Fausta's Blog

First, the triple currency:
Carlos Eire posts on how Maduro Institutionalizes Cuban-Style Economic Chaos in Caracastan

The Venezuelan currency — the Bolivar — has now been assigned three different values by Maduro’s economic ministers.

The official name for this institutionalized chaos is “Sistema Complementario de Divisas (Sicad)”.

…

This new “Sicad” system in Caracastan is much more than an open display of the Castronoid obsessios with acronyms for destructive and repressive government programs: it’s an acknowledgment of the existence of a black market. Under “Sicad” the Bolivar will have three distinct exchange rates. Right now, depending on what kind of financial transaction one is making, the Bolivar will be worth 10 cents on a US Dollar, or 6.3 cents on a US Dollar, or 3 cents on a US Dollar. The lowest of these three values is the real value of the Bolivar, for that is the value pegged to the black market, which is euphemistically referred to as the “parallel” market.

The purpose is to obscure the devalued currency’s worth so no one knows its worth.

Spain’s ABC has much more (in Spanish) on the 3-card Monty; the also point out that Argentina’s got the official and the black market rates. Clarín (in Spanish) has more on Argentina’s double currency.

And the lifeline,
Venezuela gets a lifeline from the United States

One government, however, has chosen to toss Mr. Maduro a lifeline: the United States. Last week Secretary of State John F. Kerry took time to meet Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua on the sidelines of an Organization of American States meeting, then announced that the Obama administration would like to “find a new way forward” with the Maduro administration and “quickly move to the appointment of ambassadors.” Mr. Kerry even thanked Mr. Maduro for “taking steps toward this encounter” — words that the state-run media trumpeted.

What did Mr. Maduro do to earn this assistance from Mr. Kerry? Since Mr. Chávez’s death in March, the Venezuelan leader has repeatedly used the United States as a foil. He expelled two U.S. military attaches posted at the embassy in Caracas, claiming that they were trying to destabilize the country; he claimed the CIA was provoking violence in order to justify an invasion; and he called President Obama “the big boss of the devils.” A U.S. filmmaker, Timothy Tracy, was arrested and charged with plotting against the government — a ludicrous allegation that was backed with no evidence. Though Mr. Tracy was put on a plane to Miami on the day of the Kerry-Jaua encounter, Mr. Kerry agreed to the meeting before that gesture.

As I mentioned last week, the Tracy kidnapping worked.

Cuban dissident Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, was able to exchange greetings with Pope Francis yesterday at the end of a general audience held in St. Peter’s Square

Soler handed the pope two letters from the wives of political prisoners, according to the French news agency AFP. Soler later told the media that the pope had given her a blessing and asked her to continue her fight.

Carlos Eire points out that

It may seem like an insignificant encounter to some, but this is a big deal, and the rulers of the Castro Kingdom will gnash their teeth when they see this photo. The Cuban flag draped between the two figures in white will be a great irritant to the tyrants, because they refuse to accept the fact that Cuba belongs to all Cubans, not just to their slave-drivers and those slaves who agree to submit to the lash. .

So, even though this was a brief encounter, it delivers a potent message.

It’s definitely an improvement over the prior pope’s refusal to meet them while he was in Cuba.

Before heading to Cuba, during what may be his last cadena, Hugo Chávez named Nicolás Maduro as his successor – but, saying, “I do not surrender political power, I delegate it.”

Chávez is back in Cuba for health reasons: Carlos Eire posts,

The Spanish newspaper ABC, which claims to have access to inside information, reports today that Hugo Chavez has entered an irreversible decline. In sum, his recent television address could very well be his last one. Kissing a crucifix on camera was most probably his final farewell.

Among the details provided:

* The cancer has not only returned to the pelvic area, but has also spread to his bones. This means that Chavez is in constant pain and taking high doses of pain-killers and sedatives.

* The sudden departure of Chavez for Cuba on November 27 was precipitated by a sharp downturn in his health, which included intense stomach pains, vomiting of blood, and loss of consciousness.

* When Chavez arrived in Havana he was in critical condition.

* The hyperbaric chamber treatments were for lesions that were caused months ago by his radiation theraphy, which have not yet healed.

* The surgery being performed today may buy him some time, but cannot save his life.

* Chavez is being cared for by a team of Russian doctors, who rushed to Havana on a chartered jet.

* Chavez was warned by his doctors over a year ago that he needed to step down from office and undergo more extensive treatment, but refused to follow their advice. At one point, near the date of the Venezuelan election, plans were made to send him to Moscow, but he refused to go. His current condition is due to “months of neglect,” according to the Russian oncologists.

* It is highly unlikely that Chavez will recover, or even be able to assume office. On most days, he cannot even get out of bed.

Additionally, doctors ruled out a new round of chemotherapy because of Chávez’s weakened condition.

Readers of this blog may recall that Cuba had to import a Spanish gastroenterologist/oncologist for Fidel; now they import a Russian oncologist for Hugo. Makes you wonder what Michael Moore would have to say about that “excellent free Cuban healthcare.”

As I have mentioned innumerable times, Chavez’s rule was entirely predicated on consolidating power on himself. The consequences are dire:

The departure of Chavez for Cuba yesterday in what could well be a no return trip is sending Venezuela into a probable tail spin of political unrest.

Chavez’ renewed absence and the very likely possibility of a Presidential election in the first quarter of 2013, places all economic decisions on hold, including devaluation, gas price increase, foreign exchange system, Sitme, bond issuance and the like.

Caracas Chronicles may have the best analogy, though:

The Chávez era has been like putting a particularly noxious internet troll in charge of the country.

With the big difference that millions of people in an entire country are affected.

UPDATE,

Sean Penn @ prayer vigil for Hugo Chavez in Bolivia biendateao.com/2012/12/sean-p…

— Fausta (@Fausta) December 11, 2012

Neo-Neocon reviews one of my favorite books, Waiting for Snow in Havana,

So the book’s political emphasis is hardly unrelenting. But the shadow of Castro hangs over the entire story, and lends a somber seriousness. Eire’s childhood in Cuba doesn’t really represent an idyllic Paradise Lost; it was too complex and too troubled for that. But there is no question that Castro is the snake in whatever Eden did previously exist there.

I don’t know Eire’s present political persuasion, but like many refugees from Communist countries he is adamant about the soul- and mind- and economy-stifling effects of the rule of a leftist dictator (and his henchmen; Che figures in the book as well) bent on reorganizing a society with an iron hand for its citizens’ “own good.” Eire has many chilling passages about Castro’s Reign of Terror that leave a reader with no doubt as to how bad it was. Castro may not have been Stalin, but only because he had a smaller canvas to work on.

Read her review, buy the book.

It is amazing that Democrats can not wrap around their minds the undeniable fact that many Cubans would have fled both Batista and Castro:
Carlos Eire writes In Defense of Marco Rubio’s Story of His Family’s Exile

The truth is this: Marco Rubio’s parents left Cuba during the Batista dictatorship, hoping to someday return to a free and prosperous Cuba. Unfortunately, Fidel Castro proved far worse than his predecessor, so, after a relatively brief and tentative attempt to resettle in post-Batista Cuba, his family realized that their dream could not be fulfilled. Faced with the grim realities of Castrolandia, which they tested out first-hand, they decided to remain in the United States, never ceasing to yearn for their homeland, ever frustrated over the enslavement of their nation.

Any Cubans returning from the United States in the early 1960s, like the Rubio family, could not help but notice that life in Cuba had become intolerable for anyone who was not a die-hard communist. I know so many Cubans who left the island during Batista’s dictatorship that I cannot even count their number; every one of them who returned to post-Batista Cuba—save one of my relatives who was a communist and loved Fidel—found it necessary to flee to the United States once again after getting a taste of the Castroite totalitarian state. I have one cousin who lived in the United States before 1959 and returned to Cuba only to find himself thrown in prison for nearly twenty years, simply for opposing the Castro regime. Worse than that, his father was imprisoned and tortured too, just because he had a renegade son.

The fears that drove Marco Rubio’s parents to flee Castro’s Cuba, then, were very real—indeed, they were exactly the same fears that drove out others who had never before left their homeland. This is a point that the Washington Post reporters who “exposed” Rubio’s deceit failed to appreciate. Stressing that Marco Rubio’s parents had spent very little time in post-Batista Cuba, they insinuated that they really never experienced oppression on the island. But no one returning to Cuba in 1961 needed more than a day or two to experience the full crushing weight of repression. 1961 was the year when private property was abolished, bank accounts were seized, and the Bay of Pigs invasion lead to waves of politically-motivated arrests (including of my cousin and uncle). It was also the year when spy houses were set up on every city block, children began to be subjected to heavy-handed indoctrination in schools, and Cuban parents started sending their children by the tens of thousands to the United States, just so they could live in freedom, not knowing if they would ever see them again. (I was one of those 14,000 kids, and so was my brother.) In sum, no one could fail to notice what a hellhole Cuba had become in 1961, and how utterly dark its future seemed.

Go read the whole thing.

Billy Cameron, the Galway City councilman who proposed the monument to Che Guevara because Che was of Irish ancestry, insults a man who opposes the monument and says the man “should just butt out of Irish affairs”, even when the man’s Irish ancestry is so clear Eire is his last name?

Eir·e   [air-uh, ahy-ruh, air-ee, ahy-ree]
noun
1.
the Irish name of Ireland.
2.
a former name (1937–49) of the Republic of Ireland.

I kid you not,

Councilor Cameron indicated that Cuban-Americans such as Yale Professor Carlos Eire (who recently criticized the monument plan) should not become involved in Irish affairs.

‘I won’t be taking lectures from Cuban-Americans, who have their own agenda. I’m looking for a balanced debate. You won’t get balance from Cuban-Americans, or the Cuban-American lobby,’ said Councillor Cameron.

‘We live in an independent country. We fought long and hard for our independence, we’re not under the jurisdiction of the United States, and they should just butt out of Irish affairs, the Cuban-Americans,’ he added.

Or do only Irish Communists get respect?

As Babalu says, no tiene nombre.

Mary O’Grady:
The Pope’s Cuba Gamble
Ignoring those who have suffered for their faith may win some favor for the Church, but it risks alienating the island’s faithful.

As readers of this blog know, the Ladies in White have requested to meet with the Pope during his visit to Cuba,

Numerous other Christians on the island have made similar requests. From the U.S., Yale Prof. Carlos Eire wrote a powerful plea on behalf of the Ladies for National Review Online on March 5: “Like the Canaanite woman who cried out to Jesus, ‘Lord, help me!’ or the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’s robe in hope of a cure, they are reaching out, full of faith, begging against all odds. In an island where everyone has been turned into a beggar, they beg for the rarest and most precious gift of all: your presence.” Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega’s office told the Ladies in White that the pope’s schedule is too tight.

Some dissidents wonder whose side the cardinal is on. In recent years he was instrumental in helping the regime deport scores of political prisoners who had become a liability for the regime’s image. Though he recently offered a Mass for ailing Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez, Ms. Soler’s request for a Mass for deceased dissidents has gone unanswered.

The cardinal has said that the purpose of the trip is “a new evangelization” and of course spreading the gospel is the Lord’s work. But it is hard to see how converts will be won if the pope snubs the marginalized and schmoozes with the powerful.

On Thursday, 13 Christians holed up inside Our Lady of Charity of Cobre church in Havana to demand that the pope hear their grievances against the regime were forcibly removed by police, reportedly at the request of Cardinal Ortega. Then on Friday the Vatican announced that if Fidel Castro wants to meet, “the pope will be available.”

Mary concludes,

Unless he has something up his sleeve, the visit may turn out to be a gross miscalculation. Cubans know that they are hostages in their own country. If the pope is perceived as going along with this big lie, it will only heighten the sense of betrayal toward Cardinal Ortega and it will do nothing to strengthen the Church in Cuba.

Here is the text of Carlos Eire’s letter, which I posted a couple of weeks ago before the blog crashed,

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI 27 February 2012
Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City

Most Holy Father:

I’m writing to thank you for your upcoming visit to Cuba. It is very heartening to know that you will be visiting eleven million prisoners. After all, that whole island is a prison, and all of its inhabitants prisoners.

I write not only as a Cuban but as one of your flock and as a scholar. The professorship I hold here at Yale University – named after Yale’s first Catholic chaplain – is the chair in Catholic studies. Oddly enough, many at this very secular university think that I am your nuncio and in constant contact with you, simply because I hold the Catholic chair.

So, I am now finally doing what they think I often do, writing to you.

All of the imprisoned in Cuba need your visit, desperately. Your physical presence will do much to uplift their spirits, and give them a glimpse of the world beyond their salt-water prison walls, perhaps even a glimmer of The Kingdom of Heaven itself, especially when you celebrate the holy sacrifice of the Mass and Christ is made present among them.

You will have to meet with the tyrants, jailers, and executioners, of course. That is inevitable. Not much has changed since Our Lord said “See, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves,” The tyrants and their henchmen will probably attend Mass, as they did when your predecessor the Venerable John Paul II visited the island some years ago.

These men need you too, in their own twisted way. They hope your visit will lend them an aura of legitimacy, fatten their coffers, and fool the world into thinking that they are not tyrants after all.

Many of your predecessors have dealt with such men, under worse circumstances. We Cubans know that those will not be easy moments for you. But our prayers will accompany every step you take, and every handshake too. And we are confident that the Holy Spirit will help you deal with these wolves as Our Lord Jesus Christ advised nearly two thousand years ago, when he told his disciples to be “as cunning as serpents yet as innocent as doves.”

I have but one request: please meet with the Ladies in White while you are in Cuba. They have asked for this themselves, through your nuncio Monsignor Bruno Musaro, with whom they met a few weeks ago. Bless them with your presence, please, Most Holy Father. They are brave beyond belief; but, subjected as they are to constant physical and mental abuse, and to the constant threat of imprisonment or death, they are in dire need of your blessing.

As you well know, they are often attacked and beaten and prevented from attending church; sometimes they’ve even been attacked inside churches. They are living out the gospel, at a high cost, laying their lives down for their brethren. Like the Canaanite woman who cried out to Jesus, ‘Lord, help me!’ or the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’s robe in hope of a cure, they are reaching out, full of faith, begging against all odds. In an island where everyone has been turned into a beggar, they beg for the rarest and most precious gift of all: your presence.

And, oh, what a sight that would be for all the world to see! You and the Ladies in White together. What a jolt to the senses: an image so unexpected, it might restore sight to those blinded by hate, perhaps, or stem the flow of blood that has stained that beautiful prison island for far too long. It might even make demons flee, too.

Your power as Vicar of Christ is unique. You command the world’s attention. You serve as the world’s conscience. Your public acknowledgment of the Ladies in White could change the course of history. They pray for that; we all pray for it too, along with them. I, a beggar, driven from my homeland fifty years ago, join the bold Ladies in begging. We beg like the blind man who would not stop crying out to Jesus and yelled all the louder when told to shut up.

And we beg in the name of Jesus, hoping you will hear our voices above the din made by those who want us not to be seen or heard.

Humbly yours, in Christ,

Carlos M. N. Eire
T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies

My translation, which was sent to the Ladies in White for them to read in Spanish,
(more…)

Carlos Eire blogs at Babalu The Prophecies of Castrodamus, including this promise,

My beard means many different things for my country. When we have fulfilled all we have promised in terms of a good government, I will shave my beard.
—Fidel Castro, interview with CBS News, January 1959

(Mi barba significa muchas cosas para mi país. Cuando hayamos cumplido nuestra promesa de un buen gobierno, me afeitaré la barba).

Nostalgic for Cuba’s future

Yes, I also heard heavenly music from a distant past, reinterpreted in many ways. Some bands were better than others, but many of them seemed to love the same mystic refrain from the song “ El Bodeguero,” which I kept trying to decode: “ Toma chocolate, paga lo que debes.”

Drink chocolate, pay what you owe. It seemed an encoded message of sorts, a summation of the karmic debt that brought all of us Cuban exiles together in this extreme corner of Miami, so close to the Everglades, so far from our past.

Bodeguero. This word conjured up all that we lost. Bodegas were stores that sold all sorts of goods. They weren’t supermarkets: you had to ask the storekeeper, the bodeguero, for the items you needed. Most bodegas were on busy street corners. They had slow-moving ceiling fans and a radio or jukebox, and music was part of the ambiance. Some had bars, and all of them seemed to be owned and run by some neighbor.

The song “ El Bodeguero” celebrates the effervescence of that Cuba killed by the Castro mafia, a prosperous Cuba where goods were readily available in an atmosphere unlike any other in the world, where neighbors dealt with each other as kin, and mere buying and selling could turn into a party.

El bodeguero vailando va, the storekeeper dances as he goes,

y en la bodega se baila asi, and in the store we dance like this,

entre frijoles papa y aji. in between the peppers, potatoes, and beans.

Fidel confiscated all the bodegas, handed out ration books to everyone, turned off the music and also transformed the chocolate, peppers, potatoes, and beans into inaccessible luxuries for most Cubans.

I found no chocolate to drink at Cuba Nostalgia. But even if I’d found some, I’d have passed it up. I needed something stronger and colder, something that would steady my gait in this torrential confluence of past and present, which was overwhelming.

Babalu had Carlos’s extended article two weeks ago.

Wonderful writer, brilliant lecturer, and great guy Carlos Eire is going to be on PBS this weekend.

I had the pleasure and great honor to talk to Carlos on my podcast three years ago.

Watch the full episode. See more Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

Read the interview’s transcript here, and read his books,