Cuban Colada

Colada takes brief summer break

Apologies to Colada readers... We're taking a brief summer break and will be back with the morning roundups after July 5. 

 

Morning Roundup: 400,000 Americans to Travel to Cuba this Year

Cuba and Venezuela have agreed to over $1 billion worth of joint economic accords, El Nuevo Herald reports. The 116 projects run the gamut—from food and energy to health and communication. Venezuela is also investing in a Cuban refinery in Cienfuegos. The yearly economic agreement between the two countries was made during Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s visit to the island. He is currently in Havana recovering from an unplanned surgery to remove a pelvic abscess. For more information on Chávez’s surgery, check out BBC or Granma. Also during the visit—a Venezuelan official said that the newly-completed fiber optic Internet cable between the two countries will start operating next month, according to Global Post.

Cuban-Americans are taking advantage of newly loosened travel restrictions, says the New York Times. A piece on exile travel to the island claims that around 400,000 Americans will visit Cuba this year, more than any year since the 1959 Revolution. The Times report looks at the island’s dependence on cash from abroad, as well as the tribulations of emigrant life. One Cuban-American describes being caught between worlds: “‘I have half my heart here and the other half there,” she said. “The sad thing is, I am not really happy in either place.’”

You can expect gender inequality to spike as Cuba’s economic reforms advance, some experts argue. Only 30 percent of the island’s current crop of self-employed workers are female, suggesting women will have more difficulty adapting to the layoffs coming to 500,000 state employees. Women have long been at a disadvantage in the Cuban economy; because of their outsized household obligations, women’s salaries are around 80 to 85 percent of their male equivalents. A long article in Diario de Cuba has more info.

Other News

• Cuban soccer player Yosniel Mesa defected Thursday in North Carolina. He is hoping for a chance to play in the pros (Associated Press via the Washington Post)
• A Freedom House study finds pessimism about the prospects for economic reform, its authors argue (Miami Herald) Also—the group will forgo $1.7 million in USAID grant money because the disclosure requirements are too cumbersome (Miami Herald)
• The Obama administration is developing technology that allows foreign dissidents to evade Internet censorship, according to the New York Times. Relevant to Cuba? (CubaNews, Cubadebate)
• Interesting: a former ad executive for Bucanero beer talks about what advertising would be like in a capitalist Cuba (Ad Age)
• Guillermo Fariñas has given in to pleas that he stop his newest hunger strike (CubaEncuentro)
• Actor Danny Glover visited the National Folkloric Group in Havana, and enjoyed some Afro-Cuban music and dance (AFP via El Nuevo Herald)
• As we noted Friday, a Center for Democracy in the Americas delegation met with imprisoned U.S. contractor Alan Gross (Cuban Colada)

In Cuban State Media

• The Third International Conference for the Cuban Five is ongoing in Havana. Yesterday, Ricardo Alarcón addressed the group, which includes participants from the United States and other countries (Juventud Rebelde)
• A detailed account of the Party’s provincial assembly in Granma province (Granma)
• Electrical fraud is on the rise in Matanzas, to the dismay of authorities (Granma)
• Cuba hopes to reduce its food imports with four new strains of weather-resistant beans (Juventud Rebelde)

In the Blogosphere

• A video made by NYU study abroad students highlights the growth in paladares (The Cuban Triangle)
• A list of potential Cuban partners for people-to-people trips (Cuba US People to People Partnership)
• An English translation of Fernando Ravsberg’s commentary on the Cuban housing market (Havana Times)
• Marce Cameron translates a Cubadebate post by Dario Machado on socialist democracy and the recent Party Congress (Cuba’s Socialist Renewal: part one, part two)
• President Barack Obama is campaigning in Miami today (Café Fuerte)

-Compiled by Chris Lewis

State Department: We support visits to Alan Gross

Mark Toner at the US State Department was asked about Cuba today. On Reina Tamayo's arrival in Miami, he had a bit of a delayed reaction.

QUESTION: I have two questions related to Cuba. One is that the mother of the deceased Cuban dissident, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, arrived last night. And I was wondering if there was any reaction to that and also if you have any updates or information about the U.S. delegation that met with Alan Gross.
TONER: Your second question first. We are aware that a delegation organized by the Center for Democracy in the Americas did visit Cuba and also was able to visit our imprisoned American citizen there, Alan Gross. This was a private initiative. And just to, you know, add a little context, visiting groups from the United States, both official and private, often request permission to visit Mr. Gross, and we also -- we, of course, support these requests.
Our representatives from the U.S. interests section last visited him on May 31, 2011. And, of course, it goes without saying that we want to -- we believe that Mr. Gross has been unjustly jailed for far too long, and we're -- we remain deeply concerned about his and his family's wellbeing and believe he should be reunited with his family.
Oh, I'm sorry. The second question, I'll try to see -- I'll try to get more information about that. I don't know if we have a reaction yet.

Morning Roundup: The Dawn of a Regional Military?

More hand-wringing over Cuba in U.S. diplomatic cables; this time, from the Bahamas. Cables quoted in the Nassau Guardian reveal a consistent preoccupation with the Bahamian government’s stance on Cuba. Of particular intrigue is a quarrel in 2008 over Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham’s desire to visit Cuba. A U.S. embassy official, according to a cable, told the prime minister that the United States would be “deeply disappointed” if he followed through with the trip. Then the two apparently traded some rhetorical blows. The American official stressed “that the U.S. government was pursuing a principled and long-standing bi-partisan policy toward a repressive regime,” says the Guardian, but “’The prime minister countered that the argument would be better if the U.S. had not adopted very different policies toward North Korea, China and other such countries,’ the cable said.” I presume that these are Wikileaks cables, but the article doesn’t specify. In any case, it’s worth the read.

The battle continues in Congress over U.S. aid to Cuban dissidents and other nongovernment groups. In April, Senator John Kerry put a “hold” on $20 million that the Obama administration planned to spend for its Cuba programs, arguing that the money wasn’t efficiently spent and that American “democracy” programs weren’t helping the Cuban people. Now, Kerry is offering to lift the freeze if the money is cut to $15 million, according to the Miami Herald. It’s unclear whether the suggested cut will resolve the dispute, but administration officials remain frustrated: “’Where’s the controversy here? These programs are comparable to what we and other donors do to support democracy and human rights in repressive societies all over the world,’ said Mark Lopes, USAID chief for Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Cuba and Venezuela are hoping to create an ALBA military academy, according to Diario de Cuba. A military entity for the regional bloc would be consistent with the two governments’ philosophy of regional integration. “This is a historic step to build a Latin Americanist doctrine, of independence, of peace, a doctrine allowing the combination of the huge, beautiful experience that has brought our armies together,” said Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s foreign minister. He is in Cuba with President Hugo Chávez, who will discuss Cuban energy, telecommunications, agriculture, and food projects during his visit to the island.

Other News 

• In IPS, a long and detailed piece on the Sol y Son corruption case. The word on the street about the scandal: "You can imagine that people knew something was going on in Cubana, but since the press hasn't been publishing anything, you just don't know what to think about these things," one Cuban said. (IPS)
• Columnist Courtland Milloy visited Cuba, and is now arguing for increased cultural exchange (Washington Post)
• Two murals, tucked away in the National Library for 40 years, will be restored (Diario de Cuba, Juventud Rebelde)
• Reina Luisa Tamayo arrives in Miami today (El Nuevo Herald)
• Chico y Rita, an animated homage to Cuban music, was warmly received at a French film festival (El Nuevo Herald)
• Two Cubans living in Florida have been indicted for trafficking medicine (CubaEncuentro)
• Marco Rubio says that Jonathan Farrar was soft on Cuba at the U.S. Interests Section (Diario de Cuba)
• Be careful about “parachuting” into Cuba (Royal City Record, letter to the editor)

In Cuban State Media

• This coming school year, 12,000 high school students in Villa Clara will receive vocational training in subjects like agriculture and construction (Granma via CubaNews)
• A pretty solid roundup of the Cuban economy, past and present (Temas)
• Medical students are meeting today for a conference in Pinar del Río (Juventud Rebelde)
• The remains of Alberto Granado, companion of Che Guevara and longtime Havana resident, have arrived in Argentina (Cubadebate)

In the Blogosphere

• Great post from Fernando Ravsberg on the liberalization of the Cuban housing market. He asks: how does Cuba overcome its stagnant status quo without totally commoditizing housing and fomenting destructive speculation? (BBC Mundo)
• Should the United States be supporting groups like the Damas de Blanco? (Along the Malecón)
• Hubbub in Sancti Spiritus over new—and old—provincial Party chiefs (Havana Times)
• Embattled painter Pedro Pablo Oliva represents the best of Cuba, says Lazaro Gonzalez (Havana Times)

-Compiled by Chris Lewis

 

Rubio (Politely) Rips Farrar at Senate confirmation hearing

Sen. Marcio Rubio challenged the former head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana Wednesday, telling the career diplomat that he was not tough enough on Cuba - Why would he be tough on Nicaragua? Jonathan Farrar is up for a post in Managua. At a subcommittee hearing Wednesday, Rubio told Farrar that he was worried about complaints from dissidents as well decisions he made, including letting State Department officials stay at the Hotel Nacional. "A security risk," he said.

Farrar: "Human rights are near and dear to my heart."

-Frances Robles

Wednesday Roundup: No Travel Para Ricardo

 

Cuba’s ambassador in Peru met Tuesday with Ollanta Humula, the Andean nation’s left-leaning president-elect. According to Diario de Cuba, Luis Delfín Pérez brought a note of congratulations to Humula from Raúl Castro. Raúl expressed his “willingness to strengthen ties of friendship” between the two countries.

The band Porno Para Ricardo will not be traveling to the Czech Republic, CubaEncuentro reports via EFE. The group had hoped to play at the United Islands festival in Prague, but the Cuban government denied their exit visas. The organizers of the festival wrote an open letter to Raúl Castro, complaining that they had fulfilled all the legal requirements to receive Cuban travelers. Bandleader Gorki Águila, who lives in Mexico, still hopes to attend the festival. It starts later this month.

Next week, Cuba will participate in a conference on “la Patria Grande” in Argentina. Seven other countries will be discussing Che Guevara’s dream of a united Latin America, in the First International Colloquium of Latin America and the Caribbean. It’s titled “From the Revolutions of Independence to Emancipatory Integration.” The event is meant to honor Guevara on the 83^rd anniversary of his birth. Juventud Rebelde has more.

Other News

• Norwegian technicians are in Cuba to give advice on oil drilling (Diario de Cuba)
• Cuban weather authorities have issued a warning about the strong rains pounding Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo (Diario de Cuba)
• The International Rescue Committee is helping Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s family relocate, procuring everything from apartments to English classes (Diario de Cuba)
• The Ernest Hemingway International Fishing Tournament began on Tuesday (CubaEncuentro)

In Cuban State Media

• Hugo Chávez arrived on the island this morning (Granma)
• Meanwhile, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping took off last night, after meeting with Fidel on Monday (Granma)
• A review of youth employment in Cuba (Cubahora)
• An interview with Ana Audivert, head of Cuba’s children’s rights agency, on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Juventud Rebelde)

In the Blogosphere

• Some fantastic photos by Ernesto Bazan (New York Times)
• Tracey Eaton is a reluctant interviewee on Miami radio (Along the Malecón)
• Mauricio Claver-Carone slams the Center for Democracy in the Americas for not meeting with women dissidents on their trip to Cuba (Capitol Hill Cubans)

-Compiled by Chris Lewis

Tuesday Roundup: Cubans, Chileans Sentenced

Chilean businessman Marcel Marambio has been convicted of corruption in Cuba, along with 15 local officials. Marambio, who was tried in absentia, received a 15-year sentence; the Cubans, between three and 10 years. Cuban nightly news last night reported: “Marambio Rodriguez took advantage of the mixed company Sol y Son Viajes SA to defraud the Cuban side (of the venture) for his own gain, hiding information and bribing Cuban officials so they would go along with his shady dealings,” according to AP via the Washington Post. Marambio’s brother, Max Marambio, was slammed with a similar corruption sentence last month, also in absentia. Another report at CubaEncuentro, as well as one from Cubadebate.

American women leaders sat down with Mariela Castro Monday to talk gender, reproductive health, and gay rights. A widely circulating AP piece says that the delegation was headlined by former U.S. representative Jane Harman, and Democratic strategist Donna Brazile. Castro hoped that the meeting could help improve U.S.-Cuba relations. The trip was organized by the Center for Democracy in the Americas. More from the AP article, published in the Washington Post: “‘Our hope is that we will learn from the Cuban women and that maybe we have something to offer in exchange,’ said Sarah Stephens, the group's executive director. ‘We look forward to many more meetings with women in the government, women in the religious community, ordinary women on the street.’”

The normalization of Cuba-European relations is “in the hands of European countries,” said a Cuban official Monday, according to El Universal. In Paris, Dagoberto Rodríguez Barrera, vice minister of foreign relations, said that Cuba hopes to improve relations with Europe, and that “I think that Cuba has shown sufficient evidence in recent years” of progress on key issues.

Other News

• Oh yeah, in addition to all those economic agreements, China also supports Cuba’s ongoing economic reform (AFP)
• After his sex change operation, Juani Santos has fulfilled his dream of being a “normal” man (El Nuevo Herald)
• Cuban soccer bosses prevented a former defector from seeing his old friends at the Gold Cup (El Nuevo Herald)
• The remains of Orlando Zapata Tamayo will be brought to the United States (CubaEncuentro)
• A Cuba native was selected in the first round of the MLB draft (USA Today)
• Cuban bread: the worst in the world? (Diario de Cuba)

In Cuban State Media

• Drought continues without reprieve (Juventud Rebelde)
• The United States is inciting Cuban dissidents to “call upon suicide as a means of struggle” (Cubadebate, EFE report in El Nuevo Herald)
• Cuba’s National Library is being renovated (Granma)

In the Blogosphere

• Here’s a big scoop: the State Department provides some answers to John Kerry on the $20 million per year spent toward regime change in Cuba (Along the Malecón)
• “Why is the US Waging Perpetual War on Cuba's Health Care System?” (CounterPunch)
• Marce Cameron has been translating Cuba’s Economic and Social Policy Guidelines. He’s finished part seven (Cuba’s Socialist Renewal)
• Interesting: Karelia Vázquez hopes to create a neutral online forum where Cuban bloggers can forgo the heated rhetoric to “relax and then chat” (Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, h/t Roque Planas)
• Yoani Sánchez and her cohorts have put out the sixth edition of “Razones Ciudadanas,” this one focused on the island’s LGBT community (Desde Cuba)
• IPS examines the victory of Peruvian president-elect Ollanta Humala (Havana Times)

-Compiled by Chris Lewis

 

Capitol Hill Cubans: Herald documents story missed the mark

 Capitol Hill Cubans blogger Mauricio Claver Carone has lashed out at the Havana Journal’s Rob Sequin – and the Miami Herald article  about his new document-retrieval business called Cuba City Hall.

Sequin, Capitol Hill Cubans says, has championed a vulgar sex site that denigrate and insult Cubans.  (The lewd stuff has  apparently been taken down.) He called the Herald article a “virtual advertisement” despite the fact that it revealed that other businesses charge less than 10 percent of Cuba City Hall’s hefty fees.

 “Seriously, Cuba is the place to get laid... man, woman, straight or gay! There may not be freedom of speech but there certainly is freedom of sex,’’ he quoted Sequin.

 “Now, Sequin is looking to financially prey on the same community he's shamelessly insulted,” the blog says. “For now, we strongly urge all Cubans to take a close look at Sequin's sex-sites before contracting his services.”
From Sequin: "Go to SexInCuba.com and decide for yourself if Mauricio's libelous statements are true."

On OFAC:  "From start to finish, our entire proprietary Cuban document retrieval process is in full compliance with OFAC regulations.

- Frances Robles 

Morning Roundup

Vice President of China Xi Jinping is in Cuba today, and he has made some big-impact agreements with President Raúl Castro. Among the deals: Cuba and China will boost cooperation in Cuban oil drilling; China will refurbish a Cuban oil refinery in Cienfuegos; Cuba will get new economic aid and an interest-free line of credit; China will dole out loans to modernize Cuba’s health system; the two nations also signed a five-year plan to amplify economic relations, which already total 1.8 billion dollars. All this according to EFE, via CubaEncuentro. Xi, the expected successor to Chinese President Hu Jintao, arrived on Saturday. (Coverage also from El Nuevo Herald, Juventud Rebelde)

More big economic news: we reported on Friday that U.S. officials are hoping to convince Spanish oil company Repsol not to drill off the coast of Cuba. After a meeting Friday with U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Repsol seems undeterred, but Reuters says that the company has agreed to follow U.S. environmental regulations in its Cuba operations. Moreover, American officials will even be allowed to inspect the rig once it’s built. This may assuage U.S. environmental concerns, but I imagine Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is still worried about the Castro brothers “becoming the oil tycoons of the Caribbean.”

Dissident Guillermo Fariñas has started another hunger strike. EFE reports that he began the strike on Friday. This time, it’s to demand that the Cuban government  “prosecute those directly responsible for the murder” of Juan Wilfredo Soto, a dissident who died after being allegedly beaten by police. Government doctors and members of the Soto family claim that he died of natural causes. This is Fariñas’ 24^th hunger strike since the 1990s. Diario de Cuba has more coverage here and here.

Other News

• French liquor company Pernod Ricard will appeal a U.S. court decision that denies their rights to the brand Havana Club, due to the embargo on Cuba (El Nuevo Herald)
• Cuban reverend Beatriz López Albuin is the first female bishop of the Iglesia Santidad Pentecostal (Diario de Cuba)
• A new website can help you find lost birth certificates and other Cuban legal documents (Miami Herald)
• Cuba’s soccer team is out of the running for the Gold Cup, after being crushed 5-0 by Costa Rica on Sunday (USA Today)
• Carlos Varela begins his U.S. tour on Friday (CubaEncuentro)

In Cuban State Media

• The Communist Party’s provincial assembly in Guantánamo is focused on “discipline, order, and planning” (Granma)
• It’s the Ministry of Interior’s 50^th birthday (Granma)
• At the Cuban Institute for Frienship with the Peoples, a birthday party for Gerardo Hernández and Ramón Labañino (Juventud Rebelde)
• Intellectuals from Spain, Cuba, and the United States are in Baracoa for a conference of the “discovery” of America (Juventud Rebelde)

In the Blogosphere

• Why would Guillermo Fariñas hunger strike, if Soto’s family members say he wasn’t beaten? (La Joven Cuba)
• “Cuba’s Much Lauded Health Care System No Longer Even Has Aspirin to Give Us” (Huffington Post/Yoani Sánchez)
• ·        Osmel Almaguer analyzes the lyrics (translated into English) of “Divino Guion” by Habana Abierta (Havana Times) 
• ·        A Cuban dissident was arrested by police on May 31^st, who switched the SIM card in her cell phone (El Blog de Dania via Penúltimos Días)
• ·        Doors are better than walls: support cultural exchange between the U.S. and Cuba (Cuba Central)
• Regarding that recent Coast Guard boat incident, Lorenzo Gonzalo says: it’s a crime to steal a coast guard boat in every country in the world—only in Cuba will Western media celebrate it (Rebelión)

 

-Compiled by Chris Lewis

 

Rep. Rivera urges no Cuba drilling

 Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is in Madrid, Spain today where he will meet with Repsol, the Spanish oil and gas firm that has plans to drill off the coast of Cuba, Rep. David Rivera's office says.

And the Congressman has been in touch with Salazar to urge him to "discourage" Repsol from drilling off Cuba's coast.

“I hope that during his meeting in Madrid today Secretary Salazar can express to Repsol why they should not proceed with drilling for oil off of the coast of Cuba.  Secretary Salazar knows that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill hurt our nation’s economy, especially the tourism and fishing industries in Florida and other Gulf coast states.  While we are trying to prevent another similar disaster from occurring off our coasts, we have to be cognizant of the fact that other countries are preparing to drill much closer to American shores without the same concern for safety.  A rig built by and for the Cuban dictatorship will not abide by the same standards as American rigs, and they do not have a contingency plan in the event of a spill,” Rivera said.  

 

“Furthermore, the Castro dictatorship operates a corrupt and tyrannical system focused only on enriching itself and oppressing its people.  The Cuban people will never see the benefits of any oil found off the coast of Cuba.  Instead, facilitating their oil exploration efforts will only work to bolster a terrorist regime.”

- Frances Robles, @RoblesHerald