The US and the speck in your neighbor’s eye

 

By Fernando Ravsberg

Originally published in Spanish in Cartas desde Cuba 

 

Cuban-American congresswoman,  Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), surprised many by recently questioning the US justice system when she said it was “extremely disappointing” that the courts had freed one of the 5 Cuban agents, after serving his sentence.

She doesn’t explain what else they could have done, maybe an alternative would have been to send him off to the US Military Base in Guantanamo Bay, where he would have had no legal rights or lawyers to reclaim him, nor would he have been subject to a judicial process..

But it would have been diplomatically incorrect to have done so on the same week that Washington was publishing their list of nations that violate human rights. Every year it highlights the name of Cuba, without mentioning Guantanamo, although that is where the largest number of political prisoners on the island is concentrated.

Secretary of State Kerry didn’t say anything either in spite of the fact that his President opposes the existence of that prison camp and promised to close it down during his first year in office, a time frame long overdue.

The violation of human rights by some does not justify that others do the same. It is absurd that the nation which possesses the most infamous prison in the world, due to the lack of rights offered those detained there, write up a list of violators world wide and not include itself.

But wait, there is more. Beijing also published a report on human rights where the US does appear,  accused of “having perpetrated 376 drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen, killing 929 people, most of whom were civilians, various children among them.”

It is always easier to see the speck in your neighbor’s eye than the log in your own or in the eyes of “friends”. Thus the governments most vehemently denounced in the US report happen to be “enemies” of Washington, while the human rights violators that are “friends” are barely mentioned.

It wasn’t by coincidence that it was in the US where they said that you can protect an “SOB” as long as he’s “our SOB.” The statement is the best example of a double standard used by the international community and a disservice to the struggle for human rights the world over.

Now things are getting more complicated because the Russian Defense Minister announced that his country is negotiating with Cuba the possibility of establishing Russian military bases on the island. In case anyone has any doubts that they are serious, the next day a Russian navy warship anchored in Havana harbor.

The  students of the University of Computer Sciences (UCI) must be trembling. What if the Russians were  to reclaim their teaching facilities? The current site where the school of higher education resides was previously the Soviet base known as Lourdes, used for  spying on US communications.

It will be difficult for Washington to protest a Russian military presence in Cuba when they maintain a base on the island and subject the rest of the world to illegal eavesdropping, including its European and Latin American allies.

Things have gone so far that the EU and Brazil have agreed to lay a submarine telephone cable between the two continents one which the US will not have access to, and thus avoid the temptation of spying on the official communications of other nations.

Some analysts wonder whether the world will return to a new “Cold War” and nobody knows how all this will be framed within the efforts of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, to turn the region into a “Peace Zone.”

Latin America has been free of nuclear weapons for a long time. This year, at the CELAC summit, it decided that all disputes must be resolved peacefully and in the future may well close foreign military bases to avoid getting involved in other nation´s conflicts.

In Cuba´s case, if Washington were to agree to return the Guantanamo Naval Base it would then have the moral authority needed to demand that Havana not allow the installation of military units of other countries on its territory.

This would then be tantamount to a dream come true for two presidents. It would put an end to the military occupation of Guantanamo, a constant  demand made by Raul Castro, and Barack Obama would fulfill his promise of eliminating the prison that has brought the United States so much criticism.

 

Note: AjiacoMix regrets that this past Thursday marks the first time in seven years that a post from  Cartas desde Cuba does not appear on the BBC site.

Political faux pas or was something lost in translation? …

Cubans and super WiFi

 

 

By Fernando Ravsberg*

Version en español

HAVANA TIMES — The war on technological development is already lost. This was learned by the English workers when they tried to stop the industrial revolution by destroying the machinery they believed was taking their jobs.

Things are accelerating even faster in cyberspace, and whoever doesn’t keep up will be swallowed by a black hole or conquered by their enemies. In this epoch, trying to remain isolated in a bubble is as utopian as destroying those industrial-age machines.

Cuba’s authorities have had all the time in the world to give cyberspace a place on the island.

They have also had the necessary human, material and international support, yet — inexplicably — the country continues to lag behind.

For more than a year the underwater fiber-optic cable that was promised to increase Cuba’s connectivity by 3,000 times should have been in operation. However that still hasn’t happened, and the leadership of the Ministry of Communications refuses to explain why.

Rumors are circulating from Miami assuring me that the cable is operating and that it’s only being used by the Ministry of the Interior, while people in Cuba tell me that the trial is about to begin of those who were most responsible for this multi-million-dollar scam.

The impact of this fleecing should be measured not only because of the economic losses, but also for its social and political consequences. The lack of connectivity leaves most Cubans on the fringe of the world and cedes the power of information to the extremes.

On the one pole there’s a group of pro-government webpages that repeat everything that comes “from above.” They do this even when — without the least shred of evidence — they’re asked to accuse major Cuban intellectuals of being spies for the CIA.

In this way they ensure their connection, because the bandwidth for Internet access by Cuban journalists is regulated directly by the “protectors of the faith,” so only colleagues who they consider “ideologically pure” are rewarded with high-speed ADSL connections.

Others are relegated to navigating at 56 kbps – a speed so slow that when you go to Google and search “news,” you can go to make some coffee and come back 15 minutes later to find that still nothing has opened. Photos take even longer and videos are impossible.

At the other extreme are the cyber-dissidents who enjoy high-speed access thanks to the generous but not disinterested assistance of several embassies – first among them being the US Interests Section, which provides internet hours as if it were a cybercafé.

Obama believes in the network and is placing his bets on Cubans’ access to the Internet being the way to end the revolution. His subordinates are creating underground networks and video games to achieve what couldn’t be accomplished by the military invasion from Miami or 50 years of embargo.

Meanwhile, technology continues forward. A “super WiFi” and is being tested in several US regions to eliminate any inaccessible holes of Internet coverage. Networks are being deployed that can cover more than a hundred miles at the amazing speed of 22 Mbps.

As soon as the notion of a super-WiFi became public, the propaganda machines started cranking up. While the anti-Castro elements are asking to use it to break the isolation of the Cuban people, the communists are describing it as a weapon for conducting information warfare against Cuba.

It’s a sure thing that there will be those on the island who will seek technical measures to block access to the “imperial” super Wi-Fi, but I’m confident that sensible people will understand that these resources should themselves be used to create connections to the network.

The battle against technology has no future because eventually development will continue knocking down all walls. Cuba’s government can’t prevent it; it can only decide whether Cubans access the world through it or through its enemies.
—–
(*) A Havana Times  translation published with the authorization of BBC Mundo.

Cuba’s Media and the “Spokespersons”

 

Fernando Ravsberg and I don’t always see eye to eye, often we may coincide on the subject matter but not on the way he interprets or projects certain topics. On this occasion I must admit I agree with him on almost everything save for having omitted that my father, as he well knows, does speak to the press and has been doing so ad nausea for quite some time now. Still, this piece below, is in my view an homage on a day like today, the 50^th Anniversary of the Culmination of the Literacy Campaign in Cuba, to a man who was a close dear friend of my family´s and who not only spoke to the press, he also taught them, and taught them well.  MAP

Versión en castellaño

From the HAVANA TIMES

By Fernando Ravsberg

“I’m not very interested in numbers,” is an acceptable phrase from the mouth of a poet or a painter, but when spoken by an official linked to foreign trade in the middle of a press conference, the matter becomes worrisome. Recently a Cuban politician not only refused to talk about numbers, he also failed to mention the names of the countries to which Cuba exports services. Instead, he recommended that we find that information on the TV news or from the Statistics Office. He told us: “2010 was an improvement over 2009, but in speaking of improvements we want to improve more and more and much more, because sometimes values are better, but you have to grow in value and quantity because the quantities get better values.” On relations with Japan he stated, “Sales are bought, and when I say that sales are bought, this is between two parties; the party that buys needs to buy, and the party that sells has to adapt to those consumers. But the seller is more responsible than the buyer.” Before the questions, he had read off a bunch of pages to us with the names of exported Cuban products, mainly pharmaceuticals, but he did so while keeping the secret as to how much money these bring in or where they’re sold. He ended his presentation with an elaborate metaphor: “I see Cuba as a hive where the bees: industrious and healthy are working alongside their beekeeper,” making a subtle reference to the people and the president, General Raul Castro.

Having just returned from vacation, I went to my first press conference and felt at home. This is the reality we journalists experience here on the island, and this is the type of official source that later complains that “we don’t write about the good things in Cuba.” That conference was a real shame because there was a great deal of interesting information that could have been released on the sale of Cuban services on the five continents, which has now become the main source of income for the island. In some press conferences little information is provided.

On top of that, our editors require more than a simple “things are good and will continue to improve.” It may be true but it’s impossible to publish information without data. But most importantly, readers demand more than the “faith” that can stirred by the words of a politician. This is not an attempt to crucify this man, because he’s no exception. I’d go so far as to say that even with his limitations, at least he was able to sit down in front of us. Others avoid the press, claiming unexpected trips or illnesses. Besides, a good government official doesn’t have to be a good communicator, though there are some. The greater truth is that Cuba today is dramatically sterile when it comes to taking advantage of the opportunities it has to make its voice heard to the world. Of course politicians in other countries can avail themselves of the advantage of being assisted by press offices and spokespeople who take the hit every time a blow is expected, an experience that works quite well,  even here.

For a while the Foreign Ministry had several spokes persons. The most outstanding was an experienced diplomat, Miguel Alfonso, who always filled the official information void, if only to say “no comment.” But Alfonso’s work went beyond press conferences. He maintained a close relationship with journalists. We knew him very well, just as he knew us, to the point of calling us at any hour to discuss any topic. Miguel spoke without fear; he wasn’t afraid of making mistakes and would say that spokespeople are “disposable,” not only as a result of their own mistakes but also for political strategies. I always had the impression that he was more concerned about his country than his individual position.

This isn’t about journalists and spokespeople giving each other flowers, to the contrary; never did so many sparks fly as in his press conferences, but he was able to sit down afterwards for a cup of coffee with any of the correspondents. Unfortunately for us, the UN hired him as an expert and an early death later took him away for good. Notwithstanding, he left behind a school, a way of doing things that should be emulated for the benefit of all.