English
Cuba readies corruption trials of Western businessmen
Cuba readies corruption trials of Western businessmen By Marc Frank HAVANA | Tue May 14, 2013 10:50pm EDT (Reuters) – Canadian and British executives of three foreign businesses shut in 2011 by Cuban authorities, ostensibly for corrupt practices, have been charged after more than a year in custody and are expected to go on trial [...] Continue reading
Cuba intensifies fight against corruption
Cuba intensifies fight against corruption IANSBy Indo Asian News Service | IANS Havana, May 14 (IANS/EFE) Corruption and illegal activities in areas like fuel distribution are of great concern for the Cuban government, the official media reported here Monday. Those issues were analyzed at a meeting of the Council of Ministers held last Friday at [...] Continue reading
Cuba government minister reports on corruption in international deals and gas
Posted on Tuesday, 05.14.13 Cuba government minister reports on corruption in international deals and gas By Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com Cuban government officials must fight “a grand battle” against corruption in areas such as business deals with foreigners and the distribution of gasoline, according to an official news media report Monday. Rodrigo Malmierca, Minister of [...] Continue reading
Conspiring With Impunity
Conspiring With Impunity / Rosa Maria Rodriguez Posted on May 16, 2013 “Corrupt lawyer and judge. Raúl Castro, help me. Unjust eviction.” Unfortunately, in Cuba anybody with a Communist Party ID, a title that gives them a substantial amount of power, and personality disorders that will predispose them to abuse their authority, can conspire against [...] Continue reading
Behind a Kilo of Meat in Cuba
Behind a Kilo of Meat in Cuba / Juan Juan Almeida Posted on May 16, 2013 A few days ago I read that within the vast and complicated machinery of the Cuban Ministry of the Food Industry (MINAL), the meat company nationwide scored higher sales volume during the past fiscal year. It surprised me, in [...] Continue reading
Canadian jailed in Havana corruption scandal speaks out
Posted on Wednesday, 05.15.13 Canadian jailed in Havana corruption scandal speaks out By Julian Sher of The Toronto Star And Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@elnuevoherald.com Speaking over a scratchy telephone line from inside a Cuban prison, Sarkis Yacoubian’s voice goes suddenly silent. He’s crying. “I was so depressed at times, I wanted to commit suicide,” says [...] Continue reading
Cuba’s Democratic Left on State Socialism
Cuba’s Democratic Left on State Socialism May 9, 2013 | | Print Print | 0 5 11 32 HAVANA TIMES — A couple weeks ago we published a summary of an essay by Pedro Campos and Armando Chaguaceda on the inability of the State Socialist system that reigns in Cuba to carry out the changes [...] Continue reading
Cuba close to passing law for golf resort construction
Cuba close to passing law for golf resort construction After nearly two years of waiting, with ready-to-go blueprints and agreements with joint venture partners in the drawer, at least three golf course resort developers may soon be able to go ahead with construction projects. The government is “taking the last steps” on long-expected laws and [...] Continue reading
Another Fateful May 1st
Another Fateful May 1st / Agustin Lopez Posted on May 3, 2013 Once again it is the first of May, once again the Plaza is filled, slogans that will never be accomplished, unattainable challenges, huge flags carried as if over coffins, people raising their fists and shouting against the ghosts of fear, and above, on [...] Continue reading
Watchdog group Cuba cheated on its UN human rights review
Posted on Friday, 05.03.13 Watchdog group: Cuba cheated on its UN human rights review From the summary of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR): • More than 30 NGOs reported “that there is a separation of powers in Cuba, which ensures that the judiciary can perform its duties without interference from the other branches of government.” [...] Continue reading
Fraud: Cuba Uses 454 Front Groups to Subvert Today’s UN Review of its Human Rights Record
Fraud: Cuba Uses 454 Front Groups to Subvert Today’s UN Review of its Human Rights Record By UN Watch (Bio and Archives) Wednesday, May 1, 2013 Also: Syria, Iran, North Korea took the floor today to sing Havana’s praises GENEVA, – Today’s UN review of Cuba’s rights record was tainted by “massive fraud” committed by [...] Continue reading
Restrictions Aren’t Worth Much
Restrictions Aren’t Worth Much April 24, 2013 Dariela Aquique HAVANA TIMES — Every day, demands become louder from Cuban students for less restrictions on the Internet. This will be one of the points raised at the next congress of the Federation of University Students (FEU). Young people are demanding the right to good and broad [...] Continue reading
The Nature of Socialism
The Nature of Socialism / Rafael Leon Rodriguez Posted on April 23, 2013 The “handpicked” successor of the late comandante Hugo Chavez was elected and is not the new president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. Starting off, his first statements addresses the aim of radicalizing the revolutionary process. On the one hand [...] Continue reading
U.S. urges freedom for Granma journalist
Posted on Wednesday, 04.24.13 U.S. urges freedom for Granma journalist By Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com The U.S. government urged Cuba Wednesday to free a former Granma newspaper reporter who was arrested after he wrote about the mismanagement of a government project and is now serving a 14-year prison sentence for spying. José Antonio Torres was [...] Continue reading
For a Sustainable Prosperity
For a Sustainable Prosperity / Reinaldo Escobar Posted on April 22, 2013 Two new words have been incorporated into the Newspeak of Cuban political officials and leaders: prosperous and sustainable. These “recent” adjectives are greatly used to describe the society they are trying to achieve or the socialism that is supposedly under construction. Both terms [...] Continue reading
Changes In Cuba, I’ll Believe It When I See It
Changes In Cuba, I’ll Believe It When I See It / Juan Juan Almeida Posted on April 19, 2013 Many of you remember what happened in our country in the summer of 1989*. I’m referring to those trials that popular wits baptized, for the range of events and actors, “Tropicana show under the stars, first [...] Continue reading
Cuba and the Enslaving System of Two Currencies
Cuba and the Enslaving System of Two Currencies / Yusnaby Perez Posted on April 16, 2013 The dual currency system in Cuba is one of the major economic and social problems of the country. Don't take my word for it, on several occasions the president of the country, Raul Castro himself (and I have no [...] Continue reading
Jorge Olivera: The History of the Cuban Dissidence is Long
Jorge Olivera: The History of the Cuban Dissidence is Long / Ivan Garcia Posted on April 12, 2013 For someone from Havana, the best thing is to walk the streets in spring. These March days, Jorge Olivera Castillo, 52, poet and journalist, is delighted by the green of the trees, the salty aroma, and the [...] Continue reading
Socialism: A Transition Stage Between Capitalism and… Capitalism
Socialism: A Transition Stage Between Capitalism and… Capitalism / Rebeca Monzo Posted on April 10, 2013 I was having a conversation recently at a friend's house about new private businesses, doctors being given permission to travel, the prices and shortages of food, and other issues currently affecting our Cuban planet. One of those present mentioned [...] Continue reading
Afro-Cuban author who complained of racism demoted
Posted on Friday, 04.05.13 Afro-Cuban author who complained of racism demoted By Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com A black Cuban author, Roberto Zurbano, whose scathing criticism of racism on the island was published in The New York Times last month, has been demoted from his top job at the government-controlled Casa de las Americas book publishers. [...] Continue reading
Prostitution in Cuba: Denied at Home, Enabled from Abroad
Prostitution in Cuba: Denied at Home, Enabled from Abroad March 30, 2013 Graham Sowa HAVANA TIMES — In Cuba the denial of prostitution is a lie of omission: the government doesn't really talk about it. At the same time American politicians promote a travel ban that seriously damages United States efforts to identify and prosecute [...] Continue reading
No clear successor to Chávez as leader of Latin American left
Posted on Friday, 03.29.13 Latin America No clear successor to Chávez as leader of Latin American left By MIMI WHITEFIELD mwhitefield@MiamiHerald.com Venezuelans will head to the polls April 14 to elect a successor to the late President Hugo Chávez. While Nicolás Maduro, Chávez's handpicked candidate, is favored to win, it's not as clear who will [...] Continue reading
Total Alienation
Total Alienation / Miriam Celaya Posted on March 28, 2013 Presided over by Cuba's General-President, on Friday, March 15, 2013 there was an extended meeting of the Council of Ministers, which, in addition to resembling any other, at the same time typifies both the inefficiency of the entire government apparatus and the impossibility of renewing [...] Continue reading
The changing face of Cuba: Communism to capitalism
The changing face of Cuba: Communism to capitalism March 28, 2013 cuba For over half a century Cuba has been ruled by the Castro regime and has remained largely cut off from the rest of the world. The island's economy is in a state of collapse and still inhabits the crippling stranglehold of the US [...] Continue reading
How Cuba became the newest hotbed for tourists craving sex with minors
Posted on Saturday, 03.16.13 Sex Tourism in Cuba: Second of three parts How Cuba became the newest hotbed for tourists craving sex with minors HAVANA — These stories are the result of a joint investigation by Toronto Star reporters Robert Cribb, Jennifer Quinn and Julian Sher, and El Nuevo Herald reporter Juan O. Tamayo. The [...] Continue reading
Canadians are major customers in Cuba’s child sex market
Canadians are major customers in Cuba's child sex market Canada is lax when it comes to stopping its sex offenders from going to Cuba and preying on underage prostitutes. Most tourists are drawn to Cuba by the sand, the sunshine, and the culture. But a few tourists – including some Canadians – are drawn by [...] Continue reading