Migration reform: not quite yet

Notwithstanding the rumors about lineamiento #264, Raul Castro did not use last Friday’s speech to announce reform of Cuban migration policies to allow Cubans to travel abroad without government permission. The policies will be updated, he said, but it’s going to take some time.

He chided those who speak “as if it were about something insignificant and not the destiny of the Revolution and country” (AIN). His speech is here on YouTube.

Part of his discussion of the issue: “Following the authorization of sales of cars and houses, more than a few people consider it urgent to have a new immigration policy, forgetting the exceptional circumstances in which Cuba lives, under the siege entailed in the United States policy of interference and subversion, always on the lookout for any opportunity to achieve its well-known aims.”

Odds and ends

• AP reviews the year’s economic changes by taking a close look at the Cubans involved in them.

• In this Herald op-ed, a U.S. Coast Guard captain gives the best explanation I have seen of how sanctions against Cuba block the collaborative disaster prevention and response measures that we should be taking as Cuba prepares to drill for oil in its Gulf waters.

• Saxophone/clarinet virtuoso Paquito D’Rivera, who left Cuba in 1968, complains about cultural exchanges in both directions in Jazz Times.

• Globe and Mail: An obit for a Cuban immigrant and an appreciation of what immigrants bring to Canada.

• Granma: Cuba’s consul in Shanghai told a local audience about the advantages of investing in Cuba: highly qualified workforce, social and political stability, extensive research and development in new technologies, and full integration in Latin America and the Caribbean.

357,000 entrepreneurs

The December sessions of Cuba’s legislature always provide information on economic policies and the economy’s performance, and this year’s information flow has started:

• There are 357,000 licensed small entrepreneurs, compared to 143,000 in late 2010.

• The bureaucracy is under criticism for taking too long and making it too hard for applicants who want to get a piece of idle land and put it into agricultural production.

• Since new measures went into effect, 6009 car sales have been approved, also 301 home sales, 565 donations of homes, and 401 swaps.

And from other sources:

• The income tax rates paid by entrepreneurs will be reduced (from Cuban television report).

• Reuters: To improve farm incentives and production, policies concerning land grants are being changed: the plots will be bigger, lease terms are increasing from 10 to 25 years, and the land and houses or other improvements may be transferred to family members.

Oficios

Quotable

“Isolation is a lot different than what I’m talking about. An isolationist is generally someone who wants to build a barrier around a country; they don’t want to travel, they don’t want to trade, they don’t want to have any interaction with other nations. The people that call me an isolationist are the very first ones that want tough sanctions to punish [foreign countries]. I’m the one who wants to trade with Cuba; it’s about time we forgot about Castro and started trading with Cuba.”

– Republican presidential candidate and current Iowa front-runner Ron Paul, campaigning in New Hampshire

Odds and ends

• BBC Mundo on Cuban emigrants who are increasingly returning to Cuba to visit, and sometimes to stay. At the immigration office where an emigrant goes to un-do the “salida definitiva” status, there is a “permanent line.” Meanwhile, AFP expects Cuba’s migration reform to come soon.

• Reuters: Cuba is observing three days of official mourning for the late Kim Jong-Il.

• In a recent debate, Republican candidate Rick Perry called for a new Monroe Doctrine “like we used against Cuba in the sixties.” Peter Beinart wonders what he means and what would appeal to him about the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

• 60 Minutes goes to Jardines de la Reina.

Unhinged

Rep. David Rivera claims that President Obama holds “allegiance to Fidel and Raul Castro” and acts as their “lobbyist.” His vile comments were prompted by Obama’s defense of his own policy in face of efforts to tighten restrictions on travel and remittances by Cuban Americans.