Tourism 23
Cuba bets on gradual economy opening
Cuba bets on the gradual opening of its economy
The Council of Ministers analyzed, during its most recent meeting, the performance of the economy at the end of August and other important issues to maintain the country’s vitality.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
All the power that is exercised in Cuba is done through the people, with the participation of the people to solve the problems of society, Diaz-Canel stressed in the most recent Council of Ministers. Photo: Estudios Revolución
The tightening of the US government blockade, the international economic crisis aggravated by the COVID-19, and the epidemiological situation itself, determine that the Cuban reality at the beginning of the fourth quarter of the year continues to be complex.
However, Cuba is committed to the gradual opening of its economy, which should have a favorable impact on productive activities. This was stated by the Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernández, when presenting a report on the performance of the economy at the end of August, at the most recent meeting of the Council of Ministers, chaired by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and led by the member of the Political Bureau and Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz.
As a favorable element amidst the complexities, Gil Fernández defined the growth of employment, which distinguishes Cuba. “In many countries, the tendency has been to unemployment, to the cheapening of the labor force,” said the also deputy prime minister. Together with the fight against the epidemic, he stressed, we generate jobs and we are going to generate more with the improvement of the economic actors; the opening of gastronomy, services, tourism and the non-state sector.
So far, he said, 203,733 people have sought employment at the municipal Labor and Social Security departments, of which 138,656 were employed and 5,440 were linked to qualification courses to access a job.
Of the total who have been employed, he highlighted, 36% are young people under 35 years of age. The same percentage corresponds to women.
Referring to the main food balances in the national production, he pointed out that at the end of August, rice, corn, beans, milk and egg production, as well as beef and pork were out of compliance.
As for the vegetables, even though the demand is much higher than the supply, he pointed out that in August there was a greater quantity of stockpiled products than in previous months. This trend continued in September.
He referred to the behavior of energy carriers in the country. In August, he pointed out, the actual generation of electric energy was well below the foreseen plan, which meant a non-negligible cost in the economy and productive activities, with the objective of reducing the effects on the population.
Gil Fernández stressed the need for greater initiative and creative work, as well as “to take more advantage of the measures that the Government has been approving in the last few months to grant greater autonomy to the socialist state-owned company”.
These are measures -he valued- that must be taken advantage of in order to be able to move forward with greater efficiency in the state-owned enterprise. “A productive effort is required in all sectors to achieve, in the remainder of the year, the maximum possible economic growth”.
Complying with the design to control the pandemic, and with the economic measures adopted, Gil Fernandez assessed that “we can be in better conditions to, with an additional effort, in the fourth quarter try to aspire to the highest possible economic growth this year and start better 2022”.
Regarding the challenge that the reopening of tourism on November 15 means for Cuba, the Prime Minister considered that “it is an event that is already gaining strength at the international level”.
This is an issue -he reflected- that will have an impact on the economy; we are convinced that it will boost the economy, but for that “we all have to contribute. It is not only a tourism issue, but no sector is also unaffected by this event in the country”.
USEFUL AND DIVERSE AGENDA
Among other matters, the highest government body approved the new Portfolio of Opportunities for foreign investment in the country, consisting of 678 projects, 175 more than in the previous one.
In presenting the subject, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, explained that, in order to prepare it, it was based on the criterion of the greater importance of foreign investment in the current economic situation.
At this moment, he assured, we have 429 projects with approved directives, ready to be negotiated, and 56 in the Mariel Special Development Zone. The projects respond to strategic axes of the National Economic and Social Development Plan until 2030, as is the case of productive transformation and international insertion; natural resources and the environment; infrastructure; as well as human potential and science, technology and innovation.
According to him, from the territorial point of view, the Portfolio is distributed among all the provinces and, for the first time, the food production sector is the most represented.
The Prime Minister drew attention to the need to promote foreign investment in a more dynamic way and always preserving our sovereignty. “It is necessary to give it the priority that this matter carries at the higher levels of management, each one with the role that corresponds to him.”
At the meeting, the Minister of Transportation, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, presented a report on the results of the Port-Transport-Internal Economy Operation, in the first semester of the year.
According to the information provided, even though all the missions were secured during the period, “there are still insufficiencies, both of a subjective and objective nature, which will be the focus of attention in the last months of the year”. Many of them, he explained, will be solved as funding and resources become available.
The Prime Minister emphasized that, in the midst of the complex situation, “it is more necessary than ever to get this operation right. It has to work properly; it cannot be an obstacle for the distribution of the goods that we are able to bring in, to get stuck inside the national territory, he said.
At the meeting, which was attended by Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People’s Power; Salvador Valdés Mesa, vice president of the Republic; and Roberto Morales Ojeda, secretary of Organization and Cadres Policy of the Central Committee of the Party, all members of the Political Bureau, the provincial scheme of territorial organization of Villa Clara was approved.
Likewise, the status of accounts receivable and payable in arrears, in litigation and court sentences at the end of June was analyzed; the fulfillment of the integral plans to confront urban illegalities by the governments, agencies of the Central State Administration and higher organizations of Business Management; and the progress of the Government Scholarship Program in other countries.
The Council of Ministers was also informed about the approval of the first micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), as well as non-agricultural cooperatives, after the regulations supporting them came into force on September 20.
THE KEY LIES IN POPULAR PARTICIPATION
We are obliged to design, among all of us, a system of popular control, aimed at confronting all the deviations that may exist in the fulfillment of the socialist legality, in the confrontation of corruption.
In this idea, considered the President of the Republic, lies the key on how we have to face the facts of corruption. His reflections were motivated by the presentation made by the Comptroller General of the Republic, Gladys Bejerano Portela, who presented to the Council of Ministers information on the fulfillment of the directives and the plan of control actions of the National Auditing System in the first semester of the year.
It is still insufficient, it was pointed out during the meeting, was the understanding, and the attention to the Policy approved for the improvement of the auditing activity and the urgency before the changes and challenges ahead. It is necessary to ensure the exercise of control and prevention as a method of management, exercised systematically in the development of all processes and not occasionally, or after they are concluded, as is generally the case. Control is the responsibility of those who exercise management; it must always be present.
The Head of State highlighted the political and governmental will that has historically existed in the Revolution to solve the problem of economic control and, in general, of everything that has an impact on efficiency and good performance, on the transparency of all our economic and social processes, as well as in the fight against corruption. On this, he said, it is necessary to look at the thinking of the Commander in Chief [Fidel] and the Army General [Raul]
Since the creation of the Comptroller’s Office, he recalled, work has been unleashed to create an adequate control environment and to advance in it. However, “the results are still insufficient and fill us with dissatisfaction,” he said.
After a broad reflection on our system of government and the leading role of popular participation in all scenarios, the President said that, on the basis of elements related to the defense of popular power, we can reach an analysis of how to make further progress in the fight against corruption.
All the power exercised in Cuba is done through the people, with the participation of the people to solve the problems of society, and this is one of them, he said. Hence his emphasis on there being a direct relationship in how the people participate in this battle. “I believe that by facing this with the people we are going to advance more.”
Border Opening Begins as of November 15
Cuba’s borders will be gradually opened as of November 15
Considering the progress in the vaccination process in Cuba, its proven effectiveness and the prospect that more than 90% of the entire population will complete their vaccination schedules in November, conditions are being prepared to gradually open the country’s borders as of November 15, 2021.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
New sanitary protocol measures at José Martí airport adopted to José Martí, Boyeros. Photo: Endrys Correa Vaillant
Taking into account the progress in the vaccination process in Cuba, its proven effectiveness and the perspective that more than 90% of the entire population will conclude the vaccination schedules in November; conditions are being prepared to open, gradually, the country’s borders as of November 15, 2021.
According to a note from the Ministry of Tourism sent to our editorial office, health and hygiene protocols will be made more flexible upon the arrival of travelers, which will be focused on the surveillance of symptomatic patients and the taking of temperature. In addition, diagnostic tests will be performed randomly, PCR will not be required upon arrival and travelers’ vaccination certificates will be recognized.
The domestic tourist market will also be opened gradually, in accordance with the epidemiological indicators of each territory.
Hotels as anti-COVID-19 isolation centers
SPECIAL: Cuba uses hotels as anti-COVID-19 isolation centers
Updated 2021-03-18 05:03:44 | Spanish. xinhuanet. com
By Raul Menchaca
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews
mage from March 16, 2021 of an employee sanitizing the hands of a foreign visitor at the entrance of the Capri Hotel, which is being occupied as an isolation center, in Havana, capital of Cuba. Cuba has set up some 20 hotels, mostly in Havana, as isolation centers where travelers arriving from abroad spend a few days until it is confirmed that they are not infected with the new coronavirus. (Xinhua/Joaquín Hernández)
HAVANA, Mar. 17 (Xinhua) — Cuba has set up a score of hotels, mostly in Havana, as isolation centers where travelers arriving from abroad spend a few days until confirming that they are not infected with the new coronavirus.
Since the beginning of February and in view of a third outbreak of the pandemic, the authorities determined the isolation of these travelers, who must also present a negative molecular biology test, the so-called PCR test, carried out 72 hours before their arrival in Cuba.
The isolation has two modalities since there are paid hotels for foreigners and Cubans who opt for them and free centers only for Cubans, but with less comfort.
Travelers remain isolated for five nights until they know the results of the PCR test performed at the airports and another one at the hotel, where they also have daily sanitary control, since in each facility there is a doctor and a nurse, who twice a day examine each traveler.
“It’s a little stressful to be locked up, but I understand that it is the sanitary protocol to protect us and others,” Cuban Yosvany Barrios, who lives in the southern United States and returned to the island to spend a few days with his wife, who is four months pregnant, told Xinhua.
Barrios, a construction contractor, who stayed at the downtown Havana hotel NH Capri, said he feels safe with these measures, which help him “also to take care of my wife and the future baby”.
This opinion is shared by Jorge Carmona, another Cuban who also lives in the United States and who said he understands the need for these restrictions, despite the fact that it is uncomfortable to be locked up for so many days.
Visitors are not allowed to leave their rooms, pending the result of the PCR test, and can only leave them when it is confirmed that they are not infected.
“This prevents contact between people and therefore transmission,” said Dr. Juan Carlos Vidaud, an intensivist who usually works in a Havana hospital, but who with the arrival of the pandemic has been assigned to health surveillance at the NH Capri Hotel, where more than 100 people are staying.
For a month and a half, Vidaud has attended to more than 200 travelers staying at the hotel and explained that only four have tested positive for COVID-19, which has activated a rigorous emergency plan to transfer them to hospitals where they received specialized medical care.
It is a new reality for the now depressed Cuban tourism sector, once the second-largest contributor of foreign currency to the island, with some 3.1 billion dollars annually, only surpassed by the export of medical services, but today hard hit by the pandemic.
“We have a different clientele than we had before. There is a pre-COVID client and now there is a post-COVID client,” said Spain’s Juan Francisco Candeal, general manager of the NH Capri and NH Victoria hotels.
Candeal, a man of vast experience in the hotel industry, noted that the facilities he manages have modified more than 700 actions to conform to a strict sanitary protocol and protect clients and workers.
“I think that within this great misfortune that we are all going through, it has been a great improvement for the tourism industry,” said the executive of the Spanish chain.
Cuban authorities had closed the borders in April last year, but reopened them on November 1, which with the massive arrival of travelers for the end-of-year holidays gave rise to the current third outbreak of the disease on the island.
Therefore, at the beginning of February, in addition to the sanitary protocol in airports, the list of countries with restricted regular flights was extended to include the United States, Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Colombia and Jamaica, and connections with Nicaragua, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname were suspended.
Measures such as the suspension of the school year and the closure of public places such as theaters, bars and restaurants were also applied throughout the country.
In Havana, the main source of transmission of the disease, the authorities are maintaining restrictive sanitary measures that include limiting circulation from 21:00 local time until 5:00 hours the following day, as well as severe fines for those who do not use or misuse masks.
Since the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), was first recorded on the island a year ago, Cuba has accumulated 63,725 infected people and 380 deaths.
HAVANA, March 17, 2021 (Xinhua) — Picture on March 16, 2021 of an employee moving the luggage of a foreign visitor at the Capri Hotel, which is being occupied as an isolation center, in Havana, capital of Cuba. Cuba has set up some 20 hotels, mostly in Havana, as isolation centers where travelers arriving from abroad spend a few days until it is confirmed that they are not infected with the new coronavirus. (Xinhua/Joaquín Hernández)
HAVANA, March 17, 2021 (Xinhua) — March 16, 2021 image of a foreign visitor being checked by a Cuban doctor at the Capri Hotel, which is being occupied as an isolation center, in Havana, capital of Cuba. Cuba has set up some 20 hotels, mostly in Havana, as isolation centers where travelers arriving from abroad spend a few days until it is confirmed that they are not infected with the new coronavirus. (Xinhua/Joaquín Hernández)
HAVANA, March 17, 2021 (Xinhua) — March 16, 2021 image of an employee knocking on a room door to deliver food service to a foreign visitor at the Capri Hotel, which is being occupied as an isolation center, in Havana, capital of Cuba. Cuba has set up some 20 hotels, mostly in Havana, as isolation centers where travelers arriving from abroad spend a few days until it is confirmed that they are not infected with the new coronavirus. (Xinhua/Joaquín Hernández)
HAVANA, March 17, 2021 (Xinhua) — March 16, 2021 image of people walking in front of the Capri Hotel, which is being occupied as an isolation center, in Havana, capital of Cuba. Cuba has set up some 20 hotels, mostly in Havana, as isolation centers where travelers arriving from abroad spend a few days until it is confirmed that they are not infected with the new coronavirus. (Xinhua/Joaquín Hernández)
HAVANA, March 17, 2021 (Xinhua) — March 16, 2021 image of a Cuban nurse performing a body temperature check on a foreign visitor at the Capri Hotel, which is being occupied as an isolation center, in Havana, capital of Cuba. Cuba has set up some 20 hotels, mostly in Havana, as isolation centers where travelers arriving from abroad spend a few days until it is confirmed that they are not infected with the new coronavirus. (Xinhua/Joaquín Hernández)
HAVANA, March 17, 2021 (Xinhua) — March 16, 2021 image of people coming from abroad checking in at the Capri Hotel, which is being occupied as an isolation center, in Havana, capital of Cuba. Cuba has set up some 20 hotels, mostly in Havana, as isolation centers where travelers arriving from abroad spend a few days until it is confirmed that they are not infected with the new coronavirus. (Xinhua/Joaquín Hernández)
Cuba se mantiene fuerte/strong>
WSJ Magazine
Cuba se mantiene fuerte
El marcado aislamiento de la isla ha sido útil para contener el coronavirus, pero difícil en cuanto a problemática economía. Las andanzas de un fotógrafo capturaron la belleza de Cuba y la resistencia de un pueblo que ha luchado durante mucho tiempo con el flujo y reflujo de la historia.
STOLEN MOMENTOS. Un adolescente de pie en una plaza iluminada por el sol en la Habana Vieja. “La moda está totalmente planificada”, dice el fotógrafo Andrew Jacobs, que visitó Cuba el año pasado. “Cuando haces fotografía callejera es lo contrario. Eso es lo que quería abrazar.” FOTO: ANDREW JACOBS PARA WSJ. MAGAZINE
Por Tony Perrottet
7 de septiembre de 2020 8:21 am ET
Traducido y editado por Walter Lippmann para CubaNews.
Mil gracias a Pedro Gellert por su indispensable ayuda en esta traducción.
Cuando los viajes internacionales comenzaron a cerrarse en marzo debido a la pandemia de coronavirus, Collin Laverty tuvo que tomar una decisión repentina: ¿Miami o La Habana? Para un norteamericano que divide su tiempo entre las dos ciudades mientras dirige Cuba Educational Travel, una agencia que en tiempos menos restringidos contaba entre su clientela con senadores estadounidenses y luminarias del mundo de la tecnología, la elección era obvia. “Sentí que los cubanos iban a hacer un mejor trabajo”, explicó por teléfono desde La Habana. “Estaría más seguro aquí.”
Se ha demostrado que Laverty tenía razón. Mientras la situación se ha deteriorado este verano en Florida -una población de 21,5 millones con casi 10.000 muertes, o 46 por cada 100.000 habitantes- la isla cubana de 11,3 millones de habitantes había registrado a mediados de agosto 88 fallecimientos, o menos de una muerte por cada 100.000. A pesar del pequeño brote ocasional en las provincias, la isla informaba muchos días con cero casos nuevos o con pocos como para contarlos con los dedos de una sola mano.
El éxito de Cuba fue el resultado de una respuesta de libro de texto: Las autoridades sanitarias (que habían estado en constante diálogo con la Organización Mundial de la Salud desde enero) cerraron el país, suspendieron los vuelos internacionales, llevaron a cabo amplias pruebas, aislamiento y rastreo e impusieron el uso de cubrebocas, un proceso sin duda más fácil en un sistema autoritario.
Una guagua [autobús] en una carretera de Pinar del Río, una provincia al oeste de La Habana.
FOTO: ANDREW JACOBS PARA WSJ. MAGAZINE
“Es una cultura diferente”, dice Laverty. “Si los funcionarios de salud te dicen que es mejor usar un cubreboca, usas un cubreboca. Y a diferencia de los EE.UU., no hay medios alternativos que le digan a la gente que no use un cubreboca”.
Aunque el sistema de salud de Cuba está plagado de escases crónicas, la capacidad de su fuerza laboral médica le ha servido bien durante la pandemia. Cuba tiene el porcentaje más alto de médicos per cápita que cualquier otro país del mundo, y están capacitados para dar una respuesta comunitaria rápida a los huracanes y otros desastres naturales. “Había médicos y enfermeras en bata de laboratorio que llamaban a la puerta una o dos veces al día, para registrarse”, dice Laverty.
La otra cara de la moneda es que la crisis ha castigado a una economía que ya estaba en serios problemas por la mala gestión interna y su desconexión del resto del mundo. Mientras que Cuba ha estado alejada durante seis décadas de su socio comercial natural, los Estados Unidos, a través de un embargo comercial conocido en la isla como “el bloqueo”, el Covid-19 ha llevado el aislamiento del país a nuevos extremos. El cierre de un día para otro de la industria del turismo, la principal fuente de divisas de Cuba, ha llevado el desempleo y la escasez de alimentos a niveles nunca vistos desde el “período especial” de hace 30 años, cuando el colapso de la Unión Soviética y el fin de sus subsidios económicos dejaron a la isla varada y empobrecida.
Pescadores de la época de la adolescencia en un puerto deportivo cerca de La Habana. Las 3.500 millas de costa cubana bañadas por cálidas aguas tropicales han ofrecido un respiro durante las décadas de aislamiento. FOTO: ANDREW JACOBS PARA WSJ. MAGAZINE
Cuba ha dado algunos pasos tentativos hacia la reapertura al turismo. Se han destinado cinco arenosos cayos septentrionales para recibir vuelos chárter, donde los visitantes extranjeros serán sometidos a pruebas de detección del virus a su llegada y alojados en centros turísticos de playa lejos del resto de la población. Hasta ahora, ha habido pocos viajeros. Los canadienses hambrientos de sol, el mercado objetivo lógico, han sido desalentados por su gobierno a viajar al extranjero, y los europeos también están nerviosos por aventurarse lejos de casa. Los locales también son cautelosos: “Los cubanos han sacrificado mucho”, dice Laverty. “Saben que tan pronto como se abran existe el riesgo de una segunda ola”.
Un posible resquicio de esperanza es que la crisis ha empujado al presidente Miguel Díaz-Canel a reiniciar las reformas de la economía estatal, un proceso que había comenzado bajo el mandato de Fidel Castro en 2011 pero que se estancó hace tres años debido a la resistencia de los partidarios de la línea dura del gobierno. El anuncio se hizo a mediados de julio; los detalles siguen siendo vagos, pero la idea es fomentar la empresa privada y la agricultura y reducir la regulación gubernamental. “Es una noticia muy positiva, pero también hay mucho escepticismo”, dice Laverty. “Todo el mundo está esperando a ver qué pasa”.
La pandemia es sólo el último capítulo de la montaña rusa de Cuba desde la revolución de 1959: períodos de grandes esperanzas seguidos de desilusiones. Como resultado, hacer frente al incierto flujo y reflujo de la historia se ha convertido en una especie de especialidad cubana, una resistencia que permite a su pueblo sobrevivir a desafíos que podrían haber sido aplastantes en otros lugares.
YENDO ESPIRAL Una escalera en la Habana Vieja. Años de abandono han añadido una pátina a la arquitectura vernácula de la ciudad. FOTO: ANDREW JACOBS PARA WSJ. MAGAZINE
Este espíritu fue capturado por otro observador de Cuba, el fotógrafo neoyorquino Andrew Jacobs, que exploró la isla en el verano de 2019, sin saber que la pandemia pronto daría mayor resonancia a su trabajo. Al igual que muchos estadounidenses (emigró a los Estados Unidos desde Sudáfrica a los 13 años), Jacobs visitó Cuba por primera vez tras el llamado deshielo de Obama, un delirante espasmo de optimismo que parece hoy en día historia antigua. La reapertura de las relaciones diplomáticas entre Cuba y los EE.UU. en 2014 llevó a una escena improbable tras otra: El presidente Obama de gira por La Habana y asistiendo a un partido de béisbol con Raúl Castro; los Rolling Stones jugando ante una multitud masiva al aire libre; se aflojan las restricciones de viaje de los Estados Unidos que habían estado vigentes desde la época de Eisenhower; y dentro de Cuba, nuevos negocios individuales que convierten a la isla en una fiesta elegante y a la vez desgtastada.
Para los observadores veteranos de Cuba, las nuevas posibilidades estaban simbolizadas por el Bar Roma, una asociación entre un DJ local y un yanqui expatriado que se ocultaba en la azotea de un decrépito edificio de apartamentos art decó en la Habana Vieja. Encontrado de boca en boca, se calificaba como el Estudio 54 de Cuba: Desde el desmoronado vestíbulo, un ascensor de jaula operado a mano crepitaba hacia arriba sobre ruedas sin engrasar, y luego se abría a una multitud felliniesca de jóvenes fashionistas de La Habana y extranjeros conocidos que bailaban sobre los tejados coloniales iluminados por la luna. El co-director cubano, Alain Medina, señaló el lugar del suelo de baldosas donde nació. Para visitar un baño, los invitados le pasaban dinero a uno de los residentes del último piso y luego pasaban por delante del sofá mientras la familia se sentaba y veía la televisión.
Fue esta atmósfera eufórica la que cautivó a Jacobs, nacido en Johannesburgo, cuando una tarea periodística repentina e improvisado a principios de 2017 lo transportó de Nueva York a La Habana a través de uno de los nuevos vuelos directos de JetBlue. El rodaje comercial de los trajes de baño de Onia duró menos de una semana y no le llevó más lejos de la capital que las playas locales, pero quedó asombrado por lo que encontró. “Me cautivó lo vibrante que era Cuba”, recuerda. “Era muy visceral. Dejé de querer fotografiar a las modelos con las que estaba. Quería fotografiar a la gente en la calle.”
Cuba se mantiene fuerte
El marcado aislamiento de la isla ha sido útil para contener el coronavirus, pero difícil en cuanto a problemática economía. Las andanzas de un fotógrafo capturaron la belleza de Cuba y la resistencia de un pueblo que ha luchado durante mucho tiempo con el flujo y reflujo de la historia.
EN COLOR VIVO Artículos colgando para secar en la lavandería de un edificio de apartamentos en La Habana. REVISTA
Un mecánico de autos fuera de su lugar de trabajo.
Fruta en venta en un mercado de La Habana.
A guajiro, or Cuban campesino, in Pinar del Rio. WSJ MAGAZINE
Jacobs juró volver de forma independiente para documentar la nueva Cuba. Cuando finalmente lo hizo, en junio de 2019, el curso de la historia había cambiado de rumbo otra vez. Los EE.UU. invirtió el deshielo de Obama, endureciendo las sanciones económicas y volviendo el reloj a la Guerra Fría. La belicosa retórica del presidente Trump había asustado a la mayoría de los viajeros americanos, y las reformas del sistema socialista de Cuba se habían estancado. Cuando Jacobs se puso en contacto con Talía Bustamante, una productora de La Habana a la que había conocido en su anterior visita, llevaba más de un año luchando por encontrar un trabajo estable, al igual que su marido, Alejandro Callejas, un operador de cámara. Como para simbolizar el nuevo frío, el Bar Roma pronto cerraría sus puertas, después de una disputa entre los co-directores cubano y americano. “Fue muy difícil para los cubanos”, dice Laverty, cuya propia empresa había traído a muchos empresarios estadounidenses al país para investigar las oportunidades. “Eran la comidilla del mundo, este lugar guay y sexy; luego les dieron una serie de golpes en el cuerpo.”
Jacobs descubrió que, a pesar de este giro que truncaba muchas esperanzas, la vitalidad que lo había atraído primero a la isla seguía intacta. Generaciones de tumultos y reveses han enseñado a los cubanos a apreciar el adagio “Las mejores cosas de la vida son gratis”. Tienen la bendición de vivir en una isla tropical con 3.500 millas de costa, bosques exuberantes, playas de arena y un clima benigno. Este ambiente acogedor ha ayudado a fomentar la vida comunitaria, que, tras el paréntesis de las restricciones de Covid-19, ha empezado a recuperarse. Los cubanos siguen desparramándose por las esquinas, tocando música con instrumentos improvisados, bromeando entre ellos sobre sus políticos y disfrutando de la sensualidad de las tardes con aroma a azúcar. Dependen de recursos de ingenio y humor conversacional hasta un punto que otras culturas, inundadas por la tecnología, han abandonado. La Habana Vieja colonial puede estar desmoronándose, con un aire tangible de privación a la vuelta de la esquina de las zonas que han sido embellecidas para los turistas, pero muchos residentes se conocen por su nombre. Los adolescentes a veces se agrupan a lo largo del Malecón, el paseo marítimo de la ciudad, para compartir una botella de ron y bailar bajo las duchas de rocío marino.
Para capturar este espíritu, Jacobs se propuso explorar la capital a pie, con el azar y el capricho de su única agenda, caminando, hablando y conociendo gente mientras Bustamante servía de guía y traductor. Durante su viaje de 2019, fue estimulante renunciar a todo lo que se parezca a un programa de rodaje. “La moda está completamente planeada”, dice. “Cuando haces fotografía de calle es lo contrario. Eso es lo que quería abrazar.”
Un día, se encontraron con una pequeña liga de béisbol [little league] en la que los jugadores llevaban zapatos de gran tamaño y uniformes de segunda mano. Como neoyorquino, Jacobs fue recibido como una celebridad. “Los niños estaban tan emocionados que no podían quedarse quietos ni mirarme durante mucho tiempo”, dice.
Cuba is Staying Strong
El marcado aislamiento de la isla ha sido útil para contener el coronavirus, pero difícil en cuanto a problemática economía. Las andanzas de un fotógrafo capturaron la belleza de Cuba y la resistencia de un pueblo que ha luchado durante mucho tiempo con el flujo y reflujo de la historia.
CIELO AZUL Las jaulas de pájaros cuelgan de una pared en Playa.ANDREW JACOBS para el WSJ. MAGAZINE
Una carretera costera cerca del puerto de La Habana. Dado el bloqueo comercial de EE.UU. durante décadas, los cubanos se han convertido en expertos en el reciclaje de piezas para mantener los coches americanos antiguos.
CARRETERAS SOLIDARIAS Residentes de Santa Fé en Playa, un municipio de La Habana. La economía de Cuba ha tenido dificultades desde los años 90, después de que la Unión Soviética se disolviera y el apoyo se agotara. Las áreas fuera del centro de la ciudad que ven menos turistas han sido especialmente afectadas.
Para explorar las provincias, Jacobs hizo un viaje por carretera a Pinar del Río, al oeste de La Habana. La logística se improvisó al clásico estilo cubano: El marido de Bustamante se apuntó como conductor, y durante los tres días de viaje Jacobs y su ayudante se metieron en el asiento trasero del pequeño vehículo bajo montañas de equipos de cámara. La recompensa fue explorar el Valle de Viñales, donde un mosaico de plantaciones y granjas de tabaco de una exuberancia imposible está enmarcado por espectaculares afloramientos de piedra caliza llamados mogotes (“Como el Parque Jurásico”, dice Jacobs). La hermética sociedad rural tiene un aire de otro mundo: campesinos bañados por el sol con sombreros de paja que cabalgan a caballo pasando por bohíos, chozas de paja, creando escenas tropicales que recuerdan los lienzos de Gauguin.
Las imágenes de Jacobs rara vez incluyen signos reveladores de lugares específicos -no estatuas, catedrales o vistas de postales para turistas- y en cambio se concentran en detalles íntimos. Le atraía especialmente lo que había detrás de las puertas cerradas. La arquitectura hispano-caribeña, con sus balcones de hierro forjado, pórticos cubiertos y ventanas con contraventanas, protege a los residentes del sol pero también desvía las miradas indiscretas. “En las calles, se puede acercar a cualquiera, charlar, reír y tomar fotos”, dice Jacobs. Pero acceder a las casas privadas era un asunto delicado; a muchos les preocupaba que sus circunstancias pudieran ser juzgadas por un extrañjero.
En realidad, Jacobs era lo opuesto a juzgar, ya que se vio envuelto en la poesía casual de la vida doméstica de los cubanos. “La gente no tiene mucho, pero es hermoso”, dice. “La luz, la forma en que arreglan las cosas, el uso del color. Los cubanos sacan lo mejor de lo que tienen.”
Un lago de montaña. FOTO: ANDREW JACOBS PARA WSJ. MAGAZINE
Los cubanos son legendarios por la creatividad que aplican a los bienes materiales. Sin acceso a las nuevas piezas mecánicas, son expertos en el reciclaje, con Chevrolets, Dodges y Buicks de los años 50 reconfigurados para durar décadas más allá de su vida natural, a veces con motores Toyota bajo el capó, con cables que sostienen las ventanas agrietadas o con tablones de madera usados como tablas del suelo. Pero el acceso a los lujos más retro se desgasta en las provincias. Muchas de las aldeas que Jacobs visitó exudaban un aire fantasmal.
Típico era el puesto de avanzada de Hershey (hoy conocido como Camilo Cienfuegos), aproximadamente a 35 millas de La Habana, un pueblo fundado en 1916 para proveer de azúcar a la compañía de chocolate con sede en Pennsylvania. Las calles estaban antaño bordeadas de ordenados bungalows que hacían eco de las ciudades modelo de los suburbios americanos -un mundo desaparecido capturado en la novela de Rachel Kushner de 2008, Telex desde Cuba. Cuando la refinería fue nacionalizada después de la revolución, la ciudad siguió funcionando mientras la URSS compró la cosecha de azúcar de Cuba a un precio inflado. “Era como un pueblo del Viejo Oeste en pleno auge del oro”, dice Jacobs. Hoy en día, la refinería cerrada se cierne como una catedral en ruinas sobre calles habitadas sólo por ancianos.
La provincia de Pinar del Río, a unos 160 km al oeste de La Habana, es el centro agrícola de la industria tabacalera cubana. Arriba: Un bohío, o cabaña de paja. FOTO: ANDREW JACOBS PARA WSJ. MAGAZINE
Para esta generación mayor, los sueños fracturados de Cuba en la última década tienen un aire familiar, que se hace eco de ciclos históricos más largos de esperanza y decepción. Al principio, la llegada de Fidel Castro y sus románticos barbudos (“los barbudos”, como se conoció a sus guerrilleros en la Sierra Maestra) fueron recibidos con un éxtasis. Toda la isla se vio envuelta en el cuento de hadas “revolución juvenil” contra el brutal dictador Fulgencio Batista, mientras Cuba se embarcaba en un experimento que parecía prometer una utopía política, económica y racial. Con el paso de los años, la desilusión se instaló, y el sueño se derrumbó en la década de 1990.
Aún así, dentro de la Cuba de hoy, la esperanza continúa. “Si todo se alinea, Cuba estará en un buen lugar”, dice Laverty. “Pero para llegar allí, tendrán que lidiar con muchas dificultades.” Como siempre, los cubanos tendrán mucha experiencia en la que apoyarse. -•
Cuba to open first “LGBTI-friendly” Hotel
Cuba to open its first “friendly LGBTI” hotel
By EntreDiversidades
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews
Playuela Beach, located next to Cayo Guillermo, has been the site chosen to build one of the hotels that will undoubtedly be visited by the LGBTI community.
According to Mathu Hotel in Cuba, the country plans to open the Rainbow Muthu Hotel, the first hotel facility dedicated to the LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex) community in October 2019.
The new hotel will have 248 rooms of high comfort, five restaurants, three bars, a room of animation and all the necessary facilities for the practice of aquatic sports.
“A perfect #LGBT-Friendly hotel, for an escape to #cayoguillermo #granmuthurainbow, will be an incredible place to visit all year round with these incredible rooms and views,” says one of the facility’s promotions.
The Muthu Hotel representation in Cuba has summoned CENESEX to help in the selection and training of the personnel that will work in the facilities; in addition to collaborating in events, promotions and campaigns.
Travelers and Tourists
Travelers and Tourists
By Graziella Pogolotti
digital@juventudrebelde.cu
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
The large-scale tourism industry has a relatively recent history. Its initial impulse came after World War II. The rise of left-wing movements and the pressure exerted by powerful trade unions led many countries to pass laws making paid rest compulsory. For many sectors of the middle classes, the possibility of enjoying holidays was opened up.
At the same time, numerous publications disseminated the cultural values located in Third World countries. Appropriate marketing operations designed tours to famous places for destinations that were docile to the indications of trained guides. The trip was no longer an adventure. Everything was planned in advance. Back home, the tourist would not remember much of the experience lived in the pyramids of Teotihuacán, but would arrive with a bunch of trinkets billed as souvenirs.
The traveler, on the other hand, is moved by the search for the unusual. He’s going to go to some of the most remote places in the cities. You will observe the human landscape without disdaining typical foods in some modest restaurants. I confess to having belonged to this species in my younger years. When I couldn’t afford the pennies to take on bigger adventures, I decided to start at home.
At the time, I had just finished my college degree. The studies of Art History had revealed to me the importance of our colonial legacy. I obtained the assistance of two compañeras to launch us on the adventure of discovering Trinidad. We stayed in a room on the corner of Media Luna and Desengaño. The names of the streets, such as the Habaneras of Amargura, Mercaderes, lficios or la Muralla have always exerted on me a remarkable power of poetic evocation. But the Trinitarian atmosphere of those days was far from what we know today.
There were the houses of yesteryear in the midst of an impressive misery. Barefoot and ragged, the children roamed the streets, sometimes reduced to begging. The ruin of the Valle de los Ingenios plunged the city into a poverty in which some families tried to preserve the dignity of the past.
It’s been a few years. In the 60’s of the last century, in the middle of the fight against the bandits, a traveling library went along the road between Cienfuegos and Trinidad. It offered book loans for children and adults. I wanted to know the experience in a direct way. The newly-literate peasants encouraged their children to acquire the habit of reading. On that occasion, I met a unique character.
Carlos Joaquín Zerquera was one of those local historians who narrated countless anecdotes of characters from the past. He did it so neatly that his murky marriage intrigues seemed to be happening in the contemporary world. His energies were focused on the effort to rescue the Brunet Palace in order to turn it into the Romantic Museum. Resources were scarce.
Nicolás Chao, Party secretary in the region, who also sponsored the creation of the Grupo Escambray, led by Sergio Corrieri, was able to listen to the Trinitarian researcher’s homily. Little by little something was done. Recognition of the need to preserve our heritage was beginning to take shape. We did not know, in those distant 1970s, that we were investing in a future tourism that would become one of our options for economic growth. Trinidad has been reborn and has recovered its best artisan tradition.
The traveler can enjoy the uniqueness of its urban environment. Let us take great care of your specific features. Let us not fall into the mimetic temptation of Cancunizing it.
On holiday days, we can try the adventure of discovering our country. Sometimes, you don’t have to walk very far to stumble upon the surprise of the unusual. In the Havana municipality of Cotorro is the Church of Santa María del Rosario, a rural place devoured yesterday by the galloping growth of the capital. Nicolás de la Escalera, the oldest painter with a name registered in our history of art left his mark there.
In our small country, there are many corners to be rediscovered. To do this properly, we need to move, relentlessly but steadily, towards a change of mentality. Let’s not confuse the popular with the uncouth. Let us discard the reductionist vision of culture as an ornament and recognize in it the nourishing source of a spirituality that defines our uniqueness, that is, our identity. Managing with intelligence, avoiding the banal commercialization of the peddlers, is a good that can translate into tangible material benefits.
Let us abandon the formal routine of commemorations. Let us make each of them an event open to wider horizons. In these days we have remembered the bicentenary of the San Alejandro foundation.
Let us abandon the formal routine of commemorations. Let us make each of them an event open to wider horizons. In those days we remembered the bicentenary of the foundation of St. Alexander. The history of the Academy was one of light and shadow. The triumph of the Revolution brought about a substantial change by bringing about the emergence of the long-neglected artistic avant-garde. The tribute to the date would be an opportunity to find in our National Museum the work of those who passed through it along with the insurgents who rebelled against the obsolescence of their curricula.
Welcome to the sunny days and the beach, as well as the festivities that animate summer days. Let us also learn to take advantage of the weeks of rest to turn our gaze inward and devote some moments to productive meditation.
Travel Photography
Travel Photography, More than Postcards
Our first challenge of 2018 addresses a theme that has gained so much prominence that it has become a genre within photography.
By Leyanis Infante Curbelo leyanis@juventudrebelde.cu
and Maykel Espinosa Rodríguez digital@juventudrebelde.cu
Published: Wednesday 14 February 2018 | 06:21:23 PM
Updated: Thursday 15 February 2018 | 12:12:12:40 PM
Translated and edited for CubaNews by Walter Lippmann.
Eastern Cuba. Author: Roberto Suárez Published: 09/10/2017 | 10:10 a
Hello photographer:
With the proposal that we bring you to inaugurate 2018, it is almost impossible that you won’t feel identified. In fact, most of our readers, whether or not they love photography, will feel they have something to say or show for it.
We are referring to travel photography, which with the rise of cyber platforms, and the amplification and cheapening of access to equipment capable of taking photos, is one of the themes that has been most developed and popularized worldwide: travel photography.
It is no longer just professional photographers who display their impeccable graphic memories of the places they have visited. Increasingly, from social networks and blogs people share their experiences in other latitudes, offer advice, suggest itineraries… and show their images. Some even live make a living from it.
So much so that travel photography has begun to be recognized as a [distinct] genre and enough literature has already been written about it.
Usually, we all take images of the places we visit, with the intention of remembering them later and to enlarge our personal graphic memory. But what kind of images do we make, of what objects or subjects we photograph and above all, why.
It’s not just a postcard.
For some authors, travel photography is just one facet of photojournalism, another way to tell stories. And the fact is that, although it is not wrong to want to immortalize in our images in a kind of postcard of what we have seen, there are many other ways to face a tourist visit.
It is clear that there are essential photos. For example, if you visit the Valley of Viñales, you will not fail to take a panoramic photo from the Hotel Los Jazmines, nor from the paradisiacal beaches of Varadero. But you will make a difference when you also begin to tell stories, when you imbue your images with the feeling of the place you visit, portraying its inhabitants in their surroundings, detail traditions, gastronomic culture… and everything that grabs your attention (animals, streets, doors, trees).
Take pictures from the first moment. Preparations for the trip are also part of it.
Take photos on the means of transport, including the plane. To do this, you will have to be attentive and request the seat in a window in which the wings of the plane do not obstruct your vision. Take advantage of this opportunity to take aerial photos.
In addition to the typical places, it also seeks to bring out daily customs and characters.
Photograph the people of the place… but first, ask them for permission, not only to take the photo but also if you plan to publish it or upload it to your social networks.
Include tourists and passers-by in your images, that will make them more attractive and moving.
If you photograph your fellow travelers in a space or in front of an important building or monument, take a short shot of your friends, half-body or closer. Otherwise, they’ll be so tiny that you won’t notice them in the picture.
Above all, try to do things with common sense, discretion, and education. When in doubt, always ask.
When you return from your trip, make a rigorous selection. Make the selection as if it were a projection, at 4 seconds per photo, you should be able to see the selected photos in 3 or 4 minutes maximum so you don’t bore your audience.
With information from https://www.blogdelfotografo.com and https://saltaconmigo.com
We Keep Being Put on New Lists
We Keep Being Put on New Lists
By: Dr. Néstor García Iturbe
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
The Trump administration, at the head of the United States government, has just included Cuba on three new lists.
That is part of the policy change, which Trump announced when he met in the city of Miami, with a group of “rank Batistianos, annexationists and terrorists” as our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, described them in his recent speech before the General Assembly of the United Nations.
One of the lists, from the State Department, refers to different Cuban entities with which the US citizens will not be able to carry out financial transactions. This list is headed by the MINISTRY OF THE ARMED FORCES, THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR, THE POLICE AND OTHERS ORGANS OF STATE SECURITY. They also include a series of hotels and other entities that supposedly belong to the security forces of the Cuban government.
This measure has been shaped by the main interest of trying to affect the trips of US citizens to Cuba. But what it establishes is unconstitutional, within the so-called freedoms that American citizens have proclaimed, as well as being irrational.
For example, if a US citizen commits a traffic infraction, he has to pay a fine to the police, in doing so he is violating a regulation of the US government and could be incriminated for this.
It is irrational and ridiculous to include in the ban two brands of soft drinks made in Cuba. The so-called “individual freedoms” of the American are torn up again when the government regulates them up to the brand of soda pop that can be drunk.
To continue issuing regulations, the Trump administration will establish the type of toilet paper that Americans should use in Cuba. It is possible that even THAT will have to be regulated for people from the US. That is the so-called “democracy”, and a sample of the “freedom” that prevails in capitalist society.
The other lists, also regulating what the US citizen can do or not do, have the same goal, try to affect the relations between the Cuban people and the American people, the contacts that are established between visitor and visited, in order, to the greatest extent possible, to avoid these contacts.
In general, people from the US who have traveled to Cuba are kind, respectful and interested in knowing the truth of what is happening on the Island. That is the danger that the enemies of our country are considering.
Those who return from Cuba, speak with honesty of our people, of the advances of the revolution and of the situation in which we live, which is always much better than the image disclosed by the enemies and the Miami mafia.
What kind of regime is Trump creating?
It is not only trying to reverse the progress in relations with Cuba that was achieved during the Obama administration. The violations of the US Constitution and to the liberties proclaimed in that same document, are directed at creating a repressive, discriminatory, terror regime, comparable to the existing one at the time of peak of the McCarthyism.
Perhaps that is the true meaning of his motto “Make America great again”.
Using Fear to Strike at Cuban Tourism
Using Fear to Strike at Cuban Tourism
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
The mysterious case of the alleged “acoustic attacks” against US diplomatic personnel in Cuba turns out to have been a media maneuver aimed at damaging tourism in terms of as part of the blockade against the island.
One of Cuba’s greatest attractions for foreign tourism is the guarantee of security offered by the island to visitors from any part of the world. Another is the high level of public health in Cuba, one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere with health indicators comparable to those of the most developed nations.
In addition to the exceptional conditions with which the island has been endowed by nature, the popular revolution of 1959 has incorporated the dsocial conditions of peace and harmony that the visitor appreciates from the first moment of their stay in Cuba.
More than half a century of possessive paranoia, aggravated by the economic, commercial and financial blockade, have not been able to counteract the enormous achievements of socialism, even if they have postponed or limited many revolutionary economic and social advances in the country.
Basque journalist José Manzaneda, coordinator of the Cubainformación website, a channel that broadcasts news, reports and commentaries on the island from Spain, has denounced the media’s objective against Cuba over the campaign of alleged sonic attacks.
Manzaneda remembers that it was the Argentine newspaper “Clarín”, among many other media, who published a report two years ago from the Associated Press. Its focus was on an American traveler who felt “a sudden loss of feeling in his four extremities, in the same hotel where some affected diplomats were staying.”
Then there’s the growing interest among students, the sector of American visitors that has grown the most in Cuba –118% in the first half of the year– given that conventional tourism is still prohibited by the US blockade, Diario de Cuba, half-financed by the governments of the United States and Spain, wrote: “There are signs that students and retirees (from the U.S.) plan to cancel their trips to the island”, since neither “Washington nor Havana have been able to prevent the attacks, which could generate an uncontrollable crisis”.
El Nuevo Herald, a mouthpiece for the extreme right-wing Cubans in Miami, assured its readers that Raúl Castro is turning a diplomatic crisis into an economic, potentially destabilizing one.
Agencies and media collaborated in this way with the objective of the White House that came to life on September 29. That was when, recognizing that ti was “not aware” of the origin of the supposed acoustic attacks, it officially recommended not traveling to the island.
“Coming from the government of a country where every year 30,000 people die by firearms, more than a thousand by police, and 31% of the world’s mass shootings are recorded, this alarm seems like a joke in bad taste,” says Manzaneda.
The extreme-right of Cuban origin of the Republican party, which, in exchange for its vote on other matters, already manages Donald Trump’a Cuba policy. It seeks to reverse the growth experienced through the trips of Americans to the island and damage the income from them which it brings to the Cuban economy.
In line with this campaign, the conservative Washington Examiner asked the House of Representatives to demand that Cuba “evaluate security at its ten international airports.” This is an inadmissible interference that seeks to reduce the number of visitors from the US, in this case by canceling the regular flights authorized by the Obama administration.
However, RESPECT, the largest US association of travel promoters in Cuba, rejected –as unnecessary and counterproductive– the “security warning” issued by the State Department, arguing that Cuba is a “safe destination.”
The Spanish newspaper El País followed with an interview with Thomas Shannon, US Undersecretary of State. He held Cuba responsible for everything that had happened, but without clarifying what he was referring to, and without contributing any element to such an unusual story. Republican Senator Marco Rubio, Donald Trump’s current spoiled scion, seems to be, according to analysts, the one who is behind the nefarious campaign about “sonic attacks” in Cuba.
Everything indicates that, now, the tactic chosen by the right, at the service of imperialism, is to generate fear more than to legislate against Cuba. This is because, since for the former they have the concurrence –conscious or unconscious– of powerful international agencies and media, so much so that, for the second, they run the risk of increasing the division in the Republican ranks in Congress.
Let it be known then that all this diabolical mischief of sonic attacks is nothing more than another element of the blockade against Cuba that this past November 1, was condemned almost unanimously by the world community in the UN for the 26th consecutive year.
November 2 of 2017.
Virgin Group Founder Visits Habana Vieja
Important British Empresario Visits Habana Vieja
By Editor, Havana Radio/ Photos: Alexis Rodríguez
October 20, 2017
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