Another pilot project under way

Reuters reports a new deal for the drivers of 16-seat Chinese buses operated by the state enterprise Cubataxi.

First, no more salary. Second, the driver gets the bus and fuel, charges the established fares, brings back 824 pesos at the end of the shift, and keeps the rest.

As in the case of other pilot projects, this one has not been announced.

Masonic Lodge #3

Letters to Granma push for change

What to do about employment in Cuba, a issue that is of greater-than-usual interest since Raul Castro noted in a speech last month that the state’s inflated payrolls may include up to one million excess workers?

Some ideas are appearing in the letters to the editor of Granma, and today three letters advance the idea of converting small state enterprises into cooperatives or some similar scheme.

None mention the initial changes already made in this direction in barber shops and beauty shops, a development that to my knowledge has not been noted in Cuban media.

A letter from one J. Martinez Montes, titled “Regarding the workforce restructuring that the country will have to implement,” says this:

“Whether private, cooperative, mixed association, or however we want to label the way of setting up non-strategic economic activities…food service, sweets shops and bakeries, small stores, workshops, repair shops, etc., could very well become new sources of employment and opportunities for the creativity of Cubans…There are very good examples of these practices; take China, Vietnam, and other countries where the state sets taxes and provides raw materials…”

Then a letter signed by J. L. Marichal Castillo, headlined “The issue is not to privatize, but to socialize,” emphasizes the need for rules and enforcement:

“In many opinions the term ‘privatize’ is used, as if there didn’t exist formulas to socialize production and services such as cooperatives, production or service associations, etc. The name can vary, what is important is the content…The food service sector is often discussed, but these changes should include all possible sectors and for those that remain state entities, changes will have to be introduced too… The state should continue to own installations, buildings, etc. It should charge fair prices for everything, require social security and tax payments, and without doubt, have the legal capacity to intervene and even dissolve any type of organization when its auditors or other police organs (and that is not constant harassment) detect infracions incompatible with socialist legality.”

J. Miguel Valdes, a student at the CUJAE engineering and technology university, agrees. He gently urges Randy Alonso of the Mesa Redonda television program to turn his analytical powers toward measures that Cubans themselves can take to fix the economy:

“In my opinion I believe that changes are urgently needed in the economic thinking of our country. I am not an economist but I believe that to permit, for example, the existence of private property in non-strategic means of production, such as food service – and always in a controlled way with taxes, fair licenses, assurance of the delivery of raw materials, etc. – far from overturning advances already achieved or creating a national bourgeoisie, would combat the diversion of resources that causes so much harm to the nation and would improve substantially the quality of services that is now terrible in almost all public establishments… I am of the belief that such important programs as the Mesa Redonda should analyze more frequently and more rigorously the domestic economic problems and inform the public in a concrete way of the measures taken to solve them. Although it is beyond doubt how much the economic blockade and all the aggressive policy associated with it harms us, I think that much more can be done to improve the economic situation of the country.”

The Cuban economy has many advantages, foremost among them the capabilities of its people. There are many formulas that could be employed to lift the economy, generating new jobs and income without changing the socialist character of the Cuban system.

But the system must first permit itself to accept that some new forms of property and organization – such as cooperatives, already employed in the farm sector – are fully compatible with socialism when employed in cities.

The presentation of these ideas in the Organo Oficial del Partido Comunista de Cuba doesn’t indicate that the system has made that leap, but it indicates a clear decision that it’s time to talk about it. Which can’t be a bad thing.

For another look at employment issues, see this article from El Pais.

Masonic Lodge #2

Odds and ends

• Independent journalist Miriam Leiva, an a Herald op-ed, on recent leadership changes and a “growing malaise in Cuban society.”

• It may not be the perfect moment to flaunt American prowess in oil drilling technology, but the Houston-based International Association of Drilling Contractors has a license to travel to Cuba and is trying to organize a trip. See report in Cuba Standard.

• Another Granma article on the upcoming conference of Cuba’s small farmers association (ANAP) says the priority will be to discuss measures that substitute imports, make sales to the tourism sector, and increase exports.

• The Export Law Blog dissects a call by a steel producer organization call to keep Chinese steel out of the United States because it may contain Cuban nickel.

Masonic Lodge #1

Quotable

“…the willingness to meet and to engage in dialogue, for understanding and consensus, is the best service we can offer in the interest of the general well-being of the nation. Achieving this well-being, it must be said, today involves: achieving a definitive agreement for the treatment of the Damas de Blanco, resolving the sensitive problem of those imprisoned for political reasons, finding the best way so that each Cuban may express his opinions and always seek consensus among all, reformulating the cultura antropológica of the Cuban person, recasting economic structures, and achieving the best relations with all the world, also with the United States.”

– from an editorial (pdf) on the Catholic church’s mediation role in Espacio Laical, the Havana archdiocese’s magazine of Catholic laity

The Vatican foreign minister, en route to Cuba

Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican’s foreign minister, will visit in Cuba in June and will participate in a conference organized by the Cuban Catholic church. (See AP’s story and a press release from the Peace and Justice Commission of the Havana archdiocese.)

The “social week” taking place June 16-20 is the tenth conference of this type. It will begin with a talk on “The State and Laity” by Archbishop Mamberti in the ceremonial lecture hall of the University of Havana. It will feature discussions on topics such as the church’s pastoral work, the need for dialogue and reconciliation, and challenges facing the Cuban economy. The press release notes that some participants will be from “the diaspora,” and for the first time non-Catholics will be invited to make presentations.

Meanwhile, the Damas de Blanco are expressing hope for prisoner releases during the Archbishop’s visit (see AFP story here).

ANAP has some suggestions to make

In advance of the annual conference of Cuba’s small farmers association (ANAP), Granma has published several articles saying the conference will feature proposals for policy changes that will lead to increased farm production. See Tuesday article here and Wednesday’s here (with English version here). There’s another article today about a train carrying delegates from eastern Cuba; quite a bit of hoopla for a meeting of this type.

The conference begins tomorrow.

The ANAP president, Orlando Lugo, says that among the proposals, there will be some “to eliminate obstacles in the comercialización” of farm products, using a word that Cubans use to refer to sales, transportation, and distribution. He also says some changes will take time – naturally – because they “require changes in the structure and size of the enterprise system, creating new entities and dissolving others.”

This is clear as mud; hopefully Granma will cover the actual proposals at equal length.

For now, I’ll speculate a little. I wonder if by the “enterprise system” he is referring to the acopio, the bureaucratic behemoth that collects, transports, and distributes produce to consumers through the monthly ration system and to institutions such as hospitals and schools. The writing has been on the wall for acopio or some time. First, through the idea broached by Raul Castro and others of ending universal monthly food rations. Second, through new direct distribution schemes that bypass acopio altogether. And third, through stories that have shown that the government could not handle distribution of increased farm production, and produce rotted awaiting pick-up.

We’ll see what is actually proposed at a conference that, according to the Granma stories, promises to address all the concerns raised at the local level by individual farmers, and to present success stories and best practices that can be applied across Cuba.

Odds and ends

• Cuban Colada: The Florida law that required charter companies that fly to Cuba to post bond of up to $250,000 has run its course. It was declared unconstitutional two months ago, and now the state of Florida has paid $364,000 in legal expenses to the charter companies. The law was sponsored by state Representative David Rivera, likely GOP candidate for the seat being vacated by Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart. The judge got a little cheeky in his decision, saying that “Florida is not entitled to adopt a foreign policy under our Constitution.”

• AP: Dania Virgen Garcia was released from jail pending appeal of her sentence. More on her case at Cuban Colada.

• The New York Times’ obit of Cuban-born percussionist Francisco Aguabella.

• Along the Malecon: As of November, a Danish company will be renting Harley Davidsons in Havana.

• AFP: Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar and others introduce a “Platform for Spaniards for the Democratization of Cuba.”

• The Herald’s Jordan Levin on the “eloquent but ambiguous” Carlos Varela, who plays Miami on Saturday. And AP reports that Silvio Rodriguez has a visa for a June 4 Carnegie Hall concert.

Doing our part for Cuban socialism

In the New York Review of Books, Nik Steinberg and Daniel Wilkinson of Human Rights Watch have written an interesting essay on the human rights situation in Cuba and proposing a new international policy to press for human rights improvements in Cuba, to replace the U.S. embargo.

An excerpt:

“Invoking national sovereignty may be the most common tactic used by governments around the globe—and across the political spectrum—to counter criticism of their abusive practices. It is the international equivalent of the ‘states’ rights’ claim that segregationists in the US South used for years to defend their racist laws and policies. The aim is to shift the focus of public concern from the rights of abuse victims to the rights (real and imagined) of the states that abuse them.

“What sets the Castro government apart from most others that employ this tactic is the fact that Cuba has indeed, for five decades, faced an explicit threat to its national sovereignty—coming from the United States, a superpower ninety miles off its shores. In the 1960s, the threat took the form of covert military action, including the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and multiple botched assassination attempts. It continues in the form of the economic embargo established by President Eisenhower in 1960, later expanded by President Kennedy, and eventually locked in place by the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act. Also known as ‘Helms-Burton,’ the law prohibits the president from lifting trade restrictions until Cuba has legalized political activity and made a commitment to free and fair elections. It also prohibits lifting the embargo as long as Fidel and Raúl Castro remain in office. In other words, it requires that Cubans be free to choose their leaders, but bars them from choosing the Castros. It is thus a program to promote not only democracy but also regime change.”

I don’t agree that the embargo in and of itself threatens Cuban sovereignty; it’s an expression of American sovereignty to decide not to trade with another country. In this case it’s Cuba’s commercial options, not its sovereignty, that are abridged.

But the part about Helms-Burton is actually little worse than described. The Helms-Burton law says that even if Cuba were to hold an election under perfect conditions, it would not result in a “democratically elected” government if that government were to “include Fidel Castro or Raul Castro.” So it seeks a democracy in Cuba that makes a mockery of our own definition of democracy.

One could write this off as old history – who can remember 1996, after all? – but the Helms-Burton law lives on in many ways.

One is in the political message that it continues to send, as Steinberg and Wilkinson describe.

Another is in the program that sent USAID contractor Alan Gross to Cuba, authorized by Helms-Burton’s Section 109. It’s a democracy promotion program, but if Cubans fully read the law that authorizes it, it isn’t surprising that they would see things otherwise. Nor is it surprising that Cubans such as Yoani Sanchez would express concern for Cuba’s sovereignty (see this discussion by Ted Henken of her views and those of her husband, Reinaldo Escobar, some expressed in connection with the Bush Administration’s transition commission).

What is surprising is that the Obama Administration keeps the USAID program going, using a regime-change framework to attempt to carry out programs that it seems to conceive as mainly humanitarian.

They get letters...

Granma’s editors give themselves a little pat on the back for their letters section, which is a year old today. It does make for interesting reading. It includes a section featuring responses from government agencies.

For example, this letter complains that an empty agriculture ministry bus headed eastbound from Pinar del Rio not only failed to pick up passengers, but the driver and assistant demanded money from potential passengers. This reponse says that a committee was formed promptly to investigate; the result is that the driver and assistant (in fact, a mechanic who should have been in his shop) are now unemployed.

The section also includes a note giving citizens an e-mail address and phone numbers where they can direct complaints about agriculture, and the note indicates that the minister has ordered his people to respond.

Odds and ends

• AP: Radio Rebelde issues a call to stop hoarding and reselling rice, and AP’s reporter finds that some are selling rice on the street at three to four times the price charged at farmers markets. It’s not unusual to see vendors walking through neighborhoods quietly selling beef, cheese, shellfish, or other items, but I have never heard of rice being sold that way.

• AP: Silvio Rodriguez is preparing to play Carnegie Hall. Meanwhile, Los Van Van have canceled their U.S. tour. And during a break at a concert, Ted Henken asks saxophone/clarinet virtuoso Paquito D’Rivera what he thinks of Cuban artists coming to play here.

• AP: An official from Cuba’s science and environment ministry says the island faces no threat from the Gulf oil spill. To track the spill yourself, check out this New York Times map.

• Reuters: Petrobras gets a six-month extension in the drilling deadline in its oil exploration contract for a bloc north of Varadero.

The rig will be Chinese

Reuters reports that Repsol is having a rig built in safety-conscious communist China for use when it returns to drilling in Cuba’s Gulf waters.

While the popular rumor of Chinese companies drilling in those waters may not pan out, with Chinese flags atop rigs a stone’s throw from Florida, it looks like the next rig that operates there will be of Chinese manufacture. Why source the job to China, as opposed to the nearby U.S. Gulf coast oil industry? U.S. economic sanctions prevent American companies from selling equipment for use in Cuba.

So if the thing ever goes operational and there’s a problem with the rig, or a spill, the scenario will not only be that American officials will be trying to make contact with Cuban officials for the first time, but the operator may also be trying to FedEx the needed parts from, say, Shanghai.

Great!

Odds and ends

• La Jornada: Jorge Luis Sierra Cruz, Cuba’s 48-year-old transportation minister, was replaced in that job by a 51-year-old. But he was also a vice president of the Council of Ministers, and he was replaced in that job by 80-year-old Antonio Enrique Lussón Batlle, a veteran of the 1959 revolution. The result is that four of six vice presidents of the Council of Ministers are from that generation, ages 80, 78, 68, and 86. Raul Castro has now replaced two thirds of the cabinet.

• El Pais: A Spanish legislator travels to Cuba, enters on a tourist visa, meets with dissidents, and holds a press conference denouncing her government’s policies toward Cuba – all without incident.

• AP nails down the health insurance requirement for tourists: the requirement is not yet being applied evenly, and the cost is $3 per day.

• Carlos Varela arrived in Miami to begin a concert tour and gave an airport press conference where he said, “I have never liked actos de repudio in or outside of Cuba,” and answered questions on political topics. He remarked: “I believe if you go to Cuba and you see what is on people’s minds, in the day to day, in that magic word resolver, what they think about least is politicians and politics.” El Nuevo story here; San Francisco Chronicle interview here.

• Miami’s Channel 41 uses a blogger’s video without attribution, and Tracey Eaton complains. As well he should.

• The Herald’s Fabiola Santiago reviews a new book on the city of Matanzas and its cultural contributions.

Oil: very slow going

In January I noted a report that Cuba is renegotiating its oil exploration contract with Repsol, the only company that has explored in deep offshore areas (2004), found oil, and stated an intention to go back and drill again.

Today a reader passed me an article from the energy specialist Argus Media that reports that the negotiations with the Spanish company are still not yet concluded. Excerpt:

The negotiations are intended to “create a state of equilibrium to benefit both parties,” the [Cupet] official said, and were needed because the original agreement “had run its course.”

Cuba was not included in Repsol’s $12.5bn exploration and production plan for the next five years, presented on 29 April by president Antonio Brufau. The Cupet official said the continuing negotiations were the reason Repsol did not mention Cuba.

The article, dated today, is not available on-line.

Goodbye Avila, good luck Selso

No wonder Cuba’s sugar minister asked to be replaced, as Cuban media reported this week (AP story here). Granma gives him a nasty farewell that reports that the current sugar harvest is the worst since 1905, “abysmal,” and lays blame at the ministry’s actions and policies. Cuban Colada translates and summarizes here.

A new minister has been named, notwithstanding the rumor that the ministry would be dissolved and replaced by a state enterprise that would, among other things, bring foreign investors in as partners to modernize plant and boose production.

New real estate policy?

Manuel Marrero, Cuba’s Minister of Tourism, says that the government has approved and will soon release a new “real estate development policy associated with tourism, fundamentally golf courses, marinas and other complementary tourist investments linked to tourism.” Here’s coverage from BBC, AP, and AFP Spanish.

For years there has been talk of golf course developments with real estate mixed in, and I have noted the rumors here many times, mainly as they appear in the British press. This is the first time I have seen a Cuban official address the subject.

If it pans out, it will be a concrete move to attract more foreign investment and to allow Cuba to compete in a new market segment. Reportedly, when it comes to golf/condominium development, the sticking point has been Cuba’s prohibition on allowing foreigners to own real property. And reportedly, discussions have focused on a solution that would instead allow long-term leasing – 50 years, with 25-year renewals – that allows developers to recoup investment almost in the same way as a straight sale.

We’ll watch the Gaceta Oficial to see what the minister has in mind.

Cabaiguan

The entrance to the "Museo Etnografico Regional Campesino."

Drill, mami, drill

Where would we be if the disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico had started at a deep-water well in one of the offshore blocs where Cuba intends to drill?

The issue would be an urgent one for the United States because prevailing currents would carry a spill in that area straight to the Florida Keys. U.S. officials would surely want to talk to Cuban counterparts about measures to contain the spill at the surface or to cap the wellhead itself.

Since the U.S. government has declined to talk with Cuban officials to make contingency plans, we would be scrambling to make initial contact with Cuban officials at the height of the crisis – which is about the worst position to be in. At that point, it would be of little comfort to Floridians that their elected officials have made terrific anti-Castro speeches or made proposals to try to stop Cuban drilling, without results.

As it turns out, the ecological and economic disaster that has started south of Louisiana may hit the Keys after all. AP is reporting that the spreading slick will soon hit the Gulf’s “loop current,” which would carry it east, then south along Florida’s Gulf coast where the Gulf Stream would take it east again across Florida’s southern tip. More detailed story at the Sun Sentinel, here.

[Graphics from St. Petersburg Times]

New report on Radio-TV Marti

Senator John Kerry’s staff at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has issued a report on Radio/TV Marti, saying “immediate action” is needed to “ensure the survivability” of the stations. I’m not holding my breath on either front – the “immediate action” or the implied threat to cut off funding if changes are not made. The recommendations at the end include nothing that would stop the abject waste of money on TV Marti. Zzzzzzzzzz. This “Metrorail Marti” idea is starting to grow on me.

Odds and ends

• The Damas de Blanco attended mass yesterday and walked along Quinta Avenida as they have done for years, but it was peaceful and there were no pro-government crowds present. Cardinal Ortega, who gave the mass at the church in western Havana, says the lowered tensions follow his appeal to the government. AFP reports in English here; a story from Spain’s El Pais is here. AFP also reports (Spanish, here) that the church has continued to try to persuade Guillermo Farinas to abandon his hunger strike, but he isn’t interested.

• The Herald’s Juan Tamayo on the case of Dania Virgen Garcia, a dissident who was jailed for using force in a family dispute and whose family, according to human rights monitor Elizardo Sanchez, doesn’t seem to be defending her.

• Professor Jaime Suchlicki’s arguments for maintaining U.S. travel restrictions are rebutted by Anya Landau French at the Havana Note.

• Guardian: Cuba’s policy on travel insurance for visitors – I thought it was health insurance – is not very clear, and a UK tour operator chalks it up to the island’s “old-fashioned air, its exotic chaos.”

• Alejandro Armengol’s column in El Nuevo Herald focuses on prisoner of conscience Ariel Sigler Amaya, and argues that keeping him and others in jail signals weakness on the part of the government.

• NPR on the “free-market makeover” in beauty shops and barber shops, where not everyone is happy.

• An idea from Kirk Nielsen at Poder360 for securing federal mass transit money for Miami: name the project Metrorail Marti.

• I just ran across the website Hemos Oido, which is a “Worldwide Translation Experiment” that translates Cuban blogs. A list of blogs translated into English, with links to recently translated posts, is here.

• Hugo Chavez, now on Twitter, invites Fidel Castro to limit himself to 140-character messages too.

• I plugged it once, I’m doing it again: Check out this magnificent blog for all you need to know about Hialeah.

• The Washington Post on Livan Hernandez and his hot start with the Washington Nationals – and his future golf career.