Reaching Out

There is hope my friends.....

On January 2011, President Obama has directed the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Homeland Security to take a series of steps to continue efforts to reach out to the Cuban people in support of their desire to freely determine their country’s future. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/14/reaching-out-cuban-people)


Jose Marti International Airport - Havana Cuba


So, I have hope that one day the cuban people and the US people can come to the table to talk about how to improve the horrible conditions in which the cuban people are living now. 
I guess, I am in the middle when it comes to which side I agree with.  I agree with the US that Cuba needs to improve and stop the human rights violations in the island.  But I also agree with Cuba in the sense that the United States should not be the one deciding who trades with Cuba and who doesn't and how to go about doing that.  China is a comunist state as well and the US trades with China and does not interfeer with others trading with China.  So, what is the real motive of why the US prohibits the trade with Cuba through the embargo.
I do have hope that this could change, for once Obama will try to keep improving the relationship with Cuba and Raul Castro seems to want to negotiate with Obama.  This is good news to us cubans, I guess it can not get any worse..... I'll keep praying for the benefit of the people.

Trade

As I have mentioned before in my blog, because the Cuban Embargo, Cuba can not freely trade with the rest of the World.  Since the Soviet Union stoped being comunist, it has been harder for Cuba to sustain itself and therefore the poverty levels are increasing, malnutrition is as bigger problem now that it use to be then.
The US president signed a law in 2000 that allows the US to trade with Cuba (or sell goods to Cuba) as long as they are agriculture or medical needs.  The US is now the main supplier of agricultural goods to the island.



The cuban governement reports that the poverty levels in Cuba are not that high compare to other latin american countries, and that comunism is helping that by distributing the goods among the people.  But, eventually, the island is not going to be able to keep sustaining itself and its going to need an open and free trade policy to be able to sucesed.  Would the US allow for that to happend?  Would the cuban government open up for free trade that would benefit the people not just those in the comunist party?  Only time will tell.....

Has there been a change since Raul took over?

For good or ill, Fidel Castro was without a doubt the most important leader to emerge from Latin America since the wars of independence of the early 19th century, not only reshaping Cuban society but providing inspiration for leftists across Latin America and in other parts of the world.  But he never broke the island's dependence on commodities like sugar, tobacco and nickel, nor did he succeed in industrializing the nation so that Cuba could compete in the world market with durable goods. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of its aid to the island, Cuba has limped along economically, relying mostly on tourism and money sent home from exiles to get hard currency.
Some experts have said that Raúl Castro is more pragmatic. He has given signals he might try to follow the Chinese example of state-sponsored capitalism. But his regime has made no significant changes. In March 2009, Mr. Castro announced a shake-up in his administration.
People say they have seen small improvements in the economy that do not go far enough. Many roads in Havana have been repaired. Microwave ovens, DVD players and cellphones are now in stores, but most Cubans cannot afford them.



Please read the enrire article published by the New York Times, it is a very condense and good history.

1. I copied these three parragraphs in part because I could argue and I don't agree that Fidel Castro was the most important leader to emerge from Latin America since the independence of America in the 19th century.  I have many reasons for why I think that way and I base my opinion in the facts and history itself.

2. Raul Castro is more pragmatic, and he did give signals of a change, but we are still waiting (since 2009) for him to "chake" his administration, it has not happened yet (now in 2011).

3. There were some small improvements in the economy, but not anything significant.  What good is for you to have a cell phone if you can't call anyone else in or outside of the island, because only certain selected people can have cell phones, and by selected people I mean those who belong to the party.  What good is it for you to have a microwave if you don't have electricity half of the day???

anyways, these are my responses to the article, please feel free to comment.  Maybe I am being too negative...

Former President Carter visit to Havana

Jimmy Carter visited Havana last Monday in an effort to try to improve Cuba-US relations.

during his three day visit he said:
“I hope we can contribute to better relations between the two countries.”

A few years ago, and specially during Clinton's administration, the relations between US and Cuba were kind of getting better, or at least there were some dialogue between the two countries on how to get the relations better.  US keeps pushing for the human rights violations to stop and Cuba is pushing for the US to lift the embargo on the island so the economic situation can improve there. 
I liked the fact that a former US president is taking this issue under his wing and trying to at least be open for a conversation. 
Could more visits from higher political US figures to Cuba help improve the situation? What do you think?

Fidel Castro--no longer IN CHARGE

Fidel Castro has been the president of Cuba since 1959 and he has been the head of the Cuba Comunist Party since 1965.  In 2006 he steped down from power and from being the first secretary of the party because of health problems.  He is 84 now, and recently has said that he does not plan to have those roles again, and stated that now his younger brother Raul is president and first secretary of the party. 
what does that mean to Cubans? What does that mean for Cuba? It this a step in the direction of democracy?  It could be, we'll have to wait and see. 
see the entire article on: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=134758708 published March 22, 2011.

Foreign Relations

Havana Cathedral (Minutes from where my house use to be when I lived in Habana) This is a huge turist place.

Foreign Relations in Cuba

Fidel Castro had it made when the Soviet Union was comunist.  Ever since the cold ward ended, Cuba has strugled to find countries to trade with and be friendly with and now finds itself isolated.  Right now, there are not that many that want to or can trade with Cuba.  Among the countries that trade with Cuba currently we find Spain.  "Cuba imports more goods from Spain (almost 13% of total imports) than from any other country" (infoplease.com).  Spain decided not to press the cuban government for improvement of the human rights in the island.  And of course Cuba has relations with North Korea, Iran and Venezuela among others with similiar political systems (basicaly countries that violate human righst as well, or have totalitariam governments). 
The trade embargo imposed by the United States does not make its easier for Cuba to find new trade partners, and ever since it was passed into law in 1992 and strengthened by Bill Clinton in 1999 it is even harder now for Cuba to have trade relations with any country in the world that cares to also trade with the United States.
The embargo is suppossed to press for a more democratic Cuba, but my question now days is Who is the embargo really hurting?  The people in the government in Cuba seem to be doing fine.  But how is the people, the everyday people really doing in Cuba.  Is it effective, is it accomplishing the original purpose?  I am not too sure, the human right violations in Cuba are increasing, not decreasing and the people are starving to death and the government is blaming it all in the embargo impossed by the US.

Fidel Castro...Who is this guy?

An enigma to most people, a monster to us cubans!!!

Castro was born on August 13, 1926 (August 13 is now like a national holiday in Cuba, when it should really be a day of sorrow :(  )
His father was a wealthy plantation owner and his mom was the house maid until his father's first wife died then Fidel's dad married his mom and changed Fidel's last name from Ruz to Castro.
At early age he showed a great identification with social rights and so he became a lawyer in the university of Havana.
what happened? In my opinion, greed, that's what happens.  Like in Animal Farm, he became the "pig".
His ideas made sense in the beggining, like the ideal of comunism does in paper, putting it into practice is an entire different story.

The good he did:                 

• Free Education
• Free medicine
• Equality to all-electricity, housing, equal portions/rations of food, etc.

The BAD:

• Free education only to those who are in the political party, if you don't agree with the comunist party of Cuba, forget of being anybody.  Free education, but the teachers are the worse paid in Cuba, there are no books, there are no materials really for kids to use in schools.  All education in Cuba at all levels are related to politics in most way, the endoctrination process starts at birth and reafirmed from kindergarden to College and forever.
• Free medicine -Yeah!! Great!! When you go to a hospital, you have to bring everything for your stay including the sheets for your bed.  Be ready to share a room with at least 4 others, sometimes anestesia is not available (during a C-Section in 1988, my mom almost died because of the lack of anestesia).  You go to the pharmacy and sometimes you don't find aspirin.  BUT, if you go to a pharmacy for turists, you find everything you need and more ... and be ready to pay in dollars (the cuban average paid is the equivalent to $18 US dollars a month).
• Equality - WHAT EQUALITY - starting with the fact that if you don't belong to the party and you don't agree with the politics YOU ARE NOT EQUAL, therefore they will put you down and erase you off the map if needed to.  Yes, electricity was stablished for all cubans when fidel took power, but now days, the electricity is taken off every day to most homes for long periods of time sometimes as much as for 4-6 hours at a time.  No water runs in any municipality in a daily basis.  Imagine not being able to flush the toilet or washing the dishes every day.

Ok, enough for today.  You can read more about his life and his accomplishments in the link I posted above.

Fidel Castro Biography - Biography.com

Fidel Castro Biography - Biography.com

Cuban Political System

Did you know that Fidel Castro is the longest serving head of government who has held the premier postiion in the government and politics of Cuba since 1976?  Well in fact he has been in power since January 1, 1959.  That seems like a very long time, almost two generations now of cubans that has not known a different president than the Castros.

Like in China, there is only one political party in Cuba, the Comunis Party of Cuba, which is the only and oldest party does not allow any other party or opposition at all.  You can only imagine what is done to the opposition in a country like Cuba, torture, jail, death.
Cuban Political Map
In Cuba like in China, elections are held, but the people really only vote for their local representatives.  Cuba is divided into 14 provinces  with a total of 165 municipalities.  People in cuba vote for their local municiality representative, this happens every two years and a half.



As I remember as a little girl, election time was a big deal in Cuba.  Everybody was involved (even those who didn't support the government), even kids where involved.  We, the kids, were sent to the voting places to gurd the votes.  One kid with their school uniforms in each side of the "voting box" to gurd it.  Everything was a symbol, a way to indoctrinate the kids from an early age.  Hypocrecy by the government to hold elections, when in fact, at the end of the day only one name was in the presidential valot. 
As we learned in our class about China, Cuba is a lot like that.  If people didn't join this hyprotical event "elections" they could face terrible consecuences.

Cuban Constitution - A Lie

It hurts me deeply to read for the first time the Cuban Constitution....What a LIE!!  Is it that I am interpreting it right? or is it that the cuban government does not remember what was writen in it.


Island of Cuba, formed by 14 provinces

Here are some things that really made me read twice to make sure that I was reading the Cuban Constitution:

• Chapter VI: Equality; here they explain the right to equality among races, colors, men and women.  They truly forgot to mention equality among those who believe in the current governmental structure and those who don't agree with it.  Very combiniently forgot to include the right of those not in agreement with the governement.  People who don't agree with the current politics (stablished since 1959) don't have any rights and are not consider equal in any way shape or form.
•  Chapter VII: Fundamental Rights, Duties and Guarantees; in this chapter the different rights are explain.  The right to work, the right to rest from work (8 hrs days), the right to social assistance, the right to free medicine/hospitals, the right to free education, etc.  Article 53 talks about the freedom of press, freedom of expression. Article 54 talks about the right to manisfestations by the people.  THIS LAST TWO ARTICLES I MENTIONED make me CRAZY!!  What rights?  There are no rights of expression in Cuba, if you don't agree with the government and its politics, you simply don't exist.  There are many poeople in jails in Cuba because they have expressed their discontent with the governement and they are not only in jail, they are in undesclosed locations and many times their families have no idea where they are.  What freedoms or rights?  If all the television stations, all newspapers, everything belongs to the state, nothing is independent anymore and if you dare to publish anything about politics outside of the country, you better be carefull!  Yes, medicine is free and yes education is free, but what good is it if people are dying left to right in cuban hospitals everyday because of the lack of medications and lack of higene.  The government is very proud to send cuban doctors all over the world as best doctors that help other "poor" countries when in our own country these wonderful doctors can not function fully to help the cuban people because of the lack of materials, etc.  What good is a free education when the government controls who attends what university and who should take which career.  If you don't belong to a comunist party in Cuba you can totally forget about a higher education.

I am just sad right now to read and learn this things about Cuba, my wonderful country, I am just full of emotions.
         

Cuba - El Morro Fort