The latest object of worship
Several years ago, the beginning of the “Energy Revolution” was proclaimed. The official media announced the immediate distribution of pressure cookers that, despite requiring electricity, would reduce the national consumption of petroleum. State industry began to produce the necessary rubber gaskets for the lids which, until then, were made solely by private producers and sold in informal markets at abusive prices.
With the meticulous precision of a military operation, dozens of trucks took to the streets to distribute the new equipment. “Buy now, pay later” was the slogan, which didn’t manage to silence the skeptics who asked how we were going to get, without great difficulty, the food to put in the new technology. However, it was a time of widespread hope which, like love, seemed to be entering the kitchen.
It happened just as with previous projects: at first the distribution went well, but over the months the pots didn’t make it into all the homes, nor were they well received everywhere. In some areas where they were sold the liquefied natural gas service was immediately terminated and electric power outages occurred at the most inopportune moments. On the other hand, something happened that enthusiasts had not been able to foresee; there were people who could not afford these appliances. Even today you can see the lists of defaulters, placed in public view, in the same markets where the sophisticated pans were marketed.
These pots, which were the latest objects of worship of a paternalistic government, are no longer sold and the same thing happened with the rubber gaskets; today, once again, they are offered by alternative artisans in the street at whatever price they care to demand.
* I have regained my capacity to walk on both legs, abandoned the crutch and returned to the themes of my daily life. My thanks to all of you who offered your hands in solidarity, the balm of support and the effective medicine of your friendship. Here and here are links to a brief story about what happened on that Friday, November 6.
Noviembre 24th, 2009 at 14:24
The thinking is linear, the regime is uncapable of working an idea whithin a context.
As a result the “consecuences” are always negative to the main thrust of their idea.
That said, then the blame has to be pointed at someone else … as always.
Perhaps it did work in the 50’s & 60″s but no more …
Noviembre 19th, 2009 at 17:07
I am wondering the same thing as Kerry and Hank. I have very recently returned from Cuba on a church trip, and while most of our time was spent in Santa Clara we were in Havanna for the first day and the beach on the final day and were essentially tourists during that time. My impression was that, though the government undoubtably benefits, everyday people do as well. Would it really serve the general population better if there was no tourism money coming into the country?
I’d like to hear more on this topic as well.
Noviembre 18th, 2009 at 02:54
Kerry, I agree with Andy. Your comments are a valuable addition to the dialog and would also serve to redirect the conversation in the next comments section.
Noviembre 18th, 2009 at 02:34
Kerry –
I think your last comment is an important one. Do you want to copy it to the comments in the new entry so we can enlarge the discussion about it?
thanks
Noviembre 18th, 2009 at 00:38
291RCR
I’ve seen Cuban hospitals and health care practises, I wouldn’t want to go there to be treated. Regarding the education loans Canadian doctor’s acquire to get their education, once they are practicing doctors they will earn around $200,000 to $500,000 dollars a year, so they soon pay off their debt. What do Cuban doctors earn? The so-called ‘free education” is swindled from your earnings for the rest of your life.
El Papi Chulo #44. I can appreciate your frustration with many of those tourists who don’t care to look past their own pleasures to see the suffering of the Cuban people who are serving them. I think your anger is appropriate. I am not one of those tourists.
I can appreciate the views expressed that we Canadians should just stay away and stop spending our money there, yet I don’t know if I agree. Don’t you think countless tourist dollars are flowing directly into the hands of Cubans, either through tips or gifts? And would you agree that all that gifted money gets trickled through countless hands in the grey market, allowing people to survive? ……i am very open to hearing your opinions on this.
Noviembre 17th, 2009 at 23:53
Thanks to Yoani and all that make this blog possible. The truth about Cuba is finally coming out in full bloom. Now I understand why so many people have immigrated out of this paridise. Castro and his family live like Kings, while the rest of the populaton is hungry. Education is indoctrination and healthcare is a joke, as the doctors are all out on missions and medications hard to find. When Fidel dies his wealth should be redistributed to all the people who owned it prior and those still behind. That is the socialist thing to do. When I travel to Cuba, I spend my money with the locals, no CASTRO owned hotels for me.
Noviembre 17th, 2009 at 22:01
Hank — now there’s an idea… the opening scene could be the funeral itself. We could move forward and backward in time….
Noviembre 17th, 2009 at 22:00
Hank: Rocky Horror Picture Show…
hmmm… definitely elements. I think we’re getting somewhere.
Wish I had more talent (for lyrics and music)… we could put this together and open on Broadway within months of the “most spectacular funeral Cuba has ever seen”….
Well we can work out the scenes at least… let other artists finish it off….
Noviembre 17th, 2009 at 08:40
#24
Andy,
That is so funny! I always thought of the whole Cuban dictatorship as the Rocky Horror Picture Show of international politics. You have Fidel, none other than Dr. Frank N. Furter, the “sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania” and the rest of his cronies running around in an insane world, created by them for their own amusement. Poor Brad and Janet stumble into this world and, well, you get the idea. Great post!
Noviembre 17th, 2009 at 07:33
TO:291RCR #39…You are the same canadains who travel to Cuba and party like rock stars while the staff at the hotel try and hide their empty shells due to hunger,lack of freedom,the basics and smile at you so you can have a pleasant stay.Then you fuckers go on Trip Advisor and rate these hotels in cuba to how great they are and post pictures of you guys at the beach while in the back ground the cuban people are wondering “Where the hell these lack of reality people come from?”
Noviembre 17th, 2009 at 05:10
Since we are talking about property rights, there is an interesting exception to the embargo that does not get much press. It has to do with intellectual property rights: patents, trademarks and copyrights. The following is a link to a brief article regarding this exception:
http://hg.org/article.asp?id=5356
As far as I know, the exception still exists.
If you conduct a search on the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) website for international patent applications that claim priority to patent applications filed in Cuba (the two-letter country code for Cuba is CU), you get 163 hits (as of today).
Here is a link to the search result from the WIPO website. If the link doesn’t work, all you have to do is go to the Patent Scope search engine on the WIPO website and search for Priority Country = CU.
http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/cgi/guest/search5
There are other variations in which you can search for Applicants from Cuba or Inventors from Cuba and you will get different numbers.
The point is, Cuba has filed at least 163 international patent applications that claim priority to patent applications filed in Cuba. There are probably more international applications filed by Cuba directly with WIPO that do not make any priority claim. There’s nothing strange or out of the ordinary about this. Cuba is a signatory to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and has every right to do this, just like applicants in the US and all of the other countries that are members of the PCT.
What is interesting is that Cuba has filed patent applications in the United States based on many, if not all, of these international patent applications. Some of the US filings have even issued as US patents. Many other patent applications filed by Cuba are still pending before the United States Patent & Trademark Office.
Patents give to their owners a limited exclusive right for the life of the patent. That is to say, a patent gives the patentee the right to exclude others from practicing (making, using or selling) the invention that is claimed in the patent. So a patent is basically a monopoly that is granted by a government to an inventor (the applicant) for a limited amount of time. Why is this important? Because Cuba has been obtaining patent protection over the last several years in the United States in quite a few areas, most notably in the area of biotechnology.
As I mentioned above, a patent is a limited monopoly granted by the government of the jurisdiction where the patent issues. In the United States, the patent system is meant to promote the progress of “the useful arts” by giving inventors a limited exclusive right to their invention. In return, the patentee has to disclose to the public what he invented. This is known as the ‘quid pro quo’ of the patent system. The Founding Fathers of the United States thought this was so important that they included Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 in the Constitution, which provides for the protection of inventions and writings, i.e. patents and copyrights.
The patent right is limited because it expires after a certain amount of time and because it is defined by the claims in the patent; but it is a monopoly nonetheless. Some people think that the patent system should be abolished. I don’t agree because the quid pro quo of the patent system encourages inventors to disclose their inventions in return for the limited exclusive right that comes with getting a patent. The public benefits from learning about the invention and the inventor benefits because he gets a monopoly, if only for a limited time. What the patentee does with his monopoly is entirely up to him.
There are a couple of things that I find interesting about all of this as it relates to Cuba.
The first is that procuring patents is not inexpensive. It can cost a lot of money to hire patent specialists, usually lawyers, to prosecute patent applications before national patent offices. A lot of money. But the potential return on the investment can be well worth it if the patent is ever litigated or licensed. Most patents never see the light of day. But others can generate significant revenue streams in the form of royalties from licenses or, if litigated, in the form of damages extracted from infringers. The people in Cuba who are authorizing payment of the prosecution costs for all of these patent applications must know this. Otherwise, why would they do it?
Another interesting thing is that patents are limited monopolies. But isn’t that the antithesis of communism? Communal property for everyone and all that? Ok, to give them the benefit of the doubt, let’s say that the government of Cuba is procuring these patents, not for the personal benefit of any particular person in the government, but for the people of Cuba.
Here’s the thing. Most patents never see the light of day, meaning the inventions they protect are never developed, never licensed and are not commercially valuable. But suppose one of these patent applications that Cuba is prosecuting were actually worth something? Suppose the claims in one of their patents were broad enough to protect a commercially valuable product or method, like a biotech invention that might be practiced here by a US corporation? That patent could effectively give the patentee, Cuba in this case, the right to shut down the whole operation or extract a licensing fee or damages if infringement were shown. Wouldn’t that be ironic? It is an interesting scenario.
Noviembre 17th, 2009 at 05:07
I just posted the new entry and while I was ‘there’ I found four more perfectly good comments caught in the spam catcher. One was a duplicate but the others I added. When I do this it changes all the numbers of the comments because the ‘caught’ ones go into line based on when they were posted, that is they don’t get added on at the end.
So just keep that in mind, this time and always; when someone says “Like you said in comment #65″ and it makes no sense becuase the numbering has changed.
SORRY ABOUT THAT FOLKS.
Your Friendly English Translator
Noviembre 17th, 2009 at 04:06
Apparantly global warming moved the equator above tropic cancer line…
Noviembre 17th, 2009 at 03:56
291RCR
So, Cuba is in the southern hemisphere right?.Come here with facts, but importantly with some basic knowledge of Geography, please.
Noviembre 17th, 2009 at 02:35
Kerry #31
Please what ever you do!!!!!!!!! don’t think the glass is half empty and fall into the trap that the followers of the blog would lead you to believe. They like Yoani (the game is not over is there a real??????????) continue to dwell on the negative wake up and smell the roses. You mentioned health care Cubans enjoy the most advanced in the southern hemisphere, as well as education. I am sure being from Canada you are well aware of the exurbanite student loans our young people face when they graduate. Look through your own glasses talk to the real Cuban people and they will tell you keep the Empire out and we will live happily ever after. Just my thoughts an ordinary Canadian that appreciates the real Cuban people.
Noviembre 17th, 2009 at 00:30
FLACA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!TE QUIERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CATO INSTITUTE ARTICLE: Cuban Blogger Yoani Sanchez Keeps Speaking Truth to Power
ANOTHER ARTICLE ON “LA FLACA”! SHE IS BUSTING FIDEL AND RAUL’S BALLS!!! and HAPPY 490t ANNIVERSARY!! to the city of HAVANA!!
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org.....-to-power/
ESSAY by Yoani Sanchez: “La libertad como forma de pago”
SOOO PROUD OF MY “FLACA” THE CUBAN BLOGGER YOANI SANCHEZ!!
“Yoani Sánchez es una reconocida bloguera cubana independiente. Este ensayo es el ganador del tercer lugar en el concurso “Caminos de la libertad” (2009) organizado por TV Azteca (México).”
http://www.elcato.org/node/4731
CATO Institute in Washington DC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_Institute
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 22:13
Andy
I have friends in Venezuela who work as Physicians in that country and they said just exactly like your comment #33 from Reuters. The guy is doing exactly as Fidel did in Cuba during the 80’s building up the military, and subterrenan bunkers. Wasting a lot of resources. Looking for enemies to justify his permanent hunger for power. Seeing ghosts enemies in neighbors countries.
BTW I was just thinking about what you posted about South Africa, the other day. It is amazing how Nelson Mandela was able to resist to stay in power.Remind me of how George Washington did it as first president of this nation. People wanted him to be a King . He just simply said No.Retiered into private life. Made history in a great way.
Castro will go in history as “Un personaje tristemente celebre”
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 22:11
To #31
It probably hasn’t occur to you that by expending money in there you are probably helping their economy and subsequently delaying the end of it?
I am not saying to you not to go, you are free to do whatever you want but there are other places you can visit.
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 21:42
Speaking of the VENEZUELAN OIL Fidel gets from his friend (and surrogate son… ha ha) Chavez…
Looks like Mini-Fidel isn’t having any better luck than Big-Fidel in getting his nascent socialist/communist state to run basic services, according to Reuters (see below).
Now in a lot of countries, states, regions, cities things like basic utilities ARE owned and operated publicly and COMPETENTLY. But as has been said over and over… no one will ever mistake these ideology-driven communists for competent managers.
“A wave of power and water cuts in Venezuela is testing people’s patience, stirring sporadic protests and challenging President Hugo Chavez’s popularity in his strongholds.”
“The rationing, which looks set to go on for months, has caused widespread inconvenience across the South American oil-exporting nation, even causing unrest in poor areas where there is broad support for the leftist Venezuelan leader.”
“Chavez’s government is blaming the worst drought in decades for the rationing, but opposition parties say chaotic management during his 10 years in power are the reason.”
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 20:19
Yoani I love you. I read your articles on Internazionale, an italian weekly. I think that your Blog is one of the most important things that a Cuban person can do for his country. I hope that all the Cuban can have the same possibilities that have a European person on all the aspect of his life, soon.
See you soon,
Riccardo
http://jimmypec.ilcannocchiale.it/
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 19:25
Kerry #31
The system is able to hold on through State terrorism towards their own citizens.They get the oil from Venezuela almost for free.They get cash from Europeans and Canadians tourists who spent millions of dollars every year in Cuba and also from Cubans living outside of the Island who has no choice but to send money to their relatives.
So if you are a good listener and want to help, you kind of know what to do.Jamaica is a wonderful island for vacation.
Thanks
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 18:55
Thousands and thousands of us Canadians are reading your Blog Yoani. We are watching with great interest the developments in Cuba. Many of us Canadians come to visit your country during the winter to enjoy the beautiful weather, beaches and Cuban music, but also bringing along an extra suitcases of full of toothpaste/brushes, cosmetics, soaps, aspirin, school supplies, etc. to help out. I have been to Cuba 3 times and will definitely be going back.
As I visited there, and now read your blog faithfully, it is clearly a bankrupt system…..Communism is an absolute failure! There is not enough adjective to describe it’s failure. Yet it is fascinating listening to some Cuban people defend the system. Free health care? So what! Who wants 1st generation health care? In Canada we also have free health care, yet it is state of the art.
How long can this decrepit system continue to hold on? What needs to happen for the last wilting straw to finally break? When is the state going to collapse? What is it going to take? It is long overdue, like someone is 10 months pregnant. What is going to finally push it out?
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 17:35
Hank #27
Got it .Thanks .Finally somebody is speaking for them.
Julio#26
Yes I remember.Crazy ,not even putting to sugar cane harvests together they were able to pull out the 10 millions tons.
Castro just just harvested Bull crap..
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 16:43
Here is the Text from the letter in response to the article
He is paternalist, You are paternalist, I am paternalist
Translated by Google with some changes I made to make the read more fluid. I did not review the whole translation but you should be able to get a good idea of what the answer is about. Brilliant!
Your article is unacceptable because to exempt the state from responsibility for the prevailing paternalism, when it was the state who begat paternalism.
I do not have the soul of a spokesperson and I feel disgusted by the irresponsible people abrogating themselves the right to speak without consultation on behalf of the Cuban people, which are, unfortunately, enough, I will just relate my personal situation, knowing that coincides with the a large percentage of the Cuban population. The arithmetic - although many no longer like it because it had been used to manipulate numbers - continues to be an exact science, foreign to subjectivity and therefore a useful ally when it comes to knowing where to walk, in this case where I walk and where they walk the ones that like to argue that the 2 minus two is 3.
Just by using my brain I was able to graduate from college, I got my degree. After 6 years of service work(Every graduate most give a number of years of service))
I have come to earn the glorious figure - glorious because it is the top
- of 480 pesos. The salary is divided, taking into account a standard month, more or less as follows:
thanks to an old air-conditioning equipment, so help me God, that I try to use as little as possible, 170 pesos.
The vilified rationing supply booklet, so named “state subsidy”, it costs me - I do not know if anyone will get for free - about 150 pesos, which fall into the pounds of oil, little rice, low grain, our daily bread, the cafe, the occasional one time or another soap, toothpaste and a few other little things that make up the quota of me and my 2 children.
To this we add water paid, gas paid and also shares the refrigerator and the boiler that generates the state “gave us”, and simple arithmetic we can conclude that after you pay the “subsidy “the state remains weak pocket rather emaciated, to meet the sea, not the ocean of essential items that no state” subsidizes “but wishes to apply the so-called two forty, well, maybe I was left, though I suspect that it is much more .*
* It, Comrade Lazaro, we must thank the kind receivable state nearly 70% of the meager salary that we pay to acquire their “subsidies”, and incidentally - I say - to thank you also like us to stay with the chicks mouth open watching live the rest of the month with little money left after we buy the food share of the notebook, which is only with extreme austerity, bad eating 13 days of the 30 or 31 in the month. Anyone who was not Cuban think, mate, that the products offered by the book are a sort of royalty from the government, but the court know well that the prices of these products are in full correspondence with the salaries paid by the state, employer exclusive of the workforce. With this in mind I ask: Who subsidizes whom? Should the people the state with its low-paid work or as you say, the state subsidizes food of people? Or rather I would ask: Where does the little or how much the state dispatched if not almost selfless effort of workers? Or do you have the strange idea to convince us that the state / per se / is capable of producing more than wasted? You know, mate Barredo, it seems not to have heard, that in the features of this village have always been the love of work, ability to sacrifice, amply demonstrated the courage to take on challenges to labor have been some outlandish or many. This island - check history - has been a cradle of entrepreneurs with broad inventive, suffused with a rare strength within our geographical area, without chauvinism. It seems that conveniently ignores that the Cuban diaspora scattered around the four corners of this world, was marked and characterized as an outstanding community and extremely hardworking. Winner of respect and admiration of the most disparate societies. The educational gains of the past 50 years or 45 - with all respect and responsibility I doubt the last 5 years - have served to form a strong and skilled workforce, envy of many countries. But you questioned our intelligence against the wind, trying clumsily to spend for a ride. Or do you, in an exercise of intellectual laziness, ignores or you want to ignore or be ignored or directed him to ignore the true genesis of paternalism in our society always ductile, which has responded to the directives that invariably come up as the echo voice. As we are not fools, by contrast, are children of a revolution that knew how to develop our intellect and our suspicion, we realized the flight, for the times that you are not more than bad luck spokesman. The thesis, needless to say, the part of other above, redundancy, or perhaps above all that, a little here, a little there and a lot through you, are trying to become entrenched in people a sense of guilt , surplus undeserved. But you, with the superficial semiotics of its syndromes, has offended the people laden with guilt who has not, nor can have, if we start with the maxim that the people are the sole sovereign. Incidentally masterfully describes his cervical syndrome that prevents him from looking up. Blame is very easy and especially if these are below .*
* Will I, mere mortal, to show you that all these social vices described here were bred to consciousness for a state to legislate to what kind of underwear should use their workers? Do I have to remind the state that left zero room for popular initiative? Do I have to invite him to see the ridiculous state parqueadores jackets that adorn the city, as evidence of the pervasiveness of bureaucracy? *
* Article is unacceptable because it is unacceptable to hold harmless the state of the prevailing paternalism, when it was this and who bore him until he used it at your convenience. Reducing the country’s economic problem to the heavy “subsidies” that the state must apply to food, taking into account that the same kind been subtracted from the pocket of a large percent of workers very low wages that it pays to simplify the misfortune and, worse, abandon the working class. Why you, Mr. Journalist, we do a favor to ordinary Cubans, the working class in general and serves as a spokesman for the reverse? No need to write articles, so we’re not going to ask, no apology is necessary, it is not usual. But it could help find a cure you of another undescribed syndrome. Hearing loss syndrome apparently related to lack of oxygen that people suffer or enjoy the heights. Taking into account his neck problem so use it to understand and convey the disparate proposals of the real world Communists made to fight these same syndromes that you accuse us .***
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 16:25
Probably soon the rationing book will disappear from Cuba
http://www.cubaencuentro.com/e.....eta-223214
I do believe is a very serious step if they do it this is related to the comments I was making before about the article (He is paternalist, You are paternalist, I am paternalist) Él es paternalista, tú eres paternalista, yo soy paternalista…
The title itself sound like a professor teaching the essential grammar to little children.
Is actually very interesting that those same 4 syndromes that Barredo accuse the people of Cuba of having. Can easily be translated into syndromes of the Cuban Regime
Let’s see
1 Pigeon Syndrome: is about the Cuban regime begging for money everywhere because the country they have inherit can’t produce anything.
2 The volleyball syndrome: is that the regime is not responsible for any issue in Cuba Everything is someone’s else fault. Who ? The US embargo of course or the CIA or anybody else but themselves.
3 The ostrich syndrome: We can see it on Castro’s reflexion and the regime. It happens when he is more interested on every problem out there outside of Cuba and not in the very serious problems they have in Cuba.
and so on!
It is they the ones that created all this and nobody else is responsible for it.
They got people use to this and now they want to pull the carpet from under their feet.
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 15:55
There’s a story on the CNN website about the hunger strikers. I don’t think it has been posted here yet.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/.....index.html
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 14:33
Hank - it also came to my mind that this post is a metaphor when I read it!
Concubino - I remember when I was a kid all the things they used to put about the 10 millions tons of sugar at the end how many millions do they do?
Cuba used to be on the top 3 producers of sugar
now I believe they need to import it.
Remember that Fidel Castro gave away a sugar fabric to Nicaragua
He always did things like Cuba was his personal farm-plantation
and Cubans his Slaves.
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 07:35
Andy #23
To ilustrated your point I would to remind you that when Castro open a little bit after the fall of Berlin Wall(Special Period).Cubans were running little bussiness like they were living in free enterprise society like anyoneelse in the western hemisphere, my sister was running a “Discos Voladores Sandwiches” from her home like a McDonals.She was feeding the whole neighborhood. The lines were extremely long but people were in and out in less than ten minutes.The whole bussiness went down after the police found out that she was buying stolen bread from different local bakaries.
But even more check this out. It is about how Cubans compare among other hispanic minorities in the USA http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/23.pdf
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 07:12
How about these ones. These are legendaries..My father was accused of counter revolutionary and a microfraccionarie just because he said that this was crazy. He was a nobody after he said this in front of few people
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjQVKQjd6AI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpyvosVVuVc
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 07:11
Hank: “Like a Marx brother’s movie”…
How about a comic rock opera… with Fidel et al in tights with capes… (one by one Fidel can kill off all his cronies.. sing them into their graves… it could be downright hilarious)… I can see it in my mind’s eye… the cast of thousands playing the beleagured Cuban people… what shall we have Yoani wear? Unfortunately I have no ability to write music… I need a few partners… I KNOW! Does anyone follow this blog?
http://elauditorioimbecil.blogspot.com/
This is Claudia’s live-in partner, Ciro Diaz, a biologist turn guitar player/singer (he’s in Porno Para Ricardo)… he is HILARIOUS.
So we should start on the plot and then get Ciro to work on it…
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 07:07
“After”…. can Cubans create a functioning economy?
I was watching Anne Louis Bardach on YouTube or somewhere on-line giving a talk recently… she said something like this:
“I hate to stereotype people, it’s really not a good thing, but… if there’s one thing I will say about Cubans, they are the most naturally entrepreneurial people on the planet… it’s in their blood…”
Essentially she was saying, open the gates and Cubans on the island will have that place running effectively so fast it’ll make your head spin… they will not only feed themselves, they will start exporting to the world: knowledge, products, everything.
Of course that is no surprise since if they weren’t entrepreneurial… continually ‘resolving’ everything… everyone would be dead of starvation already. I remember when I was at my friend’s house in Havana… all week long the sales people came by… fish, eggs, anything you want… someone was selling it. She told me that even the cops… in the day they stand on the corner and harass everyone and at night they’re just like everyone else, working the angles so they can eat… (well except the cops on the night shift… they’re working the angles in the daytime).
For those of you who haven’t read her books… let me highly recommend:
Cuba Confidential
I just finished “After Fidel” — it’s good but a little “insider” focused… that is everyone who’s bothering to read and comment on this blog would probably really like it… but “Cuba Confidential” is a good book for ANYbody… not just those of us who are obsessed….
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 07:00
Hank
Honestly.It never cross my mind that Yoani was writting about the pressure cooking as methaphor.It would be awesome.Unfortunaley after reading the post again in my native language (just to be sure)it is not.Yoani is writing plain, simply and beautifully about the pressure cooker.Another crazy idea one of the many ideas of Fidel Castro.
Again I have posted this before but I would like to share with you a couple of things.
Probably the pressure cooker idea came during this phase of this stage…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbzciUAiOxQ
But this one was when He was completly able physically and mentally, but completly crazy as well..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK2XmNGSnGA
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 05:40
Concubino,
I am happy to continue the conversation, which is fascinating to me as well. I have learned so much from you and everyone here.
Statue: I was away for most of the day but responded to your last post to me in the previous area. Unless you feel otherwise, I consider the matter closed (can someone please tell me what the proper term is for these places? Are we in a new Comment Section under a New Blog, what is it?).
I like Yoani’s new post - a lot. Her decision to write about a pressure cooker is, I think, a metaphor for all that is happening in her personal life and the lives of the people in Cuba. What I find interesting is the fact that it is a completely dysfunctional pressure cooker. I mean, really, how hard is it to get a pressure cooker to work? All you need is a source of heat and something to put inside the thing. Neither of these are available. No energy and no food. But everyone has a state-of-the-art fantastic pressure cooker! What great planning! What a tremendous solution to the energy problem!
If it were not so tragically sad, it would be funny. Like something from a Marx Brother’s movie.
There are, of course, other meanings to be taken from her use of the pressure cooker metaphor. I don’t see those things in her post.
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 05:27
The good news Andy, Julio and others is it can be done.The whole country can reinvent itself. The human potencial is there,that we don’t need to import.If doubt that small country in the Caribean sea can’t do it.Well,I will like to introduce you to this even smaller island in the caribean. Barbados.If they are doing it. We can do it better.
http://www.heritage.org/index/
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 05:13
Andy,
You bring so many topics to the table.
Property rights for instance.Who owns what after Castro?Tough one.But since nothings works and the country is a total failure as you stated,Who wants to own anything?.How about let other countries invest in the Island.Bring modern technology.Fresh Capital
Reinvent the whole infrastructure, from transpostation to Agriculture.The country is able to feed themselves if the farmers are allowed to do so.As today most of the food is imported from the USA despite the embargo.Nothing to add about transportation, everybody knows how people moves around there
Information and Communications. What about that?. Today I was at a party with some cubans friends….You guess right.. the topic was Cuba, GY among other things. My friend is from Holguin. He has a relative who came from that part of country specically from Guisa a few days agoHe was just visiting his realtives in Cuba.A family of four died of H1N1. The family doctor who was in charge of the care of this family DIED too!.Other than the neighbors,nobody knows about that.What a shame!
By the way if you want to know a little bit about that part of the country check this guy out. http://www.cubaencuentro.com/l.....cantarilla
Even somebody from Norway knows that the whole country is a mess.Best way to go is start from ZERO.
Statue I read your link .There is something like that written in WSJ.
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 04:07
I just finished reading an interesting article published by Juan Tamayo in The Miami Herald today with regards to the new force of Cuba’s blogosphere.
http://www.miamiherald.com/new.....25230.html
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 03:51
The REVOLUTION has been a failure, after 50 years an individual is able to obtain a pressure cooker. People wake up, Cuba needs some change from within. Yoani, I’m glad to hear your back up and kicking. Pa la Calle…… I also hope you and your neighbors find something to cook, other than cat or claria.
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 03:47
It is gratifying to hear that Yoani has bounced back and is walking normally again. There is so much work to be done and to have you back on track is very reassuring to those of us who support you in every way we can.
Regarding the post above, like a famous, down to earth unpretentious baseball player and team manager once said, its like “deja vu all over again” (deja vu una vez mas). Through the years the regime has promised a great deal, and each time without fail, they disappoint to put it mildly.
Not that politicians don’t routinely over promise the world over. But at least, with real elections, one has the satisfaction of dismissing them or their party, each time, for as long as it takes, if they fail to deliver. If you do this enough, eventually, one will of them figures out a way and deliver the goods.
Once again, except for the wannabe dictators like Chavez, it is evident to everyone watching the Cuban drama, that it is time for the elderly gentlemen to move on and allow the youngsters to step in and become the leaders of today. Not tomorrow, not the next decade, but right now.
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 03:28
Yoani:
It is gratifying to hear that you’ve bounced back and are walking normally again. There is so much work to be done and to have you back on track is very reassuring to those of us who support you in every way we can.
Regarding you post, like a famous down to earth, unpretentious baseball player once said, it feels like “de javu all over again” (de javu una vez mas). Throught the years the regime has promised so much, and each time without fail, they disappointed. Not that politicians don’t overpromise in other countries, but at least, one has the satisfaction of dismissing them if they fail to deliver. If you do this enough, eventually, one will deliver.
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 02:09
“Cubans act like little babies, waiting for someone else to feed them.”
(A rough paraphrase of something we hear over and over.)
My response: Do we need any more psychiatric studies to tell us what happens to “little babies” raised by such abusive parents?
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 01:43
And here is another not to far back
http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/?p=1079
refering again to Luis Alberto
and Desiderio
I assume the same Desiderio of
Desiderio, Desiderio listen to our criteria.
(Desiderio is not a common name in Cuba)
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 01:41
This is the post where Yoani mentioned Luis Alberto Garcia
http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/?p=982
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 00:29
Here is one answer to that post in Granma
from a cuban
http://www.penultimosdias.com/.....en-granma/
The answer was attributed to Luis Alberto García the main actor on the short comedy Monte Rouge
Yoani has posted his picture here before but he has denied been the author of the letter I do not remember where I read that.
Maybe someone will like to translate the response letter to English
Noviembre 16th, 2009 at 00:24
Here is the article from Granma I was referring
Él es paternalista, tú eres paternalista, yo soy paternalista…
http://granma.co.cu/2009/10/09.....tic03.html
I do not have time to translate the whole thing but the basic Idea is they are saying they can not keep doing what they have done so far and they may have to cut on services. How dip will the cuts be? Nobody knows except that top leadership.
I am sure they will cut as dip as they have to as long as they can still keep themselves in power at all cost!
1 Pigeon Syndrome: We go about with open mouth because a good part of the mechanisms we have designed are conceive to give us everything. You do not go to the market to buy, you go so that you get what is rightfully yours (an entitlement); You do not repair your home or apartment because you do not have how to acquire materials, things are conceive to facilitate those repairs and just like that for every issue of our daily life.
2 The volleyball syndrome:We have got used to send the ball to the other side, because supposedly the majority of the issues are not our problem, but the problem of the other, and the bureaucratic ping pong is exasperating.
3 The ostrich syndrome: We have gotten used to place the head in the ground, Almost always so that we can not see the problems neither to act with full energy and the innovative force against routine and bad habits specially not continue with systematic.
4 The obstacle syndrome: You can not transform the economy and the satisfaction of all basic necessities in a month, but some want for it to happen, but once they have encounter the first obstacle they stop until someone takes it away or jump for them.
Here is the text in spanish
There is more of this in the link very interesting to read.
1-. El síndrome del pichón: andamos con la boca abierta porque buena parte de los mecanismos que hemos diseñado están concebidos para que nos lo den todo. Usted no va a la bodega a comprar, va a que le den lo que le toca; usted no repara su casa o su apartamento en el edificio, porque además de que no tiene cómo adquirir los materiales, las cosas están concebidas para que le den las facilidades de esa reparación y así es en la mayoría de los asuntos de nuestra vida cotidiana.
2-. El síndrome del voleibol: nos hemos acostumbrado a saltar y lanzar la pelota para la otra cancha, porque supuestamente la mayoría de los asuntos no son nuestro problema, sino es del otro, y el peloteo burocrático es agobiante.
3-. El síndrome del avestruz: nos hemos habituado a meter la cabeza en el hueco, casi siempre para no ver los problemas ni actuar con toda la energía y la fuerza innovadora contra las rutinas y los hábitos negativos y, especialmente, dejar de ser sistemáticos.
4-. El síndrome del obstáculo: no se logra la transformación de la economía y la satisfacción de las necesidades básicas en un mes, pero algunos quieren que así sea, aunque en cuanto se encuentran el primer obstáculo se detienen y esperan a que otros lo quiten o salten por ellos.
Noviembre 15th, 2009 at 23:56
I like to continue on something that Hank was asking on the prior post
here is part of his comment
“You’re right, “little by little they take liberties away from you. That’s how they do it.” Well said. What I don’t understand is why, after all we (the human race) have been through, does this continue? Are we just stupid?”
What happen is that this people like Chavez like Fidel Castro like Staling like Hitler etc they lie and lie one on the top of the other.
I can show you so many lies that Fidel did said to my parents and grandparents and to all the Cubans.
So many promises broken, Now they find that after 50 years the miracles they were counting on did not happen and are wondering what do we do now?
So you see the Barredo telling people on Granma
You are paternalistic, I am paternalistic she is paternalistic (is worth reading this article).
Claiming that Cubans have been living for too long from a system that took care of them like babies. They are doing that now because something is coming
they new future where the little help they used to get from the state will totally disappear!
Now what?
What do they have then?
Is it the fault again of the American embargo?
or the long list of excuses they most have?
No
There is only one man to blame for this calamity in Cuba
let me see if I remember his name, my memory is not what used to be
Ooh yea how could I forget :-)
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz
And to answer your question about if we are bound to not learn from each others mistakes?
I guess we do not learn from each other very well. For the majority of people they will have to learn these lessons all over again.
The Venezuelans are on the path to learn the same lesson that the Cubans learned. Hopefully they may still get their act together on the coming elections an get Chavez out.
It seems like everyone think they can make this thing call communism work.
Believe me I know it will never work not for Russians not for Germans not for anyone that have tried to make it work.
It will not work because the economy of communist societies do not work.
Look at the Chinese. What are they doing?
Economically is capitalism but the communist party still retain the grip on the country eliminating freedom and controlling internet so the society in countries like that is mostly to the mercy of the government with absolute power so is almost like going back to the times of slavery.
Do we all want to be slaves? to the powerful elite in countries like that?
With no more freedom to complain, no more freedom to even talk about your work
you at any time maybe accuse of working for some foreign government or anything else!
While this powerful elite live like kings and queens. And perform their experiments on us the little guys.
Noviembre 15th, 2009 at 22:29
I posted this on the prior post did not know there was a new one
Concubino
I am watching the video you posted
and I totally agree with the first few statements of the video.
I had try to explain something similar to that before but maybe I was not very successful.
Communism is total government control and we all know total government control will be a doom no matter if is far left or far right who totally control a total government
because they will do whatever it takes to keep that kind of order Including repressing torturing and murdering as we all know and eliminate all the human rights!
On the other hand we can not go either for total anarchy that is everyone does as it pleases. There has to be some sort of in between society that not everything is government property and not everything is anarchy a middle ground, Cubans will have to find what that middle ground is for them. I am sure that middle ground will have
Freedom and Human dignity in it.
The Cuban regime used to be all the way to the left that is everything was control by the government but because of the severe economic crises after the fall of Berlin they had to allow back a little bit of private initiative like Paladars(food establishment) etc. just enough so that the whole ship will not go down!
With the economic situation they have now they maybe force to open even more.
Will see.
Noviembre 15th, 2009 at 22:04
Post Fidel constitution and governance
Alas… I have to run and do some other things… but briefly — it seems to me the Cuban constitution of today needs to be thrown on the scrap heap of history.
Perhaps a starting pointis the Constitution of 1940.
Here’s a brief summary from wikipedia and here’s a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1.....on_of_Cuba
From Wiki====In 1940, during the de facto presidency of Fulgencio Batista, a constitution was created. Widely considered one of the most progressive constitutions in existence at the time, it provided for land reform, public education, minimum wage and other progressive ideas. Some of its provisions were not implemented in practice. Following a coup d’etat by Fulgencio Batista in 1952, parts of this constitution were suspended.
Prior to the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro and the other revolutionaries, through the Manifiesto de Montecristi, claimed that their chief goal was to reinstate the Constitution of 1940.
The last surviving signer of the 1940 Constitution, Emilio Ochoa, died in Miami, Florida, on June 27, 2007.=== Wikipedia Summary End
Noviembre 15th, 2009 at 22:00
3 - Brought forward from last entry
Post Fidel vengeance and forgiveness… maybe we should call this “the great reckoning”. (Note, I did NOT capitalize it!)
This of course will be the subject of as much anguish and struggle as the property rights. Who are the “little people”… and who are the “big people”.
Some of the really hard issues I see:
Government leaders. Some will be judged “too dirty”to be allowed to have any role in a new Cuba… whether they will be jailed or punished in some way, I don’t know… but clearly they cannot continue to be in power.
But… do you throw out EVERYONE who held any power? How far down? How are the new positions filled then? With complete neophytes? Remember… Fidel, Che, Raul etc… all neophytes. Look how successful it was last time!
Here’s a great book I recommend: My 14 months with Castro. by Rufo López Fresquet, 1966. Lopez Fresquet was Fidel’s first treasury minister… a competent economist… of course he had to escape with his life in the end. His book is a great look into the disaster in the making… How does Cuba avoid continuing the tradition?
Los Chivatos: What happens to the woman with her hands over her face. Make no mistake, it’s fear of the future, and even the present, that brought those hands up… she’s not worried about whether she forgot her make-up that morning…
It’s the same as with the government officials… how far down do you go? If everyone active in their CDR is a criminal in the post-Fidel Cuba… who’s left? Half the population? Less?
I think South Africa offers some lessons, with its Truth and Reconciliation commission.. I would love to hear from readers from the former communist countries of Europe and others… how does this work? How do you successfully move on?
Again, Germany immediately post-war might offer lessons. Suddenly there were no Nazis. They disappeared. And how could that happen? Because almost everyone was a Nazi and so of course everyone had a stake in moving on. There are some good books and movies about this. One I remember about a young woman later ‘digging up the dirt’… she had to know… it was very painful for all concerned.
I suspect in Cuba this may go on for another 50 years… until all who partook are finally dead and buried.
Noviembre 15th, 2009 at 21:59
2 - Brought forward from last entry
Post-Fidel property rights.
I don’t know if everyone is aware, but foreign govts, for example the US and I’m not sure about others… Spain? Does anyone know?… Foreign governments have issued legal judgments against the Castro regime for confiscations — settling these accounts is one of the main demands of what I will call, for now, the “hard liners”.
Of course the court judgments tend to be in favor people who owned millions in property etc. The people whose little houses were confiscated by the government after they left, there are no judgments on their behalf.
I like to think none of this will really be an issue. That it will all be resolved fairly easily and the real struggle will be assigning property rights to people living on the island, ordinary people.
But it is hard to say.
I suspect Fidel/Raul et al will take their riches to their graves… that is they’re parked in untouchable off-shore accounts and investments that their heirs will have control of and the (probably literally) billions lost to this will mostly be unrecovered. But who knows.
So… it’s not like the claims of Holocaust victims against Germany, for example. Because where is the current day wealth to pay these claims? It no longer exists.
This whole topic is worthy of a lot of thought. For whatever our thoughts in this blog are worth!
Noviembre 15th, 2009 at 21:59
1 - Brought forward from last entry
So many interesting threads here and I’ve been off-line for a bit (ever now and then as you know, we all benefit a bit by walking on real streets and not just virtual ones).
The ones I’m interested in pursuing further right now (among many others) –
Post-Fidel property rights… who owns what.
Post-Fidel vengeance and forgiveness… and maybe we need a word that is not forgiveness, but just ‘putting aside’. Many I know, will never be able to forgive but might be willing to let things go so everyone can move on.
Post-Fidel constitution and governance… a fascinating topic for me.
I don’t have a lot of time right now so I’ll make a few brief comments on each… just to keep my hand in! I’m really thrilled the way the discussion in this blog is going lately. It seems we’re focusing in on things that matter and trying to enlarge the discussion and thinking around them.
Noviembre 15th, 2009 at 21:58
In response to Concubino’s last comment on the last post.. I’m going to “move” my last few comments here.
It’s definitely easier if we carry on the discussion in one post at a time…
Noviembre 15th, 2009 at 21:57
Concubino… I suspect that Yoani is saying… “all these dramas do not change one thing about our basic reality… and our basic reality is this country is a complete and total failure… nothing works.”
Noviembre 15th, 2009 at 21:31
This is good post, but I have to admit I’m a bit dissapointed. I was just expecting something else from the most well known Cuban in the Blogosphere.
Given the current events happening in Cuba right now,I do believe there are more important topics to write about.