October 2007

CubaNet has published an article written by Julio Aleaga Pesant (independent journalist and professor) about the two paths communists are taking in Cuba that is being fought by reformists like Carlos Lage Dávila and hardliners such as Fidel Castro’s personal assistant Carlos Valenciaga Diaz.

The following is a brief extract from the article that merits a read:

“Far away from dark prison cells and the unpleasant sounds from prisons, amplified by the sound of squawking bars amongst the naked walls and unsupportable level of non existence, there is a strategic re-grouping of communist forces over two fundamental lines: continuity or reform.

Forgetting for a moment the internal skirmishes that have been made public through communication organs and concentrating on one of the biggest revelations of the transition process, communists i n the government have taken a generational difference in launching long term strategies represented by Carlos Lage Dávila who represents reformists and Carlos Valenciaga by the hardliners.

The simplicity of the dispute stems from the same existing polemic at a population level, which intuitively has seen the beginning path to modernization, owing itself to decide the path to take and at which velocity to apply.

If the trembling Carlos Valenciaga Díaz knew to elevate his speech and convert it into a formula for generational compromise between the real leadership of the hardliners, hoarded by Jose Ramon Machado Ventura (Vice-President, Council of State), Jose Ramon Balaguer Cabrera (Minister of Public Health), and Esteban Lazo Hernandez (Vice-President, Council of State), not because of his charisma or popular acceptance, but because of his less aggressive face of those who opt for continuity, and at the same time the lack of grace by Felipe Pérez or Hassan Pérez (who has been out of sight for a long period because of Julio Martínez and the Lage brothers) makes it unthinkable the representation of this wrongly faced and squealing “dictatorship of the proletarian.”

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Via AP:

Americans looking to recoup Cuban assets seized after Fidel Castro took power in 1959 likely won’t get the billions they hope to seek after Castro dies, a federally financed study concluded.

The study, released Thursday, said they instead should settle for development rights and tax breaks that would let them profit from a new Cuba.

It was commissioned by the U.S. Agency for International Development and conducted by scholars at Creighton University. They were asked to consider how Cuba, which has been under communist rule now for nearly a half-century, might settle long-pending claims after the 81-year-old Castro dies.

Nearly 6,000 American claims for homes and businesses seized by the regime have been determined valid by the U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission. The study values them at about $6 billion in current dollars, with interest. Many of the claimants are Cuban-Americans who were Cuban when their property was expropriated.

The study suggests that if Cuba tried to pay the claims back in hard currency, it would be able to pay only a few cents on the dollar. Instead, the study suggests settling claims in ways that will foster Cuba’s growth, by giving claimants opportunities to flourish with the island nation.

Click here to read the study.

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The Miami Herald reports:

Timothy Langford, a career CIA officer, has been appointed as the new Cuba and Venezuela mission manager for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — a position that coordinates information gathering for areas considered top priorities.

Langford, 48, spent 25 years dealing with Latin American issues at the CIA. He holds a master’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for the national intelligence office, said Langford took his new position Oct. 1 but declined to elaborate on his previous assignments within the CIA.

President Bush suggested the creation of the Cuba and Venezuela post after Fidel Castro became ill. The then-intelligence chief, John Negroponte, appointed Norman Bailey, a former Reagan administration official and Cold War expert to the post.

But Bailey was dismissed by new director Mike McConnell in February, a move that raised concerns among Miami Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart that the intelligence community was downgrading the importance of Cuba and Venezuela.

Patrick Maher, a 31-year CIA veteran and national intelligence officer for the Western Hemisphere, held the Cuba-Venezuela mission manager position on an interim basis.

McConnell ”wanted to make certain he had the best person to fill this position,” Feinstein said.

Langford’s appointment brings the team of mission managers back up to six, with three country specialists — Iran, North Korea, Cuba-Venezuela — and three managers for counterterrorism, counter-proliferation and counterintelligence issues.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence coordinates the intelligence work of 16 U.S. government agencies.

Langford is seen as a person who combines analytical skills and operational experience.

”I think he’s a good fit for this position,” said Brian Latell, a former CIA Cuba analyst and now a researcher with the Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies at the University of Miami. “You have to work very effectively with operative and analytical people. That’s often a difficult bridge.”

(H/T Penultimos Dias)

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According to CIA’s estimate, Cuba’s 2006 GDP real growth rate is 11.1%.

(H/T The Cuban Triangle)

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