Cuban Post Uk

Cuba Creditor Hires Lawyer Who Won Argentina Debt Settlement

2018-05-07T18:59:00.001+01:00

Tourists pass the National Capitol Building in Havana on

Photographer: Francesco Pistilli/Bloomberg

An investment fund that’s seeking a payout from the Cuban government on more than $1.3 billion in defaulted debt and back interest has hired the lawyer who won a settlement for hedge funds in a long-running legal battle against Argentina.

CRF I Ltd. contracted Matthew McGill, a partner with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, to represent it in its claim against Cuba “including potential litigation,” according to a letter from the firm provided to Bloomberg News by a fund investor. McGill will be joined by Charles Falconer, the former British secretary of State for Justice, according to the letter.

CRF is the largest debt holder in the London Club, a group of creditors with a total of more than $5 billion in defaulted commercial debt and back interest. The debt dates back to the 1970s and 1980s and trades at about 23 to 24 cents on the dollar, according to the creditors. The Cuban government has said it intends to clear such obligations as it seeks a return to international capital markets.

Cuba’s former President Raul Castro negotiated a settlement of $11.1 billion in sovereign debt to the Paris Club of creditors, which forgave all but $2.6 billion. The London Club -- which includes CRF, Stancroft Trust Ltd, Adelante Exotic Debt Fund Ltd, and a commercial bank -- also offered to restructure the loans earlier this year but withdrew the proposal when Cuba failed to respond.

“I want to believe that there’s still appetite for an amicable settlement,” said Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, a law professor at Queen Mary University in London who represents the London Club. “The members are not aggressive creditors seeking an absolute return, but they hold legally binding claims that were entered into by Cuba.”

A spokesman for CRF said the company wants to work with Cuba’s new government, under President Miguel Diaz-Canel, “to resolve issues so Cuba can return to the international markets.”

McGill and the Cuba Finance Ministry didn’t reply to emails seeking comment.

McGill represented NML Capital Ltd for more than 10 years as it sought to recover on defaulted sovereign bonds from Argentina. After winning a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, NML and other hedge funds settled with Argentina for $4.65 billion. More recently, McGill represented funds that hold Puerto Rican municipal debt in a case that was heard by the Supreme Court in March.

In the name of the Cuban Family

2018-05-02T12:13:00.001+01:00

On October 28 of last year, 2017, Cuba carried out modifications to the 1312 Migration law under which the government ratified the 8 year forced exile that weigh on those of us who have abandoned their work agreements abroad and, weary of the inhuman conditions in which we have been forced to live and work, have decided to opt for a better future beyond the sea. The government of Cuba punishes us with what we love the most: our family. In this moment, there are children growing up without their parents, mothers that have not seen their kids in years, siblings that have never met, while there are others that have lost family members and have been denied the opportunity of the last goodbye. Hundred of thousands of Cuban families are terribly affected by this, all because some Cuban doctors, athletes and engineers have decided to live elsewhere. The people of Cuba has never voted for this law. We are campaigning for this unconstitutional and inhuman ban to be lifted, and we need your support in the name of family unity.

https://www.change.org/p/petition-in-the-name-of-the-cuban-family-en-nombre-de-la-familia-cubana

U.S.-Cuban relations are about to get worse

2018-04-17T09:22:00.000+01:00

The orchestrated presidential succession underway this week in Cuba, from Raúl Castro to his likely replacement Miguel Díaz-Canel, is prompting a new round of speculation about how the Trump administration should react to the long-awaited departure of the Castro brothers from power. Judging from the heated rhetoric between the U.S. and Cuban delegations at last week’s Summit of the Americas, relations are likely to go from bad to worse.

Author
Ted Piccone
Shortly before the U.S. presidential election, candidate Donald Trump promised to “cancel” President Obama’s normalization policy. His administration made good on that promise last year with a number of measures rolling back key features of the incipient rapprochement. This included dire travel warnings, a dramatic 60 percent drawdown of U.S. embassy personnel in Havana, and the eviction of 17 staff from Cuba’s embassy in Washington last September in response to unexplained health incidents affecting U.S. diplomats.

These steps loudly signaled the return of Florida’s pro-embargo faction, led by Senator Marco Rubio, at the helm of U.S.-Cuba policy. Now, with the appointment of the more hardline John Bolton and Mike Pompeo to top national security positions, we should expect the White House to double down on its first year’s embrace of punitive regime change.

THE HANDCUFFS OF THE EMBARGO AND DOMESTIC POLITICS
Ever since the nearly six decades of hostilities between Havana and Washington began, the United States has been locked in a narrow band of policy options. Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, the engine driving U.S. strategy remained a deep distrust of Cuba’s closed socialist system, fueled by the hundreds of thousands of nostalgic Cuban exiles concentrated in the swing state of Florida. Domestic politics prevails.

The rationale for tightening or loosening the comprehensive embargo established in the Kennedy administration has shifted, depending on the circumstances. The pivotal moment, however, was Congress’ decision to codify the embargo after the Cuban military shot down a plane piloted by Cuban exiles in 1996. This law—with its unilateral demands for the end of communist rule, the removal of the Castros from power, the establishment of free and fair elections, and full respect for human rights—severely handicapped any attempt by U.S. policymakers to adapt to changing circumstances, let alone construct an alternate route toward reconciliation and change.

2017-03-28T11:47:00.001+01:00

2017-03-28T11:44:00.005+01:00

Latin American leaders and activists lí create the International Commission for Fiscalizació n n of RICs menes of Lesa Humanity Castro regime Ré

2017-03-28T11:20:00.001+01:00

Leaders poli Ticos and activists of human rights in different coun Latin American countries unveiled the conformació n a Commission n International for Fiscalizació n of Menes cri de Lesa Humanid ad of Ré moan Castro, Segou n informs the web from the Commission .

This initiative comes "in the context of a significant increase in Repression n in the u- recent weeks in Cuba , with arrests, searches and raids of activists throughout the island, but especially in the east."

L to Commission n will be headed by lawyer and Mexican professor René Bolio and will be participació n activist Costa Rican human rights Marí to the MOUsndez Milagros, with engineer and leader poli tico Peruvian Jorge Villena, with p r esidente Board tica Dominican native hiccupped lito Ramí rez, with poli ticoleader Martin Elgue Uruguayan and Venezuelan student council and Martí n lí der Paz.

"The Commission n will focus in its first stage to document, investigate and organize uc mule existing evidence on the ma s longevas of all Latin American dictatorships, a fierce totalitarian state that has oppressed his people to remain in power nearly six decades, something incompatible with the very essence of the values s of the international community ", senna aló René Bolio.

"In the second stage, after test s to be fully organized work from the Commission, will advocate nationally and internationally for the creació n of an International Tribunal to oversee the RICs menes against humanity of Ré Castro regime , " he added.

According to lito Ramí rez she hiccupped, "the work of this Commission n should serve as a clear warning to the Cuban military that do not participate in the Repression No, they do not support those who give or immoral orders".

"I would like to dedicate the work of this Commission n to jove n Mario Manuel de la Peñ to, voluntary pilot of Brothers to the Rescue who was killed with three other eros Compañ on 24 February 1996 re Castro regime. It is ma s, I will propose n Audit Commission that bears his name , "Rami rez Adio yea.

For his par t, Marí to the MOUs Milagros ndez said that aim to "organize public hearings , in different capitals on developments concerning violació n human rights in Cuba during the last 57 yea u os".

"I think the Cuban military have q ue decide whether to perpetuate the Repression not give way to a peaceful transició n fica democracy and justice", Add Adio.

They also Ladies Alaron who will contact n with representatives of Cuban civil society both inside and outside the island.

Members n d and the Commission announced that pró ximamente held a press conference n where n specify in detail the details of the future work of the Commission.

"The Castro family is a crime syndicate," says The Wall Street Journal.

2017-03-14T13:31:00.000+00:00

In an article published on Sunday, The Wall Street Journal says Cuba remains a "totalitarian hell" where dissidents die in prison under suspicious conditions and the regime denies entry to "prominent politicians once considered friends."

"The Cuban military dictatorship is pointing to another murder: last month it eliminated the Hamas dissident Hamell Santiago Maz Hernández, who was serving a prison in one of his most notorious prisons for his brutality," he says.

"The remarkable thing was not the death of a critic. That is routine in a police state that retains all weapons, bayonets, money and food. What is noteworthy is that the world is hardly blinking, that is to say, that two years after the distension of US President Barack Obama with Raul Castro, the regime still dispatches its adversaries with impunity. It also routinely blocks visitors from the island, even from the left to keep the population isolated, "he adds.

Cuba experiences a process that is contrary to "normalization" and lives in "the same totalitarian hell that has been during the last 58 years," says the tabloid.

In this article, he has in mind Maz Hernández, 45, who was a member of the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU), which he describes as a "group working for a peaceful transition to democracy."

"In November, Maz Hernandez was taken to the Combinado del Este prison, a non-animal dungeon. There he developed a kidney infection. His wife told independent media in Cuba that he lost almost 16kg. According to the regime died on February 24 of a 'heart attack'. It is curious, that epidemic of heart disease among those who oppose Castro, "he emphasized.

The death of this opponent should stir the conscience of the free world, says the newspaper, which also condemns how the English-speaking foreign press has not picked up this story.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "the Castro family is a crime syndicate" and that "many American companies want a piece of the action" to which "the result is that more money than ever is flowing from the United States to The arks of the military ".

Politically correct nightmares of the moment

2017-03-14T13:20:00.000+00:00

(PD) Beyond letters, declarations, NGOs, UN and OAS, there coexist with the democratic world politically correct nightmares enshrined in its existence by European democracies and even by the leading nation of the free world, the United States of America .

Among such nightmares are North Korea, Iran, African failed states that some enunciate as tribes with flag and national shield, regions without law and in state of war and permanent violence and even, among them, the totalitarian military regime of Castro.

The latter, with justice, has won the palms, because although each of the nightmares reviewed is affirmed in an anti-imperialism and declared anti-Americanism, who has managed to place his spies in the United States, even the Pentagon, has been the Totalitarian Castro regime. This is a merit that should not be overlooked.

Recent news points out how Jane Soomer, secretary general of the Association of Caribbean States, on an official visit to Havana, said that "the ideas of the Cuban Revolution's historic leader Fidel Castro on unity and respect for the Caribbean continue In force in the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). "

Add to this the praises of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon following the death of the former Cuban dictator in 2016 and the recognition and support given to the Castro dictatorship by the European Union since the administration Of Ms. Federica Mogherini, culminating in the abrogation of the Common Position, among other examples of this cut, there is nothing more to conclude that politically correct national nightmares exist, with which the democratic West is willing to live together.

Coexistence has sometimes been risky and 9-11 is a timely reminder of these circumstances.

Since 1959 Castro's military regime has expanded throughout the Americas, with terrorist guerrillas, and later with a whole range of variants in which drug trafficking, bribery and 'solidarity' assistance in sanitation, education, etc. , Who mostly got the nightmares to be politically correct nightmares for their acceptance in a wide range of European and American political, diplomatic and financial centers.

The last world chess women's championship held in Tehran, Iran, has set an interesting agenda. The athletes were forced to use the burka to participate in the contest.

It happens that as far as we know, no Muslim woman in Europe, the United States, Latin America, etc., are forced to use crucifixes or anything that is foreign to their identity. And then, why in Tehran? What is the reason for coexistence with this exclusion or with this nightmare?

It is well known that Castro's totalitarian military regime is sustained by the repression, violence, death, exclusion, blackmail, bribery, threat and misery that it exerts against the Cuban people and society. What is it that makes this nightmare one of the politically correct type? What is the secret for tolerance with this regime to impose itself?

The answer may be that this is the time for the politically correct and nothing more nightmares.
Primaveradigital2011@gmail.com; Writing Habana

Luis Almagro bare the Cuban dictatorship

2017-03-14T13:03:00.001+00:00

by Guillermo Lopez Rayneri

The Secretary General of the OAS scandalizes Latin American politicians, diplomats and intellectuals for calling 'dictatorzuelo' to the 'dictatorzuelos'

(PD) In announcing that he would travel to Havana to receive a prize from dissidents demanding democracy in Cuba, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro has forced the regime of Raúl Castro to ban him from entering with rather ridiculous arguments. Almagro has taken the opportunity to teach the dictatorship with a class about democracy: he has explained that he wanted to "honor the memory of Oswaldo Payá," a pro-democracy activist probably assassinated by the regime, and has asked him not to criminalize Cuba Decide Founded by the daughter of Payá) because the constitutional mechanisms of direct democracy that proclaim the necessity of a plebiscite in Cuba are "an essential instrument for the expression of the towns".

With this and other such actions, the Secretary General of the OAS continues to receive praise in public and private, but also comes scandalizing a number of Latin American politicians, diplomats and intellectuals, who are concerned that the former Foreign Minister of Mujica is calling Dictatorship to dictatorships and reaching out to civil society groups in countries governed by authoritarian regimes, even without their permission.

MORE INFORMATION
Cuba prevented from entering the head of the OAS in La Haban to
Cuba denies entry to Mexican president Felipe Calderon to an act of an ON G
The scandalized come in two types, those that are public in its rejection of Almagro, that is, the officials and supporters of the dictatorship of Cuba and the authoritarian regimes of Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, and those who do it in Secret, "diplomatically," because they are "career" officials of how much Latin American chancery has formed them in the ascetic arts of maintaining the same label and protocol - effective, gentle, and obsequious-- under today's elected president, the anti-Communist caudillo of Tomorrow, and the left-wing dictator the day after tomorrow.

Critics of Almagro wield two important arguments. One is that, according to them, the OAS is no different from the UN in that it is simply an intergovernmental organization in charge of providing a platform to the representatives of countries, and, therefore, it must have within it the same right to Voice and vote, and with the same honors due to any head of state, Allende as Pinochet, Videla as Alfonsin, Carlos Andres Perez as Nicolás Maduro. The second argument is that what Almagro criticizes the Venezuelan regime is contrary to the tradition of the OAS, since, although from its creation in 1948 it would theoretically have been interested in promoting values of representative democracy, in practice From its pulpit was criticized only to the dictatorship of Castro in Cuba, that was suspended in 1962, and an accomplice silence was kept before the anticommunist dictatorships of the whole continent during the Cold War.

Critics of Almagro are mistaken twice. Unlike the UN that has had two dictatorships (China and Russia) in its Security Council since its inception, the OAS is an organization created by democracies and dedicated to democracy.From its beginnings, with the adoption of the OAS Charter in 1948, with greater force since the 1992 Charter reform, and culminating in the adoption of the Inter-American Democratic Charter (IDC) in 2001, the OAS has a duty to Promote the essential elements of democracy: freedom of the press, independence of the judiciary, free and fair elections, and alternation of power.

Moreover, while the dictatorships of Saudi Arabia, China, Cuba, Egypt and Rwanda are members of the Human Rights Council, the Secretary General of the OAS is obliged to seek the "suspension of all participation in OAS organs "Of any undemocratic regime that would have taken control of the government of a member state, either because it came to power through a coup against a democratic president, or because, having been elected in free and fair elections, it eroded democracy A gradual, sustained and systematic way to the point of becoming an authoritarian or dictatorial regime, as is the case of Venezuela, where there is no guarantee of future elections.

It is not true that the OAS did not say anything during the Cold War. Although he remained silent before the dictatorships of Videla and Pinochet, the OAS was then able to condemn the tyrannical regimes of Trujillo in 1960, Castro in 1962, Somoza in 1979, and Noriega in 1989, even without tools such as Democratic Charter.

The first two convictions, against Trujillo and Castro, were made possible by former Venezuelan President Rómulo Betancourt, a social democratic leader of principles who believed in an OAS without dictatorships and who reminded Almagro much.

Hispanic Americans who are lucky not to live in dictatorship, we must abandon the indifference because it leaves the microphone to those who are scandalized by the actions of Almagro. Instead, we must support loudly the millions of Venezuelans and Cubans who are risking their lives today to demand democracy in their countries. We must support Almagro.
G.lopezrayneri@gmail.com, Guillermo López Rayneri

The most abusive among monopolies

2017-03-14T12:42:00.002+00:00

by Juan Gonzalez Febles

(PD) ETECSA, the Telecommunications Company of Cuba SA under its name conceals the most abject, abusive and predatory monopoly of the Cuban citizen on foot, which has the most predatory Castro state.

Protected by the pseudo-legal mechanisms imposed since the totalitarian authoritarianism imposed by the Castro dynasty for more than five decades, ETECSA is the most abusive exploitative octopus known in contemporary Cuban history.

All telephones, faxes, etc., present in the world market, have caller ID and none among the world's telephone corporations has it occurred to charge extra this service as does ETECSA. The Castro monopoly charges this service and in other ways and with other variants, scam to its undervalued clients, Cubans residing in Cuba deprived of all rights.

ETECSA, to earn more, reduced the entry of SMS to Cuba, from companies with which it does not have direct contracts. The impact from this was more than 85% of the text messages that enter the island.

The SMS to Cuba filtered by ETECSA cost almost 20 times more. ETECSA seeks to earn more always at the expense of the people without Cuban rights.

There is also the issue of censorship: the government removes the sms you want.

Another relevant scam of ETECSA is that the recharges provided an extra that originally established that the beneficiary of a recharge made from abroad, received double the amount deposited. ETECSA has converted this benefit into a bonus that is due in less than one month, whether or not you made use of the bonus.

What art and magic to steal!

ETECSA successfully joins the efforts of Castroism that occupies a relevant place worldwide in terms of influence peddling, fraudulent accounts, bribery and other gimmicks in so-called tax havens. The usual loser? The people of Cuba!
J.gonzalez.febles@gmail.com; Juan Gonzále z
Photo: Daudy Hermel

Mariela Castro: 'The people do not want to turn to capitalism. We continue to invent socialism '

2017-03-13T11:57:00.001+00:00

Mariela Castro with her Italian husband Paolo Titolo ... later they say that the people do not want capitalism that bigger example

"Cuba will continue with its socialist project," said Mariela Castro Espín, director of the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX), who is in Mexico invited to the International Film Festival of Guadalajara (FICG).

The Mexican newspaper La Jornada asked Mariela Castro about a possible "disguised capitalism" on the island, to which she replied emphatically that she was not going to "turn towards capitalism": "The people do not want to turn around.

The daughter of General Raúl Castro visited the FICG, where she received the Maguey Prize for her activism in favor of the rights of the homosexual community, women's rights and HIV / AIDS prevention.

In an interview with La Jornada, she was questioned about the refusal of the regime to have former President Felipe Calderón enter the island in February to attend the Oswaldo Paya Prize, Truth and Life.

"As Pope Francisco said: Latin America suffers the existence of some cypresses. We do not open the door to the vendepatrias," was the only answer he wrote about it.

Questioned about whether immigration policy has changed towards Cubans with the arrival of Donald Trump to the US presidency, said that "so far no".

"I would like the same treatment (given to Cubans) to be given to immigrants from all over the world who come to the United States looking for better economic conditions, which is what attracts them." What we do not want is the Adjustment Act For Cubans, because it encourages disorderly, illegal and dangerous immigration, the ideal is to provide the necessary visas so they can travel safely. "

On a supposed end of the embargo and the inflow of capital to the island, Castro Espín pointed out that "the limit (of capital inflow) would not generate an antagonistic social class to those that have historically been exploited and dispossessed. Of Cuba does not want the emergence of antagonistic social classes, because we have overcome that with the Revolution, therefore, the State and the Party observe and take care that there is no social class with influence in the political and that benefits from it ".

He also stressed that the health, culture, sport and food production sectors have to be guarded by the State that is responsible for "putting limits on the private producer".

Regarding the absence in Cuba of legislation for marriage between same-sex couples, Castro espíned that "laws can not change prejudices or consciences."

"Cuba has not adopted a law in favor of homosexual marriage because you can not repeat what others do and also this does not ensure the end of hate crimes towards that group," he concluded.

Raul Castro was "exposed and diminished" after an incident with Almagro and Calderón, says La Nación

2017-03-06T11:38:00.001+00:00

Raúl Castro on January 24, 2017, in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic).

The Cuban government sent a "crude totalitarian message" where control is imposed on any other consideration says an editorial in the Costa Rican daily.

The main Costa Rican newspaper La Nación published an editorial this week criticizing the attitude of the Cuban government by preventing the entry into Cuba of renowned personalities from Latin America to participate in the Oswaldo Payá award ceremony organized by the opposition platform Cuba He decides.

By preventing the entry to the island of Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Chilean exile Mariana Aylwin and Mexican President Felipe Calderón, "the dictatorship of Raúl Castro revealed, again, so clumsily As indefensible, the totalitarian nature of the regime and its determination to put control, intransigence and exclusion above even any hint of good diplomatic forms. "

"The regime refused to grant visas to Almagro, Aylwin and Calderón, against whom it also formulated strong attacks, among them, to participate in" anti-Cuban activities. "In other words, for the top of Castro's power, the dominant group is the Even though no one has freely conceded that authority, this assumed representation implies deciding what is Cuban and what is not, and gives a license to violate the rights of the population and even prevent politicians (One, Almagro, exchancer of the leftist Frente Amplio de Uruguay) visit the island, "the newspaper criticized.

The editorial titled Crudo totalitarian message values that "as a result of the intransigence of Castroism and the democratic clarity of the Secretary General of the OAS, Almagro was strengthened and Raúl Castro, exposed and diminished." The Cuba Decide movement was extolled as an option to which The regime fears for the simple fact of using a mechanism provided by the Constitution itself. "

The Tico newspaper laments that "unfortunately, in the middle are trapped the Cubans, who, in the final analysis, addressed the implicit message emanating from the top Castro: anyone who tries to cross their narrow limits of tolerance will be rejected and drowned without contemplation. The logic of absolute control, for an apparatus of totalitarian power, prevails over any other consideration, let us call this economic opening or permission for an independent group to reward foreign personalities like Almagro (worse if they are Cuban) for their support of Democracy is a message as unacceptable as it is revealing. "

[Based on editorial from The Nation of Costa Rica]

Alejandro Castro Espín Proposes For Presidency Of Cuba

2017-02-16T17:03:00.001+00:00

A Facebook group from the Argols organization has issued a letter proposing that a son of Raúl Castro assume the presidency of Cuba as if we had not had enough with 2 Castros and 58 years of backwardness and oppression. The group has even changed the name to: committee for the candidacy of Alejandro Castro Espín.

The letter is signed by a lady in New York and the alleged news agency is based in Miami.

It seems that this way begins to feel the ground to pass the throne in Cuba to the third Castro.

Here the letter integrates as it has been published:

'ArgosIs-COMITÉ Alejandro for President of Cuba'
We: Members of 'The Executive', 'Interlaced Members', 'Founding Members', 'Collaborators' and 'Member of Support Groups' of the 'ArgosIs-International' Information Agency on the Network, Latin America ',' Caribbean ',' United States', 'European Union', 'Africa', 'Asia' and 'Social Movements'
WE MAKE ANSWER:
The creation of the 'Committee of Support for the Candidature for the Presidency of the Republic of Cuba of' Alejandro Castro Espín '...
Reasons?
First: The Deputy, and Member of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party (CCP), Colonel Alejandro Castro Espín, is an intelligent, educated, charismatic person formed within the VIVA Revolution and represents a sector of the population of the Republic of Cuba, which is extremely powerful, which is YOUTH ... He is a Cuban engineer and a master's degree in International Relations ... Researcher on issues related to Defense and National Security ... Author of the book Imperio del terror (2009) ...
Second: The Deputy Alejandro Castro Espín stands out for its image strength with values that human being would like to have of history ...

Photo used in publication

Third: Cuban man with commitment of dedication and passion for freedom and emancipation of the human being, from there born his commitment to integral education ...
Fourth: Why not highlight your family heritage, when humanity is covered with similar stories that stand out and identify with the best? ... Let us review contemporary history and it will not be difficult to know what we mean, eliminate prejudices For the benefit of the Cuban people, it is no secret to anyone that there are more than 50 years of accumulated difficulties in Cuban society that we must eliminate for the benefit of the nation and its progress ...
Thus:
We subscribe the following Committee to Support the Candidacy of Deputy Alejandro Castro Espín to the Presidency of the Republic of Cuba:
We: Members of 'The Executive', 'Founders', 'Interlaced Members', 'Contributors' and 'Members of Support Groups' of the ArgosIs-International Information Agency on the Network, on 03 February 2015 in the City of New York, United States of America ...
Lic. Damaris Pérez Cortina (MF-Cuba).

President of the 'Alejandro's Committee for President of Cuba'.

Editor of 'ArgosIs-Radio Titan' ...
…'There are men that fight one day and are good.

There are others that fight for a year and are better.

Some fight for many years and are very good.

But there are those who fight for a lifetime: Those are the essential '...
'ArgosIs-International' is a Social Networking Information Agency (POR NOW) based in the City of Miami, Florida, United States; Founded in 1991 ... Web: http: //www.argosisinternacional.com ... Member of the 'Latin American Federation of Journalists' (FELAP) ... Web: http: //www.felap.info ...

How does the Cuban live? (II)

2017-02-13T13:41:00.001+00:00

by Eduardo Maro (PD) Within Cuba, despite the propaganda, there are several classes of Cubans. Social classes antagonistic worse than in capitalism, because the superior has all the power and stifles and crushes the others below, when we should all be equal.

Before 1959, the wealthy and powerful did not conceal themselves to be one, nor did they pretend that those below would believe otherwise.

The visitor (very hypothetical and improbably) to a residence in the elegant and expensive neighborhoods of yesteryear (Siboney, Atabey, Cubanacan, Nuevo Vedado, Kholy) where political leaders and senior military residences, heavily guarded neighborhoods, will see a house Which takes half a block, a high wall around it that makes it impossible to see inwards. If you are invited to enter, you will notice how well-kept the place, domestic employees, well-stocked pantry, exaggerated spaciousness, a fifty-inch flat screen TV on with availability of several foreign cable channels, including CNN; You probably see several desktops in the rooms, some laptop lying on the sofa, connected to the Internet. There will be attached a garage for three cars, usually Audi, Mercedes, BMW or VW.

Its residents will tell you that Cuba is the best in the world and that its sovereignty, idiosyncrasy and government system must be respected.

For this kind of new socialist wealthy does not really matter money (though they have it), but power, relationships and influences. This group has no need to violate any law or regulation, at least visibly. These people have their exclusive shops and markets, as well as their clinics. You will visit, less difficult, an apartment in Miramar, spacious, where they may rent to tourists. They may have a fifty-inch TV, but they will no longer have cable channels or satellite antenna. You will discover later, as you make friends with these people, that even though they may be adept at government, they pay some other neighbor for a clandestine cable to be able to see the Spanish-speaking American stations, which is a sin in this nation , So if they are discovered they will impose high fines, and they will remove the cable and the antennas. Cubans can only watch official TV. Except those of the upper class.

The owner of the house will arrive in his car Lada, or Geely, in very good condition and leave it in the exclusive and guarded parking of the basement.

These two previous homes will always have central air conditioning. Almost all of its inhabitants are sullen and tend to speak little to each other, outside of their inner circle, although they are very polite and kind when the case comes. They are decidedly socialists or revolutionaries.

It will be more affordable to get to a house in Centro Habana, Diez de Octubre or Old Havana in a good construction state and enter a home of very friendly people, usually with some private business as rent rooms to tourists (not Cubans) Or some elegant cafeteria or palate (restaurant). You'll see a twenty- or thirty-inch flat-panel TV. You will notice an average comfort. They may have the cable (illegal antenna) but they will be very cautious with this and turn the equipment off when strangers arrive. They may be musicians, renowned artists, artisans, successful literati, or half-bred bandits (white-collared people belong to the upper classes). They attend the same markets as everyone else below, but they have higher incomes so they are better served. They will attend the same hospitals and polyclinics as the ones below, but because they can leave more tips, they will not suffer the long waits for the absences of doctors, or other essential personnel, or the serious shortages of medicines that do not know those of above. These people are quietly silent their political opinions. They fear losing what little they have or have achieved with so much effort.

To the homes of people of the lower class you can enter very easily if invited. They are always extremely friendly and if they have a TV it is some old. The doors are kept open. There are no antennas or cables. The furniture is old and can be dirty. If they see computer it will be a P3 or something similar, already cacharreado. Boys will have old IPhone's with scandalous games or music incorporated. They usually dress and peel in the style of American rappers, regardless of race. They will always have few material supplies (they will appreciate you giving them twenty cuc, which will go directly and immediately to the nearest market) and many difficulties with transportation, the very inefficient health system, the unfriendly and rough police, inspectors, etc. Their homes do not have a garage, and if they have a car, it will be a rebuilt antediluvian tank-style war tank, designed to carry numerous passengers through the shattered streets. If there is a garage, it will be external and made with oxidized steel plates or other waste materials. These are the workers or workers of all kinds, who survive on a tiny salary and invented something that gives them a little more cash to survive. The vast majority is not hidden to express their discontent with the government, in various degrees according to their information and intelligence. Some old communists will be reluctant to criticize the system even though they are visibly going badly: they instilled in them.

The ultra-low class resides in the many suburban slums or in areas where there are also very central urban slums, including El Vedado, the old center of the city (today there is no defined center). This is the undeveloped southern part of Old Havana, much of Downtown Havana, very deteriorated, El Cerro, La Lisa, and another very large part of the present urbanizations. It is not advisable to visit non-residents and unfamiliar with these places. They are never welcome, and if they are, they will not come out well. Here are the chronic unemployed, drug traffickers and all sorts of things. Police and other authorities make little inroads into these homes. The dwellings are usually smelly covillas, often lacking in potable water, or poorly built mansions built with no plan or previous design, prison-style latticework to prevent theft. Those who can devote some thought to politics are aggressively opposed to the government.Many are illegal in the capital and reside in arrival-and-pon and very isolated houses, hidden and illegal, made with any material in generally unhealthy places.
Unfortunately, the lower and upper classes belong to ninety percent of the urban population.

In the countryside, they usually live in unhealthy housing and enjoy little culture in proportion to the Cuban average. They do not have remarkable electronic artifacts, much less computers or Internet access. Their international information is very scarce and they tend to believe in official propaganda.
Eduardom57@nauta.cu; Eduardo Maro

Questions to Josefina Vidal and her bosses

2017-02-13T13:20:00.000+00:00

By Paulino Alfonso,

(PD) The Castro regime, through its official Josefina Vidal, warned before Trump was installed in the White House, which will not accept pressure, conditioning or aggression in its relations with the United States.

Since Castroism and the Obama administration began a process of thawing, 20 bipartite meetings have been signed on all important issues that have only been reported by the official press in a small, closed format.

There were still important issues pending in that normalization process that the Obama administration did not want to solve or left Trump to get them in trouble with a very important segment of the Hispanic population in the US: the Cuban.

Trump, although during the campaign said that he approved of relations with Cuba, but that in its mandate it would look for a better agreement, closer to the interests of the United States, to the death of Fidel Castro described as "a brutal tyrant".

However, the regime has remained discreet about not only these, but all Trump's statements. Even all Cuban officials have refrained from giving direct answers pending an official position of Trump as President-in-Office.

In that sense, Josefina Vidal said that it is too early to predict what policy towards Cuba will follow the new government and even pointed out that not all officials nominated by Trump have tough positions towards Cuba.

"There are also other officials, businessmen Trump has appointed in government roles, who are in favor of business with Cuba, who think that the United States will benefit from cooperation with Cuba on issues related to National security of the United States ".

Before the enigmatic declarations of the regime, I ask myself several questions.

Apart from regulating the border status with the US and improving the tense relations that have always existed between the US government and the Castro regime since 1959 and seek to harmonize the application of norms that more effectively combat terrorism and narco trafficking, Why does not Castro consider allowing a more effective collaboration with the DEA?

Why does the regime not review the salary policy it applies to all the Cuban unarmed people who render their services in more than 70 countries to prevent them from having to escape?

Why are they mourning lamentations against Urbi and the Orbi for not having sufficient funding for Cubans to have Internet service in their homes? The expense could be paid by friends or relatives anywhere in the world. It would only be enough that in a visit to the island they left to their relatives a laptop with the service installed and paid.

Where were the good omens Mr. Obama made to those exultant "entrepreneurs" so televised?

The response to these and other questions that I do not consider or formulate to avoid redundancies, the regime relates only to the everlasting lack of liquidity that trumpets, despite the fact that since the year 2002, Chavez has received no less than 12 billion Dollars annually, enough to install a system that even Haitian impoverished can have in their homes.
Palfonso44es@gmail.com; Paulino Alfonso

What comes in perspective

2017-02-13T13:10:00.001+00:00

(PD) The move to a corporate form, capitalist and with an innocuous fascist court seems to be the outlet for a Castroism at certain risk of announced collapse.

Although it is only usually spoken of the clientele framework assembled with enough time for the occasion, there are more. It is not just the familiar framework, that includes all the political and economic powers in the hands of the Castro clan.

Let us dwell on the all-embracing mandate of a single ruling party and of a parliament where until today there has never been a vote against the mandate of the executive figure of the clan.

This is reinforced by the well articulated fear that descends as the only bar of equality between all the estates and structures of the very sick Cuban society.

Beyond the above, the hidden political capital of the totalitarian military regime also includes its servile bureaucracy, which compensates with its unconditionality the privilege of stealing at will, the genuflex intelligentsia ready to support everything in exchange for the opportunity of Travel and have some material prerogatives, and the servility present in the Catholic Church and others of Christian confession, all of them guided by the Department of Religious Affairs of the ruler and only party, which seems to have begun with the promotion of a new santeria according to Its purposes.

To all this must be added a repressive apparatus that controls all facets, edges and sectors of Cuban society. The repressors are present and attentive to the intimate life of each and every one, from generals without battles, heirs without glory, to people of foot.

The jewel of the crown in this condition could be the brilliant performance of its special intelligence and counterintelligence services in the United States and to a lesser extent in Europe.

The penetration of Castroism in this sense goes far beyond the mass media and academic media. At least in the United States, they have done so in political circles and in areas as sensitive as intelligence activity in the Department of Defense. The case of Ana Belén Montes is more than illustrative in this sense.

The necessary condition for the eventual legalization of a loyal opposition has already been created, in which those approved by the regime and its special services will be present. The ever-servile Catholic Church, the new Santeria, the new journalism and every marvelous opponent, awarded, awarded and promoted within this carnival.

A significant step that should not be overlooked is the controlled emergence of the self-employed. We say controlled, because everything is within the Cuban society. These are pseudo-entrepreneurs approved by the internal control and repression apparatus. People in whom the regime can trust and that will not leave the lane established by the great military holders.

It is to be hoped that Cuba will soon be a new state-pattern-quincalla, with a cut similar to Viet Nam, but with the aspiration 'Gaésica' in a future, to mimic the putinesca Mafioso Russia.

Envoys of GAESA, (the pool of Castro's military) travel through US enclaves and negotiate trade and investment for their military companies. Diplomats, business executives and officials from the ministries of Transport, Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment and diplomats move there. They are looking for commercial links and especially opportunities for foreign investment in the country, the Cuban Embassy in Washington DC said in a statement.

GAESA is the military holding company that became the largest business emporium in Cuba. A monopoly that includes more than fifty companies owned by the Castro praetorian guard, the Revolutionary Armed Forces, operated under a rigid and secret financial regime.

It is the capitalist element that will make the transition to corporate fascism that will succeed the failed Marxist socialism.

Most remarkable of all is that they intend to make it possible with "the generous and disinterested help" of the beloved enemies of the North.

It is possible to establish the parallelism between the discrimination against Cuban nationals today, from hotels owned by the United States, with the profits that the military will obtain from these hotels and the latest measures taken against Cubans, starting with the most recent legal pruning Feet, "wet, dry feet".

What arrives in perspective is the fascist totalitarian antidemocratic Castro, happily financed and supported from the United States.

What will President Trump do? That remains to be seen.
Primaveradigital2011@gmail.com; Writing Habana

A renewed personality cult, Goebelian and post modern

2017-02-13T12:57:00.001+00:00

(PD) The imprint chosen to give continuity to the cult of the personality of the late ex-dictator Fidel Castro has specificities. He does not want statues that could be shot down at the time of the regime's fall. Their remains are sheltered from desecration.

Certainly, it is not known with certainty how Fidel Castro died and much less, where his remains are.

The cult of the missing Commander does not cease. The saturator bombarded his image and the litany of his deeds and words in the press, radio and TV, which began months before his death, as his 90th birthday approached, is still going on.

It is managed to poison many from the television screens and the radio waves from virtual pitfalls erected in the collective imagination. All through the proper use of hidden persuaders amid an absolute mediaeval Goebelian saturation. It can be said that after dying he has been able to annoy even more than when he was alive.

According to the imprint marked by the late Fidel Castro, the totalitarian and dynastic military regime that he founded, he is even more ready to repress, imprison, beat, and even kill.

It is known that this regime feels very free to fill all these gloomy expectations with the pact reached with the countries of the European Union, which repealed the Common Position towards this dictatorship.

Maintaining the influence of such a nefarious political pheromone affirms to the Castro regime totalitarian military to emphasize the cult to the personality and imprint of the deceased dictator. They have already gone beyond ridicule with the slogans: "I am Fidel", "We are all Fidel", "Raúl is Fidel" and others aimed at quelling the growing rejection of the Castro dictatorship within Cuba.

The late dictator Fidel Castro placed himself in the pillory of public opinion for refusing to accept any kind of change or anything that smells of democracy.

Fidel Castro was seen in public sometimes in 2012 and 2013. Then he was seen in January 2014 in the opening of a cultural center. After that date, he appeared in photos of dignitaries who visited his home in Havana. His last appearance was on August 13 last year, on his 90th birthday.

In recent years, Castro has appeared in public occasionally. He was seen in photos and videos in which he usually appeared with guests. He wrote hundreds of columns for the official media. From this platform there has been a post-modern and Goebelian projection of a neo-cult of personality that takes as platforms to the television space, radial and even walls and walls of the city graffiti in this sense.

Within a tight system of absolute totalitarian control, opponents attempted multiple forms of protest and resistance to make their demands visible. These started in protests of "planted" prisoners who at the time refused to wear prison uniforms, hunger and thirst strikes and lately the peaceful walks of the Damas de Blanco and opponents linked to the campaign #TodosMarchamos.

The abominable cult of the personality of the late dictator Fidel Castro seems to be the last of the last political offers that Castro's totalitarian military regime exposes to the people of Cuba. This is a further attempt to give permanence and continuity to the oldest dictatorship and even the most cruel of the continent.

As accounts in tax havens are not enough for everyone, it is a question of strengthening the clientelistic mechanisms of some armed servants of this regime from bribes and other corrupt.
Primaveradigital2011@gmail.com; Writing Habana

Che Guevara interviewed by Liza Howard

2017-02-03T14:28:00.000+00:00

(PD) The television program Pupil Stunned, who heads Iroel Sanchez and leading journalist Karen Brito, presented the past two weeks, divided into two parts,the interview in February 1964 perform to Che Guevara, for ABC , The then very popular American journalist and presenter Liza Howard.

I saw with great interest the two parts of the interview, since until that moment I had only been able to see and listen to Che Guevara on television in a fragment of that speech at the UN - I do not know if the same one in which he admitted that in Cuba There had been shootings and there would still be them - where he warned that "in Yankee imperialism could not be trusted even a little bit like this."

Karen Brito, Iroel Sánchez and Fidel Díaz Castro, the director of El Cayman Barbudo, also a regular on the show, seemed to be ecstatic about the words of Che Guevara and just praised his clairvoyance.

To me, Guevara's behavior during the interview and, above all, his responses to Liza Howard, fully confirmed what I had always thought: that the guy, besides being a psycho, was a perfect idiot.

Smoking a huge tobacco and with a beard that demanded to comb and scissors, Che Guevara, during the interview, that took place in his office in the Ministry of Industries, was arrogant, socarrón and cynic. It seemed that he was in the presence of a dangerous enemy, and not a journalist, who, moreover, was a beautiful woman.

Some of Guevara's responses to Liza Howard were anthological, as in denying that Communism was incompatible with the idiosyncrasy of Cubans, that the Cuban economy was a disaster, when it refused to explain - not to give information to the enemy - if the American embargo was effective in causing damages to the revolutionary regime, and above all, when he affirmed that the bureaucracy was a backwardness of the capitalist past and soon would be extinguished.

What would Che Guevara say, the then Minister of Industries who had already been president of the National Bank, if he saw that more than half a century after that interview, the bureaucracy, far from over, is growing stronger and more corrupt, and The obstacles to the attempts to reform the system - the so-called updating of the economic model - is the most serious threat to what is left of the Fidel Castro revolution.

What's up! Pictures of the iconic Argentine revolutionary, hanging on the wall or under the glass of the bureau, preside over the offices of many of these corrupt bureaucrats, the piranhas of olive green socialism, who claim to love him as much as Commissar Iroel Sánchez and his Castro-Guevarist comrades The Asked Pupil.
Luicino2012@gmail.com; Luis Cino

How does the Cuban live? (I)

2017-02-03T14:24:00.000+00:00

(PD) Because of the intelligent practice, many foreigners interested in knowing the reality of how we exist and survive Cubans, seek in the media, because they are supposed to be the most know.

But in Cuba, the media are the exclusive property of the government and present an elaborate image of our society where everything seems to be right. In the NTV it is rarely reported on something that is wrong or some mistake of the infallible leaders. It is as if the whole population lived happily and accepted their situation.

The most sagacious investigators, surprised by the rampant chauvinism and the obvious politicization of information, will seek alternative or alternative means, but will not find them within the island. You will find them outside the geography controlled by the government. Numerous publications of all kinds far from governmental control will inform you. And he will be scared to see the number of problems that according to these means exist. Are not you exaggerating?

Then, if you can, the enthusiast with socialism, the lover of the Caribbean and its excellent beaches and mulattoes (according to tourist brochures), and even the right-wing skeptic, will pay a trip to this wonderful island to check on its own where it is the truth.

Then you will most probably arrive on the island by plane, worse by boat, and begin to notice immediately the intense visual political propaganda that reaffirms that here we are all happy, that we have a very special and complete educational system, an incredible health system, Where there are so many doctors who even export them, that there are no guns in the street, not so much crime, that you do not see so many super-armed police and they behave polite and friendly when interacting with tourists and residents; That old people see in the parks and esplanades doing exercises to conserve their good physique or simply sunbathing, their daily life safe; That children and young people are all in uniform and in their schools; That the mulattoes, blacks and whites, in that order, in the streets, give visitors beautiful and attractive compliments filled with interesting propositions; That in hotels there is everything and the staff is very well trained, it is very helpful and friendly.

It will be mounted on some air-conditioned bus and a well documented and friendly guide will show you Havana, or the city you like. You will return to the airport and you will be convinced that this island is your favorite place to live when you retire.

Some, very few, will discard the canned trips, the elegant and comfortable proposals of, for example, to see our countryside from behind the inked crystals of a refrigerated transport, and will go on foot. It will come out of what the tourist guides say. Then, if they do not rob him and steal his money and documents, or kill him, or do not stop State Security for a spy suspect, he will know the truth, the daily reality of each of the nationals.

But not everyone will tell. You have to prove that it is not some undercover government agent, or a plainclothes policeman, or some sneaking trigger to get you information, some of that. Look for someone who does not work for the authorities, who is not self-employed tourism or too stupid. Then you will hear the things you did not want to hear. Probably much more than you suspected, and you will be sad.

Sad because Cuba today is so full of contradictions that could be solved with only a few simple solutions, such as, say, change of government. It is so full of human misery because of the great stress of the population to survive, it is so full of garbage, hunger, malicious inefficiencies, chronic hypocrisy ...
Eduardom57@nauta.cu; Eduardo Maro

Castro and human dignity

2016-12-19T11:54:00.001+00:00

Leaving aside the celebrations on the streets of Miami, the most widespread reaction among Cubans to the death of Fidel Castro, inside and outside the island, seems to be the relief. One of the greatest narcissists in history, the father of almost 60 years of national torment, has returned to the dust from which he came. That is a comfort.

Castro left behind a prosperous and promising land in abject poverty. But his legacy is far worse than the material ruin of a country. His insatiable appetite for absolute power was demonstrated in an obsession with hunting to the last unconformity, taking away from the population his human dignity.

It is worth remembering this reality in moments when the world offers retrospectives on the life of Castro, almost always adding that the tyrant gave Cuba a great health system. If that were true, it would not justify their brutality. And it is not true, as we discovered in 2007, when Cuban doctors made mistakes in their treatment for diverticulitis and a Spanish specialist had to travel to save it. The truth is that human life does not matter to the regime.

Castro was driven by a maniacal ambition to possess and dominate the Cuban soul. There is no place where the consequences can be seen more than in the extremely high rates of abortion in the country. In a Nov. 22 article for the Cubanet site, independent journalist Eliseo Matos cited an abortion study conducted by Cuban doctors Luisa Álvarez Vásquez and Nelli Salomón Avich. They found that since 1980, a third of Cuban pregnancies have been disrupted.

Equally disturbing is that abortion rates are high among adolescent girls and are often required by the state. One does not have to be religious to see this as a national existential crisis, a reflection of a society that fights against nihilism.

This did not happen overnight. It is the result of decades of living under a dictatorship that demands total submission to the will of a person.

In a 1986 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Armando Valladares, who was a prisoner of Castro for 22 years, described the regime's use of "drawer cells" in its dungeons. Five or six prisoners were confined for days in these narrow spaces of 1.8 meters in length. "They had to sit with their knees against their bodies. There was no room to move; The prisoners had to urinate and defecate there, "Valladares explained.

All kinds of torture were used in order to "break the prisoner's resistance," Valladares said. If a prisoner said that "he was wrong, he denied his religious beliefs, asserting that they came from the dark ages and if he admitted that he now understood that communism was the solution to the problems of humanity and he wanted the opportunity to re-enter the new communist society , Then he could leave the cell and move to a re-education farm. "

There could be no greater power, no one more adored than Fidel. God was a problem, so priests and nuns were arrested and exiled, religion was banned and the regime did everything possible to destroy the Cuban family.

In 1997, Christmas was legalized and the Catholic and Protestant churches slowly gained some space. But this was allowed as long as the teachings on the sacredness of human life did not interfere with the control of the regime. Therefore, Cardinal Ortega of Havana distances himself from the dissident group of Catholic women known as the Ladies in White, although they are frequently beaten in the streets.

In a system in which all must submit to the state, it is not surprising that abortion rates are particularly high among adolescent girls. Children learn about human sexuality from their communist teachers, in purely mechanical terms, of course. Generations of adolescents have been removed from their families and sent to labor camps as part of their indoctrination.

As Valladares wrote in The Wall Street Journal in May 2000, "away from paternal supervision for nine months, children suffer from venereal diseases as well as teenage pregnancies, which inevitably end in forced abortions." Another reason for the high rates of teenage abortions is that teenage prostitutes now occupy the streets of Havana, working to earn foreign exchange from tourists.

Abortion is also a key tool of the regime for its "health". Any pregnancy considered as risky is terminated immediately, a decision that the State takes. This reduces the rate of infant mortality, which is used by Cuba to impress the world with its "progress."

However, Cuba has not achieved anything special regarding infant mortality. In a December 1 blog entry on the Cato Institute's HumanProgress website, Marian Tupy noted that between 1963 and 2015, child mortality in Cuba fell by 90%, while in Chile it fell by 94%. In Latin America and the Caribbean in general has fallen 86%.

The only singular achievement of Fidel Castro was 57 years of repression that sought to exterminate any meaning of the lives of those who lived under his yoke.
O'Grady@wsj.com; Mary Anastasia O'Grady
Taken from: The Wall Street Journal

Do most Cubans feel the death of Fidel Castro?

2016-12-07T15:54:00.001+00:00

by Manuel A Morejon Soler

Since retiring ten years ago, Fidel Castro was a political corpse. But he died and the Cubans received the orientation of crying.

Is it sincere the regret of the Cubans that is shown in the official media? Is it the majority?

As always, the official media have supported this new farce of the regime: "the pain of the Cubans for the death of Fidel."

There are Cubans who are in some way committed to the regime and who have suffered the death of their leader, but they are not the majority.

Recall that there are 700 000 members of the Communist Party. And in Cuba there are more than eleven million inhabitants.
Were the homage to the deceased leader spontaneous?

The students, wearing their school uniforms, were taken to the funeral of Fidel Castro. They are indoctrinated in schools, but when they get tired of the limitations imposed on them, they become the main detractors of the regime.
They also took employees from many work centers. They had no choice but to go, not to be "dirty", "not to be noted".

A spontaneous concentration was the one that occurred in the Ciudad Deportiva, last March, when the concert of the Rolling Stones. Nobody came because the government called it. People went by their means, rock'n roll.

But there were calls and attendance lists for Fidel Castro's funeral.

Authorities placed transport to transport workers and students, and printed pullovers for the occasion.
Everything was a circus, magnified by the official means.

The Spanish theologian José Antonio Fortea recently commented: "The time is up for Fidel Castro. Now there is no power on earth, no saint or angel who can grant him forgiveness. Now he is alone, with his soul. Locked up in the terrible prison of his soul. In the dark realm of Satan or in the immaterial prisons of the place of purification. He, who sentenced so many (...) will no longer find forgiveness in this world or in heaven.

The journalist Fernando Dámaso wrote: "After these nine days, declared of national mourning, and forced the population of all ages to mourn by prohibitions of all kinds, and to sign a commitment of loyalty that soon will be forgotten and very few will fulfill, the Life on the Island, now totally paralyzed, must start. The question is, what will happen? "
On October 23, 1995, Fidel Castro, interviewed by CNN, said: "What will stop in Cuba after my death is not my problem; Is a problem of others ... The dead do not think ".

He forgot to think about God's opinion.
Regarding whether Fidel Castro benefited the humble at some point in history, let me quote José Martí, when in a letter to Fermín Valdés Domínguez, May, 1894, he referred to "... the ambitious, that to rise in the World, begin to pretend, to have shoulders to rise, frantic defenders of the homeless ... ¨

The war on paladares may be just the beginning

2016-11-02T11:27:00.001+00:00

A building in Havana.

The recent announcement by the Council of the Provincial Administration of Havana (CAP), which contains a number of provisions governing the operation of Cuba's paladares (private restaurants), speaks of order and the discipline that should prevail at these businesses. A detailed analysis of some of these directives, however, reveals that their true aim is to prevent these establishments from becoming too successful, and escaping the authorities' control.

For example, if a musician who entertains customers is very popular, but does not belong to an Institute of Music company, he may not be hired by a paladar. And not allowing these establishments to acquire "illegal goods" could greatly their numbers. In the absence of a wholesale market, they would be limited to buying at retail stores, which suffer from severe shortages.

Another provision imposes a ban on importing goods for commercial purposes, as these transactions are not permitted by the General Customs Administration of the Republic. The measure, which would also affect the options the paladares are able to offer their customers, is consonant with the regime's desire to suppress the emerging private sector on the Island, thereby frustrating President Barack Obama and his desire to see it flourish.

Finally, the refusal to allow paladares to expand and, without abandoning their primary mission, also function as clubs or discos, is perhaps the clearest sign of the authorities' intentions.

The Government's actions against the paladares cannot be seen as an isolated incident against just one form of self-employment. Rather, it comes within the context of a counteroffensive recently unleashed against private activities that those in power consider "more lucrative". In this way the wave of repression against the paladares constitutes the second chapter in a script that began with the campaign against Cuba's almendrones, or private taxis.

Despite denials in the official rhetoric, at heart Castroism is antagonistic to private activity, and only allows it when it deems it expedient. No one should forget what happened back in 1996: after using certain market mechanisms, including expanding self-employment, to mitigate the economic collapse from the "Special Period," the Government halted reform and almost suspended all self-employment, all under the logic that “in a socialist country, most workers should be State employees.”

This counteroffensive against the self-employed cannot be separated from the famous section 104 of the "Conceptualisation of the Cuban Economic and Social Model of Socialist Development," which states that "The concentration of property and wealth in non-State natural or legal persons is not permitted, in accordance with legislation and consistent with the principles of our socialism." This statement, after being approved at the VII Congress of the Communist Party (PCC), has been echoed at subsequent meetings by high-ranking hardliners in the Castro regime.

As already stated, the containment of the self-employed by preventing them from importing or exporting products, seeks to counter the measures that President Obama may adopt to support Cuban entrepreneurs. The US president has backed this type of support ever since reaching the White House, and did so again during his visit to the Island, and now in his policies governing relations with Cuba.

Wisdom tells us that when they go after your neighbor, they can go after you too, such that landlords renting out homes and rooms ought to be on their guard. They, along with drivers and those running paladares, form a trio that has always remained in the crosshairs of the tax authorities. Renters may well be the next targets.

Obama recognizes the government of Cuba obstacles for the road to normalization

2016-10-30T01:47:00.003+00:00

Obama-Castro-press-conference

The Obama administration in its new package of measures and policy to make the changes irreversible difficulties and obstacles recognized by the government of Cuba that hinder the way to normalization.

"The participation of the United States with the Cuban government will be constrained by the continued repression of civil and political freedoms in Cuba , " Obama recognizes the directive.

The directive is anticipated that the government of Cuba will continue to oppose the change and delaying the process of normalization with the island.

Here are some excerpts of Obama policy.

Cuba is experiencing several transitions in areas such as leadership, economy, technological development, civil society and regional and global integration. Cuba's leaders recognize the need to make the transition to the next generation, but their priority is to make gradual changes and increases to ensure stability.

Cuba has an important economic potential rooted in the dynamism of its people and sustained commitment in areas such as education and health. However, the Cuban government faces major economic challenges, such as the elimination of its system of dual exchange rate, make its state companies more efficient and transparent, develop a financial system that offers extended services to individuals and industry private, and reducing its dependence on foreign grants.

Cuba remains highly dependent on imports of food and energy, however, must cope with the shortage of sources of foreign exchange to pay for imports you need. Significant emigration of Cubans working age population further aggravates the problem of Cuba which has a rapidly aging population.

A series of laws limiting US economic engagement with Cuba, which prevents complete elimination of travel restrictions in the United States to Cuba, prohibits government support US exports and providing credit of the United States for the purchase of agricultural products for Cuba, and require that the embargo will not be suspended or terminated unless the President determines that a transition government or elected democratically come to power in Cuba.

Due to legal restrictions and regulatory policies regarding Cuba, its economy is not generating enough foreign exchange to buy US exports that could arise from the easing of the embargo. Even if the United States Congress were to lift the embargo, Cubans can not realize their potential without continued economic reform in Cuba.

Cuban government regulations and opaque procurement practices hinder transactions that would be permitted under the laws of the United States with American companies. Standardization efforts have raised expectations of Cubans greater economic opportunities. It is estimated that 1 in 4 Cuban employees participating in an industry of entrepreneurs, an emerging, dynamic and independent private sector. The expansion of the private sector has increased resources to the Cuban people and created openings for nascent entrepreneurs involved with Cuban companies and non - governmental organizations in the United States.We note the measures undertaken by the Cuban government, although limited, are significant in regard to the expansion of legal protections and opportunities for small and medium enterprises, and which, if they expand and maintain, will improve the investment climate.

Cuba is not a member of international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Inter - American Development Bank, which could offer experience and possible economic and financial reforms and viable projects for investment. Although

Cuba has reached an agreement with several creditor nations for relief of bilateral debt through restructuring and forgiveness, it remains indebted to the government of the United States on bilateral debts before the Cuban revolution and does not participate in international capital markets. Cuba and the United States are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), however, neither country is applying its agreements with respect to the other because of the embargo of the United States to Cuba.

The approach has allowed us to increase our cooperation with Cuba in regional issues such as the peace process in Colombia and healthcare in Haiti, and has undermined a historical meeting for critical regimes of the United States. Although Cuba has not expressed interest in participating in the OAS, he attended the Summit of the Americas in 2015. We also received willingly venture between Cuba and other allies of the United States around the world, including our allies treaties Europeans and Asians.At the same time, we recognize that Cuba and the United States will continue to have differences on many regional and global issues.

The participation of the United States with the Cuban government will also be limited by the continued repression of civil and political freedoms in Cuba. We anticipate that the Cuban government will continue to oppose US policies and migration operations and democracy programs, Radio and TV Marti, the presence of the United States Naval Base in Guantanamo, and the embargo.

The Government of the United States has no intention to change the current lease agreement and other provisions relating Guantanamo Naval Base, which allows the United States to improve and preserve regional security.

In this strategic environment, policies and actions that the United States seeks to advance our vision of normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba will shape significantly to the future of bilateral and regional relations so as well as our security and shared prosperity

UN Watch rejects re - election of Cuba to the UN Human Rights Council

2016-10-30T01:31:00.000+00:00

Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch

"The reelection of China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia - regimes that systematically violate the human rights of its citizens - casts a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations", the executive director of UN Watch, Hillel Neuer "he said.

The NGO UN Watch, based in Geneva, rejected the inclusion of Cuba among member countries of the United Nations Human Rights Council announced Friday.

Brazil, China, Croatia, Cuba, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tunisia, United States and the United Kingdom were appointed to ensure human rights in the world for 3 years from the first January 2017.

However, UN Watch was quick to welcome the decision of the countries excluded from this advice to Russia.

"Non choice of Russia shows that the nations of the world can reject the gross abusers if they wish. This makes the choice of Saudi Arabia, China and Cuba even more absurd , " Neuer said.

"The choice of Saudi Arabia of the UN as a world judge of human rights as a city is collecting a pyromaniac be the fire chief , " he said.

The organization led a campaign this year by a coalition of non - governmental organizations to oppose the reelection of Saudi Arabia, Risiam China and Cuba, as well as the selection of Egypt, Iraq and Rwanda, through influences governments, online petitions, high profile events parliamentarian, press conferences, university lectures, YouTube videos, and opinion pieces in the Washington Post and other major newspapers.

"Unfortunately, neither the United States nor the European Union said a word about the hypocritical candidacies only undermine the credibility and effectiveness of the UN Human Rights , " Neuer said. "By turning a blind eye while human rights violators join and subvert the council, the leading democracies are complicit in the moral decay of the world body".

The Foundation for Human Rights in New York, also said the government in Havana as unfit to judge other countries on the topic of Human Rights, it does not allow free and fair elections, carries out systematic political arrests, violent dissent, and it limits the exercise of journalism and freedom of association.

The International Federation for Human Rights, based in Paris, saw the vote in favor of Cuba as an encouraging step and highlighted the Caribbean island received the most votes in the General Assembly for Latin America.

" We hope that Cuba is not allied countries like Saudi Arabia, China or Egypt, which are not those who promote human rights , " said the representative of the Federation, Stephanie Daves, to journalist Carmen Maria Rodriguez, Radio Marti.

The SIP requires Cuba to stop its severe repression and control Internet

2016-10-19T12:17:00.001+01:00

In its 72nd General Assembly in Mexico

MEXICO CITY The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today called on the Cuban government to stop exercising strict control of the Internet and digital platforms, in a year in which he said that there has been a "twist" in the sector with the emergence of more independent media.

"Demand that the Government of Cuba that apart from the list of the most repressive countries in the world in terms of internet and digital platforms , " solved this body, which concludes today in Mexico City its 72nd General Assembly.

He also asked the government to stop "resist the wave of changes in communications and technology" and to "respect the professional work and the exercise of freedom of expression both independent journalism and workers Press their own media ,"he shored.

IAPA reiterated that want both the US and Cuba, in the process of restoration of relations, "prescribe guarantees to freedom of expression and freedom of the press".

The company said this year the government "has shown a growing concern for independent journalism and the emergence of uncontrolled means" from the Communist Party.

This leads to grow "government aggression" and positively noted that new technologies have given more voice to opposing voices and Orthodox, although there are "major obstacles" on the network.

To this fact is added that in the official press have also arisen dissenting voices calling for a change in the official information policy.

"The most critical of the Government 's independent press has followed, however, in the center of retaliation and harassment ," continued the letter, which was approved Monday by the Assembly.

He stressed before the visit last March the US president, Barack Obama, and "more than 300 arbitrary arrests" arrests.

He also spoke of events as the increased control the independent press after Hurricane Matthew around the island.

"In short, this year the Cuban independent press has been marked by two opposing phenomena: censorship and growth , " said IAPA.

And so he has lived "months of creativity and diversification of its themes, new formal proposals and a qualitative leap" in their informational purposes.

"Meanwhile, the official press has made a couple effort resume issues and prospects closer to citizens, but fails to distancehimself from the iron partisan boundaries , " concluded the SIP.

From 13 to 17 October was held in Mexico City 72nd General Assembly of the IAPA, a non-profit dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and expression in the Americas, which has more than 1,300 associated publications and its headquarters are in Miami (USA).

(EFE)