Reflexiones del Comandante en JefeLa tiranía mundialAfirma Fidel que los que constituyeron la nación norteamericana no pudieron imaginar que lo que entonces proclamaban llevaba, como cualquier otra sociedad histórica, los gérmenes de su propia transformaciónhttp://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2007-07-08/la-tirania-mundial/,
www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do?id=10867&formato=html
Bush administration wakes up to South America’s reality
Several outstanding United States officials will be visiting “friendly” countries in South America to promote political and trade links in the framework of what has been described as the year of the “US commitment with Latinamerica".
This coming week Nicholas Burns, number three in the US State Department will begin a visit of Chile, Uruguay and brazil together with Thomas Shannon Under secretary for the Western Hemisphere, the man who has helped elaborate the President Bush administration new approach towards Latinamerica.US State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack anticipated Burns will emphasize on “regional and world security, environment protection, energy and trade”. In Brazil he will also talk about “cooperation in biofuels” following on the memorandum signed by both countries when President Bush visited Brazil. “Chile, Uruguay and Brazil are valued partners with which we hope to continue working in consolidating democracy, promoting prosperity and ensuring that economic growth improves the lives of all citizens in the Americas”, said McCormack.Later in the week US Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson is scheduled. He is will also address trade, investment promotion, support for small and medium businesses and infrastructure in the region.In Chile Burns and Shannon will be meeting President Michelle Bachelet and in Uruguay president Tabare Vazquez, and in Brazil Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim. Shannon in Brazil will open the Brazil/US innovation summitTreasury Secretary Paulson is scheduled to meet Thursday in Montevideo with President Vazquez and Economy minister Danilo Astori.Further on the calendar, August 10, the Council of the Americas presided by Susan Segal will holding a session in Montevideo and in September the visit of US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez has been announced.The Bush administration has defined 2007 as the year of the commitment with Latinamerica following strong criticisms from the opposition Democrat controlled Congress that it has neglected the region, which has facilitated the “growing influence” of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. This week also the White House is organizing a Conference on the Americas which is to be opened by President Bush, and First Lady Laura, and will be addressing dozens of representatives from different citizens’ organizations. The conference will analyze relations of the region with the US from a more grass root level, and specifically address social justice. Carlos Baraibar member of Uruguay’s Congress and Foreign Relations Committee who recently visited the US said that Shannon is the architect of the Bush administration’s new policy towards Latinamerica with an approach completely different to that of “Roger Noriega, Otto Reich and others who believed that whoever had contacts with Cuba was an enemy”.Baraibar added that the right wing approach has been replaced by another “more open and understanding of the situation” and which knows how to mark differences between more or less friendly and progressive administrations and those who some describe as populists. “Shannon does not disqualify populism and considers it a reality of the region. Elected governments in democratic systems are the expression of peoples and realities which the US cannot ignore when considering historic links with Latinamerica”.President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the region last March in what is now seen as the launching of the new approach towards the region in what is left of the current administration.
Canada: Alignment and ContradictionBy ELSON CONCEPCIÓN PEREZ - elson.cp@granma.cip.cu - PHOTO: RAUL LOPEZ
Miguel Figueroa, general secretary of the Canadian Communist Party, defines his country’s current foreign policy as “greater alignment with the United States,” but with “contradictions between the big Canadian corporations and those of its neighbor.”
MIGUEL FIGUEROA, LEADER OF THE CANADIAN COMMUNIST PARTY.
In an interview with Granma, Figueroa said his party considers the situation a sort of antagonism among associates; a unity and contradiction at the same time.
But it affects Canada?
The Canadian government handed over part of the country’s sovereignty to the United States in exchange for access to its market.
This is quite evident in the North American Free Trade Agreement signed between the two countries and Mexico.
Besides, it is a mechanism that has to do with security, with energy, with water. It also touches on matters of defense, as conceived in the 2005 accords between the three governments.
Military and also energy security?
This integration involves resources of Canada and Mexico, like oil, petrochemicals and others. Water is a very important issue, because we are the world’s largest reservoir in hydraulic resources and the United States is amid a water crisis, which will get worse in the near future with the impact of global warming.
What does your country represent in as far as the energy security of the United States?
We export oil, coal and natural gas to our neighbor and at present a gas pipeline is being built to the US. It should be noted that presently Canada is the most important energy source of the United States. It’s an important relationship.
And what about the environment?
We signed the Kyoto protocol, but now the conservatives in power argue that it is impossible to meet the accord’s objectives and in that way are supporting Washington’s stance.
Other consequences?
For many decades [Canadian] workers fought to obtain job security, free health care, which is very different from what exists in the United States, just as is shown in the new film by Michael Moore, where he talks very favorably about the Canadian health system.
However there are forces, including some specialists of the medical elite, the insurance companies, the private pharmaceutical monopolies and other big businesses in general, that are pressuring to privatize the health system.
Of course they can’t do it openly because a recent poll shows that 90 percent of the population opposes a privatization of those services.
Nonetheless, in the province of Ontario it was decided that eye exams were no longer considered essential for life, so people have to pay up to 100 dollars or more for that service. Vision is no longer a right, but instead a privilege for those that have money.
In that same way there is an effort to create a climate of crisis in the hospital emergency services, to reduce people’s confidence in the public health system. In Toronto, the reduction in the state budget for emergency services has created a crisis in beds, doctors and nurses.
Regarding employment, official statistics talk of 6 percent unemployment, that’s to say 1.5 million persons. For example, in one year alone 250,000 factory jobs were lost, highly skilled and unionized workers; while the jobs created are temporary and low pay.
What impression of Cuba do you take with you?
Relations with Cuba have been guided by a foreign policy different from that of the United States. Currently, some 600,000 Canadians visit the island each year and there is business and other sectors that function well.
During this visit we have seen the tenacity of the Cuban people to defend their social achievements.
I was very impressed with the visit to the Latin American School of Medicine, a unique and outstanding testimony to internationalism.
The governments of the rich countries should feel ashamed, because while they export bombs and troops, Cuba, a small country, sends doctors and nurses to save lives in other nations.
Cuban Docs Climb Guatemala Volcano
Guatemala, Jul 7 (Prensa Latina) At the top of Guatemala's Pacaya volcano, members of the Cuban medical brigade in that country reaffirmed their commitment to provide assistance to the world's needy.
The 2,500-meter-high volcano at the Pacific ring of fire is one of the country's 37 most visited by nationals and foreigners.
This was an action similar to the way Cuban youth committed to the Revolution climb Turquino peak, the Island's highest, explained the brigade's coordinator, Yoandra Muro.
Once at the top, the doctors read a declaration reiterating their commitment with President Fidel Castro and the Revolution to provide their service anywhere needed.
"Today it is our duty to defend our conquests with love, sacrifice, humility, and altruism, putting internationalism on top," the text reads.
The Cuban medical brigade, comprising over 300 members, is currently assisting 17 of Guatemala's 22 departments.
In eight years, about 230,000 Guatemalan lives have been saved, and infant and maternal mortality rated reduced by over half.
Cuba interested in economic exchange with Dominican RepublicDomicantoday.com Santo Domingo.– Goods and services offered by 36 Cuban companies that will participate in a commercial fair next week in the Dominican Republic have caught the attention of many businesspeople interested in boosting trade and economic exchange between the two nations.
According to the Dominican trade and economy advisor at the Cuban embassy, Carlos de la Nuez, some 30 companies from the country have already asked for interviews with the Cuban delegates.
De la Nuez noted that these requests show the Dominican Republic's interest in initiating conversations on a prospective trade agreement, of which a preliminary draft was delivered to Dominican authorities at the fourth Joint Bilateral Collaboration Commission.
Five Cuban healthcare centers and three research institutes will be also represented at next week’s trade fair, pointed out Mirtha Rippes, an official with Cuba’s Chamber of Commerce.
The meetings are organized by the Cuban Chamber of Commerce and the island's embassy in Santo Domingo, and they will begin July 9th, at the Dominican Fiesta hotel in Santo Domingo.
Between 2004 and 2006, bilateral trade exchange increased by 15% and, in the first quarter of 2007, it has increased by approximately 32%.
Economía -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Imprimir
VI Convención de Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo Reconoce la ONU Programa de Revolución Energética
7 de Julio del 2007 Ledys Camacho Casado - Opciones
Achim Steiner, director ejecutivo del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente (PNUMA), destacó la respuesta de Cuba a una crisis energética mundial a corto plazo
La respuesta de Cuba a una crisis energética mundial a corto plazo sin comprometer el futuro y respetando y conviviendo con energías más limpias y menos perjudiciales al entorno como el uso del gas acompañante para producir electricidad, fue destacada por Achim Steiner, director ejecutivo del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente (PNUMA).
Al subrayar que sin una sólida plataforma multilateral el mundo no podrá responder al cambio climático, el funcionario ponderó la Revolución Energética de Cuba y mostró satisfacción por los logros de la nación caribeña en materia de desarrollo sostenible y educación ambiental.
Steiner, invitado a la VI Convención de Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo, que sesionó la semana última en esta capital, exaltó el proyecto de la Revolución Energética impulsado por la Isla para lograr un aprovechamiento más racional y eficiente de los recursos y con el cual ha logrado establecer nuevas estrategias responsables y soluciones para el escenario energético del futuro basado en el ahorro, la diversificación y el desarrollo de fuentes de energía renovables.
Destacó la utilización en la nación caribeña de un modelo de uso racional de la energía mediante la instalación de grupos electrógenos en centros vitales, como los de salud, educación y otros servicios de primera necesidad.
Durante su conferencia magistral, señaló que Cuba ha invertido en el desarrollo de zonas protegidas y en mecanismos para minimizar el impacto de fenómenos meteorológicos extremos, los cuales serán más frecuentes en los próximos años e instó a acciones conjuntas para luchar contra los efectos del calentamiento global, que no sólo involucra a los países desarrollados como sus principales responsables, sino a todos por igual en el planeta.
El también subsecretario general de la ONU precisó lo asombroso de ver un país como Cuba, con tantas dificultades económicas, que haya logrado incluir al medio ambiente como parte de su estrategia de sostenibilidad al tener en cuenta el reto de la distribución de los beneficios del desarrollo sobre la base de la justicia social, y sentando pautas para el futuro.
El ejecutivo llamó a enfrentar la crisis de productividad que aumenta globalmente con el reto de alimentar, mantener y desarrollar la vida de casi 7 mil millones de personas en este planeta.
En su intervención en el encuentro en La Habana, Steiner precisó que aún cuando el cambio climático y el calentamiento global son responsabilidad en primer lugar de los países industrializados, sus consecuencias afectan e involucran a toda la humanidad y sus riesgos son insostenibles para las economías y la sociedad en general.
"Se requiere de más coherencia y acción para enfrentar la crisis ambiental que azota al planeta", afirmó el directivo al sostener que el siglo XXI exigirá cada vez más un sistema multilateral funcional.
Sobre los riesgos y oportunidades que conlleva la polémica actual sobre la producción de biocombustibles, reconoció el papel del presidente cubano Fidel Castro en la alerta sobre la competencia que provocaría esa práctica, a lo cual se añade la advertencia hecha en un informe reciente de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (FAO).
Abundó en que hay biocombustibles que utilizan productos alimenticios y otros que se obtienen a partir de desechos y enzimas, pero puntualizó que no todos los países están en la misma situación en cuanto a posibilidades económicas y al uso de sus tierras, lo cual obliga a un análisis particular de cada caso.
El PNUMA se dedica por el momento a diseñar normas y reglamentos sobre cómo aplicar esa tecnología con la mayor protección posible y previendo sus consecuencias negativas.
Exaltó otros resultados de Cuba en materia medioambiental, como la ampliación de su cobertura boscosa, la existencia de uno de los mayores porcentajes de áreas protegidas y la labor de monitoreo y vigilancia meteorológica para reducir al mínimo posible las pérdidas económicas y humanas frente al azote de ciclones y huracanes, a partir de la acción de la Defensa Civil y la conjugación de la ciencia con el conocimiento popular.
LECCIONES SOBRE CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO
Las acciones humanas en relación con el cambio climático deben ser concertadas de manera multilateral dentro del marco legal de las Naciones Unidas, según sostuvieron expertos cubanos en el tema, participantes en la VI Convención sobre Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo, quienes abogaron por respuestas globales para enfrentar tales fenómenos.
Un Panel sobre Cambio Climático realizado en el foro se refirió a la deuda histórica de los países desarrollados con el deterioro del medio ambiente en el planeta y al problema del incremento de los gases de efecto invernadero, en lo cual, las fuerzas del mercado, por sí solas, no conducirían a reducciones significativas de las emisiones.
El especialista Ramón Pichs, del Centro de Investigaciones de la Economía Mundial, señaló a las naciones industrializadas como las principales responsables, desde una perspectiva histórica, con el actual fenómeno del cambio climático, y destacó que las subdesarrolladas son las más vulnerables, en particular los pequeños estados insulares y las regiones con un atraso económico y social como Africa.
El experto, quien ha formado parte de los grupos de trabajo del Panel Intergubernamental sobre el Cambio Climático (IPCC), explicó que el último informe de ese órgano prevé un incremento de entre 25% y 90% en las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero en 2000-2030, y en particular las de Dióxido de Carbono se incrementarían entre 45% y 110% en ese período.
El estudioso calificó de imprescindibles tanto las medidas de mitigación como de adaptación, para enfrentar los impactos del cambio climático, incluyendo los inevitables que provocarán las emisiones pasadas.
ESTRATEGIAS CUBANAS
Al presentar las estrategias de adaptación al cambio climático, Luis Raúl Paz, especialista del Instituto de Meteorología de Cuba informó que la Isla reporta ya un incremento de la temperatura media anual de 0.5° C, una mayor frecuencia de eventos extremos como la sequía y más influencia del fenómeno ENOS o la Corriente del Niño.
En la mayor isla antillana se estudian los efectos del cambio climático desde 1991 además de ser parte de la Convención de Naciones Unidas sobre el tema desde 1994 y contar con un Grupo Nacional encargado del fenómeno desde 1997.
Según indican los estudios de adaptación al Cambio Climático realizados en la Isla, los aumentos previstos del nivel del mar podrían causar la reducción de la disponibilidad y la calidad del agua, afectar negativamente un 35 % de su territorio e incrementar la vulnerabilidad de 185 asentamientos humanos y unos cinco millones de personas.
Otros posibles impactos fuertes pronostican afectaciones en manglares y ecosistemas costeros, un incremento de la evaporación y los consecuentes procesos de aridez, la pérdida de biodiversidad, reducción del área boscosa, decrecimiento de las cosechas y de terrenos agrícolas.
El país fortalece su capacidad institucional para desarrollar la predicción climática y los sistemas de aviso de alerta temprana, en función de preservar la salud humana, la agricultura y los recursos hídricos, así como perfeccionar su posible anticipación ante los impactos potenciales de los fenómenos extremos.
Señalan entre las estrategias de adaptación ante el cambio climático, la protección y mejor uso del recurso agua, el incremento de los bosques, el mejoramiento de los sistemas agrícolas, de los asentamientos humanos y del sistema de salud, así como la reducción de la vulnerabilidad de las playas y los manglares mediante medidas de conservación y rehabilitación.
Diario Las Americas Publicado el 07-07-2007
The Relative U.S. Embargo Against Castro’s Cuba
Those who are constantly advocating for the government of the United States of America to reestablish diplomatic, trade and even political relations with Cuba, must be told something that they already know: that in order to have these relations it is necessary that the totalitarian Marxist-Leninist dictatorship of Fidel Castro cease to be the type of government that it is. Moreover, the Washington government has said repeatedly that Castro’s dictatorship must first negotiate with the Cuban people, for which it is necessary that public freedoms, and human rights be reestablished, that political prisoners be set free, that they have freedom of expression –something fundamental– and, summing up, that the democracy that was lost many decades ago be reestablished.
When human rights are mentioned, it must be borne in mind what they mean. The definition of human rights actually includes all individual and collective freedoms in a democratic nation. The right to private property, for example, is part of human rights. Reading the documents that proclaim human rights eliminates the need to list everything that corresponds to that philosophical and ideological concept which must rule in any civilized society.
As long as in Cuba prevails the totalitarianism, that has been entrenched there since January 1959 to the present, it is impossible to speak of negotiations with the Marxist-Leninist government that has been oppressing the Cuban people for the last forty-eight years. For example, those who want that the relative embargo of the American government against the Cuban regime be lifted, should first advocate for the elimination of the causes that determined this embargo. As soon as there is a government in Cuba that respects human rights and everything that they mean, there will be no justification for that embargo. In other words, the key to solve this problem is in the hands of the tyranny of Fidel Castro.
Speaking of the embargo, that many say it has done nothing positive, it should be mentioned that if it did not imply a problem for the totalitarian dictatorship there would be no campaign against the embargo. Incidentally, it is fair to say that there are individuals who are not communists, even very worthy persons, who oppose the embargo.
Rahul on Cuba health mission OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT New Delhi, The Telegraph: Rahul Gandhi was in Cuba this week to study the island’s healthcare system and see which of its aspects could be assimilated in India.
The Congress MP was keen to learn how Cuba handles its HIV-AIDS programme, given that its entire health administration is financed by the state.
The trip came about after a suggestion from UNAIDS, with which his mother Sonia Gandhi has been associated.
Rahul’s sojourn was interspersed with official meetings, including one with Cuban foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque on Tuesday.
He also met the president of the Cuban parliament, Ricardo Alaracon and health minister Jose Ramon Balaguer. But there has been no word yet on whether he met Fidel Castro or his brother Raul.
The official media stressed on Rahul’s lineage with references to Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia.
The website of Radio Habana Cuba quoted Rahul and the Cuban foreign minister as discussing the “positive development of the ties between the two countries” as well as healthcare.
The Cuban healthcare system is a near reversal of the one in India — the entire population of the island receives free preventive, curative and rehabilitation.
The services range from primary care, routine medical checks and dentistry to hospital care, which require the use of highly sophisticated medical technologies.
Although an aide of Rahul admitted it would not be possible to replicate the Cuban model “overnight even partially”, the young MP might be looking at whether he can implement aspects of it in the healthcare services he has started in Amethi, his constituency.
Besides, he reportedly believes that despite the takeover of health by the private sector, the state can still “intervene meaningfully” through programmes such as the National Rural Health Care Mission and increased budgetary allocations.
US Makes Up for Time Lost in Relationship with Brazil and Neighbors Brazzilmag.com Several outstanding United States officials will be visiting Brazil and other "friendly" countries in South America to promote political and trade links in the framework of what has been described as the year of the "US commitment with Latin America."
This coming week Nicholas Burns, number three in the US State Department will begin a visit of Brazil, Chile and Uruguay together with Thomas Shannon, Under secretary for the Western Hemisphere, the man who has helped elaborate the President Bush administration new approach towards Latin America.
US State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack anticipated Burns will emphasize "regional and world security, environment protection, energy and trade". In Brazil he will also talk about "cooperation in biofuels" following on the memorandum signed by both countries when President Bush visited Brazil.
"Chile, Uruguay and Brazil are valued partners with which we hope to continue working in consolidating democracy, promoting prosperity and ensuring that economic growth improves the lives of all citizens in the Americas," said McCormack.
Later in the week US Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson is scheduled to visit the region. He is will also address trade, investment promotion, support for small and medium businesses and infrastructure in the region.
In Chile Burns and Shannon will be meeting President Michelle Bachelet and in Uruguay president Tabare Vazquez, and in Brazil Foreign Minister Celso Amorim. Shannon in Brazil will open the Brazil/US innovation summit.
Treasury Secretary Paulson is scheduled to meet Thursday in Montevideo with President Vazquez and Economy minister Danilo Astori.
Further on the calendar, August 10, the Council of the Americas presided by Susan Segal will hold a session in Montevideo and in September the visit of US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez has been announced.
The Bush administration has defined 2007 as the year of the commitment with Latin America following strong criticisms from the opposition Democrat controlled Congress that it has neglected the region, which has facilitated the "growing influence" of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
This week also the White House is organizing a Conference on the Americas which is to be opened by President Bush, and First Lady Laura, and will be addressing dozens of representatives from different citizens' organizations. The conference will analyze relations of the region with the US from a more grass root level, and specifically address social justice.
Carlos Baraibar member of Uruguay's Congress and Foreign Relations Committee who recently visited the US said that Shannon is the architect of the Bush administration's new policy towards Latin America with an approach completely different to that of "Roger Noriega, Otto Reich and others who believed that whoever had contacts with Cuba was an enemy."
Baraibar added that the right wing approach has been replaced by another "more open and understanding of the situation" and which knows how to mark differences between more or less friendly and progressive administrations and those who some describe as populists.
"Shannon does not disqualify populism and considers it a reality of the region. Elected governments in democratic systems are the expression of peoples and realities which the US cannot ignore when considering historic links with Latin America".
President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the region last March in what is now seen as the launching of the new approach towards the region in what is left of the current administration. (Mercopress)
Morales insta a Estados Unidos a aprender de Cuba (EFE).- El presidente de Bolivia, Evo Morales, instó hoy al Gobierno de Estados Unidos a aprender de su homólogo cubano "que manda tropas al exterior para salvar vidas, no para acabar con ellas".
En un discurso pronunciado en La Paz y trasmitido por el canal de televisión estatal, el mandatario criticó de manera implícita el envío de tropas estadounidenses a Irak y, al mismo tiempo, elogió la labor que desarrollan los médicos cubanos en Bolivia.
Según datos recientes de la embajada de La Habana en La Paz, en Bolivia trabajan actualmente casi 1.300 médicos cubanos como consecuencia de la buena relación que sostiene Morales con su amigo y aliado Fidel Castro.
El presidente boliviano también ensalzó hoy la colaboración que recibe de Venezuela, al inaugurar un nuevo asfaltado en una zona de la ciudad de La Paz financiado con la ayuda de ese país.
Morales destacó los préstamos "incondicionales" del gobierno presidido por Hugo Chávez, frente a aquellos que están condicionados "a la entrega de los recursos naturales del país a las trasnacionales y la política de coca-cero".
Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia y Nicaragua integran la Alternativa Bolivariana para las Américas (ALBA), alianza impulsada en oposición al Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas (ALCA) que propone Estados Unidos.
Sobre el último libro de Tariq AliLos otros “Piratas del Caribe” Atilio Borón - http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=53290,
[Libro] El continente de lo posible. Política y cultura en Cuba 1959-1968
Julio César Guanche
El ocho de enero de 1959, al tiempo que Fidel Castro y su ejército desarrapado entraban en La Habana, salía de la ciudad, por la puerta de servicio, la idea de la “alta cultura”.
Con la Revolución, el sistema democrático burgués, la idea misma de la democracia, el papel del intelectual como élite letrada y la propia idea de la cultura fueron echados al destierro por los nuevos habitantes de la ciudad política. Desde el inicio de la Revolución de 1959, y en su proceso, la creación de la nueva sociabilidad pasó en la práctica por la refutación del pasado, hecho que devino una categoría central de la nueva cultura política. La pérdida del respeto hacia el pasado propició, sobre todo, la rebelión cultural contra la propiedad privada y la caída de toda la fuerza simbólica que podía denotar aún la democracia representativa.
La ruptura de las jerarquías sociales, el igualitarismo —que ya existía en parte de la cultura política cubana y vino a realizarse con la Revolución—, la concesión de la propiedad sobre la tierra y la vivienda a grandes segmentos poblacionales, la apropiación de la ciudad como espacio público real, la salida de los y las adolescentes del claustro familiar y su entrada masiva al ruedo de lo social, la universalización de la enseñanza, la relativa paridad de los ingresos, la socialización de la economía, la abolición (más tardía) de la propiedad privada y su conversión en propiedad personal, el involucramiento activo en la política, la fuente popular del poder, la nueva escala de ascenso social que se instauraba, junto a la bancarrota de las clases políticas y económicas hasta ese momento dominantes, irían creando una nueva cultura en Cuba.
Leer libro completo [PDF]
Cátedra Che Guevara - Colectivo AMAUTA
Socialist projects flush with $$President Hugo Chávez is investing in domestic infrastructure to further his vision for Venezuela's future, but economists are worried about the long-term viability of the projects.BY CHRIS KRAULLos Angeles Times Servicehttp://www.miamiherald.com/103/story/163056.html,
Cubanos sufren deportación en su paísBy WILFEDO CANCIO ISLAEl fantasma de la deportación hacia sus provincias de origen mantiene en jaque a miles de cubanos que emigraron a La Habana en busca de mejores condiciones de vida y oportunidades laborales.http://www.elnuevoherald.com/212/v-print/story/63072.html,
Film casts harsh light on problems in HavanaCubans coming to Havana from the provinces in search of a better life are being expelled for lacking government authorization.BY WILFREDO CANCIO ISLAEl Nuevo HeraldA new documentary by a young Cuban filmmaker has cast a harsh spotlight on the housing and other serious problems faced by the thousands of Cubans who move illegally from the provinces to Havana in search of better lives.
The migrants, mostly from eastern Cuba and known as ''Palestinians'' because they lack legal residency in Havana, often are forced to live in shanty towns on the edges of the capital and expelled by police back to their hometowns.
''The phenomenon of forcible return continues to exist, although the police proceed silently and with some secrecy,'' said Elizardo Sánchez, president of the illegal but tolerated Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.
Sánchez estimated that dozens of people are expelled from Havana every week by bus or train after being detained for failure to produce documents confirming their legal residence in Havana. Repeat violators are taken to court, although the sanctions consist only of fines and official ''banishment'' from the capital for several years.
Cubans' jobs and ration cards are linked to their legal residences. But the economic crisis of the 1990s brought a rise in migration to Havana. A government statement at the time said 92,000 people had tried to legalize their residency in Havana in the first half of 1997.
That same year a law made it extremely difficult to shift legal residency to the capital, a city of 2.1 million people.
Havana residents estimate that about 20 shanty towns rose in the city's suburbs in the past decade, with shacks usually built out of metal sheets, scrap lumber and cardboard without government permission.
EASTERN CUBA
Most of the migrants come from eastern Cuba, where people tend to be poorer and darker-skinned. Adding to the dislike for the orientales, many of Havana's police were brought in from the east, apparently to avert any sense of regional loyalty in case of disturbances.
''It's as if we were lepers just because we're easterners,'' says María, a woman from Guantánamo province who appears in the documentary Buscándote Habana -- Looking for Havana -- made in 2006 by Cuban filmmaker Alina Rodríguez Abreu, 22.
The 21-minute film, which will be shown at 6 p.m. today on AmericaTeVe-Channel 41, explores the deplorable living conditions and discrimination faced by the illegal migrants who live in the shantytowns.
The documentary was Rodríguez' graduation thesis at the School of Audiovisual Media in Havana's Higher Institute of Art. El Nuevo Herald was unable to contact her in Havana.
Filmmaker Jean Michel Jomolka, who was in her graduating class and moved to Miami this January, said some authorities seized several of her cassettes containing interviews with people expelled from Havana, and others barred her from filming in several poor parts of the capital. She was detained and her camera was confiscated in Guantánamo.
Most of the scenes shown in the film were taped in the Havana shantytowns of Casablanca, Planta Asfalto and Santa Fe. The documentary also shows María, a native of Camagüey who lives with her husband in a shack in the swimming pool of the former Bristol Hotel in central Havana, now an apartment building.
POLITICALLY SENSITIVE
Miami Dade College film critic Alejandro Ríos, host of La Mirada Indiscreta -- The Indiscreet Glance -- the TV program that will broadcast the documentary, said Rodríguez' film shows one of the island's politically sensitive problems.
''This is positive proof of the rebirth of the documentary in Cuba and the commitment of its new creators to depict reality without restrictions, with honesty, blowing away the smoke curtains of official history,'' Ríos said.
Havana residents' prejudices against those from eastern Cuba are current issues on the island. The recent national baseball championship series between teams from Havana and the eastern city of Santiago saw billboards posted around Havana streets that criticized the provincial team. One handmade sign hung across one street branded easterners as criminals and urged them to ``Go Home.''
''These people are like the roya,'' Oneida, a Havana resident, is seen saying on the documentary. Roya is a fungus that attacks vegetables.
A significant housing shortage is one of the key social problems affecting the country, particularly Havana. In 2005, the government announced a plan to build 100,000 new homes every year, but the goals were never met.
In the documentary, sociologist Pablo Rodríguez says that unless urgent steps are taken to control the proliferation of shantytowns, ``the future will resemble Las Yaguas.''
After the triumph of Fidel Castro's revolution in 1959, the Las Yaguas slum on the Havana outskirts was held up as a symbol of poverty and social neglect under previous regimes.
It was razed and replaced by a housing complex in the early 1960s.
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