A new opposition leader has died in Cuba. The Castro regime is still making fun of the "Declaration of Human Rights".
(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
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Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello is one of Cuba's most famous opposition voices. She is an economist and has been an Amnesy prisoner. Imprisoned a number of times for his critical remarks by the regime. Roque writes exclusively for New Time.
Every Friday, some of the world's leading freedom of expression advocates write exclusively for the weekly magazine Ny Tid. Our Without Borders columnists: Parvin Ardalan (Iran) Irshad Manji (Canada), Nawal El-Saadawi (Egypt) Elena Milashina (Russia), Orzala Nemat (Afghanistan) Martha Roque (Cuba), Blessing Musariri (Zimbabwe) Tsering Woeser (Tibet) Malahat Nasibova (Azerbaijan) and Nyein San (Burma).
La Habana, Cuba. After man began to distribute labor, barter began: Every one was measured by his personal efforts and procurements, not even the head of the tribe could test them! Even the Human Rights Declaration, in Article 17.1, proclaims the fact that all people have the right to own things.
But if we ignore for a moment the history and the existence of international proclamations: Council of Ministers Directive number 292 / 11, which deals with "Regulations on transfers of property in the form of motorized vehicles", make fun of all this: Anything people in the world with access to read the directive will understand the absence of freedom that exists in Cuba.
The directive is an official example of state control over individual rights of Cuban citizens, while at the same time trying to create a false impression that the restricted rights are being "flexed". The directive also affects not only Cubans, but also foreigners residing in Cuba.
Moreover – and quite explicitly – in Chapter IV of the legislation, concerning "Transfer of property in the form of motorized vehicles due to the holder's permanent departure from the country", reflects the absence of freedom, primarily in relation to emigration.
Knowing the Article 13 of the Human Rights Declaration, which states that "Everyone has the right to leave any country including his own, and to return to his own country," in addition to Article 17.2, which states: arbitrarily deprived of his property ».
Property is confiscated
With the latter in mind: When a person makes a "permanent departure" from the country, a motorized vehicle in their possession is confiscated, with the support of the law.
The punishment for those who leave the country is that the relatives until the following year cannot dispose of the vehicle the emigrant leaves behind. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport is the owner of the vehicle.
And only the family has the right to claim the confiscated vehicle returned, but one branch of the family absurdly excludes another, which means, for example, a cousin must have the authority of the emigrant's cohabitant, children, parents, grandparents, siblings, uncles and aunts.
All in all: A sea of papers and documents from the Ministry of Transport. And not only that, because if the said ministry wants to refuse to hand over the vehicle – because they believe that the vehicle can serve the needs of the state or be of social benefit – they are in their full, legal right to do so.
As far as buying and selling is concerned, there is a value table that ranks the vehicles by type and age, and this may allow us to think that the authors of the directive wrote this mechanically or blindly because: Which Cuban alive today owns a truck, a passenger car, sports car, van, trailer, jeep or pickup that is newer than five years old, when the whole world knows that it is absolutely impossible to get something like this if you are not related to someone high up in the state hierarchy?
It is even unlikely that an ordinary Cuban owns anything that falls into the next category, the one for vehicles that are between five and 15 years old.
State victory
To truly twist (and even have!) The Cubans twice, a statement is required that certifies that the money paid for the purchase price is earned or legally obtained.
The victorious is the state, which beats two flies in a snap:
The state retains eight percent of the purchase price, 12 percent if there are two vehicles sold (before car purchases were allowed at all, the state got nothing, since the sale was under the table).
Certain unscrupulous people and the media talk about this "flexibility" as something positive, they make it seem as if freedom has been regained for the ordinary Cubans. Newspapers like the El Nuevo Herald (Miami-based tabloid newspaper with a lot of Cuba stuff) squeezed the lemon for juice, with messages like: "Now Cubans can finally buy a car."
The reality is a different one: Someone may not go to a dealer with regular Cuban pesos and buy a car, probably only those who are in convertible currency (for example, dollars, euros or convertible pesos) will only be achieved through assignments or contacts within the state.
The new directive is nothing more than a modification to the old directive that Carlos Lage Dávila, Fidél Castro's former right-hand man and vice-president, allowed to print in his day.
The requirements for properly completed sales are so many and so absurd. The Ministry of Transport's supplementary directive one to three under the resolution with number 400/2011, states that – if a vehicle is to be sold for convertible pesos – the Minister of Transport and Communications must sign the papers!
After all – with such huge amounts of restrictions – the poor government officials, who have to arrange all the paperwork for buying and selling, will be fiercely attacked by the corruption syndrome. And there's not going to be anything wrong with them anymore.
Written with former prisoner of conscience Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique.
Translated by Bård Kjøge Rønning
(This is an excerpt from Ny Tid's weekly magazine 28.10.2011. Read the whole thing by buying Ny Tid in newspaper retailers all over the country, or by subscribing to New Tid - click here. Subscribers receive previous editions free of charge as PDF.)
