Cuba gets first prime minister in over 40 years

HAVANA, Cuba — Cuba's first prime minister in more than four decades — long-serving tourism minister Manuel Marrero — took office Saturday as the country resurrected a post last held by Fidel Castro.

The appointment of Marrero, 56, as head of government is part of a process of decentralization and generational change from the revolutionary old guard that is aimed at extending and protecting Communist Party rule.

"This proposal was duly approved by the political bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba," President Miguel Diaz-Canel said, presenting it to the country's National Assembly, which unanimously signed off.

Immediately after his presentation, Marrero received a handshake from former president Raul Castro, the leader of the Communist Party.

Marrero "is not coming to the job to transform, but rather to implement and manage. The president is the one who leads," said Cuba specialist Arturo Lopez-Levy of Holy Names University in California.


Marrero served as tourism minister from 2004, late in revolutionary hero Fidel Castro's administration, continuing in the post under Fidel's brother Raul and the current president, Diaz-Canel.

He began his career in government in 1999 as vice president of the powerful Gaviota Hotel Group belonging to the armed forces, becoming its president a year later — a post he held until 2004.

"Throughout his career... (Marrero) has been characterized by his modesty, honesty, work capacity, political sensitivity and loyalty to the party and the revolution," Diaz-Canel said.

The new premier "has led the tourism industry in a commendable fashion, which constitutes one of the main lines of development of the national economy," he added.

'Wide-ranging experience'

That is precisely why Marrero "who has all this wide-ranging experience in tourism and working with investors," is the pick, according to Lopez-Levy.

"It underscores the priority that this area holds in the country's development strategy," he said.

The position of prime minister was last held by Fidel Castro in 1976.

But the post was abolished when Castro transitioned to the presidency, taking over from Osvaldo Dorticos after the country's constitution was restructured.

Castro was a unique prime minister "given the weight of his persona," Lopez-Levy said.

"Ultimate power in the country was in Fidel's" hands during his time as prime minister from 1959-76, even though Dorticos was president and head of state, he said.

The appointment of a prime minister may signify a separation of powers but Lopez-Levy insisted that in Cuba it represents more of a "separation of functions" given the communist concept of political unity and the fact that the country is a one-party state.

Cuba's constitution required that the candidate come from the 605-member National Assembly, be at least 35, "be a Cuban citizen by birth and hold no other nationality."

The premier has the power to hire and fire state employees as well as overall control of provincial governors, another position restored under the new constitution.

Diaz-Canel also took aim at the United States on Saturday, at a time of high tensions between the superpower and the island nation.

He said that 2019 was "a year full of challenges, tension and aggression" by Washington.

The United States carried out a "brutal, insane" tightening of its long-running embargo, but "we are alive," Diaz-Canel said.

Agence France-Presse

Cuba diversifies ‘options for love’ via state-run motels

Cuba is reviving a network of state-run “love motels” in Havana where couples can rent rooms by the hour as the communist government seeks to “diversify options for love,” the official trade union weekly Trabajadores said on Monday.

Havana, the capital of the Caribbean island, boasted dozens of such “posadas” until the 1990s, when the remaining few were given to Cubans left homeless by hurricanes.

Privacy has became all the more elusive for lovers, given a housing shortage that forces many families to live in the same apartment and couples to live together long after their divorce.

Private establishments have filled in the gap for some, the trade union weekly wrote, but many cannot afford to pay around $5, or a sixth of the average monthly state wage, for three hours of bliss.

The less fortunate must resort to “parks, dark staircases, the beach and even the Malecon (seafront),” Trabajadores wrote. But now the state wants to make lovemaking easier again.

“We want to revive this service that is in high demand, has a big social impact and without a doubt is very profitable,” Alfonso Muñoz Chang of the Provincial Housing Company of Havana was cited as saying. “We will start with what we call Hotel Vento, a two-storey building with 16 rooms with bathrooms.”

“The city needs this,” Hotel Vento administrator Maria Sterling was cited as saying, noting that employees would be “very enthusiastic” as wages would likely rise with the extra work.

Next, authorities will restore some once-famous love motels like La Monumental to their former glory and convert another hotel, Muñoz Chang said.

“To think about how to diversify options for love is not farfetched,” Trabajadores wrote. “It is a reality that concerns everyone, and cannot become a luxury.”

source: interaksyon.com

Madonna celebrates 58th birthday in Havana

HAVANA | Madonna celebrated her 58th birthday Tuesday in Havana, dancing to Cuban beats during a night on the town and drawing crowds as she toured the city.

The Material Girl’s visit got a write-up in the Cuban Communist party’s official newspaper, Granma, which reported that she “toured different city squares to start the first day of her visit, which will last until Wednesday.”

It said the U.S. pop superstar was in Cuba with her eldest daughter, Lourdes, a 19-year-old model whose father is Cuban dancer and fitness trainer Carlos Leon.

American photographer Steven Klein and stylists B. Akerlund and Andy Lecompte are traveling with them, it said.

Madonna posted a picture of herself to her Twitter account with the caption “Cuba Libre.” It shows her wearing a revealing black dress with yellow flowers and smiling as she tips a black hat.

Videos posted online by fans show her dressed in the same outfit strolling through the streets of Old Havana and dancing to Cuban beats at a restaurant in the historic city center as onlookers cheer.

The news site Cubadebate said Madonna was planning a “big party” Tuesday with the “rhythms and flavors” of Cuba.

Madonna is the latest in a string of U.S. celebrities to visit Cuba since its historic rapprochement with long-time enemy the United States was announced in December 2014.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Katy Perry, Kanye West, Usher, Paris Hilton, and Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian have all toured the Caribbean island recently.

U.S. citizens are still officially banned from traveling to Cuba as tourists under the embargo Washington has maintained on Havana since the 1960s.

But President Barack Obama’s administration has loosened travel restrictions, enabling more Americans to make the trip under permitted categories such as “cultural exchanges.”

source: interaksyon.com

Pope leads global praise for 'historic' thawing of US-Cuba ties

PARIS, France -- Pope Francis led a chorus of global plaudits for Wednesday's breakthrough in US-Cuban relations, hailed as "historic" in Europe and South America and prompting celebrations on the streets of Havana.

In a personal coup for the pope, it emerged that the Vatican had played a central role in bringing together the global capitalist superpower and the tiny communist island.

The Argentinian pontiff sent "warm congratulations" to the former arch-foes for overcoming "the difficulties which have marked their recent history."

The Vatican said the pope had appealed to US President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro to end the standoff, offering negotiators his offices in October, paving the way for "solutions acceptable to both parties."

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper noted that his country -- which never broke off ties with Cuba -- had also played its part by hosting the first secret talks in 2013, and welcomed the "overdue development."

The European Union, which is itself moving to normalise ties with Cuba, hailed the announcement as a "historical turning point."

"Today another Wall has started to fall," said EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini, adding that the 28-member bloc hoped ultimately to be able to "expand relations with all parts of Cuban society."

In South America, the detente elicited a euphoric response from leaders of the five-nation Mercosur bloc meeting in Argentina, who broke into applause at the news.

Best birthday present

"We're living a historic day," said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, leader of Cuba's closest ally and one of its biggest benefactors, at the Argentina summit.

Maduro, whose forerunner Hugo Chavez was a close confidant of Fidel Castro, immediately claimed the thaw as "a moral victory" and "a victory for Fidel."

Praising Pope Francis, who turned 78 on Wednesday, Maduro noted: "It was with his help, and it's the best birthday present."

In Bogota, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos saluted "the audacity and courage" of the US and Cuban leaders in helping further "the dream of a continent where there will be absolute peace between nations and within them."

And Chile's Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz spoke for those in Latin America who were frustrated by the diplomatic divide, declaring: "This is the beginning of the end of the Cold War in the Americas."

In Europe, Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said the move was "of great significance" and seized the opportunity to urge Cuba to improve its rights record.

"This future can only be built on the basis of respect for democracy and human rights," he told reporters in Madrid.

German Foreign Affairs Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the breakthrough "very good news in these times rich with conflict."

Celebrations and anger

In Havana's historic center, overjoyed Cubans took to the streets to celebrate the news, voicing hopes that the breakthrough would lead to an economic revival.

"I have goosebumps all over," said 52-year-old cafeteria worker Ernesto Perez. "It's very important news that will change all our lives."

But among Cubans in Miami's Little Havana, the reaction was one of anger and dismay.

Dozens of people gathered outside Cafe Versailles, a Little Havana landmark, to protest the rapprochement.

"It is a betrayal. The talks are only going to benefit Cuba," said Carlos Munoz Fontanil in Calle Ocho, the heart of an exile community that has long pined for the fall of the Castro regime in Havana.

Some Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Washington took a similar view and warned Congress would block efforts to lift the trade embargo.

"The White House has conceded everything and gained little," said Republican Senator Marco Rubio, blasting the deal as "inexplicable."

source: interaksyon.com