A Look at the new Council of Ministers

I realized that not much attention has been paid to Cuba's new Council of Ministers. Raul announced just one change to it: Jose Ramon Machado Ventura would be the new First Vice President. But not much else has been said about it.

I must say that this might be because not much has changed. There have been 3 (4 if you count the fact Fidel isn't heading it up) changes in its structure:

1. As previously mentioned, Machado Ventura, who was not in the Council of Ministers, is the new First VP
2. Otto Rivero Torres, also not previously a member, is a VP
3. Wilfredo Lopez Rodriguez, formerly a Minister of Government, is no longer part of the Council of Ministers.

I find it interesting that the Council of State was changed far more than was the Council of Ministers. It's possible that Raul had more of a say in the constitution of the latter beforehand. Although maybe he's just waiting to make more changes. I don't know why he wouldn't have made them already, though.

Just wanted to leave some brief observations from today.

Oh, and to echo a point I've made before: keep an eye on Rivero Torres. He's young (39) and is part of the Councils of State and of Ministers and is also part of the Central Committee of the PCC.

First Secretary + Second Secretary = Third Secretary?

Ok, so, I'm getting over my tremendous shock at just having visited the Cuban government's website, http://www.cubagob.cu/,and seeing them list under Raul's titles: Primer Secretario del Comité Central del PCC (First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party). The PCC's website still has Fidel listed as First Secretary, though. So, take it as you will. I think it's further evidence that Raul is the one who is completely at the helm.

But to hedge my bets, I'm just going to call him the Third Secretary.

Here are the links:

http://www.cubagob.cu/gobierno/cur_min.htm

http://www.pcc.cu/pccweb/secretariado.php

Worth a Thousand Words:

Yesterday Raul presided over a joint meeting of the Polit Bureau and the Council of State. As we can see, seating arrangements were allotted ahead of time, and where people are sitting can tell us quite a bit.

Quite noticeably, the first two rows of people look like they just limped out of a geriatric ward. Most of the women have been relegated to a back corner, not even having a clear view of el Nuevo Comandante. Blacks, with the exception of Esteban Lazo Hernández and Pedro Sáez Montejo (I could be wrong on this ID), have been relegated to the back of the room. So much for Cuba’s supposed sexual and racial advancements.

I just want to point out a few key people who have been talked about quite a bit. Carlos Lage, who many (yes, me too) have been thinking is taking a decreasingly important role in the government, made it into the front row. So, I’m going to have to readjust my stance on his prominence in the government. Maybe he’s being more low-key because he is taking after Raul’s lead, whereas before, he could have been trying to please Fidel.

Alarcon is in the 2nd row, but I don’t think this is too much of a knock to him, especially since he’s seated next to Ramiro Valdez, who we will hopefully never see moved into the first row.

The person who has most obviously fallen from grace is Felipe Perez Roque, who is seated all the way in the back of the room (and is yawning, worried, or sleeping). I wonder what a body language expert would say about his body language.

Additionally, I don’t think that I need to point out the obvious, but I will anyway: There’s one person missing from the Polit Bureau…say it with me…F. I. D. E. L. He’s probably still alive, but politically speaking, he’s already a corpse.

Mariela's Response:

This is Mariela's response to criticism of Cuba's reaction to a gay rally, mentioned in the post below.

Mariela Castro califica de 'montaje infeliz' una marcha gay convocada por grupos independientes
Redacción CE 8 de julio de 2008
Respuesta de Mariela Castro a Pierre Assalian
"Todos conocemos que las campañas contra Cuba son financiadas y organizadas por el gobierno de los Estados Unidos, utilizando grupos terroristas y organizaciones inventadas a última hora para poder justificar ese financiamiento y desviar la atención sobre la mayoría de los fondos que se quedan en los bolsillos de sus organizadores. ¿Ha leído sobre estos escándalos? Un mecanismo habitual para ello es crear la noticia y vendérsela a diferentes agencias y órganos de prensa, con el fin de hacer notar que el dinero asignado fue empleado 'adecuadamente'…".
"Algunos reporteros de la prensa extranjera acreditada en Cuba me comunicaron que recibieron la orden de los directivos de sus periódicos de no publicar más noticias sobre los avances sociales de Cuba en el campo de los derechos de la comunidad LGBT, por presiones recibidas expresamente de diplomáticos norteamericanos. Por eso tal vez no conoce todo el trabajo que estamos haciendo para promover los derechos sexuales de la población LGBT, del intenso y extenso programa que realizamos en toda Cuba alrededor del 17 de mayo, de nuestros esfuerzos en el campo legislativo. Sin embargo, se alarma con esta noticia inventada y políticamente manipulada para justificar los fondos que recibieron estas organizaciones, provenientes del programa de gobierno norteamericano para desacreditar a Cuba, con la ostentosa intención de desacreditar el trabajo que estamos realizando".
"He recibido cartas de activistas gays, lesbianas y transgéneros que viven en Cuba y en el extranjero y están indignados con esta noticia. En primer lugar, porque esas organizaciones en Miami son profundamente homofóbicas y nunca se ocuparon de los derechos de homosexuales cubanos ni cubano-americanos. En segundo lugar, porque no van a permitir que ninguna organización radicada en el exterior decida por ellos. En tercer lugar, porque todo ha sido un montaje infeliz: no hubo marcha porque nadie los apoya, nadie se les enfrentó, nadie los reprimió, no hubo un solo policía en los alrededores y no hubo ningún detenido. La prensa extranjera nos comunicó que había sólo 6 personas en el referido parque y ninguno era LGBT, ni siquiera supieron explicar la problemática LGBT en Cuba cuando la prensa les preguntó, por eso no fueron suficientemente cubiertos por los medios de prensa extranjera convocados, quienes sufrieron una gran decepción al descubrir que se trataba de un show burdo y mal montado. En fin, fueron ignorados".
"Lamentamos que las agresiones a nuestro trabajo desde el exterior empiecen a ser cada vez más desesperadas (…) Nosotros seguiremos haciendo y mejorando nuestro trabajo, con el pleno apoyo de la comunidad LGBT de Cuba y de muchos amigos en el mundo…".
* Pierre Assalian
President Professionnal Development of AMPQ
President - 17th World Congress of Sexology
Advisory Board Member WAS
Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, McGill University
Executive Director Canadian Sex Research Forum
Cubainformacion, España6 de julio de 2008

What Would Mariela Say?

So much for all the talk of Cuba's emerging sense of gay rights...I must say, I definitely saw this one coming...

Cuba's Gay Pride Parade Canceled

By Ray Sanchez |Havana Bureau-South Florida Sun-Sentinel

1:22 PM EDT, June 25, 2008

Havana - Cuba's first Gay Pride parade was abruptly canceled Wednesday, before it even began.

The unofficial march, organized with Florida's Unity Coalition, was not sanctioned by Cuba's National Center for Sex Education, which is headed by Mariela Castro, the daughter of President Raul Castro.

Activist Mario Jose Delgado announced the cancellation of the march moments before it was to start Wednesday at a park in Havana. He said two organizers who were to deliver a set of demands to the Justice Ministry were detained one day earlier. Delgado said he has no details of the arrests.

"The president of the Cuban League Against AIDS and the president of the Foundation LGTB Reinaldo Arenas in Memoriam have been arrested," Delgado said. "They were to be here with our written demands but now we cannot carry out our activity."

Click here for the rest of the article: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-0625,0,7044420.story?track=rss

Frank Delgado "La Isla Puta"

A fantastic performance:

Sweet and Sticky

It seems that sugar production has finally started to increase, something that has not happened since 2003, when the sugar industry decreased from 156 mills to 66 mills.

"HAVANA, May 26 (Reuters) - Cuba will meet domestic demand for refined and raw sugar this year, the official media said over the weekend, after importing 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes of low-grade refined sugar from Brazil and Colombia in recent years.

"Sugar Ministry specialists assured me all the raw sugar for the domestic economy, as well as refined, was secure, that it has already been produced," Cuba's top sugar reporter Juan Varela Perez said at the weekend on his regular radio spot."

So, yes, this is the government saying these things, so who knows if it's actually true. But assuming that it is true, this may mean good things for Cuba's future, economically speaking. The sugar industry has been getting a great deal of government attention of late. High sugar prices and soaring ethanol prices have made the sugar industry a great place to invest, and the government has actually paid attention and made some good decisions, which is a positive step.

Now, we should also note that Raul has been paying close attention to the agricultural sector (or rather, letting the central government NOT pay close attention to it), making it his principle place for any major reforms. One can see a significant (relatively speaking) decentralization in Cuba's agricultural sector, signifying that Raul understands that the central government's stranglehold on the economy does not benefit Cuba's industries, and more importantly to Raul, it does not benefit him.

A year down the line, if the sugar industry improves further, and other agricultural industries that have been partially decentralized also improve output and efficiency, Raul would be hard-pressed not to expand the decentralization outside the agricultural sector. Cubans are demanding economic change (yes, many are demanding far more than this as well) and they will soon see that decentralization is the key. If Raul sees his future tied to the contentedness of the Cuban people, as I think that he does, he will have to further loosen the government's iron clasp on the day-to-day affairs of the Cuban people.