At a meeting in Havana on August 11 attended by government ministers and the press, Cuban National Assembly President Esteban Lazo communicated a message to Cuba’s Minister of Agriculture from the Assembly, whose recent session ended on July 22. The ministry would be “transforming and strengthening the country’s agricultural production,” to initiate “a political and participatory movement that would unleash a productive revolution in the agricultural sector.”
The National Assembly dealt primarily with Cuba’s present food disaster. The lives of many Cubans are precarious due to food shortages, high prices, and low income.
Information emerging from the Assembly’s deliberations attests to the reality of crisis in Cuba. Urgency builds for Cuba’s friends in the United States to resist U.S. policies in new ways, strongly and assertively. Their own government accounts for new suffering and destitution in Cuba.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel emphasized resistance while addressing the National Assembly. He dedicated his remarks to two revolutionary heroes who were present. Admiring “their foot in the stirrup of difficulties and their rifle pointed at mistakes,” he may have been thinking of hard work ahead.
He mentioned “problems of our difficult daily life, such as food production, electricity generation, water availability, crime, rising inflation, abusive prices.” He criticized behaviors “that reinforce the omnipresent blockade through inaction, apathy, insensitivity, incapacity or simple tiredness and lack of faith.”
Díaz-Canel noted approvingly that delegates discussed “closer ties between deputies and the population,” “better management and allocation of the currency,” “greater direct participation of the non-state sector in national production,” “municipal autonomy,” and “downward pressure on prices.”
“Above all,” he insisted, “we must devote ourselves to creating wealth, first of all, by producing food.”
Vice Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca reported on implementation of Cuba’s 2022 law on Food Sovereignty and Food and Nutritional Security. He noted that food self-sufficiency in local areas was lagging. Crop yields were low. Plant diseases and the lack of inputs hampered grain production.
Cubans individually had consumed only 438 grams of animal protein per month in 2022, and in May 2023, only 347 grams; recommendations call for ingestion of 5 kg monthly. Not enough chickens were been raised; poultry meat and eggs were scarce.
Yields of corn, soy, sorghum and other crops are reduced and animal feed is mostly unavailable. Therefore, pork production is down, milk is unavailable to adults, and fewer cattle are being raised. Pasturage is poor, due to drought and no fertilizer.
Tapia pointed to failures. The output of state-controlled food producers is low. Producers, distributers, and institutional consumers don’t regularly contract with one another to facilitate food distribution. Producers aren’t being paid, because credit isn’t available. Cattle-stealing has reached new heights, 44,318 head so far this year.
Tapia exploded: “It takes work to produce food. Everyone wants food deliveries, but we do nothing to produce it. We lack a culture of production … We don’t need all these papers, or words. When do we begin to plant? Who will do it?”
The Ministry of Finances and Prices issued a report prior to the National Assembly session. It recognized high inflation, widespread popular dissatisfaction and the need for “concrete solutions.” Minister Vladimir Regueiro Ale indicated prices skyrocketed by 39% during 2022 and 18% more so far in 2023.
Inflation, he explained, varies from province to province and may manifest as abusive price-fixing, especially when agricultural supplies and products are in short supply.
Commenting on the report, National Assembly President Esteban Lazo, reminded delegates that diminished production and inflation were connected: “If there is no production and supply, we will not achieve effective control of prices.” He complained that “practically 100% of the food basket is being imported.”
The Assembly’s Food and Agricultural Commission issued one more report. It mentioned organizational and management problems and reported that only 68% of expected diesel fuel has arrived so far in 2023, 14,700 tons less than in the similar period a year before; 28,900 tons of imported fertilizer were ordered, but only 168 tons arrived. Cuba’s fertilizer production has been nil this year in contrast to 9,600 tons produced in the same months in 2022.
Cuba’s rural communities are troubled. Soon “we won’t have any people left in the countryside,” a delegate said. Another called for improved “roadways, housing, and connectivity.” Someone regarding agricultural skills as low called for teaching in “agroecological technics” and “good practices for the producing, processing and commercialization of food.”
The idea circulated that local autonomy would spur food production. As of April, 2023, aspiring farmers had not yet taken possession of 258,388 hectares of idle land made available to them without cost under land-tenure reforms in 2008.
Frei Betto, Brazilian friend of revolutionary Cuba and adviser to Cuba’s Food Sovereignty and Nutritional Education Plan, visited Cuba in June. For him, the “current shortages are more severe than in the Special Period (1990-1995)--소련의 붕괴와 그에 따른 원조와 무역의 중단으로 야기된 큐바의 특별하게 어려웟던 시절...북한의 고난의 행군 시절 정도로 보면 되겟습니다).” He indicated that Cuba now imports 80% of the food it consumes, up from 70% five or so years ago, that it costs $4 billion annually, up from $2 billion. For corn, soy, and rice alone, the outlay now is $1.5 billionannually.
He indicated too that a ton of imported chicken meat now costs $1.3 million, up from $900,000 a year ago, that “the wheat supply has worsened,” that milk production is down 38 million liters in one year, that less oil from Venezuela, thanks to U.S. sanctions there, means reduced food production in Cuba.
The origins of food shortages in Cuba and the mode of U.S. intervention are highly relevant.
Shortages are not solely due to U.S. policies. Drought, hurricane damage, marabou shrub infestation, soil erosion, high soil acidity, poor drainage, and lack of organic material soil have contributed. Bureaucratic and centralizing tendencies of Cuba’s government play a role.
The U.S. economic blockade is central. Food crisis is in line with the proposals of State Department official Lestor Mallory in 1960 for policies leading to “hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.” The Soviet Bloc fell three decades later. The U.S. government tightened economic blockade by means of legislation in 1992 and 1996 and, later, Cuba’s designation as a terrorist-sponsoring nation.
(미 정부는 큐바과 북한과 외교 관계를 갖고 잇음을 이유로 테러 지원 국가라고 주장 햇습니다....
중국과 북한은 통상적인 외교를 훨씬 넘은 혈맹국가 입니다...
그런것이 이유라면 왜 중국은 태러 지원국가로 지정하여 제제 하지 않느냐??... 는 물음에 답 할 수 없습니다...
그리고 인류역사에서 미국만큼 많은 테러를 한 나라는 없지요....베트남 이락 리비아 소말이라 아프카니스탄 ...
찌지리 성여리는 이런것을 자유 민주주의 보편적 가치라고 나발 거리며 온갖 욤병질을 국제적으로 떨고 다니지요...
보편적 가치??...........야가 보편적이란 단어가 무슨 뜻인지 알고 그리 씨불리나..
미국이 중국과 겉으로는 싸우고 잇는 것 처럼 보이지만...이것이 자국의 정치적 불만을 해소 하기 위한 이유가 훨씬 더 큽니다..
미국와 중국은 최대 교역국가입니다..
Beyond bans on products manufactured or sold by U.S. companies, proscribed categories soon included products manufactured by foreign companies associated with U.S. ones and products containing 10% or more components of U.S. origin. Now foreign enterprises active in Cuba faced possible U.S. court action.
International loans and international transactions in dollars are usually off limits. Payments abroad don’t reach destinations. Income from exports doesn’t arrive.
Think imports of seeds, fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, breeding stock, veterinary supplies and drugs, new equipment, spare parts, exports of coffee, rum, and nickel. Think loans for purchasing food and more, loans for agricultural development. Think impediments to restoring rural infrastructure.
The blockade, the U.S. tool of choice, has hit food production in Cuba hard. It is far along in achieving its ultimate purpose. Cuba needs a new order of support from friends in the United States─ Marti’s “belly of the beast.”(큐바 국민 영웅 호세 마티가 미국을 야수들의 소굴 이라고 빈정거림것을 은유 한 것입니다..)
호세 마티는 미국에서 공부 하엿지만 미 자본주의의 풍요와 번영 보다는 자본주의 야만성과 폭력성만 보앗습니다.
프랑크프르트 비판철학의 대부.........아도르노...
이 사람도 나찌을 피해 미국으로 도피 하엿지만, 미국 자본주의의 부정적인 것만 보앗습니다.
그는 전쟁이 끝나자 마자 서둘러 독일로 돌아왓고 미국 사회의 경험을 이야기 햇습니다..
단 하루도 미국에서 더 올래 잇고 싶지 않다는 것이 이유엿지요.
아도르노에게 미국의 자본주의의 경험은 그의 변증법적 비판 척학을 한층 성숙하게 만들어 주는 역할만 햇습니다.
아로드노와는 정반대로.....미국 자본주의의 풍요로움과 욕정과 쾌락만 탐닉하고 돌아온 이승만
이런자가 어떤 세상을 꿈꿧는지는 너무 당연하고
이런자에게 민중과 서민, 공통체를 이야기 하는 좌파 사회주의자, 공산주의자는 일제 식민주의자들 보다 더 큰 적이엇습니다.
45년 해방 부터 50년 한국전쟁이 일어나기 직전 까지의 민중학살이 우연이 아닙니다.
이 사람은 무식햇습니다...
해골이 비엇쓰니 ...자유 민주주의가 무엇인지, 사회주의가 무엇인지...새 나라가 어떤 방향으로 어떤 모습을 갖춰야 하는지 따윈 생각 할 수 잇는 수준이 못 됏지요..
그런 사람이 미국에서 박사학위를 딴 이승만과 가깝게 지낸것은 무식한 자의 유식자에 대한 유교적인 당연한 태도로 보입니다.
혹자들은 45년 부터 50년간 남한에 잇엇던 대규모의 대민 학살을 "민중들에 대한 학살의 시대 " 라고 이야기 합니다.
진실과 화해 위원회는 이런 기술이 결코 과장이 아님을 증명해 주엇습니다.
이자는 안두희의 총을 맞고 죽엇고...안두회는 이승만의 지령을 받앗다고 합니다
그래서 독제자 이승만에 의해 부당하고 억울하게 제거되엇다는 프래임으로 민족의 정신적인 영웅으로 신격화되엇습니다.
그가 이승만과 공동으로 져야 할 대민학살에 대한 책임은 쏙 빠져 저리고 깡그리 이승만이 독박을 쓰게 된것이지요.
나라가 망 할 수 잇는 온갖 모든 짓을 다 처 햇던 민비가 단지 일본 낭인들에 의해 제거 되엇다는 이유 하나로 ..명성황후, 조선의 국모로 추앙받은 것과 꼭 같은 프레임이 만들어진 것입니다.
역사가 짱골라 무협지도 아니고......포르노도 아니고 ..
이딴짓 그만 햇쓰면 좋겟습니다.
Many have so admired Cuba’s brand of socialism as to assume that Cuba’s social gains and exuberant international solidarity would fire up such enthusiasm that, along with considerations of fairness, legality, neighborliness, and revulsion against U.S. cruelty, would make U.S. policymakers think anew about Cuba. It never happened.
많은 사람들이 쿠바의 사회주에 감복하여 쿠바의 사회적 성취와 풍부한 국제적 연대가, 공정성, 적법성, 이웃과의 친교성이나 미국의 잔인함에 대한 반발과 함께, 미국 정책 입안자들이 쿠바에 대해 다시 생각하게 만들 것이라고 생각했지만, 그런 일은 일어나지 않앗다....
한번 갈보는 영원한 갈보다..
Now at a watershed moment in Cuba, a new direction is necessary, one all about persuading, organizing, and unifying left-leaning political groups and anti-war, anti-empire activists of all stripes. Leadership is needed.
Frei Betto says that, “It is time for all of us, in solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, to intensify the struggle against the U.S. blockade and mobilize international cooperation with the island that dared to conquer its independence and sovereignty against the most powerful and genocidal empire in the history of mankind.”
W.T. Whitney Jr. is a retired pediatrician and political journalist living in Maine.