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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Degeneracy Among Cuban Military Officers/ Juan Juan Almeida
Degeneracy Among Cuban Military Officers/ Juan Juan Almeida Posted on March 9, 2013 Some official, unofficial and foreign media outlets have been subject to a certain government manipulation, serving as an echo chamber by focusing special attention on the fight against corruption, which seems to have the become the principal challenge facing the Cuban president. [...] Continue reading
What Fidel Taught Hugo Cuba defined Chávez’s career as much as Venezuela did
What Fidel Taught Hugo Cuba defined Chávez's career as much as Venezuela did BY FRANCISCO TORO Hugo Chávez died today in Venezuela at the age of 58, but his battle with a never-specified form of cancer was waged largely in a Cuban hospital—a telling detail, as Cuba loomed just as large in his political imagination [...] Continue reading
Can Cuba survive the loss of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez?
Can Cuba survive the loss of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez? Many in and out of Cuba wonder if the loss of Chávez is the death knell of the Castros' Revolution, or if it could inject urgent momentum into Raul Castro's reform agenda, just in the nick of time. By Anya Landau French, Guest blogger / March [...] Continue reading
Analysis: Castro brothers’ successor may inherit a very different Cuba
Analysis: Castro brothers' successor may inherit a very different Cuba Fidel Castro, left, and his brother, Raul, are preparing to pass the torch of power to a new generation. By Carlos Rajo, Telemundo News analysis Raul Castro's recent announcement that he will leave power in 2018, and his appointment of 52-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel as first [...] Continue reading
The new man
Cuba's leaders The new man The Castros unveil their successor Mar 2nd 2013 | HAVANA EVER since Raúl Castro replaced his ailing brother, Fidel, as Cuba's president in 2008, he has made clear that his overriding aim is to organise an orderly political and economic transition to ensure that the ruling Communist Party remains in [...] Continue reading
Cuba-Venezuela ties tenuous
Cuba-Venezuela ties tenuous 06/03 00:24 CET Cuba is on Venezuelan economic life support. With leader Hugo Chávez dead, there is speculation that Cuba as we know it may not survive. Havana's options just got a lot thinner, and it hasn't had many of them for a long time. President Chávez venerated the father of Communist [...] Continue reading