Cuba's External Debt Problem: Daunting Yet Surmountable

ascecuba

By Luis R. Luis

Cuba has been in default of the bulk of its external financial obligations for over 50 years without negotiations towards a comprehensive restructuring.  Even the facts of the case are difficult to ascertain.  According to the most current official Cuban information published by Oficina Nacional de Estadisticas, the external debt stood at $12.3 billion at the end of 2009.  But according to the Club of  Paris of 19 major creditor governments (including Russia and Brazil but excluding China) the claims on Cuba by this group alone at the end of 2011 were $30.5 billion.[i]  Adding claims by private and other official creditors yields total external obligations of $43.1 billion. However, this number does not include capitalized interest due private and some official creditors.  In addition, the estimate does not include debt to Venezuela arising from the bilateral agreement between the two countries through which Cuba receives crude oil and derivates.  There is no precise information on this potential debt, although in recent years reported Cuban exports of health and other services to Venezuela exceed the value of its oil imports.

CUBA: EXTERNAL DEBT BY CREDITOR - US$BILLIONS
	actual	projected
	end 2011	end 2014
BIS banks	1.7	1.2
Paris Club/a	30.5	10.4
Other Official Debt/b	2.0	2.6
Suppliers/c	4.6	5.0
Defaulted Bonds and loans/d	4.3	4.3
Total	43.1	23.5
debt ratios  (on 2011 GDP and trade data)
Debt as % of GDP	62.5	34.0
Debt as % of Exports + Tourism	504	275
Debt as % of Convertible Exports + Tourism	839	458
Debt as % of Exports of Goods and Services	262	143
Sources: BIS, Quarterly Review ( June 2012 and September 2013), Paris Club (Annual Reports
2011 and 2012), Oficina Nacional de Estadisticas, Exotix and author's  estimates.
a/ official debt to major creditors except Brazil, China and Venezuela
b/ Brazil, China and other official debt not in Paris Club estimated from project data
c/ estimate based on data from ONE for end 2009
d/ defaulted bonds and commercial loans carried at face value
and includes $1.25 billion from London Club

The table shows external claims on Cuba.  The bulk of this data is reported by creditors, either official or private, or estimated from project finance figures.  Only the debt to suppliers is derived from the Cuban government.  A sizable part of the discrepancy with Cuban statistics stems from the long-standing rejection by Cuba of principal and interest owed to the former Soviet Union and claimed by Russia.  Nonetheless the Club of Paris this year revised upwards by $4.6 billion its claims to $35.1 billion as of the end of 2012, of which some 40% are new claims by Russia of principal and past due interest.[ii] Subsequently Russia announced a preliminary agreement for the writing off and refinancing of $32 billion of Soviet era debt.[iii] The actual agreement was signed in October 2013 and reportedly will write-off 90% of the debt with $3.2 billion to be repaid over 10 years.[iv]  Some of this will be offset by new credits from Russia for the leasing of airplanes and purchases of other equipment.  Implementation is expected to take place by the end of 2014 as the Russian Duma needs to grant approval.

There have been other important recent debt negotiations.  In 2012 an agreement was completed to write-off a substantial amount of Japanese commercial debt and rescheduling the reminder for 30 years.  It is not known if this agreement involved official debt, while there has been no confirmation from the Paris Club.  In September 2013 Mexico announced a restructuring of official claims on Cuba.[v]  Mexico is writing off 70% of a $487 million debt owed BANCOMEXT, the Mexican foreign trade bank.  The table incorporates these restructuring agreements into a forecast for the debt at the end of 2014.

Lacking comprehensive negotiations Cuba is making progress on restructuring important components of its foreign obligations.  On a practical level these agreements can open the door to some bilateral trade and project finance, though they are insufficient to propel Cuba towards access to international financial markets.  For this, restoration of relations with international financial institutions, crucially the IMF and World Bank, are needed followed by agrements with the Paris Club and later, a settlement with bondholders and other long-ago defaulted private creditors. These agreement are required for Cuba to achieve a comprehensive restructuring of its debt and gain market perception of creditworthiness.

How burdensome is Cuba’s external debt?  To help answer this question I have calculated debt ratios shown on the table. These ratios relate the debt to the capacity to service it.  Complementary ratios showing the burden of debt servicing are not calculated as there is scant public data regarding Cuba’s principal repayment schedules, interest rates and bond and loan covenants directing the treatment of past due interest and principal.

The ratio of debt to GDP at the end of 2001 was 62.5%, nearly matching the 61.2% average  of transition economies in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.[vi]  This ratio is surely understated by the accounting of Cuban national accounts at a notional value of CUP 1 =  US$1.  A more realistic exchange rate means a substantially higher value for this indicator.  Following the restructuring operations with Russia and Mexico, the debt to GDP ratio will be lowered to around 34% by end 2014.  For the sake of argument, assuming the Cuban peso is overvalued by 40%, the ratio would be 57%.

A problem, however, is that the Cuban economy is relatively closed to international trade and nearly completely closed to international financial and capital markets.  So that even if the debt is not very large relative to the size of the economy, it would still require a great effort to achieve the capacity to service the debt without great stress on its external accounts, and on consumption and investment.

Looking at the debt in an alternative way,  the ratio of projected 2014 debt to exports of goods and services at 143% would place Cuba among a number of countries with investment grade credit ratings.  Nonetheless, a majority of current account receipts are part of barter trade with Venezuela and other countries such as Brazil, China and Russia which provide a small amount of free cash flow.  Another measure, the ratio of debt to convertible exports and tourism receipts which are paid in cash, places the ratio at over 450%, an unsustainable level that implies a high probability of default.

These numbers depict a situation where debt levels even after some restructuring are still daunting, and where the solution lies in opening up the economy to trade and investment as well as a decisive push to engage in a wider set of external financial negotiations.  These will require a contribution by Cuba to make partial restitution payments on defaulted obligations.  All of this will be arduous as political considerations in Cuba and abroad stand in the way of progress. 

---

[i] Club of Paris, Annual Report, 2011.

[ii] Ibid, Annual Report, 2012.

[iii] Pravda, February 22, 2013

[iv]  “Deal on Forgiving $32 billion Cuban Debt to USSR Signed”, The Moscow Times, 11 December 2013, Issue 5274.

[v] “Mexico Says it will waive most of $487 million debt owed to Cuba”, Reuters, November 1, 2013.

[vi] Luis, L. R., “Cuba: External Debt and Finance in the Context of Limited Reforms,” Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, Annual Proceedings, 2013, forthcoming.

Antunez: "DENUNCIO EL CRIMEN QUE SE ESTA COMETIENDO CON MI ESPOSA"

Frente de Resistencia Civica OZT

Mi nombre es Jorge Luis García Pérez Antúnez, hoy es 12 de febrero y continúo en huelga de hambre y sed, se aprecia algún deterioro como son dolores de cabeza, pérdida de peso y demás, así como la tensión constante de que puedan venir en algún momento a asaltar la casa, pero bueno hoy traigo otra noticia.

Es el crimen que se está cometiendo contra mi esposa que sin haberse declarado en huelga de hambre, lleva casi el mismo tiempo que yo sin ingerir alimentos, puesto que un sitio que rodea mi vivienda impide la entrada de cualquier forma de que le lleguen alimentos.

Hace apenas un rato llegó una doctora y una enfermera al frente de la casa y ni tan siquiera le permitieron entrar, sostuvieron un intercambio con mi esposa y quizás todo parece indicar que mi esposa se encuentra embarazada, hay algunos síntomas que pueden indicarlo, pero no puede ir a atenderse a la policlínica, en primer lugar porque según los propios militares estamos detenidos y segundo lugar ella alega que no puede salir de acá y dejarme a mi a solas, teniendo en cuenta la conducta violenta, cobarde y prepotente de estos criminales totalitarios.

Estamos responsabilizando a la dictadura ya no sólo por mi vida, ya no sólo por las consecuencias que pueda tener mi vida y mi salud, sino además por esta situación nueva que tiene mi esposa que todo apunta a un posible embarazo, dados los síntomas de una mujer en esta situación, así como dado a otros detalles conversados entre estos galenos y mi esposa.

Jorge Luis García Pérez Antunez
Frente de la Resistencia Orlando Zapata Tamayo

NO PERMITAMOS QUE SE COMETA OTRO CRIMEN MAS, PERSISTO EN MI PROTESTA, PERSISTO EN MI HUELGA DE HAMBRE Y SED Y ESPERO SE REDOBLE, SE REFUERZE Y SE MULTIPLIQUE LA CAMPAÑA EN SOLIDARIDAD A FAVOR NUESTRO

Cuba: Video de la represion a Las Damas de Blanco en Matanzas

UNPACU

Cuban immigrant executed for 1995 murder of Florida boy | Reuters

Reuters

www.news4jax.com

A Cuban immigrant was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday for the 1995 kidnapping, rape and murder of a 9-year-old south Florida boy, a spokeswoman for the governor said.

Juan Carlos Chavez, who confessed to the murder of Jimmy Ryce, was executed at the Florida State Prison at Starke, Florida, at 8:17 p.m. EST (0117 GMT Thursday), said Jackie Schutz, a spokeswoman for Governor Rick Scott.

A Florida law passed in the wake of the killing cleared the way for imprisoned sexual offenders to be held after their release if found likely to repeat their crimes. The law has been replicated across the United States.

The execution, attended by Ryce's father, was briefly delayed by a last-minute appeal that the U.S. Supreme Court denied.

The Department of Corrections said Chavez had a last meal of steak, French fries, strawberry ice cream, mixed fruit and mango juice in the afternoon. He had no visitors, officials said.

In a written statement released by the state after his death, Chavez expressed no remorse, saying that "None of us can pass judgment on another (man's) sins."

Chavez wrote, "I doubt that there is anything I can say that would satisfy everybody, even less those who see in me nothing more (than) someone deserving of punishment."

Chavez, who worked as a farmhand and had no criminal history, kidnapped the boy at gunpoint as he got off a school bus in Redland, an agricultural area of south Miami-Dade County.

He took Ryce to his trailer and raped him. When the boy tried to escape, Chavez shot him in the back, dismembered him and hid his body in plastic pots.

The boy's disappearance shook south Florida and garnered national attention. Hundreds of volunteers signed up for the search and his parents held a stream of press conferences.

Three months after disappearing, Jimmy's remains were found near Chavez's trailer after his landlord found the boy's school bag.

Chavez arrived in south Florida on a raft from Cuba with two others in 1991 and was working as a farmhand at the time of the murder. Little is known about his background or family, who remained in Cuba.

The Florida Supreme Court upheld Chavez's 1998 conviction and death sentence. Subsequent appeals were denied.

After Jimmy's death Don Ryce and his mother Claudine, who died in 2009, became advocates for abducted and missing children. They opened a center for abduction victims in south Florida and have provided hundreds of bloodhounds to law enforcement nationwide to help find missing children.

The Ryces were on hand as President Bill Clinton in 1996 signed an order instructing federal agencies to post missing-children posters in federal buildings.

Don Ryce, a retired lawyer now living near central Florida, told the Miami Herald recently that the loss of his son broke the heart of his wife and his daughter.

"This is the kind of loss that never gets right, that you never completely recover from," Ryce told the paper.

His daughter, Jimmy's half-sister, Martha, committed suicide in 2012.

After the execution Don Ryce told reporters that he had a message for future child predators.

"Don't kill the child. Don't kill the child," Ryce said. "Because if you do, people will not forget. They will not forgive. We will hunt you down, and we will put you to death."

(Writing and reporting by Zachary Fagenson; Editing by David Adams, Sofina Mirza-Reid, Eric Walsh, Richard Chang and Lisa Shumaker)

Cuba a punto de dejar de dar servicios consulares en EE.UU.

blog.inmigrantetv

Washington D.C. Estados Unidos aseguró que está trabajando con la Sección de Intereses Cubanos en Washington y ha contactado a “más de 50 bancos” para evitar que esa misión tenga que suspender sus servicios consulares el próximo lunes por la rescisión de servicios de la entidad bancaria con la que operaba en el país.

Una portavoz del Departamento de Estado reconoció que la Sección de Intereses en Washington y la misión permanente de Cuba ante la ONU “perderán su capacidad de hacer depósitos con su banco actual el 17 de febrero y verán interrumpidos todos los servicios que les ofrecía ese banco el 1 de marzo”.

En noviembre pasado, la Sección de Intereses informó de que había suspendido temporalmente sus servicios consulares después de que su banco, M&T, decidiera rescindir los servicios que le prestaba y de que las “restricciones vigentes” por el embargo económico y comercial a la isla le impidieran encontrar una nueva entidad.

Dos semanas más tarde, la Sección de Intereses anunció que el banco M&T le había concedido una prórroga hasta el 1 de marzo antes de cerrar definitivamente las cuentas de las misiones diplomáticas de la isla en Estados Unidos, por lo que podía restablecer sus servicios consulares hasta el 17 de febrero.

El Departamento de Estado “no sabe si las misiones cubanas contarán con un nuevo banco para el 1 de marzo”, aseguró la portavoz, pero está comprometido a “seguir asistiendo a esas misiones mientras buscan una solución a largo plazo” para el problema.

Snowden Swiped Password From NSA Coworker

NBC News.com

By Michael Isikoff

A civilian NSA employee recently resigned after being stripped of his security clearance for allowing former agency contractor Edward Snowden to use his personal log-in credentials to access classified information, according to an agency memo obtained by NBC News.

In addition, an active duty member of the U.S. military and a contractor have been barred from accessing National Security Agency facilities after they were “implicated” in actions that may have aided Snowden, the memo states. Their status is now being reviewed by their employers, the memo says.

The Feb. 10 memo, sent to congressional intelligence and judiciary committees this week, provides the first official account of a sweeping NSA internal inquiry aimed at identifying intelligence officials and contractors who may been responsible for one of the biggest security breaches in U.S. history. The memo is unclassified but labeled “for official use only.”

"Unbeknownst to the civilian, Mr. Snowden was able to capture the password, allowing him even greater access to classified information.”

While the memo’s account is sketchy, it suggests that, contrary to Snowden’s statements, he used an element of trickery to retrieve his trove of tens of thousands of classified documents: “At Snowden’s request,” the civilian NSA employee, who is not identified by name, entered his password onto Snowden’s computer terminal, the memo states.

“Unbeknownst to the civilian, Mr. Snowden was able to capture the password, allowing him even greater access to classified information,” the memo states.

The memo states that the civilian employee was unaware that Snowden “intended to unlawfully disclose classified information.” Nevertheless, by sharing with Snowden his personal “public key infrastructure” certificate -- a system of highly secure credentials that provided greater access to NSA’s internal computer system -- the employee “failed to comply with security obligations,” the memo states. As a result, the employee’s security clearance was revoked in November and the NSA has notified the Justice Department that he recently resigned. (A public key infrastructure certificate is a highly secure system of password and log-in exchanges designed to protect against unauthorized access to sensitive computer networks.)

The memo does not explain what actions the U.S. military member and the contractor took that caused them to lose their access to NSA facilities.

"Has anybody been disciplined at NSA for dropping the ball so badly?”

The Feb. 10 memo was signed by Ethan Bauman, the NSA’s director of legislative affairs. It was sent to the congressional committees after repeated questions from senior members about whether the NSA intended to hold any of its employees accountable for the security lapses that enable Snowden to gain access to massive volumes of classified documents that he later leaked to the news media

“Has anybody been disciplined at NSA for dropping the ball so badly?” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., demanded of NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander at a Dec. 11 hearing. Alexander at the time replied that the agency had three “cases” that “we’re currently reviewing.” (An NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines declined comment Wednesday night, writing in an email: “I don’t have anything for your story.”)

The question of how Snowden was able to obtain as much classified material as he did while working at a remote NSA station in Hawaii has been the subject of intensive investigation by the U.S. intelligence community for months.

Reuters reporters Mark Hosenball and Warren Strobel reported in November that Snowden used login credential and passwords provided “unwittingly” by colleagues at the Hawaii spy base. The Reuters report said Snowden “may have persuaded between 20 and 25 fellow workers” to give him their passwords. But the NSA never publicly commented on that report and Snowden appeared to deny it during a public Google chat on Jan. 23.

“Was the privacy of your co-workers considered while you were stealing their log-in and password information?” Snowden was asked during the chat.

“With all due respect to Mark Hosenball, the Reuters report that put this out there was simply wrong,” Snowden replied. “I never stole any passwords, nor did I trick an army of co-workers.”

Ben Wizner, a lawyer for the ACLU who represents Snowden, did not immediately respond to phone and email requests for comment.

USAID cut out of Cuba programs

MiamiHerald.com

By Juan O. Tamayo

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been left out of the $17.5 million appropriated for Cuba democracy programs this fiscal year, amid complaints over partisan political fighting and agency mishandling of the programs.
Instead, the funds will go to the State Department’s Bureaus of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) and Western Hemisphere Affairs (WHA), as well as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a non-profit in Washington.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a member of the House Appropriations committee, said Congress approved cutting USAID out of Cuba funds for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 31 “because there was agreement that USAID frankly needed to get its act together on the Cuba program.”
USAID’s pipeline has $60 million to $70 million in unspent funds for Cuba programs, Diaz-Balart said. He added that it has spent Cuba-tagged money on other programs and granted $3.4 million to a group with little experience, the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba.
The Miami Republican has long been critical of the grant to the Miami non-profit, founded and still closely linked to the leadership of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), which backs President Barack Obama.
USAID spokesperson Karl Duckworth said that a report last year by the Government Accountability Office highlighted the agency’s improved management and oversight of the Cuba programs and contained no recommendations for further changes.
The agency “is proud of the recent reforms recognized by the GAO that isolate the grant selection process from political influence, ensure fair and transparent competition for resources, and focus program impact on the island,” Duckworth said in an email to El Nuevo Herald.
CANF President Jose “Pepe” Hernandez said that if there’s any truth to reports Diaz Balart was a key force behind the decision to leave USAID out of the money, “then Mario has done a great favor to the Cuban regime.” Diaz-Balart noted that both House and Senate approved the change.
Hernandez added that cutting USAID out of the $17.5 million throws away the agency’s 18 years of experience with Cuba programs, launched in 1996 to support civil society and dissident groups in the communist-ruled island.
The Obama administration also did not object strongly to cutting the agency out of the programs because of its own complaints about USAID’s handling of the Cuba programs and the imprisonment of USAID subcontractor Alan Gross in Havana, the sources added.
Secretary of State John Kerry tried to cut spending on the programs when he chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, arguing they are useless and unnecessarily risky. Gross is serving a 15-year prison sentence for delivering communications equipment to Cuban Jews.
In a stunning security lapse, USAID last year used an unencrypted line to send U.S. diplomats in Havana documents on proposals for assisting Cuban dissidents. Cuban laws make it illegal to cooperate with the U.S. democracy programs.
The omnibus appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2014 that USAID is to get none of the $17.5 million set aside for Cuba programs. NED is to get no less than $7.5 million and DRL and WHA are to get no more than $10 million, it adds.
The sum is $2.5 million less than the previous fiscal year’s appropriation, wrote Tracey Eaton, a Florida journalist who was the first to report on the agency’s exclusion on his Web page, Along the Malecon.
Four USAID grants totaling $13.1 million over three years will expire on Sept. 31. They went to the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, the Pan-American Development Foundation, International Relief and Development and the National Democratic Institute.
Another three programs totaling $10.3 million have grants that will run until Sept. 31 of 2015. They are run by the New American Foundation, International Republican Institute and Grupo de Apoyo a la Democracia, a Miami non-profit run by exiles.
Diaz-Balart said he hopes USAID can improve its record on Cuba, and perhaps get new money for the next fiscal year.
The Cuba programs have long been surrounded by complaints of waste and political cronyism, but a report last year by the Government Accountability Office gave USAID a good grade but noted that the State Department must improve the handling of its own programs.
DRL is charged with promoting rights around the globe, including religious freedom and labor rights. WHA handles relations with South and Central America and the Caribbean. NED, which already receives funds for Cuba programs, is a non-partisan non-profit founded in 1983 to assist democratic institutions abroad, including political parties, unions and independent news media.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/12/3930627/usaid-cut-out-of-cuba-programs.html#storylink=cpy

Dodgers reach agreement with Cuban shortstop Erisbel Arruebarruena

siromaniyon

latimes.com

By Steve Dilbeck

Big day for shortstop news in major league baseball, what with Derek Jeter announcing this will be his last season and the Dodgers apparently providing the answer to team president Stan Kasten’s “mystery player” by agreeing to terms Wednesday with a big name -- or at least a really long one.

Erisbel Arruebarruena, reportedly a slick-fielding, light-hitting shortstop, has reach a contract agreement with the Dodgers, two sources told The Times’ Dylan Hernandez. He still has to pass a physical, and there could yet be some immigration issues to be resolved. The Dodgers have not formally announced the deal.

But otherwise the Dodgers’ Cuban pipeline continues to flow. The Dodgers already have two projected Cuban starters in their lineup in outfielder Yasiel Puig and second baseman Alex Guerrero.

Arruebarruena certainly doesn’t figure to start and at best has an immediate future as a backup infielder, one of the Dodgers’ few real needs. More likely, he’ll start the season in the minors to get used to American baseball while the Dodgers see if they can make do with Chone Figgins, Dee Gordon, Justin Turner or Brandan Harris.

Kasten had told season-ticket holders Monday that the Dodgers soon would be adding a mystery player.

Arruebarruena, who turns 24 next month, spent six seasons playing in Cuba so he’s not subject to the international spending cap. He reportedly defected in November and established residency in Haiti.

He bats right-handed and played with Puig for Cienfuegos. In 2012-2013 he hit .293 with a .366 on-base percentage and a .422 slugging percentage. He sounds similar to Miguel Rojas, a non-roster invitee best known for his glove.

That hardly translates into someone ready to make an offensive mark in the majors. But on a team seemingly loaded with offense, later in the season the Dodgers could find him a useful fill-in.

For an organization whose major shortstop prospect, Corey Seager, spent last season at Class A and could be moved to third, Arruebarruena at least adds needed organizational depth.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgersnow/la-sp-dn-cuban-shortstop-erisbel-arruebarruena-dodgers-sign-20140212,0,1739712.story#ixzz2t9R6gver

Derek Jeter to retire after the 2014 season

Brothadude2

HardballTalk

Craig Calcaterra

Simultaneously surprising and not surprising: Derek Jeter has announced that 2014 will be his last season.
Surprising because it’s going to be hard to imagine baseball without Derek Jeter’s presence. His injuries last season aside, the New York Yankees shortstop has been baseball’s constant for nearly 20 years.  Not surprising because he turns 40 in June and that’s a couple of years beyond even the greatest, longest-lived and most durable shortstops in the game.  He sounds like he’ll be ready for the upcoming season, but there cannot be too much more gas left in the tank.
As it stands entering his final year, Jeter has five World Series rings, five gold gloves and 3,316 hits and a career line of .312/.381/.446. He punched his first-ballot ticket to the Hall of Fame years ago. Now he’s playing for the right to go out healthy, on his own terms and, if things break right for the Yankees, a winner.
Prepare for six months of “Let’s win one more for the Captain.” And a lot of retirement gifts.
Here is Jeter’s announcement, as posted on his Facebook page

Cuban immigrant to Oregon lawmakers on gun control: 'Marxism is here'

stephen grey

Empresa brasilena quiere ensamblar autos en Cuba

The Cuban Connection

Danilo Garcia PRESIDENT ALIEXPORT MASON INC. 

flickrhivemind.net

En otro indicio de que la nueva Zona de Desarrollo Especial (ZDE) de Mariel en Cuba se concentrará en una economía de maquiladoras -- personal barato y calificado produciendo bienes de alto valor agregado— el portal de negocios Cuba Standard anunció que el fabricante brasileño de autobuses Marcopolo podría estar interesado en establecer en esa área una operación de montaje.

Las empresas como Marcopolo "están interesadas en la fuerza laboral cubana ya que tienen experiencia en las líneas de ensamblaje, además de tener conocimientos técnicos", dijo al Boletín Panamá el agregado comercial cubano en la capital istmeña, Yanni Solano, quien confirmó la noticia.

El director de la agencia brasileña de promoción del comercio, Apex, había revelado el año pasado que Marcopolo quería abrir una fábrica en Cuba. Según el funcionario, ejecutivos de la compañía brasileña se reunieron a fines del 2012 con personeros de la estatal Caisa, su potencial socio cubano en una empresa mixta.

Marcopolo tiene operaciones de montaje en México y Colombia; su rival doméstico, Busscar, ha estado ensamblando microbuses en Cuba desde la década de los 90.

Según Cuba Standard ésta es la segunda mención de una empresa brasileña interesada en operar en la ZDE del Mariel. La primera fue Fanavid S.A., de São Paulo, una cristalería que espera abrir una planta de producción para abastecer de vidrios arquitectónicos a Cuba ,Brasil y la región del Caribe, según precisó el año pasado un portavoz del Itamaraty (cancillería).

Mariel, situado 30 kilómetros al este de La Habana, es objeto de una expansión valorada en 950 millones de dólares que lo convertiría en uno de los mayores puertos de contenedores del Caribe, con capacidad para hasta un millón de esos portadores, y que se prevé sustituirá las operaciones de carga en el puerto de La Habana. Será operado por la Autoridad Portuaria de Singapur, PSA International.

Junto a la terminal de contenedores se construye la Zona de Desarrollo Integral del Mariel (ZDIM ). Esta se contempla en el plan de zonas de desarrollo especial (ZDE) de Cuba, que permitirían a las empresas beneficiarse de menos burocracia, procedimientos aduaneros simplificados y una mano de obra local altamente calificada.

Cuba Standard señala que las ZDE son parte de un esfuerzo del gobierno de la isla para convencer a los inversores extranjeros de producir en Cuba bienes y servicios de alto valor agregado para la exportación. La empresa creada a esos efectos, ZDIM S.A., es operada por una subsidiaria de GAESA, el holding de las Fuerzas Armadas cubanas .

Agrega el portal que para establecer las zonas de libre comercio, Cuba aún tiene que cambiar su ley de inversión extranjera. El Gobierno de Brasil anunció el año pasado que estaba ayudando a La Habana en la creación de un marco jurídico para las zonas especiales de desarrollo, pero las nuevas regulaciones no han sido publicadas todavía.

"Tenemos mucho interés en cooperar en la definición de este modelo, con el fin de insertar el mayor número posible de empresas brasileñas", adelantó el ministro de Comercio Exterior de Brasil, Fernando Pimentel, mientras visitaba los sitios de construcción.

El Banco Nacional de Desarrollo Económico y Social de Brasil (BNDES) está financiando el 85 por ciento del proyecto del puerto, incluida la ZDE, mientras que Cuba aporta el 15 por ciento restante, según fuentes oficiales en Brasilia.

A cargo de la ejecución de las obras está el gigante brasileño de la construcción Grupo Odebrecht, mientras que prácticamente todos los suministros y servicios para el proyecto son provistos por empresas brasileñas.

La compañía Marcopolo está en tratativas con el holding militar cubano GAESA. Sería la segunda empresa de Brasil interesada en operar en Mariel con mano de obra cubana.

Con los Castro no hay lógica

Diario de Cuba

Roberto Álvarez Quiñones

A partir de la legitimidad que le dio al castrismo la cumbre de la CELAC en La Habana, y de la decisión de la Unión Europea (UE) de ignorar la violación de los derechos humanos y negociar un acuerdo de cooperación con Cuba, los hermanos Castro andan de plácemes: ya no tienen presión internacional para hacer cambios verdaderos. En la isla, "todo está bien".

Los mandatarios latinoamericanos y europeos tal vez piensan que abrazar a los Castro es una buena estrategia para "contagiarles" la democracia y presionarlos para que flexibilicen el régimen. Craso error. Lo que logran es envalentonar a la más prolongada tiranía en la historia de las Américas.

La cúpula militar cubana ahora sabe que haga lo que haga no va a pagar ningún precio político o diplomático. Tiene el visto bueno internacional para no hacer cambios reales y seguir asfixiando las libertades individuales más elementales. No hacen falta ya máscaras para hacer creer que habrá reformas. 

Si las democracias latinoamericanas hubiesen acudido a Santiago de Chile a fines de los años 80 a dar un espaldarazo continental a la dictadura de Augusto Pinochet porque éste había moderado los asesinatos y las desapariciones, y algunos exiliados estaban regresando al país, el general golpista no habría convocado el plebiscito (que él pensaba ganar) que puso fin a su tiranía de 17 años. De haberse conformado los presidentes latinoamericanos, la OEA, la ONU y la UE con aquellos "cambios positivos", Pinochet posiblemente habría seguido siendo dictador hasta su muerte en 2006.

¿Por qué los gobiernos de Latinoamérica, y también los europeos, incluso los de derecha, se niegan a apoyar al pueblo cubano y convalidan la dictadura?

Puede haber muchas respuestas para estas interrogantes, pero a mi modo de ver, además del interés en hacer negocios en la Isla, hay tres que, combinadas, dan en el clavo: 1) a Cuba se le aplica una lógica política y diplomática que corresponde a un país normal, sin serlo; 2) es el pensamiento de Gramsci y no el de Marx, Mao, o el Che Guevara, el que marca la pauta de la izquierda radical en la región; y 3) buena parte de la clase política latinoamericana está "actualizando" el viejo populismo de la primera mitad del siglo XX.

El 'beso de Judas' no funciona

Cuba no es un país normal. Está al margen de toda lógica política. Es un país comunista ortodoxo y encima padece una autocracia dinástica que considera una "traición a la revolución" ceder un ápice en el control absoluto que tiene de la sociedad. Con los Castro no hay diálogo posible. Nunca han concedido nada. Siempre hay que ceder ante ellos, y mucho.

Por eso, con el gobierno cubano no funciona el bíblico "beso de Judas". Resulta inútil acercarse al dictador y mimarlo para comprometerlo a que haga reformas. No las hará.

Más a la izquierda

Hay otro factor fundamental. Antonio Gramsci, fundador del Partido Comunista de Italia, quien ideológicamente era más peligroso que Marx, en los años 30 del siglo pasado sostenía que la única vía realmente viable para llegar al socialismo no era la revolución violenta como propugnaba Lenin, sino ir arrebatándole paulatinamente a la burguesía la hegemonía cultural y mediática mediante la creación de lo que llamó una "fuerza contra-hegemónica".

Para Gramsci no era necesario jugarse la vida en insurrecciones armadas para tomar el poder del Estado, sino lograr el control ideológico de las escuelas, las universidades y sobre todo de los medios de comunicación. O sea, él proponía una verdadera guerra cultural desde abajo, subrepticia.

Eso en buena medida está sucediendo hoy en Latinoamérica, y también en Estados Unidos y Europa (no tanto en Asia y África). Ello explica la paradoja de que pese al derrumbe del "socialismo real" en el Viejo Continente y su desmantelamiento gradual en China y Vietnam, los socialistas tienen ahora más influencia política que durante la guerra fría.

La sovietización de la sociedad  ya no es una opción válida, y la izquierda democrática —que cree en el libre mercado— predomina sobre la "revolucionaria". Pero también es cierto que las universidades, los centros de investigación de las ciencias sociales, la historia y la política, así como los medios de comunicación, cuentan cada vez más con personas que se definen a sí mismas como "anticapitalistas". Actúan como comunistas y no lo saben. Otros lo saben, pero no lo admiten.

Hoy muchos profesores, académicos, artistas, intelectuales, periodistas, editores de medios de comunicación, que tienen una cosmovisión de la realidad social, económica y política mucho más a la izquierda que hace tres o cuatro décadas.

La guerra cultural que propugnaba Gramsci se observa incluso en EEUU, donde a los izquierdistas radicales erróneamente se les considera como "liberales" cuando en realidad son la antípoda del liberalismo. Son lo opuesto a Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine y demás fundadores del pensamiento liberal estadounidense.

El liberalismo reivindica las libertades individuales y aboga por poner límites al Estado y subordinarlo a la autonomía de la persona, mientras que los mal llamados "liberales" promueven la intervención del Estado en el ámbito económico y social. Al respecto, dijo Jefferson: "Cuando el pueblo teme al Gobierno, hay tiranía; cuando el Gobierno teme al pueblo, hay libertad".

Fuerza electoral

En todo Occidente se advierte una influencia creciente de la izquierda en la TV, la prensa escrita, las revistas, el cine, la radio, la internet, etc. Por otra parte, se trata de un segmento social politizado, muy activo en los partidos políticos, los sindicatos, las organizaciones no gubernamentales (ONG), y lo más importante: acude a las urnas a votar.

En los porcentajes de abstención que hay en los procesos electorales latinoamericanos no abundan los izquierdistas, que sí votan, eligen candidatos, y por tanto constituyen hoy una gran fuerza electoral que todo político está obligado a cortejar, en cualquier país.

Esa fuerza política es la que ha llevado al poder a la mayoría de los actuales jefes de Estado en América Latina. Pero en varios países son ellos los responsable del renacimiento del populismo nacionalista y estatista, con su carga de controles gubernamentales y restricciones de todo tipo. Fueron los gobiernos populistas estatistas, al estilo del de Juan Domingo Perón en Argentina, o del Estado Novo de Getulio Vargas en Brasil, los que retardaron el desarrollo económico latinoamericano en el siglo pasado.

La CELAC fue un invento chavista-castrista para enfrentarse políticamente a Estados Unidos,  dinamitar a la OEA, regresar al keynesianismo y el estatismo, e instalar a la dictadura cubana de igual a igual en el concierto de naciones democráticas de América Latina.

Lamentablemente, los gobernantes no asociados al eje populista del ALBA —o a los simpatizantes suyos como los de Argentina, Brasil y Uruguay— también están bailando con la música que tocan en Caracas y en La Habana.

Sea por no enajenar los votos de la izquierda en sus respectivos países, o por creer que a Cuba se le pueden aplicar las mismas reglas de decencia política que a los países con estadistas elegidos en las urnas, definitivamente a los gobernantes latinoamericanos les importa un comino la larga tragedia cubana.

Y que lo aprendan de una vez: con los Castro no hay lógica que valga.

Lawless: Obamacare and the Imperial Government

breitbart

By Ben Shapiro 

www.thecuttingedgenews.com

On Monday, the Obama administration announced that it would be delaying one of the key components of Obamacare yet again. This time, the Treasury Department stated that mid-sized employers – businesses with between 50 and 99 employees – would be able to avoid paying for employee insurance without a fine until 2016. Larger companies could still avoid a fine so long as they pay for the insurance of 70 percent of their full-time workers.

None of this was in the original Affordable Care Act. But recognizing that employers were about to begin slashing employee hours to avoid having to pay for insurance, the Obama administration moved to mitigate the political impact in anticipation of the 2014 elections.

It’s no shock to see commentators like Charles Krauthammer condemning the president’s usurpation of constitutional authority; Krauthammer rightly called Obama’s actions “stuff you do in a banana republic.” It’s no surprise when the Wall Street Journal editorial board explains that terming the Affordable Care Act “Obamacare” makes sense because “the law increasingly means whatever President Obama says it does on any given day.”

But even Ron Fournier of National Journal has now said he is “getting sick of defending Obamacare,” and added that it is “getting difficult and slinking toward impossible to defend the Affordable Care Act.” The fact that Obama’s quasi-dictatorial actions only put his allies in the “slinking toward impossible” camp rather than the outright opposition only speaks to the depth of Obama worship that still predominates on the intellectually dishonest left.

But it is precisely the left’s intellectual dishonesty that has allowed Obamacare to move forward. Obamacare is easily the most lawless piece of legislation ever foisted on the American people. Manipulated and processed, chopped and reassembled, Obamacare has become a devil’s playground for arbitrary government – and it hasn’t even come into full force and effect.

The lawlessness began with the passage of Obamacare itself, which relied on a combination of bribery and election theft in order to gain the necessary votes. The bill originally included the so-called Cornhusker Kickback – a basic payoff to the state of Nebraska – in order to earn the vote of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE). While the Cornhusker Kickback was later repealed in committee, the damage had already been done: with Nelson on the record for the bill, he couldn’t politically backtrack. Similarly, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) originally handed over his Obamacare vote in return for avoiding cuts to Medicare Advantage in Florida, before that provision of the bill was killed in conference – the so-called Gator-Aid payoff. Then there was the Louisiana Purchase, in which Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) effectively sold her Obamacare vote in return for $4.3 billion in Medicaid funds.

Even so, the Democrats didn’t have 60 votes on Obamacare until Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) was cheated out of his seat with endless voting recounts. Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) entered the Senate, putting the Democrats at 60 votes – even though the most liberal state in America, Massachusetts, had just elected a Republican to fill Teddy Kennedy’s seat largely on the basis of opposition to Obamacare. Obamacare was quickly passed without anyone reading the final bill – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) infamously said that we had to pass the bill to find out what was in it. And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) rammed through a vote on Obamacare just before Christmas 2009 to avoid blowback from the American people when Senators went home for the holidays. Both Pelosi and Reid used myriad procedural conjurings in order to pass the bill. And, of course, the Democrats lied to the public about the costs of the bill in order to avoid further public scrutiny, just as President Obama lied about being able to keep both your health insurance plan and your doctor.

The lawlessness extended to the Supreme Court, where Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued an opinion that ranks alongside Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), and Roe v. Wade (1973) in the moral and legal lowlights of American jurisprudence. Justice Roberts somehow turned what was a fine for failure to purchase a health insurance plan – constitutionally impermissible – into a tax, which was constitutionally permissible. That despite the fact that Obamacare was pitched again and again as a non-tax by Democrats in order to pass the bill. Suddenly, the government mandating that you buy something simply because you’re breathing was legitimated under the lie that it constituted a tax.

Once the bill became law, the true lawlessness began. Recognizing the politically unpalatable nature of Obamacare early, even to his allies, President Obama quickly began issuing waivers to friends, particularly union cronies. In July 2013, he delayed the implementation of the Obamacare employer mandate until 2015 – quite illegally, as it turns out. In November 2013, after criticism of the administration arose due to mass cancellations of individual insurance plans, Obama unilaterally declared that insurance companies could keep selling plans that were not permitted under Obamacare. Then, in December 2013, he delayed the individual mandate for some thanks to the botched Obamacare rollout.

The growth of the imperial presidency with regard to Obamacare represents one of the ugliest blemishes on the face of our republic. In fact, it demonstrates that the checks and balances that once protected Americans’ rights have been stripped away by an executive branch hell-bent on power, a judicial branch hell-bent on passing the buck, and a legislative branch hell-bent on re-election via delegation of authority to the executive and the judicial. That spells doom for the concept of rule of law. If no one can be held to the standard of the Constitution, the Constitution is rendered meaningless. And if the Constitution is rendered meaningless, the rule of men replaces the rule of law.

The lawlessness of Obamacare continues unabated. A seven-foot-high stack of law and regulations can be twisted and turned to fit any perspective – or, if you’re President Obama, redlined post-facto in violation of the Constitution. The law itself is lawless; the implementation is lawless; the slicing and dicing is lawless. But the concept of the rule of law no longer applies in the world of big, arbitrary, all-encompassing government.

Sobrino de Fidel y Raul Castro en su feudo de Labiofam

nadie lo menciona ni lo tiene en cuenta, pero jose ramon fraga castro es el sobrino de fidel y raul castro mas firmemente establecido. es el hijo de la recientemente fallecida angelita castro. bien instalado en el feudo de labiofam, el sobrino le hacia llegar puntualmente pienso y medicinas de uso veterinario a su sra. madre que luego ella distribuia para la venta clandestina mediante una red de "sobrinas" de la hermanisima. vaya a el chico, torrens, el cano, valle grande y areas colindantes y ello no es noticia, sino mecanismo para alimentar al puerquito y las gallinitas.

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Evidence of a Cuba Push-Poll

capitolhillcubans

Last week, we noted how the The Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht Center was preparing a push-poll on Cuba policy.

There's no clearer evidence that this is simply a political hatchet-job than
the fact that U.S. Senators Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
have just published (on Monday) an op-ed in The Miami Herald citing figures from the Arsht poll.

(Comic relief: In the op-ed, the Senators from Arizona and Vermont lecture us about Florida politics.)

The Flake-Leahy op-ed must have been cued for days.

Yet, the Arsht poll is not scheduled for release until tomorrow (Tuesday)!

As we all know, Senators Flake and Leahy are Congress' leading advocates of unconditionally embracing Cuba's Castro dictatorship.

And obviously, The Arsht Center has colluded in this political hatchet-job in conjunction with Flake and Leahy.

Sloppy and shameless.

What You Won't Read About Arsht's Cuba Push-Poll

capitolhillcubans

The anticipated push-poll by The Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht Center will be released this morning.

Here's what you probably won't read in most news stories about its results.

First, the entire release is biased and agenda-driven.  No dissenting voices have been invited to participate. As we noted earlier, U.S. Senators Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Congress' biggest supporters of unconditionally engaging the Castro regime, worked hand-in-hand with the pollsters and organizers. To the point that Flake-Leahy wrote a Miami Herald oped -- citing figures from the poll -- that was published the day before its official release.

It is not a poll of voters. It's a general population poll, in which they could have polled Honey-Boo-Boo and it would have been reflected in the results.

The push-poll's "big news" is that 56% of Americans purportedly support "normalizing relations or engaging directly" with Castro. Note how broad that is. Moreover, they don't ask about the "embargo" specifically -- for they know there's no support in Congress for lifting the embargo. This push-poll is aimed at the Obama Administration. Yet, based on the results, more Americans support repealing Obamacare than engaging with Castro. And we know the Obamacare numbers don't influence the President.

Since the 56% isn't particularly moving, they ridiculously claim Floridians favor engagement by an even greater number -- 63%. Of course, there's no sampling structure or breakdown of how they polled Florida. We'd note that neither of the pollsters have any experience in Florida politics, let alone the Senators from Arizona and Vermont. Anyone that has actually won a race in the State of Florida, including the Obama Administration, knows that is silliness.

Interestingly enough, even in a push-poll, when an explanation of the human rights abuses by the Castro regime preceded the question, the number of Americans that support engagement went down from 56% to 43%. Even their Florida numbers went down from 63% to 43%. This wide swing shows that those polled knew little about Cuba, particularly those in Florida. Odd right? Not really, that's exactly who the pollsters were targeting. It's laughable to think Floridians are less aware of human rights abuses in Cuba than non-Floridians. It also shows why Castro's U.S. advocates are constantly trying to "white-wash" the regime's abuses.

*Note that the question that most accurately reflects the human rights and democratic conditions codified in U.S. law -- as prerequisites for lifting sanctions -- is the one that throws off their "engagement" narrative.

The poll purports that 64% of Miami-Dade County supports "normalization" with Castro. Once again, no breakdown of who was polled in Miami-Dade County. Yet, the fact remains every single Cuban-American elected official -- in any position -- in Miami-Dade County supports the embargo. So the facts speak for themselves.

Of course, with the push-poll aimed at the Obama Administration, they asked about the "state-sponsors of terrorism" list and were surprised that it was originally split. So they claim that after more "information" (literally telling respondents "Cuba poses no threat"), the numbers of those wanting Cuba off the list went up to 61%. This was the neatest jedi trick since Obi Wan Kenobi at the Star Wars Cantina. Needless to say, they didn't "inform" about arms-trafficking to North Korea, the harboring of U.S. Most Wanted Terrorists, the support provided to Treasury-designated terrorist groups, money laundering concerns, subverting democracy in the Western Hemisphere, etc.

Sloppy and shameless.

The Hill: Latin America Has Democracy, But Lacks Democrats

capitolhillcubans

By Mauricio Claver-Carone in The Hill:

Latin America has democracy, but lacks democrats

Latin America's democratically elected leaders paraded through the last remaining dictatorship in the Western Hemisphere and paid homage to its totalitarian rulers.

They were in Havana for a summit last week of the Community of Latin American States (CELAC, in Spanish), an anti-U.S. concoction of deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Currently the organization’s rotating presidency is held by Cuban dictator, Gen. Raul Castro.

Seemingly these elected leaders were neither interested nor concerned that Cuba’s government had threatened, beaten and arrested hundreds of the island’s democracy advocates who had tried to plan and hold a parallel summit to discuss the lack of freedom and human rights in Cuba.

In regards to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, this would seem to be particularly unfortunate. Both were once themselves victims of military dictatorships and scorned dignitaries who coddled their repressors.

So why would Latin America's democratically elected leaders willingly participate in such a hypocritical charade? What does Cuba's morally, politically and economically bankrupt regime offer them that they would stake the loss of credibility by attending?

Some take part in these charades of diplomacy because they fear left-wing agitators back home; others simply attend to pursue business deals without transparency and some simply want to show they are anti-American.

Of course the main reason for their irreverence is that, despite being democratically elected, they lack democratic zeal and conviction. Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, Ecuador's Rafael Correa, Bolivia's Evo Morales, Argentina's Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega have all evidenced authoritarian ambitions. Others hide them better.

What inhibits them is the institutionalization of "representative democracy" as the backbone of hemispheric relations, as was agreed upon in the 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter signed by 34 of the 35 countries of the Western Hemisphere. To skirt the Charter, they try to manipulate laws and institutions and exert greater executive control while maintaining a facade of democracy.

The biggest deterrent to breaking their public commitments to "representative democracy" is the omnipresent economic isolation of Cuba as the result of U.S. sanctions. So these leaders pay homage to Castro and engage in fiery rhetoric, but tip-toe around serious aggression.  They are keenly aware that they need the United States to survive economically. A case in point is Venezuela, whose struggling economy is entirely dependent on exporting oil to the United States.  Thus U.S. sanctions on Cuba serve as “the stick” to “the carrot” of the Inter-American Democratic Charter and obeisance, if not enforcement, of its principles.

It's precisely the authoritarian underbelly of these Latin American leaders that makes them such zealous lobbyists for the end of U.S. sanctions on Cuba.  It's for this reason that they want to see the Castro regime embraced and "fully integrated" into inter-American system despite its blatant disregard for representative democracy. Such a U.S. policy change would allow them to accelerate their own authoritarian tendencies and free their zeal for absolute power.

If U.S. sanctions toward Cuba are lifted and Castro's dictatorship is "fully integrated" -- what's to keep a return to the Latin American dictatorships of the 20th Century?

The people of the Americas can’t afford a return to the dictatorships -- whether leftist or rightist -- that once ruled Latin America. Some of those governments may have seemed to be “good” for business at their time, but would be severely damaging to the national interests of the United States and the Western Hemisphere in the 21st century.

For the United States to “normalize” relations with Cuba's dictatorship without political reforms or a rule of law opens a Pandora's Box that can lead to history repeating itself.  Sadly there are plenty of Latin American “leaders” who would gladly seize the opportunity to permanently close the door on democracy.  Let’s not hand them the opportunity.

-----------------
Claver-Carone is a director of the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC and host of "From Washington al Mundo" on Sirius-XM's Cristina Radio. He is an attorney who formerly served with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and has served on the full-time faculty of The Catholic University of America's School of Law and adjunct faculty of The George Washington University's National Law Center.

Bebo Valdes & Diego El Cigala: "Hubo un Lugar-Cuba Linda"

Koshmarin48

Cuba: Reclusos producen carbon de marabu

PalenqueVision

Anderson Silva's First Interview Since His Injury (Eng Subtitled)

TheLegacyOfSpider

Gobierno de Cuba propone dar "palizas" a los opositores

Joan Antoni Guerrero Vall

El "secreto de estado" del cablecito en la foto de Fidel: Defecacion electronica

Un cubano en Canarias

Menuda se ha montado con los chicos de Associated Press divulgando la manipulación que Alex Castro realizó a las fotos que le sacó a su padre durante la CELAC, en la imagen facilitada por AP se advierte como mediante el uso de la edición fotográfica se ha borrado de la oreja del dictador un pequeño cable que muchos se han apresurado a decir es un "aparato de escucha", es decir, Fidel está medio sordo.

Sin embargo a raíz de un comentario del amigo Ramón Muñoz, médico y activista radicado en Canarias el cual conozco personalmente este cable puede estar relacionado con una especie de control remoto del esfinter anal, es decir el musculo en el ano que posibilita la excreción de las heces fecales.

Comentario del doctor Muñoz en la pagina "Levantamiento Popular"

Esfinter artificial

Bien, después de este jaleo me he puesto a buscar información en la red y efectivamente, existen este tipo de dispositivos y se usan varias técnicas, desde control remoto manual, hasta activación neuronal e infrarrojos.

¿Por qué manipular las imágenes? Se podría entender perfectamente que Fidel no pueda ir al baño por si solo luego de los problemas de salud que ha tenido, sin embargo en la agenda del régimen y su aparato propagandístico parece que tal suposición no tiene cabida, su perfil griego debe mantenerse lo máximo posible.

No obstante el sistema tuvo un fallo que ya advertí levemente en mi twitter durante la CELAC, una imagen colgada en la pagina de FLICKR de Cubadebate del dictador hablando con la presidenta brasileña advierte una especie de bolsa color malva debajo de los glúteos.

El caso es que en las fotos a la máxima resolución que he podido encontrar se pueden apreciar cosas interesantes

El cable que ya dió a conocer AP se ve perfectamente.

El cable

La bolsa debajo de los glúteos probablemente sirva para almacenar los excrementos del dictador una vez se activa el esfinter desde el cable instalado en la oreja, que puede ser un dispositivo neuronal o un control remoto.

La bolsita

En fin, que todo indica que Fidel no está sordo pues el famoso cable no forma parte de un aparato de amplificación de sonido, nunca se le ha dado bien escuchar a los demás, sobretodo al pueblo de Cuba, pienso que no sería tan importante para el dictador, pero (y perdonen la expresión) que no cague por si solo si debe ser humillante, a tal punto de borrar las pruebas en photoshop para que no nos demos cuenta, han fallado.

Actualización: Cuelgo una nueva foto donde se puede apreciar con más detalle el dispositivo de Fidel Castro en el oído, no solo se nota perfectamente el cable sino una especie de "base" pegada por detrás de la oreja.

Detalle del dispositivo

PD: Iré actualizando la información si me llegan mas datos técnicos sobre este asunto

El Cuba Study Group sale en defensa de Alfonso Fanjul

con un chairman como  Carlos A. Saladrigas, un Andres Fanjul y un  Tomas Bilbao como executive director, el Cuba Study Group  no pasa de ser una mascarada akademica de los colaboracionistas.

---------------- 

Diario de Cuba

El Cuba Study Group respaldó este lunes al magnate azucarero Alfonso Fanjul, quien tras décadas de oposición al régimen cubano se manifestó recientemente a favor de una apertura hacia La Habana, reporta EFE.

"Apoyamos el hecho de que el señor Fanjul haya iniciado un debate importante, oportuno y crítico dentro de la comunidad cubanoamericana, y en términos de la política estadounidense, sobre cómo responder efectivamente a los importantes cambios estructurales en Cuba", dijo el Cuba Study Group en un comunicado.

Fanjul huyó de Cuba siendo muy joven. Su familia dejó en la Isla una fortuna azucarera que el Gobierno de Fidel Castro nacionalizó.

En su exilio en Estados Unidos, el empresario amasó una de las fortunas más grandes de Norteamérica. Además, construyó relaciones con miembros del Congreso y presidentes que se beneficiaron de su generosidad, y se convirtió en uno de los principales financiadores del movimiento anticastrista.

Sin embargo, en una entrevista a principios de este mes con el diario The Washington Post dijo que estaría dispuesto a hacer negocios en Cuba, bajo ciertas condiciones.

"Si hay alguna manera de que la bandera familiar pueda volver a Cuba, estaré contento de que así sea", declaró Fanjul. Según el Post, el magnate ha visitado la Isla y se ha reunido con funcionarios.

Sus declaraciones provocaron una oleada de reacciones en los círculos empresariales y políticos de la comunidad cubanoestadounidense.

El Cuba Study Group, organización que se define como "no partidaria", "compuesta por líderes empresariales y comunitarios cubanos que comparten un interés y visión común de una Cuba libre y próspera", condenó "los ataques personales, insinuaciones e insultos" que, dijo, recibió Fanjul desde que concedió la entrevista.

A sus 76 años, el empresario ha dicho estar reconsiderando su postura sobre las relaciones con Cuba y que La Habana podría convertirse en un socio comercial "bajo las circunstancias adecuadas".

"La familia (Fanjul) estuvo en Cuba durante 150 años y, sí, al final, me gustaría ver a nuestra familia en Cuba, donde empezamos. Pero tiene que ser bajo las circunstancias adecuadas. Espero que un día Estados Unidos y Cuba puedan encontrar una manera para que toda la comunidad cubana sea capaz de vivir y trabajar unida", declaró el magnate.

Las palabras de Fanjul, donante destacado de las campañas del expresidente demócrata Bill Clinton, han provocado el rechazo inmediato de los legisladores republicanos Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Díaz-Balart y el senador Marco Rubio.

"Mientras que los activistas por la democracia en la Isla se enfrentan a represalias aún más duras del brutal régimen cubano, es patético que un magnate cubanoamericano se sienta inspirado para pisar las espaldas de los activistas con el fin de dar a los matones comunistas más dinero con el que reprimir", afirmó Ros-Lehtinen en un comunicado.

El Cuba Study Group consideró esas declaraciones "intolerantes" y dijo que faltan el respeto "a la integridad de las personas que pueden adoptar puntos de vista alternativos".

"La virulencia de estas declaraciones no se justifica y demuestra desprecio por principios democráticos básicos", añadió el grupo.

Por otro lado, el empresario y exembajador estadounidense en Bélgica Paul Cejas, quien dejó Cuba poco después de la revolución, también ha declarado que "la diplomacia es una herramienta de la política".

"Es una herramienta de compromiso. Y se utiliza incluso con el más amargo de nuestros enemigos", enfatizó Cejas, amigo de Fanjul.

AP retirará siete fotos de Fidel Castro por manipulación

se dara alguien cuenta algun dia que en la finca biranesa todo es objeto de manipulacion incluyendo la simpleza del aparatico para sordos del decrepito magno paciente, porque si alguien cree que le estaban soplando bocadillos al viejuco dejenme advertirles que este es sordo cerebral, no admite sugerencias ni apuntadores. o quizas -quien sabe-, raulito lo haya lobotomizado y lo tenga alambrado para modular sus delirios. la pincelada humoristica la  pone el hijito gordiflon cuando afirma que no sabia que las fotos del viejo habian sido manipuladas antes de su distribucion.

---------------------- 

Diario de Cuba

La Associated Press retirará siete fotos de Fidel Castro entregadas por La Habana, al determinar que algunas fueron alteradas digitalmente para borrar lo que parece ser un auricular en el oído del exgobernante.

Las imágenes fueron difundidas por Estudios Revolución, una entidad gubernamental que distribuye imágenes de funcionarios y actividades de gobierno, durante la reciente Cumbre de Latinoamérica y el Caribe en La Habana.

Fueron retransmitidas por la AP y por otras agencias noticiosas internacionales a sus clientes alrededor del mundo.

"Hemos concluido que varias fotografías oficiales de Fidel Castro fueron manipuladas. Borrar elementos de una fotografía es totalmente inaceptable y es una clara violación de los estándares de la AP", dijo el vicepresidente y director del departamento de fotografía de la AP, Santiago Lyon.

La AP le informó a las autoridades cubanas de su decisión sobre las fotografías. No hubo una reacción ni comentario oficial.

Según los estándares de la AP, todas las fotos deben representar la realidad y no se les debe manipular para agregar ni sustraer nada que altere esa realidad.

La política de la agencia noticiosa es usar fotos entregadas solo cuando no hay otra opción, y en esos casos se les somete a un estudio minucioso, a fin de verificar que no hayan sido manipuladas.

Durante uno de esos estudios, los editores de fotos detectaron una anomalía en una foto en la que aparecía Castro reunido con el presidente ecuatoriano Rafael Correa el 29 de enero en La Habana.

La AP obtuvo las imágenes originales, de alta resolución, del fotógrafo, Alex Castro, el hijo del dictador cubano.

El original mostraba claramente un cable delgado que se introducía en la oreja de Fidel Castro, el cual faltaba de la foto alterada difundida por Estudios Revolución.

La AP no transmitió a los clientes la fotografía de Correa ni ninguna foto oficial de Castro difundida posteriormente. Pero un estudio de otras imágenes entregadas, incluida una foto de Castro reunido con la presidenta argentina Cristina Fernández, mostraba señales similares de manipulación.

La foto fue transmitida por la AP y otras organizaciones noticiosas.

Fotografías de semanas recientes mostraban un pequeño artefacto transparente en el oído de Castro, que se cree era un audífono.

Alex Castro ha tomado la mayoría de las fotos de su padre, de 87 años de edad, y que han sido difundidas desde que el dictador sufrió una enfermedad casi fatal que le obligó a dejar el poder en 2006.

Castro hijo suministró a la AP las imágenes originales no adulteradas apenas la agencia se lo solicitó. Dijo a la AP que no sabía que habían sido alteradas antes de su distribución.

Las fotos habían sido entregadas primero a Estudios Revolución, y luego redistribuidas por varios medios de prensa cubanos. Además de eliminar las siete fotografías, la AP está revisando todas las imágenes de Fidel Castro entregadas en los años recientes, unas 150 en total.