42:22 -0500 MyBB <![CDATA[Great news! Repsol didn't find any oil ROTFLMAO]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15770 Fri, 18 May 2012 18:11:20 -0500 therealcuba http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15770
======================
: Exploratory oil well off Cuba comes up dry

By PETER ORSI

HAVANA

An exploratory oil well off the northern coast of Cuba has proved a failure and will be capped and abandoned, Spanish company Repsol said Friday, a disappointment for a cash-strapped nation hoping for an economic lifeline.

Trial and error is par for the course in oil exploration, however, and analysts said the news is far from a death blow to Cuba's petroleum dreams.

Repsol SA is evaluating the data it collected since the Scarabeo-9 rig arrived off the coast of Havana in January after a months-long, round-the-world trek from construction sites in China and Singapore. The company has not yet decided whether to sink further wells in the area, spokesman Kristian Rix said.

Rix said four of every five offshore wells come up dry, and it's too soon to determine whether other parts of Repsol's exploration block are commercially viable.

"Mapping an (offshore) oil field is like trying to draw a map of a city when all you have is one in 10 lampposts working and a bit of a fog," Rix said by phone from Madrid. "It's very hard to do, so I can't draw any conclusions from one well about the whole rest of it. These are questions that geologists will have to answer."

Nor does the failed well mean that the rest of Cuba's offshore exploratory area, which has been estimated to hold 5 billion to 9 billion barrels, is barren.

"I think it's disappointing news, but in my opinion it doesn't mean that the whole of the Cuban north belt is not a geological zone that in the future could produce a substantial amount of hydrocarbons," said Jorge Pinon, former president of Amoco Oil Latin America and now an energy expert at the University of Texas.

"It's disappointing, but it's not surprising," he added.

The Cuban government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The project has generated controversy in the United States, with concerns of a possible environmental disaster like the 2010 Macondo-Deepwater Horizon blowout and spill on the other side of the Gulf.

Many feared it would be impossible for longtime foes in Washington and Havana to coordinate response and containment, threatening large stretches of coastline in Cuba, Florida and beyond. Repsol has sought to allay those fears by opening up the drill rig to U.S. inspectors, and by openly sharing data with both governments.

Meanwhile Cuban-American politicians criticized the Obama administration for not stopping the drilling altogether. The 50-year-old U.S. economic embargo already essentially bars American companies from doing oil business with Cuba and threatens sanctions against foreign companies if they don't follow its restrictions.

The sanctions have greatly complicated the drilling project, making it far more difficult to line up equipment and resources. The massive Scarabeo-9 platform had to be constructed in Asia with less than 10 percent U.S.-made parts to avoid violating the embargo.

Cuba has been struggling to lift its weak economy out of the doldrums for years, and the prospect of oil riches is a major part of the country's master plan. A big find would also lessen Cuba's reliance on Venezuela, which gives Cuba $3 billion a year in oil subsidies, but whose leader is ailing with cancer.

The failure of the well is also surely a letdown for Repsol, which has now come up empty in two Cuban wells drilled over the last decade. Repsol and its partners were leasing the rig for about a half-million dollars a day.

Rix declined to say how much has been spent to carry out the exploration.

Pinon said the typical cost of sinking a deep-water well in the Gulf of Mexico runs around $100 million to $150 million.

Also weighing on the company's Cuba plans is its dispute with Argentina over the South American nation's takeover of Repsol's majority stake in oil and gas producer YPF, Pinon said.

"You have to add the challenges that Repsol is having vis-a-vis YPF Argentina," he said. "Will the challenges that Repsol is going to have force them to focus more of their worldwide exploration into areas in which they know that there is a lower risk, for example the U.S. Gulf of Mexico?"

Diplomats and industry sources say the Scarabeo-9 rig will be rented out next by Malaysian oil company Petronas for exploration north of Cuba's Pinar del Rio province, to the west of Havana.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-05/D9URBM2O0.htm

Ros-Lehtinen: If Confirmed That Repsol Has Found No Oil In Cuban Waters, This Would Be A Setback To Cuban Dictatorship
PRESS RELEASE
May 18, 2012

If Confirmed That Repsol Has Found No Oil In Cuban Waters, This Would Be A Setback To Cuban Dictatorship’s Desperate Attempts To Find Other Sources of Oil Due To Chavez’ Failing Health

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen issued the following statement after press reports indicated that the Spanish oil conglomerate, Repsol, announced that it had found no oil in Cuban waters.

Ros-Lehtinen’s Statement:

“Repsol’s inability to find oil off of Cuba’s northern coast is a blow to the dictatorship’s desperate search to find other sources of revenue other than the billion dollar oil subsidies it receives from fellow tyrant Hugo Chavez. If true, it would be a serious setback to the Cuban regime's attempts to use oil as a lifeline to maintain its hold on power.

The Castros are fully aware that the lack of hard currency is sinking their already disastrous economy and with the prospect of a change in leadership in Venezuela, the dictators in Havana are in a state of chaotic paralysis.

Unfortunately, the Cuban people are not yet out of the woods as Malaysia’s oil giant Petronas and Russia’s Gazprom-Neft are next in line to use the oil rig to rape and pillage Cuba’s natural resources. These companies don’t care about the suffering of the Cuban people, their main concern is profits and their bottom line.

The Obama Administration looked the other way as Repsol aided the Cuban tyranny’s dangerous scheme to become the oil barons of the Caribbean. This is why my colleagues and I have pending bills in Congress to do deny this option to the regime to finance their repression against the Cuban people.”]]> <![CDATA[A Ground Level Look at Cuba’s Farm Policy]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15769 Fri, 18 May 2012 16:45:27 -0500 gallofino http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15769 http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=70551

Land for those who work it…

Fernando Ravsberg*

The agrarian bureaucracy maintains itself on the backs of those who work the land. Photo: Raquel Perez.

HAVANA TIMES – This week marks the anniversary of the signing into law of Cuba’s Agrarian Reform, which transformed the life of tens of thousands of peasant families who were subject to the cruelest forms of misery, as a 1957 survey of the Catholic University Group documented.

The farm workers were able to stop their constant traveling in search of work in the harvests, and they settled down on farms of their own, from which no one could ever again evict them. Their children had access to school and they themselves were taught how to read and write.

Nevertheless, the revolutionary government soon came to believe that agricultural collectivization was more in line with their ideology than individual plots. They pressured the farmers to annex their land onto the state farms or to the cooperatives, also controlled by the State.

The Soviet-style “koholz” was imposed on Cuba despite the poor results that they had exhibited in the European socialist countries. Mr. Ramón Labaut, my wife’s communist grandfather, gave up his lands with pleasure, but his son-in-law Narváez Arias decided to continue in the old style.

A few years ago we went up into the mountains and visited the farms; that of the grandfather has been swallowed by vines. That of the Arias family, in contrast, produces so much coffee that they have built a nice house in town and he lives there in retirement while his children continue working the land.

Alejandro Robaina, the tobacco grower, was another of the rebellious farmers: he roundly refused to give up the lands that his father and his grandfather had planted. Decades later, Fidel Castro himself approached him to inquire how he had managed to achieve such yield and quality.

Mr. Robaina was a plain-spoken man, and responded by saying that if Cuba wanted to develop a good tobacco crop, the only way was to give the lands back to the farmers. And life has proven him right.

Most of the Cuban soil is very compact, so tractors are needed to turn it. Photo: Raquel Pérez

In the eighties, Fidel Castro counseled the French Communist Party leader George Marchais: “Don’t even think about socialized agriculture. Leave the small producers alone, don’t touch them. If you do, say goodbye to your good wine, your good cheese and your excellent foie gras.” (1)

Nevertheless, for two more decades the Cuban leaders insisted uselessly on looking for new forms of collectivization that could surpass the productivity of the small farmer. It wasn’t until 2008 that it was decided to put the land into the hands of the “guajiros” and others who, although not farmers or peasants, were willing to dedicate themselves to this way of life.

The bureaucracy set to work immediately: they prohibited them from constructing houses on the farm; they prohibited them from importing machinery; they attached exorbitant prices to the few tools that were available for sale; and they obligated them to distribute their products only through “Acopio”, the State network famous for its inefficiency.

Despite all the obstacles, the guajiros used machetes to clear the marabou brush weeds, raised production, and left the country wondering what they would in fact be capable of doing if only they were given freedom to decide, if they were sold agricultural inputs, and were allowed to buy trucks for distributing their products.

I met a retired functionary from the Ministry of Foreign Trade who had received a parcel of land on the outskirts of Havana and now raises pigs with tremendous success; he grows the food for his animals and cooks with biogas that comes from their waste matter.

Agriculture is tough work, but in Cuba it has a certain attraction. Small farmers not only have access to education and health benefits, but they have also become one of the more prosperous sectors of the population, a rarity in Latin America.

The life of the Cuban peasant changed radically when land was distributed to them in 1959. Photo: Raquel Pérez

At any rate, the lack of water and the erosion of the soil makes it difficult to imagine that local agriculture could ever supply all of the country’s necessities. Even in 1959, with half of the current population, Cuba imported a large volume of food.

I asked a farmer one day if it were true that Cuban land will produce anything you plant on it. He smiled astutely and said: “Yes, if you’re referring to tropical products, and if you enrich it with fertilizers, and you fumigate with pesticides and if you apply herbicides and you install irrigation systems.”

Only with great difficulty could Cuba become the garden that the popular imagination dreams of, but neither does it have to continue being a land plagued with weeds with a productive yield much less than that of a half-century ago.

The land distribution has begun to bear its first fruits, but in order to advance more in this they will need to eliminate the foolish restrictions imposed by an inefficient agricultural bureaucracy which would be better off shrinking into non-existence, together with the agricultural model that engendered it.

If 53 years ago the Cuban peasant raised high the slogan of “Land for those who work it!”, today they should understand that this in itself is not enough: they also need resources, and above all the power of decision and participation in the design of agrarian policies.

(1) From the book, “A hundred hours with Fidel,” by the author Ignacio Ramonet.

(*) An authorized Havana Times translation of the original article published by BBC Mundo.]]> http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=70551

Land for those who work it…

Fernando Ravsberg*

The agrarian bureaucracy maintains itself on the backs of those who work the land. Photo: Raquel Perez.

HAVANA TIMES – This week marks the anniversary of the signing into law of Cuba’s Agrarian Reform, which transformed the life of tens of thousands of peasant families who were subject to the cruelest forms of misery, as a 1957 survey of the Catholic University Group documented.

The farm workers were able to stop their constant traveling in search of work in the harvests, and they settled down on farms of their own, from which no one could ever again evict them. Their children had access to school and they themselves were taught how to read and write.

Nevertheless, the revolutionary government soon came to believe that agricultural collectivization was more in line with their ideology than individual plots. They pressured the farmers to annex their land onto the state farms or to the cooperatives, also controlled by the State.

The Soviet-style “koholz” was imposed on Cuba despite the poor results that they had exhibited in the European socialist countries. Mr. Ramón Labaut, my wife’s communist grandfather, gave up his lands with pleasure, but his son-in-law Narváez Arias decided to continue in the old style.

A few years ago we went up into the mountains and visited the farms; that of the grandfather has been swallowed by vines. That of the Arias family, in contrast, produces so much coffee that they have built a nice house in town and he lives there in retirement while his children continue working the land.

Alejandro Robaina, the tobacco grower, was another of the rebellious farmers: he roundly refused to give up the lands that his father and his grandfather had planted. Decades later, Fidel Castro himself approached him to inquire how he had managed to achieve such yield and quality.

Mr. Robaina was a plain-spoken man, and responded by saying that if Cuba wanted to develop a good tobacco crop, the only way was to give the lands back to the farmers. And life has proven him right.

Most of the Cuban soil is very compact, so tractors are needed to turn it. Photo: Raquel Pérez

In the eighties, Fidel Castro counseled the French Communist Party leader George Marchais: “Don’t even think about socialized agriculture. Leave the small producers alone, don’t touch them. If you do, say goodbye to your good wine, your good cheese and your excellent foie gras.” (1)

Nevertheless, for two more decades the Cuban leaders insisted uselessly on looking for new forms of collectivization that could surpass the productivity of the small farmer. It wasn’t until 2008 that it was decided to put the land into the hands of the “guajiros” and others who, although not farmers or peasants, were willing to dedicate themselves to this way of life.

The bureaucracy set to work immediately: they prohibited them from constructing houses on the farm; they prohibited them from importing machinery; they attached exorbitant prices to the few tools that were available for sale; and they obligated them to distribute their products only through “Acopio”, the State network famous for its inefficiency.

Despite all the obstacles, the guajiros used machetes to clear the marabou brush weeds, raised production, and left the country wondering what they would in fact be capable of doing if only they were given freedom to decide, if they were sold agricultural inputs, and were allowed to buy trucks for distributing their products.

I met a retired functionary from the Ministry of Foreign Trade who had received a parcel of land on the outskirts of Havana and now raises pigs with tremendous success; he grows the food for his animals and cooks with biogas that comes from their waste matter.

Agriculture is tough work, but in Cuba it has a certain attraction. Small farmers not only have access to education and health benefits, but they have also become one of the more prosperous sectors of the population, a rarity in Latin America.

The life of the Cuban peasant changed radically when land was distributed to them in 1959. Photo: Raquel Pérez

At any rate, the lack of water and the erosion of the soil makes it difficult to imagine that local agriculture could ever supply all of the country’s necessities. Even in 1959, with half of the current population, Cuba imported a large volume of food.

I asked a farmer one day if it were true that Cuban land will produce anything you plant on it. He smiled astutely and said: “Yes, if you’re referring to tropical products, and if you enrich it with fertilizers, and you fumigate with pesticides and if you apply herbicides and you install irrigation systems.”

Only with great difficulty could Cuba become the garden that the popular imagination dreams of, but neither does it have to continue being a land plagued with weeds with a productive yield much less than that of a half-century ago.

The land distribution has begun to bear its first fruits, but in order to advance more in this they will need to eliminate the foolish restrictions imposed by an inefficient agricultural bureaucracy which would be better off shrinking into non-existence, together with the agricultural model that engendered it.

If 53 years ago the Cuban peasant raised high the slogan of “Land for those who work it!”, today they should understand that this in itself is not enough: they also need resources, and above all the power of decision and participation in the design of agrarian policies.

(1) From the book, “A hundred hours with Fidel,” by the author Ignacio Ramonet.

(*) An authorized Havana Times translation of the original article published by BBC Mundo.]]> <![CDATA[Exclusive: Repsol comes up dry in Cuba offshore well]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15768 Fri, 18 May 2012 15:49:51 -0500 gallofino http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15768 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/1...XJ20120518

By Jeff Franks and Marc Frank

HAVANA | Fri May 18, 2012 2:37pm EDT

(Reuters) - Spanish oil giant Repsol said Friday that the first of three planned wells in Cuban waters was unsuccessful, a blow to Cuba's hopes for energy independence.

"I can confirm that the Repsol well in Cuba has been reported to be unsuccessful and that we are proceeding to plug and abandon the well," a Repsol spokesman told Reuters.

Repsol operated the well in a consortium with Norway's Statoil (STL.OL) and a unit of India's ONGC (ONGC.NS), drilling 4,500 meters into the sea bed of the Gulf of Mexico.

The disappointing result was a blow to the communist island's hopes of weaning itself from Venezuelan oil, but not a fatal one because Malaysia's state-owned Petronas will soon begin a second exploration well in Cuban waters in partnership with Russian's Gazprom Neft SIBB.MM.

"It's a bust. It doesn't mean there's not oil out there (in Cuba's offshore), but it looks like they missed the reservoir," one industry expert said of the well, drilled in 5,600 feet of water more than 20 miles off Cuba's northern coast.

Repsol began drilling at the end of January after the Scarabeo 9, a massive Chinese-built drilling rig owned by Italy's Saipem (SPMI.MI) arrived at the island following a trip half way around the world from Singapore.

The rig was scheduled to be handed over soon to Petronas, which will sink a second well about 100 miles to the west of the current drill site.

Venezuela's PDVSA is tentatively scheduled to then get the rig for a third well.

Repsol drilled the only previous Cuba offshore well in 2004 and said it found oil but that it was not "commercial." Reportedly, it has said it is undecided about drilling another Cuban well.

HIGH STAKES

For Cuba, the offshore exploration project has high stakes because the finding of oil could make it energy independent and possibly an oil exporter, which would aid its chronically troubled economy.

Cuba has said it may have at least 20 billion barrels of oil in its part of the Gulf of Mexico, although the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated a more modest 5 billion.

The island receives about 115,000 barrels of oil daily from socialist ally Venezuela, most of which goes toward meeting its internal demand and the rest for refining into oil products for Caribbean and central American nations.

In exchange, Venezuela receives the services of thousands of Cuban medical personnel and other professionals. It also is a heavy investor in numerous joint projects with Cuba.

The Cuba-Venezuela alliance is a product of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' close relations with Cuban President Raul Castro and his older brother Fidel Castro, but Chavez is suffering from an undisclosed cancer that has required frequent treatment in Cuba and for which the prognosis is unknown.

He is standing for re-election in October, with his health problems looming as a major issue.

His defeat or death could put the government in the hands of an opposition party much less friendly to Cuba and the idea of giving it oil for services.

"This dry hole is particularly a blow to Cuba, much more so than it is to the oil companies involved," said one diplomat who declined to be identified.

Dry holes in deep water generally cost at least $175 million, industry experts said, but Repsol will share that cost with its partners.

The company struggled for years to find a drilling rig that would not violate terms of the half-century old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, which limits the use of U.S. technology.

It raised the ire of anti-Castro Cuban exiles for helping Cuba look for offshore oil and alarmed environmentalists for drilling a well in the straits of Florida, where a spill like BP's 2010 accident could cause massive oil damage to the state's coast and coral reefs.]]> http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/1...XJ20120518

By Jeff Franks and Marc Frank

HAVANA | Fri May 18, 2012 2:37pm EDT

(Reuters) - Spanish oil giant Repsol said Friday that the first of three planned wells in Cuban waters was unsuccessful, a blow to Cuba's hopes for energy independence.

"I can confirm that the Repsol well in Cuba has been reported to be unsuccessful and that we are proceeding to plug and abandon the well," a Repsol spokesman told Reuters.

Repsol operated the well in a consortium with Norway's Statoil (STL.OL) and a unit of India's ONGC (ONGC.NS), drilling 4,500 meters into the sea bed of the Gulf of Mexico.

The disappointing result was a blow to the communist island's hopes of weaning itself from Venezuelan oil, but not a fatal one because Malaysia's state-owned Petronas will soon begin a second exploration well in Cuban waters in partnership with Russian's Gazprom Neft SIBB.MM.

"It's a bust. It doesn't mean there's not oil out there (in Cuba's offshore), but it looks like they missed the reservoir," one industry expert said of the well, drilled in 5,600 feet of water more than 20 miles off Cuba's northern coast.

Repsol began drilling at the end of January after the Scarabeo 9, a massive Chinese-built drilling rig owned by Italy's Saipem (SPMI.MI) arrived at the island following a trip half way around the world from Singapore.

The rig was scheduled to be handed over soon to Petronas, which will sink a second well about 100 miles to the west of the current drill site.

Venezuela's PDVSA is tentatively scheduled to then get the rig for a third well.

Repsol drilled the only previous Cuba offshore well in 2004 and said it found oil but that it was not "commercial." Reportedly, it has said it is undecided about drilling another Cuban well.

HIGH STAKES

For Cuba, the offshore exploration project has high stakes because the finding of oil could make it energy independent and possibly an oil exporter, which would aid its chronically troubled economy.

Cuba has said it may have at least 20 billion barrels of oil in its part of the Gulf of Mexico, although the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated a more modest 5 billion.

The island receives about 115,000 barrels of oil daily from socialist ally Venezuela, most of which goes toward meeting its internal demand and the rest for refining into oil products for Caribbean and central American nations.

In exchange, Venezuela receives the services of thousands of Cuban medical personnel and other professionals. It also is a heavy investor in numerous joint projects with Cuba.

The Cuba-Venezuela alliance is a product of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' close relations with Cuban President Raul Castro and his older brother Fidel Castro, but Chavez is suffering from an undisclosed cancer that has required frequent treatment in Cuba and for which the prognosis is unknown.

He is standing for re-election in October, with his health problems looming as a major issue.

His defeat or death could put the government in the hands of an opposition party much less friendly to Cuba and the idea of giving it oil for services.

"This dry hole is particularly a blow to Cuba, much more so than it is to the oil companies involved," said one diplomat who declined to be identified.

Dry holes in deep water generally cost at least $175 million, industry experts said, but Repsol will share that cost with its partners.

The company struggled for years to find a drilling rig that would not violate terms of the half-century old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, which limits the use of U.S. technology.

It raised the ire of anti-Castro Cuban exiles for helping Cuba look for offshore oil and alarmed environmentalists for drilling a well in the straits of Florida, where a spill like BP's 2010 accident could cause massive oil damage to the state's coast and coral reefs.]]> <![CDATA[Havana’s information monopoly is falling apart]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15767 Fri, 18 May 2012 12:08:25 -0500 gallofino http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15767 http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/havana...ling-apart

The rise of the internet cannot be stopped, not even in communist Cuba. Although the digital age has so far hardly emerged on the Caribbean island, the state monopoly on information in Cuba is bearing its first cracks.

“In Cuba, access to the internet is extremely limited, it is totally controlled and very slow,” says Cuban author and journalist, Leonardo Padura, who gained international fame with a series of thrillers The Four Seasons and a number of novels.

Padura is one of Cuba’s more outspoken critics. “I’m endlessly irritated by the amount of time it takes to log onto the internet. And it takes even longer to find something on a search engine,” he sighs. Padura is able to buy access to the internet now and then from his royalties.

Weblogs very popular
There are no official figures on internet use on Cuba according to Padura. “Even email is very limited due to the poor connections. What’s interesting is the increase in the number of weblogs written in Cuba, which are not accessible to Cubans. They are actually only made for people outside Cuba.”

The best-known example is ‘Generación Y’, a blog by dissident Yoani Sánchez. Thanks to her blog, the outside world learns about a very different Cuba than the country that the regime likes to portray. Sánchez writes about matters that all Cubans are familiar with, but which the outside world mustn’t find out. In 2010, she won the Prince Claus Prize for her blog.

Control of information
Thanks to Generación Y many more Cubans began writting blogs – both dissidents and ordinary people – and the first cracks began to appear in the internet monopoly of the Cuban state. “There are two sorts of blogs in Cuba: official ones and unofficial ones. The official ones are not interesting, but the second sort is. Some bloggers propagate a form of democratic socialism which would be an improvement on the current situation. Others are very hostile about Cuban reality.”

The biggest achievement of these blogs and the new technological developments is that they make it impossible for the regime to keep control over information. In 1961, two years after the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro introduced strict control of information on the island, following the example of the Soviet Union. “But now the information monopoly is falling apart,” says Padura. “It is not just the blogs which play a key role. Some Cubans are able to record television programmes broadcast from Miami in the United States. These programmes are put on DVDs and people watch them in the evenings.”

Political decision
Padura thinks the authorities in Havana should take a political decision to give citizens free access to the internet.

“If they do not, they will put the country in danger. I do not think stricter control of information, which is leaking like a sieve anyway, will stop access to the digital highway.”

Leonardo Padura still hopes Raúl Castro’s regime will lift access restrictions to the internet. “I think it is a matter of time. And of intelligent political decisions.”]]> http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/havana...ling-apart

The rise of the internet cannot be stopped, not even in communist Cuba. Although the digital age has so far hardly emerged on the Caribbean island, the state monopoly on information in Cuba is bearing its first cracks.

“In Cuba, access to the internet is extremely limited, it is totally controlled and very slow,” says Cuban author and journalist, Leonardo Padura, who gained international fame with a series of thrillers The Four Seasons and a number of novels.

Padura is one of Cuba’s more outspoken critics. “I’m endlessly irritated by the amount of time it takes to log onto the internet. And it takes even longer to find something on a search engine,” he sighs. Padura is able to buy access to the internet now and then from his royalties.

Weblogs very popular
There are no official figures on internet use on Cuba according to Padura. “Even email is very limited due to the poor connections. What’s interesting is the increase in the number of weblogs written in Cuba, which are not accessible to Cubans. They are actually only made for people outside Cuba.”

The best-known example is ‘Generación Y’, a blog by dissident Yoani Sánchez. Thanks to her blog, the outside world learns about a very different Cuba than the country that the regime likes to portray. Sánchez writes about matters that all Cubans are familiar with, but which the outside world mustn’t find out. In 2010, she won the Prince Claus Prize for her blog.

Control of information
Thanks to Generación Y many more Cubans began writting blogs – both dissidents and ordinary people – and the first cracks began to appear in the internet monopoly of the Cuban state. “There are two sorts of blogs in Cuba: official ones and unofficial ones. The official ones are not interesting, but the second sort is. Some bloggers propagate a form of democratic socialism which would be an improvement on the current situation. Others are very hostile about Cuban reality.”

The biggest achievement of these blogs and the new technological developments is that they make it impossible for the regime to keep control over information. In 1961, two years after the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro introduced strict control of information on the island, following the example of the Soviet Union. “But now the information monopoly is falling apart,” says Padura. “It is not just the blogs which play a key role. Some Cubans are able to record television programmes broadcast from Miami in the United States. These programmes are put on DVDs and people watch them in the evenings.”

Political decision
Padura thinks the authorities in Havana should take a political decision to give citizens free access to the internet.

“If they do not, they will put the country in danger. I do not think stricter control of information, which is leaking like a sieve anyway, will stop access to the digital highway.”

Leonardo Padura still hopes Raúl Castro’s regime will lift access restrictions to the internet. “I think it is a matter of time. And of intelligent political decisions.”]]> <![CDATA[Mariela Castro the Imposter]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15766 Fri, 18 May 2012 07:58:20 -0500 therealcuba http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15766 [Image: marielacastro3.jpg]

Democracy must now stoically endure a visit to the United States by a dictator's daughter, which is what Mariela Castro is. The Christian patience of Cuban exiles is worthy of admiration. I am not sure what authority this woman has to represent the rights of homosexuals when she embodies and is the spokesperson for the extreme values of political and ideological intransigence. Mariela Castro is an imposter, just as all the rest who carry the name Castro, who have occupied and usurped all the power in Cuba for more than 53 years. The systematic violation of fundamental human rights on the part of this family and their royal court has such a powerfully negative impact on the Cuban people that a convincing response on the level of the attacks (sustained over time) suffered by the Cuban people in and outside of Cuba is missing. Someone will have to put a stop to this. For the poor and the weak in Cuba who today are the legions.
http://joanantoniguerrero.blogspot.com/2...stora.html]]> <![CDATA[Sen. Marco Rubio comments on the visa to the daughter of Cuba's military dictator]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15765 Fri, 18 May 2012 07:53:47 -0500 therealcuba http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15765
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued the following statement regarding the issuance of a U.S. visa to Raul Castro’s daughter:

“I think the U.S. government’s decision to grant the daughter of Raul Castro a visa to come to the United States and spread the propaganda of her father’s regime is outrageous and an enormous mistake. Not only that, it sends a terrible message to the democratic movement in Cuba, to those brave people in Cuba who every single day resist and speak out against the tyranny of the Castro brothers. Meanwhile, we are granting a visa to his daughter, who is not just his daughter. She is an arm of his regime, an outspoken supporter and is coming to the United States to spread their anti-American propaganda. It is shameful that they would grant that visa.”

Watch Senator Rubio’s video statement in both English and Spanish on YouTube. For television stations interested in airing today’s statements, a broadcast quality video is also available in both English and Spanish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla...2128s3pTq4]]>
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued the following statement regarding the issuance of a U.S. visa to Raul Castro’s daughter:

“I think the U.S. government’s decision to grant the daughter of Raul Castro a visa to come to the United States and spread the propaganda of her father’s regime is outrageous and an enormous mistake. Not only that, it sends a terrible message to the democratic movement in Cuba, to those brave people in Cuba who every single day resist and speak out against the tyranny of the Castro brothers. Meanwhile, we are granting a visa to his daughter, who is not just his daughter. She is an arm of his regime, an outspoken supporter and is coming to the United States to spread their anti-American propaganda. It is shameful that they would grant that visa.”

Watch Senator Rubio’s video statement in both English and Spanish on YouTube. For television stations interested in airing today’s statements, a broadcast quality video is also available in both English and Spanish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla...2128s3pTq4]]> <![CDATA[Pig in a Box]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15764 Fri, 18 May 2012 07:50:31 -0500 therealcuba http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15764
The market is almost empty. It’s still very early and someone is writing the new prices for a pound of pork on a blackboard. It seems a simple gesture, that of the hand that has changed only one digit in the price of the ribs, the legs, or the processed fat. But in reality, what is expressed on that slate — with its numbers traced in chalk — is a real market cataclysm. The internal Cuban economy suffers from a weakness such that the slightest price increase for a pound of steak or butter is enough to disrupt our fragile commercial framework. A few centavos added to the price of a food sends the thermometer of daily anxiety upward, raises the barometer of concern.

Indeed, a certain state of alarm is running through the country lately. Pork is scarce because of the dearth of feed; its import has declined and local production barely gets off the ground. The self-employment sector suffers from a scarcity of the product which forms the basis for the so-called “little boxes,” which almost always include rice, some kind of starch, and a little meat. This lunch “in hand” is the mainstay of many Cubans who work far from home, and also constitutes the basic unit for the private businesses selling ready-made meals. When the price of this lunchbox rises it pulls everything with it. The shoe salesman adds a bit to his merchandise to recoup his loss on the midday snack; the shopkeeper who paid more for her sandals tries to make up the difference from unsuspecting customers who don’t count their change; and the retired housewife writes to her son in Frankfurt or Miami asking for a bump in her remittance, because life is very expensive. And this whole sequence of problems and angst begins in a pigsty, the place where feed and care should be converted into pounds of meat, but are not.
http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/?p=2982]]>
The market is almost empty. It’s still very early and someone is writing the new prices for a pound of pork on a blackboard. It seems a simple gesture, that of the hand that has changed only one digit in the price of the ribs, the legs, or the processed fat. But in reality, what is expressed on that slate — with its numbers traced in chalk — is a real market cataclysm. The internal Cuban economy suffers from a weakness such that the slightest price increase for a pound of steak or butter is enough to disrupt our fragile commercial framework. A few centavos added to the price of a food sends the thermometer of daily anxiety upward, raises the barometer of concern.

Indeed, a certain state of alarm is running through the country lately. Pork is scarce because of the dearth of feed; its import has declined and local production barely gets off the ground. The self-employment sector suffers from a scarcity of the product which forms the basis for the so-called “little boxes,” which almost always include rice, some kind of starch, and a little meat. This lunch “in hand” is the mainstay of many Cubans who work far from home, and also constitutes the basic unit for the private businesses selling ready-made meals. When the price of this lunchbox rises it pulls everything with it. The shoe salesman adds a bit to his merchandise to recoup his loss on the midday snack; the shopkeeper who paid more for her sandals tries to make up the difference from unsuspecting customers who don’t count their change; and the retired housewife writes to her son in Frankfurt or Miami asking for a bump in her remittance, because life is very expensive. And this whole sequence of problems and angst begins in a pigsty, the place where feed and care should be converted into pounds of meat, but are not.
http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/?p=2982]]> <![CDATA[Ros-Lehtinen - State Department Must Enforce Cuba Prohibitions]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15763 Fri, 18 May 2012 07:45:12 -0500 therealcuba http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15763
House Foreign Affairs Committee

U.S. House of Representatives

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chairman

For IMMEDIATE Release – May 17, 2012

State Department Must Enforce Cuba Prohibitions, Ros-Lehtinen Says

(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, made the following remarks earlier today at a Western Hemisphere Subcommittee hearing titled “Cuba’s Global Network of Terrorism, Intelligence, and Warfare.” Ros-Lehtinen criticized the Obama Administration’s easing of relations with the Castro regime as well as lack of enforcement of U.S. laws that pertain to Cuba.

Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:

“The timing of this hearing could not be more appropriate as it raises grave questions about the Administration’s policies toward the Castro dictatorship and the threats to our homeland. I would like to focus, in particular, on the appalling open-door policy that the Administration appears to have adopted for regime officials and operatives. We’re talking about agents of a State Department designated state-sponsor of terrorism, agents of a regime that seeks to destabilize our democratic partners in our Hemisphere, and agents of a dictatorship that has a long-standing alliance with the Iranian regime.

“We’re talking about agents of a regime that has an active espionage operation against the U.S. that includes members of the WASP network convicted for trying to penetrate U.S. military installations, State Department officials who were turned into spies for the Cuban regime and compromised important U.S. foreign policy information, and an espionage network that included a former senior Defense Intelligence Official, who provided highly classified information to the Cuban regime about U.S. military activities, and whose spying may have caused the death of U.S. servicemen operating in Latin America.

“This is a regime responsible for the murder of three American citizens and a U.S. resident in 1996 in the Brothers to the Rescue Shootdown. So, it is incomprehensible—appalling—to see the Department of State facilitating access to our nation for these enemies of the U.S. From Washington, D.C. to San Francisco, Castro operatives want to travel to the U.S. and the State Department will grant them a visa.

“Just today, news reports confirm that State issued a visa to the daughter of dictator Raul Castro, Mariela Castro, to attend a conference in California next week. Mariela Castro is a communist regime sympathizer – she is a part of the regime – who has labeled Cuban dissidents as ‘despicable parasites.’ There are also reports that Eusebio Leal, tasked by the regime to expand tourism to the island under the guise of serving as historian of Havana, is also being granted a visa to speak at the Brookings Institute tomorrow, Friday.

“Just a few weeks ago, Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, a senior official from the regime’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose husband was expelled from the U.S. for espionage activities, was also given a warm welcome by the Department of State. This disturbing pattern that is developing where the doors of the U.S. are opened to officials and activists of this state-sponsor of terrorism countries must not be allowed to continue.

“Three of our colleagues and I sent a letter to Secretary Clinton earlier today expressing our grave concerns that such a wonderful welcome had been given to these officials and affirming the intent and requirements in U.S. law that the Secretary of State and the Attorney General is supposed to enforce prohibitions on the granting of visas to Cuban regime or Cuban Community party officials, operatives or designees, that is the law. We are also faced with the possibility that State may seek to thwart Congressional oversight over decisions regarding travel by Cuban regime officials. State employees and officials have indicated they may stop honoring a long-standing agreement with me on behalf of the House Foreign Affairs Committee requiring notification of State actions concerning travel by Cuban regime officials.

“This agreement was established in 1997 and it was adopted in lieu of a legislative mandate I had included in funding legislation and was honored by successive Administrations. I strongly urge the Department of State to immediately reverse its course and consider the threats to our nation’s security interests posed by the Cuban regime and that will be discussed right now by Congressman Mack’s Subcommittee. The Administration must stop bending over backwards to accommodate the needs, whims, and requests of this state sponsor of terrorism that, again, is located just 90 miles from U.S. shores.”]]>
House Foreign Affairs Committee

U.S. House of Representatives

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chairman

For IMMEDIATE Release – May 17, 2012

State Department Must Enforce Cuba Prohibitions, Ros-Lehtinen Says

(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, made the following remarks earlier today at a Western Hemisphere Subcommittee hearing titled “Cuba’s Global Network of Terrorism, Intelligence, and Warfare.” Ros-Lehtinen criticized the Obama Administration’s easing of relations with the Castro regime as well as lack of enforcement of U.S. laws that pertain to Cuba.

Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:

“The timing of this hearing could not be more appropriate as it raises grave questions about the Administration’s policies toward the Castro dictatorship and the threats to our homeland. I would like to focus, in particular, on the appalling open-door policy that the Administration appears to have adopted for regime officials and operatives. We’re talking about agents of a State Department designated state-sponsor of terrorism, agents of a regime that seeks to destabilize our democratic partners in our Hemisphere, and agents of a dictatorship that has a long-standing alliance with the Iranian regime.

“We’re talking about agents of a regime that has an active espionage operation against the U.S. that includes members of the WASP network convicted for trying to penetrate U.S. military installations, State Department officials who were turned into spies for the Cuban regime and compromised important U.S. foreign policy information, and an espionage network that included a former senior Defense Intelligence Official, who provided highly classified information to the Cuban regime about U.S. military activities, and whose spying may have caused the death of U.S. servicemen operating in Latin America.

“This is a regime responsible for the murder of three American citizens and a U.S. resident in 1996 in the Brothers to the Rescue Shootdown. So, it is incomprehensible—appalling—to see the Department of State facilitating access to our nation for these enemies of the U.S. From Washington, D.C. to San Francisco, Castro operatives want to travel to the U.S. and the State Department will grant them a visa.

“Just today, news reports confirm that State issued a visa to the daughter of dictator Raul Castro, Mariela Castro, to attend a conference in California next week. Mariela Castro is a communist regime sympathizer – she is a part of the regime – who has labeled Cuban dissidents as ‘despicable parasites.’ There are also reports that Eusebio Leal, tasked by the regime to expand tourism to the island under the guise of serving as historian of Havana, is also being granted a visa to speak at the Brookings Institute tomorrow, Friday.

“Just a few weeks ago, Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, a senior official from the regime’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose husband was expelled from the U.S. for espionage activities, was also given a warm welcome by the Department of State. This disturbing pattern that is developing where the doors of the U.S. are opened to officials and activists of this state-sponsor of terrorism countries must not be allowed to continue.

“Three of our colleagues and I sent a letter to Secretary Clinton earlier today expressing our grave concerns that such a wonderful welcome had been given to these officials and affirming the intent and requirements in U.S. law that the Secretary of State and the Attorney General is supposed to enforce prohibitions on the granting of visas to Cuban regime or Cuban Community party officials, operatives or designees, that is the law. We are also faced with the possibility that State may seek to thwart Congressional oversight over decisions regarding travel by Cuban regime officials. State employees and officials have indicated they may stop honoring a long-standing agreement with me on behalf of the House Foreign Affairs Committee requiring notification of State actions concerning travel by Cuban regime officials.

“This agreement was established in 1997 and it was adopted in lieu of a legislative mandate I had included in funding legislation and was honored by successive Administrations. I strongly urge the Department of State to immediately reverse its course and consider the threats to our nation’s security interests posed by the Cuban regime and that will be discussed right now by Congressman Mack’s Subcommittee. The Administration must stop bending over backwards to accommodate the needs, whims, and requests of this state sponsor of terrorism that, again, is located just 90 miles from U.S. shores.”]]> <![CDATA[Packing the Embassy Lobbies]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15762 Thu, 17 May 2012 18:07:17 -0500 gallofino http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15762 http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=70459

Dariela Aquique

Inside Havana's Jose Martí International Airport. Photo: Caridad

HAVANA TIMES — Recently, my friend and fellow Havana Times writer Alfredo Fernandez wrote a post titled Let the Skies Fill with Airplanes. With his rich style as a commentator, he responded to a thoughtless remark made a while back by Ricardo Alarcon, the president of the Cuba’s National Assembly of Popular Power.

Alfredo was referring to an absurd response given by Alarcon to Eliecer Avila, a student at UCI (the University of Computer Science), when the parliament leader was visiting the school a little over four years ago. The student had raised questions about Cuba’s restrictions on international travel.

The young man touched a nerve center concerning one of the civil liberties of Cuban nationals that has been restricted for decades: the right to travel, to get know other parts of the world by choice.

As we know, the options for Cubans to leave the country are reduced to:

- Permanent relocation for family reunification (mostly to the United States)
- Leaving after marrying a foreigner
- Departing to serve in foreign aid missions and development work in other countries
- Competitions or events (usually sports related)
- Upon receipt of a letter of invitation from friends, relatives or foreigners living abroad
- And finally — sadly enough — by illegal departures (which have cost many lives)

This list excludes choices by any individual who saves up to travel outside the country. That right has been denied us and has resulted in inhabitants of the island coming up with all types of means imaginable to leave the island.

Even though resistance to such a right is inexcusable, all the leader of the nation’s parliament could say was that “if everyone traveled, the skies would be filled with airplanes,” and then we’d be talking about airplane accidents.

Nonetheless, as the country is making efforts at an updated version of its own perestroika, migration policy is one of the elements that must also change.

Since the last Communist Party congress, certain hints were made in this regard; they also promised to touch on these at the subsequent Party Conference (eight months later), but to date all decisions around this issue have remained pending, meaning the only thing that people can do is wait in great anticipation.

There has still not been any official announcement concerning the enactment of new laws regarding this matter, but it has been leaked that in meetings with party activists and with agents of State Security that in the coming days the media will be reporting the status of the updated laws.

A silent euphoria surrounds Cubans who imagine themselves obtaining passports, applying for visas and buying tickets to see the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa or the Middle East (with all of this of course depending on their budgets and the approval of visas by the embassies or consulates of the countries they wish to visit).

Although the financial precariousness of Cubans may not leave them much choice but to save for years to be able to travel to nearby islets here in the Caribbean, and while even that might sound like a pipe dream, it doesn’t matter – they’ll be happy to know that they won’t need a Carta Blanca (exit permit) or have to wade through the tons of red tape at the immigration office.

I don’t think we are going to be the ones who “fill the skies with airplanes,” though we could end up filling the lobbies of embassies in Havana.

The lines there might come to remind us of the Peruvian embassy in 1980, but not with hoards of desperate people begging for political asylum. Rather, they will assemble calmly and logically — as it should be — with people only asking for a visa to travel.]]> http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=70459

Dariela Aquique

Inside Havana's Jose Martí International Airport. Photo: Caridad

HAVANA TIMES — Recently, my friend and fellow Havana Times writer Alfredo Fernandez wrote a post titled Let the Skies Fill with Airplanes. With his rich style as a commentator, he responded to a thoughtless remark made a while back by Ricardo Alarcon, the president of the Cuba’s National Assembly of Popular Power.

Alfredo was referring to an absurd response given by Alarcon to Eliecer Avila, a student at UCI (the University of Computer Science), when the parliament leader was visiting the school a little over four years ago. The student had raised questions about Cuba’s restrictions on international travel.

The young man touched a nerve center concerning one of the civil liberties of Cuban nationals that has been restricted for decades: the right to travel, to get know other parts of the world by choice.

As we know, the options for Cubans to leave the country are reduced to:

- Permanent relocation for family reunification (mostly to the United States)
- Leaving after marrying a foreigner
- Departing to serve in foreign aid missions and development work in other countries
- Competitions or events (usually sports related)
- Upon receipt of a letter of invitation from friends, relatives or foreigners living abroad
- And finally — sadly enough — by illegal departures (which have cost many lives)

This list excludes choices by any individual who saves up to travel outside the country. That right has been denied us and has resulted in inhabitants of the island coming up with all types of means imaginable to leave the island.

Even though resistance to such a right is inexcusable, all the leader of the nation’s parliament could say was that “if everyone traveled, the skies would be filled with airplanes,” and then we’d be talking about airplane accidents.

Nonetheless, as the country is making efforts at an updated version of its own perestroika, migration policy is one of the elements that must also change.

Since the last Communist Party congress, certain hints were made in this regard; they also promised to touch on these at the subsequent Party Conference (eight months later), but to date all decisions around this issue have remained pending, meaning the only thing that people can do is wait in great anticipation.

There has still not been any official announcement concerning the enactment of new laws regarding this matter, but it has been leaked that in meetings with party activists and with agents of State Security that in the coming days the media will be reporting the status of the updated laws.

A silent euphoria surrounds Cubans who imagine themselves obtaining passports, applying for visas and buying tickets to see the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa or the Middle East (with all of this of course depending on their budgets and the approval of visas by the embassies or consulates of the countries they wish to visit).

Although the financial precariousness of Cubans may not leave them much choice but to save for years to be able to travel to nearby islets here in the Caribbean, and while even that might sound like a pipe dream, it doesn’t matter – they’ll be happy to know that they won’t need a Carta Blanca (exit permit) or have to wade through the tons of red tape at the immigration office.

I don’t think we are going to be the ones who “fill the skies with airplanes,” though we could end up filling the lobbies of embassies in Havana.

The lines there might come to remind us of the Peruvian embassy in 1980, but not with hoards of desperate people begging for political asylum. Rather, they will assemble calmly and logically — as it should be — with people only asking for a visa to travel.]]> <![CDATA[The Chinese Model Seen from Cuba]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15761 Thu, 17 May 2012 18:00:39 -0500 gallofino http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15761 http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=70259

Pedro Campos

Chinese President Hu Jintao during his visit to Cuba in 2008.

HAVANA TIMES — Carlos Alberto Montaner, accused by official Cuban propagandists of being a CIA operative and a known advocate of liberalism, is in no way suspected of holding philosophically communist positions, and whose ideology I don’t share. Nonetheless, he generally uses factual data and information in his article “A Chinese Tale with a Tragic Ending.” In it he says:

“Among the Chinese purchases is the company Putzmeister, founded in 1958, a German giant dedicated to construction equipment. It was acquired for billions of dollars in 2011 by SANY, a Chinese company founded in 1986 by three partners who at that time raised a small amount of capital equivalent to about $10,000 in current exchange rates.

“SANY president Lian Wengen is the richest man in China, with some calculating him to be worth $11 billion. With him being so rich and successful, what’s curious is that the Chinese Communist Party offered a seat on its Central Committee.

“The great Chinese success is not the triumph of a particular economic model, but the result of releasing the immense creative capacity of society in the field of private business. The Chinese state ceased being an obstacle to private business development and became its sponsor.”

SANY multiplied its capital 1,100,000 times in 25 years. But what no one can deny, though Montaner tries to hide it in the analytical part in his article, is that such accumulation has been achieved not so much by “releasing the immense creative capacity of the society” but through the most horrendous and massive capitalist exploitation and commission of injustice in the past half century.

Marx was right: Capitalism came into the world dripping blood from every pore. If anyone ever doubted it, the Chinese have taken on the task of clearly displaying this in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Eternal Friendship: Cuba and China

This can be seen not only with the extreme exploitation to which the Chinese working class has been subjected in the last 25 years — with twelve hour workdays, six days a week and for miserable wages — but also with the repression of the millions of workers who have risen up against such abuses. They have been crushed by an authoritarian and militaristic regime in the name of “socialism,” especially with the savage slaughter of thousands of young revolutionaries, democrats and communists in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

Capitalist growth there has reached such a point that China may soon be contending with the United States for first place in industrial production thanks to its savage capitalist accumulation. We have to realize that the ruling “Communist Party” has denied Chinese workers the protection and rights earned by US workers over two centuries of struggle against capital, sacrificing these for the benefit of the domestic and foreign exploiters of the Chinese people. (1)

That, and nothing else, is the cause behind the “Chinese miracle”

The architect of China’s reforms (punished during the life of Mao Zedong for being considered pro-capitalist) was Deng Xiaoping. He never stated officially and clearly that he intended to introduce private capitalism in China, but he used to say that the tools of the market economy (including the exploitation of wage labor) were neutral – neither socialist nor capitalist.

“It doesn’t matter the color of the cat, as long as it catches mice,” he said pragmatically. The goal was to “achieve development by increasing production,” while the means to achieving this was secondary.

Chinese reformers didn’t introduce capitalism “boque-jarro” (in one fell swoop), as we say in Cuba.

At first Deng advocated a planned economy with market mechanisms, then he spoke of a mix between the planned economy and market mechanisms, later he talked about the socialist economy in the production of consumer goods, and finally he championed the “socialist market economy,” a term that the Communist Party of China (CPC) continues to use.

Fidel Castro welcomes Chinese Parliamentary Leader Wu Bangguo. Photo: Alex Castro

All this was done little by little, gradually, masking the capitalist transition behind a “Marxist” line that China was in the first stage of socialist construction, which admitted returning to private capitalism and the privatization of “nationalized” enterprises.

With these word games, Deng and his associates succeeded in getting the CPC to adopt the position that for the establishment of socialism, it would have to abolish a tremendous counter-revolutionary manipulation of Marxist phraseology and dialectics. The CPC never made a thorough analysis of the “state socialism” that had prevailed in China or its relations of production.

According to Deng, Mao’s earlier actions had been 70 percent correct and 30 percent in error, in the new leader’s attempt to give continuity to his plans and those of Maoism. Class struggle, one of the Maoists “errors,” would have to cease.

This left open the door to pro-capitalist reforms and the alliances between the CPC and domestic and foreign capital – “without breaking” with the Maoist or “Marxist” past.

Without pausing, slowly, with “Chinese patience,” he was implementing private capitalist restoration. The first reform, in 1987, was to turn over land to private owners; the second was the creation of the SEZs (Special Economic Zones) to ensure pockets of capitalism that were provided with foreign investment (including from the Chinese diaspora) and finally the open privatization of state and communal enterprises, which was called the end of collectivization.

Deng’s initial economic reforms encouraged the expansion of discussions within the party and among the people. The dazibaos (murals) and opinion meetings returned. According to specialist Estella Pareja Morte (2), three trends coexisted within the CPC,: “Those who didn’t want any kind of reform, those who wanted it controlled; and those who wanted more reforms, including in the political arena.”

Political reform off the table

With the death on April 15, 1989, of popular CPC leader Hu Yaobang, a supporter of political reform, demonstrations erupted in Beijing calling for democratic reforms and the stepping down of Deng Xiaoping from party leadership. This culminated in a mass rally in Tiananmen Square, where a large plaster replica of the Statue of Liberty was erected to the sound of the “Internationale.”

Economic reforms were Ok, the questioning the supremacy of the party wasn’t – political reforms were off the table. Therefore the response of the “Communist Party” was to send Chinese troops and tanks in to crush the “rebellion that demanded democratic reforms.” If these were allowed, it was argued, the chaos that reigned in the USSR could spill over into China. A pluralistic political system could divide the Chinese and the CPC, the “guarantor of socialism” could lose power.

The barrels of the guns of the People’s Army silenced revolutionary demands and consolidated the positions of Deng and those close to him within the CPC.

When in 1992 the architect of capitalist reforms said “getting rich is glorious,” he officially recognized capitalism as a major driver of China’s development.

Deng died in 1997, but ten years were enough for him to lay the foundations of his capitalist creation.

I’ll close with words of Chinese social scientists. (3)

“To abolish exploitation in the future, today we need to support exploitation,” said “Marxism” professor Chen Zhan’an.

Historian Quin Hui stated: “Marx was never against democracy, but he was always against the mechanisms of the market economy and economic liberalism. Today our Communist Party is accepting all elements of the market economy, but it strictly rejects democracy… As such, everything that is being done today is exactly the opposite of the principles of Marxism.”

Political scientist Kang Xiaoguang noted: “If anything remains today of Mao, it’s Leninism; meaning that what remains is a Leninist political party retaining complete control through military force. The Chinese went from one extreme to another: they no longer have political ideals, they no longer have morality; they no longer believe in the principle of justice. Today the law that governs our society is the savage law of the jungle.”

“Mao would be broken-hearted. He would probably turn over in his grave if he saw how capitalism was developing in China. However Deng would be ecstatic,” summed up political scientist Zhang Wei Wei.
—–
1 – Walden Bello (born in the Philippines, 1945; founding director of Focus on the Global South), wrote: “To counter their declining profits, a sizable number of the Fortune 500 corporations have moved a significant part of their operations to China to take advantage of the so-called “China Price” — the cost advantage deriving from China’s seemingly inexhaustible cheap labor. By the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, roughly 40 to 50 per cent of the profits of US corporations were derived from their operations and sales abroad, especially China.” (October 8, 2008)

2- Las Reformas chinas. La voz de los intelectuales. Revista CIBOD, de Asuntos Internacionales No. 78

3-The quotes from these Chinese social scientists were taken from the documentary Good bye Mao, a French film production.

To contact Pedro Campos, write: perucho1949@yahoo.es]]> http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=70259

Pedro Campos

Chinese President Hu Jintao during his visit to Cuba in 2008.

HAVANA TIMES — Carlos Alberto Montaner, accused by official Cuban propagandists of being a CIA operative and a known advocate of liberalism, is in no way suspected of holding philosophically communist positions, and whose ideology I don’t share. Nonetheless, he generally uses factual data and information in his article “A Chinese Tale with a Tragic Ending.” In it he says:

“Among the Chinese purchases is the company Putzmeister, founded in 1958, a German giant dedicated to construction equipment. It was acquired for billions of dollars in 2011 by SANY, a Chinese company founded in 1986 by three partners who at that time raised a small amount of capital equivalent to about $10,000 in current exchange rates.

“SANY president Lian Wengen is the richest man in China, with some calculating him to be worth $11 billion. With him being so rich and successful, what’s curious is that the Chinese Communist Party offered a seat on its Central Committee.

“The great Chinese success is not the triumph of a particular economic model, but the result of releasing the immense creative capacity of society in the field of private business. The Chinese state ceased being an obstacle to private business development and became its sponsor.”

SANY multiplied its capital 1,100,000 times in 25 years. But what no one can deny, though Montaner tries to hide it in the analytical part in his article, is that such accumulation has been achieved not so much by “releasing the immense creative capacity of the society” but through the most horrendous and massive capitalist exploitation and commission of injustice in the past half century.

Marx was right: Capitalism came into the world dripping blood from every pore. If anyone ever doubted it, the Chinese have taken on the task of clearly displaying this in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Eternal Friendship: Cuba and China

This can be seen not only with the extreme exploitation to which the Chinese working class has been subjected in the last 25 years — with twelve hour workdays, six days a week and for miserable wages — but also with the repression of the millions of workers who have risen up against such abuses. They have been crushed by an authoritarian and militaristic regime in the name of “socialism,” especially with the savage slaughter of thousands of young revolutionaries, democrats and communists in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

Capitalist growth there has reached such a point that China may soon be contending with the United States for first place in industrial production thanks to its savage capitalist accumulation. We have to realize that the ruling “Communist Party” has denied Chinese workers the protection and rights earned by US workers over two centuries of struggle against capital, sacrificing these for the benefit of the domestic and foreign exploiters of the Chinese people. (1)

That, and nothing else, is the cause behind the “Chinese miracle”

The architect of China’s reforms (punished during the life of Mao Zedong for being considered pro-capitalist) was Deng Xiaoping. He never stated officially and clearly that he intended to introduce private capitalism in China, but he used to say that the tools of the market economy (including the exploitation of wage labor) were neutral – neither socialist nor capitalist.

“It doesn’t matter the color of the cat, as long as it catches mice,” he said pragmatically. The goal was to “achieve development by increasing production,” while the means to achieving this was secondary.

Chinese reformers didn’t introduce capitalism “boque-jarro” (in one fell swoop), as we say in Cuba.

At first Deng advocated a planned economy with market mechanisms, then he spoke of a mix between the planned economy and market mechanisms, later he talked about the socialist economy in the production of consumer goods, and finally he championed the “socialist market economy,” a term that the Communist Party of China (CPC) continues to use.

Fidel Castro welcomes Chinese Parliamentary Leader Wu Bangguo. Photo: Alex Castro

All this was done little by little, gradually, masking the capitalist transition behind a “Marxist” line that China was in the first stage of socialist construction, which admitted returning to private capitalism and the privatization of “nationalized” enterprises.

With these word games, Deng and his associates succeeded in getting the CPC to adopt the position that for the establishment of socialism, it would have to abolish a tremendous counter-revolutionary manipulation of Marxist phraseology and dialectics. The CPC never made a thorough analysis of the “state socialism” that had prevailed in China or its relations of production.

According to Deng, Mao’s earlier actions had been 70 percent correct and 30 percent in error, in the new leader’s attempt to give continuity to his plans and those of Maoism. Class struggle, one of the Maoists “errors,” would have to cease.

This left open the door to pro-capitalist reforms and the alliances between the CPC and domestic and foreign capital – “without breaking” with the Maoist or “Marxist” past.

Without pausing, slowly, with “Chinese patience,” he was implementing private capitalist restoration. The first reform, in 1987, was to turn over land to private owners; the second was the creation of the SEZs (Special Economic Zones) to ensure pockets of capitalism that were provided with foreign investment (including from the Chinese diaspora) and finally the open privatization of state and communal enterprises, which was called the end of collectivization.

Deng’s initial economic reforms encouraged the expansion of discussions within the party and among the people. The dazibaos (murals) and opinion meetings returned. According to specialist Estella Pareja Morte (2), three trends coexisted within the CPC,: “Those who didn’t want any kind of reform, those who wanted it controlled; and those who wanted more reforms, including in the political arena.”

Political reform off the table

With the death on April 15, 1989, of popular CPC leader Hu Yaobang, a supporter of political reform, demonstrations erupted in Beijing calling for democratic reforms and the stepping down of Deng Xiaoping from party leadership. This culminated in a mass rally in Tiananmen Square, where a large plaster replica of the Statue of Liberty was erected to the sound of the “Internationale.”

Economic reforms were Ok, the questioning the supremacy of the party wasn’t – political reforms were off the table. Therefore the response of the “Communist Party” was to send Chinese troops and tanks in to crush the “rebellion that demanded democratic reforms.” If these were allowed, it was argued, the chaos that reigned in the USSR could spill over into China. A pluralistic political system could divide the Chinese and the CPC, the “guarantor of socialism” could lose power.

The barrels of the guns of the People’s Army silenced revolutionary demands and consolidated the positions of Deng and those close to him within the CPC.

When in 1992 the architect of capitalist reforms said “getting rich is glorious,” he officially recognized capitalism as a major driver of China’s development.

Deng died in 1997, but ten years were enough for him to lay the foundations of his capitalist creation.

I’ll close with words of Chinese social scientists. (3)

“To abolish exploitation in the future, today we need to support exploitation,” said “Marxism” professor Chen Zhan’an.

Historian Quin Hui stated: “Marx was never against democracy, but he was always against the mechanisms of the market economy and economic liberalism. Today our Communist Party is accepting all elements of the market economy, but it strictly rejects democracy… As such, everything that is being done today is exactly the opposite of the principles of Marxism.”

Political scientist Kang Xiaoguang noted: “If anything remains today of Mao, it’s Leninism; meaning that what remains is a Leninist political party retaining complete control through military force. The Chinese went from one extreme to another: they no longer have political ideals, they no longer have morality; they no longer believe in the principle of justice. Today the law that governs our society is the savage law of the jungle.”

“Mao would be broken-hearted. He would probably turn over in his grave if he saw how capitalism was developing in China. However Deng would be ecstatic,” summed up political scientist Zhang Wei Wei.
—–
1 – Walden Bello (born in the Philippines, 1945; founding director of Focus on the Global South), wrote: “To counter their declining profits, a sizable number of the Fortune 500 corporations have moved a significant part of their operations to China to take advantage of the so-called “China Price” — the cost advantage deriving from China’s seemingly inexhaustible cheap labor. By the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, roughly 40 to 50 per cent of the profits of US corporations were derived from their operations and sales abroad, especially China.” (October 8, 2008)

2- Las Reformas chinas. La voz de los intelectuales. Revista CIBOD, de Asuntos Internacionales No. 78

3-The quotes from these Chinese social scientists were taken from the documentary Good bye Mao, a French film production.

To contact Pedro Campos, write: perucho1949@yahoo.es]]> <![CDATA[Cuba's crumbling buildings mean Havana housing shortage]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15760 Thu, 17 May 2012 17:33:39 -0500 gallofino http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15760
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17935769]]>
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17935769]]> <![CDATA[Cuban universities cut enrollment; foreign investors are leaving Read more here: htt]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15759 Thu, 17 May 2012 17:15:52 -0500 gallofino http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15759 http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/05/16/14...lment.html

Juan O. Tamayo | McClatchy Newspapers

MIAMI — Cuban universities have slashed enrollment by nearly 26 percent, apparently because of deep cuts in government spending, while several foreign investors are leaving the island, according to official and news media reports.

The two reports reflected the downsides of Cuban ruler Raul Castro's effort to fix the island's doddering economy by cutting state spending on education, health and food rations, and his campaign to carry out tight reviews of foreign investments amid a slew of corruption scandals.

Cuba's National Statistical Office, or ONE, reported this week that overall enrollment in universities - all state-controlled - dropped from 473,309 in the 2010-2011 school year to 351,116 in the 2011-2012 period. That's a drop of 122,193 students, or 25.8 percent.

The largest group of students, 118,914, was enrolled in medical sciences, reflecting the government's high interest in educating doctors, dentists and nurses - Cubans to staff the domestic health system or work abroad, and foreigners on scholarships to study there.

The biggest drop in enrollment was in social sciences, though it remained the second largest group with 77,200, according to the ONE report.

Cuba's Ministry of Higher Education sets admission quotas depending on the skills needed, but government officials have complained recently that universities are turning out too few scientists who can help modernize the economy and open new areas of production lines.

"Like other developing states, Cuba is trying now to push away from ideologically useful education - the social sciences and humanities - to job- and wealth-producing fields," said Larry Cata-Backer, a professor of International Affairs at Pennsylvania State University who has studied the Cuban education system.

Cuba's communist government has long boasted of its achievements in health and education - the record of 711,000 university students in 2008-2009 was a stunning figure in a country of 11.2 million - although both areas have suffered significantly since the Soviet Union halted its massive subsidies in the early 1990s.

The Health Ministry announced in January that it had cut its 2011 budget by 7.7 percent, and officials at the Higher Education ministry have noted that each university graduate costs the state 25,000 to 40,000 pesos - roughly $890 to $1,450.

Castro has trimmed the food ration card and other government subsidies, allowed more private micro-businesses such as barbershops and announced plans to slash 500,000 workers from state payrolls in hopes of "updating" Cuba's Soviet-styled economy.

His reform package, approved by a full congress of the ruling Communist Party last spring, also called for a more positive attitude toward foreign investments - only grudgingly accepted by older brother Fidel Castro before he passed power to Raul in 2006. Cuba generally insists on owning at least 51 percent of any joint venture.

The so-called "guidelines" noted that the government was negotiating with foreign investors for several projects, including at least four multi-million dollar golf and condo resorts, some with access to beaches or docks for recreational boats.

Cuba's desperate need for foreign investments has been especially clear since cancer struck Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose oil-rich government provides Cuba with subsidies estimated at anywhere from $4 billion to $6 billion a year.

Yet Castro's plans to attract more foreign investments are off to a slow start because his government has focused more on inspecting and regulating than in stimulating the investments, according to an exclusive Reuters news agency report Wednesday.

The Reuters report cited Cuban and foreign business sources as saying that the island now has about 240 joint ventures and projects between the government and foreign investors, a drop from the 258 reported in 2009 and the 700 estimated a decade ago.

In fact, more joint ventures have closed than opened in Cuba since the "guidelines" were approved last spring, the dispatch by the Reuters bureau in Havana added.

Among those reported to have left are the London-based consumer product giant Unilever PLC and Grupo BM, a Panama-registered company controlled by Israeli investors that operates citrus groves and juice plants in Cuba.

Foreign investors in Cuba have been increasingly uncomfortable since early 2009, when the global financial crisis sparked a shortage of hard currency on the island and led Castro to freeze the bank accounts of joint ventures operating there. Castro has been slowly paying out the money, estimated at more than $800 million, since then.

The 2011 "guidelines," while making positive comments about foreign investors, also noted the need to establish "rigorous" regulations on the joint ventures, apparently because of the mounting corruption scandals involving foreign companies in Cuba.

In April, government investigators reportedly arrested British architect Stephen Purvis, who had been spearheading an ambitious project by Coral Capital Group Ltd. to build a 1,200-home golf resort just east of Havana.

Amado Fakhre, Coral Capital's managing partner and also a British citizen, already had been arrested in October. The firm, registered in the British Virgin Islands, was founded in 1999 to invest in Cuban projects.

Also caught in corruption probes have been top officers of the Tokmakjian Group and Tri-Star Caribbean, two Canadian trading companies that have sold foreign items, especially heavy construction and transportation vehicles, to government ministries.

Other scandals have hit Cuba's aviation, telecommunications, nickel, juice, cigar and other industries and led to the arrests or dismissals of scores of government officials - including Julio Cesar Diaz Garrandes, boyfriend of Castro's youngest daughter.

Most of the top Cuban government officials who handle deals with foreign companies, often worth several millions of dollars, earn much less than $50 a month and can be tempted to pocket bribes in exchange for throwing business to the foreign companies.

A dispatch from the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana to Washington in 2006, made public by WikiLeaks last year, noted that corruption in Cuba was so widespread that the island has become "a nation on the take."
©2012 The Miami Herald

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/05/16/14...rylink=cpy]]> http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/05/16/14...lment.html

Juan O. Tamayo | McClatchy Newspapers

MIAMI — Cuban universities have slashed enrollment by nearly 26 percent, apparently because of deep cuts in government spending, while several foreign investors are leaving the island, according to official and news media reports.

The two reports reflected the downsides of Cuban ruler Raul Castro's effort to fix the island's doddering economy by cutting state spending on education, health and food rations, and his campaign to carry out tight reviews of foreign investments amid a slew of corruption scandals.

Cuba's National Statistical Office, or ONE, reported this week that overall enrollment in universities - all state-controlled - dropped from 473,309 in the 2010-2011 school year to 351,116 in the 2011-2012 period. That's a drop of 122,193 students, or 25.8 percent.

The largest group of students, 118,914, was enrolled in medical sciences, reflecting the government's high interest in educating doctors, dentists and nurses - Cubans to staff the domestic health system or work abroad, and foreigners on scholarships to study there.

The biggest drop in enrollment was in social sciences, though it remained the second largest group with 77,200, according to the ONE report.

Cuba's Ministry of Higher Education sets admission quotas depending on the skills needed, but government officials have complained recently that universities are turning out too few scientists who can help modernize the economy and open new areas of production lines.

"Like other developing states, Cuba is trying now to push away from ideologically useful education - the social sciences and humanities - to job- and wealth-producing fields," said Larry Cata-Backer, a professor of International Affairs at Pennsylvania State University who has studied the Cuban education system.

Cuba's communist government has long boasted of its achievements in health and education - the record of 711,000 university students in 2008-2009 was a stunning figure in a country of 11.2 million - although both areas have suffered significantly since the Soviet Union halted its massive subsidies in the early 1990s.

The Health Ministry announced in January that it had cut its 2011 budget by 7.7 percent, and officials at the Higher Education ministry have noted that each university graduate costs the state 25,000 to 40,000 pesos - roughly $890 to $1,450.

Castro has trimmed the food ration card and other government subsidies, allowed more private micro-businesses such as barbershops and announced plans to slash 500,000 workers from state payrolls in hopes of "updating" Cuba's Soviet-styled economy.

His reform package, approved by a full congress of the ruling Communist Party last spring, also called for a more positive attitude toward foreign investments - only grudgingly accepted by older brother Fidel Castro before he passed power to Raul in 2006. Cuba generally insists on owning at least 51 percent of any joint venture.

The so-called "guidelines" noted that the government was negotiating with foreign investors for several projects, including at least four multi-million dollar golf and condo resorts, some with access to beaches or docks for recreational boats.

Cuba's desperate need for foreign investments has been especially clear since cancer struck Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose oil-rich government provides Cuba with subsidies estimated at anywhere from $4 billion to $6 billion a year.

Yet Castro's plans to attract more foreign investments are off to a slow start because his government has focused more on inspecting and regulating than in stimulating the investments, according to an exclusive Reuters news agency report Wednesday.

The Reuters report cited Cuban and foreign business sources as saying that the island now has about 240 joint ventures and projects between the government and foreign investors, a drop from the 258 reported in 2009 and the 700 estimated a decade ago.

In fact, more joint ventures have closed than opened in Cuba since the "guidelines" were approved last spring, the dispatch by the Reuters bureau in Havana added.

Among those reported to have left are the London-based consumer product giant Unilever PLC and Grupo BM, a Panama-registered company controlled by Israeli investors that operates citrus groves and juice plants in Cuba.

Foreign investors in Cuba have been increasingly uncomfortable since early 2009, when the global financial crisis sparked a shortage of hard currency on the island and led Castro to freeze the bank accounts of joint ventures operating there. Castro has been slowly paying out the money, estimated at more than $800 million, since then.

The 2011 "guidelines," while making positive comments about foreign investors, also noted the need to establish "rigorous" regulations on the joint ventures, apparently because of the mounting corruption scandals involving foreign companies in Cuba.

In April, government investigators reportedly arrested British architect Stephen Purvis, who had been spearheading an ambitious project by Coral Capital Group Ltd. to build a 1,200-home golf resort just east of Havana.

Amado Fakhre, Coral Capital's managing partner and also a British citizen, already had been arrested in October. The firm, registered in the British Virgin Islands, was founded in 1999 to invest in Cuban projects.

Also caught in corruption probes have been top officers of the Tokmakjian Group and Tri-Star Caribbean, two Canadian trading companies that have sold foreign items, especially heavy construction and transportation vehicles, to government ministries.

Other scandals have hit Cuba's aviation, telecommunications, nickel, juice, cigar and other industries and led to the arrests or dismissals of scores of government officials - including Julio Cesar Diaz Garrandes, boyfriend of Castro's youngest daughter.

Most of the top Cuban government officials who handle deals with foreign companies, often worth several millions of dollars, earn much less than $50 a month and can be tempted to pocket bribes in exchange for throwing business to the foreign companies.

A dispatch from the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana to Washington in 2006, made public by WikiLeaks last year, noted that corruption in Cuba was so widespread that the island has become "a nation on the take."
©2012 The Miami Herald

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/05/16/14...rylink=cpy]]> <![CDATA[Cuban president's daughter receives US visa to attend conference in San Francisco]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15758 Thu, 17 May 2012 11:23:37 -0500 Pescador http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15758
Andrea Rodriguez, The Associated Press May 17, 2012 11:39:00 AM

HAVANA - The daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro has been granted a U.S. visa to attend an academic conference in San Francisco and another event, one of her associates confirmed Thursday. The decision has already drawn fire from Cuban-American politicians and on anti-Castro blogs, which argue that she is an apologist for the Communist government her family has led for decades.

Mariela Castro is a noted advocate of gay rights as the head of Cuba's National Center for Sex Education, and has been pushing for the island to legalize gay marriage for years. She said recently that her father supports her efforts, despite his unwillingness to say so publically.

Castro received a visa from the U.S. State Department and will chair a panel on the politics of sexual diversity at a gathering in San Francisco next week organized by the Latin American Studies Association, an official at her institute told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the matter. The Web site of the New York Public Library says Castro is also scheduled to talk there on May 29.

The U.S. State Department declined to comment, saying rules prohibit discussion of individual visa applications. A diplomat at the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba also had no comment.

Cuban-American Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, slammed the decision on Wednesday, even before the trip was confirmed. He called Mariela Castro "a vociferous advocate of the regime and opponent of democracy." On Thursday, four other Cuban-American lawmakers added their voices to the outcry, noting that State Department guidelines prohibit visas to officers of the Communist Party or government of Cuba.

"The administration's appalling decision to allow regime agents into the U.S. directly contradicts Congressional intent and longstanding U.S. foreign policy," wrote Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and David Rivera of Florida, along with Albio Sires of New Jersey in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"While the Cuban people struggle for freedom against increasing brutality at the hands of Castro's thugs, the Obama administration is greeting high-level agents of that murderous dictatorship with open arms," they wrote. "It is shameful that the Obama Administration would waive the common sense restrictions in place to appease the Castro dictatorship once again."

Despite the controversy, it is apparently not the first time Mariela Castro has gone to the United States. The official at her institute said Castro went to America in 2002 to receive an award for her work.

Nor is it uncommon for prominent Cubans, some with close links to the government, to receive U.S. visas. Eusebio Leal, a historian who has spearheaded the renovation of Old Havana and sits on the powerful Communist Party Central Committee, is currently on a visit to New York and Washington. Mariela Castro, despite being the daughter of Cuba's president and niece of retired revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, has no official link to the government, though her organization presumably receives state funding. It is not known whether she is a member of the Communist Party.

Washington and Havana have been locked in dispute for more than half a century, since a few months after Fidel Castro's rebels swept to power in 1959. Efforts at rapprochement following the election of President Barack Obama have fizzled, particularly since an American subcontractor working for USAID was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison in Cuba for bringing communications equipment onto the island illegally.

____

Associated Press writer Paul Haven contributed to this report.

http://www.680news.com/news/world/articl...-francisco]]>
Andrea Rodriguez, The Associated Press May 17, 2012 11:39:00 AM

HAVANA - The daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro has been granted a U.S. visa to attend an academic conference in San Francisco and another event, one of her associates confirmed Thursday. The decision has already drawn fire from Cuban-American politicians and on anti-Castro blogs, which argue that she is an apologist for the Communist government her family has led for decades.

Mariela Castro is a noted advocate of gay rights as the head of Cuba's National Center for Sex Education, and has been pushing for the island to legalize gay marriage for years. She said recently that her father supports her efforts, despite his unwillingness to say so publically.

Castro received a visa from the U.S. State Department and will chair a panel on the politics of sexual diversity at a gathering in San Francisco next week organized by the Latin American Studies Association, an official at her institute told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the matter. The Web site of the New York Public Library says Castro is also scheduled to talk there on May 29.

The U.S. State Department declined to comment, saying rules prohibit discussion of individual visa applications. A diplomat at the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba also had no comment.

Cuban-American Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, slammed the decision on Wednesday, even before the trip was confirmed. He called Mariela Castro "a vociferous advocate of the regime and opponent of democracy." On Thursday, four other Cuban-American lawmakers added their voices to the outcry, noting that State Department guidelines prohibit visas to officers of the Communist Party or government of Cuba.

"The administration's appalling decision to allow regime agents into the U.S. directly contradicts Congressional intent and longstanding U.S. foreign policy," wrote Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and David Rivera of Florida, along with Albio Sires of New Jersey in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"While the Cuban people struggle for freedom against increasing brutality at the hands of Castro's thugs, the Obama administration is greeting high-level agents of that murderous dictatorship with open arms," they wrote. "It is shameful that the Obama Administration would waive the common sense restrictions in place to appease the Castro dictatorship once again."

Despite the controversy, it is apparently not the first time Mariela Castro has gone to the United States. The official at her institute said Castro went to America in 2002 to receive an award for her work.

Nor is it uncommon for prominent Cubans, some with close links to the government, to receive U.S. visas. Eusebio Leal, a historian who has spearheaded the renovation of Old Havana and sits on the powerful Communist Party Central Committee, is currently on a visit to New York and Washington. Mariela Castro, despite being the daughter of Cuba's president and niece of retired revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, has no official link to the government, though her organization presumably receives state funding. It is not known whether she is a member of the Communist Party.

Washington and Havana have been locked in dispute for more than half a century, since a few months after Fidel Castro's rebels swept to power in 1959. Efforts at rapprochement following the election of President Barack Obama have fizzled, particularly since an American subcontractor working for USAID was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison in Cuba for bringing communications equipment onto the island illegally.

____

Associated Press writer Paul Haven contributed to this report.

http://www.680news.com/news/world/articl...-francisco]]> <![CDATA[A letter from Mark Zuckerberg]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15757 Thu, 17 May 2012 10:53:48 -0500 MediaNoche http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15757
A Letter from Mark Zuckerberg
About Facebook’s IPO

MENLO PARK, CA (The Borowitz Report) – On the eve of Facebook’s IPO, Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg published the following letter to potential investors:

Dear Potential Investor:

For years, you've wasted your time on Facebook. Now here’s your chance to waste your money on it, too.

Tomorrow is Facebook’s IPO, and I know what some of you are thinking. How will Facebook be any different from the dot-com bubble of the early 2000’s?

For one thing, those bad dot-com stocks were all speculation and hype, and weren’t based on real businesses. Facebook, on the other hand, is based on a solid foundation of angry birds and imaginary sheep.

Second, Facebook is the most successful social network in the world, enabling millions to share information of no interest with people they barely know.

Third, every time someone clicks on a Facebook ad, Facebook makes money. And while no one has ever done this on purpose, millions have done it by mistake while drunk. We totally stole this idea from iTunes.

Finally, if you invest in Facebook, you’ll be far from alone. As a result of using Facebook for the past few years, over 900 million people in the world have suffered mild to moderate brain damage, impairing their ability to make reasoned judgments. These will be your fellow Facebook investors.

With your help, if all goes as planned tomorrow, Facebook’s IPO will net $100 billion. To put that number in context, it would take JP Morgan four or five trades to lose that much money.

One last thing: what will, I, Mark Zuckerberg, do with the $18 billion I’m expected to earn from Facebook’s IPO? Well, I’m considering buying Greece, but that would still leave me with $18 billion. LOL.

Friend me,

Mark

On a more serious note. I am not too knowledgeable about the stock market and that type of investing but this IPO seems like a dog to me. First of all, at nearly a billion members and a valuation of over 100 billion dollars you would be paying over $100 for each person that has a Face book account. Seems like a lot.

The other problem is that I question the value of advertising on face book. GM says their ads did not drive them much business, though perhaps they are the wrong type of business for that type of marketing.

What happens if someone comes up with another social networking site that is a bit more advanced or a bit "cooler"? I remember that My Space was once the s*&t.

Call me old fashioned, but I would rather invest in a company that actually produces something.

What do y'all think]]> <![CDATA[The end of the oil crisis by a Chinese dude??]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15756 Thu, 17 May 2012 08:10:58 -0500 rainbow http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15756 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b75_1337251533
( By the way.... for those who have their magic underwear on too tight... it is going to take a lot more than this to end the oil problems... but it is a step in the right direction.)]]> http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b75_1337251533
( By the way.... for those who have their magic underwear on too tight... it is going to take a lot more than this to end the oil problems... but it is a step in the right direction.)]]> <![CDATA[Foreign Policy: Preparing for Life after Castro]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15755 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:47:31 -0500 Lillian http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15755
Foreign Policy: Preparing for Life after Castro

Early this month, a senior Cuban official raised the possibility of loosening travel restrictions, potentially making it far easier for Cuban citizens to travel abroad as tourists. So far, little is known about the details of the policy Havana has in mind. But the flurry of interest stirred by this news reminds us that change in Cuba can potentially have far-reaching strategic and political implications, for its own people as well as for the regions that surround it.

There is a great deal that can be done in advance to prepare for the day when the post-Castro transition begins. The Cuba Transition Project (CTP) at the University of Miami, created in 2001 with the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development, has become a major authority on Cuban affairs. The project has released major studies on transition by both academics and experts, as well as a variety of other reports on topics such as political parties, labor unions, a free press and economic reform. (The works cited in this article have all been produced under CTP auspices.)

In the early 1990s, many people expected the communist regime in Cuba to collapse. Those of us who followed the situation closely knew better, and subsequent events have borne out our caution. The post-Castro transition will indeed come one day, but when it does, it promises to be a long and complicated process.

The challenges are many. First, there will be the tremendous task of economic reconstruction. For nearly four decades, Cuba’s extreme dependence on the Soviet bloc for trade, and the distorting effects of huge subsidies from Moscow, created an artificial economy. Most of Cuba’s exports are in decline, and poverty is correspondingly growing.

The internal market is weak, as domestic consumption is controlled by a strict and severe rationing system. Many transactions take place in the black market, which operates in American dollars and with merchandise stolen from state enterprises or received from abroad. The Cuban peso has depreciated, and its purchasing power has waned considerably. Huge and persistent government deficits, and the absence of virtually any stabilizing fiscal and monetary policies, have accelerated the downward spiraling of the economy.

Moreover, sugar production, Cuba’s mainstay export, has dropped to Great Depression levels. With low prices, a decline in sugar consumption worldwide, an increase in the number of competitive sugar producers, and widespread use of artificial sweeteners, sugar is a losing commodity with dire prospects for the future. Thus tourism, nickel exports, and even exile remittances have replaced sugar as the mainstay of the economy. Oil exploration in Cuba’s northwestern waters seems promising, but profits must be shared with foreign partners, and costs are extremely high.

In addition to these vexing economic realities, there will be also a maze of legal problems, particularly concerning foreign investment and the status of assets acquired during the Castro era. Obviously, Cuban nationals, Cuban-Americans, and foreigners whose properties were confiscated during the early years of the revolution will want to reclaim them or will ask for fair compensation.

The U.S. and other countries whose citizens’ assets were seized without compensation are likely to support such demands. Cubans living abroad await the opportunity to exercise their legal claims before Cuban courts. The Eastern European and Nicaraguan examples vividly illustrate the complexities, delays, and uncertainties accompanying the reclamation process.

Cuba’s severely damaged infrastructure is in major need of rebuilding. The outdated electric grid cannot supply the needs of consumers and industry. Transportation is inadequate. Communication facilities are obsolete, and sanitary and medical facilitates have deteriorated so badly that contagious diseases constitute a real menace to the population. In addition, environmental concerns such as the pollution of bays and rivers require immediate intervention.

Economic and legal problems are not, however, the only challenges facing Cuba in the future. A major problem that will confront post-Castro Cuba is the power of the military. Cuba has a strong tradition of militarism, but in recent years, the military as an institution has acquired unprecedented power. Under any conceivable future scenario, the military will continue to be a decisive player. Like Nicaragua, Cuba may develop a limited democratic system in which Cubans are allowed to elect civilian leaders, but with the military exercising real power and remaining the final arbiter of the political process.

An immediate and significant reduction of the armed forces will be difficult, if not impossible. A powerful and proud institution, the military would see any attempt to undermine its authority as an unacceptable intrusion into its affairs and as a threat to its existence. Its control of key economic sectors under the Castro regime will make it difficult to dislodge it from these activities and to limit its role strictly to external security. Cutting the armed forces will also be problematic. The civilian economy may not be able to absorb large numbers of discharged soldiers quickly, especially if the government cannot come up with viable programs for retraining them.

The role of the military will also be shaped by social conflicts that may emerge in a post-Castro period. For the first half of the twentieth century, political violence was seen by many as a legitimate method to effect political change, and this could well have an effect on societal expectations in the future. Communist rule has engendered profound hatred and resentment. Political vendettas will be rampant; differences over how to restructure society will be profound; factionalism in society and in the political process will be common. It will be difficult to create mass political parties as numerous leaders and groups vie for power and develop competing ideas about the organization of society, economic policy, the nature of the political system, and unraveling the legacy of decades of communist dictatorship.

A newly free and restless labor movement will complicate matters for any future government. During the Castro era, the labor movement remained docile under continuous government control; only one unified labor movement was allowed. In a democratic Cuba, labor will not be a passive instrument of any government. Rival labor organizations will develop programs to protect the rights of workers, and to demand better salaries and welfare for their members. A militant and vociferous labor movement will surely characterize post-Castro Cuba.

Similarly, the apparent harmonious race relations of the Castro era may also experience severe strains. There has been a gradual Africanization of the Cuban population over the past several decades due to greater intermarriage and out-migration of a million mostly white Cubans. This has led to some fear and resentment among whites in the island. At the same time, blacks feel that they have been left out of the political process, as whites still dominate the higher echelons of the Castro power structure. The dollarization of the economy and the recent relaxation in the amount of remittances allowed to flow from the U.S. to Cuba has accentuated these differences. Since most Cuban-Americans are white, black Cubans receive fewer dollars from abroad. Significant racial tension could well result as these feelings and frustrations are aired in a politically open environment.

Perhaps the most difficult problem that a post-Castro leadership will have to face is acceptance of the rule of law. Every day, Cubans violate communist laws: they steal from state enterprises, participate in the black market, and engage in all types of illegal activities, including widespread graft and corruption. They do this to survive. Getting rid of those necessary vices will not be easy, especially since many of them pre-date the Castro era.

Unwillingness to obey laws will be matched by the unwillingness to sacrifice and endure the difficult years that will follow the end of communism. A whole generation has grown up under the constant exhortations and pressures of the communist leadership to work hard and sacrifice for the sake of society. The youth are alienated from the political process, and are eager for a better life. Many want to immigrate to the United States. If the present rate of visa requests at the U.S. consular office in Havana is any indication, more than 2 million Cubans want to move permanently to the United States.

Under the normalization of U.S.-Cuban relations, Cubans will be free to visit the United States. Many will come as tourists and stay as illegal immigrants; others will be claimed as legal immigrants by relatives who are already naturalized citizens. A significant out-migration is certain, posing an added major problem for U.S. policymakers at a time of increasing anti-immigration sentiment.

While many Cubans want to leave Cuba, few Cuban-Americans will be inclined to abandon their lives in the United States and return to the island, especially if Cuba experiences a slow and painful transition period. Although those exiles who are allowed to return will be welcomed initially as business partners and investors, they are also likely to be resented, especially if they become involved in domestic politics. Readjusting the views and values of the exile population to those of the island will be a difficult and lengthy process.

The future of Cuba is therefore clouded with problems and uncertainties. More than five decades of communism have left profound scars on Cuban society. As in Eastern Europe and Nicaragua, reconstruction may be slow, painful, and tortuous. Unlike these countries, Cuba has at least three unique advantages: a long history of close relations with the United States; excellent preconditions for tourism; and a large and wealthy exile population. These factors could converge to transform the country’s living standards, but only if the future Cuban leadership creates the necessary conditions for an open, legally fair economy and an open, tolerant, and responsible political system. Unfortunately, life in Cuba is likely to remain difficult for a while longer.

Jaime Suchlicki is the founding Director of the Cuba Transition Project at the University of Miami and Director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. He is also the Emilio Bacardi Moreau Distinguished Professor of History and author of “Cuba From Columbus to Castro,” now in its sixth edition.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/15/v-...rylink=cpy]]>
Foreign Policy: Preparing for Life after Castro

Early this month, a senior Cuban official raised the possibility of loosening travel restrictions, potentially making it far easier for Cuban citizens to travel abroad as tourists. So far, little is known about the details of the policy Havana has in mind. But the flurry of interest stirred by this news reminds us that change in Cuba can potentially have far-reaching strategic and political implications, for its own people as well as for the regions that surround it.

There is a great deal that can be done in advance to prepare for the day when the post-Castro transition begins. The Cuba Transition Project (CTP) at the University of Miami, created in 2001 with the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development, has become a major authority on Cuban affairs. The project has released major studies on transition by both academics and experts, as well as a variety of other reports on topics such as political parties, labor unions, a free press and economic reform. (The works cited in this article have all been produced under CTP auspices.)

In the early 1990s, many people expected the communist regime in Cuba to collapse. Those of us who followed the situation closely knew better, and subsequent events have borne out our caution. The post-Castro transition will indeed come one day, but when it does, it promises to be a long and complicated process.

The challenges are many. First, there will be the tremendous task of economic reconstruction. For nearly four decades, Cuba’s extreme dependence on the Soviet bloc for trade, and the distorting effects of huge subsidies from Moscow, created an artificial economy. Most of Cuba’s exports are in decline, and poverty is correspondingly growing.

The internal market is weak, as domestic consumption is controlled by a strict and severe rationing system. Many transactions take place in the black market, which operates in American dollars and with merchandise stolen from state enterprises or received from abroad. The Cuban peso has depreciated, and its purchasing power has waned considerably. Huge and persistent government deficits, and the absence of virtually any stabilizing fiscal and monetary policies, have accelerated the downward spiraling of the economy.

Moreover, sugar production, Cuba’s mainstay export, has dropped to Great Depression levels. With low prices, a decline in sugar consumption worldwide, an increase in the number of competitive sugar producers, and widespread use of artificial sweeteners, sugar is a losing commodity with dire prospects for the future. Thus tourism, nickel exports, and even exile remittances have replaced sugar as the mainstay of the economy. Oil exploration in Cuba’s northwestern waters seems promising, but profits must be shared with foreign partners, and costs are extremely high.

In addition to these vexing economic realities, there will be also a maze of legal problems, particularly concerning foreign investment and the status of assets acquired during the Castro era. Obviously, Cuban nationals, Cuban-Americans, and foreigners whose properties were confiscated during the early years of the revolution will want to reclaim them or will ask for fair compensation.

The U.S. and other countries whose citizens’ assets were seized without compensation are likely to support such demands. Cubans living abroad await the opportunity to exercise their legal claims before Cuban courts. The Eastern European and Nicaraguan examples vividly illustrate the complexities, delays, and uncertainties accompanying the reclamation process.

Cuba’s severely damaged infrastructure is in major need of rebuilding. The outdated electric grid cannot supply the needs of consumers and industry. Transportation is inadequate. Communication facilities are obsolete, and sanitary and medical facilitates have deteriorated so badly that contagious diseases constitute a real menace to the population. In addition, environmental concerns such as the pollution of bays and rivers require immediate intervention.

Economic and legal problems are not, however, the only challenges facing Cuba in the future. A major problem that will confront post-Castro Cuba is the power of the military. Cuba has a strong tradition of militarism, but in recent years, the military as an institution has acquired unprecedented power. Under any conceivable future scenario, the military will continue to be a decisive player. Like Nicaragua, Cuba may develop a limited democratic system in which Cubans are allowed to elect civilian leaders, but with the military exercising real power and remaining the final arbiter of the political process.

An immediate and significant reduction of the armed forces will be difficult, if not impossible. A powerful and proud institution, the military would see any attempt to undermine its authority as an unacceptable intrusion into its affairs and as a threat to its existence. Its control of key economic sectors under the Castro regime will make it difficult to dislodge it from these activities and to limit its role strictly to external security. Cutting the armed forces will also be problematic. The civilian economy may not be able to absorb large numbers of discharged soldiers quickly, especially if the government cannot come up with viable programs for retraining them.

The role of the military will also be shaped by social conflicts that may emerge in a post-Castro period. For the first half of the twentieth century, political violence was seen by many as a legitimate method to effect political change, and this could well have an effect on societal expectations in the future. Communist rule has engendered profound hatred and resentment. Political vendettas will be rampant; differences over how to restructure society will be profound; factionalism in society and in the political process will be common. It will be difficult to create mass political parties as numerous leaders and groups vie for power and develop competing ideas about the organization of society, economic policy, the nature of the political system, and unraveling the legacy of decades of communist dictatorship.

A newly free and restless labor movement will complicate matters for any future government. During the Castro era, the labor movement remained docile under continuous government control; only one unified labor movement was allowed. In a democratic Cuba, labor will not be a passive instrument of any government. Rival labor organizations will develop programs to protect the rights of workers, and to demand better salaries and welfare for their members. A militant and vociferous labor movement will surely characterize post-Castro Cuba.

Similarly, the apparent harmonious race relations of the Castro era may also experience severe strains. There has been a gradual Africanization of the Cuban population over the past several decades due to greater intermarriage and out-migration of a million mostly white Cubans. This has led to some fear and resentment among whites in the island. At the same time, blacks feel that they have been left out of the political process, as whites still dominate the higher echelons of the Castro power structure. The dollarization of the economy and the recent relaxation in the amount of remittances allowed to flow from the U.S. to Cuba has accentuated these differences. Since most Cuban-Americans are white, black Cubans receive fewer dollars from abroad. Significant racial tension could well result as these feelings and frustrations are aired in a politically open environment.

Perhaps the most difficult problem that a post-Castro leadership will have to face is acceptance of the rule of law. Every day, Cubans violate communist laws: they steal from state enterprises, participate in the black market, and engage in all types of illegal activities, including widespread graft and corruption. They do this to survive. Getting rid of those necessary vices will not be easy, especially since many of them pre-date the Castro era.

Unwillingness to obey laws will be matched by the unwillingness to sacrifice and endure the difficult years that will follow the end of communism. A whole generation has grown up under the constant exhortations and pressures of the communist leadership to work hard and sacrifice for the sake of society. The youth are alienated from the political process, and are eager for a better life. Many want to immigrate to the United States. If the present rate of visa requests at the U.S. consular office in Havana is any indication, more than 2 million Cubans want to move permanently to the United States.

Under the normalization of U.S.-Cuban relations, Cubans will be free to visit the United States. Many will come as tourists and stay as illegal immigrants; others will be claimed as legal immigrants by relatives who are already naturalized citizens. A significant out-migration is certain, posing an added major problem for U.S. policymakers at a time of increasing anti-immigration sentiment.

While many Cubans want to leave Cuba, few Cuban-Americans will be inclined to abandon their lives in the United States and return to the island, especially if Cuba experiences a slow and painful transition period. Although those exiles who are allowed to return will be welcomed initially as business partners and investors, they are also likely to be resented, especially if they become involved in domestic politics. Readjusting the views and values of the exile population to those of the island will be a difficult and lengthy process.

The future of Cuba is therefore clouded with problems and uncertainties. More than five decades of communism have left profound scars on Cuban society. As in Eastern Europe and Nicaragua, reconstruction may be slow, painful, and tortuous. Unlike these countries, Cuba has at least three unique advantages: a long history of close relations with the United States; excellent preconditions for tourism; and a large and wealthy exile population. These factors could converge to transform the country’s living standards, but only if the future Cuban leadership creates the necessary conditions for an open, legally fair economy and an open, tolerant, and responsible political system. Unfortunately, life in Cuba is likely to remain difficult for a while longer.

Jaime Suchlicki is the founding Director of the Cuba Transition Project at the University of Miami and Director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. He is also the Emilio Bacardi Moreau Distinguished Professor of History and author of “Cuba From Columbus to Castro,” now in its sixth edition.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/15/v-...rylink=cpy]]> <![CDATA[The Russians vs. the Chinese in Cuba]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15753 Wed, 16 May 2012 10:23:53 -0500 goluboyvagon http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15753 http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=70344

HAVANA TIMES — As the popular saying goes, “You only value what you’ve lost.” It’s a sad statement – right?

But since I’m trying to be fair, I always add that memories too are created and later recalled through the prism of nostalgia, with plenty of those memories becoming adulterated.

However a number of recent impressions threaten to again vindicate that inevitable expression…

Yes, I must admit that now that the tide of Chinese technology seems to be blessing, I’m beginning to miss the days when the waves of electronic consumer goods came from the Soviet Union, those products that in our ingratitude we sarcastically dubbed “bolos” (Russian)!

The first reason for this lies in a corner of my room: a Chinese electric pressure cooker known as a “Reina” and that cost 64 CUCs (about $70 USD). It worked fine just long enough for its warranty to expire.

Then it suddenly began to produce a noise that scared me (as well as my poor cats that would run from it in fright). It sounded like a rocket that was about to be launched into orbit.

I figured this was because of the gasket, which had softened and wasn’t holding the pressure well. Since I was unable to find another one that size, I decided to use it without pressure. But then I couldn’t even get it to start.

This time I turned to a repairperson, who explained that the cause was a fuse – apparently irreplaceable. He hooked the contraption directly to the current but warned me that it wouldn’t last like that very long.

“But it’s new!” I protested in bewilderment.

He then showed me the inside of the pressure cooker – a world of devices and cables about which I understood nothing. But I could see that all of the metal parts were rusted, corroded by the salt brought by the air from the sea and visible through the distance from my windows.

Like the balustrades on my balcony, the gate to the house and my son’s bicycle, this appliance had suffered the ravages of that white crystal. This made his argument seem reasonable. Noticing my double disappointment, this kind fellow tried to comfort me:

“All of them break down,” he said. “They’re the worst investment the state has ever made.”

How could I not then become overwhelmed when thinking, by extension, about the massive “replacement” of refrigerators? There are already people cursing between their teeth about those.

Since I didn’t have enough money to buy one from a shopping center, I too picked up a Chinese refrigerator, but an “under the table” one. Notwithstanding, it was absolutely new, white, immaculate.

However the gasket on the door is already coming off; and since it doesn’t shut tight, that means a daily accumulation of water at the bottom and a higher monthly electric bill.

But that’s not the worst part for me.

My daily conflict with the Chinese is the radio I bought less than six months ago. It’s great when there’s a hurricane because it has a rechargeable battery that can also be charged by cranking it by hand.

But until the next hurricane comes (and Lord help us that it’s not soon!), I try to make my precious little radio fulfill the role fully played by its Russian predecessors: allowing me to hear the program “Early Music” every morning, which I’ve listened to since the 1980’s.

But it’s a day of true luck if I pick up the signal well – no matter how much I adjust the dial, pull up the antenna, switch from FM to AM, or try placing the device in all the different corners of the house.

It’s then that I experience a devastating bout with nostalgia. I’ll think back to my Beff radio, or my Model B-215 Selena, which allowed me not only to clearly hear CMBF (the classical music station and my favorite), but also ones like WQAM 560 (a station of the “enemy”), which only broadcast country music but was a delight to me – back in the ‘80s.

So, I pray from the heart that they’ll raise the dead from their graves. What I would do to again see those “bolo” appliances: my discarded radios, those Orbita fans that stood up to bumps and drops, those Aurika washing machines that remain the salvation of many homemakers still today.

Likewise those Zenit cameras, thanks to which loves and pleasures were recorded that otherwise would have been ephemeral – as short-lived as those first conveniences of comfort, our crude and criticized Russian appliances, those “bolos,” which today (I’m sure) I’m not alone in missing.]]> http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=70344

HAVANA TIMES — As the popular saying goes, “You only value what you’ve lost.” It’s a sad statement – right?

But since I’m trying to be fair, I always add that memories too are created and later recalled through the prism of nostalgia, with plenty of those memories becoming adulterated.

However a number of recent impressions threaten to again vindicate that inevitable expression…

Yes, I must admit that now that the tide of Chinese technology seems to be blessing, I’m beginning to miss the days when the waves of electronic consumer goods came from the Soviet Union, those products that in our ingratitude we sarcastically dubbed “bolos” (Russian)!

The first reason for this lies in a corner of my room: a Chinese electric pressure cooker known as a “Reina” and that cost 64 CUCs (about $70 USD). It worked fine just long enough for its warranty to expire.

Then it suddenly began to produce a noise that scared me (as well as my poor cats that would run from it in fright). It sounded like a rocket that was about to be launched into orbit.

I figured this was because of the gasket, which had softened and wasn’t holding the pressure well. Since I was unable to find another one that size, I decided to use it without pressure. But then I couldn’t even get it to start.

This time I turned to a repairperson, who explained that the cause was a fuse – apparently irreplaceable. He hooked the contraption directly to the current but warned me that it wouldn’t last like that very long.

“But it’s new!” I protested in bewilderment.

He then showed me the inside of the pressure cooker – a world of devices and cables about which I understood nothing. But I could see that all of the metal parts were rusted, corroded by the salt brought by the air from the sea and visible through the distance from my windows.

Like the balustrades on my balcony, the gate to the house and my son’s bicycle, this appliance had suffered the ravages of that white crystal. This made his argument seem reasonable. Noticing my double disappointment, this kind fellow tried to comfort me:

“All of them break down,” he said. “They’re the worst investment the state has ever made.”

How could I not then become overwhelmed when thinking, by extension, about the massive “replacement” of refrigerators? There are already people cursing between their teeth about those.

Since I didn’t have enough money to buy one from a shopping center, I too picked up a Chinese refrigerator, but an “under the table” one. Notwithstanding, it was absolutely new, white, immaculate.

However the gasket on the door is already coming off; and since it doesn’t shut tight, that means a daily accumulation of water at the bottom and a higher monthly electric bill.

But that’s not the worst part for me.

My daily conflict with the Chinese is the radio I bought less than six months ago. It’s great when there’s a hurricane because it has a rechargeable battery that can also be charged by cranking it by hand.

But until the next hurricane comes (and Lord help us that it’s not soon!), I try to make my precious little radio fulfill the role fully played by its Russian predecessors: allowing me to hear the program “Early Music” every morning, which I’ve listened to since the 1980’s.

But it’s a day of true luck if I pick up the signal well – no matter how much I adjust the dial, pull up the antenna, switch from FM to AM, or try placing the device in all the different corners of the house.

It’s then that I experience a devastating bout with nostalgia. I’ll think back to my Beff radio, or my Model B-215 Selena, which allowed me not only to clearly hear CMBF (the classical music station and my favorite), but also ones like WQAM 560 (a station of the “enemy”), which only broadcast country music but was a delight to me – back in the ‘80s.

So, I pray from the heart that they’ll raise the dead from their graves. What I would do to again see those “bolo” appliances: my discarded radios, those Orbita fans that stood up to bumps and drops, those Aurika washing machines that remain the salvation of many homemakers still today.

Likewise those Zenit cameras, thanks to which loves and pleasures were recorded that otherwise would have been ephemeral – as short-lived as those first conveniences of comfort, our crude and criticized Russian appliances, those “bolos,” which today (I’m sure) I’m not alone in missing.]]> <![CDATA[US tightens restrictions on Cuba trips]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15752 Wed, 16 May 2012 09:26:00 -0500 therealcuba http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15752
Juan O. Tamayo | McClatchy Newspapers

MIAMI — The U.S. Treasury Department has tightened a few of its restrictions on trips to Cuba by non-Cuban Americans on so-called "people to people" visits, saying that the revisions will "help to deter abuses."

Complaints of abuses of such trips - they must be for "educational" purposes, never for tourism - have dogged the program since President Barack Obama approved it last year in a bid to increase Americans' engagement with regular Cubans.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., drew laughter during a speech in Washington last year when he read the schedule for one such trip, showing salsa dancing sessions every night. Other tours have met with Cuban government ministers and even a daughter of ruler Raul Castro.

Rubio put a block on Roberta Jacobson's nomination as the top U.S. diplomat for Latin American until the Obama administration addressed some of the myriad complaints. Jacobson was sworn in earlier this month.

"I think it's progress ... because the changes require closer reviews of the itineraries," Rubio said. "But I still have concerns about the program in general, because it is difficult to manage and avoid abuses."

Treasury spokesman John Sullivan said the department's Office Foreign Assets Controls which enforces sanctions on Cuba, revised the regulations for those seeking OFAC licenses to organize trips "in part because of reports we received."

He did not detail the "reports" but added that the changes "will provide clarity to applicants and licensees seeking renewals, facilitate OFAC's review of license applications and help to deter abuses by licensees."

The changes apply only to U.S. residents who are not Cuban Americans. U.S. residents of Cuban descent who have relatives in Cuba can travel to the island under a different category, family reunification.

The new wording requires applicants for licenses to explain how their group's meetings with any senior Cuban government or Communist Party official would advance the cause of the people-to-people program.

Previously, the licensees only had to ensure that such government and party officials would not make up a majority of the groups' planned schedules. And OFAC seldom checked whether the groups stuck to the itineraries, licensees said.

The new regulations also require that a representative of the licensee accompany each tour. Some of the agencies awarded licenses last spring were barely legal store fronts created by enterprises already in the Cuban travel business, according to licensees.

Two paragraphs added to the regulations also reinforce the message that tourism trips are illegal and punishable by a fine of up to $65,000.

Less clear is the impact of new wording in the regulations that allows issuing OFAC licenses to organize trips to Cuba to "promote independence (of Cubans) from the Cuban government" - presumably including trips to meet with dissidents.

It's doubtful whether any organization would be interested in planning such a trip. Many of the current licensees for people to people trips either support the Castro governments or favor closer engagement with Cuba.

It's even more doubtful whether the Cuban government would accept such a trip.

President Bill Clinton approved the people to people travel in 1993 but President George W. Bush canceled it in 2003 amid reports of U.S. visitors sun tanning in Varadero Beach and frequenting Havana nightclubs.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/05/15/14...rylink=cpy]]>
Juan O. Tamayo | McClatchy Newspapers

MIAMI — The U.S. Treasury Department has tightened a few of its restrictions on trips to Cuba by non-Cuban Americans on so-called "people to people" visits, saying that the revisions will "help to deter abuses."

Complaints of abuses of such trips - they must be for "educational" purposes, never for tourism - have dogged the program since President Barack Obama approved it last year in a bid to increase Americans' engagement with regular Cubans.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., drew laughter during a speech in Washington last year when he read the schedule for one such trip, showing salsa dancing sessions every night. Other tours have met with Cuban government ministers and even a daughter of ruler Raul Castro.

Rubio put a block on Roberta Jacobson's nomination as the top U.S. diplomat for Latin American until the Obama administration addressed some of the myriad complaints. Jacobson was sworn in earlier this month.

"I think it's progress ... because the changes require closer reviews of the itineraries," Rubio said. "But I still have concerns about the program in general, because it is difficult to manage and avoid abuses."

Treasury spokesman John Sullivan said the department's Office Foreign Assets Controls which enforces sanctions on Cuba, revised the regulations for those seeking OFAC licenses to organize trips "in part because of reports we received."

He did not detail the "reports" but added that the changes "will provide clarity to applicants and licensees seeking renewals, facilitate OFAC's review of license applications and help to deter abuses by licensees."

The changes apply only to U.S. residents who are not Cuban Americans. U.S. residents of Cuban descent who have relatives in Cuba can travel to the island under a different category, family reunification.

The new wording requires applicants for licenses to explain how their group's meetings with any senior Cuban government or Communist Party official would advance the cause of the people-to-people program.

Previously, the licensees only had to ensure that such government and party officials would not make up a majority of the groups' planned schedules. And OFAC seldom checked whether the groups stuck to the itineraries, licensees said.

The new regulations also require that a representative of the licensee accompany each tour. Some of the agencies awarded licenses last spring were barely legal store fronts created by enterprises already in the Cuban travel business, according to licensees.

Two paragraphs added to the regulations also reinforce the message that tourism trips are illegal and punishable by a fine of up to $65,000.

Less clear is the impact of new wording in the regulations that allows issuing OFAC licenses to organize trips to Cuba to "promote independence (of Cubans) from the Cuban government" - presumably including trips to meet with dissidents.

It's doubtful whether any organization would be interested in planning such a trip. Many of the current licensees for people to people trips either support the Castro governments or favor closer engagement with Cuba.

It's even more doubtful whether the Cuban government would accept such a trip.

President Bill Clinton approved the people to people travel in 1993 but President George W. Bush canceled it in 2003 amid reports of U.S. visitors sun tanning in Varadero Beach and frequenting Havana nightclubs.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/05/15/14...rylink=cpy]]> <![CDATA[One step forward, five steps backward]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15751 Tue, 15 May 2012 12:39:27 -0500 therealcuba http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15751 Tue May 15, 2012 4:56pm GMT

* No increase in foreign investment despite reforms

* Potential new partners wait for answers

* Existing ventures under scrutiny

By Marc Frank

HAVANA, May 15 (Reuters) - Cuba's reform plans to attract more overseas investment are off to a slow start as the government focuses more on regulating existing foreign joint ventures than encouraging new ones, businessmen and diplomats say.

In fact, Cuba has closed more joint ventures than it has opened since the ruling Communist Party adopted wide-ranging economic reforms a year ago, and remains far off highs reached in the 1990s, according to official reports.

The list of endangered or terminated joint ventures includes one big name, Unilever PLC, the Anglo-Dutch consumer giant, and a number of others that have operated in the country for 15 years or more.

Cuba's investment reform plan announced last year spoke positively of foreign investment, promised a review of the cumbersome approval process and stated that special economic zones, joint venture golf courses, marinas and new manufacturing projects were planned.

Most experts believe large flows of direct investment will be needed for development and to create jobs if the government follows through with plans to lay off up to a million workers in an attempt to lift the country out of its economic malaise.
It will be particularly critical given the health of cancer-stricken ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has championed close cooperation between Cuba and oil-rich Venezuela.

While the reform plan built up hopes of an opening to foreign capital, it also made clear that existing and future investments would be subject to "rigorous controls" on "regulations and procedures, as well as the commitments assumed by foreign partners."

This part of the program has been vigorously carried out, according to both business and Cuban sources, with a review of the country's approximately 240 foreign investment projects recently concluded.

That number is a decline from the 258 projects Foreign Trade and Investment Minister Rodrigo Malmierca reported at the close of 2009 and way down from the 700 Cuba had a decade ago.

The issue in part appears to be the result of old ideological habits dying hard, said Geoff Thale, program director at the Washington Office on Latin America.

Other reforms, such as encouraging more self employment and private farming, have been easier to implement.

"From the point of view of the state, an opening to foreign investment seems like a much bigger step to take in changing the economic model than does the liberalizing of domestic agriculture or current opening to small business," Thale said.

VENTURES CLOSE

Unilever PLC, the Anglo-Dutch consumer giant, is the latest and best known of the foreign firms to pack its bags.

The company's 15-year, 50-50 economic association has expired and a dispute over the controlling interest in a new venture could not be resolved.

"We wanted 51 percent of the new venture and so did the Cubans. At this point we are leaving, even though some discussion is still going on," a company manager said, requesting anonymity.

Israeli investors, operating out of the Panama-based BM Group, recently pulled out of their longstanding juice processing business after new contract negotiations broke down, according to the business sources.

Investors in Havana's container terminal are leaving as Cuba prepares to open a new terminal at Mariel, diplomats said.

Several ventures controlled by two Canadian trading firms and British investment fund Coral Capital under investigation for alleged corrupt practices are in the process of liquidation. Th e ir offices were closed last year and their top executives arrested as part of the crackdown on corruption.

SOCIALIST INVESTMENT

Following the election in Venezuela in 1998 of president Hugo Chavez, an avowed socialist, Cuba turned away from encouraging private investment in favor of state-funded cooperation with its new oil-producing ally.
Venezuela has since become Cuba's biggest economic partner, with some 50 joint ventures signed over the last 10 years, although many are still only on the drawing board.

Cuba depends on Venezuelan oil to meet its domestic energy needs and Chavez's uncertain future makes it more imperative that the Cuban government pick up the pace if it wants more foreign investment, said a western diplomat.

"The Cubans may be allergic to foreign investment, but the clock is ticking, and concessions on this front are inevitable," the diplomat said.

"Instead, they are going over existing companies with a fine-tooth comb. It is hard to understand. Perhaps they are waiting for oil to be discovered offshore," she said.

Other investment projects remain up in the air. A dozen golf course projects report no progress despite government promises to sign off after years of negotiations, as do companies negotiating ventures with the sugar industry since 2006.

Billion dollar plans to expand refineries and build a petrochemical complex around a refinery in central Cienfuegos, announced years ago, have yet to be signed off on.

On the other hand, in perhaps the most promising joint venture in decades, offshore oil exploration began in earnest this year with foreign partners planning at least three wells drilled by a massive, Chinese-built rig now parked 20 miles off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilN...dChannel=0]]> Tue May 15, 2012 4:56pm GMT

* No increase in foreign investment despite reforms

* Potential new partners wait for answers

* Existing ventures under scrutiny

By Marc Frank

HAVANA, May 15 (Reuters) - Cuba's reform plans to attract more overseas investment are off to a slow start as the government focuses more on regulating existing foreign joint ventures than encouraging new ones, businessmen and diplomats say.

In fact, Cuba has closed more joint ventures than it has opened since the ruling Communist Party adopted wide-ranging economic reforms a year ago, and remains far off highs reached in the 1990s, according to official reports.

The list of endangered or terminated joint ventures includes one big name, Unilever PLC, the Anglo-Dutch consumer giant, and a number of others that have operated in the country for 15 years or more.

Cuba's investment reform plan announced last year spoke positively of foreign investment, promised a review of the cumbersome approval process and stated that special economic zones, joint venture golf courses, marinas and new manufacturing projects were planned.

Most experts believe large flows of direct investment will be needed for development and to create jobs if the government follows through with plans to lay off up to a million workers in an attempt to lift the country out of its economic malaise.
It will be particularly critical given the health of cancer-stricken ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has championed close cooperation between Cuba and oil-rich Venezuela.

While the reform plan built up hopes of an opening to foreign capital, it also made clear that existing and future investments would be subject to "rigorous controls" on "regulations and procedures, as well as the commitments assumed by foreign partners."

This part of the program has been vigorously carried out, according to both business and Cuban sources, with a review of the country's approximately 240 foreign investment projects recently concluded.

That number is a decline from the 258 projects Foreign Trade and Investment Minister Rodrigo Malmierca reported at the close of 2009 and way down from the 700 Cuba had a decade ago.

The issue in part appears to be the result of old ideological habits dying hard, said Geoff Thale, program director at the Washington Office on Latin America.

Other reforms, such as encouraging more self employment and private farming, have been easier to implement.

"From the point of view of the state, an opening to foreign investment seems like a much bigger step to take in changing the economic model than does the liberalizing of domestic agriculture or current opening to small business," Thale said.

VENTURES CLOSE

Unilever PLC, the Anglo-Dutch consumer giant, is the latest and best known of the foreign firms to pack its bags.

The company's 15-year, 50-50 economic association has expired and a dispute over the controlling interest in a new venture could not be resolved.

"We wanted 51 percent of the new venture and so did the Cubans. At this point we are leaving, even though some discussion is still going on," a company manager said, requesting anonymity.

Israeli investors, operating out of the Panama-based BM Group, recently pulled out of their longstanding juice processing business after new contract negotiations broke down, according to the business sources.

Investors in Havana's container terminal are leaving as Cuba prepares to open a new terminal at Mariel, diplomats said.

Several ventures controlled by two Canadian trading firms and British investment fund Coral Capital under investigation for alleged corrupt practices are in the process of liquidation. Th e ir offices were closed last year and their top executives arrested as part of the crackdown on corruption.

SOCIALIST INVESTMENT

Following the election in Venezuela in 1998 of president Hugo Chavez, an avowed socialist, Cuba turned away from encouraging private investment in favor of state-funded cooperation with its new oil-producing ally.
Venezuela has since become Cuba's biggest economic partner, with some 50 joint ventures signed over the last 10 years, although many are still only on the drawing board.

Cuba depends on Venezuelan oil to meet its domestic energy needs and Chavez's uncertain future makes it more imperative that the Cuban government pick up the pace if it wants more foreign investment, said a western diplomat.

"The Cubans may be allergic to foreign investment, but the clock is ticking, and concessions on this front are inevitable," the diplomat said.

"Instead, they are going over existing companies with a fine-tooth comb. It is hard to understand. Perhaps they are waiting for oil to be discovered offshore," she said.

Other investment projects remain up in the air. A dozen golf course projects report no progress despite government promises to sign off after years of negotiations, as do companies negotiating ventures with the sugar industry since 2006.

Billion dollar plans to expand refineries and build a petrochemical complex around a refinery in central Cienfuegos, announced years ago, have yet to be signed off on.

On the other hand, in perhaps the most promising joint venture in decades, offshore oil exploration began in earnest this year with foreign partners planning at least three wells drilled by a massive, Chinese-built rig now parked 20 miles off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilN...dChannel=0]]> <![CDATA[5 people killed several injured in a traffic accident in Holguin]]> http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15750 Tue, 15 May 2012 10:28:33 -0500 therealcuba http://www.cubagreenscreen.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15750
HAVANA – Five people died and several others were injured Monday when a bus turned over on a highway in the eastern Cuban province of Holguin, official media said.

The accident occurred when the vehicle turned over on a slope at a place called Sao Nuevo on the highway connecting the towns of Punto Fijo and Melones, at some 730 kilometers (454 miles) east of Havana, the AIN state news agency said.

Among the fatalities were the bus driver and a little girl, a police official said, adding that traffic specialists are investigating the cause of the accident.

Traffic accidents hold fifth place among the causes of death on the island.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleI...ryId=14510
Cuba showed a “considerable” surge in the number of traffic accidents during 2011, according to figures published in official media, with 10,553 crashes, 1,126 more than in 2010.

According to a recent official report, in April 2012 there was a drop in the number of mass-transport accidents compared with the first months the year.]]>
HAVANA – Five people died and several others were injured Monday when a bus turned over on a highway in the eastern Cuban province of Holguin, official media said.

The accident occurred when the vehicle turned over on a slope at a place called Sao Nuevo on the highway connecting the towns of Punto Fijo and Melones, at some 730 kilometers (454 miles) east of Havana, the AIN state news agency said.

Among the fatalities were the bus driver and a little girl, a police official said, adding that traffic specialists are investigating the cause of the accident.

Traffic accidents hold fifth place among the causes of death on the island.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleI...ryId=14510
Cuba showed a “considerable” surge in the number of traffic accidents during 2011, according to figures published in official media, with 10,553 crashes, 1,126 more than in 2010.

According to a recent official report, in April 2012 there was a drop in the number of mass-transport accidents compared with the first months the year.]]>