Cuba: Patética súplica a una autócrata

Cuba Encuentro

Eugenio Yáñez

www.danzaballet.com

Me costó trabajo leer hasta el final la súplica que miembros del Ballet Nacional de Cuba de gira por España dirigieron anónimamente a Alicia Alonso.

No por la estulticia y miseria que puede albergar el alma humana, sino por ver hasta dónde se pueden degradar algunos cubanos por una paella, dos blúmers o un litro de aceite vegetal, equivalentes contemporáneos del plato de lentejas bíblico.

Muy triste para todos los cubanos, vivan donde vivan, que bailarines profesionales de una compañía de ballet que merecidamente ha ganado reconocimiento mundial a lo largo de los años, después de una gira de casi tres meses por España, mendiguen 50 euros (menos de 68 dólares) para cada integrante del conjunto, para comprar pacotilla y llevar de regreso a Cuba algunas monedas con que obtener muslos de pollo o leche en polvo.

Hay quienes cuestionan si ese correo electrónico que circula en medios intelectuales y artísticos en La Habana es real o falso. No tiene importancia: es creíble, y eso es lo peor. Porque refleja, lamentablemente, el nivel de humillación e indigencia moral en que pueden caer algunos razonando dentro de esquemas mentales creados por el totalitarismo para denigrar la condición humana y hacer más fácil ejercer la dictadura.

Además de lastimosa, la comunicación es incoherente y no podrá entenderla quien no sepa cómo se vive en Cuba. Decir que el dinero de la dieta no alcanza para “comer, comprar y ahorrar” es risible: las dietas (viáticos) son una subvención a quienes tienen que viajar por motivos de su trabajo, no una dádiva para “comer, comprar y ahorrar”, lo que se supone que haría cada persona con su salario (en un país normal, claro).

La comunicación es patética: se dirigen a Alicia Alonso como siervos de la gleba a los feudales o esclavos a sus mayorales. Casi abochornados por molestar a la Primerísima Ballerina Obsoleta con insignificancias tales como derechos laborales y humanos, y justificando no firmar el lloroso reclamo por “sentido común y conservar la seguridad de los bienes que nos reportan las giras”, es decir, para cuidar las migajas.

Pretenden que la bailarina en jefe haga mohines a su esbirro de turno por no comprar en “el Mercadillo” o pasearse por España con su esposa durante siete semanas, mientras los siervos viajan solos en ómnibus “espantosamente incómodos” (¿peores que los de Cuba?) y se alimentan “Dios sabe de que mala manera” (¿quizás bistec de cáscaras de toronja, pasta de oca, picadillo extendido, o café mezclado con chícharos?).

Es lamentable que para reclamar derechos haya personas que planteen que no saben ni les interesa que “cada quien que se defienda como pueda”, mientras los que reclaman tengan acceso al “regalo” que consideran les corresponde, no por talento o esfuerzo, sino por sumisión y mansedumbre.

La mentalidad feudal no es nueva en el Ballet de Cuba. Conocidas son las veleidades de la bailarina en jefe durante más de medio siglo, su prepotencia, intolerancia, envidia, complicidad con el poder, maltratos, favoritismos, soberbia y estilo de vida aristocrático.

Muy rápidamente viene a la mente la tentación de decir que los que reclaman tan patéticamente tienen lo que se merecen. Pero no nos degrademos a nosotros mismos: ningún ser humano merece ese pantano moral donde la tiranía ha sumido a los cubanos para avasallarlos y explotarlos, al extremo de hacer creer a bailarines profesionales que merecen 50 euros de regalo si los ruegan humilde y temerosamente, y si se han portado “bien” soportando abusos y humillaciones.

Tal vez no suceda nada, o quienes lloran reciban parte de “sus” 50 euros, o hasta toda esa suma, si la camarilla decide evitar escándalos ahora y pasar la cuenta después. Creer que la rebeldía de porcelana de quienes no llegarán nunca a cimarrones quedará sin consecuencias es de una candidez extrema. Imposible hacer el amor y ser virgen a la vez.

Mucho mejor como seres humanos les iría a esos pedigüeños si fueran capaces de renunciar al “regalo” y a la plañidera conducta que muestran en su carta y estuvieran dispuestos a vivir sin “la seguridad de los bienes que nos reportan las giras”, pero en condiciones mucho más dignas y honorables, en Cuba o donde fuera. A fin de cuentas, los integrantes del Ballet cubano son reconocidos en todo el mundo y podrían trabajar en muchos países por salarios decorosos sin tener que mendigar 50 euros a una autócrata antediluviana, por excelsa que haya sido como bailarina, o a su mayoral en la gira, colocado en ese cargo por ella misma.

Es cierto que las precarias condiciones de vida de los cubanos bajo la tiranía obligan a todos, dirigentes, médicos, profesores, ingenieros, científicos, artistas, deportistas, intelectuales, empresarios, técnicos medios, obreros calificados, militares, a ver el viaje al exterior como vía para resolver perentorias necesidades personales y de su familia, y en consecuencia considerar una conducta ovina como la vía más recomendable para lograr sus objetivos, trocando dignidad o solidez moral por acceso a electrodomésticos, ropa, equipos electrónicos, muebles, colchones, juguetes, privilegios o dinero.

Dejemos la doble moral a un lado aunque sea esta vez: ¿quién no ha caído en la tentación, unos más y otros menos, en algún momento de su vida, pensando en obtener una buena cena, una computadora, una muñeca para la hija o un abrigo para su mamá? ¡Quien esté libre de pacotilla que lance la primera piedra!

No crucifiquemos demasiado a esos infelices, sí, infelices, del Ballet Nacional de Cuba, que imploran por 50 euros. Otros cubanos han hecho cosas peores por mucho menos.

Como participar en un mitin de repudio por una cajita con congrí y pescado.

Cuba: Cerca del millón de viviendas no tiene servicio de acueducto y hay 82 mil bohios y 18 mil cuarterías

Cuartería en un solar habanero

Café Fuerte

Por Daniel Benítez

Casi un millón de viviendas cubanas (955,885) reciben agua desde un pozo, río o manantial, mientras a 40,958 les llega desde una fuente imprecisable, catatalogada oficialmente como “otra”, según arrojan cifras divulgadas por el Censo de Población y Viviendas 2012.

Estos datos estadísticos significan que uno de cada tres hogares no tiene servicio de acueducto y utiliza agua sin ningún tipo de tratamiento de purificación, lo cual incrementa las posibilidades de contraer enfermedades infecciosas y la proliferación de brotes de epidemias como resultado de la insalubridad. En Cuba aparecen registradas 3.73 millones de viviendas.

Millones de cubanos también se ven afectados por el pobre abastecimiento del vital líquido, el cual llega a 591,469 viviendas por acarreo o pipas de distribución. Un total de 909,918 tienen las tuberías de agua fuera de las casas, una incomodidad adicional, pues para utilizarla en labores domésticas o en el consumo los residentes tienen que cargarla.

Problemas de desagüe

Pero si el abastecimiento es un problema, el desagüe no se queda atrás. En la actualidad, un millón 430 mil 86 viviendas ocupadas tienen que utilizar una fosa o tanque séptico, mientras que 756,644 recurren a “otros” mecanismos -que no son descritos- para evacuar los desechos líquidos y sólidos.

El alcantarillado solo cubre poco más del 45 por ciento de los hogares.

Con relación al servicio de electricidad, cientos de miles de cubanos se iluminan con kerosene, material inflamable que es utilizado en 42,392 hogares. Las plantas industriales se emplean en 23,484 inmuebles, en tanto las minihidroeléctricas le alivian  la vida a 7,098.

Es llamativo el hecho de que como fuente de energía se utilice el biogás en 257 edificaciones, al tiempo que “otras” provisiones -nuevamente la clasificación indeterminada- permiten que 8,148 puedan al menos encender un bombillo.

Bohíos, cuarterías, vagones

El acápite sobre el tipo de viviendas sorprende al revelar que todavía existen 82,607 bohíos en el país, 25 mil de ellos en Holguín y solo 150 en La Habana, la provincia con el mayor número de casas y apartamentos.

Los capitalinos comparten el raro “privilegio” de tener 10,700 habitaciones en cuarterías, el 59 por ciento del total de 18,365 que existen en la isla, y ser los segundos en cuanto a edificaciones “improvisadas”, con 1,553 de ellas (solo los supera Granma, con 1,993). En la categoría de improvisadas -como bien aclaran las autoridades- clasifican “aquellas viviendas que han sido construidas con materiales no adecuados o de desechos como son: cartones, planchas metálicas, fibrocemento, lona, etc”.

Pero la verdadera sorpresa de este registro estadístico es que los investigadores del Censo consideraron como viviendas 1,718 locaciones barcos, botes, vagón de ferrocarril, tráiler, contenedores, cuevas y otros.

El déficit habitacional  alcanza las 700 mil viviendas, en un país que apenas pudo construir 32,103 el pasado año.

Economic Growth Is the Best Way to Help the Poor, not Redistribution in Pursuit of Coerced Income Equality

International Liberty

By Dan Mitchell

Switzerland’s left-wing party has instigated a referendum for November 24 that asks voters to limit pay ranges so that a company wouldn’t be able to pay top employees more than 12 times what they’re paying their lowest-level employees.

I talked with Neil Cavuto about this proposal and made several (hopefully) cogent points.

Since Swiss voters already have demonstrated considerable wisdom (rejecting a class-warfare tax proposal in 2010 and imposing a cap on government spending in 2001), I predicted they will reject the plan. And I pointed out that Switzerland’s comparatively successful system is a result of not letting government have too much power over the economy.

But I don’t want to focus today on the Swiss referendum. Instead, I want to expand on my final point, which deals with the misguided belief by some on the left that the economy is a fixed pie and that you have to penalize the rich in order to help the poor.

I’ve covered this issue before, and I even tried to educate a PBS audience that economic growth is key.

But maybe this chart is the most persuasive bit of evidence. It shows per-capita GDP in France and Hong Kong over the past 50 or so years. France is a nation that prides itself of redistribution to “help” the poor while Hong Kong is famous for having the most economic freedom of any jurisdiction.

Now look at this data and ask yourself whether you’d rather be a poor person in France or Hong Kong?

Since Hong Kong is richer and is growing faster, the obvious answer is that poor people in France almost surely face a bleaker outlook.

In other words, the welfare state can give you the basic necessities and allow you to survive (at least until the house of cards collapses), but it comes at a very high cost of lower growth and diminished opportunity.

The moral of the story is that prosperity is best achieved by a policy of free markets and small government.

P.S. If you want more evidence on the superiority of markets over statism, check out the comparison of South Korea and North Korea and the difference between Chile, Argentina, and Venezuela. Heck, even the data comparing America and Europe show similar results.

P.P.S. As you might expect, Margaret Thatcher addressed this issue in a brilliant fashion.

P.P.P.S. There’s a lot to like about Sweden, but click here if you want to see an impossibly absurd example from that nation of the equality-über-alles mentality.

P.P.P.P.S. There is some very interesting academic research that suggests humans are hard-wired by evolution to be statists. Let’s hope that’s not true.

Rare glimpse of Victorian London’s working class captured by street photographer

photoblog

By Yuka Tachibana, Producer, NBC News

A book of photographs depicting the grueling poverty lived by many residents of Victorian London is due to be auctioned on Thursday.

"In or around 1877, photography was mainly about beautiful landscapes or portraits of the wealthy, but these images [photographer John] Thomson deliberately set out to take were those of the Victorian underclass," John Trevers of auctioneers Dominic Winter told NBC News. "This was the first time those in abject poverty scratching out a living on the streets of London were photographed."

"This was a pioneering work of social documentation," he added.

Scottish photographer John Thomson, a pioneer of street photography, captured images of London's working class in the 1870s. The photos were originally published in a monthly magazine, Street Life in London, between 1876 and 1877. 

The photos would likely have made a real impact when they came out, Trevers said.

"People wouldn't have been aware of the conditions in which London's underbelly suffered, and to see it in flesh and blood through Thomson's photos would have been quite a shock to the system," he said, adding that it isn't known how many copies of the magazine have survived.

The book is expected to fetch a price of between $6,000 and $9,000.

'Wall workers'

'Crawlers', one of a series of pictures of 19th century London by pioneering street photographer John Thomson

'Cheap fish St. Giles'

'Street advertising'

Left: 'Covent Garden labourers'
Right: 'Covent Garden flower women.'

Left: 'Street doctor'
Right: 'The London boardmen'

Trade and Poverty in India

MercatusCenter

El aborto en Cuba

PalenqueVision

Cuba: Lo que colma el desastre de la vivienda

Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique

www.cubanet.org

Cuba actualidad, Centro Habana, La Habana, (PD) El régimen cubano ha confesado que de unos 3,7 millones de viviendas, alrededor del 39% se encuentra en regular o mal estado.

Aunque esa cifra parece estar minimizada, no puede reflejar ni remotamente la situación habitacional de la población, ya que no incluye los sistemas de acueductos, alcantarillado, servicios comunales, redes de eléctricas ni transporte.

Con solo abordar los sistemas de acueductos y alcantarillado se puede tener una idea bastante abarcadora del triste panorama actual.

La red de acueductos del país tenía en 2008 más de 20 200 kilómetros, de los cuales el 80% se encontraba en mal estado, y al iniciar el 2011 se perdía el 58% del agua bombeada debido a la mala situación de las redes, 18% en las conductoras, 20% en las tuberías y 22% dentro de las viviendas.

En julio de 2012 se informó en la sesión de la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular (ANPP) que continuaba existiendo una pérdida del 58% del agua bombeada; y que solo por la pérdida del 22% en los hogares la población dejaba de recibir 93,5 litros diarios per cápita, de los 100 litros diarios mínimos requeridos.

Pero el 7 de septiembre de 2013 directivos del Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hidráulicos informaron en una Mesa Redonda que se continuaba perdiendo el 58 % del agua bombeada debido a la fuga por conductoras antiguas en mal estado.

Hay que decir que el mal estado de las redes no solo limita el suministro del líquido, sino que posibilita la entrada en los hogares de virus, bacterias y parásitos, lo cual provoca hepatitis, enfermedades diarreicas y otras afecciones.

Es muy limitado el acceso de la población a zapatillas, grifos, válvulas y otros productos para racionalizar el uso del agua. En el país solo hay una fábrica de estos herrajes en Guanabacoa y la oferta en pesos cubanos (CUP), moneda con la que se les paga a los trabajadores, es muy limitada, por lo que las personas que tienen los recursos deben acudir a tiendas de divisas, y en muchas ocasiones esa es la única opción. Además, el servicio de plomería no existe y la mayoría utiliza trabajadores ilegales para resolver sus necesidades.

Según el censo de 2002, el 78% de la población tenía acceso al agua potable mediante conexiones a las redes, pero seis años después, en junio de 2008, esta cifra bajó a un 75%.

Continuar leyendo en primaveradigital >>

''Cheap Flesh Of The Revolution'' - Cuban Women Recount A Grim Reality

From capitolhillcubans 

geturswurve.com

HAVANA — Though propaganda from the Cuban regime claims otherwise, the everyday reality for Cuban women does not involve fighting economic aggression from the United States.

Instead, they struggle to provide basic necessities such as food and clothes for their families — and occasional luxuries such as cosmetics — sometimes having to pay with their own dignity. We interviewed several Cuban women, and here are some of their stories.

Felina, 34, prostitute“Do you know how most Cuban women commit suicide? They set themselves on fire. As if they wanted to purge themselves of all this sh*t. Last week a friend of mine did it. She was a hooker, like me. Her daughter said that they were watching TV and suddenly Yoana kissed her and went to the bathroom. She ran out of it like a living torch.

I think about suicide every day. But I would not like to suffer. If I do this, I will jump off the balcony.

Jorge was the only man I have truly loved. Today he is my husband, but all I feel for him now is what a hooker may feel toward her pimp — disdain.

We met at the airport. I was a waitress in the local café, he was a baggage handler. Before the suitcases went on the baggage carousel, Jorge would steal alcohol, clothes, perfumes. On Friday night people would come to his place to perfume themselves. Three sprays cost $1. Unfortunately, what we both made was not enough to live.

One day he said he had an idea for how we could earn more: I should sleep with tourists that he and his friend, a taxi driver, would 'recruit' at the airport. He said we needed to use my beauty to move forward.

Tourists changed Cuba into a virtual country, like in a video game in which you f**k Cuban women and men, drink rum and smoke cigars.

Clients always feel like praising Cubans and Havana after we have sex. I hate this. My city looks like the next day after a war.

We are the cheap meat of the revolution: I take $50 for classic sex, 80 for anal. There are girls who take less than $30. 

I have studied Marxist philosophy for five years. I graduated with honors. I speak multiple languages, which is useful. For instance, I can say 'I will do you good' in English, French and Portuguese.

Most of my colleagues have university diplomas. We are probably the most educated hookers in the world.

I still have some hope that one day I will earn my life in a decent way — for example, as a translator. But there are days when I go out on the balcony, I look down and I imagine I hit the ground." 

Laura, 23, IT specialist“Meeting a foreigner was not my dream. I have always wanted to be an independent woman, to study, to get a job and to be able to pay my bills.

After two years of working at a cultural office in a big city, I noticed that all my colleagues had foreign boyfriends. When I asked one of them how it was possible, she said, 'The Internet, stupid!' 

In Cuba, home Internet connections are forbidden. There are Internet access points controlled by the state, but one hour costs $6 and is beyond the reach of an average Cuban. We are lucky at work to be able to surf all day long. Only porn and counter-revolutionary sites are banned. My girlfriends persuaded me to create a profile on Facebook. One day I got a message from Hans. 

Nowadays men wait for women to provide the household with the necessities of life. Quite often, young married women have ‘sponsors’ from abroad who are accepted by the girls’ families. I have two girlfriends who are in such sick relationships. 

Cuban men put me off. They are too aggressive. They treat women like properties. Besides, they drink too much. What I like about Germans, French, Swiss or Austrians is that you can talk with them about anything. 

Hans is a 34-year-old engineer. He is German, but he learned Spanish during his studies in Mexico. After a year and a half of online chatting, he came to see me for the first time, without notice. Two years ago I started to learn German. My first visit there was in 2012. 

I have heard that many tourists lie about how rich they are and who they are. I have been lucky. Hans is a good man. In one month, I am leaving for good to join him.”

Matilda, 42, hairdresser“The life of a Cuban woman is more difficult that a man’s. Women take care of the household and that means children, husband and food. We spend 90% of the day trying to come up with something to eat. That is our task: how to survive with $15 a month.

I have been working as a hairdresser for the past 20 years, but I opened my own place only a year and a half ago, together with my friends. We take ideas for the hairstyles from foreign magazines, if we manage to get any. The latest we have is a Spanish edition of Glamour from 2008. 

Cubans have optimism in their blood. We work a lot, and we get nothing in return. Still, we meet friends and keep smiling. If you worry all the time, it is time to die! 

I feel pity for Cuban men. They are frustrated. They cannot support their families, so they try to confirm their masculinity by cheating. I don't have one girlfriend who has not gone through this. I am divorced myself. 

I don't want to leave Cuba. My roots, my family, my girlfriends are here. The sad reality is that most Cuban women dream about meeting a foreigner and leaving. It's their only chance to improve their lives. My daughter dreams about it too.”

Cuba: Gobierno ha confirmado más de 670 casos de cólera en la Isla

Diario de Cuba

El Gobierno cubano ha confirmado unos 678 casos de cólera en la Isla desde que comenzó el brote, en el verano de 2012, hasta el pasado 26 de septiembre, informaron en una Alerta Epidemiológica la Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPM) y la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS).

Según las entidades, las autoridades de la Isla mantienen que solo se han producido tres defunciones como consecuencia del cólera, una afirmación que contradicen numerosos reportes de disidentes, periodistas independientes y presos de varias cárceles donde se han registrado casos.

La alerta indica que las zonas afectadas han sido Camagüey, Granma (donde se inició la epidemia), Guantánamo, La Habana y Santiago de Cuba, además de "municipios asociados a estas provincias".

La OPM y la OMS incluyen además en su informe el reporte de un brote de cólera en México que ha infectado al menos a 46 personas, 44 de ellas en el estado de Hidalgo y dos en el Distrito Federal. Uno de los enfermos falleció.

La cepa encontrada en México es la misma que afecta a Cuba, Haití y República Dominicana.

Las autoridades mexicanas han establecido interrogatorios en los aeropuertos para los pasajeros procedentes de Cuba y Haití, a fin de determinar si llegan con padecimientos diarreicos y someterlos a análisis en caso necesario, informó el diario Milenio.

Cuba: Dramatico testimonio del derrumbe de edificio en la Vibora

NoticiasCubanet

Cuba: Entrevista a un orate-alcoholico

HablemosPress

Cuba: Apocalipsis alcohólico

Pablo Pascual Méndez Piña | La Habana

CANASANTA.COM

El desenlace final arrojó trece muertos por envenenamiento con metanol. A los fallecidos en La Lisa se le añadieron Yuniel González y Dámaso Cordero, dos residentes del municipio San Miguel del Padrón, cuyos decesos no fueron informados por la prensa oficial.

Vale aclarar que en cualquier parte del mundo se producen intoxicaciones con metanol o alcohol de madera, su ingestión ha cobrado víctimas en República Checa, Polonia, México, Estonia, Colombia, El Salvador, EEUU e India, por solo citar algunos países.

Cruzar la barrera del alcoholismo —según las estadísticas— es como introducirse en un campo de exterminio. En una investigación efectuada por un equipo multidisciplinario del hospital Carlos J Finlay, que fuera publicado en La Revista Cubana de Medicina Militar, de cada diez suicidas nueve son alcohólicos, y la dipsomanía también causa muertes por riñas callejeras, envenenamientos, accidentes del tránsito, cáncer gástrico, cirrosis hepática, pancreatitis hemorrágica, etc.

Dicha publicación no mencionó el lugar ocupado por el alcoholismo entre las diez primeras causas de muerte en el país. Los padrones muestran que un 45% de la población mayor de 15 años consume bebidas alcohólicas, para un índice de prevalencia que oscila entre el 7 y 10% —uno de los más bajos de América Latina—, sumario que contrasta con los numerosos borrachos que se ven en las calles.

Los investigadores reconocen que en los últimos 15 años el consumo ha aumentado, mientras el 40% de los ingresos por urgencia en los cuerpos de guardia de nuestro sistema nacional de salud, corre a costa de los alcohólicos.

Pero la dipsomanía no hace distingos. En su gremio pueden asociarse vecinos de los barrios residenciales del Nuevo Vedado, Miramar y Biltmore, tugurios marginales como los del Palo Cagao y Los Pocitos, así como multicondecorados generales e indigentes que pululan por las calles.

Desde el vodka Stolisnaya y el whisky Chivas Regal, hasta los aguardientes conocidos como "hueso de tigre" o "chispa'e tren", los dipsómanos tendrán que elegir el trago que les corresponde, acorde a la capacidad de sus bolsillos.

En nuestra Isla, que antiguamente fuera identificada como "la tierra del azúcar y el ron", existe una marcada diferencia entre "los que beben alcohol bueno y los que beben alcohol malo".

Continuar leyendo en Diario de Cuba >>

Cuba: Vivienda y desidia castrista

en terminos de la existencia material de las personas, la vivienda conjuntamente con la alimentacion, han constituido las pruebas supremas e irrefutables de la ruina que la concepcion castrista de la sociedad  ha provocado en la isla. esta intervencion en la manipulada television nacional de la presidenta del siempre escurridizo instituto nacional de la vivienda, trae cola y alguna oreja peluda aunque no seamos capaces de captarlos inmediatamente.

fotos.starmedia.com

afirmar que el 61% de la vivienda en cuba se encuentra en buen estado constructivo no solo contradice otras informaciones igualmente oficiales, al hecho eufemistico que el 85% de los edificios este necesitado de reparaciones, sino ante todo al sentido comun de la vision de plaza sitiada y haitinizada  que ofrece al caminante en los cuatro puntos cardinales del pais; tanto en sus ciudades principales como en sus poblados rurales.

que esten registradas poco mas de 5 mil familias albergadas es una desverguenza escamoteadora de la realidad que en cuba la gente se ha resistido por decadas a albergarse y buscan reajustes con familiares, amigos, o sencillamente permanenciendo bajo el techo en inminente peligro de derrumbe.

a casi un ano del impacto del huracan sandy y pese a todo la propaganda oficial al respecto y confirmando las constantes denuncias de organizaciones opositoras y la poblacion de la region oriental de la isla, solamente se han solucionado 1,686 casos de los 22,396 derrumbes totales [7.5%], quedando a la buena de dios y a la desidia gubernamental 20,170 que se suman a los mas de 40 mil de afectaciones anteriores. y estas cifras solo refieren los derrumbes totales, no las viviendas afectadas que superaron las 140 mil.

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

finanzas

Cuba debe construir anualmente entre 60.000 y 70.000 viviendas para paliar el déficit habitacional, uno de los problemas sociales existentes en el país, según datos del Instituto Nacional de la Vivienda divulgados hoy en un informe de la televisión estatal.

En la actualidad solo se construyen unas 16.000 casas por año como parte de los planes estatales, y entre 8.000 y 10.000 se edifican "por esfuerzo propio de la población", a cargo de particulares, indicó el reportaje.

Apuntó que el fondo habitacional de Cuba en este momento asciende a más de tres millones de casas, de las cuales el 61 por ciento clasifica en buen estado constructivo, mientras que el resto se encuentra en regular o mala situación.

La vivienda es uno de los problemas sociales en Cuba y de acuerdo a los últimos datos oficiales disponibles, la isla tenía en 2010 un déficit de unas 600.000 casas, a lo que se une el mal estado de conservación de muchos inmuebles: unos 8,5 de cada 10 edificios en la isla necesita reparaciones.

La presidenta del Instituto Nacional de la Vivienda, Oris Silvia Fernández, explicó que la situación es "bien complicada" en La Habana, donde se encuentran albergadas 5.461 familias, y dijo que se necesitan unas 28.000 viviendas para resolver esa problemática.

El informe televisivo titulado "Cuba dice" también señaló que solo en los últimos tres años los fenómenos meteorológicos como los huracanes han afectado más de un millón de viviendas en la isla y que esa circunstancia ha reclamado centrar la atención en las zonas dañadas.

En ese sentido citó el caso de la provincia oriental Santiago de Cuba, que junto a sus vecinas Guantánamo y Holguín sufrió el azote devastador del huracán "Sandy" en octubre de 2012.

"Sandy" provocó en esas tres provincias 22.396 derrumbes totales y al cierre del primer semestre de 2013 quedaban pendientes de dar solución a 20.710 de esos casos, a los que se suman otros 40.000 de incidentes meteorológicos anteriores, según precisó la titular de la Vivienda.

El Gobierno de la isla abrió en 2010 la concesión de licencias de construcción y liberó la venta de materiales, y en mayo de este año amplió el plan de créditos y subsidios para reparar, conservar y construir viviendas por esfuerzo propio.

Sin embargo, algunas de las personas entrevistadas en el citado programa sobre el polémico tema se quejaron de no encontrar los materiales que necesitan en los puntos de ventas y también dijeron que la entrega de terrenos y locales para su adaptación podrían ser alternativas para resolver el problema.

Detroit to demolish 4,000 abandoned buildings

Cuba: Reportaje sobre la miseria Neokaxtrizta

Martí Noticias

UN Concern About Prostitution In Cuba - Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Institute for War and Peace Reporting

www.magnumphotos.com

By Yaremis Flores Marín - Latin America

21 Aug 13

The treatment of sex workers in Cuba, including confinement for the purpose of “re-education”, was raised by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women when it discussed the country's record last month.

In a report on its findings released on July 25, the Geneva-based committee said it was “deeply concerned” about Cuba’s reluctance to address the issue of prostitution, and noted the “‘re-education’ of women involved in prostitution without clear and transparent objectives and procedures, as well as… the lack of information about the number and conditions of women in detention”.

The committee, set up to monitor how countries are implementing the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Like other signatories to the convention, Cuba is legally bound to put its provisions into practice and to submit reports on progress at least every four years.

The UN body reviewed Cuba’s case on July 9, and published its report two weeks later. (See Cuban Lawyers Highlight Domestic Violence on other aspects of the meeting.)

Its recommendations included calls for guaranteed access to justice, free legal assistance programmes, protection for victims of violence, and mandatory training for judges, prosecutors, police, healthcare and education professionals and journalists on matters of violence against women.

Committee members expressed concern at the dearth of statistics on sex workers and trafficking, and the lack of efforts to address and prevent the causes of prostitution.

While soliciting is not a criminal offence in Cuba, the government “has a clear policy of not tolerating prostitution”, the committee noted. The government “imposes security measures aimed at re-educating women who show anti-social behaviour and engage in prostitution, such as confinement in a rehabilitation centre”.

The committee asked the Cuban authorities for further information on how “anti-social behaviour” was defined, and how the “re-education” process was regulated.

As for trafficked sex workers, the report said that state policy should ensure “the rehabilitation and social integration of victims, including by providing them with shelter and assistance”.

Putting the government’s case at the CEDAW committee meeting on July 9, the deputy head of Cuba’s supreme court, Olga Lidia Jones Morrison, said that 660 women over the age of 18 were detained for working as prostitutes in 2011. She did not give more recent figures, or say how many underage girls were detained or whether they were jailed.

Speaking at a press conference after the UN report was released, Cuban justice minister María Esther Reus González described the document as “productive”.

Cuba now has two years to inform the CEDAW committee of steps it has taken towards implementing their recommendations. Its next review will be in 2017.

Yaremis Flores Marín is an independent lawyer and journalist in Cuba. Latin America.

Cuba: Casas donde viven ninos enfermos

Roberto Guerra

'People think everyone who is poor gets welfare, and it's just not true'; How the myth of the welfare queen died

In Plain Sight

Peter Dicampo / for NBC News

Nicole Oman works in the property management office of the YWCA Family Village in Issaquah, WA, where she also lives, on August 12, 2013. Photo by Peter DiCampo.

By Allison Linn, Staff Writer, NBC News
Here’s one thing both critics and supporters of the modern welfare system agree on: The direct assistance program as we knew it in the 1980s and 1990s is dead and gone.

“It’s a very different program than it was in the past. The comment about welfare queens is much less justified now,” said Ron Haskins, a key adviser of the Republicans’ welfare reform effort who now works at the Brookings Institution.

Two decades after President Bill Clinton promised to “end welfare as we know it” -- and nearly four decades since President Ronald Reagan repeatedly derided the “welfare queen” while on the 1976 presidential campaign trail -- far fewer families are receiving cash and voucher assistance, and a larger share of less educated single moms are working.

“People think everyone who is poor gets welfare, and it’s just not true,” said Heather Hahn, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute.

Still, experts are deeply divided on how successful tax and welfare reform efforts of the 1990s have been in improving the lives of less educated single mothers, especially in the wake of the Great Recession and weak recovery.

About 1.72 million families received direct assistance during an average month in 2012 through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, according to the latest data from the federal government’s Office of Family Assistance. That’s about half the 3.94 million families who received TANF in 1997, according to an Urban Institute report funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In addition, about 62 percent of never-married moms ages 20 to 49 with a high school degree or less were working in 2011, according to an analysis of Current Population Survey data prepared by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning think tank. That’s up from about 51 percent in 1992, but down from 76 percent in 2000, before two recessions hit low-skill workers hard.

Welfare-to-work
Welfare has not been the same since the mid-1990s, when the old program, called Aid to Families with Dependent Children, was replaced by TANF. The new program requires that recipients do 20 to 30 hours a week of work-related activities, such as job hunting or community service, among other stipulations.

Most states also only allow adults to collect TANF for a maximum of five years over the course of their lifetime, or less.

“The expectation is that you need to be looking for work,” said LaDonna Pavetti, vice president for family income support policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “And if you don’t, you will either have your benefits reduced or you’ll lose them entirely.”

Many more low-educated single moms did start working soon after the program was introduced, but experts say welfare-to-work cannot take all the credit for that. The late-1990s welfare reform effort also coincided with the expansion of the earned income tax credit, which provides financial assistance to low-wage workers, and a strong labor market.

“There really were three factors: One was welfare reform, one was expansion of the EITC and one was (the) economy,” Pavetti said. “Welfare reform was not the biggest role in that.”’

Peter Dicampo / for NBC News

Nicole Oman at home with her son Holden, age 12, and daughter Madison, age 10, in their apartment.

Working, but struggling
These days, Kathryn Edin, a professor of public policy at Harvard University, said the good news is that many single mothers who used to be longer-term welfare recipients are now workers who only need assistance once in a while.

But the bad news for single moms with low education and skills is that in the past decade or so, it’s become increasingly difficult to find a stable, full-time job that pays well. That means some moms may now be working very hard, and still find that their families are at poverty or near-poverty levels.

A person working a full-time, minimum wage job would take home $15,080 a year. That’s below the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2012 poverty threshold for a family of one adult and two children under 18.

About 41 percent female-headed households with children under age 18 were living in poverty in 2011, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s up from 33 percent in 2000.

Many also fret about a group of women who were not able to make it into employment at all and who may now be in deep poverty.

“What ended up happening … is a lot of families fell through the cracks,” Edin said. Her recent research has documented a sharp increase in extreme poverty among the families with children that have been most affected by welfare reform.

Most experts say that even in a low-wage job, a single mother is better off financially than on welfare because welfare payments are so low. In July 2011, the maximum monthly TANF payment for a family of three ranged from $170 to $923 a month, depending on the state, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

But many concede that one optimistic hope for welfare reform – that women who entered low-wage work would gradually get better-paying jobs – has not generally materialized.

“The idea that these moms are going to go into the labor force, they’re going to get skills, they’re going to move up, they’re going to make more money … that did not happen very much,” said Haskins, who also advised President George W. Bush on welfare in 2002.

From homeless to employed
These days, the small group of adults who do end up receiving TANF are often at rock bottom.

Nicole Oman is an example. The mother of three children received $454 a month from TANF after she divorced her husband of 14 years and got into another relationship she described as unhealthy.

That was in 2011, and Oman and her children were staying in a homeless shelter where she was required to do around 30 hours of chores, training and therapy for victims of abuse.

After completing the shelter’s program, Oman used a community job search program offered through TANF to land a position with a residential YWCA facility in Issaquah, Wash., outside Seattle.

She now typically earns about $1,150 a month handling some of the YWCA Family Village at Issaquah’s tax compliance requirements. She also receives several hundred dollars a month in food stamp benefits, now known as SNAP.

Oman, 38, also was able to move into a subsidized two-bedroom apartment in the YWCA community, saving her a long bus ride from another temporary housing facility.

After spending years in homeless shelters, Oman revels in having a job and her own apartment.

“The thing that this process makes you is grateful for the craziest little things,” she said

For Oman, it’s having her own kitchen, which means she can cook meals for her family for the first time in years.

For her 10-year-old daughter, it was learning that the bus route near their new apartment would drop them right in front of a major grocery store, instead of having to walk a long way to a less desirable store.

The family’s grocery trips recently got even easier. A few weeks ago, Oman was able to buy a 2001 Ford Taurus. It’s the first time she’s been able to afford a car in nearly three years.

Oman says the job has helped her get back on her feet by giving her more than just a paycheck.

“The gals that I work with, they’ve helped me so much … in rebuilding myself,” she said.

Alfredo Moser : Le dio luz a quienes no la tenían y sigue pobre pero orgulloso

fantastico pero la cago con eso que la luz es de dios y no patento el invento y ahorita mismitico como dicen los chaparritos habra algun gringuito metiendole manos al asunto. que lo patente que gane muchisimo dinero y que constituya una fundacion dedicada a buscar soluciones sencillas y baratas a los grandes problemas de 3/4 de la humanidad. 

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Gibby Zobel/ BBC

La invención de Alfredo Moser está iluminando al mundo. En 2002, a este mecánico brasileño "se le prendió el bombillo" y se le ocurrió una manera de iluminar su casa durante el día sin electricidad, usando únicamente botellas de plástico llenas de agua y un poquito de cloro.

Alfredo Moser, mecánico brasileño 

En los últimos dos años, su idea llegó a diferentes partes del mundo. Y se tiene previsto que su sistema se implemente en un millón de hogares a principios de 2014.

¿Cómo funciona? Por refracción de luz solar, explica Moser, al tiempo que llena una botella plástica de dos litros. "Hay que añadir dos tapas de cloro para evitar que el agua se ponga verde (con algas). Mientras más limpia esté la botella, mejor", añade, en conversación con la BBC.

Envolviendo su cara en un trapo, abre un hueco en una de las tejas del techo con un taladro y, de abajo hacia arriba, mete la botella en el orificio recién hecho. "Fijas la botella con resina de poliéster. No hay goteras, ni siquiera cuando llueve, no cae ni una gota".

"Un ingeniero vino y midió la intensidad de la luz. Depende de cuan fuertes sean los rayos de sol, pero equivale mas o menos a 40 o 60 vatios", comenta.

Y se hizo la luz

La idea de Moser se utiliza en unos 15 países.

La inspiración para la "lámpara Moser" le llegó en 2002, durante uno de los frecuentes apagones que ocurren en el país.

"Los únicos lugares que tenían electricidad eran las fábricas, no las casas de la gente", dice refiriéndose a la ciudad en la que vive, Uberaba, en el sur de Brasil.

Moser y sus amigos empezaron a preguntarse qué podrían hacer en caso de que se presentara una emergencia como, por ejemplo, que un avión pequeño sufriera un accidente y perdiera altitud, imaginando que no tuvieran fósforos.

Su jefe en aquel momento sugirió utilizar una botella de plástico vacía, llenarla de agua y utilizarla como un lente para que los rayos de sol cayeran sobre grama seca. El fuego resultante podría servir para dar aviso a los equipos de rescate.

La idea se le quedó a Moser en la cabeza, y empezó a hacer pruebas, llenando botellas y haciendo círculos de luz refractada. Poco tiempo después, su invento estaba terminado.

"No hice ningún dibujo con su diseño", cuenta el brasileño. "Es una luz divina. Dios nos dio el Sol a todos, así que la luz es para todos. Quien quiera (usar su sistema de iluminación), ahorra dinero. No vas a electrocutarte con esto y no te cuesta ni un centavo".

Continuar leyendo en  BBC Mundo >>

’I’m working as hard as I can’: For the poor, the costs of life can be higher

Jeff Fusco / for NBC News

Yolanda Williams leaves her home last month 
to catch a SEPTA bus at 7:20 AM on her 
way to Medical Billing and Coding training
 at the Kaplan Career Institute.

NBC News

By Hannah Rappleye, NBC News
PHILADELPHIA -- On some days, Yolanda Williams says she wonders why it’s so hard to stay alive. “I’m working as hard as I can. Every time I talk to my boss I ask, ‘Is there any more work?’”

Williams works part-time as a home-health aide so that she can also attend the Kaplan school to study medical billing. For about 17 hours a week of work, at $10 an hour, she takes home about $298 every two weeks, which she uses to support her disabled husband and her 21-year-old daughter, both of whom are unemployed.

“I’m trying to go to school so I can get a better job, so I can get off welfare,” added Williams, who receives food stamps and Medicaid. “If that means I have to be on the bus 24 hours a day, I’ll do it.”

Her weekly toil – which includes nearly 30 hours on buses – underscores one of the truths of life for the millions of American living with poverty: it’s expensive to be poor.

Williams and her family live in north Philadelphia. She spends her check only on the essentials: rent, gas and electric, bus passes, a phone. She doesn’t have cable or internet.

"If you own a home, plus childcare, plus commuting costs you can be well above poverty and still not be able to make ends meet,” said Professor Scott Allard, an expert in poverty and the social safety net at University of Chicago. “You’re not doing anything wrong. You’re playing by the rules but you’re not making it."

Time is money
The expression “time is money” is especially true for the poor.

Those who earn little have to work long hours to make enough, and often spend more time than the well-off managing the basics of their lives. Not having paid sick days means losing wages when a loved one has a medical emergency, or child care falls through. Not having a washing machine means extra hours at the laundromat. And just getting to and from work can take hours.

Every Monday through Friday, and sometimes on the weekends, Williams leaves home at 7:20 a.m. and takes three public buses to school. She arrives at 9 a.m., and finishes at 2 p.m., sometimes lingering to finish homework. Then she leaves for work, taking three more buses to get to her client’s home in West Philadelphia.

The trip back to her house means two more buses, and arriving home around 10 p.m.

The 28 hours a week, spent waiting for, or riding, the bus, have become another part-time job. Because the agency that employs her requires she pick up her paycheck in person, she takes another two-hour, round-trip, bus ride every two weeks.

“I pretty much spend most of my time on the bus,” Williams said.

If Williams had a car, she could cut her travel time significantly. Low-income individuals and families in desperate need of a car often turn to so-called “buy-here-pay-here” car dealers, which typically offer high-mileage, used cars and in-house financing to those without good credit. Loans from these outlets carry an average interest rate of 24 percent, according to the Center for Responsible Lending, and the industry is little-regulated.

Jeff Fusco / for NBC News

Yolanda Williams prepares for her Medical Billing and Coding training class at the Kaplan Career Institute.

Health care
Studies show low-income people pay a larger share of their incomes for health care. Low-income workers are less likely to receive employer health insurance, or even sick pay, making a day off more costly. Medical care can quickly become medical debt, which can hound people for years, if not a lifetime.

While public programs like Medicaid and CHIP provide health care for low-income individuals and children, getting enrolled and staying on those programs can be tough. Moreover, many working poor earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to purchase coverage.

That’s what happened to Williams two years ago after she lost her job as a bus driver. On unemployment, she applied for coverage through Philadelphia’s Health Care Partners, a Medicaid managed care organization. She was told she received too much unemployment income to qualify. When her unemployment benefits ran out, she applied again. A paperwork snafu delayed their enrollment for nearly a year.
The delay had real health effects for the couple, both of whom have diabetes, a disease which disproportionately affects low-income people.

“We couldn’t afford to go to the doctor,” she said. “We didn’t have medicine. We were under control when we had medical insurance.”

Banking also is more expensive for poor people.

About 28.3 percent, or one in four American households, are what the FDIC calls “under” or “unbanked.” Underbanked households use a bank account, but also use alternative financial services, such as payday loans or check-cashing outlets. The unbanked don’t use any accounts at all.

According to the FDIC, 17 million adults in the U.S. live in unbanked households.

Typically, the un or underbanked are low-income individuals or families. They rely on non-traditional banking services like check-cashing stores that carry fees that can add up to hundreds of dollars a month. Pre-paid debit cards — often the only kind of plastic low-income people with poor credit ratings can get -- also carry transaction and card-loading fees.

Williams uses a local check-cashing outlet to get her bi-weekly pay. She's charged a fee each time she cashes a check, but as she explains, why set up a bank or savings account when you can’t put anything in it?

“I know I work harder than $298,” she said. “Sometimes I get my check and I feel like crying. I’m not even in a rush to cash it, because you know they take a little bit more out when you cash it.”

Williams expects to graduate from her program this November. She’s confident that her two degrees, plus her experience as a home aid, will land her a full-time job with benefits and a living wage.

“When we both worked and were bringing home a nice pay, it was simple,” Williams said. “We had a car, we had life insurance, we had car insurance. We had enough to pay the bills with a little something left over.”

Now, she added, life is more complicated. “I don’t want to be on welfare any longer than I have to,” she said.