[Marxism] CubaNews Notes from Havana, December 18, 2003

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

CubaNews Notes from Havana, December 18, 2003
by Walter Lippmann

It's been a very hectic time these past few days and it's
not been possible to keep up the previous flow of work.

That's going to continue to be the case for awhile as my
activities here have kept and will be keeping me out of
the house and away from the computer for the next days.
After that, as mentioned previously, I'm going down to
Bartolome Maso, a small town in Eastern Cuba, in Granma
province. There's an operating sugar processing facility
(a "centrale") there which I plan to visit, and so I'll
be seeing Cuban life at Christmas from a small town.
Internet connectivity there is less certain since the
phone system hasn't been digitized as yet. I hope to be
able to get connected, but wasn't able to the last time
I visited that city earlier in the year. Be patient.

This afternoon I spent some time in the offices of the
Cuban National Center for Sex Education where I met with
Dr. Wally Thompson and Merida Lopez. Dr. Thompson, who is
also a practicing medical doctor is associate director of
the center. Lopez is a teacher there. They showed me an
informational video on the center's work and answered
some questions about the center's work and history.
This meeting was facilitated by Roxana Marquez, one of
the resourceful staff people at the Cuban Institute for
Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), who attended and
helped provide translation.

After that, while looking for a bathrobe for a friend
I took a brief tour of some of the more upscale places
for shopping in the Miramar, Nautico and Siboney areas
of the city, starting at the Comodoro Hotel, going to
the Meridiano shopping center, and finally the newest
of these places, the Palco market in the Siboney area.
Siboney was the neighborhood where the bourgeoisie of
Cuba last lived prior to the Revolution. Before that
they'd been in Miramar, and before that in the Vedado.
Each of these places had people coming in and out who
were spending money. You can tell that the shopping
center at the Palco is fully ready for the blockade
of Cuba to end. Here you can find all sorts of items
not available at other places I've seen, such as
Gerber baby food (made in Costa Rica), Quaker Oats
(both traditional and quick-cooking) and I picked
up one kilogram of the traditional type for $3.45,
and all types of Toblerone Swiss chocolates at more
or less normal prices. Cuban products, such as the
Cubita coffees cost the same here as they do at all
of the other Cuban shopping stores. Here, as at the
Meridiano shopping you can find one of my favorite
items, Balsamic vinegar from Modena, Italy, at the
amazing price of $7.00 for a 500 ML bottle. Cubans
that I know aren't familiar with this product and
those who love it for salads tend to be people
such as me, who can afford it. After all, a bottle
like this can last for a year. I use it sparingly.

The outside of the market had Christmas lights
strung up on fences and palm trees, a sight which
was at once incongruous and very cheerful.

This evening's television news featured scenes from
the current session of the Cuban National Assembly
of People's Power. Reports were presented on sugar
production, which is expected to be significantly
up from last year's very low harvest, the island's
success with urban agriculture and so on. Granma
also reported this morning that the parliament will
hear reports as well on the recent problems with
accounting procedures at Cubanacan. Granma explained
that the delegates will be able to raise questions,
doubts, problems and so forth. If there are any hard
questions asked, they weren't reported during the very
short clips we saw on the TV news. I'm told those are
raised in working commissions, of which there are ten.
None of these meetings are likely to be reported in
the US media at all.

Another feature on the news was a major graduation
ceremony in Venezuela where participants in the big
literacy campaign, Plan Robinson, which is receiving
important help from Cuba, were granted certificates of
completion in a big ceremony featuring President Hugo
Chavez Frias. Cuba's enthusiasm for Chavez is a very
strong feature here on the island's TV news as well
as in the print media.

Iraqi resistance to Washington's occupation regime
has deepened since the US captured Saddam Hussein and
began displaying him as a trophy. Images of Saddam as
shown on CNN were shown here. (CNN is the most widely
used foreign source for news footage on Cuban TV.)

A separate segment later on reported current issues
with the men Washington continues holding without
charge at Guantanamo. Those chilling images of the
men in those orange jumpsuits were shown, linking
the images of Saddam's treatment with theirs.

This occupation theme was carried further with more
footage showing the latest Palestinians killed by the
Israeli occupation forces in that part of the Middle
East.

In another segment, the news that Iran had signed an
agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency
to allow inspections of the country's nuclear power
facilities was presented. Washington acknowledged the
signed pact, but wasn't satisfied with it nevertheless.

US soldiers continue repression against Iraqis who've
been protesting the occupation, and then protesting
the capture of Saddam. One day this week, Granma ran
a feature "The Resistance is Not Saddam," which quite
clearly reflects Cuba's rejection of the notion that
Washington is pushing about the resistance. Saddam
himself, if you can believe the reports, appears not
to have resisted very much. Reports like this have
been a staple in Cuba's media. Just yesterday there
was a ceremony for the diplomatic staff who served
in Baghdad. They were given decorations in a big
ceremony attended by some of the top leadership for
their steadfastness in the line of fire, and for
bringing the country's flag back home securely.

Tonight we're having a series of momentary power
outages in my section of the Vedado. I can tell it
is very localized because I can see the sparks that
are flying on a nearby electricity pole. That pole,
across the street, is on the same block as a public
school which isn't occupied in the evening. Each of
these have only lasted a moment or two, but I've
unplugged my computer and am writing on battery
power. Yes, I have a surge protector, but better to
be safe than sorry. The second outage was as short
as the first. Our power is back on again. We've had
such micro-outages over the last couple of days and
they're much shorter than I remember such things a
couple of years ago, when they lasted a few hours
each time.

The US State Department issues a massive "fact sheet"
on Cuba today. It's one you'll want to read carefully
as it's very detailed. It strikes all manner of quite
familiar themes, and adds a few new wrinkles you'll
want to familiarize yourselves with. Journalist Karen
Lee Wald has begun the tiresome but indispensable
process of deconstructing the thing. I've not looked
at it very carefully, but noted on first peek that it
made a leap from Fidel Castro's organizing opposition
to Fulgencio Batista's March 10, 1952 coup d'etat to
Batista's decision to flee the country on December
31, 1958 in the dead of night. Omitted were facts
like Washington's immediate recognization of the
coup by the dictator, and its support for Batista
during the rest of his time in the country. Oh, and
the entire two-plus-year civil war led by Fidel Castro
and others, that, to, was completely omitted. Those
of a scholarly bent may want to work together with
Karen Wald in providing a detailed rebuttal to this
ponderous document.

This is but a bit of what's been happening here over
the last twenty-four hours. I hope that some of you
will help out by beginning to share news from some
of the many sources on Cuba. I've much more to tell
you about, but they'll have to wait for a bit.

FOR MORE NEWS, VIEWS AND INFORMATION ON CUBA:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/messages





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