People have been encouraged to speak freely about the economic guidelines of the Sixth Party Congress set for April, so with all due respect I am expressing my point of view.
A real discussion about the meaning of socialism should be at the center of debate in the upcoming party congress. However, the method being used for meetings at workplaces and among party members only call for discussion on specific, limited, prefabricated economic guidelines.
Read MoreTo summarize what happened in Cuba in 2010 is no easy task; there were so many occurrences that they cannot be covered in a single post. I will try to separate the wheat from the chaff, the truth from the talk, and the outcomes from the aspirations.
The economy shifted its direction radically. This began with the announcement of the layoff of 500,000 public employees (by the end of March 2011) and the opening of self-employed work. This is a process that over a five-year period will impact a total of 1.8 million public-sector workers.
Read MoreAt the moment I didn’t even remember that a friend had spoken to me a few days prior about Project Image, thanks to which they’re repairing the apartment building where he lives. This plan, which has been reversing the general visual deterioration of several buildings in the Alamar suburb, includes the repair of damaged stairways, balconies and roofs. But residents are complaining about the superficiality of the repairs and saying for example that it’s a waste to paint the large windows when the overwhelming majority of them are infested with termites and should be replaced immediately.
Read MoreA few weeks ago we learned through the Cuban minister of Labor of a plan to retrain workers being laid off; its objective is to export these individuals. The idea is simple: if there is an excess here, they can be exported to other countries (technically this is called the “export of professional services”). This would solve two problems: unemployment and the chronic shortage of hard currency.
Read MoreCuba is a society lacking basic civil and political freedoms. But it is a living society, with an impressive mass of university and technical graduates, with an educational system that continues to be well recognized internationally.
Read MoreI made it to the farmer’s market…well, to where there was supposed to have been a market. There was nothing, or — better said — there was in fact a lot of people drinking and laughing. The celebrations had already begun there.
Read More“It looks like you want to get yourself into trouble, friend,” a Cuban official warned me when he learned about the article I’m working on for the beginning of next year. The truth is that he left me reflecting on that philosophy of life that is so widespread.
“Not getting into trouble” is a goal that’s much more difficult than it seems. For this to happen it’s not enough to sell your soul to the devil, you also have to sell it to God and end up becoming a kind of spiritual merchant.
Read MoreThe public understands perfectly well the need for many of the economic measures that will be implemented but “People remain skeptical because while they’ve heard a lot of speeches, they don’t have complete confidence in the government’s ability to solve the problems.”
Read MoreYesterday they notified all the residents on the block that we would meet that evening with two or three directors from the area to select a new president of our neighborhood Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR).
Read MoreA very serious issue that should not be ignored because of the negative impact it exerts on thousands of elderly and low income Cuban-Americans, who are denied the opportunity to visit their country, because of the onerous processing fee for their Cuban Passport and Visa and for having to purchase one the most expensive airline tickets in the world.
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