De: "Robert Alonso" robertalonso1996@hotmail.com Fecha: Sab, 19 de Abril de 2003, 2:40 pm Para:

EL REENCUENTRO

Allá, al final de la cuadra repleta de casas apuntaladas con troncos roídos por el comején, estaba la casa de mis tíos en la ciudad cubana de Camagüey. Queda en una urbanización muy similar al Paraíso en Caracas, pero que parecía haber sobrevivido a un ataque nuclear. Una vez fue una zona de “gente bien”, como lo fueron mis tíos. En algún lugar del tiempo hubo un bello jardín a la entrada de una casa cuadrada, muy al estilo “perezjimenista”, con ventanas de macuto y todo. Como en Cuba hay mucha plaga de mosquitos, lo único nuevo que pude notar mientras entraba hacia la puerta, eran los mosquiteros.

En Cuba no hay “apagones”, sino “alumbrones”. En los hoteles de lujo jamás se va la luz, porque Fidel les pone plantas eléctricas como en el Centro Comercial Sambil de Caracas, y ellos generan su propia electricidad. Cuando llegué a casa de mis tíos me di cuenta que había un “alumbrón” porque en el cuarto que da a la derecha noté que un antiquísimo aparato de aire acondicionado estaba funcionando, pateando y haciendo más ruido que un Caterpilar. Los malditos yanquis hacen aires acondicionados que duran toda una “revolución”. Éste, al menos, tenía más de cuarenta años funcionando, entre “alumbrón” y “alumbrón”.

Toqué la puerta y salió una linda cubanita, chiquita, para el promedio de una familia en donde todos somos grandotes, linda y coqueta como ella sola. Por su corta edad y por intuición, pensé inmediatamente que era Laurita, mi prima más pequeña, la que lleva el nombre de mi fallecida madre. Lo era. Se me quedó mirando un corto instante que me pareció una eternidad y se lanzó en mis brazos. Gritó un par de cosas que hoy no recuerdo y llamó a su madre, Tía Carmelina.

Había llegado el primo “venezolano”... y tenía tres días para sentarse a oír. Ahora hablaríamos de todo y de más. Estaba en un hogar “revolucionario” venido a menos y caído en desgracia, como todos. En Cuba, Fidel implantó la igualdad más absoluta, todos eran pobres, al menos de espíritu lo eran. Incluso los “pinchos” lo son. Como toda regla tiene su excepción, Fidel la confirmaba. Más allá de Fidel no hay nada, incluso Raúl es pobre y tal vez hasta el propio Fidel lo sea. Solo Dios sabe qué hay en el corazón de los hombres.

De política no hablamos hasta la noche del día siguiente, cuando ya los niños estaban durmiendo. La política es algo que los niños no deben oír; menos, aún, cuando se espera alguna crítica al “sistema”: a Fidel. El cubano, como ya he dicho, no es muy dado a hablar de política, mayormente, porque en Cuba no existe la política... o todo es política. No existe una división que marque una frontera. Los niños aprenden a leer con la “C” de Castro, la “F” de Fidel y la “R” de la “Revolución”... es cosa de todos los días, por lo tanto no hay diferencia. En Venezuela uno se acostumbra al dinamismo de la política, en Cuba se vive la inercia de los 40 años que vienen con mucho desgano rodando desde la época de Batista. Batista y el “bloqueo”. De eso habla Fidel, no el cubano. El cubano se levanta para ver cuántos dólares consigue. Esa es Cuba. Los dólares se logran, en muchos casos, vendiendo la dignidad. Muchos “se acomodaron” y reciben dólares de sus familiares en Miami, que para mí pudiera ser tan indigno, tal vez, como “jinetear”. Uno se acostumbra al “qué-me-van-a-dar” y eso es indignamente indigno.

Luego de un par de horas intentando “politizar” aquella reunión familiar, mis primos se abrieron y comenzaron a criticar al régimen, pero en cosas que para mí no tenían importancia. Lo crítico, lo sustantivo, no se critica pues se da por supuesto. El cubano no sabe qué vale la pena criticar. La “Revolución” no es cosa de un día... ni de cinco décadas. El pueblo cubano debería imitar al judío “pentateuco” y hablar de generaciones. Dentro de 40 generaciones más, la “Revolución” proveerá al pueblo cubano con un servicio de luz normal y agua corriente y continua en sus grifos... si es que quitan el “bloqueo”, por supuesto. “Lo malo” es que la “Revolución” no dure – pudieran pensar los “revolucionarios” -- y regrese el capitalismo y con él los gringos de camisas floreadas y billeteras repletas de más dólares. Entonces se materializará aquel pensamiento de un cubano prosaico, cuyo nombre no me viene a la mente en estos momentos, que decía que la “Revolución” cubana pasará a la historia como el período que hubo entre capitalismo y capitalismo. ¡Vaya gracia!

Hurgando con gran esfuerzo en sus mentes “revolucionarias” los llevé a intercambiar preguntas sobre cómo veían el mundo político fuera de Cuba. No era una conversación amena y entusiasta, todo lo contrario. El desgano dibujaba el ambiente. Me hicieron unas cuantas preguntas, por no dejar, en relación a mi criterio sobre tal o más cual sistema. El común denominador era comparar lo malo con lo peor. Fue mi prima, la pequeña, quien disparó una que me puso a la defensiva cuando me preguntó qué pensaba de Augusto Pinochet. Para mí era un tema viejo. Ya lo había tocado en Venezuela con más de un afecto al “fidelismo”. Sabía que la conversación se entubaría entre un dictador malo, Pinochet, y otro muchísimo peor: Castro. Es como si no existiera un término medio u otra vía... otros líderes. No había interés en conversar sobre dirigentes contemporáneos quienes muchos beneficios lograron para sus pueblos, como Luis Muñoz Marín, por ejemplo, creador del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico (que es aceptado y deseado por más del 97% de los puertorriqueños); un José “Pepe” Figueres Ferrer, que tanto hizo por Costa Rica, y quien por cierto era de tendencias socialistas, abolió el ejército suplantándolo por la policía, hizo su muy particular revolución implantando en el país un eficiente sistema de seguridad social, nacionalizó los bancos y elevó los impuestos a la United Fruit Company --- sin pelearse con los norteamericanos --- enrumbando a su nación hacia el éxito o, sin ir muy lejos, un Rómulo Betancourt, tan criticado estos días, quien sacó adelante a Venezuela en tiempos tan difíciles como los que se vivieron durante la turbulenta década de los sesenta, luego de una prolongada dictadura derechista que sin duda – en términos generales -- atrasó al país y un desastre económico que dejó su populista predecesor, el Vicealmirante Wolfgang Larrazabal.

Mis primos estaban interesados en comparar a Castro con Pinochet, es decir: negro vs. blanco. Comencé dejando bien claro que no aprobaba ninguna dictadura: ni de derecha ni de izquierda. Puse sobre la mesa mi país ideal. Una nación con sólidas instituciones donde los distintos poderes se respeten mutuamente, con un Poder Judicial verdaderamente autónomo, justo y decente. Con un Parlamento representativo que defienda los derechos de las minorías tanto como los de las mayorías, sin corrupción, con justicia social y en donde se respeten todos y cada uno de los derechos fundamentales del hombre. No pude dejar de comentarles, sin embargo, que si me daban a escoger entre una dictadura derechista y una izquierdista --- si el asunto era o negro o blanco --- no dudaría un micro segundo escogiendo la primera. De una dictadura derechista el país tiene la opción de salir relativamente bien parado, como era el caso que a ellos les interesaba: Chile. De las dictaduras izquierdistas (comunistas, por decirlo más claramente) se sale con todas las tablas en la cabeza: Rusia, Polonia, Checoslovaquia, Rumania, Alemania Oriental, etc. No obstante, enfaticé en el hecho de repudiar cualquier tipo de dictadura en donde los ciudadanos pierden sus derechos (incluyendo a las dictaduras de derecha) y las bases institucionales nacionales retroceden siglos. A Pinochet, evidentemente se le pasó la mano... de eso no me cabe la más mínima duda. En su momento histórico --- y por un ratico --- cumplió el papel de sacar a Chile del más absoluto caos que ya navegaba hacia ese mismo “mar de felicidad” por el que Castro ha venido navegando con su isla a modo de tabla de “surfear” durante cuatro largas décadas. No dudé un segundo en dejar claro que en su momento aplaudí la gesta del ahora enjuiciado ex dictador sureño. Pero todo tiene su límite y como decimos en Venezuela, “bueno es cilantro (culantro), pero no tanto...”.

La conversación comenzó a ponerse incómoda. Los ojos de mi familia divagaban y se desató esa tos generalizada y seca que indica incomodidad. Supuse que ellos esperaban ver en mí a un “ultroso” de la derecha, pero rematé asegurándoles que justificar a Pinochet es un insulto y una bofetada para tantas madres, padres, hijos e hijas, hermanos y hermanas, abuelos y abuelas que perdieron a sus seres más queridos, así como un insulto y una bofetada es justificar a Castro. Ambos dictadores sembraron de llanto y sangre la noble tierra que mancillaron. Sería una infamia y un inmenso irrespeto hacia las viudas y huérfanos que han dejado ambos “procesos”. Cuánto no hubiera dado América por no haber tenido un Castro, un Pinochet... un Batista, un Allende.

Caracas, 18 de abril de 2003

Encuentro con “Paquito” y sus primos de Camagüey, Cuba

Extracto del libro de Robert Alonso

“REGRESANDO AL MAR DE LA FECILIDAD”

Robert Alonso robertalonso2003@cantv.net

Nota explicativa: “Paquito” es un cubano que luego de 40 años de ausencia, la mayoría de ellos viviendo en su exilio en Venezuela, decidió regresar a Cuba como “turista”. A su regreso, luego de 15 días en ese “mar de felicidad”, me contactó para que escribiera las experiencias vividas durante su corta visita a la tierra que lo vio nacer.

Downing Street strongly criticised the BBC yesterday after a radio report claimed that looters had left Iraqis more frightened than Saddam Hussein's regime. After weeks of private sniping at the corporation's war coverage, Tony Blair's aides decided to go public, saying that the BBC appeared quickly to have forgotten the brutalities of the past two decades. They singled out a report by Andrew Gilligan, who, in his dispatch from the capital, said that residents in Baghdad were living in greater fear than they had ever known.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said: "To lurch, as someone people appear to have done, into the idea that the situation in Baghdad is worse than before the coalition arrived is to try to rewrite history of one of the brutal regimes we have had in the 20th century. Try telling that to relatives of those people who were fed head first into shredders. Try telling that to the residents of Baghdad who saw someone beaten to death with their tongue cut out. I don't think even the Iraqi Information Minister would have justified that."

In the report on looting, broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Gilligan said: "People here may be free, but they are passing their first few days of freedom in more fear than they have ever known before, actually. I mean the old fear was, you know, habitual, low-level. This is a much greater fear, that their property is going to be invaded, their daughters will be raped and they will be killed." The BBC said: " Andrew has been in Baghdad since before the war started and has witnessed events there at firsthand. On Friday's Today programme he was drawing attention to the heightened fears of immediate violence that he now detects among the people of Baghdad he has been speaking to. Andrew reported the lawlessness that has developed on the streets of the city, including the beating to death of a young boy. Similar reports have been carried out by many other news organisations."

Frustration at BBC war reporting has been growing in Downing Street. Reporters had failed to reflect that, before the fall of Baghdad this week, most of their contact was with supporters of the regime and as a result they overestimated the resistance that coalition forces would face, advisers said.

<a href=cbs.marketwatch.com>CBS MarketWatch By Myra P. Saefong, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 3:52 PM ET April 15, 2003

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- A forced shutdown of an oil pipeline between Iraq and Syria, as well as the possibility that OPEC will decide to cut back output at a meeting next week, pulled crude futures back above $29 a barrel Tuesday for the first time in two weeks.   CBS MARKETWATCH TOP NEWS Basketful of earnings, data on tap next week Slimmer U.S. March deficit but FY03 could be record After buyout, analysts like Pfizer shares Gartner: Dell reclaims No. 1 PC spot Free! Sign up here to receive our Midday Market Report e-Newsletter!

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U.S. forces shut down a pipeline used for illegal oil shipments from Iraq to Syria on Tuesday -- a move that's "considered to be bullish for prices as this will keep oil off the market in the short term," said John Person, head financial analyst at Infinity Brokerage Services.

Iraq's oil output is under the control of U.N. sanctions and the Syrian pipeline was not part of allowable sales.

"Crude is extremely sensitive to any production cuts anywhere let alone when Donald Rumsfeld announces that the U.S. cut off the supplies to Syria," he said. It's "another tension builder [and] no one knows how it will be accepted in the Middle East."

The U.S. ratcheted up political pressure on Syria after Iraqi officials were detained near the border. Syria also has denied U.S. allegations that it has chemical weapons, a long-standing issue, and is providing safe harbor for Iraq's leadership. See America at War.

With that as a backdrop, crude for May delivery closed at $29.29 a barrel, up 66 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange -- its first close above $29 since April 1. It reached an intraday high at $29.50 a barrel earlier in the session.

OPEC also confirmed Tuesday that it will hold a special "consultative" meeting on April 24 in Vienna to discuss a possible production cut in response to a sharp drop in world oil prices.

"We don't foresee any adjustment to the official quotas, but do expect the cartel to embrace strict compliance as the way to avoid a glut," Tim Evans, senior analyst at IFR Pegasus in New York, said in an evening update.

OPEC could stop prices from falling further by improving compliance to its output limit of 24.5 million barrels per day, Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil was quoted as saying earlier this week.

"Despite a halt in Iraqi exports due to the war, prices have slumped by 30 percent in a month on a rising tide of exports from Saudi Arabia and other cartel members," Fimat USA analyst Michael Fitzpatrick told clients Tuesday.

Cartel members, excluding Iraq, have been producing at about 2 million barrels above their quota, according to industry estimates.

Last week, OPEC President Abdullah Hamad bin al-Attiyah said the oil market, on a global basis, is oversupplied by at least 2 million barrels per day and could potentially be oversupplied by a total of 4 million barrels per day once Iraq's oil production is resumed.

Right now, "commercial oil stocks worldwide are well below normal levels due to a series of supply interruptions from Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq and a particularly harsh winter," said Fitzpatrick.

But a monthly report released by the International Energy Agency last week pegged world oil production at 80.3 million barrels per day in March, well above its second-quarter demand forecast for an average of 76.4 million barrels per day.

Other countries in the picture

Even with the Iraqi situation "almost a memory," said Infinity's Person, the oil markets must "remember that instability in other areas of the world still exist such as Venezuela and Nigeria."

Todd Hultman, president of Dailyfutures.com, a commodity information provider, agreed. The market is still affected by a 700,000 barrel-per-day loss of Nigerian output because of the African country's civil unrest, as well as a loss of 500,000 barrels per day from Venezuela, which is slowly resuming its output following a labor strike, he said.

"Depending on how the next couple of months play out, we could see $24 July crude or $30 July crude," Hultman said.

Still, he noted that "even if supplies stay tight in the next month, the long-term view is that a peaceful Iraq will lead to a friendlier oil trade and lower crude oil prices."

Also, any demand in the U.S. and abroad will offset any increases in imports, said Infinity's Person. And the lack of a climb in the number of oil drilling rigs in the U.S. means that the nation will continue to be dependent on foreign imports, he said.

Tempering the gains

Despite oil's close back above $29, prices never rose more than $1 a barrel during Tuesday's session.

Offsetting the prospect of OPEC's next move and other supportive factors was news that there were no more fires at Iraqi oil wells and crude supplies in the U.S. are likely headed higher amid strong production from Saudi Arabia.

U.S. Brigadier General Vincent Brooks reportedly said Tuesday that there are no longer any burning oil wells in Iraq.

On Monday, Brooks said it will likely take at least a few weeks for production to resume because the oil fields in both the north and south need to be cleared of explosives, then must be repaired.

Some analysts have speculated that full production could actually be seriously delayed by needed upgrades to the oil infrastructure after years of neglect. See full story.

Oil traders are also wary of the overall state of supplies, which stand at a year-over-year deficit in the U.S.

Total crude inventories were 277.1 million barrels as of the week ended April 4 -- 16.2 percent below the year-ago level, according to the Energy Department. See the latest supply update.

Supply updates on tap

Updates on U.S. supplies are due out Wednesday morning from the Energy Department and American Petroleum Institute.

The Energy Department will likely report a 1 million- to 3 million-barrel increase in crude stocks in the week ended April 11, according to IFR Pegasus.

Analysts at Fimat USA expect a 2.5 million-barrel rise in crude stocks.

IFR Pegasus predicts that gasoline inventories ranged anywhere from unchanged to a rise of 1 million barrels, while distillate stocks ranged from unchanged to a decline of 1 million barrels in the latest week.

Fimat's looking for a rise of 1 million barrels of distillates and a 1.5 million-barrel climb for gasoline supplies.

Ahead of the supply data, May unleaded gasoline tacked on 0.97 cent to 85.88 cents a gallon and May heating oil closed at 77.26 cents a gallon, up 2.51 cents on Nymex.

According to AAA's daily fuel gauge report, the average U.S. price for gasoline at the pump stood at $1.595 a gallon as of early Tuesday, compared with $1.602 on Monday. A year ago, prices were at $1.418 a gallon.

Natural gas logs more gains

Also on Nymex Tuesday, the May natural-gas contract closed at $5.653 per million British thermal units, up 10.1 cents with many analysts calling for a decline in last week's domestic inventories. The contract gained 14.1 cents on Monday.

An update on natural-gas supplies is due Thursday morning. Fimat analysts are predicting a decline of 3 billion cubic feet for the week ended April 11. Market estimates range from a build of 10 billion to a draw of 40 billion cubic feet, Fimat said.

Total inventories were at 671 billion cubic feet as of the week ended April 4 -- 820 billion cubic feet lower than last year at this time and 529 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, according to the Energy Department.

In other Nymex dealings, gold futures closed modestly higher. The June contract added 60 cents to close at $325.50 an ounce. See Metals Stocks.

In equities dealings, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index ($OSX: news, chart, profile) was lower. See Energy Stocks.

And the Reuters/CRB Index -- a broad-based measure of the commodity futures market -- stood at 231.8, up 0.8 percent. Myra P. Saefong is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in San Francisco.

The Business Journal-South Florida Stephen Van Drake  

A former employee of Miami-based Banco Industrial de Venezuela (BIV Miami) can sue the bank for more than $1 million in legal fees and costs, the 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled April 9.

The three-judge panel's unanimous decision reversed Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Bernard S. Shapiro's dismissal of Esperanza de Saad's reimbursement suit after being found not guilty of 10 money laundering charges and one conspiracy charge. De Saad was arrested while working for BIV Miami, where she had a written employment contract.

Florida law allows employees, who successfully defend themselves in such criminal actions, to seek reimbursement for "actual and reasonable" legal defense costs.

Since BIV Miami was a foreign corporation, the bank alleged Florida law did not apply.

The 3rd DCA flatly rejected that argument, stating any foreign corporation registered and authorized to do business in Florida shall be treated the same as any other corporation.

The 3rd DCA reinstated de Saad's suit and allowed her lawyer, Joseph David Wentworth Beeler of Miami's Ferrell Schultz, to intervene as a co-plaintiff in the suit, since de Saad assigned her reimbursement claim to him.

Beeler claims more than $1 million in legal fees and expenses, public records show.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

In the run up to next week's April 23 meeting between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velaz, the tit-for-tat debate on each country's armies' links with paramilitaries/guerrillas has been heating up. 

Venezuela's Executive Vice President, Jose Vicente Rangel has been giving as good as he's been getting, accusing top Colombian military officers of supporting the Self-Defense Units of Colombia (AUC) . 

Colombian Foreign Minister, Carolina Banco replied sending a diplomatic note of protest to her Venezuelan counterpart, Roy Chaderton Matos, rejecting Rangel's declarations. 

The Colombian Military High Command has announced that it will study Rangel's allegations of presumed links between the Colombian army and the right-wing paramilitaries. 

Former Colombian military officers say they feel offended by the remarks and that it is public knowledge that President Hugo Chavez Frias sympathizes with left-wing Colombian guerrillas. 

Colombian Senator Enrique Gomez calls President Chavez Frias an "aspiring dictator, who should be brought before the United Nations (UN)  and Organization of American States (OAS) for promoting aggression against Colombia."

Jose Vicente Rangel insists that the Colombian Army has turned a blind eye to the presence of paramilitaries on its side of the border and wants the matter to be on the agenda when the two Presidents meet. "There are parts of the border where the paramilitaries are in full control." 

Two weeks ago, Colombian Armed Forces chief, General Jorge Enrique Mora accused the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) of using chemicals to cause more damage to government troops. 

In an obvious reference to accusations the USA has raised against Iraq and Syria, the Colombian Army is milking the international moment for all it is worth to spin the story that the Venezuelan government is fully supporting the guerrillas and secondly, the latter are using weapons of mass destruction, albeit on a minor scale. 

The AUC has been adding oil to the fire accusing the Venezuelan Army and Air Force (FAV) of joint exercises with FARC flying over Colombian territory and strafing border villages. It claims that overflights have been continuous in the last months ... "more than 600 guerrillas were transported from Arauca to Catatumbo in full combat against the AUC."

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