[Marxism] NYT: Conserving Cuba, After the Embargo

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Important story. Nice photos, too. Anyone who's been to Moa, the city
in Eastern Cuba where nickel is mined knows that there are ecological
problems in this country, which is blessedly free of commercial
bill-boards and many of the other trappings of capitalism. Contrary
to the comments here, the Cuban economy has NOT stagnated since 1991,
but in actual fact it is growing substantially, according to official
figures, ones you can believe or not, that's up to you.

Serious people can's fail to keep in mind the extraordinary lengths
to which Washington goes to attempt to strangle the Cuban economy so
as to encourage the Cuban people to overthrow the revolutionary
gov-ernment - kicking Cuban guests out of U.S.-owned hotels in
Norward and Mexico City, finding banks which do business with Cuba,
fining Travelocity for booking travel to or from the island. If we
keep in mind these things, I'm certain that Cuba's economy would do
better if it didn't have so many obstacles which no other country ON
EARTH has to confront. Iran has similar financial constraints imposed
on it by Washington, but there's no travel ban aimed at Iran, to give
a single example.

In Moa awhile back I saw pipes on the street leaking what seemed to
be sulphuric acid fumes on the street not far from residential homes.
I'm not aware of, nor have I seen indication of independent groups
like unions and environmentalists who try to counterbalance policies
by the government in these areas. Since Cuba is a blockaded country,
the Cuban government has good and understandable reasons to distrust
foreigners who are trying to encourage such opposition activity, even
if it sincerely based on ecological concerns. 

In the real world, not an ideal one constructed out of our heads, the
Cuban government today has its responsibilities to put food on the
table, provide housing and transportation, and to otherwise TCB (take
care of business) for the Cuban population. It's done very well in
some ways and not very well in others. That's why Raul called for
public debate of Cuba's many problems in his July 26th speech. That's
why Fidel said that while imperialism couldn't destroy the Cuban
Revolution, the Cuban people could do that themselves if they failed
to take up the many domestic problems which obviously exist in the
country.

The article points out also that the U.S. routinely denies Cubans
permission to attend scientific meetings in the United States and
this is well-known. Cubans who want to abandon the country and to
live in the United States are welcome, because they can be used
as political poster-children against the Cuban Revolution in one
way or another. But Cubans who do NOT want to defect, who only
want to visit and to return to their homes, families, lives and
careers in Cuba, they are NOT welcome to visit. They don't fit in
with Washington's schema about the "oppressive Castro regime"

U.S. ecologists who are serious about protecting Cuba's mainly
pristine environment from ecological damage should prioritize the
NORMALIIZATION of relations between the United States and Cuba.

If relations were normalized (including, for example, the U.S. then
permitting Cuba full internet access which the U.S. actively prevents
Cuba from obtaining), such ecological problems as exist now, and as
potentially worsen if there were to be an army of U.S. visitors who
could suddenly descend on the country, could be addressed in a more
relaxed and less threatening - to Cuba - manner.

So this is useful material and I'm glad that the New York Times saw
fit to print it. Read it carefully, but keep a few provisos in mind
when you do. Personally, I wish that an end to the blockade and the
travel ban were problem to be imminently contemplated. Given what's
being said about Cuba in the current U.S. presidential election
campaign, this does not seem a problem which will need to be taken
up in the immediately-foreseeable future, I'm sorry to have to say.

Let's keep our eyes on the prize: NORMALIZING RELATIONS WITH CUBA.


Walter Lippmann
Havana, Cuba
"Un paraiso bajo el bloqueo"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/ 

On Cuba and the Internet:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/internet.html 
=====================================================================

THE NEW YORK TIMES
December 25, 2007
Conserving Cuba, After the Embargo
By CORNELIA DEAN

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/25/science/25cuba.html?pagewanted=all 

Through accidents of geography and history, Cuba is a priceless ecological
resource. That is why many scientists are so worried about what will become
of it after Fidel Castro and his associates leave power and, as is widely
anticipated, the American government relaxes or ends its trade embargo.

Cuba, by far the regionÂs largest island, sits at the confluence of the
Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Its mountains,
forests, swamps, coasts and marine areas are rich in plants and animals,
some seen nowhere else.

And since the imposition of the embargo in 1962, and especially with the
collapse in 1991 of the Soviet Union, its major economic patron, CubaÂs
economy has stagnated.

Cuba has not been free of development, including Soviet-style top-down
agricultural and mining operations and, in recent years, an expansion of
tourism. But it also has an abundance of landscapes that elsewhere in the
region have been ripped up, paved over, poisoned or otherwise destroyed in
the decades since the Cuban revolution, when development has been most
intense. Once the embargo ends, the island could face a flood of investors
from the United States and elsewhere, eager to exploit those landscapes.


Conservationists, environmental lawyers and other experts, from Cuba and
elsewhere, met last month in CancÃn, Mexico, to discuss the islandÂs
resources and how to continue to protect them.

Cuba has done Âwhat we should have done  identify your hot spots of
biodiversity and set them aside, said Oliver Houck, a professor of
environmental law at Tulane University Law School who attended the
conference.

In the late 1990s, Mr. Houck was involved in an effort, financed in part 
by the MacArthur Foundation, to advise Cuban officials writing new
environmental laws.

But, he said in an interview, Âan invasion of U.S. consumerism, a
U.S.-dominated future, could roll over it like a bulldozer when the embargo
ends.

By some estimates, tourism in Cuba is increasing 10 percent annually. 
At a minimum, Orlando Rey Santos, the Cuban lawyer who led the law-writing
effort, said in an interview at the conference, Âwe can guess that tourism
is going to increase in a very fast way when the embargo ends.

ÂIt is estimated we could double tourism in one year, said Mr. Rey, who
heads environmental efforts at the Cuban ministry of science, technology and
environment.

About 700 miles long and about 100 miles wide at its widest, Cuba runs from
Haiti west almost to the YucatÃn Peninsula of Mexico. It offers crucial
habitat for birds, like BicknellÂs thrush, whose summer home is in the
mountains of New England and Canada, and the North American warblers that
stop in Cuba on their way south for the winter.

Zapata Swamp, on the islandÂs southern coast, may be notorious for its
mosquitoes, but it is also known for its fish, amphibians, birds and other
creatures. Among them is the Cuban crocodile, which has retreated to Cuba
from a range that once ran from the Cayman Islands to the Bahamas.

Cuba has the most biologically diverse populations of freshwater fish in the
region. Its relatively large underwater coastal shelves are crucial for
numerous marine species, including some whose larvae can be carried by
currents into waters of the United States, said Ken Lindeman, a marine
biologist at Florida Institute of Technology.

Dr. Lindeman, who did not attend the conference but who has spent many years
studying CubaÂs marine ecology, said in an interview that some of these
creatures were important commercial and recreational species like the spiny
lobster, grouper or snapper.

Like corals elsewhere, those in Cuba are suffering as global warming raises
ocean temperatures and acidity levels. And like other corals in the region,
they reeled when a mysterious die-off of sea urchins left them with algae
overgrowth. But they have largely escaped damage from pollution, boat
traffic and destructive fishing practices.

Diving in them Âis like going back in time 50 years, said David Guggenheim,
a conference organizer and an ecologist and member of the advisory board of
the Harte Research Institute, which helped organize the meeting along with
the Center for International Policy, a private group in Washington.

In a report last year, the World Wildlife Fund said that Âin dramatic
contrast to its island neighbors, CubaÂs beaches, mangroves, reefs,
seagrass beds and other habitats were relatively well preserved. Their
biggest threat, the report said, was Âthe prospect of sudden and massive
growth in mass tourism when the U.S. embargo lifts.Â

To prepare for that day, researchers from a number of American institutions
and organizations are working on ecological conservation in Cuba, including
Harte, the Wildlife Conservation Society, universities like Tulane and
Georgetown, institutions like the American Museum of Natural History and the
New York Botanical Garden, and others. What they are studying includes coral
health, fish stocks, shark abundance, turtle migration and land use
patterns.

Cuban scientists at the conference noted that this work continued a
tradition of collaboration that dates from the mid-19th century, when Cuban
researchers began working with naturalists from the Smithsonian Institution.
In the 20th century, naturalists from Harvard and the University of Havana
worked together for decades.

But now, they said, collaborative relationships are full of problems. The
CancÃn meeting itself illustrated one.

ÂWe would have liked to be able to do this in Havana or in the United
States, Jorge Luis FernÃndez Chamero, the director of the Cuban science and
environment agency and leader of the Cuban delegation, said through a
translator in opening the meeting. ÂThis we cannot do. While the American
government grants licenses to some (but not all) American scientists seeking
to travel to Cuba, it routinely rejects Cuban researchers seeking permission
to come to the United States, researchers from both countries said.

So meeting organizers turned to Alberto Mariano VÃzquez De la Cerda, a
retired admiral in the Mexican navy, an oceanographer with a doctorate 
from Texas A & M and a member of the Harte advisory board, who supervised
arrangements for the Cuban conferees.

The travel situation is potentially even worse for researchers at state
institutions in Florida. Jennifer Gebelein, a geographer at Florida
International University who uses global positioning systems to track land
use in Cuba, told the meeting about restrictions imposed by the Florida
Legislature, which has barred state colleges from using public or private
funds for travel to Cuba.

As a result of this move and federal restrictions, Dr. Gebelein said ÂweÂre
not sure what is going to happen with her research program.

On the other hand, John Thorbjarnarson, a zoologist with the Wildlife
Conservation Society, said that he had difficulty obtaining permission from
Cuba to visit some areas in that country, like a habitat area for the Cuban
crocodile near the Bay of Pigs.

ÂI have to walk a delicate line between what the U.S. allows me to do and
what the Cubans allow me to do, said Dr. Thorbjarnarson, who did not attend
the conference. ÂIt is not easy to walk that line.Â

But he had nothing but praise for his scientific colleagues in Cuba. Like
other American researchers, he described them as doing highly competent 
work with meager resources. ÂThey are a remarkable bunch of people, Dr.
Thorbjarnarson said, Âbut my counterparts make on average probably less than
$20 a month.Â

American scientists, foundations and other groups are ready to help with
equipment and supplies but are hampered by the embargo. For example, Maria
Elena Ibarra MartÃn, a marine scientist at the University of Havana, said
through a translator that American organizations had provided Cuban turtle
and shark researchers with tags and other equipment. They shipped it via
Canada.

Another thorny issue is ships.

ÂIf you are going to do marine science, at some point you have to go out on
a ship, said Robert E. Hueter, who directs the center for shark research at
the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla., and attended the CancÃn
meeting.

But, he and others said, the United States government will not allow ships
into American ports if they have recently been in Cuban waters in the
previous six months, and the Cuban government will not allow American
research vessels in Cuban waters.

One answer might be vessels already in Cuba, but nowadays they are often
tied up in tourism-related efforts, Cubans at the CancÃn meeting said.

And even with a ship, several American researchers at the conference said,
it is difficult to get Cuban government permission to travel to places like
the islandÂs northwest coast, the stretch closest to the United States. 
As a result, that region is the least-studied part of the Cuban coast, 
Dr. Guggenheim and others said.

Another big problem in Cuba is the lack of access to a source of information
researchers almost everywhere else take for granted: the Internet.

Critics blame the Castro government, saying it limits access to the Internet
as a form of censorship. The Cuban government blames the embargo, which it
says has left the country with inadequate bandwidth and other technical
problems that require it to limit Internet access to people who need it
most.

In any event, Âwe find we do not have access, Teresita Borges HernÃndez, 
a biologist in the environment section of CubaÂs science and technology
ministry, said through a translator. She appealed to the Americans at the
meeting to do Âanything, anything to improve this situation.Â

Dr. Guggenheim echoed the concern and said even telephone calls to Cuba
often cost as much as $2 a minute. ÂThese details, though they may seem
trite, he said, Âare central to our ability to collaborate.Â

Dr. Gebelein and several of the Cubans at the meeting said that some
American Web sites barred access to people whose electronic addresses
identify them as Cuban. She suggested that the group organize a Web site in
a third country, a site where they could all post data, papers and the like,
and everyone would have access to it.

For Dr. Guggenheim, the best lessons for Cubans to ponder as they
contemplate a more prosperous future can be seen 90 miles north, in the
Florida Keys. There, he said, too many people have poured into an ecosystem
too fragile to support them.

ÂAs Cuba becomes an increasingly popular tourist resort, Dr. Guggenheim
said, Âwe donÂt want to see and they donÂt want to see the same mistakes,
where you literally love something to death.Â

But there are people skeptical that Cuba will resist this kind of pressure.
One of them is Mr. Houck.

The environmental laws he worked on are Âa very strong structure, he said,
ÂBut all laws do is give you the opportunity to slow down the wrong thing.
Over time, you can wear the law down.Â

That is particularly true in Cuba, he said, Âwhere thereÂs no armed
citizenry out there with high-powered science groups pushing in the opposite
direction. What they lack is the counter pressure of environmental groups
and environmental activists.Â

As Mr. Rey and Daniel Whittle, a lawyer for Environmental Defense, put it 
in the book ÂCuban Studies 37Â (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006),
Âpolicymaking in Cuba is still centralized and top down. But, they 
wrote, Âmuch can be done to enhance public input in policymaking.Â

Mr. Rey said in the interview that Cubans must be encouraged to use their
environmental laws. By Âsome kind of cultural habit, he said, people in
Cuba rarely turn to the courts to challenge decisions they dislike.

ÂThereÂs no litigation, just a few cases here and there, Mr. Rey said. ÂIn
most community situations if a citizen has a problem he writes a letter.
ThatÂs O.K., but itÂs not all the possibilities.Â

Mr. Rey added, ÂWe have to promote more involvement, not only in access to
justice and claims, but in taking part in the decision process.Â

ÂI know the state has a good system from the legislative point of view, Mr.
Rey said. But as he and Mr. Whittle noted in their paper, Âthe question now
is whether government leaders can and will do what it takes t

====================================
Walter Lippmann
Havana, Cuba
"Un paraÃso bajo el bloqueo"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
====================================

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