Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Cuba-Canada. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Cuba-Canada. Mostrar todas las entradas

martes, enero 28, 2014

Cuba: Impiden a turistas de crucero canadiense contactar con la poblacion de Antillas

Martí Noticias
Una vez a la semana, un crucero procedente de Canadá atraca en el Municipio de Antillas, en Las Tunas. Pocos turistas desembarcan y para los lugareños, es como si la nave "no" estuviera ahí.

lunes, enero 27, 2014

Montreal man dies after accident in Cuba

CJAD 800
By Patrick Lejtenyi
A 32-year-old Montreal man and former CJAD employee who died following a water-related accident in Cuba is being remembered as a man who never quit on his dreams, even when suffereing from serious physical challenges.
Matt Stone was legally blind and suffered from juvenile diabetes but his father Kerry Stone says his ailments never dampened his spirits.
The elder stone says he and his family have made peace with their son's death.
He remembers Matt as someone who never had a bad word to say about anyone, a hard worker and a lifelong radio fan.
He adds that Matt's physical problems never got in the way of his ambitions.
"The word 'can't' wasn't in his vocabulary," he says. He was always up for a challenge. "He'd think it over in his mind, and if it wasn't something totally ridiculous or life-threatening, he'd say, 'Look, I'd like to do it, I think I can and I won't have any problem with it.' And he'd go ahead and he did it."
Matt Stone died as a result of a water-related accident while on a cycling trip in Cuba.
He was in a coma for several days before he was flown home.
Kerry Stone says he died just hours after landing in Montreal on Saturday.
Photo from Facebook

jueves, enero 16, 2014

Canadian tourists delayed in Cuba for almost 20 hours

Nearly 200 weary travellers are finally back on Canadian soil after being stranded in a Cuban
@252MOVE
airport for hours without any food or water.
“They just let us rot in a Cuban airport with no water eventually in the end, no food, in heat with babies that have fevers. Kids are walking around crying,” Janina Gibson, a passenger on Flight 683, told CityNews.
Dino Kanelopolous, another passenger, said he arrived at the airport in Varadero around 6:30 p.m. for the flight, which was scheduled to depart at 9 p.m. on Monday. But it was revised to leave Tuesday at 3:45 p.m. with an arrival time at Pearson airport of 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday.
“The information was that there were technical difficulties with one of the planes,” he explained. “They made arrangements to get another flight out. We got that information right around midnight.”
More on 680News >>

sábado, enero 11, 2014

Turbia muerte de un canadiense de origen cubano en La Habana

 

Brandon Ross, de 31 años, murió en noviembre del 2013 y su cuerpo fue cremado por las autoridades cubanas inmediatamente.
Brandon Ross
Un ciudadano estadounidense nacido en Canadá murió en circunstancias misteriosas en la azotea del famoso Hotel Nacional de Cuba, afirmó su madre el viernes en Miami.
“El salió el 21 de noviembre por la noche, diciendo que quería encontrarse con su primo. A la mañana siguiente su cama estaba vacía. Yo llamé al primo y él me dijo que no había visto a mi hijo”, dijo Onelia Ross a El Nuevo Herald.
El cadáver de Brandon Ross, de 31 años, fue cremado inmediatamente por el gobierno cubano, impidiendo una autopsia independiente, aun cuando funcionarios canadienses se ofrecieron a tramitar la devolución del mismo, dijo Ross.
Ross dijo que ella nació en Cuba y que conoció a su esposo, un diplomático canadiense, cuando él prestó servicio en La Habana de 1974 a 1976. Ellos viven en Canadá y Brandon nació en Ottawa pero obtuvo la ciudadanía estadounidenses tras estudiar en Estados Unidos, agregó.
La madre dijo que ella y Brandon viajaron a Cuba el 17 de noviembre de vacaciones, el primer viaje de él a la isla, y que alquilaron habitaciones en una casa particular en el barrio habanero de El Vedado, no muy lejos del Hotel Nacional.
El 21 de noviembre, madre e hijo caminaron por el paseo junto al mar conocido como el Malecón, pararon en el hotel para beber un trago y luego regresaron a sus habitaciones, dijo Ross. Luego Brandon volvió a salir, y ella no volvió a verlo hasta que al día siguiente le pidieron que identificara su cadáver.
Ross se echó a llorar y dijo que estaba demasiado desconsolada para continuar hablando con El Nuevo Herald, pero confirmó detalles que había dado al canal de televisión Telemundo51 en Miami, el cual fue el primero en reportar el caso el miércoles.
“Ibamos muy felices y contentos (a Cuba), y todo se convirtió en una pesadilla”, dijo ella al reportero de Telemundo51 Ernesto Morales.
Cuando ella vió el cadáver, dijo a la estación televisiva, “la cara de mi hijo estaba como si le hubieran dado piñazos”. Su ojo izquierdo estaba casi negro y el derecho todo morado, agregó. “La quijada la tenía partida, y se le veía un diente partido”.
Las autoridades cubanas le dijeron que Ross estaba en la azotea del hotel cuando resbaló y se cayó de una altura de unos 20 pies, dijo la madre a Telemundo51. También le dijeron que él había sobrevivido alrededor de 12 horas antes de morir como consecuencia de sus lesiones, afirmó la madre.
Su hijo le había mencionado que quería tomar algunas fotos desde la azotea del hotel, dijo ella al canal televisivo. No hubo explicación de cómo pudo haber llegado a la azotea, que hasta donde se sabe no está abierta al público.
Las autoridades le dijeron asimismo que su hijo había muerto durante la noche, pero no le dieron una copia de su autopsia, añadió Ross. Las últimas fotos en su cámara — la cual, según ella, no mostraba señal alguna de una caída — parecen tomadas al amanecer.
Amigos de la madre han dicho que ella cree que Brandon fue asesinado a golpes, pero no ha explicado cómo llegó a esa sospecha.
“En ese país miserable no existen leyes”, dijo ella a la estación.
El Departamento de Estado confirmó el viernes la muerte de Brandon Ross el 22 de noviembre, y dijo que estaba “brindando toda la asistencia consultar apropiada” a su familia, pero añadió que “por respeto a la privacidad de los afectados no tenemos nada más que decir al respecto”.
Beatrice Fenelon, portavoz del Departamento de Asuntos Exteriores y Comercio Internacional de Canadá, confirmó que un ciudadano canadiense había muerto en Cuba pero no dio su nombre, y dijo que funcionarios consulares canadienses en La Habana habían prestado ayuda a la familia.
Los funcionarios consulares también “han estado en contacto con las autoridades locales”, dijo, pero no se podía divulgar más detalles del caso “para proteger la privacidad del individuo en cuestión”.

Read more here: http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2014/01/11/1652834/muere-un-ciudadano-estadounidense.html#storylink=cpy

lunes, noviembre 04, 2013

Celebrity Scientist Thinks Canadians Should Sustain Poverty, Cuban-Style

just move to cuba mr. suzuki and enjoy the castro's regime.
--------------------------- 
David Suzuki thinks Cuba is a model of sustainability, and this week his views are “on trial.” Source: The Trial of Suzuki


If Canada wants to avert an environmental apocalypse, it should follow the example of a communist state that consistently fails to meet its own citizens’ demands for toothpaste and toilet paper.
So says Canadian scientist-turned-eco-warrior David Suzuki, who sees Cuba as a model of sustainability.
This week, Suzuki is inviting the public to vote on whether his recently released carbon manifesto is an act of treason, or, as he alleges, a fitting testimony to the “willful blindness” of government, corporations, and Canadians at large (essentially everyone except Suzuki himself).
Like many of Suzuki’s projects of late, “The Trial of Suzuki” is more than a little exaggerated. For starters, the “trial” is actually a controversial live theater performance sponsored by the Cape Farewell Foundation, an international environmental activist group that credits itself with offering “a cultural response to climate change.”
But since Suzuki’s manifesto decrees willful blindness — “failing to be informed about critical issues” — as an indictable offense, it seems only fitting that his own claims should be put under closer scrutiny.
In 2003, Suzuki lauded Cuba for having “invented” urban agriculture. Then, in 2006, he hosted Cuba: The Accidental Revolution, a two-part documentary (see trailers here and here) that celebrates Cuba’s de-industrialization. The documentary explains how Cuba turned adversity into acclaim, pivoting inwards toward organic, localized agriculture after losing its economic benefactors with the collapse of the Soviet bloc.
Keep reading on panampost >>

jueves, octubre 31, 2013

Sherritt's business in Cuba [Update]

polioro.com
CUBA STANDARD — Amid stagnation caused by low nickel prices, Sherritt International Co. and Cuban state company Cubaníquel agreed to build a third acid treatment plant at the Moa nickel mining and processing joint venture.
As the Moa facility is barely breaking even this year, the $65 million 2,000-ton/day acid plant will eliminate the need to buy sulphuric acid, reducing nickel production cost by 20 percent, the Toronto-based company predicted in its third-quarter report.
Sherritt said the Moa joint venture had obtained project financing of $65 million from a “Cuban financial institution.” Construction is to begin in the second quarter of 2014, with operations expected to start in third-quarter 2015.
Sherritt, Cuba’s largest private investor, rebounded from a $22.6 million (Canadian dollars) third-quarter loss in 2012 to a narrow profit of $1.1 million in the third quarter this year.
The higher earnings were due mainly to changes involving a nickel mining venture in Madagascar, but also to higher finished nickel sales.
Finished-nickel sales in the third quarter was 10.1 million pounds, up from 8.6 million pounds last year, finished-cobalt sales was 1 million pounds, up from 0.95 million pounds last year. The average realized price per pound of nickel was CDN$642, down from CDN$7.20 last year.
Nickel production at Moa rose 564 tons from third quarter last year to 4,573 tons this year. Cobalt production rose 10 tons to 446 tons.
Sherritt sold 1 million barrels of oil (most of it produced in Cuba), level with last year.
The company sold 130 GWh of electricity in Cuba during the third quarter, down from 154 GWh. Similar to nickel operations, Sherritt’s Energas S.A. joint operating agreement registered a small operating profit of CDN$800,000 through Sept. 30 this year.
Third-quarter revenues from operations in Cuba were CDN$85.5 million, down from CDN$88.6 million in 2012. Nine-month revenues from Cuban operations though Sept. 30 were CDN$248 million, down from CDN$270.7 million.

jueves, octubre 24, 2013

Canadian tourist detained in Cuba for months following a car accident

ByChris Clay/Metroland Media Group
MISSISSAUGA — Friends and family of a Mississauga man are calling on the Canadian government to take further action to ensure he's brought home after being detained in Cuba for months following a car accident.
Damian Buksa, 34, headed down to the island nation by himself in July for a two-week holiday in the Holguin area.
According to his friend Peter Zawadzki, Buksa rented a car and enlisted a Cuban man to act as a guide and driver to show him the country.
About six days into his trip, the pair got into a bad car crash. The man was killed and a young woman was injured but reportedly has since recovered. Buksa himself was hurt in the crash with Zawadzki saying he suffered a serious head injury and injuries to his face and legs.
The engineer was taken to hospital where Zawadzki said Cuban authorities informed his friend he had to pay more than $9,000 for the vehicle that was destroyed along with medical costs for the girl who was injured before he would be allowed to leave the country. Buksa's mother, Boguslawa Pec, said Buksa paid the bills on his credit card but that's when the story from officials changed.
Pec said Buksa was told he wouldn't be able to leave until an investigation was completed. He's currently still in Cuba.
"There's a big issue about Damian's health because he didn't receive proper medical care," said Zawadzki. "He's lost a lot of weight and apparently he keeps passing out. Our biggest concern is his health."
Family and friends are saying Buksa's situation is eerily similar to that of fellow Canadian Cody LeCompte, a teenager who was detained in Cuba for over three months in 2010 after being involved in a car accident.
"It seems like the (Canadian) government doesn't want to do anything," said Pec, who spoke with her son Wednesday. "I want them to push the Cuban authorities to finish this as soon as possible. This is devastating and my heart is broken."
Ian Trites, a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, told The News they're providing aid to Buksa but couldn't go into specifics due to privacy concerns.
"Canadian consular officials in Guardalavaca, Cuba are in contact with local authorities to gather additional information and are providing consular assistance to the affected Canadian citizen as required," said Trites in an e-mail.
In travel advice for Cuba, the federal government warns that traffic accidents are a "frequent" reason for Canadians in Cuba to be arrested and detained.
"Accidents resulting in death or injury are treated as crimes and the onus is on the driver to prove innocence," reads the advisory. "Regardless of the nature of the accident, it can take five months to a year for a case to go to trial. In most cases, the driver will not be allowed to leave Cuba until the trial has taken place."
However, waiting isn't what Buksa's friends and family want to do.
"He goes on vacation, has this thing happen to him and now he's stuck in a foreign country by himself," said Zawadzki. "The government should get him out of the country or (pressure) the Cuban government (to let him return to Canada)."
Pec said she has reached out to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird's office for help and has also been in contact with officials with the Consulate General of Cuba.
She said her son is living on credit cards, is in extremely poor health and doesn't speak the language.
"He's very upset and he's scared," said Pec.

jueves, octubre 17, 2013

Canadian entrepreneur jailed in Cuba two years still not charged

Thornhill MP Peter Kent (at right) is seen during a recent visit with local resident Cy Tokmakjian, who has spent the past two years in a Cuban prison.
Two years after his arrest and with no charges laid, a Canadian entrepreneur remains imprisoned in Cuba — a situation his Member of Parliament says is worrying and could impact the international business community working on the island.
Peter Kent recently visited Cy Tokmakjian in Cuba’s La Condesa prison, where the 73-year-old is being held.
“After two years without charges we would respectfully and on the basis of the long relationship between Canada and Cuba — we don’t always agree, but we tend to work on our differences, whatever they are — it’s time to move ahead and get this case resolved in a timely fashion,” said Kent, who represents Thornhill, Tokmakjian’s hometown.
“We don’t want to interfere at all in the justice process, but we do believe the rule of law should be respected.”
Tokmakjian, founder of the Tokmakjian Group transportation firm, which operates in Canada, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean, was arrested by Cuban authorities in September 2011. His company was one of the largest foreign operations in the country.
Some businesses in Cuba are now worried that practices considered acceptable under former president Fidel Castro could now be illegal under Raul Castro’s administration. Those might include incentive or performance pay and emergency assistance to the families of employees, Kent said.
“That’s the big concern going forward,” Kent said. “One of the European ambassadors that I spoke with a couple weeks ago said his country is concerned because they have businesses operating in Cuba and have over the same 20-, 30-year time period . . . used the same business practices as those which are now considered unacceptable.”
Kent said Tokmakjian is keen to find out what charges he might face and to defend himself against them. (The Cuban Embassy in Ottawa did not respond to the Star’s queries about the case.)
A spokeswoman for Consular Affairs Minister Lynne Yelich said the Canadian government has provided ongoing assistance to Tokmakijan and his family, and that ministers have “met with senior Cuban officials to request a timely and transparent investigation.”
Another Canadian, 53-year-old Sarkis Yacoubian, was sentenced in June to nine years in Cuban prison on corruption charges.

martes, septiembre 17, 2013

Canadian Golf Project in Cuba Hits Snag

From The Miami Herald:

Canadian golf project in Cuba hits a snag

A Canadian real estate company planning a golf resort in Cuba has filed a $25.5million suit against the PGA of America in Palm Beach County, alleging that the group blocked its right to use the valuable brand on the island.

The firm, 360 Vox Corp., formerly Leisure Canada, claims it lost $20 million in anticipated profits, $5.5 million in feasibility studies, the $80,000 licensing fee it paid to the British-based PGA Ltd (PGAL), and other expenses.

Leisure Canada was one of 16 foreign companies that eagerly rushed to propose golf and marina resorts in Cuba after the government announced that it wanted to expand the island’s tourist offerings. None has started construction to date.

The lawsuit alleges that PGA of America, which represents teaching professionals and is not linked to the PGA Tour, pushed PGAL to cancel the license because of criticism, including from the blog Capitol Hill Cubans.

On March 14, 2011, Leisure Canada announced it had signed the licensing agreement with PGAL, which has the right to the PGA brand in Cuba, for the future use of names such as PGA Village Cuba and PGA National Golf Academy Cuba.

But three days later the blog “suggested that PGAL was using its British brand to ‘skirt sanctions’ ” imposed on Cuba by the half-century-old U.S. trade embargo, according to the lawsuit.

The following day, PGA of America, by far the largest and most powerful member of PGAL, disavowed any role in the Cuba project and four months later met with PGAL officials to discuss the Cuba licensing issue, the lawsuit noted.

“Succumbing to pressure from the PGA of America … on Dec. 18, 2012, PGAL sent 360 Vox a letter stating that it was terminating the agreement and would no longer agree to work with 360 Vox in Cuba,” according to the lawsuit.

“PGA of America strong-armed the PGA in England, that’s what they did,” said Glen H. Waldman, the lawyer who filed the 360 Vox lawsuit on Sept. 9 in Palm Beach County Court. “They caved, and my client is out millions of dollars.”

Leisure Canada, a publicly traded company, has launched several development projects in Cuba since the late 1990s and a subsidiary, Wilton Properties Ltd., has a joint venture in hotels with the Cuban government’s Grupo Hotelero Gran Caribe S.A.

In 2010, it announced it was updating its plans for a golf course, condos and marina in the fishing village of Jibacoa, on Cuba’s north coast about 50 miles east of Havana.

Mauricio Claver-Carone, of the U.S.-Cuba Democracy Political Action Committee and who runs the Capitol Hill Cubans blog, wrote Friday that Leisure Canada has been talking about building golf resorts in Cuba since 1999 but has never begun construction.

“So why doesn’t Leisure Canada... sue the Castro regime?” he wrote. “Do business with a bloody dictatorship, and then seek relief in the good ol’ democratic U.S.A. when you get scammed.”

Cuba unleashed a frantic wave of interest from foreign developers in 2010 when word began to leak that it was considering approving foreign investments in golf and marina resorts. The communist-run island now has one 18-hole and one nine-hole course for the “bourgeoisie” sport.

But only four projects were reported in the summer of 2011 to be in the group that had finished negotiations with the government.

The Tourism Ministry has publicly mentioned final approval for only one of the four, The Carbonera Club, a $350 million project near Varadero beach east of Havana proposed by the British investment firm Esencia.

The three others were a Spanish project in Pinar del Rio province; a proposal in Holguin by Canada’s Standing Feather company; and a Bellomonte proposal by the British Coral Capital firm for a beach 15 miles east of Havana.

Bellomonte’s current standing is unclear because Coral Capital Executive Director Amado Fakhre and Chief of Operations Stephen Purvis were freed from a Cuban prison in June after two years under investigation for corruption.

viernes, agosto 23, 2013

Canadá: En paradero desconocido el pelotero cubano Yozzen Cuesta Padrón

Citizen file photo
Corey Smith of Team Canada dives back to first base in front of Yozzen Cuesta of Cuba.
Diario de Cuba
El pelotero cubano Yozzen Cuesta Padrón se encuentra en paradero desconocido en Prince George, Canadá, ciudad donde el equipo de Ciego de Ávila disputa el torneo internacional World Baseball Challenge.
Yozzen Cuesta juega la primera base, aunque también se desempeña en los jardines. Es considerado por la prensa oficial como "el más significativo prospecto" de Ciego de Ávila.
Fuentes consultadas por DIARIO DE CUBA indicaron que abandonó el hotel la noche del miércoles y los directivos del equipo desconocen su paradero.
El equipo representante de Cuba perdió el martes 4-6 ante Taiwán, pero clasificó directamente a la final de World Baseball Challenge, donde se enfrentará a Japón.

sábado, agosto 17, 2013

Convencer a los turistas canadienses o a los kubiches?

un nuevo sitio se agrega a la maltrecha blogosfera kubiche: Cuba Advisory  
  • apropiado y oportuno el sitio en cuanto funcione como su nombre indica. vertebrar campanas politicas como algunos han tratado de atribuirle generaria reacciones adversas [Cómo convencer a los canadienses de no ir como turistas a Cuba?].
  • la politica de todos los gobiernos [conservadores y liberales] canadienses en el ultimo medio siglo es de tolerancia interesada con el regimen. 
  • el canadiense considera que es su derecho viajar a donde lo estime conveniente y su presupuesto le permita. 
  • mas del 50% de los "turistas" canadienses a cuba son hombres que viajan solos. 
  • by the way, mas de 400 mil kubiches [segundo solo de los canadians] viajan a cuba anualmente, entonces habria que empezar por casa y dejar a los canadians que del asunto ni estan ni quieren enterarse.

viernes, junio 21, 2013

Canadian government advises against driving in Cuba

Ottawa contractor Elie Raffoul’s Cuban vacation turned into an expensive ordeal after he was involved in a minor traffic accident.
Photograph by: Wayne Cuddington , Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — Elie Raffoul found out the hard way why driving in Cuba isn’t such a good idea.
Hugh Adami: Vacationer’s minor traffic accident in Cuba costly ordealThe Ottawa man was in an accident last March 23, involving a motorcyclist who suffered relatively minor injuries, and was forced by Cuban authorities to remain in the country for almost two weeks. He was planning to return to Ottawa on March 24.
Raffoul, who was on his fifth vacation in Cuba when the accident occurred, says he was left so shaken by the ordeal that he is never setting foot there again. Though he was cleared in the end, he says he doesn’t trust the Cuban system any more to want to return. There are other countries to visit, he says.
“I was scared. I was so scared.”
Fayza Youssef, an Ottawa woman who was vacationing at the same resort in Santa Maria, says Raffoul was very shaken by his predicament.
“Imagine being in a foreign country that won’t let you leave,” she says. “He was going through a very hard time.”
The Public Citizen could not contact anyone at the Cuban Embassy in Ottawa for comment. The Canadian government, meanwhile, advises against driving in Cuba as “traffic accidents are a frequent cause for arrest and detention of Canadians in Cuba. Accidents resulting in death or injury are treated as crimes, and the onus is on the driver to prove innocence.
“Regardless of the nature of the accident, it can take five months to a year for a case to go to trial. In most cases, the driver will not be allowed to leave Cuba until the trial has taken place. In some cases, the driver will be imprisoned during this delay.”
The Foreign Affairs website also recommends against driving in Cuba due to hazardous road conditions. As well, it warns that car-rental contracts can be shady when it comes to insurance.
Ottawa police say foreign visitors charged under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act are normally allowed to leave Canada. Those facing criminal charges such as impaired driving appear before a provincial court judge who decides if the accused can be released and await a pending court case from abroad.
Raffoul says he can’t believe how many horror stories he has since heard about other Canadians being detained in Cuba as a result of car accidents. “I must be the only one in Canada who didn’t know (about the warnings).”
Yet, Raffoul, 41, counts his blessings he wasn’t detained as long as Cody LeCompte was in 2010. Then 19, LeCompte, of Norfolk, Ont., remained at a Santa Lucia resort for three months following a car crash that resulted in injuries to himself, two family members and a friend. Charges were never laid, but it cost LeCompte’s parents about $30,000 in lawyer’s fees, hotel rooms and flights.
Charges were never laid against Raffoul, either, but he was ordered to remain in Cuba while police investigated the accident and doctors determined how serious the injuries were to the motorcycle rider — in case he required compensation. Raffoul remained at the Santa Maria resort. Two Winnipeg friends, Alexis Reynolds and Monique MacPhearson, extended their trip to provide moral support. Reynolds says it wasn’t any big deal. Both women like Cuba so much and neither had to get back to work right away, so they had a good excuse to stay. They crashed in Raffoul’s room.
The self-employed general contractor says the delay in getting home cost him $3,500. Besides the additional resort bill, he says, he spent quite a bit of money on several return trips by taxi between the resort in Santa Maria and the police station in Santa Clara, where the accident occurred. It is a two-hour drive.
Raffoul can’t understand why police demanded he remain in Cuba. He says they were pretty gruff with him at times. He says the motorcyclist, Leonid Aquila Leon, was released from hospital a few hours after he was treated, though for a while police maintained he had been hospitalized. Raffoul says he accompanied police to the hospital and later “saw him walk out with a bandage on his head.”
When Raffoul went to Leon’s home on March 25, he says, the man was appreciative of the visit. He had cuts and bruises on his face and an arm, says Raffoul. Leon said he would be back to normal in a couple of weeks. “I’m not taking you to court. I don’t want anything,’” Raffoul recalls Leon telling him. Raffoul says he still gave Leon $450 Cdn.
Raffoul says he was driving a rental car to Santa Clara when the accident occurred. He says he had just passed a donkey pulling a carriage and was about to overtake the motorcycle when he spotted a car coming in the opposite direction. He says he got partially back into his lane as Leon moved to the right to give him room. He says he was travelling about 50 kilometres an hour when Leon’s motorcycle clipped the side view mirror on the car’s passenger door and went down.
Sunwing Vacations representatives approached him in the resort lobby the next day, telling him they were aware of the “severity of my situation” and that they were doing everything they could to get him home. Raffoul says he phoned the Canadian Embassy in Havana. There was nothing it could do, given Cuba’s laws.
He finally returned to Canada on April 5. Police actually cleared him on April 2 but didn’t notify Cuban airport authorities for a few days. The next Sunwing flight to Ottawa was on April 7. So Raffoul got on a Toronto flight, then paid $300 to fly to Ottawa.
“I said, ‘I don’t care where (the flight ends up). You can take me to Beijing. Just get me out of Cuba.’”

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Hugh+Adami+Vacationer+minor+traffic+accident+Cuba+costly+ordeal/8549648/story.html#ixzz2WqmAIfPJ

miércoles, junio 19, 2013

Toronto man sentenced to 9 years in Cuba on corruption charges

By:
Sarkis Yacoubian
For almost two years as he sat in a Havana prison awaiting trial on corruption charges, North York businessman Sarkis Yacoubian held out hope that by collaborating with the Cuban authorities and fingering a wide web of foreign and domestic corporate intrigue, he would get some leniency.
“They are going to bring down my sentence, provided that I go along with them,” he had told the Star in a series of exclusive jailhouse phone interviews.
But that didn’t happen.
Three weeks after he was put on trial in late May, Yacoubian finally got word he has been sentenced to nine years in jail.
“We were shocked,” said Krikor Yacoubian, Sarkis’ brother in Toronto. “We were anticipating less with the collaboration, but they did not budge much.”
Krikor says his jailed brother was stunned when he first heard the news from his Cuban lawyer.
“He was silent for awhile, for a good minute,” he said. “Not tearful or angry. He said, ‘OK let’s go to the next step.’”
That next step, the family says, will be a protracted battle to try to get the 53-year-old Yacoubian transferred to Canada to serve out his sentence here.
“To my knowledge it is the first time that any Canadian businessman has been sentenced for corruption,” said John Kirk, a professor at Dalhousie University’s Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies who has written several books on Cuba.
“Clearly this is intended to send a message to Cubans and foreign investors alike,” he said. “Several deputy ministers in Cuba and dozens of bureaucrats have also received heavy sentences.”
Yacoubian’s cousin and business associate, a Lebanese citizen named Krikor Bayassalian, was sentenced to four years as a co-defendant, the family says.
The details of the key Canadian connection to Cuba’s widening corruption scandals were revealed last month in a joint investigation by the Toronto Star and El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language affiliate of the Miami Herald.
Arrested in July 2011 and detained without charges, Yacoubian – a McGill MBA graduate who operated a $30 million transport and trading company called Tri-Star Caribbean -- was formally accused in April of bribery, tax evasion and “activities damaging to the economy.”
Yacoubian disputed many of the specifics of the case but he said he decided to cooperate with the Cubans, exposing what he called the “black forces” of corruption and naming more than a dozen foreign companies and executives.
“I told everything and I told how these schemes were done,” he told the Star. “It was just eating me alive. Maybe in my conscience I wanted my company to be brought down so that I could tell once for all things that are going on.”
In September 2011, Cuban authorities arrested a second GTA man –73-year-old Cy Tokmakjian, whose $80 million Tokmakjian Group company is one of the largest foreign operations in Cuba.
His family told the Star he has still not been charged.
Krikor Yacoubian says the family has decided not to appeal his brother’s sentence but to immediately start the lengthy legal and diplomatic manoeuvres to get Sarkis transferred to Canada under a prisoner transfer treaty Canada signed with Cuba in 1999.
“I don’t want my brother to rot in Cuba,” said Krikor Yacoubian.

viernes, junio 14, 2013

Toronto man, 78, pleads guilty to child sex crimes in Cuba

James McTurk, 78, pleaded guilty to child sex tourism charges in a Toronto court Friday.
By: Jennifer Quinn Robert Cribb, Julian Sher Staff Reporters
An elderly Toronto man became the first Canadian convicted of sex crimes committed against children in Cuba after he pleaded guilty Friday to six counts, including little-used child sex tourism charges.
James McTurk admitted to offences against girls as young as 3 during a brief appearance.
Prosecutors are now considering seeking a dangerous offender order against the 78-year-old — a move which could see various measures taken against McTurk, including keeping him behind bars for the rest of his life.
When asked by Mr. Justice Charles Vaillancourt how he pleaded to the charges — one count of making child pornography, another of importing child pornography, three counts of sexual interference and a final count of invitation to sexual touching — McTurk replied “guilty,” in a soft voice.
McTurk was the first person to be charged by Toronto Police with the little-used child sex tourism offences.
His case was the subject of a Toronto Star investigation which examined how sex offenders are largely free to travel abroad to commit crimes, despite the amendment of the Criminal Code by the Canadian government to allow the prosecution of people who travel abroad to seek sex with children.
On Friday, the retired postal worked becomes just the sixth known conviction under the law — and the first whose offences were committed in Cuba.
Despite two previous convictions for child pornography — in 1995 and 1998 — and being placed on the sex offender’s registry, McTurk was free to travel. The court was told that he made 31 trips to the island, between 2009 and his arrest in July 2012.
Toronto Police began investigating McTurk when he went to a North York Loblaws to have pictures from a trip to Cuba printed, and what the photo clerk saw — images of unsmiling, topless little girls — alarmed her.
“The employee at the photo lab became concerned about these photos because the girls appeared to be frightened,” prosecutor Anna Stanford said. Police were called, and detectives executed a search warrant at McTurk’s address.
Officers arrested McTurk on July 24, 2012, at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, as he returned home from yet another trip to Cuba.
Graphic evidence of the images and videos discovered in his North York apartment and on digital cards carried by McTurk when he was arrested were entered into evidence in court. Stanford quietly read detailed descriptions of what detectives found.
They included close-up images of the body parts of young girls, and McTurk in sexual situations with the same children. In one video, Stanford said, McTurk is seen forcing his tongue into a 3-year-old girl’s mouth.
“He continuously pulls her to him as she appears to resist, and repeatedly inserts his tongue into the child’s mouth,” she said, reading from an agreed statement of facts. “He then gives the child a candy and lets her go.”
In an interview with detectives after his arrest, McTurk said he knew one of the grandmothers of the girls in the images, who he met two decades ago in Cuba.
“She was on the beach and was hungry, so he fed her,” Stanford told the court. “He maintained contact with her and stayed with her and her family regularly when he visited Cuba. He gave her a couple hundred pesos — approximately $240 — each time he visited.”
McTurk’s case is to return to court in August, when the Crown will ask for the dangerous offender order. Six other charges against McTurk are to be withdrawn.

domingo, mayo 26, 2013

Eduardo Sebrango: el cubano inmigrante, el goleador del Impact, el "suertudo"

Crónicas de Inmigrantes - Eduardo Sebrango
Cuando Eduardo Sebrango pisa el terreno del estado Olímpico de Montreal cerca de 60 mil personas se paran para aplaudirlo. En La Habana, capital de su Cuba natal, es un ciudadano común y corriente.
La vida del futbolista de 38 años ha estado marcada por los goles que ha hecho en tierras canadienses, con la camiseta del Impact de Montreal o de los Whitecaps de Vancouver. Pero aún así, su historia no dista de la de cualquier inmigrante, ha vivido los mismos retos y ha tenido que digerir las mismas diferencias.
“Los dos primeros años fueron muy difíciles, quería regresarme a Cuba. Vivía con mi ahora exesposa en un lugar residencial de Ottawa y recuerdo los primeros días salir de la casa y no ver a nadie”, comenta sobre sus pasos iniciales fuera de la isla. “En Cuba yo salía a la calle y era encontrarme con todos, amigos, vecinos, familiares”.
Su travesía canadiense comenzó en 1996. En esa época defendía a su país natal y vino a jugar dos partidos de eliminatoria al Mundial 1998 en Edmonton, frente al que se convertiría en su nuevo hogar, Canadá.
Regresó a casa con dos derrotas 2-0, pero ahí conoció a quien fuera su esposa. “En ese momento ella trabajaba para la Asociación Canadiense de Fútbol, así que empezamos a vernos, en distintos lugares, aquí, en Cuba, en Estados Unidos”.
El enamoramiento se convirtió en planes de vida y en un nuevo reto para Eduardo. “Finalmente nos casamos en Cuba en el 97. Ahí hice todos mis papeles para mudarme a Canadá”, cuenta. “Se demoró un poco porque era medio complicado en esa época para los cubanos pero finalmente llegué aquí en el 98”.
Durante la conversación, Eddy, como es conocido por sus amigos, utiliza una palabra una y otra vez: “suerte”. Admite haber tenido suerte para adaptarse y se siente afortunado por todas las puertas que se le abrieron.
“Al llegar acá fue todo muy fácil. Cuando jugué contra la selección de Canadá el técnico era Bob Lenarduzzi. Cuando llegué aquí era el Gerente General de los Whitecaps. Era amigo de mi esposa así que lo contacté, me vio y me dijo para que firmara con los Whitecaps”.
La parte laboral estaba cubierta, pero lo más difícil estaba fuera de la cancha.
Eduardo vivía con su familia en un suburbio de Ottawa, rodeado por una tranquilidad que llegaba a perturbarlo en cierta manera… además estaba el tan temido invierno canadiense.
“La primera vez que intenté salir a correr en el invierno duré dos minutos”, recuerda entre risas. Como cubano tenía que lidiar con una nueva realidad, esa que va más allá de lo cultural. “Tuve que aprender de credit card, debit card, cosas que no teníamos en Cuba. Tampoco hablaba nada de inglés, ni ‘hello’”.
Ha vivido en varias ciudades del país y a sus ojos, cada una es especial.  Aún así, admite que a orillas del Saint-Laurent se siente más cómodo, más adaptado. “Montreal para los cubanos es mucho mejor, hay muchos latinos, muchas culturas y hasta puedes comer cualquier tipo de comida. A los québécois le gustan mucho los cubanos”, comenta, aprovechando para hacerle publicidad al que se ha convertido en su sitio favorito.
“Ya tengo mi restaurant aquí, en Beaubien, Café Cubano, ya le estoy haciendo publicidad”, dice entre risas. “Es como si estuviera comiendo la comida de mi mamá. Voy como dos veces por semana y llevó a los chicos, a los americanos y se vuelven locos”.
Nunca ha dejado de ser cubano, de sentir nostalgia por su tierra y su gente. “Luego de 13 años acá todavía sigo extrañando la esquina del barrio, mis amigos, tomarme un cafecito con mi mamá en la mañana, la música”.
Pero la estabilidad que ha conseguido en el norte, esa “suerte” de la que habla tan orgulloso, le ha permitido mantenerse en contacto con su tierra, adonde va cada año. Además, se siente feliz de ser parte de dos culturas.
“Me siento muy orgulloso de ser canadiense. Me encanta el hockey (sobre todo los equipos canadienses), incluso sé más que muchos de los chicos que son de acá. Para nosotros los cubanos, que somos tan diferentes al resto del mundo, es bonito venir a un país como Canadá, un país capitalista, y ver que tienen muchos valores que tenemos nosotros, el respeto a la persona, no hay violencia, son muy distintos a las otras potencias mundiales”, comenta, metiéndose un poco en política e ideología.
Si bien en La Habana puede pasar como un ciudadano común y corriente, en su pueblo natal, Sancti Spíritus, es reconocido. “He llevado muchas donaciones y he tratado de ayudarlos, así que si vas, verás las camisetas de Sebrango de los Whitecaps o del Impact”.

Mantener las raíces

Desde el primer momento que pisó Canadá, Eddy ha estado abierto a adoptar una nueva cultura y una nueva visión de vida. Aunque eso no significa que sea algo fácil.
Amigos, idiomas, cultura. Todo eso ha tenido que cuidarlo.
“Con el tema de la lengua tuve mucho más tiempo, porque en el fútbol no necesitas hablarlo perfectamente, así que fui poco a poco”, comenta el jugador, quien declara normalmente a los medios en inglés con total fluidez. “Nunca me sentí québécois, no pensé que tenía que aprender el francés, pero desde que regresé de Vancouver hace tres años me siento más parte de la cultura de acá, así que estoy aprendiendo”, comenta sobre la marca registrada de Quebec: su idioma.
“Empecé a trabajar con la academia del Impact, en donde todo es en francés: los entrenadores, los chicos, así que me tocaba escuchar reuniones de tres horas sin una palabra en inglés. Entiendo 90% y me puedo comunicar de a poco. Quiero aprender de verdad”, confiesa.
Una de los retos más difíciles para Sebrango ha sido mantener su legado, ese que tiene origen en el Caribe. Su idioma, sus costumbres y tradiciones.
Tiene dos hijos ya entrando en la adolescencia. Nacidos en Canadá, conscientes de sus orígenes cubanos, pero con problemas para mantenerlos. Una realidad que viven muchos inmigrantes.
“Es una parte que no estoy muy contento. Cuando eran pequeños estaba todo el tiempo con ellos y les hablaba en español y me entendían todo. Ahora no hablan nada”, comenta sobre sus hijos, quienes viven con su madre en Kingston, Ontario.
Por lo menos los ve una vez al mes. Es una oportunidad para compartir pero también para reforzar  todo su bagaje cultural, ese que los pequeños Sebrango llevan en la sangre. “Es complicado porque viven lejos y cuando estoy con ellos, como es por pocos días, no quiero presionarlos hablándoles en español”.
“Mi niña acaba de cumplir 12 años y su regalo fue un programa de recetas en español. Además, ellos se dan cuenta: mi mamá viene de visita y se dan cuenta que su abuela no habla una palabra de inglés, así que saben que lo necesitan”.
Eduardo, el “suertudo”, el que siempre está sonriendo, mira hacia atrás y no tiene dudas de que ha dado los pasos correctos en su vida, como jugador, como padre y como inmigrante.
“Estoy muy contento. Tengo casi 39 años y llega un momento en el que te das cuenta de todas las experiencias que has vivido, las buenas y las malas y puedo decir que estoy contento con mi vida. El apoyo que he recibido de la gente, del Impact como organización, de mi familia, ha sido muy importante”.
Admite que no es fácil salir de un país e integrarse a otro. Sabe que su caso ha sido mucho más sencillo al de muchos inmigrantes, por tanto no duda en dar sus tres consejos.
“Lo más importante es que hay que trabajar. Tienes que involucrarte en la cultura sin olvidar tus raíces y lo otro es buscarte un buen grupo de amigos”, esa es su Trinidad de inmigrante. “Muchos inmigrantes vienen solos, sin familia, así que es importante formarte un buen grupo de amigos. Pero lo más importante es trabajar duro y no dejar que nadie te trate mal y siempre hacerte respetar”.
Cierra la conversación tal cual como la empezó, con una gran sonrisa y su acento cubano mucho más suelto que cuando el grabador se prendió. Eduardo el “suertudo”, el que se gana la vida marcando goles.

jueves, mayo 23, 2013

161 Canadians have been arrested or detained for various periods in Cuba since 2005

By: Julian Sher Staff Reporter, Juan O. Tamayo El Nuevo Herald/
When Sarkis Yacoubian walks into a courtroom in Havana Thursday to face serious corruption charges that could send him to prison for 12 years, the North York businessman will have a high-powered diplomat keeping a close eye on his trial — Canada’s ambassador to Cuba.
As the Toronto Star revealed last week, Yacoubian, who ran a successful $30 million transport and trading company called Tri-Star Caribbean, was handed a 63-page indictment by Cuban prosecutors in April accusing him of three counts of bribery, tax evasion and “activities damaging to the economy.”
After almost two years in custody without charges, Yacoubian’s fate will be decided by a panel of five judges in a hearing that is expected to last no longer than two days at the Criminal Court of the Peoples’ Tribunal for Havana Province.
Other jailed foreigners and diplomats are nervously watching to see how far the Cuban justice system, not known for its transparency or independence, will go in pursuing a case that has become an international political flashpoint.
In an apparent signal about just how seriously Ottawa views the case, the Department of Foreign Affairs this week informed Julian Falconer, Yacoubian’s lawyer in Canada, that Ambassador Matthew Levin will attend both days of the trial along with the Consul General at the embassy.
“It is very rare for the ambassador to show up in a courtroom,” said Gar Pardy, a former director general of consular services for Canada. “It sends a message to the Cuban authorities: this is a case of direct interest to the government of Canada.”
Levin had previously visited Yacoubian at least four times while he was in La Condesa prison on the outskirts of Havana.
Yacoubian was arrested in July 2011 as part of the Cuban Communist Party’s highly-charged political campaign against corruption.
A second GTA entrepreneur, Cy Tokmakjian, who runs a rival transportation firm, was arrested in September 2011 and remains in jail with no specific charges filed against him.
Yacoubian told the Star in a series of lengthy jailhouse phone interviews that he confessed and cooperated closely with his Cuban interrogators, pointing the finger at what he called the “bigger crooks” — a wide network of foreign companies engaged in widespread corruption and bribery.
“I just wanted to talk, I just wanted to tell them, to correct things,” he said.
Yacoubian said he had hoped that his close co-operation with the Cubans in exposing the web of corruption would help his case.
“I told them everything, I told how these schemes were done,” he said. “I was expecting anytime these things will clear up.”
But after nearly two years in detention, that has not happened.
“They expect me in court to say I am sorry and I will say that,” he said. “But I’m not going to lay quietly and be the victim.”
“Sarkis is ready for anything,” said Krikor Yacoubian, who has been in almost daily contact by phone with his brother. “Sarkis is a guinea pig. His trial will be a test of how Canada is going to react.”
Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Emma Welford told the Star Ottawa will not comment on the now very public case “to protect the privacy of the individual concerned.”
She said that 161 Canadians have been arrested or detained for various periods in Cuba since 2005, but she said the department did not know how many Canadians have ever faced trial there.
“The information is not captured,” she said.
A database search of news archives going back more than two decades found only two cases of publicly-known trials for Canadians, both of which involved allegations of sex crimes against minors.
Dr. Jaime Suchlicki, director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami said Sarkis Yacoubian faces a justice system that is “capricious and authoritarian.”
“All the judges are appointed by the government, all the lawyers are on the government payroll or approved by the government,” he said. “So you are at the mercy of a very horrible political system.”
Alex Neve, secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada, said it was crucial for Canadian embassy officials to put on a strong show of force at trials of Canadians abroad, especially in countries like Cuba where “the issue of a fair trial is a serious concern.”
“It’s incredibly important to Canadians to be able to rely on an assurance that the Canadian government will be there for them, pressing relentlessly so that fundamental human rights requirements be complied with in any proceedings against them,” he said.
Certainly there will be political undertones to Yacoubian’s trial, given the shock waves the anti-corruption campaign and the resulting scandals have caused in Cuba and abroad.
Yacoubian’s case was in the hands of the powerful Agency for Investigating Crimes against the Security of the State.
In the past two years, more than a dozen Cuban officials and deputy ministers have been arrested and several of them convicted on various corruption-related charges.
In addition to the two Canadians, state authorities have jailed two British businessmen and detained several of the foreign employees of targeted Canadian and British firms — even though Cuban depends on foreign investment from friendly Western countries in the face of a punishing American economic blockade.
In the indictment, prosecutors charged Yacoubian and his employees “falsely claimed that they ran a great personal risk in doing business with our country and that their objective was to violate the criminal economic, financial and commercial blockade of the United States of America against Cuba . . . when in reality they were taking advantage of that cruel policy.”
Prosecutors allege Yacoubian or other employees bribed at least a dozen officials from a vast array of government departments and state enterprises — from the Ministries of Communications, Construction, Transportation and Tourism to the government’s telecommunications monopoly — for advance information on government purchases or to favour Tri-Star’s business.
Krikor Yacoubian says his brother will plead guilty to the charge of bribery, even though his brother insists he never initiated any payments but was forced to give money to Cuban officials to keep contracts he had already legitimately won.
“Sarkis never introduced payments in anyway,” said Krikor Yacoubian. “He had to pay.”
But he says his brother will “vehemently deny” the more serious counts of tax evasion and damage to the economy that could bring seven- and 12-year jail terms.
The Yacoubians have launched a Facebook campaign — which has garnered more than 400 supporters in a few days — to keep the case in the public spotlight.
Cuban authorities told the family that no media will be allowed into the courtroom.

jueves, mayo 16, 2013

The Canadian businessmen imprisoned by the Castro regime

capitolhillcubans
The Toronto Star and The Miami Herald have published an exclusive interview with one of the Canadian businessmen, Sarkis Yacoubian, imprisoned by the Castro regime.
It is a textbook example of the Castro brother's tactics.
Yacoubian has been clearly broken by the Castro regime, after being held in undisclosed locations and interrogated (and probably worse) for nearly two-years without charges or trial.
He's now serving as a ruse for one of the Castro brother's classic purgings, pointing his finger (better yet, having his finger pointed) horizontally -- but not straight to the top.
Yacoubian will plead guilty and play off Castro's script, hoping he will be allowed to return home soon.

Yet everyone knows that Yacoubian's business activities in totalitarian Cuba were conducted at the highest levels.

The closing quote says it all:

“Don’t be a hero,” Yacoubian says. “Heroes are so sad.”
Here are some excerpts from the story:

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 the 53-year-old entrepreneur.
In exclusive interviews from the La Condesa prison, Yacoubian provides an insider’s view of a sweeping anti-corruption campaign by the government of Raúl Castro that has seen several foreign businessmen — including himself and another Toronto-area businessman — jailed.
A joint investigation by The Toronto Star and El Nuevo Herald has found that in a corruption-plagued country described in secret U.S. government cables as “a state on the take,” the two jailed Canadians are embroiled in a high-stakes diplomatic and legal stand-off between Havana and Ottawa, potentially jeopardizing millions in taxpayer dollars that underwrite Canada’s trade with Cuba.
Arrested in July 2011 and detained for nearly two years without charges, Yacoubian, who ran a transport and trading company, was finally handed a 63-page indictment last month accusing him of bribery, tax evasion and “activities damaging to the economy.”
A suspect who says he quickly pointed the finger at widespread wrongdoing by other Canadian and foreign businesses, Yacoubian now faces up to 12 years in prison after he pleads guilty at his trial set to begin next Thursday. The charges were filed in a special Havana court for Crimes against the Security of the State, which can effectively hold trials in secret [...]
[T]heir Havana offices are shuttered, their fortunes frozen and their future in limbo.
Cuban authorities in Havana and at the country’s embassy in Ottawa declined to be interviewed for this story.
Complicating matters is that millions in Canadian taxpayer dollars funded by the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) — a kind of broker that underwrites contracts between the Cuban government and select Canadian firms — may be at stake [...]
Whisked away to a “safe house” for questioning and allowed outside for only one hour a day, Yacoubian says he slipped into desperation and depression. “I had lost my mind,” he says. “I was talking to myself, banging my head.”
Then Yacoubian made a fateful choice: He blew the whistle. “Maybe in my conscience I wanted my company to be brought down so that I could tell once for all things that are going on,” he says. “It was just eating me alive.”
He told his interrogators that he had little choice but to hand over money to bureaucrats or officials to secure contracts or even to ensure they were honored after winning a bid.
“If I didn’t pay, at the end of the day they would just create problems for me,” he says. Prosecutors allege in their court filing that Yacoubian or his employees bribed at least a dozen state officials with everything from nice dinners and prepaid phone cards to cash — $300 for a tip on a deal, $50,000 for a 2008 contract on earth movers.

Canadian entrepreneur who blew whistle on Cuban corruption faces 12-year term

Speaking over a scratchy telephone line from inside a Cuban prison, Sarkis Yacoubian’s voice goes suddenly silent. He’s crying.
Behind his muffled sobs, the din of the crowded jail outside of Havana can be heard.
“I was so depressed at times, I wanted to commit suicide,” says the 53-year-old entrepreneur.
In exclusive jailhouse interviews with the Star from Cuba’s La Condesa prison, Yacoubian provides an insider’s view of a sweeping anti-corruption campaign by the government of Raul Castro that has seen several foreign businessmen — including himself and another Toronto-area businessman — jailed.
A joint investigation by the Star and El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language affiliate of the Miami Herald, has found that in a corruption-plagued country described in secret U.S. government cables as “a state on the take,” two jailed entrepreneurs from the GTAare embroiled in a high-stakes diplomatic and legal standoff between Havana and Ottawa. It potentially jeopardizes millions in taxpayer dollars that underwrite Canada’s trade with Cuba.
Arrested in July 2011 and detained for nearly two years without charges, Yacoubian, who ran a transport and trading company, finally was handed a 63-page indictment last month by Cuban authorities accusing him of bribery, tax evasion and “activities damaging to the economy.”
Yacoubian, a suspect who says he pointed the finger at widespread wrongdoing by other foreign businesses as well as his own, now faces as many as 12 years in prison after he pleads guilty at his trial set to begin next Thursday.
The charges were filed in a special Havana court for Crimes against the State, which can effectively hold trials in secret.
“They found out this was an epidemic going all over the place and I was the fall guy,” says Yacoubian. “They want to give an example to the rest of the businessmen. They want to scare them to death.”
The second GTA man — 73-year-old Cy Tokmakjian, who runs a global transportation firm
Cy Tokmakjian
called the Tokmakjian Group — was picked up by Cuban authorities in September 2011 and remains in jail with no specific charges filed against him.
“We’re as worried as anyone would be if their father is in a place where they shouldn’t be,” said his son and company president, Raffi Tokmakjian, in an interview at their corporate headquarters in Concord, Ont.
Raffi Tokmakjian and his two sisters say they are in daily phone contact with their father.
“He worries more about us. He says: ‘You guys stay strong, I’m OK,’ ” said Anni Tokmakjian, the company’s director of sales. “We’re just focusing on getting him home, that’s all we really care about.”
But that might not be easy. The two Ontario entrepreneurs of Armenian origin, one-time business associates turned bitter rivals, ran multimillion-dollar trading companies that sold heavy equipment, vehicles and supplies to Cuban state companies in the transport, construction, nickel and other industries.
Today, their Havana offices are shuttered, their fortunes frozen and their future in limbo.
Cuban authorities in Havana and at the country’s embassy in Ottawa declined to be interviewed for this story. Complicating matters is that millions in Canadian taxpayer dollars funded by the Canadian Commercial Corporation — a kind of broker that underwrites contracts between the Cuban government and select Canadian firms — may be at stake.
From 2011 to 2012, the corporation signed 38 contracts in Cuba worth more than $68.4 million, the latest in its $650-million business with Cuba since 1991.
Much of that financial support — for privacy reasons, the agency won’t disclose its client list — went to back deals made the Tokmakjian Group.
Now that Tokmakjian is in prison and the Cuban government has officially revoked his company’s licence to operate, there are questions about what the Cubans will do if their courts rule that Tokmakjian contracts backed by the CCC were tainted by corruption.
The Tokmakjian Group is reported to be the second-largest Canadian operation in Cuba, with at least $80 million in annual sales in the country.
Raffi Tokmakjian says his father “fell in love with the place” when he began investing in Cuba during the 1960s. Yacoubian, too, had big dreams when he first came to Cuba in 1993. He quickly became fluent in Spanish and, after working briefly for Tokmakjian, he built his company, Tri-Star Caribbean, into a flourishing $30-million-a-year enterprise.
It all came crashing down when plainclothes security officers swept into his offices in Havana in July 2011. “They started yelling: ‘Nobody move!’ ” Yacoubian says. “I didn’t know what was happening.”
Eventually whisked away to a “safe house” for questioning and allowed outside for only one hour a day, Yacoubian says he slipped into desperation and depression.
“I had lost my mind,” he says. “I was talking to myself, banging my head.”
Then Yacoubian made a fateful choice: he blew the whistle. “Maybe in my conscience I wanted my company to be brought down so that I could tell once for all things that are going on,” he says. “It was just eating me alive.”
He told his interrogators that he had little choice but to hand over money to bureaucrats or officials to secure contracts or even to ensure they were honoured after winning a bid.
“If I didn’t pay, at the end of the day they would just create problems for me,” he says.
Prosecutors allege in their court filing that Yacoubian or his employees bribed at least a dozen state officials with everything from nice dinners and prepaid phone cards to cash — from $300 for a tip about a contract, to $50,000 for a 2008 deal on earth movers.
Yacoubian disputes many of the details in the charges. But he says what bothered him was that some of the foreign businessmen were “bigger crooks” than the Cubans, profiting unduly from shady business dealings — often, he says, with support or subsidies from Western governments.
Yacoubian says he spent the next few months turning what could have been a police grilling of him into a kind of Corruption 101 class for his interrogators.
“I tried to explain to them systematically how things could be done,” he says. “I gave them drawings, designs. I gave them names, people, how they do it, why, when, where, what.”
Yacoubian did not know that his tell-all tale would become fodder for a campaign against corruption led by President Raul Castro.
Reuters reported in February 2012 that Yacoubian’s videotaped confession was the centrepiece in a video titled “Metastasis” that describes payoffs and bribes “spreading like cancer” into high levels of the Cuban government.
In the video, shown only to top government and Communist Party officials, “Yacoubian confesses he passed packets of money to Cuban officials,” Reuters reports. Tokmakjian is also featured and accused of corruption.
At least two of the Cuban officials tied to Tokmakjian in the video have been arrested.
But his children say Tokmakjian firmly denies any wrongdoing, insisting there have been yearly audits of their business partnerships with the Cubans with “no issues.”
“The only thing that I have heard my father preach is: keep your nose clean in Cuba and you can do business here for a long time,” says Raffi Tokmakjian.
As the video was making rounds, Tokmakjian and Yacoubian were eventually transferred to La Condesa, a prison reserved for foreigners and disgraced government officials — although the Canadians have been kept apart in separate barracks.
Bishop Bagrat Galstanian, the Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Canada who got to know Yacoubian and his family because of their charity work in the community, flew to Havana last fall to visit the prison.
“It was kind of unbelievable that would happen to Sarkis, he was very much in love with Cuba,” the bishop says. “He cried, he opened his heart. He told me: ‘This is what I have done for years and now they are trying to convict me as a traitor to this country.’ ”
The families of both men say they have received support from the Canadian Embassy in Havana and assurances that Foreign Minister John Baird and Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy have pushed the Cubans “at the highest levels” to provide justice for the jailed Canadians “in a more timely matter.”
Canada is one of Cuba’s largest trading partners and its single largest source of tourism revenue. Close observers of Canadian business and political affairs in Havana say Ottawa and the CCC have to be concerned when a major player like Tokmakjian, backed by federal money, runs afoul of the Castro regime.
One longtime Canadian investor with many years of experience in Havana said “a lot of people” were frustrated that CCC was an exclusive club The investor, who asked to remain anonymous because of the uncertain political climate there, said most of CCC’s money was being “eaten up by a handful of companies,” including the Tokmakjian Group.
Last month, the Cuban government’s Official Gazette announced that the Ministry of Foreign Commerce and Investment had revoked the licence of the Tokmakjian Group because it carried out “activities . . . contrary to the (proper) principles and ethics” — in effect, slamming the door shut on a major Canadian corporation endorsed by a federal Crown corporation.
For now, the CCC says it is not worried. “The corporation has consistently been paid by the Government of Cuba on time regardless of the external environment,” says Joanne Lostracco, the CCC’s manager of government relations.
Asked about the perils of a Crown corporation operating in a Cuban economy tainted by corruption, Lostracco said the CCC has a “strong due diligence process” that imposes “full financial disclosure” on Canadian companies and allows the CCC to withdraw from any contract “obtained through illicit means.”
The Tokmakjian children remain optimistic their father will be home soon, taking heart from the fact that 10 other foreign employees of their company who were detained by Cuban authorities have been released during the past four months.
For his part, Yacoubian says he hopes to get a reduced sentence after he pleads guilty at his trial next week “because I collaborated closely” — a collaboration acknowledged by Cuban authorities in his indictment.
Yacoubian takes anti-depressants during the day and sleeping pills at night, but he says the poor ventilation in the stifling heat and the lack of chairs for his bad back are taking a toll.
Reflecting on the role he has played in unravelling Cuba’s corruption scandals, he has mixed emotions. “It’s a victory because now how things were done has been unwrapped,” he says.
But he also recalls the lyrics from a rock song that was popular when he and his family lived through the difficult years of civil war in Lebanon:
“Don’t be a hero,” Yacoubian says. “Heroes are so sad.”
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Retratos de fusilados por el Castrismo - Juan Abreu

"Hablame"

"EN TIEMPOS DIFÍCILES" - Heberto Padilla

A aquel hombre le pidieron su tiempo

para que lo juntara al tiempo de la Historia.

Le pidieron las manos,

porque para una época difícil

nada hay mejor que un par de buenas manos.

Le pidieron los ojos

que alguna vez tuvieron lágrimas

para que contemplara el lado claro

(especialmente el lado claro de la vida)

porque para el horror basta un ojo de asombro.

Le pidieron sus labios

resecos y cuarteados para afirmar,

para erigir, con cada afirmación, un sueño

(el-alto-sueño);

le pidieron las piernas

duras y nudosas

(sus viejas piernas andariegas),

porque en tiempos difíciles

¿algo hay mejor que un par de piernas

para la construcción o la trinchera?

Le pidieron el bosque que lo nutrió de niño,

con su árbol obediente.

Le pidieron el pecho, el corazón, los hombros.

Le dijeron

que eso era estrictamente necesario.

Le explicaron después

que toda esta donación resultaria inútil.

sin entregar la lengua,

porque en tiempos difíciles

nada es tan útil para atajar el odio o la mentira.

Y finalmente le rogaron

que, por favor, echase a andar,

porque en tiempos difíciles

esta es, sin duda, la prueba decisiva.

Etiquetas

"Reflexiones" de Fidel (17) 1984 (1) 2010 (8) 2011 (8) 2012 (11) 2013 (23) 2014 (5) 2015 (4) 3-D (22) 4-D (1) 911 (44) aberraciones (1) aborigenes (3) Aborto (12) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (1) Abuso (6) Abuso infantil (6) Abuso Sexual (7) academia (47) academia cubana (182) Accidentes (159) activismo politico (9) activismo social (2) activista digital (3) actor Cuba (7) actrices (12) actrices cubanas (10) Actualidad (3) Acueductos y alcantarillados (13) Acuerdos militares (1) Adan Chavez (3) Adeiny Hechavarria (1) adn (6) Aduana (7) aeropuertos (3) Afectaciones (3) Afganistan (130) Afganistan-EEUU (13) Africa (27) Agencia de Seguridad Nacional (14) Agencias de noticias (2) agenda 21 (2) Agenda de Raul (31) Agentes (27) Agentes cubanos en el exterior (97) agentes de influencia (36) agentes en el exterior (11) Agitadores (1) Agricultura (135) agua (2) Agua potable (24) Ahmadinejad (9) Ahmadineyad (4) Ai Weiwei (4) Ai Weiwie (2) ajedrez (13) Al Gore (1) al jazeera (16) Al Qaeda (148) Al Yazira (1) alan gross (152) Alarcon (13) Alaska (4) ALBA (72) albania (4) Albert Camus (1) ALCA (1) Alcholismo (6) Alcibiades Hidalgo (3) alcoholismo (21) Alejandro Armengol (4) Alejandro Castro Espin (19) Alemania (68) alex jones (78) alexei ramirez (1) alexis cuba (1) alexis vila (9) alfa 66 (1) alfredo guevara (5) Alfredo Pong (70) algeria (5) Aliados (4) Alimentacion (93) Alimentos (246) alina fernandez (10) Alinsky (2) Allende (9) Alvarez Guedes (2) alvaro vargas llosa (1) alz (1) Alzados (2) alzheimer (6) amaury gutierrez (1) amazonas (3) ameh (1) Amenazas (1) America (13) America Latina (19) american dream (1) Amistad (1) Amnistia (1) Amnistia Internacional (11) amor (4) Ana Belen Montes (13) Ana Frank (1) Analisis economico (123) Analisis politico (235) analisis social (23) anarquismo (7) ancianos (41) andre malraux (1) andrei sajarov (3) Andrew Breitbart (4) Andy Garcia (3) Angel Castro (4) Angel Santiesteban (19) Angela Merkel (9) Angelina Jolie (8) Angola (14) Animales (217) anita ekberg (1) anna chapman (8) Anonymous (7) ANPP (7) Antartica (7) Antenas (2) anticapitalismo (2) Anticastrismo (63) antichavistas (1) antigravity (1) Antiguedades (7) Antimotines (1) antisemitismo (2) Antonio Castro (6) Antonio Rodiles (36) antrax (2) Antropologia (27) Antunez (93) Apertura (1) apple (4) Arabe (6) Arabia Saudita (38) Archivo Cuba (2) argelia (8) Argentina (33) Arianna Huffington (1) Ariel Sigler Amaya (5) Armamentismo (16) Armando Lago (1) Armas (251) armas biologicas (1) armas de destruccion masivas (5) armas laser (6) armas nucleares (191) armas quimicas (8) Armenia (2) Aroldis Chapman (14) arqueologia (11) Arquitectura (13) Arquitectura cubana (31) arroz (3) arte (76) arte cubano (45) Arte. Cuba (13) Artico (13) artistas cubanos (29) Artistas y Escritores cubanos (32) Arturo Lopez-Levi (8) Asamblea Nacional (48) Asesinatos (63) Asignacion (1) asilo (3) asistencia social (1) Asteroides (8) astrobiologia (12) Astrofisica (30) Astronautica (135) Astronomia (108) Ataque cibernetico (29) atares (1) ateistas (1) Atentado (4) Aung San Suu Kyi (11) Australia (28) austria (2) Autismo (9) Automatizacion (1) Autos (129) Aviacion (245) Aviones cubanos (8) Awareness (1) Ayuda a las victimas (37) ayuda externa (3) Azerbaijan (4) Azucar (19) bacardi. Cuba (3) bahamas (12) bahrein (20) ballet (1) Ballet Cubano (25) Balseros (163) bancarrota (6) Banco Mundial (11) Bancos (110) bandas juveniles (9) bangladesh (4) Barack Obama (1386) Barbarroja (4) barcos (68) barhein (3) barquin (1) Barthelemy (2) Bashar al Assad (8) Bashar Assad (2) Batista (5) BBC (5) belarus (5) belgica (10) belice (1) bellator (41) bellator. hector lompard (1) Benemelis (8) Benjamin Netanyahu (6) Benoit Mandelbrot (2) berlusconi (3) Berta Soler (48) bielorusia (5) bienestar (1) Bieolorusia (4) bilderberg (8) Bill Clinton (15) Bill Gates (5) Bill O'Reilly (97) bimillonarios (6) Biocombustibles (3) Bioetica (1) biologia (2) bionica (3) Biotecnologia (16) Bioterrorismo (7) birmania (10) Bitcoin (14) black (6) Black Power (23) blogguer (15) Blogoestroika (8) Blogs (59) Blogs cubanos (318) Blogs ranking (4) Blogs-premios (5) bloguer (5) Bloqueo (8) Bloqueo interno (2) bob dylan (3) bob marley (2) Bob Menendez (9) bobby fisher (3) Bodega cubana (1) body language (1) boing boing (2) Bolivia (41) bolsa (30) bonzo (1) bosnia (3) Boxeadores cubanos (219) Boxeo (190) Boxeo cubano (170) Bradley Manning (10) Brasil (76) Brian Latell (6) brigada 2506 (11) Bruno Rodriquez (2) Budismo (2) bulgaria (7) Burma (1) Buro Politico (1) burocracia (3) CaCastrismo (1) Cachao Lopez (1) Cadecas (5) Calle 13 (1) Cambio climatico (66) Cambio de sexo (12) Cambios (60) cambodia (4) Camerun (1) Camilo Cienfuegos (6) Campesinos (36) Canada (561) Canada-China (5) Canal de Nicaragua (1) Canal de Panama (3) canal de suez (2) Canarias (9) cancer (58) candada (1) Candidatos a la Presidencia (6) canibalismo (1) cannes (1) cantantes (9) cantantes cubanos (12) Caos (15) capital (1) Capitalismo (15) Carceles (77) Carceles cubanas (196) Cardenal Bertone (2) Carl Sagan (2) Carlos Alberto Montaner (60) Carlos Marx (10) Carlos Otero (4) Carlos Saladrigas (15) carlos salim (1) carlos varela (4) Carmelo Mesa-Lago (10) Carnavales (1) Carne (1) carter (22) Casa Blanca (40) Casa de Fidel (16) casinos (3) caso uci (6) Castillo del Morro (1) Castrismo (473) casualidades (5) Catastrofismo (14) Cato Institute (2) Causa 1 (6) Causas de su enfermedad (4) Cayo Coco (1) CEA (6) Ceasescu (6) Celac (53) Celebridades (227) celia cruz (1) Celia Hart (2) celulares (14) Celulas madres (9) Censura (42) Censura en internet (160) central nuclear (9) Centro de estudios de la inteligencia cubana (3) cerebro (54) certificado de nacimiento (13) chantaje (9) Chavez (523) chavismo (37) Che Guevara (74) Chechenia (10) Chelsea Clinton (1) Chernobil (20) Chicago's boys (1) Chile (76) China (492) China ejercito (5) China-Rusia (2) China-Tibet (19) Chinos (2) Chipre (5) Chismes (2) Chivatos (8) chocolate (1) Choteo (7) Chris Simmons (79) Christmas (1) Chuck Hagel (15) CIA (159) ciber espionaje (35) Ciberactivismo (14) Ciberataques (46) cibersecurity (49) Ciencia (50) ciencia-ficcion (1) Ciencias (345) Ciencias y Politica (20) cine (168) Cine Cubano (152) circulacion monetaria (5) Cirque du Soleil (1) ciudadanos (4) ciudades (15) Clase Media (2) Clases sociales (4) Claudia Cadelo (7) Clima (25) cnn (20) coalicion (5) Cobalto (1) coca (2) cocacola (3) Cocaina (7) cocina (2) colaboracionistas (42) Colaboradores y agentes en el exterior (349) Colaborares y agentes en el exterior (31) Colin Powel (4) Colombia (83) Combustibles (5) comercio (4) Comercio Cuba-Estados Unidos (7) Comercio Exterior (27) comercio internacional (27) comercio sexual (7) Comida cubana (3) competitividad (6) complejidad (2) Computacion (33) computadoras (21) comunicacion (6) Comunismo (91) comunistas (54) conceptos (1) condicion humana (4) Condoleezza Rice (1) conducta humana (40) Conflicto (1) Conflicto Colombia-Venezuela (5) conflicto colombia-venezuela-ecuador (21) conflicto cuba-estados unidos (19) Congo (2) consecuencias (1) Consejo de Estado (3) Conservadores (12) Conspiracion (475) conspiranoia (36) constitucion (27) Construccion (55) consules cubano (1) Consumo (3) Contaminacion ambiental (70) Contrabando (6) Contrainteligencia (105) contrarrevolucion (1) contraterrorismo (4) Control de Armas (64) Control Social (37) cookies (1) cooperacion economica (2) cooperativas (11) Coraje (2) Corea (6) Corea del Norte (226) Corea del Norte - Corea del Sur (2) Corea del Norte-Cuba (42) Corea del Norte-EEUU (35) Corea del Sur (38) Corporacion Cubana (1) corporaciones (8) Correa (21) Corrupcion (369) costa de marfil (5) costa de oro (1) Costa Rica (11) Costo de Vida (2) creatividad (5) Creditos (30) crimen organizado (1) Crimenes (107) Criminales (38) Criminales en Cuba (35) Crisis (19) Crisis de Octubre (36) Crisis economica (156) Crisis financiera (279) Crisis mundial (38) crisis politica (8) Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2) critica social (2) Criticas (1) croacia (2) Crowdfundig (1) Cruceros (5) Cub (2) Cuba (8633) Cuba - Remesas de dinero (37) Cuba Ante Todo (1) Cuba crisis (65) cuba economia (18) Cuba ideologia (5) Cuba Independiente (1) Cuba politica (9) Cuba turismo (143) Cuba-Agricultura (69) Cuba-Argentina (10) cuba-biotecnologia (7) cuba-brasil (91) Cuba-Canada (184) cuba-china (53) Cuba-Colombia (24) Cuba-Corea del Sur (2) Cuba-demografia (15) Cuba-Deportes (22) cuba-ecologia (31) Cuba-Economia (9) Cuba-Educacion (20) Cuba-empleo y desempleo (61) cuba-es (1) Cuba-España (208) Cuba-Estados Unidos (1927) Cuba-Estados Unidos-Canada (16) Cuba-Estados Unidos-Rusia (20) Cuba-Estados Unidos-Union Europea (6) cuba-estados unidos-union sovietica (11) Cuba-eta (8) Cuba-Etiopia (3) Cuba-Exportaciones (26) Cuba-Farc (14) Cuba-Google (9) cuba-holanda (7) Cuba-Ideologia (4) Cuba-India (6) cuba-inglaterra (8) Cuba-internet (115) Cuba-Iran (18) Cuba-Iso (1) Cuba-Medicina (78) Cuba-Medio Oriente (5) Cuba-Mexico (55) Cuba-narcotrafico (22) Cuba-Obama (126) cuba-onu (66) Cuba-Opinion publica (1) Cuba-Prensa-Ideologia (16) Cuba-Qatar (2) Cuba-reformas (42) Cuba-Reino Unido (5) Cuba-Rusia (84) Cuba-Rusia-Estados Unidos (10) Cuba-Rusia-Venezuela (4) Cuba-Sida (15) Cuba-sospechas y miedos (4) Cuba-Sudafrica (2) Cuba-terrorismo (37) Cuba-turismo (2) Cuba-Tv (5) Cuba-Union Europea (83) Cuba-Union Sovietica (8) Cuba-Union Sovietica-EEUU (6) Cuba-Uruguay (11) Cuba-Vaticano (109) Cuba-Venezuela (296) Cuba-venezuela-rusia (5) Cuba-violencia (16) Cuba-Yahoo (1) Cuba: Identidad nacional (4) cubadebate (4) Cubaencuentro (1) Cubalse (1) Cuban study group (4) cubana de aviacion (20) cubanalisis (86) Cubanicidios (1) cubano-americanos (37) Cubanologia (11) Cubanologos (47) Cubanos (19) cubanos en el mundo (81) Cubanos en MMA (4) Cubaq (1) CubaResponde (2) Cubq (1) CUC (24) cuentapropistas (181) Cuentas Nacionales (2) Culto a la personalidad (5) Cultura (38) Curiosidades (506) Cuva (1) Daguestan (1) dalai lama (15) dalia soto (4) damas de blanco (269) daniel ortega (9) Danza (8) Darsi Ferrer (5) Davos (2) Dayron Robles (11) debate de raul (2) Debate Politico (5) Deborah Castro Espin (1) Declaracion de Estados Unidos (3) Delfin (2) Delincuencia juvenil (5) demanda (3) Demandas populares (1) Democracia (168) Demografia (18) denuncia (1) Departamento de Estado (22) Deportacion (51) Deporte (185) deporte cubano (112) deporte profesional (19) deportistas cubanos (39) Derechos Humanos (455) Derribo de Avionetas (6) desalojos (8) desaparecidos (8) Desarrollo cientifico-tecnico (47) Desarrollo-Subdesarrollo (24) desastre ecologico (32) desastre nuclear (123) Desastres (33) Desastres naturales (130) Desde aqui (1) desempleo (27) deserciones (14) Deserciones de deportistas (152) desnudos (6) Desperanza (1) destierro (4) Destruccion (5) deuda (55) Deuda Exterior de Cuba (36) Deuda externa (13) DGI (224) Dialogo con Raul (1) Dialogo Nacional (1) Dialogo Politico (8) Dialogueros (9) diamantes (1) diana krall (1) Diana Nyad (3) Diaz-Balart (4) Dick Cheney (1) Dictadores (97) dictadura (16) Dictaduras (56) dilma rouseff (24) dinamarca (2) dinastias (1) dinero (24) Diosdado Cabello (25) diplomacia (24) diplomaticos cubanos (38) discapacitados (35) Discrepancias (1) Discriminacion (3) Disidencia (166) Disidentes (1045) Distribucion (1) Divisas (10) Djibouti (1) Djokovic (2) doble moral (2) doctrina militar (2) Documental (102) Documental cubano (80) Dolar (11) Donaciones (24) donald trump (12) doping (5) Dr. Antonio de la Cova (1) Dr. Antonio Morales-Pita (2) Dr. Biscet (14) Dr. Darsi Ferrer (19) Dr. Francia (2) Dra. Molina (6) drogas (102) dronenet (1) drones (63) Dualidad monetaria (6) dubai (1) dulce maria loynaz (4) Duque Hernandez (7) Dyron Robles (2) e (1) E-commerce (1) Ebay (5) Ebola (3) ebooks (2) Ecologia (59) Economia (163) Economia Canadiense (13) Economia China (45) Economia Cubana (350) Economia mundial (75) Economist (1) Economistas cubanos (13) Ecuado-Estados Unidos (2) Ecuador (76) Ecuador-Estados Unidos (2) Educacion (36) Edward Snowden (63) EEUU (2) EEUU Congreso (169) EEUU desintegracion (2) EEUU Economia (73) EEUU Gobierno (61) EEUU senado (126) EEUU-China (51) EEUU-Japon (3) EEUU-Mexico (19) efecto domino (2) efectos (1) Egipto (174) Einstein (8) ejecutivos (2) Ejercito (84) ejercito britanico (1) ejercito canadiense (6) ejercito cubano (52) Ejercito norteamericano (217) Ejercito norteamericano Iraq (9) Ejercito norteamericanoIslamismo (2) Ejercito Rebelde (8) ejercito ruso (20) ejercito venezolano (14) El caso Marquitos (1) El Chacal (3) El Coran (5) El Critico (2) El Grupo de Raul (25) El Guaton (22) El Pais (3) El Papa (113) El Salvador (9) El Sexto (11) Elecciones (140) Elecciones en Cuba (76) elecciones en estdos unidos (3) Elecciones en EU (216) electronica (1) Elena Burke (1) Elian (13) Eliecer Avila (29) Elite (5) email (10) embajadas cubanas (6) Embargo (591) Emigracioin (20) Emigracion (78) Emigracion cubana (1345) emigracion ilegal (53) Emigrantes ilegales (49) emilio ichikawa (135) EMP ha (1) Empleo (18) Emprendedores (13) empresarios (6) empresas (26) Empresas extranjeras en Cuba (40) Encuesta de opinion (32) Energia (36) energia electrica (29) Energia nuclear (89) energia termonuclear (1) Energias renovables (31) enfermedades (88) enfermos (8) Enjuiciamiento (1) Enrique Dans (1) Enrisco (14) Entrenamiento militar (1) entretenimiento (7) envejecimiento (3) envios a Cuba (10) epidemias (59) equality (1) Eric Holder (12) erick sanchez (3) erislandi lara (2) erislandy lara (16) Ernesto Diaz de Villegas (1) Ernesto Hernandez Busto (2) erotismo (18) escambray (3) escandalo (36) esclavitud (2) escocia (1) Escritores cubanos (98) escuadron patriota (8) escuelas (6) Eslovaquia (1) Espacio Laical (1) Espana (10) España (148) Especulacion (3) Espias (47) espias cubanos (98) Espias cubanos presos (158) Espinaxiones (23) Espionaje (94) espionaje industrial (11) estacion internacional (1) estadisticas (26) Estado (7) Estado de Sats (26) Estado de sitio (1) estados (1) Estados Unidos (1343) estados unidos crisis (112) Estados Unidos economia (86) estados unidos gobierno (40) Estados Unidos-Canada (35) Estados Unidos-China (4) Estados Unidos-Rusia (63) estanflacion (1) Esteban Lazo (1) Esteban Morales Dominguez (4) esteroides (1) estonia (1) estrategia (3) estrategia militar (3) estudiantes extranjeros (8) Estudios Cubanos (2) estulin (1) Estupideces (295) Eta (8) Etanol (4) Etica Politica (3) Etica y moral (10) Etnologia (2) EU (2) eu senado (3) Eugenio Yáñez (66) euro (4) Europa (67) Europa del Este (1) Eusebio Leal (12) eutanasia (5) Eva Braun (2) evacuacion (1) evasion fiscal (1) Evo Morales (38) evolucion (19) ex paises socialistas (1) excarcelados (1) Exili (1) Exilio (8) Exilio cubano (105) Exodo cubano (5) explosion nuclear (4) Explotacion del trabajo infantil (2) Exportaciones (11) expropiaciones (6) extranjeros (6) extrema derecha (6) extremistas (59) F1 (4) facebook (67) fallas de internet (9) Familia (43) familia cubana (9) Famosos (2) Far (26) Farc (81) fascismo (4) FBI (122) federico garcia lorca (1) Felicidad (4) Felix Bonne Csarcasses (1) Feria del Libro (1) ferry (1) Fertilizantes (1) Fidel (873) Fidel Castro (8) Fidel familia (61) Fidel reflexiones (4) Fidel-Estados Unidos (2) Fidelistas (1) Fidelito (9) fiji (1) filipinas (11) Filosofia (21) Finanzas (81) Finlandia (3) first nation (4) fisica (29) Fisin (1) FIU (9) flamur (5) Flash usb (1) flora (1) Florida (54) FMI (9) Fnca (9) Fondos de inversion (21) forbes (9) Foreign Policy blog (3) Formula 1 (1) Foros cubanos (1) Fortuna de Fidel y Raul (5) Fotografia (119) fran (1) Francia (60) Francis I (24) franco (2) François Hollande (1) Frank Delgado (1) Frases celebres (3) Fraude (123) fraude electoral (41) fraude fiscal (2) freddi roche (1) Frente de Resistencia Civica OZT (6) Friedrich Hayek (5) frontera (9) Fuerza de trabajo (24) fukushima (9) Fusilamientos (13) futbol (3) Futbol cubano (8) Futuro (27) G.W. Bush (8) G2 (7) G20 (3) G7 (2) g8 (4) Gabo (5) Gabriel Garcia Marquez (7) gaddafi (136) Gaesa (5) Galicia (3) Gallegos (1) Gamboa (24) Ganaderia (9) Ganado (5) Gangs (2) garry kasparov (5) Gas (10) Gasolina (8) gatos (1) Gays (56) gaza (1) gazapos (1) Geert Wilders (2) Gen. Petraeus (12) Gen. Rafael del Pino (17) gene (1) gene sharp (3) Generacion Y (26) Generales (39) Generales cubanos (43) Genetica (33) genios (5) genocidio (2) Geoges Soros (17) Geometria Fractal (4) geopolitica (48) Geopolitica cubana (20) Geopolitica latinoamericana (37) george orwel (2) George Zimmerman (9) Georgia (8) Gerencia empresarial (5) Ghana (4) Giron (1) gitanos (2) glacier (1) glasnost (1) glasnot (2) Glenn Beck (4) globalistas (3) Globalizacion (14) Gloria Stefan (1) gmail (1) gobernabilidad (6) gobernantes (1) Gobierno cubano (15) Gobierno Mundial (10) Gobierno paralelo (2) gobiernos (21) golf (3) golfo de mexico (2) Golpe de estado (10) google (61) Google glass (2) Gorbachov (24) Gorki (27) grammy (1) Granada (6) grandes ligas (71) Granma (66) grecia (30) greenpace (1) greenpeace (1) Grenada (1) Groenlandia (6) Ground Zero (6) guama (20) Guanabo (3) Guantanamo (18) Guatemala (5) guerra (92) guerra asimetrica (5) guerra cibernetica (53) guerra civil (70) guerra comercial (2) Guerra de Angola (20) Guerra de E-mails (1) guerra espacial (2) Guerra Fria (37) Guerra hispano-americana (6) Guerra Irregular (2) guerra sicologica (3) Guerras (98) Guerras africanas (13) Guerrillas (31) Guillermo Cabrera Infante (10) Guillermo Farinas (86) guinness (6) gulag (2) Guyana (1) haarp (4) Habana (1) Hackers (60) Hackers cubanos (4) Hairon Socarras (1) Haiti (24) Hamas (29) Hambre (14) hambruna (3) Hamid Karzai (14) Haroldo (3) Hassan Rouhani (4) hawai (4) Hazanas (88) Heberto Padilla (8) Hector Lombard (11) hemingway (5) Henrique Capriles (20) henry kissinger (4) Herencia (2) Hermanos al Rescate (18) heroismo (6) Herta Müller (2) herzegovina (1) hesbollah (1) Hezbollah (16) Hialeah (4) Hidrologia (1) Hijos (4) hijos de puta (2) Hilda Molina (7) Hillary Clinton (83) hipotecas (7) hippies (2) hispanos (4) Historia (57) Historia de Cuba (48) Hitler (21) hizbollah (2) hobby (1) Holanda (6) hollywood (85) holografia (1) hombre (39) homeless (8) Homofobia (50) Homosexuales (25) Homosexualismo (23) Honduras (42) Hong Kong (3) hopkins (2) hot line (1) huber matos (19) Hubert Matos (20) Huckabee (1) huelga de hambre (160) huelgas (3) humanismo (2) humanos (25) Humberto Fontova (15) Humidores (1) Humor (583) hungria (3) Huracanes (80) I GM (3) I-D (4) Iberoamerica (3) icaic (3) Ichikawa (2) Ideologia (12) Idiomas (4) Idiotas (18) Ig Nobel Prize (4) Iglesia (48) Iglesia cubana (230) II GM (18) III GM (1) iInestabilidad social (1) Ileana de la Guardia (1) Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (24) Ilegales (1) imperios (2) Importaciones (22) Impuestos (99) India (35) Indice de Desarrollo Humano (5) indigenas (7) Indigencia (2) indolencia (4) indonesia (5) industria (4) Industria azucarera (45) industria cubana (1) industriales (2) Ineficiencia economica (1) inequality (6) Inestabilidad social (17) Infamia (6) inflacion (8) Informacion (14) informatica (22) Infraestructura (1) ingenieria social (2) Inglaterra (25) Ingrid Betacourt (7) Inmobiliarias (20) inmolacion (1) Inmovilismo raulista (3) innovaciones (20) Intelectuales (24) intelectuales y artistas cubanos (31) Inteligencia (52) inteligencia artificial (9) Inteligencia cubana (71) Internet (242) intervencion militar (44) Intolerancia (4) invasion (5) Inversion extranjera (412) Inversiones (48) inversiones norteamericanas en cuba (14) investigaciones secretas (2) Ion Mihai Pacepa (1) ipad (5) iphone (2) Iran (201) iran-estados unidos (65) Iraq (58) irlanda (12) isaac asimov (2) ISIS (21) Islam (99) Islamismo (168) islandia (6) islas caiman (6) Islas del Pacifico (2) Israel (148) Israel-EEUU (23) israel-iran (8) israel-palestina (12) Italia (41) Ivan de la Nuez (4) Ivan Pedroso (1) Izquierdas (26) J.E. Hoover (2) J.K. Rowling (1) jaime bayly (6) Jaime Ortega (53) Jaime Suchlicki (1) jamaica (3) Japon (178) japon terremotos (8) Jared Lee Loughner (1) jeb bush (6) jesse ventura (16) JFK (43) Jicotea cubana (1) jihad (18) jineterismo (51) Joaquin Sabinas (1) joe biden (18) Joel Casamayor (9) John A. Boehner (48) John Boehner (2) John Brennan (2) John Kerry (37) john lennon (6) Jon Jones (2) Jon Stewart (4) jordania (5) Jorge Arreaza (1) jorge pomar (4) Jose Ariel Contreras (4) Jose Daniel Ferrer (7) Jose Dariel Abreu (12) Jose Fernandez (1) jose lezama lima (2) jose marti (2) Jose Mujica (6) Jose Ramon Machado Ventura (11) Juan Abreu (38) Juan F. Benemelis (9) Juan Juan (31) Juan Manuel Marquez (2) Juan Triana (7) jubilados (1) judios (21) Juegos (15) Juegos Olimpicos (23) Julian Assange (31) Julio Casas Regueiro (2) justicia (4) Justin Bieber (5) Justin Trudeau (6) Justin Truedeau (1) Juventud (31) Juventud Cubana (104) Juventud Rebelde (5) kamikazes (1) Kaos (8) kAOS en la red (28) karadzic (1) karzai (2) kazajastan (3) Kcho (2) kendry morales (5) Kennedy (53) Kenya (5) Keynesianismo (3) KGB (11) Khamenei (4) Kid Chocolate (2) Kim Jong Il (20) kim jong-un (51) kirchner (2) kirguizia (2) Kirguizistan (2) Kitchner (5) klitchko (1) Klitschko (1) klitshko (10) Kosovo (3) kuwait (3) La Habana (23) lady gaga (7) Laetitia Casta (1) Lage (21) Lance Armstrong (13) laser (1) Latinoamerica (115) latinos (2) Laura Labrada Pollan (1) laura pollan (34) lavado de dinero (26) Laz (2) Lazaro Barredo (2) Lazaro Gonzalez (1) leche (4) Lee Harvey Oswald (5) lefties (24) Leftist (4) leftists (112) leinier (2) Lenguaje (10) lenin (7) leo brouwer (1) Leonard Cohen (2) leonardo da vinci (2) Leonardo Padura (13) Leopoldo Lopez (10) lesbian (6) Ley de Ajuste Cubana (20) Leyes (82) Leyes cubanas (68) Lezama Lima (2) lgbt (17) libano (6) Liberacion (1) Liberales (9) Liberalismo (11) Libertad (30) Libertad de expresion (50) libertad de informacion (18) libertad de prensa (8) Libia (356) Libre Expresion (1) Libreta de Abastecimientos (11) Libros (23) lideres (1) Lina Ruz (1) Literatura (35) Literatura Cubana (61) Lituania (3) Liu Xiaobo (9) livan hernandez (11) Lluvia (1) Logica Difusa (2) logistica (2) Long tail (1) Los Aldeanos (28) Los Duros (2) Los Miquis (4) loteria (25) Lucha no violenta activa (36) Ludwing von Mises (3) luis alberto garcia (1) Luis Alberto Lopez Rodriquez-Callejas (3) Luis Alberto Rodriquez (6) Lula (44) lulzsec (1) Luna (13) Machado Ventura (19) Machu Picchu (1) Macroeconomia (10) madres (9) Mafia (24) Mafia cubana (4) Magnus Carlsen (1) Mahmoud Abbas (3) mahoma (1) malasia (5) Malcolm Gladwell (1) malcom x (1) Maleconazo (11) mali (1) Malta (2) Malvinas (2) Mambises (3) Mandela (4) Manipulacion (556) manny pacquiao (18) Manuel Cuesta Morua (1) Manuel Diaz Martinez (2) Manuel Vazquez Portal (4) Mao Tse Tung (8) Mapas (5) Maquiavelo (1) mar (42) Maradona (5) marcas (4) marco rubio (102) marcos rubio (3) maremotos (10) margaret thatcher (6) Marginalidad (19) Maria Corina Machado (8) María Corina Machado (3) maria elvira (3) Maria Gabriela Chavez (1) Mariel (18) Mariela Castro (91) Marifelli Perez-Stable (9) marihuana (22) marijuana (2) marilyn monroe (8) Marino Murillo (6) Mario Chanes de Armas (2) Mario Vargas Llosa (6) Mark Zuckerberg (8) Marketing (10) Marquitos (1) marta fonseca (1) marte (13) Martha Beatriz Roque (49) Martha Colmenares (16) Marti (5) martin luther king (4) Marulanda (7) Marx (1) Marxismo (18) Masacre del remolcador 13 de marzo (5) masas (1) mashable (1) masoneria (3) mass killers (26) matematicas (7) material nuclear (15) Materias primas (6) Mauritania (1) max lesnik (3) Max Marambio (31) mayweather (11) Mazorra (1) McCain (17) media (68) Mediacion (2) Medicare (18) Medicina (139) medicinas (31) Medicos cubanos (107) Medio ambiente (24) Medio Oriente (80) medio oriente crisis (4) Medios de comunicion (125) Medvedev (19) Mercado (18) Mercado informal (7) Mercado Inmobiliario (36) Mercado InmobiliarioR (1) mercado mayorista (8) mercado minorista (3) Mercados Agropecuarios (26) mercados emergentes (2) Mercosur (1) meryl streep (1) Mesa Redonda (5) meteoritos (23) Mexico (52) mi5 (1) Miami (362) michael jackson (5) Michael Moore (9) Michel Foucault (3) Michelle Bachelet (3) michelle obama (19) Microcreditos (12) microeconomia (1) Microsiervos (4) Microsoft (9) miedos (4) Migracion (6) Miguel Barnet (1) Miguel Diaz-Canel (31) Mike Perez (2) mike porcel (1) Mike Tyson (9) Militares (37) militares cubanos (49) militares venezolanos (12) Militarismo (17) Millennials (1) milton friedman (1) minas (5) minerales (25) Minint (28) minorias (2) Miriam Celaya (1) miseria (90) Misterios (25) Mitt Romney (36) MLC (3) MMA (138) moda (11) Modelo chino (9) modelos economicos (3) Mohammed Morsi (13) momias (1) Monarquias (8) moneda (12) moneda virtual (4) mongolia (2) Montaner (7) montreal (1) Movilizacion contra Castro (1) Movimiento 26 de Julio (1) Movimiento Cristiano Liberacion (4) Mozambique (1) Mubarak (9) muerte (48) muerte asistida (1) Muertes del Castrismo (180) Muertos de la Revolucion (12) Mugabe (8) Muhammad Ali (5) Mujeres (149) Mujeres cubanas (105) mulsumanes (7) multiculturalismo (10) Mundo (1102) Muro de Berlin (17) Musica (173) Musica Cubana (258) Musica-tecnologia (2) musicos (13) Musicos cubanos (261) Musicos ubanos (1) muslim brotherhood (3) muslims brotherhood (57) mussolini (1) Musulmanes (244) myanmar (6) nacion (1) Nacionalismo (1) Nadal (3) namibia (5) nanomedicina (2) nanotecnologias (15) Napoleon (2) narcoguerrilla (23) Narcotrafico (53) Nasa (64) National Security Agency (20) naturaleza (22) navy seal (3) nazismo (18) Negociacion politica (172) negocios (41) negros (5) Nelson Mandela (16) Neocastrismo (540) neocons (8) neonazis (3) nepal (11) Nepotismo (6) nerd (1) Neruda (2) Network (1) neutralidad (1) New York (31) New York Times (17) Newsweek (1) Niagara Falls (5) nicaragua (25) Nick Wallenda (1) Nicolas Maduro (116) nigeria (2) Nik Wallenda (1) Nikita Jrushchov (3) ninos (214) Niquel (17) Niurka Marcos (1) nivel de vida (10) Noam Chomsky (1) nomeklatura (6) nomekltarua (3) nomen (1) Nomenklatura (456) Norberto Fuentes (11) Norteamerica (3) norteamericanos (5) noruega (14) Nostradamus (1) Noticias (8) NSA (13) nudismo (2) nueva zelandia (13) Nuevo Herald (7) Obama (20) Obama-Raul (18) Obama's Group (12) Obamacare (38) Obamunismo (1) Occidente (45) occupy movement (17) Ochoa (14) Odalanier Solis (7) Odio (3) odlanier solis (13) OEA (36) Ofelia Acevedo (1) Ofensiva revolucionaria (1) Oferta y demanda (8) oil sands (2) Olimpiadas (2) Oliver Stone (2) ollanta humala (3) Olof Palme (1) OLPL (15) ontario (20) Ontologia (3) ONU (54) Operacion Caguairan (2) Opiniones (4) Opositores (882) opostiores (16) Orestes Lorenzo (1) Organizaciones politicas del exilio (85) organs trade (1) Orlando Zapata Tamayo (81) orlov (9) Ortega (1) osama bin laden (82) oscar de la hoya (1) Oscar Elias Biscet (25) Oscar Espinosa Chepe (20) Oscar Haza (5) Otan (55) OTZ (1) ovnis (12) OWS (33) OZT (57) Pablo Escobar Gavirias (7) Pablo Iglesias (1) Pablo Milanes (24) Padre Conrado (1) Paises emisores de turismo (31) Pakistan (46) paladares (8) Palestina (68) Panama (28) pancho cespedes (4) Panfilo (5) papua (1) paquetes a Cuba (2) paquistan (1) paquito D'rivera (6) paradigmas (8) paraguay (5) paraguay. Cuba (2) Paramilitares (4) paranormal (3) Parche (1) Paris Hilton (1) parlamento (7) Partido Comunisa de Cuba (43) partido comunista (35) Partido Comunista de Cuba (7) Partido Democrata (92) Partido politicos (49) Partido Republicano (102) Partido Socialista Unido Venezolano (1) partidos politicos (12) pastor terry jones (1) Patricio de la Guardia (2) patriotismo (1) paul krugman (16) Paul Ryan (2) Pavonato (1) Paya (111) paypal (3) paywall (1) Paz (6) PCC (10) PDVAL (1) PDVSA (14) peacemakers (1) Pederastia (1) Pedofilia (3) pedolfilia (1) pedro campos (3) Pedro Diaz Lanz (5) Pedro Luis Boitel (5) Pedro Luis Diaz Lanz (1) Pedro Luis Ferrer (5) pedro pablo oliva (5) Pelota (66) Pelota cubana (294) peloteros cubanos (12) Peloteros cubanos en grandes ligas (243) Pena de muerte (5) Pensadores cubanos (5) Pensamiento politico (2) pensiones (3) Pentagono (82) Penultimos Dias (3) pequenos negocios (3) percepcion (4) Perdon (2) Perez Roque (10) Perfil de Raul (2) Periodismo (9) periodistas (17) Periodistas cubanos (21) periodistas independientes (39) Peronismo (1) Persona del ano (1) personalidades (23) Peru (16) perugorria (2) Peso cubano (17) PETA (1) Petrocasas (3) Petroleo (195) Petroleo cubano (202) PIB [GDP] (1) picasso (1) Piedad Cordova (1) pinochet (1) pinttura (4) Pintura Cubana (44) piratas (7) Plan de Raul (2) planificacion (4) Playa Giron (23) playas (9) Plaza Tiannamen (7) po0 (1) poblacion (100) Poblacion y dinero (137) Pobreza (234) pobreza estructural (84) poder (6) Poder Politico (131) Poder politico en Cuba (41) Poder Popular (12) Poesia (19) Poker (1) Polemica (5) Policia (91) Politica (63) politica exterior (8) politica fiscal (1) Politica internacional (5) Politica Monetaria (2) Politica norteamericana hacia Cuba (1) Political correctness (10) politicamente correcto (3) politicos (87) politicos norteamericanos (1) Polo Norte (1) polonia (8) Polucion (1) ponzi scheme (3) popularidad (2) Populismo (10) Porno (5) Porno para Ricardo (20) pornografia (6) Portugal (12) posada carriles (4) posicion comun (4) post Fidel (4) Post-castrismo (7) Post-fidelismo (5) Postcastrismo (38) Postcastro (1) Postcomunismo (1) PostFidel (2) Postfidelismo (13) Precios (27) Precios en el mercado informal (3) predicciones (8) premio (9) Premio 11 de Abril (2) Premio al Buen Corazon (1) Premio Blog Acido (1) Premio Blog Desmentido (1) Premio Blog Dorado (2) Premio Eta Kanpora (1) Premio Huella 2008 (5) Premio Nobel (26) Premio Nobel de Economia (4) premio nobel de la paz (6) Premio Nobel de Literatura (6) Premio Ortega y Gasset (3) Premio Sajarov (2) Premio San Miguel Arcangel (1) Premios (11) Premios 11 de Abril (1) Prensa (43) prensa cubana (52) Prensa Extranjera (89) Presidente de Cuba (1) Presidio Politico (39) Presos (58) Presos de conciencia (88) presos politicos (55) Presupuesto (106) Presupuesto Militar (2) pride (2) Primavera Negra (77) prisioneros (10) Prisioneros de conciencia (61) Prisioneros de concienciencia (1) privacidad (67) productividad (3) Producto Interno de Cuba (1) profecias (6) Programa politico (11) Progreso (2) Prohibiciones (2) pronosticos (13) Propaganda (248) Propiedad (2) Propiedad intelectual (1) Propiedad privada (6) proselitismo (2) Prosperidad (1) Prostitucion (90) Protesta (45) Protestas (559) provocacion (21) Proyecto Varela (8) PSUV (1) publicidad (1) Pueblo (5) Puerto Rico (6) Punto 0-0 (1) puppets (1) Putin (137) Pymes (63) Qatar (5) quantum computer (2) Quebec (3) Quejas de la poblacion (51) Queubec (1) Quinquenio Gris (1) Racionamiento (4) Racismo (50) radio frequency wapons (1) Radio Marti (16) radioactividad (31) Rafael Alejandro Hernandez Real (1) Rafael Correa (24) rafael rojas (3) rahm emanuel (5) ramadan (2) Ramiro (22) Rances Barthelemy (2) randy alonso (3) raperos cubanos (1) Raul (646) Raul Castro (12) raul familia (17) Raul Reyes (16) Raul Rivero (7) Raul y Fidel Castro (4) Raulismo (16) Razas en Cuba (1) RDA (17) Real politik (2) rebeldes (56) rebelion (1) reciclaje (1) Reclamacion de propiedades expropiadas (1) Reclutamiento de agentes (1) reconciliacion nacional (1) Reconstruccion (1) Recrutamiento de agentes (9) Red Avispa (58) Redes sociales (37) redistribucion (1) Reflexiones (4) reforma en cuba (239) reforma migratoria (105) Reforma Monetaria (49) Reforma politica (4) Reformas (86) Reformas economicas (517) Reformas economicas. (1) Reformas raulistas (146) Refugiados (6) Regionalismo (1) Reina Tamayo (30) reinaldo arenas (5) Reinaldo Escobar (23) reino unido (116) Relaciones Cuba-Estados Unidos (5) Relaciones Internacionales (2) Relevo generacional (5) Religion (184) religiones afrocubanas (34) Remolcador (6) Renuncia (2) Renuncia de Fidel (1) rep checa (1) repatriacion (5) Reporteros sin Fronteras (7) Represioin (33) Represion (1389) Represion a los intelectuales (116) Repsol (16) Republica Checa (5) Republica Dominicana (15) resistencia popular (3) reunificacion (1) reunificacion familiar (8) revolucion (7) revolucion arabe (5) revolucion cubana (48) Revolucionarios (2) reynier aguero (1) richard branson (6) Richard Nixon (5) ricos (22) riesgo (2) rigondeaux (28) Riqueza (24) Rob Ford (1) robert kennedy (1) robertico robaina (2) Robots (37) rockets (35) Roger Federer (2) ron cubano (10) ronald reagan (13) Rosa Diez (1) Rosa María Payá (40) Rosita Fornes (2) Ruinas (3) Rumania (16) rumanos (1) Rumores (5) rupert murdoch (1) Rusia (383) Saddam Hussein (1) sahara occidental (1) Salarios (32) Salman Rushdie (1) Salud (356) salud cubana (172) Salud de Fidel (70) Salud de Raul (2) Salud publica (369) same sex marriage (1) Sandinistas (1) Sandino (1) santiago de cuba (9) Sara Marta Fonseca (1) Sarah Palin (15) sarajevo (1) satelite (11) Sats. Cuba (40) Scarabeo 9 (6) secret service (4) Secretario de Defensa (2) Secretario de Estado (1) Secreto (17) secretos militares (12) Secuestrados (21) Secuestros (39) securidad del estado (1) Seguridad (32) seguridad cubana (25) Seguridad del Estado (77) Seguridad nacional (72) seguridad personal (12) seguridad social (4) Seguros (11) Selman (2) Semiotica (2) senadores (40) serbia (3) Sergio Ramirez (1) sexo (69) Sharia (16) Sherrit (19) siberia (2) Sicilia (1) Sicologia (38) Sicologia politica (12) Sida (10) Silvio Benitez (20) Silvio Rodriquez (30) silvito el libre (4) Simon Bolivar (3) sina (25) Sindicatos (27) Sindrome de la Indefension Adquirida (15) Sindrome del Neocastrismo (69) Singapur (7) siquiatria (12) Siria (93) smartphone (8) smog (1) sms (1) Soberania (1) Social (1) social media (4) social network (1) Socialdemocracia (4) Socialismo (56) socialismo de mercado (3) Socialismo del Siglo XXI (19) socialistas (44) Sociedad (84) Sociedad Civil (30) Sociedades Secretas (1) Sociologia (29) sofia loren (1) software (2) sol (11) soldados (27) Solidaridad (7) Solzhenitsyn (3) Somalia (16) Sonia Garro (14) Soros (1) sri lanka (1) st.piere (1) st.pierre (2) Stalin (23) Stephen Hawking (10) steve jobs (12) stock market (6) stratfor (3) Subastas (18) submarinos (1) Subversion (3) Sucesion (154) Sucesores (107) Sucre (3) Sudafrica (29) Sudal del Sur (1) Sudan (4) suecia (18) Suelos (1) suerte (13) suicidio (25) suiza (7) sundance (2) Susan Boyle (1) Susan Rice (3) Swat team (4) Tabaco Cubano (33) tabacos cubanos (3) tabaquismo (4) Tabu (1) tailandia (3) taiwan (10) Taladrid (1) talento (2) Taliban (65) Tania Bruguera (10) Tarata (1) tarjetas de credito (3) task force (1) tattoo (4) taxpayers (2) Tea Party (15) Teatro cubano (11) tecnologia (213) ted cruz (22) ted kennedy (1) Telecomunicaciones (77) Television (14) tendencias (1) Tenis (8) Teoria Economica (76) Teoria Politica (43) Terremotos (29) terromotos (7) Terrorismo (469) terroristas (409) terry fox (1) Terry Jones (2) Texas (3) thailandia (3) the beatles (6) thi (1) Think Tank (269) Tibet (20) tiburones (5) Tierra (52) Times (7) timor oriental (1) Tina Turner (1) Tiro fijo (2) tolerancia (1) tomas piard (2) tony blair (2) tony castro (23) Tony Cortes (4) Tony de la Guardia (9) Toronto (79) Torturas (17) Totalitarismo (21) trabajadores por cuenta propia (29) trabajadores publicos (1) trabajos (10) Tracey Eaton (29) trafico de armas (53) Trafico de drogas (98) trafico de organos (2) trafico de personas (22) tragedias (3) transgender (2) Transicion (175) Transporte (29) Trasvestismo (4) Tratado de Libre Comercio (1) travesti (1) tren (20) tribunal internacional (1) Trilateral (2) trinida y tobago (1) Trotsky (1) trudeau (1) Tsunami (10) tunez (16) Tupamaro (1) Turismo (24) Turismo Cuba (136) turistas norteamericanos (2) Turquia (23) TV cubana (11) Tv Marti (12) twiter (5) Twitter (40) tycoon (5) UCI (14) Ucrania (43) UFC (65) ufo (10) uigur (1) UJC (13) Umap (7) Underground (1) Uneac (30) Uneac. Censura (10) UNESCO (1) Unidad politica (2) union (1) Union Europea (93) Union Sovietica (110) Universidad (86) Universo (68) Univision (1) UNPACU (75) Upec (3) uranio (3) Uribe (3) Uruguay (12) US Grants (2) US Presidentes (53) uzbekistan (2) Vacilon (1) vaclav havel (4) Valores y normas de conductas (14) Van Van (3) Vaticano (66) Vejez (3) Venezuela (467) Venezuela crisis (42) venezuela economia (3) Venezuela elecciones (50) venezuela-china (7) Venezuela-Cuba-Rusia-China-Iran (1) Venezuela-Estados Unidos (26) Venezuela-Rusia (5) Ventas (1) Verizon Scandal (1) VI Congreso del PCC (46) Via China (3) Viajes a Cuba (232) viajes al exterior (10) vicente botin (1) victimas del 911 (7) victor mesa (1) Vida (32) vida extraterrestre (19) Vida Guerra (1) Video (30) video juegos (9) viejos (6) Viet Nam (26) Violencia (20) Virgen del Cobre (4) virtual (1) Virus (12) Vitali Klitschko (1) Vivienda (199) Vladimiro Roca (13) Voces del Barrio (8) volcanes (9) Walesa (11) wall street (31) walmart (6) Welfare (7) Wendy Guerra (4) whistleblower (3) whistleblowers (1) wi-fi (8) WikiLeaks (143) wikipedia (4) william levy (1) Willy Chirno (6) Wilman Villar Mendoza (26) Wilmar Villar Mendoza (1) windows (1) winston churchill (4) World Trade Center (18) World Trade Organization (1) wynoma ryder (1) Xi Jinping (11) xiomara laugart (6) XXX (1) yahoo (3) Yaoutube (1) Yasiel Puig (14) Yasmani Tomas (1) yasser arafat (10) Yeltsin (4) yemen (38) Yo acuso al gobierno cubano (1) Yoan Moncada (1) Yoani (276) Yoany (19) Yoenis Cespedes (10) yoga (5) Yohandry (6) yoko ono (1) Youtube (15) yuan (6) Yugoeslavia (1) Yunier Dorticos (1) yuri gagarin (3) Zawahri (1) zelaya (1) Zimbawe (8) Zoe Valdes (22) Zona Franca Mariel (38) Zumbado (1)

La columna de Cubanalisis

NEOCASTRISMO [Hacer click en la imagen]

NEOCASTRISMO [Hacer click en la imagen]
¨Saturno jugando con sus hijos¨/ Pedro Pablo Oliva

Seguidores

Carta desde la carcel de Fidel Castro Ruz

“…después de todo, para mí la cárcel es un buen descanso, que sólo tiene de malo el que es obligatorio. Leo mucho y estudio mucho. Parece increíble, las horas pasan como si fuesen minutos y yo, que soy de temperamento intranquilo, me paso el día leyendo, apenas sin moverme para nada. La correspondencia llega normalmente…”

“…Como soy cocinero, de vez en cuando me entretengo preparando algún pisto. Hace poco me mandó mi hermana desde Oriente un pequeño jamón y preparé un bisté con jalea de guayaba. También preparo spaghettis de vez en cuando, de distintas formas, inventadas todas por mí; o bien tortilla de queso. ¡Ah! ¡Qué bien me quedan! por supuesto, que el repertorio no se queda ahí. Cuelo también café que me queda muy sabroso”.
“…En cuanto a fumar, en estos días pasados he estado rico: una caja de tabacos H. Upman del doctor Miró Cardona, dos cajas muy buenas de mi hermano Ramón….”.
“Me voy a cenar: spaghettis con calamares, bombones italianos de postre, café acabadito de colar y después un H. Upman #4. ¿No me envidias?”.
“…Me cuidan, me cuidan un poquito entre todos. No le hacen caso a uno, siempre estoy peleando para que no me manden nada. Cuando cojo el sol por la mañana en shorts y siento el aire de mar, me parece que estoy en una playa… ¡Me van a hacer creer que estoy de vacaciones! ¿Qué diría Carlos Marx de semejantes revolucionarios?”.

Quotes

¨La patria es dicha de todos, y dolor de todos, y cielo para todos, y no feudo ni capellaní­a de nadie¨ - Marti

"No temas ni a la prision, ni a la pobreza, ni a la muerte. Teme al miedo"
-
Giacomo Leopardi

¨Por eso es muy importante, Vicky, hijo mío, que recuerdes siempre para qué sirve la cabeza: para atravesar paredes¨Halvar de Flake [El vikingo]

"Como no me he preocupado de nacer, no me preocupo de morir" - Lorca

"Al final, no os preguntarán qué habéis sabido, sino qué habéis hecho" - Jean de Gerson

"Si queremos que todo siga como está, es necesario que todo cambie" - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

"Todo hombre paga su grandeza con muchas pequeñeces, su victoria con muchas derrotas, su riqueza con múltiples quiebras" - Giovanni Papini


"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans" - John Lennon

"Habla bajo, lleva siempre un gran palo y llegarás lejos" - Proverbio Africano

"No hay medicina para el miedo" - Proverbio escoces

"El supremo arte de la guerra es doblegar al enemigo sin luchar"
- Sun Tzu

"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother" - Albert Einstein

"It is inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office" - H. L. Menken

"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented" - Elie Wiesel

"Stay hungry, stay foolish" -
Steve Jobs

"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert , in five years ther'ed be a shortage of sand" - Milton Friedman

"The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less" - Vaclav Havel

"No se puede controlar el resultado, pero si lo que uno haga para alcanzarlo" -
Vitor Belfort [MMA Fighter]

Liborio

Liborio
A la puerta de la gloria está San Pedro sentado y ve llegar a su lado a un hombre de cierta historia. No consigue hacer memoria y le pregunta con celo: ¿Quién eras allá en el suelo? Era Liborio mi nombre. Has sufrido mucho, hombre, entra, te has ganado el cielo.

Para Raul Castro

Cuba ocupa el penultimo lugar en el mundo en libertad economica solo superada por Corea del Norte.

Cuba ocupa el lugar 147 entre 153 paises evaluados en "Democracia, Mercado y Transparencia 2007"

Cuando vinieron

Cuando vinieron a buscar a los comunistas, Callé: yo no soy comunista.
Cuando vinieron a buscar a los sindicalistas, Callé: yo no soy sindicalista.
Cuando vinieron a buscar a los judíos, Callé: yo no soy judío. Cuando vinieron a buscar a los católicos, Callé: yo no soy “tan católico”.
Cuando vinieron a buscarme a mí, Callé: no había quien me escuchara.

Reverendo Martin Niemöller

Martha Colmenares

Martha Colmenares
Un sitio donde los hechos y sus huellas nos conmueven o cautivan
Bloggers Unite

CUBA LLORA Y EL MUNDO Y NOSOTROS NO ESCUCHAMOS

Donde esta el Mundo, donde los Democratas, donde los Liberales? El pueblo de Cuba llora y nadie escucha.
Donde estan los Green, los Socialdemocratas, los Ricos y los Pobres, los Con Voz y Sin Voz? Cuba llora y nadie escucha.
Donde estan el Jet Set, los Reyes y Principes, Patricios y Plebeyos? Cuba desesperada clama por solidaridad.
Donde Bob Dylan, donde Martin Luther King, donde Hollywood y sus estrellas? Donde la Middle Class democrata y conservadora, o acaso tambien liberal a ratos? Y Gandhi? Y el Dios de Todos?
Donde los Santos y Virgenes; los Dioses de Cristianos, Protestantes, Musulmanes, Budistas, Testigos de Jehova y Adventistas del Septimo Dia. Donde estan Ochun y todas las deidades del Panteon Yoruba que no acuden a nuestro llanto? Donde Juan Pablo II que no exige mas que Cuba se abra al Mundo y que el Mundo se abra a Cuba?
Que hacen ahora mismo Alberto de Monaco y el Principe Felipe que no los escuchamos? Donde Madonna, donde Angelina Jolie y sus adoptados around de world; o nos hara falta un Brando erguido en un Oscar por Cuba? Donde Sean Penn?
Donde esta la Aristocracia Obrera y los Obreros menos Aristocraticos, donde los Working Class que no estan junto a un pueblo que lanquidece, sufre y llora por la ignominia?
Que hacen ahora mismo Zapatero y Rajoy que no los escuchamos, y Harper y Dion, e Hillary y Obama; donde McCain que no los escuchamos? Y los muertos? Y los que estan muriendo? Y los que van a morir? Y los que se lanzan desesperados al mar?
Donde estan el minero cantabrico o el pescador de percebes gijonese? Los Canarios donde estan? A los africanos no los oimos, y a los australianos con su acento de hombres duros tampoco. Y aquellos chinos milenarios de Canton que fundaron raices eternas en la Isla? Y que de la Queen Elizabeth y los Lords y Gentlemen? Que hace ahora mismo el combativo Principe Harry que no lo escuchamos?
Donde los Rockefellers? Donde los Duponts? Donde Kate Moss? Donde el Presidente de la ONU? Y Solana donde esta? Y los Generales y Doctores? Y los Lam y los Fabelo, y los Sivio y los Fito Paez?
Y que de Canseco y Miñoso? Y de los veteranos de Bahia de Cochinos y de los balseros y de los recien llegados? Y Carlos Otero y Susana Perez? Y el Bola, y Pancho Cespedes? Y YO y TU?
Y todos nosotros que estamos aqui y alla rumiando frustaciones y resquemores, envidias y sinsabores; autoelogios y nostalgias, en tanto Louis Michel comulga con Perez Roque mientras Biscet y una NACION lanquidecen?
Donde Maceo, donde Marti; donde aquel Villena con su carga para matar bribones?
Cuba llora y clama y el Mundo NO ESCUCHA!!!

Suscribirse Cuba Independiente

CIF: Cuba Independiente http://CubaIndependiente.blogspot.com Registro (c) Copyright: ® DIN 189297780000 Gerente By: www.copyrightwww.com