Tourism 17
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
Cuba Recovered and Open
By Manuel E. Yepe Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann. USA Today reported on Sept. 17 that the US government was providing humanitarian aid to numerous Caribbean islands devastated by Hurricane Irma. Cuba, located just 90 miles off the coast of Florida – was not among them. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, Cuba was the first nation to offer aid. The island prepared thousands of volunteers and huge amounts of emergency equipment and supplies to assist the victims in the affected regions with all the expenses incurred by Cuba. Even on that occasion, Havana organized a permanent aid brigade to send to to countries affected by natural disasters that was named after a US citizen, Henry Reeve (1850-1876), who fought in an outstanding way in the Cuban independence ranks against Spanish colonialism, and who rose to the rank of Brigadier General. The US government of George W. Bush rejected the magnanimous Cuban aid offer, in spite of the enormous humanitarian catastrophe that was unfolding in Louisiana at the time. Katrina caused damage to the city of New Orleans, but it did not devastate it. Shortly afterwards, the Pontchartrain lake dams and several canals were broken. A toxic broth of contaminated water flooded the streets, as well as thousands of homes and beyond the second floor of tall buildings. Tens of thousands of people, almost all of them black and poor, had to fight for survival in the worst conditions of official abandonment. An estimated 300,000 families were made homeless. Nor was the offer of Cuban aid accepted at that time. At the moment, although Cuba is recovering from the serious damage caused by Hurricane Irma, it has not hesitated to give aid to neighboring islands that have suffered a misfortune similar to its own. Hundreds of professionals, with their assistants and medical supplies, have been sent by Havana in support their Caribbean neighbors. It is known that there are now hundreds of millions of dollars worth of food, medicine, and building materials being stored in the US military base that Washington illegally occupied more than a century ago, on the shores of Guantanamo Bay, on Cuban territory, in the easternmost part of Cuba. (This also includes the concentration camp whose inmates have no rights or trial as prisoners war). But it is also known that the US military base has not shared a single bottle of potable water with the Cuban residents affected by the hurricane outside the perimeter fencing at the base. Among other nations, they are providing assistance to Cuba, Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, China, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic, Russia, Uruguay, Venezuela and Vietnam, as well as some dependencies from the ONU. In contrast, the State Department has issued a warning against travel to Cuba and advises the Americans in that regard. Meanwhile, millions of Cuban volunteers have cleared the tracks that provide the most evidence of the destructive passage of Hurricane Irma. Tourists from the most diverse countries are already going massively to the island. By denying Cubans aid, and discouraging its citizens’ travel to Cuba, Washington is once again using the occurrence of a humanitarian disaster to punish Cubans for refusing to accept US meddling in their internal affairs. However, as the Canadian tour operator “Cuba Explorer”, which has been based for years in Havana, states in a message to its clients, “Americans are preparing to visit Cuba in large numbers in the coming months, aware that social tourism is a form humanitarian and economic aid. The travelers want to keep alive the new spirit of cooperation between the United States and Cuba that began during the Presidency of Barack Obama. “Cubans are showing their disposition and their desire to welcome and warmly welcome their arrival to the island to their American guests,” said the aforementioned US tour operator, based on his own experiences and expectations. September 18, 2017.
Por Manuel E. Yepe Exclusivo para el diario POR ESTO! de Mérida, México. El diario USA Today informó el 17 de septiembre que el gobierno de Estados Unidos estaba dando ayuda humanitaria a numerosas islas del Caribe devastadas por el huracán Irma. Cuba, situada a tan solo 90 millas de las costas de la Florida- no estaba entre ellas. Cuando el huracán Katrina golpeó a Nueva Orleans en 2005, Cuba fue la primera nación en ofrecer ayuda. La isla preparó miles de voluntarios y enormes cantidades de equipos y suministros de emergencia para ayudar a las víctimas en las regiones afectadas con todos los gastos sufragados por Cuba. Incluso en esa ocasión La Habana organizó una brigada permanente de ayuda a países afectados por desastres naturales que nombró Henry Reed (1850—1876), en honor a un ciudadano estadounidense que combatió de manera sobresaliente en las filas independentistas cubanas contra el colonialismo español, en las que alcanzó el grado de Brigadier General. El gobierno estadounidense de George W. Bush rechazó la magnánima oferta cubana de ayuda, a pesar de la enorme catástrofe humanitaria que se desplegaba en el estado de Luisiana en aquel momento. Katrina causó daños a la ciudad de Nueva Orleáns, pero no la devastó. Poco después, cuando los diques del lago Pontchartrain y varios canales se reventaron, un caldo tóxico de agua contaminada inundó las calles, así como miles de casas y hasta más allá del segundo piso de los edificios altos. Decenas de miles de personas, casi todas negras y pobres, debieron luchar por la supervivencia en las peores condiciones de abandono oficial. Se calcula que 300,000 familias quedaron sin techo. Tampoco fue aceptada entonces la oferta de ayuda cubana. En estos momentos, pese a que Cuba se está recuperando de los graves perjuicios que le causara el huracán Irma, no ha vacilado en prestar ayuda a las islas vecinas que han sufrido una desgracia semejante a la propia. Cientos de profesionales, con sus asistentes y suministros médicos, han sido enviados por La Habana en apoyo a sus vecinos del Caribe. Se conoce que en la base militar estadounidense que ilegalmente ocupa hace más de un siglo un espacio en la ribera de la bahía de Guantánamo, en territorio cubano, en la parte más oriental de Cuba (así como en el campo de concentración de sus prisioneros de guerra sin derecho a juicio que allí existen), hay actualmente alimentos, medicinas y materiales de construcción valorados en cientos de millones de dólares. Pero se sabe, igualmente, que la base militar estadounidense no ha compartido ni una sola botella de agua potable con los cubanos residentes afectados por el huracán fuera del vallado perimetral de la base. Entre otras naciones, están proporcionando ayuda a Cuba Argentina, Bolivia, Canadá, Colombia, Costa Rica, China, Ecuador, El Salvador, España, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, República Dominicana, Rusia, Uruguay, Venezuela y Vietnam, así como algunas dependencias de la ONU. En contraste, el Departamento de Estado ha dictado una advertencia contra los viajes a Cuba y asesora en ese sentido a los estadounidenses. Mientras tanto, millones de voluntarios cubanos han limpiado las huellas que más evidencian el destructivo paso de huracán Irma. Turistas de los más diversos países están acudiendo masivamente ya a la isla. Al negarle ayuda a los cubanos y desalentar los viajes a Cuba de sus ciudadanos, Washington está utilizando una vez más la ocurrencia de un desastre humanitario para castigar a los cubanos por negarse a aceptar la intromisión de Estados Unidos en sus asuntos internos. Sin embargo, como manifiesta en mensaje a sus clientes el turoperador canadiense “Cuba Explorer”, basado hace años en La Habana, “los estadounidenses se preparan para visitar Cuba en gran número en los próximos meses, conscientes de que el turismo social es una forma humanitaria y económica de ayuda. Los viajeros quieren mantener vivo el nuevo espíritu de cooperación entre Estados Unidos y Cuba que se inició durante la Presidencia de Barack Obama”. “Los cubanos están dando muestras de su disposición y sus deseos de dar la bienvenida y abrazar calurosamente a su llegada a la isla a sus invitados estadounidenses”, expresó el antes citado turoperador norteamericano, a partir de sus propias vivencias y expectativas. Septiembre 18 de 2017.
Cuba Recovered and Open to the World
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive to the daily POR ESTO! of Mérida, Mexico.CUBA SE RECUPERA Y SIGUE ABIERTA AL MUNDO
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Hurricane Irma’s Effects on Cuba
Hurricane Irma’s Effects on Cuba
By Néstor García Iturbe
Translated and Edited by Walter Lippmann.
DEAR READERS:
Some compañeros from other countries have written to me worried about Hurricane Irma and its consequences. That is why I make this brief chronicle. It would be unnecessary for those who live in Cuba and surely they would have much to contribute from their personal experiences.
AFTER PREPARATION TO RECEIVE IRMA AND ITS ARRIVAL IN CUBA, THEY CAN UNDERSTAND THAT ALL LIFE HAS BEEN ALTERED.
This hurricane crossed several provinces of the country along the north coast, destroying a good part of our tourist facilities and beaches, in addition to seriously affecting many cities.
The size of the hurricane was such that when it passed through a place it affected an area of more than three hundred kilometers. The closest to the eye of the hurricane with winds of about 250 kilometers per hour, in addition to the rains, those that were far from the center of the hurricane were also affected by winds of 80 kilometers in some cases and 150 in others (approximately).
Virtually the entire country ran out of electricity, with heavy flooding, disrupted roads, telephones. The news could be heard on the radio, the one with a portable radio, because although the television was on the air, no one could receive the signal because of the lack of electricity.
Although Civil Defense properly and timely warned about the dangers and the need to be safe, people were placed at safe locations to shelter, accidents occurred that cost the lives of ten Cubans.
Losses were also suffered in agriculture, industries, housing, schools, hospitals and others.
For those who have visited Cuba and have been in Havana, I can tell you that the water the sea advanced about 800 to 900 meters from the coast, above the seawall, in some places reached the height of 1.5 meters (as in the neighborhood where alive). You can understand that it destroys mobile homes, electrical equipment, shops, streets. trees, cars, electric and telephone lines, flooding of tunnels, garages and everything that is usually the basement of a building, where people often live.
After the hurricane, work began on the restoration of normality, and although much of the services (water, electricity, gas, telephone, television, radio) have yet to be restored, they have been reestablished in almost all of the country. On Monday the school year should be restarted at all levels, people who had problems with their home will continue in shelters, but work is underway on many of these, as well as factories and power plants. Most of the streets are passable and almost all the trees that were demolished were eliminated.
We still have some work to do, we have solved a good part but there are always issues that we must resolve to bring the country and its citizens back to the situation in which they were before Irene.
We are grateful for the solidarity shown by many people who are friends of Cuba, the help that is coming to us from some countries and above all we are grateful to have so many friends, like you, who care about us.
Many hurricanes would have to pass so that the Revolution would not go ahead. A hurricane affects us, but it does not stop us.S
Thank you all,
Néstor
Tourism and the Cuban Military
- English
- Español
Tourism and the Cuban Military
By Manuel E. Yepe
Exclusive to the daily BY THIS! Of Merida, Mexico.
Http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
Marcel Hatch, an American resident in Cuba, tells us that he owns a tourism agency that brings visitors to the island. Marcel and his agency and have a long history of more than 20 years of solidarity with Cuba. His agency helps US citizens travel to Cuba and overcome obstacles which have been raised by President Donald Trump and Republican Senator Marco Rubio (a fierce anti-Cuban who has never been to the island). These roadblocks rest on the fact that, in the imagination of ordinary American, a reference to “military” is fundamentally chilling.
This is because, inevitably, a nexus of similarity is established with the terrifying role played in the world by the Pentagon as an instrument of the superpower to secure and expand its global hegemony. As a terrifying offensive organization of covert operations operating in hundreds of territories to suppress by any means the opposition to American expansionism. It’s also an administrative body that sucks up most of the taxes paid by American workers. The US military, in turn, has a budget greater than the sum of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the majority of the nations of the planet.
For the average American, the armed forces mean billions of dollars in devastating weapons with state-of-the-art technology and highly qualified personnel at the disposal of the nation’s President. He, in turn, has several generals and a military industry which decides which nations will survive, which will perish or be subject to invasions, blockades, and intimidation, and as a result, which will be condemned to suffer famine, impoverishment and epidemics.
It must be remembered that on January 17, 1961, in his farewell address, then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower advised Americans to take care of the power acquired by what he called the “military-industrial complex.” He noted that the United States had gone “from lacking an army and a defense industry to having an Armed Forces with more than three and a half million people employed to protect its security at a cost greater than all business profits of Their big corporations together. “
His warning had a profound impact coming from a military president who had experienced -even in the exercise of the nation’s first office- the ability to exert pressure that the Pentagon and the war industry had acquired “with strong influence in each city hall, state legislature and federal office of the nation.”
“The Cold War imposed the need to dispose of those resources,”Eisenhower said, “but we can not overlook the serious implications of granting so much power to the military.”
Thus, with such a background, for many Americans, the very idea of supporting the military is disgusting and frightening. Meanwhile, in stark contrast, it is evident that the Cuban army is seen by its people as its main defensive tool for protecting citizens from external threats, and to ensure that national sovereignty resides in the island’s people.
The recent directives emanating from President Trump have not completely reversed the modest advances made by former President Obama’s policies a few days before his term comes to an end, but one that forbids US citizens and companies from participating In direct financial transactions with entities or subsidiaries that “disproportionately benefit” the Cuban military.
It is a fact that, when the Cuban military is not involved in defense tasks, responsibly and conscious of its role in society, it is involved in civilian objectives and in protecting the infrastructure and development of the country. In the past, in response to calls for help from people struggling for independence, Cuban civilians and military have come to their solidarity support.
“It is natural, therefore, that in times of relative peace, the uniformed people – as Camilo Cienfuegos, one of their initial leaders called it – put their organizational and administrative resources at the disposal of the national economy. This is, in my opinion, the case with their active participation in tourism and many other social and productive activities,” Hatch emphasizes.
Cuban society highly values the concepts of unity and equality. It is understandable that, with a capitalist perspective as exaggerated as that of the American establishment, it is embarrassing to explain the civic-military harmony that strengthens the Cuban nation in all areas, and that is why Cubans feel so proud of their military.
July 21, 2017
Spanish
Por Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusivo para el diario POR ESTO! de Mérida, México.
Me comenta Marcel Hatch, un norteamericano residente en Cuba propietario de una agencia de turismo que lleva visitantes a la isla y tiene un largo historial de más de 20 años de solidaridad con este país, que las trabas para dificultar los viajes de ciudadanos estadounidenses a la isla que han planteado el Presidente Donald Trump y el senador republicano Marco Rubio (feroz anticubano que nunca ha estado en Cuba), descansan en el hecho de que en el imaginario del estadounidense común la referencia a “militares” es fundamentadamente escalofriante.
Ello ocurre porque inevitablemente se establece un nexo de similitud con el papel aterrador que juega en el mundo el Pentágono estadounidense como instrumento de la superpotencia para asegurar y ampliar su hegemonía global; como terrorífica organización ofensiva de operaciones encubiertas que opera en cientos de territorios para suprimir por cualquiera medio la oposición al expansionismo norteamericano, y como cuerpo administrativo que succiona la mayor parte de los impuestos que abonan los trabajadores estadounidenses que a su vez dispone de un presupuesto superior a la suma mayor que la sumatoria del Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) de la mayoría de las naciones del planeta.
Para el común de los estadounidense, las fuerzas armadas significan miles de millones de dólares en armas devastadoras con novísima tecnología y personal altamente calificado a la disposición del Presidente de la nación, quien cuenta con varios generales y una industria militar que deciden cuáles naciones sobrevivirán, cuales perecerán o quedarán sujetas a invasiones, bloqueos e intimidaciones, y como resultado de ello, cuales serán condenadas a sufrir hambrunas, empobrecimiento y epidemias.
Hay que recordar que el 17 de enero de 1961, en su discurso de despedida, el entonces presidente Dwight D. Eisenhower aconsejó a los estadounidenses cuidarse del poder adquirido por lo que bautizó como “complejo militar-industrial”. Señaló que Estados Unidos había pasado, “de carecer de un ejército y una industria de la defensa, a disponer de unas Fuerzas Armadas con más de tres millones y medio de personas empleadas para proteger su seguridad a un costo mayor que todos los beneficios empresariales de sus grandes corporaciones juntas”. Su advertencia tuvo profundo impacto por provenir de un militar devenido Presidente que había experimentado -incluso en el ejercicio de la primera magistratura de la nación- la capacidad de ejercer presión que el Pentágono y la industria de la guerra habían adquirido “con fuerte influencia en cada ayuntamiento, legislatura estadual y oficina federal de la nación”.
La Guerra Fría impuso la necesidad de disponerle esos recursos-justificó Eisenhower- pero no podemos pasar por alto las graves implicaciones derivadas de la concesión de tanto poder a los militares.
Así, con tales antecedentes, para muchos estadounidenses la sola idea de apoyar a los militares es algo repugnante y aterrador. Pero, en marcado contraste, es evidente que el ejército cubano es visto por su pueblo como su principal herramienta defensiva para la protección de la ciudadanía de las amenazas del exterior, y para asegurar que la soberanía nacional resida en el pueblo de la isla.
Las recientes directivas emanadas de las orientaciones del Presidente Trump no han hecho retroceder totalmente los discretos avances aportados por las políticas del ex presidente Obama pocos días antes de concluir su mandato, pero entre ellas destaca una que prohíbe a los ciudadanos y empresas de Estados Unidos participar en transacciones financieras directas con entidades o subsidiarias que “beneficien desproporcionadamente” a los militares cubanos.
Es un hecho cierto que, cuando los militares cubanos no están involucrados en tareas de la defensa, responsablemente y por conciencia de su papel en la sociedad, se involucran en objetivos civiles y en la protección de la infraestructura y el desarrollo de su país. En el pasado, atendiendo a reclamos de ayuda de pueblos en lucha por su independencia, civiles y militares cubanos han acudido en su apoyo solidario.89d
“Es natural, por tanto, que en épocas de paz relativa, el pueblo uniformado -como lo llamara Camilo Cienfuegos, uno de sus jefes iniciales- ponga sus recursos organizacionales y administrativos a disposición de la economía nacional. Tal es, a mi juico, el caso de su activa participación en el turismo y en muchas otras actividades sociales y productivas”, enfatiza Hatch.
La sociedad cubana valora altamente los conceptos de unidad e igualdad. Es comprensible que con una óptica capitalista tan exagerada como la del “establishment” estadounidense, resulte embarazoso comprender la armonía cívico-militar que fortalece a la nación cubana en todos los ámbitos, y que los cubanos se sientan tan orgullosos de sus militares.
Julio 21 de 2017.
Will Havana Prosper?
Will Havana Prosper?
By Iroel Sánchez
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
March 21, 2017
Some time ago I published some questions about Havana:
“Is it a coincidence that places like Parque Lenin or Coppelia [ice-cream parlor in Vedado], symbols of the democratization of recreation and the access of the majority to refinement –opened by the collective project of the Revolution– languish between bad service and structural deterioration, while the idea that the good and the beautiful are the exclusive patrimony of the pre-revolutionary past? Why is the Latin American Stadium increasingly called the “Estadium del Cerro” in our media?
“Is it a Havana for tourists the one that will reach its 500th anniversary, reproducing the celebrations with the colonial flavor that –unlike what happened with the half millennium of Santiago de Cuba– took place in many of the towns founded by the Spaniards? Or as in Santiago, the neighborhoods built by the Revolution –and now more or less vandalized– (Camilo Cienfuegos, San Agustín, Alamar, Mulgoba, Reparto Electrico …) can renew their (lack of) urbanism and raise the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of Havana workers who have never been able to sit in a “paladar” [private restaurant]?
“Will the newly refurbished Capitolio of Havana be an old building for a new democracy, or a shell that –between marbles and bronzes, so dear to the dictatorships and plutocracies– forgets to consecrate the name of Jesus Menendez, the black working-class parliamentarian who imposed on the Yankees and the Cuban bourgeoisie a fair deal for the sugar workers. As a result, he was murdered despite his parliamentary immunity in “the most democratic period in contemporary Cuban history,” a phrase taken from an article in the Spanish newspaper El País signed by a Cuban “historian”?
And I return to these questions because, fortunately, for a few months now in the capital of the country we can see the growth of a transformative effort in favor of the majorities: renewing public spaces –like those mentioned in my questions– accessible to those who lack the resources to visit the new recreation centers which have prospered under the new economic measures. Large agricultural markets have been opened on the outskirts of the city. State-run gastronomic facilities with popular prices have been rescued. Fountains that had been without water for decades are running again. And other achievements are beginning to take shape with the decentralized funds collected by the municipalities. It can be said that, through these actions, the city thrives, because most of its inhabitants prosper.
But if that effort is not accompanied by the participation of the people in creating a culture of civic order and urbanity, all this effort will be like pedaling on a stationary bicycle. This participation must stem from a popular debate –we have the organizations and media to do so– that would serve for the dissemination and production of consensus around the rules that regulate and punish –if they were enforced– the frequent aggressions against common property.
To give just one example: the debris generated by construction work –for repairing opulent mansions acquired by landlords and the new rich in the most central municipalities of Havana– will continue to be dumped with impunity on street corners, so that the state sector –that is: the lowest paid workers– pay for its free collection without taking into account that, as explained by the British academic Emily Morris:
“As the non-state sector has developed, it has become increasingly clear that the relatively inefficient private firms have been able to thrive within the national economy since their costs in Cuban pesos, including labor, are undervalued at the CADECA / CUC rate they use for their transactions. In fact, the Cuban state is subsidizing the new non-state sector through the underrated rate of CADECA. Meanwhile, state-owned enterprises have to use the overvalued official exchange rate, a serious disadvantage in terms of their competitiveness. A form of “monetary illusion” which means that efficient state-owned enterprises report losses and therefore cannot raise capital for investment; while private entrepreneurs operating at very low productivity levels enjoy strong hidden state subsidies but complain of excessively high taxes.”
The non-state economy has much to contribute in Cuba; but illegality, tax evasion, hoarding, appropriation of the common good, and speculation with deficit products are not the best allies to convince of its virtues.
The first thing that should be clarified is what we mean when we use the verb “to prosper”.
In those economically “most prosperous” territories (such as: Trinidad –where business has developed along with the growth of garbage in the streets, and the notorious tax evasion reached such extremes that the ONAT [National Office for Tax Collection] of Sancti Spiritus had to be moved over there; Viñales –where teachers have to be taken from other municipalities and private pools try to steal the scarce water supply in times of drought; or Havana, where part of the efforts to supply popular restaurants and cafeterias, education and health centers, drains to private restaurants or bars that remain open until five in the morning –not until 3:00 am as it is regulated) businesses are favored by the indirect subsidies of the CADECA 25 to 1 exchange rate, the low rates of water, gas and electricity conceived for domestic use, but used for profit; the free disposal of increased amounts of solid waste –as if this waste came from the kitchen of a home.
In this way development and prosperity will be patrimony of a few to the detriment of the majority.(CubAhora)
Vincent Hallinan on Cuba (1963)
Vincent Hallinan on Cuba
Back in 1935, my wife and I went to Cuba for a vacation. We went via the Panama Canal one of the great flying boats which then operated between San Francisco and New York. It laid out for two or three days in Havana harbor. We spent one day in the capital city and then returned aboard the ship and went on up to New York. We couldn’t see ourselves vacationing in the welter of poverty, ignorance, corruption, prostitution, misery and despair, which were the Cuba of 1935. We went back to Havana and in December 1960. Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries had overthrown the American puppet Batista, and defeated his army – also maintained, trained, and paid by American taxpayers for the benefit of American big – business corporations. It was the Year of Education, and and islandwide campaign was being waged to stamp out illiteracy. The shacks and slums were disappearing, to be replaced by prefabricated concrete houses. These had sanitary plumbing, running water, gas and electricity. The barren landed estates had been converted into food–processing plantations for the benefit of all. Everywhere there was hope, pride and exaltation. The Cuban people had recaptured their coiuntry from the exploiters.
In the same way that the American people were educated to believe that the Russian Revolution was bad, a vigorous campaign has been, and is being, waged to convince them that the Cuban revolution is the same. Castro, an heroic and shining patriot, is depicted as a madman ruining his own country by the exclusion of the benign North American corporations.
From:
A LION IN COURT
by Vincent Hallinan
G.P. Putnam’s Sons
p.317
A Brief History of Tourism
A Brief History of Tourism
Photo: Courtesy of Mintur/Granma/Archive.
By Graziella Pogolotti
May 3, 2017
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
The image of the tourist was, at first, that of a traveler who, individually, undertook an adventure in search of new horizons to gain knowledge. Thus, exotic visitors began to show up in Cuba, who very often left testimony of their experience through letters, stories or books that proposed more ambitious insights.
The perspective of others gave us a vision of our singularity in the multiple planes that natural and human landscapes offer. For those persons who come from other lands, the richness of a prodigal natural universe –unaffected by the harsh rigors of winter– is striking.
The chromatic luxury of the environment made an impact at first sight. The true singularity was expressed in the human face of a cordial country, with open doors, where the refinement of customs was accompanied by the abandonment of the rigid formalism prevailing in other lands. The deepest bond was established in the human plane and there was also the first-hand approach to a culture forged under different circumstances. Thus, the characteristics of “being Cuban” were beginning to be defined.
Later on, in the twentieth century, workers’ demands gave the middle classes the right to vacation time. Inexpensive because of geographical proximity, access to a tourist trip was within reach of Americans encouraged by the stimulus of the warm climate and the exoticism of a certain folklore trivialized by the trinket trade.
In the winter months, the high season prevailed. It offered an enjoyable warm weather and coincided with the Havana carnival. In Parque Central, a maracas player stood at the door of a store that offered cheap musical instruments, along with belts, purses, and other articles made of genuine crocodile leather.
The flourishing business imposed its perverse features. When Prohibition was established in the United States, Havana was a space open to free consumption of alcohol. Bars multiplied and a malicious substrate became linked to the contraband privileged by the vicinity between the coasts of the two countries.
With its well-known ability to forge mentalities, neo-liberal globalization has appropriated large-scale tourism, associated with what is called with apparent innocence –eternal trap of words–: the leisure industry.
Its extreme expression is manifested in the cruises. In these, instead of observing the new, travelers contemplate each other in a coexistence that consumes most of the available time. In a tour of preset destinations, they pass through some paradigmatic sites and lunge into the search for small souvenirs, trophies to give to friends, once back home. The human landscape and the power of culture have disappeared from the picture. They will get to know, if at all, a masquerade willing to show –with roaring stridency– the expected exotic component.
Before becoming the grave of desperate emigrants, the Mediterranean’s natural environment suffered the predatory effects of tourism. There, too, on a short excursion, the testimonies of one of the original sources of so-called Western culture moved to the background
The Caribbean is the counterpart of that mare nostrum. We preserve virginal areas, but our being an island makes us extremely vulnerable. We have beautiful landscapes, but we lack abundant water resources to quench the thirst of a temporary overpopulation and maintain perfect lawns for golf courses.
In the cultural field, the dangers are even greater. While the Mediterranean tradition still evokes the glories of a dilapidated Parthenon and the infinite management of the Egyptian pyramids, –all victims of neo-colonial perspectives– our culture does not enjoy similar recognition.
Exoticism always maintains a component of underestimation, and our inhabitants have psychologically suffered from this conditioning. Expansive in the last half century, the leisure industry was already emerging, when “the Commander arrived and ordered it to stop.” [a refernence to the lyrics of a song, by Carlos Puebla, referering to Fidel putting an end to capitalist evils].
The hotels that multiplied in Havana were fronts for gambling halls, meeting points for high class prostitution, and business centers of an expanding mafia.
At that time, a master plan for the development of Havana was designed which articulated interests of a diverse nature. Speculation based on the price of the land oriented the growth of the city towards the east, where investments were made with a view to the creation of new neighborhoods.
The government would pay the expenses of infrastructure for investments with an absolute guarantee of profitability. New management centers were being directed there.
The historic city would be at the expense of the underworld. Since the space provided for that predatory universe was insufficient, a floating island would be built in front of the Malecon, for the free flow of large-scale gambling dens. The landscape value of the Malecón –complemented by the gentle hills that shape the profile of the city towards its geographical center, the present-day Plaza de la Revolución– did not matter. The capital of the country, the historical and cultural jewel in our crown, would be hopelessly dismembered.
For a country like ours, lacking in great mining wealth, tourism is a source of income of indisputable importance. The challenge is to devise strategies that enhance the possibilities of development in favor of the nation, culturally and humanly, because in the virtues of our people lies the soul of the nation.
The emergent demand for a large-scale project focused on the advantages of the availability of sun and beaches must be accompanied by the analysis of the risks involved, with the purpose of elaborating the indispensable counterparts. It is important to discard the notion of the leisure industry and to take into account that the fashion of beach enjoyment may be temporary.
Our true strength lies in our status as a large island, endowed with a multitude of possible options: many of them based on a cultural and historical tradition.
There is also the possibility of proposing designs aimed at valuing good living, latent in our large and small cities, in the varied landscape environment, and in the survival of little-explored corners made to the measure of the human being. To elaborate these projects, it would be advisable to complement the geographic and geological maps with a cultural map illuminated by a deep inward look.