Gradual changes
Cuban
Radar Read Spanish Version
Gradual
changes
A
Service by the Radio Progreso Alternativa Havana Bureau
"It
is true that we should not expect immediate and sudden solutions.
Graduality is more convenient than impetuous and fast radicalism,”
wrote Orlando Márquez, editor of Palabra
Nueva,
the magazine of the Havana Archdioceses, in an op-ed piece.
The
magazine is sold at churches at the price of two Cuban pesos but has
a limited edition, so one issue is read by many.
For
Márquez “graduality must be seen soon, because the idea of
postponing the solutions once again not only frightens, but it would
be a joke and completely disheartening."
The
article comments on the recent meetings held at neighborhoods and
work centers in which citizens have contributed with ideas and
proposals to solve the problems affecting Cubans.
“To
listen and satisfy the needs of the citizens” is the “raison
d’etre” of the government, said Márquez. He also added
that “Beginning to give comprehensive answers to the expectations
would be proof that complaints are not a moment for collective
catharsis." .
Oil
in the Gulf
A
report published by the weekly
Granma International
on its January 6 edition said that Cuban experts valued as “very
encouraging” the work done by foreign oil companies in Cuba’s
exclusive zone in the Gulf of Mexico. The 112,000 square kilometer
area is divided in blocks. In some oil companies from several
countries are drilling “at their own risk.”
According
to the weekly, during the last few months research was carried
out “at the blocks in the Gulf of Mexico with very promising
results.”
Cuba
closed 2007 with a production of 4 million tons of oil and
accompanying gas, up 12 percent from 2006. The largest production of
oil was in the mainland, but Cuba is certain that it will strike it
rich in the Gulf.
Seven
foreign oil companies are prospecting at present in Cuban waters.
None of them is from the U.S., for the blockade imposed by the U.S.
government forbids it. Nevertheless, U.S. government agencies have
declared that in the Cuban-controlled area of the Gulf there are 9
billion barrels of crude oil waiting to be pumped out.
Above
board
Cubans
that work for foreign companies in the island will begin to pay taxes
in Cuban convertible pesos (CUC). The information was released by
authorities at a meeting last December with representatives from
foreign firms in Cuba.
Up
to now, Cuban employees were receiving a small income in hard
currency “under the table.” Now that income will be taxed.
The
figure to be paid, which still has not been officially disclosed, is
rumored to be somewhere between 10 and 50 percent, according to the
quantity declared by employers, who from now on must register it in
their accounting books. Well informed sources say that employees will
pay their taxes every quarter to the Cuban Revenue Service (ONAT) and
submit a sworn statement by the end of the year.
Cuban
legislation does not allow free contracting of personnel by foreign
companies in Cuba, but rather through a government agency called
ACOREC, which supplies them with the required personnel. Companies
pay ACOREC in hard currency and employees are paid by the agency in
Cuban pesos.
With
this measure, the government allows Cuban citizens to legally receive
a gratification in CUC and at the same time increases its revenues
through taxes.
Cuba
and Canada lead
For
the second consecutive year Cuba reached an infant mortality rate of
5.3 for every one thousand children born. The same figure was
attained by Canada, which make both countries the leaders of the
Western Hemisphere. The United States has a higher rate — 6 for
every one thousand.
A
report by the Ministry of Public Health’s Department of Statistics
said that six provinces had a lower rate: Sancti Spíritus,
4.1; Camagüey, 4.2; Matanzas and Las Tunas, 4.4; City of Havana
and Holguín 5.0.
The
key to the Cuban success has to do with a system of integral
attention to expectant mothers from the moment that pregnancy is
detected.
