CARICOM Cuba Leaders to talk trade in Havana on CARICOM-Cuba Day - December 08

Caricom Today: CARICOM Cuba Leaders to talk trade in Havana

Economic and Trade Relations will be among the issues discussed at the Fifth Summit of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba which takes place in Havana, Cuba on Monday 8 December. The Summit will be preceded on Sunday by a meeting of the Foreign Ministers.


In accordance with the Havana Declaration of December 2002, the Summit is held every three ye - ars on the date that the leaders of Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago broke a diplomatic embargo and visited Cuba. That date December 8 has been designated CARICOM-Cuba Day.

Monday’s meeting will give the Leaders an opportunity to look at the present situation with the Trade and Economic Agreement which the two parties signed in 2000. They will benefit from the result of discussion held last October in Havana by the CARICOM-Cuba Joint Commission which sought ways of making the Agreement more effective.

The two sides will also discuss strengthening co-operation in multi-lateral fora. This assumes added importance in light of the on-going global negotiations for a Climate Change Agreement and the upcoming negotiations on the United Nations Post 2015 Development Agenda.

Chairman of CARICOM the Honourable Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, His Excellency Raoul Castro Ruz, president of Cuba and His Excellency Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, Secretary-General of CARICOM will address Monday’s Opening Ceremony at the Place of the Revolution.

December 05, 2014

Caricom Today

Underground Cuban rappers live on the edge

By Esteban Israel:


HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- It's almost midnight at a roadside bar on the outskirts of Havana and young Cubans gather to listen to hip hop.

A man with dreadlocks steps up, microphone in hand, to the roar of approval from a crowd of 150 fans.

"I'm not going to turn my back on reality, even if they censor and repress me," he chants to a driving beat, as the eager audience, which knows every word, sings along.

"Days go by and I'm still locked up, censored. They look at me like a renowned dissident, rejected by the media."

The two-man Cuban rap group "Los Aldeanos" can sell songs on iTunes to followers abroad, but in Cuba they remain an underground band that has been playing mostly unadvertised gigs at unauthorized venues for seven years.

They rap about prostitution, police harassment, social inequality and corruption, delicate issues rarely raised by Cuban musicians in the socialist state born of Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

Cuba's communist authorities say their anti-establishment songs are too critical and cannot be played on Cuban radio stations, that are all state-run, or sold in the shops.

The band has no access to Cuba's record labels either. Their 20 albums were recorded in a friend's makeshift studio a long bus ride and a two-mile walk from downtown Havana.

"Los Aldeanos" was formed in 2003 by Aldo Rodriguez and elementary school teacher Bian Rodriguez.

The rappers have become the abrasive voice of a disaffected generation of politically numbed Cubans who grew up during Cuba's post-Soviet economic crisis of the 1990s.

Some of their music is sold overseas through online sites, with the proceeds going to buy equipment, said their U.S.-based producer Melisa Riviere, president of Emetrece Productions.

But with no income from record sales or concerts in Cuba, theirs is a labor of love.

Barred from access to state media, their fans hear about their performances by word of mouth or text messages sent from cell phone to cell phone.

Their fans are mainly young people who revel in the outlaw nature of their shows and their politically risque lyrics.

"They talk about our reality. That's why we like them," says Pablo, a 20-year old musician wearing a black T-shirt hand painted with the band's name.

"Los Aldeanos are the result of a pact to do the rebellious music we wanted. We wanted to say what we feel, what we see, without limits," says Aldo, who has a huge tattoo saying "Rap is war" on his right forearm.

While critical of society, Aldo says the group's music seeks to restore the solidarity and respect Cubans had before they were worn away by decades of economic hardship.

"Our work aims at a positive change in society. Not just in the government, but also spiritually ... today Cubans step on and humiliate one another," he told Reuters in a recent interview.

The group's name means "The Villagers" and refers to their vision of a unified and supportive Cuban society.

The official Cuban news agency AIN recently accused them of "hypercriticism" and being the latest tool of Cuba's foes.

"Our enemies make no distinction between mercenaries and naive, irresponsible people who disagree. Anyone is good as long as they sing the counterrevolutionary music," it said.

But rappers of "Los Aldeanos" say their music is actually revolutionary, and they criticized those Cubans who become critical only after reaching the safe shores of Miami.

"I wouldn't be a revolutionary man if I didn't say what I think when asked," said Aldo. "Why do I have to be afraid to express what I feel? Shutting up means freezing in time."

If their official reception at home is cool, overseas Los Aldeanos are being warmly embraced. Like most Cubans they have little access to Internet, but their music is all over the Web and a recent homemade video got almost 500,000 hits.

"Los Aldeanos are YouTube kings. They are audio-visually pirated throughout the globe," says producer Riviere.

Colombian rock star Juanes wanted them at a huge outdoor concert he held last year in Havana but the government refused. Puerto Rican hip hop heavyweights Calle 13 tried unsuccessfully to sneak them on stage during their Havana show last month.

But things could be changing.

The rappers, who have been denied permits to travel abroad, now have invitations to perform in Colombia, Mexico and Spain, and they hope to be allowed to go this time.

Riviere said Cuba's authorities have realized Los Aldeanos are a reflection of the island's culture and it would be better to give the popular group some slack.

In a hopeful sign things may be opening up, the government allowed them to perform their first concert in a Havana theater on April 24 to mark their seventh anniversary.

Entry was tightly controlled by police and state security agents were inside the theater, but 1,000 fans attended the show and hundreds more had to be turned away.

"You can't imagine all we have been through to get here tonight," Aldo told the cheering crowd.

May 17, 2010

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Bahamas Blog International

Church urges Cuba to make 'necessary' economic changes

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) -- Cuba's Catholic Church on Monday called on the country's regime to make "necessary changes" to reverse a spreading economic crisis and urged dialogue without conditions between Havana and arch foe Washington.

Church leader Cardinal Jaime Ortega pressed the government of President Raul Castro to "promptly make the necessary changes in Cuba" to alleviate hardship, stressing that the Cuban people were growing restless over deteriorating conditions in the only Communist-ruled nation in the Americas.

"This opinion has reached a kind of national consensus, and postponement produces impatience and discomfort in the people," Ortega said in "Palabra Nueva," the magazine of the Archdiocese of Havana, in reference to recent criticism by economists, academics, dissidents and artists.

Castro, who announced a need for reforms shortly after taking over from his ailing brother Fidel Castro four years ago, warned recently that while many "desperate" Cubans were seeking immediate change, it was vital to avoid "haste and improvisation."

Ortega's statements were the latest criticism aimed at the regime by the church, which warned in late March that "a worsening crisis is on the horizon that could break the fragile social cohesion."

The church has encouraged promotion of self-employment, legalized but restricted since 1993, and called for a law protecting small and medium private enterprises in a country where the state controls 95 percent of the economy.

It has also said performance-based pay, currently used by only 18 percent of state enterprises, should be expanded, urged "greater security" for foreign investment, and called for a boost in exports.

Ortega on Monday also urged Havana to get serious about improving ties with Washington.

"I think a Cuba-US dialogue is the first step needed to break the cycle of criticism," the cardinal said, recalling the various offers of top-level dialogue by Castro as well as US President Barack Obama, when he was campaigning for the White House in 2008.

But the cardinal also criticized Obama for repeating "the same old scheme of previous US governments," by insisting that Washington would lift its five-decade embargo on the island nation and enter high-level talks only if Havana made major changes on human rights.

"Only in advancing the dialogue can steps be made to improve or overcome the most critical situations," he said.

Havana has faced mounting international criticism that increased in February when dissident Orlando Zapata died 85 days into a hunger strike.

Cuban bishops lamented Zapata's death and called on the authorities "to take appropriate measures so that such situations do not recur."

The church also repeated its call for dissident journalist Guillermo Farinas to end his own hunger strike, begun the day after Zapata died.

Farinas told AFP Monday that he "respects" Ortega but was firm in his decision to carry on with his fast.

Ortega also criticized the harassment of the wives of political prisoners known as the "Ladies in White," who have been prevented from marching in recent weeks.

"This is no time to stir up passions," Ortega said.

April 20, 2010

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Bahamas Blog International

UN General Assembly urges end to US embargo on Cuba

By Sebastian Smith:


UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- The UN General Assembly called overwhelmingly Wednesday on US President Barack Obama's administration to end Washington's Cold War-era trade embargo against Cuba.

This was the 18th year running that the UN General Assembly condemned US trade restrictions on the communist-ruled island.

The non-binding vote was backed by 187 countries, ranging from Latin American neighbors of Cuba to members of the European Union and other close US allies.

Only Israel and tiny Palau supported the United States, while Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained.

The margin of opposition to the US embargo has grown steadily since 1992, when 59 countries voted in favor of the resolution. The figure was 179 in 2004, 182 in 2005, 184 in 2007, and 185 last year.

The embargo was imposed nearly five decades ago at the height of the Cold War when Cuba was a Soviet client state.

Cuba's Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, called the embargo "an absurd policy that causes scarcities and sufferings. It is a crass, flagrant and systematic violation of human rights."

He told the General Assembly that despite signs of a US-Cuban thaw since Obama's election last year "there has not been any change in the implementation of the economic, commercial and financial blockade."

Voting for the UN resolution would be "an act against aggression and the use of force. It would be an act in favor of peace," he said.

However, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, dismissed the "painfully familiar rhetoric."

"The hostile language we have just heard from the foreign minister of Cuba seems straight out of the Cold War era and is not conducive to constructive progress," she said.

Rice said Washington was offering Havana "a new chapter" in their relations but had as yet received no answer.

She rejected assertions that the US embargo was responsible for Cuba's crushing poverty, blaming the near permanent economic crisis in the country on government control over the economy and society.

"There are many things the government of Cuba could do," she said. "Positive measures could include liberating the hundreds of prisoners of conscience in Cuban jails (and)... demonstrating greater respect for freedom of speech."

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly reinforced Rice's statement saying the US would consider lifting the embargo "when the government of Cuba starts to make some positive steps toward -- toward loosening up its repression of its own people."

Kelly said in Washington that the yearly UN vote "obscures the facts that the United States is a leading source of food and humanitarian relief to Cuba" that last year totaled 717 million dollars.

The US economic, trade and financial sanctions were imposed 47 years ago following the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of the Caribbean island nation by US-backed Cuban exiles.

Since taking office in January, Obama has moved to ease tensions with small steps such as relaxing rules on visits and money transfers to the island.

But so far, the US administration has not taken major strides in its approach to the Americas' last remaining communist regime.

In July, the two countries officially restarted a dialogue on migration issues which had been suspended since 2003, and talks are also under way aimed at restarting bilateral mail service which was cut off in 1963.

October 29, 2009

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Bahamas Caribbean Blog International

No more free lunch in Raul Castro's Cuba

By Isabel Sanchez:


HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) -- President Raul Castro is taking a bold gamble to ease communist Cuba's cash crunch by eliminating a costly government lunch program that feeds almost a third of the nation's population every workday.

The Americas' only one-party communist government, held afloat largely by support from its key ally Venezuela, is desperate to improve its budget outlook; the global economy is slack, and Havana is very hard pressed to secure international financing.

Raul Castro, 76, officially took over as Cuba's president in February 2008 after his brother, revolutionary icon Fidel Castro, stepped aside with health problems.

Though some wondered if Raul Castro would try to move Cuba's centralized economy toward more market elements, so far he has sought to boost efficiency and cut corruption and waste without reshaping the economic system.

And so far it has been an uphill battle, something akin to treading water.

But now, Raul Castro has moved to set in motion what will likely be the biggest rollback of an entitlement since Cuba's 1959 revolution -- starting to put an end to the daily lunch program for state workers, as announced Friday in Granma, the Cuban Communist Party newspaper.

In a country where workers earn the average of 17 dollars a month, and state subsidized monthly food baskets are not enough for families, more than 3.5 million Cuban government employees -- out of a total population of 11.2 million -- benefit from the nutritionally significant free meal.

The pricetag is a cool 350 million dollars a year, not counting energy costs or facilities maintenance, Granma said.

But that will come to a halt in four ministries experimentally from October 1, Granma said. As workers stream to the 24,700 state lunchrooms, the government "is faced with extremely high state spending due to extremely high international market prices, infinite subsidies and freebies," Granma explained.

Parallel to the cutback, workers will see their salaries boosted by 15 pesos a workday (.60 dollar US) to cover their lunch.

It is a dramatic shift in Cuba, where the government workers' lunchroom has been among the longest-standing subsidies, though even authorities have called it paternalistic.

And more troubling, especially for authorities, is the fact that the lunchrooms' kitchens have become a source of economic hemorrhaging, from which workers unabashedly make off with tonnes of rice, beans, chicken and cooking oil to make ends meet.

The Castro government is keen to reduce the 2.5 billion dollars a year it spends on food imports, which it has to buy on the international market in hard currency.

"Nobody can go on indefinitely spending more than they earn. Two and two are four, never five. In our imperfect socialism, too often two plus two turn out to be three," Raul Castro said in an August 1 address alluding to corruption problems.

Some Cubans were aghast at the idea of losing a free lunch.

"What am I going to buy with 15 pesos," asked a bank worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "I cannot even make anything, even something horrible, at home for that little."

But Roberto Reyes, a construction employee, said sometimes the state lunch is so bad, he would rather not eat it -- and pocket the small monthly raise.

The president has said health care and education were not cuts he would willingly make.

But Cubans wonder how long it will be until the legendary monthly ration books with which Cubans receive limited basic food goods, such as rice and beans, for free, come under the budget axe.

September 28, 2009

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Bahamas Caribbean Blog International

Raul Castro pushes Cubans to rethink socialism

By Marc Frank

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Cubans began taking a hard look this week at entrenched customs like food rationing, pilfering on the job, cradle-to-grave subsidies and black market trading in a national debate called by President Raul Castro.

Authorities have circulated a ten-point agenda for thousands of open-ended meetings over the next month at work places, universities and community organizations to rethink Cuban socialism, focused on the economic themes highlighted by Castro in a speech to the National Assembly in August.

The discussion guide, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, makes clear that questioning the communist-ruled island's one-party political system established after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, or calling for a restoration of capitalism, are off limits.

But the guide said: "It is important that the meetings are characterized by absolute freedom of criteria, the sincerity of participants and respect for differing opinions".

The possibility of eliminating one of the world's longest-standing food ration systems, heavily subsidized utilities, transportation and meals at work and universities, among other items, would be debated at the meetings.

Alicia, a communist party militant who will lead the debate in her Havana work place next week but who asked that her last name not be used, said the purpose was "to call on everyone to do what they have to do and stop looking up into the sky and screaming that there are problems."

"Of course there are problems, lots of them, what's needed is that everyone begins taking care of their own," she said.

A similar round of meetings was held in 2007, during which Cubans were asked to air their complaints and what they wanted from the government.

Cuban President Raul Castro. AFP PHOTO

At this round of discussions, the guide says participants were being asked to look in the mirror and apply Castro's speech to their own "radius of action," identify problems in the context of his words and come up with a list of proposals to solve them.

"Nobody, no individual nor country, can indefinitely spend more than she or he earns. Two plus two always adds up to four, never five," Castro said in his August speech. "Within the conditions of our imperfect socialism, due to our own shortcomings, two plus two often adds up to three," he added.

Cubans have mixed feelings about the debate. Some say it is a sincere effort to involve them in changing their lives, while others suspect it is a maneuver to get them to buy into austerity measures that have already been decided on.

"The monthly ration lasts about 15 days and now it won't last 10," Jorge, a construction worker, glumly predicted.

Castro, in his August speech, said a foreign currency shortage had forced drastic cuts in imports and budgets and postponement of payments to foreign creditors and suppliers.

He said egalitarianism had no place under socialism, except in the area of opportunity, and more resources should flow to those who produce and less to those who do not. He has often expressed this refrain since taking over the presidency from his elder brother, Fidel Castro, 18 months ago.

The discussion guide includes excerpts of an earlier Castro speech in which he said reversing the country's dependence on food imports was "not a question of yelling 'fatherland or death, down with imperialism, the blockade is hurting us ...'", but working hard and overcoming poor organization.

Cuban leaders routinely call the 47-year-old US economic embargo against the island a "blockade" and frequently blame it for Cuba's economic woes.

Castro called for decentralization of the state-dominated economy, new forms of property ownership and an end to all government gratuities and subsidies except in health care, education and social security, though these also had to had to cut waste and inessential services.

The president also said in his speech to the National Assembly that Cuba recognized a change in tone from US President Barack Obama's administration and was open to trying to solve the standoff with the United States.

"We are ready to talk about everything, I repeat everything, but in terms of here in Cuba and over there in the United States, and not to negotiate our political and social system," he said.

Obama has eased some slight aspects of the longstanding embargo on Cuba, and initiated talks with the Cuban government on immigration and postal services. But he has called on Cuban leaders to respond by becoming more democratic, freeing detained dissidents and improving human rights.




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