Un campesino muy beneficiado
Lunes, 03 de Diciembre de 2012 05:10
Escrito por Saylí Navarro Álvarez
Cuba actualidad, Matanzas, (PD) Efraín Salcedo Garlobo es un campesino
de la zona oriental del país, de setenta y cuatro años de edad, que
sufre las injusticias cometidas por la dirigencia cubana de los últimos
cincuenta y tres años del proceso totalitario y antidemocrático anclado
en los destinos de la nación cubana.santaclarero1
Debo aclarar que Salcedo Garlobo es propietario de cinco caballerías de
tierra en la Finca Santaclarero, en Pilón, provincia Granma, desde el
año 1947; pertenece a la Base Campesina de Pilón, donde según él Goyo
Martínez es el jefe, y me contó su calvario porque ya ha tocado varias
puertas de la Administración Central del Estado y nadie le ha
solucionado el problema.
Este hombre sencillo, lúcido y respetable, curtido por los trajines del
campo, nos dijo directamente que en el año 1970, por insistencia de
Fidel Castro Ruz y de Guillermo García Frías, con la intención de que
los campesinos de la zona aceptaran un contrato de arrendamiento de sus
tierras, se les prometió que si daban el paso que reclamaba la
revolución, todos recibirán grandes beneficios, tales como que nunca les
faltaría la leche, que disfrutarían de un buen sueldo y hasta tendrían
energía eléctrica.
Con una oferta tan tentadora como aquella, nos recalcó Efraín Salcedo
Garlobo, quién se resistiría. Él y su esposa Emma Virgen Sánchez
Espinosa, copropietaria de la finca, aceptaron el negocio.
Al principio el contrato mostró excelentes dividendos. Todos los meses
recibían el pago de $ 417,00 en moneda nacional, más las ventajas de
cultivar la tierra y percibir sus frutos, además de la ganadería y la
cría de otros animales, de los cuales se alimentaban. Pero el proyecto
alcanzó su mayoría de edad y con los años apareció la mano peluda del
propietario del infierno.
Les quitaron la propiedad de la Finca Santaclarero, les hicieron vender
todas las reses, y no podían tener más de diez chivos o carneros.
Emma Virgen Sánchez Espinosa muere el 23 de abril de 2006, y Efraín
continúa cobrando la chequera completa de su esposa durante los tres
meses posteriores a su fallecimiento, pero a partir de agosto de ese
año, al llegar a la Agencia Bancaria donde siempre se cobraron tales
honorarios, se le comunicó que dicha cuenta había cerrado y en tono
burlón y prepotente le dijeron que reclamara donde quisiera.
Pese a no tener abogado, el Sr. Efraín Salcedo Garlobo envió una carta
dirigida al Consejo de Estado de la República de Cuba y desde allí
recibió la respuesta de que la solución le llegaría desde Bayamo, pero
todavía nadie le ha restituido su Finca Santaclarero, la que le fuera
quitada en proceso engañoso fraguado desde la década del 70 del pasado
siglo hasta el año 2006, en que con la muerte de su esposa se descubrió
toda la engañifa en que lo habían envuelto para despojarlo de sus bienes
patrimoniales.
La Finca Santaclarero es hoy un lugar donde proliferan el marabú, la
cañuela y el abandono, porque como ocurrió con todas las propiedades
agrícolas de este país, el Gobierno se las quitó a los legítimos dueños
para después dejarlas a la deriva improductiva, generadora del
desabastecimiento que obliga a la nación a comprar viandas, frutas y
hortalizas en el mercado exterior.
http://primaveradigital.org/primavera/cuba-sociedad/sociedad/5909-un-campesino-muy-beneficiado.html
lunes, 3 de diciembre de 2012
Un campesino muy beneficiado
Un campesino muy beneficiado
Lunes, 03 de Diciembre de 2012 05:10
Escrito por Saylí Navarro Álvarez
Cuba actualidad, Matanzas, (PD) Efraín Salcedo Garlobo es un campesino
de la zona oriental del país, de setenta y cuatro años de edad, que
sufre las injusticias cometidas por la dirigencia cubana de los últimos
cincuenta y tres años del proceso totalitario y antidemocrático anclado
en los destinos de la nación cubana.santaclarero1
Debo aclarar que Salcedo Garlobo es propietario de cinco caballerías de
tierra en la Finca Santaclarero, en Pilón, provincia Granma, desde el
año 1947; pertenece a la Base Campesina de Pilón, donde según él Goyo
Martínez es el jefe, y me contó su calvario porque ya ha tocado varias
puertas de la Administración Central del Estado y nadie le ha
solucionado el problema.
Este hombre sencillo, lúcido y respetable, curtido por los trajines del
campo, nos dijo directamente que en el año 1970, por insistencia de
Fidel Castro Ruz y de Guillermo García Frías, con la intención de que
los campesinos de la zona aceptaran un contrato de arrendamiento de sus
tierras, se les prometió que si daban el paso que reclamaba la
revolución, todos recibirán grandes beneficios, tales como que nunca les
faltaría la leche, que disfrutarían de un buen sueldo y hasta tendrían
energía eléctrica.
Con una oferta tan tentadora como aquella, nos recalcó Efraín Salcedo
Garlobo, quién se resistiría. Él y su esposa Emma Virgen Sánchez
Espinosa, copropietaria de la finca, aceptaron el negocio.
Al principio el contrato mostró excelentes dividendos. Todos los meses
recibían el pago de $ 417,00 en moneda nacional, más las ventajas de
cultivar la tierra y percibir sus frutos, además de la ganadería y la
cría de otros animales, de los cuales se alimentaban. Pero el proyecto
alcanzó su mayoría de edad y con los años apareció la mano peluda del
propietario del infierno.
Les quitaron la propiedad de la Finca Santaclarero, les hicieron vender
todas las reses, y no podían tener más de diez chivos o carneros.
Emma Virgen Sánchez Espinosa muere el 23 de abril de 2006, y Efraín
continúa cobrando la chequera completa de su esposa durante los tres
meses posteriores a su fallecimiento, pero a partir de agosto de ese
año, al llegar a la Agencia Bancaria donde siempre se cobraron tales
honorarios, se le comunicó que dicha cuenta había cerrado y en tono
burlón y prepotente le dijeron que reclamara donde quisiera.
Pese a no tener abogado, el Sr. Efraín Salcedo Garlobo envió una carta
dirigida al Consejo de Estado de la República de Cuba y desde allí
recibió la respuesta de que la solución le llegaría desde Bayamo, pero
todavía nadie le ha restituido su Finca Santaclarero, la que le fuera
quitada en proceso engañoso fraguado desde la década del 70 del pasado
siglo hasta el año 2006, en que con la muerte de su esposa se descubrió
toda la engañifa en que lo habían envuelto para despojarlo de sus bienes
patrimoniales.
La Finca Santaclarero es hoy un lugar donde proliferan el marabú, la
cañuela y el abandono, porque como ocurrió con todas las propiedades
agrícolas de este país, el Gobierno se las quitó a los legítimos dueños
para después dejarlas a la deriva improductiva, generadora del
desabastecimiento que obliga a la nación a comprar viandas, frutas y
hortalizas en el mercado exterior.
http://primaveradigital.org/primavera/cuba-sociedad/sociedad/5909-un-campesino-muy-beneficiado.html
Lunes, 03 de Diciembre de 2012 05:10
Escrito por Saylí Navarro Álvarez
Cuba actualidad, Matanzas, (PD) Efraín Salcedo Garlobo es un campesino
de la zona oriental del país, de setenta y cuatro años de edad, que
sufre las injusticias cometidas por la dirigencia cubana de los últimos
cincuenta y tres años del proceso totalitario y antidemocrático anclado
en los destinos de la nación cubana.santaclarero1
Debo aclarar que Salcedo Garlobo es propietario de cinco caballerías de
tierra en la Finca Santaclarero, en Pilón, provincia Granma, desde el
año 1947; pertenece a la Base Campesina de Pilón, donde según él Goyo
Martínez es el jefe, y me contó su calvario porque ya ha tocado varias
puertas de la Administración Central del Estado y nadie le ha
solucionado el problema.
Este hombre sencillo, lúcido y respetable, curtido por los trajines del
campo, nos dijo directamente que en el año 1970, por insistencia de
Fidel Castro Ruz y de Guillermo García Frías, con la intención de que
los campesinos de la zona aceptaran un contrato de arrendamiento de sus
tierras, se les prometió que si daban el paso que reclamaba la
revolución, todos recibirán grandes beneficios, tales como que nunca les
faltaría la leche, que disfrutarían de un buen sueldo y hasta tendrían
energía eléctrica.
Con una oferta tan tentadora como aquella, nos recalcó Efraín Salcedo
Garlobo, quién se resistiría. Él y su esposa Emma Virgen Sánchez
Espinosa, copropietaria de la finca, aceptaron el negocio.
Al principio el contrato mostró excelentes dividendos. Todos los meses
recibían el pago de $ 417,00 en moneda nacional, más las ventajas de
cultivar la tierra y percibir sus frutos, además de la ganadería y la
cría de otros animales, de los cuales se alimentaban. Pero el proyecto
alcanzó su mayoría de edad y con los años apareció la mano peluda del
propietario del infierno.
Les quitaron la propiedad de la Finca Santaclarero, les hicieron vender
todas las reses, y no podían tener más de diez chivos o carneros.
Emma Virgen Sánchez Espinosa muere el 23 de abril de 2006, y Efraín
continúa cobrando la chequera completa de su esposa durante los tres
meses posteriores a su fallecimiento, pero a partir de agosto de ese
año, al llegar a la Agencia Bancaria donde siempre se cobraron tales
honorarios, se le comunicó que dicha cuenta había cerrado y en tono
burlón y prepotente le dijeron que reclamara donde quisiera.
Pese a no tener abogado, el Sr. Efraín Salcedo Garlobo envió una carta
dirigida al Consejo de Estado de la República de Cuba y desde allí
recibió la respuesta de que la solución le llegaría desde Bayamo, pero
todavía nadie le ha restituido su Finca Santaclarero, la que le fuera
quitada en proceso engañoso fraguado desde la década del 70 del pasado
siglo hasta el año 2006, en que con la muerte de su esposa se descubrió
toda la engañifa en que lo habían envuelto para despojarlo de sus bienes
patrimoniales.
La Finca Santaclarero es hoy un lugar donde proliferan el marabú, la
cañuela y el abandono, porque como ocurrió con todas las propiedades
agrícolas de este país, el Gobierno se las quitó a los legítimos dueños
para después dejarlas a la deriva improductiva, generadora del
desabastecimiento que obliga a la nación a comprar viandas, frutas y
hortalizas en el mercado exterior.
http://primaveradigital.org/primavera/cuba-sociedad/sociedad/5909-un-campesino-muy-beneficiado.html
Cuba: Economía crecerá 3,1% en 2012
Cuba: Economía crecerá 3,1% en 2012
03 de diciembre de 2012 • 14:34
Associated Press
Cuba pronosticó que su economía crecerá 3,1% en 2012, una cifra inferior
a lo previsto anteriormente pero superior a la del 2011, se informó el
lunes.
De acuerdo con un reporte del diario oficial Granma, el ministro de la
Economía, Adel Yzquierdo, precisó durante una reunión del Consejo de
Ministros efectuada el viernes que "se prevé no alcanzar el incremento
planificado debido fundamentalmente a la actividad de construcción que
incumple su plan".
El año pasado, la economía cubana creció 2,7%, una cifra que fue también
inferior al 3% pronosticado inicialmente.
El ministro agregó que para el próximo año "se avizora un crecimiento de
3.7%", según el diario.
http://noticias.terra.es/mundo/latinoamerica/cuba-economia-crecera-31-en-2012,3570c752eb75b310VgnCLD2000000dc6eb0aRCRD.html
03 de diciembre de 2012 • 14:34
Associated Press
Cuba pronosticó que su economía crecerá 3,1% en 2012, una cifra inferior
a lo previsto anteriormente pero superior a la del 2011, se informó el
lunes.
De acuerdo con un reporte del diario oficial Granma, el ministro de la
Economía, Adel Yzquierdo, precisó durante una reunión del Consejo de
Ministros efectuada el viernes que "se prevé no alcanzar el incremento
planificado debido fundamentalmente a la actividad de construcción que
incumple su plan".
El año pasado, la economía cubana creció 2,7%, una cifra que fue también
inferior al 3% pronosticado inicialmente.
El ministro agregó que para el próximo año "se avizora un crecimiento de
3.7%", según el diario.
http://noticias.terra.es/mundo/latinoamerica/cuba-economia-crecera-31-en-2012,3570c752eb75b310VgnCLD2000000dc6eb0aRCRD.html
Cuba: Economía crecerá 3,1% en 2012
Cuba: Economía crecerá 3,1% en 2012
03 de diciembre de 2012 • 14:34
Associated Press
Cuba pronosticó que su economía crecerá 3,1% en 2012, una cifra inferior
a lo previsto anteriormente pero superior a la del 2011, se informó el
lunes.
De acuerdo con un reporte del diario oficial Granma, el ministro de la
Economía, Adel Yzquierdo, precisó durante una reunión del Consejo de
Ministros efectuada el viernes que "se prevé no alcanzar el incremento
planificado debido fundamentalmente a la actividad de construcción que
incumple su plan".
El año pasado, la economía cubana creció 2,7%, una cifra que fue también
inferior al 3% pronosticado inicialmente.
El ministro agregó que para el próximo año "se avizora un crecimiento de
3.7%", según el diario.
http://noticias.terra.es/mundo/latinoamerica/cuba-economia-crecera-31-en-2012,3570c752eb75b310VgnCLD2000000dc6eb0aRCRD.html
03 de diciembre de 2012 • 14:34
Associated Press
Cuba pronosticó que su economía crecerá 3,1% en 2012, una cifra inferior
a lo previsto anteriormente pero superior a la del 2011, se informó el
lunes.
De acuerdo con un reporte del diario oficial Granma, el ministro de la
Economía, Adel Yzquierdo, precisó durante una reunión del Consejo de
Ministros efectuada el viernes que "se prevé no alcanzar el incremento
planificado debido fundamentalmente a la actividad de construcción que
incumple su plan".
El año pasado, la economía cubana creció 2,7%, una cifra que fue también
inferior al 3% pronosticado inicialmente.
El ministro agregó que para el próximo año "se avizora un crecimiento de
3.7%", según el diario.
http://noticias.terra.es/mundo/latinoamerica/cuba-economia-crecera-31-en-2012,3570c752eb75b310VgnCLD2000000dc6eb0aRCRD.html
Cuban Assets Control Regulations
Cuban Assets Control Regulations
6:12am (ET) 12/03/2012 Federal Register
SUMMARY: The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets
Control ("OFAC") is amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to
authorize the processing of funds transfers for the operating expenses
or other official business of third-country diplomatic or consular
missions in Cuba. OFAC also is amending the Cuban Assets Control
Regulations to authorize certain payments for services rendered by Cuba
to United States aircraft that currently require the issuance of a
specific license.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Effective Date: December 3, 2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Assistant Director for Sanctions
Compliance & Evaluation, tel.: 202/622-2490, Assistant Director for
Licensing, tel.: 202/622-2480, Assistant Director for Policy, tel.:
202/622-4855, Office of Foreign Assets Control, or Chief Counsel
(Foreign Assets Control), tel.: 202/622-2410, Office of the General
Counsel, Department of the Treasury (not toll free numbers).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Electronic and Facsimile Availability
This document and additional information concerning OFAC are available
from OFAC's Web site (www.treasury.gov/ofac). Certain general
information pertaining to OFAC's sanctions programs also is available
via facsimile through a 24-hour fax-on-demand service, tel.: 202/622-0077.
Background
The U.S. Government issued the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 CFR
part 515 (the "CACR"), on July 8, 1963, under the Trading With the Enemy
Act (50 U.S.C. App. 5 et seq.). Section 515.201 of the CACR prohibits,
inter alia, all transfers of credit and all payments in which Cuba or a
Cuban national has any interest of any nature whatsoever, direct or
indirect, between, by, through, or to any banking institution
wheresoever located, with respect to any property subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States or by any person subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States.
OFAC is amending the CACR to authorize the processing of funds transfers
for the operating expenses or other official business of third-country
diplomatic or consular missions in Cuba. OFAC also is amending the CACR
to authorize certain payments for services rendered by Cuba to United
States aircraft.
Third-country diplomatic and consular funds transfers. To ensure that
the prohibitions in the CACR do not impede third-country diplomatic or
consular activities in Cuba, OFAC is adding new section 515.579 to the
CACR. This new section authorizes the processing of funds transfers
otherwise prohibited by the CACR for the operating expenses or other
official business of third- country diplomatic or consular missions in Cuba.
Services rendered by Cuba to United States aircraft. OFAC is amending
section 515.548 of the CACR to add a general license authorizing
payments in connection with overflights of Cuba or emergency landings in
Cuba by United States aircraft. Prior to this amendment, such payments
required the issuance of a specific license.
Public Participation
Because the amendment of the CACR involves a foreign affairs function,
the provisions of Executive Order 12866 of September 30, 1993, and the
Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) requiring notice of proposed
rulemaking, opportunity for public participation, and delay in effective
date are inapplicable. Because no notice of proposed rulemaking is
required for this rule, the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.
601-612) does not apply.
Paperwork Reduction Act
The collections of information related to the CACR are contained in 31
CFR part 501 (the "Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations").
Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507), those
collections of information have been approved by the Office of
Management and Budget under control number 1505-0164. An agency may not
conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a
collection of information unless the collection of information displays
a valid control number.
List of Subjects in 31 CFR Part 515
Aircraft, Banks, Banking, Cuba, Currency, Diplomatic and consular
missions, Emergency landings, Overflights.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Department of the
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control amends 31 CFR part 515 as
set forth below:
PART 515--CUBAN ASSETS CONTROL REGULATIONS
1. The authority citation for part 515 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 18 U.S.C. 2332d; 22 U.S.C. 2370(a), 6001-6010, 7201-7211; 31
U.S.C. 321(b); 50 U.S.C. App 1-44; Pub. L. 101-410, 104 Stat. 890 (28
U.S.C. 2461 note); Pub. L. 104-114, 110 Stat. 785 (22 U.S.C. 6021-6091);
Pub. L. 105- 277, 112 Stat. 2681; Pub. L. 111-8, 123 Stat. 524; Pub. L.
111-117, 123 Stat. 3034; E.O. 9193, 7 FR 5205, 3 CFR, 1938-1943 Comp.,
p. 1174; E.O. 9989, 13 FR 4891, 3 CFR, 1943-1948 Comp., p. 748; Proc.
3447, 27 FR 1085, 3 CFR, 1959-1963 Comp., p. 157; E.O. 12854, 58 FR
36587, 3 CFR, 1993 Comp., p. 614.
Subpart E--Licenses, Authorizations, and Statements of Licensing Policy
2. Revise [Section] 515.548 to read as follows:
[Section] 515.548 Services rendered by Cuba to United States aircraft.
Payment to Cuba of charges for services rendered by Cuba in connection
with overflights of Cuba or emergency landings in Cuba by aircraft
registered in the United States or owned or controlled by, or chartered
to, persons
[Page Number 71531]
subject to U.S. jurisdiction is authorized.
3. Add new [Section] 515.579 to subpart E to read as follows:
[Section] 515.579 Third-country diplomatic and consular funds transfers.
Depository institutions, as defined in [Section] 515.333, are authorized
to process funds transfers for the operating expenses or other official
business of third-country diplomatic or consular missions in Cuba.
Dated: November 26, 2012.
Adam J. Szubin,
Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control.
[FR Doc. 2012-29100 Filed 11-30-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-AL-P
Vol. 77, No. 232
31 CFR Part 515
Rules and Regulations
https://research.zecco.com/research/markets/news/story.asp?key=100-338u0819-1&lastPage=news
6:12am (ET) 12/03/2012 Federal Register
SUMMARY: The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets
Control ("OFAC") is amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to
authorize the processing of funds transfers for the operating expenses
or other official business of third-country diplomatic or consular
missions in Cuba. OFAC also is amending the Cuban Assets Control
Regulations to authorize certain payments for services rendered by Cuba
to United States aircraft that currently require the issuance of a
specific license.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Effective Date: December 3, 2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Assistant Director for Sanctions
Compliance & Evaluation, tel.: 202/622-2490, Assistant Director for
Licensing, tel.: 202/622-2480, Assistant Director for Policy, tel.:
202/622-4855, Office of Foreign Assets Control, or Chief Counsel
(Foreign Assets Control), tel.: 202/622-2410, Office of the General
Counsel, Department of the Treasury (not toll free numbers).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Electronic and Facsimile Availability
This document and additional information concerning OFAC are available
from OFAC's Web site (www.treasury.gov/ofac). Certain general
information pertaining to OFAC's sanctions programs also is available
via facsimile through a 24-hour fax-on-demand service, tel.: 202/622-0077.
Background
The U.S. Government issued the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 CFR
part 515 (the "CACR"), on July 8, 1963, under the Trading With the Enemy
Act (50 U.S.C. App. 5 et seq.). Section 515.201 of the CACR prohibits,
inter alia, all transfers of credit and all payments in which Cuba or a
Cuban national has any interest of any nature whatsoever, direct or
indirect, between, by, through, or to any banking institution
wheresoever located, with respect to any property subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States or by any person subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States.
OFAC is amending the CACR to authorize the processing of funds transfers
for the operating expenses or other official business of third-country
diplomatic or consular missions in Cuba. OFAC also is amending the CACR
to authorize certain payments for services rendered by Cuba to United
States aircraft.
Third-country diplomatic and consular funds transfers. To ensure that
the prohibitions in the CACR do not impede third-country diplomatic or
consular activities in Cuba, OFAC is adding new section 515.579 to the
CACR. This new section authorizes the processing of funds transfers
otherwise prohibited by the CACR for the operating expenses or other
official business of third- country diplomatic or consular missions in Cuba.
Services rendered by Cuba to United States aircraft. OFAC is amending
section 515.548 of the CACR to add a general license authorizing
payments in connection with overflights of Cuba or emergency landings in
Cuba by United States aircraft. Prior to this amendment, such payments
required the issuance of a specific license.
Public Participation
Because the amendment of the CACR involves a foreign affairs function,
the provisions of Executive Order 12866 of September 30, 1993, and the
Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) requiring notice of proposed
rulemaking, opportunity for public participation, and delay in effective
date are inapplicable. Because no notice of proposed rulemaking is
required for this rule, the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.
601-612) does not apply.
Paperwork Reduction Act
The collections of information related to the CACR are contained in 31
CFR part 501 (the "Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations").
Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507), those
collections of information have been approved by the Office of
Management and Budget under control number 1505-0164. An agency may not
conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a
collection of information unless the collection of information displays
a valid control number.
List of Subjects in 31 CFR Part 515
Aircraft, Banks, Banking, Cuba, Currency, Diplomatic and consular
missions, Emergency landings, Overflights.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Department of the
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control amends 31 CFR part 515 as
set forth below:
PART 515--CUBAN ASSETS CONTROL REGULATIONS
1. The authority citation for part 515 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 18 U.S.C. 2332d; 22 U.S.C. 2370(a), 6001-6010, 7201-7211; 31
U.S.C. 321(b); 50 U.S.C. App 1-44; Pub. L. 101-410, 104 Stat. 890 (28
U.S.C. 2461 note); Pub. L. 104-114, 110 Stat. 785 (22 U.S.C. 6021-6091);
Pub. L. 105- 277, 112 Stat. 2681; Pub. L. 111-8, 123 Stat. 524; Pub. L.
111-117, 123 Stat. 3034; E.O. 9193, 7 FR 5205, 3 CFR, 1938-1943 Comp.,
p. 1174; E.O. 9989, 13 FR 4891, 3 CFR, 1943-1948 Comp., p. 748; Proc.
3447, 27 FR 1085, 3 CFR, 1959-1963 Comp., p. 157; E.O. 12854, 58 FR
36587, 3 CFR, 1993 Comp., p. 614.
Subpart E--Licenses, Authorizations, and Statements of Licensing Policy
2. Revise [Section] 515.548 to read as follows:
[Section] 515.548 Services rendered by Cuba to United States aircraft.
Payment to Cuba of charges for services rendered by Cuba in connection
with overflights of Cuba or emergency landings in Cuba by aircraft
registered in the United States or owned or controlled by, or chartered
to, persons
[Page Number 71531]
subject to U.S. jurisdiction is authorized.
3. Add new [Section] 515.579 to subpart E to read as follows:
[Section] 515.579 Third-country diplomatic and consular funds transfers.
Depository institutions, as defined in [Section] 515.333, are authorized
to process funds transfers for the operating expenses or other official
business of third-country diplomatic or consular missions in Cuba.
Dated: November 26, 2012.
Adam J. Szubin,
Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control.
[FR Doc. 2012-29100 Filed 11-30-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-AL-P
Vol. 77, No. 232
31 CFR Part 515
Rules and Regulations
https://research.zecco.com/research/markets/news/story.asp?key=100-338u0819-1&lastPage=news
Cuban Assets Control Regulations
Cuban Assets Control Regulations
6:12am (ET) 12/03/2012 Federal Register
SUMMARY: The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets
Control ("OFAC") is amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to
authorize the processing of funds transfers for the operating expenses
or other official business of third-country diplomatic or consular
missions in Cuba. OFAC also is amending the Cuban Assets Control
Regulations to authorize certain payments for services rendered by Cuba
to United States aircraft that currently require the issuance of a
specific license.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Effective Date: December 3, 2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Assistant Director for Sanctions
Compliance & Evaluation, tel.: 202/622-2490, Assistant Director for
Licensing, tel.: 202/622-2480, Assistant Director for Policy, tel.:
202/622-4855, Office of Foreign Assets Control, or Chief Counsel
(Foreign Assets Control), tel.: 202/622-2410, Office of the General
Counsel, Department of the Treasury (not toll free numbers).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Electronic and Facsimile Availability
This document and additional information concerning OFAC are available
from OFAC's Web site (www.treasury.gov/ofac). Certain general
information pertaining to OFAC's sanctions programs also is available
via facsimile through a 24-hour fax-on-demand service, tel.: 202/622-0077.
Background
The U.S. Government issued the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 CFR
part 515 (the "CACR"), on July 8, 1963, under the Trading With the Enemy
Act (50 U.S.C. App. 5 et seq.). Section 515.201 of the CACR prohibits,
inter alia, all transfers of credit and all payments in which Cuba or a
Cuban national has any interest of any nature whatsoever, direct or
indirect, between, by, through, or to any banking institution
wheresoever located, with respect to any property subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States or by any person subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States.
OFAC is amending the CACR to authorize the processing of funds transfers
for the operating expenses or other official business of third-country
diplomatic or consular missions in Cuba. OFAC also is amending the CACR
to authorize certain payments for services rendered by Cuba to United
States aircraft.
Third-country diplomatic and consular funds transfers. To ensure that
the prohibitions in the CACR do not impede third-country diplomatic or
consular activities in Cuba, OFAC is adding new section 515.579 to the
CACR. This new section authorizes the processing of funds transfers
otherwise prohibited by the CACR for the operating expenses or other
official business of third- country diplomatic or consular missions in Cuba.
Services rendered by Cuba to United States aircraft. OFAC is amending
section 515.548 of the CACR to add a general license authorizing
payments in connection with overflights of Cuba or emergency landings in
Cuba by United States aircraft. Prior to this amendment, such payments
required the issuance of a specific license.
Public Participation
Because the amendment of the CACR involves a foreign affairs function,
the provisions of Executive Order 12866 of September 30, 1993, and the
Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) requiring notice of proposed
rulemaking, opportunity for public participation, and delay in effective
date are inapplicable. Because no notice of proposed rulemaking is
required for this rule, the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.
601-612) does not apply.
Paperwork Reduction Act
The collections of information related to the CACR are contained in 31
CFR part 501 (the "Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations").
Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507), those
collections of information have been approved by the Office of
Management and Budget under control number 1505-0164. An agency may not
conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a
collection of information unless the collection of information displays
a valid control number.
List of Subjects in 31 CFR Part 515
Aircraft, Banks, Banking, Cuba, Currency, Diplomatic and consular
missions, Emergency landings, Overflights.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Department of the
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control amends 31 CFR part 515 as
set forth below:
PART 515--CUBAN ASSETS CONTROL REGULATIONS
1. The authority citation for part 515 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 18 U.S.C. 2332d; 22 U.S.C. 2370(a), 6001-6010, 7201-7211; 31
U.S.C. 321(b); 50 U.S.C. App 1-44; Pub. L. 101-410, 104 Stat. 890 (28
U.S.C. 2461 note); Pub. L. 104-114, 110 Stat. 785 (22 U.S.C. 6021-6091);
Pub. L. 105- 277, 112 Stat. 2681; Pub. L. 111-8, 123 Stat. 524; Pub. L.
111-117, 123 Stat. 3034; E.O. 9193, 7 FR 5205, 3 CFR, 1938-1943 Comp.,
p. 1174; E.O. 9989, 13 FR 4891, 3 CFR, 1943-1948 Comp., p. 748; Proc.
3447, 27 FR 1085, 3 CFR, 1959-1963 Comp., p. 157; E.O. 12854, 58 FR
36587, 3 CFR, 1993 Comp., p. 614.
Subpart E--Licenses, Authorizations, and Statements of Licensing Policy
2. Revise [Section] 515.548 to read as follows:
[Section] 515.548 Services rendered by Cuba to United States aircraft.
Payment to Cuba of charges for services rendered by Cuba in connection
with overflights of Cuba or emergency landings in Cuba by aircraft
registered in the United States or owned or controlled by, or chartered
to, persons
[Page Number 71531]
subject to U.S. jurisdiction is authorized.
3. Add new [Section] 515.579 to subpart E to read as follows:
[Section] 515.579 Third-country diplomatic and consular funds transfers.
Depository institutions, as defined in [Section] 515.333, are authorized
to process funds transfers for the operating expenses or other official
business of third-country diplomatic or consular missions in Cuba.
Dated: November 26, 2012.
Adam J. Szubin,
Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control.
[FR Doc. 2012-29100 Filed 11-30-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-AL-P
Vol. 77, No. 232
31 CFR Part 515
Rules and Regulations
https://research.zecco.com/research/markets/news/story.asp?key=100-338u0819-1&lastPage=news
6:12am (ET) 12/03/2012 Federal Register
SUMMARY: The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets
Control ("OFAC") is amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to
authorize the processing of funds transfers for the operating expenses
or other official business of third-country diplomatic or consular
missions in Cuba. OFAC also is amending the Cuban Assets Control
Regulations to authorize certain payments for services rendered by Cuba
to United States aircraft that currently require the issuance of a
specific license.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Effective Date: December 3, 2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Assistant Director for Sanctions
Compliance & Evaluation, tel.: 202/622-2490, Assistant Director for
Licensing, tel.: 202/622-2480, Assistant Director for Policy, tel.:
202/622-4855, Office of Foreign Assets Control, or Chief Counsel
(Foreign Assets Control), tel.: 202/622-2410, Office of the General
Counsel, Department of the Treasury (not toll free numbers).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Electronic and Facsimile Availability
This document and additional information concerning OFAC are available
from OFAC's Web site (www.treasury.gov/ofac). Certain general
information pertaining to OFAC's sanctions programs also is available
via facsimile through a 24-hour fax-on-demand service, tel.: 202/622-0077.
Background
The U.S. Government issued the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 CFR
part 515 (the "CACR"), on July 8, 1963, under the Trading With the Enemy
Act (50 U.S.C. App. 5 et seq.). Section 515.201 of the CACR prohibits,
inter alia, all transfers of credit and all payments in which Cuba or a
Cuban national has any interest of any nature whatsoever, direct or
indirect, between, by, through, or to any banking institution
wheresoever located, with respect to any property subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States or by any person subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States.
OFAC is amending the CACR to authorize the processing of funds transfers
for the operating expenses or other official business of third-country
diplomatic or consular missions in Cuba. OFAC also is amending the CACR
to authorize certain payments for services rendered by Cuba to United
States aircraft.
Third-country diplomatic and consular funds transfers. To ensure that
the prohibitions in the CACR do not impede third-country diplomatic or
consular activities in Cuba, OFAC is adding new section 515.579 to the
CACR. This new section authorizes the processing of funds transfers
otherwise prohibited by the CACR for the operating expenses or other
official business of third- country diplomatic or consular missions in Cuba.
Services rendered by Cuba to United States aircraft. OFAC is amending
section 515.548 of the CACR to add a general license authorizing
payments in connection with overflights of Cuba or emergency landings in
Cuba by United States aircraft. Prior to this amendment, such payments
required the issuance of a specific license.
Public Participation
Because the amendment of the CACR involves a foreign affairs function,
the provisions of Executive Order 12866 of September 30, 1993, and the
Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) requiring notice of proposed
rulemaking, opportunity for public participation, and delay in effective
date are inapplicable. Because no notice of proposed rulemaking is
required for this rule, the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.
601-612) does not apply.
Paperwork Reduction Act
The collections of information related to the CACR are contained in 31
CFR part 501 (the "Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations").
Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507), those
collections of information have been approved by the Office of
Management and Budget under control number 1505-0164. An agency may not
conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a
collection of information unless the collection of information displays
a valid control number.
List of Subjects in 31 CFR Part 515
Aircraft, Banks, Banking, Cuba, Currency, Diplomatic and consular
missions, Emergency landings, Overflights.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Department of the
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control amends 31 CFR part 515 as
set forth below:
PART 515--CUBAN ASSETS CONTROL REGULATIONS
1. The authority citation for part 515 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 18 U.S.C. 2332d; 22 U.S.C. 2370(a), 6001-6010, 7201-7211; 31
U.S.C. 321(b); 50 U.S.C. App 1-44; Pub. L. 101-410, 104 Stat. 890 (28
U.S.C. 2461 note); Pub. L. 104-114, 110 Stat. 785 (22 U.S.C. 6021-6091);
Pub. L. 105- 277, 112 Stat. 2681; Pub. L. 111-8, 123 Stat. 524; Pub. L.
111-117, 123 Stat. 3034; E.O. 9193, 7 FR 5205, 3 CFR, 1938-1943 Comp.,
p. 1174; E.O. 9989, 13 FR 4891, 3 CFR, 1943-1948 Comp., p. 748; Proc.
3447, 27 FR 1085, 3 CFR, 1959-1963 Comp., p. 157; E.O. 12854, 58 FR
36587, 3 CFR, 1993 Comp., p. 614.
Subpart E--Licenses, Authorizations, and Statements of Licensing Policy
2. Revise [Section] 515.548 to read as follows:
[Section] 515.548 Services rendered by Cuba to United States aircraft.
Payment to Cuba of charges for services rendered by Cuba in connection
with overflights of Cuba or emergency landings in Cuba by aircraft
registered in the United States or owned or controlled by, or chartered
to, persons
[Page Number 71531]
subject to U.S. jurisdiction is authorized.
3. Add new [Section] 515.579 to subpart E to read as follows:
[Section] 515.579 Third-country diplomatic and consular funds transfers.
Depository institutions, as defined in [Section] 515.333, are authorized
to process funds transfers for the operating expenses or other official
business of third-country diplomatic or consular missions in Cuba.
Dated: November 26, 2012.
Adam J. Szubin,
Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control.
[FR Doc. 2012-29100 Filed 11-30-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-AL-P
Vol. 77, No. 232
31 CFR Part 515
Rules and Regulations
https://research.zecco.com/research/markets/news/story.asp?key=100-338u0819-1&lastPage=news
Cuba evaluates potential of mining
Cuba evaluates potential of mining
IANSBy Indo Asian News Service | IANS
Havana, Dec 3 (IANS) A study to assess Cuba's mining resource potential
for a national development strategy was presented at a national workshop
that ended here Saturday, Cuban National Information Agency reported Sunday.
Conducted by Cuban National Institute of Geology and Palaeontology
(IGP), the study covers reserves across the country and serves as an
indispensable tool for government decisions, a Xinhua report said.
IGP Director Enrique Castellanos said the study would contribute to the
reduction of fuel consumption and execution time and bring mineral
sources closer to both producers and consumers.
It would also help save cement by increasing the production of other
binders such as pozzolan, lime and plaster, Castellanos told the
workshop on how to increase housing resilience in areas vulnerable to
natural, hydrometeorological or geological events.
He also presented a map and a database of rocks and industrial mineral
reservoirs in Cuba.
http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/cuba-evaluates-potential-mining-035217576.html
IANSBy Indo Asian News Service | IANS
Havana, Dec 3 (IANS) A study to assess Cuba's mining resource potential
for a national development strategy was presented at a national workshop
that ended here Saturday, Cuban National Information Agency reported Sunday.
Conducted by Cuban National Institute of Geology and Palaeontology
(IGP), the study covers reserves across the country and serves as an
indispensable tool for government decisions, a Xinhua report said.
IGP Director Enrique Castellanos said the study would contribute to the
reduction of fuel consumption and execution time and bring mineral
sources closer to both producers and consumers.
It would also help save cement by increasing the production of other
binders such as pozzolan, lime and plaster, Castellanos told the
workshop on how to increase housing resilience in areas vulnerable to
natural, hydrometeorological or geological events.
He also presented a map and a database of rocks and industrial mineral
reservoirs in Cuba.
http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/cuba-evaluates-potential-mining-035217576.html
Cuba evaluates potential of mining
Cuba evaluates potential of mining
IANSBy Indo Asian News Service | IANS
Havana, Dec 3 (IANS) A study to assess Cuba's mining resource potential
for a national development strategy was presented at a national workshop
that ended here Saturday, Cuban National Information Agency reported Sunday.
Conducted by Cuban National Institute of Geology and Palaeontology
(IGP), the study covers reserves across the country and serves as an
indispensable tool for government decisions, a Xinhua report said.
IGP Director Enrique Castellanos said the study would contribute to the
reduction of fuel consumption and execution time and bring mineral
sources closer to both producers and consumers.
It would also help save cement by increasing the production of other
binders such as pozzolan, lime and plaster, Castellanos told the
workshop on how to increase housing resilience in areas vulnerable to
natural, hydrometeorological or geological events.
He also presented a map and a database of rocks and industrial mineral
reservoirs in Cuba.
http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/cuba-evaluates-potential-mining-035217576.html
IANSBy Indo Asian News Service | IANS
Havana, Dec 3 (IANS) A study to assess Cuba's mining resource potential
for a national development strategy was presented at a national workshop
that ended here Saturday, Cuban National Information Agency reported Sunday.
Conducted by Cuban National Institute of Geology and Palaeontology
(IGP), the study covers reserves across the country and serves as an
indispensable tool for government decisions, a Xinhua report said.
IGP Director Enrique Castellanos said the study would contribute to the
reduction of fuel consumption and execution time and bring mineral
sources closer to both producers and consumers.
It would also help save cement by increasing the production of other
binders such as pozzolan, lime and plaster, Castellanos told the
workshop on how to increase housing resilience in areas vulnerable to
natural, hydrometeorological or geological events.
He also presented a map and a database of rocks and industrial mineral
reservoirs in Cuba.
http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/cuba-evaluates-potential-mining-035217576.html
domingo, 2 de diciembre de 2012
A Necessary "Rescue
"A Necessary "Rescue" / Fernando Damaso #Cuba
Fernando Damaso, Translator: Unstated
In 1959, "the year of the accident" as a friend of mine likes to call
it, there were any number of well-known people who had degrees in
business administration and public accounting. They practiced their
professions in different manufacturing and service companies and in
general their salaries provided them with a good standard of living.
Accounting was practiced universally throughout the country,
contributing to a healthy economy.
At some point "someone" determined that there was no need for all this,
and the system was dismantled. Overnight, business administrators,
bookkeepers and accountants either became nothing more than check
writers for nationalized companies and agricultural businesses, or had
to change professions if they wanted to to survive. In order to cut "the
evil" at its root, provincial business schools and university accounting
departments were closed. With these measures, economic controls
disappeared since "under socialism they, as well as money, were no
longer necessary." Life, however, stubbornly and amply demonstrates what
a big mistake this turned out to be. The country paid and continues to
pay the consequences, while those who were responsible have never
accepted responsibility or answered for their errors.
For some time now there has been a renewed emphasis on the importance of
economists and accountants. They even have their own organization—ANEC
(National Association of Economists and Accountants). One day, November
26, was inexplicably chosen, however, to be the day on which someone,
who knew nothing about economics or accounting much less banking,
assumed the presidency of the National Bank of Cuba. After reading about
the duties currently assigned to him, while ignoring the gray years as
if they had never happened, it seems like there will be a lot of them he
will surely find difficult to fulfill. Let's see. He must contribute to
the implementation of the guidelines, design the theoretical foundations
of "the model," develop courses for bookkeepers as well as courses for
entrepreneurs, provide advice to strengthen the work of accounting teams
and the control of resources, coordinate the preparation of economic
reports by directors, and develop a culture of economics, among other
things. In other words, try to rescue (one of the verbs most widely used
nowadays) all that was lost during the years of improvisation and failure.
It would be beneficial if he were successful, for the good of the nation
but also as a palpable demonstration that they never should have done
away with these economic activities. Although it is a bit late, it is
good to correct things.
December 1 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/a-necessary-rescue-fernando-damaso-cuba/
Fernando Damaso, Translator: Unstated
In 1959, "the year of the accident" as a friend of mine likes to call
it, there were any number of well-known people who had degrees in
business administration and public accounting. They practiced their
professions in different manufacturing and service companies and in
general their salaries provided them with a good standard of living.
Accounting was practiced universally throughout the country,
contributing to a healthy economy.
At some point "someone" determined that there was no need for all this,
and the system was dismantled. Overnight, business administrators,
bookkeepers and accountants either became nothing more than check
writers for nationalized companies and agricultural businesses, or had
to change professions if they wanted to to survive. In order to cut "the
evil" at its root, provincial business schools and university accounting
departments were closed. With these measures, economic controls
disappeared since "under socialism they, as well as money, were no
longer necessary." Life, however, stubbornly and amply demonstrates what
a big mistake this turned out to be. The country paid and continues to
pay the consequences, while those who were responsible have never
accepted responsibility or answered for their errors.
For some time now there has been a renewed emphasis on the importance of
economists and accountants. They even have their own organization—ANEC
(National Association of Economists and Accountants). One day, November
26, was inexplicably chosen, however, to be the day on which someone,
who knew nothing about economics or accounting much less banking,
assumed the presidency of the National Bank of Cuba. After reading about
the duties currently assigned to him, while ignoring the gray years as
if they had never happened, it seems like there will be a lot of them he
will surely find difficult to fulfill. Let's see. He must contribute to
the implementation of the guidelines, design the theoretical foundations
of "the model," develop courses for bookkeepers as well as courses for
entrepreneurs, provide advice to strengthen the work of accounting teams
and the control of resources, coordinate the preparation of economic
reports by directors, and develop a culture of economics, among other
things. In other words, try to rescue (one of the verbs most widely used
nowadays) all that was lost during the years of improvisation and failure.
It would be beneficial if he were successful, for the good of the nation
but also as a palpable demonstration that they never should have done
away with these economic activities. Although it is a bit late, it is
good to correct things.
December 1 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/a-necessary-rescue-fernando-damaso-cuba/
A Necessary "Rescue
"A Necessary "Rescue" / Fernando Damaso #Cuba
Fernando Damaso, Translator: Unstated
In 1959, "the year of the accident" as a friend of mine likes to call
it, there were any number of well-known people who had degrees in
business administration and public accounting. They practiced their
professions in different manufacturing and service companies and in
general their salaries provided them with a good standard of living.
Accounting was practiced universally throughout the country,
contributing to a healthy economy.
At some point "someone" determined that there was no need for all this,
and the system was dismantled. Overnight, business administrators,
bookkeepers and accountants either became nothing more than check
writers for nationalized companies and agricultural businesses, or had
to change professions if they wanted to to survive. In order to cut "the
evil" at its root, provincial business schools and university accounting
departments were closed. With these measures, economic controls
disappeared since "under socialism they, as well as money, were no
longer necessary." Life, however, stubbornly and amply demonstrates what
a big mistake this turned out to be. The country paid and continues to
pay the consequences, while those who were responsible have never
accepted responsibility or answered for their errors.
For some time now there has been a renewed emphasis on the importance of
economists and accountants. They even have their own organization—ANEC
(National Association of Economists and Accountants). One day, November
26, was inexplicably chosen, however, to be the day on which someone,
who knew nothing about economics or accounting much less banking,
assumed the presidency of the National Bank of Cuba. After reading about
the duties currently assigned to him, while ignoring the gray years as
if they had never happened, it seems like there will be a lot of them he
will surely find difficult to fulfill. Let's see. He must contribute to
the implementation of the guidelines, design the theoretical foundations
of "the model," develop courses for bookkeepers as well as courses for
entrepreneurs, provide advice to strengthen the work of accounting teams
and the control of resources, coordinate the preparation of economic
reports by directors, and develop a culture of economics, among other
things. In other words, try to rescue (one of the verbs most widely used
nowadays) all that was lost during the years of improvisation and failure.
It would be beneficial if he were successful, for the good of the nation
but also as a palpable demonstration that they never should have done
away with these economic activities. Although it is a bit late, it is
good to correct things.
December 1 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/a-necessary-rescue-fernando-damaso-cuba/
Fernando Damaso, Translator: Unstated
In 1959, "the year of the accident" as a friend of mine likes to call
it, there were any number of well-known people who had degrees in
business administration and public accounting. They practiced their
professions in different manufacturing and service companies and in
general their salaries provided them with a good standard of living.
Accounting was practiced universally throughout the country,
contributing to a healthy economy.
At some point "someone" determined that there was no need for all this,
and the system was dismantled. Overnight, business administrators,
bookkeepers and accountants either became nothing more than check
writers for nationalized companies and agricultural businesses, or had
to change professions if they wanted to to survive. In order to cut "the
evil" at its root, provincial business schools and university accounting
departments were closed. With these measures, economic controls
disappeared since "under socialism they, as well as money, were no
longer necessary." Life, however, stubbornly and amply demonstrates what
a big mistake this turned out to be. The country paid and continues to
pay the consequences, while those who were responsible have never
accepted responsibility or answered for their errors.
For some time now there has been a renewed emphasis on the importance of
economists and accountants. They even have their own organization—ANEC
(National Association of Economists and Accountants). One day, November
26, was inexplicably chosen, however, to be the day on which someone,
who knew nothing about economics or accounting much less banking,
assumed the presidency of the National Bank of Cuba. After reading about
the duties currently assigned to him, while ignoring the gray years as
if they had never happened, it seems like there will be a lot of them he
will surely find difficult to fulfill. Let's see. He must contribute to
the implementation of the guidelines, design the theoretical foundations
of "the model," develop courses for bookkeepers as well as courses for
entrepreneurs, provide advice to strengthen the work of accounting teams
and the control of resources, coordinate the preparation of economic
reports by directors, and develop a culture of economics, among other
things. In other words, try to rescue (one of the verbs most widely used
nowadays) all that was lost during the years of improvisation and failure.
It would be beneficial if he were successful, for the good of the nation
but also as a palpable demonstration that they never should have done
away with these economic activities. Although it is a bit late, it is
good to correct things.
December 1 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/a-necessary-rescue-fernando-damaso-cuba/
Derogan medida de Fidel Castro que encareció llamadas a EE.UU.
Derogan medida de Fidel Castro que encareció llamadas a EE.UU.
Se elimina el recargo del 10 por ciento impuesto en el 2000 a cada
llamada internacional entre los dos países.
diciembre 01, 2012
El Gobierno de Cuba abaratará el monto de las llamadas internacionales
entre la isla y EE.UU. tras derogar hoy un decreto ley firmado por el
expresidente Fidel Castro en el año 2000 que establecía un recargo del
10 por ciento para esas comunicaciones entre ambos países.
"Se reducirá el monto a pagar por las llamadas entre Estados Unidos y
Cuba", afirmó un comunicado divulgado por el Centro de Prensa
Internacionaldel MINREX, según el cual la decisión del Gobierno
"beneficiará también la comunicación entre la población cubana y la
emigración".
El documento, que no precisa cuándo entrará en vigor la nueva tarifa,
recordó que en el año 2000 el Gobierno cubano implementó un monto para
las llamadas entre los dos países "en legítima respuesta al robo de los
fondos que adeudaban" a Cuba compañías de telecomunicaciones
norteamericanas.
"Se ha evaluado que en las actuales condiciones tecnológicas y de
operación del tráfico telefónico internacional la reducción del monto a
pagar por las llamadas facilitará el crecimiento de las comunicaciones
telefónicas internacionales con origen o destino en nuestro país", añade.
El decreto implementado en el 2000 estableció un recargo del 10 por
ciento sobre la tarifa básica por minuto de duración de cada llamada
telefónica internacional entre Estados Unidos y Cuba o viceversa,
incluyendo las que se realizaban a través de terceros países.
Aquella ley fue interpretada como la respuesta de La Habana a una
enmienda legislativa aprobada por el Congreso de Estados Unidos que
permitió emplear el importe de los fondos cubanos congelados en ese país
para indemnizar a los familiares de tres pilotos muertos en el derribo
de dos avionetas anticastristas por cazas de la isla en 1996.
La normativa del 2000 indicaba que el cobro del impuesto se mantendría
vigente "hasta la devolución total de los fondos cubanos ilegítimamente
congelados en EE.UU. con los intereses correspondientes".
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/article/17149.html
Se elimina el recargo del 10 por ciento impuesto en el 2000 a cada
llamada internacional entre los dos países.
diciembre 01, 2012
El Gobierno de Cuba abaratará el monto de las llamadas internacionales
entre la isla y EE.UU. tras derogar hoy un decreto ley firmado por el
expresidente Fidel Castro en el año 2000 que establecía un recargo del
10 por ciento para esas comunicaciones entre ambos países.
"Se reducirá el monto a pagar por las llamadas entre Estados Unidos y
Cuba", afirmó un comunicado divulgado por el Centro de Prensa
Internacionaldel MINREX, según el cual la decisión del Gobierno
"beneficiará también la comunicación entre la población cubana y la
emigración".
El documento, que no precisa cuándo entrará en vigor la nueva tarifa,
recordó que en el año 2000 el Gobierno cubano implementó un monto para
las llamadas entre los dos países "en legítima respuesta al robo de los
fondos que adeudaban" a Cuba compañías de telecomunicaciones
norteamericanas.
"Se ha evaluado que en las actuales condiciones tecnológicas y de
operación del tráfico telefónico internacional la reducción del monto a
pagar por las llamadas facilitará el crecimiento de las comunicaciones
telefónicas internacionales con origen o destino en nuestro país", añade.
El decreto implementado en el 2000 estableció un recargo del 10 por
ciento sobre la tarifa básica por minuto de duración de cada llamada
telefónica internacional entre Estados Unidos y Cuba o viceversa,
incluyendo las que se realizaban a través de terceros países.
Aquella ley fue interpretada como la respuesta de La Habana a una
enmienda legislativa aprobada por el Congreso de Estados Unidos que
permitió emplear el importe de los fondos cubanos congelados en ese país
para indemnizar a los familiares de tres pilotos muertos en el derribo
de dos avionetas anticastristas por cazas de la isla en 1996.
La normativa del 2000 indicaba que el cobro del impuesto se mantendría
vigente "hasta la devolución total de los fondos cubanos ilegítimamente
congelados en EE.UU. con los intereses correspondientes".
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/article/17149.html
Derogan medida de Fidel Castro que encareció llamadas a EE.UU.
Derogan medida de Fidel Castro que encareció llamadas a EE.UU.
Se elimina el recargo del 10 por ciento impuesto en el 2000 a cada
llamada internacional entre los dos países.
diciembre 01, 2012
El Gobierno de Cuba abaratará el monto de las llamadas internacionales
entre la isla y EE.UU. tras derogar hoy un decreto ley firmado por el
expresidente Fidel Castro en el año 2000 que establecía un recargo del
10 por ciento para esas comunicaciones entre ambos países.
"Se reducirá el monto a pagar por las llamadas entre Estados Unidos y
Cuba", afirmó un comunicado divulgado por el Centro de Prensa
Internacionaldel MINREX, según el cual la decisión del Gobierno
"beneficiará también la comunicación entre la población cubana y la
emigración".
El documento, que no precisa cuándo entrará en vigor la nueva tarifa,
recordó que en el año 2000 el Gobierno cubano implementó un monto para
las llamadas entre los dos países "en legítima respuesta al robo de los
fondos que adeudaban" a Cuba compañías de telecomunicaciones
norteamericanas.
"Se ha evaluado que en las actuales condiciones tecnológicas y de
operación del tráfico telefónico internacional la reducción del monto a
pagar por las llamadas facilitará el crecimiento de las comunicaciones
telefónicas internacionales con origen o destino en nuestro país", añade.
El decreto implementado en el 2000 estableció un recargo del 10 por
ciento sobre la tarifa básica por minuto de duración de cada llamada
telefónica internacional entre Estados Unidos y Cuba o viceversa,
incluyendo las que se realizaban a través de terceros países.
Aquella ley fue interpretada como la respuesta de La Habana a una
enmienda legislativa aprobada por el Congreso de Estados Unidos que
permitió emplear el importe de los fondos cubanos congelados en ese país
para indemnizar a los familiares de tres pilotos muertos en el derribo
de dos avionetas anticastristas por cazas de la isla en 1996.
La normativa del 2000 indicaba que el cobro del impuesto se mantendría
vigente "hasta la devolución total de los fondos cubanos ilegítimamente
congelados en EE.UU. con los intereses correspondientes".
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/article/17149.html
Se elimina el recargo del 10 por ciento impuesto en el 2000 a cada
llamada internacional entre los dos países.
diciembre 01, 2012
El Gobierno de Cuba abaratará el monto de las llamadas internacionales
entre la isla y EE.UU. tras derogar hoy un decreto ley firmado por el
expresidente Fidel Castro en el año 2000 que establecía un recargo del
10 por ciento para esas comunicaciones entre ambos países.
"Se reducirá el monto a pagar por las llamadas entre Estados Unidos y
Cuba", afirmó un comunicado divulgado por el Centro de Prensa
Internacionaldel MINREX, según el cual la decisión del Gobierno
"beneficiará también la comunicación entre la población cubana y la
emigración".
El documento, que no precisa cuándo entrará en vigor la nueva tarifa,
recordó que en el año 2000 el Gobierno cubano implementó un monto para
las llamadas entre los dos países "en legítima respuesta al robo de los
fondos que adeudaban" a Cuba compañías de telecomunicaciones
norteamericanas.
"Se ha evaluado que en las actuales condiciones tecnológicas y de
operación del tráfico telefónico internacional la reducción del monto a
pagar por las llamadas facilitará el crecimiento de las comunicaciones
telefónicas internacionales con origen o destino en nuestro país", añade.
El decreto implementado en el 2000 estableció un recargo del 10 por
ciento sobre la tarifa básica por minuto de duración de cada llamada
telefónica internacional entre Estados Unidos y Cuba o viceversa,
incluyendo las que se realizaban a través de terceros países.
Aquella ley fue interpretada como la respuesta de La Habana a una
enmienda legislativa aprobada por el Congreso de Estados Unidos que
permitió emplear el importe de los fondos cubanos congelados en ese país
para indemnizar a los familiares de tres pilotos muertos en el derribo
de dos avionetas anticastristas por cazas de la isla en 1996.
La normativa del 2000 indicaba que el cobro del impuesto se mantendría
vigente "hasta la devolución total de los fondos cubanos ilegítimamente
congelados en EE.UU. con los intereses correspondientes".
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/article/17149.html
How Capitalist Are the Cubans?
How Capitalist Are the Cubans?
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: December 1, 2012
A man in his shoe repair shop in the doorway of his home. New business
regulations have allowed thousands of citizens to make money for
themselves for the first time since 1959.
IT was just a small sign, red, round and electrified, advertising
homemade pizza — the kind of thing no one would notice in New York or
Rome. But in Havana? It was mildly amazing.
Cuba, after all, has been dominated for decades by an all-consuming
anticapitalist ideology, in which there were only three things promoted
on billboards, radio or TV: socialism, nationalism, and Fidel and Raúl
Castro. The pizza sign hanging from a decaying colonial building here
represented the exact opposite — marketing, the public search for
private profit.
And it wasn't just tossed out there. Unlike the cardboard efforts I'd
seen in the same poor neighborhood on a visit to Cuba last year, the
sign cost money. It was an investment. It was a clear signal that some
of Cuba's new entrepreneurs — legalized by the government two years ago
in a desperate attempt to save the island's economy — were adapting to
the logic of competition and capitalism.
But just how capitalist are Cubans these days? Are they embracing what
Friedrich Hayek described as the "self-organizing system of voluntary
cooperation," or resisting?
"It's a combination," says Arturo López Levy, a former analyst with the
Cuban government now a lecturer at the University of Denver. "When more
people get more proactive and more assertive, then other people —
whether they like it or not — have to do the same. They have to compete.
I think that's the dynamic."
Indeed, like Iraq, Russia, Mexico or other countries that experienced
decades of dictatorial rule that eventually ended, Cuba today is a
society marked by years of abuse, divided and uncertain about its
future. The changes of the past few years — allowing for
self-employment, freer travel, and the buying and selling of homes and
cars — have been both remarkable and extremely limited. The reasons
small things like signs matter so much here is because everyone is
concerned with momentum, and no one seems to know whether Cuba is really
on the road to capitalism, as The Economist asserted in March, or if the
island is destined to simply sputter along, with restrained capitalism
for a few and socialist subsistence for the rest.
The debate is all the more complicated because the same leaders who
rejected capitalism for so long are now the ones trying to encourage
people to try it out. Raúl Castro was notoriously the revolution's most
loyal Communist; now, as the country's president, he is the main booster
for free market reforms. On one hand, a recent gathering of Cuba's
Communist Party earlier this year included a session on overcoming
prejudices against entrepreneurs; on the other, Raúl Castro has said he
would "never permit the return of the capitalist system."
"They are kind of schizophrenic," says Ted Henken, a Cuba expert at
Baruch College. "They are saying they are changing, but they treat these
things as gifts and not as rights."
And yet, there is no longer any denying that pockets of controlled
capitalism are emerging in Cuba. In Havana, in particular, small
businesses are everywhere. Entire urban industries, including taxis and
restaurants, are being transformed through a rush of new entrants, who
are increasing competition for customers, labor and materials. Even the
most elemental tasks that used to be managed by the state — such as
buying food — are increasingly in the hands of a private system that
sets its own prices based on supply and demand.
Though the initial burst of activity has slowed, some experts say the
explosion in commerce showed just how capitalist Cubans were all along.
Of the roughly 350,000 people licensed to be self-employed under the new
laws by the end of 2011, 67 percent had no prior job affiliation listed
— which most likely means they were running underground businesses that
then became legitimate.
Some of the most successful entrepreneurs are optimistic about Cuba's
becoming more open to free market ideas. Héctor Higuera Martínez, 39,
the owner of Le Chansonnier, one of Havana's finest restaurants (the
duck is practically Parisian), says that officials are "starting to
realize there is a reason to support private businesses." He has given
people work, for example, and he brings in hard currency from
foreigners, including Americans.
"Before, we had nothing," he said. "Now we have an opportunity."
He is doing everything he can to make the most of it. When we met one
night at the restaurant, he had already written up several pages of
notes and charts explaining what his industry needed to grow — from
wholesale markets to improved transportation for farmers to an end to
the American trade embargo to changes in the Cuban tax code. In an
ingeniously cobbled-together kitchen, in which only one of three ovens
worked, he mostly seemed to salivate at the thought of vacuum packing so
his meals could be delivered more efficiently.
HE was about as capitalist as it gets. But will his ideas ever be
adopted? Like everyone else, he faces severe limits. He can hire no more
than 20 employees, for example. He does not have access to private bank
loans, and the government has shown little inclination to let people
like Mr. Higuera succeed on a grand scale.
Instead, when success arrives, the government seems to get nervous. This
past summer, officials shut down a thriving restaurant and cabaret
featuring opera and dance in what had been a vacant lot, charging the
owner with "personal enrichment" because he charged a $2 cover at the
door. A news article from Reuters had described it as Cuba's largest
private business. A few days later, it was gone, along with 130 jobs.
The Castro government has tried to keep a lid on innovation in other
ways, too. It has not allowed professionals like lawyers and architects
to work for themselves. And its efforts at political repression have
focused over the past few years on innovative young people seeking space
for civil discourse in public and online — the blogger Yoani Sánchez, or
Antonio Rodiles, director of an independent project called Estado de
Sats, who was arrested in early November and released last week after 18
days in jail.
So for now, what Cuba has ended up with is handcuffed capitalism: highly
regulated competitive markets for low-skilled, small family businesses.
What economic freedom there is has mostly accrued to those whose main
ambition is making and selling pizza.
Which again raises the question: is Cuba really heading toward
capitalism or not? Skeptics are easy to find. "Every place in the world
that has had real change, it has changed because the regime itself has
allowed some significant openings and the door has been pushed wide
open," says Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey. "That's not
what's happening here."
Many Cubans say they are hesitant to let go of a reliable system summed
up by a common joke: "We pretend to work, they pretend to pay us." Taxi
drivers told Mr. López Levy that they were working harder for less money
because of increased competition. A farmer I met at the wholesale market
outside Havana equated capitalism with higher prices, and said that the
government needed to intervene.
But mostly, this is an aging crowd and Mr. López Levy — who still has
friends and relatives in government — says that even among Cuban
bureaucrats, the mentality is changing. If so, more capitalism may be
inevitable. Because with every new entrepreneur it licenses, Cuba
becomes less socialist, less exceptional, less of a bearded rebel
raising its fist against the horrors of Yankee capitalism. In the eyes
of some Cubans, the jig is already up.
"The government has lost the ideological battle," said Óscar Espinosa
Chepe, a state-trained economist who was sent to jail in 2003 for
criticizing the government. "The battle for ideas was the most important
battle, and they've lost."
Damien Cave is a New York Times correspondent based in Mexico City.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/sunday-review/how-capitalist-are-the-cubans.html?pagewanted=all
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: December 1, 2012
A man in his shoe repair shop in the doorway of his home. New business
regulations have allowed thousands of citizens to make money for
themselves for the first time since 1959.
IT was just a small sign, red, round and electrified, advertising
homemade pizza — the kind of thing no one would notice in New York or
Rome. But in Havana? It was mildly amazing.
Cuba, after all, has been dominated for decades by an all-consuming
anticapitalist ideology, in which there were only three things promoted
on billboards, radio or TV: socialism, nationalism, and Fidel and Raúl
Castro. The pizza sign hanging from a decaying colonial building here
represented the exact opposite — marketing, the public search for
private profit.
And it wasn't just tossed out there. Unlike the cardboard efforts I'd
seen in the same poor neighborhood on a visit to Cuba last year, the
sign cost money. It was an investment. It was a clear signal that some
of Cuba's new entrepreneurs — legalized by the government two years ago
in a desperate attempt to save the island's economy — were adapting to
the logic of competition and capitalism.
But just how capitalist are Cubans these days? Are they embracing what
Friedrich Hayek described as the "self-organizing system of voluntary
cooperation," or resisting?
"It's a combination," says Arturo López Levy, a former analyst with the
Cuban government now a lecturer at the University of Denver. "When more
people get more proactive and more assertive, then other people —
whether they like it or not — have to do the same. They have to compete.
I think that's the dynamic."
Indeed, like Iraq, Russia, Mexico or other countries that experienced
decades of dictatorial rule that eventually ended, Cuba today is a
society marked by years of abuse, divided and uncertain about its
future. The changes of the past few years — allowing for
self-employment, freer travel, and the buying and selling of homes and
cars — have been both remarkable and extremely limited. The reasons
small things like signs matter so much here is because everyone is
concerned with momentum, and no one seems to know whether Cuba is really
on the road to capitalism, as The Economist asserted in March, or if the
island is destined to simply sputter along, with restrained capitalism
for a few and socialist subsistence for the rest.
The debate is all the more complicated because the same leaders who
rejected capitalism for so long are now the ones trying to encourage
people to try it out. Raúl Castro was notoriously the revolution's most
loyal Communist; now, as the country's president, he is the main booster
for free market reforms. On one hand, a recent gathering of Cuba's
Communist Party earlier this year included a session on overcoming
prejudices against entrepreneurs; on the other, Raúl Castro has said he
would "never permit the return of the capitalist system."
"They are kind of schizophrenic," says Ted Henken, a Cuba expert at
Baruch College. "They are saying they are changing, but they treat these
things as gifts and not as rights."
And yet, there is no longer any denying that pockets of controlled
capitalism are emerging in Cuba. In Havana, in particular, small
businesses are everywhere. Entire urban industries, including taxis and
restaurants, are being transformed through a rush of new entrants, who
are increasing competition for customers, labor and materials. Even the
most elemental tasks that used to be managed by the state — such as
buying food — are increasingly in the hands of a private system that
sets its own prices based on supply and demand.
Though the initial burst of activity has slowed, some experts say the
explosion in commerce showed just how capitalist Cubans were all along.
Of the roughly 350,000 people licensed to be self-employed under the new
laws by the end of 2011, 67 percent had no prior job affiliation listed
— which most likely means they were running underground businesses that
then became legitimate.
Some of the most successful entrepreneurs are optimistic about Cuba's
becoming more open to free market ideas. Héctor Higuera Martínez, 39,
the owner of Le Chansonnier, one of Havana's finest restaurants (the
duck is practically Parisian), says that officials are "starting to
realize there is a reason to support private businesses." He has given
people work, for example, and he brings in hard currency from
foreigners, including Americans.
"Before, we had nothing," he said. "Now we have an opportunity."
He is doing everything he can to make the most of it. When we met one
night at the restaurant, he had already written up several pages of
notes and charts explaining what his industry needed to grow — from
wholesale markets to improved transportation for farmers to an end to
the American trade embargo to changes in the Cuban tax code. In an
ingeniously cobbled-together kitchen, in which only one of three ovens
worked, he mostly seemed to salivate at the thought of vacuum packing so
his meals could be delivered more efficiently.
HE was about as capitalist as it gets. But will his ideas ever be
adopted? Like everyone else, he faces severe limits. He can hire no more
than 20 employees, for example. He does not have access to private bank
loans, and the government has shown little inclination to let people
like Mr. Higuera succeed on a grand scale.
Instead, when success arrives, the government seems to get nervous. This
past summer, officials shut down a thriving restaurant and cabaret
featuring opera and dance in what had been a vacant lot, charging the
owner with "personal enrichment" because he charged a $2 cover at the
door. A news article from Reuters had described it as Cuba's largest
private business. A few days later, it was gone, along with 130 jobs.
The Castro government has tried to keep a lid on innovation in other
ways, too. It has not allowed professionals like lawyers and architects
to work for themselves. And its efforts at political repression have
focused over the past few years on innovative young people seeking space
for civil discourse in public and online — the blogger Yoani Sánchez, or
Antonio Rodiles, director of an independent project called Estado de
Sats, who was arrested in early November and released last week after 18
days in jail.
So for now, what Cuba has ended up with is handcuffed capitalism: highly
regulated competitive markets for low-skilled, small family businesses.
What economic freedom there is has mostly accrued to those whose main
ambition is making and selling pizza.
Which again raises the question: is Cuba really heading toward
capitalism or not? Skeptics are easy to find. "Every place in the world
that has had real change, it has changed because the regime itself has
allowed some significant openings and the door has been pushed wide
open," says Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey. "That's not
what's happening here."
Many Cubans say they are hesitant to let go of a reliable system summed
up by a common joke: "We pretend to work, they pretend to pay us." Taxi
drivers told Mr. López Levy that they were working harder for less money
because of increased competition. A farmer I met at the wholesale market
outside Havana equated capitalism with higher prices, and said that the
government needed to intervene.
But mostly, this is an aging crowd and Mr. López Levy — who still has
friends and relatives in government — says that even among Cuban
bureaucrats, the mentality is changing. If so, more capitalism may be
inevitable. Because with every new entrepreneur it licenses, Cuba
becomes less socialist, less exceptional, less of a bearded rebel
raising its fist against the horrors of Yankee capitalism. In the eyes
of some Cubans, the jig is already up.
"The government has lost the ideological battle," said Óscar Espinosa
Chepe, a state-trained economist who was sent to jail in 2003 for
criticizing the government. "The battle for ideas was the most important
battle, and they've lost."
Damien Cave is a New York Times correspondent based in Mexico City.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/sunday-review/how-capitalist-are-the-cubans.html?pagewanted=all
How Capitalist Are the Cubans?
How Capitalist Are the Cubans?
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: December 1, 2012
A man in his shoe repair shop in the doorway of his home. New business
regulations have allowed thousands of citizens to make money for
themselves for the first time since 1959.
IT was just a small sign, red, round and electrified, advertising
homemade pizza — the kind of thing no one would notice in New York or
Rome. But in Havana? It was mildly amazing.
Cuba, after all, has been dominated for decades by an all-consuming
anticapitalist ideology, in which there were only three things promoted
on billboards, radio or TV: socialism, nationalism, and Fidel and Raúl
Castro. The pizza sign hanging from a decaying colonial building here
represented the exact opposite — marketing, the public search for
private profit.
And it wasn't just tossed out there. Unlike the cardboard efforts I'd
seen in the same poor neighborhood on a visit to Cuba last year, the
sign cost money. It was an investment. It was a clear signal that some
of Cuba's new entrepreneurs — legalized by the government two years ago
in a desperate attempt to save the island's economy — were adapting to
the logic of competition and capitalism.
But just how capitalist are Cubans these days? Are they embracing what
Friedrich Hayek described as the "self-organizing system of voluntary
cooperation," or resisting?
"It's a combination," says Arturo López Levy, a former analyst with the
Cuban government now a lecturer at the University of Denver. "When more
people get more proactive and more assertive, then other people —
whether they like it or not — have to do the same. They have to compete.
I think that's the dynamic."
Indeed, like Iraq, Russia, Mexico or other countries that experienced
decades of dictatorial rule that eventually ended, Cuba today is a
society marked by years of abuse, divided and uncertain about its
future. The changes of the past few years — allowing for
self-employment, freer travel, and the buying and selling of homes and
cars — have been both remarkable and extremely limited. The reasons
small things like signs matter so much here is because everyone is
concerned with momentum, and no one seems to know whether Cuba is really
on the road to capitalism, as The Economist asserted in March, or if the
island is destined to simply sputter along, with restrained capitalism
for a few and socialist subsistence for the rest.
The debate is all the more complicated because the same leaders who
rejected capitalism for so long are now the ones trying to encourage
people to try it out. Raúl Castro was notoriously the revolution's most
loyal Communist; now, as the country's president, he is the main booster
for free market reforms. On one hand, a recent gathering of Cuba's
Communist Party earlier this year included a session on overcoming
prejudices against entrepreneurs; on the other, Raúl Castro has said he
would "never permit the return of the capitalist system."
"They are kind of schizophrenic," says Ted Henken, a Cuba expert at
Baruch College. "They are saying they are changing, but they treat these
things as gifts and not as rights."
And yet, there is no longer any denying that pockets of controlled
capitalism are emerging in Cuba. In Havana, in particular, small
businesses are everywhere. Entire urban industries, including taxis and
restaurants, are being transformed through a rush of new entrants, who
are increasing competition for customers, labor and materials. Even the
most elemental tasks that used to be managed by the state — such as
buying food — are increasingly in the hands of a private system that
sets its own prices based on supply and demand.
Though the initial burst of activity has slowed, some experts say the
explosion in commerce showed just how capitalist Cubans were all along.
Of the roughly 350,000 people licensed to be self-employed under the new
laws by the end of 2011, 67 percent had no prior job affiliation listed
— which most likely means they were running underground businesses that
then became legitimate.
Some of the most successful entrepreneurs are optimistic about Cuba's
becoming more open to free market ideas. Héctor Higuera Martínez, 39,
the owner of Le Chansonnier, one of Havana's finest restaurants (the
duck is practically Parisian), says that officials are "starting to
realize there is a reason to support private businesses." He has given
people work, for example, and he brings in hard currency from
foreigners, including Americans.
"Before, we had nothing," he said. "Now we have an opportunity."
He is doing everything he can to make the most of it. When we met one
night at the restaurant, he had already written up several pages of
notes and charts explaining what his industry needed to grow — from
wholesale markets to improved transportation for farmers to an end to
the American trade embargo to changes in the Cuban tax code. In an
ingeniously cobbled-together kitchen, in which only one of three ovens
worked, he mostly seemed to salivate at the thought of vacuum packing so
his meals could be delivered more efficiently.
HE was about as capitalist as it gets. But will his ideas ever be
adopted? Like everyone else, he faces severe limits. He can hire no more
than 20 employees, for example. He does not have access to private bank
loans, and the government has shown little inclination to let people
like Mr. Higuera succeed on a grand scale.
Instead, when success arrives, the government seems to get nervous. This
past summer, officials shut down a thriving restaurant and cabaret
featuring opera and dance in what had been a vacant lot, charging the
owner with "personal enrichment" because he charged a $2 cover at the
door. A news article from Reuters had described it as Cuba's largest
private business. A few days later, it was gone, along with 130 jobs.
The Castro government has tried to keep a lid on innovation in other
ways, too. It has not allowed professionals like lawyers and architects
to work for themselves. And its efforts at political repression have
focused over the past few years on innovative young people seeking space
for civil discourse in public and online — the blogger Yoani Sánchez, or
Antonio Rodiles, director of an independent project called Estado de
Sats, who was arrested in early November and released last week after 18
days in jail.
So for now, what Cuba has ended up with is handcuffed capitalism: highly
regulated competitive markets for low-skilled, small family businesses.
What economic freedom there is has mostly accrued to those whose main
ambition is making and selling pizza.
Which again raises the question: is Cuba really heading toward
capitalism or not? Skeptics are easy to find. "Every place in the world
that has had real change, it has changed because the regime itself has
allowed some significant openings and the door has been pushed wide
open," says Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey. "That's not
what's happening here."
Many Cubans say they are hesitant to let go of a reliable system summed
up by a common joke: "We pretend to work, they pretend to pay us." Taxi
drivers told Mr. López Levy that they were working harder for less money
because of increased competition. A farmer I met at the wholesale market
outside Havana equated capitalism with higher prices, and said that the
government needed to intervene.
But mostly, this is an aging crowd and Mr. López Levy — who still has
friends and relatives in government — says that even among Cuban
bureaucrats, the mentality is changing. If so, more capitalism may be
inevitable. Because with every new entrepreneur it licenses, Cuba
becomes less socialist, less exceptional, less of a bearded rebel
raising its fist against the horrors of Yankee capitalism. In the eyes
of some Cubans, the jig is already up.
"The government has lost the ideological battle," said Óscar Espinosa
Chepe, a state-trained economist who was sent to jail in 2003 for
criticizing the government. "The battle for ideas was the most important
battle, and they've lost."
Damien Cave is a New York Times correspondent based in Mexico City.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/sunday-review/how-capitalist-are-the-cubans.html?pagewanted=all
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: December 1, 2012
A man in his shoe repair shop in the doorway of his home. New business
regulations have allowed thousands of citizens to make money for
themselves for the first time since 1959.
IT was just a small sign, red, round and electrified, advertising
homemade pizza — the kind of thing no one would notice in New York or
Rome. But in Havana? It was mildly amazing.
Cuba, after all, has been dominated for decades by an all-consuming
anticapitalist ideology, in which there were only three things promoted
on billboards, radio or TV: socialism, nationalism, and Fidel and Raúl
Castro. The pizza sign hanging from a decaying colonial building here
represented the exact opposite — marketing, the public search for
private profit.
And it wasn't just tossed out there. Unlike the cardboard efforts I'd
seen in the same poor neighborhood on a visit to Cuba last year, the
sign cost money. It was an investment. It was a clear signal that some
of Cuba's new entrepreneurs — legalized by the government two years ago
in a desperate attempt to save the island's economy — were adapting to
the logic of competition and capitalism.
But just how capitalist are Cubans these days? Are they embracing what
Friedrich Hayek described as the "self-organizing system of voluntary
cooperation," or resisting?
"It's a combination," says Arturo López Levy, a former analyst with the
Cuban government now a lecturer at the University of Denver. "When more
people get more proactive and more assertive, then other people —
whether they like it or not — have to do the same. They have to compete.
I think that's the dynamic."
Indeed, like Iraq, Russia, Mexico or other countries that experienced
decades of dictatorial rule that eventually ended, Cuba today is a
society marked by years of abuse, divided and uncertain about its
future. The changes of the past few years — allowing for
self-employment, freer travel, and the buying and selling of homes and
cars — have been both remarkable and extremely limited. The reasons
small things like signs matter so much here is because everyone is
concerned with momentum, and no one seems to know whether Cuba is really
on the road to capitalism, as The Economist asserted in March, or if the
island is destined to simply sputter along, with restrained capitalism
for a few and socialist subsistence for the rest.
The debate is all the more complicated because the same leaders who
rejected capitalism for so long are now the ones trying to encourage
people to try it out. Raúl Castro was notoriously the revolution's most
loyal Communist; now, as the country's president, he is the main booster
for free market reforms. On one hand, a recent gathering of Cuba's
Communist Party earlier this year included a session on overcoming
prejudices against entrepreneurs; on the other, Raúl Castro has said he
would "never permit the return of the capitalist system."
"They are kind of schizophrenic," says Ted Henken, a Cuba expert at
Baruch College. "They are saying they are changing, but they treat these
things as gifts and not as rights."
And yet, there is no longer any denying that pockets of controlled
capitalism are emerging in Cuba. In Havana, in particular, small
businesses are everywhere. Entire urban industries, including taxis and
restaurants, are being transformed through a rush of new entrants, who
are increasing competition for customers, labor and materials. Even the
most elemental tasks that used to be managed by the state — such as
buying food — are increasingly in the hands of a private system that
sets its own prices based on supply and demand.
Though the initial burst of activity has slowed, some experts say the
explosion in commerce showed just how capitalist Cubans were all along.
Of the roughly 350,000 people licensed to be self-employed under the new
laws by the end of 2011, 67 percent had no prior job affiliation listed
— which most likely means they were running underground businesses that
then became legitimate.
Some of the most successful entrepreneurs are optimistic about Cuba's
becoming more open to free market ideas. Héctor Higuera Martínez, 39,
the owner of Le Chansonnier, one of Havana's finest restaurants (the
duck is practically Parisian), says that officials are "starting to
realize there is a reason to support private businesses." He has given
people work, for example, and he brings in hard currency from
foreigners, including Americans.
"Before, we had nothing," he said. "Now we have an opportunity."
He is doing everything he can to make the most of it. When we met one
night at the restaurant, he had already written up several pages of
notes and charts explaining what his industry needed to grow — from
wholesale markets to improved transportation for farmers to an end to
the American trade embargo to changes in the Cuban tax code. In an
ingeniously cobbled-together kitchen, in which only one of three ovens
worked, he mostly seemed to salivate at the thought of vacuum packing so
his meals could be delivered more efficiently.
HE was about as capitalist as it gets. But will his ideas ever be
adopted? Like everyone else, he faces severe limits. He can hire no more
than 20 employees, for example. He does not have access to private bank
loans, and the government has shown little inclination to let people
like Mr. Higuera succeed on a grand scale.
Instead, when success arrives, the government seems to get nervous. This
past summer, officials shut down a thriving restaurant and cabaret
featuring opera and dance in what had been a vacant lot, charging the
owner with "personal enrichment" because he charged a $2 cover at the
door. A news article from Reuters had described it as Cuba's largest
private business. A few days later, it was gone, along with 130 jobs.
The Castro government has tried to keep a lid on innovation in other
ways, too. It has not allowed professionals like lawyers and architects
to work for themselves. And its efforts at political repression have
focused over the past few years on innovative young people seeking space
for civil discourse in public and online — the blogger Yoani Sánchez, or
Antonio Rodiles, director of an independent project called Estado de
Sats, who was arrested in early November and released last week after 18
days in jail.
So for now, what Cuba has ended up with is handcuffed capitalism: highly
regulated competitive markets for low-skilled, small family businesses.
What economic freedom there is has mostly accrued to those whose main
ambition is making and selling pizza.
Which again raises the question: is Cuba really heading toward
capitalism or not? Skeptics are easy to find. "Every place in the world
that has had real change, it has changed because the regime itself has
allowed some significant openings and the door has been pushed wide
open," says Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey. "That's not
what's happening here."
Many Cubans say they are hesitant to let go of a reliable system summed
up by a common joke: "We pretend to work, they pretend to pay us." Taxi
drivers told Mr. López Levy that they were working harder for less money
because of increased competition. A farmer I met at the wholesale market
outside Havana equated capitalism with higher prices, and said that the
government needed to intervene.
But mostly, this is an aging crowd and Mr. López Levy — who still has
friends and relatives in government — says that even among Cuban
bureaucrats, the mentality is changing. If so, more capitalism may be
inevitable. Because with every new entrepreneur it licenses, Cuba
becomes less socialist, less exceptional, less of a bearded rebel
raising its fist against the horrors of Yankee capitalism. In the eyes
of some Cubans, the jig is already up.
"The government has lost the ideological battle," said Óscar Espinosa
Chepe, a state-trained economist who was sent to jail in 2003 for
criticizing the government. "The battle for ideas was the most important
battle, and they've lost."
Damien Cave is a New York Times correspondent based in Mexico City.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/sunday-review/how-capitalist-are-the-cubans.html?pagewanted=all
sábado, 1 de diciembre de 2012
Sunwing Adds Additional Flight to Cuba from Windsor
Sunwing Adds Additional Flight to Cuba from Windsor
MarketwirePress Release: Sunwing Vacations and Sunwing Airlines
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov 30, 2012) -
Editors Note: There are two photos associated with this press release.
In response to the positive reception of Sunwing''s flights from Windsor
to Varadero, Cuba, the tour operator is pleased to announce the addition
of flights to Santa Clara, Cuba, with a choice of accommodations offered
in Cayo Santo Maria. The new flights will depart on Sundays, commencing
on December 23, 2012 until April 21, 2013.
"We are very pleased with the success of our existing flights from
Windsor to Varadero for the upcoming winter," said Andrew Dawson,
President of Tour Operations. "We feel that the community will welcome
the opportunity to experience our service to a second Cuban destination
and that residents of Windsor will enjoy the benefits of the amazing
quality of our hotels in Cayo Santa Maria."
The beautiful island of Cayo Santa Maria is located in the Bahia de
Buena Vista off the north coast of Cuba in the pristine Jardines del Rey
archipelago. Declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, this tropical
paradise offers visitors an excellent opportunity to encounter the
varied flora and fauna as well as discover the local culture for an
authentic Cuban experience.
Sunwing offers a great selection of hotels in Cayo Santo Maria to suit a
variety of vacation needs. Some sample choices include the five star
Memories Paraiso Beach Resort, part of Sunwing''s Family Collection, now
available for $495 plus $290 in taxes per person for a SuperSale Room
for departures on January 6 and 13, 2013, and the five star Royalton
Cayo Santa Maria, part of Sunwing''s Adults Collection, now available at
$895 plus taxes of $290 per person for a Junior Suite King Balcony
Gardenview for departures on January 13, 20, and 27, 2013.
All Sunwing vacation packages from Windsor to Cuba include "Sunwing
Airlines'' Champagne Service", which features hot towel service, a
choice of hot meals at lunch and dinner served with a choice of wine,
and complimentary in-flight entertainment, including first run movies.
For just $40 more per flight segment, travellers can upgrade to
Sunwing''s Elite Plus service, which features advance seat selection,
separate check-in at a majority of airports, advance boarding, 30 kg
baggage allowance, and extra legroom seats.
For more information, visit www.sunwing.ca. To book, visit your travel
agent.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sunwing-adds-additional-flight-cuba-200302698.html;_ylt=A2KJ3CRoMbpQBnMAuT3QtDMD
MarketwirePress Release: Sunwing Vacations and Sunwing Airlines
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov 30, 2012) -
Editors Note: There are two photos associated with this press release.
In response to the positive reception of Sunwing''s flights from Windsor
to Varadero, Cuba, the tour operator is pleased to announce the addition
of flights to Santa Clara, Cuba, with a choice of accommodations offered
in Cayo Santo Maria. The new flights will depart on Sundays, commencing
on December 23, 2012 until April 21, 2013.
"We are very pleased with the success of our existing flights from
Windsor to Varadero for the upcoming winter," said Andrew Dawson,
President of Tour Operations. "We feel that the community will welcome
the opportunity to experience our service to a second Cuban destination
and that residents of Windsor will enjoy the benefits of the amazing
quality of our hotels in Cayo Santa Maria."
The beautiful island of Cayo Santa Maria is located in the Bahia de
Buena Vista off the north coast of Cuba in the pristine Jardines del Rey
archipelago. Declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, this tropical
paradise offers visitors an excellent opportunity to encounter the
varied flora and fauna as well as discover the local culture for an
authentic Cuban experience.
Sunwing offers a great selection of hotels in Cayo Santo Maria to suit a
variety of vacation needs. Some sample choices include the five star
Memories Paraiso Beach Resort, part of Sunwing''s Family Collection, now
available for $495 plus $290 in taxes per person for a SuperSale Room
for departures on January 6 and 13, 2013, and the five star Royalton
Cayo Santa Maria, part of Sunwing''s Adults Collection, now available at
$895 plus taxes of $290 per person for a Junior Suite King Balcony
Gardenview for departures on January 13, 20, and 27, 2013.
All Sunwing vacation packages from Windsor to Cuba include "Sunwing
Airlines'' Champagne Service", which features hot towel service, a
choice of hot meals at lunch and dinner served with a choice of wine,
and complimentary in-flight entertainment, including first run movies.
For just $40 more per flight segment, travellers can upgrade to
Sunwing''s Elite Plus service, which features advance seat selection,
separate check-in at a majority of airports, advance boarding, 30 kg
baggage allowance, and extra legroom seats.
For more information, visit www.sunwing.ca. To book, visit your travel
agent.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sunwing-adds-additional-flight-cuba-200302698.html;_ylt=A2KJ3CRoMbpQBnMAuT3QtDMD
Sunwing Adds Additional Flight to Cuba from Windsor
Sunwing Adds Additional Flight to Cuba from Windsor
MarketwirePress Release: Sunwing Vacations and Sunwing Airlines
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov 30, 2012) -
Editors Note: There are two photos associated with this press release.
In response to the positive reception of Sunwing''s flights from Windsor
to Varadero, Cuba, the tour operator is pleased to announce the addition
of flights to Santa Clara, Cuba, with a choice of accommodations offered
in Cayo Santo Maria. The new flights will depart on Sundays, commencing
on December 23, 2012 until April 21, 2013.
"We are very pleased with the success of our existing flights from
Windsor to Varadero for the upcoming winter," said Andrew Dawson,
President of Tour Operations. "We feel that the community will welcome
the opportunity to experience our service to a second Cuban destination
and that residents of Windsor will enjoy the benefits of the amazing
quality of our hotels in Cayo Santa Maria."
The beautiful island of Cayo Santa Maria is located in the Bahia de
Buena Vista off the north coast of Cuba in the pristine Jardines del Rey
archipelago. Declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, this tropical
paradise offers visitors an excellent opportunity to encounter the
varied flora and fauna as well as discover the local culture for an
authentic Cuban experience.
Sunwing offers a great selection of hotels in Cayo Santo Maria to suit a
variety of vacation needs. Some sample choices include the five star
Memories Paraiso Beach Resort, part of Sunwing''s Family Collection, now
available for $495 plus $290 in taxes per person for a SuperSale Room
for departures on January 6 and 13, 2013, and the five star Royalton
Cayo Santa Maria, part of Sunwing''s Adults Collection, now available at
$895 plus taxes of $290 per person for a Junior Suite King Balcony
Gardenview for departures on January 13, 20, and 27, 2013.
All Sunwing vacation packages from Windsor to Cuba include "Sunwing
Airlines'' Champagne Service", which features hot towel service, a
choice of hot meals at lunch and dinner served with a choice of wine,
and complimentary in-flight entertainment, including first run movies.
For just $40 more per flight segment, travellers can upgrade to
Sunwing''s Elite Plus service, which features advance seat selection,
separate check-in at a majority of airports, advance boarding, 30 kg
baggage allowance, and extra legroom seats.
For more information, visit www.sunwing.ca. To book, visit your travel
agent.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sunwing-adds-additional-flight-cuba-200302698.html;_ylt=A2KJ3CRoMbpQBnMAuT3QtDMD
MarketwirePress Release: Sunwing Vacations and Sunwing Airlines
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov 30, 2012) -
Editors Note: There are two photos associated with this press release.
In response to the positive reception of Sunwing''s flights from Windsor
to Varadero, Cuba, the tour operator is pleased to announce the addition
of flights to Santa Clara, Cuba, with a choice of accommodations offered
in Cayo Santo Maria. The new flights will depart on Sundays, commencing
on December 23, 2012 until April 21, 2013.
"We are very pleased with the success of our existing flights from
Windsor to Varadero for the upcoming winter," said Andrew Dawson,
President of Tour Operations. "We feel that the community will welcome
the opportunity to experience our service to a second Cuban destination
and that residents of Windsor will enjoy the benefits of the amazing
quality of our hotels in Cayo Santa Maria."
The beautiful island of Cayo Santa Maria is located in the Bahia de
Buena Vista off the north coast of Cuba in the pristine Jardines del Rey
archipelago. Declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, this tropical
paradise offers visitors an excellent opportunity to encounter the
varied flora and fauna as well as discover the local culture for an
authentic Cuban experience.
Sunwing offers a great selection of hotels in Cayo Santo Maria to suit a
variety of vacation needs. Some sample choices include the five star
Memories Paraiso Beach Resort, part of Sunwing''s Family Collection, now
available for $495 plus $290 in taxes per person for a SuperSale Room
for departures on January 6 and 13, 2013, and the five star Royalton
Cayo Santa Maria, part of Sunwing''s Adults Collection, now available at
$895 plus taxes of $290 per person for a Junior Suite King Balcony
Gardenview for departures on January 13, 20, and 27, 2013.
All Sunwing vacation packages from Windsor to Cuba include "Sunwing
Airlines'' Champagne Service", which features hot towel service, a
choice of hot meals at lunch and dinner served with a choice of wine,
and complimentary in-flight entertainment, including first run movies.
For just $40 more per flight segment, travellers can upgrade to
Sunwing''s Elite Plus service, which features advance seat selection,
separate check-in at a majority of airports, advance boarding, 30 kg
baggage allowance, and extra legroom seats.
For more information, visit www.sunwing.ca. To book, visit your travel
agent.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sunwing-adds-additional-flight-cuba-200302698.html;_ylt=A2KJ3CRoMbpQBnMAuT3QtDMD
Cuba cuts tax on $3-a-minute calls to US
Cuba cuts tax on $3-a-minute calls to US
Tax established in 2000 eliminated
Author: By Patrick Oppmann CNN
Published On: Nov 30 2012 06:56:04 PM CST
HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -
The Cuban government on Friday reduced its expensive telephone rates
between the island and the United States.
The government is scrapping a 10% tax it imposed on calls between the
two countries in 2000, it announced.
The largest population of Cubans outside the island resides in the
United States, and calls between the two countries typically top $3 a
minute.
"A reduction in the rates to be charged for international calls will
favor an increase in international telephone communications to and from
our country," the announcement said.
The tax was implemented by then-President Fidel Castro after the U.S.
Congress froze Cuban funds in the United States generated by calls
between the two countries. The funds were used to pay compensation to
the families of three Cuban exile pilots, all U.S. citizens, who were
killed when their small planes were shot down by Cuban fighter planes in
1996.
The United States has maintained a trade embargo against Cuba for more
than 50 years. There are no formal relations between the Communist
country and the United States, which has a diplomatic mission in Havana,
and commerce is strictly controlled.
Last month, Cuba announced a change in immigration laws that would give
many Cuban exiles the ability to return to the island."
http://www.news8000.com/news/Cuba-cuts-tax-on-3-a-minute-calls-to-US/-/326/17615626/-/3mx4fr/-/index.html
Tax established in 2000 eliminated
Author: By Patrick Oppmann CNN
Published On: Nov 30 2012 06:56:04 PM CST
HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -
The Cuban government on Friday reduced its expensive telephone rates
between the island and the United States.
The government is scrapping a 10% tax it imposed on calls between the
two countries in 2000, it announced.
The largest population of Cubans outside the island resides in the
United States, and calls between the two countries typically top $3 a
minute.
"A reduction in the rates to be charged for international calls will
favor an increase in international telephone communications to and from
our country," the announcement said.
The tax was implemented by then-President Fidel Castro after the U.S.
Congress froze Cuban funds in the United States generated by calls
between the two countries. The funds were used to pay compensation to
the families of three Cuban exile pilots, all U.S. citizens, who were
killed when their small planes were shot down by Cuban fighter planes in
1996.
The United States has maintained a trade embargo against Cuba for more
than 50 years. There are no formal relations between the Communist
country and the United States, which has a diplomatic mission in Havana,
and commerce is strictly controlled.
Last month, Cuba announced a change in immigration laws that would give
many Cuban exiles the ability to return to the island."
http://www.news8000.com/news/Cuba-cuts-tax-on-3-a-minute-calls-to-US/-/326/17615626/-/3mx4fr/-/index.html
Cuba cuts tax on $3-a-minute calls to US
Cuba cuts tax on $3-a-minute calls to US
Tax established in 2000 eliminated
Author: By Patrick Oppmann CNN
Published On: Nov 30 2012 06:56:04 PM CST
HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -
The Cuban government on Friday reduced its expensive telephone rates
between the island and the United States.
The government is scrapping a 10% tax it imposed on calls between the
two countries in 2000, it announced.
The largest population of Cubans outside the island resides in the
United States, and calls between the two countries typically top $3 a
minute.
"A reduction in the rates to be charged for international calls will
favor an increase in international telephone communications to and from
our country," the announcement said.
The tax was implemented by then-President Fidel Castro after the U.S.
Congress froze Cuban funds in the United States generated by calls
between the two countries. The funds were used to pay compensation to
the families of three Cuban exile pilots, all U.S. citizens, who were
killed when their small planes were shot down by Cuban fighter planes in
1996.
The United States has maintained a trade embargo against Cuba for more
than 50 years. There are no formal relations between the Communist
country and the United States, which has a diplomatic mission in Havana,
and commerce is strictly controlled.
Last month, Cuba announced a change in immigration laws that would give
many Cuban exiles the ability to return to the island."
http://www.news8000.com/news/Cuba-cuts-tax-on-3-a-minute-calls-to-US/-/326/17615626/-/3mx4fr/-/index.html
Tax established in 2000 eliminated
Author: By Patrick Oppmann CNN
Published On: Nov 30 2012 06:56:04 PM CST
HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -
The Cuban government on Friday reduced its expensive telephone rates
between the island and the United States.
The government is scrapping a 10% tax it imposed on calls between the
two countries in 2000, it announced.
The largest population of Cubans outside the island resides in the
United States, and calls between the two countries typically top $3 a
minute.
"A reduction in the rates to be charged for international calls will
favor an increase in international telephone communications to and from
our country," the announcement said.
The tax was implemented by then-President Fidel Castro after the U.S.
Congress froze Cuban funds in the United States generated by calls
between the two countries. The funds were used to pay compensation to
the families of three Cuban exile pilots, all U.S. citizens, who were
killed when their small planes were shot down by Cuban fighter planes in
1996.
The United States has maintained a trade embargo against Cuba for more
than 50 years. There are no formal relations between the Communist
country and the United States, which has a diplomatic mission in Havana,
and commerce is strictly controlled.
Last month, Cuba announced a change in immigration laws that would give
many Cuban exiles the ability to return to the island."
http://www.news8000.com/news/Cuba-cuts-tax-on-3-a-minute-calls-to-US/-/326/17615626/-/3mx4fr/-/index.html
Cuba says it's cutting rates on phone calls to US
Posted on Friday, 11.30.12
Cuba says it's cutting rates on phone calls to US
The Associated Press
HAVANA -- Cuba has announced it is eliminating a surcharge on phone
calls to and from the United States that contributed to high prices.
The government says the move is aimed at improving communication with
Cuban-Americans. A statement sent to international news organizations
Friday doesn't go into specifics, but refers to a decree in 2000 that
established a 10 percent surcharge on such calls.
Calls to the United States from Cuba can cost as much as $3 a minute,
while calls from the U.S. to Cuba usually cost a bit more than $1 a
minute. Cuba often blames the high rates on the U.S. economic embargo.
Cuba says it is hoping the drop in rates will "improve communications
between the people of Cuba and its emigres."
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/30/3121264/cuba-says-its-cutting-rates-on.html
Cuba says it's cutting rates on phone calls to US
The Associated Press
HAVANA -- Cuba has announced it is eliminating a surcharge on phone
calls to and from the United States that contributed to high prices.
The government says the move is aimed at improving communication with
Cuban-Americans. A statement sent to international news organizations
Friday doesn't go into specifics, but refers to a decree in 2000 that
established a 10 percent surcharge on such calls.
Calls to the United States from Cuba can cost as much as $3 a minute,
while calls from the U.S. to Cuba usually cost a bit more than $1 a
minute. Cuba often blames the high rates on the U.S. economic embargo.
Cuba says it is hoping the drop in rates will "improve communications
between the people of Cuba and its emigres."
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/30/3121264/cuba-says-its-cutting-rates-on.html
Cuba says it's cutting rates on phone calls to US
Posted on Friday, 11.30.12
Cuba says it's cutting rates on phone calls to US
The Associated Press
HAVANA -- Cuba has announced it is eliminating a surcharge on phone
calls to and from the United States that contributed to high prices.
The government says the move is aimed at improving communication with
Cuban-Americans. A statement sent to international news organizations
Friday doesn't go into specifics, but refers to a decree in 2000 that
established a 10 percent surcharge on such calls.
Calls to the United States from Cuba can cost as much as $3 a minute,
while calls from the U.S. to Cuba usually cost a bit more than $1 a
minute. Cuba often blames the high rates on the U.S. economic embargo.
Cuba says it is hoping the drop in rates will "improve communications
between the people of Cuba and its emigres."
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/30/3121264/cuba-says-its-cutting-rates-on.html
Cuba says it's cutting rates on phone calls to US
The Associated Press
HAVANA -- Cuba has announced it is eliminating a surcharge on phone
calls to and from the United States that contributed to high prices.
The government says the move is aimed at improving communication with
Cuban-Americans. A statement sent to international news organizations
Friday doesn't go into specifics, but refers to a decree in 2000 that
established a 10 percent surcharge on such calls.
Calls to the United States from Cuba can cost as much as $3 a minute,
while calls from the U.S. to Cuba usually cost a bit more than $1 a
minute. Cuba often blames the high rates on the U.S. economic embargo.
Cuba says it is hoping the drop in rates will "improve communications
between the people of Cuba and its emigres."
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/30/3121264/cuba-says-its-cutting-rates-on.html
Salvador Pardo Cruz estará al frente del Ministerio de Industrias
Cambios
Salvador Pardo Cruz estará al frente del Ministerio de Industrias
Pardo Cruz, próximo a cumplir 65 años, ocupó el cargo de ministro de la
Industria Sideromecánica, cartera recientemente eliminada por el
Gobierno, junto a la de Industria Ligera
Agencias, La Habana | 01/12/2012 8:00 am
El presidente cubano, Raúl Castro, designó al general Salvador Pardo
Cruz al frente del nuevo ministerio de Industrias, informó AFP.
La agencia cita una una nota oficial publicada ayer por el diario Granma.
Pardo Cruz, próximo a cumplir 65 años, ocupó el cargo de ministro de la
Industria Sideromecánica, cartera recientemente eliminada por el
Gobierno, junto a la de Industria Ligera, apunta AFP.
La reestructuración de ministerios busca "separar las funciones
estatales de las empresariales, contar con una estructura gubernamental
más racional y lograr una mejor distribución de las funciones que
desarrollan los organismos de la Administración Central del Estado",
señaló la nota oficial.
El general Pardo Cruz tendrá a su cargo la dirección de las empresas que
dependían de los dos ministerios eliminados y las de la Industria Química.
http://www.cubaencuentro.com/cuba/noticias/salvador-pardo-cruz-estara-al-frente-del-ministerio-de-industrias-281913
Salvador Pardo Cruz estará al frente del Ministerio de Industrias
Pardo Cruz, próximo a cumplir 65 años, ocupó el cargo de ministro de la
Industria Sideromecánica, cartera recientemente eliminada por el
Gobierno, junto a la de Industria Ligera
Agencias, La Habana | 01/12/2012 8:00 am
El presidente cubano, Raúl Castro, designó al general Salvador Pardo
Cruz al frente del nuevo ministerio de Industrias, informó AFP.
La agencia cita una una nota oficial publicada ayer por el diario Granma.
Pardo Cruz, próximo a cumplir 65 años, ocupó el cargo de ministro de la
Industria Sideromecánica, cartera recientemente eliminada por el
Gobierno, junto a la de Industria Ligera, apunta AFP.
La reestructuración de ministerios busca "separar las funciones
estatales de las empresariales, contar con una estructura gubernamental
más racional y lograr una mejor distribución de las funciones que
desarrollan los organismos de la Administración Central del Estado",
señaló la nota oficial.
El general Pardo Cruz tendrá a su cargo la dirección de las empresas que
dependían de los dos ministerios eliminados y las de la Industria Química.
http://www.cubaencuentro.com/cuba/noticias/salvador-pardo-cruz-estara-al-frente-del-ministerio-de-industrias-281913
Salvador Pardo Cruz estará al frente del Ministerio de Industrias
Cambios
Salvador Pardo Cruz estará al frente del Ministerio de Industrias
Pardo Cruz, próximo a cumplir 65 años, ocupó el cargo de ministro de la
Industria Sideromecánica, cartera recientemente eliminada por el
Gobierno, junto a la de Industria Ligera
Agencias, La Habana | 01/12/2012 8:00 am
El presidente cubano, Raúl Castro, designó al general Salvador Pardo
Cruz al frente del nuevo ministerio de Industrias, informó AFP.
La agencia cita una una nota oficial publicada ayer por el diario Granma.
Pardo Cruz, próximo a cumplir 65 años, ocupó el cargo de ministro de la
Industria Sideromecánica, cartera recientemente eliminada por el
Gobierno, junto a la de Industria Ligera, apunta AFP.
La reestructuración de ministerios busca "separar las funciones
estatales de las empresariales, contar con una estructura gubernamental
más racional y lograr una mejor distribución de las funciones que
desarrollan los organismos de la Administración Central del Estado",
señaló la nota oficial.
El general Pardo Cruz tendrá a su cargo la dirección de las empresas que
dependían de los dos ministerios eliminados y las de la Industria Química.
http://www.cubaencuentro.com/cuba/noticias/salvador-pardo-cruz-estara-al-frente-del-ministerio-de-industrias-281913
Salvador Pardo Cruz estará al frente del Ministerio de Industrias
Pardo Cruz, próximo a cumplir 65 años, ocupó el cargo de ministro de la
Industria Sideromecánica, cartera recientemente eliminada por el
Gobierno, junto a la de Industria Ligera
Agencias, La Habana | 01/12/2012 8:00 am
El presidente cubano, Raúl Castro, designó al general Salvador Pardo
Cruz al frente del nuevo ministerio de Industrias, informó AFP.
La agencia cita una una nota oficial publicada ayer por el diario Granma.
Pardo Cruz, próximo a cumplir 65 años, ocupó el cargo de ministro de la
Industria Sideromecánica, cartera recientemente eliminada por el
Gobierno, junto a la de Industria Ligera, apunta AFP.
La reestructuración de ministerios busca "separar las funciones
estatales de las empresariales, contar con una estructura gubernamental
más racional y lograr una mejor distribución de las funciones que
desarrollan los organismos de la Administración Central del Estado",
señaló la nota oficial.
El general Pardo Cruz tendrá a su cargo la dirección de las empresas que
dependían de los dos ministerios eliminados y las de la Industria Química.
http://www.cubaencuentro.com/cuba/noticias/salvador-pardo-cruz-estara-al-frente-del-ministerio-de-industrias-281913
Nuevos impuestos en Cuba son vieja expropiación comunista
Editorial: Nuevos impuestos en Cuba son vieja expropiación comunista
"El dinero que los trabajadores podrían ganar en salarios que reflejen
el verdadero valor de lo que hacen, ahora va al Estado y sus programas
"gratuitos".
noviembre 30, 2012
Nuevos impuestos en Cuba son vieja expropiación comunista
Editorial
Investor's Business Daily, 28 de noviembre, 2012
Tiranía: Los medios de comunicación elogian a Cuba por obligar por
primera vez a sus empobrecidos ciudadanos a pagar impuestos, lo cual
describen como una medida "moderna" y "orientada al mercado". En
realidad, es sólo una nueva forma de robo aplicada por la dictadura de
siempre.
Leyendo a Reuters, se podría pensar que Cuba, una brutal dictadura
comunista de 53 años, ha sido un paraíso libre de impuestos para sus
afortunados ciudadanos."La mayoría de los cubanos no ha pagado impuestos
durante medio siglo, pero eso va a cambiar con un nuevo código a partir
del 1ro de enero",endulza el servicio de noticias, y precisa que los
nuevos impuestos a las ganancias privadas comienzan cerca del 35%.
De acuerdo, son nuevos, pero en modo alguno son los primeros: en
septiembre pasado, el régimen decretó punitivos aranceles aduaneros,
cobrando 4,55 dólares por cada libra de exceso de equipaje a los
expatriados cubanos que llevan suministros a sus familiares con pequeños
negocios.
"Las reformas de libre mercado del Gobierno introducidas en los últimos
dos años fueron diseñadas para fomentar las pequeñas empresas, la
agricultura privada y la iniciativa individual", escribe Reuters, y
agrega: "Bajo el nuevo código tributario el Estado espera obtener su
parte de las ganancias".
¿Su parte? Los cubanos ganan alrededor de 19 dólares al mes, un salario
de esclavos, medido por cualquier parámetro. Hacen el mismo trabajo que
otros latinoamericanos, a menudo con más destreza. Sin embargo, para su
único empleador, el Estado, sus quehaceres sólo valen 19 dólares, en una
implícita expropiación de su verdadero valor de mercado.
Y no lo dude, así lo ve el Gobierno: Fidel Castro, el dictador cubano,
incluso le dijo a una destacada profesional de la medicina, la Dra.
Hilda Molina, que no podía abandonar el país porque la formación que
había recibido del Estado convertía "su cerebro en propiedad estatal".
Reuters señala amablemente que el Gobierno "impuso algunos impuestos
dispersos, pero en buena parte prefirió mantener los salarios bajos para
poder financiar servicios sociales gratuitos".
Ese es justamente el quid del asunto: que el dinero que los trabajadores
podrían ganar en salarios que reflejen el verdadero valor de lo que
hacen, si tuvieran la libertad de elegir a sus empleadores, ahora va al
Estado y sus programas "gratuitos". Oficialmente o no, es una plusvalía
muy superior al 99%.
Y ¡qué sorpresa!, los hermanos Castro han amasado casualmente fortunas
personales de miles de millones de dólares, de acuerdo con los últimos
cálculos de la revista Forbes. Eso entraña una enorme cantidad de impuestos.
Lo que la dictadura de los Castro está procurando es embolsillarse el
dinero de las nuevas empresas supuestamente independientes que ha
autorizado, con el propósito original de reducir las infladas nóminas
estatales.
Lejos de ser una modernización o una liberalización de libre mercado, el
aumento castrista de los impuestos no es más que una extorsión a los
negocios privados que pujan por crecer, y un esfuerzo por reafirmar el
poder del Estado sobre sus ciudadanos.
Una medida en extremo comunista, que no va a funcionar.
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/article/17124.html
"El dinero que los trabajadores podrían ganar en salarios que reflejen
el verdadero valor de lo que hacen, ahora va al Estado y sus programas
"gratuitos".
noviembre 30, 2012
Nuevos impuestos en Cuba son vieja expropiación comunista
Editorial
Investor's Business Daily, 28 de noviembre, 2012
Tiranía: Los medios de comunicación elogian a Cuba por obligar por
primera vez a sus empobrecidos ciudadanos a pagar impuestos, lo cual
describen como una medida "moderna" y "orientada al mercado". En
realidad, es sólo una nueva forma de robo aplicada por la dictadura de
siempre.
Leyendo a Reuters, se podría pensar que Cuba, una brutal dictadura
comunista de 53 años, ha sido un paraíso libre de impuestos para sus
afortunados ciudadanos."La mayoría de los cubanos no ha pagado impuestos
durante medio siglo, pero eso va a cambiar con un nuevo código a partir
del 1ro de enero",endulza el servicio de noticias, y precisa que los
nuevos impuestos a las ganancias privadas comienzan cerca del 35%.
De acuerdo, son nuevos, pero en modo alguno son los primeros: en
septiembre pasado, el régimen decretó punitivos aranceles aduaneros,
cobrando 4,55 dólares por cada libra de exceso de equipaje a los
expatriados cubanos que llevan suministros a sus familiares con pequeños
negocios.
"Las reformas de libre mercado del Gobierno introducidas en los últimos
dos años fueron diseñadas para fomentar las pequeñas empresas, la
agricultura privada y la iniciativa individual", escribe Reuters, y
agrega: "Bajo el nuevo código tributario el Estado espera obtener su
parte de las ganancias".
¿Su parte? Los cubanos ganan alrededor de 19 dólares al mes, un salario
de esclavos, medido por cualquier parámetro. Hacen el mismo trabajo que
otros latinoamericanos, a menudo con más destreza. Sin embargo, para su
único empleador, el Estado, sus quehaceres sólo valen 19 dólares, en una
implícita expropiación de su verdadero valor de mercado.
Y no lo dude, así lo ve el Gobierno: Fidel Castro, el dictador cubano,
incluso le dijo a una destacada profesional de la medicina, la Dra.
Hilda Molina, que no podía abandonar el país porque la formación que
había recibido del Estado convertía "su cerebro en propiedad estatal".
Reuters señala amablemente que el Gobierno "impuso algunos impuestos
dispersos, pero en buena parte prefirió mantener los salarios bajos para
poder financiar servicios sociales gratuitos".
Ese es justamente el quid del asunto: que el dinero que los trabajadores
podrían ganar en salarios que reflejen el verdadero valor de lo que
hacen, si tuvieran la libertad de elegir a sus empleadores, ahora va al
Estado y sus programas "gratuitos". Oficialmente o no, es una plusvalía
muy superior al 99%.
Y ¡qué sorpresa!, los hermanos Castro han amasado casualmente fortunas
personales de miles de millones de dólares, de acuerdo con los últimos
cálculos de la revista Forbes. Eso entraña una enorme cantidad de impuestos.
Lo que la dictadura de los Castro está procurando es embolsillarse el
dinero de las nuevas empresas supuestamente independientes que ha
autorizado, con el propósito original de reducir las infladas nóminas
estatales.
Lejos de ser una modernización o una liberalización de libre mercado, el
aumento castrista de los impuestos no es más que una extorsión a los
negocios privados que pujan por crecer, y un esfuerzo por reafirmar el
poder del Estado sobre sus ciudadanos.
Una medida en extremo comunista, que no va a funcionar.
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/article/17124.html
Nuevos impuestos en Cuba son vieja expropiación comunista
Editorial: Nuevos impuestos en Cuba son vieja expropiación comunista
"El dinero que los trabajadores podrían ganar en salarios que reflejen
el verdadero valor de lo que hacen, ahora va al Estado y sus programas
"gratuitos".
noviembre 30, 2012
Nuevos impuestos en Cuba son vieja expropiación comunista
Editorial
Investor's Business Daily, 28 de noviembre, 2012
Tiranía: Los medios de comunicación elogian a Cuba por obligar por
primera vez a sus empobrecidos ciudadanos a pagar impuestos, lo cual
describen como una medida "moderna" y "orientada al mercado". En
realidad, es sólo una nueva forma de robo aplicada por la dictadura de
siempre.
Leyendo a Reuters, se podría pensar que Cuba, una brutal dictadura
comunista de 53 años, ha sido un paraíso libre de impuestos para sus
afortunados ciudadanos."La mayoría de los cubanos no ha pagado impuestos
durante medio siglo, pero eso va a cambiar con un nuevo código a partir
del 1ro de enero",endulza el servicio de noticias, y precisa que los
nuevos impuestos a las ganancias privadas comienzan cerca del 35%.
De acuerdo, son nuevos, pero en modo alguno son los primeros: en
septiembre pasado, el régimen decretó punitivos aranceles aduaneros,
cobrando 4,55 dólares por cada libra de exceso de equipaje a los
expatriados cubanos que llevan suministros a sus familiares con pequeños
negocios.
"Las reformas de libre mercado del Gobierno introducidas en los últimos
dos años fueron diseñadas para fomentar las pequeñas empresas, la
agricultura privada y la iniciativa individual", escribe Reuters, y
agrega: "Bajo el nuevo código tributario el Estado espera obtener su
parte de las ganancias".
¿Su parte? Los cubanos ganan alrededor de 19 dólares al mes, un salario
de esclavos, medido por cualquier parámetro. Hacen el mismo trabajo que
otros latinoamericanos, a menudo con más destreza. Sin embargo, para su
único empleador, el Estado, sus quehaceres sólo valen 19 dólares, en una
implícita expropiación de su verdadero valor de mercado.
Y no lo dude, así lo ve el Gobierno: Fidel Castro, el dictador cubano,
incluso le dijo a una destacada profesional de la medicina, la Dra.
Hilda Molina, que no podía abandonar el país porque la formación que
había recibido del Estado convertía "su cerebro en propiedad estatal".
Reuters señala amablemente que el Gobierno "impuso algunos impuestos
dispersos, pero en buena parte prefirió mantener los salarios bajos para
poder financiar servicios sociales gratuitos".
Ese es justamente el quid del asunto: que el dinero que los trabajadores
podrían ganar en salarios que reflejen el verdadero valor de lo que
hacen, si tuvieran la libertad de elegir a sus empleadores, ahora va al
Estado y sus programas "gratuitos". Oficialmente o no, es una plusvalía
muy superior al 99%.
Y ¡qué sorpresa!, los hermanos Castro han amasado casualmente fortunas
personales de miles de millones de dólares, de acuerdo con los últimos
cálculos de la revista Forbes. Eso entraña una enorme cantidad de impuestos.
Lo que la dictadura de los Castro está procurando es embolsillarse el
dinero de las nuevas empresas supuestamente independientes que ha
autorizado, con el propósito original de reducir las infladas nóminas
estatales.
Lejos de ser una modernización o una liberalización de libre mercado, el
aumento castrista de los impuestos no es más que una extorsión a los
negocios privados que pujan por crecer, y un esfuerzo por reafirmar el
poder del Estado sobre sus ciudadanos.
Una medida en extremo comunista, que no va a funcionar.
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/article/17124.html
"El dinero que los trabajadores podrían ganar en salarios que reflejen
el verdadero valor de lo que hacen, ahora va al Estado y sus programas
"gratuitos".
noviembre 30, 2012
Nuevos impuestos en Cuba son vieja expropiación comunista
Editorial
Investor's Business Daily, 28 de noviembre, 2012
Tiranía: Los medios de comunicación elogian a Cuba por obligar por
primera vez a sus empobrecidos ciudadanos a pagar impuestos, lo cual
describen como una medida "moderna" y "orientada al mercado". En
realidad, es sólo una nueva forma de robo aplicada por la dictadura de
siempre.
Leyendo a Reuters, se podría pensar que Cuba, una brutal dictadura
comunista de 53 años, ha sido un paraíso libre de impuestos para sus
afortunados ciudadanos."La mayoría de los cubanos no ha pagado impuestos
durante medio siglo, pero eso va a cambiar con un nuevo código a partir
del 1ro de enero",endulza el servicio de noticias, y precisa que los
nuevos impuestos a las ganancias privadas comienzan cerca del 35%.
De acuerdo, son nuevos, pero en modo alguno son los primeros: en
septiembre pasado, el régimen decretó punitivos aranceles aduaneros,
cobrando 4,55 dólares por cada libra de exceso de equipaje a los
expatriados cubanos que llevan suministros a sus familiares con pequeños
negocios.
"Las reformas de libre mercado del Gobierno introducidas en los últimos
dos años fueron diseñadas para fomentar las pequeñas empresas, la
agricultura privada y la iniciativa individual", escribe Reuters, y
agrega: "Bajo el nuevo código tributario el Estado espera obtener su
parte de las ganancias".
¿Su parte? Los cubanos ganan alrededor de 19 dólares al mes, un salario
de esclavos, medido por cualquier parámetro. Hacen el mismo trabajo que
otros latinoamericanos, a menudo con más destreza. Sin embargo, para su
único empleador, el Estado, sus quehaceres sólo valen 19 dólares, en una
implícita expropiación de su verdadero valor de mercado.
Y no lo dude, así lo ve el Gobierno: Fidel Castro, el dictador cubano,
incluso le dijo a una destacada profesional de la medicina, la Dra.
Hilda Molina, que no podía abandonar el país porque la formación que
había recibido del Estado convertía "su cerebro en propiedad estatal".
Reuters señala amablemente que el Gobierno "impuso algunos impuestos
dispersos, pero en buena parte prefirió mantener los salarios bajos para
poder financiar servicios sociales gratuitos".
Ese es justamente el quid del asunto: que el dinero que los trabajadores
podrían ganar en salarios que reflejen el verdadero valor de lo que
hacen, si tuvieran la libertad de elegir a sus empleadores, ahora va al
Estado y sus programas "gratuitos". Oficialmente o no, es una plusvalía
muy superior al 99%.
Y ¡qué sorpresa!, los hermanos Castro han amasado casualmente fortunas
personales de miles de millones de dólares, de acuerdo con los últimos
cálculos de la revista Forbes. Eso entraña una enorme cantidad de impuestos.
Lo que la dictadura de los Castro está procurando es embolsillarse el
dinero de las nuevas empresas supuestamente independientes que ha
autorizado, con el propósito original de reducir las infladas nóminas
estatales.
Lejos de ser una modernización o una liberalización de libre mercado, el
aumento castrista de los impuestos no es más que una extorsión a los
negocios privados que pujan por crecer, y un esfuerzo por reafirmar el
poder del Estado sobre sus ciudadanos.
Una medida en extremo comunista, que no va a funcionar.
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/article/17124.html
Cambios para el bien de pocos
Cambios para el bien de pocos
Jueves, 29 de Noviembre de 2012 14:01
Escrito por Rogelio Fabio Hurtado
sCuba actualidad; Marianao, La Habana, (PD) La burocracia dominante por
fin se ha resignado a entregar algunas parcelas de su estéril monopolio:
a partir del año que viene, los establecimientos de servicios de
gastronomía, hasta hoy estatales, pasarán a ser administrados por sus
empleados en calidad de arrendatarios.
A primera vista, parece la rectificación de aquel descomunal error
celebrado como la ofensiva revolucionaria de 1968. Sin embargo, bien
mirado, ese juicio peca de superficial, pues según lo anunciado, la
medida no significará un vuelco total, pues preserva a las respectivas
empresas burocráticas, para que puedan controlar provechosamente las
gestiones comerciales.
El Estado comienza por ahorrarse los salarios del personal, pues en lo
adelante será este quien deberá tributarle dinero contante y sonante, a
cambio prácticamente de nada. También borra de su contabilidad los
costos de agua, electricidad y mantenimiento de los locales. Además, la
magnitud del desfalco habitualmente practicado, recaerá ahora sobre los
flamantes dueños.
Vale subrayar que estos servicios serán cobrados según la tarifa vigente
para las residencias particulares, aunque quede bien aclarado que los
locales seguirán siendo propiedad estatal.
Por si fuera poco, los almacenes mayoristas le venderán a estos
establecimientos su mercancía "a precios minoristas, con un ligero
descuento" de modo que el financiamiento de la imprescindible ganancia
correrá por los consumidores, hasta ahora maltratados por las
insuficiencias socialistas, relativamente baratas. Ahora, podrán
disfrutar de lo peor de cada sistema: persistirá el trato torpe y la
limitada oferta, solo que ahora tendrá que pagarla a precios de mercado.
El escueto texto publicado no da respuesta a casi nada, excepto a la
prohibición de subarrendar. Tampoco aclara respecto a la competencia de
estos centros con los de los cuentapropistas ya establecidos. Las
relaciones entre los colectivos de trabajadores tampoco se delimitan.
Simplemente, las unidades comerciales que antes pertenecían a
determinada empresa, ahora no podrán esperar ninguna ayuda, aunque deban
seguir atados a ellas.
Dudo mucho que esta modalidad de la propiedad obrera haya sido prevista
por ninguno de los autores clásicos del marxismo. Al modelo aplicado por
el mariscal Tito en Yugoslavia, los estalinistas lo tildaron de
revisionista, alentador del surgimiento de una aristocracia dentro de la
clase obrera. El actual modelo chino depende de las más amplias
conexiones con el capital extranjero y no de exprimirle los kilos al
mini-negocio.
Esta forma de proceder, donde el Estado se asegura de entrada todas las
ventajas y le impone al ciudadano deseoso de escapar a la miseria
gabelas de garrotero, francamente recuerda los sistemas de protección
ideados por las mafias de antaño.arrenda
¿Quiénes serán los escasos beneficiados? Supongo que quienes resulten
premiados por la piñata para hacerse con los títulos de administradores,
personas con impecables historiales de conducta marxista-leninista, a
quienes ahora se les impondrá la desagradable tarea de enriquecerse
mediante el lucro capitalista, a condición de que no dejen de aplaudir.
Tan pronto empiece a funcionar se evidenciarán los síntomas de
empantanamiento. Entonces, los generales al mando tendrán que morderse
las lenguas y darle luz verde al inevitable capitalismo contemporáneo,
por mucho que eso disguste a los fracasados estalinistas. Ya lo veremos.
Para Cuba actualidad: rhur46@yahoo.com"
http://primaveradigital.org/primavera/component/content/article/117-politica/5894-cambios-para-el-bien-de-pocos.html
Jueves, 29 de Noviembre de 2012 14:01
Escrito por Rogelio Fabio Hurtado
sCuba actualidad; Marianao, La Habana, (PD) La burocracia dominante por
fin se ha resignado a entregar algunas parcelas de su estéril monopolio:
a partir del año que viene, los establecimientos de servicios de
gastronomía, hasta hoy estatales, pasarán a ser administrados por sus
empleados en calidad de arrendatarios.
A primera vista, parece la rectificación de aquel descomunal error
celebrado como la ofensiva revolucionaria de 1968. Sin embargo, bien
mirado, ese juicio peca de superficial, pues según lo anunciado, la
medida no significará un vuelco total, pues preserva a las respectivas
empresas burocráticas, para que puedan controlar provechosamente las
gestiones comerciales.
El Estado comienza por ahorrarse los salarios del personal, pues en lo
adelante será este quien deberá tributarle dinero contante y sonante, a
cambio prácticamente de nada. También borra de su contabilidad los
costos de agua, electricidad y mantenimiento de los locales. Además, la
magnitud del desfalco habitualmente practicado, recaerá ahora sobre los
flamantes dueños.
Vale subrayar que estos servicios serán cobrados según la tarifa vigente
para las residencias particulares, aunque quede bien aclarado que los
locales seguirán siendo propiedad estatal.
Por si fuera poco, los almacenes mayoristas le venderán a estos
establecimientos su mercancía "a precios minoristas, con un ligero
descuento" de modo que el financiamiento de la imprescindible ganancia
correrá por los consumidores, hasta ahora maltratados por las
insuficiencias socialistas, relativamente baratas. Ahora, podrán
disfrutar de lo peor de cada sistema: persistirá el trato torpe y la
limitada oferta, solo que ahora tendrá que pagarla a precios de mercado.
El escueto texto publicado no da respuesta a casi nada, excepto a la
prohibición de subarrendar. Tampoco aclara respecto a la competencia de
estos centros con los de los cuentapropistas ya establecidos. Las
relaciones entre los colectivos de trabajadores tampoco se delimitan.
Simplemente, las unidades comerciales que antes pertenecían a
determinada empresa, ahora no podrán esperar ninguna ayuda, aunque deban
seguir atados a ellas.
Dudo mucho que esta modalidad de la propiedad obrera haya sido prevista
por ninguno de los autores clásicos del marxismo. Al modelo aplicado por
el mariscal Tito en Yugoslavia, los estalinistas lo tildaron de
revisionista, alentador del surgimiento de una aristocracia dentro de la
clase obrera. El actual modelo chino depende de las más amplias
conexiones con el capital extranjero y no de exprimirle los kilos al
mini-negocio.
Esta forma de proceder, donde el Estado se asegura de entrada todas las
ventajas y le impone al ciudadano deseoso de escapar a la miseria
gabelas de garrotero, francamente recuerda los sistemas de protección
ideados por las mafias de antaño.arrenda
¿Quiénes serán los escasos beneficiados? Supongo que quienes resulten
premiados por la piñata para hacerse con los títulos de administradores,
personas con impecables historiales de conducta marxista-leninista, a
quienes ahora se les impondrá la desagradable tarea de enriquecerse
mediante el lucro capitalista, a condición de que no dejen de aplaudir.
Tan pronto empiece a funcionar se evidenciarán los síntomas de
empantanamiento. Entonces, los generales al mando tendrán que morderse
las lenguas y darle luz verde al inevitable capitalismo contemporáneo,
por mucho que eso disguste a los fracasados estalinistas. Ya lo veremos.
Para Cuba actualidad: rhur46@yahoo.com"
http://primaveradigital.org/primavera/component/content/article/117-politica/5894-cambios-para-el-bien-de-pocos.html
Cambios para el bien de pocos
Cambios para el bien de pocos
Jueves, 29 de Noviembre de 2012 14:01
Escrito por Rogelio Fabio Hurtado
sCuba actualidad; Marianao, La Habana, (PD) La burocracia dominante por
fin se ha resignado a entregar algunas parcelas de su estéril monopolio:
a partir del año que viene, los establecimientos de servicios de
gastronomía, hasta hoy estatales, pasarán a ser administrados por sus
empleados en calidad de arrendatarios.
A primera vista, parece la rectificación de aquel descomunal error
celebrado como la ofensiva revolucionaria de 1968. Sin embargo, bien
mirado, ese juicio peca de superficial, pues según lo anunciado, la
medida no significará un vuelco total, pues preserva a las respectivas
empresas burocráticas, para que puedan controlar provechosamente las
gestiones comerciales.
El Estado comienza por ahorrarse los salarios del personal, pues en lo
adelante será este quien deberá tributarle dinero contante y sonante, a
cambio prácticamente de nada. También borra de su contabilidad los
costos de agua, electricidad y mantenimiento de los locales. Además, la
magnitud del desfalco habitualmente practicado, recaerá ahora sobre los
flamantes dueños.
Vale subrayar que estos servicios serán cobrados según la tarifa vigente
para las residencias particulares, aunque quede bien aclarado que los
locales seguirán siendo propiedad estatal.
Por si fuera poco, los almacenes mayoristas le venderán a estos
establecimientos su mercancía "a precios minoristas, con un ligero
descuento" de modo que el financiamiento de la imprescindible ganancia
correrá por los consumidores, hasta ahora maltratados por las
insuficiencias socialistas, relativamente baratas. Ahora, podrán
disfrutar de lo peor de cada sistema: persistirá el trato torpe y la
limitada oferta, solo que ahora tendrá que pagarla a precios de mercado.
El escueto texto publicado no da respuesta a casi nada, excepto a la
prohibición de subarrendar. Tampoco aclara respecto a la competencia de
estos centros con los de los cuentapropistas ya establecidos. Las
relaciones entre los colectivos de trabajadores tampoco se delimitan.
Simplemente, las unidades comerciales que antes pertenecían a
determinada empresa, ahora no podrán esperar ninguna ayuda, aunque deban
seguir atados a ellas.
Dudo mucho que esta modalidad de la propiedad obrera haya sido prevista
por ninguno de los autores clásicos del marxismo. Al modelo aplicado por
el mariscal Tito en Yugoslavia, los estalinistas lo tildaron de
revisionista, alentador del surgimiento de una aristocracia dentro de la
clase obrera. El actual modelo chino depende de las más amplias
conexiones con el capital extranjero y no de exprimirle los kilos al
mini-negocio.
Esta forma de proceder, donde el Estado se asegura de entrada todas las
ventajas y le impone al ciudadano deseoso de escapar a la miseria
gabelas de garrotero, francamente recuerda los sistemas de protección
ideados por las mafias de antaño.arrenda
¿Quiénes serán los escasos beneficiados? Supongo que quienes resulten
premiados por la piñata para hacerse con los títulos de administradores,
personas con impecables historiales de conducta marxista-leninista, a
quienes ahora se les impondrá la desagradable tarea de enriquecerse
mediante el lucro capitalista, a condición de que no dejen de aplaudir.
Tan pronto empiece a funcionar se evidenciarán los síntomas de
empantanamiento. Entonces, los generales al mando tendrán que morderse
las lenguas y darle luz verde al inevitable capitalismo contemporáneo,
por mucho que eso disguste a los fracasados estalinistas. Ya lo veremos.
Para Cuba actualidad: rhur46@yahoo.com"
http://primaveradigital.org/primavera/component/content/article/117-politica/5894-cambios-para-el-bien-de-pocos.html
Jueves, 29 de Noviembre de 2012 14:01
Escrito por Rogelio Fabio Hurtado
sCuba actualidad; Marianao, La Habana, (PD) La burocracia dominante por
fin se ha resignado a entregar algunas parcelas de su estéril monopolio:
a partir del año que viene, los establecimientos de servicios de
gastronomía, hasta hoy estatales, pasarán a ser administrados por sus
empleados en calidad de arrendatarios.
A primera vista, parece la rectificación de aquel descomunal error
celebrado como la ofensiva revolucionaria de 1968. Sin embargo, bien
mirado, ese juicio peca de superficial, pues según lo anunciado, la
medida no significará un vuelco total, pues preserva a las respectivas
empresas burocráticas, para que puedan controlar provechosamente las
gestiones comerciales.
El Estado comienza por ahorrarse los salarios del personal, pues en lo
adelante será este quien deberá tributarle dinero contante y sonante, a
cambio prácticamente de nada. También borra de su contabilidad los
costos de agua, electricidad y mantenimiento de los locales. Además, la
magnitud del desfalco habitualmente practicado, recaerá ahora sobre los
flamantes dueños.
Vale subrayar que estos servicios serán cobrados según la tarifa vigente
para las residencias particulares, aunque quede bien aclarado que los
locales seguirán siendo propiedad estatal.
Por si fuera poco, los almacenes mayoristas le venderán a estos
establecimientos su mercancía "a precios minoristas, con un ligero
descuento" de modo que el financiamiento de la imprescindible ganancia
correrá por los consumidores, hasta ahora maltratados por las
insuficiencias socialistas, relativamente baratas. Ahora, podrán
disfrutar de lo peor de cada sistema: persistirá el trato torpe y la
limitada oferta, solo que ahora tendrá que pagarla a precios de mercado.
El escueto texto publicado no da respuesta a casi nada, excepto a la
prohibición de subarrendar. Tampoco aclara respecto a la competencia de
estos centros con los de los cuentapropistas ya establecidos. Las
relaciones entre los colectivos de trabajadores tampoco se delimitan.
Simplemente, las unidades comerciales que antes pertenecían a
determinada empresa, ahora no podrán esperar ninguna ayuda, aunque deban
seguir atados a ellas.
Dudo mucho que esta modalidad de la propiedad obrera haya sido prevista
por ninguno de los autores clásicos del marxismo. Al modelo aplicado por
el mariscal Tito en Yugoslavia, los estalinistas lo tildaron de
revisionista, alentador del surgimiento de una aristocracia dentro de la
clase obrera. El actual modelo chino depende de las más amplias
conexiones con el capital extranjero y no de exprimirle los kilos al
mini-negocio.
Esta forma de proceder, donde el Estado se asegura de entrada todas las
ventajas y le impone al ciudadano deseoso de escapar a la miseria
gabelas de garrotero, francamente recuerda los sistemas de protección
ideados por las mafias de antaño.arrenda
¿Quiénes serán los escasos beneficiados? Supongo que quienes resulten
premiados por la piñata para hacerse con los títulos de administradores,
personas con impecables historiales de conducta marxista-leninista, a
quienes ahora se les impondrá la desagradable tarea de enriquecerse
mediante el lucro capitalista, a condición de que no dejen de aplaudir.
Tan pronto empiece a funcionar se evidenciarán los síntomas de
empantanamiento. Entonces, los generales al mando tendrán que morderse
las lenguas y darle luz verde al inevitable capitalismo contemporáneo,
por mucho que eso disguste a los fracasados estalinistas. Ya lo veremos.
Para Cuba actualidad: rhur46@yahoo.com"
http://primaveradigital.org/primavera/component/content/article/117-politica/5894-cambios-para-el-bien-de-pocos.html
New Cuban Tax Just Same Old Communist Expropriation
New Cuban Tax Just Same Old Communist Expropriation
Posted 11/28/2012 06:39 PM ET
Tyranny: The media praised Cuba for slapping taxes on its impoverished
citizens for the first time, calling the move "market-oriented" and
"modern." In reality, it's just a new kind of theft from the same old
dictatorship.
To hear Reuters tell it, you'd think that Cuba, a brutal communist
dictatorship for 53 years, has been a tax-free haven for all its lucky
citizens.
"Most Cubans have not paid taxes for half a century, but that will
change under a new code starting Jan. 1," the newswire chirped, noting
that the new taxes on private profits begin in the 35% vicinity.
They're new all right, but hardly the first: Last September, the regime
initiated punishing customs taxes at $4.55 a pound in excess baggage
fees on Cuban expats bringing in supplies for their relatives with
businesses.
"The government's free-market reforms, introduced over the last two
years, are designed to encourage small businesses, private farming and
individual initiative," Reuters wrote. "Under the new tax code the state
hopes to get its share of the proceeds."
Its share? Cubans earn about $19 a month, slave wages by any standard.
They do the same work as other Latin Americans, often with more skill.
But to the state, their sole employer, their wages are worth just $19,
an implicit expropriation of their true market value.
Make no mistake, that's how the government sees it: Cuban dictator Fidel
Castro even told one prominent medical professional, Dr. Hilda Molina,
that she was not free to leave the country because her state-paid
training made her "brain the property of the state."
Reuters helpfully points out that taxes have been all but nonexistent in
Cuba because wages are low, so as to keep social services "free."
But that's just the point: The money workers could earn if free to
choose their employers at wages that reflect their worth now all goes to
the state and its "free" programs. Officially or not, it's a tax well
beyond 99%.
And what a surprise, the Castro brothers just happen to have personal
fortunes in the billions of dollars, according to the last Forbes
estimate. That's a lot of taxes.
The Castro dictatorship is looking to take cash from the supposedly
independent new businesses it's permitted to set up shop, originally as
a way of cutting the bloated state employment rolls.
Far from being a market liberalization or modernization, the Castroite
tax hike is nothing but a shakedown of businesses that are struggling to
grow, and an effort to reassert the power of the state over its citizens.
It's communist in the extreme, and won't work.
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/112812-634982-cuban-castro-regime-taxes-just-confiscation-in-new-form.htm
Posted 11/28/2012 06:39 PM ET
Tyranny: The media praised Cuba for slapping taxes on its impoverished
citizens for the first time, calling the move "market-oriented" and
"modern." In reality, it's just a new kind of theft from the same old
dictatorship.
To hear Reuters tell it, you'd think that Cuba, a brutal communist
dictatorship for 53 years, has been a tax-free haven for all its lucky
citizens.
"Most Cubans have not paid taxes for half a century, but that will
change under a new code starting Jan. 1," the newswire chirped, noting
that the new taxes on private profits begin in the 35% vicinity.
They're new all right, but hardly the first: Last September, the regime
initiated punishing customs taxes at $4.55 a pound in excess baggage
fees on Cuban expats bringing in supplies for their relatives with
businesses.
"The government's free-market reforms, introduced over the last two
years, are designed to encourage small businesses, private farming and
individual initiative," Reuters wrote. "Under the new tax code the state
hopes to get its share of the proceeds."
Its share? Cubans earn about $19 a month, slave wages by any standard.
They do the same work as other Latin Americans, often with more skill.
But to the state, their sole employer, their wages are worth just $19,
an implicit expropriation of their true market value.
Make no mistake, that's how the government sees it: Cuban dictator Fidel
Castro even told one prominent medical professional, Dr. Hilda Molina,
that she was not free to leave the country because her state-paid
training made her "brain the property of the state."
Reuters helpfully points out that taxes have been all but nonexistent in
Cuba because wages are low, so as to keep social services "free."
But that's just the point: The money workers could earn if free to
choose their employers at wages that reflect their worth now all goes to
the state and its "free" programs. Officially or not, it's a tax well
beyond 99%.
And what a surprise, the Castro brothers just happen to have personal
fortunes in the billions of dollars, according to the last Forbes
estimate. That's a lot of taxes.
The Castro dictatorship is looking to take cash from the supposedly
independent new businesses it's permitted to set up shop, originally as
a way of cutting the bloated state employment rolls.
Far from being a market liberalization or modernization, the Castroite
tax hike is nothing but a shakedown of businesses that are struggling to
grow, and an effort to reassert the power of the state over its citizens.
It's communist in the extreme, and won't work.
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/112812-634982-cuban-castro-regime-taxes-just-confiscation-in-new-form.htm
New Cuban Tax Just Same Old Communist Expropriation
New Cuban Tax Just Same Old Communist Expropriation
Posted 11/28/2012 06:39 PM ET
Tyranny: The media praised Cuba for slapping taxes on its impoverished
citizens for the first time, calling the move "market-oriented" and
"modern." In reality, it's just a new kind of theft from the same old
dictatorship.
To hear Reuters tell it, you'd think that Cuba, a brutal communist
dictatorship for 53 years, has been a tax-free haven for all its lucky
citizens.
"Most Cubans have not paid taxes for half a century, but that will
change under a new code starting Jan. 1," the newswire chirped, noting
that the new taxes on private profits begin in the 35% vicinity.
They're new all right, but hardly the first: Last September, the regime
initiated punishing customs taxes at $4.55 a pound in excess baggage
fees on Cuban expats bringing in supplies for their relatives with
businesses.
"The government's free-market reforms, introduced over the last two
years, are designed to encourage small businesses, private farming and
individual initiative," Reuters wrote. "Under the new tax code the state
hopes to get its share of the proceeds."
Its share? Cubans earn about $19 a month, slave wages by any standard.
They do the same work as other Latin Americans, often with more skill.
But to the state, their sole employer, their wages are worth just $19,
an implicit expropriation of their true market value.
Make no mistake, that's how the government sees it: Cuban dictator Fidel
Castro even told one prominent medical professional, Dr. Hilda Molina,
that she was not free to leave the country because her state-paid
training made her "brain the property of the state."
Reuters helpfully points out that taxes have been all but nonexistent in
Cuba because wages are low, so as to keep social services "free."
But that's just the point: The money workers could earn if free to
choose their employers at wages that reflect their worth now all goes to
the state and its "free" programs. Officially or not, it's a tax well
beyond 99%.
And what a surprise, the Castro brothers just happen to have personal
fortunes in the billions of dollars, according to the last Forbes
estimate. That's a lot of taxes.
The Castro dictatorship is looking to take cash from the supposedly
independent new businesses it's permitted to set up shop, originally as
a way of cutting the bloated state employment rolls.
Far from being a market liberalization or modernization, the Castroite
tax hike is nothing but a shakedown of businesses that are struggling to
grow, and an effort to reassert the power of the state over its citizens.
It's communist in the extreme, and won't work.
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/112812-634982-cuban-castro-regime-taxes-just-confiscation-in-new-form.htm
Posted 11/28/2012 06:39 PM ET
Tyranny: The media praised Cuba for slapping taxes on its impoverished
citizens for the first time, calling the move "market-oriented" and
"modern." In reality, it's just a new kind of theft from the same old
dictatorship.
To hear Reuters tell it, you'd think that Cuba, a brutal communist
dictatorship for 53 years, has been a tax-free haven for all its lucky
citizens.
"Most Cubans have not paid taxes for half a century, but that will
change under a new code starting Jan. 1," the newswire chirped, noting
that the new taxes on private profits begin in the 35% vicinity.
They're new all right, but hardly the first: Last September, the regime
initiated punishing customs taxes at $4.55 a pound in excess baggage
fees on Cuban expats bringing in supplies for their relatives with
businesses.
"The government's free-market reforms, introduced over the last two
years, are designed to encourage small businesses, private farming and
individual initiative," Reuters wrote. "Under the new tax code the state
hopes to get its share of the proceeds."
Its share? Cubans earn about $19 a month, slave wages by any standard.
They do the same work as other Latin Americans, often with more skill.
But to the state, their sole employer, their wages are worth just $19,
an implicit expropriation of their true market value.
Make no mistake, that's how the government sees it: Cuban dictator Fidel
Castro even told one prominent medical professional, Dr. Hilda Molina,
that she was not free to leave the country because her state-paid
training made her "brain the property of the state."
Reuters helpfully points out that taxes have been all but nonexistent in
Cuba because wages are low, so as to keep social services "free."
But that's just the point: The money workers could earn if free to
choose their employers at wages that reflect their worth now all goes to
the state and its "free" programs. Officially or not, it's a tax well
beyond 99%.
And what a surprise, the Castro brothers just happen to have personal
fortunes in the billions of dollars, according to the last Forbes
estimate. That's a lot of taxes.
The Castro dictatorship is looking to take cash from the supposedly
independent new businesses it's permitted to set up shop, originally as
a way of cutting the bloated state employment rolls.
Far from being a market liberalization or modernization, the Castroite
tax hike is nothing but a shakedown of businesses that are struggling to
grow, and an effort to reassert the power of the state over its citizens.
It's communist in the extreme, and won't work.
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/112812-634982-cuban-castro-regime-taxes-just-confiscation-in-new-form.htm
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