Cuba

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Yankees Hands Off Cuba! U.S. government creates Internet Task Force to promote subversion in Cuba



According to Granma international report, the United States government announced yesterday, January 23, the creation of a new Internet Task Force, aimed at subverting Cuba’s internal order.

“The Department of State is convening a Cuba Internet Task Force composed of U.S. government and non-governmental representatives to promote the free and unregulated flow of information in Cuba. The task force will examine the technological challenges and opportunities for expanding internet access and independent media in Cuba,” according to the body’s official website.

In the past phrases like promoting “freedom of speech” and “expanding access to the internet in Cuba” have been used by Washington as a pretext for schemes to destabilize the country using new technologies.

One of the most well-known examples of this was the ZunZuneo plan, exposed in 2014 by Associated Press. Advertised as a messaging platform similar to Twitter and aimed at Cuban youth, the real intention behind ZunZuneo was to promote actions to subvert the country’s internal order.

This new initiative by the U.S. State Department, according to the press release, comes in response to President Trump’s June 16, 2017 National Security Presidential Memorandum “Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba.”

Speaking before right wing sectors of the Cuban American community in Miami at that time, Trump announced a change to the United States government’s Cuba policy aimed at tightening the blockade and making travel between the two countries more difficult.

According to the January 23 press release, “The task force will examine the technological challenges and opportunities for expanding internet access and independent media in Cuba.”

Meanwhile, following the sovereign decision taken by the island's government and to the degree its economic situation allows, Cuba has gradually been expanding access to the internet for its citizens.

According to information provided by expert Rosa Miriam Elizalde, “2017 will be remembered as the boom year for the expansion of internet access in our country - with 40% of Cubans now online, 37% more than in 2010 - and the establishment of internet hot spots in urban areas across the island.”

Official statistics from the Cuban Telecommunication Enterprise (ETECSA), indicate that 600,000 new cell phone lines were activated last year, bringing the total number to 4.5 million.

Around 250,000 connections at 500 public wi-fi hotspots were registered daily across the country, which also saw the highest growth rates in two categories linked to digital connectivity, according to the report Digital in 2017: Global Overview, with over 2.7 million new users, a 365% increased as compared to 2016; and an increase in the use of cell phones to access social networks, with 2.6 million new users, up 385%.

http://www.idcommunism.com/2018/01/yank ... nment.html

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A Saturday evening full of light
On the eve of January 28, the 165th anniversary of the birth of Cuban National Hero, José Martí, thousands of young people throughout Cuba joined the traditional March of the Torches, symbolizing the light that transcends from his memory

Author: Alejandra García | internet@granma.cu

january 29, 2018 10:01:06


March of the Torches in Havana, 2018. Photo: Ariel Cecilio Lemus

On a very bright Sunday, in the mid-19th century, the young José Martí walked the streets of Havana alongside his father. Cuban poet Fina García Marruz described that afternoon in a renowned essay, the result of rigorous biographical research.

“The light is golden and ripe, like an orange from Valencia, a pleasure to see… An island breeze blows lightly, amidst the ardor and the intense light of the hour, affectionate like a mother’s message. Only the old man and the child seem to enjoy the innocent stroll,” evoked Fina.

The writer imagined Martí walking along the Alameda de Paula and through the side streets, “where the light no longer expands, but seemed to condense, to solidify.” The neighborhood where he was born was one of the 16 of colonial Havana, well guarded by its walls and its five fortresses surrounded by canyons, which pointed to the sea.

In these streets he probably saw “two soldiers followed by prostitutes. A poor gentleman, with his jacket suitably darned,” an “obese grocer at the door of his store with some volunteers,” a “Creole mother, all gifts and ribbons,” who doesn’t want her son “to play with a black child.”

And the young Martí stopped enjoying his stroll, the light of the afternoon, the colonial houses. That day, his pale Creole face showed “repressed anger,” according to Fina. He knew then that Cuba touched his very soul, faced with “the slightest hint of injustice or vassalage.”


March of the Torches in Havana, 2018. Photo: Ariel Cecilio Lemus

His childhood was key to the hero’s life. The streets that saw him grow, those imagined by the poet and those that exist today, more than a century and a half later, will never forget that child whose memory illuminates the history of Cuba. That is why, on the eve of another anniversary of Martí’s birth (January 28, 1853), thousands of Cubans carried their torches throughout the island’s streets, representing “an army of light.”

Every year, the March of the Torches sees the country’s youth march alongside representatives of the Centennial Generation, who began this tradition 65 years ago, and months later attacked the Moncada Garrison, before disembarking from the Granma yacht and leading a triumphant Revolution that made the dreams of the Apostle of Cuban Independence a reality.

Army General Raúl Castro Ruz led the march in Havana, among a crowd that chanted “I am Fidel,” sang and raised their torches or their mobile phones, taking selfies, laughing and holding hands.


March of the Torches in Havana, 2018. Photo: Ariel Cecilio Lemus
Thus, this Saturday, January 27, Cuba remembered her National Hero, he who shortly before dying for the independence of his homeland wrote to María Mantilla: “Only light is comparable to my happiness.”

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2018-01-29/a-s ... l-of-light

So it was when I visited, the people hold Marti before Che and Fidel. The capitalists and their fans think it's gonna be a cakewalk cause they are consumed with bourgeois ideology, the Cubans have something that bourgeois ideology cannot even imagine.

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New regulations for the contribution of their cooperativists to social security
With the regulations published today in the Official Gazette, a Special Social Security Scheme is put into effect according to the conditions in which they carry out their activities.

Author: Yudy Castro Morales | yudy@granma.cu

February 5, 2018 23:02:30


The basic principles of protection for the cooperative are maintained in the regulations. Photo: Miguel Febles Hernández

In compliance with the approved policy to improve the productive base of the agricultural sector, today the Official Gazette Extraordinary No. 12 publishes Decree Law 351 "Of the Special Regime of Social Security for the cooperative members of the Basic Units of Cooperative Production" , adapted to the characteristics of the same and without prejudice to them in terms of the benefits to which they are already entitled.

The designed is in correspondence, in addition, with the Guideline 140 of the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution in what refers to diminish the relative participation of the State Budget in the financing of the social security and the application of special regimes of contribution in the non-state sector.

In the regulations released this morning, basic principles such as the protection of the cooperative against illness or accident -either of common or professional origin-, old age, total disability -temporary or permanent-, or maternity, and in In case of death, it will protect the family, just as it is regulated in the general regime for workers in the state sector.

The amount of this tax is calculated monthly, applying 20% ​​to the base of the contribution selected by the cooperative of a scale whose minimum value is 350 CUP and the maximum of 2 000 CUP.

It is specified in the regulations that the Board of Directors of the UBPC is responsible for the retention of the individual contribution to the Social Security of the cooperative members, as well as for making the corresponding contribution to the Treasury.

In the same way, it is specified that the affiliation to the special regime is mandatory, which must be guaranteed by the aforementioned Board of Directors through the inscription of the cooperativist in the Taxpayers Registry of the National Tax Administration Office, corresponding to the fiscal domicile of the cooperative.

In the event that the cooperative had previously been a salaried employee, was a member of a Basic Unit of Cooperative Production or of an Agricultural Production Cooperative, upon joining this new regime, the accumulated service time in those entities and that of contribution to any other special social security scheme, for the purpose of completing the minimum that is required as a requirement for retirement.



http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2018-02-05/nu ... 8-23-02-30
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A mega-project in the heart of Cuba
In its continued advance toward the province of Las Tunas, the East-West water diversion project is making a significant contribution to development, delivering water that will lead to greater economic and social changes

Author: Germán Veloz Placencia | german@granma.cu

february 9, 2018 10:02:51


The Mayarí reservoir, a signature work of Cuban engineering. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras

"…Foresight for which all will be thankful, in particular future generations, who will be obliged to live in a world where potable water will be an increasingly scarce and expensive resource.” Raúl Castro Ruz

MAYARÍ, Holguín.–The impressive mass of water in Mayarí reservoir (354 million cubic meters) and the dam that holds it back - unique in the country given its height and wall of impermeable concrete - make clear that the East-West Diversion is a mega construction project, evidence of the country's technical ability.

With the Nuevo Mundo Reservoir as its starting point, in the municipality of Moa, the complex network of tunnels, principal and secondary canals, tunnel-bridges, valves, outlets, and other components is projected to cross an extensive portion of the province of Holguín and terminate in the Juan Sáez Reservoir in Las Tunas.

Its size and engineering solutions, planned and already completed, confirm the Cuban state's determination to move water from areas with greater supplies to those less favored by nature.


Tunnel-bridges are an ingenious solution to moving water across variable terrain. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras

The Engineering Services Enterprise affiliated with the Integrated Directorate of Diversion Projects (DIP), headquartered in Mayarí, is responsible for administering the huge investment project that includes six stages, scheduled successively.

A COMPLEX PROJECT

Technical complexities and other obstacles have slowed progress on the East-West Diversion. The first stage, begun in 2005 and concluded in 2009, resolved water supply problems for the city of Holguin's population and the resort area on the province's northern keys, which had been impacted by cyclical and severe drought conditions.

With the goal of supplying the provincial capital, the Nipe-Gibara diversion was constructed, carrying water from the Mayarí reservoir to Birán. From this reservoir water is directed to Nipe via the Nipe-Deleite canal, and then to the Gibara basin, with the help of three pumping stations located at key points, separated along the route.

The situation in the beach resort area changed dramatically with the completion of the conduit linking the Colorado and Naranjo reservoirs, which was followed by a connection to the Pesquero treatment plant.


Every segment of the diversion must meet technical standards. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras

The second stage, also begun in 2005, was completed in 2012. This segment of the system begins at the Mayarí reservoir, in the municipality of the same name, and ends in the Birán Reservoir, within the municipality of Cueto. This conduit joins the Seboruquito and La Esperanza reservoirs.

The connection between the two storage basins was achieved with the construction of 10 kilometers tunnels, 18 km of canals, three canal-bridges, three archways, and some 100 engineering works.

The original budget projected was close to 550 million pesos, but the introduction of new technology and an increase in overall efficiency have allowed for savings of 40 million.

In an evaluation completed at the end of December 2017, with First Vice President and Party Political Bureau member Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez on hand, the benefits produced thus far were outlined.

The Nipe-Gibara conduit has transported 28.6 million cubic meters of water to the city of Holguín, and the Colorado-Naranjo segment has sent the resort area another 3.16 million cubic meters.

To this is added the fact that the amount of water stored has reached 317 million cubic meters and the ability to divert it via the Nipe-Deleite canal, will allow for the irrigation of 12,800 hectares dedicated to agricultural production in general, including sugar cane. Of this total, 2,564 hectares have their supply conduits completed.


A second small hydroelectric plant alongside the Mayarí reservoir dam will begin operating this year. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras

The Mayarí reservoir has put an end to floods in the municipal capital, helping to avoid considerable expenses for evacuations, shelters, and protection of people, animals, and different resources.

On the right side of the dam, a small hydroelectric plant was constructed and synchronized with the national grid on October 26, 2016, generating 23 gigawatts per hour through last December, saving the country 5,700 tons of fuel.

These benefits will continue to increase with the regular use of the facility and the termination this year of another plant of this type - with a slightly lower capacity - on the left side of the dam.

A CONTINUOUS, RATIONAL EFFORT

Launched in 2012, the third stage includes several components. Heading north is the Birán-Báguano canal, of which some 12 kilometers of the 28 projected have been completed. To be benefited are 13,400 hectares of agricultural land that will be irrigated.

To the east is the Mayarí-Levisa tunnel with a length of 18.5 kilometers, more than 10 of which have been completed. When the Levisa reservoir is constructed, it will allow for the diversion of 80 million cubic meters of water, from the river of the same name, to Mayarí reservoir.

The determination of construction workers is evident in progress being made on the Nipe-Deleite-Cosme-Herrera canal, critical to plans for this year, since it will supply the heart of the Cosme-Herrera agricultural pole, with a view toward providing irrigation for a future 2,000 hectares of rice fields.

The dynamic pace of work in the present stage reflects a certain correction, the adopting of a strategy focused on the physical progress of works, while organizing project teams with the goal of increasing constructive capacity, and shortening the completion timelines for components that will contribute to increasing food production.

Granma had access to records on progress in the Diversion-related Agricultural Development Program. Analyses revealed that, beginning in 2016, Mayarí, a municipality which had barely produced any legumes or grains at all in the past, has increased production 14.7 times over.

In the case of beans, as compared to 2011, yields were up 3.7 times over and corn 9.8 times.

No tradition of rice farming, harvesting, or processing existed in the area, contrasting sharply with the 1,500 tons sold over the last few years to the state enterprise for subsidized distribution.

Noteworthy is the fact that rice yields over the same period have averaged 4.2 tons per hectare, 50% greater than projections made in the project feasibility study.

A review of reports from Holguín's state sugar enterprise shows the growing impact of water diversion on the irrigation of cane fields in the municipalities of Báguano, Banes, and Cueto. The limited availability of water and efforts to promote its rational use have led to the construction of modern pumping stations, and the installation of underground drip irrigations systems, which join rolling and pivot sprinklers.

The reports indicate that, by the end of 2018, 2,000 additional hectares of cane fields will be under irrigation.

In its continuous advance toward Las Tunas, the East-West Diversion is laying the basis for development. Along with the water, other significant changes have arrived in the socio-economic environment.

If anyone would like to confirm this, they should consider a visit to Guaro, in Mayarí. Standing out, among all the projects underway in this predominantly agricultural area, is the factory producing derivatives of the nim tree, peanuts, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds, as well as the rice mill, facilities that are encouraging a number of locales to pursue technical and professional training.

BACKGROUND

The East-West water diversion project emerged as a result of the Revolution's consistent water policy, implemented between 1959 and the end of the 80s, a period during which the country's storage capacity was increased by 29 million cubic meters, to reach more than nine billion.

• Fidel was always attentive to this critical issue and once the alarming risks of climate change had been evaluated, he developed the idea of diverting water from Cuba's nine easternmost provinces to the center of the island. Thus an extensive program of investment projects began, to make use of the voluminous quantities of water flowing down from the Sierra Maestra, the Nipe-Sagua-Baracoa range, and the Escambray mountains.

• Work began immediately, undertaken by enterprises affiliated with the Ministry of Construction, the National Institute of Water Resources, and the Military Constructions Directorate, but the arrival of the most difficult stage of the Special Period brought the effort to a halt. In Mayarí, Holguín, and Agabama, Sancti Spíritus, the first steps forward were taken.

• The project was re-initiated at the end of 2004, incorporating a new, more efficient conception. Considering the dramatic losses caused by drought that year in the provinces of Holguín and Camagüey, Fidel directed Army General Raúl Castro to re-activate the strategic diversion plan.

• After the relevant analyses, the Minister of Revolutionary Armed Forces issued an order to regroup the principal leaders, project managers, and forces who had worked on the original plan and established the Special Drought Mitigation Group, and the Diversion Projects Directorate (DIP) that would begin work in early 2005.

• This latter body created the Diversion Engineering Services Enterprise, which was charged with meeting specific needs, among them working on the projects underway to evaluate their environmental impact, and devise strategies to avoid affecting the population and resolve problems as quickly as possible.

SOCIAL WORKS COMPLETED AS PART OF THE DIVERSION PROJECT:

• Housing construction for the new settlements of Arroyo Seco, Las Cuevas, Seboruco, La Pedrona and La Yaya, created because their previous sites were inundated.

• A 280-meter bridge joining neighborhoods within the Arroyo Seco community, which were separated by the Mayarí Reservoir, and access to the municipality of Segundo Frente, in Santiago de Cuba was reestablished.

• A bridge in Arroyo Hondo, in the agricultural production pole of Chavaleta, in Mayarí, and more than 50 kilometers of roads.

RECENT SUGAR INDUSTRY INVESTMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DIVERSION PROJECT:

Construction of five modern pumping stations
Erection and start-up of four underground drip irrigation systems serving 492.7 hectares
Erection and start-up of a rolling irrigation system on 137 hectares
Erection and start-up 59 pivot irrigation sprinklers
THE Diversion Engineering Services Enterprise WAS CREATED TO SUPPORT THE EXECUTION OF THESE PROJECTS:

East-West Diversion from the Nuevo Mundo Reservoir (Moa, Holguín) to the Juan Sáez in Las Tunas
North-South Diversion in the province of Guantánamo, beginning in Yateras and extending to the outskirts of the provincial capital
Center-East Diversion to serve the areas of Agabama, Zaza, Ciego de Ávila, and Camagüey
THE DIVERSION-RELATED AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM HAS SHOWN CONCRETE RESULTS IN LIVESTOCK RANCHING:

In Birán, Cueto, facilities for the artificial feeding of calves were rehabilitated and work undertaken to reestablish five dairy farms, as well as centers for the reproduction of heifers and bulls
Operating again in Pinares de Mayarí are an artificial calf feeding facility and five of the 17 dairies previously existent.

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2018-02-09/a-m ... rt-of-cuba

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New studies in Gran Humedal del Norte de Ciego de Ávila
The research specialists of the Agency of Aid to the Navigation of the Company Geocuba Camagüey-Ciego de Ávila and of Hydraulic Resources are the protagonists

Author: Ortelio González Martínez | internet@granma.cu

February 16, 2018 00:02:08


The Great Wetland of the North of Ciego de Ávila is a priority place in the Life Task, as it is one of the scenarios of danger and vulnerability of the coastal areas of Cuba. Photo: Portal Ciencia de Cuba
MORÓN, Ciego De Ávila.- For the first time, bathymetric studies are carried out to measure the exact volume of the largest water mirrors of the Great Wetland of the North of Ciego de Ávila, a Ramsar site since 2002 and the second largest in the country. of the Ciénaga de Zapata.

The specialist research of the Agency of Aid to the Navigation of the Company Geocuba Camagüey-Ciego de Ávila and of Hydraulic Resources takes center stage.

The hydrotechnical engineer Nelson Hernández Hernández, of the Hydraulic Research and Projects Company of Ciego de Ávila, told this newspaper that this wide strip of about 686 square kilometers -including the keys of the north of the province- constitutes a priority place within of the Life Task, for being one of the scenarios of danger and vulnerability of the coastal areas of Cuba and the adjacent keys, associated with the rise in sea level for the years 2050 and 2100.

The first stage corresponded to the investigations in the La Redonda lagoon and allowed to know the current parameters and, at the same time, to determine the gauging and level tables in that aquatory.

After processing the data, it was known that the real volume that La Redonda can store, as a natural lake, is 13.7 million cubic meters of water; It has an average depth of 1, 5 meters and its bottom accumulates approximately one million cubic meters of sediment, the latter figure unknown until today.

This natural reservoir forms part of the complementary basin from the closure of Puente Largo and that of the Estero Socorro dam, which, at its maximum capacity, manages 80 million cubic meters of water.

Hernandez Hernandez said that they are also close to completing the bathymetric studies of the La Leche lagoon and preliminary data reveal that the capacity of the largest lake in the country could exceed 130 million cubic meters, a figure considered until now as the volume of normal waters .

The Great Wetland encompasses the municipalities of Bolivia, Primero de Enero, Morón, Chambas and Ciro Redondo, the cays adjacent to the large island and extends some 40 kilometers into the interior of the province. It has a rich marine platform, is a refuge for migratory birds of North, Central and South America and is the largest space in the Caribbean and the Antilles of nesting flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber ruber).

This ecosystem, very damaged years ago by the prolonged and intense drought that affected the Avilanian province, lost its aguachales, rivers and ponds and had very depressed water mirrors and the water table existing in the territory, until the arrival of rainfall associated with Irma and the rains of recent times.

http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2018-02-16/nu ... 8-00-02-08

"There go those damn communists getting all scientific & all..."

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How is the President elected in Cuba?
The person who becomes the President of Cuba's Council of State is chosen through a process that entails several steps, with the people and their elected representatives participating directly

Author: Yudy Castro Morales | internet@granma.cu

february 21, 2018 16:02:52

The vote is an act that is more delicate that any other,
since with it comes life, honor, and the future
— José Martí


Photo: Granma

There is no need to dig through Cuba's Election Law no.72, dated October 29, 1992, to find the answer. It is explicit, and Dr. José Luis Toledo Santander, president of the National Assembly of People's Power Constitutional and Legal Affairs Commission, gets right to the point.

"The President of Cuba's Council of State is elected in second order elections, that is, deputies elected by the people, in representation of the people, approve the candidature and then vote, in a direct and secret fashion, for those who will make up the Council of State - that is the President, First Vice President, the Vice Presidents, the Secretary, and other members."

At times we hear opinions, not always offered with the best of intentions, that question, according to Dr. Toledo, "whether the election of the President reflects a direct expression by the people. But they are unaware that for someone to be elected to this position in Cuba, several electoral steps are required, in which the people or their elected representatives participate directly."

During his conversation with Granma, Toledo, also a professor at the University of Havana, outlined the particularities of each stage in the process, so that we can visualize the path that begins, he explains, when the person "is proposed as a pre-candidate for deputy to the National Assembly, in a mass organization leadership plenum."

On this occasion, the 605 candidates for national deputy, to be elected this coming March 11 - and from amongst whom the President will emerge - were chosen from 12,000 proposals made in 970 plenums held across the entire country. And among these candidates, 47.7% are constituency delegates, elected by their neighbors in the first stage of the general elections, in October of 2017.

Next, Toledo continues, "The National Assembly nominations are the responsibility of the Municipal Assembly of People's Power," a process that is in no way a formality.

"This is where the candidature commissions at this level present the pre-candidates, and these are the assemblies that decide, via a direct, public vote, if they approve of someone or not." In fact, to be approved every one of the proposals must have more than half of the yes votes, cast by the delegates present.

In the event that the candidature slate, or one of the proposed candidates, is not approved, the commission is required to present another proposal, which will be subjected to the same procedure.

"Once nominated as a candidate for deputy, we see another electoral episode take place, that is the people exercising their free, direct, secret vote, be it within a constituency or district, where the deputies are elected."

This moment described by Toledo is scheduled for this coming March 11, when Cuban men and women will also elect delegates to Provincial Assemblies.

It should be emphasized, he said, that in accordance with law, "a deputy is elected for every 20,000 residents or fraction of more than 10,000, and even in municipalities that have fewer than 30,000 inhabitants, two deputies are always elected. Thus the National Assembly has representation from the entire people."

He explains, "After being elected and once the delegates have taken their seats in the National Assembly, the National Candidature Commission calls every one of those elected for consultation, and all have the right to propose those who should be, in their opinion, the members of the Council of State, that is, suggest 31 persons, among whom, obviously, one will be the President

"Later, this commission presents for the National Assembly's consideration, in an open vote, a candidature slate that is the product of the proposals made, and deputies have the right to modify it, totally or partially. After being approved, the candidates are submitted to free, direct, and secret vote by deputies. This is when the President of the Council of State is finally elected."

In accordance with the spirit of the Electoral Law, if the President ceases to perform this duty, the Vice President assumes the role.

The path taken to complete the process, in Toledo's words, is "the most clear reflection of the participation of the people and the representatives elected by the people. Cuba is not the only country that elects its head of state in second order elections. There are many nations that hold this type of election, which does not limit, in any way, its legitimacy or democratic foundation."

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2018-02-21/how ... ed-in-cuba

Yet the tools will decry democratic centralism even as they tout a system with an electoral college, imperial presidency....

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The strategic challenge of the Latin American left
Mass media has become the main opposition to progressive governments of the region

Author: Rafael Correa | informacion@granmai.cu

february 26, 2018 18:02:25

After the long and sad night of neoliberalism in the 1990s – which bankrupted entire nations like Ecuador – and ever since Hugo Chávez was elected President of the Republic of Venezuela at the end of 1998, the right wing and submissive governments of the continent began to collapse like a house of cards, as popular governments, committed to Good Living Socialism, extended across the length and breadth of Our America.

At its peak, in 2009, of the ten Latino countries in South America, eight had left wing governments. Meanwhile, in Central America and the Caribbean there was the Farabundo Martí Front in El Salvador, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, Álvaro Colom in Guatemala, Manuel Zelaya in Honduras, and Leonel Fernández in the Dominican Republic. In countries like Guatemala, with Álvaro Colom, or Paraguay, with Fernando Lugo, it was the first time in their history that the left had come to power, in the latter case even breaking with centuries of constant bipartisanship.

In May 2008, UNASUR (Union of South American Nations) was born, and in February 2010, CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) was created, with 33 members. Of the 20 Latino countries of CELAC, 14 had left wing governments, that is 70%.

The first part of the 21st century undoubtedly saw years of gains. The economic, social and political advances were historic and amazed the world; all this in an environment of sovereignty, dignity, autonomy, with our own presence on the continent and in the entire world.

Latin America experienced not an era of changes, but a real change of era, which also substantially altered the geopolitical power balance of the region. For this reason, it was essential for the powers that be and the hegemonic countries to put an end to these processes of change that favored the vast majorities, and which sought to secure the region’s second and definitive independence.

CONSERVATIVE RESTORATION

Although by 2002, the government of Hugo Chávez had to endure a failed coup d’état, it is really since 2008 that undemocratic attempts to end progressive governments have intensified, as was the case of Bolivia in 2008, Honduras 2009, Ecuador 2010, and Paraguay 2012. Four attempts at destabilization, two of them successful – Honduras and Paraguay – and all against governments of the left.

Starting in 2014, and taking advantage of the change in the economic cycle, these disjointed destabilization efforts consolidated and constituted a true “conservative restoration,” with never before seen right wing coalitions, international support, unlimited resources, external financing, and so on. The revival of the right has deepened and has no limits or scruples. Today, we have the economic boycott and harassment of Venezuela, the parliamentary coup in Brazil, and the judicialization of politics – “lawfare” –, as shown by the cases of Dilma and Lula in Brazil, Cristina in Argentina, and Vice President Jorge Glas in Ecuador. The attempts to destroy UNASUR and neutralize CELAC are also evident and, not infrequently, brazen. Not to mention what is happening in MERCOSUR. Attempts to overcome the failure of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement at the beginning of the century are seen in the Pacific Alliance.

In South America, at present, only three progressive governments remain: Venezuela, Bolivia and Uruguay. The eternal powers that have always dominated Latin America, and that plunged it into backwardness, inequality and underdevelopment, return with a thirst for revenge, after more than a decade of continuous defeats.

THE MAIN PILLARS OF THE CONSERVATIVE RESTORATION STRATEGY

The reactionary strategy is articulated regionally and is based on two fundamental pillars: the supposed failure of the left economic model, and the alleged lack of moral fiber of progressive governments.

Regarding the first pillar, since the second half of 2014, due to an adverse international environment, the entire region suffered an economic slowdown that turned into a recession in the last two years.

The results are different between countries and sub-regions, reflecting the different economic structures and economic policies applied, but the economic difficulties of countries like Venezuela or Brazil are taken as an example of the failure of socialism, even when Uruguay, with a leftist government, is the most developed country south of the Rio Grande, or when Bolivia has the best macroeconomic indicators on the planet.

The second pillar of the new strategy against progressive governments is morality. The issue of corruption has become the effective tool to destroy the national-popular political processes in Our America. The most emblematic case is that of Brazil, where a well-articulated political operation succeeded in removing Dilma Rousseff from the Presidency, only to be shown to have nothing to do with the issues that she was accused of.

There is great global hypocrisy surrounding the fight against corruption.

THE LEFT, VICTIM OF ITS OWN SUCCESS?

The left is perhaps also a victim of its own success. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), almost 94 million people were lifted out of poverty and joined the regional middle class during the last decade, the vast majority as a result of the policies of left governments.

In Brazil, 37.5 million rose above the poverty line between 2003 and 2013, and now form part of the middle class, but those millions were not a mobilized force when a Parliament itself accused of corruption impeached Dilma Rousseff.

We have people who overcame poverty and now – due to what is often called objective prosperity and subjective poverty – despite having seen their income level greatly improve, ask for much more, and they feel poor, not in reference to what they have, worse still to what they had, but to what they aspire.

The left has always struggled against the current, at least in the western world. The question is, is it fighting against human nature?

The problem is much more complex if we add to this the hegemonic culture constructed by the media, in the Gramscian sense, that is, to have made the wishes of the masses functional to the interests of the elites.

Our democracies should be called media democracies. The mass media are a more important component in the political process than the parties and electoral systems; they have become the main opposition parties to progressive governments; and they are the true representatives of business and conservative political power.

It does not matter what suits the majorities, what has been proposed in the election campaign, and what the people – the principal element in every democracy – have decided at the polls. The important thing is what the media approve or disapprove in their headlines. They have replaced the Rule of Law with the Rule of Opinion.

IS THERE A “STRATEGIC CHALLENGE”?

The regional left faces the problems of exercising – or having exercised – power, often successfully, but exhaustingly.

It is impossible to govern by pleasing everyone, and even more so when so much social justice is required.

We must always be self-critical, but it’s also about having faith in ourselves. Progressive governments are under constant attack, the elites and their media do not forgive us any error, they seek to lower our morale, make us doubt our convictions, proposals and objectives. For this reason, perhaps the greatest “strategic challenge” of the Latin American left is to understand that every transcendental work will have errors and contradictions.

http://en.granma.cu/mundo/2018-02-26/th ... rican-left

Who owns this media, that is the question. The ruling class will alway return with vengeance until their fangs are drawn, the means of production expropriated. Accomplishing this in the face of the hegemon is another question.

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Our peoples have no future without unity, without integration (+ Video)

Speech by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, President of the Councils of State and Ministers of the Republic of Cuba, at the 15th Ordinary Summit of ALBA-TCP, held in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 5, 2018, " Year 60 of the Revolution "

Author: Raúl Castro Ruz | internet@granma.cu

March 5, 2018 22:03:52


The Army General condemned in his energetic speech the coercive, unilateral measures and the external interference against the Bolivarian and Chavez process. photo: Revolution Studies
(Stenographic Versions - Council of State)

Compañero Nicolás Maduro Moros, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela;

Dear Heads of State and Government;

Dear Heads of delegations and guests:

This March 5, the day we commemorate the fifth anniversary of the physical departure of President Hugo Chávez Frías, founder with Fidel of ALBA, my first words are aimed at reaffirming our homage to his work and his example and the unwavering loyalty to his legacy.

Today, ALBA has as its strategic and urgent task the joint defense of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

The military threat, hostility and economic aggression of US imperialism against Venezuela; the neoliberal attack to reverse social conquests; the interference against the sovereignty of progressive governments, the attempts to dismantle progress in the integration of Latin America and the Caribbean, destabilize the region and pose dangers to regional peace and security.

The United States, since 1999 when Commander Hugo Chávez became President, and even more so when comrade Nicolás Maduro did it, has resorted to methods of unconventional warfare, with the purpose of overcoming this country, owner of immense wealth coveted by imperialism. President Donald Trump has just renewed the executive order declaring Venezuela an unusual and extraordinary threat to national security and the foreign policy of the United States.

The threats against peace and stability in Venezuela also represent a threat to regional stability and peace.

Some seem to have forgotten the lessons of the past, the cruel years of military dictatorships, the impact of neoliberalism, which try to reinstate the disastrous consequences for our region of the policies of blackmail, humiliation and isolation that, as then, have in the United States to its main articulator.

They openly announce the full validity and relevance of the Monroe Doctrine that proclaims colonial subordination to the governments and corporations of Washington and that, as Bolivar warned, plagued Our America with pain and misery in the name of freedom.

They underestimate our peoples again.

We proclaim the unwavering support for the Bolivarian Revolution and the civic-military union of its people, led by its president, compañero Nicolás Maduro Moros.

We condemn the unilateral coercive measures and the external interference against the Bolivarian and Chavez process that threaten peace and dialogue among Venezuelans, with destabilizing purposes, and generate hardships for its population.

Cease the economic aggression against Venezuela so that its people can enjoy the rights conquered by its Revolution.

We reject the exclusion of President Nicolás Maduro from the VIII Summit of the Americas. This illegal decision is unacceptable and interventionist, while it takes the hemisphere back to stages that seemed overcome.

Exclusions do not contribute at all to peace, dialogue or hemispheric understanding.

It is inadmissible that a group of countries, without right or mandate, intend to speak for the region and serve as an instrument for aggression against a member of the Latin American and Caribbean family, using as a pretext an alleged breakdown of the democratic order, precisely in a country that has developed more than twenty electoral processes and now called presidential elections, as it was claimed before, even by violent methods.

Why do not the covert coups d'état, the massacres, the forced disappearances suffered by the peoples of the region, be denounced?

We also do not recognize to the discredited Organization of American States any moral authority to give lessons in democracy, governability or constitutionality.

The postulates of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, signed by the Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, are violated at the II Summit of CELAC, in Havana, and evaded strict compliance with the obligation not to intervene, directly or indirectly, in the internal affairs of any other State and observe the principles of national sovereignty, equality of rights and self-determination of peoples.

The only solution to the problems of Venezuelans is in the hands of Venezuelans themselves.

Dear partners:

I speak on behalf of our Revolution and our people, as will any other Cuban patriot who will always know, as Fidel believed, that "our peoples have no future without unity, without integration".

Bolívar and Martí, Fidel and Chávez bequeathed us invaluable teachings, including loyalty to principles. His lessons show us the course to follow in this decisive hour of the Great Homeland, which calls us together to forge together our second and definitive independence.

Thank you very much (Applause).

http://www.granma.cu/mundo/2018-03-05/n ... 8-22-03-52

Google Translator

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How Are Cuba's Leaders Chosen?
Published 3 March 2018
Much of the world’s media has taken it upon itself to mislead readers and obscure Cuba’s democracy while presenting little of substance to explain the process.
As Cuba’s elections approach on March 11 to decide national political leaders, misunderstandings abound about how exactly the Caribbean island’s election system works.

While media attention is focused primarily on the end of Raul Castro’s term as Cuba’s leader, what Cubans will be deciding directly on March 11 is actually the representatives in the National Assembly of People’s Power, which is the main legislative, parliamentary body, and the Provincial Assemblies.

The Cuban constitution guarantees that the sole political power in the country is that of the people, represented at the national level through the National Assembly. Legislators in the National Assembly are not professional politicians, as in many other countries. Rather, they normally continue to work in their respective occupations in addition to carrying out legislative duties without pay. The Assembly is well known for having one of the most equal gender representation ratios of any parliament in the world, with the current body being 48 percent women.

Representatives can be recalled at any point.

The National Assembly is responsible for appointing the 31 members of the State Council, including the President who ultimately must report to the National Assembly for all their work. In this way, the president is not elected directly on March 11.

The President is significantly less powerful in Cuba than most mainstream media tends to portray. They are prohibited from making decisions alone, as all decisions must be discussed and approved by the State Council, and the State Council is accountable in all actions to the National Assembly, which is in turn accountable to local assemblies.


Participatory Election Processes

General elections in Cuba take place in two phases:

First, municipal assemblies are elected. Candidates are selected during nomination assemblies in each local area, which are typically attended by 70 to 90 percent of the electorate. The local assemblies were formally elected last November.

The municipal assemblies then appoint candidates from each municipality to be selected as representatives at the provincial level.

The next process is arriving at a list of the National Assembly’s 605 candidates.

Around 50 percent of the candidates for national assembly are appointed by the recently elected municipal assemblies, in order to ensure that every region receives representation at the national level.

The other 50 percent of the pre-candidates for the National Assembly are selected from a list of suggestions put forward by plenums held by mass organizations and trade unions around the country. Possible pre-candidates typically number in the thousands.

The final candidate list of 605 is compiled by the National Candidature Commission, which is composed of social organizations including the Cuban Workers’ Federation, Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, Federation of Cuban Women, Federation of University Students, Federation of Secondary School Students, and the National Association of Small Farmers.

The 605 final candidates are then put to a national vote of the people, where they must be approved by the majority to be approved for the Assembly. Should they fail to achieve 50 percent, a different candidate must be put forward in their place. This is what will take place on March 11.

The right to vote in Cuba is granted to all citizens and permanent residents of Cuba who have reached 16 years of age, and who are not currently under legal probation or determined mentally unfit to vote.

The vote is free, equal and secret, and each voter is granted one vote as guaranteed in the constitution. The vote is voluntary and nobody can be legally sanctioned for not participating. Voters must present identification, and in the case of illness or inability to go to polls, an auxiliary may be approved to vote in their place.

It is in the weeks after the National Assembly is solidified that the members of the State Council are voted in by the representatives. Members of the State Council include a President, First Vice President, a number of Vice Presidents, Secretary, and other members.

No Parties, Money, Lobbying or Campaigns?

A visitor to Cuba in the weeks leading up to the elections would notice something that might initially strike them as odd: there are no campaign advertisements, no rallies, no interest peddling, or any of the other expected signs of “election season” familiar to most countries.

That’s because in Cuba, candidates are prohibited from raising or using any money to promote themselves. Candidates are selected and voted on based on experience and leadership in the community, not business or money interests. They are only allowed to represent themselves and their history as leaders, and, although they might be members, they cannot represent any political party, including the Communist Party.

Contrary to the familiar party-based model, elections in Cuba are based on the merit of the candidates. The Communist Party, while serving as the leading, unifying party of the country, is not allowed to endorse or appoint any candidate.

Democratic Processes

Much of the world’s media has taken it upon itself to deliberately mislead readers and obscure Cuba’s democracy, using words like “one-party rule” and “political dynasty,” while presenting little of substance to explain the process.

These caricatures of how political representation function in Cuba's socialist system serve to hide from the world one of the most direct participatory processes in the modern world, preventing many from understanding how a Caribbean island is pushing popular power forward.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/ ... -0011.html

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It's Latin America's Turn to Help Cuba: Bolivian Vice President
Published 8 March 2018 (16 hours 58 minutes ago)

"There is a continental injustice with Cuba because... every time any Latin American country needed something, Cuba gave it to them," Garcia Linera said.
Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera called on Latin America to fortify economic relations with Cuba in return for the emergency aid delivered throughout the years.

There is a continental injustice with Cuba because, without asking for anything, every time any Latin American country needed something, Cuba gave it to them," the vice president said, denouncing the current state of affairs in light of the blockades instituted by the United States.

"The Latin American countries did not give in the same proportion, they did not create ties in the same proportion with the Cuban people and that must be reversed," said Garcia Linera.

Bolivia, at least, owes Cuba for all the years of support, but its ties were pathetically thin, the vice president said. President Evo Morales reacted to this, instructing an intensification and balancing of trade flows, production, equality, and retribution, calling on Latin America to follow his lead.


"Today, the great task of our country and progressive governments in Latin America is to quickly initiate the political brotherhood of our leaders and our governments channeling it into an economic and productive brotherhood. We must take a qualitative leap that will change our position in a time of continental combat," Garcia said.

"We are advancing in meetings, understanding the positions of social organizations, but in the case of the economy, we are moving very slowly; it is the very expensive, but it is also necessary," he said, noting that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) ought to step up, leading the movement towards continental integration and economic stability.

Bolivia’s Foreign minister, Fernanda Huanacuni, met with Cuba’s minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment (Mincex), Ileana Nuñez, in La Paz to analyze increasing the bilateral flow of goods and services.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/ ... -0027.html