Los 'llamamientos' no sirven para producir malanga
ELÍAS AMOR | Valencia | 13 Ene 2016 - 6:24 am.
La cosa no puede estar bien. La noticia ha dado señales de alarma, tras
su publicación en el diario oficial del Gobierno. El Sindicato Nacional
de Trabajadores Agropecuarios y Forestales realiza una convocatoria a
los afiliados, trabajadores y cooperativistas a "centrar la atención en
el cumplimiento de las producciones destinadas a la alimentación del
pueblo y la sustitución de importaciones". Y de paso, al conjunto de los
trabajadores estatales y no estatales, los cooperativistas, familiares y
cuadros de la organización. Más o menos, todo el mundo.
Un llamado de estas características, destinado a lograr las producciones
destinadas a la alimentación del pueblo y la sustitución de
importaciones, "priorizando la atención al acopio y la comercialización
de nuestras producciones", pone de manifiesto las precarias condiciones
en que se desarrolla el funcionamiento de la economía castrista, el
escaso alcance de las reformas contenidas en los "Lineamientos", por no
hablar de su rotundo fracaso, y la permanente amenaza del régimen
castrista al regreso a una trasnochada ortodoxia económica cuyos
resultados son bien conocidos.
Quienes han redactado este comunicado confirman una visión totalmente
alejada de la realidad del funcionamiento de los sistemas económicos.
¿Dónde se ha visto que haya que "trabajar unidos con los demás
organismos que intervienen en los diferentes procesos productivos, para
que de conjunto aportemos todas las reservas que existen, primando el
rigor y la exigencia por el cumplimiento de los compromisos individuales
y colectivos, en cada una de nuestras bases productivas?"
Enunciado grandilocuente, pero aburrido. Y además, como confirma la
experiencia, no sirve. Son demasiados años de planificación central que
nunca cumple los objetivos, de rígido intervencionismo estatal que todo
lo controla y de frenos a la libre actuación de los poderes económicos y
los derechos de propiedad. Con este tipo de mimbres se ha querido
construir un cesto que, para mal funcionar, exige este tipo de
llamamientos a la unidad, que pertenecen más a los tiempos de la ya
lejana Guerra Fría de mediados de siglo pasado, que a las corrientes
liberalizadoras y globalizantes que sacuden la economía mundial en
nuestro tiempo.
Mal. Muy mal les va a ir a los cubanos de este modo. Por desgracia, en
contra de los redactadores de este comunicado, pienso que los tiempos
"de demostrar con hechos y partiendo de nuestros propios esfuerzos que
la batalla económica continúa siendo el eje estratégico de la
Revolución", ya pasaron definitivamente a la historia, y no volverán. La
única forma de "eliminar las tierras ociosas" es poniéndolas a la venta
y facilitando el desarrollo de un mercado de demanda y oferta de tierras
que permita a los guajiros cubanos volver a obtener beneficios de su
trabajo. Ya verán entonces cómo la ciencia y la técnica se ponen al lado
de esos emprendedores agrícolas, ayudando a potenciar al máximo el
rendimiento de los cultivos.
Y una última observación. Esa obsesión del régimen con los
"intermediarios". Ya tardan en reconocer que esta ha sido una de las
posiciones más fracasadas en la gestión de la economía desde las
confiscaciones de 1959. Los intermediarios, la distribución logística,
son un elemento esencial en el funcionamiento de la economía de una
nación, porque ponen en contacto, la producción con las demandas de los
consumidores. Cuando pertenecen al sector privado, lo hacen con la
máxima eficiencia. No es eliminando a los intermediarios como se puede
luchar contra los elevados precios de los productos agrícolas o los
desabastecimientos, sino justo lo contrario.
Las insuficiencias que limitan la eficiencia de la producción
agropecuaria castrista se encuentran en el aparato improductivo de las
granjas estatales, las Unidades Básicas de Producción Cooperativas
(UBPC), y las llamadas Unidades Empresariales de Base (UEB). Esta es
la rémora que se tiene que poner a disposición de los agentes privados
para dinamizar la producción y mejorar el nivel de abastecimiento
interno. Y además, cuando este sector productivo esté completamente
privatizado, ya verán que no harán falta los comunicados ni los
mensajes. Ni tampoco los cubanos tendrán que preocuparse nunca más por
los desabastecimientos en las tiendas.
Source: Los 'llamamientos' no sirven para producir malanga | Diario de
Cuba - http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1452635403_19433.html
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Entidades oficialistas invocan a la patria en 'llamamientos' para aumentar la producción agropecuaria
Entidades oficialistas invocan a la patria en 'llamamientos' para
aumentar la producción agropecuaria
DDC | La Habana | 12 Ene 2016 - 11:39 am.
El Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores Agropecuarios y Forestales, así
como la Asociación Nacional de Agricultores Pequeños (ANAP), lanzaron
sendos "llamamientos", que publica hoy el diario oficial Granma, a
incrementar la producción de alimentos, cosechar en tiempo,
"comercializar en forma correcta" y que "todo llegue a los destinos
priorizados con precios justos".
En su texto, el Sindicato, controlado por el Gobierno, reconoce "no
pocas insuficiencias que limitan la eficiencia que se demanda en la
producción agropecuaria en el país, y frenan la materialización de los
Lineamientos de la Política Económica y Social del Partido y la Revolución".
La convocatoria se realiza en medio del proceso de análisis del
funcionamiento de las Unidades Básicas de Producción Cooperativas (UBPC)
y Unidades Empresariales de Base (UEB), previo a una Primera Conferencia
Nacional del sector que finalizará en junio.
En el caso de la oficialista ANAP, su dirección convoca "a continuar
impulsando las actividades comprometidas para celebrar con resultados
superiores el aniversario 55" de la asociación.
"Se requiere fortalecer las acciones conjuntas para profundizar en las
reservas que nos quedan con el uso eficiente del fondo de tierra y el
aporte productivo de todos los que interactúan en el sector agropecuario
—señala la ANAP—, cuestiones estas esenciales que contribuyen de forma
directa en la economía del país, así como a la disminución de los
precios de venta a la población".
El propio diario del Partido Comunista ha admitido desabastecimiento en
los mercados, los precios astronómicos, la incapacidad de aprovechar las
tierras ociosas para la producción, infestadas de marabú, la escasez de
elementos y recursos clave en la agricultura, así como la desatención y
afectaciones directas sobre cultivos tan significativos como la papa y
los frijoles.
Aunque los campesinos se quejan con frecuencia de la falta de insumo y
la mala calidad de los que les vende el Gobierno, la dirección de la
ANAP alaba el "esfuerzo" que, dice, ha hecho el Estado para "garantizar
los recursos y medios indispensables para la producción agropecuaria".
Es a las cooperativas y organizaciones de base a quienes "corresponde
lograr que todos los asociados aporten y cumplan, a partir de las
condiciones y potencialidades productivas que poseen, sobre la base de
los compromisos colectivos e individuales", afirma.
"Los organismos de dirección deben contribuir a que se ejerza una
correcta comercialización con las entidades estatales para que todo lo
que se produzca llegue a los destinos priorizados con precios justos",
añade.
"Estamos en el deber de combatir y eliminar toda manifestación que
atente contra el desarrollo y puesta en práctica de las políticas
aprobadas para garantizar la presencia de productos agropecuarios en los
mercados que prestan este servicio al pueblo. Los campesinos cubanos no
le fallarán jamás a la revolución", concluye el llamamiento de la ANAP.
El Sindicato Agropecuario, por su parte, centra su mensaje "en el
cumplimiento de las producciones destinadas a la alimentación del pueblo
y la sustitución de importaciones, priorizando la atención al acopio y
la comercialización de las producciones".
"Vivimos tiempos de demostrar con hechos y partiendo de nuestros propios
esfuerzos que la batalla económica continúa siendo el eje estratégico de
la revolución", dice.
Señala que se requiere "eliminar las tierras ociosas, utilizando la
ciencia y la técnica y potenciando al máximo el rendimiento de los
cultivos".
El Sindicato cree que "el crecimiento de las producciones agropecuarias
junto a la eliminación de los intermediarios", contribuirá a la
disminución de "los altos precios de los productos agrícolas" e invita a
cooperativistas, trabajadores estatales y no estatales, así como a los
campesinos, a escuchar "el llamado de la patria".
Source: Entidades oficialistas invocan a la patria en 'llamamientos'
para aumentar la producción agropecuaria | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1452595195_19415.html
aumentar la producción agropecuaria
DDC | La Habana | 12 Ene 2016 - 11:39 am.
El Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores Agropecuarios y Forestales, así
como la Asociación Nacional de Agricultores Pequeños (ANAP), lanzaron
sendos "llamamientos", que publica hoy el diario oficial Granma, a
incrementar la producción de alimentos, cosechar en tiempo,
"comercializar en forma correcta" y que "todo llegue a los destinos
priorizados con precios justos".
En su texto, el Sindicato, controlado por el Gobierno, reconoce "no
pocas insuficiencias que limitan la eficiencia que se demanda en la
producción agropecuaria en el país, y frenan la materialización de los
Lineamientos de la Política Económica y Social del Partido y la Revolución".
La convocatoria se realiza en medio del proceso de análisis del
funcionamiento de las Unidades Básicas de Producción Cooperativas (UBPC)
y Unidades Empresariales de Base (UEB), previo a una Primera Conferencia
Nacional del sector que finalizará en junio.
En el caso de la oficialista ANAP, su dirección convoca "a continuar
impulsando las actividades comprometidas para celebrar con resultados
superiores el aniversario 55" de la asociación.
"Se requiere fortalecer las acciones conjuntas para profundizar en las
reservas que nos quedan con el uso eficiente del fondo de tierra y el
aporte productivo de todos los que interactúan en el sector agropecuario
—señala la ANAP—, cuestiones estas esenciales que contribuyen de forma
directa en la economía del país, así como a la disminución de los
precios de venta a la población".
El propio diario del Partido Comunista ha admitido desabastecimiento en
los mercados, los precios astronómicos, la incapacidad de aprovechar las
tierras ociosas para la producción, infestadas de marabú, la escasez de
elementos y recursos clave en la agricultura, así como la desatención y
afectaciones directas sobre cultivos tan significativos como la papa y
los frijoles.
Aunque los campesinos se quejan con frecuencia de la falta de insumo y
la mala calidad de los que les vende el Gobierno, la dirección de la
ANAP alaba el "esfuerzo" que, dice, ha hecho el Estado para "garantizar
los recursos y medios indispensables para la producción agropecuaria".
Es a las cooperativas y organizaciones de base a quienes "corresponde
lograr que todos los asociados aporten y cumplan, a partir de las
condiciones y potencialidades productivas que poseen, sobre la base de
los compromisos colectivos e individuales", afirma.
"Los organismos de dirección deben contribuir a que se ejerza una
correcta comercialización con las entidades estatales para que todo lo
que se produzca llegue a los destinos priorizados con precios justos",
añade.
"Estamos en el deber de combatir y eliminar toda manifestación que
atente contra el desarrollo y puesta en práctica de las políticas
aprobadas para garantizar la presencia de productos agropecuarios en los
mercados que prestan este servicio al pueblo. Los campesinos cubanos no
le fallarán jamás a la revolución", concluye el llamamiento de la ANAP.
El Sindicato Agropecuario, por su parte, centra su mensaje "en el
cumplimiento de las producciones destinadas a la alimentación del pueblo
y la sustitución de importaciones, priorizando la atención al acopio y
la comercialización de las producciones".
"Vivimos tiempos de demostrar con hechos y partiendo de nuestros propios
esfuerzos que la batalla económica continúa siendo el eje estratégico de
la revolución", dice.
Señala que se requiere "eliminar las tierras ociosas, utilizando la
ciencia y la técnica y potenciando al máximo el rendimiento de los
cultivos".
El Sindicato cree que "el crecimiento de las producciones agropecuarias
junto a la eliminación de los intermediarios", contribuirá a la
disminución de "los altos precios de los productos agrícolas" e invita a
cooperativistas, trabajadores estatales y no estatales, así como a los
campesinos, a escuchar "el llamado de la patria".
Source: Entidades oficialistas invocan a la patria en 'llamamientos'
para aumentar la producción agropecuaria | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1452595195_19415.html
Monday, January 11, 2016
Shopping in Cuba
Shopping in Cuba
BY BARBARA DEMICK
A Spanish-English dictionary, sunscreen, insect repellent, a towel,
chocolate ice cream: these are the items that eluded me during a recent
trip to Cuba. For all the hoopla about the island's opening and the more
than three million tourists who swamped it last year, Cuba is no country
for shoppers. The more mundane the object of desire, the more
exasperating it can be to find.
I'm not saying that these common items are completely unavailable in
Cuba—I'm sure they are for sale somewhere on the island—but I couldn't
locate them. And I did look. The problem might be that I spent half of
my trip in Trinidad, a cobblestoned colonial city on the Caribbean
coast. When I ventured out to the Galería Comericial Universo, which my
Lonely Planet claimed featured "Trinidad's best (and most expensive)
grocery store," it was closed due to lack of electricity. I was able to
peer into the darkened grocery store to see considerable yards of empty
shelves. Electricity woes might have accounted as well for my inability
to obtain ice cream for my son. When we finally found it, on the menu of
an expatriate beach club in Havana, it arrived melted. And the waitress
couldn't find a spoon.
At the Plaza de Armas in Havana, the large open-air market, my inquiry
about a Spanish-English dictionary was met with "no es fácil," an answer
I heard often in Cuba. The bookseller did offer up a Russian-Spanish
dictionary. At a kiosk in a suburban neighborhood, which the proprietor
proclaimed "not just the best bookstore in Havana, but all of Cuba," I
found a Larousse dictionary from 1987, with yellowed pages that crumbled
as I opened it. It was for sale for the equivalent of five dollars, a
week's salary for most Cubans. (After I returned from Cuba, I was told I
could find a decent used dictionary at Cuba Libro, an English-language
bookstore that opened in 2013.) I never found a state bookstore that was
open.
Having been a foreign correspondent in Eastern Europe in the
nineteen-nineties, and more recently in China, I have some experience
with Communist and post-Communist countries. In Cuba I saw elements of
many of them, from Albania to Vietnam. Like Prague in the
nineteen-nineties, Havana's old city is swarming with tourists who gaze
at the faded splendor of its Belle Époque architecture. Private
restaurants inside these elegant wrecks, called paladares, beckon
tourists with creative meals made out of the few ingredients available
locally, mostly chicken, pork, cabbage, rice, and beans.
But Cuba also looks to me like a North Korea with palm trees. To be
sure, Cuba has evolved politically, investing in education and health
care rather than weapons of mass destruction. But the economic
fundamentals in these last bastions of Communism are much the same. Like
North Korea, Cuba maintains a distribution system in which citizens pay
a low cost for inadequate rations of staple foods. (At one state shop,
the provisions, listed on the blackboard, were grains, washing soap,
bathing soap, toothpaste, sugar, salt, coffee, evaporated milk, eggs,
and oil.) As in North Korea, archaic laws prevent the private sale of
commodities that have been deemed strategic to the nation. Fishing is
limited in both countries on the grounds that the bounty of the seas is
the exclusive property of the state.
At a mercado agropecuario (basically a licensed farmers' market) in a
residential neighborhood of Havana, I was amazed by products that
appeared to have been crafted in people's basements or garages. There
were homemade clothespins and clothes hangers, soup ladles and sieves,
cast-aluminum pots and pans with hand-carved wooden handles. (The pots
were offered for the equivalent of two dollars.) Plastic molded toy cars
were so flimsy that they made the cheapest made-in-China toys look as
sophisticated as Swiss watches. Homemade vinegar and ketchup were sold
in repurposed beer bottles. This is not unlike North Korea, where people
desperate to earn money used to make sneakers to sell at the market.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, in 1991, both the Cuban and
North Korean economies went into a free fall—the Cubans call this time
"the special period" and the North Koreans "the arduous March"—and
neither country has completely recovered. In Cuba, the loss of cheap
petroleum led to the breakdown of highly mechanized agriculture and food
distribution systems, and the almost complete collapse of the
manufacturing sector. Even today, neither country has much of a
manufacturing sector. Imports to both countries are also limited by
sanctions and hard-currency shortages. Although the United States
restored diplomatic relations with Cuba, in July, the island remains
under a trade embargo.
"Almost all legal imports in Cuba are handled by the government
international-trading monopolies," Richard E. Feinberg, a senior fellow
at the Brookings Institution and a Latin America adviser to the Clinton
Administration, told me. "Their choice of products is not necessarily
driven by consumer demands." He went on, "This is like eastern Europe in
the old days, where you might see a hundred cans of sardines imported
from Thailand that obviously nobody was interested in buying."
Cubans are not starving like North Koreans, but many do lack basic
consumer goods. Whereas just about everything used in North Korea—be it
plastic sandals or hairbrushes or umbrellas—seeps across the
eight-hundred-and-fifty-mile border with China, Cubans are dependent
upon what can be stuffed into a suitcase and carried by airplane. The
Miami-based Havana Consulting estimates that visitors carried three and
a half billion dollars' worth of goods into Cuba in 2013.
There are stores in Miami that specialize in spare parts for the
Russian-made Lada and Moskvitch clunkers that Cubans still drive. The
burgundy-colored official Cuban school uniforms are strangely easier to
buy in Miami than Havana. Cloth diapers and diaper pins are another
popular item brought into Cuba by plane. It is not legal to resell these
items in Cuba, but everybody seems to do it, often through word of
mouth. When I asked a Cuban driver with whom we were snorkelling where
he had acquired a rather smart Spiderman beach towel, he gave me a
long-winded explanation of the market system, which boiled down to this:
"Sometimes somebody has something that I want to buy, but if I ask them
where it came from they won't sell it to me."
Raúl Castro, effectively Cuba's ruler since 2006, when he took over for
his ailing older brother, Fidel, has been easing up controls on economic
activity. Private employment is now allowed in two hundred and one
categories. Farmers are allowed to sell fruits and vegetables that they
produce over their quota. Homeowners are allowed to rent rooms in their
houses to tourists (a freedom that would be unthinkable in North Korea).
An exemption to the prohibitions on manufacturing also permits Cubans to
make and sell the goods I saw at the Havana neighborhood market, which
are classified as handicrafts.
The result is that almost every home in the heavily touristy old center
of Trinidad has thrown its shutters open to offer something for
sale—hand-painted T-shirts with images of Che Guevara, paintings of
vintage cars, macramé handbags, or visors made of old soda cans—a
profusion of Cuban-themed kitsch that is cheerful if not particularly
useful. Alas, none of it was what I wanted to buy in Cuba, but it
provided a glimpse of the possible.
Source: Shopping in Cuba - The New Yorker -
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/shopping-in-cuba
BY BARBARA DEMICK
A Spanish-English dictionary, sunscreen, insect repellent, a towel,
chocolate ice cream: these are the items that eluded me during a recent
trip to Cuba. For all the hoopla about the island's opening and the more
than three million tourists who swamped it last year, Cuba is no country
for shoppers. The more mundane the object of desire, the more
exasperating it can be to find.
I'm not saying that these common items are completely unavailable in
Cuba—I'm sure they are for sale somewhere on the island—but I couldn't
locate them. And I did look. The problem might be that I spent half of
my trip in Trinidad, a cobblestoned colonial city on the Caribbean
coast. When I ventured out to the Galería Comericial Universo, which my
Lonely Planet claimed featured "Trinidad's best (and most expensive)
grocery store," it was closed due to lack of electricity. I was able to
peer into the darkened grocery store to see considerable yards of empty
shelves. Electricity woes might have accounted as well for my inability
to obtain ice cream for my son. When we finally found it, on the menu of
an expatriate beach club in Havana, it arrived melted. And the waitress
couldn't find a spoon.
At the Plaza de Armas in Havana, the large open-air market, my inquiry
about a Spanish-English dictionary was met with "no es fácil," an answer
I heard often in Cuba. The bookseller did offer up a Russian-Spanish
dictionary. At a kiosk in a suburban neighborhood, which the proprietor
proclaimed "not just the best bookstore in Havana, but all of Cuba," I
found a Larousse dictionary from 1987, with yellowed pages that crumbled
as I opened it. It was for sale for the equivalent of five dollars, a
week's salary for most Cubans. (After I returned from Cuba, I was told I
could find a decent used dictionary at Cuba Libro, an English-language
bookstore that opened in 2013.) I never found a state bookstore that was
open.
Having been a foreign correspondent in Eastern Europe in the
nineteen-nineties, and more recently in China, I have some experience
with Communist and post-Communist countries. In Cuba I saw elements of
many of them, from Albania to Vietnam. Like Prague in the
nineteen-nineties, Havana's old city is swarming with tourists who gaze
at the faded splendor of its Belle Époque architecture. Private
restaurants inside these elegant wrecks, called paladares, beckon
tourists with creative meals made out of the few ingredients available
locally, mostly chicken, pork, cabbage, rice, and beans.
But Cuba also looks to me like a North Korea with palm trees. To be
sure, Cuba has evolved politically, investing in education and health
care rather than weapons of mass destruction. But the economic
fundamentals in these last bastions of Communism are much the same. Like
North Korea, Cuba maintains a distribution system in which citizens pay
a low cost for inadequate rations of staple foods. (At one state shop,
the provisions, listed on the blackboard, were grains, washing soap,
bathing soap, toothpaste, sugar, salt, coffee, evaporated milk, eggs,
and oil.) As in North Korea, archaic laws prevent the private sale of
commodities that have been deemed strategic to the nation. Fishing is
limited in both countries on the grounds that the bounty of the seas is
the exclusive property of the state.
At a mercado agropecuario (basically a licensed farmers' market) in a
residential neighborhood of Havana, I was amazed by products that
appeared to have been crafted in people's basements or garages. There
were homemade clothespins and clothes hangers, soup ladles and sieves,
cast-aluminum pots and pans with hand-carved wooden handles. (The pots
were offered for the equivalent of two dollars.) Plastic molded toy cars
were so flimsy that they made the cheapest made-in-China toys look as
sophisticated as Swiss watches. Homemade vinegar and ketchup were sold
in repurposed beer bottles. This is not unlike North Korea, where people
desperate to earn money used to make sneakers to sell at the market.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, in 1991, both the Cuban and
North Korean economies went into a free fall—the Cubans call this time
"the special period" and the North Koreans "the arduous March"—and
neither country has completely recovered. In Cuba, the loss of cheap
petroleum led to the breakdown of highly mechanized agriculture and food
distribution systems, and the almost complete collapse of the
manufacturing sector. Even today, neither country has much of a
manufacturing sector. Imports to both countries are also limited by
sanctions and hard-currency shortages. Although the United States
restored diplomatic relations with Cuba, in July, the island remains
under a trade embargo.
"Almost all legal imports in Cuba are handled by the government
international-trading monopolies," Richard E. Feinberg, a senior fellow
at the Brookings Institution and a Latin America adviser to the Clinton
Administration, told me. "Their choice of products is not necessarily
driven by consumer demands." He went on, "This is like eastern Europe in
the old days, where you might see a hundred cans of sardines imported
from Thailand that obviously nobody was interested in buying."
Cubans are not starving like North Koreans, but many do lack basic
consumer goods. Whereas just about everything used in North Korea—be it
plastic sandals or hairbrushes or umbrellas—seeps across the
eight-hundred-and-fifty-mile border with China, Cubans are dependent
upon what can be stuffed into a suitcase and carried by airplane. The
Miami-based Havana Consulting estimates that visitors carried three and
a half billion dollars' worth of goods into Cuba in 2013.
There are stores in Miami that specialize in spare parts for the
Russian-made Lada and Moskvitch clunkers that Cubans still drive. The
burgundy-colored official Cuban school uniforms are strangely easier to
buy in Miami than Havana. Cloth diapers and diaper pins are another
popular item brought into Cuba by plane. It is not legal to resell these
items in Cuba, but everybody seems to do it, often through word of
mouth. When I asked a Cuban driver with whom we were snorkelling where
he had acquired a rather smart Spiderman beach towel, he gave me a
long-winded explanation of the market system, which boiled down to this:
"Sometimes somebody has something that I want to buy, but if I ask them
where it came from they won't sell it to me."
Raúl Castro, effectively Cuba's ruler since 2006, when he took over for
his ailing older brother, Fidel, has been easing up controls on economic
activity. Private employment is now allowed in two hundred and one
categories. Farmers are allowed to sell fruits and vegetables that they
produce over their quota. Homeowners are allowed to rent rooms in their
houses to tourists (a freedom that would be unthinkable in North Korea).
An exemption to the prohibitions on manufacturing also permits Cubans to
make and sell the goods I saw at the Havana neighborhood market, which
are classified as handicrafts.
The result is that almost every home in the heavily touristy old center
of Trinidad has thrown its shutters open to offer something for
sale—hand-painted T-shirts with images of Che Guevara, paintings of
vintage cars, macramé handbags, or visors made of old soda cans—a
profusion of Cuban-themed kitsch that is cheerful if not particularly
useful. Alas, none of it was what I wanted to buy in Cuba, but it
provided a glimpse of the possible.
Source: Shopping in Cuba - The New Yorker -
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/shopping-in-cuba
Friday, January 8, 2016
Déficit de lluvia impacta sobre el 45% del territorio nacional en el 2015
Déficit de lluvia impacta sobre el 45% del territorio nacional en el 2015
DDC | La Habana | 8 Ene 2016 - 10:56 am.
El 45 % del territorio nacional presentó déficits en los acumulados de
lluvia durante todo el 2015, informó el más reciente boletín del Centro
del Clima (CENCLIM), del Instituto de Meteorología, según difundió el
jueves la estatal Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN).
Un 7 % de ese total de acumulados recibió la categoría de extremos a
severos, un 13 % de moderados y un 25 % de débiles, de acuerdo con la
publicación que edita mensualmente la institución.
La escasez de precipitaciones tuvo mayor impacto en ambos extremos de la
Isla, sobre todo en las provincias de Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, La
Habana, Mayabeque, Las Tunas, Holguín, Santiago de Cuba y Guantánamo.
En ese sentido, los municipios con mayores dificultades en la
acumulación de agua resultaron Colombia y Jobabo (Las Tunas), Baracoa
(Guantánamo), La Palma (Pinar del Río), Nueva Paz, Madruga y Jaruco
(Mayabeque) y Segundo Frente (Santiago de Cuba), entre otros.
Según el Centro del Clima del Instituto de Meteorología, a modo de
resumen, en los lugares donde se mantienen las carencias de lluvias
persiste la sequía, razón por la cual debe continuar prestándose
atención a su futura evolución, advierte la institución.
Enero es el tercer mes del período poco lluvioso en Cuba, en el cual
ocurre una mayor afectación de los frentes fríos en relación con los
meses anteriores, lo que influye en el establecimiento de condiciones
invernales con frecuencia, pero las precipitaciones dependen
fundamentalmente de los sistemas frontales que afectan a la nación, señala.
No obstante, hay que tener en cuenta el actual desarrollo del evento
fuerte El Niño-Oscilación del Sur, que en 2015 se intensificó en el
Pacífico Ecuatorial, y el impacto que genera en el comportamiento de las
precipitaciones en la Isla.
Source: Déficit de lluvia impacta sobre el 45% del territorio nacional
en el 2015 | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1452247017_19330.html
DDC | La Habana | 8 Ene 2016 - 10:56 am.
El 45 % del territorio nacional presentó déficits en los acumulados de
lluvia durante todo el 2015, informó el más reciente boletín del Centro
del Clima (CENCLIM), del Instituto de Meteorología, según difundió el
jueves la estatal Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN).
Un 7 % de ese total de acumulados recibió la categoría de extremos a
severos, un 13 % de moderados y un 25 % de débiles, de acuerdo con la
publicación que edita mensualmente la institución.
La escasez de precipitaciones tuvo mayor impacto en ambos extremos de la
Isla, sobre todo en las provincias de Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, La
Habana, Mayabeque, Las Tunas, Holguín, Santiago de Cuba y Guantánamo.
En ese sentido, los municipios con mayores dificultades en la
acumulación de agua resultaron Colombia y Jobabo (Las Tunas), Baracoa
(Guantánamo), La Palma (Pinar del Río), Nueva Paz, Madruga y Jaruco
(Mayabeque) y Segundo Frente (Santiago de Cuba), entre otros.
Según el Centro del Clima del Instituto de Meteorología, a modo de
resumen, en los lugares donde se mantienen las carencias de lluvias
persiste la sequía, razón por la cual debe continuar prestándose
atención a su futura evolución, advierte la institución.
Enero es el tercer mes del período poco lluvioso en Cuba, en el cual
ocurre una mayor afectación de los frentes fríos en relación con los
meses anteriores, lo que influye en el establecimiento de condiciones
invernales con frecuencia, pero las precipitaciones dependen
fundamentalmente de los sistemas frontales que afectan a la nación, señala.
No obstante, hay que tener en cuenta el actual desarrollo del evento
fuerte El Niño-Oscilación del Sur, que en 2015 se intensificó en el
Pacífico Ecuatorial, y el impacto que genera en el comportamiento de las
precipitaciones en la Isla.
Source: Déficit de lluvia impacta sobre el 45% del territorio nacional
en el 2015 | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1452247017_19330.html
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Cuba’s New Ration Book
Cuba's New Ration Book / 14ymedio
Posted on January 5, 2016
14ymedio, Havana, 5 January 2016 — During the last week of the year and
the first days of the 2016, Cuban families have received their ration
booklets to access the rationed food system in place since 1962.
Despite strong rumors predicting the end of the rationed market, the
fact is that it still stands, albeit with a considerable decrease in the
numbers of products and increases in the prices of many of them.
Source: Cuba's New Ration Book / 14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cubas-new-ration-book-14ymedio/
Posted on January 5, 2016
14ymedio, Havana, 5 January 2016 — During the last week of the year and
the first days of the 2016, Cuban families have received their ration
booklets to access the rationed food system in place since 1962.
Despite strong rumors predicting the end of the rationed market, the
fact is that it still stands, albeit with a considerable decrease in the
numbers of products and increases in the prices of many of them.
Source: Cuba's New Ration Book / 14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cubas-new-ration-book-14ymedio/
Autoridades reconocen afectaciones en cultivos clave como la papa y los frijoles
Autoridades reconocen afectaciones en cultivos clave como la papa y los
frijoles
DDC | La Habana | 7 Ene 2016 - 12:44 pm.
Cultivos clave de la agricultura en la Isla, como la papa y los
frijoles, sufrieron afectaciones durante la campaña de frío,
comprometida aún más por las altas temperaturas para la época y las
frecuentes lluvias registradas después de una intensa sequía,
reconocieron autoridades al frente del sector.
Según publica el miércoles el diario oficial Granma, Enel Espinosa,
director de Cultivos Varios del Ministerio de la Agricultura (MINAG),
informó que en la papa solo se concretó en noviembre el 3% de su plan de
siembra, lo que generó una concentración para diciembre que solo logró
llegar al 68% de los cómputos totales, por lo cual el otro 29% pesa
sobre la agenda del actual mes.
El incumplimiento del calendario agrícola en las fechas establecidas y
consiguiente concentración de cultivo, prácticamente en un mes, ocasiona
un pico de cosecha que implica obstáculos en el proceso de
transportación y almacenaje de esa producción, según puntualizó Rogelio
Pupo, comercial de la Empresa Productora y Comercializadora de Semillas
del Ministerio.
La provincia de Mayabeque, con más de 1.900 hectáreas dedicadas al
cultivo del tubérculo, había plantado en diciembre solo el 80% de la
superficie prevista, según especificaron otros funcionarios.
En el resto del país, para la campaña en curso, solo se habían plantado
al cierre de diciembre 4.150 hectáreas, de las 5.731 propuestas, que
deberían producir unas 120.000 toneladas del rubro, tan escaso
últimamente en la mesa del cubano.
De acuerdo con el periódico estatal, el cultivo hoy día solo está
presente en seis provincias y por tanto, poco accesible para buena parte
de la población nacional. "En las provincias orientales, por ejemplo, el
producto casi ni se ve", señala el artículo.
Además, dice que el 99% de las semillas tienen que ser importadas y
cuando el escaso producto sale a la calle, "los desvíos" e
"intermediarios" hacen que el producto alcance precios en CUC imposibles
de asumir por los salarios en la Isla.
Osmar Méndez, jefe del Departamento de Hortalizas del MINAG, dijo que
los esfuerzos se centran en alcanzar mejores rendimientos, a partir de
un arduo estudio de las variedades que se utilizan y así garantizar la
obtención de las 120.000 toneladas concertadas en el plan.
Según Méndez la campaña anterior fue la quinta de mejores resultados en
32 años, y en la presente se mantienen los mismos territorios para la
plantación de la papa (Artemisa, Mayabeque, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Villa
Clara y Ciego de Ávila), "por las garantías que ofrecen, como las
condiciones del suelo, disponibilidad de agua y tradición en el manejo
cultural con buenas prácticas incorporadas".
En torno al cultivo de frijoles, el funcionario reconoció que sufrieron
pérdidas en la recogida que corresponde a siembras anticipadas (en
septiembre) y que no pudieron sobreponerse a las lluvias del último mes
del año, por las cuales los rendimientos tampoco fueron buenos.
Otro de los rubros con afectaciones en su cronograma ha sido el tomate
—señala Granma— De un encargo productivo fijado en 35.000 toneladas para
el término del pasado mes, se estima un incumplimiento en más de 20.000.
Source: Autoridades reconocen afectaciones en cultivos clave como la
papa y los frijoles | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1452167041_19308.html
frijoles
DDC | La Habana | 7 Ene 2016 - 12:44 pm.
Cultivos clave de la agricultura en la Isla, como la papa y los
frijoles, sufrieron afectaciones durante la campaña de frío,
comprometida aún más por las altas temperaturas para la época y las
frecuentes lluvias registradas después de una intensa sequía,
reconocieron autoridades al frente del sector.
Según publica el miércoles el diario oficial Granma, Enel Espinosa,
director de Cultivos Varios del Ministerio de la Agricultura (MINAG),
informó que en la papa solo se concretó en noviembre el 3% de su plan de
siembra, lo que generó una concentración para diciembre que solo logró
llegar al 68% de los cómputos totales, por lo cual el otro 29% pesa
sobre la agenda del actual mes.
El incumplimiento del calendario agrícola en las fechas establecidas y
consiguiente concentración de cultivo, prácticamente en un mes, ocasiona
un pico de cosecha que implica obstáculos en el proceso de
transportación y almacenaje de esa producción, según puntualizó Rogelio
Pupo, comercial de la Empresa Productora y Comercializadora de Semillas
del Ministerio.
La provincia de Mayabeque, con más de 1.900 hectáreas dedicadas al
cultivo del tubérculo, había plantado en diciembre solo el 80% de la
superficie prevista, según especificaron otros funcionarios.
En el resto del país, para la campaña en curso, solo se habían plantado
al cierre de diciembre 4.150 hectáreas, de las 5.731 propuestas, que
deberían producir unas 120.000 toneladas del rubro, tan escaso
últimamente en la mesa del cubano.
De acuerdo con el periódico estatal, el cultivo hoy día solo está
presente en seis provincias y por tanto, poco accesible para buena parte
de la población nacional. "En las provincias orientales, por ejemplo, el
producto casi ni se ve", señala el artículo.
Además, dice que el 99% de las semillas tienen que ser importadas y
cuando el escaso producto sale a la calle, "los desvíos" e
"intermediarios" hacen que el producto alcance precios en CUC imposibles
de asumir por los salarios en la Isla.
Osmar Méndez, jefe del Departamento de Hortalizas del MINAG, dijo que
los esfuerzos se centran en alcanzar mejores rendimientos, a partir de
un arduo estudio de las variedades que se utilizan y así garantizar la
obtención de las 120.000 toneladas concertadas en el plan.
Según Méndez la campaña anterior fue la quinta de mejores resultados en
32 años, y en la presente se mantienen los mismos territorios para la
plantación de la papa (Artemisa, Mayabeque, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Villa
Clara y Ciego de Ávila), "por las garantías que ofrecen, como las
condiciones del suelo, disponibilidad de agua y tradición en el manejo
cultural con buenas prácticas incorporadas".
En torno al cultivo de frijoles, el funcionario reconoció que sufrieron
pérdidas en la recogida que corresponde a siembras anticipadas (en
septiembre) y que no pudieron sobreponerse a las lluvias del último mes
del año, por las cuales los rendimientos tampoco fueron buenos.
Otro de los rubros con afectaciones en su cronograma ha sido el tomate
—señala Granma— De un encargo productivo fijado en 35.000 toneladas para
el término del pasado mes, se estima un incumplimiento en más de 20.000.
Source: Autoridades reconocen afectaciones en cultivos clave como la
papa y los frijoles | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1452167041_19308.html
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Virginia governor promotes pork, wine, seaport in Cuba
Virginia governor promotes pork, wine, seaport in Cuba
Laura Vozzella and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Hotel Nacional de Cuba, playground for Hollywood stars and mobsters
in its pre-Cuban Missile Crisis heyday, played host Sunday night to a
visibly peeved Virginia governor.
Over a dinner at the start of his three-day trade mission here, Gov.
Terry McAuliffe (D) learned that when Virginia-based Smithfield Foods
sells pork to this island nation, it ships the meat from Florida instead
of the Port of Virginia.
"You truck it all the way to Jacksonville?" McAuliffe asked the
Smithfield vice president sitting across from him. "Dumbest thing I ever
heard."
McAuliffe traveled to Cuba on Sunday, at a moment of historic
rapprochement between Cold War foes, to pitch Virginia products to the
communist nation. But first he found himself having to promote
Virginia's port to Virginians.
And so, in the patio restaurant of the famed hotel, when he should have
been swooning over pork, black beans, good cigars and ocean breezes, the
72nd governor of Virginia was barking.
"I do not want to hear about one more Smithfield pork [product] shipping
out of Jacksonville," he said loudly enough to be heard at the next
table. "How do we fix that?"
The governor's aggressive efforts to expand and diversify Virginia's
defense-heavy economy have taken him to the Middle East, Asia, India and
Europe.
And now they have led him to visit Cuba, the fourth U.S. governor to
come here in the 13 months since President Barack Obama announced plans
to begin normalizing relations with the country.
McAuliffe and his 30-member delegation will spend all day Monday in a
series of meetings with Cuban ministry officials, hoping to sell them on
products ranging from modest roofing to high-end flooring. State
officials are also hoping to announce deals - one between the Port of
Virginia and Cuba's Port of Mariel, another between Virginia
Commonwealth University and the University of Havana. Details of those
announcements remained under wraps.
Sunday was devoted primarily to seeing a few sights and getting to know
some of the private business people exploring the potential for trade.
McAuliffe does not usually play tourist on trade missions. A world
traveler long before he took office, he has often been there, done that.
But he did a little touring Sunday in Havana, he said, for the sake of
the larger-than-normal delegation accompanying him.
"Usually when I do trade missions, we generally don't take anyone with
us," he said. "Our last trip was 135 meetings. I like to go, go, go, go
- meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting. This one's a little different
because it's a brand-new opportunity for folks. So this one, since it's
really virgin territory for so many American companies and Virginia
companies, we put out the word, 'If you want to come down, we can help
you open some doors.' "
With a Cuban architect as a tour guide, McAuliffe and the delegation
strolled past Old Havana bars where Hemingway drank. They admired
crumbling architectural gems, such as the 18th-century limestone palace
that had been home to colonial governors.
"Lot bigger than the one I live in," McAuliffe said. "The Spanish knew
how to do it."
The group lingered before a street performer who, perched motionless on
a cobblestone street and smeared in dark makeup, looked uncannily like a
weathered bronzed pirate statue. The buccaneer came to life after
McAuliffe placed $1 in his tip box, pretending to threaten the governor
with his sword.
In a funny coincidence, McAuliffe ran into Luis Avila, 32, of San
Francisco, a former Northern Virginian who had volunteered for the
governor's campaign.
Tour guide Ayleen Robainas pointed out a 1906 hat factory gutted down to
its ornate facade, the rest of it too ruined to be saved. When she said
it was being turned into a hotel, McAuliffe smelled an opportunity. He
asked if any private partners would be involved.
No, Robainas said. The Cuban government has had lots of offers, she
said, but it wants to do the hotel on its own.
Even so, McAuliffe believes the island is teeming with other opportunities.
"I just think it's a huge potential for us for many years to come," he
said afterward. "We're coming here to plant the flag."
McAuliffe found a way to promote his state as the tour wound down. He
presented a bottle of Virginia wine to Warnel Lores, of Cuba's Foreign
Ministry. The bottle - a 2014 Barboursville Vineyards viognier - was one
of the state's best, McAuliffe said.
"Excellent with lobster," Todd Haymore, Virginia's secretary of
agriculture and forestry, piped up.
"Excellent with everything," McAuliffe said. "You fire that up and think
of Virginia. You forget those other 49 states."
Virginia - one of Cuba's top three U.S. trading partners since
Washington lifted the ban on agricultural exports more than a decade ago
- does not face competition from other states so much as from the rest
of the world. While other countries allow Cuba to buy products on
generous financing terms, the United States still requires Cuba to pay
in cash before goods leave U.S. ports.
"This is ridiculous," McAuliffe said. "As I like to say, you look at
Vietnam - 57,000 Americans were killed over there. We've had an embassy
there for years. This is a country that we actually came over and
invaded. We've got to put the past behind us."
Among the businesses participating in the trade mission are Perdue
Agribusiness; Virginia Natural Beef; Forever Oceans, a high-tech,
sustainable fish-farming outfit spun off from Lockheed Martin; T. Parker
Host shipping; roofing firm Onduline North America; and Mountain Lumber Co.
Participants from those firms paid their own way for the trip, at a
price of about $3,000 per person. Taxpayers will pick up the tab for
sending McAuliffe, first lady Dorothy McAuliffe and the state officials
accompanying them. The administration has not yet calculated the cost.
Members of the state delegation include McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy
and two cabinet secretaries besides Haymore: Bill Hazel of health and
human resources and Karen Jackson of technology.
Additional state staff members include the deputy agriculture
commissioner and a special assistant; a member of the state's economic
development authority; an official with the Virginia Port Authority;
three from Virginia Commonwealth University; and the director of the
state-supported Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Three people with the Center for Democracy in the Americas, which helped
organize the trip, are traveling with the delegation as well.
Also along for the trip are two members of the governor's executive
protection unit, who accompany the governor wherever he goes, and two
pilots for the state plane.
Although most of the delegation arrived via charter flight, the Cuban
government extended a special privilege to McAuliffe by allowing him to
land his state plane at Jose Marti International Airport. Cuban
Ambassador José R. Cabañas offered that favor to McAuliffe in a
face-to-face meeting in Washington about two weeks ago, and the governor
took it as a good sign.
"There's a whole different feeling I can tell, even from last time I was
here," said McAuliffe, who traveled to Cuba once before, in 2009, as a
volunteer pitchman for Virginia apples and wine. "Much more open
feeling, much more willingness to do business."
Source: Virginia governor promotes pork, wine, seaport in Cuba - Daily
Press -
http://www.dailypress.com/news/politics/dp-nws-wire-post-mcauliffe-cuba20160104-story.html
Laura Vozzella and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Hotel Nacional de Cuba, playground for Hollywood stars and mobsters
in its pre-Cuban Missile Crisis heyday, played host Sunday night to a
visibly peeved Virginia governor.
Over a dinner at the start of his three-day trade mission here, Gov.
Terry McAuliffe (D) learned that when Virginia-based Smithfield Foods
sells pork to this island nation, it ships the meat from Florida instead
of the Port of Virginia.
"You truck it all the way to Jacksonville?" McAuliffe asked the
Smithfield vice president sitting across from him. "Dumbest thing I ever
heard."
McAuliffe traveled to Cuba on Sunday, at a moment of historic
rapprochement between Cold War foes, to pitch Virginia products to the
communist nation. But first he found himself having to promote
Virginia's port to Virginians.
And so, in the patio restaurant of the famed hotel, when he should have
been swooning over pork, black beans, good cigars and ocean breezes, the
72nd governor of Virginia was barking.
"I do not want to hear about one more Smithfield pork [product] shipping
out of Jacksonville," he said loudly enough to be heard at the next
table. "How do we fix that?"
The governor's aggressive efforts to expand and diversify Virginia's
defense-heavy economy have taken him to the Middle East, Asia, India and
Europe.
And now they have led him to visit Cuba, the fourth U.S. governor to
come here in the 13 months since President Barack Obama announced plans
to begin normalizing relations with the country.
McAuliffe and his 30-member delegation will spend all day Monday in a
series of meetings with Cuban ministry officials, hoping to sell them on
products ranging from modest roofing to high-end flooring. State
officials are also hoping to announce deals - one between the Port of
Virginia and Cuba's Port of Mariel, another between Virginia
Commonwealth University and the University of Havana. Details of those
announcements remained under wraps.
Sunday was devoted primarily to seeing a few sights and getting to know
some of the private business people exploring the potential for trade.
McAuliffe does not usually play tourist on trade missions. A world
traveler long before he took office, he has often been there, done that.
But he did a little touring Sunday in Havana, he said, for the sake of
the larger-than-normal delegation accompanying him.
"Usually when I do trade missions, we generally don't take anyone with
us," he said. "Our last trip was 135 meetings. I like to go, go, go, go
- meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting. This one's a little different
because it's a brand-new opportunity for folks. So this one, since it's
really virgin territory for so many American companies and Virginia
companies, we put out the word, 'If you want to come down, we can help
you open some doors.' "
With a Cuban architect as a tour guide, McAuliffe and the delegation
strolled past Old Havana bars where Hemingway drank. They admired
crumbling architectural gems, such as the 18th-century limestone palace
that had been home to colonial governors.
"Lot bigger than the one I live in," McAuliffe said. "The Spanish knew
how to do it."
The group lingered before a street performer who, perched motionless on
a cobblestone street and smeared in dark makeup, looked uncannily like a
weathered bronzed pirate statue. The buccaneer came to life after
McAuliffe placed $1 in his tip box, pretending to threaten the governor
with his sword.
In a funny coincidence, McAuliffe ran into Luis Avila, 32, of San
Francisco, a former Northern Virginian who had volunteered for the
governor's campaign.
Tour guide Ayleen Robainas pointed out a 1906 hat factory gutted down to
its ornate facade, the rest of it too ruined to be saved. When she said
it was being turned into a hotel, McAuliffe smelled an opportunity. He
asked if any private partners would be involved.
No, Robainas said. The Cuban government has had lots of offers, she
said, but it wants to do the hotel on its own.
Even so, McAuliffe believes the island is teeming with other opportunities.
"I just think it's a huge potential for us for many years to come," he
said afterward. "We're coming here to plant the flag."
McAuliffe found a way to promote his state as the tour wound down. He
presented a bottle of Virginia wine to Warnel Lores, of Cuba's Foreign
Ministry. The bottle - a 2014 Barboursville Vineyards viognier - was one
of the state's best, McAuliffe said.
"Excellent with lobster," Todd Haymore, Virginia's secretary of
agriculture and forestry, piped up.
"Excellent with everything," McAuliffe said. "You fire that up and think
of Virginia. You forget those other 49 states."
Virginia - one of Cuba's top three U.S. trading partners since
Washington lifted the ban on agricultural exports more than a decade ago
- does not face competition from other states so much as from the rest
of the world. While other countries allow Cuba to buy products on
generous financing terms, the United States still requires Cuba to pay
in cash before goods leave U.S. ports.
"This is ridiculous," McAuliffe said. "As I like to say, you look at
Vietnam - 57,000 Americans were killed over there. We've had an embassy
there for years. This is a country that we actually came over and
invaded. We've got to put the past behind us."
Among the businesses participating in the trade mission are Perdue
Agribusiness; Virginia Natural Beef; Forever Oceans, a high-tech,
sustainable fish-farming outfit spun off from Lockheed Martin; T. Parker
Host shipping; roofing firm Onduline North America; and Mountain Lumber Co.
Participants from those firms paid their own way for the trip, at a
price of about $3,000 per person. Taxpayers will pick up the tab for
sending McAuliffe, first lady Dorothy McAuliffe and the state officials
accompanying them. The administration has not yet calculated the cost.
Members of the state delegation include McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy
and two cabinet secretaries besides Haymore: Bill Hazel of health and
human resources and Karen Jackson of technology.
Additional state staff members include the deputy agriculture
commissioner and a special assistant; a member of the state's economic
development authority; an official with the Virginia Port Authority;
three from Virginia Commonwealth University; and the director of the
state-supported Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Three people with the Center for Democracy in the Americas, which helped
organize the trip, are traveling with the delegation as well.
Also along for the trip are two members of the governor's executive
protection unit, who accompany the governor wherever he goes, and two
pilots for the state plane.
Although most of the delegation arrived via charter flight, the Cuban
government extended a special privilege to McAuliffe by allowing him to
land his state plane at Jose Marti International Airport. Cuban
Ambassador José R. Cabañas offered that favor to McAuliffe in a
face-to-face meeting in Washington about two weeks ago, and the governor
took it as a good sign.
"There's a whole different feeling I can tell, even from last time I was
here," said McAuliffe, who traveled to Cuba once before, in 2009, as a
volunteer pitchman for Virginia apples and wine. "Much more open
feeling, much more willingness to do business."
Source: Virginia governor promotes pork, wine, seaport in Cuba - Daily
Press -
http://www.dailypress.com/news/politics/dp-nws-wire-post-mcauliffe-cuba20160104-story.html
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