Omara Portuondo got a visa to come to the
Havana-Miami-Washington events and arguments and their impact on Cuba
Last week I noted an AP article about a farmers market in
According to the AP report, the price controls have been postponed until January.
Granma, the party’s official newspaper, has responded with an article that doesn’t exactly clear up the situation.
Much of the article deals with markets where the state, not private vendors, is in charge, and there is a problem of uneven supply. An official is cited saying that the “first steps” toward a solution have been taken by improving the “logistics chain.”
Regarding the non-state agros, these are the key points:
So will price controls be imposed?
The article doesn’t say. It quotes one official saying that “there will always be spaces for free competition” in these markets where producers sell their surplus after meeting the quota they owe to the state, and where they sell particular products “that cannot or should not follow the logic of state distribution.” The administrator of the Playa market says, “‘Intermediary’ is not the synonym of ‘thief’ or ‘speculator.’” Another official says that if the state ensures that regulations are followed, “there is no reason to arrive at extreme situations.”
Add it all up, and it sounds like a signal that the state is acknowledging the risks involved in imposing price controls, but is keeping the option open. And it sounds like transporters and vendors have a little more paperwork in their future.
A report I did in 2000 on the farmers markets is here (pdf).
Rep. Howard Berman, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, announces a November 18 hearing with the topic: “Is it Time to Lift the Ban on Travel to
“I wonder what gambit Benedict XVI would be promoting and whether the two cubanitos will ever walk together in the labyrinthine corridors of the Basilica, where no one sees them. In diplomacy, the Church has two thousand years of experience and a lot of patience. And the Holy See is a discreet place to have a cafecito without much trouble.”
President Bush offered scholarships to Cuban students and credits to Cuban entrepreneurs – but the scholarships were part of his policy to bring a “transition” to
The news is contained in this IPS report on the latest iteration of longstanding UN programs that have addressed food security, mainly in eastern
There is a crying need for credits for Cuban farmers, acknowledged in Cuban media last March.
Let’s hope the program does succeed, and let’s hope governments on both sides of the pond study the example.
Good news: Ted Henken, a professor at the City University of New York’s
Belonging to no organization and receiving no U.S. government funds, blogger Yoani Sanchez has created a platform of her own that she uses to question government authority, quite directly.
Two weeks ago, Yoani posted a video of her argument with an immigration officer when her request for permission to travel abroad was denied.
Now at Huffington Post, she explains how she disguised herself with a blond wig to gain entry to a conference on the Internet in
The magazine’s editor, Rafael Hernandez, criticized Internet commentary on
A few notes after reading some of the documents and clippings about the UN vote:
Rather than engage in a book burning, Vigilia Mambisa’s Miguel Saavedra got himself what appears to be a nice cordless paper shredder to do justice to Juanita Castro’s new book. The performance art protest was double-barreled, taking place in front of
The book, he says, is full of “lies that make fun of the Cuban community” in exile, he told EFE.
Speaking of Juanita Castro, Rui Ferreira reports in El Mundo that in 1969 she urged the U.S.government to arrest Cuban exiles before they could embark on an armed expedition to
(Photo from Cuaderno de Cuba.)
AP reports that price controls may be instituted at farmers markets, citing producers, vendors, and consumers who were told by the Communist Party – not the ministry in charge – that the new policy would take effect November 1.
Now it’s apparently postponed until January 1 due to strong adverse reaction, including from consumers who seem to understand that price controls would threaten supply.
The government would do better to put this policy in the category of those that are studied forever and don’t see the light of day.
An exchange at yesterday’s State Department press briefing between reporters and spokesman Ian Kelly:
QUESTION: Speaking of the UN, the General Assembly had its annual vote today on the
MR. KELLY: I think one was
QUESTION: I don’t know. I think it – it’s usually, generally, the
QUESTION: I thought it was
QUESTION: Or
QUESTION: Or was that about
MR. KELLY: All right. Well, let me give you the guidance on this. The
QUESTION: Sorry. Wood?
MR. KELLY: Wood.
QUESTION: Okay.
MR. KELLY: Sanctions is one part of the
QUESTION: But, I mean, you have no opinion on the fact that the rest of the world thinks that this is a bad way to go?
MR. KELLY: Well --
QUESTION: That the whole world – I mean,
MR. KELLY: This – it seems to me to be an annual exercise that --
QUESTION: It’s an annual exercise to tell you that the rest of the world thinks --
MR. KELLY: -- seems to be – kind of has inertia from the Cold War. The suggestion that we’re not assisting
QUESTION: Well, it seems that the rest of the world thinks that, in fact, if you were to lift the embargo, that could help the repression – lift it.
MR. KELLY: Well, we don’t think it’s time to lift that embargo. The – we will consider that when the Government of Cuba starts to make some positive steps towards loosening up its repression of its own people.
QUESTION: Ian, without getting into a philosophical and – especially a lengthy or philosophical debate about this, you said that this, as an annual exercise, is a Cold War remnant.
QUESTION: Yeah.
MR. KELLY: Yeah.
QUESTION: Well, there a lot of people who would argue that the embargo is a Cold War remnant. I mean, this is the first year that this vote has happened, where you’ve been in this tiny minority that you are – that the
MR. KELLY: Well, I mean, we – our policy in
QUESTION: Having said that --
MR. KELLY: -- a productive dialogue.
QUESTION: -- how long has the embargo been in place now?
MR. KELLY: I think it’s been in place almost 50 years.
QUESTION: Yeah, yeah.
MR. KELLY: Well, that’s a long time to have a repressive system.
QUESTION: Well, it’s also a long time to have a policy that has produced absolutely no results.
MR. KELLY: Well, we’re – we are looking to try and put our relationship – with
Yes, go ahead.
The UN General Assembly is set to debate and vote today on a resolution that declares the “necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the
It’s not going to be a moment of suspense or high drama – it has passed 17 years in a row, after all, last year by a 185-3 vote.
The passage of the resolution is not likely to change much in
What’s new is the political symbolism, the statement that the embargo now belongs to President Obama. That is a point the Cuban government likes to make internationally, reminding foreign governments that change has not reached all parts of
A UN report compiling statements from governments around the world and international agencies is here (pdf), and a CNN Spanish interview with
[Update: It was 187-3 with two abstentions;