Stakes Are High for Cuba Foreign Investment Law
HAVANA March 28, 2014 (AP)
By PETER ORSI Associated Press
Cuban authorities are on the verge of enacting a new foreign investment
law considered one of the most vital building blocks of President Raul
Castro's effort to reform the country's struggling economy.
The law is seen as so important that an extraordinary session of
parliament has been scheduled for Saturday so the matter doesn't wait
several months until the regular summer session.
Few concrete details have been made public, but this week official media
gave some hints of what the draft law looks like.
The newspaper Juventud Rebelde said it will allow foreign participation
in all sectors except health and education, and not only through joint
partnerships with the socialist government. Also allowed would be an
"international economic association contract, or business of completely
foreign capital."
Juventud Rebelde said most companies would be taxed at 15 percent of
profits, half what they pay under current rules, and they will be exempt
from paying for the first eight years of operation. Investors apparently
will not see their personal income taxed.
Duties may be higher for operations that exploit natural resources, such
as nickel and fossil fuels.
Foreign investment in the Communist-run country has lagged behind
expectations in recent years, and the shortfall is seen as a major
reason for disappointing economic growth. Analysts say that officials
must show they are truly committed to easing the way for foreign firms
if this latest attempt to lure overseas capital is to succeed.
"It's really about (creating) a business climate in which business feels
government at senior levels has an unambiguously favorable attitude
toward foreign investors," said Richard Feinberg, a professor of
international political economy at the University of California, San
Diego. "That's the best guarantee."
"If this law gives the right signals," Feinberg said, "it would be a
major step forward in the economic reforms."
Cuba isn't the easiest place for a foreign businessperson to make a buck.
Labor taxes are high, there is no open bidding for projects, the
approval process is opaque and cumbersome and the government has been
reluctant to let outsiders have majority ownership.
Companies often find themselves negotiating multimillion-dollar deals
with government officials who earn tiny salaries, and some say payoffs
are an unfortunate part of doing business in Cuba. At the same time, a
crackdown on graft, including the jailing of Canadian, Chilean, Czech,
English and French citizens, has sent a chill through the foreign
business community.
Then there's the 52-year-old U.S. embargo, which bars most American
trade with the island and effectively obliges many foreign companies to
choose between doing business with Cuba or the United States.
There's no sign the embargo will be lifted anytime soon, but observers
say Cuba can make itself more attractive to investors by doing things
like making approvals more transparent, easing payroll taxes, enabling
direct hiring of local employees and relaxing rules that require foreign
companies to purchase a certain amount of local inputs.
The rules described in Juventud Rebelde would be almost as favorable as
those already in place for a special economic development zone at
Mariel, a massive port project west of Havana that was formally
inaugurated in January.
Officials are also talking of guarantees that the property of foreign
companies and individuals will not be nationalized as happened after the
1959 Cuban Revolution, except in cases of national interest and only
with due compensation.
In a recent report for the online publication Cuba Standard, which
closely follows Cuban business news, former Cuban Central Bank economist
Pavel Vidal noted that foreign investment has remained flat since
Castro's economic reforms began, about 20 percent below forecast on
average. GDP grew just 2.7 percent last year, low for a developing
nation and again short of expectations.
Meanwhile, Cuba is heavily dependent on the billions of dollars in oil
it gets from ally Venezuela. The socialist-run South American nation is
experiencing its own economic woes these days, rocked for weeks by
violent protests amid calls by some in the opposition for President
Nicolas Maduro to resign.
Vidal said the new law could help stimulate investment by limiting
government officials' discretion in decision-making on approvals, ending
a longstanding tendency to green-light only large-scale investment and
allowing investment in Cuba's emerging privately owned businesses and
independent cooperatives.
"The new foreign investment law is the last opportunity for the reform
to come close to the growth goals planned through 2016," wrote Vidal,
who is currently a professor at Javeriana University in Cali, Colombia.
"At the same time, it will help diversify the island's international
relations, as well as reduce vulnerability due to its links with Venezuela."
———
Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter—Orsi
Source: Stakes Are High for Cuba Foreign Investment Law - ABC News -
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/stakes-high-cuba-foreign-investment-law-23094248?singlePage=true
Información de varios fuentes en castellano y ingles sobre la economía Cubana. Datos económicos sobre Cuba de la prensa internacional.
lunes, 31 de marzo de 2014
Stakes Are High for Cuba Foreign Investment Law
Stakes Are High for Cuba Foreign Investment Law
HAVANA March 28, 2014 (AP)
By PETER ORSI Associated Press
Cuban authorities are on the verge of enacting a new foreign investment
law considered one of the most vital building blocks of President Raul
Castro's effort to reform the country's struggling economy.
The law is seen as so important that an extraordinary session of
parliament has been scheduled for Saturday so the matter doesn't wait
several months until the regular summer session.
Few concrete details have been made public, but this week official media
gave some hints of what the draft law looks like.
The newspaper Juventud Rebelde said it will allow foreign participation
in all sectors except health and education, and not only through joint
partnerships with the socialist government. Also allowed would be an
"international economic association contract, or business of completely
foreign capital."
Juventud Rebelde said most companies would be taxed at 15 percent of
profits, half what they pay under current rules, and they will be exempt
from paying for the first eight years of operation. Investors apparently
will not see their personal income taxed.
Duties may be higher for operations that exploit natural resources, such
as nickel and fossil fuels.
Foreign investment in the Communist-run country has lagged behind
expectations in recent years, and the shortfall is seen as a major
reason for disappointing economic growth. Analysts say that officials
must show they are truly committed to easing the way for foreign firms
if this latest attempt to lure overseas capital is to succeed.
"It's really about (creating) a business climate in which business feels
government at senior levels has an unambiguously favorable attitude
toward foreign investors," said Richard Feinberg, a professor of
international political economy at the University of California, San
Diego. "That's the best guarantee."
"If this law gives the right signals," Feinberg said, "it would be a
major step forward in the economic reforms."
Cuba isn't the easiest place for a foreign businessperson to make a buck.
Labor taxes are high, there is no open bidding for projects, the
approval process is opaque and cumbersome and the government has been
reluctant to let outsiders have majority ownership.
Companies often find themselves negotiating multimillion-dollar deals
with government officials who earn tiny salaries, and some say payoffs
are an unfortunate part of doing business in Cuba. At the same time, a
crackdown on graft, including the jailing of Canadian, Chilean, Czech,
English and French citizens, has sent a chill through the foreign
business community.
Then there's the 52-year-old U.S. embargo, which bars most American
trade with the island and effectively obliges many foreign companies to
choose between doing business with Cuba or the United States.
There's no sign the embargo will be lifted anytime soon, but observers
say Cuba can make itself more attractive to investors by doing things
like making approvals more transparent, easing payroll taxes, enabling
direct hiring of local employees and relaxing rules that require foreign
companies to purchase a certain amount of local inputs.
The rules described in Juventud Rebelde would be almost as favorable as
those already in place for a special economic development zone at
Mariel, a massive port project west of Havana that was formally
inaugurated in January.
Officials are also talking of guarantees that the property of foreign
companies and individuals will not be nationalized as happened after the
1959 Cuban Revolution, except in cases of national interest and only
with due compensation.
In a recent report for the online publication Cuba Standard, which
closely follows Cuban business news, former Cuban Central Bank economist
Pavel Vidal noted that foreign investment has remained flat since
Castro's economic reforms began, about 20 percent below forecast on
average. GDP grew just 2.7 percent last year, low for a developing
nation and again short of expectations.
Meanwhile, Cuba is heavily dependent on the billions of dollars in oil
it gets from ally Venezuela. The socialist-run South American nation is
experiencing its own economic woes these days, rocked for weeks by
violent protests amid calls by some in the opposition for President
Nicolas Maduro to resign.
Vidal said the new law could help stimulate investment by limiting
government officials' discretion in decision-making on approvals, ending
a longstanding tendency to green-light only large-scale investment and
allowing investment in Cuba's emerging privately owned businesses and
independent cooperatives.
"The new foreign investment law is the last opportunity for the reform
to come close to the growth goals planned through 2016," wrote Vidal,
who is currently a professor at Javeriana University in Cali, Colombia.
"At the same time, it will help diversify the island's international
relations, as well as reduce vulnerability due to its links with Venezuela."
———
Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter—Orsi
Source: Stakes Are High for Cuba Foreign Investment Law - ABC News -
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/stakes-high-cuba-foreign-investment-law-23094248?singlePage=true
HAVANA March 28, 2014 (AP)
By PETER ORSI Associated Press
Cuban authorities are on the verge of enacting a new foreign investment
law considered one of the most vital building blocks of President Raul
Castro's effort to reform the country's struggling economy.
The law is seen as so important that an extraordinary session of
parliament has been scheduled for Saturday so the matter doesn't wait
several months until the regular summer session.
Few concrete details have been made public, but this week official media
gave some hints of what the draft law looks like.
The newspaper Juventud Rebelde said it will allow foreign participation
in all sectors except health and education, and not only through joint
partnerships with the socialist government. Also allowed would be an
"international economic association contract, or business of completely
foreign capital."
Juventud Rebelde said most companies would be taxed at 15 percent of
profits, half what they pay under current rules, and they will be exempt
from paying for the first eight years of operation. Investors apparently
will not see their personal income taxed.
Duties may be higher for operations that exploit natural resources, such
as nickel and fossil fuels.
Foreign investment in the Communist-run country has lagged behind
expectations in recent years, and the shortfall is seen as a major
reason for disappointing economic growth. Analysts say that officials
must show they are truly committed to easing the way for foreign firms
if this latest attempt to lure overseas capital is to succeed.
"It's really about (creating) a business climate in which business feels
government at senior levels has an unambiguously favorable attitude
toward foreign investors," said Richard Feinberg, a professor of
international political economy at the University of California, San
Diego. "That's the best guarantee."
"If this law gives the right signals," Feinberg said, "it would be a
major step forward in the economic reforms."
Cuba isn't the easiest place for a foreign businessperson to make a buck.
Labor taxes are high, there is no open bidding for projects, the
approval process is opaque and cumbersome and the government has been
reluctant to let outsiders have majority ownership.
Companies often find themselves negotiating multimillion-dollar deals
with government officials who earn tiny salaries, and some say payoffs
are an unfortunate part of doing business in Cuba. At the same time, a
crackdown on graft, including the jailing of Canadian, Chilean, Czech,
English and French citizens, has sent a chill through the foreign
business community.
Then there's the 52-year-old U.S. embargo, which bars most American
trade with the island and effectively obliges many foreign companies to
choose between doing business with Cuba or the United States.
There's no sign the embargo will be lifted anytime soon, but observers
say Cuba can make itself more attractive to investors by doing things
like making approvals more transparent, easing payroll taxes, enabling
direct hiring of local employees and relaxing rules that require foreign
companies to purchase a certain amount of local inputs.
The rules described in Juventud Rebelde would be almost as favorable as
those already in place for a special economic development zone at
Mariel, a massive port project west of Havana that was formally
inaugurated in January.
Officials are also talking of guarantees that the property of foreign
companies and individuals will not be nationalized as happened after the
1959 Cuban Revolution, except in cases of national interest and only
with due compensation.
In a recent report for the online publication Cuba Standard, which
closely follows Cuban business news, former Cuban Central Bank economist
Pavel Vidal noted that foreign investment has remained flat since
Castro's economic reforms began, about 20 percent below forecast on
average. GDP grew just 2.7 percent last year, low for a developing
nation and again short of expectations.
Meanwhile, Cuba is heavily dependent on the billions of dollars in oil
it gets from ally Venezuela. The socialist-run South American nation is
experiencing its own economic woes these days, rocked for weeks by
violent protests amid calls by some in the opposition for President
Nicolas Maduro to resign.
Vidal said the new law could help stimulate investment by limiting
government officials' discretion in decision-making on approvals, ending
a longstanding tendency to green-light only large-scale investment and
allowing investment in Cuba's emerging privately owned businesses and
independent cooperatives.
"The new foreign investment law is the last opportunity for the reform
to come close to the growth goals planned through 2016," wrote Vidal,
who is currently a professor at Javeriana University in Cali, Colombia.
"At the same time, it will help diversify the island's international
relations, as well as reduce vulnerability due to its links with Venezuela."
———
Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter—Orsi
Source: Stakes Are High for Cuba Foreign Investment Law - ABC News -
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/stakes-high-cuba-foreign-investment-law-23094248?singlePage=true
Analistas - El historial de arbitrariedades del Gobierno genera desconfianza hacia la Ley de Inversiones
ECONOMÍA
Analistas: El historial de arbitrariedades del Gobierno genera
desconfianza hacia la Ley de Inversiones
AGENCIAS | La Habana | 31 Mar 2014 - 6:44 pm.
La Habana da la bienvenida al financiamiento extranjero, pero una vez
que el proyecto es operativo, quiere apoderarse de él, advierten.
La nueva Ley de Inversiones Extranjeras "aprobada" el fin de semana por
la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular es recibida con profundo
escepticismo por empresarios y analistas debido al historial del
Gobierno cubano, que incluye el encarcelamiento de algunos ejecutivos y
la búsqueda de control sobre emprendimientos que resultan exitosos,
informa Reuters.
"Considerando lo que sabemos hasta ahora, esto representa cierta mejora
en el clima de inversiones, pero todavía existen obstáculos
importantes", dijo Richard Feinberg, exconsejero de Seguridad Nacional
durante el Gobierno de Bill Clinton y hoy profesor de la Universidad de
California, San Diego. "No lo sabremos realmente hasta que veamos cómo
es aplicada en la práctica".
La ley reconoce que el capital extranjero es crucial para el desarrollo
económico de Cuba, pero decepciona a quienes esperaban mayores cambios,
como permitir que las empresas extranjeras contraten libremente a sus
empleados cubanos en lugar de hacerlo a través de una entidad estatal.
El Gobierno dijo que necesita entre 2.000 y 2.500 millones de dólares
anuales en inversión extranjera directa para lograr la meta de un
crecimiento anual del 7 por ciento.
Economistas calculan que la inversión extranjera directa en Cuba ronda
hoy apenas unos pocos cientos de millones de dólares y que la economía
debe crecer solo un 2,2 por ciento este año.
Las autoridades de la Isla quieren conducir a los inversores extranjeros
hacia sectores como agricultura, infraestructura, azúcar, níquel, la
renovación de edificios y negocios de bienes raíces.
Para conseguirlo, la nueva ley recorta a la mitad los impuestos sobre
las utilidades, elimina el impuesto sobre el uso de mano de obra y
ofrece una moratoria de ocho años para empezar a tributar sobre las
ganancias. Pero la forma en que el Gobierno ha tratado en el pasado a
los empresarios sugiere prudencia.
Hombres de negocio señalan que, por ejemplo, las autoridades dejan que
las propuestas extranjeras languidezcan sin explicación. En este caso
estarían negociaciones con varios grupos sobre la construcción de campos
de golf y urbanizaciones de lujo, que pese al entusiasmo inicial no han
prosperado.
"El problema con la nueva ley es que a excepción de los impuestos poco
ha cambiado", dijo un diplomático europeo que pidió no ser identificado.
"Al final, toda la ley continúa siendo discrecional".
Algunos expertos dicen que la aproximación de La Habana a las empresas
extranjeras ha sido arbitraria. Si un negocio tiene éxito, el Gobierno a
menudo quiere una participación mayor. Da la bienvenida al
financiamiento extranjero, pero una vez que el proyecto es operativo,
quiere hacerse cargo.
"Usa a los extranjeros donde mejor le convenga. Y los dejas fuera tan
pronto como pierdan utilidad", dijo otro diplomático europeo que también
requirió el anonimato.
El Gobierno ha cerrado más emprendimientos mixtos de los que abrió desde
que el Partido Comunista aprobó las reformas económicas en 2011.
El año pasado el grupo anglo-holandés Unilever cerró un emprendimiento
conjunto tras 15 años, tras no ponerse de acuerdo con el Gobierno sobre
quién tendría la participación de control.
Más preocupante para los inversores fue el encarcelamiento de los
ejecutivos de la compañía británica de inversiones Coral Capital Group
Ltd, acusados de cometer fraudes no especificados.
En junio de 2013 los ejecutivos británicos fueron hallados culpables de
cargos menores y liberados después de más de un año de prisión. En el
pasado era más probable que el Gobierno deportara a hombres de negocios
sospechosos.
El empresario francés Michel Villand dejó de hacer negocios en Cuba tras
establecer una exitosa cadena de panaderías llamada Pain de París, ahora
en manos del Gobierno.
En su libro Mi socio Fidel Castro, Villand escribió que el Gobierno
cubano lo defraudó al mantener una doble contabilidad y ofrecerle una
suma ridículamente baja por su participación.
"Fundar una empresa mixta en Cuba para una pequeña o mediana empresa
extranjera es lo mismo que ponerse una soga al cuello", dijo el
empresario a la agencia española de noticias EFE.
Aún así otras compañías extranjeras han permanecido en Cuba, entre ellas
el gigante suizo de los alimentos Nestlé, la británica Imperial Tobacco
Group y la española Meliá Hotels Internacional.
"Todavía es un lugar para hacer negocios. Pregunte a los brasileños.
Acaban de colocar 800 millones de dólares allí", dijo Kirby Jones, el
presidente de Alamar Associates, una consultora para empresas
interesadas en Cuba.
El banco estatal de desarrollo de Brasil, BNDES, ha financiado la zona
especial de desarrollo en el puerto del Mariel, construido por el
gigante brasileño de la ingeniería Odebrecht S.A.
"La nueva ley probablemente alentará a los inversionistas extranjeros a
echar otro vistazo a Cuba", opinó por su parte Thomas Herzfeld, cuyo
Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund agrupa acciones y otros activos que, en su
opinión, se beneficiarían de un eventual fin del embargo de Estados Unidos.
Source: Analistas: El historial de arbitrariedades del Gobierno genera
desconfianza hacia la Ley de Inversiones | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1396284293_7902.html
Analistas: El historial de arbitrariedades del Gobierno genera
desconfianza hacia la Ley de Inversiones
AGENCIAS | La Habana | 31 Mar 2014 - 6:44 pm.
La Habana da la bienvenida al financiamiento extranjero, pero una vez
que el proyecto es operativo, quiere apoderarse de él, advierten.
La nueva Ley de Inversiones Extranjeras "aprobada" el fin de semana por
la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular es recibida con profundo
escepticismo por empresarios y analistas debido al historial del
Gobierno cubano, que incluye el encarcelamiento de algunos ejecutivos y
la búsqueda de control sobre emprendimientos que resultan exitosos,
informa Reuters.
"Considerando lo que sabemos hasta ahora, esto representa cierta mejora
en el clima de inversiones, pero todavía existen obstáculos
importantes", dijo Richard Feinberg, exconsejero de Seguridad Nacional
durante el Gobierno de Bill Clinton y hoy profesor de la Universidad de
California, San Diego. "No lo sabremos realmente hasta que veamos cómo
es aplicada en la práctica".
La ley reconoce que el capital extranjero es crucial para el desarrollo
económico de Cuba, pero decepciona a quienes esperaban mayores cambios,
como permitir que las empresas extranjeras contraten libremente a sus
empleados cubanos en lugar de hacerlo a través de una entidad estatal.
El Gobierno dijo que necesita entre 2.000 y 2.500 millones de dólares
anuales en inversión extranjera directa para lograr la meta de un
crecimiento anual del 7 por ciento.
Economistas calculan que la inversión extranjera directa en Cuba ronda
hoy apenas unos pocos cientos de millones de dólares y que la economía
debe crecer solo un 2,2 por ciento este año.
Las autoridades de la Isla quieren conducir a los inversores extranjeros
hacia sectores como agricultura, infraestructura, azúcar, níquel, la
renovación de edificios y negocios de bienes raíces.
Para conseguirlo, la nueva ley recorta a la mitad los impuestos sobre
las utilidades, elimina el impuesto sobre el uso de mano de obra y
ofrece una moratoria de ocho años para empezar a tributar sobre las
ganancias. Pero la forma en que el Gobierno ha tratado en el pasado a
los empresarios sugiere prudencia.
Hombres de negocio señalan que, por ejemplo, las autoridades dejan que
las propuestas extranjeras languidezcan sin explicación. En este caso
estarían negociaciones con varios grupos sobre la construcción de campos
de golf y urbanizaciones de lujo, que pese al entusiasmo inicial no han
prosperado.
"El problema con la nueva ley es que a excepción de los impuestos poco
ha cambiado", dijo un diplomático europeo que pidió no ser identificado.
"Al final, toda la ley continúa siendo discrecional".
Algunos expertos dicen que la aproximación de La Habana a las empresas
extranjeras ha sido arbitraria. Si un negocio tiene éxito, el Gobierno a
menudo quiere una participación mayor. Da la bienvenida al
financiamiento extranjero, pero una vez que el proyecto es operativo,
quiere hacerse cargo.
"Usa a los extranjeros donde mejor le convenga. Y los dejas fuera tan
pronto como pierdan utilidad", dijo otro diplomático europeo que también
requirió el anonimato.
El Gobierno ha cerrado más emprendimientos mixtos de los que abrió desde
que el Partido Comunista aprobó las reformas económicas en 2011.
El año pasado el grupo anglo-holandés Unilever cerró un emprendimiento
conjunto tras 15 años, tras no ponerse de acuerdo con el Gobierno sobre
quién tendría la participación de control.
Más preocupante para los inversores fue el encarcelamiento de los
ejecutivos de la compañía británica de inversiones Coral Capital Group
Ltd, acusados de cometer fraudes no especificados.
En junio de 2013 los ejecutivos británicos fueron hallados culpables de
cargos menores y liberados después de más de un año de prisión. En el
pasado era más probable que el Gobierno deportara a hombres de negocios
sospechosos.
El empresario francés Michel Villand dejó de hacer negocios en Cuba tras
establecer una exitosa cadena de panaderías llamada Pain de París, ahora
en manos del Gobierno.
En su libro Mi socio Fidel Castro, Villand escribió que el Gobierno
cubano lo defraudó al mantener una doble contabilidad y ofrecerle una
suma ridículamente baja por su participación.
"Fundar una empresa mixta en Cuba para una pequeña o mediana empresa
extranjera es lo mismo que ponerse una soga al cuello", dijo el
empresario a la agencia española de noticias EFE.
Aún así otras compañías extranjeras han permanecido en Cuba, entre ellas
el gigante suizo de los alimentos Nestlé, la británica Imperial Tobacco
Group y la española Meliá Hotels Internacional.
"Todavía es un lugar para hacer negocios. Pregunte a los brasileños.
Acaban de colocar 800 millones de dólares allí", dijo Kirby Jones, el
presidente de Alamar Associates, una consultora para empresas
interesadas en Cuba.
El banco estatal de desarrollo de Brasil, BNDES, ha financiado la zona
especial de desarrollo en el puerto del Mariel, construido por el
gigante brasileño de la ingeniería Odebrecht S.A.
"La nueva ley probablemente alentará a los inversionistas extranjeros a
echar otro vistazo a Cuba", opinó por su parte Thomas Herzfeld, cuyo
Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund agrupa acciones y otros activos que, en su
opinión, se beneficiarían de un eventual fin del embargo de Estados Unidos.
Source: Analistas: El historial de arbitrariedades del Gobierno genera
desconfianza hacia la Ley de Inversiones | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1396284293_7902.html
Analistas - El historial de arbitrariedades del Gobierno genera desconfianza hacia la Ley de Inversiones
ECONOMÍA
Analistas: El historial de arbitrariedades del Gobierno genera
desconfianza hacia la Ley de Inversiones
AGENCIAS | La Habana | 31 Mar 2014 - 6:44 pm.
La Habana da la bienvenida al financiamiento extranjero, pero una vez
que el proyecto es operativo, quiere apoderarse de él, advierten.
La nueva Ley de Inversiones Extranjeras "aprobada" el fin de semana por
la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular es recibida con profundo
escepticismo por empresarios y analistas debido al historial del
Gobierno cubano, que incluye el encarcelamiento de algunos ejecutivos y
la búsqueda de control sobre emprendimientos que resultan exitosos,
informa Reuters.
"Considerando lo que sabemos hasta ahora, esto representa cierta mejora
en el clima de inversiones, pero todavía existen obstáculos
importantes", dijo Richard Feinberg, exconsejero de Seguridad Nacional
durante el Gobierno de Bill Clinton y hoy profesor de la Universidad de
California, San Diego. "No lo sabremos realmente hasta que veamos cómo
es aplicada en la práctica".
La ley reconoce que el capital extranjero es crucial para el desarrollo
económico de Cuba, pero decepciona a quienes esperaban mayores cambios,
como permitir que las empresas extranjeras contraten libremente a sus
empleados cubanos en lugar de hacerlo a través de una entidad estatal.
El Gobierno dijo que necesita entre 2.000 y 2.500 millones de dólares
anuales en inversión extranjera directa para lograr la meta de un
crecimiento anual del 7 por ciento.
Economistas calculan que la inversión extranjera directa en Cuba ronda
hoy apenas unos pocos cientos de millones de dólares y que la economía
debe crecer solo un 2,2 por ciento este año.
Las autoridades de la Isla quieren conducir a los inversores extranjeros
hacia sectores como agricultura, infraestructura, azúcar, níquel, la
renovación de edificios y negocios de bienes raíces.
Para conseguirlo, la nueva ley recorta a la mitad los impuestos sobre
las utilidades, elimina el impuesto sobre el uso de mano de obra y
ofrece una moratoria de ocho años para empezar a tributar sobre las
ganancias. Pero la forma en que el Gobierno ha tratado en el pasado a
los empresarios sugiere prudencia.
Hombres de negocio señalan que, por ejemplo, las autoridades dejan que
las propuestas extranjeras languidezcan sin explicación. En este caso
estarían negociaciones con varios grupos sobre la construcción de campos
de golf y urbanizaciones de lujo, que pese al entusiasmo inicial no han
prosperado.
"El problema con la nueva ley es que a excepción de los impuestos poco
ha cambiado", dijo un diplomático europeo que pidió no ser identificado.
"Al final, toda la ley continúa siendo discrecional".
Algunos expertos dicen que la aproximación de La Habana a las empresas
extranjeras ha sido arbitraria. Si un negocio tiene éxito, el Gobierno a
menudo quiere una participación mayor. Da la bienvenida al
financiamiento extranjero, pero una vez que el proyecto es operativo,
quiere hacerse cargo.
"Usa a los extranjeros donde mejor le convenga. Y los dejas fuera tan
pronto como pierdan utilidad", dijo otro diplomático europeo que también
requirió el anonimato.
El Gobierno ha cerrado más emprendimientos mixtos de los que abrió desde
que el Partido Comunista aprobó las reformas económicas en 2011.
El año pasado el grupo anglo-holandés Unilever cerró un emprendimiento
conjunto tras 15 años, tras no ponerse de acuerdo con el Gobierno sobre
quién tendría la participación de control.
Más preocupante para los inversores fue el encarcelamiento de los
ejecutivos de la compañía británica de inversiones Coral Capital Group
Ltd, acusados de cometer fraudes no especificados.
En junio de 2013 los ejecutivos británicos fueron hallados culpables de
cargos menores y liberados después de más de un año de prisión. En el
pasado era más probable que el Gobierno deportara a hombres de negocios
sospechosos.
El empresario francés Michel Villand dejó de hacer negocios en Cuba tras
establecer una exitosa cadena de panaderías llamada Pain de París, ahora
en manos del Gobierno.
En su libro Mi socio Fidel Castro, Villand escribió que el Gobierno
cubano lo defraudó al mantener una doble contabilidad y ofrecerle una
suma ridículamente baja por su participación.
"Fundar una empresa mixta en Cuba para una pequeña o mediana empresa
extranjera es lo mismo que ponerse una soga al cuello", dijo el
empresario a la agencia española de noticias EFE.
Aún así otras compañías extranjeras han permanecido en Cuba, entre ellas
el gigante suizo de los alimentos Nestlé, la británica Imperial Tobacco
Group y la española Meliá Hotels Internacional.
"Todavía es un lugar para hacer negocios. Pregunte a los brasileños.
Acaban de colocar 800 millones de dólares allí", dijo Kirby Jones, el
presidente de Alamar Associates, una consultora para empresas
interesadas en Cuba.
El banco estatal de desarrollo de Brasil, BNDES, ha financiado la zona
especial de desarrollo en el puerto del Mariel, construido por el
gigante brasileño de la ingeniería Odebrecht S.A.
"La nueva ley probablemente alentará a los inversionistas extranjeros a
echar otro vistazo a Cuba", opinó por su parte Thomas Herzfeld, cuyo
Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund agrupa acciones y otros activos que, en su
opinión, se beneficiarían de un eventual fin del embargo de Estados Unidos.
Source: Analistas: El historial de arbitrariedades del Gobierno genera
desconfianza hacia la Ley de Inversiones | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1396284293_7902.html
Analistas: El historial de arbitrariedades del Gobierno genera
desconfianza hacia la Ley de Inversiones
AGENCIAS | La Habana | 31 Mar 2014 - 6:44 pm.
La Habana da la bienvenida al financiamiento extranjero, pero una vez
que el proyecto es operativo, quiere apoderarse de él, advierten.
La nueva Ley de Inversiones Extranjeras "aprobada" el fin de semana por
la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular es recibida con profundo
escepticismo por empresarios y analistas debido al historial del
Gobierno cubano, que incluye el encarcelamiento de algunos ejecutivos y
la búsqueda de control sobre emprendimientos que resultan exitosos,
informa Reuters.
"Considerando lo que sabemos hasta ahora, esto representa cierta mejora
en el clima de inversiones, pero todavía existen obstáculos
importantes", dijo Richard Feinberg, exconsejero de Seguridad Nacional
durante el Gobierno de Bill Clinton y hoy profesor de la Universidad de
California, San Diego. "No lo sabremos realmente hasta que veamos cómo
es aplicada en la práctica".
La ley reconoce que el capital extranjero es crucial para el desarrollo
económico de Cuba, pero decepciona a quienes esperaban mayores cambios,
como permitir que las empresas extranjeras contraten libremente a sus
empleados cubanos en lugar de hacerlo a través de una entidad estatal.
El Gobierno dijo que necesita entre 2.000 y 2.500 millones de dólares
anuales en inversión extranjera directa para lograr la meta de un
crecimiento anual del 7 por ciento.
Economistas calculan que la inversión extranjera directa en Cuba ronda
hoy apenas unos pocos cientos de millones de dólares y que la economía
debe crecer solo un 2,2 por ciento este año.
Las autoridades de la Isla quieren conducir a los inversores extranjeros
hacia sectores como agricultura, infraestructura, azúcar, níquel, la
renovación de edificios y negocios de bienes raíces.
Para conseguirlo, la nueva ley recorta a la mitad los impuestos sobre
las utilidades, elimina el impuesto sobre el uso de mano de obra y
ofrece una moratoria de ocho años para empezar a tributar sobre las
ganancias. Pero la forma en que el Gobierno ha tratado en el pasado a
los empresarios sugiere prudencia.
Hombres de negocio señalan que, por ejemplo, las autoridades dejan que
las propuestas extranjeras languidezcan sin explicación. En este caso
estarían negociaciones con varios grupos sobre la construcción de campos
de golf y urbanizaciones de lujo, que pese al entusiasmo inicial no han
prosperado.
"El problema con la nueva ley es que a excepción de los impuestos poco
ha cambiado", dijo un diplomático europeo que pidió no ser identificado.
"Al final, toda la ley continúa siendo discrecional".
Algunos expertos dicen que la aproximación de La Habana a las empresas
extranjeras ha sido arbitraria. Si un negocio tiene éxito, el Gobierno a
menudo quiere una participación mayor. Da la bienvenida al
financiamiento extranjero, pero una vez que el proyecto es operativo,
quiere hacerse cargo.
"Usa a los extranjeros donde mejor le convenga. Y los dejas fuera tan
pronto como pierdan utilidad", dijo otro diplomático europeo que también
requirió el anonimato.
El Gobierno ha cerrado más emprendimientos mixtos de los que abrió desde
que el Partido Comunista aprobó las reformas económicas en 2011.
El año pasado el grupo anglo-holandés Unilever cerró un emprendimiento
conjunto tras 15 años, tras no ponerse de acuerdo con el Gobierno sobre
quién tendría la participación de control.
Más preocupante para los inversores fue el encarcelamiento de los
ejecutivos de la compañía británica de inversiones Coral Capital Group
Ltd, acusados de cometer fraudes no especificados.
En junio de 2013 los ejecutivos británicos fueron hallados culpables de
cargos menores y liberados después de más de un año de prisión. En el
pasado era más probable que el Gobierno deportara a hombres de negocios
sospechosos.
El empresario francés Michel Villand dejó de hacer negocios en Cuba tras
establecer una exitosa cadena de panaderías llamada Pain de París, ahora
en manos del Gobierno.
En su libro Mi socio Fidel Castro, Villand escribió que el Gobierno
cubano lo defraudó al mantener una doble contabilidad y ofrecerle una
suma ridículamente baja por su participación.
"Fundar una empresa mixta en Cuba para una pequeña o mediana empresa
extranjera es lo mismo que ponerse una soga al cuello", dijo el
empresario a la agencia española de noticias EFE.
Aún así otras compañías extranjeras han permanecido en Cuba, entre ellas
el gigante suizo de los alimentos Nestlé, la británica Imperial Tobacco
Group y la española Meliá Hotels Internacional.
"Todavía es un lugar para hacer negocios. Pregunte a los brasileños.
Acaban de colocar 800 millones de dólares allí", dijo Kirby Jones, el
presidente de Alamar Associates, una consultora para empresas
interesadas en Cuba.
El banco estatal de desarrollo de Brasil, BNDES, ha financiado la zona
especial de desarrollo en el puerto del Mariel, construido por el
gigante brasileño de la ingeniería Odebrecht S.A.
"La nueva ley probablemente alentará a los inversionistas extranjeros a
echar otro vistazo a Cuba", opinó por su parte Thomas Herzfeld, cuyo
Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund agrupa acciones y otros activos que, en su
opinión, se beneficiarían de un eventual fin del embargo de Estados Unidos.
Source: Analistas: El historial de arbitrariedades del Gobierno genera
desconfianza hacia la Ley de Inversiones | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1396284293_7902.html
Cuba Needs to Unleash Creative Energy
Cuba Needs to Unleash Creative Energy
March 28, 2014
Vicente Morin Aguado
HAVANA TMES — Michael A. Lebowitz, Canadian economist and professor at
the Simon Frazer University in Vancouver, answered our questions
regarding: Socialism and the Party, the New State from the bottom up,
cooperatives and self-management, Cuba and its economy.
HT: What does the Cuban economy need as a factor of the first order to
succeed?
Michael A. Lebowitz: I don't think it is appropriate for me, as an
outsider, to make specific proposals for the Cuban economy. However, on
the basis of my studies of countries which attempted to build socialism
in the 20th century and several years as an adviser in Venezuela, I
think I can make some general comments.
If you wish to build a new society, it is essential to find ways to
unleash the creative collective energy of the people. It is important to
create conditions in which people through their practice can transform
circumstances and themselves.
In the Soviet Union and countries which followed that model, this was
sorely lacking. The tendency was to think that all solutions and all
movements toward socialism were to be determined at the top and
transmitted to the bottom. The result was that people did not develop
their capacities, that they were alienated in the workplace and
communities and did not and could not defend the gains that were made in
those societies. And we know the result: capitalism triumphed. In short,
even though some people may think it is more efficient to make the
decisions at the top, it should be understood that this is a
disinvestment in people.
I spent a number of years living and advising in Venezuela during the
period when Chavez was president. It was evident there in the communal
councils and workers councils that when people have the ability to make
the decisions that affect them, they develop strength and dignity. One
of the wonderful characteristics of Chavez was that he had confidence in
the ability of people to develop and to build socialism and he never
hesitated to encourage them. If you want to solve the problem of
poverty, he said, you have to give power to the people. Chavez was
consistent on this point: he stressed the importance of producing new
human beings, and he often cited Che Guevara on the necessity to build
new socialist human beings.
HT: Is an economy possible completely based on self-management and the
cooperatives?
ML: I think self-management of state-owned enterprises and cooperatives
are an important way of unleashing the creative energy of people. They
build solidarity within those workplaces and demonstrate essential
aspects of a society based on cooperation rather than competition.
However, I don't believe that you can build a just economy limited to
these islands of cooperation. Their inherent tendency is the
self-interest of the members of these collectives.
For example, in Yugoslavia the orientation of self-managed enterprises
was to maximize income per worker. They functioned within the market
and, rather than building solidarity within the society, the tendency
was to generate inequality in the society. When every group of workers
is looking out only for itself, who is there to look out for the
interests of the working class as a whole?
It is a myth (a dangerous myth advanced by those who are either ignorant
or ill intentioned) to argue that, when everyone acts out of their own
self-interest, the interests of all are advanced. That is the mythology
of Adam Smith and neoliberal economics. In Yugoslavia: the stress upon
self-interest and the market produced the destruction of solidarity
within the society and ultimately the destruction of Yugoslavia itself.
I believe that it is essential that there be an organized voice which
expresses the needs of people and thus acts as a corrective to the
self-orientation of the members of the enterprises. In Venezuela, the
stress has been to bring together the communes (composed of a number of
communal councils) and the workplaces in those areas to explore the ways
in which the workplaces can serve the needs of the local communities.
Obviously, it is not only the needs of local communities have to be
taken into account. However, it is very important that the members of
these workplaces understand their responsibility to society. Otherwise,
you can get the perverse situation which existed in Yugoslavia where
state taxation (for the purpose of equalizing development in the
country) was attacked as exploitation by a Stalinist state.
HT: Do the cooperatives need the unique party and the state as
institutional rectors of the nation?
ML: I definitely believe that you need the state. How else can you deal
with the problem of inequality and problems of national importance like
defense? However, I think it is important to begin to build a different
kind of state – a new state.
In Venezuela, Chavez described the communal councils as the cells of a
new socialist state. They were institutions characterized by
protagonistic democracy, a democracy in practice, in which people
develop through their own activity. And he saw these as the building
blocks to move to communes and from there to the creation of a communal
city and from there upward to the new national state – a state from below.
Obviously, that new state cannot possibly develop overnight and it
necessarily coexists with the old state for a period of time. But the
goal should be to build that new state consciously – precisely because
it is a state which produces the people required for a socialist economy.
I don't think that such a new state emerges spontaneously. It requires
conscious effort. It requires the battle of ideas. It requires
leadership. In short, it requires a party which recognizes the necessity
to create the conditions in which new socialist human beings produce
themselves. And that means, I think, a party with a different focus –
not a focus upon making decisions at the top and enforcing discipline
within the party but one which creates the conditions internally for
people to develop all their potential and initiative, one which contains
within it different tendencies and which respects minorities, a party
oriented toward building socialism which can listen and learn.
HT: Do you think cooperatives are the answer to the problems of Cuban
agriculture?
ML: Certainly the problems of Cuban agriculture are very serious and
much depends upon a solution to these. While these problems have unique
characteristics (reflecting particular decisions that were made in the
past), it is essential to understand that there are many common
characteristics in other countries of the South.
In many places, people have abandoned the rural areas in part because of
the inability to compete with the highly subsidized agriculture of the
United States and other developed capitalist countries. It is not at all
a level playing field – poor and developing countries are pressured not
to subsidize rural production but nothing is done about the subsidies
(direct and hidden) in the rich countries. The result is that many
countries of the South lack food sovereignty despite their fertile land
and end up importing substantial amounts of their foodstuffs.
This is the situation in Venezuela, where there was an enormous movement
from the countryside to the cities in the period before Chavez's
election; a particular factor there was an overvalued currency (due to
oil exports) which meant that rural producers could not compete with
imports.
The result was that Venezuela was importing 70% of its food and much of
its countryside was empty. How was it possible to reverse that and to
develop food sovereignty? In a paper I did for the Venezuelan Ministry
of Economic Development in 2008, I stressed that if you want to
encourage food production, you have to encourage food producers and, in
particular, you have to encourage new entry into agricultural production
especially of young people.
And, I argued that this goes far beyond simply increasing food prices
for the producers (which does not necessarily mean increasing prices for
consumers). It means developing an infrastructure, schools, cultural
facilities and access to modern communications. In short, you have to
create the conditions in which young people do not see themselves as
turning their back on civilization to work in the countryside. This is
obviously an investment – an investment for the future which goes far
beyond a simple solution of raising prices for agricultural production
and leaving things to the market to solve the problem.
If a society is prepared to make such an investment (which needs to be
widely discussed so people understand its necessity), then the next
question is what should be the nature of the relations of production in
agriculture. From what I've said earlier, it is obvious that I think
that forms of self-management (whether under state ownership or
cooperative ownership) are essential. It should be obvious, too, that if
society is making this investment, then the self-managed enterprises
need to recognize their responsibility to society.
If Cuban society is not prepared or is unable to make such investments,
I fear that the prospect is one of shortages, high food prices and
continued high food imports (especially with the aging of the rural
population).
Source: Cuba Needs to Unleash Creative Energy - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=102664
March 28, 2014
Vicente Morin Aguado
HAVANA TMES — Michael A. Lebowitz, Canadian economist and professor at
the Simon Frazer University in Vancouver, answered our questions
regarding: Socialism and the Party, the New State from the bottom up,
cooperatives and self-management, Cuba and its economy.
HT: What does the Cuban economy need as a factor of the first order to
succeed?
Michael A. Lebowitz: I don't think it is appropriate for me, as an
outsider, to make specific proposals for the Cuban economy. However, on
the basis of my studies of countries which attempted to build socialism
in the 20th century and several years as an adviser in Venezuela, I
think I can make some general comments.
If you wish to build a new society, it is essential to find ways to
unleash the creative collective energy of the people. It is important to
create conditions in which people through their practice can transform
circumstances and themselves.
In the Soviet Union and countries which followed that model, this was
sorely lacking. The tendency was to think that all solutions and all
movements toward socialism were to be determined at the top and
transmitted to the bottom. The result was that people did not develop
their capacities, that they were alienated in the workplace and
communities and did not and could not defend the gains that were made in
those societies. And we know the result: capitalism triumphed. In short,
even though some people may think it is more efficient to make the
decisions at the top, it should be understood that this is a
disinvestment in people.
I spent a number of years living and advising in Venezuela during the
period when Chavez was president. It was evident there in the communal
councils and workers councils that when people have the ability to make
the decisions that affect them, they develop strength and dignity. One
of the wonderful characteristics of Chavez was that he had confidence in
the ability of people to develop and to build socialism and he never
hesitated to encourage them. If you want to solve the problem of
poverty, he said, you have to give power to the people. Chavez was
consistent on this point: he stressed the importance of producing new
human beings, and he often cited Che Guevara on the necessity to build
new socialist human beings.
HT: Is an economy possible completely based on self-management and the
cooperatives?
ML: I think self-management of state-owned enterprises and cooperatives
are an important way of unleashing the creative energy of people. They
build solidarity within those workplaces and demonstrate essential
aspects of a society based on cooperation rather than competition.
However, I don't believe that you can build a just economy limited to
these islands of cooperation. Their inherent tendency is the
self-interest of the members of these collectives.
For example, in Yugoslavia the orientation of self-managed enterprises
was to maximize income per worker. They functioned within the market
and, rather than building solidarity within the society, the tendency
was to generate inequality in the society. When every group of workers
is looking out only for itself, who is there to look out for the
interests of the working class as a whole?
It is a myth (a dangerous myth advanced by those who are either ignorant
or ill intentioned) to argue that, when everyone acts out of their own
self-interest, the interests of all are advanced. That is the mythology
of Adam Smith and neoliberal economics. In Yugoslavia: the stress upon
self-interest and the market produced the destruction of solidarity
within the society and ultimately the destruction of Yugoslavia itself.
I believe that it is essential that there be an organized voice which
expresses the needs of people and thus acts as a corrective to the
self-orientation of the members of the enterprises. In Venezuela, the
stress has been to bring together the communes (composed of a number of
communal councils) and the workplaces in those areas to explore the ways
in which the workplaces can serve the needs of the local communities.
Obviously, it is not only the needs of local communities have to be
taken into account. However, it is very important that the members of
these workplaces understand their responsibility to society. Otherwise,
you can get the perverse situation which existed in Yugoslavia where
state taxation (for the purpose of equalizing development in the
country) was attacked as exploitation by a Stalinist state.
HT: Do the cooperatives need the unique party and the state as
institutional rectors of the nation?
ML: I definitely believe that you need the state. How else can you deal
with the problem of inequality and problems of national importance like
defense? However, I think it is important to begin to build a different
kind of state – a new state.
In Venezuela, Chavez described the communal councils as the cells of a
new socialist state. They were institutions characterized by
protagonistic democracy, a democracy in practice, in which people
develop through their own activity. And he saw these as the building
blocks to move to communes and from there to the creation of a communal
city and from there upward to the new national state – a state from below.
Obviously, that new state cannot possibly develop overnight and it
necessarily coexists with the old state for a period of time. But the
goal should be to build that new state consciously – precisely because
it is a state which produces the people required for a socialist economy.
I don't think that such a new state emerges spontaneously. It requires
conscious effort. It requires the battle of ideas. It requires
leadership. In short, it requires a party which recognizes the necessity
to create the conditions in which new socialist human beings produce
themselves. And that means, I think, a party with a different focus –
not a focus upon making decisions at the top and enforcing discipline
within the party but one which creates the conditions internally for
people to develop all their potential and initiative, one which contains
within it different tendencies and which respects minorities, a party
oriented toward building socialism which can listen and learn.
HT: Do you think cooperatives are the answer to the problems of Cuban
agriculture?
ML: Certainly the problems of Cuban agriculture are very serious and
much depends upon a solution to these. While these problems have unique
characteristics (reflecting particular decisions that were made in the
past), it is essential to understand that there are many common
characteristics in other countries of the South.
In many places, people have abandoned the rural areas in part because of
the inability to compete with the highly subsidized agriculture of the
United States and other developed capitalist countries. It is not at all
a level playing field – poor and developing countries are pressured not
to subsidize rural production but nothing is done about the subsidies
(direct and hidden) in the rich countries. The result is that many
countries of the South lack food sovereignty despite their fertile land
and end up importing substantial amounts of their foodstuffs.
This is the situation in Venezuela, where there was an enormous movement
from the countryside to the cities in the period before Chavez's
election; a particular factor there was an overvalued currency (due to
oil exports) which meant that rural producers could not compete with
imports.
The result was that Venezuela was importing 70% of its food and much of
its countryside was empty. How was it possible to reverse that and to
develop food sovereignty? In a paper I did for the Venezuelan Ministry
of Economic Development in 2008, I stressed that if you want to
encourage food production, you have to encourage food producers and, in
particular, you have to encourage new entry into agricultural production
especially of young people.
And, I argued that this goes far beyond simply increasing food prices
for the producers (which does not necessarily mean increasing prices for
consumers). It means developing an infrastructure, schools, cultural
facilities and access to modern communications. In short, you have to
create the conditions in which young people do not see themselves as
turning their back on civilization to work in the countryside. This is
obviously an investment – an investment for the future which goes far
beyond a simple solution of raising prices for agricultural production
and leaving things to the market to solve the problem.
If a society is prepared to make such an investment (which needs to be
widely discussed so people understand its necessity), then the next
question is what should be the nature of the relations of production in
agriculture. From what I've said earlier, it is obvious that I think
that forms of self-management (whether under state ownership or
cooperative ownership) are essential. It should be obvious, too, that if
society is making this investment, then the self-managed enterprises
need to recognize their responsibility to society.
If Cuban society is not prepared or is unable to make such investments,
I fear that the prospect is one of shortages, high food prices and
continued high food imports (especially with the aging of the rural
population).
Source: Cuba Needs to Unleash Creative Energy - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=102664
Cuba Needs to Unleash Creative Energy
Cuba Needs to Unleash Creative Energy
March 28, 2014
Vicente Morin Aguado
HAVANA TMES — Michael A. Lebowitz, Canadian economist and professor at
the Simon Frazer University in Vancouver, answered our questions
regarding: Socialism and the Party, the New State from the bottom up,
cooperatives and self-management, Cuba and its economy.
HT: What does the Cuban economy need as a factor of the first order to
succeed?
Michael A. Lebowitz: I don't think it is appropriate for me, as an
outsider, to make specific proposals for the Cuban economy. However, on
the basis of my studies of countries which attempted to build socialism
in the 20th century and several years as an adviser in Venezuela, I
think I can make some general comments.
If you wish to build a new society, it is essential to find ways to
unleash the creative collective energy of the people. It is important to
create conditions in which people through their practice can transform
circumstances and themselves.
In the Soviet Union and countries which followed that model, this was
sorely lacking. The tendency was to think that all solutions and all
movements toward socialism were to be determined at the top and
transmitted to the bottom. The result was that people did not develop
their capacities, that they were alienated in the workplace and
communities and did not and could not defend the gains that were made in
those societies. And we know the result: capitalism triumphed. In short,
even though some people may think it is more efficient to make the
decisions at the top, it should be understood that this is a
disinvestment in people.
I spent a number of years living and advising in Venezuela during the
period when Chavez was president. It was evident there in the communal
councils and workers councils that when people have the ability to make
the decisions that affect them, they develop strength and dignity. One
of the wonderful characteristics of Chavez was that he had confidence in
the ability of people to develop and to build socialism and he never
hesitated to encourage them. If you want to solve the problem of
poverty, he said, you have to give power to the people. Chavez was
consistent on this point: he stressed the importance of producing new
human beings, and he often cited Che Guevara on the necessity to build
new socialist human beings.
HT: Is an economy possible completely based on self-management and the
cooperatives?
ML: I think self-management of state-owned enterprises and cooperatives
are an important way of unleashing the creative energy of people. They
build solidarity within those workplaces and demonstrate essential
aspects of a society based on cooperation rather than competition.
However, I don't believe that you can build a just economy limited to
these islands of cooperation. Their inherent tendency is the
self-interest of the members of these collectives.
For example, in Yugoslavia the orientation of self-managed enterprises
was to maximize income per worker. They functioned within the market
and, rather than building solidarity within the society, the tendency
was to generate inequality in the society. When every group of workers
is looking out only for itself, who is there to look out for the
interests of the working class as a whole?
It is a myth (a dangerous myth advanced by those who are either ignorant
or ill intentioned) to argue that, when everyone acts out of their own
self-interest, the interests of all are advanced. That is the mythology
of Adam Smith and neoliberal economics. In Yugoslavia: the stress upon
self-interest and the market produced the destruction of solidarity
within the society and ultimately the destruction of Yugoslavia itself.
I believe that it is essential that there be an organized voice which
expresses the needs of people and thus acts as a corrective to the
self-orientation of the members of the enterprises. In Venezuela, the
stress has been to bring together the communes (composed of a number of
communal councils) and the workplaces in those areas to explore the ways
in which the workplaces can serve the needs of the local communities.
Obviously, it is not only the needs of local communities have to be
taken into account. However, it is very important that the members of
these workplaces understand their responsibility to society. Otherwise,
you can get the perverse situation which existed in Yugoslavia where
state taxation (for the purpose of equalizing development in the
country) was attacked as exploitation by a Stalinist state.
HT: Do the cooperatives need the unique party and the state as
institutional rectors of the nation?
ML: I definitely believe that you need the state. How else can you deal
with the problem of inequality and problems of national importance like
defense? However, I think it is important to begin to build a different
kind of state – a new state.
In Venezuela, Chavez described the communal councils as the cells of a
new socialist state. They were institutions characterized by
protagonistic democracy, a democracy in practice, in which people
develop through their own activity. And he saw these as the building
blocks to move to communes and from there to the creation of a communal
city and from there upward to the new national state – a state from below.
Obviously, that new state cannot possibly develop overnight and it
necessarily coexists with the old state for a period of time. But the
goal should be to build that new state consciously – precisely because
it is a state which produces the people required for a socialist economy.
I don't think that such a new state emerges spontaneously. It requires
conscious effort. It requires the battle of ideas. It requires
leadership. In short, it requires a party which recognizes the necessity
to create the conditions in which new socialist human beings produce
themselves. And that means, I think, a party with a different focus –
not a focus upon making decisions at the top and enforcing discipline
within the party but one which creates the conditions internally for
people to develop all their potential and initiative, one which contains
within it different tendencies and which respects minorities, a party
oriented toward building socialism which can listen and learn.
HT: Do you think cooperatives are the answer to the problems of Cuban
agriculture?
ML: Certainly the problems of Cuban agriculture are very serious and
much depends upon a solution to these. While these problems have unique
characteristics (reflecting particular decisions that were made in the
past), it is essential to understand that there are many common
characteristics in other countries of the South.
In many places, people have abandoned the rural areas in part because of
the inability to compete with the highly subsidized agriculture of the
United States and other developed capitalist countries. It is not at all
a level playing field – poor and developing countries are pressured not
to subsidize rural production but nothing is done about the subsidies
(direct and hidden) in the rich countries. The result is that many
countries of the South lack food sovereignty despite their fertile land
and end up importing substantial amounts of their foodstuffs.
This is the situation in Venezuela, where there was an enormous movement
from the countryside to the cities in the period before Chavez's
election; a particular factor there was an overvalued currency (due to
oil exports) which meant that rural producers could not compete with
imports.
The result was that Venezuela was importing 70% of its food and much of
its countryside was empty. How was it possible to reverse that and to
develop food sovereignty? In a paper I did for the Venezuelan Ministry
of Economic Development in 2008, I stressed that if you want to
encourage food production, you have to encourage food producers and, in
particular, you have to encourage new entry into agricultural production
especially of young people.
And, I argued that this goes far beyond simply increasing food prices
for the producers (which does not necessarily mean increasing prices for
consumers). It means developing an infrastructure, schools, cultural
facilities and access to modern communications. In short, you have to
create the conditions in which young people do not see themselves as
turning their back on civilization to work in the countryside. This is
obviously an investment – an investment for the future which goes far
beyond a simple solution of raising prices for agricultural production
and leaving things to the market to solve the problem.
If a society is prepared to make such an investment (which needs to be
widely discussed so people understand its necessity), then the next
question is what should be the nature of the relations of production in
agriculture. From what I've said earlier, it is obvious that I think
that forms of self-management (whether under state ownership or
cooperative ownership) are essential. It should be obvious, too, that if
society is making this investment, then the self-managed enterprises
need to recognize their responsibility to society.
If Cuban society is not prepared or is unable to make such investments,
I fear that the prospect is one of shortages, high food prices and
continued high food imports (especially with the aging of the rural
population).
Source: Cuba Needs to Unleash Creative Energy - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=102664
March 28, 2014
Vicente Morin Aguado
HAVANA TMES — Michael A. Lebowitz, Canadian economist and professor at
the Simon Frazer University in Vancouver, answered our questions
regarding: Socialism and the Party, the New State from the bottom up,
cooperatives and self-management, Cuba and its economy.
HT: What does the Cuban economy need as a factor of the first order to
succeed?
Michael A. Lebowitz: I don't think it is appropriate for me, as an
outsider, to make specific proposals for the Cuban economy. However, on
the basis of my studies of countries which attempted to build socialism
in the 20th century and several years as an adviser in Venezuela, I
think I can make some general comments.
If you wish to build a new society, it is essential to find ways to
unleash the creative collective energy of the people. It is important to
create conditions in which people through their practice can transform
circumstances and themselves.
In the Soviet Union and countries which followed that model, this was
sorely lacking. The tendency was to think that all solutions and all
movements toward socialism were to be determined at the top and
transmitted to the bottom. The result was that people did not develop
their capacities, that they were alienated in the workplace and
communities and did not and could not defend the gains that were made in
those societies. And we know the result: capitalism triumphed. In short,
even though some people may think it is more efficient to make the
decisions at the top, it should be understood that this is a
disinvestment in people.
I spent a number of years living and advising in Venezuela during the
period when Chavez was president. It was evident there in the communal
councils and workers councils that when people have the ability to make
the decisions that affect them, they develop strength and dignity. One
of the wonderful characteristics of Chavez was that he had confidence in
the ability of people to develop and to build socialism and he never
hesitated to encourage them. If you want to solve the problem of
poverty, he said, you have to give power to the people. Chavez was
consistent on this point: he stressed the importance of producing new
human beings, and he often cited Che Guevara on the necessity to build
new socialist human beings.
HT: Is an economy possible completely based on self-management and the
cooperatives?
ML: I think self-management of state-owned enterprises and cooperatives
are an important way of unleashing the creative energy of people. They
build solidarity within those workplaces and demonstrate essential
aspects of a society based on cooperation rather than competition.
However, I don't believe that you can build a just economy limited to
these islands of cooperation. Their inherent tendency is the
self-interest of the members of these collectives.
For example, in Yugoslavia the orientation of self-managed enterprises
was to maximize income per worker. They functioned within the market
and, rather than building solidarity within the society, the tendency
was to generate inequality in the society. When every group of workers
is looking out only for itself, who is there to look out for the
interests of the working class as a whole?
It is a myth (a dangerous myth advanced by those who are either ignorant
or ill intentioned) to argue that, when everyone acts out of their own
self-interest, the interests of all are advanced. That is the mythology
of Adam Smith and neoliberal economics. In Yugoslavia: the stress upon
self-interest and the market produced the destruction of solidarity
within the society and ultimately the destruction of Yugoslavia itself.
I believe that it is essential that there be an organized voice which
expresses the needs of people and thus acts as a corrective to the
self-orientation of the members of the enterprises. In Venezuela, the
stress has been to bring together the communes (composed of a number of
communal councils) and the workplaces in those areas to explore the ways
in which the workplaces can serve the needs of the local communities.
Obviously, it is not only the needs of local communities have to be
taken into account. However, it is very important that the members of
these workplaces understand their responsibility to society. Otherwise,
you can get the perverse situation which existed in Yugoslavia where
state taxation (for the purpose of equalizing development in the
country) was attacked as exploitation by a Stalinist state.
HT: Do the cooperatives need the unique party and the state as
institutional rectors of the nation?
ML: I definitely believe that you need the state. How else can you deal
with the problem of inequality and problems of national importance like
defense? However, I think it is important to begin to build a different
kind of state – a new state.
In Venezuela, Chavez described the communal councils as the cells of a
new socialist state. They were institutions characterized by
protagonistic democracy, a democracy in practice, in which people
develop through their own activity. And he saw these as the building
blocks to move to communes and from there to the creation of a communal
city and from there upward to the new national state – a state from below.
Obviously, that new state cannot possibly develop overnight and it
necessarily coexists with the old state for a period of time. But the
goal should be to build that new state consciously – precisely because
it is a state which produces the people required for a socialist economy.
I don't think that such a new state emerges spontaneously. It requires
conscious effort. It requires the battle of ideas. It requires
leadership. In short, it requires a party which recognizes the necessity
to create the conditions in which new socialist human beings produce
themselves. And that means, I think, a party with a different focus –
not a focus upon making decisions at the top and enforcing discipline
within the party but one which creates the conditions internally for
people to develop all their potential and initiative, one which contains
within it different tendencies and which respects minorities, a party
oriented toward building socialism which can listen and learn.
HT: Do you think cooperatives are the answer to the problems of Cuban
agriculture?
ML: Certainly the problems of Cuban agriculture are very serious and
much depends upon a solution to these. While these problems have unique
characteristics (reflecting particular decisions that were made in the
past), it is essential to understand that there are many common
characteristics in other countries of the South.
In many places, people have abandoned the rural areas in part because of
the inability to compete with the highly subsidized agriculture of the
United States and other developed capitalist countries. It is not at all
a level playing field – poor and developing countries are pressured not
to subsidize rural production but nothing is done about the subsidies
(direct and hidden) in the rich countries. The result is that many
countries of the South lack food sovereignty despite their fertile land
and end up importing substantial amounts of their foodstuffs.
This is the situation in Venezuela, where there was an enormous movement
from the countryside to the cities in the period before Chavez's
election; a particular factor there was an overvalued currency (due to
oil exports) which meant that rural producers could not compete with
imports.
The result was that Venezuela was importing 70% of its food and much of
its countryside was empty. How was it possible to reverse that and to
develop food sovereignty? In a paper I did for the Venezuelan Ministry
of Economic Development in 2008, I stressed that if you want to
encourage food production, you have to encourage food producers and, in
particular, you have to encourage new entry into agricultural production
especially of young people.
And, I argued that this goes far beyond simply increasing food prices
for the producers (which does not necessarily mean increasing prices for
consumers). It means developing an infrastructure, schools, cultural
facilities and access to modern communications. In short, you have to
create the conditions in which young people do not see themselves as
turning their back on civilization to work in the countryside. This is
obviously an investment – an investment for the future which goes far
beyond a simple solution of raising prices for agricultural production
and leaving things to the market to solve the problem.
If a society is prepared to make such an investment (which needs to be
widely discussed so people understand its necessity), then the next
question is what should be the nature of the relations of production in
agriculture. From what I've said earlier, it is obvious that I think
that forms of self-management (whether under state ownership or
cooperative ownership) are essential. It should be obvious, too, that if
society is making this investment, then the self-managed enterprises
need to recognize their responsibility to society.
If Cuban society is not prepared or is unable to make such investments,
I fear that the prospect is one of shortages, high food prices and
continued high food imports (especially with the aging of the rural
population).
Source: Cuba Needs to Unleash Creative Energy - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=102664
Cuba presenta su medicamento estrella en EE UU
Cuba presenta su medicamento estrella en EE UU
Especialistas cubanos presentaron en Washington y Los Angeles el
Heberprot-P, medicamento inyectable 'unico en el mundo para tratar las
úlceras del pie diabético que ya está registrado en 15 países.
Pablo Alfonso/ martinoticias.com
marzo 31, 2014
Científicos cubanos expusieron en dos foros realizados en Estados Unidos
la pasada semana los resultados del empleo del medicamento Heberprot-P
para el tratamiento de las úlceras complejas de pie diabético y que,
según dijeron, evita su eventual amputación.
El doctor Jorge Berlanga Acosta, autor principal del Heberprot-P y Boris
Acevedo, funcionario de la Dirección de Negocios del Centro de
Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología (CIGB), que desarrolló el fármaco,
participaron en un seminario técnico realizado por la Organización
Panamericana de la Salud en Washington, y en la Conferencia del manejo
de la Úlcera del Pie Diabético (DFCON), que se desarrolló entre el 20 y
24 de marzo en el Loews Hollywood Hotel de Los Angeles.
En ese evento, el más importante que agrupa a los profesionales de
Estados Unidos que atienden a pacientes con úlceras de pie, Berlanga
Acosta presentó una ponencia titulada Hi Fidelity Care: Revolutionary
Teams and Technologies Can Avoid a Cuban Missile Toe Crisis, en la que
expuso los resultados clínicos y uso del medicamento que, según
afirmó,está registrado en una veintena de países.
Heberpto-P es un medicamento inyectable cubano único en el mundo para
tratar las ulceras del pie diabético.
Los especialistas cubanos, perteneciente al grupo empresarial
BioCubaFarma, expusieron los detalles del mecanismo de acción que
soportan los resultados en los estudios clínicos y uso del producto, y
aseguraron que su aplicación ha beneficiado a más de 145 mil pacientes
en el mundo, 28 de ellos en Cuba.
De acuerdo con la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) unos 300
millones de personas padecen diabetes en el planeta, de las cuales entre
15 y 35 por ciento pueden sufrir la amputación de una de sus
extremidades en algún momento de la vida.
En Estados Unidos, donde el tratamiento cuesta unos 70.000 dólares, el
65 por ciento de los diabéticos sufre una amputación, según la OMS, pero
el Heberprot-P no se puede comercializar debido a las leyes del embargo
estadounidense a Cuba.
En octubre del pasado año el congresista cubanoamericano, Joe García,
demócrata de la Florida, desató una encendida polémica en Miami cuando
abogó por la autorización del medicamento en beneficio de los pacientes
afectados por la enfermedad.
"Es algo que podría beneficiar a 70,000 estadounidenses y como miembro
del Congreso de Estados Unidos mi trabajo es representar a esos
pacientes", declaró entonces García.
El ex gobernandor republican de New Hampshire, John Sununu y el ex
senador demócrata por Massachusetts, Bill Delahunt, quienes ahora son
lobystas de la empresa farmacéutica Healiance han recabado apoyo de
García para que el medicamente cubano Heberprot-P se venda en Estados
Unidos.
Garcia se unió a otros congresistas estadounidenses circularon en el
Congreso el borrador de una solicitud al Departamento del Tesoro de
Estados Unidos, para que otorge la debida autorización si una empresa
estadounidenses quisiera conducir los procedimientos clínicos necesarios
para comercializar el medicamento en el país.
Según Erick Hernández, especialista del Grupo de Gestión de Promoción
CIGB, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argelia, México, Angola y otros 15 países
cuentan ya con el registro sanitario para el uso de Heberprot-P y otros
14 países, entre ellos China y Rusia, están en trámites para aplicarlo
en sus centros hospitalarios.
Heberprot-P es un producto del nuevo grupo empresaria BioCubaFarm,
creado en 2012, con el propósito de lograr mayores niveles de
integración en el sector biotecnológico y farmacéutico de Cuba. Cuenta
con 38 empresas, de ellas 16 productoras, 19 comercializadoras y tres de
servicios y su principal objetivo es producir medicamentos, equipos y
servicios de alta tecnología, la generación de tecnologías de avanzada
en la producción de alimentos, bienes y servicios exportables.
La industria farmacéutica y biotecnológica de Cuba, estaría ahora
abierta a las inversiones extranjeras, de acuerdo a la nueva Ley
aprobada la pasada semana por la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular.
Source: Cuba presenta su medicamento estrella en EE UU -
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/cuba-presenta-su-medicamento-estrella-en-estados-unidos/33558.html
Especialistas cubanos presentaron en Washington y Los Angeles el
Heberprot-P, medicamento inyectable 'unico en el mundo para tratar las
úlceras del pie diabético que ya está registrado en 15 países.
Pablo Alfonso/ martinoticias.com
marzo 31, 2014
Científicos cubanos expusieron en dos foros realizados en Estados Unidos
la pasada semana los resultados del empleo del medicamento Heberprot-P
para el tratamiento de las úlceras complejas de pie diabético y que,
según dijeron, evita su eventual amputación.
El doctor Jorge Berlanga Acosta, autor principal del Heberprot-P y Boris
Acevedo, funcionario de la Dirección de Negocios del Centro de
Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología (CIGB), que desarrolló el fármaco,
participaron en un seminario técnico realizado por la Organización
Panamericana de la Salud en Washington, y en la Conferencia del manejo
de la Úlcera del Pie Diabético (DFCON), que se desarrolló entre el 20 y
24 de marzo en el Loews Hollywood Hotel de Los Angeles.
En ese evento, el más importante que agrupa a los profesionales de
Estados Unidos que atienden a pacientes con úlceras de pie, Berlanga
Acosta presentó una ponencia titulada Hi Fidelity Care: Revolutionary
Teams and Technologies Can Avoid a Cuban Missile Toe Crisis, en la que
expuso los resultados clínicos y uso del medicamento que, según
afirmó,está registrado en una veintena de países.
Heberpto-P es un medicamento inyectable cubano único en el mundo para
tratar las ulceras del pie diabético.
Los especialistas cubanos, perteneciente al grupo empresarial
BioCubaFarma, expusieron los detalles del mecanismo de acción que
soportan los resultados en los estudios clínicos y uso del producto, y
aseguraron que su aplicación ha beneficiado a más de 145 mil pacientes
en el mundo, 28 de ellos en Cuba.
De acuerdo con la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) unos 300
millones de personas padecen diabetes en el planeta, de las cuales entre
15 y 35 por ciento pueden sufrir la amputación de una de sus
extremidades en algún momento de la vida.
En Estados Unidos, donde el tratamiento cuesta unos 70.000 dólares, el
65 por ciento de los diabéticos sufre una amputación, según la OMS, pero
el Heberprot-P no se puede comercializar debido a las leyes del embargo
estadounidense a Cuba.
En octubre del pasado año el congresista cubanoamericano, Joe García,
demócrata de la Florida, desató una encendida polémica en Miami cuando
abogó por la autorización del medicamento en beneficio de los pacientes
afectados por la enfermedad.
"Es algo que podría beneficiar a 70,000 estadounidenses y como miembro
del Congreso de Estados Unidos mi trabajo es representar a esos
pacientes", declaró entonces García.
El ex gobernandor republican de New Hampshire, John Sununu y el ex
senador demócrata por Massachusetts, Bill Delahunt, quienes ahora son
lobystas de la empresa farmacéutica Healiance han recabado apoyo de
García para que el medicamente cubano Heberprot-P se venda en Estados
Unidos.
Garcia se unió a otros congresistas estadounidenses circularon en el
Congreso el borrador de una solicitud al Departamento del Tesoro de
Estados Unidos, para que otorge la debida autorización si una empresa
estadounidenses quisiera conducir los procedimientos clínicos necesarios
para comercializar el medicamento en el país.
Según Erick Hernández, especialista del Grupo de Gestión de Promoción
CIGB, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argelia, México, Angola y otros 15 países
cuentan ya con el registro sanitario para el uso de Heberprot-P y otros
14 países, entre ellos China y Rusia, están en trámites para aplicarlo
en sus centros hospitalarios.
Heberprot-P es un producto del nuevo grupo empresaria BioCubaFarm,
creado en 2012, con el propósito de lograr mayores niveles de
integración en el sector biotecnológico y farmacéutico de Cuba. Cuenta
con 38 empresas, de ellas 16 productoras, 19 comercializadoras y tres de
servicios y su principal objetivo es producir medicamentos, equipos y
servicios de alta tecnología, la generación de tecnologías de avanzada
en la producción de alimentos, bienes y servicios exportables.
La industria farmacéutica y biotecnológica de Cuba, estaría ahora
abierta a las inversiones extranjeras, de acuerdo a la nueva Ley
aprobada la pasada semana por la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular.
Source: Cuba presenta su medicamento estrella en EE UU -
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/cuba-presenta-su-medicamento-estrella-en-estados-unidos/33558.html
Cuba presenta su medicamento estrella en EE UU
Cuba presenta su medicamento estrella en EE UU
Especialistas cubanos presentaron en Washington y Los Angeles el
Heberprot-P, medicamento inyectable 'unico en el mundo para tratar las
úlceras del pie diabético que ya está registrado en 15 países.
Pablo Alfonso/ martinoticias.com
marzo 31, 2014
Científicos cubanos expusieron en dos foros realizados en Estados Unidos
la pasada semana los resultados del empleo del medicamento Heberprot-P
para el tratamiento de las úlceras complejas de pie diabético y que,
según dijeron, evita su eventual amputación.
El doctor Jorge Berlanga Acosta, autor principal del Heberprot-P y Boris
Acevedo, funcionario de la Dirección de Negocios del Centro de
Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología (CIGB), que desarrolló el fármaco,
participaron en un seminario técnico realizado por la Organización
Panamericana de la Salud en Washington, y en la Conferencia del manejo
de la Úlcera del Pie Diabético (DFCON), que se desarrolló entre el 20 y
24 de marzo en el Loews Hollywood Hotel de Los Angeles.
En ese evento, el más importante que agrupa a los profesionales de
Estados Unidos que atienden a pacientes con úlceras de pie, Berlanga
Acosta presentó una ponencia titulada Hi Fidelity Care: Revolutionary
Teams and Technologies Can Avoid a Cuban Missile Toe Crisis, en la que
expuso los resultados clínicos y uso del medicamento que, según
afirmó,está registrado en una veintena de países.
Heberpto-P es un medicamento inyectable cubano único en el mundo para
tratar las ulceras del pie diabético.
Los especialistas cubanos, perteneciente al grupo empresarial
BioCubaFarma, expusieron los detalles del mecanismo de acción que
soportan los resultados en los estudios clínicos y uso del producto, y
aseguraron que su aplicación ha beneficiado a más de 145 mil pacientes
en el mundo, 28 de ellos en Cuba.
De acuerdo con la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) unos 300
millones de personas padecen diabetes en el planeta, de las cuales entre
15 y 35 por ciento pueden sufrir la amputación de una de sus
extremidades en algún momento de la vida.
En Estados Unidos, donde el tratamiento cuesta unos 70.000 dólares, el
65 por ciento de los diabéticos sufre una amputación, según la OMS, pero
el Heberprot-P no se puede comercializar debido a las leyes del embargo
estadounidense a Cuba.
En octubre del pasado año el congresista cubanoamericano, Joe García,
demócrata de la Florida, desató una encendida polémica en Miami cuando
abogó por la autorización del medicamento en beneficio de los pacientes
afectados por la enfermedad.
"Es algo que podría beneficiar a 70,000 estadounidenses y como miembro
del Congreso de Estados Unidos mi trabajo es representar a esos
pacientes", declaró entonces García.
El ex gobernandor republican de New Hampshire, John Sununu y el ex
senador demócrata por Massachusetts, Bill Delahunt, quienes ahora son
lobystas de la empresa farmacéutica Healiance han recabado apoyo de
García para que el medicamente cubano Heberprot-P se venda en Estados
Unidos.
Garcia se unió a otros congresistas estadounidenses circularon en el
Congreso el borrador de una solicitud al Departamento del Tesoro de
Estados Unidos, para que otorge la debida autorización si una empresa
estadounidenses quisiera conducir los procedimientos clínicos necesarios
para comercializar el medicamento en el país.
Según Erick Hernández, especialista del Grupo de Gestión de Promoción
CIGB, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argelia, México, Angola y otros 15 países
cuentan ya con el registro sanitario para el uso de Heberprot-P y otros
14 países, entre ellos China y Rusia, están en trámites para aplicarlo
en sus centros hospitalarios.
Heberprot-P es un producto del nuevo grupo empresaria BioCubaFarm,
creado en 2012, con el propósito de lograr mayores niveles de
integración en el sector biotecnológico y farmacéutico de Cuba. Cuenta
con 38 empresas, de ellas 16 productoras, 19 comercializadoras y tres de
servicios y su principal objetivo es producir medicamentos, equipos y
servicios de alta tecnología, la generación de tecnologías de avanzada
en la producción de alimentos, bienes y servicios exportables.
La industria farmacéutica y biotecnológica de Cuba, estaría ahora
abierta a las inversiones extranjeras, de acuerdo a la nueva Ley
aprobada la pasada semana por la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular.
Source: Cuba presenta su medicamento estrella en EE UU -
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/cuba-presenta-su-medicamento-estrella-en-estados-unidos/33558.html
Especialistas cubanos presentaron en Washington y Los Angeles el
Heberprot-P, medicamento inyectable 'unico en el mundo para tratar las
úlceras del pie diabético que ya está registrado en 15 países.
Pablo Alfonso/ martinoticias.com
marzo 31, 2014
Científicos cubanos expusieron en dos foros realizados en Estados Unidos
la pasada semana los resultados del empleo del medicamento Heberprot-P
para el tratamiento de las úlceras complejas de pie diabético y que,
según dijeron, evita su eventual amputación.
El doctor Jorge Berlanga Acosta, autor principal del Heberprot-P y Boris
Acevedo, funcionario de la Dirección de Negocios del Centro de
Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología (CIGB), que desarrolló el fármaco,
participaron en un seminario técnico realizado por la Organización
Panamericana de la Salud en Washington, y en la Conferencia del manejo
de la Úlcera del Pie Diabético (DFCON), que se desarrolló entre el 20 y
24 de marzo en el Loews Hollywood Hotel de Los Angeles.
En ese evento, el más importante que agrupa a los profesionales de
Estados Unidos que atienden a pacientes con úlceras de pie, Berlanga
Acosta presentó una ponencia titulada Hi Fidelity Care: Revolutionary
Teams and Technologies Can Avoid a Cuban Missile Toe Crisis, en la que
expuso los resultados clínicos y uso del medicamento que, según
afirmó,está registrado en una veintena de países.
Heberpto-P es un medicamento inyectable cubano único en el mundo para
tratar las ulceras del pie diabético.
Los especialistas cubanos, perteneciente al grupo empresarial
BioCubaFarma, expusieron los detalles del mecanismo de acción que
soportan los resultados en los estudios clínicos y uso del producto, y
aseguraron que su aplicación ha beneficiado a más de 145 mil pacientes
en el mundo, 28 de ellos en Cuba.
De acuerdo con la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) unos 300
millones de personas padecen diabetes en el planeta, de las cuales entre
15 y 35 por ciento pueden sufrir la amputación de una de sus
extremidades en algún momento de la vida.
En Estados Unidos, donde el tratamiento cuesta unos 70.000 dólares, el
65 por ciento de los diabéticos sufre una amputación, según la OMS, pero
el Heberprot-P no se puede comercializar debido a las leyes del embargo
estadounidense a Cuba.
En octubre del pasado año el congresista cubanoamericano, Joe García,
demócrata de la Florida, desató una encendida polémica en Miami cuando
abogó por la autorización del medicamento en beneficio de los pacientes
afectados por la enfermedad.
"Es algo que podría beneficiar a 70,000 estadounidenses y como miembro
del Congreso de Estados Unidos mi trabajo es representar a esos
pacientes", declaró entonces García.
El ex gobernandor republican de New Hampshire, John Sununu y el ex
senador demócrata por Massachusetts, Bill Delahunt, quienes ahora son
lobystas de la empresa farmacéutica Healiance han recabado apoyo de
García para que el medicamente cubano Heberprot-P se venda en Estados
Unidos.
Garcia se unió a otros congresistas estadounidenses circularon en el
Congreso el borrador de una solicitud al Departamento del Tesoro de
Estados Unidos, para que otorge la debida autorización si una empresa
estadounidenses quisiera conducir los procedimientos clínicos necesarios
para comercializar el medicamento en el país.
Según Erick Hernández, especialista del Grupo de Gestión de Promoción
CIGB, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argelia, México, Angola y otros 15 países
cuentan ya con el registro sanitario para el uso de Heberprot-P y otros
14 países, entre ellos China y Rusia, están en trámites para aplicarlo
en sus centros hospitalarios.
Heberprot-P es un producto del nuevo grupo empresaria BioCubaFarm,
creado en 2012, con el propósito de lograr mayores niveles de
integración en el sector biotecnológico y farmacéutico de Cuba. Cuenta
con 38 empresas, de ellas 16 productoras, 19 comercializadoras y tres de
servicios y su principal objetivo es producir medicamentos, equipos y
servicios de alta tecnología, la generación de tecnologías de avanzada
en la producción de alimentos, bienes y servicios exportables.
La industria farmacéutica y biotecnológica de Cuba, estaría ahora
abierta a las inversiones extranjeras, de acuerdo a la nueva Ley
aprobada la pasada semana por la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular.
Source: Cuba presenta su medicamento estrella en EE UU -
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/cuba-presenta-su-medicamento-estrella-en-estados-unidos/33558.html
Shortage of potatoes in Cuba
Shortage of potatoes in Cuba
Potatoes are scarce in Cuba. Cuban weekly 'Trabajadores' reported last
Monday, that the import prices for seed potatoes has risen sharply and
as a result, only half the total area is being planted, compared to last
year.
At the moment approximately 3200 hectares of potato are being cultivated
in Cuba. This is 57% smaller than the total area of 2013, and a 17%
smaller area than 1990. "It will not be enough for everybody," warns
'Trabajadores'. The harvest runs from the end of March to early April.
Publication date: 3/31/2014
Source: Shortage of potatoes in Cuba -
http://www.freshplaza.com/article/119125/Shortage-of-potatoes-in-Cuba
Potatoes are scarce in Cuba. Cuban weekly 'Trabajadores' reported last
Monday, that the import prices for seed potatoes has risen sharply and
as a result, only half the total area is being planted, compared to last
year.
At the moment approximately 3200 hectares of potato are being cultivated
in Cuba. This is 57% smaller than the total area of 2013, and a 17%
smaller area than 1990. "It will not be enough for everybody," warns
'Trabajadores'. The harvest runs from the end of March to early April.
Publication date: 3/31/2014
Source: Shortage of potatoes in Cuba -
http://www.freshplaza.com/article/119125/Shortage-of-potatoes-in-Cuba
Shortage of potatoes in Cuba
Shortage of potatoes in Cuba
Potatoes are scarce in Cuba. Cuban weekly 'Trabajadores' reported last
Monday, that the import prices for seed potatoes has risen sharply and
as a result, only half the total area is being planted, compared to last
year.
At the moment approximately 3200 hectares of potato are being cultivated
in Cuba. This is 57% smaller than the total area of 2013, and a 17%
smaller area than 1990. "It will not be enough for everybody," warns
'Trabajadores'. The harvest runs from the end of March to early April.
Publication date: 3/31/2014
Source: Shortage of potatoes in Cuba -
http://www.freshplaza.com/article/119125/Shortage-of-potatoes-in-Cuba
Potatoes are scarce in Cuba. Cuban weekly 'Trabajadores' reported last
Monday, that the import prices for seed potatoes has risen sharply and
as a result, only half the total area is being planted, compared to last
year.
At the moment approximately 3200 hectares of potato are being cultivated
in Cuba. This is 57% smaller than the total area of 2013, and a 17%
smaller area than 1990. "It will not be enough for everybody," warns
'Trabajadores'. The harvest runs from the end of March to early April.
Publication date: 3/31/2014
Source: Shortage of potatoes in Cuba -
http://www.freshplaza.com/article/119125/Shortage-of-potatoes-in-Cuba
Santiago de Cuba, sin condones
Santiago de Cuba, sin condones
DDC | Santiago de Cuba | 31 Mar 2014 - 5:52 pm.
Las autoridades dicen estar cambiando la fecha de vencimiento de
productos almacenados (noviembre del 2012) porque es 'incorrecta'.
Santiago de Cuba está sin condones desde hace tres meses, informa el
periódico oficial Trabajadores y dice que el asunto "preocupa", entre
otras cuestiones, "por la notable incidencia que tienen en el territorio
las infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS), y el VIH/sida en particular".
La publicación señaló que el VIH/sida afecta a más de mil santiagueros y
tiende al incremento.
Ramón Suárez Ramírez, director del establecimiento provincial de
suministros médicos, dijo que la distribución y comercialización de
condones debe estabilizarse a partir del segundo trimestre de este año,
con la llegada de envíos contratados en el exterior.
También con un proceso, actualmente en desarrollo, de cambio de la fecha
de vencimiento de los preservativos almacenados en la provincia.
Según Suárez Ramírez, se borra una "fecha incorrecta de vencimiento"
estampada en la envoltura de los condones (noviembre del 2012), para
poner una nueva (diciembre del 2014).
Añadió que este proceso "cuenta con la autorización del fabricante", que
el reporte no especificó, y con "la certificación que avala su calidad,
emitida por el Centro para el control estatal de medicamentos, equipos y
dispositivos médicos de Cuba (Cecmed)".
El funcionario dijo que el cambio de fecha debió realizarse culminarse
en el primer trimestre de 2014, pero "no tuvo la agilidad requerida".
La información tampoco aclaró a qué de debió el "error" en la fecha de
vencimiento.
Source: Santiago de Cuba, sin condones | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1396281148_7901.html
DDC | Santiago de Cuba | 31 Mar 2014 - 5:52 pm.
Las autoridades dicen estar cambiando la fecha de vencimiento de
productos almacenados (noviembre del 2012) porque es 'incorrecta'.
Santiago de Cuba está sin condones desde hace tres meses, informa el
periódico oficial Trabajadores y dice que el asunto "preocupa", entre
otras cuestiones, "por la notable incidencia que tienen en el territorio
las infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS), y el VIH/sida en particular".
La publicación señaló que el VIH/sida afecta a más de mil santiagueros y
tiende al incremento.
Ramón Suárez Ramírez, director del establecimiento provincial de
suministros médicos, dijo que la distribución y comercialización de
condones debe estabilizarse a partir del segundo trimestre de este año,
con la llegada de envíos contratados en el exterior.
También con un proceso, actualmente en desarrollo, de cambio de la fecha
de vencimiento de los preservativos almacenados en la provincia.
Según Suárez Ramírez, se borra una "fecha incorrecta de vencimiento"
estampada en la envoltura de los condones (noviembre del 2012), para
poner una nueva (diciembre del 2014).
Añadió que este proceso "cuenta con la autorización del fabricante", que
el reporte no especificó, y con "la certificación que avala su calidad,
emitida por el Centro para el control estatal de medicamentos, equipos y
dispositivos médicos de Cuba (Cecmed)".
El funcionario dijo que el cambio de fecha debió realizarse culminarse
en el primer trimestre de 2014, pero "no tuvo la agilidad requerida".
La información tampoco aclaró a qué de debió el "error" en la fecha de
vencimiento.
Source: Santiago de Cuba, sin condones | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1396281148_7901.html
Santiago de Cuba, sin condones
Santiago de Cuba, sin condones
DDC | Santiago de Cuba | 31 Mar 2014 - 5:52 pm.
Las autoridades dicen estar cambiando la fecha de vencimiento de
productos almacenados (noviembre del 2012) porque es 'incorrecta'.
Santiago de Cuba está sin condones desde hace tres meses, informa el
periódico oficial Trabajadores y dice que el asunto "preocupa", entre
otras cuestiones, "por la notable incidencia que tienen en el territorio
las infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS), y el VIH/sida en particular".
La publicación señaló que el VIH/sida afecta a más de mil santiagueros y
tiende al incremento.
Ramón Suárez Ramírez, director del establecimiento provincial de
suministros médicos, dijo que la distribución y comercialización de
condones debe estabilizarse a partir del segundo trimestre de este año,
con la llegada de envíos contratados en el exterior.
También con un proceso, actualmente en desarrollo, de cambio de la fecha
de vencimiento de los preservativos almacenados en la provincia.
Según Suárez Ramírez, se borra una "fecha incorrecta de vencimiento"
estampada en la envoltura de los condones (noviembre del 2012), para
poner una nueva (diciembre del 2014).
Añadió que este proceso "cuenta con la autorización del fabricante", que
el reporte no especificó, y con "la certificación que avala su calidad,
emitida por el Centro para el control estatal de medicamentos, equipos y
dispositivos médicos de Cuba (Cecmed)".
El funcionario dijo que el cambio de fecha debió realizarse culminarse
en el primer trimestre de 2014, pero "no tuvo la agilidad requerida".
La información tampoco aclaró a qué de debió el "error" en la fecha de
vencimiento.
Source: Santiago de Cuba, sin condones | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1396281148_7901.html
DDC | Santiago de Cuba | 31 Mar 2014 - 5:52 pm.
Las autoridades dicen estar cambiando la fecha de vencimiento de
productos almacenados (noviembre del 2012) porque es 'incorrecta'.
Santiago de Cuba está sin condones desde hace tres meses, informa el
periódico oficial Trabajadores y dice que el asunto "preocupa", entre
otras cuestiones, "por la notable incidencia que tienen en el territorio
las infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS), y el VIH/sida en particular".
La publicación señaló que el VIH/sida afecta a más de mil santiagueros y
tiende al incremento.
Ramón Suárez Ramírez, director del establecimiento provincial de
suministros médicos, dijo que la distribución y comercialización de
condones debe estabilizarse a partir del segundo trimestre de este año,
con la llegada de envíos contratados en el exterior.
También con un proceso, actualmente en desarrollo, de cambio de la fecha
de vencimiento de los preservativos almacenados en la provincia.
Según Suárez Ramírez, se borra una "fecha incorrecta de vencimiento"
estampada en la envoltura de los condones (noviembre del 2012), para
poner una nueva (diciembre del 2014).
Añadió que este proceso "cuenta con la autorización del fabricante", que
el reporte no especificó, y con "la certificación que avala su calidad,
emitida por el Centro para el control estatal de medicamentos, equipos y
dispositivos médicos de Cuba (Cecmed)".
El funcionario dijo que el cambio de fecha debió realizarse culminarse
en el primer trimestre de 2014, pero "no tuvo la agilidad requerida".
La información tampoco aclaró a qué de debió el "error" en la fecha de
vencimiento.
Source: Santiago de Cuba, sin condones | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1396281148_7901.html
Cuba for Foreigners
Cuba for Foreigners / Miriam Celaya
Posted on March 31, 2014
HAVANA, Cuba – On Saturday 29 March 2014 the Cuban Parliament "will
debate" in a special session period the new Foreign Investment Law,
another desperate attempt by the regime to attract foreign businessmen
who choose to risk their capital and ships where those of others have
already been shipwrecked.
This time the scenario and the circumstances are markedly different from
the decades of the 90s, when the fragile and dependent Cuban economy
touched bottom and the government had no other alternative but to
reluctantly open it to foreign capital, creating then a Foreign
Investment Law that granted some legitimacy and limited guarantees for
investors.
Hugo Chavez's rise to power in Venezuela at the end of this same decade
came to the rescue of the regime with new subsidies that allowed
backtracking on the opening to capital and the small private family
businesses that arose in the midst of the privations of the period.
Paradoxically, 15 years later, the critical socio-economic and political
situation in Venezuelan situation, which threatens to collapse the
Bolivarian project, once again closing the sources nourishing the Cuban
government, strongly affects a new search for foreign capital because
this is the only way the system will survive, but the investors are
reluctant and skeptical given the absence of a legal framework to
protect the invested capital.
It is rumored that the recent visit of José Ignacio Lula Da Silva to
Cuba , concerned about the risk of elevated investments from Brazil and
the delay of the government of the Island in updating the Foreign
Investment Law, was the definitive touch that made the Cuban cupola
decide to push its approval, postponed several times. There are also
unofficial rumors about the freezing the Brazilian investments in the
Mariel Special Development Zone, and the approval of new credit to the
Cuban side, until there are adequate legal safeguards. The agreements
are no longer based in solidarity, but rather on purely capitalist
financial and commercial relations.
Propaganda at the Recent International Trade Fair of Havana
The new Foreign Investment Law in progress, therefore, is to "strengthen
the guarantees of the investors," while it "also contemplates the total
tax credits and exemptions in determined circumstances, was well an
increased flexibility with regards to customs, to encourage investment,"
according to the statements from José Luis Toledo Santander, president
of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly of People's Power
which, "deals with the Constitutional and Legal Affairs," (Granma,
Saturday March 17, 2014, page 3), elements not covered in the Law.
Also the high official declared that the draft presented to the
deputies,"established the priority character of foreign investment in
almost all sectors of the economy, particularly those related to
production." Clearly, a self-employed person is not the same thing as a
capitalist entrepreneur, in case anyone had any doubts.
In the preparatory process, which according to the official press has
been developing throughout the country, participating along with the
deputies have been "specialists, functionaries from the municipal and
provincial governments, representatives of international legal
consultants and consultants from important businesses; in general people
who could support the discussion." (Emphasis by this author.) A plot
behind closed doors of which some harmless notes have reached the
national media, but the common people are nothing more than this
conglomerate of spectators incapable and prevented from making some
"contribution" and should swallow the pill as the olive-green
filibusters stipulate.
The "main concerns and contributions of the deputies" in the so-called
process of analysis and discussion of the draft on the Island revolved
around "the labor rights of the Cubans who work on these projects, the
terms for the investment and the protection of the National Patrimony,"
omitting the fundamental question: the privileging of foreigners over
what should be the national rights of Cubans. A details that recalls
that "Carolina Black Code" that in 1842 recognized the doubtful rights
and privileges of slaves such as corporal punishment not exceeding 25
lashes, and the prize of freedom in exchange for the betrayal of fellow
slaves.
Almost 40 years of experience in parliamentary simulations allow us to
anticipate that, like all the previous laws "discussed," this one will
also be unanimously approved by the choir of ventriloquists from the
from the orchestra seats in the headquarters of the farce, the Palace of
Conventions, on March 29th. For now, many of the parliamentarians have
conceded that the new Law "is in complete harmony" with the economic
adjustments drive by the General-President in his process of updating
the model, another experiment that—indeed—will allow him, through
capital, through capital, the solving of the ever pressing problems of
building socialism.
Miriam Celaya
28 March 2014
Source: Cuba for Foreigners / Miriam Celaya | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuba-for-foreigners-miriam-celaya/
Posted on March 31, 2014
HAVANA, Cuba – On Saturday 29 March 2014 the Cuban Parliament "will
debate" in a special session period the new Foreign Investment Law,
another desperate attempt by the regime to attract foreign businessmen
who choose to risk their capital and ships where those of others have
already been shipwrecked.
This time the scenario and the circumstances are markedly different from
the decades of the 90s, when the fragile and dependent Cuban economy
touched bottom and the government had no other alternative but to
reluctantly open it to foreign capital, creating then a Foreign
Investment Law that granted some legitimacy and limited guarantees for
investors.
Hugo Chavez's rise to power in Venezuela at the end of this same decade
came to the rescue of the regime with new subsidies that allowed
backtracking on the opening to capital and the small private family
businesses that arose in the midst of the privations of the period.
Paradoxically, 15 years later, the critical socio-economic and political
situation in Venezuelan situation, which threatens to collapse the
Bolivarian project, once again closing the sources nourishing the Cuban
government, strongly affects a new search for foreign capital because
this is the only way the system will survive, but the investors are
reluctant and skeptical given the absence of a legal framework to
protect the invested capital.
It is rumored that the recent visit of José Ignacio Lula Da Silva to
Cuba , concerned about the risk of elevated investments from Brazil and
the delay of the government of the Island in updating the Foreign
Investment Law, was the definitive touch that made the Cuban cupola
decide to push its approval, postponed several times. There are also
unofficial rumors about the freezing the Brazilian investments in the
Mariel Special Development Zone, and the approval of new credit to the
Cuban side, until there are adequate legal safeguards. The agreements
are no longer based in solidarity, but rather on purely capitalist
financial and commercial relations.
Propaganda at the Recent International Trade Fair of Havana
The new Foreign Investment Law in progress, therefore, is to "strengthen
the guarantees of the investors," while it "also contemplates the total
tax credits and exemptions in determined circumstances, was well an
increased flexibility with regards to customs, to encourage investment,"
according to the statements from José Luis Toledo Santander, president
of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly of People's Power
which, "deals with the Constitutional and Legal Affairs," (Granma,
Saturday March 17, 2014, page 3), elements not covered in the Law.
Also the high official declared that the draft presented to the
deputies,"established the priority character of foreign investment in
almost all sectors of the economy, particularly those related to
production." Clearly, a self-employed person is not the same thing as a
capitalist entrepreneur, in case anyone had any doubts.
In the preparatory process, which according to the official press has
been developing throughout the country, participating along with the
deputies have been "specialists, functionaries from the municipal and
provincial governments, representatives of international legal
consultants and consultants from important businesses; in general people
who could support the discussion." (Emphasis by this author.) A plot
behind closed doors of which some harmless notes have reached the
national media, but the common people are nothing more than this
conglomerate of spectators incapable and prevented from making some
"contribution" and should swallow the pill as the olive-green
filibusters stipulate.
The "main concerns and contributions of the deputies" in the so-called
process of analysis and discussion of the draft on the Island revolved
around "the labor rights of the Cubans who work on these projects, the
terms for the investment and the protection of the National Patrimony,"
omitting the fundamental question: the privileging of foreigners over
what should be the national rights of Cubans. A details that recalls
that "Carolina Black Code" that in 1842 recognized the doubtful rights
and privileges of slaves such as corporal punishment not exceeding 25
lashes, and the prize of freedom in exchange for the betrayal of fellow
slaves.
Almost 40 years of experience in parliamentary simulations allow us to
anticipate that, like all the previous laws "discussed," this one will
also be unanimously approved by the choir of ventriloquists from the
from the orchestra seats in the headquarters of the farce, the Palace of
Conventions, on March 29th. For now, many of the parliamentarians have
conceded that the new Law "is in complete harmony" with the economic
adjustments drive by the General-President in his process of updating
the model, another experiment that—indeed—will allow him, through
capital, through capital, the solving of the ever pressing problems of
building socialism.
Miriam Celaya
28 March 2014
Source: Cuba for Foreigners / Miriam Celaya | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuba-for-foreigners-miriam-celaya/
Cuba for Foreigners
Cuba for Foreigners / Miriam Celaya
Posted on March 31, 2014
HAVANA, Cuba – On Saturday 29 March 2014 the Cuban Parliament "will
debate" in a special session period the new Foreign Investment Law,
another desperate attempt by the regime to attract foreign businessmen
who choose to risk their capital and ships where those of others have
already been shipwrecked.
This time the scenario and the circumstances are markedly different from
the decades of the 90s, when the fragile and dependent Cuban economy
touched bottom and the government had no other alternative but to
reluctantly open it to foreign capital, creating then a Foreign
Investment Law that granted some legitimacy and limited guarantees for
investors.
Hugo Chavez's rise to power in Venezuela at the end of this same decade
came to the rescue of the regime with new subsidies that allowed
backtracking on the opening to capital and the small private family
businesses that arose in the midst of the privations of the period.
Paradoxically, 15 years later, the critical socio-economic and political
situation in Venezuelan situation, which threatens to collapse the
Bolivarian project, once again closing the sources nourishing the Cuban
government, strongly affects a new search for foreign capital because
this is the only way the system will survive, but the investors are
reluctant and skeptical given the absence of a legal framework to
protect the invested capital.
It is rumored that the recent visit of José Ignacio Lula Da Silva to
Cuba , concerned about the risk of elevated investments from Brazil and
the delay of the government of the Island in updating the Foreign
Investment Law, was the definitive touch that made the Cuban cupola
decide to push its approval, postponed several times. There are also
unofficial rumors about the freezing the Brazilian investments in the
Mariel Special Development Zone, and the approval of new credit to the
Cuban side, until there are adequate legal safeguards. The agreements
are no longer based in solidarity, but rather on purely capitalist
financial and commercial relations.
Propaganda at the Recent International Trade Fair of Havana
The new Foreign Investment Law in progress, therefore, is to "strengthen
the guarantees of the investors," while it "also contemplates the total
tax credits and exemptions in determined circumstances, was well an
increased flexibility with regards to customs, to encourage investment,"
according to the statements from José Luis Toledo Santander, president
of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly of People's Power
which, "deals with the Constitutional and Legal Affairs," (Granma,
Saturday March 17, 2014, page 3), elements not covered in the Law.
Also the high official declared that the draft presented to the
deputies,"established the priority character of foreign investment in
almost all sectors of the economy, particularly those related to
production." Clearly, a self-employed person is not the same thing as a
capitalist entrepreneur, in case anyone had any doubts.
In the preparatory process, which according to the official press has
been developing throughout the country, participating along with the
deputies have been "specialists, functionaries from the municipal and
provincial governments, representatives of international legal
consultants and consultants from important businesses; in general people
who could support the discussion." (Emphasis by this author.) A plot
behind closed doors of which some harmless notes have reached the
national media, but the common people are nothing more than this
conglomerate of spectators incapable and prevented from making some
"contribution" and should swallow the pill as the olive-green
filibusters stipulate.
The "main concerns and contributions of the deputies" in the so-called
process of analysis and discussion of the draft on the Island revolved
around "the labor rights of the Cubans who work on these projects, the
terms for the investment and the protection of the National Patrimony,"
omitting the fundamental question: the privileging of foreigners over
what should be the national rights of Cubans. A details that recalls
that "Carolina Black Code" that in 1842 recognized the doubtful rights
and privileges of slaves such as corporal punishment not exceeding 25
lashes, and the prize of freedom in exchange for the betrayal of fellow
slaves.
Almost 40 years of experience in parliamentary simulations allow us to
anticipate that, like all the previous laws "discussed," this one will
also be unanimously approved by the choir of ventriloquists from the
from the orchestra seats in the headquarters of the farce, the Palace of
Conventions, on March 29th. For now, many of the parliamentarians have
conceded that the new Law "is in complete harmony" with the economic
adjustments drive by the General-President in his process of updating
the model, another experiment that—indeed—will allow him, through
capital, through capital, the solving of the ever pressing problems of
building socialism.
Miriam Celaya
28 March 2014
Source: Cuba for Foreigners / Miriam Celaya | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuba-for-foreigners-miriam-celaya/
Posted on March 31, 2014
HAVANA, Cuba – On Saturday 29 March 2014 the Cuban Parliament "will
debate" in a special session period the new Foreign Investment Law,
another desperate attempt by the regime to attract foreign businessmen
who choose to risk their capital and ships where those of others have
already been shipwrecked.
This time the scenario and the circumstances are markedly different from
the decades of the 90s, when the fragile and dependent Cuban economy
touched bottom and the government had no other alternative but to
reluctantly open it to foreign capital, creating then a Foreign
Investment Law that granted some legitimacy and limited guarantees for
investors.
Hugo Chavez's rise to power in Venezuela at the end of this same decade
came to the rescue of the regime with new subsidies that allowed
backtracking on the opening to capital and the small private family
businesses that arose in the midst of the privations of the period.
Paradoxically, 15 years later, the critical socio-economic and political
situation in Venezuelan situation, which threatens to collapse the
Bolivarian project, once again closing the sources nourishing the Cuban
government, strongly affects a new search for foreign capital because
this is the only way the system will survive, but the investors are
reluctant and skeptical given the absence of a legal framework to
protect the invested capital.
It is rumored that the recent visit of José Ignacio Lula Da Silva to
Cuba , concerned about the risk of elevated investments from Brazil and
the delay of the government of the Island in updating the Foreign
Investment Law, was the definitive touch that made the Cuban cupola
decide to push its approval, postponed several times. There are also
unofficial rumors about the freezing the Brazilian investments in the
Mariel Special Development Zone, and the approval of new credit to the
Cuban side, until there are adequate legal safeguards. The agreements
are no longer based in solidarity, but rather on purely capitalist
financial and commercial relations.
Propaganda at the Recent International Trade Fair of Havana
The new Foreign Investment Law in progress, therefore, is to "strengthen
the guarantees of the investors," while it "also contemplates the total
tax credits and exemptions in determined circumstances, was well an
increased flexibility with regards to customs, to encourage investment,"
according to the statements from José Luis Toledo Santander, president
of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly of People's Power
which, "deals with the Constitutional and Legal Affairs," (Granma,
Saturday March 17, 2014, page 3), elements not covered in the Law.
Also the high official declared that the draft presented to the
deputies,"established the priority character of foreign investment in
almost all sectors of the economy, particularly those related to
production." Clearly, a self-employed person is not the same thing as a
capitalist entrepreneur, in case anyone had any doubts.
In the preparatory process, which according to the official press has
been developing throughout the country, participating along with the
deputies have been "specialists, functionaries from the municipal and
provincial governments, representatives of international legal
consultants and consultants from important businesses; in general people
who could support the discussion." (Emphasis by this author.) A plot
behind closed doors of which some harmless notes have reached the
national media, but the common people are nothing more than this
conglomerate of spectators incapable and prevented from making some
"contribution" and should swallow the pill as the olive-green
filibusters stipulate.
The "main concerns and contributions of the deputies" in the so-called
process of analysis and discussion of the draft on the Island revolved
around "the labor rights of the Cubans who work on these projects, the
terms for the investment and the protection of the National Patrimony,"
omitting the fundamental question: the privileging of foreigners over
what should be the national rights of Cubans. A details that recalls
that "Carolina Black Code" that in 1842 recognized the doubtful rights
and privileges of slaves such as corporal punishment not exceeding 25
lashes, and the prize of freedom in exchange for the betrayal of fellow
slaves.
Almost 40 years of experience in parliamentary simulations allow us to
anticipate that, like all the previous laws "discussed," this one will
also be unanimously approved by the choir of ventriloquists from the
from the orchestra seats in the headquarters of the farce, the Palace of
Conventions, on March 29th. For now, many of the parliamentarians have
conceded that the new Law "is in complete harmony" with the economic
adjustments drive by the General-President in his process of updating
the model, another experiment that—indeed—will allow him, through
capital, through capital, the solving of the ever pressing problems of
building socialism.
Miriam Celaya
28 March 2014
Source: Cuba for Foreigners / Miriam Celaya | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuba-for-foreigners-miriam-celaya/
Premiación monetaria, contratación e ingreso adicional para atletas cubanos
Premiación monetaria, contratación e ingreso adicional para atletas cubanos
Los deportistas cubanos recibirán un salario dependiendo de su
rendimiento y participación en los eventos, desde las olimpiadas hasta
los campeonatos nacionales.
Martinoticias.com
marzo 31, 2014
La prensa cubana anunció este lunes que ya entraron en vigor las normas
jurídicas que permiten un mayor ingreso para los deportistas, mediante
la categorización de estos por sus rendimientos.
Con ese fin se delinearon seis categorías para el pago a los
deportistas. La Categoría 1 es para los atletas medallistas en Juegos
Olímpicos que recibirán un salario de 1,500 pesos cubanos (CUP). La
categoría 2 es para los medallistas en campeonatos mundiales y será de
1,300 pesos. Los medallistas en panamericanos (tercera categoría)
tendrán un salario de 1,200, los que las obtengan en centroamericanos
(cuarta categoría) de 1,100 y los miembros de las preselecciones
nacionales y de la Serie Nacional de Béisbol devengarán un salario de
mil pesos mensuales. Y por último los integrantes de las preselecciones
nacionales y de la Serie Nacional de Béisbol (sexta categoría), la suma
a recibir es de 450 pesos. La información precisa que la anterior
categorización se evaluará cada año y se "actualizará a partir de los
logros que alcancen los deportistas".
Los medallistas en los Juegos Olímpicos reciben 2,500 por la presea
dorada, 1,650 por la de plata y 1,250 por la de bronce. En el caso de
los campeonatos mundiales la premiación será de 1,250 para el oro, 850
para la plata y 625 para el bronce. Para los juegos panamericanos los
ingresos serán de 625, 450 y 350, para oro, plata y bronce, respectivamente.
En el caso de los peloteros que participan en la Serie Nacional de
Béisbol, tendrán ingresos adicionales de 5,000 o 1,000 CUP, si son
líderes individuales, tanto en bateo como lanzadores.
Una de las resoluciones aprobadas por las autoridades deportivas de Cuba
establece el reglamento para la contratación de los atletas de alto
rendimiento, quienes firmaron el contrato con el INDER (Instituto
Nacional de Deportes y Recreación). En la contratación participan,
además de los deportistas, los directores de las escuelas superiores de
Formación de Atletas de Alto Rendimiento y las direcciones provinciales
de Deportes.
En el contrato, dice la información, se "establece una serie de
obligaciones a cumplir por ambas partes" y es considerada como una
protección "ante los mercaderes internacionales del deporte".
Los entrenadores y especialistas que tengan deportistas de alto
rendimiento (según la categorización) reciben un ingreso adicional
mensual que no exceda el 50 por ciento de su salario.
El pago será efecto retroactivo, pues surtió efecto el pasado mes de
enero del 2014 y para los que participan en la Serie Nacional de
Béisbol, al comienzo de ella en noviembre del 2013.
Source: Premiación monetaria, contratación e ingreso adicional para
atletas cubanos -
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/premiaci%c3%b3n-monetaria-contrataci%c3%b3n-e-ingreso-adicional-para-atletas-cubanos-/33543.html
Los deportistas cubanos recibirán un salario dependiendo de su
rendimiento y participación en los eventos, desde las olimpiadas hasta
los campeonatos nacionales.
Martinoticias.com
marzo 31, 2014
La prensa cubana anunció este lunes que ya entraron en vigor las normas
jurídicas que permiten un mayor ingreso para los deportistas, mediante
la categorización de estos por sus rendimientos.
Con ese fin se delinearon seis categorías para el pago a los
deportistas. La Categoría 1 es para los atletas medallistas en Juegos
Olímpicos que recibirán un salario de 1,500 pesos cubanos (CUP). La
categoría 2 es para los medallistas en campeonatos mundiales y será de
1,300 pesos. Los medallistas en panamericanos (tercera categoría)
tendrán un salario de 1,200, los que las obtengan en centroamericanos
(cuarta categoría) de 1,100 y los miembros de las preselecciones
nacionales y de la Serie Nacional de Béisbol devengarán un salario de
mil pesos mensuales. Y por último los integrantes de las preselecciones
nacionales y de la Serie Nacional de Béisbol (sexta categoría), la suma
a recibir es de 450 pesos. La información precisa que la anterior
categorización se evaluará cada año y se "actualizará a partir de los
logros que alcancen los deportistas".
Los medallistas en los Juegos Olímpicos reciben 2,500 por la presea
dorada, 1,650 por la de plata y 1,250 por la de bronce. En el caso de
los campeonatos mundiales la premiación será de 1,250 para el oro, 850
para la plata y 625 para el bronce. Para los juegos panamericanos los
ingresos serán de 625, 450 y 350, para oro, plata y bronce, respectivamente.
En el caso de los peloteros que participan en la Serie Nacional de
Béisbol, tendrán ingresos adicionales de 5,000 o 1,000 CUP, si son
líderes individuales, tanto en bateo como lanzadores.
Una de las resoluciones aprobadas por las autoridades deportivas de Cuba
establece el reglamento para la contratación de los atletas de alto
rendimiento, quienes firmaron el contrato con el INDER (Instituto
Nacional de Deportes y Recreación). En la contratación participan,
además de los deportistas, los directores de las escuelas superiores de
Formación de Atletas de Alto Rendimiento y las direcciones provinciales
de Deportes.
En el contrato, dice la información, se "establece una serie de
obligaciones a cumplir por ambas partes" y es considerada como una
protección "ante los mercaderes internacionales del deporte".
Los entrenadores y especialistas que tengan deportistas de alto
rendimiento (según la categorización) reciben un ingreso adicional
mensual que no exceda el 50 por ciento de su salario.
El pago será efecto retroactivo, pues surtió efecto el pasado mes de
enero del 2014 y para los que participan en la Serie Nacional de
Béisbol, al comienzo de ella en noviembre del 2013.
Source: Premiación monetaria, contratación e ingreso adicional para
atletas cubanos -
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/premiaci%c3%b3n-monetaria-contrataci%c3%b3n-e-ingreso-adicional-para-atletas-cubanos-/33543.html
Premiación monetaria, contratación e ingreso adicional para atletas cubanos
Premiación monetaria, contratación e ingreso adicional para atletas cubanos
Los deportistas cubanos recibirán un salario dependiendo de su
rendimiento y participación en los eventos, desde las olimpiadas hasta
los campeonatos nacionales.
Martinoticias.com
marzo 31, 2014
La prensa cubana anunció este lunes que ya entraron en vigor las normas
jurídicas que permiten un mayor ingreso para los deportistas, mediante
la categorización de estos por sus rendimientos.
Con ese fin se delinearon seis categorías para el pago a los
deportistas. La Categoría 1 es para los atletas medallistas en Juegos
Olímpicos que recibirán un salario de 1,500 pesos cubanos (CUP). La
categoría 2 es para los medallistas en campeonatos mundiales y será de
1,300 pesos. Los medallistas en panamericanos (tercera categoría)
tendrán un salario de 1,200, los que las obtengan en centroamericanos
(cuarta categoría) de 1,100 y los miembros de las preselecciones
nacionales y de la Serie Nacional de Béisbol devengarán un salario de
mil pesos mensuales. Y por último los integrantes de las preselecciones
nacionales y de la Serie Nacional de Béisbol (sexta categoría), la suma
a recibir es de 450 pesos. La información precisa que la anterior
categorización se evaluará cada año y se "actualizará a partir de los
logros que alcancen los deportistas".
Los medallistas en los Juegos Olímpicos reciben 2,500 por la presea
dorada, 1,650 por la de plata y 1,250 por la de bronce. En el caso de
los campeonatos mundiales la premiación será de 1,250 para el oro, 850
para la plata y 625 para el bronce. Para los juegos panamericanos los
ingresos serán de 625, 450 y 350, para oro, plata y bronce, respectivamente.
En el caso de los peloteros que participan en la Serie Nacional de
Béisbol, tendrán ingresos adicionales de 5,000 o 1,000 CUP, si son
líderes individuales, tanto en bateo como lanzadores.
Una de las resoluciones aprobadas por las autoridades deportivas de Cuba
establece el reglamento para la contratación de los atletas de alto
rendimiento, quienes firmaron el contrato con el INDER (Instituto
Nacional de Deportes y Recreación). En la contratación participan,
además de los deportistas, los directores de las escuelas superiores de
Formación de Atletas de Alto Rendimiento y las direcciones provinciales
de Deportes.
En el contrato, dice la información, se "establece una serie de
obligaciones a cumplir por ambas partes" y es considerada como una
protección "ante los mercaderes internacionales del deporte".
Los entrenadores y especialistas que tengan deportistas de alto
rendimiento (según la categorización) reciben un ingreso adicional
mensual que no exceda el 50 por ciento de su salario.
El pago será efecto retroactivo, pues surtió efecto el pasado mes de
enero del 2014 y para los que participan en la Serie Nacional de
Béisbol, al comienzo de ella en noviembre del 2013.
Source: Premiación monetaria, contratación e ingreso adicional para
atletas cubanos -
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/premiaci%c3%b3n-monetaria-contrataci%c3%b3n-e-ingreso-adicional-para-atletas-cubanos-/33543.html
Los deportistas cubanos recibirán un salario dependiendo de su
rendimiento y participación en los eventos, desde las olimpiadas hasta
los campeonatos nacionales.
Martinoticias.com
marzo 31, 2014
La prensa cubana anunció este lunes que ya entraron en vigor las normas
jurídicas que permiten un mayor ingreso para los deportistas, mediante
la categorización de estos por sus rendimientos.
Con ese fin se delinearon seis categorías para el pago a los
deportistas. La Categoría 1 es para los atletas medallistas en Juegos
Olímpicos que recibirán un salario de 1,500 pesos cubanos (CUP). La
categoría 2 es para los medallistas en campeonatos mundiales y será de
1,300 pesos. Los medallistas en panamericanos (tercera categoría)
tendrán un salario de 1,200, los que las obtengan en centroamericanos
(cuarta categoría) de 1,100 y los miembros de las preselecciones
nacionales y de la Serie Nacional de Béisbol devengarán un salario de
mil pesos mensuales. Y por último los integrantes de las preselecciones
nacionales y de la Serie Nacional de Béisbol (sexta categoría), la suma
a recibir es de 450 pesos. La información precisa que la anterior
categorización se evaluará cada año y se "actualizará a partir de los
logros que alcancen los deportistas".
Los medallistas en los Juegos Olímpicos reciben 2,500 por la presea
dorada, 1,650 por la de plata y 1,250 por la de bronce. En el caso de
los campeonatos mundiales la premiación será de 1,250 para el oro, 850
para la plata y 625 para el bronce. Para los juegos panamericanos los
ingresos serán de 625, 450 y 350, para oro, plata y bronce, respectivamente.
En el caso de los peloteros que participan en la Serie Nacional de
Béisbol, tendrán ingresos adicionales de 5,000 o 1,000 CUP, si son
líderes individuales, tanto en bateo como lanzadores.
Una de las resoluciones aprobadas por las autoridades deportivas de Cuba
establece el reglamento para la contratación de los atletas de alto
rendimiento, quienes firmaron el contrato con el INDER (Instituto
Nacional de Deportes y Recreación). En la contratación participan,
además de los deportistas, los directores de las escuelas superiores de
Formación de Atletas de Alto Rendimiento y las direcciones provinciales
de Deportes.
En el contrato, dice la información, se "establece una serie de
obligaciones a cumplir por ambas partes" y es considerada como una
protección "ante los mercaderes internacionales del deporte".
Los entrenadores y especialistas que tengan deportistas de alto
rendimiento (según la categorización) reciben un ingreso adicional
mensual que no exceda el 50 por ciento de su salario.
El pago será efecto retroactivo, pues surtió efecto el pasado mes de
enero del 2014 y para los que participan en la Serie Nacional de
Béisbol, al comienzo de ella en noviembre del 2013.
Source: Premiación monetaria, contratación e ingreso adicional para
atletas cubanos -
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/premiaci%c3%b3n-monetaria-contrataci%c3%b3n-e-ingreso-adicional-para-atletas-cubanos-/33543.html
Cuba's past raises scepticism about new foreign investment law
Cuba's past raises scepticism about new foreign investment law
31/03/2014 - 13:11
By Daniel Trotta
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has declared itself open for business with a new
foreign investment law but faces deep scepticism given a history that
includes jailing foreign executives and attempting to seize greater
control of businesses once they prove successful.
The National Assembly unanimously passed a law on Saturday that embraces
foreign capital as crucial to Cuba's development, while disappointing
those who had hoped for even more changes, such as allowing foreign
ventures to hire Cuban labour freely instead of through the government.
Cut off from U.S. investment by Washington's comprehensive trade
embargo, Cuba says it needs $2 billion (£1.2 billion) to $2.5 billion
(£1.5 billion) a year in foreign direct investment (FDI) to help reach
its target of 7 percent growth a year. Economists estimate current FDI
at a few hundred million, and the economy is expected to grow just 2.2
percent this year.
The new law, which will take effect within 90 days, is most notable for
cutting the tax on profits in half and eliminating a labour tax while
granting new investors an 8-year exemption on the profits tax.
In an economy suffering from chronic underinvestment, foreigners are
being enticed. Among the areas in need are agriculture, infrastructure,
sugar, nickel mining, building renovation and real estate development.
The law is part of a series of reforms enacted by Cuban President Raul
Castro that would have been unthinkable before his brother, Fidel,
formally handed over power in 2008.
It appears to be a genuine attempt to join the global economy, although
Cuba's past dealings with foreign investors suggest caution.
"Given what we know so far, this is something of an improvement in the
investment climate but some important obstacles remain. We won't really
know until we see how it is applied in practice," said Richard Feinberg,
a former national security advisor to U.S. President Bill Clinton who
now teaches at the University of California, San Diego.
The communist government sometimes lets investment proposals die on the
shelf without explanation. It has, for example, entered talks with
several groups about building golf resorts only to let proposals wither
after once appearing to favour them.
"The problem with the new law is that except for taxes, little has
changed, which means their attitude hasn't changed," said one European
diplomat who declined to be identified. "In the end, the entire law
remains discretionary."
Experts say Cuba's approach to foreign business has been arbitrary. If a
venture is successful, the government often wants a bigger stake. It
welcomes foreign financing, but once a project is operational it wants
to take charge, they say.
"Use the foreigners where it suits you. Spit them out as soon as their
usefulness is over," said another European diplomat who requested anonymity.
Cuba has closed more joint ventures than it has opened since the ruling
Communist Party adopted wide-ranging economic reforms in 2011, and last
year the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group Unilever ended a 15-year joint
venture after failing to resolve a dispute with the government over who
would have the controlling interest.
More chillingly, Cuba jailed executives in British investment and
trading firm Coral Capital Group Ltd on unspecified fraud changes. They
were found guilty of minor charges last June and released for time
served, more than a year each.
The government was previously more likely to deport such suspects. Now
it has made clear it is willing to find executives criminally liable.
French entrepreneur Michel Villand stopped doing business in Cuba after
establishing a chain of bakeries called Pain de Paris, now in the hands
of the government. He wrote a book entitled "My Associate Fidel" in
which he said his government partners defrauded him by keeping two sets
of books, then offered a ridiculously low sum for his stake.
"Starting a joint venture in Cuba for a small or medium-sized foreign
business is the same as putting a noose around your neck," Villand told
the Spanish news agency EFE.
A number of foreign companies have prospered in Cuba, notably Swiss food
giant Nestle, Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group, Spain's Melia Hotels
International, and Canada's Sherritt International, which has a joint
venture with the Cuban state to mine nickel.
"It's still a place to do business. Ask the Brazilians. They just put
$800 million in there," said Kirby Jones, president of Alamar
Associates, a consultancy for companies with an interest in Cuba.
Brazilian development bank BNDES financed a new special trading zone at
Cuba's port of Mariel, with an expansion built by the Brazilian
construction company Odebrecht SA.
Despite the past failings, some investors and analysts believe the new
law shows that Cuban authorities at the highest levels agree they need
to attract more foreign investment and that it marks a true change in
course by a secretive government that has been in power since a 1959
revolution.
"This is still only speculation, but I believe it is a real change,"
said Thomas Herzfeld, whose Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund groups stocks
and other assets that he believes will benefit from an eventual end to
the U.S. economic embargo. "The new bill will probably encourage foreign
investors to take another look at Cuba."
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta and Marc Frank; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Source: Cuba's past raises scepticism about new foreign investment law -
elEconomista.es -
http://www.eleconomista.es/empresas-finanzas/noticias/5667155/03/14/Cubas-past-raises-scepticism-about-new-foreign-investment-law.html#.Kku8wAOdloQVIZV
31/03/2014 - 13:11
By Daniel Trotta
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has declared itself open for business with a new
foreign investment law but faces deep scepticism given a history that
includes jailing foreign executives and attempting to seize greater
control of businesses once they prove successful.
The National Assembly unanimously passed a law on Saturday that embraces
foreign capital as crucial to Cuba's development, while disappointing
those who had hoped for even more changes, such as allowing foreign
ventures to hire Cuban labour freely instead of through the government.
Cut off from U.S. investment by Washington's comprehensive trade
embargo, Cuba says it needs $2 billion (£1.2 billion) to $2.5 billion
(£1.5 billion) a year in foreign direct investment (FDI) to help reach
its target of 7 percent growth a year. Economists estimate current FDI
at a few hundred million, and the economy is expected to grow just 2.2
percent this year.
The new law, which will take effect within 90 days, is most notable for
cutting the tax on profits in half and eliminating a labour tax while
granting new investors an 8-year exemption on the profits tax.
In an economy suffering from chronic underinvestment, foreigners are
being enticed. Among the areas in need are agriculture, infrastructure,
sugar, nickel mining, building renovation and real estate development.
The law is part of a series of reforms enacted by Cuban President Raul
Castro that would have been unthinkable before his brother, Fidel,
formally handed over power in 2008.
It appears to be a genuine attempt to join the global economy, although
Cuba's past dealings with foreign investors suggest caution.
"Given what we know so far, this is something of an improvement in the
investment climate but some important obstacles remain. We won't really
know until we see how it is applied in practice," said Richard Feinberg,
a former national security advisor to U.S. President Bill Clinton who
now teaches at the University of California, San Diego.
The communist government sometimes lets investment proposals die on the
shelf without explanation. It has, for example, entered talks with
several groups about building golf resorts only to let proposals wither
after once appearing to favour them.
"The problem with the new law is that except for taxes, little has
changed, which means their attitude hasn't changed," said one European
diplomat who declined to be identified. "In the end, the entire law
remains discretionary."
Experts say Cuba's approach to foreign business has been arbitrary. If a
venture is successful, the government often wants a bigger stake. It
welcomes foreign financing, but once a project is operational it wants
to take charge, they say.
"Use the foreigners where it suits you. Spit them out as soon as their
usefulness is over," said another European diplomat who requested anonymity.
Cuba has closed more joint ventures than it has opened since the ruling
Communist Party adopted wide-ranging economic reforms in 2011, and last
year the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group Unilever ended a 15-year joint
venture after failing to resolve a dispute with the government over who
would have the controlling interest.
More chillingly, Cuba jailed executives in British investment and
trading firm Coral Capital Group Ltd on unspecified fraud changes. They
were found guilty of minor charges last June and released for time
served, more than a year each.
The government was previously more likely to deport such suspects. Now
it has made clear it is willing to find executives criminally liable.
French entrepreneur Michel Villand stopped doing business in Cuba after
establishing a chain of bakeries called Pain de Paris, now in the hands
of the government. He wrote a book entitled "My Associate Fidel" in
which he said his government partners defrauded him by keeping two sets
of books, then offered a ridiculously low sum for his stake.
"Starting a joint venture in Cuba for a small or medium-sized foreign
business is the same as putting a noose around your neck," Villand told
the Spanish news agency EFE.
A number of foreign companies have prospered in Cuba, notably Swiss food
giant Nestle, Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group, Spain's Melia Hotels
International, and Canada's Sherritt International, which has a joint
venture with the Cuban state to mine nickel.
"It's still a place to do business. Ask the Brazilians. They just put
$800 million in there," said Kirby Jones, president of Alamar
Associates, a consultancy for companies with an interest in Cuba.
Brazilian development bank BNDES financed a new special trading zone at
Cuba's port of Mariel, with an expansion built by the Brazilian
construction company Odebrecht SA.
Despite the past failings, some investors and analysts believe the new
law shows that Cuban authorities at the highest levels agree they need
to attract more foreign investment and that it marks a true change in
course by a secretive government that has been in power since a 1959
revolution.
"This is still only speculation, but I believe it is a real change,"
said Thomas Herzfeld, whose Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund groups stocks
and other assets that he believes will benefit from an eventual end to
the U.S. economic embargo. "The new bill will probably encourage foreign
investors to take another look at Cuba."
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta and Marc Frank; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Source: Cuba's past raises scepticism about new foreign investment law -
elEconomista.es -
http://www.eleconomista.es/empresas-finanzas/noticias/5667155/03/14/Cubas-past-raises-scepticism-about-new-foreign-investment-law.html#.Kku8wAOdloQVIZV
Cuba's past raises scepticism about new foreign investment law
Cuba's past raises scepticism about new foreign investment law
31/03/2014 - 13:11
By Daniel Trotta
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has declared itself open for business with a new
foreign investment law but faces deep scepticism given a history that
includes jailing foreign executives and attempting to seize greater
control of businesses once they prove successful.
The National Assembly unanimously passed a law on Saturday that embraces
foreign capital as crucial to Cuba's development, while disappointing
those who had hoped for even more changes, such as allowing foreign
ventures to hire Cuban labour freely instead of through the government.
Cut off from U.S. investment by Washington's comprehensive trade
embargo, Cuba says it needs $2 billion (£1.2 billion) to $2.5 billion
(£1.5 billion) a year in foreign direct investment (FDI) to help reach
its target of 7 percent growth a year. Economists estimate current FDI
at a few hundred million, and the economy is expected to grow just 2.2
percent this year.
The new law, which will take effect within 90 days, is most notable for
cutting the tax on profits in half and eliminating a labour tax while
granting new investors an 8-year exemption on the profits tax.
In an economy suffering from chronic underinvestment, foreigners are
being enticed. Among the areas in need are agriculture, infrastructure,
sugar, nickel mining, building renovation and real estate development.
The law is part of a series of reforms enacted by Cuban President Raul
Castro that would have been unthinkable before his brother, Fidel,
formally handed over power in 2008.
It appears to be a genuine attempt to join the global economy, although
Cuba's past dealings with foreign investors suggest caution.
"Given what we know so far, this is something of an improvement in the
investment climate but some important obstacles remain. We won't really
know until we see how it is applied in practice," said Richard Feinberg,
a former national security advisor to U.S. President Bill Clinton who
now teaches at the University of California, San Diego.
The communist government sometimes lets investment proposals die on the
shelf without explanation. It has, for example, entered talks with
several groups about building golf resorts only to let proposals wither
after once appearing to favour them.
"The problem with the new law is that except for taxes, little has
changed, which means their attitude hasn't changed," said one European
diplomat who declined to be identified. "In the end, the entire law
remains discretionary."
Experts say Cuba's approach to foreign business has been arbitrary. If a
venture is successful, the government often wants a bigger stake. It
welcomes foreign financing, but once a project is operational it wants
to take charge, they say.
"Use the foreigners where it suits you. Spit them out as soon as their
usefulness is over," said another European diplomat who requested anonymity.
Cuba has closed more joint ventures than it has opened since the ruling
Communist Party adopted wide-ranging economic reforms in 2011, and last
year the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group Unilever ended a 15-year joint
venture after failing to resolve a dispute with the government over who
would have the controlling interest.
More chillingly, Cuba jailed executives in British investment and
trading firm Coral Capital Group Ltd on unspecified fraud changes. They
were found guilty of minor charges last June and released for time
served, more than a year each.
The government was previously more likely to deport such suspects. Now
it has made clear it is willing to find executives criminally liable.
French entrepreneur Michel Villand stopped doing business in Cuba after
establishing a chain of bakeries called Pain de Paris, now in the hands
of the government. He wrote a book entitled "My Associate Fidel" in
which he said his government partners defrauded him by keeping two sets
of books, then offered a ridiculously low sum for his stake.
"Starting a joint venture in Cuba for a small or medium-sized foreign
business is the same as putting a noose around your neck," Villand told
the Spanish news agency EFE.
A number of foreign companies have prospered in Cuba, notably Swiss food
giant Nestle, Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group, Spain's Melia Hotels
International, and Canada's Sherritt International, which has a joint
venture with the Cuban state to mine nickel.
"It's still a place to do business. Ask the Brazilians. They just put
$800 million in there," said Kirby Jones, president of Alamar
Associates, a consultancy for companies with an interest in Cuba.
Brazilian development bank BNDES financed a new special trading zone at
Cuba's port of Mariel, with an expansion built by the Brazilian
construction company Odebrecht SA.
Despite the past failings, some investors and analysts believe the new
law shows that Cuban authorities at the highest levels agree they need
to attract more foreign investment and that it marks a true change in
course by a secretive government that has been in power since a 1959
revolution.
"This is still only speculation, but I believe it is a real change,"
said Thomas Herzfeld, whose Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund groups stocks
and other assets that he believes will benefit from an eventual end to
the U.S. economic embargo. "The new bill will probably encourage foreign
investors to take another look at Cuba."
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta and Marc Frank; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Source: Cuba's past raises scepticism about new foreign investment law -
elEconomista.es -
http://www.eleconomista.es/empresas-finanzas/noticias/5667155/03/14/Cubas-past-raises-scepticism-about-new-foreign-investment-law.html#.Kku8wAOdloQVIZV
31/03/2014 - 13:11
By Daniel Trotta
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has declared itself open for business with a new
foreign investment law but faces deep scepticism given a history that
includes jailing foreign executives and attempting to seize greater
control of businesses once they prove successful.
The National Assembly unanimously passed a law on Saturday that embraces
foreign capital as crucial to Cuba's development, while disappointing
those who had hoped for even more changes, such as allowing foreign
ventures to hire Cuban labour freely instead of through the government.
Cut off from U.S. investment by Washington's comprehensive trade
embargo, Cuba says it needs $2 billion (£1.2 billion) to $2.5 billion
(£1.5 billion) a year in foreign direct investment (FDI) to help reach
its target of 7 percent growth a year. Economists estimate current FDI
at a few hundred million, and the economy is expected to grow just 2.2
percent this year.
The new law, which will take effect within 90 days, is most notable for
cutting the tax on profits in half and eliminating a labour tax while
granting new investors an 8-year exemption on the profits tax.
In an economy suffering from chronic underinvestment, foreigners are
being enticed. Among the areas in need are agriculture, infrastructure,
sugar, nickel mining, building renovation and real estate development.
The law is part of a series of reforms enacted by Cuban President Raul
Castro that would have been unthinkable before his brother, Fidel,
formally handed over power in 2008.
It appears to be a genuine attempt to join the global economy, although
Cuba's past dealings with foreign investors suggest caution.
"Given what we know so far, this is something of an improvement in the
investment climate but some important obstacles remain. We won't really
know until we see how it is applied in practice," said Richard Feinberg,
a former national security advisor to U.S. President Bill Clinton who
now teaches at the University of California, San Diego.
The communist government sometimes lets investment proposals die on the
shelf without explanation. It has, for example, entered talks with
several groups about building golf resorts only to let proposals wither
after once appearing to favour them.
"The problem with the new law is that except for taxes, little has
changed, which means their attitude hasn't changed," said one European
diplomat who declined to be identified. "In the end, the entire law
remains discretionary."
Experts say Cuba's approach to foreign business has been arbitrary. If a
venture is successful, the government often wants a bigger stake. It
welcomes foreign financing, but once a project is operational it wants
to take charge, they say.
"Use the foreigners where it suits you. Spit them out as soon as their
usefulness is over," said another European diplomat who requested anonymity.
Cuba has closed more joint ventures than it has opened since the ruling
Communist Party adopted wide-ranging economic reforms in 2011, and last
year the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group Unilever ended a 15-year joint
venture after failing to resolve a dispute with the government over who
would have the controlling interest.
More chillingly, Cuba jailed executives in British investment and
trading firm Coral Capital Group Ltd on unspecified fraud changes. They
were found guilty of minor charges last June and released for time
served, more than a year each.
The government was previously more likely to deport such suspects. Now
it has made clear it is willing to find executives criminally liable.
French entrepreneur Michel Villand stopped doing business in Cuba after
establishing a chain of bakeries called Pain de Paris, now in the hands
of the government. He wrote a book entitled "My Associate Fidel" in
which he said his government partners defrauded him by keeping two sets
of books, then offered a ridiculously low sum for his stake.
"Starting a joint venture in Cuba for a small or medium-sized foreign
business is the same as putting a noose around your neck," Villand told
the Spanish news agency EFE.
A number of foreign companies have prospered in Cuba, notably Swiss food
giant Nestle, Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group, Spain's Melia Hotels
International, and Canada's Sherritt International, which has a joint
venture with the Cuban state to mine nickel.
"It's still a place to do business. Ask the Brazilians. They just put
$800 million in there," said Kirby Jones, president of Alamar
Associates, a consultancy for companies with an interest in Cuba.
Brazilian development bank BNDES financed a new special trading zone at
Cuba's port of Mariel, with an expansion built by the Brazilian
construction company Odebrecht SA.
Despite the past failings, some investors and analysts believe the new
law shows that Cuban authorities at the highest levels agree they need
to attract more foreign investment and that it marks a true change in
course by a secretive government that has been in power since a 1959
revolution.
"This is still only speculation, but I believe it is a real change,"
said Thomas Herzfeld, whose Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund groups stocks
and other assets that he believes will benefit from an eventual end to
the U.S. economic embargo. "The new bill will probably encourage foreign
investors to take another look at Cuba."
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta and Marc Frank; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Source: Cuba's past raises scepticism about new foreign investment law -
elEconomista.es -
http://www.eleconomista.es/empresas-finanzas/noticias/5667155/03/14/Cubas-past-raises-scepticism-about-new-foreign-investment-law.html#.Kku8wAOdloQVIZV
Cuba aspira $2.500 millones al año de inversión extranjera
Cuba aspira $2.500 millones al año de inversión extranjera
Parlamento cubano prueba ley que permite inversión de capital extranjero
EL UNIVERSAL
domingo 30 de marzo de 2014 12:00 AM
La Habana.- El Parlamento cubano aprobó por unanimidad una nueva ley que
busca atraer más inversiones extranjeras para intentar reflotar la
economía de la isla.
Con la reforma, la isla aspira a conseguir hasta 2.500 millones de
dólares al año en inversiones directas del extranjero, especificó el
llamado "zar de las reformas", el vicepresidente Marino Murillo, acotó DPA.
La Ley de Inversión Extranjera dará "carácter prioritario" a la llegada
de capitales foráneos y abrirá la economía en casi "todos los sectores",
según las informaciones difundidas en los últimos días por los medios
estatales.
La legislación abrirá casi "todos los sectores" a las inversiones,
excepto algunas áreas como la educación y la salud, señaló recientemente
el diario Juventud Rebelde. Tampoco los medios podrán estar en manos
privadas, informó Granma.
El también vicepresidente del Consejo de Ministros subrayó que Cuba
necesita la inversión extranjera para incrementar el crecimiento de su
Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) y la acumulación de capital, que alcanzaron
en la última década un promedio del 1,8% y el 13% respectivamente, según
cifras de la agencia Prensa Latina.
Alto ritmo de crecimiento
El país aspira alcanzar un ritmo de crecimiento anual de entre el 5 y el
7%, "y para conseguirlo se hace necesario alcanzar tasas de acumulación
del 20-25%, mediante créditos e inversión extranjera directa", dijo
Murillo.
Raúl Castro acudió a la Asamblea para la votación. El mandatario abogó
en los últimos meses en varias ocasiones por una ley que incremente la
llegada de capitales para reflotar la economía de la isla.
La cúpula del castrismo defendió en el Parlamento la necesidad de
recibir capital extranjero. "Si no crece la economía a niveles de
alrededor del 7% no vamos a podernos desarrollar", dijo Malmierca.
Los medios estatales subrayaron estos días que abrir más la economía a
capitales foráneos no implica poner "el país en venta ni un regreso al
pasado". "Una inversión bien hecha no es regalar el país en pedazos",
dijo Murillo.
La isla está sumida en una crónica crisis económica desde los años 90,
cuando la desaparición de la Unión Soviética dejó al país al borde del
colapso, y depende hoy en gran medida del suministro de petróleo desde
Venezuela en condiciones preferentes.
El nuevo marco legal llega en medio de una serie de reformas con las que
Castro busca abrir la economía de la isla.
En los últimos años los cubanos fueron autorizados a abrir pequeños
negocios privados, en un esfuerzo por reducir el peso del Estado en
áreas desde el comercio a la agricultura.
Cambios de dirigentes
El Parlamento cubano eligió a dos nuevos integrantes del Consejo de
Estado, el órgano que representa al Legislativo de la isla y que está
presidido por Raúl Castro.
Los diputados de la Asamblea Nacional eligieron al secretario general de
la Central de Trabajadores de Cuba, Ulises Guilarte, y a Rafael Ramón
Santiesteban, presidente de la Asociación Nacional de Agricultores
Pequeños, como nuevos miembros de la cúpula de poder.
Source: Cuba aspira $2.500 millones al año de inversión extranjera -
Internacional -
http://www.eluniversal.com/internacional/140330/cuba-aspira-2500-millones-al-ano-de-inversion-extranjera
Parlamento cubano prueba ley que permite inversión de capital extranjero
EL UNIVERSAL
domingo 30 de marzo de 2014 12:00 AM
La Habana.- El Parlamento cubano aprobó por unanimidad una nueva ley que
busca atraer más inversiones extranjeras para intentar reflotar la
economía de la isla.
Con la reforma, la isla aspira a conseguir hasta 2.500 millones de
dólares al año en inversiones directas del extranjero, especificó el
llamado "zar de las reformas", el vicepresidente Marino Murillo, acotó DPA.
La Ley de Inversión Extranjera dará "carácter prioritario" a la llegada
de capitales foráneos y abrirá la economía en casi "todos los sectores",
según las informaciones difundidas en los últimos días por los medios
estatales.
La legislación abrirá casi "todos los sectores" a las inversiones,
excepto algunas áreas como la educación y la salud, señaló recientemente
el diario Juventud Rebelde. Tampoco los medios podrán estar en manos
privadas, informó Granma.
El también vicepresidente del Consejo de Ministros subrayó que Cuba
necesita la inversión extranjera para incrementar el crecimiento de su
Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) y la acumulación de capital, que alcanzaron
en la última década un promedio del 1,8% y el 13% respectivamente, según
cifras de la agencia Prensa Latina.
Alto ritmo de crecimiento
El país aspira alcanzar un ritmo de crecimiento anual de entre el 5 y el
7%, "y para conseguirlo se hace necesario alcanzar tasas de acumulación
del 20-25%, mediante créditos e inversión extranjera directa", dijo
Murillo.
Raúl Castro acudió a la Asamblea para la votación. El mandatario abogó
en los últimos meses en varias ocasiones por una ley que incremente la
llegada de capitales para reflotar la economía de la isla.
La cúpula del castrismo defendió en el Parlamento la necesidad de
recibir capital extranjero. "Si no crece la economía a niveles de
alrededor del 7% no vamos a podernos desarrollar", dijo Malmierca.
Los medios estatales subrayaron estos días que abrir más la economía a
capitales foráneos no implica poner "el país en venta ni un regreso al
pasado". "Una inversión bien hecha no es regalar el país en pedazos",
dijo Murillo.
La isla está sumida en una crónica crisis económica desde los años 90,
cuando la desaparición de la Unión Soviética dejó al país al borde del
colapso, y depende hoy en gran medida del suministro de petróleo desde
Venezuela en condiciones preferentes.
El nuevo marco legal llega en medio de una serie de reformas con las que
Castro busca abrir la economía de la isla.
En los últimos años los cubanos fueron autorizados a abrir pequeños
negocios privados, en un esfuerzo por reducir el peso del Estado en
áreas desde el comercio a la agricultura.
Cambios de dirigentes
El Parlamento cubano eligió a dos nuevos integrantes del Consejo de
Estado, el órgano que representa al Legislativo de la isla y que está
presidido por Raúl Castro.
Los diputados de la Asamblea Nacional eligieron al secretario general de
la Central de Trabajadores de Cuba, Ulises Guilarte, y a Rafael Ramón
Santiesteban, presidente de la Asociación Nacional de Agricultores
Pequeños, como nuevos miembros de la cúpula de poder.
Source: Cuba aspira $2.500 millones al año de inversión extranjera -
Internacional -
http://www.eluniversal.com/internacional/140330/cuba-aspira-2500-millones-al-ano-de-inversion-extranjera