24% of Cuba's population evacuated

{{{UPDATE 09/09/08--As Hurricane Ike made a second crossing, battering Cuba, the toll of evacuees rose to over 2.6 million people. That is nearly a quarter of the population that mobilized to secure locations.

It appears to have spared Havana major damage.

Nevertheless the devastation to housing, agriculture and infrastructure is vast.

Today the entire Cuban nation sympathizes with Tina Turner.}}}



In the face of Hurricane Ike, about 1.3 million Cubans and 10 thousand tourists have been evacuated to secure locations on the island. At this point, only 4 people have died.

Last week, Hurricane Gustav ravaged two provinces. During Gustav there were no deaths, despite millions of dollars in damage caused by the 100+ mph winds of the Category 4 cyclone.

There is something to be said about the social use of limited resources, a highly organized society, public control of airwaves, and the prioritization of saving human lives over every other goal.

Presently, Ike appears to be doing its damnedest to impact all fifteen provinces.

Much of the southern coast is flooded.

Ike is headed for Havana.

How to Achieve Zero Deaths in a Hurricane?

It is not a miracle that Cuba avoids that its citizens perish in the hurricanes that regularly pound the island. The entire nation is well organized with systematic routines for withstanding forces of nature.

First, there is the informative phase in which state media and neighborhood committees warn people of the approaching danger.

Second comes the cyclone alert stage in which civil defense teams and neighborhood committees organize specified evacuations of vulnerable populations, locals and tourists alike, to secure locations. These evacuations are obligatory.

Hurricanes destroy Cuba's infrastructure and economy. But take none of its citizens.

Retail Gas Price Raised in Response to World Price

While oil prices skyrocketed on the global market in recent years, state-run gasoline stations have not raised the retail price of gasoline since 2005. The state taking the loss represented a 36% subsidy of petroleum.

Today, the retail price has been raised.

It is probably not a coincidence that this move, which naturally must be highly unpopular, was rolled out as the populace is distracted by a category 4 hurricane attacking the entire length of the island.

Castro Mummified!

For those interested in US-Latin American relations, it is useful to study the rigorously-conceived party platforms of the Democrats and Republicans.

In their final platform, the Republicans have committed 374 words to Latin American affairs. The Democrats 241 words.

Since the Latin American policy sections of these platforms are so lengthy and complicated, I have provided brief summaries below.

Elefantes:

* God and buying stuff connects people.
* The war on drugs = the war on terror
* Fidel Castro is a mummy.
* Expanding freedom is based on free market principles (and occasional bank bailouts).
* The US appreciates Canada for its valuable trade (and being willing to take our friendly fire in Afghanistan).
* Mexico and Colombia are so awesome they are worth mentioning.
* The free trade agreement with Colombia is being obstructed only by Democrats and people that want to keep their jobs.
* Colombia deserves to buy our stuff since they have been so brave (in killing their union members and journalists).
* Hugo Chavez is a clown.
* We do Cuban people a favor by staying out of their island and giving them free teevee.
* Evo Morales is a neural net processing cyborg.
* Cuban immigrants are like aborted fetuses: they should be safe, legal, and rare.
* We want to continue our strictly long distance relationship with Latin Americans.


Burros:

* The 2008 Democrats proudly will use JFK's 47-year old strategy for dealing with Latin America.
* Diplomacy should be like gay marriage.
* The Americas should have more self-esteem than to be Anti-American.
* Mexico and Colombia are awesome. And so is Brazil!
* Cuba should be free and sovereign and follow our orders.
* If Cuba does as we say, we will formulate moves toward becoming prepared to consider taking steps to initiate talks on beginning preliminary relations with Cuba.
* Haiti is like so permanently screwed.

Here are the unabridged Latin America sections from the platforms, just so you can see that Im not making any of this up.


Strengthening Ties in the Americas
Faith and family, culture and commerce, are
enduring bonds among all the peoples of the
Americas. Republicans envision a western hemisphere
of sovereign nations with secure borders,
working together to advance liberty and mutually-beneficial
trade based on sound and proven free
enterprise principles. Our relations with our immediate
neighbors, Canada and Mexico, are grounded
on our shared values and common purpose, as well
as our steadily increasing trade. We pledge to continue
this close association and to advance mutually
beneficial trade agreements throughout Latin
America, promoting economic development and
social stability there while opening markets to our
goods and services. Our strong ties with Canada and
Mexico should not lead to a North American union
or a unified currency.
Two factors distort this hemispheric progress.
One is narco-terrorism, with its ability to destabilize
societies and corrupt the political process. In an
era of porous borders, the war on drugs and the
war on terror have become a single enterprise.
We salute our allies in the fight against this evil, especially
the people of Mexico and Colombia, who have
set an example for their neighbors. We support
approval of the free trade agreement with Colombia,
currently blocked by Capitol Hill Democrats and
their union boss supporters, as an overdue gesture of
solidarity for this courageous ally of the United
States.
The other malignant element in hemispheric
affairs is the anachronistic regime in Havana, a
mummified relic from the age of totalitarianism,
and its buffoonish imitators. We call on the nations
of Latin America and the Caribbean to join us in
laying the groundwork for a democratic Cuba.
Looking to the inevitable day of liberation, we
support restrictions on trade with, and travel to,
Cuba as a measure of solidarity with the political
prisoners and all the oppressed Cuban people.
We call for a dedicated platform for transmission
of Radio and Television Marti into Cuba and, to prepare
for the day when Cuba is free, we support the
work of the Commission for Assistance to a Free
Cuba. We affirm the principles of the Cuban
Adjustment Act of 1966, recognizing the rights of
Cubans fleeing Communist tyranny, and support
efforts to admit more of them through a safe, legal,
orderly process.

Recommit to an Alliance of the Americas
We recognize that the security and prosperity of the United States is fundamentally tied to the
future of the Americas. We believe that in the 21 st century, the U.S. must treat Latin America
and the Caribbean as full partners, just as our neighbors to the south should reject the bombast
of authoritarian bullies. Our relationship with Canada, our long-time ally, should be strengthened
and enhanced. An alliance of the Americas will only succeed if it is founded on the bedrock of
mutual respect and works to advance democracy, opportunity, and security from the bottom-
up. We must turn the page on the arrogance in Washington and the anti-Americanism across the
region that stands in the way of progress. We must work with close partners like Mexico,
Brazil, and Colombia on issues like ending the drug trade, fighting poverty and inequality, and
immigration. We must work with the Caribbean community to help restore stability and the rule
of law to Haiti, to improve the lives of its people, and to strengthen its democracy. And we must
build ties to the people of Cuba and help advance their liberty by allowing unlimited family visits
and remittances to the island, while presenting the Cuban regime with a clear choice: if it takes
significant steps toward democracy, beginning with the unconditional release of all political
prisoners, we will be prepared to take steps to begin normalizing relations.

Cuba A&M

"Majoring in farming."

To meet internal food security needs in the face of rising international grain prices, and in concert with proposed legislation to distribute fallow land, Cuba's universities are placing increased emphasis on training people in agricultural science and related technical fields.

Queuebanismo

If long bread lines are the derogatory stereotype of socialist societies, Cubans have made waiting in line an art form.

Queues are rarely physical files of humans; rather they are mental abstractions in which everyone knows behind whom they are positioned, no matter where they wait. You can be third in a line of twenty and sitting in the shade of a tree a block away.

The procedure for "formando cola" entails arriving at the bus stop/bank/social club and shouting an interrogative "¿último?" to find out who is last in line. When that person identifies themselves, you ask them whom they are behind. This is because people do not wait in their physical order, and if that person leaves the line you need to know behind whom you are then positioned.

This free form way of lining up lifts the weight of the wait for a lift, and is one of the many types of "lesser" freedoms that Cubans enjoy.

An infuriating wrinkle of this otherwise logical and flexible process for interminable waiting is that people physically present at the queue can be holding the place of multiple others who are basically waiting in absentia, around the block or even asleep in their homes. So if you arrive somewhere and see a short line of only 12 people, you could actually be 200th in line. Although that is an extreme example, it illustrates the concept and is not unheard of.

People sometimes offer to hold others' place in line for a small fee.

Even in Cuba, freedom isn't free.

Establishment Insiders Propose End of Statism

A former diplomat and regarded scholar, in collaboration with colleagues, has posted online a lengthy manifesto that calls for doing away with stifling state bureaucracy and unpopular antiquated restrictions as well as reforming the current political system to move towards more participatory democratic socialism.

While I normally shy away from posting on the explicitly political, this document makes mention of many obstacles that Cubans face in their day-to-day doings, many of which are the most voiced grievances of the day.

Cubans generally do not launch complaints against the entire socioeconomic and political system, but rather they focus on specific prohibitions and bureaucratic exigencies, deemed cumbersome and unnecessary, that inhibit the progress of socialism and dampen public enthusiasm.