Cuba

[B]" [I]n Cuba “they hand out more years in prison for killing a cow than for murdering tens of psychiatric patients.”
[/B]

Cuba audit finds mixed report on corruption

The increase is a blow to Raúl Castro’s campaign against malfeasance


By Juan O. Tamayo
jtamayo@elnuevoherald.com

Cuba’s feared “Lady Anti-Corruption” has reported a setback in the fight against malfeasance in Havana — a top priority of Raúl Castro’s government as it tries to overhaul the island’s foundering economy.

“There were increases in crimes and corruption” in the Cuban capital, Comptroller General Gladys Bejerano, who also serves as vice president of the ruling Council of State, was quoted as saying in a Granma newspaper story Tuesday.

Bejerano was commenting on her agency’s recent audits of 132 public entities in Havana. Only 73 got a grade of “acceptable,” showing a setback when compared to before, according to Granma.

Havana’s performance was much worse than the rest of the country. Only 37 percent of the more than 750 entities across the island audited April 25 to May 31 were deficient, according to a Bejerano report published Sunday.

Cuba’s state television, citing a Bejerano report, on Sunday had reported an improvement in the nationwide figures from 2001, when only 46 percent of 300 entities audited were given a passing grade.

But her comments to Granma underlined the growing concerns over corruption as Castro tries to abandon some of the economy’s Soviet-styled central controls and embrace parts of a market system.

Determined to avert the rise in Cuba of the mafia-like economic leaderships that Russia and China are experiencing, Castro ordered Bejerano to tighten the audits, earning her the nickname “Dama Anticorrupción.”

Castro also has put his son Alejandro in overall charge of the campaign against corruption. Reported to be a top officer in Cuba’s security forces, Alejandro Castro Espín also serves as his father’s national security adviser.

Corrupt managers of state agencies and enterprises had long fiddled with their books in order to divert goods for sale on the more profitable black market. One common joke has managers reporting that missing food items were eaten by wild dogs.

Audits of state entities were peremptory and the results were seldom made public. Many managers and administrators made it a practice of giving gifts to auditors and few went to prison as long as they were politically reliable.

But a string of recent scandals led economist and long-time Communist Party member Esteban Morales to warn in a column last year that corruption was growing so much it posed a significant challenge to the government.

Several top party and government officials have been sent to prison since Castro took power in 2008, but Cuba analysts say it’s not clear if that’s because there’s more corruption or more enforcement.

Earlier this month, 15 top officials at the state-owned Cubana de Aviacion airline and the brother of a Chilean businessman long allied with Fidel Castro were sentenced to three to 10 years in prison in a kickback scheme.

Manuel García, who was vice president of the state tobacco monopoly, and 10 of his employees were arrested in April on charges of selling cigars under the table to unapproved foreign distributors.

Pedro Álvarez, former president of Alimport, the estate agency that each year imports hundreds of millions of dollars worth of food, was under investigation on charges of corruption when he fled Cuba late last year.

And Rogelio Acevedo, president of the Civil Aviation Institute, was fired amid allegations that Cubana de Aviacion airplanes reported as being grounded for maintenance were in fact making off-the-books cargo flights.

Hundreds of lower-ranking officials in the government and party have been replaced in less public shakeups in recent years, according to a Reuters news agency dispatch from Havana this week.

The BBC correspondent in Havana wrote last week that corruption “is capturing the attention of many, some who want to persuade us that the revolution is irreparably rotten, and others who are just finding out that it is not immune to everyday sins.”

Corruption happens worldwide but in Cuba it’s “a heavy blow for those who believe in the virgin revolution, capable of conceiving without sin,” Fernando Ravsberg wrote in Cartas Desde Cuba — Letters from Cuba.

Others complain that “the scalpel is not cutting deep enough,” he added, quoting a neighbor as telling him that in Cuba “they hand out more years in prison for killing a cow than for murdering tens of psychiatric patients.”

Up to 50 patients in Havana’s main psychiatric hospital died during a cold snap last winter — allegedly the result of malnutrition and exposure caused by hospital officials who sold their food and blankets on the black market.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/21/2278022/cuba-audit-finds-mixed-report.html#ixzz1Q2SB9QOW

you find the balance of justice skewed in almost every country.



http://www.commondreams.org/further/2011/06/24-8

"Corruption happens worldwide but in Cuba it’s “a heavy blow for those who believe in the virgin revolution, capable of conceiving without sin,” Fernando Ravsberg wrote in Cartas Desde Cuba — Letters from Cuba."

That's so, but when your position-Cuba's- is as an alternative to the "criminal and inhumane West' and in particular the USA, I think must people would agree that you position yourself for much criticism when after 5o years, these actions still cause considerable problems in your society.

¿Acudirá Cuba al FMI?

El Fondo ha acumulado valiosas experiencias asesorando a países como Vietnam y Nicaragua

Andrés Oppenheimer 19 DIC 2011 - 17:04 CET1


Un viejo chiste que escuché por primera vez hace más de 20 años en La Habana dice que los tres logros más grandes de la revolución cubana son la salud, la educación y la baja tasa de mortalidad infantil, y que sus tres fracasos más grandes son el desayuno, el almuerzo y la cena.

Ahora, un nuevo estudio del centro Brookings Institution, titulado Tendiendo puentes: la nueva economía cubana y la respuesta internacional, demuestra que dos décadas más tarde y a pesar de los anuncios de reformas económicas del régimen de Raúl Castro, las cosas están igual de mal, o peor.

El estudio fue escrito por Richard E. Feinberg, un exfuncionario del Gobierno de Bill Clinton que respalda una creciente cooperación de las instituciones financieras internacionales con Cuba, y que viajó a la isla y se entrevistó con funcionarios, economistas y académicos. Entre sus conclusiones:

- A pesar del aumento del turismo, algunas inversiones en minería y enormes subsidios de Venezuela, la economía cubana sigue en crisis. El principal obstáculo económico no son las sanciones comerciales de Estados Unidos, sino el anacrónico modelo económico de Cuba, heredado de la antigua Unión Soviética y basado en la planificación central, dice el estudio.

- El ingreso promedio de Cuba es uno de los más bajos de Latinoamérica: 448 pesos mensuales, o 20 dólares al cambio oficial. Los graduados universitarios buscan empleo como porteros de hoteles, camareros y otras ocupaciones con acceso a moneda extranjera, o tratan de emigrar.

- El ingreso per capita medido como paridad de poder de compra de Cuba es de 6.000 dólares anuales. En comparación, el de la República Dominicana es de 8.000; el de Brasil, 11.000, y el de México, 14.000 dólares, según cifras de Naciones Unidas.

- La producción industrial de Cuba está al 43% de su nivel de 1989, y se reduce al 10% de la fuerza laboral. Las exportaciones son una cifra irrisoria, entre 3.000 y 4.000 millones de dólares anuales, apenas por encima del subsidio petrolero de Venezuela a la isla. - La deuda externa cubana es "alarmante". Según el Banco Central de Cuba, la isla debe 8.900 millones de dólares, además de unos 7.600 millones de "deudas congeladas" que no han sido reestructuradas en más de dos décadas.

- Cuba ha estado intentando compensar estos problemas desarrollando industrias de servicios como el turismo, que ha crecido hasta registrar 2,5 millones de visitantes por año, y la exportación de médicos a Venezuela por medio de programas gubernamentales de "petróleo por médicos". El sector servicios representa ahora el 81% de la economía de la isla, pero no alcanza para balancear el presupuesto.

Feinberg propone alentar las reformas económicas en Cuba por medio de una creciente participación de instituciones financieras internacionales. Según el estudio, los funcionarios cubanos expresaron cierto interés en iniciar contactos con el FMI y el Banco Mundial, especialmente porque esas instituciones han aceptado que "no hay un único modelo de desarrollo" y han ganado valiosas experiencias asesorando a países como Vietnam y Nicaragua.

"Cuando el autor preguntó cuál era la postura de Cuba con respecto a su posible ingreso al FMI, un funcionario de alto rango del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba respondió: 'Cuba no tiene una postura principista en contra de las relaciones con el FMI o el Banco Mundial", dice el estudio. Fue la primera vez que Cuba ha hecho una afirmación semejante, añade.

Mi opinión: si la dictadura militar de Castro quiere ayuda del FMI, después de décadas de atacar a la institución, debería recibir un ofrecimiento de asistencia técnica. Eso ayudaría a poner al día a los sectores reformistas dentro de la isla, y confirmaría el colosal fracaso de los octogenarios generales cubanos en todos los frentes.

24 December 2011 Last updated at 05:03 ET


Raul Castro said 86 foreign prisoners from 25 countries would be freed


Cuba frees final two dissidents
Dissidents' release draws line under Cuba crackdown
Cuba releases Oscar Elias Biscet

Cuba says it will release 2,900 prisoners, including some convicted of political crimes, in the next few days.

President Raul Castro said the move was a goodwill gesture after receiving numerous requests by relatives and religious institutions.

But US national Alan Gross, who is serving 15 years for crimes against the state, is not among those to be freed.

On the separate issue of foreign travel for Cubans, President Castro said it was too early to lift restrictions.

The president told the National Assembly that those who urged a lifting of travel restrictions "are forgetting the exceptional circumstances under which Cuba lives, encircled by the hostile policy... of the US government".

Cubans require an exit visa to leave the country, and it is often denied to people who work in key professions or are out of favour with the authorities.

Cuba's 'strength'
President Castro said that 86 foreign prisoners from 25 countries would be freed, and that diplomats would be notified shortly.

However, Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Josefina Vidal told the Associated Press that American Alan Gross - jailed for taking internet equipment to the Communist-run island - "is not on the list".

Continue reading the main story
Cuba mass prisoner releases

1962: Release and expulsion to the US of 1,113 prisoners captured during failed Bay of Pigs invasion
1979: More than 3,000 prisoners released after negotiations with Cuban exiles
1984: Release of 26 political prisoners after a visit from US activist Jesse Jackson
1998: Release of 299 prisoners after an appeal from Pope John Paul II
July 2010: Government agrees to free 52 prisoners in deal brokered by the Catholic Church
December 2011: President Raul Castro announces 2,900 prisoners to be released
(Sources: BBC, Human Rights Watch, Organization of American States)

Havana's refusal to free him has led to frozen relations with the United States.

Alan Gross, 62, was detained in December 2009 while he was delivering computers and communications equipment to the Jewish community in Cuba. He was sentenced in March 2011.

He was working as a contractor for the US state department.

President Castro also cited an upcoming visit by Pope Benedict XVI among the reasons for the amnesty, saying the humanitarian act showed Cuba's strength, AP reports.

Cuba's governing body, the Council of State, said some people convicted of crimes against "the security of the state" were on the list.

"All of them have completed an important portion of their sentence and shown good behaviour," read an official government statement quoted by Prensa Latina.

However, the authorities stressed that those convicted of serious crimes like murder, espionage or drug trafficking would not be part of the amnesty.

Black Spring

Elizardo Sanchez, who leads the independent Cuban Commission on Human Rights, attacked the president for not talking about "depenalising the exercise of human rights".

Last July, President Castro agreed after talks with Catholic Church leaders to free the 52 dissidents still behind bars after the crackdown in 2003.

The mass arrests that year, which became known as Cuba's Black Spring, provoked widespread international condemnation.

The European Union called off co-operation with the island, which was only officially resumed in 2008.

Cuba denies holding any political prisoners, saying they are mercenaries in the pay of the US aiming to destabilise the government.

More on This Story

Just a random piece of info:

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Cuba overtakes Japan by percentage of centenarians







English.news.cn 2011-05-26 10:12:33

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HAVANA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Cuba is the country with the highest percentage of people over hundred years, even over Japan, President of the Congress on Satisfactory Longevity, Dr. Eugenio Selman, said here Wednesday.

The ninth edition of the Congress on Satisfactory Longevity opened here

Wednesday, attended by 180 delegates and focused this year on analyzing the environmental factors influencing the quality of life of the elderly.

Selman recalled that currently 1,551 people over one hundred years live in Cuba, of a population of 11.2 million which would quintuple the proportion of centenarians in Japan, the country with the largest number of centenarians in absolute terms.

Cuban life expectancy is one of the highest in the region, 78 years for men and 76 to 80 years for women. But local authorities vow to increase the rate to 80 years, according to Deputy Health Minister Luis Struch.

Struch delivered the first lecture meeting of the Congress on the prevention of diseases affecting the elderly on the island, including osteoarthritis, hypertension and diabetes.

Almost two million Cubans are over 60 years old, according to official data and it is estimated that in fifteen years the figure might reach nearly three million, 26 percent of the population.

Rousseff da un visado para Brasil a Yoani Sánchez antes de visitar Cuba

La presidenta brasileña, que llegará a la isla el 31 de enero, le abre las puertas de su país a la bloguera disidente cubana

El gesto choca con la política de su antecesor, Lula da Silva, que en su visita oficial, en la anterior legislatura, incluso criticó las huelgas de hambre de los opositores al castrismo
Juan Arias Rio de Janeiro 26 ENE 2012 - 03:37 CET155


Dilma Rousseff y Lula da Silva (con sombrero) el martes en Brasilia. / PEDRO LADEIRA (AFP)


Existía mucha expectación por saber si la Presidenta y exguerrillera Dilma Rousseff, que estará en Cuba el próximo dia 31, concedería un visado para ir a Brasil a la bloguera y disidente cubana Yoani Sánchez, que había pedido a la embajada brasileña en Cuba el permiso para poder viajar a Brasil para participar en la presentación del documental Conexión Cuba-Honduras, dirigido por Dado Galvbão y que trata de la libertad de prensa en Cuba y Brasil. El film será presentado en Salvador de Bahia el mes que viene, y Yoani Sánchez es una de las entrevistadas.

Hasta esta tarde lo único que se sabía era que el Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores de Brasil había recibido, a través de su embajada en Cuba, la petición del visado de la polémica bloguera, pero sin que hubiera respuesta. Hoy mismo, el diario O Globo especulaba con que, generalmente, el silencio diplomático suele equivaler a un no. Sin embargo, al final, la diplomacia brasileña ha confirmado que sí ha sido concedido a Yoani Sánchez un visado por 30 dias para venir a Brasil.

La disidente cubana habia pedido ya 20 veces, inútilmente, permiso para salir de Cuba. Esta vez, además de su petición oficial a la embajada de Brasil en la Habana, la disidente había enviado una carta personal a la Presidenta Dilma, cuyo contenido no se ha hecho público. Sánchez había afirmado en su blog: “Yo me siento como Dilma”, y contó que le impresionó la foto en que la Presidenta de Brasil aparece a los 23 años interrogada por los militares que se tapaban la cara con las manos para no ser identificados. Según la disidente, ella se siente en Cuba como la exguerrillera brasileña se sentía durante la dictadura militar.

El gesto de la diplomacia brasileña de conceder a Yoani Sánchez la entrada en el país, ha sido en seguida interpretado como un símbolo de distensión de Dilma, que se prepara para un viaje de dos dias a Cuba que no se presume fácil, ya que los representantes de los derechos humanos en Cuba le han pedido ser recibidos y eso podría tensar la actitud del régimen dirigido por Raúl Castro.

Por otro lado, el anterior viaje a Cuba de un presidente de Brasil, fue el de su antecesor, Lula da Silva, que acabó siendo muy criticado por la prensa mundial porque criticó la huelga de hambre de los disidentes cubanos, a pesar de que uno de ellos murió mientras Lula estaba en Cuba.

Dilma Rousseff, que se declara fiel seguidora de su tutor, Lula, ha presentado, sin embargo, durante su primer año de gobierno, algunas diferencias vistosas en política exterior, tanto en su cierto alejamiento de Teherán como en su aproximación a Washington. Justamente, Ali Abkar, el portavoz personal del lider iraní, Mahmoud Ahmadineyad, declaró dias atrás al diario Folha de Sào Paulo: “La presidenta Dilma golpeó todo lo que Lula había hecho. Ella ha destruido años de buenas relaciones con Irán”.

En efecto, Dilma, nada más ser elegida, se declaró contraria a las ejecuciones por lapidación de las mujeres iranies, y Ahmadineyad, en su reciente viaje a varios paises de América del Sur, no pasó por Brasilia. En la anterior legislatura, el expresidente Lula sí habia estado en Teherán y Ahmadineyad había venido a Brasil -y consideraba al exsindicalista Lula da Silva como uno de sus mejores aliados-.

Ahora, los ojos de la opinión pública brasileña están puestos en los gestos y en las palabras de Dilma en la Habana. Y uno de esos gestos, que confirman su autonomía en política exterior y una diferencia sustancial con respecto a las ideas de su mentor, Lula, ha sido este inesperado visado a la bloguera disidente Yoani Sánchez para viajar a Brasil, que, diplomáticamente, no es poco.

14 March 2012 Last updated at 20:33 ET


Cuba Catholic dissidents occupy church in Havana



Cubans walk next to Our Lady of Charity church, occupied by 13 Cuban dissidents on 14 March, 2012 Business outside Our Lady of Charity church continued as normal


Thirteen Cuban dissidents have occupied a Catholic church in Havana, demanding an audience with Pope Benedict when he visits Cuba later this month.

The dissidents want the Pope to press Cuba's communist government on issues such as the release of political prisoners and an end to repression.

The Catholic Church in Cuba condemned the protest, saying places of worship should not be used for political demonstrations.

The Pope is due in Cuba on 26 March.

Dissident William Cepera said the eight women and five men had entered the Church of Charity of Cobre in central Havana on Tuesday night.

Peaceful occupation

They were staying in an area off-limits to worshippers.

The church has been partially closed, only allowing in pilgrims who have come to see the image of the Virgin of the Charity of Cobre.

Mr Cepera said the group was determined to meet Pope Benedict.

"We would like to talk to the Pope and tell him that the government of Fidel and Raul (Castro) has released only some prisoners, but other political prisoners remain", he said.

The Catholic Church in Cuba has acted as a mediator between dissidents and the government, successfully negotiating the release of 75 political prisoners over the past years.

But Cuban Catholic Church spokesman Orlando Marquez condemned the action and called on the group to leave immediately.

"Nobody has the right to disturb the celebratory spirit of faithful Cubans and many other citizens who look with jubilation and hope toward the visit of the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, to Cuba," he wrote in a statement.

Police are guarding the church but have not intervened.

Pope Benedict has not announced any plans to meet Cuban dissidents during his trip.

He will arrive on 26 March in the eastern city of Santiago, where he will meet Cuban President Raul Castro.

During his time on the island, he will also visit the shrine of the Virgin of Caridad del Cobre and travel to Havana, where he will say mass in the main plaza.