Cuban Colada

Sentences are passed in case of workers at mental hospital where 26 patients died

Hospital director sentenced to 15 years in prison

The People's Provincial Court of Havana on Monday handed down sentences in the case of the 26 mental hospital patients who died last year of hunger and exposure. (For background, read our Jan. 24 blog item "Official statement about trial of employees...")

According to the website Cubadebate, the following were found guilty of both Abandonment of the Disabled and Malversation (diversion of funds or goods): Wilfredo Castillo Donate, director of the Eduardo Bernabé Ordaz Hospital, who was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment; Roberto Maza Izquierdo, deputy administrative director, sentenced to 14 years; and Josefina Díaz Arango, dietetics specialist, 12 years.

The following were found guilty of Abandonment of the Disabled: Arianna Ramos Saínz, deputy director of the Clinical-surgical Department, who was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment; Ivo Noa González, deputy director of Nursing, sentenced to 10 years; Susana Borges González, deputy director of Psychiatry, 7 years.

The sentences for those guilty of malversation were as follows: Miguel Villalobos López, chief of the Central Storehouse, 10

Italian telcom sells shares back to Cuba

A Cuban financial institution, Rafin S.A., has bought Telecom Italia's 27-percent share in ETECSA, the Cuban telecommunications company.

The reported price was $706 million, of which Rafin has already paid $500 million. The rest will be paid in 36 monthly installments, Telecom Italia said in a press release.

Details in CubaStandard and Bloomberg. For background, read our Dec. 28 blog item "Telecom Italia will sell its shares..."

According to the website Capitol Hill Cubans, Rafin is "the financial arm of the Cuban military's conglomerate, GAESA," which is run by Raúl Castro's son-in-law, Col. Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Callejas.

Jobs available for licensing under Cuba's self-employment reforms (morning roundup)

Top News: The Associated Press published the list of the 178 private-sector jobs that Cubans can now apply to perform as self-employed entrepreneurs. Most of the jobs consist of trades (electrician, book binder, blacksmith, locksmith) or artisanal jobs that can be performed on a small scale (producer/seller of bricks and tiles, producer/seller of ornamental plants, piñata maker/seller). Some have been written about before (barbers, manicurists, restaurant/café owner).There's a few jobs that seemed a little odd to me, such as door-to-door knife and scissors sharpener, or wine maker/seller (wouldn't beer or rum maker/seller make more sense for Cuba?).

Notwithstanding recent calls from the Cuban state press to reduce the amount of bureaucracy associated with the reforms, the tail end of the list includes 13 separate jobs that have to do with driving some sort of vehicle (truck driver, station wagon driver, small-truck driver, bus driver, mini-bus driver, taxi driver, handcar operator, jeep driver, passenger boat operator, motorcycle driver, three-wheeled pedal taxi-driver, cart operator, horse-drawn carriage operator, pedal taxi driver). 

Guillermo Fariñas, famous for his 135-day hunger strike last year, was released from jail on Friday after having been detained for a third time last week. Cuban authorities arrested Fariñas as he led a march with some 20 activists to lay a wreath at a monument to Cuban independence hero and intellectual José Martí. Fariñas was released due to health concerns, Agence France Press reports. The Inter-American Press Society condemned the arrest of Fariñas Friday. 

Luis Posada Carriles Trial Update: Key witness for the prosecution Gilberto Abascal admitted Friday to receiving almost $80,000 and help obtaining American citizenship from the U.S. government for testifying against Posada Carriles. Abascal took the witness stand for a fifth day on Friday, and also acknowledged visiting Cuba four times between 2003 and 2004. The defense portrayed those visits as unusual, given Abascal's association with supporters of Posada Carriles in Panama in 2004, when the latter was on trial under accusations of conspiring to assassinate Fidel Castro. 

In Other News:

• El Diario de Cuba celebrated its first year anniversary online. 
• A U.S. State Department cable made public by WikiLeaks indicates that days before president of Honduras Manuel Zelaya was overthrown, he helped the United States get the Venezuelan and Cuban governments to agree to an Organization of American States (OAS) resolution allowing the readmission of Cuba to the group if the Communist country agreed to abide by the OAS' guiding principles. 
• A man who claims to be the nephew of former Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, Joseph Fox Batista, has been jailed for alleged defrauding investors in his company Telogensis, Inc.

In Cuban State Media:

• CubaDebate ran an article arguing that the pricing dispute between the Castro government and the FCC is not the only thing stalling TeleCuba Communications' plans to lay a 110-fiber optic cable connecting Key West and Havana. 
• El Palenque, a popular restaurant in Havana, was severely damaged in a fire on Sunday, according to CubaDebate. No injuries were reported. 
• Fidel Castro reflected on Obama's state of the union speech.

In the Blogosphere:

• Telecommunications engineer José Remón gives an overview and analysis at Café Fuerte of the importance of Cuba's new fiber optic cable connection with Venezuela, and how the United States fits into the picture. 
• El Yuma discusses what he sees as the similarities and differences between Cuba and Egypt, in the context of Egypt's evolving protests. 

What did we miss? Send us links to stories in the comments. 

-- Roque Planas

Fidel sees U.S. duplicity in Egypt's woes

In a "reflection" published Monday in Granma, Fidel Castro makes a commentary (of sorts) about the current situation in Egypt. He says:

"Obama has no way to deal with the jumbled mess [the United States] has created. Some days ago came the collapse of the government in Tunis, where the United States had imposed neoliberalism and was happy with its political feat. The word "democracy" had disappeared from the stage.

"It's incredible how, when the exploited people spill their blood and loot the stores, Washington expresses its joy over the collapse.

"No one ignores that the United States converted Egypt into its principal ally in the Arab world. A big aircraft carrier and a nuclear submarine, escorted by U.S. and Israeli warships, crossed the Suez Canal into the Persian Gulf several months ago, without the international press gaining access to what was happening.

"[Egypt] was the Arab country that received the largest supplies of armaments. Millions of young Egyptians suffer from the unemployment and food shortages provoked in the world economy and Washington claims it helps them. Its Machiavellianism consists in the fact that, while [Washington] supplied weapons to the Egyptian government, the USAID furnished funds to the opposition.

"Will the United States be able to halt the revolutionary wave that shakes the Third World?"

Antique-car race halted by runaway crowd

A "classic-car" race in Havana's Hemingway Marina had to be stopped Sunday when overly enthusiastic spectators spilled onto the track, the Spanish news agency EFE reports.

The race, for cars built as far back as the 1940s, was organized by the Union of Antique Auto and Motorcycle Clubs of Cuba. About 30 vehicles had signed up to compete.

The only events completed before the interruption were the controlled 400-meter starts by four- and six-cylinder cars built before 1981. The track had no safety barriers for the crowds (see photo).

The winner in the four-cylinder category was a Fiat 125; in the six-cylinder category, a 1954 Ford. (The Fiat 125 first came out in 1967.) The interruption prevented eight-cylinder and modified cars from competing. Modified cars are antiques with improved engines.

The first car race in Cuba took place in 1903, EFE points out. Five vehicles competed then, racing between the Havana barrios of Guanajay and La Lisa. (For more on the care and repair of old cars in Cuba, click here.)

New OFAC regulations on Cuba travel released (morning roundup)

Top News: The Office of Foreign Assets Control released Thursday the changes to Cuba travel and remittance policy announced on Jan. 14 by the White House. There aren't too many surprises in the 37-page document (Download it in .pdf here), but one paragraph is of special interest. After noting that U.S. citizens are now allowed to send remittances to non-family members in Cuba, the following exception is noted:

The remitter's total remittances pursuant to paragraphs (b) of this section to any one Cuban national do not exceed $500 in any consecutive three-month period.

Other restrictions follow (the receiver of the remittance can't be a high party official, remitter must be over 18 years of age, etc.). The interesting thing here is that when originally reported it appeared that remitters would not be able to send more than $500 to Cuba per quarter. It now seems, however, that U.S. citizens can send $2,000 a year to as many qualified Cubans as they like. I'm not a lawyer and I received this information too late to call OFAC, so I can't say for certain. If you have information about this, please post it to the comments.

UPDATE: A representative from the Treasury Department confirmed that this interpretation of the new OFAC regulations is correct.

Luis Posada Carriles Trial Update: Gilberto Abascal testified again on Thursday, responding to questions about his finances and mental health, as the defense continued to challenge his credibility. Abascal broke down in tears during questioning, accusing the defense of harrassing him. Defense attorney Arturo Hernández unsuccessfully requested a mistrial for a third time. Juan Tamayo has reports from El Paso in English for The Miami Herald and Spanish for El Nuevo Herald.

In Other News

• Makers of illegal satellite dishes received a scolding in the Cuban state press Thursday. 
• The Cuban Commission on Human Rights said Thursday its list of political prisoners has shrunk to 105, from 167 in its June 2010 report
• Head of the Cuban National Assembly Ricardo Alarcón appealed to the "decency" of the Obama administration in another plea to free the Cuban five. 
• At least 50 Cuban Americans protested in front of the offices of El Nuevo Herald on Thursday to show their discontent regarding a paid ad that appeared in the paper this week in favor of freeing the Cuban five. 
• The Cuban Catholic Church argued in an article published Thursday in Palabra Nueva that there's nothing wrong with getting rich.

In Cuban State Media

• The Cuban government continued to denounce CubaDebate's removal from YouTube, this time at UNESCO's International Symposium on Freedom of Expression in Paris. Google said it took the page down due to copyright infringement. 
• Cuban scientists gathered at the National Center for Dairy Farm Sanitation in Mayabeque province praised Fidel Castro for his commitment to dairy farming.

In the Blogosphere

• Pro-Castro bloggers lashed out at Guillermo Fariñas. 
• According to El Yuma's reading of the new OFAC regulations on Cuba travel, it may now be possible to legally "sponsor" and "pay" Cuban scholars a "stipend or salary" when they visit the United Statest to teach or "engage in other schoalrly activity." He asks if anyone can confirm or deny the interpretation.

What did we miss? Send us links to stories in the comments.

-- Roque Planas

Church spokesman asks Cubans to not fear self-employment or 'the newly rich'

Excerpts from "Without Fear of Wealth," an article in Palabra Nueva, the monthly publication of the Archdiocese of Havana. It was written by Orlando Márquez Hidalgo, spokesman for the Archdiocese, and deals with the lifting of restrictions on self-employment. The translation is by Cuban Colada.

[Self-employment] will no longer be a synonym for defect or social parasitism, among other things, and that's not bad. But the fear of some and the skepticism of others arises when the former [...] worry excessively and express alarm because the self-employed, the latter, can become "rich" and no longer be like the others, or like them. [...]

We need to put aside our concerns, because it is difficult for someone to become rich selling pizzas, doing body work on a car, or giving English lessons. Maybe he'll earn more than a doctor but that self-employed worker (or small entrepreneur, as the case may be) is not responsible for the salary of a doctor or a teacher. And if he runs a "paladar" and earns more, much more than an athlete or an engineer, he should not be reproached for that. [...]

The evil is not in wealth or poverty but in the way one lives those realities, and in the honesty and goodness that we imprint on our lives, be they rich or poor. While one can cast doubt on the origin of many riches, one should not doubt the good origin of others or the good use given to them by some owners. [...]

To oppose the "rich" man only because he's rich [...] could originate in a wrong ideological conviction or simply in envy,

Fidel praised for support of dairy farming

Fidel Castro has been hailed for his "constant preocupation" with the development of dairy farming, the Cuban News Agency reported Thursday. The praise came from scientists gathered at the National Center for Dairy Farm Sanitation in Mayabeque province.

"The recognition to the maximum leader of the Revolution was given for his indisputable leadership in the design and execution of the profound transformations made in the dairy-farming sector," the article said.

The scientists recalled one of Castro's projects, Ubre Blanca (White Udder), a cow raised in the 1980s, in a "national program to improve dairy-farm genetics begun after the triumph of the Revolution." They stressed "Fidel's concern at the time over the health and feeding of Ubre Blanca."

The animal, a cross between a Holstein and a zebu, was a prodigious producer of milk. In January 1982, she produced 110 liters in a single day – four times the average. She went on to set a world record by producing 24,268.9 liters of milk in one 305-day lactation period.

Ubre Blanca died in 1985. A statue, commissioned by Castro, stands in Nueva Gerona, Isle of Youth, where she once grazed.

Guillermo Fariñas detained and released (morning roundup)

Top News: Cuba's famous former hunger striker Guillermo Fariñas was back in the news Wednesday when he was detained for about nine hours for protesting the eviction of a family from a vacant property in Santa Clara, according to Fariñas' mother Alicia Hernández. At least 17 others were detained along with Fariñas. Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez circulated news of the detention and release (including Fariñas' cell phone number) via SMS posts to her Twitter account. Cuban authorities released Fariñas without charging him with any crimes, Spanish newswire EFE reports.

If you've been wondering why you're not hearing about U.S. companies moving forward with plans to build a fiber optic cable linking the United States to Cuba after Obama authorized the activity in 2009, Bloomberg news may have an explanation. Miami-based TeleCuba Communications holds a license from the United States to build a 110-mile cable from Key West to Havana, but according to a report published Wednesday by Bloomberg, the deal has been delayed due to a pricing dispute between the Castro government and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC does not permit U.S. providers to pay Cuba more than 60 cents per minute for connecting calls, but the Cuban government wants to see that rate increase. TeleCuba has asked the FCC to raise the rate to 84 cents per minute. Meanwhile, construction has already begun on a 1,000-mile link from Cuba to Venezuela.

For background on the issue of telecommunications in Cuba, check out this recent policy paper produced jointly by the Cuban Study Group, the Brookings Institution, the Americas Society, and the Council of the Americas.

Luis Posada Carriles Trial Update: Gilberto Abascal testified again on Wednesday, this time facing crossexamination. The defense aims to discredit Abascal as a "tax cheat with a history of mental problems," in the words of Will Weissert of The Associated Press. Abascal testified earlier this week that Posada Carriles came to the United States by boat in 2005 from Isla Mujeres, Mexico and not over land to Texas, as Posada Carriles told immigration authorities.

Click here for background on the Posada Carriles case.

In Other News

• To familiarize children with the concept of paying taxes, the Superior Pedagogic Institute of Holguín has created a video game called "Tributín." State workers have traditionally not paid income taxes in Cuba, but the practice is being reintroduced with the reestablishment of self-employment and entrepreneurship.   
  
• Journalist Jon Lee Anderson, discusses his leading biography on Ernesto "Che" Guevara with Reuters. Anderson's next project is a biography of Fidel Castro.
• "Domestic" electricity use in Cuba surpassed that of the state in 2010. "Domestic" is defined by the Cuban Electricity Union as including residencial use, public-private entreprises, and private organizations, such as churches.
• A paid announcement demanding "Freedom for the Cuban Five" appearing in The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald has prompted a controversy among Cuban-Americans in Miami.

In Cuban State Media

• Participants in a recent neighborhood meeting in Guantánamo discussed price increases and the phase-out of the ration card, according to Granma. The meeting is one of many occurring throughout the island to discuss the "Guidlines for Economic and Social Policy." 
• Cuban television will run a documentary this evening by Venezuelan filmmaker Ángel Palacio called "Posada Carriles: Terrorismo made in USA."

In the Blogosphere

• The question of Cuba travel continues to prompt discussion in the blogosphere, following Obama's loosening of restrictions on visits to the island by academic and church groups earlier this month. 
• Ernesto Hernández Busto at Penúltimos Días takes a critical look at Google's policy toward Cuba (or lack thereof).
• Alberto de la Cruz at Babalú Blog sends a shout out to the staff at the Cuban Heritage Collection of the University of Miami. 
  

What did we miss? Send us links to stories in the comments.

-- Roque Planas

Beware brain-drainers in academic robes visiting from U.S., education minister says

University professors and students who visit Cuba from the United States may be wolves in sheep's clothing, warns Cuba's minister of higher education.

Addressing an international conference on pedagogy in Havana, Miguel Díaz-Canel "condemned the United States' policy of  subversion toward Cuban universities," which "encourag[es] desertion and the brain drain of Cuban professors and students, with the intention of fomenting discouragement and the breakup of university cloisters and student collectives."

The minister decried "the double standard of the recently announced measures addressed at easing travel between the two countries," according to the Cuban News Agency.

He seemed ambivalent about the new measures, reminding his listeners that, "for years, academic exchange between the island and its neighbor was hindered by the unilateral measures of U.S. administrations that restricted contacts between scientific personalities and institutions of both countries and their participation in events and congresses."

The economic embargo imposed by the U.S. "limits the development of research and the access to technologies and knowledge," Díaz-Canel said in his address.

It is far better to strengthen educational cooperation between Cuba and the nations of ALBA, the Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our America, he suggested.