Bitter November

Bitter November / Rafael Leon Rodriguez #Cuba
Rafael Leon Rodriguez, Translator: Unstated

The penultimate month of the year ended passing on to December, the
final one, the most important inheritance received from October: the
aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in the eastern provinces of the country.
This weather phenomenon, whose final forecast of wind speeds offered by
the Institute of Meteorology at the time it entered the province of
Santiago de Cuba from the south, was on the order of 119-130 km/h,
registered winds exceeding 175 km/h in the city, and recorded gusts of
up to 240 km/h at the Antonio Maceo airport in that locality.

Obviously something did not work in terms of predictions. In this same
vein with regards to the reports of total damage, fatalities and
injuries, the official reports have been scattered and confused. But,
the disaster must have been so great, because the authorities permitted
the organization of collecting material assistance in the country's
capital,always through the political and mass organizations. They have
also been receiving donations from several countries and as is seen, the
government will encourage and accept these, leaving aside earlier and
inconsistent positions with regards to foreign aid.

November already brought its own agenda for its short 30 days. The U.S.
presidential election, won by Obama, to the relief of the Cuban
authorities. The vote in the General Assembly of the United Nations on
embargo against Cuba by the United States, which favored the islands for
the twentieth time. The proposal to revise the European Union Common
Position on Cuba by Brussels. The XXII Latin American Summit in Cadiz,
Spain, which had a modest media coverage. The constitution of the 168
municipal assemblies of People's Power, which are neither the people's
nor do they have real power, nor will they as long as there is a
National Commission on Candidacy shaped and directed by the authorities
with the power to promote up to 50% of the candidates de facto to the
municipal, provincial and National Assembly levels the elections will
continue to be a fraud. Adding to this the Machiavellian and
undemocratic one-party rule.

Also on the November agenda was the new Law on the Tax System, which is
considered general and special by the State; the planned law does not
apply on remittances from family assistance received from abroad, so it
seems that, when it comes into force next January , stop penalizing
those with the abusive 10% to which they are now subject. And the
changes of ministries and agencies, extinguishing some and creating
others, even recreating some, such as the Ministry of Industries which
already existed at the beginning of this long process. This approach is
reminiscent of the former Soviet Union, where they spent the entire
lifetime of the Marxist regime centralizing and decentralizing the
economy to finally conclude that the problem is the system itself: it
does not work.

Among the new laws passed this month is the Decree-Law 300 which
replaces number 259 on the issue of the ownership of land in usufruct by
private producers and State entities. Now you can own up to 105 acres of
land but they must, on a mandatory basis, be linked to State
agricultural enterprises like the UBPC, CPA, and State and Cooperative
Farms Credit Union. A step backwards in favor of agrarian bureaucracy.
The issue is continuing to exercise state control over independent farmers.

The fear of freedom and the need to control everything impede the
progress of any positive economic development plan. The same thing
happens with politics; if we don't recognize it and pluralize the
alternatives we are doomed, sooner or later, to failure. That is our fate.

December started with a new nod to U.S. companies, with the Cuban
government repealing a decree-law of 2000 on communications between the
United States and Cuba. Now it will be about 24 cents cheaper per
minute; still it will remain the most expensive in the world, sending a
nice message at the end of this 2012, one of the most unfortunate leap
years that we Cubans will remember for a long time.

December 4 2012

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