Hasta La Gadget!

WASHINGTON — The race to replace retiring Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) in his Los Angeles County district saw very little spending from outside groups — until the final weeks of the campaign, when two super PACs backing Republican candidate Elan Carr began an advertising blitz.

One of the super PACs, American Alliance, deployed direct mail flyers questioning links between Carr’s opponent, Democratic state Sen. Ted Lieu, and the Palestinian group Hamas because Lieu had received an award from the Muslim-American advocacy group Council for American Islamic Relations, or CAIR. The super PAC ultimately spent $506,410 against Lieu, nearly a quarter of the amount the candidate raised for his campaign. Lieu’s campaign dismissed the allegations at the time as a “smear.”

What was not known then was who was behind the mailers. American Alliance was created in August, but raised only $69,100 through Oct. 15, the period covered by final pre-election disclosure reports. The contributions fueling the late anti-Lieu spending blitz by America Alliance would not be known before voters went to the polls on Nov. 4.

Despite the late outside money blitz, Lieu won the election in a strong Democratic district by a wide margin.

Now, one month after the election, the identity of the donor to American Alliance is revealed. On Oct. 22, Las Vegas casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson donated $500,000 to the super PAC to fuel its Hamas attacks on Lieu. Adelson supports Israel and funds nonprofits that promote anti-Islam messages, including those linking CAIR to Hamas.

The contribution from Adelson to American Alliance underscores the glaring disclosure hole that occurs from Oct. 16 until Election Day every two years. During this time, super PACs can be formed without ever having to disclose a single penny of where they got their money until after the election.

Candidates for office are required to file disclosure reports listing contributions of over $1,000 every 48 hours during the period from Oct. 15 to Election Day. This Federal Election Commission disclosure requirement is meant to plug the secrecy hole that occurs during these three weeks.

But super PACs and other non-candidate committees, like party committees and traditional PACs, are not bound by these disclosure requirements. This allows for very large contributions to fund attack ads in the waning days of a campaign, keeping voters in the dark about the funding sources until long after the winners and losers have been declared.

“These groups excel at exploiting the FEC’s calendar to hide their donors,” Bill Allison, editorial director for the pro-transparency Sunlight Foundation, said. “The FEC’s filing dates were set back when the weight of computers was measured in tons. With the Internet, there’s no reason super PACs couldn’t and shouldn’t report their donors in real time.”

At least 19 federally registered super PACs received more than half of their contributions during this disclosure blackout period, according to campaign finance records disclosed on Thursday. Four groups raised all of their money during this period.

One of those was Many True Conservatives, a super PAC supporting Gordon Howe, the libertarian candidate for Senate in South Dakota. The group spent $116,000 on the effort, but its donors were not disclosed until this month.

Behind the group was the pro-campaign finance reform Every Voice Action. The reform group was supporting Democratic candidate Rick Weiland in the four-way Senate race in the state, and sought to boost the libertarian to siphon off votes from the ultimate winner, former Gov. Mike Rounds (R).

“It is a group that was set up by South Dakotans on their own because of a concern about Mike Rounds’ cronyism,” Every Voice Action executive director David Donnelly said in an email. “Every Voice Action will work with progressives and conservatives alike to build the political power necessary to win, so we made contributions to their voter education program focused on delivering an anti-Rounds, anti-cronyism message to conservative voters. I do not know what their future plans are.”

The Democratic Governors Association launched a last-minute super PAC to support Rhode Island gubernatorial candidate Gina Raimondo, who won. The party organization pumped a little more than $1 million into the Alliance for a Better Rhode Island without disclosing any of it before Nov. 4.

A number of other federally registered super PACs working on state races raised huge amounts with no pre-election disclosure.

Hardworking Americans Committee raised $765,000 from in-state business groups during the disclosure blackout period to help elect state-level Republicans in Michigan. This amounted to 83 percent of its total funds.

In West Virginia, the Republican Party successfully flipped both chambers of the state legislature into their hands with the help of Grow WV Inc. This super PAC, run by members of the state party committee, raised $1.2 million — 82 percent of its total — in the final weeks of the election without disclosure. Donors to the committee were led by the pro-tort reform U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform with $500,000, the connected nonprofit Go West Virginia Inc. with $335,000, and the Republican State Legislative Committee with $220,000.

Two super PACs supporting Kansas independent Senate candidate Greg Orman reported significant contributions during the final weeks of Orman’s losing campaign. The Committee for an Independent Senate raised $3.5 million — 83 percent of its funds — during this period. As The Huffington Post previously reported, the disclosure blackout date allowed Democratic groups like Senate Majority PAC, Patriot Majority USA and the League of Conservation Voters to fund the pro-Orman super PAC without disclosure as Republicans raised questions about which party Orman would caucus with.

Another pro-Orman super PAC, Kansans Support Problem Solvers, also received money from Senate Majority PAC in the waning days of the campaign. These late contributions to this second pro-Orman group only accounted for one-third of its donations. Investor John Arnold, who identifies as a conservative Democrat and also donates to Republicans, is the top donor to this group.

The Democratic groups were not the only donors to the pro-Orman super PACs. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, gave $1 million, and a number of Republican donors, including Peter Ackerman, Greg Penner, Jeffrey Binder and John Burbank, chipped in funds as well.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) received some last-minute backing from a super PAC getting major funding that went undisclosed until now. American Future Fund Political Action spent more than $300,000 to support Upton as he faced a heavy onslaught from the campaign finance reform super PAC Mayday PAC. The group had raised just a shade over $300,000 prior to Oct. 15, but had spent it all.

To boost Upton, the super PAC received donations from a nonprofit subsidiary of the pro-immigration reform group FWD.us, launched by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and hedge fund billionaire and top Republican Party donor Paul Singer. Americans for a Conservative Direction, the FWD.us subsidiary, gave $325,000, and Singer chipped in $100,000. Upton is a supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. American Future Fund Political Action also spent money to support House candidate David Young in Iowa and against Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley (D).

There is no legislation pending to require super PACs to disclose their donors during this period before Election Day.

Talia is the CEO and founder of Three Day Rule. After studying communication at Tulane University, Talia worked as a TV producer at E! True Hollywood Story, where she quickly became the office dating expert, setting up many co-workers with matches and handing out insightful dating advice from her cubicle. Recognizing her hidden talent for matchmaking, Talia quit her full-time job and began hosting popular singles events and offering personalized matchmaking services. Three Day Rule was officially created in 2010, allowing Talia to turn her lifelong hobby of matchmaking into a thriving business.

Leveraging her extensive network of successful, attractive singles, Talia has found matches for hundreds of clients, including top executives, entrepreneurs, and everyday young professionals. Among her clients, Talia has been recognized for her strong instinct for what drives lifelong connections between two people. She has made it her mission to help clients on their quest to find true love, and is thrilled that her work allows her to make a difference in people’s lives.

How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
From an early age, I begged my parents to work. It wasn’t something that they told me to do, but I decided on my own that I wanted to experience and learn from it. In high school, between school, tennis, soccer, student government, and track, I somehow made time to work at a restaurant and frozen yogurt shop. In college, I interned at Ford Models in New York, a sports magazine in Los Angeles, and Susan Blond, a PR firm in New York. I was ecstatic getting coffee for executives and learning about why their chose their particular field.

After college, I landed an advertising job for Nissan at TBWA/Chiat/Day. That’s where I met Suzanne Kisbye, an executive whom I admire to this day, and who has helped shape me as a leader. From day one, Suzanne took me under her wing. She would stay late to help me finish a project, even when she was finished with her own work. She pushed me to present to the client, even when she knew I wasn’t completely ready. It was my first time working when I truly felt like I was part of a team. In turn, I worked extremely hard because I didn’t want to let my team down. People respond to different leadership styles, but that was the one that resonated with me the most, and the one I try to emulate at TDR today.

How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at Three Day Rule?
Before starting Three Day Rule, I worked in TV on documentary shows such as VH1’s Behind the Music & E! True Hollywood Story. As a Producer on the shows, I found that I had a natural ability to connect with my interview subjects and many of them trusted me immediately. As a result, they would end up telling me everything – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I find being a Producer is similar to being a Matchmaker. I don’t care as much about the surface information. I’m fascinated by the psychological element. I love learning about what makes my client tick, what happened in their childhood that molded them into who they are today, what went wrong in their dating past, etc. The more info I get up-front, the easier my job is. And, just like in my documentary shows, my clients have happy endings.

What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at Three Day Rule?
Attending my first TDR wedding. I think I was more emotional than the bride. I feel so lucky to have the best job in the world – helping people find love.

Becoming Match.com’s exclusive personalized matchmaking partner. Securing this partnership has been instrumental in helping us professionalize and disrupt the matchmaking industry, helping us get one step closer to our ultimate goal of becoming the leading matchmaking company in the nation.

Building our team. I have the most dedicated team of people who left very lucrative jobs in corporate America and Fortune 500 companies to work for a start-up that helps others find love. We have Harvard Business School grads, former Google executives, and former Investment Bankers on our team.

Right now our biggest challenge is rapidly scaling a business that is high-touch, while maintaining quality, which is of utmost importance to us. We are very careful and selective in hiring new matchmakers so spend a lot of time thinking about how to recruit the best talent for our team. We are currently in four cities (NY, LA, SF, CHI), but aim to be across the country in the next two years. It’s a lofty goal, but one that I believe is absolutely achievable.

What advice can you offer women who are looking to start their own business?
Opinions are just data points. Listen carefully, take in the feedback, but don’t make decisions based on what other people say. You know your industry better than anyone so trust yourself and make your own decisions.

How do you maintain a work/life balance?
It’s really hard. I think of the day as a pie. There are only so many slices. A big piece goes to work, a slice goes to my husband, another to my baby, and I do my best every day to get a small slice to myself, even if that means waking up at5am to go on a walk. I am much happier and more productive if I get some time for me.

What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the work-place?
I think some men believe that once a woman has a baby, she will leave the company, or not work as hard as a man would. As a result, some men are nervous to hire women, or give them funding. This was a common theme when I was fundraising. Many of my own advisors told me not to fundraise while pregnant. What they didn’t realize is that a determined woman is unstoppable.

How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
When my business partner and I went to our first tech event in LA, there were about 400 men and 5 women. One of them was a woman named Robyn Ward. She knew the tech scene like the back of her hand. She was so generous – she took us under her wing and introduced us to as many people as she could. She helped us with our elevator pitch, funding strategy, etc. I’m not sure we would have made it this far without her support.

I love meeting with female entrepreneurs and helping them any way I can. It’s extremely important that we all help each other out. We’re a small community and encouragement goes a long way.

Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
I admire Mindy Kaling for her fearlessness, intelligence, and sense of humor. I also admire Alexis Maybank and Alexandra Wilkis Wilson (the women who founded GILT) because they seamlessly merged technology & luxury.

What do you want Three Day Rule to accomplish in the next year?
Over the next year, my goal is for Three Day Rule to become the country’s most trusted matchmaking company. We have the team, the tech, and the dedication to scale this business, alongside Match.com. And obviously, our goal is to have hundreds of success stories along the way.

Settling in New York City, Katherine created her eponymous company; Katherine Jetter Ltd. Meeting her husband and greatest fan in NYC, she was married and this international jet-setting, big city couple moved their lives and work to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Katherine enjoys the creative vibe of the city as well as the expansive and endless vistas of the New Mexico landscape creating an inspiring and positive influence on her collection and one of a kind commissions.

How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
It takes time to learn your voice, and I certainly wouldn’t profess to knowing everything at 31 years of age today. Being a good manager and leader is probably the hardest task I have had to learn in running my own business. My business and life experiences so far have taught me that the best way to lead, is by example. I govern my business with integrity and honesty and that shapes my reputation. It’s key to my business to have that underlying trust as a basis in everything I do. I lead my team by working as hard as I expect them to, by being the first to roll up my sleeves and get in the trenches. I lead my business by being an industry expert in precious stones (opals), through refining my design skills, and delivering the best quality product and service possible for my clients. I stand proudly behind my product and people recognize that and feel secure in their choice to work with me.

How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure as a jewelry designer?
I have a BSc in Psychology and was an analyst at JP Morgan Private Bank before becoming a jewelry designer. The psychology of customer service is so important, especially when serving in the luxury goods industry. Being able to really listen to people and what they are looking for, as opposed to just pushing a product, is everything. I would consider having a strong understanding of finance and being business savvy a crucial part of my business success. It is simply not enough to ‘just’ create a beautiful product. With today’s consumer it is also has to fit a careful formula of perceived value to price, wear ability and correct placement in the market. The overheads of running a jewelry business are also significant in terms of product, insurance and logistics, and managing these expenses with cash flow as a young business requires constant attention and restraint.

What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure as a jewelry designer?
I have been extremely fortunate and grateful to receive recognition and appreciation for my work from the onset, from people I respect in the trade, as well as a loyal following of friends and clients. I would say one of the biggest highlights of my career to date was the day I flew to Dallas to meet with the head buyers for the Neiman Marcus Precious Jewelry department. It was the hardest and most significant career meeting of my life to date, but at the end they signed me with my vendor account. The joy and recognition I felt from that was overwhelming, and has been a great business relationship ever since.

The hardest challenge I have experienced so far is learning to be a good business manager. Learning to communicate in a constructive way, navigating personalities, asking for what you want as a business owner while respecting your employees’ abilities and boundaries, and learning to be firm but fair. I struggle with it, and I think it is generally a lot harder for women than men to ask for what they need in business, and to remove emotion from the equation. There is truly an art to it. I don’t see men agonize nearly as much as women do over asking for what they need in business.

What advice can you offer to women who want to start their own business?
I would say the rules are no different for a woman than for a man – act with professionalism and integrity – and expect to play the same business game as men. Don’t think you’re going to receive any favors just because you are a woman, and don’t play the ‘damsel in distress’ card, men will respect you less for it. The same thing applies to using your sexuality to your benefit, don’t do it! People won’t take you seriously.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career to date?
Be the best at what you do and master of your field, no one can argue with the facts, so know what you’re talking about before you set out.

How do you maintain a work/life balance?
I think most entrepreneurs would agree with me that work/life balance isn’t really the same concept for us. My work and personal life is a continuous flow between the two, the two go hand in hand with each other. I make sure to take time for myself when I can, and when work calls, I am on, the day or time is irrelevant. It certainly helps that my husband is an entrepreneur and business owner as well, so we are able to respect and understand each other’s work flow. We may work all weekend, but take Monday off on a last minute decision, that’s the perks of owning your own business. I know how around the clock my hours are, so I don’t feel I need to justify to people if I decide to take time for myself here and there, I learned to let that one go and not feel guilty.

What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
There is a perception out there that women can be highly competitive and non-supportive of each other. I think this can be especially true in corporate environments. That disappoints me because I feel we should build each other up and support each other’s success. I have to say my own experience in business has been amazing, as I have been very proactive in surrounding myself with other strong female entrepreneurs who are confident in themselves. We support, advise, and encourage each other. I am very lucky to live in a town, Santa Fe, where there are a number of young females who own their own businesses. For example, a friend of mine who owns her own PR firm and I recently decided to rent office space together. We are all women, all young mothers or about to become mothers, and we created an environment for ourselves where we can have our children come in for naps, our dogs can play, and we can work without having to segregate our home and work life. There are limited daycare options in our town, so we created this solution for ourselves, it’s amazing and we all love going to the office! Reading Sheryl Sandberg’s book ‘Lean In’ really motivated me to listen to the fact that women need to be proactive about asking for/and taking (!) what they need in the work environment to succeed. It doesn’t have to be a choice between being a mother or having a career.

How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
Mentorship has played an enormous role in my life. I would never have been able to build my company at such a young age without the incredible mentors who believed in me, supported and helped guide me, when all I had was my hopes and dreams. With their help, I was able to establish business momentum and avoid pitfalls and mistakes that could end a young career right out of the gate. I was eventually able to turn around and hire my mentors and bring them on to my payroll, which I am so proud to be able to do. It’s my way of being able to thank them for believing in me.

My husband and I believe in mentorship so much, that we created The New Mexico Leadership Institute (NMLI). Our program offers 30 children each year with scholarships to UNM and NMSU Universities in New Mexico, paired with mentorship and leadership training, to give back to our community and pay mentorship forward to future generations.

Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
Hillary Clinton. Despite being married to one of the most charismatic and dynamic men in politics, she has managed to still have her own voice and career alongside, in support of, and independently of him.

What do you want your business to accomplish in the next year?
To grow my balance sheet again by 100%. So far, I have doubled my business sales every year since I started in 2008. Next year I will be a first time mother, and I don’t intend to let it slow me down!

Ernesto Londoño

14ymedio, 1 December 2014 — Ernesto Londoño, who authored six editorials on Cuba published recently by The New York Times engaged in a friendly conversation on Saturday with a part of the 14ymedio team, in the hotel where he is staying in Havana.
Our intention was to interview him, but he told us the norms of his media prohibit his giving interviews without previous consultation. He also declined our proposal to take photos. Instead, he was eager to listen to our opinions in an atmosphere of mutual respect. There were two hours of conversation dedicated to refining, enriching and debating the controversial ideas that the newspaper has addresses in his editorials.

The following is a brief synthesis of what was said there, arranged by topics and ascribed to the author of each opinion.

Journalism

Yoani Sánchez: Cubans are going to need a great deal of information to avoid falling into the hands of another authoritarianism. In 14ymedio we are including a plurality of voices, for example on the the issue of the embargo. We leave it to the reader to form his own opinion from a variety of information.

Reinaldo Escobar: The official Cuban press, which is all the press, there are no public media, they are private property of the Communist Party. Now, has there been a change? Yes, there has been a change. Since a few years ago the newspaper Granma has had a weekly section with letters by readers where you find criticism of bureaucrats, things that don’t work or prices at the markets. But look, the emphasis is on the self-employed markets.

So far I have not read a profound criticism of the prices at the convertible peso markets that the Government has, which are abusive. Nor can you talk about the legitimacy of our rulers or the impracticality of the system. Here are two big taboos, and in the third place, the topic of political repression. If they report on a repudiation rally, they show it as something spontaneous on the part of the people, without telling how the political police were behind it, organizing it all.

Miriam Celaya: There are changes indeed. The problem is that there are real and nominal changes, and these changes are generally nominal. Now everyone in Cuba can legally stay in a hotel, which before was forbidden. They never explained why it was forbidden before. But Cubans cannot really afford the luxury of a hotel stay, with wages being what they are; nor can they buy a car, a house, or travel. The problem with the reforms is that they are unrealistic for the vast majority of Cubans. They are a government investment in order to buy time.

There are two of those reforms that are particularly harmful and discriminatory for Cubans. One is the foreign investment law, which is explicitly for foreign investors and it does not allow Cubans to invest; and the other is a new Labor Code which does not acknowledge autonomy, the right to strike, and which spells out explicitly that Cuban workers cannot freely enter into contracts with potential companies investing in Cuba, which constitutes a restraint and a brake.

Víctor Ariel González: Yes, things are changing, but we ask ourselves if really those changes offer a brighter horizon and why people keep leaving, even more are going than before.

More apathetic youth?

Miriam Celaya: It is a backlash against ideological saturation, a submissiveness which conditioned almost every act of your life to obedience, to political subordination, whether picking a university career, a job or an appliance, anything. Everything was a slogan, everything a roadblock. This has subsided somewhat, but previously, it was impossible to take a step without hearing “Motherland or death, we will triumph” and go, go… The investigations they undertook to see if you belonged to the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution… the youth of today have not experienced that bombardment of “the enemy that harasses us.” I did not bring up my kids in that, on the contrary, I tried to detoxify them. So this generation, the children of the parents of disenchantment, grew up devoid of that and are at a more pragmatic level, even at a marketing one, whose greatest dream is to leave the country.

Economy

Eliécer Ávila: The law governing the leasing (in usufruct) of lands for farmers to work them was the basis of a plan for increasing food production and lowering prices — so that the average salary for a day’s work might be more than just three plantains.

I come from the banana plantations of El Yarey de Vázquez, in Puerto Padre, Las Tunas. The nation’s food supply is the most critical element in our collective anger. In January of last year, a pound of onions cost 8 Cuban pesos (CUPs). Later, between March and April, the price rose to 15. In May it increased to 25 CUPs and now, the onion has disappeared from low-income neighborhoods. It can only be found in certain districts such as Miramar, at five convertible pesos (CUCs) for 10 onions — more expensive than in Paris — while the monthly Cuban salary still averages under 20 CUCs per month).

I know very few farmers who even own a bicycle. However, any young person who joins up with the Ministry of State Security is in no time riding around on a Suzuki motorcycle.

Embargo

Yoani Sánchez: When talking about the end of the embargo, there is talk of a step that the White House must take, and for me I don’t care for the idea that what happens in my country depends on what happens in the White House. It hurts my Cuban pride, to say that the plans for my future, for my childrens’ future, and for the publication of 14ymedio depend on what Obama does. I am concentrating on what is going to happen in the Plaza of the Revolution and what civil society here is going to do. So for me I don’t want to bet on the end of the embargo as the solution. I want to see when we will have freedom of expression, freedom of association and when they will remove the straitjacket from economic freedom in this country.

Miriam Celaya: The reasons for the establishment of the embargo are still in effect, which were the nationalizing of American companies in Cuba without proper compensation. That this policy, in the limelight for such a long time, has subsequently become a tug of war is another thing. But those of us with gray hair can remember that in the 70’s and 80’s we were under the Soviet protectorate. Because we talk a lot about sovereignty, but Cuba has never been sovereign. Back then, Soviet subsidies were huge and we hardly talked about the embargo. It was rarely mentioned, maybe on an anniversary. Fidel Castro used to publicly mock the embargo in all forums.

Reinaldo Escobar: They promised me that we were going to have a bright future in spite of the blockade and that was due among other things to the fact that the nation had recovered their riches, confiscating them from the Americans. So what was going to bring that future was what delayed it.

Miriam Celaya: The issue remains a wildcard for the Cuban government, which, if it has such tantrums about it, it’s because it desperately needs for it to be lifted, especially with regards to the issue of foreign investments. I am anti-embargo in principle, but I can see that ending it unilaterally and unconditionally carries with it greater risks than the benefits it will supposedly provide.

Victor Ariel Gonzalez: The official justification says that as we are a blockaded country so we have the Gag Law. Because we are under siege and “in the besieged square, dissidence is treason.” There are those who believe that if the embargo is lifted that justification would end. But you have to say that this system has been very effective in finishing off the mechanisms for publicly analyzing the embargo, it has killed off independent institutions. Then, how will people be able to channel discontent and non-conformity with the continued repression the day after the lifting of the embargo?

Reinaldo Escobar: They will have another argument for keeping repression when the embargo is lifted. Write it down, because “this will be the test” as they say around here: “Now that the Americans have the chance to enter Cuba with greater freedom, now that they can buy businesses and the embargo is over, now we do have to take care of the Revolution.” That will be the argument.

Repression

Yoani Sánchez: In this country people are very afraid. Including not knowing they’re afraid, because they have lived with it for so long they don’t know that this is called “fear.” Fear of betrayal, of being informed on, of not being able to leave the country, of being denied a promotion to a better job, not being able to board a plane, that a child won’t be allowed to go to the university, because “the university is for Revolutionaries.” The fears are so many and so vast that Cubans today have fear in their DNA.

Eliécer Ávila: We also need to understand how Cubans make their living. Ninety percent of Cubans do not work where their calling or vocation would take them, but rather where they can survive and make do. In this country, to be a Ph.D. in the social sciences is truly to be the idiot of the family. This is the same guy who can’t throw a quinceañera party for his daughter, who can’t take his family out to dinner at a restaurant. The successful person in this society is the manager of a State-owned cafeteria. This is because he controls the supplies of chicken, oil, rice, etc. and sells the surplus on the black market — which is really how he makes his living. The fundamental tactic to create social immobility in this country is [for the State] to make as many people as possible feel guilty about something.

Self-employment

Eliécer Ávila: People think that because there is now self-employment in this country, that there is a way to be more independent of the State — which is true up to a point. But the question is, how does a self-employed business person survive? I had to leave my ice cream business. After having received my degree in information technology, I was sent to the interior as a sort of punishment for having an incident with Ricardo Alarcón, who at that time was the President of the National Assembly.

It was a turning point for me as I tried to become one of the first self-employed people in my town. I had a 1967 German ice cream maker. The process requires 11 products — including coagulant, which someone had to steal from the ice cream factory. Or rather, I should say, “recover,” because in this country we do not call that kind of thing “stealing.” The milk had to be taken from the daycare center, or from the hospital, so that it could be sold to me. The point is, there simply is no other way.

All of these private businesses that are springing up and flourishing are sustained by illegality.

Yoani Sánchez: … O en el capital que viene escondido desde el extranjero, especialmente desde el exilio. Hay restaurantes en La Habana que podrían estar en New York o en Berlín, pero esos han recibido dinero foráneo o es “lavado de dinero” de la corrupción y de la propia cúpula.

Yoani Sánchez: … Or in the capital that comes clandestinely from abroad, especially from the exile. There are restaurants in Havana that could be in New York or Berlin, but those have received foreign money or are engaging in “money laundering” from the corruption and from the highest leadership itself.

Eliécer Ávila: Many of these businesses are created so that government officials can place their children, grandchildren and friends in them, people who are no longer interested in the creation of the “New Man” nor in achieving a communist society. Rather, they want to launder their money and insert themselves in society like any other person.
I do not know a single communist worker in Cuba who has been able to launch a business. Those committed Revolutionaries, who gave their all, are today the people who don’t have onions in their kitchens.

Yoani Sánchez: Self-employment has been presented as one of the major indicators of the “reforms” or the Raul regime changes. But on the issue of self-employment many things are not considered: they have no access to a wholesale market, they can’t import raw material nor directly export their products. Thus, the annoyance all Cubans have with the customs restrictions that went into effect in September. The Government justifies is saying that “every country has this kind of legislation,” but in those countries there are laws for commercial imports.

Miriam Celaya: They made a special regulation for foreign investors, so they can import, but not for Cubans.

Yoani Sanchez: Another issue that greatly affects the economy is the lack of Internet connection. We’re not just talking about freedom of expression and information or being able to read14ymedio within Cuba, but that our economy is set back more and more by people not having access to the Internet.

Luzbely Escobar: It’s not only that: Self-employment is authorized only for selling or producing, but the professionals cannot join that sector with their abilities. You cannot be a self-employed lawyer, architect or journalist.

Miriam Celaya: A large administrative body was created to control the self-employed and it is full of corrupt individuals, who are always hovering over these workers to exploit them and relieve them of their gains. Some tell me that there are fixed fees for inspector bribes. Here, even corruption is institutionalized and rated.

Eliécer Ávila: In this country, for everyone who wants to lift his head towards progress, there are ten who want to behead him. There is much talk of “eliminating the middleman.” However, the great middleman is the State itself, which, for example, buys a pound of black beans from the farmer for 1.80 CUPs, then turns around and sells that pound for 12 CUPs at a minimum.

The New York Times Editorials

Eliécer Ávila: It would be a great favor to Cuba if, with the same influence that these editorials are intended to have on the global debate about one topic [the embargo], they also tried to shed light on other topics that are taboo here, but that go right to the heart of what we need as a nation.

Miriam Celaya: I have an idea. Rather than making gestures about the release of Alan Gross, rather than making gestures about making the embargo more flexible, I think that the strongest and clearest gesture that the Cuban government could make would be to liberate public opinion, liberate the circulation of ideas. Citizens should manifest themselves; this is something that is not happening here.

Reinaldo Escobar: Without freedom there is no citizen participation.

Miriam Celaya: What is going on with these editorials? They are still giving prominence to a distorted, biased view, composed of half-truths and lies about what the Cuban reality is. They are still giving prominence to what a government says, and Cuba is not a government. Cuba’s government today is a small group of old men, and when I say “old” it’s because of their way of thinking, of individuals who have remained anchored in discourse rooted in a cold war and belligerence. The Cuban people are not represented in that government.

Yoani Sánchez: I read editorials when they came out but last night went back to read them more calmly. The first editorial is perhaps the most fortunate, because it achieves a balance between one side and the other, but there are some that I think are really pitiful. Such as the one about the “brain drain” because these medical professionals are living a drama in this country that is not recognized in these texts.

First, I am against the concept of the theft of, or brain drain, because it accepts that your brain belongs to someone, to the nation, to the educational structure, or to whoever taught you. I think everyone should decide what to do with his or her own brain.

That editorial gives no space to the economic tragedy experienced by these professionals in Cuba. I know surgeons who may be among the best in their specialty in Latin America and they can’t cross their legs because people would be able to see the holes in their shoes, or they have to operate without breakfast because they can’t afford breakfast.

Miriam Celaya: There is something in that editorial that cuts and offends me, and it’s that slight of condescension, for instance, in this quote: “Havana could pay its workers more generously abroad if the medical brigades continue to represent an important source of income”… But, gentlemen! To do so is to accept the slavery of those doctors. It is to legitimize the implied right of a government to use its medical personnel as slaves for hire. How can that be?

Yoani Sánchez: With regards to these medical missions, I must say that the human character, no one can question it, when it comes to saving lives. But there has to be a political side and that is that these people are used as a kind of medical diplomacy, to gain followers, and because of this many countries vote at the United Nations on behalf of the Government of Cuba, which has practically hijacked many countries because they have Cuban doctors in their territories. It becomes an element of political patronage.

Another aspect is the economic, which is pushing doctors to leave because they can see the appeal of having a better salary, they can import appliances, pots for their home, a computer. Also, every month their bank account gets a deposit of convertible pesos, which they only get to keep if they return to Cuba and don’t desert from the mission. From an labor and ethical point of view it is very questionable.

Another issue is the negative impact it has on the Cuban healthcare system.

Luzbely Escobar: You go to a clinic and it is closed, or of the three doctors on duty, only one is there because the other two are in Venezuela, and then there is total chaos.

Miriam Celaya: In these editorials, I have read “Cuba” instead of “the Cuban government,” and I have read that the members of “the dissidence” were considered “charlatans.” These definitions, in addition to being disrespectful, put everyone in the same bag. Here, as everywhere else, society is complex, and, while it’s true that there are charlatans among the opposition – and among the government too — there are a lot of honest people who are working very faithfully for a better Cuba, with the greatest sacrifice and risk.

When they demonize it, then it seems that they are speaking the government’s language, as if they had written this in a room of the Party Central Committee and not in a newsroom of a country in the free world. Such epithets, coming from prestigious media, end up creating opinion. That’s a big responsibility.

Dissidence

Yoani Sánchez: In this country the nation has been confused with the government, the homeland with a party, and the country with a man. Then this man, this party and this government have taken the right to decide on behalf of everyone, whether it’s about growing a tomato or a cachucha pepper, or what ideological line the whole nation is going to follow.

As a consequence, those of us who have ideas different from those of that party, that government, and that man in power, are declared to be “stateless” or “anti-Cuban” and charged with wanting to align ourselves with a foreign power. It is as if now, that the Democratic party is governing the United States, all Republicans were declared to be anti-American. This is, like all the countries in the world, plural. If you walk down the street you are going to meet every kind of person: anarchist, liberal, social democrat, Christian democrat and even annexationist. Why can’t this so plural discourse be expressed in a legal way? And why do people like is have to be excluded from speaking and offering opinions.

Translated by Alicia Barraqué Ellison, MLK, MJ Porter and Norma Whiting

14ymedio, Cuba’s first independent daily digital news outlet, published directly from the island, is available in Spanish here. Translations of selected articles in English are here.

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