In October Laura Pollan left us, in a dark hospital on a drizzly day, in a year, 2011, that had been born already battered. In the early months, the final prisoners of the Black Spring had been released and national and international headlines gave most of the credit to the Catholic Church and Spain's Foreign Minister, downplaying the struggle of the Ladies in White, the pressure exerted from the street, Guillermo Fariñas' hunger strike, and the wake of outrage left by the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo. April, the cruelest month, brought us the Communist Party Congress focused only on economic issues, preferring the word "adjustments" to "reforms," and consolidating the power of a blood heir to the Cuban throne.
August, with its dog days and its scarcities, wasn't very different. "Where are the changes?" many asked themselves. It wasn't until October that they began to trickle out. We could buy a used car, but not freely associate ourselves with a party nor express ourselves without punishment. Then came the most daring of Raul's measures: it was possible to buy or sell a home, although the most modest of them necessitated the total wages of 45 years' work. Something was moving in a society mummified for decades, but so slowly we despaired. In mid-December we learned that more than 66,000 Cubans had obtained the nationality of their grandparents, emigrants from the Asturias, the Canary Islands, Galicia... people kept escaping. The despair is not perceived in the streets as much as in the long lines at the consulates.
The area of land allowed to be given to farmers in usufruct grew, but the price of food grew almost as much. The press spoke of advances, but the reality showed stagnation. Private restaurants invaded every neighborhood with their menus of spicy dishes and their anxiety about whether they would be left to survive a while longer. The mute choir of the National Assembly confirmed that for 2012 the country would need much more money to import the foods that could well be produced on our own soil. And the expected travel reform was kept from us again, for the umpteenth time.
On Saint Sylvester night few homes displayed parties or music, at least in Havana. But I felt relief that the year was ending. Of 2011, with its advances overstated by propaganda and its setbacks silenced, once was enough.
Generation Y, can be read here in English translation.
Translating Cuba is a compilation blog with Yoani and other Cuban bloggers in English.
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YOUTUBE: AMERICA TV 41: Documento de Sentencia de Alan Gross Descubierto
Cuban Government document of Alan Gross Case Uncovered - The sentencing document of Alan Gross has been obtained. The incriminating document of 18 pages was "manufactured" by agents of the communist Castro dictatorship. An official court ruling incriminated the victim with made up laws and evidence.
BELOW IS A BRIEF TRANSLATION OF THE VIDEO FOR THOSE WHO DONT SPEAK SPANISH!
The Alan Gross document is 18 pages, his first trip was in 2004 where he gave José Manuel Collera Vento, a video camera who was a former head of the Freemasons fraternal organization in Cuba but was secretly informing the Cuban State Security. He was in Cuba 5 times before he was arrested and the Cuban goverment claim that he never declared the equipment. On an interesting note, the document says that Alan Gross never made any contact or gave any equipment to any of the dissidents in Cuba, but only contacted the Jewish Community in Havana, Camaguey and Santiago de Cuba.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlor5aFViwU
Why don't you ask the US State Department, Humberto? I'm sure they'd be more than happy to oblige.
When he arrived at Havana airport he was not carrying any computers, cell phones or satellite phones. Gross knew that Cuba does not allow specific telecommunications equipment to be brought into the country. There are signs in airports saying precisely that. Were they supplied in retrospect by the US Interests Section in Havana? Probably.
He maintained that the satellite phones were destined to assist the Jewish community in Havana. They deny having any knowledge or contact with him. Gross has a previous record of similar activity in a number of countries.
http://tinyurl.com/d6s9fer (Counterpunch)
During his trial, Gross admitted that he had been naive in trusting his handlers and was now paying the price. Widely reported in the US media as being psychologically and physically extremely ill, and having lost a lot of body weight, Gross was visited by members of the Jewish community to celebrate Hanukkah and was described by one of his visitors, Adela Dworin, as being very healthy and in good spirits.
http://tinyurl.com/d23qeb3 (Huffington Post)
Association for the Study of Cuban Economy, The Cuban Economy (P2) Presiding: Deirdre McCloskey (University of Illinois-Chicago
Presentations:
Recession and Policy Transmission to Latin American Tourism: Does Expanded Travel to Cuba Offset Crisis Spillovers?, Andy Wolfe (International Monetary Fund)
Cuban Household Consumption: An Update, Luis Locay (University of Miami)
Cuba's Evolving Output Gap, Rafael Romeu (International Monetary Fund)
Discussants: Deirdre McCloskey (University of Illinois-Chicago), Oscar Mitnik (University of Miami) and Luis Locay (University of Miami)
The Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE)
www.ascecuba.org
www.facebook.com/ascecuba
@ascecuba (Twitter)
ASCE Web Presence (Facebook & LinkedIn)
1. WHAT IS YOUR EXPLANATION OF THE CHANGE IN CHARGES FROM BRINGING IN CELL PHONES OR SATELLITE PHONES TO crimes against the state BY THE CUBAN GOVERMENT? AND WHY NO PICTURES OF THE EVIDENCE?
2. WHY WAS THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS NOT ALLOWED TO COVER THE TRIAL AND APPEALS? IF THERE WAS SUCH DAMMING EVIDENCE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A SLAM DUNK FOR THE CUBAN GOVERMENT.
3. WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF THE CUBAN LAW OF "DANGEROUSNESS" WHICH IS USED SO OFTEN AND I BELIEVE IS THE BASIS FOR THE 15 YEARS GIVEN TO ALAN GROSS!
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Cuba urged to revoke repressive laws and release prisoners of conscience- 16 March 2010
Law 88 provides for seven to 15 years' imprisonment for passing information to the United States that could be used to bolster anti-Cuban measures, such as the US economic blockade. The legislation also bans the ownership, distribution or reproduction of "subversive materials" from the US government, and proposes terms of imprisonment of up to five years for collaborating with radio, TV stations or publications deemed to be assisting US policy. International independent human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, are not allowed to visit the island.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/cuba-urged-revoke-repressive-laws-and-release-prisoners-conscience-2010-03-17
Gross did not 'bring in' satellite phones or cell phones. They would have been discovered by Cuban customs officials if that had been so. He was supplied with them after he arrived.
2. WHY WAS THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS NOT ALLOWED TO COVER THE TRIAL AND APPEALS? IF THERE WAS SUCH DAMMING EVIDENCE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A SLAM DUNK FOR THE CUBAN GOVERMENT.
Almost certaily because security personnel were in court and required anonymity.
3. WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF THE CUBAN LAW OF "DANGEROUSNESS" WHICH IS USED SO OFTEN AND I BELIEVE IS THE BASIS FOR THE 15 YEARS GIVEN TO ALAN GROSS!
Gross was convicted of attempting to supply banned telecommunications equipment which bypasses Cuban government surveillance and can therefore be used to organise terrorism and identify targets for terrorists and the US military.
SAN DIEGO CHANNEL 10 : With American In Cuban Prison, Wife Hopes For Clemency- - From Jill Dougherty,CNN Foreign Affairs Correspondent
"The equipment is illegal in Cuba without government permission, but a source close to the case told CNN that "at trial, the defense presented a receipt from Cuban Customs to demonstrate the Cubans were both aware of and approved what Alan brought in.""
http://www.10news.com/news/29066339/detail.html
ABC SPAIN NEWS INTERNATIONAL: La mujer de Alan Gross pide a Obama que interceda para que Cuba lo libere ( The wife of Alan Gross asks Obama to interced so that Cuban can free him)
«No le dio a nadie teléfonos satélite como se ha informado incorrectamente. En al menos una ocasión, las autoridades cubanas le registraron las bolsas y, tras el pago de un impuesto, se le permitió entrar libremente al país con el equipo que cargaba», afirma el JCRC.
"He gave no satellite phones as it has been reported incorrectly. In at least one occasion, the Cuban authorities searched his bags and, after payment of a tax, he was allowed to freely enter the country carrying the equipment, "says the JCR - Jewish Community Relations Council
http://www.abc.es/20111128/internacional/abci-mujer-alan-gross-pide-201111282037.html
YOU DONT NEED PICTURES IN A TRANSCRIPT NOR NAMES! ALSO GROSS WAS ARRESTED AT THE AIRPORT SO NOT A BIG SPY DEAL, HE SPEAKS NO SPANISH! WHAT KIND OF SPY CAPER ARE YOU REFERRING TO? PLEASE EXPLAIN!
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA WHARTON SCHOOL REPORT :Can Raul Castro's Reforms Create a New Cuba? -November 22, 2011
However, and it is apparent that Raul's approach won't turn Cuba into a miniature of those two much larger Asian communist countries, experts say. The key problem for Cuba is that Raul's reforms are not nearly as deep or thorough as those enacted by communist governments in China and Vietnam. In Cuba,
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE REPORT!
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/arabic/article.cfm?articleid=2744&language_id=1
THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTIONS: Reaching Out: Cuba’s New Economy and the International Response- Nov. 2011
Once its overriding political objectives had been secured by the late 1990s, the Cuban government
chose to halt and partially reverse the economic opening.. A series of onerous taxes and regulations choked the incipient micro-enterprise sector, decreasing the number of independent enterprises. The dollar was withdrawn from general circulation in favor of the “convertible Cuban peso” and a dual currency system. The government recentralized the authorization of foreign exchange, requiring joint ventures to appeal to the authorities in the Central Bank and Ministry of Foreign Trade for approval of international transactions.
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2011/1118_cuba_feinberg/1118_cuba_feinberg.pdf
Two long positive wrap ups in the Miami Herald of economic changes in Cuba.
* by Paul Havens of AP in Havana http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/24/v-fullstory/2560398/cuba-wraps-up-dramatic-year-of.html
* by the Herald's own Mimi Whitfield http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/01/2570030_p3/cuba-stacks-up-the-building-blocks.html
Fulton Armstrong, former staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, published an devastating critique of the misguided covert action program of USAID and its implications for Alan Gross. http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/25/v-print/2559755/time-to-clean-up-us-regime-change.html#storylink=cpy
A petition urges both Presidents Obama and Castro to be compassionate with prisoners held as a result of the political conflict between our countries. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/holiday-appeal/
John McAuliff
Fund for Reconciliation and Development
Yes, the wrap-ups by Havens and Whitfield in the Herald might paint a sightlier rosier picture of Cuban reality, but it is difficult to stay positive in Cuba these days when the so called "changes" or "updates to the model" are only trickling down and are not solving any issues.
Your other point regarding USAID is spot on.
I was in Cuba three times in 2011 and have visited at least annually for the past 15 years. From numerous private conversations with old friends and random encounters I received an impression of growing optimism that real changes were finally underway. There is also a discernible growth of small scale entrepreneurial activity.
Based on extended personal observation in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia during the years of their economic transformation, I see a similar process beginning in Cuba that gathers momentum from its success and learns from its mistakes. Everything will be justified as being done to strengthen socialism, just as the Vietnamese still do, but as the process continues socialism takes on new forms and functions and society becomes more open.
It took the US eight years to recognize the significance of Vietnam's policy of doi moi (renovation) and lift our unilateral embargo. I hope we are not equally obtuse with Cuba. So far the signs are not good.
The embargo does not excuse everything but its impact cannot be denied.
She should appeal to her pen pal, President Obama, to use his power to really open travel for average Americans, end restrictions on Cuba's international use of the dollar and other annoyance measures, and remove the country from its absurd listing as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.
Ms. Sanchez was recently quoted by Reuters, "Rights are not to begged for, they are to be exercised" . Does she urge Americans to ignore the travel restrictions that deny their rights?
(I do, incidentally, think it wrongheaded that she is not allowed to go abroad to collect her awards.)
John McAuliff'
Fund for Reconciliation and Development