Dictator Chavez in Cuba receiving treatment

From Fox News Latino:


Venezuela President Hugo Chávez is now battling bone metastasis from his pelvic cancer, according to a report by Spanish newspaper ABC. Citing an unnamed intelligence source, ABC's Washington correspondent Emil J. Blasco says there has been a recurrence and spread of the tumor, which was detected in a test performed on a trip to Havana just after the elections on October 7.

Blasco said the metastasis is causing Chavez “severe pain in the left femur and serious walking difficulties." He also says that Chavez passed out twice in August, losing consciousness briefly, and that doctors determined that his situation was deteriorating slowly but steadily.

Chavez last appeared publicly during a televised meeting on Nov. 15, prompting some critics to publicly wonder where he went after his election win.
During the electoral campaign, he repeatedly dismissed rumors that he had not been cured of his cancer, and vowed to serve out his six-year term.

The treatment that Chavez is said to be undergoing in Havana involves breathing pure oxygen while in a pressurized, sealed chamber. Its value is well-established for treating burns, carbon monoxide poisoning and some other medical conditions, and to aid wound healing and help repair bone and tissue damaged by radiation treatments.

However, the American Cancer Society says there is no evidence the treatment can cure cancer. And Blasco notes that if hyperbaric oxygen treatment were the case, Chavez could have stayed in Venezuela, since the country boasts of having the latest technology on this kind of equipment (his brother Adam presented a "next generation" of those chambers in 2009 as governor of Barinas state).
Also, a hyperbaric chamber is a portable device that could be installed in the special clinic Chavez has at his home in La Orchila.

The 58-year-old president first underwent cancer treatment in Cuba in June 2011 and suffered a relapse in February. He has since said he's recovered from the pelvic cancer and won re-election in October.

Throughout his previous chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Chavez kept many details of his illness secret, including the type of cancer and the precise location of the tumors.
Cuba's official newspaper Granma said that Chavez arrived on the island Tuesday at the break of dawn, "in order to continue medical treatment following as part of strengthening their health, which will include several sessions oxygenation hyperbaric."
There were no photos of his arrival in Havana or departure from Caracas, unlike other times he's made the trip.

Venezuelan officials did not say how long he will stay in Havana, though they said he would be back by Jan. 10, when he is being sworn in for a fourth term.


With additional reporting by The Associated Press.

Is General Raul Castro Willing to Gamble with Alan Gross?

Jaime Suchlicki*

		Is General Raul Castro Willing to Gamble with Alan Gross?
		Gen. Raúl Castro’s regime is considering a pardon for Alan Gross, the         American USAID subcontractor arrested in Cuba in December 2009  and sentenced to 15 years in jail for distributing computers to the Jewish         community in the island. This calculated olive branch to the just-reelected Obama administration has         two objectives. First, to obtain U.S. concessions in the area of travel by U.S. citizens to Cuba. Second, to obtain the release of four Cuban spies, serving sentences in U.S. jails for espionage activities on behalf of the Castro  government. Some within the Castro regime are arguing that the Obama administration will         be pushed to offer major concessions if Cuba frees Gross. The reasons: there is a pent-up demand for travel to Cuba; American tourists will bring much needed dollars; and Cuba’s efficient security apparatus could control American tourists, primarily interested in visiting Cuban beaches and less concerned about subverting the Communist regime. Most argue that American tourists will have little impact, other than economic. They point out that over the past several years hundreds of thousands of Canadian, Europeans and Latin American tourists have visited the island. There have been no major political changes. Money from tourists, furthermore, has been flowing into businesses owned by the Castro government and the Cuban military, thus strengthening state enterprises. The recent migration law enacted by Cuba that eases travel for Cubans to         visit the United States and other countries is also entering into Gen. Castro’s calculations. The liberalization of Cuban travel will put pressure on the Obama administration to allow Americans to travel to the island. From Cuba’s point of  view it is a win/win situation. More Cubans will travel abroad, many staying in  the host country or making their way to the U.S. More American tourists will travel to Cuba leaving their dollars in the island. What should the United States do? Any major policy concession to Cuba will be out of proportion to the release of an unjustly imprisoned American. Gross is a hostage being used by the Cuban government to exact change from the U.S. The history of U.S-Cuba relations has been characterized by Cuba’s daring actions  followed by major U.S. concessions (i.e. U.S.-Cuba migration accord allowing 20,000 Cubans to enter the United States following Mariel). The release of Gross should be seen as a humanitarian gesture requiring no         action on the part of the United States. When Raúl Castro is willing to offer irreversible concessions, the administration should respond in kind. Ping-pong  diplomacy worked with China. Tit for tat should with Cuba. _________________________________________________ **Previously published in The Miami Herald on November 26, 2012. _________________________________________________ *Jaime Suchlicki is Emilio Bacardi Moreau Distinguished Professor and Director, Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami. He is author of Cuba: From Columbus to Castro, now in its fifth edition   The CTP can be contacted at P.O. Box 248174, Coral Gables, Florida 33124-3010, Tel: 305-284-CUBA (2822), Fax: 305-284-4875, and by email at ctp.iccas@miami.edu. The CTP Website is accessible at http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu.

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Now even in commie Cuba.......TAXES

The dictatorship of Cuba has ransacked the island of everything the last 53 years and now the barren island can look forward to taxes!!!


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Most Cubans have not paid taxes for half a century, but that will change under a new code starting January 1.

The landmark regulations will change the relations of Cubans with their government and are a signal that market-oriented reforms, launched since President Raul Castro succeeded his brother, Fidel Castro, in 2008, are here to stay.

The recently published code constitutes the first comprehensive taxation in Cuba since the 1959 revolution abolished just about all taxes.

In the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country's main benefactor, the Cuban government imposed a few scattered taxes, but mostly preferred to maintain low wages so it could fund free social services.

The government's free market reforms introduced over the last two years, are designed to encourage small businesses, private farming and individual initiative, along with plans to pay state workers more. Under the new tax code the state hopes to get its share of the proceeds.

The government also envisions replacing subsidies for all with targeted welfare, meaning that the largely tax-free life under a paternalistic government is on its way out.

"This radically changes the state's relationship with the population and taxes become an irritating issue," said Domingo Amuchastegui, a former Cuban intelligence analyst who lives in Miami and writes often about Cuba.

The new code covers 19 taxes, including such things as inheritance, environment, sales, transportation and farm land, various license fees and three contributions, including social security.

A sliding scale income tax - from 15 percent for earnings of more than 10,000 pesos (about $400) annually, to 50 percent for earnings of over 50,000 pesos, (about $2,000) - adopted in 1994, remains in the new code for the self-employed, small businesses and farms, but it also includes a series of new deductions to stimulate their work.

Tax Deductions

For example, farmers may deduct up to 70 percent of income as costs, and small businessmen, who are taxed by income not profit, up to 40 percent, plus various fees and secondary taxes they pay.

 

A labor tax of 20 percent will gradually be reduced to 5 percent by 2017, and small businesses with five employees or less are exempt.

Eventually all workers will pay income taxes as well as a new 2 percent property tax, but both measures are suspended until "conditions permit" them to go into effect.

The government admits, with an average pay of about 450 pesos per month, or $19, many workers do not earn enough to make ends meet.

"They collect taxes for all these things around the world, it's normal," said Havana economist Isabel Fernandez.

"But here we face two problems. On the one hand we are not used to paying for anything and on the other our wages are so low we can't spare a single peso," she said.

Under the old system, large and small state-run companies, which accounted for more than 90 percent of economic activity, simply handed over all their revenues to the government, which then allocated resources to them.

The reforms call for large state-run businesses to be moved out of the ministries and become more autonomous.

Under the new tax system they will pay a 35 percent tax on their profits, but can take advantage of a myriad of deductions ranging from amortization and travel to sales taxes, insurance and environmental protection.

Many smaller businesses will become cooperatives or be privately leased and taxed based on income.

The state-owned Cuban National News Agency said Cuba had studied the tax systems of a number of other countries, including several with capitalist economies.

"The experiences of China, Vietnam, Venezuela, Brazil, Spain and Mexico were taken into account, but they were refined to the particularities and conditions of the island," the new agency said.

The new code is not etched in stone - it can be amended each year as part of the annual budget passed by the National Assembly, and temporarily modified for different reasons by the executive branch of government.

"Like the reforms, it is a work in progress, a work that has barely begun and will take time to put in place," said a Western businessman who has worked in Cuba for almost two decades.

But, he added, "this is of course a major step forward toward the 21st century and a modern state."

 

 

A la caza de los cotos de Estado de bienestar

Por Dr.Darsi Ferret

Miami,Florida. 20 de noviembre de 2012.

Corre la noticia de que los españoles intentan emigrar en gran número hacia Escandinavia. Al parecer, la situación económica de su país les parece tan desesperada que buscan escapar de ella.

Pero, ¿en realidad la situación de desbarajuste económico deEspaña es mucho peor que el de los helenos en Grecia, que llevan en crisis hace unos dos años ya? ¿Y por que no nos llegan noticias de una fuga en masa de griegos hacia los países nórdicos europeos? Además, ¿por qué los españoles que emigran eligen Escandinavia, y menos aun con la temporada invernal que justo ahora está llegando a países que la geografía ha dejado dentro del círculo polar?

Quizás lo que pueda explicar tal corrida sea el aun eficiente modelo de Sociedad de Bienestar y de beneficencia pública que disfrutan suecos,noruegos, daneses y finlandeses. Es posible que ningún peninsular mediterráneo se haya puesto a pensar porque siguen siendo eficientes estos servicios, que ya están en crisis como modelo estatista en casi todo el resto de EuropaOccidental, por unas razones muy elementales. Esas sociedades nórdicas, coníndices elevadísimos de impuestos, que como en Noruega alcanzan el 50% de los ingresos, son capaces de mantener un eficiente servicio estatal porque son unos pocos millones aunque altamente productivos y con una muy desarrolladaconciencia social que los aleja lo suficiente de un enfermizo clientelismo como el que padecen los españoles y otros europeos ahora envueltos en crisis en sus paises.

Y precisamente esa parece ser la meta de los españoles que intentan asentarse en esas frías tierras: volverse a colgar de un sistema deseguridad social que les haga la vida más fácil , subvencionados en lo necesario por un Estado benefactor.

El comportamiento de una parte significativa del pueblo español ante la adversidad que, sin dudas el gobierno socialista de Jose Luis RodriguezZapatero llevó hasta la debacle, no puede soslayar el hecho de que ellos los eligieron como gobernantes, en elecciones y por mayoría, y en buena medida se colgaron desenfadadamente de sus procedimientos clientelistas, no dándole mucha importancia a los males ya endémicos que se fueron incrementando en la nación, como la corrupción, la pérdida de productividad e innovación tecnológica competitiva y la carencia de una política fiscal seria y responsable con los gastos públicos. El duro batacazo de la realidad que trae no poder seguir viviendo por encima de lo que se produce a algunos los ha hecho entender que hay que apretar los dientes, capear el temporal y renunciar a intentar retornar a esa vida de Sociedad de Bienestar.

Pero para otros esa opción no es aceptable. Hay que preguntarse qué imaginaban ellos que haria el gobierno popular recién elegido en las urnas. ¿Acaso reponerles los incosteables beneficios que generaba un frágil y falso estado de bienestar estatista? Precisamente una dura e impopular tarea como la que le espera al gobierno de Rajoy implica desembarazar al Estado español de un excesivo funcionarado con inclinaciones marcadas al burocratismo ineficiente y a la corruptela, lo que significará a corto plazo más desempleados en la enorme cifra que ya resuena estridentemente entre las noticias internacionales.

Ese grupo de españoles que no aceptan el fin de la panacea son los primeros que se marchan a buscar otra parecida. De ahí esa fuga masiva hacia el norte europeo, a buscar cómo engancharse de esa teta estatal.

Mas el Estado de Bienestar aun no ha entrado en crisis en los países nórdicos debido a esas virtudes ya expuestas arriba: pocas personas, gran productividad de valores agregados per cápita y una alta consciencia civil y social, una mezcla delicada que se quebraría con una invasión masiva de españoles con unos estándares más bajos en lo que respecta a tales valores sociales norteños. El cierre de fronteras parece la opcion que le queda a los escandinavos en un lamentable futuro próximo. Y los españoles emigrantes o matan a la gallina de huevos de oro de Escandinavia o se quedan detenidos en sus fronteras por el expediente de una forzada ley nacionalista de defensa que, también a la larga, sacará de su sitio el tan cuidado Estado de Bienestar.

La nueva realidad globalizadora, también por obra directa, o como poco recomendable consecuencia, como sucede con esta espontanea emigración española, va a desmantelar el estatismo como tendencia que fortalece la intervencion y el asistencialismo del gobierno, en todas esas manifestaciones que excedan las prerrogativas para las cuales surgió como institución rectora. El fin de un artificial Estado de Bienestar mantenido por un Estado redistribuidor de la riqueza pública es una de sus primeras consecuencias irreversibles.

MSNBC's Matthews: 'I'm So Glad We Had That Storm Last Week'

Can you believe that someone would actually say this? He cares more about politics than people!


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