Granma 139
Cuba Rejected Jewish Refugees in 1939
SS Saint Louis:
Under U.S. Pressure, Cuba Turned its Back on 909 Jewish Refugees in 1939
This is the heartbreaking story of the passengers of the SS Saint Louis liner, who in order to escape persecution by the Nazis, decided to travel to Havana, and then to the United States, but upon arrival at the Cuban port, under pressure from the U.S. government, were denied
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Author: Dolphin Xiqués Cutiño | archivo@granma.cu
March 17, 2020 13:03:41
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
The SS Saint Louis leaving the port of Havana on June 2, 1939, when the Jewish refugees were denied landing. Photo: Carteles Magazine
This is the heartbreaking story of the 937 passengers of the SS Saint Louis liner, who in order to escape the persecution by the Nazis, decided to travel to Havana, and then to the United States, but upon arrival at the Cuban port, under pressure from the Yankee government, were denied disembarkation.
Most of the passengers were Jewish families who, with the arrival of the Nazi party to power, began to be harassed: Their synagogues and properties were burned, they were constantly harassed and, moreover, they risked being detained only because they were Jews.
937 Jews fleeing the Nazi repression were shipped to the port of Hamburg. Photo: Taken from the Internet
Also traveling were four Spaniards and two Cubans who were not Jews. Almost all of them carried their visas in order issued by the Cuban Embassy in Berlin at a cost of $200 or $300 each, a fortune at that time.
The passengers of the SS Saint Louis were traveling with the illusion of reaching Cuba and then the United States, but that did not happen. Photo: Taken from the Internet
The SS Saint Louis set sail from the port of Hamburg on May 13, 1939. Gisela Felman was 15 years old when she embarked on that unknown adventure and “she remembers her father begging her mother to wait for him but she was tenacious and always replied: I have to take the girls away for safety.”
The families enjoyed the trip without suspecting that they would be rejected in Cuba, in the United States and in other Latin American countries. Photo: Taken from the Internet
“So, armed with visas for Cuba acquired in Berlin, 10 German marks in their bag and another 200 hidden in their underwear, they headed for Hamburg and the St Louis.
The voyage took place with the usual normality of passenger ships. Games, dances, dinners, walks on deck and that its captain Gustav Schroder kept so that women, men and children could enjoy the comforts on board, knowing that those families had suffered enough on German land.
The Havanese were very supportive of Jewish immigrants. Photo: Taken from the Internet
Everything was ready for the passengers to disembark. But big was the surprise when the authorities showed up on board the ship and informed the captain that nobody could go ashore.
The Jewish immigrants were unaware that eight days before the departure of the ship from Hamburg, the then president of Cuba, Federico Laredo Bru, under pressure from the Yankees, had denied the landing permits by means of a decree. Now, in order to enter Cuba, it was required to have an authorization from the Secretary of State and another from the Secretary of Labor and to pay a $500 bonus, except for the tourists.
The SS Saint Louis in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, after sailing for almost a month through Latin America without getting any country to accept its passengers. Photo: Taken from the Internet
Of course, the Jewish refugees could not comply with the new entry regulations because they had left Germany with what little value they had left. And now they had nothing of value with them, only their lives.
Only 28 passengers were able to disembark without problems, including the four Spaniards and the two Cubans.
The SS St. Louis remained in the Havana watershed for almost a week while the lives of the 909 Jewish refugees were traded as if they were just another commodity. They were fleeing from Nazism and were caught by capitalism.
On June 2, President Laredo Bru ordered Captain Gustav Schroder to leave the port of Havana. As the ship was leaving, thousands of Havana residents came to see them off, offering their solidarity and thus showing that the Cuban people were with them.
The ship set sail escorted by two Navy boats and set course for Florida, but there they refused to receive them as they did in Puerto Rico. The captain then telegraphed the authorities in Canada, Honduras, Venezuela, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, and Argentina, among other countries, to persuade them to take in the Jewish immigrants, but they all refused entry.
Almost a month after his departure from Germany, the SS Saint Louis had to set out for Europe and after long conversations some Jews were accepted by Great Britain, Holland and France, confining them in internment camps. The remaining passengers disembarked on June 17, 1939, in Antwerp, Belgium.
The epilogue to this heartbreaking story goes back to the German invasion of western Europe in May 1940: approximately 670 SS Saint Louis refugees were caught by the Nazis and died in concentration camps. Some 240 survived years of starvation, abuse, and forced labor.
Sources:
Cartel Magazine, June 11, 1939
Juventud Rebelde, March 29, 2009
No One Can Ever Bury Marx
No One Can Ever Bury Marx
There is no Marxist who knows Marx’s work inside out and does not fight for social justice; if one rationally assumes his postulates, but does not vibrate in the face of injustice committed against other human beings, in any corner of the planet
by Enrique Ubieta Gómez
March 14, 2020
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Illustration dedicated to Karl Marx Photo: Archive illustration
There is a drawing that imitates a photo, Karl Marx appears in a pitusa, a red pullover and leather jacket. Under his arm, he carries a volume of his masterpiece: Das Kapital. The Genius of Trier looks at us as he walks, impatient. The poster bears a legend, written in English and Russian: “I am back”. In another poster, Marx himself, now full-length, appears with a couple of university students; the professor and his students are almost dressed alike. This is recent propaganda by the Russian Communists. They’ve made one of Lenin’s as well. Sitting down, he holds a modern laptop on his knees and feverishly writes one of his revolutionary articles. The drawings connect, no doubt, with young people. They are doors that invite to be crossed.
On March 14, 137 years ago today, the greatest social thinker in history physically ceased to exist. His mark on modern culture is so profound that it is not necessary to know his work in depth to breathe its air. Humanity, whether it knows it or not, has assimilated many of his discoveries, just as, without having read or studied Copernicus or Darwin, it “knows” that the Earth is round and understands that evolution is a key factor in nature. The intellection of his work is, however, arduous: it demands dedication, study. Marx set out to understand capitalism, and he discovered its fundamental laws, in force despite its changes. He also discovered the path to overcome them. From a theoretical point of view, he was a man of action. But we are not given in simplifying capsules, nor in manuals.
His work demands active readers, creators. It demands native revolutions, capable of readjusting their paths, time and again, as Martí requested, in order to avoid the sieges and traps of Capital, its military, financial and media tentacles, and to conquer spaces of freedom, anti-colonial at first, and anti-neocolonial later. Fidel explained it as follows: “Marx’s theory was never a scheme: it was a conception, it was a method, it was an interpretation, it was a science. And science is applied to each concrete case. And no two concrete cases are exactly the same. The Cuban Revolution had the genius of Fidel, and a well-established tradition, whose roots go back to the independence and anti-imperialist thinking of José Martí and Antonio Maceo. It extends through a long list of combatants in the 20th century: Carlos Baliño, Julio Antonio Mella, Rubén Martínez Villena, Antonio Guiteras, Jesús Menéndez, Frank País, Ernesto Che Guevara…
There is no Marxist who knows Marx’s work inside out and does not fight for social justice. if one rationally assumes its postulates, but does not vibrate before injustice committed against other human beings, in any corner of the planet.
Ethics and science are basic assumptions. That is why in 2001 Fidel reaffirmed: “We will never renounce the principles we acquired in the struggle to bring all justice to our country by putting an end to the exploitation of man by man, inspired by the history of humanity and by the most preclarified theorists and promoters of a socialist system of production and distribution of wealth. It is the only one capable of creating a truly just and humane society: Marx, Engels and later Lenin. 137 years ago today, Karl Marx physically abandoned us. But no one will ever be able to bury him.
Diversifying IT Services and Making Them Exportable
Diversifying IT Services and Making Them Exportable
The Minister of Communications, during the balance sheet of the Informatics and Communications Business Group, highlighted the need to encourage human capital and undertake projects that increase income
by Yaditza del Sol González | internet@granma.cu
February 19, 2020
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Cuba is strongly committed to the computerization of society, despite the intensification of the U.S. economic blockade. Currently, 63% of the country’s population is connected to the Internet through various channels. Photo: Granma Archive
Establishing alliances that promote productive linkages between different Cuban enterprises, implementing services to citizens, with priority given to government management and electronic commerce, as well as accelerating the safe development of technological infrastructure and encouraging research, development and innovation programs, are actions that respond to a single strategy: the implementation of the policy of computerization of society.
This was the opinion of the head of the Ministry of Communications, Jorge Luis Perdomo Di-Lella, who highlighted the need to encourage human capital and undertake projects that increase income. In this sense, he referred to the possibilities of exporting Cuban software, with a guaranteed quality, and in the deployment of proposals that are connected with foreign investment.
“The challenge is to diversify services, make them attractive, study which ones we can offer in the international market, all from the resources we have. In view of the economic situation of the country and the tightening of the U.S. economic blockade against Cuba, we are called upon to manage financing and seek foreign currency. [We must do this] either by using measures to make state-owned companies more flexible or by means of productive chains. This not only contributes to the monetary stability of the country but also to the very development of business.
During the assessment of the Informatics and Communications Business Group, the Minister called for a close follow-up of the e-government program. [This is] because once the present stage is over, “we are entering a more complex phase, where the provincial and local governments must guarantee the updating of the website’s contents and motivate the citizen to be at the center of the transformation of the management they carry out”.
With respect to cyber security, he said that there is a demand for digital certificates in the country and yet there is no consolidated marketable supply from computer and communications companies. The use of these certificates by the institutions allows us to increase the security codes and protect the exchange of information, an essential tool in a scenario where Cuban users are increasingly connected.
As Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has mentioned on several occasions – the Minister emphasized – we must be able to make better use of the financial resources at our disposal to enhance the process of computerizing society.
IN FIGURES
By the end of 2019:
7.1 million Cubans were connected to the Internet, representing 63% of the country’s population
More than 143,000 homes were connected to the Nauta Hogar network
More than six million active lines are supported by the mobile phone network on the island, and 70% of these connections were made through smartphones
Source: Global Digital Report 2020 and Etecsa
Toiletries to Become Available
Toiletries are Going to Become Available
Authorities say that April will show some improvement in the supply of toiletries.
As of May and June the situation should be stable in the country.
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by Yaditza del Sol González | internet@granma.cu
and Yudy Castro Morales | yudy@granma.cu
March 4, 2020 00:03:02
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Toiletries, such as soap, toothpaste, liquid detergent and others sold in the retail network, should start to show greater availability in the market, even from March itself. Photo: Vicente Brito
Based on the current conditions of the national industry, the conciliation in terms of production and the assigned financing, the toiletries -such as soap, toothpaste, liquid detergent and others that are sold in the retail stores-must start to show a greater availability in the market, even from this month.
This was announced by Betsy Diaz Velazquez, head of Domestic Trade (Mincin). She explained that now in March, the levels of presence and assurance of these products will show better performance compared to previous weeks, which should go to stability once they begin to recover inventories.
In this regard, she added, April will also show some improvement, and from May and June the situation of sanitation should be stable in the country.
As to why these items are not marketed through the system of the ration book, perhaps as an emerging measure in the face of hoarding and re-sellers, the Minister explained that the toiletries can not be included in the basic family basket, as it would become a controlled product and, therefore, acquire rights.
If we do not have enough to put, for example, one soap per person, and ensure that it reaches the population according to the established cycles, then we can not assume control measures in the register of consumers, said Diaz Velazquez.
“What we can do, and do, is give the authorities of the territory the power to apply regulatory measures in the sale of products in high demand and with insufficient supply on the market. We are not talking about the administrator, but a power of governments and municipal administrations,” he said.
In addition, he insisted, there are certain items that can only market the units of MINCIN, such as Lis and Nacar soap, or liquid detergent Limtel. No one else is authorized, and anyone who incurs in this type of sales is acting illegally.
Since February, Suchel has had all the financing required to meet the planned levels of washing and toilet soap, liquid detergent and toothpaste. Photo: Granma Archive
AT THE SUCHEL COMPANY
Carlos Miguel Boggiano Sánchez, Managing Director of the company Suchel, agrees with the words of the head of MINCIN, telling Granma that “in May they will start to gradually improve deliveries, after achieving sustainability in their production and marketing”.
And more than goodwill or an optimistic attitude to support the announced stability, the company has, since February, “all the financing required to respond to the planned levels of laundry and toilet soap, liquid detergent and toothpaste”, products that showed sensitive deficits during 2019 and at the beginning of the year.
This guarantee, stressed Boggiano Sanchez, “marks the difference with respect to previous periods and ensures compliance with contracts for raw materials, as well as their arrival.
To get an idea of the recovery trend shown by the industry, it is appropriate to review the production indices for the first quarter of 2019 and those contemplated for the same stage in 2020.
During the first three months of the previous year, this entity delivered to MINCIN 7,806 tons of cleaning supplies, a figure that represented 16.1% of the 2019 plan.
However, at the end of March, the company must deliver 8296 tons, equivalent to 16,5 % of the forecast for 2020, a schedule that shows growth in the four families of products mentioned.
“From the raw material already available in the market, it is projected to exceed the production of the quarter by 380 tons of washing soap and 500 tons of liquid detergent”, said the CEO of Suchel.
It is precisely this last product, together with toothpaste, that has shown the greatest impact at the beginning of the year. It is estimated that it will recover, as of May, in the following order: detergent, although demand continues to exceed supply; laundry soap, toilet soap and toothpaste.
He said that, so far, the most significant deliveries are concentrated in the provinces of Havana, Matanzas, Villa Clara and Camagüey.
He stressed that as with the stable arrival of raw materials and the continuity of production, the industry, composed of six business units with a productive base, will put its capacities above 95% of use. This is the goal for which all the strategies are designed, from the availability of personnel to the organization of the required work shifts.
And it cannot leave out, from any productive analysis, as Boggiano Sanchez says, the impact of the hostile policy of economic, commercial and financial blockade of the US Government, whose tentacles press each sector of the economy.
The production of shavings, a fundamental raw material for making soap, requires imported oils and fats which, during 2019, in the words of the director, did not reach the country. This is, in addition to financial restrictions, due to the impossibility of tankers to touch Cuban ports, because of the pressures resulting from the unilateral and illegal U.S. sanctions against Cuba.
Of the 21,000 tons of shavings planned in 2019, barely 6,625 were obtained. This year no manufacture has been achieved, since the same constraints persist, not counting the increase in the price of the final product, which involves both the import of shavings and the import of fats and oils in different formats.
Although it might seem an excess, perhaps because of the reiterated nature of the subject, even in the production of soaps the economic blockade wags its tail.
IN DEVELOPMENT NEW LINE OF ECONOMIC PERFUMERY
By 2020, most of the demand of the mixed company Suchel Camacho s.a. is redirected to the network of stores in MINCIN, according to Caridad Estévez García, its sales manager.
In that sense, he said, the range of products is expanded with two new additions to the Daily line: cologne and deodorant. Other existing ones are consolidated, such as soap, children’s dental gel and [insect] repellent. In addition, there are also hair products such as professional dye and shampoo, conditioners and peroxides in large formats.
Likewise, he continued, “we are working on the development of new economic products of perfumery, cosmetics, and cleaning, which contribute to the substitution of imports, and guarantee the relation quality-price-opportunity”.
Together with the MINCIN and the governments of the territories, Suchel Camacho will participate, in the words of Estévez García, in the setting of personalized spaces, with adequate furniture for the positioning of such products.
In a first stage, the work will be done in stores located on Galiano and San Rafael streets in the capital, to be later extended to other establishments in the country.
Food Self-Sufficiency and National Security
Food Self-Sufficiency:
A Matter of National Security
Granma publishes the remarks of Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, at the 32nd anniversary of the Urban, Suburban and Family Farming Program in the municipality of Segundo Frente, Santiago de Cuba
Author: Manuel Marrero Cruz | internet@granma.cu
February 16, 2020 21:02:00
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Photo: Sierra Maestra newspaper
Compañeras and compañeros of the presidency and invited guests;
Delegates to this important work meeting:
More than three decades ago, on December 27, 1987, during a visit to an experience of growing vegetables in quarries enriched with organic matter in Hortifar, an entity belonging to the Military Agricultural Union, the Army General [Raul Castro] indicated to analyze and develop this method of cultivation. This is how the Urban Agriculture Program was born.
Years later, this type of quarry became part of the environment in every corner of Cuba, from the big cities to the small towns.
Then the idea emerged, also from the Army General, to increase the scale of those crops to the lands around the cities, which in their great majority remained unproductive.
As you will remember, this came to be on April 8, 2009, first in Camagüey, within a radius of ten kilometers from the center of the provincial capital. It was called suburban agriculture, and wisely integrated into the by-then already consolidated urban and family agriculture. It was under the direction of comrade Adolfo Rodríguez, known affectionately by all of us as Adolfito. With such passion, responsibility and efficiency he took on the task, practically until the last moment of his life, and to whose commitment we owe a great deal of what was achieved. May this event serve to honor his memory.
The concept has remained unchanged: to generalize a system of food production based on local potential, that is, creating there their own technologies and productive inputs by using the potential available in the territory.
Undoubtedly, since then, progress has been significant. The program has been consolidated as a popular movement of a productive extensionist nature and under agro-ecological principles. This is done with the use of sustainable production technologies, the use of local resources, and the combination of experience and traditions with science and technology.
It is a dynamic, deep, vertical, coordinated and directed work system through the National Group. This has allowed us to achieve positive results and with it, important savings to the country’s economy, contributing to the decrease of input imports.
At a time when the U.S. government has tightened the blockade and everything indicates that it will continue to do so, this project aimed at producing food for the people. It’s something that is not simply another priority, takes on much more importance. It is a vital issue for national security, I repeat, something that is not simply another priority; it is a vital issue for national security, which is equal to preserving our independence and sovereignty.
Today, our country imports $1.65 billion in food for the people, so replacing those imports is strategic. We must commit ourselves to the development of this program and extend its various productive structures to our cities, up to 10 square meters per inhabitant by next year. To take advantage of all available spaces in the cities or towns.
There are plenty of reasons to defend this strategy. In the first place, it is the most economical way of producing food. It can work with a minimum of motor transport and fuel – even without any if necessary – as people can buy them where they are grown, or the transport is a short distance and allows the use of alternative means.
Another very important point: it does not require imports of pesticides or fertilizers. Each hectare of quarry committed must be supported by the amount of fertilizer and other organic inputs needed.
In addition, it guarantees employment for thousands of workers, including women and young people. It is an elementary tool for achieving food security. It contributes to improving water management and nutrient recycling. It allows the use of unproductive, idle or underutilized spaces and is capable of producing the seeds it demands, among other advantages.
All this makes it a realistic and sustainable alternative, a reference for what we have to do to achieve food and nutritional sovereignty for our population.
It is fair and necessary to recognize what has been achieved, but you know, and you analyzed it during the event, that even greater results can be achieved with the resources available today, if we use them with the maximum of rationality and intelligence.
No one can feel satisfied until the last disused quarry and organoponico is recovered. The goal is to repair them all and put them into use during the current year. Likewise, to complete the reconstruction of the protected and semi-protected cultivation areas affected by meteorological phenomena or by the logical deterioration of the years of exploitation.
The yield per square meter must be increased. There are plenty of examples of what is possible when quality seeds are used and with a constant application of organic substrates and fertilizers, as well as the appropriate use of bio-products and agro-technology.
The use of animal traction in cultivation work around towns and villages should be a constant, whether or not fuel is available. In addition to the efficient use of water and renewable energy sources, such as biogas, windmills, solar panels, biomass and other alternatives, depending on the possibilities in each location.
We cannot stop at the incorporation of idle areas, covered with marabou and other weeds, in the surroundings of population settlements and communities.
It is also important to guarantee production throughout the year; not to neglect the summer under the excuse of unfavorable weather. In those months we have to promote products that are more resistant to heat, such as cucumbers, eggplants, beans, and okra, among others.
We must perfect the marketing of fresh vegetables and fruit, with emphasis on the population, but without forgetting tourism, social consumption, defense, and the internal order, and we must even get to export some products.
Closely linked to these purposes is the objective of continuing to adjust the organizational system of Urban Agriculture. It is necessary to analyze its financial structure and measure its impact, to ensure adequate profitability and stability in the results.
The Municipal Urban Farm and its representatives of the people’s councils must exercise a broad power of convocation among local producers. In turn, they must play the productive, political and social role for which they were created. It is necessary to work hard to re-establish the marketing network that will simplify and facilitate the acquisition of agro-products directly for the local population.
The success of this great effort has a decisive key: the women and men who make the land produce. It is essential to continue to increase the incorporation of the labor force into this activity, especially young people, and to perfect the systems of payment by results.
Also from Urban Agriculture, the fruit tree program was born, which was incorporated into the local supply in all the perimeter of our localities.
Regarding this program, Army General Raul Castro Ruz suggested to create a fruit tree cooperative in each municipality and today we can report with satisfaction that we have 353 cooperatives throughout the country, dedicated to the production of fruit for the people.
With regard to food production in general, today more than ever we have to promote polyculture.: It is not the same to invest in fuel, fertilizers and other resources to prepare the land and sow a single crop than to take advantage of the same for two and three more.
Compañeras and compañeros:
We had proposed to guarantee 30 pounds per month of food and vegetables to each fellow citizen,. Of those, we reached 20 in 2019. We will reach that goal in less time if we continue to increase the productive areas, from the backyards, the orchard, the giant organoponicos and suburban agriculture, to the large productive poles.
To do this, we must continue to produce high-quality seeds. Research centers already show positive results with seeds that are better adapted to our climate, increase yields and even reduce production cycles.
Another objective is to guarantee each Cuban five kilograms of animal protein per month, and last year we only reached 200 grams. It is unsustainable to try to increase the production of animal protein-based on imported feed and raw materials, in which we are investing 450 million dollars today. It is as much of a priority to produce animal feed as we consume directly as people.
We Cubans have inherited as a food tradition a diet made up of four basic products: rice, beans, food and protein, to which we should add vegetables or salads. Of these, we now have total sovereignty over only one: food. We import an important part of rice, and to a lesser extent, beans and meat, but also in considerable volume, and even a level of vegetables.
Our future has to be directed towards achieving food sovereignty. We have to aim for this in stages, the shorter the better, planned and well-coordinated in a comprehensive way through realistic plans. It is precisely vegetables and beans that we can stop importing in the short term.
We are convinced that this program will continue to grow and will play an important and irreplaceable role in achieving these strategic objectives.
We congratulate you on the results achieved in 2019 and we urge you to continue to move forward as a national reference in the production of food for the people and thereby demonstrate that Yes we could, Yes we can and Always we will.
Thank you very much.
State Gastronomy: Everything in CUP
Gastronomic Services of State Commerce: Everything in CUP
It should be noted that there are more than 7000 state-run restaurants, bars and other catering establishments in the country, and only 10 % of them were allowed to sell in dual currency.
by Yaditza del Sol González
March 4, 2020
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
The elimination of cucumber sales in these establishments is intended to achieve greater control in the management of trade and gastronomic activities, as it allows a single accounting record to be established for the products marketed. Photo: Ariel Cecilio Lemus
The units of the state trade system that provide gastronomic services already carry out all their commercial activities in coupons, and payment in cucumbers is not appropriate for the purchase of certain products that were previously sold in this currency, such as beers, soft drinks, cigars, water, ice cream, jams and alcoholic beverages.
All these commercial actions will be carried out only in CUP, taking into account the current conditions of automation of the accounting systems of these units.
Arturo Vazquez, director of organization and systems of the Ministry of Interior Commerce (Mincin) explained that this measure is part of the improvement of retail trade of local subordination and does not include the chains of stores in foreign exchange, whether TRD, Palmares, Cimex or others, nor the Sylvain.
This is undoubtedly a measure that has caused great concern among readers, whether because of the lack of institutional communication prior to the effect of such a procedure, consumers’ concerns about the existence of exchange funds or about the conversion rate applied to goods.
According to the Deputy Minister of the sector, Miriam Perez, the elimination of the sale in CUC in these establishments is a response to the purpose of achieving greater control in the management of commerce and gastronomic activities, since it allows for the establishment of a single accounting record of the products marketed.
It should be pointed out that there are more than 7000 units in the country that carry out gastronomic activities on a State basis, i.e. bars, restaurants and others, and only 10% were authorized to sell in dual currency.
This group was selected as part of a scheme that, at the time, allowed the Trade to be self-financing in CUC, in addition to being an element of support for the budgets of other expenses, commented the Deputy Minister. This meant that, in the same restaurant, certain offers were paid in coupons and others in CUC, which had become a recurrent complaint from consumers.
Yosvany Pupo, general director of Services of the Mincin, explained that what was assumed is not part of a previous measure to the process of monetary unification, but that it responds to the improvement of the management of the commerce and cannot be analyzed out of that context. “In addition, there is no price increase in what we offer and, therefore, the Cadeca conversion rate of 1 CUC x 25 cup is applied,” he explained.
However, in the case of products that had official price lists in CUP, the price already established is assumed. For example, the domestically-produced canned soft drink, which used to be sold at .50 CUC, now costs 10 CUC, and not 12.50 CUC.
Offending Carriers Do Not Go Unpunished
Offending Carriers Do Not Go Unpunished
As a result of the allegations of popular control, an information note announced that measures were applied to 208 incumbents and contractors, the most frequent forms of indiscipline being price violations and travel restrictions.
March 4, 2020
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Some private individuals contribute to the movement of the population. Photo: Endrys Correa Vaillant
Cuba does not live with impunity, which is why the people feel supported by the measures taken against those who violate the stipulations of the Council of the Provincial Administration of Havana, regarding the maximum prices to be charged by private transporters circulating in the capital.
The General Directorate of Transport in Havana reported that 62 transport operation licenses had been withdrawn from the holders and 44 vouchers from their contracted workers, in addition to 199 contraventions.
As a result of complaints by the popular control, an informative note announced that measures were applied to 208 holders and contracted workers, with the most frequent forms of indiscipline being violations of prices and the limitation of trips.
Similarly, 11 vehicles were found to have committed repeated violations, to which cancellation measures were applied (table 1), as well as 45 vehicles whose drivers do not have an operating license (table 2).
In response to the country’s call to join forces in the fuel crisis caused by the impact of the U.S. blockade, it was also evident that some state car drivers remained non-compliant by not stopping at the places with the highest concentration of people.
In the month of February, 983 vehicles were reported and 773 measures were applied to different agencies and entities, including the ministries of Construction, Transportation, Public Health, Communications, Agriculture, Industry, Energy and Mines, Culture, Food Industry and Tourism, the Business Administration Group, Water Resources, as well as religious institutions and agencies.
Likewise, it is worth noting that there are still 46 entities that have not applied the measures corresponding to the offenders, which will be summoned to analysis by the Governor, as part of the approved organizational measures.
The population has the right to demand compliance with the provisions regarding maximum prices for private carriers.
In the event of non-compliance, it can report it through the different established channels, informing the registration number, date, time and place of the event, by telephone: 188820 or 7-881-9264 of Attention to the Population of the General Directorate of Transport.
Also, through the websites: www.dgtph.transnet.cu, of the General Directorate of Transport, and www.lahabana.gob.cu (the Citizen’s Portal).
Also, through the e-mails: oap@getrans.cu, centrollamadas@getrans.cu, and atencionciudadana@mitrans.gob.cu, of the Mitrans.
Evo Denounces Manouvers Against MAS
Evo Morales Denounces Maneuvers of
the De Facto Government Against MAS
The former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, made this Tuesday, through his official Twitter account, a call to the international community to accompany the Bolivian people in the upcoming elections.
March 4, 2020
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Thousands of people who support the Movement Towards Socialism joined to register the Arce-Choquehuanca binomial for the May 3 elections. Photo: ANSA
The former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, made a call to the international community to accompany the Bolivian people in the upcoming elections through his official Twitter account on Tuesday.
Morales announced that the coup leaders will try to disqualify the candidates of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) before May 3rd.
According to a survey released by the Bolivian TV channel ATB, MAS, which places former Economy Minister Luis Arce as a candidate for President and former Foreign Affairs Minister David Choquehuanca as Vice President, at a 32.6% voting intention.
Then comes Comunidad Ciudadana (cc), with 19.2%, which again presents Carlos Mesa as a candidate for President, and Gustavo Pedraza to be elected Vice President.
In the poll, the Juntos alliance also took a position, led by the self-proclaimed interim president, Jeanine Áñez, and Samuel Doria Medina, who accumulated 18.2%.
If these figures are repeated during the official vote, a second round of voting should be held. It is required that a candidate must have more than 50% of the votes or 40% with a 10-point lead over the runner-up to win directly.
U.S.-Backed Deal Exposed
ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT
The U.S.-Backed Agreement (Scam) of the Century Exposed
U.S. President Donald Trump announced from the White House on January 28 his peace plan to “resolve” the historic conflict between Israel and Palestine, a scam that seeks to get the Palestinian people to accept an agreement that curtails their sovereignty
By Enrique Moreno Gimeranez | enrique@granma.cu
February 20, 2020
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
It could definitely qualify as the Scam of the Century. U.S. President Donald Trump announced from the White House on January 28 his peace plan to “resolve” the historic conflict between Israel and Palestine, a document titled “Peace for Prosperity. A Vision for Improving the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli Peoples,” internationally referred to as the Agreement of the Century.
“This vision of peace is fundamentally different from past proposals. In the past, even the best-intentioned plans were simple in their objectives and had complicated conceptual frameworks. In contrast, our plan is 80 pages long and is the most detailed proposal ever presented,” Trump presented his grand strategy.
But, in addition to the numerous international resolutions and historical keys that he threw away, in his proposal for an Agreement the magnate President overlooked an unavoidable detail: any project for peace and the solution of this conflict must necessarily involve two actors: Palestine and Israel. The Palestinian side was not included in the elaboration of the plan and only the Israeli premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, attended its presentation in Washington. Taking into account only this essential element, the pact was born by itself wounded to death.
“There were no brief or detailed talks with the US administration on the so-called Century Agreement. Palestine is opposed to everything related to the agreement,” Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for the Arab nation’s presidency, had previously stated.
In the face of such actions by the United States, it is impossible not to recall the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898, between the governments of the United States and Spain. On that occasion, Washington and Madrid defined the situation of several territories, without the participation of representatives from Cuba, the Philippines, Guam or Puerto Rico. They avoided the sacrifice of the Cuban people during several years of wars of independence. Decades later, imperialism recycles a similar script and leaves the Palestinian people, the main victims of the conflict with Israel, out of the picture.
According to the BBC, the design of the plan took about three years and had among its “architects” Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The truth is that the moment of presentation of the controversial pact was very appropriate, both for Trump -wrapped in a scenario of impeachment and electoral campaign- and for Netanyahu -accused of corruption-. Perhaps, both dreamed of scoring points in foreign policy and at the national level, but the applause did not reach the expected dimensions.
Who wins and who loses with the American project?
If only Tel Aviv sat at the negotiating table, we can imagine the answer. The question becomes much more complex as we examine the different points of the agreement.
“Jerusalem must be recognized internationally as the capital of the State of Israel. Al Quds (or another name selected by the State of Palestine) must be internationally recognized as the capital of the State of Palestine,” the document states.
Accordingly, the U.S. embassy to the State of Israel will remain in Jerusalem and, following the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement, the U.S. embassy to the State of Palestine will be in Al Quds (the Arabic name for Jerusalem), which would be located in the East Jerusalem section, territory that includes Abu Dis. In addition, other nations are encouraged to relocate their embassies to those locations.
“This is the most controversial and unavoidable point for the Palestinians (…). I will not engrave (my name) in my history and that of my country as the one who sold Jerusalem, because Jerusalem does not belong to me, but to everyone,” said the leader of the Palestinian National Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas, at an extraordinary session of the Arab League on February 1 to study the peace plan.
This contravenes international law and numerous UN resolutions on the subject, including UN Security Council Resolution 478 of 1980, which censured in the strongest terms and declared null and void the 1980 Jerusalem Law – by which Israel annexed Jerusalem as its ‘eternal and indivisible’ capital after the Six Day War – and urged UN Member States to move their embassies to Tel Aviv in protest.
However, it follows the maneuvers of Donald Trump who, since December 2017, had announced the controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to begin the process of transferring the U.S. embassy to that city.
So far, the governments of Guatemala and Honduras were the only Latin American countries that supported Washington’s decision and moved their embassies and trade offices to the Holy City, respectively.
Other controversial points of the Deal of the Century turn out to be that it allows Israel to annex part of the West Bank, while the Palestinians are promised several territories in the Negev desert. In addition, the Arab state will have access to the Israeli ports of Ashdod and Haifa.
The West Bank and Gaza would be linked by a tunnel through Israel. The existing Israeli settlements in the West Bank (considered illegal under international law) would be incorporated into the State of Israel. Israel would undertake not to build new settlements, expand existing ones or approve plans for construction in the areas that would become part of the Palestinian State. In exchange, two areas of comparable size to the Gaza Strip would be created south of this enclave: one would be an advanced industrial zone and the other an agricultural and residential area.
Palestine will have the opportunity to have an independent state within four years, provided that they disarm groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
“A realistic solution would give the Palestinians all the power to govern themselves, but not the powers to threaten Israel. This necessarily implies limitations on certain sovereign powers in Palestinian areas,” the plan outlines. Thus, Israel will control the airspace over the Arab state and the territorial waters of Palestine off the Gaza Strip. Two crossings on the border with Jordan, which will be included in the Palestinian road network, will also be under Israeli control, says RT.
The Cuban position
Cuba’s position on the Accord (Scam) of the Century was expressed on Twitter by our foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez: “A biased and misleading repudiation of the US peace plan that enshrines the Israeli occupation and violates the inalienable right of the Palestinians to have their own state on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and the return of the refugees.
Cuba has also reaffirmed its unrestricted support for a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based on the creation of two States. This would allow the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination and to have an independent and sovereign State with the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the right to the return of refugees.
The Greater Antilles has expressed in various international forums, to the Palestinian Government and people, its unwavering solidarity and support for Palestine’s accession to full membership in the United Nations.
Parasites, Trump and Gone with the Wind
Parasites, Trump and Gone with the Wind
Viewers who’ve seen Parasites, and know of its quality, still scoff at the critical mess cooked up in Colorado, especially after the film’s producers responded that the problem is that the president can’t read subtitles. But what did Trump mean when he said “let’s bring back Gone With the Wind”?
by Rolando Pérez Betancourt | internet@granma.cu
February 25, 2020 22:02:03
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Gone With The Wind frame. Photo: Film frame
No one is forced to applaud a film praised by half the world, but at least, before giving an opinion, you should see it.
In his harsh criticism of the Oscar-winning film Parasites, President Trump let it be known that it was unknown, which did not prevent him from accusing it of being foreign, because it speaks another language, has subtitles, its protagonists are Asian, and – this last must have been blown by any advisor on the return from the cinema – it is a political and social allegation against the system that he reveres!
The film world already knows that anyone who tries to challenge the president’s actions will be diminished by insulting Twitter messages. Thus, Meryl Streep is “a second-rate actress,” Robert de Niro “a very low IQ individual,” Black director Spike Lee “a racist,” actor Alec Baldwin (who mimics him on Saturday Night Live) a conspirator “who should be punished along with the show,”. This recently led Baldwin to compare him to Hitler, and the latest pearl of the show, from a few days ago, during the election meeting in Colorado, where he criticized Brad Pitt – “I was never a big fan of him; he stood up and said a smart thing, he’s a smart guy”- because the actor, after receiving his Oscar, joked about the political process, without witnesses, who “judged” Trump.
The flag-waving minions of the Republican Party cheered when the president, on the campaign, was bewildered by Parasites’ Oscar, and called for a return to the days of awarding films like Gone with the Wind. This was a warning from the top of the establishment to the winds of change that – for the sake of maintaining hegemony and other considerations – seem to be coming to the Hollywood Academy: “… a
South Korean movie! What was that about? We have enough commercial problems with South Korea already. On top of that, we’re giving them the Best Film of the Year… Was it good? I don’t know. Let’s bring back Gone With the Wind, please. Twilight of the Gods. So many great movies…
Viewers who’ve seen Gone With the Wind, and know of its quality, still mock the critical mess cooked up in Colorado, especially after the film’s producers responded that the problem is that the president can’t read subtitles, but what did Trump mean by “let’s bring back Gone With the Wind?”
First-hand conservatism and racism, no more and no less, and along with it, offensive misinformation, unless, knowing the terrain he was treading on, he didn’t care about restoring the laurels of an anthological film, yes, but in the background of evaluations after it was established that, in addition to its racist overtones, it didn’t lack syrups and other tricks to idealize the slave-owning past of the South.
In the middle of the 21st century, the myth of Gone with the Wind, elevated to the empyrean by the enormous marketing that accompanied it, slips and cannot be sustained. A little over two months ago, on December 15, 2019, it was 80 years since its massive premiere in Atlanta. However, Hollywood preferred to go overboard and exalt instead The Wizard of Oz, also from 1939.
In the documentary The Legend Goes On (2014), the prestigious American sociologist Camille Paglia situates in a simple way what the film was: “it is not honest with what the slaves of that time felt”.
In August 2017, the Orpheum Theatre, a historic movie theater in Memphis, decided to withdraw its annual exhibition of Gone with the Wind after the bloody racial clashes that took place in Charlottesville (Virginia), where it became clear that race relations are still a pending issue in the United States. Trump received harsh criticism for his verbal lukewarmness towards white supremacists, a sector encouraged by the Republican boom: “It’s both groups’ fault,” Trump said in those days, washing his hands of where the attacks had come from, like the neo-Nazi who killed a woman with his car.
While there is no shortage of Gone with the Wind advocates as material from which critical lessons can be drawn. It’s all very well for it to be seen as an epoch-making cinema classic, but its racist weight is too strong for the new, non-conservative generations to take into account. This, without losing sight of the fact that, as a commercial film, the film crowned the Hollywood of spectacular sound and color alongside the proclaimed star system.
The all-powerful producer [David] O. Selznick is known to have emptied Margaret Mitchell’s romance novel of anything that might be critical of Southern racists. These inluded references to the Ku Klux Klan founded by America’s far-right in 1865 with veterans of the Civil War. But it is enough to see how the liberated blacks, potential criminals, are represented to be intoxicated by the racist stench that emerges from the film.
The Hollywood Academy tried to mitigate the issue by giving Hattie MacDaniel the secondary Oscar, the first black actress to receive it, for her good performance as Scarlett O’Hara’s “Mamie”. The horror came later, when, at the awards ceremony, for being black, and also a lesbian, she was seated on a separate bench, far away from her fellow filmmakers, and then she was not allowed to attend the banquet of the winners because the segregationist laws did not allow it.
Bringing back Gone With the Wind films to face films like Parasites?
No way to think of a respectful response.