Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Cuban state layoffs move slowly, workers uneasy


Cuba's President Raul Castro smiles during the National Assembly meeting in Havana December 18, 2010. REUTERS/Enrique De La Osa
CAMAGUEY, Cuba | Tue Mar 8, 2011 2:45pm EST
CAMAGUEY, Cuba (Reuters) - Cuba's program to slash 500,000 state jobs nationwide has barely gotten off the ground in the provinces, as officials scramble to provide alternatives and deal with unease and anger over the layoffs.
Confusion about how to implement the cuts, a lack of alternative jobs and worker resistance have led President Raul Castro to drop a deadline to carry out the plan by March.
The layoffs, aimed at cutting expenditures by the debt-ridden government and increasing productivity on the Caribbean's biggest island, are a key part of economic reforms Castro says are critical to the survival of Cuban communism.
Some 3,000 jobs have been cut in eastern Granma province since the program started in October, a similar number in adjacent Santiago de Cuba and 1,000 in central Camaguey, local officials told Reuters last week.
But that is just 10 percent of the 70,000 jobs they said were slated to go by March in the three provinces and already the experience has proved wrenching for a society where a secure job had been guaranteed for decades under a centrally run socialist economy.
"We never know now if tomorrow we will wake up with a job or not and it was never like that before," said a middle-aged woman in Santiago de Cuba, asking that her name not be used.
A companion reform measure lifting many curbs on operating small private businesses and working privately in skilled trades was originally designed to absorb the workers who have yet to be let go.
As of January 31, 113,000 people nationwide had taken out licenses to work on their own, including 15,000 in the Camaguey, Granma and Santiago provinces.
But Marta Adan Hernandez, the director of labor and social security in Camaguey province, said there is room for many more people working on their own.
"There is no limit and many services still need to be provided to the population," she told Reuters.
Castro's reforms envision a growing "non-state" retail and farming sector and more efficient state-run companies. They are expected to be approved at a Communist Party congress in April.
The massive lay-offs have reportedly come under fire during tens of thousands of meetings held across the island as a prelude to the congress.
The program is being described as a "reorganization" of the labor force because in theory laid-off workers are declared "available" and offered other jobs or they can lease fallow state land or become self-employed.
LAIDOFF WORKERS DECLARED "AVAILABLE"
Twenty-nine nurses at one of nine health clinics in Camaguey, upon being declared "available" last week, were offered jobs at local hospitals.
"Some are taking the offer and others are going home because at the clinic you work eight-hour days while in hospitals you work a 12-hour day or night shift and it often turns into 24 hours when your relief doesn't show up," said Anaida, a nursing supervisor.
That was not the case for bookkeepers at 20 restaurants in Santiago de Cuba attached to the Tourism Ministry. Their jobs were simply eliminated and all 20 let go, with their four supervisors taking over the work.
"They declared me 'available' January 4 and sent me home with a month's salary and then 70 percent for another month," 40-year-old Maria Eugenia said. "They haven't offered me anything. They haven't even called me or any of the others.
Granma's provincial vice president for economic affairs, Raul Lopez Rodriguez, insisted the reorganization would continue, but admitted only 10 percent of those laid off could be absorbed by a shrinking state sector.
The remainder will have little choice but to return to the land or strike out on their own.
"You are going to see a reorganization of the labor force to improve efficiency and those who remain must be paid much more," he said. He estimated that average monthly wages, now about 440 pesos ($20), would need to double to motivate workers.

U.S. approves eight more airports for Cuba flights


By Jeff Franks
HAVANA | Tue Mar 8, 2011 9:36pm EST
HAVANA (Reuters) - The government has given permission to eight more airports to offer direct charter flights to and from Cuba in the latest small opening in the 49-year-long trade embargo against the communist island.
Customs and Border Protection said on Tuesday Cuba flights would now be allowed from airports in Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas/Fort Worth, New Orleans, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Tampa and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Previously, Cuba flights could be flown only from Miami, New York and Los Angeles. It was not yet known when flights would begin from the new cities.
President Barack Obama said in January Cuba charter service would be expanded. At the same time, he announced a loosening of restrictions for some groups on U.S. travel to Cuba.
The embargo, imposed since 1962 with the aim of toppling the communist government put in place after a 1959 revolution, prevents most Americans from going to Cuba. Only charter flights, not regular air service, are allowed to operate on U.S.-Cuba routes.
Obama has said he wants to recast U.S.-Cuba relations. He previously removed limits on Cuban American travel to the island located 90 miles from Florida and on the sending of remittances.
Cuban Americans have flooded into the country, packing the flights available and making Americans among the top nationalities numerically to visit Cuba.
Under Obama and President Raul Castro, the longtime ideological foes also have initiated talks on migration issues and the possible resumption of direct mail service.
Some Cuban American leaders and groups have opposed Obama's measures, saying they help the Cuban government that was run by Fidel Castro for 49 years before his younger brother Raul Castro succeeded him in 2008.
Progress in the long-hostile relations came to a halt in December 2009 when Cuba arrested U.S. aid contractor Alan Gross for working in a U.S.-funded program to promote political change on the island.
The approval of the new airports comes as a Cuban court decides Gross's fate following a two-day trial last week for what prosecutors said was his involvement in "subversive projects" to "defeat the Revolution."
He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
(Reporting by Jeff Franks; Editing by Will Dunham)

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

I need to vent


Well here it is March the 2nd 2011 at 3am, I’ve watched the news and have listened between the words for some semblance of truth in the media, only to be disgusted and then I turn the channel hoping to find a good movie or perhaps a good documentary, maybe I should waste my time and play a FPS video game or read through some more blogs, I have my favorites but I am one with more time to read other peoples musings then to try to postulate my own. I feel perplexed on all sides as I worry about the future not for myself but more for my family and friends, I’m seeing History repeat itself once again as we here in the United States sit comfortably in our homes behind our computer screens or TV’s as the World outside is crying for help, what can i do? Besides sending charity to a few selected people, while I worry about bills and the future, while I fight the desires for more material possessions. I wonder what will be my legacy when I am gone, did I say enough to those that needed to hear a word? Did I give enough to those who needed help? Did I pray for them earnestly enough for those who feel there is no more hope? I used to long to be like a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for the lost but now I am nothing more than one of the lost sheep crying out, return Lord Jesus, return.
 How long oh Lord Holy and true that you are, how long till you return and straiten the crooked paths and shore up the foundation’s that have been drowned in the miry pits of despair, how much longer are we to be bombarded with such rampant evil and decadence all around us as we ourselves glance back like lot’s wife.
There are a lot of things that I see and hear that really piss me off besides the injustice many people suffer presently, what I’m more upset about is my inability on my own to change those things around me especially when I see the indifference many of us have, the feeling that everything is just fine the way it is, I walk through the supermarket purchasing food items, and suddenly I’m reminded of how well we have it here in the United States “if you have a Job” and make a decent living, the store shelves are full of items that we Americans take for granted daily, I have a thought, what if all of this excess were to suddenly disappear and we were thrust back into a third world society, would Americans begin to revolt like those in Egypt and Libya, probably huh?  We Americans would begin to bitch and moan for the lifestyle that we have become accustomed to, while the rest of us hopefully begin to overcome and adapt.  It’s now time I am off to bed, thanks for letting me vent.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Obama could ease more sanctions without violating the trade embargo, a report says

From The Associated Press:

A new report finds the president has broad authority to continue easing sanctions against Cuba without violating the congressionally mandated U.S. embargo.
The report, released Tuesday by Washington-based attorney Stephen Propst, was conducted at the request of the moderate, business-backed Cuba Study Group.
Cuban authorities announced in September they were opening the island's Marxist economy to a limited amount of private enterprise. Propst' review found President Barack Obama could authorize certain services to be imported from Cuba, such as those provided by Cuban web-based entrepreneurs. He also maintains Obama could create more general travel licenses to the island, making it easier for those working with the country's fledgling business class.

Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2011/02/obama-could-ease-more-sanctions-without-violating-the-trade-embargo-a-report-says.html#ixzz1FNVdPBHw

  So my question is, whats the frigging hold up?  why this blatant hypocrisy with Cuba as the US trade's with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, didn't we get our asses handed to us on the way out of that country?
What would the 58000 Americans who died fighting the Vietcong  have to say?
Why the double standard? is because of the old fucks in government who have an ulterior motive?
END THE EMBARGO AGAINST CUBA before the World places an Embargo against the United States.