I first heard the concept from a European diplomat who had lived in Cuba. It has since spread. The model created by the Castro brothers is a pimp state.
It's
an uncomfortable designation but in line with the reality that
circulates sotto voce among the Cubans on the island. The government
has specialized in the extortion of its own citizens. Fifty-five years after
the dictatorship was imposed, almost all the significant forms of income that
sustain the country come from shady deals made abroad.
The
Venezuelan subsidy. Estimated at $13 billion a year by Prof. Carmelo Mesa
Lago, dean of Cuban economists on the subject. That includes more than 100,000
barrels of oil per day, half of which are re-exported and sold in Spain. Thirty
thousand others apparently go to PetroCaribe, originating a double corruption
of political support and illicit enrichment.
The
public source of this information is expert Pedro Mantellini, one of the great
connoisseurs of the topic of Venezuelan oil. He explained it in Miami, on María
Elvira Salazar’s program on CNN Latino. Caracas buys international influence
with oil but shares with its Cuban accomplices the management of those gifts.
The
trade in doctors and health givers. This business brings in $7.5 billion a
year. Specialist María Werlau has described this activity in the Miami Herald.
The
Cuban government leases its professionals and charges for their services. It
confiscates 95 percent of their salaries. Angola pays as much as $60,000 a year
for each medic. Not even the aid to Haiti escapes this scheme. The services
rendered in that devastated nation are paid to Havana — at a hefty price — by
international organizations.
Brazil,
which pays for medical services, is Cuba's latest grand partner in this dark
activity of international procurement. It is a practice known to Cuban slave
traders since the 19th century.
While
slavery lasted (until 1886), the masters used to lease their slaves when they
didn't need them. The most profitable aspect of the “Negroes-for-hire” business
were the poor girls the masters delivered to the brothels. The masters charged
for the services the girls provided. They were businessmen-pimps. Now, we're
dealing with a state-pimp.
Other
leases, other businesses. But that's not the end of the exploitation. The
Cuban government leases other professionals to private companies.
The
ancient Greeks referred to slaves as “talking tools.” I don't believe that Raúl
Castro knows the classics, but he does understand the latest meaning of that
expression.
There
are Latin American or Portuguese-speaking universities that lease from the
Havana government the services of good Cuban professors of mathematics or
physics at bargain prices. European and Latin American companies exploit
computer technicians trained on the island.
The
Castro regime knows that a well-trained Cuban is totally unproductive in Cuba,
given the demential entrepreneurial system on the island, but also knows that he
is a potential source of wealth once he's placed abroad. Objectively, that
government is a giant labor subcontracting agency that violates all the rules
of the International Labor Organization (ILO). It exists for that and profits
from it.
Remittances
from exiles. Emilio Morales, who fled from Cuba a relatively short time
ago and is a major expert on the subject, places that source of income (as of
2012) at a little more than $5 billion. Roughly half of it is sent in cash and
the rest in merchandise. The flow grows at the rate of 13 percent per year.
Every
time a rafter escapes, the regime outwardly whines about the loss but knows
that, after a while, dollars will flow toward the needy family that was left on
the island. In Cuba, the malcontent would have to be fed, even if merely
crumbs. Once in exile, he or she is a gratuitous source of income.
How
long can Castro sustain an almost totally unproductive society through
activities that border on, or incur directly, in crime? No one can tell. Pimps
usually live a long time.
fecha |
Título |
07/08/2022| |
|
03/06/2021| |
|
15/07/2020| |
|
28/05/2020| |
|
26/09/2019| |
|
01/07/2019| |
|
15/01/2019| |
|
01/01/2019| |
|
20/12/2018| |
|
14/09/2018| |
|
08/08/2018| |
|
27/07/2018| |
|
16/05/2018| |
|
11/12/2017| |
|
04/12/2017| |
|
25/09/2017| |
|
04/08/2017| |
|
15/07/2017| |
|
02/07/2017| |
|
26/06/2017| |
|
19/06/2017| |
|
28/05/2017| |
|
07/05/2017| |
|
30/04/2017| |
|
20/04/2017| |
|
19/03/2017| |
|
01/03/2017| |
|
27/02/2017| |
|
05/11/2016| |
|
01/10/2016| |
|
22/09/2016| |
|
06/09/2016| |
|
14/08/2016| |
|
04/08/2016| |
|
24/07/2016| |
|
05/06/2016| |
|
21/02/2016| |
|
18/02/2016| |
|
05/12/2015| |
|
30/11/2015| |
|
13/11/2015| |
|
21/10/2015| |
|
15/08/2015| |
|
14/06/2015| |
|
07/06/2015| |
|
30/04/2015| |
|
12/04/2015| |
|
23/03/2015| |
|
08/03/2015| |
|
10/02/2015| |
|
01/02/2015| |
|
20/01/2015| |
|
04/01/2015| |
|
23/12/2014| |
|
26/10/2014| |
|
14/10/2014| |
|
28/09/2014| |
|
21/09/2014| |
|
07/09/2014| |
|
31/08/2014| |
|
25/08/2014| |
|
28/07/2014| |
|
27/07/2014| |
|
15/07/2014| |
|
06/07/2014| |
|
28/06/2014| |
|
15/06/2014| |
|
25/05/2014| |
|
04/05/2014| |
|
28/04/2014| |
|
20/04/2014| |
|
23/03/2014| |
|
10/03/2014| |
|
02/03/2014| |
|
23/02/2014| |
|
16/02/2014| |
|
02/02/2014| |
|
12/01/2014| |
|
06/01/2014| |
|
23/12/2013| |
|
29/11/2013| |
|
10/11/2013| |
|
10/11/2013| |
|
03/11/2013| |
|
28/10/2013| |
|
06/10/2013| |
|
15/09/2013| |
|
08/09/2013| |
|
01/09/2013| |
|
18/08/2013| |
|
12/08/2013| |
|
28/07/2013| |
|
26/07/2013| |
|
21/07/2013| |
|
21/07/2013| |
|
01/07/2013| |
|
16/06/2013| |
|
02/06/2013| |
|
26/05/2013| |
|
18/05/2013| |
|
12/05/2013| |
|
05/05/2013| |
|
28/04/2013| |
|
21/04/2013| |
|
14/04/2013| |
|
25/03/2013| |
|
18/03/2013| |
|
06/03/2013| |
|
05/03/2013| |
|
03/03/2013| |
|
17/02/2013| |
|
11/02/2013| |
|
03/02/2013| |
|
27/01/2013| |
|
20/01/2013| |
|
13/01/2013| |
|
06/01/2013| |
|
25/12/2012| |
|
16/12/2012| |
|
09/12/2012| |
|
28/11/2012| |
|
17/11/2012| |
|
04/11/2012| |
|
28/10/2012| |
|
21/10/2012| |
|
09/09/2012| |
|
03/09/2012| |
|
26/08/2012| |
|
22/07/2012| |
|
15/07/2012| |
|
15/07/2012| |
|
15/07/2012| |
|
15/07/2012| |
|
08/07/2012| |
|
02/07/2012| |
|
24/06/2012| |
|
17/06/2012| |
|
10/06/2012| |
|
06/05/2012| |
|
30/04/2012| |
|
29/04/2012| |
|
15/04/2012| |
|
08/04/2012| |
|
04/04/2012| |
|
25/03/2012| |
|
11/03/2012| |
|
11/03/2012| |
|
06/03/2012| |
|
06/03/2012| |
|
04/03/2012| |
|
04/03/2012| |
|
27/02/2012| |
|
27/02/2012| |
|
27/02/2012| |
|
19/02/2012| |
|
19/02/2012| |
|
19/02/2012| |
|
06/11/2011| |
|
01/11/2011| |
|
30/10/2011| |
|
19/10/2011| |
|
16/10/2011| |
|
03/10/2011| |
|
03/10/2011| |
|
03/10/2011| |
|
25/09/2011| |
|
18/09/2011| |
|
14/09/2011| |
|
07/09/2011| |
|
07/09/2011| |
|
05/09/2011| |
|
05/09/2011| |
|
28/08/2011| |
|
28/08/2011| |
|
21/08/2011| |
|
21/08/2011| |
|
11/08/2011| |
|
07/08/2011| |
|
24/07/2011| |
|
17/07/2011| |
|
17/07/2011| |
|
03/07/2011| |
|
03/07/2011| |
|
29/06/2011| |
|
29/06/2011| |
|
26/06/2011| |
|
26/06/2011| |
|
12/06/2011| |
|
12/06/2011| |
|
06/06/2011| |
|
06/06/2011| |
|
05/06/2011| |
|
05/06/2011| |
|
02/06/2011| |
|
02/06/2011| |
|
25/05/2011| |
|
23/05/2011| |
|
23/05/2011| |
|
02/05/2011| |
|
02/05/2011| |
|
27/04/2011| |
|
27/04/2011| |
|
24/04/2011| |
|
24/04/2011| |
|
17/04/2011| |
|
10/04/2011| |
|
08/04/2011| |
|
27/03/2011| |
|
23/03/2011| |
|
20/03/2011| |
|
14/03/2011| |
|
11/03/2011| |
|
06/03/2011| |
|
27/02/2011| |
|
13/02/2011| |
|
08/02/2011| |
|
30/01/2011| |
|
23/01/2011| |
|
16/01/2011| |
|
11/01/2011| |
|
09/01/2011| |
|
02/01/2011| |
|
26/12/2010| |
|
18/12/2010| |
|
12/12/2010| |
|
05/12/2010| |
|
28/11/2010| |
|
22/11/2010| |
|
14/11/2010| |
|
10/11/2010| |
|
04/11/2010| |
|
17/10/2010| |
|
03/10/2010| |
|
26/09/2010| |
|
19/09/2010| |
|
17/09/2010| |
|
15/09/2010| |
|
31/08/2010| |
|
31/08/2010| |
|
31/08/2010| |
|
31/08/2010| |
|
16/08/2010| |
|
16/08/2010| |
|
02/08/2010| |
|
02/08/2010| |
|
26/07/2010| |
|
22/07/2010| |
|
11/07/2010| |
|
11/07/2010| |
|
30/06/2010| |
|
23/06/2010| |
|
17/06/2010| |
|
06/06/2010| |
|
30/05/2010| |
|
24/05/2010| |
|
19/05/2010| |
|
12/05/2010| |
|
02/05/2010| |
|
25/04/2010| |
|
03/04/2010| |
|
30/03/2010| |
|
24/03/2010| |
|
22/03/2010| |
|
16/03/2010| |
|
11/03/2010| |
|
01/03/2010| |
|
22/02/2010| |
|
09/02/2010| |
|
01/02/2010| |
|
26/01/2010| |
|
20/01/2010| |
|
29/12/2009| |
|
24/12/2009| |
|
23/12/2009| |
|
19/12/2009| |
|
10/12/2009| |
|
10/12/2009| |
|
03/12/2009| |
|
03/12/2009| |
|
01/12/2009| |
|
01/12/2009| |
|
26/11/2009| |
|
26/11/2009| |
|
11/11/2009| |
|
11/11/2009| |
|
12/10/2009| |
|
05/10/2009| |
|
25/09/2009| |
|
21/09/2009| |
|
15/09/2009| |
|
15/09/2009| |
|
09/09/2009| |
|
08/09/2009| |
|
31/08/2009| |
|
31/08/2009| |
|
19/08/2009| |
|
05/08/2009| |
|
05/08/2009| |
|
29/07/2009| |
|
29/07/2009| |
|
19/07/2009| |
|
19/07/2009| |
|
18/07/2009| |
|
18/07/2009| |
|
13/03/2009| |
|
13/03/2009| |
|
19/02/2009| |
|
28/12/2008| |
|
17/12/2008| |
|
03/12/2008| |
|
03/12/2008| |
|
18/09/2008| |
|
18/09/2008| |
|
28/07/2008| |
|
28/07/2008| |
|
21/03/2008| |
|
11/03/2008| |
|
22/01/2008| |
|
10/01/2008| |
|
02/01/2008| |
|
09/12/2007| |
|
18/11/2007| |
|
18/09/2007| |
|
19/08/2007| |
|
02/07/2007| |
|
26/06/2007| |
|
26/06/2007| |
|
02/05/2007| |
|
02/05/2007| |
|
27/04/2007| |
|
27/04/2007| |
|
25/04/2007| |
|
25/04/2007| |
|
27/03/2007| |
|
13/03/2007| |
|
01/02/2007| |
|
01/02/2007| |
|
10/01/2007| |
|
10/01/2007| |
|
27/12/2006| |
|
27/12/2006| |
|
22/11/2006| |
|
22/11/2006| |
|
20/11/2006| |
|
20/11/2006| |
|
31/10/2006| |
|
10/10/2006| |
|
01/09/2006| |
|
16/08/2006| |
|
09/08/2006| |
|
08/05/2006| |
|
05/05/2006| |
|
04/05/2006| |
|
03/05/2006| |
|
16/04/2006| |
|
12/04/2006| |
|
04/04/2006| |
|
10/03/2006| |
|
06/03/2006| |
|
19/02/2006| |
|
04/02/2006| |
|
26/01/2006| |
|
14/01/2006| |
|
10/01/2006| |
|
28/12/2005| |
|
21/12/2005| |
|
05/12/2005| |
|
11/10/2005| |
|
26/09/2005| |
|
26/09/2005| |
|
08/08/2005| |
|
01/08/2005| |
|
15/06/2005| |
|
27/04/2003| |
|