Corruption
A Shameful Stab in the Back for Angel Santiesteban from UNEAC
A Shameful Stab in the Back for Angel Santiesteban from UNEAC / Amir Valle, Angel Santiesteban Posted on June 17, 2013 By Amir Valle The strategy of UNEAC and certain “disinformed” writers against Ángel Santiesteban One more shame falls on the Writers and Artists Union of Cuba. This time, the shame is a dirty attack, [...] Continue reading
The Philosophy of Marti versus the Totalitarian Model
The Philosophy of Marti versus the Totalitarian Model Posted on June 14, 2013 Published in the second edition of Cuadernos de Pensamiento Plural, April 2013. People cannot live without history. On the 160th anniversary of the birth José Martí, “the crowning figure of Cuban political thought,” his ideas, instead of being used to solve the [...] Continue reading
The General on His Birthday
The General on His Birthday / Juan Juan Almeida Posted on June 11, 2013 During his term in office General Raul Castro has raised doubts and caused confusion. It seems ridiculous to think that a politician, whoever he might be, does not want to fix his country, but to hold onto power. Another oddity is [...] Continue reading
Internet Access for the Nouveaux Riche and Dissidents
Cuba: Internet Access for the Nouveaux Riche and Dissidents June 6, 2013 Pedro Campos HAVANA TIMES — With a great song and dance, the Cuban government haughtily announced the broadening of Internet access on the island by opening 118 cybercafés across the country and lowering web navigation rates to 4.50 CUC (or US $ 5.20) [...] Continue reading
Dangerous Liaisons Cuba Tries Entrepreneurs for Corporate Corruption
Dangerous Liaisons: Cuba Tries Entrepreneurs for Corporate Corruption June 6, 2013 Fernando Ravsberg* HAVANA TIMES — Some of the most important entrepreneurs who have been doing business in Cuba for decades have been summoned to courts on the island to respond to serious corporate corruption charges, the visible face of a much broader clean-up campaign [...] Continue reading
Cuba Internet, in Slow Motion and Hard Currency
Cuba: Internet, in Slow Motion and Hard Currency / Ivan Garcia Posted on June 2, 2013 Facing the India fountain, next to Fraternity Park and close to the Capitol, in the center of Havana, is nestled the Hotel Saratoga. Its ancient facade, painted lime green, has an architecture of curved arches and tall columns. The [...] Continue reading
British businessmen await Cuba’s verdict as graft trial ends
British businessmen await Cuba’s verdict as graft trial ends By Marc Frank HAVANA | Fri May 31, 2013 7:50pm EDT (Reuters) – The two-day trial of two top executives of a British investment fund ended in Havana on Friday with a five judge panel expected to deliver its verdict within 10 days. The sentences of [...] Continue reading
Britons on trial in Cuba corruption crackdown
Posted on Thursday, 05.30.13 Britons on trial in Cuba corruption crackdown The Associated Press HAVANA — Two British businessmen targeted in a corruption probe in Cuba went on trial Thursday, as authorities continue to press a crackdown on graft that has caught up several other foreigners and dozens of islanders. A court official identified suspects [...] Continue reading
Pitching in My Two Cents for Cuba’s CDR Congress
Pitching in My Two Cents for Cuba’s CDR Congress May 28, 2013 Osmel Almaguer HAVANA TIMES — A new congress of Cuba’s Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) is nearing and winds of change seem to be coming with it. Such change would be a positive sign, an indication that Cuban authorities are [...] Continue reading
British fund executives to go on trial in Cuba
Exclusive: British fund executives to go on trial in Cuba Reuters By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) – The two top executives of a British investment fund in Cuba are scheduled to go on trial in Havana on Thursday, according to sources close to the accused men, as part of an unprecedented government crackdown on corruption [...] Continue reading
The Morality of the Survivor
The Morality of the Survivor / Dimas Castellanos Posted on May 25, 2013 In the expanded meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Friday May 13, the head of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment reported on the irregularities in the operation of businesses with foreign capital and international contracts; the Minister of Economy and [...] Continue reading
Canadian executive awaits verdict in corruption trial
Posted on Friday, 05.24.13 Canadian executive awaits verdict in corruption trial By Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com After a two-day trial behind closed doors in a Havana courtroom, Sarkis Yacoubian goes back to what he has been doing for almost two years — waiting in a Cuban prison. The 53-year-old Canadian businessman who operated a trading [...] Continue reading
Cuba silent on Canadian’s corruption trial
Posted on Friday, 05.24.13 Cuba silent on Canadian’s corruption trial The Associated Press HAVANA — Official silence surrounded the case of a Canadian businessman targeted by a corruption probe in Cuba on Friday, as the initial trial of several foreigners suspected of graft entered its second day. Sarkis Yacoubian, 53, who partnered with the Cuban [...] Continue reading
Why is playing golf a revolutionary pursuit in Cuba?
The Economist explains Why is playing golf a revolutionary pursuit in Cuba? May 23rd 2013, 23:50 by T.W. AFTER the 1959 revolution, Fidel Castro denounced golf as a “bourgeois” hobby. Though he once played a round with Che Guevara, the comandante preferred ordinary Cubans to participate in earthier sports, such as baseball. Despite demand from [...] Continue reading
A new course
Business in Cuba A new course A tale of politics, corruption and golf May 25th 2013 | HAVANA AFTER the 1959 revolution Fidel Castro declared that golf was a “bourgeois” hobby, unsuitable for communists. Most of the island’s courses were built on, and no new ones have been developed since. But the government has just [...] Continue reading
Canadian goes on trial in Havana for corruption scandal
Posted on Thursday, 05.23.13 Canadian goes on trial in Havana for corruption scandal By Julian Sher, Toronto Star And Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com When Sarkis Yacoubian walks into a court room in downtown Havana Thursday to face corruption charges that could send him to prison for 12 years the Canadian businessman will have a high-powered [...] Continue reading
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