Cuba: Kubiches luchando su yuca [Video]

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Cuba: Kubiches luchando su yuca [Video]

Cubano ganó la Olimpiada de Cálculo Mental

Cubano ganó la Olimpiada de Cálculo Mental

How Capitalist Are the Cubans?

New York Times/ DAMIEN CAVE

allvoices.com

It was just a small sign, red, round and electrified, advertising homemade pizza — the kind of thing no one would notice in New York or Rome. But in Havana? It was mildly amazing.

Cuba, after all, has been dominated for decades by an all-consuming anticapitalist ideology, in which there were only three things promoted on billboards, radio or TV: socialism, nationalism, and Fidel and Raúl Castro. The pizza sign hanging from a decaying colonial building here represented the exact opposite — marketing, the public search for private profit.

And it wasn’t just tossed out there. Unlike the cardboard efforts I’d seen in the same poor neighborhood on a visit to Cuba last year, the sign cost money. It was an investment. It was a clear signal that some of Cuba’s new entrepreneurs — legalized by the government two years ago in a desperate attempt to save the island’s economy — were adapting to the logic of competition and capitalism.

But just how capitalist are Cubans these days? Are they embracing what Friedrich Hayek described as the “self-organizing system of voluntary cooperation,” or resisting?

“It’s a combination,” says Arturo López Levy, a former analyst with the Cuban government now a lecturer at the University of Denver. “When more people get more proactive and more assertive, then other people — whether they like it or not — have to do the same. They have to compete. I think that’s the dynamic.”

Indeed, like Iraq, Russia, Mexico or other countries that experienced decades of dictatorial rule that eventually ended, Cuba today is a society marked by years of abuse, divided and uncertain about its future. The changes of the past few years — allowing for self-employment, freer travel, and the buying and selling of homes and cars — have been both remarkable and extremely limited. The reasons small things like signs matter so much here is because everyone is concerned with momentum, and no one seems to know whether Cuba is really on the road to capitalism, as The Economist asserted in March, or if the island is destined to simply sputter along, with restrained capitalism for a few and socialist subsistence for the rest.

The debate is all the more complicated because the same leaders who rejected capitalism for so long are now the ones trying to encourage people to try it out. Raúl Castro was notoriously the revolution’s most loyal Communist; now, as the country’s president, he is the main booster for free market reforms. On one hand, a recent gathering of Cuba’s Communist Party earlier this year included a session on overcoming prejudices against entrepreneurs; on the other, Raúl Castro has said he would “never permit the return of the capitalist system.”

“They are kind of schizophrenic,” says Ted Henken, a Cuba expert at Baruch College. “They are saying they are changing, but they treat these things as gifts and not as rights.”

And yet, there is no longer any denying that pockets of controlled capitalism are emerging in Cuba. In Havana, in particular, small businesses are everywhere. Entire urban industries, including taxis and restaurants, are being transformed through a rush of new entrants, who are increasing competition for customers, labor and materials. Even the most elemental tasks that used to be managed by the state — such as buying food — are increasingly in the hands of a private system that sets its own prices based on supply and demand.

Though the initial burst of activity has slowed, some experts say the explosion in commerce showed just how capitalist Cubans were all along. Of the roughly 350,000 people licensed to be self-employed under the new laws by the end of 2011, 67 percent had no prior job affiliation listed — which most likely means they were running underground businesses that then became legitimate.

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs are optimistic about Cuba’s becoming more open to free market ideas. Héctor Higuera Martínez, 39, the owner of Le Chansonnier, one of Havana’s finest restaurants (the duck is practically Parisian), says that officials are “starting to realize there is a reason to support private businesses.” He has given people work, for example, and he brings in hard currency from foreigners, including Americans.

“Before, we had nothing,” he said. “Now we have an opportunity.”

He is doing everything he can to make the most of it. When we met one night at the restaurant, he had already written up several pages of notes and charts explaining what his industry needed to grow — from wholesale markets to improved transportation for farmers to an end to the American trade embargo to changes in the Cuban tax code. In an ingeniously cobbled-together kitchen, in which only one of three ovens worked, he mostly seemed to salivate at the thought of vacuum packing so his meals could be delivered more efficiently.

HE was about as capitalist as it gets. But will his ideas ever be adopted? Like everyone else, he faces severe limits. He can hire no more than 20 employees, for example. He does not have access to private bank loans, and the government has shown little inclination to let people like Mr. Higuera succeed on a grand scale.

Instead, when success arrives, the government seems to get nervous. This past summer, officials shut down a thriving restaurant and cabaret featuring opera and dance in what had been a vacant lot, charging the owner with “personal enrichment” because he charged a $2 cover at the door. A news article from Reuters had described it as Cuba’s largest private business. A few days later, it was gone, along with 130 jobs.

The Castro government has tried to keep a lid on innovation in other ways, too. It has not allowed professionals like lawyers and architects to work for themselves. And its efforts at political repression have focused over the past few years on innovative young people seeking space for civil discourse in public and online — the blogger Yoani Sánchez, or Antonio Rodiles, director of an independent project called Estado de Sats, who was arrested in early November and released last week after 18 days in jail.

So for now, what Cuba has ended up with is handcuffed capitalism: highly regulated competitive markets for low-skilled, small family businesses. What economic freedom there is has mostly accrued to those whose main ambition is making and selling pizza.

Which again raises the question: is Cuba really heading toward capitalism or not? Skeptics are easy to find. “Every place in the world that has had real change, it has changed because the regime itself has allowed some significant openings and the door has been pushed wide open,” says Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey. “That’s not what’s happening here.”

Many Cubans say they are hesitant to let go of a reliable system summed up by a common joke: “We pretend to work, they pretend to pay us.” Taxi drivers told Mr. López Levy that they were working harder for less money because of increased competition. A farmer I met at the wholesale market outside Havana equated capitalism with higher prices, and said that the government needed to intervene.

But mostly, this is an aging crowd and Mr. López Levy — who still has friends and relatives in government — says that even among Cuban bureaucrats, the mentality is changing. If so, more capitalism may be inevitable. Because with every new entrepreneur it licenses, Cuba becomes less socialist, less exceptional, less of a bearded rebel raising its fist against the horrors of Yankee capitalism. In the eyes of some Cubans, the jig is already up.

“The government has lost the ideological battle,” said Óscar Espinosa Chepe, a state-trained economist who was sent to jail in 2003 for criticizing the government. “The battle for ideas was the most important battle, and they’ve lost.” 

------------------------------------

Damien Cave is a New York Times correspondent based in Mexico City.

How Capitalist Are the Cubans?

Kubishes en el remanso del Senor

San Pedro va a ver al Señor y le dice:
"Tengo que hablar contigo.

Hay Cubanos aquí que están causando muchos problemas."

< A ver, empiézame a contar- dice el Señor. >

- Mira, se subieron en la reja de la entrada y se están meciendo sobre ella como si fuera un columpio; mi Trompeta ha desaparecido misteriosamente, aunque a cada rato la oigo sonar en la lejanía con un ritmo pegajoso, pero demasiado alborotado.

Además, tienen las túnicas salpicadas de frijoles negros y café con leche; han subido a sus perros en las carrozas celestiales, se han quitado las aureolas y andan con gorras de peloteros.

No quieren barrer las escaleras del cielo y se ponen a bailar con las escobas. El suelo de la cocina está lleno de semillas de naranja agria, salpicaduras de sofrito, pulpa de mamey y cenizas de tabaco. Y, como si fuera poco, están organizando peleas de gallos en las nubes y andan volando por ahí con una sola ala y diciendo: "¡Me la comí, asere, si muevo el ala rápidamente vuelo como un Colibrí. Soy la candela!"

Ah, y los que puse a cantar en el coro se la pasan gritando
"¡Azúcaaaa...!" Y repiten un estribillo raro:
"Tin, marín de dos pingué, cuca la mácara títere fue"....-
 

Tras oír pacientemente a San Pedro, el Señor contestó: "Los Cubanos son Cubanos, Pedro, y eso no se puede remediar... El cielo es el hogar de todos mis hijos con sus defectos y virtudes. Pero si quieres enterarte de lo que son problemas graves, llama al diablo y verás una realidad muy distinta."
 

San Pedro va hasta el teléfono y llama al diablo.
-Oigo- contesta Satanás.
< Hola, soy yo, Pedro, es que quería...>
-Coño, espérate un minuto, chico - interrumpe el diablo y tira el
teléfono. Al cabo de unos segundos regresa. -Bueno, aquí estoy de nuevo,  ¿qué puedo hacer por ti? -

< ¿Estás teniendo algún problema con los Cubanos que recibiste en el  infierno?- indaga San Pedro. >

-Oye, chico , espérate un minuto, ahora mismo te contesto,

pero tengo que chequear algo-- dice Satanás y sale
corriendo.

-Perdona la demora, Pedrito. ¿Qué fue lo que me preguntaste?-- pregunta el diablo cinco minutos después.

< Que si estás teniendo problemas con los Cubanos que llegaron al infierno?- repite San Pedro >

- Pero, ¿qué carajo está pasando aquí?

¡Qué coño es esto, caballero'!- grita el diablo exasperado-

Espera, enseguida estoy contigo.... -

Satanás suelta el teléfono y regresa a los 15 minutos jadeando.
-Oye Pedrito, perdona, pero no te puedo atender ahora.

Imagínate que estos cabrones Cubanos han apagado el fuego del infierno y están tratando de instalar un AIRE ACONDICIONADO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kubishes en el remanso del Senor

Correo: El espiritu "empresarial" de los kubishes/ Humor

¿Sabe, por qué los cubanos tenemos tremenda fama? Observe esto.

El alcalde de Nueva York pide solicitaciones para pintar la fachada del Ayuntamiento, y le entregan 3 ofertas (un cubano, un americano y un colombiano).

La del colombiano asciende a 3 millones de dólares, la del gringo a 6 millones, y la del cubano 9 millones.

Ante tales diferencias, se entrevista con los ofertantes, por separado, para que justifiquen su estimado de costo.

El colombiano le dice que él usa pintura acrílica para Exteriores en dos; capas, y que cuesta 1 millón; en andamios, brochas, equipos y seguros se va otro millón, y el otro millón restante es la mano de obra.

El americano justifica su estimado diciendo que él es mejor pintor, que usa pintura de poliuretano con tres capas, cuyo costo asciende a 3 millones. En andamios, otros materiales, equipos y seguros se gasta otros 2 millones, y el millón es la mano de obra.

El último, el del cubano, es el que finalmente gana la solicitación, ya que el alcalde asegura que es el presupuesto mejor justificado.

Vea por qué y el cubano explica:

-Alcalde, 3 millones son para usted, otros 3 para mí, y los 3 restantes se los damos al colombiano para que nos pinte la fachada.

Correo: El espiritu "empresarial" de los kubishes/ Humor

Conferencia del Partido y resignacion kubishe: Caso Reinaldo Escobar

El conformismo y la resignacion elementos componentes del Sindrome del Neocastrismo explicitamente revelados por una de sus victimas,  Reinaldo Escobar >>

Conferencia del Partido y resignacion kubishe: Caso Reinaldo Escobar

Cubanos critican al régimen castrista [Video]

Uploaded by HablemosPress 

En un Servicio de Urgencia (Puesto de Ambulancia) de la capital cubana trabajadores critican a las autoridades superiores por los alimentos que les ofertan. Otro declara que ha sido despedido.

Cubanos critican al régimen castrista [Video]

76% of Cubans desire multi-party elections, free expression - Survey

A real survey, not the fake made ​​by some academics collaborating with the Castro's regime.

Capitol Hill Cubans

The IRI today released its new survey of Cuban public opinion.

A total of 572 Cuban adults were asked questions ranging from perspectives on the economy, to the performance of the current Castro government and expectations for change.

Among its key findings are:

- Cubans still overwhelmingly (76 percent) desire multi-party elections, free expression and other elements associated with political freedom and democracy.

- More than half of Cuban citizens have not seen evidence of actual reforms taking shape in Cuba.

- Approximately three-in-five Cubans do not believe substantive economic reform is possible without changes to the political system.

- Nearly nine-in-10 (88 percent) Cubans desire a market economy, with economic freedoms, opportunities to own private property and the right to own their own businesses.

- Cubans remain very concerned with their economic future; more than two-thirds (70 percent) do not have confidence that their government will succeed in solving this challenge.

“Overall the findings of the survey suggest that while Cubans desire economic opportunity and private property ownership, they closely tie these economic changes to political change in the form of free elections, free expression, access to information and the right to dissent,” said Lorne W. Craner, President of IRI.

While international news media continue to report on promised reforms by the Cuban regime – including the highly publicized pledge to permit home sales – IRI’s survey shows that 52 percent of Cubans have yet to see any tangible examples of implemented changes.

“There are a lot of headlines here in the U.S. about changes coming to Cuba, but IRI’s survey shows that the Cuban people themselves are not necessarily seeing it so far. They remain skeptical that the Cuban government can improve their lives,” said Craner.

The survey was conducted in 14 Cuban provinces and has a margin of error of +/- four percent, and a 95 percent level of confidence. This survey was the sixth of its kind conducted by IRI on the island since 2007.

76% of Cubans desire multi-party elections, free expression - Survey

Juan Abreu sobre los cubanos de hoy.

En el sitio de  Zoé Valdés   Juan Abreu sobre los cubanos de hoy.

Juan Abreu sobre los cubanos de hoy.

"Cubanos"/ Humor

GRANDEZA DE SER CUBANO...

• Los cubanos somos la candela, los que inventamos el mantecado, el café con leche y el sándwich cubano.

• Nosotros no nos morimos; nosotros cantamos el manisero

• No vivimos en una islita, sino en la Perla de las Antillas.

• Nosotros sabemos exactamente por donde le entra el agua al coco.

• Tenemos las respuestas, antes que nos hagan las preguntas.

• Nosotros no nos enteramos, nosotros sabemos eso desde hace un siglo.

• Nosotros no somos flacos, somos un fideo, no somos gordos parecemos un elefante.

• Nosotros no cerramos una puerta, nosotros la trancamos.

• Nosotros no solamente bailamos, sino que después nadie nos puede quitar lo bailao.

• A nosotros no se nos muere un cantante, sino que ¡fallece una Gloria de la Cultura Universal !

• Nosotros no nacimos en cualquier pueblo, sino en el mejor pueblo que tiene Cuba.

• A nosotros no nos gusta el chisme, simplemente nos entretiene.

• No existe un solo hecho, ni una sola noticia que nos coja de sorpresa.

• Nosotros no dormimos como todo el mundo, nosotros dormimos como un lirón.

• No comemos como todo el mundo sino como un animal.

• Nosotros no creemos en blanco guapo, solitos eliminamos el aparthaeid en Africa.

• Nosotros no solamente soñamos dormidos sino que podemos soñar despiertos.

• Nosotros consideramos que todos los estadistas del mundo, los managers de baseball, los capitanes de industriales, etc, deben llamarnos  diariamente para, indicarles los pasos a seguir.

• A nosotros nadie nos coge de bobos, ni nos da gato por liebre.

• Nosotros nos escapamos de Mandrake el Mago por debajo del turbante.

• Y con nosotros nadie discute ni discrepa, porque siempre el otro está totalmente equivoca´o.

• Para nosotros "¿qué hubo?" no es una pregunta, sino un saludo, porque nosotros perfectamente sabemos siempre lo que hubo, lo que hay y lo que va a haber.

• Si algo nos gusta mucho decimos que está bárbaro, o que está salvaje.

• A una mujer con tremendo cuerpo le decimos que es un "monstruo". Y si es todo lo contrario, decimos que "está de madre".

• Nosotros cuando alguien se muere no decimos se murió fulano, sino "estiró la pata" o "cantó el manisero", y si fue un accidente "le paso lo que a Chacumbele" ya     saben....

• No necesitamos apellidos para brillar en el firmamento: Alicia, Rosita, Rita, Celia, Benny, el Bola

• Y los que necesitan apellidos es porque no necesitan nombres: Martí, Maceo, Arredondo, Lecuona.

• Y, a veces, ni nombres ni apellidos: Antolín, Mariconchi, Chocolate,  Virulo, Guajiro Natural, Cachucha,

• Nosotros podemos dar una disculpa bilingüe: I'm sorry CON excuse me.

• Podemos mejorar la comida ajena: la paella, el arroz frito, los espaguetis.

• La mejor pizza es la pizza cubana, lo mismo que el pan cubano, el café cubano y, por supuesto, el boniato cubano.

      Somos únicos.  ¡Siento orgullo de ser cubano! ¿y tú no?

"Cubanos"/ Humor

Por que los cubanos no se rebelan?

Un día una florista Italiana fue a cortarse el pelo con un estilista, en New York . Cuando quiso pagarle, el estilista le dijo que no podía aceptar el dinero porque él estaba haciendo un trabajo comunitario. Al día siguiente, el estilista se encontró con una tarjeta de agradecimiento de parte de la florista, y una docena de rosas en la puerta. Después, fue un policía Irlandés, a cortarse el pelo con este mismo estilista y de igual manera, el estilista no permitió que le pagara porque se encontraba haciendo un trabajo comunitario. Al siguiente día, el estilista se encontró con una tarjeta de agradecimiento y una botella de whisky  Irlandés en la puerta. Después fue un cocinero CUBANO, y de igual manera, no dejó que el Cubano le pagara su cuenta. ¿Adivina que se encontró el estilista, al día siguiente en su puerta..???................... Piensa..... Piensa.....  Piensa.....  Piensa ....... ¡¡¡ cñooooo !!!.....Una docena de Cubanos esperando un corte de pelo gratis !!

Por que los cubanos no se rebelan?

#Cuba: Is Heroism a Sign of Brain Disease?

Quizas para evitar la extirpacion social de la amigdala cerebral cubana, o enviar toneladas del aun experimental compuesto SSR149415, que bloquea la sensación de miedo "social"?, pudieramos emplear este otro recurso.
House Watch: Is Heroism a Sign of Brain Disease?

#Cuba: Is Heroism a Sign of Brain Disease?

WIKICUBA: Affaire Ardin-Assange y Miscelaneas de Cuba

Ya se esta convirtiendo en rutina las mutuas acusaciones y las renuncias abruptas entre disidentes, provocadas por revelaciones directas o indirectas de Wikileaks, con la ayuda  generosa de la gestapo cubano. -------------------------------------- 

“Affaire Ardin-Assange pone a Suecia en Evidencia. Editorial Cuba Nuestra, 22 de diciembre de 2010

Consejo de Redacción de Misceláneas de Cuba, Revista de Asignaturas Cubanas: De izq. a der.: Juan Collins, Francisco Diez, Luis Couso (sentado) Mileydi Vidal, Alexis Gainza (Director saliente), Eniel Bosch (agachado en primera fila), Osvaldo Alfonso (Director entrante) y Julio C. Soler Foto: Oscar Mario Rodríguez.

WIKICUBA: Affaire Ardin-Assange y Miscelaneas de Cuba

Los cubanos que se fueron con el 2010

Los cubanos que se fueron con el 2010

Desde Cafe Fuerte

Los cubanos que se fueron con el 2010

Obstine kubishe

Obstine kubishe Desde el sitio de Ichikawa

Obstine kubishe