VoIP and ENUM

The first signs of opening: Raul Castro removed the ban of mobile phones for all private Cubans - I did not know that this was not allowed at all. Already this Tuesday he removed the ban of selling PCs, TV-sets and Video recording devices to private Cubans.

The drawback: the tariffs have to be paid in convertible pesos: activation CUC$ 120, a minute in Cuba CUC$ 0.5, a minute outside Cuba from 3 CUC$ upwards.

To put this in relation, one should know that the monthly earnings in Cuba is 400 national pesos, which is about CUC$ 17.

So again only people in contact with tourists may be able to afford this, and not the doctors and teachers.

As I said in my previous post, the geriatric (and partially dead) trinity in Cuba - Che, Fidel and Raul - is finally coming to an end. They understood to serve the longings of the left wing western postwar and prosperity generations very efficient and let them forget the increasingly fatal situation in Cuba.

In Cuba itself they managed to overcome the so-called special period and opened up the country very selectively for tourism by creating basically two markets, one in national pesos and one in convertible pesos. This causes Cubans being employed in tourism and related occupations to earn much more than engineers, medical and educational staff, also causing doctors to move (to be a doctor you must not be stupid) and now carry luggage for tourists.

But the Cuban system has, by all critics, also interesting and sympathetic traits and one could also learn from the mistakes made elsewhere, e.g. in Russia and Yugoslavia. What Cuba needs is critical solitarity and help - not necessarily for the government, but for the population.

Cuba has 3 options (if we forget the 4th "north-korean" way)

1. The "chinese" model i.e. through partial introduction of a capitalist economy to keep the status quo of the existing government. Because of the deadbeat economy this seems not possible as it it is with the big power China. Also the touristic earnings and the economic and political power of potential allies - in this case Venezuela and Iran - seems not to be sufficient.
2. The american "turnaraound" i.e. that the Cubans from Miami - the "Cuban Mafia" - are taking over the power under US disguise. This would mean the introduction of an alibi-democracy in conjunction with revanchism and looting economy. This could be worse than Batista.
3. The only way out - beside a broad latin american solidarity - is an approach to Europe. Cuba has here already with Spain a strong solicitor. Europe could act as intermediary for negotiations with a (new) US government and lobby for the abolishment of the US embargo in exchange for reforms.

However, Cuba hold out against 50 years of US embargo, done by a superpower on the other side of good and evil. This alone will earn Cuba an honorable entry in the Guiness Book of Records. But now it is time of a rethinking.

Up to 1990 the Cuban economy was heavily subsidised by the Soviet Union and the Comecon (Eastern Block) - basically sugar for fuel.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba enters the so-called Special Period:

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, the impact on the Cuban economy was devastating. Cuba lost approximately 80% of its imports, 80% of its exports and its Gross Domestic Product dropped by 34%. Along with food and medicines that were imported, half of the oil it used came from the USSR and all oil imports trickled to a mere 10% of previous amounts. Before this, Cuba had been re-exporting any Soviet oil it did not consume to other nations for profit (becoming Cuba's second largest export product before 1990). Once Soviet imports fell, Cuba faced a net deficit of oil, resulting in a need to reduce domestic consumption by 20% over the course of two years. The effect was felt immediately; dependent on fossil fuels to operate, transportation, industrial and agricultural systems were paralyzed. There were extensive losses of productivity in both Cuban agriculture — which was dominated by modern industrial tractors, combines, and harvesters, all of which required oil to run — and in Cuban industrial capacity.

The period radically transformed Cuban society and the economy, as it necessitated the successful introduction of sustainable agriculture, decreased use of automobiles, and overhauled industry, health, and diet countrywide.

In most countries, social programs are the first things to get cut during times of economic hardship. Before the Special Period, Cuba had three Universities and tuition costs were covered by the government. During this crisis, education continued to be tuition-free and to assist in reducing the cost of transportation, additional universities were opened bringing the number to fifty, spread throughout various municipalities.

Cuba’s focus on prevention and health has earned the small nation a world-wide reputation and teams of doctors have been sent throughout the globe to train and assist particularly during natural disasters. Cuba has only 2% of the total population of Latin America but has 12% of all its doctors. Of special note is the fact that 60% of the doctors in Cuba are women. The practice still continues where each community has a doctor that is assigned to it and lives in that area. Even during the Special Period, medical care continued to be subsidized by the state.

Note by author: A lot of discussions even now ends with these arguments, as Michael already said " ... so the people I talked with were actually quite happy with their situation ("We don't earn much, but as opposed to other countries education and health care is for free!" ) and couldn't see that people in developed countries who are considered as dirt poor have a way higher living standard ..."

BTW, what does "health care is free" really mean? As I told you in my previous post, I was now 3 weeks in the hospital, 2 weeks of this in intensive care. And I have to pay not one Eurocent, so it was for free. Of course I have to pay for health insurance in Austria about 5.1 % of my income (in pension). And I am not going into more details of the Austrian health system here.

As the country began to recover more visibly from the shock of the implosion of their economic underpinning, Castro gradually told the Cuban people that this "Special Period" was over; that it had succeeded in generally maintaining the long life expectancies and health statistics of the nation — figures roughly equivalent to those enjoyed in the United States — and that the country was therefore (relatively) prosperous once again.

Cubans suffered a great deal during the decade referred to as the Special Period and are still living under a lower standard than they were before 1991. This period forced Cuba to change from a nation of consumers--dependent on external oil sources--to a more sustainable economy based on meeting basic needs and conservation. Despite the fact that Cuba is a poor country (the average annual gross domestic product is $3,500), and may not be viewed as “successful” by Western standards, the average life span is higher than in the U.S. and the infant mortality rate is lower than the US. Their literacy rate is higher and their citizens have free medical and educational opportunities.

Policies were drawn up to satisfy the growing tourist markets of Canada and Europe with an aim to replace Cuba's reliance on the sugar industry and gain much needed foreign currency rapidly. A new Ministry of Tourism was created in 1994, and the Cuban state invested heavily in tourist facilities. Between 1990 and 2000, more than $3.5 billion was invested in the tourist industry. The number of rooms available to international tourists grew from 12,000 to 35,000, and the country received a total of 10 million visitors over that period. By 1995 the industry had surpassed sugar as Cuba's chief earner.

Today, Cuba welcomes travelers from around the world, and especially Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France , but also Argentina, Chile and Mexico. In recent years, more than 600,000 Canadians, 200,000 British, and 114,000 Germans have visited Cuba annually. Each year, thousands of Americans visit Cuba, even though the official U.S. trade policy usually does not permit travel there. According to TIME Magazine (May 11, 2007), 20,000 to 30,000 Americans illegally travel to Cuba every year (in my opinion even more). Americans usually reach Cuba via flights from Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver or Cancun. Cuban immigration officers do not stamp U.S. passports so Americans can keep their private visits, private.

Foreign investment in the Cuban tourism sector has increased steadily since the tourism drive. This has been made possible due to constitutional changes to Cuba's socialist command economy, to allow for the recognition of foreign held capital.

By the late 1990s, twenty five joint foreign and domestic venture companies were working within Cuba's tourist industry. Foreign investors and hoteliers from market based economies have found that Cuba's centralized economy and bureaucracy has created particular staffing issues and higher costs then normal. An additional factor cited by foreign investors is the degree of state involvement at the executive level, which is far higher than average.

Here we have to mention now the two Cuban currencies: the Peso or national peso (where the Cubans are making their living on and the Convertible Peso (CUC$), which is the money for the tourists.

From 1993 until 2004, the Cuban currency was split between the Cuban peso (the currency Cuban citizens are paid in and used for staples and non-luxury items) and the U.S. dollar in combination with the convertible peso, which was used for tourism and for luxury items.

On November 8, 2004, the Cuban government withdrew the U.S. dollar from circulation citing the need to retaliate against further U.S. sanctions. After a grace period ending on November 14, 2004, a 10% surcharge began to be imposed when converting U.S. dollars into convertible pesos. The change was announced some weeks beforehand and was extended by the aforementioned grace period (it has been claimed this was because the amounts of US dollars being exchanged were more than anticipated). This measure helped the Cuban government collect much needed hard currency.

In the joint ventures mentioned above, the salary of the Cubans is paid by the foreign company to the Cuban state in CUC$ and then given to the workers by the Cuban state in national pesos. But of course this not 100% and you should especially consider the tips. E.g. in the hotel Varadero, although all inclusive, some people gave 1 CUC$ tip per drink.

Two parallel economies and societies quickly emerged, their demarcation line was represented by access to the CUC$. Those having access to CUC$ through contact with the lucrative tourist industry suddenly found themselves at a distinct financial advantage over professional, medical, educational, industrial and agricultural workers.

Bar staff, hotel receptionists and taxi drivers became the coveted occupations in urban Cuba, and by 2006, permission to operate a private taxi cab service could cost up to $500 in bribes. Musicians have also found a radical shift in their economic status. El Nuevo Herald reported that the 400 CUC$ a month one band percussionist receives in tips performing to tourists in Old Havana is more than 30 times what he would receive from the Cuban government for the same work.

So a lot of the famous educational and medical staff in Cuba is now working in hotels carrying luggage for tourists.

How long can Cuba sustain this two parallel economies and what are the options in the future? I will try to do this in my next post.

I did also not talk about the political impacts in Cuba since 1990, the development of the trinity - Che Guevara as Jesus Crist Superstar Fidel Castro as godfather now in pension and the country lead by the holy ghost Raul.

As my son Michael already mentioned, I was hospitalized with double pneumonia based on legionella pneumonia, together with liver, kidney and some other minor problems. First of all I want to thank everybody all over the world who cared and sent me good wishes.

We returned from Cuba on monday, February 18th and I started to feel sick on February 21nd. On February 25th I went to the doctor and got some antibiotica, which basically did not improve the issue. Friday, February 29th my wife decided to call the ambulance and I was delivered to the hospital. As I was told later it took until saturday morning to make all the tests and I was responding normally, but I can only remember up to the time until I entered the emergency ambulance car.

On saturday, March 1st, they decided to put me into intensive care at the nephrology station and artificial deep sleep. I was on kidney dialysis the whole time. My daughter Kathi told me afterwards that I was connected to about some 20 tubes and wires, from dialysis, oxygen, food to uretic outlets.

On friday, March 7th, they tried to wake me up again. What I can remember is that I saw Kathi and my wife only black-and-white, could somehow understand what they said, but could not speak comprehensive back myself. The next day I could speak back and saw them in color, the first improvement. For two other days I was put to the dialysis on and off.

My readings were improving every day now, but my next problem was that I was completely de-mobilized - I could not even sit up. So they had to start to re-mobilize me slowly - on March 12th I left the bed the first time to stand up - held by two men - for 1 minute, still connected to a lot of tubes.

March 13th I was transferred from intensive care back to the normal hospital. The first day I was still unable to leave the bed on my own, but this also improved quickly. The next thing I discovered was that I had lost 10 kg and this was of course one of my mobility problems, because the majority I lost was not fat but muscles. Anyway, I started first with the 3 steps to the toilet and wash-room, take the food not in be, but at the table and then to walk up and down the aisle.

The 3rd week I had to do a lot of checks, such as blood tests, lung tests, thorax x-ray and finally a gastroscopy to find out that I had some gastoenteritis and also some fungi in the gullet - I assume from taking all this medication.

Finally it was decided to release me just in time for Easter on friday, March 21st from hospital, but they will keep an eye on me. Next wednesday I am ordered back already to the nephrology ambulance of the hospital and later the day they will do an echocardiography. So they will keep me on the long line for some time.

So I want to thank the medical and non-medical staff in the hospital, they did an excellent job, and again everybody who cared and sent me good wishes, either direct or via my family.

And last but not least my wife and all of my children who really cared about me and visited me every day two or three times.