Economics roundup

• IPS: Cuban computer science graduates have a hard time finding meaningful jobs in their field.  I wonder how many will propose starting their own operations under the new law that allows private cooperatives to be formed in sectors other than agriculture.

• EFE: Echoing other officials’ statements, Vice President Diaz-Canel says the hard part of the reforms is yet to come.  He described the purpose of the reforms as eliminating the “prohibitions that have held back productive forces.”  More here from Nick Miroff.

• Café Fuerte: Etecsa once again reduces the initiation fee for cell phone accounts, to 30 CUC.  Before the cuts began in 2008, it was 120 CUC.

• Reuters: Venezuelan opposition leader Capriles would end subsidies to Cuba.

• CubaEncuentro: Economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago looks at the opaque Cuba-Venezuela economic relationship and concludes that if it is curtailed or ended, the blow to Cuba would be “powerful” but not as severe as the loss of Soviet-bloc support and trade two decades ago.

• Reuters: Following last year’s deal on commercial debt with Japan, Cuba struck a deal with Russia over the island’s Soviet-era debt.

• The average income in Cuba is $20 per month…that’s a constantly cited statistic that accurately describes the average state salary.  But it doesn’t describe reality.  Many who work in the state have other sources of household income, and many (in hard currency-producing industries and in joint ventures) have higher incomes.  Increasing numbers of Cubans, in agriculture and small enterprise, don’t work for the state at all.  AFP examines the impact of this income on consumption.

Odds and ends

• The gist of the State Department’s latest annual drug enforcement report (pdf) as regards Cuba: “Cuba’s intensive security presence and bilateral interdiction efforts have effectively reduced the available supply of narcotics on the island and prevented traffickers from establishing a foothold.”

• Who do you send to lead the delegation to Venezuela’s state funeral a few days after its government accuses you of injecting the late President with a substance that caused cancer?  A Congressman and ex-Congressman. (New York Times)  Like Vladimir Ilyich, the body will be embalmed and on public view “for eternity.”  (Reuters)

• In the World Baseball Classic on Wednesday, Cuba shut out Japan for eight innings and defeated the two-time champs 6-3.  A good blog writeup here, and Granma says it’s a win to savor.  After a loss yesterday to the Netherlands, Cuba faces an elimination game Saturday against Taiwan.  Update: Cuba plastered Taiwan 14-0, the game ending in the seventh inning by the mercy rule.  To be one of the four teams that advances to the final round that begins March 17 in San Francisco, Cuba needs to win Monday when it plays the loser of Sunday’s Japan-Netherlands game.

• Two Spaniards, both Partido Popular activists, tell El Nuevo Herald cloak-and-dagger tales of their 2007 visit to Oswaldo Paya, saying that Paya tried to go unnoticed when riding in their car by putting on a baseball cap and sunglasses.  Please.

• In Cubaencuentro, a very critical essay on Oswaldo Paya’s effectiveness as a dissident.

• Vietnam News Agency: A Vietnamese delegation visited Cuba and agreed with Cuban officials “to create favourable conditions for cooperation between Vietnam’s Viettel Telecoms Corporation and Etecsa, the Telecommunications Company of Cuba, targeting the goal of turning Viettel into Etecsa’s partner in upgrading the telecoms infrastructure in Cuba.”  Also: “The hosts spoke highly of Vietnam’s recent social-economic development achievements, saying that the doi moi (renewal process) is a good example for Cuba.”

• Spain’s foreign minister says he has no evidence supporting Partido Popular activist Angel Carromero’s version of the crash that killed Oswaldo Paya (El Pais).

Odds and ends

• The Cuba-Venezuela undersea cable now seems to be fully operational, resulting in faster Internet connection to Cuba, the company Renesys reports on its blog.  The Cuban telecom monopoly Etecsa confirms that the cable is in use; beginning last August it carried voice traffic, and beginning January 10 it carried Internet traffic.  More from AP.

• LA Times: Venezuela’s Telesur television network is now available on Cuban television, which allowed Cubans to see Monday’s inaugural address by President Obama.

• CNN: A scheme that created fake Cuban birth certificates for non-Cubans was exposed by the feds and its participants are now being sentenced.  The idea was for the recipients to claim Cuban nationality and thereby get the immigration privileges and federal benefits that Cubans get.  The recipients got some coaching in case anyone challenged their nationality, the Herald reports.

• Radio Marti: Cuba’s new “ambassador,” Jose Cabanas, chief of its Interests Section in Washington, was received in the State Department by Roberta Jacobson, Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

The cable seems to be working

On the company blog of Renesys, there’s a post indicating that the Cuba-Venezuela submarine cable is finally being used.  The writer’s hunch is based on his finding that Telefonica has just joined the three satellite providers that were handling Cuba’s Internet traffic, and the speed (latency) of transmission has improved.

Odds and ends

• Granma: Representing Cuba at the Mexican presidential inauguration: “el compañero Miguel Diaz-Canel.

• Trabajadores: A report on a Council of Ministers meeting says that Cuba’s economy is on track to grow 3.1 percent in 2012, lower than expected due to under-performance in the agriculture and construction sectors.  Plans for next year include further development of wholesale supply markets and expansion of self-employment (trabajo por cuenta propia) to add some new lines of work to the list.  Also, a “proposal for conceptualizing the economic model” is being drafted to describe the Cuban economic model once all the reforms approved in 2010 are implemented.

• Café Fuerte: There are now 1.5 million cellular lines in operation in Cuba.

• AP: Cuban authorities are ending a 2000 policy that added a 10 percent surcharge to U.S.-Cuba phone calls, which if memory serves amounted to 24.5 cents per minute.  The surcharge was imposed when frozen Cuban government accounts in the United States were being drained to pay damages awarded to various plaintiffs in court judgments against Cuba.

• At Along the Malecon, Tracey Eaton continues to commit acts of journalism with regard to the USAID Cuba democracy programs; here he reports on $11 million spent on operations in Costa Rica.

• Dallas Morning News: The father of newly elected Senator Ted Cruz of Texas was jailed and tortured by the government of Cuba – that of Batista, against which he fought in the Cuban revolution; he arrived in the United States in 1957.

• Juventud Rebelde answers readers’ questions about the new immigration law, and will answer more next Sunday.

• CNN: The first round of peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC rebels, 11 days long, concluded in Havana and a second round will start this week.  More from BBC.