The Patient
The Conversation. Sculpture donated to Havana by Vittorio Perrotta.
I turn on the TV and see a woman giving birth in front of the camera at some hospital in the interior of the country. The voice of a spokeswoman explains the birth figures for 2012, while I wonder if they asked the woman’s permission to film her during childbirth. The most probably answer is no. Ten minutes later a friend comes by and gives me an article where Alan Gross’s attorney protests because the Cuban government has released the medical history of his client. The subject reminds me of that scene where a hidden camera in a hospital captured Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s mother talking with a doctor, not knowing she was being recorded. The footage was broadcast in prime time to millions of viewers to see, clearly without her authorization, the suffering of a woman who was about to lose her son.
But the saga doesn’t end there. Last September the director of a polyclinic explained the symptoms of a dissident who fell ill while on a hunger strike. All the details were relayed without the least shame about violating the privacy of a patient and also violating the Hippocratic oath when it says, “I will remain silent about everything that, in my profession or out of it, I hear or see in the lives of men.” I myself, resolved more than three years ago never to step foot in a doctor’s office again, after the frightened doctor who treated me was forced to testify in front of an official lens. I decided – fully considering the risk – to take charge of my health and safeguard, in this way, my privacy. Still today, every time I think about a hospital visit, it’s as if I see myself on a stage with lights, cameras… and a vast public looking at my insides, my guts.
Now, the same media officials who have used intrusion into medical records as an ideological tool, defend the secrecy over Hugo Chavez’s state of health. On TV where we have seen attacks on the privacy of so many patients, they now charge that those who demand information about the Venezuelan president are being morbid. They forget that they are the ones who have accustomed their audience to snooping in hospital records, as if it were ethically acceptable. And all these little people with their privacy violated by the national press? Don’t they also deserve respect? And all these physicians and medical institutions that failed to hold to their most sacred principles? Will they be penalized now that medical indiscretion is no longer politically correct?
Enero 26th, 2013 at 15:57
And the team “yoani” still hiding in the darkness of their basement office in cia headquarters, refusing to answer my questions.
Just remember: the silence is the sign of agreement.
Right liars and terrorists?
Right.
Enero 20th, 2013 at 19:55
Clouseau is on the case!!!
Enero 19th, 2013 at 18:26
Useful “id***s”, as cia calls them officially, the delusional and brainwashed foot soldiers who understand nothing but are religiously repeating the mantras and ideological bullshift their white “gods” have imprinted into their empty skulls, keep talking nonsense.
Not that that matters much. The “Cuban reality” that lives in their heads doesn’t really exist anyway. Waking up from these nightmares will be hard and painful. And rightly so.
The funny thing to watch is the similarity between their delusional mantric rants and those of their idols the team “yoani”.
Makes you laugh to see the level of nonsense the cia can come up with and post it as if it is some kind of “scary stuff from those bad communists in Cuba”!!!
The reality is quite a different and sobering thing.
This from the team “yoani” above:
“…they are the ones who have accustomed their audience to snooping in hospital records, as if it were ethically acceptable. And all these little people with their privacy violated by the national press? Don’t they also deserve respect? And all these physicians and medical institutions that failed to hold to their most sacred principles? Will they be penalized now that medical indiscretion is no longer politically correct?”
The terrorists seem to be oblivious to their own nazist/imperialist practices that make these above invisible in comparison!!!
The wife of google founder sergei brin, russian JEW by the way, anne woycicki has this to say:
“It’s the next step for us to work with the FDA and actually say, ‘this is clinically relevant information and consumers should work with their physicians on what to do with it,’ ” said CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki, who is married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Google and Brin have invested millions in the privately held company, which is based in Mountain View, Calif.
The capitalist/imperialist intrusion in people’s health records continues unabated under the pretext of some “choice” the people supposedly have!!!
Now, there are millions of stupid and naive people who will fall for this new trick of
PERSONAL DATA GATHERING by the cia and the nazist gulag usa.
Once you give them your DNA, your MOST PERSONAL INFORMATION will be forever stored in some nazist gulag’s database and you, and your childre, grandchildren and so on, will be forever identified and identifiable. The imperialist pharmaceutical monopolies will know exactly who and where you are and what are your health problems. You will be targeted with their “life-saving” propaganda campaigns and will be forced to buy whatever the poison they concoct to keep you alive but perpetually sick so that you MUST continue to buy their drugs.
They will know everything about your past and future medical issues and are already creating the database that will be commercially sold to ANYONE who asks and puts the money forward:
“I think we’ve now entered an era where these direct-to-consumer offerings are beginning to have real medical relevance, and therefore I am in favor of them being done within some regulatory context,” said Evans, a professor of genetics and medicine at UNC’s Medical School.
The move may also give 23andMe a competitive edge over rivals like deCODE Genetics and Navigenics, which market similar tests. Those companies did not respond to requests for comment Monday.
“We really want to take a leadership role in this industry,” said 23andMe’s chief legal officer, Ashley Gould. The company says more than 150,000 people worldwide have used its test, which sells for $299 online.”
It’s already an industry, and google wants the slice of it.
After all, they know well that personal information is the gold of imperialist capitalism of today.
And then the same cia, nsa and nazist gulag usa - who are the real owners of google by the way - “complain htrough their useful id**t domestic traitor and all round deranged and delusional jinetera, about
the “PRIVACY” of personal medical records of people in CUBA!!!!!!
Please…
Get a grip nazist imperialists!!!!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....19629.html
Enero 18th, 2013 at 01:49
I read the next item down on your page. You refer to a TV scene of a birth, something I’ve seen on TV in the US and Europe. You wonder off the top of your head if the woman involved gave her permission. You leap to the conclusion that she didn’t. Then you leap from one to another to another ill defined instances that outraged you for vague reasons. And on and on. The only clear outrage in this blog item is your tone of voice. You badly need a writing class. I’ll read the next item down and see if it says anything clear.
Enero 17th, 2013 at 14:31
The man! ESTAS METIO COMINGO AMOR?? MUY CUTE AMIGO!! YOUR RANTS AGAINST ME ARE A BADGE OF HONOR DONT YOU KNOW BY NOW??
Enero 17th, 2013 at 12:32
@79.. if that belief makes you a happy one… you are free to have it… ultimately I know what I do and don’t imply… and in this particular case it was that you should learn a bit more about the situation and social problem/patterns on both sides…
Like with Cuba and as parallel you shout about freedom without to be willing to support any consequences but you like to pocket in the ‘the good’… you are exactly the type that says Cubans are not free and the next day they are granted freedom you would object to them coming to your country for work in the name that they may take your jobs.. none the less you would like to tell others you supported Cuban freedom…. This type of easy to teflon conscience grows well with your anonimous types.
Try a bit of Gogol Bordello to find our how more larger ‘racism’ against gypsies cuts and to be ‘entertained’ as you must at the same time.. try Immigrada…
Enero 17th, 2013 at 10:12
Yes, you most certainly did imply that, liar.
Enero 17th, 2013 at 06:13
Anonimo why don’t you give me your address so I can come and live there too on your street… after all that is what freedom is… not the ‘America ubber alles’ you sell!…
Enero 17th, 2013 at 06:11
Chimp… I would have never implied that and don’t put your bannans in my mouth… I advised you to read or watch at least a movie of the situation if you really are concerned with these… but your attention span is that of a … chimp at best probably the identity too
Enero 17th, 2013 at 06:08
Hank @73 — I can tell you how Humberto explains it… he dresses up in castro-fascist military gear and the ‘victim’ has to salute him and obey him and his boots plus…!… after all he trains here in castro-fascist tactics, he is bound to like not just absorb somewhere in the deep unconscious… Also gay guys have a thing for military pomp pump boots and honour thyAss ‘cos I say so’!
… And after that the ‘victim’ has to read all the US media-tripe Humberto picks on rss and sells here ‘as valid’ Cuban - doing an honest day work and actually coming up with some worthy news is too hard for his boots!!
In this respect we are all o bit of his silent victims here since Humberto and his boots cannot do with a link and a para… but he need pages after pages after pages exactly like the castro-fascists speeches he deplores … and almost the same lang!
Humberto and clique are as self-indulgent as the ‘castro-fascists’ they seem to deplore… I guess it is love of a different kind ultimately with a bit of jealousy for good measure!
Enero 17th, 2013 at 06:07
And none of us Americans live in Guantanamo, chump. Actually, you previously implied that the Roma get what they deserve because they are badly behaved, so I can surmise what “side” you are on.
So you “don’t live there anymore?” You certainly don’t mind using your “I lived under a communist regime” schtick on this website, now do you?
Enero 17th, 2013 at 05:57
@71 Anonimo.. In case you haven’t noticed I don’t live there… and you still haven’t established what side I am on… Roma or Romanian … potaito or potato… don’t let that stop you but come back to me when you know at least who you are!…
@70 Griffin… you sound more and more like Peter Griffin.. oh the righteous one! do some comfort eating and get over it!…
Enero 17th, 2013 at 00:49
Help, Griffin, Humberto, Anonimo:
The Cuba/Venezuela drama we are witnessing is extraordinary. I had dinner with a friend this evening who does not follow current events in Cuba or Venezuela. Conversation turned to Cuba, but I found it difficult to relay the whole narrative of what is happening because it is so nutty and beyond the pale of what is normal. It is abnormal. Telling this story to someone who hasn’t heard it before is hard because it is so crazy. I’m curious, how do you tell your uninitiated friends about this?
Enero 16th, 2013 at 23:54
A VERY SARCASTIC AND POIGNANT PIECE BY ONE OF MY FAVORITE JOURNALISTS DEALING WITH LATIN AMERICAN ISSUES!
MIAMI HERALD: Latin America’s new leader: Raúl Castro - By Andres Oppenheimer
It sounds like a joke, but it isn’t: At the end of this month, the 33-country Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) — a two-year-old organization that lists promoting democracy among its top goals — will swear-in Cuban dictator Gen. Raúl Castro as its new chairman.
What’s just as crazy, Gen. Castro will become Latin America and the Caribbean’s official spokesman in political and trade negotiations with the 27-country European Union and other world blocs during his 12-month tenure. Castro will take over CELAC’s leadership from Chilean President Sebastian Piñera at a CELAC-European Union summit in Chile on Jan. 28, and is to pass on the group’s leadership to the Costa Rican president in January 2014.
European diplomats, who pride themselves on attaching “democracy clauses” demanding free elections to their countries’ trade agreements with developing nations, are already shaking their heads about the prospect of appearing in smiling pictures with Gen. Castro.
Cuba has not allowed a single free election, or an independent newspaper, in more than five decades. As one European diplomat told me, no matter what redeeming circumstances his supporters may cite, Gen. Castro is a military dictator under any definition of any dictionary in the world.
Granted, while CELAC’s creation was heralded by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in April 2011 as Latin America’s “most important political event in more than 100 years,” it’s seen by many as an empty shell. CELAC is largely a summit organizer: It has no headquarters nor a permanent staff, and it is run by a rotating, one-year chairmanship held by the country that is elected.
The group was created to bring together Latin American and Caribbean countries without the presence of the United States and Canada, and Chávez said he hoped it will soon replace the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS), which he has described as a U.S. puppet.
But, while CELAC is just the latest of many similar regional groups that were quickly forgotten after grandiose debuts, the fact is that its 33 member governments have assigned it event-organizing functions. That means that CELAC has the power to convene and set the agenda of some regional and bi-regional meetings, which — while all of the group’s decisions are taken by consensus under internal rules — is nothing to be sneered at.
Ironically, CELAC’s founding document signed at the Feb. 23, 2010, Latin American and Caribbean Summit at Rivera Maya, Mexico, specifically states that the new group will promote democracy and human rights.
Article No. 3 of the CELAC charter signed in Rivera Maya states that the group “reaffirms that the preservation of democracy and democratic values, the respect for institutions and the rule of law” and the “preservations of all human rights for all, are essential goals of our countries.”
Isn’t it a joke that a regional organization committed to democracy elects as its new chairman none other than the region’s last military president, I asked OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza in a wide-ranging interview this week.
Perhaps trying not to criticize a rival organization, Insulza responded: “The fact that the president of Chile, who is by no means precisely a leftist, hands over CELAC to Raúl Castro shows a new climate of tolerance and understanding in Latin America.”
My opinion: Hmm. I respectfully disagree. This is not a matter of right and left, but of democracy and dictatorship.
Unfortunately, Castro, Chávez, and others in recent years have succeeded in changing Latin America’s public discourse to resurrect outdated concepts of “right” and “left.” These labels make no sense in today’s world, where China — the world’s biggest Communist country — has become the Mecca of capitalist investments.
As somebody who has always opposed both rightist and leftist dictatorships — and, for the record, immediately condemned both the 1992 coup attempt by Chávez and the 2002 coup attempt against Chávez — I don’t think that Gen. Castro’s appointment as new CELAC leader is a sign of any kind of “new tolerance” that should be praised.
On the contrary, it is a betrayal of democratic and human-rights principles that many have fought hard to win.
If Latin American leaders want to be taken seriously, they should either delete the promotion of democracy from CELAC’s founding principles, or keep from passing on the CELAC chairmanship to Gen. Castro. They can’t claim to defend democracy while they appoint the region’s worst dictator to lead their group.
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....-raul.html
Enero 16th, 2013 at 19:09
Here is a report from Human Rights Watch on Romania, “The Man Comes Around’s” home country. It’s not pretty, yet, he is so overly concerned with Guantanamo, LOL.
“There were reports that police and gendarmes mistreated and harassed detainees and Roma. Prison conditions remained poor. The judiciary lacked impartiality and was sometimes subject to political influence. Property restitution remained extremely slow, and the government failed to take effective action to return Greek Catholic churches confiscated by the former Communist government in 1948. A restrictive religion law remained in effect. Government corruption remained a widespread problem. There were continued reports of violence and discrimination against women as well as child abuse. Occasional anti-Semitic incidents involving the desecration of religious property occurred, along with some lightly attended events hosted by extremist organizations. Persons were trafficked for labor, sexual exploitation, and forced begging. Government agencies provided inadequate assistance to persons with disabilities and neglected persons with disabilities who were institutionalized. Societal discrimination against Roma; gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons; and persons with HIV/AIDS, particularly children, remained problems.”
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls.....154446.htm
Enero 16th, 2013 at 17:53
Check out the tweet scroll on the right side:
yoanifromcuba #Cuba Take a peek on how the #Trolls who attack critic to the Government websites are created & how much is spent in the #CyberRepression
Hey Cuba Liar, the Man CA, & Damir: she’s talking about you!
Enero 16th, 2013 at 17:04
THE HILL: Obama waives Helms-Burton sanctions against Cuba - By Julian Pecquet
President Obama on Wednesday waived a portion of the 1996 Helms-Burton embargo law that would allow lawsuits against Cuban businesses, following in the footsteps of Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush. The law allows U.S. courts to take up lawsuits against businesses that operate on property the communist government appropriated after coming to power in 1959. Like his predecessors, Obama waived that provision for another six months, citing “national interests.” “I hereby determine and report to the Congress that suspension, for 6 months beyond February 1, 2013, of the right to bring an action under title III of the Act is necessary to the national interests of the United States and will expedite a transition to democracy in Cuba,” Obama wrote to lawmakers. Obama has been opening the door for better relations with Cuba, relaxing limits on travel and remittances in his first term.
http://thehill.com/blogs/globa.....ainst-cuba
Enero 16th, 2013 at 16:53
THE WORLD COMMUNITY REALIZES HOW MUCH THE CASTROFASCITS LIE! THEY ARE WILLING TO PUT THEIR OWN PEOPLE AND THE TOURIST’S HEALTH IN PERIL FOR THE SAKE OF MONEY AND STAYING IN POWER!
FOX NEWS LATINO: New Cholera Outbreak in Cuba Calls Countries to Restrict Travel
As of Tuesday, the British Embassy in Havana had issued a travel advisory urging its citizens to take “sensible precautions” and seek immediate medical attention for diarrhea.
Several other European diplomats told AP they are also considering issuing similar advisories, and have been concerned that the government is not sharing information with them in a timely manner. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
As far as the U.S., American diplomats on the island issued a travel warning Monday urging American citizens to follow local health recommendations. About 400,000 Cuban-Americans visit the island every year, and about 100,000 others issued visas.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2013/01/16/new-cholera-outbreak-calls-countries-to-restrict-travel-to-cuba/
Enero 16th, 2013 at 16:45
The Man! THAT “GUANTANAMO” SONG MUST BE YOUR FAVORITE DEAR!
Enero 16th, 2013 at 16:21
@65 HuHuHumberto… I suppose Cuba was put there because of Guantanmo too… Freedomhouse party probably celebrated 11 yrs of Gitmo and released this half baked measuring Wester stick, I dont look at my own shoes …report!!!
Enero 16th, 2013 at 15:45
FREEDOM HOUSE: Freedom in the World 2013
CUBA FREEDOM STATUS: Not Free
Worst of the Worst: Of the 47 countries designated as Not Free, nine have been given the survey’s lowest possible rating of 7 for both political rights and civil liberties: Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Two territories, Tibet and Western Sahara, were also ranked among the worst of the worst. An additional 5 countries and 1 territory received scores that were slightly above those of the worst-ranked countries, with ratings of 6,7 or 7,6 for political rights and civil liberties: Belarus, Chad, China, Cuba, Laos, and South Ossetia.
FOR FULL REPORT CLICK LINK BELOW!
http://www.freedomhouse.org/si.....%20Web.pdf
Enero 16th, 2013 at 13:08
Hank,
There were a 23 cases of cholera in the US following the Haiti outbreak, but they were treated before it spread and became an “outbreak”.
wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/17/11/11-0808_article.htm
The hurricane caused a breakdown of the already crumbling water and sewage systems in Eastern Cuba, which kicked off the outbreak. The independent reporter Calixto Martinez reported on the outbreak last summer and was arrested in September. He’s still in jail and facing charges of “disrespecting the persons of Fidel and Raul Castro”.
http://www.marcmasferrer.typep.....-jail.html
Enero 16th, 2013 at 12:17
@62 Help, then maybe you should stay at home with your mamma.. Cuba is not for you… it’s a clear sign I’d say.
Republicans and right wingers in your league always ‘get sick’ when visiting the ‘unwashed by Palmolive’ nations of this world… do you take hand wipes with you when you visit there too???… yes you do!
Enero 16th, 2013 at 09:10
Hank,
You got the point: more US and Canadian visitors to Haiti than Cuban visitors, but the public health service is a shambles in Cuba. The Cuban water supply is in shambles and polluted.
We’ve had a handful of cases of Cholera in the US, all patients successfully treated and released, and no epidemics.
In Cuba, we don’t know how many cases and deaths there have been and never will.
In Cuba, your doctor will be afraid to say it’s Cholera because it’s bad PR and because he doesn’t want to be hassled. So he’ll say you just have an upset stomach, so you go back home and die. Your death is listed as something else.
Then before you know it, you have a small epidemic on your hands, they have to admit there’s a bit of Cholera going around, but they still won’t tell us how much.
I know volunteers who got very sick in Haiti. They were correctly diagnosed and treated in Haiti.
I know a visitor who got very sick in Cuba. No Cuban doctor could tell him what he had. They all said it was nothing serious.
It took some doctors in the USA to successfully diagnose a tropical disease which they’ve never seen before. It took him over a year to recover.
He’ll think twice before going back to Cuba.
Enero 15th, 2013 at 22:37
Griffin @ 45:
Epidemiology is fascinating. The sequence of events you relate makes sense. Cholera bacterium traveling from Nepal to Haiti to Cuba. But why not to the U.S. or Canada? Probably because we here have an infrastructure that protects us from cholera. That’s not to be taken for granted.
I think another piece of the puzzle has to do with the devastation wrought by hurricane Sandy just a few weeks ago. The eastern provinces of Cuba were hit hard by that storm. We are just now hearing reports of the infection moving westward to Havana, a few weeks later. I don’t think that is a coincidence.
It is curious that the regime has decided to acknowledge the outbreak, but they attribute it to “a foodseller who caught cholera during a previous outbreak in eastern Cuba.” As though it were an isolated event caused by a single individual. That’s not how these things work. A vector as infectious as the causitive agent of cholera, without adequate intervention, spreads exponentially.
Enero 15th, 2013 at 14:03
TO ALL GOING TO CUBA! HAVE A SAFE TRIP! AND DONT FORGET HOW OFTEN THE CASTROFASCISTS LIE! AS LONG AS THEY GET YOUR MONEY THEY CARE LITTLE IF YOU LIVE OR DIE!
CNN: Cholera cases reported in Cuba, health officials say - By Patrick Oppmann
Havana, Cuba (CNN) — Cuban authorities said Tuesday the infectious and sometimes deadly disease cholera had struck in Havana, after declaring in August that an earlier cholera outbreak had been wiped out.
A statement from the Cuban Health Ministry said so far there were 51 confirmed cases in the new outbreak. The statement did not say if anyone had died from the disease, a bacterial infection of the small intestine, which causes severe diarrhea and vomiting in infected people.
The Health Ministry statement Tuesday said the latest outbreak appeared to be caused by a food vendor who had not followed proper sanitary procedures.
Residents in some of the neighborhoods where the outbreak occurred told CNN that food stands had been closed down and stations set up at the entrances to buildings for people to disinfect their shoes.
2012: Cuba deals with cholera
The statement said that health workers were in the “extermination phase” of fighting the disease in the Cuban capital, which has a population of 2 million people.
Cholera, according to the World Health Organization, still infects between 3 million and 5 million people each year, killing between 100,000 and 120,000.
But until 2012, Cuba had not seen a cholera outbreak for more than 100 years. It is still not clear how the disease was reintroduced to the country.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/.....index.html
Enero 15th, 2013 at 13:49
HUFFINGTON POST: Long Lines Formed Before Dawn on Monday at Cuba’s Passport Offices - by YOANI SANCHEZ
Roberto Cortizas, who joined the DIE line in the Plaza of the Revolution municipality very early, confirmed his intention to maintain residence on the Island. “I want to go to Brazil, where I have a brother with a small business, and work there. So I can send money to my parents and come back to buy a nice house here.” Precisely that economic emigration seems to be one of the objectives of the Migratory Reform. Given what the country is going through right now, it is urgent to increase the flow of hard currency remittances coming in.
Others, however, await the implementation of the new flexibilities to leave and not return. “Me, I’m here, and it’s not for visiting,” said a young man who requested anonymity as he waited outside the Identity Card Office in the Cerro municipality. Like him, many have begun a process of liquidating their property and settling their affairs in Cuba, pending the moment on Monday when the Island’s locks will be opened. This trend has brought an increase in the number of houses and cars for sale, and reservations for plane tickets have soared in recent weeks.
With Decree-Law No. 302, the Cuban government has handed off onto foreign consulates the problem of emigration. Although in a few hours it will be easier to leave the country, no new flexibility has been seen in obtaining visas to the United States, Europe or the rest of Latin America. Still, Cubans have taken on the task of compiling the list of nations that do not require a visa from natives of the largest of the Antilles. But one cannot exclude the possibility that this Monday a “legal Mariel Boatlift” will begin, given the ingenuity shown by Cubans when it comes to leaving the the country.
However, several requirements of the new law rise as obstacles to the possible flood of emigrants. One is the subsection F of Article 23, under which the passport will not be obtained without “the authorization established under rules designed to preserve the skilled workforce.” Marianela, a doctor in a provincial hospital, shared her misgivings. “They say they are going to let Public Health personnel travel, but no one has spoken to us about it clearly. So we have to find out on Monday.” According to this kidney specialist, “If they let me out I would go to Ecuador with a friend who opened a clinic, where they would surely will pay me better than here.”
Similar distrust is shown by the Cuban opposition. Paragraph H of the same article leaves open the possibility of denial of a passport “for other reasons of public interest.” That brief line of text could include a political filter to prevent critics of the system from attending conferences and international events. A practice that has been followed for years and that makes the act of travel a perk obtained by those who are politically correct.
Nowhere in Decree-Law No. 302 is the act of entering and leaving Cuba spoken of as an inherent right of every citizen born on the Island. The human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez predicts that “a discriminatory policy with people who are not in favor of the government” will be maintained.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....76470.html
Enero 15th, 2013 at 09:56
You mean just like you showed compassion for the Cuban dissident hunger striker Coco Farinas when you stated he should just “die already?”
Hypocrite.
Enero 14th, 2013 at 23:53
The Man!! DOES THIS POST MAKE ME LOOK “PHAT”?? LOOK UP THE MEANING ON THE SLANG DICTIONARY DEAR! LOOK UP “REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY”!JE JE JE!
N.Y. TIMES: In First Day of New Rules, Cubans Make Travel Plans - By VICTORIA BURNETT
The new rules reduce the expensive bureaucratic hurdles long faced by Cubans wishing to go overseas, many of whom know loved ones who lost everything when they emigrated or who left the island in the dead of night on rafts and powerboats.
As of Monday, most Cubans can head for the airport with only a passport, a plane ticket and a visa, if required, from the country they intend to visit.
“We have lived for decades in captivity,” said Marta RodrĂguez, 65, a retired office manager who was waiting to pick up a tourist visa from the United States Interests Section in Havana. “It’s a positive move — one they should have taken 50 years ago.”
The change is not expected to prompt a major exodus, because most countries use entrance visas to control the number of visiting Cubans, and international travel remains way beyond the means of most islanders, who earn state salaries of about $20 per month. There are, of course, Cubans who want to travel from the island and return.
The government says it will continue to limit travel for tens of thousands of Cubans who work in strategic sectors, like military personnel and scientific workers, as well as those they deem a threat to national security (YOU CAN PUT THE FACE OF YOANI SANCHEZ AFTER THIS STATEMENT)!
How tightly, and for how long, the government will continue to control those sectors’ movements will become apparent only over time, Cubans and outside analysts said. In a development that could signal new government flexibility, Yoani Sánchez, a prominent blogger and activist who says she has been denied an exit visa by the Cuban government at least 19 times in the past, said on Monday that she was one of the first in line at the immigration office and submitted paperwork for a new passport without any problems.
Arturo López-Levy, a Cuban-born academic (HE HAS FAMILY MEMBERS HIGH UP IN THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT) who left the island 10 years ago and lectures at the University of Denver, said the migration reform was not simply a maneuver to defuse political pressure but a structural shift in the relationship between the island and the diaspora — a community that the government once rejected as traitorous “worms.”
“This is a real change in the way in which the government perceives the relationship between the Cuban population and the outside world,” he said.
The Obama administration was watching the developments with interest. “We will see if this is implemented in a very open way and if it means that all Cubans can travel,” said Roberta S. Jacobson, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, according to The Associated Press.
Despite multiple reports in recent weeks by official Cuban news media, many Cubans seemed unclear about how the new law would work: whether it applied to them, whether they needed a new passport or a special stamp (they do not), how it would work for minors.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01......html?_r=0
Enero 14th, 2013 at 21:44
Excellent remarks by Mauricio Claver-Carone of Capitol Hill Cubans (www.capitolhillcubans.com) at the World Trade Center Orlando. Well worth the read.
Remarks @World Trade Center Orlando
at 5:19 PM Monday, January 14, 2013
Remarks today by Mauricio Claver-Carone at World Trade Center Orlando:
“Doing Business with Cuba, What’s Next?”
Thank you so much for your kind invitation. I’m thrilled to be back in Orlando.
As some of you know, I’m a former resident of Orlando. I’m a proud graduate of Bishop Moore High School and Rollins College. So I share a great deal with all of you.
Obviously, Cuba and U.S. policy towards Cuba — including the issue of trade — are topics of great passion, and seemingly endless comment, reflection and debate — or at least for those of us that deal with it on a daily basis.
Unfortunately, too many times at these events, speakers tend to hype and cherry-coat business opportunities in Cuba, disregarding some of the unpleasant economic and political realities involved.
For example, in September 2011, our neighbors here in Tampa announced the launch of charter flights to Cuba with great fanfare.
At the time, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) and other Tampa officials heralded the charters as a huge business coup.
She’d even started a “Gateway to Cuba” initiative to market Tampa as the jump-off point for Cuba travel.
“And this is just the beginning,” Castor said.
Well, just this week, it was announced that these charter flights would be significantly scaled back.
Similarly, Cuba charter service planned from Baltimore-Washington, Atlanta, New York and San Juan has also has been halted for financial reasons.
Others will point to European and Canadian investors, and argue that they are getting a “head-start” on business opportunities in Cuba.
How have these European and Canadian investors fared?
You tell me.
In the last few years, European investors have had over $1 billion arbitrarily frozen in Cuban banks by the government.
As Reuters reported, “the Communist-run nation failed to make some debt payments on schedule beginning in 2008, then froze up to $1 billion in the accounts of 600 foreign suppliers by the start of 2009.”
In the last few months, the CEOs of three companies with extensive business dealings with the Cuban government were arrested and are now sitting in jail — without charges.
They are Cy Tokmakjian of the Tokmakjian Group and Sarkis Yacoubian of Tri-Star Caribbean, both from Canada, and Britain’s Amado Fahkre of Coral Capital.
Let me stress that these were not casual investors. They these were three of Cuba’s biggest business partners, having invested hundreds of millions, with direct access to the highest officials.
And in the last few weeks, Iberia, the national airline of Spain, which accounts for over 10% of all foreign commerce with Cuba, announced the elimination of its Havana routes — for they are no longer profitable.
While my presentation may sound somber for the short-term — I promise it is optimistic in the long-term.
I note your logo here at the World Trade Center Orlando is “prosperity through trade.”
I completely agree.
In full disclosure, I am a free-trader. I believe and advocate for the principles of free trade. However, I do so without the distortions that some would like for us to accept under the guise of trade.
I believe in the principles of free trade as were envisioned by its original thinkers.
In The Wealth of Nations, a book considered to be the foundation of free trade, Adam Smith held that trade, when freely initiated, benefits both parties.
Smith did so in criticism of the mercantilist policies of the 17th and 18th centuries, whereby commerce was simply a tool to benefit and strengthen the authoritarian nation-states of the time.
I believe — as did Smith — that free trade requires property rights and the rule of law as pre-conditions. If no such rights exist, then there is no real opportunity to trade, for the government could just take from you what they want, when they want, wherever they want — for their sole benefit.
Do these pre-conditions exist in Cuba today?
According to the 2013 Index of Economic Freedom, an annual guide published by The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation, which was just released this week:
Cuba ranks 176th out of 177 countries in the world in terms of economic freedom. The only country that ranks worse is North Korea.
It is the least-free economy in the Western Hemisphere and internationally, it ranks worse than some pretty unattractive investment environments, including Iran and Zimbabwe.
According to the report:
“A one-party Communist state, Cuba depends on external assistance (chiefly oil provided by Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and remittances from Cuban Ă©migrĂ©s) and a captive labor force to survive. Property rights are severely restricted. Fidel Castro’s 81-year-old younger brother Raul continues to guide both the government and the Cuban Communist Party. Cuba’s socialist command economy is in perennial crisis. The average worker earns less than $25 a month, agriculture is in shambles, mining is depressed, and tourism revenue has proven volatile. But economic policy is resolutely Communist, and the regime rejects any moves toward genuine political or economic freedom.”
Regarding the rule of law, it states:
“The constitution explicitly subordinates the courts to the National Assembly of People’s Power and the Council of State. Corruption remains pervasive, undermining equity and respect for the rule of law.”
Within this framework, let me also address Cuba’s political system, as it has important implications for the subject of trade with Cuba.
First of all, Cuba is not China and it is not Vietnam. It is not an authoritarian bureaucracy. Cuba is one of a handful of totalitarian states remaining in the world - alongside North Korea, as the 2013 Index for Economic Freedom correctly notes.
I hate to sound patronizing, but it’s important to understand the dynamics of a totalitarian state in order to understand the Cuban reality.
A totalitarian state strives to control every aspect of public and private life. Totalitarian regimes, such as Cuba’s, maintain themselves in power by means of an all-embracing cult of personality; propaganda disseminated through a state-controlled media; a single party that controls the state; absolute control over the economy; restrictions on discussion and criticism; the use of mass surveillance; and state terrorism to foment fear and submission.
None of this has changed.
Some of you are probably wondering:
What about the “economic reforms” that have been so widely reported in the media?
Let me address some of these:
a. Agriculture: The most aggressive “reform” announced has been in agriculture, where the Cuban government enacted a law in 2008 seeking to distribute idle agricultural land to small farmers and cooperatives. These lands are granted in usufruct — with ten years leases for individuals and 25 years for cooperatives, both renewable. The government retains ownership.
Yet, according to a report last month in The New York Times, “Because of waste, poor management, policy constraints, transportation limits, theft and other problems, overall efficiency has dropped: many Cubans are actually seeing less food at private markets.”
Despite this failure, the government is now similarly experimenting with some non-farm cooperatives. There’s no reason to expect the results will be any different as the fundamental remain the same.
b. Self-employment: After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Cuban government sought to ease economic pressure by temporarily allowing — through special licenses — limited self-employment. These licenses were streamlined starting in 1998, when the Cuban government secured massive oil subsidies from Venezuela.
Faced with similar economic challenges today, Raul Castro has once again eased some restrictions on self-employment, which allow individuals to lease the practice of one of 181 pre-approved services, e.g. taxi drivers, artisans, in-home restaurants. However, all means of production are legally owned by the state.
Overall, there’s nothing particularly new here. I’d also note that more than 25 percent of those self-employed have returned their licenses because of the government’s burdensome oversight and predatory taxation.
c. Home Sales: The Cuban government has now allowed citizens to buy and sell the homes in which they reside. Cubans have supposedly owned the property where they reside since 1986, although they couldn’t be sold. Cubans dealt with the no-sell edict by “swapping” homes amongst each other and setting up a black market in housing. The government routinely confiscated homes of those who left the island and in 2000 the police began to crack down on the swaps and black market transfers.
Nonetheless, the newly-authorized sales are subject to limitations — not least of which is a regular Cuban’s $25 per month income. Another notable restriction requires the transaction be made in hard currency and that it be deposited in Cuba’s Central Bank, pending the government’s approval of the sale and an investigation into the source of the funds. At the time of closing, the Central Bank will issue a check to the seller in non-convertible (worthless) Cuban pesos. It is not surprising that the number of formally recorded sales remains minimal.
d. Migration Restrictions: Just today, the government is enacting a new law that eliminates the infamous “exit permit” required for Cubans to travel abroad. However, most of the restrictions and the high costs of the “exit permit” have been transferred to the passport process. Those who apply for travel abroad will still need a stamp of approval from the Ministry of the Interior. Dissidents, athletes and certain professionals will remain ineligible to travel abroad. The devil here is still in the details and its implementation.
What role do foreign investors play in these “reforms”?
None. Foreign investors in Cuba cannot do business with private citizens. They can only do business with the Cuban government through minority joint ventures. Moreover, the Cuban government’s constitution clearly states that all foreign commerce is strictly reserved for the state.
Foreign investors cannot hire or pay workers directly. They must go through the Cuban government employment agency, which picks the workers. The investors then pay the Cuban government in hard currency for the workers, and the Cuban government pays the workers in worthless pesos.
For example, some foreign companies pay the Cuban government $10,000 a year per Cuban worker, which is a bargain in itself. But it’s even more of a bargain for the Cuban government, which then gives the workers about $20 a month in pesos — and pockets the difference. This is a violation of international labor norms.
Even the most unconditional advocate of business ties with the Cuban government would admit that Raul Castro has done little to attract foreign investment since taking the reign from his brother Fidel. To the contrary, as I mentioned earlier, he’s stifled it.
The one exception has been off-shore oil exploration, which is directly tied to the Cuban government’s fear of the demise of Hugo Chavez and his generous subsidies of 100,000 free barrels of oil per day. These subsidies comprise nearly two-thirds of Cuba’s energy consumption.
Despite much anticipation throughout 2012, these off-shore oil exploration efforts — in joint ventures with Spain’s Repsol, Malaysia’s Petronas and even Venezuela’s PDVSA — have been a bust.
Frankly, this was predictable since Brazil’s Petrobras and Canada’s Sherritt stated in 2011 such ventures were not commercially-viable. Yet, like with all things Cuba, they begin with a big media flurry until reality strikes.
Speaking of changes, I’d be remiss not to mention that one significant and tangible change that has taken place in Cuba under Raul Castro is a dramatic rise in repression.
In 2012, documented political arrests of peaceful democracy activists reached the highest levels (6,602) in decades. These have been accompanied by the mysterious deaths of some of Cuba’s leading pro-democracy figures, including the founder of the Ladies in White, Laura Pollan, and the head of the Christina Liberation Movement and author of the Varela Project, Oswaldo Paya.
Impunity still reigns in Cuba.
If the Cuban people are prohibited from engaging in foreign commerce, then who is the Cuban counter-part for foreign investors?
The armed forces’ holding company, called GAESA, is the dominant force in the Cuban economy. Founded by Raul Castro in the 1990s, GAESA controls a wide array of companies, ranging from the very profitable Gaviota S.A., which runs the island’s tourist hotels, restaurants, car rentals and nightclubs, to TRD Caribe S.A., which runs all retail operations. In plain words: GAESA controls virtually every economic transaction in Cuba, making it — by far — the most powerful company in Cuba’s totalitarian-command economy. It is run by Raul’s son-in-law, Colonel Luis Alberto RodrĂguez Lopez- Callejas.
(Reports from Cuba indicate that Raul’s daughter Deborah is divorcing Lopez-Callejas, who has a weakness for infidelity and domestic violence, so his days of glory may be counted.)
As relates to the U.S., American companies are prohibited from investing in Cuba or conducting commercial, financial or tourism-related transactions. However, there is one exception: The sale of agricultural commodities, medicines and medical devices, which were legalized on a cash-payment basis by the 2000 Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSREEA).
The counter-part in Cuba for these U.S. agricultural sales is a state company called Alimport. Therefore, to speak of “trade with Cuba” is in itself a misrepresentation. To “trade with Cuba” is not about trading with the people or non-state actors; for only one company is allowed to transact business with American exporters for these commodities — that company is called Alimport.
I’m a regular Cuban citizen, I have a self-employment license, and I want to import rice from Louisiana. I’m not allowed to - even if I had the capital to do so. Only the head of the Cuban government’s Alimport, is authorized to import products to Cuba - to the entire island. That’s it.
Thus, every dollar that the nearly 200 companies from 35 U.S. states have transacted in agricultural sales with Cuba since TSREEA has only had one Cuban counterpart.
I always jest with my colleagues from the various farm bureaus and trade associations that we should be forthright and call it “trade with Alimport,” or “trade with the Cuban government” — or mercantilism, which Adam Smith rightly defined as antithetical to trade.
What is the future of U.S. policy towards Cuba?
The US has a dual track policy towards Cuba. It seeks to - first and foremost — provide support to the constantly besieged Cuban civil society (by civil society, I’m referring to opposition groups, religious organizations, independent journalists, and other marginalized, independent - and therefore illegal — trade groups); while -secondly — denying hard currency and resources to the Cuban dictatorship. In other words, U.S. policy seeks to weaken the Cuban government’s absolute monopoly over power and resources, in order to help the Cuban civil society create some sort of “playing field” for itself, despite the grossly disproportionate circumstances it faces.
Within this context, U.S. policy sees sanctions as an important tool that not only denies resources to the regime, but also provides important moral and political support to the Cuban civil society. However, U.S. sanctions towards Cuba are not defined indefinitely, they are subject to conditions, and have been specifically codified into U.S. law as such. Since 1996 — with the codification of this policy — the power to ease or terminate sanctions shifted from the executive to the legislative branch of the U.S. government.
According to law, the U.S. will only lift the remaining sanctions and normalize relations with the Cuba when three essential conditions are met: 1. the unconditional release of all political prisoners, 2. the recognition and respect of the fundamental human, political, and economic rights of the Cuban people, and 3. opposition parties are legalized leading to free and fair elections.
Currently, there is strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress for this law. Thus, these conditions are unlikely to change in the new 113th Congress. I’m not going to blow smoke at you and tell you otherwise.
Moreover, even some long-time Congressional advocates of unilaterally lifting these conditions - by changing the law - in order to further facilitate the terms and financing of agricultural sales have taken a hiatus from these efforts, as the Cuban government has imprisoned an American development worker, Alan Gross, who has been held hostage since December 2009. Mr. Gross had been helping the island’s small Jewish community with Internet connectivity when he was arrested.
(Not only is Cuba one of the least-free economies in the world, it is also one of the most hostile to Internet connectivity.)
Speaking of financing, Cuba also remains one of the world’s greatest credit risks. With a debt of $30.5 billion dollars, Cuba ranks second on the Paris Club’s list of debtor countries. Indonesia ranks first with a debt of $40.2 billion — despite a population 23 times the size of Cuba. Cuba’s unpaid debt represents nearly 10% of the Paris Club’s total outstanding claims.
Today, the total of nearly $75 billion in foreign debts and claims against the Cuban government is nearly impossible to repay for a country with an economic output barely one-fifth the size of Greece’s (similar population to Cuba) own troubled economy.
This is even more troubling considering that in 1959, when the current regime took power, Cuba had foreign exchange reserves totaling $387 million — worth more than $3.6 billion today adjusted for inflation. Cuba’s reserves were third in Latin America, behind only those of Venezuela and Brazil, despite having just a fraction of the population.
The good news is that the U.S. currently has zero credit exposure to Cuba, as U.S. law prohibits the extension of credit to the Cuban government.
However, the Cuban government still has not paid compensation for the approximately $8 billion worth of property that was confiscated from U.S. citizens. Let’s not forget that this remains the largest uncompensated taking of American property by any foreign government in the history the U.S. Outstanding claims range from companies like Coca-Cola, to Ford, to Texaco, to Chase Manhattan Bank.
As previously stated, I have mostly focused on the U.S. Congress because the executive branch can only authorize the commercial and financial transactions with Cuba that have been previously mandated by Congress. President Obama has the authority to modify regulations related to purposeful travel, e.g. family, religious and academic travel, and remittances - and he has amply done so. Yet, even in this case, tourism-related transactions (”tourism travel”) were codified into law in 2000 - and only Congress can authorize them.
What’s next?
The current Cuban government, since its taking of power in 1959, has always survived off subsidies. With the exception of a brief period in the 1990’s, foreign subsidies have always been Cuba’s main source of income.
First, the Soviet Union provided $6 billion dollars in yearly subsidies through 1991. Cuba received more money from the Soviets than all of Europe received from the U.S. Marshall Plan after World War II.
Thereafter, Venezuela has provided $10 billion dollars in yearly subsidies since 1998.
With the pending passing of Hugo Chavez, the Cuban government is looking for its third major subsidy — though I doubt there will be any takers — or as the drama in a Havana hospital unfolds; they are figuring out how to somehow keep Hugo Chavez and his cronies on ice.
Moreover, with Fidel Castro at 86-years old and Raul Castro at 81-years old - and their appointed successor Jose Ramon Machado Ventura at 82-years old - it’s safe to say time is not on their side.
Cubans are extremely smart people, they know that it is not the U.S. or sanctions that prohibit them from freely expressing themselves; that keeps them from entering and enjoying those beautiful resorts, with their restaurants and bars owned by the military; that keep them enjoying the fruits of their labor; or that keeps them from choosing their own destiny. It is the Cuban government that does so.
Furthermore, Cubans on the island know what democratic ideals are. In many cases, they have given the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of those ideals. Let’s not forget, Cuba has the largest prison population - per capita - in the world. Ten percent of the Cuban population has died, either trying to cross the Florida Straits, executed or imprisoned. Add to that another ten percent that has been exiled. Those are Stalin-Mao proportions.
So the questions remain:
Do we make a short-term investment in Cuba’s current fledgling government that monopolizes the lives of Cubans, or do we make a long-term investment in its future leaders?
Do you want to deal with a trading partner that is as poor as North Korea, or would you rather deal with a neighbor as rich as South Korea?
Do we want to be in the position that European companies recently found themselves in post-Qaddafi Libya or two decades ago in post-apartheid South Africa — begging for forgiveness and scrambling for the opportunity to renegotiate deals with the former victims of those dictatorships?
Or, do we want to be in a position of market preference — eventually gaining what I like to call a “freedom premium” — similar to that which Coca-Cola enjoyed in the former Soviet bloc pursuant to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Hopefully, the answer will be the latter.
In a bit of corporate history, Pepsi first entered the Soviet Union in 1972, pursuant to a barter agreement in exchange for Stolichnaya vodka. Pepsi was infamously perceived to have been deeply entrenched with the communist government. Meanwhile, Coca Cola didn’t make a move until the fall of the Iron Curtain.
However,immediately upon the fall of the Berlin Wall, Coca-Cola’s former CEO Roberto Goizueta made sure that every automobile that crossed the border received free cases of Coke and those on foot got six-packs and single cans.
Perhaps Goizueta, a Cuban-American, who experienced first-hand what it was like to be a victim of oppression, instinctively knew that those newly-free would reward them in some fashion — for they stood in solidarity with them during their darkest hour.
Tom Standage, author of “A History of the World in 6 Glasses,” a book that divides world history into the beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola ages - notes that when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, East Germans began buying Coca-Cola by the crate-load:
“Drinking Coca-Cola became a symbol of freedom.”
In 1991 Pepsi was outselling Coca-Cola 10-to-1 in the former Soviet Union. By 1994, Coca-Cola gained the lead, and retains it to this day.
Even more broadly, it is not a mere coincidence that the countries of Eastern Europe, who lived through similar ordeals, are the staunchest allies the U.S. has in the world today.
So let’s focus on the big prize: a free and democratic Cuba that within a decade could –once again — become one of the richest countries in the Western Hemisphere. This will not be because of its beaches and natural resources — that only goes so far — but because of its people. Note I haven’t even mentioned Cuba’s emblematic sugar and tobacco industries, which are in shambles.
An economy based on imagination, creativity, risk-taking and hard-work needs a rule of law and political freedoms. Cubans have proven this ability from the moment they set foot in exile, whether in the U.S. or in any other democratic country in the world.
And in the meantime, let’s work on re-orienting some of those Canadian and European tourists visiting Cuba and bring them here to Disney World, Universal Studios and to enjoy all that Central Florida offers.
Thank you so much. I look forward to your questions.
Enero 14th, 2013 at 20:58
IN CUBA, SOME PEOPLE ARE MORE “EQUAL” THAN OTHERS! THE COMMUNISTS SEEM TO HAVE A NICHE FOR HYPOCRISY!
REUTERS: Cuban hospital carefully guards Hugo Chavez’s privacy - By Marc Frank
You would never guess that one of the world’s most famous heads of state, Venezuelan president and self-proclaimed revolutionary Hugo Chavez, is battling cancer at Havana’s Center for Medical-Surgical Research (CIMEQ).
Hazy Venezuelan government communiques speak of unexpected bleeding during Chavez’s most recent surgery and a lung infection that has kept the 58-year-old Chavez in a “stable” but “delicate” state since mid-December.
There has not been a word, nor even a tweet from the usually vociferous Chavez. His Twitter account, with almost 4 million followers, went silent after November 1.
Meanwhile, Chavez’s family has been holding vigil in Havana, as other Venezuelan leaders and various Latin American heads of state come and go in a show of support. The presidents of Argentina and Peru visited over the weekend.
What the operation involved, and even the type of cancer attacking Chavez and its exact location, are considered state secrets.
“CIMEQ exists in the 21st century and is the equal to some of the best facilities in the world, while the rest of the country’s hospitals remain at 20th century levels,” said one local doctor who requested her name be withheld.
“There are no shortages of supplies and medicines and the food is great,” she added.
The hospital treats mainly interior ministry personnel, their families and area residents free of charge.
In a land where complaints are common, it is hard to find anyone with a bad word to say about the place, except that it is reserved exclusively for the elite.
CIMEQ also boasts a wing for foreigners willing to pay for their care, as well as special VIP facilities for Cuba’s top leaders and important figures from other lands.
“Distinguished personalities from the arts, sciences and politics from all over the world have received attention in its modern and efficient installations,” the hospital’s Web Page
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.reuters.com/article.....6920130114
Enero 14th, 2013 at 20:44
The “jew” spy? Why am I not at all surprised that his religion, which is irrelevant, was mentioned?
Enero 14th, 2013 at 20:42
Just look at the size of that narisoid hypocrisy raging through the team “yoani”:
“I wonder if they asked the woman’s permission to film her during childbirth. The most probably answer is no. ”
And how would you know, losers?
Did you ask the woman?
Probably, no DEFINTELY you didn’t.
So, to state “The most probably answer is no.” is to merely speculate. And one speculates when one is trying to twist the information in their favour when they have
ZERO arguments to support it.
In other words,
PURE HYPOCRISY.
Enero 14th, 2013 at 20:36
Lemme give a hand here.
from the hyppocrite team:
“But the saga doesn’t end there. Last September the director of a polyclinic explained the symptoms of a dissident who fell ill while on a hunger strike. All the details were relayed without the least shame about violating the privacy of a patient and also violating the Hippocratic oath”
And now go and read all those posts about the health info demands for alan gross, the jew spy and terrorist in Cuba, or when that criminal died in prison in the first half of the last year, Orlando Zapata, or how about demanding the full record from doctors about the death of the woman from Las mujeres en blanco?
Then YOU yourselves DEMANDED the full medical history be revealed.
Now it’s a crime?
It’s unethical?
No.
It’s hypocrisy.
Enero 14th, 2013 at 20:24
OK The Man! HERE IS YOUR CHANCE TO REDEEM YOURSELF BY COMMENTING ON THE Damir EFFECT!
Enero 14th, 2013 at 20:15
Oh, come on losers!!!
DO I have to remindo you that YOU were asking HERE just a few months ago that Cuban government tells the truth about the state of health of alan gross, the jew terrorist spy in Cuba?!?!?!?!?!
Did you CARE to ask the woman if she gave, or not her consent?
NO. You didn’t care to ask.
So, you have excluded yourselves from your own argument, stupids.
We know already what a bunch of hypiocrites you are, but this is the new low even for your already long and rich curriculum of hypocrisy!!!
Well done.
Enero 14th, 2013 at 14:26
The Man!! I GOT A LITTLE SECRET FOR YOU! I THINK PEOPLE READING THESE COMMENTS PREFER MY COPY AND PASTE ARTICLES TO YOUR REPETITIVE PRO-CASTRO PROPAGANDA RANTS DEAR!!
HUFFINGTON POST: Lines at Cuba travel agencies on day 1 of new law - ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
HAVANA — Cubans formed long lines outside travel agencies and migration offices in Havana on Monday, as a highly anticipated new law took effect ending the island’s much-hated exit visa requirement.
The measure means the end of both real and symbolic obstacles to travel by islanders, though it is not expected to result in a mass exodus. Most Cubans are now eligible to leave with just a current passport and national identity card, just like residents of other countries.
And there were signs that even islanders in sensitive roles – or open opposition to the Communist government – will be included, a key litmus test of the reforms’ scope. A well-known Cuban dissident said Monday she’s been told she will now be allowed to travel after being blocked multiple times in the past.
One of the first people in line at the immigration office on Monday morning was dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, who says she has been denied an exit visa 20 times in recent years.
Sanchez reported that her application for a new passport went smoothly. She was told it would take 15 days, and once she has the passport she would be able to travel.
“I have hope, but I’ll believe it when I’m sitting in an airplane,” she said.
At Havana’s international airport, bustling with Cuban-American travelers returning home after spending the holidays with family on the island, people praised the change but said there are still obstacles like cost and the difficulty of getting an entry visa.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....r=homepage
Enero 14th, 2013 at 14:02
291 RCR !! I DONT NEED TO HIDE BEHIND AN ALIAS DEAR! NEVER DONE IT IN OVER 4 YEARS! BUT YOU OBVIOUSLY PREFER THAT! DON CAST OUT THE FIRST STONE AMIGO!
Enero 14th, 2013 at 14:01
The Man!!! ESTAS METIO CONMIGO DARLING?? QUE LINDO!! ME ENCANTA!!! BUT ARE YOU TREADING ON MY FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION DEAR??? YOU ARE SOUNDING JUST LIKE YOUR MASTERS THE CASTROFASCITS!! SWEETIE, MAYBE YOU SHOULD ALSO INCLUDE OUR DEAR Damir IN YOUR COMPLAINTS!! I TOLD YOU THAT YOU SHOULD USE REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY ON ME BUT YOU DECIDED NOT TO! BUT IT WAS A LONG SHOT ANYWAY!! JE JE JE!
MIAMI HERALD: New Cuba travel rules spur lines at foreign embassies for visas - JUAN O. TAMAYO
Long lines of Cubans waited outside foreign embassies and consulates as well as travel agencies early Monday on the first day of a migration reform that promise to allow more of the island’s citizens to make personal trips abroad.
The lines outside the diplomatic missions of Spain, Mexico and Italy appeared longer than the lines that form on a normal Monday to ask about or apply for visas, said one European diplomat who added that it was not possible to immediately quantify the increase.
The U.S. mission in Havana did not see any increase, however, because only those with appointments, usually set one year or more in advance, can enter the building, said another Western diplomat. Both asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to comment.
The European diplomat also reported what he called “much longer than usual” lines outside travel agencies and airline offices in the Cuban capital, with people generally seeking information about the prices and availability of airplane tickets to foreign destinations.
The new regulations for emigration and immigration, which took effect Monday, generally promise to allow more Cubans to travel abroad and permit more Cubans living abroad to make return visits
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....lines.html
Enero 14th, 2013 at 11:22
Hank, re: #38
It is possible the cholera bacteria was introduced to Cuba by the Cuban medical teams returning from Haiti. The bacteria was not present in either country for over a 100 years. After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the UN sent soldiers to help rebuild and restore order. Troops from Nepal, where cholera is endemic, introduced the bacteria+ which went on to kill thousands of Haitians.
Cuba sent hundreds of medical workers to Haiti in 2010 and it is possible they picked up the bacteria and brought it back to Cuba on their equipment (it can persist in mud on tents, boots or vehicles), or in the intestines of the returning workers. If this is how it happened, it would be a terrible irony that an act of humanitarianism (with a propaganda purpose to be sure), resulted in an epidemic in Cuba.
Enero 14th, 2013 at 10:55
#### “43″…..Humber hiding under handle Anonimo
well said “42″ The man
Enero 14th, 2013 at 10:51
Second posting first erased “CHOLERA’
Just back from Cuba…..Cubans report Cholear limited arrested back in August…..brought back from Haiti by volontee medical personel
Enero 14th, 2013 at 06:45
Hit your “political g-spot”? No thanks, LOL.
You have no idea what Cubans in Cuba will accept.
Enero 14th, 2013 at 05:59
Humberto … my concern was clear and your flooding of this blog and incessant drive to do so proved it time and again … you are a propagandist that is silencing other voices. I am sure if people wish to know what the NY Times says they can do it themselves. You can post a link and a title not all the diatrabe and babble that here supports your US take on Cuba…while you pretend to be from Cuba. You are an American selling American policy and ideals that even you cannot live up to there on Venice beach. By the way Venice is one and it is in Italy.. as much as Cuba is one and is not an American state… that says it all about you, metaphorically speaking Mr Venice Beach USA!
The fact of the matter remains with the new law, little people would be able to travel and this may be more important than if MsY travels, it costs still a lot to get out of the island and the reality is western gov already are thinking how to adjust their policies to stop ‘the influx’ of Cubans… which I am not going to translate for you what it actually means since according to your silencing of others, apples do not grow in the same orchard with oranges - well actually they do!
When you will think on your 2 feet and you will come with a p.o.w. based on your true beliefs and not regurgitate media tripe then you may hit my political G-spot… until then you are mostly a bore in pursuit of the US policy towards Cuba on this blog. US policy that is as much a failure as Castro’s dream of a socialist effective economy !… If you had a bit of sense you would know you are ultimately re-enforcing these on this blog for many and hence Cubans in Cuba would not and cannot really accept MsY and you you just because of such association; regardless of how much they may not like Castro and what is going on on their island…
Enero 13th, 2013 at 23:47
“…though it will continue to limit travel by people who work for strategic sectors, and, most likely, dissidents.”
BUT WE ALL KNEW THAT! IN CUBA NOT EVERYONE IS EQUAL NOW ARE THEY!
N.Y. TIMES: After Decades, Cuba Eases Travel Rules to Maintain Ties - By VICTORIA BURNETT
Since the 1960s, the Cuban government has strictly controlled travel, and most Cubans who moved overseas without special permission have lost their rights and property. The many who do return for visits — some 400,000 traveled from the United States last year — may stay on the island for only a month (or three, under the new regulations) and are not allowed to buy property or invest in private businesses there, though many do under the table. And in a surprising development, the government will also allow some medical professionals to go abroad, though it will continue to limit travel by people who work for strategic sectors, and, most likely, dissidents.
It will also be easier to return to the island: Cubans who leave will no longer automatically lose their property, and those who wish to return for good can reapply for residency. The government has extended the period Cubans may spend overseas without losing their right to return to two years from 11 months, giving them more time to find jobs overseas and creating a window for those in the United States to apply for residency there — a process they can begin after a year.
The Adjustment Act has opponents of all stripes: the Cuban government objects to it, saying that it encourages people to make risky sea crossings. Cuban-American lawmakers argue that it should not apply to Cubans who go back to visit the island.
“One cannot claim that one would be persecuted in Cuba while at the same time going back for a visit,” Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, said in a recent interview published by the blog Café Fuerte.
Even some moderate Cuban-Americans say the policy seems unsustainable, and several Cubans on the island and in Miami said there were fears the United States would eventually tighten its policies.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01......html?_r=0
Enero 13th, 2013 at 21:30
THE TELEGRAPH UK: As Hugo Chavez fights for his life, Cuba fears for its future - Venezuela is not the only Latin American nation that is monitoring every moment of president Hugo Chavez’s illness. His ally Cuba has relied on him for economic help, and that could soon come to an end. - By Philip Sherwell, and Andrew Hamilton
Away from the constitutional wrangles and impassioned crowds of Caracas, the future of Venezuela after Hugo Chavez is being plotted this weekend in an elegant pre-revolutionary mansion in Havana’s old playboy quarter.
But for his Cuban hosts, much more is at risk than simply the loss of a fellow left-wing Latin American radical who has long venerated Fidel Castro. His death would also put at risk the remarkable oil-fuelled largesse that has allowed Cuba to cling to its experiment in tropical communism.
Nothing has been heard or seen of Mr Chavez for more than a month and few expect him to recover - if indeed he is still alive. So it is little wonder that Cuba is desperate to exercise maximum control over his passing - and in particular manoeuvre a handover of power to Nicolas Maduro, his vice-president.
More than anything, it is this silence of the normally garrulous leader that indicates the seriousness of his condition.
Mr Maduro, who arrived back in Havana on Friday night for fresh talks at the government-owned “protocol villa”, shares Mr Chavez’s absolute loyalty to Cuba. But there are others within the Venezuelan elite who are less convinced of the merits of subsidising Cuba with an economic lifeline at a time when inflation and debt are soaring in Venezuela itself, despite the country’s oil wealth.
But there is also danger for the Castro brothers within the Chavista camp if a more nationalist-minded faction was to prevail. The Cubans are particularly wary of Diosdado Cabello, a former army comrade of Mr Chavez who is now the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, who is thought to be rather cooler about the bilateral relationship.
Under the Venezuelan constitution, if Mr Chavez dies or is finally designated too sick to govern, then Mr Cabello would become caretaker president until new elections were called. So it was the Castros who persuaded Mr Chavez to leave his sick bed on Dec 9, travel to Caracas, and very publicly endorse Mr Maduro as his chosen successor.
Mr Chavez has not been seen since his return. It looks increasingly likely that his last public act was also his final political gift to his beloved mentors in Havana.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....uture.html
Enero 13th, 2013 at 17:59
CHOLERA IN CUBA — RIGHT NOW
So, how did cholera make it to Cuba? Cholera is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. If that bacterium is not present in water or food, there is no cholera and nobody gets infected. But since we know there is cholera in Cuba and many people are infected, that means the bacterium has made its way into the water or food supply of Cuba, possibly both.
Epidemiologically, the current cholera outbreak in Cuba started in the eastern provinces and has made its way west, to Havana. The point is, the cholera outbreak in Cuba started in the eastern part of the island. I wonder if there is a link between the cholera outbreak in Haiti and the doctors Cuba sent to Haiti after the earthquake?
The last thing I would do, if I were a tourist in Cuba, would be to eat or drink anything. I’d be especially suspicious of the ice cubes in my mojitos.
Enero 13th, 2013 at 16:47
BIRTH OF A NATION! NOT THE MOVIE BUT A NEW LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRY! THE CASTROFASCISTS HAVE STILL NOT NAMED THE UNION OF CUBA AND VENEZULA! NAMES IN THE RUNNING ARE “VENECUBA” , “CUBAVENE” , “CUBAZUELA”! I THINK THE CASTRO BROTHERS WILL CHOOSE CUBA FIRST SO MY BET GOES TO ONE OF THE LAST ONES NAMED!
REUTERS: Top Venezuelan leaders in Cuba to support Chave - By Andrew Cawthorne
Venezuela’s three most powerful government figures after President Hugo Chavez gathered in Havana on Sunday to check on their ailing leader’s condition and meet with Cuban allies.
State media said Maduro, Cabello, Ramirez - who also heads the powerful state oil company PDVSA - and Attorney General Cilia Flores all met Cuban President Raul Castro over the weekend. But there were no details of the talks
The joint presence of top Venezuelan officials in Havana inevitably deepens rumors Chavez is at death’s door - and draws opposition criticism that Raul and Fidel Castro are giving instructions behind the scenes.
But officials have been lashing “necrophilic” opponents for such speculation, and Chavez’s brother said on Saturday that, on the contrary, he was improving daily.
One opposition leader, Julio Borges, said on Sunday the secrecy around Chavez’s exact condition was unacceptable.
“No one is asking for details of the operation or the president’s treatment, but that simply they tell the truth about his health prognosis,” said Borges, a right-wing legislator who wants Chavez formally declared absent from office.
That would trigger the naming of a caretaker president, and an election within a month, but Venezuela’s Supreme Court has ratified that Chavez remains president with Maduro in charge as No. 2 until his health situation is clarified.
“It’s been a year-and-a-half of contradictions and announcements of his complete curing followed by relapses,” Borges added, saying problems like inflation, housing shortages and power-cuts were being neglected during a political impasse.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.reuters.com/article.....DU20130113
Enero 13th, 2013 at 14:43
The Man!! I’M JUST PUTTING THINGS IN CONTEXT DEAR! BUT KEEP TRYING TO VILIFY ME, I REALLY LIKE IT! GUESS I MUST BE HITTING YOUR POLITICAL G-SPOT!
BBC NEWS: Cholera fear in Cuba as officials keep silent - By Sarah Rainsford
Doctors are now making door-to-door enquiries in Havana and anyone displaying possible cholera symptoms is being tested. Suspected cases are being sent to the Tropical Medicine Institute, the IPK.
“All our wards are dealing with this issue - they are almost full,” an IPK employee told the BBC by telephone, before saying she was not authorised to comment further.
Cake seller in Old Havana Food vendors are still out in force in the tourist heart of the Cuban capital
Another staff member, contacted later and also not authorised to speak to the media, said the IPK did not have any confirmed cases of cholera at this point.
But Yanisey Pino says her brother was diagnosed with cholera both by his local hospital and the IPK.
Pharmacies across the city are now selling water purification drops, rationed to two small bottles per person.
But in the tourist heart of Old Havana, cafes and restaurants remain open and the streets are still full of mobile food and drink vendors.
Most say they have heard rumours of a cholera outbreak in Cerro and are taking extra precautions, but none have received any official instructions.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worl.....a-21002191
Enero 13th, 2013 at 09:06
Fruty bully HuHuHumberto… Wowhow much more perverse can you get in capital letters…@33??? You decide what is important and what not! So much for letting other speak as proved again.
Enero 13th, 2013 at 01:46
MIAMI HERALD: Oppenheimer: Cuba’s role in Venezuela may grow — for now - By Andres Oppenheimer
As Venezuelans anxiously awaited news from ailing President Hugo Chávez and his ministers in Cuba in recent days, I received a tweet that stated, “This is the first case in history where a country subsidizes another, and is dominated by the latter.”
Indeed, historians in the future will be scratching their heads trying to figure out what has led Chávez to give Cuba about $4 billion a year in oil and other subsidies, and — more important — to put his health, and his country’s political future, in the hands of a small Caribbean island.
After telling Venezuelans in October 2011 that he had beaten cancer and that “there are no malignant cells in this body,” Chávez spent more than 106 days in Cuba in 2012.
While Chávez remains hospitalized in Cuba and has not been seen nor heard from in more than four weeks, Cuban and Venezuelan officials have reportedly concocted a “Pacto de la Habana” (Havana Pact) among various Venezuelan government factions to rally behind Vice President Nicolás Maduro.
The agreement was brokered by Raúl Castro and his Vice President Ramiro Valdes, who personally participated in the meetings with top Venezuelan officials in Havana, according to Venezuelan press reports. Maduro led the Jan. 10 ceremony in Caracas where Chávez was inaugurated in absentia for a new term, after a dubious interpretation of Venezuela’s constitution that Uruguayan journalist Danilo Arbilla has called “magic constitutionalism.”
Why has Venezuela, with a GDP of $316 billion, become so dependent on Cuba, a small country with a GDP of $60 billion? I can think of three major reasons:
First, for psychological/emotional reasons. As former Chávez mentor and interior minister Luis Miquilena told me in a detailed interview a few years ago, Chávez became mesmerized with Castro ever since he first met him — unexpectedly — in 1994.
Second, for security reasons. Before Chávez became president in 1999, Castro convinced him that he would be the target of assassination attempts, and an increasingly paranoid Chávez accepted growing numbers of Cubans as his guards, according to several former Chávez ministers.
Third, for political reasons. Chávez has followed Castro’s model of creating a permanent “state of war” — creating confrontations with the church, the media, the business community or “imperial” powers — to justify his grab of absolute powers. It worked for the Castro brothers, and it worked for Chávez.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....-grow.html
Enero 12th, 2013 at 14:53
Roy Lee Patterson !! THIS IS AN IMPORTANT TOPIC IN THE BAD OLD U.S.A., BUT IS AN APPLES TO ORANGES TOPIC! IN CUBA FOR OVER 50 YEARS THE EVERYDAY CUBAN CITIZEN HAS BEEN UNABLE TO TRAVEL OUT OF THEIR OWN COUNTRY! THE ARTICLE YOU POSTED IS ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION COMING FROM OTHER COUNTRIES!
Enero 12th, 2013 at 14:41
CNN) — Erika Andiola spent hours Friday speaking to immigration officials to keep her own mother in the country. She prevented her deportation in the nick of time.
The prominent immigration rights activist has routinely visited immigration offices on the behalf of others, “but this is the first time I have been here for my own mother”, she said.
Thursday night, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers raided Andiola’s Pheonix, Arizona, home and took away her mother, Maria Minerva Guadalupe Arreola, to deport her to Mexico.
Andiola is president and founder of the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition, which supports legislation to allow the children of undocumented migrants to attain documented status. The acronym stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors.
The family’s lawyer Jose Panelosa told CNN affiliate KTVK that Arreola was on a bus headed to the border when the decision to release her was made.
“Fifteen minutes into the ride, there was a phone call to the bus and the driver took the call and spoke to the other agents, and turned the bus around”, he said.
Arreola was released in Florence, Arizona, he said.
The woman’s son, and Erika’s brother, Heriberto Andiola Arreola, was also detained in the raid, but was released Friday morning.
When asked by KTVK what led to his detainment he said, “I don’t know if it has to do with my sister’s activism, I don’t know.”
Andiola has often appeared on television discussing immigration rights with her mother. She has worked with Obama administration officials and members of congress on immigration reform.
An official with ICE told CNN, “ICE agents did not target these individuals because of their family member’s role with the Dream Act Coalition.”
On a press conference call Friday, Andiola said she spent hours in the offices of ICE seeking her family’s release and was told that her mother would be “deported right away” under an “expedited order of removal.”
She told reporters that her brother and her mother were recently charged with traffic violations.
ICE exercised “discretion” in releasing Arreola, according to spokeswoman Barbara Gonzales. Andiola’s mother has been “previously removed from the country,” she said. Both her and her son’s case are under review.
Arizona passed a controversial immigration law in 2010, which the Obama administration quickly challenged. The U.S. Supreme Court threw out many of its provisions as unconstitutional.
Arizona is the nation’s most heavily traveled corridor for illegal immigration and smuggling. The Justice Department said Arizona’s population of two million Latinos includes an estimated 400,000 there illegally, and 60% to 70% of deportations or “removals” involve Mexican nationals.
Such home raids like the one Andiola had to endure are wasteful in light of anticipated immigration reforms, said Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice Education Fund. “It’s ridiculous to think we’re spending billions of dollars arresting people who will be on the road to citizenship once Congress enacts reform.”
Andiola feels her time and effort are being unnecessarily taxed as well.
“I am asking President Obama and his Administration to stop separating families,” Andiola said.
It shouldn’t have to take thousands of phone calls to stop the deportation of one person “every day all around the country.”
Enero 12th, 2013 at 13:58
AUDIO INTERVIEW FROM LOS ANGELES BLOG RADIO Syndicated News: YOANI a forward thinking woman of current and future Cuba - by SyndicatedNews (BI-LINGUAL SHOW)
Yoani MarĂa Sánchez Cordero is an extremely intelligent, culturally sensitive woman. Her insight to modern day Cuban life is extraordinary. She is a Cuban blogger who has achieved international fame and multiple international awards for her critical portrayal of life in Cuba under its current government.
Joining Yoani are Jennifer Betances [Cuban Culinary Arts], Eduardo Quezada & Roberto Arguello [Directors Spanish Div] Maria Luisa Arredondo [Exec. Dir., Latino California] John McEuen, CEO SyndicatedNews.NET, Joey Huertas, Film Maker & Social Worker.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/s.....avana-cuba
Enero 12th, 2013 at 13:53
YOANI SANCHEZ PHOTO/FOTO: En Cuba Medidas contra el #Colera en bases de #Taxi- In Cuba steps to take against Cholera at the taxi bases!
twitpic.com/bulp7i
Enero 11th, 2013 at 22:45
Shhhh! CHOLERA OUTBREAK IN CUBA HAS REACHED HAVANA!!!
Shhhh!
What is cholera? Basically, it is death by diarrhea. Which means slow death by dehydration. Cholera is caused by a bacterium that is transmitted via unclean water that has infected feces in it. A country like Cuba that has a decaying infrastructure is the classic place where such an outbreak would occur.
So, for all you tourists out there, think twice about going to Cuba.
Enero 11th, 2013 at 22:22
Below is Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which the dictatorship that presently rules Cuba has affixed its signature.
Article 13 addresses the universal right all human beings have to travel. That is, the right to leave one’s home country and return.
On January 14th in Cuba, three days from now, the arbitrary edict in Cuba that restricted travel by Cubans for decades is supposed to be repealed.
Will Yoani Sanchez be able to leave her country and return to her country beginning on January 14th? She has applied for and been denied permission to leave her country and then return 19 or 20 times, I’ve lost count.
Article 13:
• (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
• (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Enero 11th, 2013 at 19:46
Alaldel:
Keep posting the truth. As a Cuban doctor you have plenty of stories to tell.
One of the sickest lies out of Cuba is the medical system. Their hospitals are scary and the stuff that goes on in them is sickening.
They admit patients were murdered at Mazorra and that’s the tip of the iceberg.
I hope one day an investigation will be started into the thousands of patients murdered in Cuban hospitals.
Enero 11th, 2013 at 18:24
CHAVEZ IS GOING TO PUT HIS HAND ON A BIBLE?? HIS HAND IS GOING TO FRY, JUST LIKE THE HOLY WATER SCENE FROM THE FILM “THE EXORCIST”!! DO THE CASTROFASCISTS AND CHAVISTAS THINK THE WORLD COMMUNITY IS BUYING ALL THIS “TELENOVELA” SCRIPT?
REUTERS: Venezuela’s Maduro to visit Chavez again in Cuba - By Daniel Wallis and Diego Ore
CARACAS - Venezuela’s Vice President Nicolas Maduro will fly to Cuba on Friday to visit cancer-stricken Hugo Chavez, a month after the socialist leader underwent his fourth operation in 18 months.
The 58-year-old president has neither been seen nor heard from since the surgery, and he has suffered multiple post-operative complications including a severe lung infection.
He missed his own inauguration on Thursday, but the Supreme Court said he could be sworn in later - in theory meaning he could remain in office for weeks or months from a Havana hospital. There has been no firm evidence he is conscious.
“I’m going to give our commander-president the good news about how the people are working, making revolution with courage, discipline and enthusiasm,” Maduro said in a televised broadcast.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, a friend and ally of Venezuela’s socialist leader, arrived in Cuba on Friday and said she planned to take Chavez a Bible.
“This is not a visit for making comments or giving interviews but simply of solidarity and fellowship with someone who is a friend,” Fernandez said.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.reuters.com/article.....ZE20130111
Enero 11th, 2013 at 16:59
Oh, Cuba and its health system! Like any other secretary of that government, Cuban health system is completely based on a bunch of lies. Those lies are renewed every day to support their image outside the country. When working as a physician, and now I am sending myself back to 1997, I was shocked by the fact that as a mandatory request, our numbers (statistical numbers) must show a complete and total efficiency even when we were serving just with a minimum of resources. And by resources I am meaning a few reusable needles and glass syringes that we had to boil over and over. Of course, that precarious way of sterilization sometimes failed because of continues power shortages. I am still wondering how Cuban people survived that, how I survived.
Enero 11th, 2013 at 13:56
Havana put on alert over cholera outbreak
“Meanwhile, a Cuban independent journalist, Calixto Martinez Arias, remains imprisoned since September 16th and is charged with “disrespect” for the figures of Fidel and Raul Castro, for exposing the regime’s cover-up of the cholera outbreak.
Why the silence from the foreign news bureaus in Havana — on both the cholera outbreak and Calixto’s imprisonment?
The Provincial Health Office this Monday confirms that government authorities have declared a high alert for sanitary conditions in three of the 19 municipalities in the Cuban capital due to a cholera outbreak (IPS).
Until now, the majority of the cases have been reported in the municipalities of Cerro, 10 de Octubre, and Regla, although cases found in six other municipalities have been classified as isolated.
Dr. Hernan Madera, an epidemiology specialist who heads a multidisciplinary group created in Cerro, reports that those who have been infected are immediately transferred to the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute (IPK) for treatment.
It is reported that almost fifty individuals infected with cholera have been admitted into the IPK.”
http://www.capitolhillcubans.c.....alert.html
Shhhh… don’t tell anybody, it might scare away the tourists!
Enero 11th, 2013 at 13:41
The Man! THERE WERE OTHER CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN CUBA, THEY WERE CALLED(Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la ProducciĂłn) U.M.A.P.! SO FAR NO ONE IN THE CASTRO “GOVERNMENT” HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO JUSTICE FOR ALL THE ATROCITIES COMMITTED THERE TO THE CUBAN PEOPLE BY THEIR OWN “GOVERNMENT”!!
Military Units to Aid Production or UMAPs (Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la Producción) were agricultural labor camps operated by the Cuban government from November of 1965 to July of 1968 in the province of Camagüey. [1] The inmates of UMAP camps consisted of gay men, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, Catholic and Protestant priests, intellectuals, farmers who refused collectivization, as well as anyone else considered “anti-social” or “counter-revolutionary.”[2] Former Cuban intelligence agent Norberto Fuentes estimated that of approximately 35,000 internees, 507 ended up in psychiatric wards, 72 died from torture, and 180 committed suicide.[3] A 1967 human rights report from the Organization of American States found that over 30,000 internees are “forced to work for free in state farms for more than eight hours a day and are given the same treatment as political prisoners.”[4] The report concludes that the UMAP camps’ two objectives are “facilitating free labor for the state” and “punishing young people who refuse to join communist organizations.”[5] The Cuban government maintained that the UMAPs are not labor camps, but part of the military service.[6] In a 2010 interview with La Jornada, Fidel Castro admitted in response to a question about the UMAP camps that “Yes, there were moments of great injustice, great injustice!”[7]
YOUTUBE : CUBA DOCUMENTARY - “Conducta Impropria” - (Improper Conduct) - Part 1 of 12 - Mauvaise Conduite or Improper Conduct is a 1984 documentary film directed by NĂ©stor Almendros and Orlando JimĂ©nez Leal. The documentary interviews Cuban refugees to explore the Cuban government’s imprisonment of homosexuals, political dissidents, and Jehovah’s Witnesses into concentration camps under its policy of Military Units to Aid Protection. The documentary was produced with the support of French television Antenne 2 and won the Best Documentary Audience Award at the 1984 San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcF5ubWiy5k
Enero 11th, 2013 at 13:37
THIS IS THE CURRENT STATE OF MIGRATION LAWS OF THE CASTROFASCISTS! LETS SEE WHAT WILL CHANGE, STAY THE SAME AND HOW MUCH IT WILL ALL COST FOR THE ORDINARY CUBAN CITIZEN EARNING LESS THAN $20/MONTH! OUR YOANI IS THE CASTROFASCIST’S “ACID TEST”!! WILL THEY ALLOW HER TO TRAVEL AND BE ABLE TO COME BACK?? THE WORLD COMMUNITY IS WATCHING VERY CAREFULLY!
HAVANA TIMES : The (Non) Right of Cubans to Travel -Haroldo Dilla Alfonso-February 1, 2010-
The situation in Cuba concerning the freedom to travel is unfortunate. What I’m describing here is not for Cuban readers (who are all too familiar with this issue), but for those who are unaware of the matter and are forced to accept the information of those who close their eyes to this flagrant civil rights violation, a veritable wedge driven between the Cuban nation made up of both émigrés and those residing on the island.
Above all, travel for Cubans is not a right, but a legal privilege. It is a condition that can be granted or rescinded. It is a revocable concession by an unappealable power and is without a defined judicial framework.
In all cases, the departures of these people imply considerable fees that can end up in well excess of US $500, an immense sum for a population with exceedingly depressed wages that average $20 a month. In short, to leave, each person must be able to pay for a letter of invitation, a passport and an exit permit.
On top of this, once in the destination country, the traveler must make payments to the Cuban embassy in that country a sum that varies each month they remain in that country, which is a highly uncustomary practice. This sum fluctuates between $40 and $150 a month.
There are no laws or clearly written regulations covering these processes; rather, there are arbitrary and discretionary practices that mix starkly fascist reins of political control with mercurial motivations of the worst kind. In this way, the Cuban government denies a right that it alternately sells to those who can afford it.
But we must pay them, and pay them well, so they can continue reproducing their power with the same parasitic style they’ve displayed over the last fifty years.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=18972
Enero 11th, 2013 at 13:24
_man comes_
You’re not another fool capitalist addict created by tobacco marketing.
You smoke because you’re an intelligent socialist and it gives you earthly pleasure.
That’s why Castro makes cigars, not for profit, but to help the world enjoy life.
It’s why he smuggled Colombian cocaine too, there was absolutely no money involved.
Thank god Cuban tobacco is non-addictive and doesn’t cause cancer, another of Fidel’s great achievements.
Enero 11th, 2013 at 12:32
Help… thank you for the Cohiba cancer wish… love a nice guy when I see one… as if it matters I can only tell you I prefer it to getting cancer from depleted uranium bombs or to get burns that never cure from incendiary ones… things you are know for too!!
At least a cigar gives me pleasure, pleasure which is not just for the guy up north from Cuba who can pay for ads so feel superior but pleasure that everyone should enjoy since it comes from the earth!.. an idea that doesn’t enter your mind..
Maybe you can send me one… you seem to have them and know if they are truly Cuban!!
Enero 11th, 2013 at 12:26
Anonimo, that diatrabe coming from a ‘high-minded entity’ such as yourself it is a relief.. I wonder do you ever hear yourself screetch in the anonimous gutter where you speak while you haven’t proved anything?
I prefer the narrow-minded path of a climb and to have my shadow, it keeps any truth in check and spirit freer from the type of perversion you are prone to… to hide under dirt and claim it is not yours because it all comes from ‘the other’…as we know it!
By the way were you the one responsible for the posters in the NYsubway you you just subscribed to them and paid a few bob to feel good about what you are not???
Enero 11th, 2013 at 10:37
_man comes around_
I hope you enjoy your Cuban cigars. Please be careful though, a lot of “made in Cuba” stuff is fake.
They import some of their “Cuban” tobacco from bad ole capitalist countries.
You’ll have to go to the Cuba factory and track down where the tobacco came from. But if you snoop too much, you’ll be thrown in jail.
I suggest you pay the factory manager a nice handsome socialist bribe, and he’ll ensure you get the real socialist cigars he puts aside for real socialist friends.
If you get lung cancer, at least make sure it’s an authentic Cuban anti-capitalist cancer.
Enero 11th, 2013 at 10:36
Man: Narrow-minded, anti-semites like you do nothing to generate level debates or dialogue here. I’ve heard it all before. Your posts only expose you for the fool that you are.
And no one “owes” you anything.
Enero 11th, 2013 at 10:07
Anonimo, I guess we all know that this blog is not fading into obscurity considering the effort some of us make to generate a level debate here… if not dialogue..
From where I sit this is confirmation I am owed at least one good long Cohiba cigar if not a box…
Enero 11th, 2013 at 09:36
Dumbir claimed, in a recent post, that Yoani’s blog was fading into obscurity.
On the spanish language version of Yoani’s blog, the article entitled “In 2013 Reasons To Stay” has 2,634 comments. I’ve never seen this many comments on any blog before.
Congratulations Yoani, you’ve really got people talking!
Enero 11th, 2013 at 08:55
Hello
Checkout the 4th “considering” from this Granma article - freudian slip or ……
That the original constitutional power which resides in non-transferable form in the people was expressed last October 7, 2012, by reelecting as President of the Republic of Cuba Comandante Hugo Chávez, a decision which, in accordance with Article 5 of the Constitution of the Republic, holds predominance over any other formality;
won’t post link to paper
Enero 11th, 2013 at 08:53
Hello
Checkout the 4th “considering” from this Granma article - freudian slip or ……
That the original constitutional power which resides in non-transferable form in the people was expressed last October 7, 2012, by reelecting as President of the Republic of Cuba Comandante Hugo Chávez, a decision which, in accordance with Article 5 of the Constitution of the Republic, holds predominance over any other formality;
Enero 11th, 2013 at 08:51
test to check if I can post
Enero 11th, 2013 at 08:50
Happy Birthday Gitmo
Gitmo-go-round: No solution in sight on 11th Guantanamo anniversary
http://rt.com/news/guantanamo-.....rsary-745/
What is surprising here is that of all the anti-Castro ‘protesters’ concerned with what is happening on the island that time forgot, none of you feel in any way affected by the ‘heart of darkness’ going ons at the tip of the island… Only us the ‘champagne socialists’ and ‘bleeding heart liberals’ feel that what is going on there impacts us all in a very bad way!!
Enero 11th, 2013 at 08:41
Help ?… no not ready to put $10 on the line for a guy’s ticket… no I didn’t think so… When people from Africa would travel anywhere they want than you may have a point about ‘the right to travel freely’…after all that is where the first humans were born and not in America as you wish to have us believe!
And yeah this on the 11th anniversary of Gitmo where you detain ppl illegally and with no due process… Blame it on Castro too he set the trend to keep ppl on the island locked … you just water board them in the name of preserving you freedom!!!
Help… and no I don’t ‘imagine that’ I had lived through that and your supposed truth is on steroids… meaning it is not quite true what you are arguing and you are arguing again the American angle as if it is the mother of all angles! Try a more latin angle and you may get a foot in the door until then what you say can all be summed up like: In Cuba all’s bad as long as we (Americans) don’t have it in our bag!
Enero 11th, 2013 at 06:16
Imagine being a doctor in a country where Cholera and malnutrition are state secrets.
How does a doctor treat an ailment when speaking its name will get you fired?
Imagine being a patient where your disease is a state secret, but your doctor speaks about you on national TV.
Glad I don’t live in Cuba.
Enero 11th, 2013 at 05:52
_man comes around_
Told you you’re losing it.
As a US citizen I can travel anywhere I want, including to Cuba. I don’t have to beg the US government to let me travel.
Every Cuban needs Castro’s permission to travel outside the country. And no change in sight.
As you should know from the Soviet Bloc, Cuba operates on the hostage principle. If Castro lets me out for a trip, he keeps my wife or kids in Cuba as hostages.
He won’t even let most Communist officials travel with their wives. Talk about trust! As much as in the mafia.
Enero 11th, 2013 at 05:32
HuHuHumerto… why don’t you then buy that guy in the article a plane ticket?? you can afford it … do a nice deed I promise to chip in ÂŁ10 if you do so…
and by the way .. buried but still the truth that will prevail:
The bigger hindrances to travel for most Cubans will be the governments of other countries, not their own, and financial constraints.
Enero 10th, 2013 at 19:22
ON MONDAY I’M SURE OUR YOANI WILL START HER PROCESS TO GET PERMISSION TO TRAVEL FROM THE CASTROFASCISTS! IF THEY ARE SMART THEY WILL LET HER GO! BUT WE KNOW THOSE OLD BATS DONT HAVE A LOT OF NEURONS LEFT!
LONDON FREE PRESS: Cubans line up for passports as travel reform deadline nears - JEFF FRANKS
With paperwork in their hands and dreams of faraway places in their heads, Cubans waited in long lines this week to apply for passports ahead of a major liberalization of travel policies in place for more than half a century. Starting on Monday, most will be able to leave the country with just a passport and no need for much-hated exit visas and letters of invitation the communist government imposed in 1961 to slow a mass exodus of people fleeing after the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro. The reform was announced in October to address the near universal complaints by Cubans about the expensive and time-consuming paperwork requirements that purposely made it difficult to leave the island. They were fodder for Castro opponents who charged the Cuban government was a brutal dictatorship that deprived its people of the right to travel and other freedoms.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Even so, the government maintains the right to restrict travel for reasons ranging from national security to economic importance.
Some of the island’s best known dissidents have been denied exit visas in the past, but whether that policy will continue is unknown.
“My suitcase continues to be ready for a trip WITH RETURN. Will I be able to go?,” tweeted dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, who says she has been denied a visa 19 times.
“As with all things concerning reforms in Cuba, we will have to see,” said Christopher Sabatini, policy director at the Americas Society in New York.
“The ugliest of the bars may have been lifted, but they’ve been replaced with a leash - people will only know how far they can go when they are yanked back,” he told Reuters.
The bigger hindrances to travel for most Cubans will be the governments of other countries, not their own, and financial constraints.
When pressed about how he would pay for an airline ticket to go to Venezuela or Angola, Ruben Osorio talked about selling more coffee and cutting costs before finally admitting it would take a “miracle” to fulfill his dream.
“I sell coffee, I keep selling coffee … I cut back a little, I don’t buy clothes or shoes and it might be that a quirk of fate comes along, a miracle, and it tells me there’s a ticket,” he said.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!!
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/01.....line-nears
Enero 10th, 2013 at 14:55
EXCELLENT ANALYSIS OF THE VENEZUELAN CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS!
THE ECONOMIST: Brotherly love in the Bolivarian Republic - With the president ill, who is really running the country?
Mr Chávez has turned over some powers to Mr Maduro. Technically, his term as vice-president (an appointed, not elected, post) lapses on January 10th, too. Mr Maduro denies that he is the acting president, though he seems to be. Despite the seriousness of Mr Chávez’s condition—underlined by his inability to sign the letter to the assembly himself—the official view is that the president will make a complete recovery. No medical bulletins have been issued since Mr Chávez, a former army officer who has ruled Venezuela since 1999, fell ill in 2011. The nature of his cancer has never been revealed.
The constitution provides for a medical board, appointed by the supreme court, to examine the president, but the court ruled that out. If he were to die, or the government to acknowledge that he is permanently incapacitated, the constitution mandates a fresh presidential election within 30 days. Before undergoing his latest operation, Mr Chávez named Mr Maduro as his chosen candidate in that event.
The problem is that nobody else enjoys Mr Chávez’s unquestioned authority over the PSUV. Many chavistas are on the far left. Others, including many in the armed forces, are more pragmatic, or are opportunists; some of this group have made fortunes from government. Mr Maduro is an ardent admirer of Cuba’s Fidel Castro (as is Mr Chávez). Mr Cabello, who has influence in the army, is seen by the left as a closet right-winger and militarist. The PSUV’s inner circle also includes Rafael RamĂrez, who runs PDVSA, the state oil monopoly which provides the regime with much of its revenue; Adan Chávez, the president’s elder brother who is an ultra-leftist; and Jorge Arreaza, the science minister and son-in-law of the president.
After a meeting of this group in Havana, Mr Maduro said that he and Mr Cabello had sworn a unity pact in the presence of Mr Chávez. Since the president is in no condition to chair meetings, some analysts speculated that Raúl Castro, Cuba’s president, may have done so. The Castros have a history of broking deals among competing factions of their leftist allies in the region. Both Mr Cabello and Mr Maduro deny that any such factions exist. But after Mr Cabello’s re-election as speaker, Mr Maduro stressed the importance of maintaining “military-civilian unity”.
For Cuba’s communist regime the survival of Mr Chávez’s “Bolivarian Republic” (named for Simon BolĂvar, Venezuela’s independence hero) is vital. Cuba receives around 100,000 barrels a day of virtually free Venezuelan oil. Energy-poor Cuba has had its eye on Venezuela ever since Fidel Castro took power in 1959, but only got what it wanted there with Mr Chávez. With the Venezuelan president now incommunicado in a state-run Havana hospital, Cuba’s leaders are in a strong position to influence the succession.
Antonio Ledezma, the mayor of Caracas and a leader of the opposition Democratic Unity alliance, complained that the president had been “practically kidnapped by a foreign government”. He demanded to know “who is giving the instructions? Is it Raúl Castro? Whose hands is the Venezuelan government in?”
It is not just the opposition that is worried. Many in the Venezuelan armed forces resent being bossed about by Cuban officers and intelligence agents. The notion that Mr Maduro might be a puppet of Havana is potentially damaging to his chances of consolidating his position as Mr Chávez’s successor.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.economist.com/news/.....bolivarian
Enero 10th, 2013 at 13:35
FOX NEWS LATINO: Op-Ed: Venezuela’s Coup Made in Cuba - By Dr. Carlos Ponce
Chávez never delegated power to his Vice President Nicolas Maduro, he only obtained a temporary permit to travel to Cuba, but he supposedly remained in total control of the presidency. Nobody knows the true extent of such delegation of duties or if Chávez is actually awake or has been in coma all this time.
And the Constitution in Venezuela is clear: the mandate began on January 10th, 2007 and ends January 10th, 2013, and if the elected president can’t take the oath that day the Assembly’s President assumes power temporarily and calls for new elections within a maximum of 30 days.
But for Cuba, which receives more than $10 billion a year plus other benefits from Venezuela, this is not acceptable. Fidel and RaĂşl Castro have been close friends and supporters of Chávez’s regime for economic reasons. Thanks to Hugo Chávez and his fake revolution, the Cuban dictatorial regime has been able to survive this past decade. For Castro’s regime, the future of Chávez will also mark Cuba’s future.
The Castro brothers have become the conciliators and advisors of the two most powerful acolytes of Chávez as well as of some fractions from the military. Castro has been coordinating the meetings among Diosdado Cabello, the president of Venezuelan National Assembly, Vice President Maduro, Chávez’s family and some sectors of the military.
They also initiated an international lobby with Brazil and other countries to gather support for their plans on Venezuela. They have developed the thesis of the “continuation” of the government: for them the re-election of Chávez last October was just a confirmation or referendum of his regime, and for that reason he doesn’t need to be inaugurated or take the presidential oath.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://latino.foxnews.com/lati.....e-in-cuba/
Enero 10th, 2013 at 10:02
Anonimo… are you ready for a debate? or you just want an answer you could discredit?… Me knows honey boo boo from SouthPark thought it was one of their concoctions and found it very funny… then saddly I had a spark in my brain they weren’t joking and google said yes honey boo boo does exist man… I love some American animation …when it is young and fresh 3-4 seasons max… not 16 like Homer and Peter Griffin (the one on this blog? there’s a joke)!
Enero 10th, 2013 at 09:05
And how does “the man” know so much about American TV? Hmmmm…..
Enero 10th, 2013 at 06:24
It is getting hilarious… MsY as suspected - like all of us who hated communism yet grew up in it - is a socialist and egalitarian at heart…
Tell that to the nasty VIPs, to the famous for being famous, and zero the heros in Hell..o capitalism! Or simply switch to American tv… and see how honey boo boo is doing the heavy media lifting at such an early age and no one blinks an eye… she knows already the VIP way!