Cuba's generational changeover (April 22, 2021)

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel was named Communist Party head this week, cementing the generational changeover of Cuba's leadership, as the country battles an intense economic crisis, reports the Miami Herald.  The move does not signal immediate political change, in fact, the theme of this year's meeting of the party was "continuity." But Castro's stepping down has strong symbolic significance: it will be the first time in 60 years that there isn't a Castro leading the country.

"The founding generation had a kind of iconic status," said William LeoGrande, professor of government at American University and an expert on Latin America. "Now, you have a new generation who were not the heroes of the triumph of the revolution. They’ve got to sort of prove their legitimacy by performance. And in Cuba, the performance is making the economy better." (Miami Herald)

The transition comes at what may be a tipping point for the island, according to the New York Times.

The issues discussed in the closed-door meeting also show some of the challenges to "continuity": The Congress passed a resolution yesterday that, among other things, denounced the effects of social media, which it claims is part of a “program of ideological and cultural influence deployed by the enemy” — the United States, reports the Miami Herald. During a speech opening the congress on Friday, Castro warned the "counterrevolution" lacked popular support or leadership but was adept at manipulating the web. (Reuters)

Díaz-Canel allowed Cubans to access the internet from their phones in 2018, and in their homes the following year — changes many feel helped fuel protests and demands for greater political freedom.

Social media has become a crucial space for protests against the government, for everything from gay rights to animal protection and the expansion of civil rights. Cuban dissidents accused authorities of keeping them offline and preventing them from leaving their homes during the party meeting. (Reuters and Miami Herald)

Human Trafficking

• Over 21,000 Venezuelan women and girls have been victims of human trafficking in the last six years in Trinidad and Tobago, according to official Caricom figures. Once recruited by criminal gangs―often through deceit to get them to accept their transfer to the island―, they are then subjected to conditions of slavery through physical and psychological violence. This journey of horror leads the victims to prolonged sexual exploitation, report Connectas and Armando Info.

Migration

• Cubans are the third-largest group of migrants waiting in Mexico to obtain asylum in the U.S., just ahead of Salvadorans, and after Guatemalans and Hondurans. Most are economic refugees. The dual shocks of renewed U.S. economic sanctions during the Trump administration and the Covid-19 pandemic have only worsened the crisis, writes William LeoGrande in the Conversation.

Covid-19 Impact

• Evidence suggests the pandemic has further widened inequalities and access to social goods in the Caribbean, according to a study by the Caribbean Policy Research Institute that analyzed Covid-19 impacts in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

• In the Caribbean, "governments have sought the assistance of partners such as the United States, China, India, Russia, and the African Union for help in acquiring vaccines, and all but Washington have responded with donations or agreements for vaccine purchase," notes Wazim Mowla in Real Clear World.

• As Cuba advances with its own vaccine developments, the jabs could form part of the country's strong tradition of medical diplomacy in the region and further afield, Javier Corrales said on the Americas Quarterly podcast.

Economics and Finance

• Covid-19 economic downturns will force several Caribbean countries to borrow from the IMF, as a last resort -- "for its part, the IMF policymakers should appreciate that small Caribbean states cannot be measured by the same yardstick as richer and larger nations," writes Sir Ronald Sanders.

• Guyana's government seeks to capitalize the country's newfound oil wealth to shift the country's foreign policy objectives to a more business friendly approach, according to Wazim Mowla in Oil Now. For instance, in February 2021, Guyana announced that it will establish two new embassies in the Middle East.

Regional Relations

• Dominican President Luis Abinader urged the international community not to leave the Dominican Republic alone in the face of insecurity and political instability in Haiti, immersed in a “Somalization” spiral, reports EFE.

Democratic Governance

• Haiti’s cash-strapped government is paying expensive lobbyists to help burnish President Jovenel Moïse's tarnished reputation in the U.S., where members of Congress are increasingly critical as Haitians call for the president to resign, reports the Miami Herald.

• Haiti's Catholic Church has waded into the country's political crisis, speaking out against violence after a high profile kidnapping at a Church captured seven Catholic clergy. A Mass held last week to protest violence and kidnappings ended with police teargassing participants (see last Friday's Latin America Daily Briefing), but some opposition politicians are hopeful the Church could play an influential role, reports AFP.

Climate Justice and Energy

• A new regional pact, the Escazú agreement, comes into force today for Latin America and the Caribbean. It is the first to require member nations to provide legal protections to environmental defenders, in one of the most dangerous places on earth for conservationists.The agreement also aims to make environmental regulation more responsive to communities facing harm. The accord has been signed by 24 of the region's 33 countries, so far, and formally ratified by 12. Nicaragua is among the dozen nations that have agreed to make it legally binding. (Reuters)
• In countries that have ratified, "the real work begins this week, when local environmental justice movements will start pushing for effective implementation," writes Vivek Maru in the Los Angeles Times.

• Rights advocates say the pact's success will depend on the commitment of governments and big business, reports Reuters.

• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development removed restrictions unique to Puerto Rico that had been limiting the island's ability to access certain recovery funds following the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017. The agency also unlocked access to $8.2 billion in Community Development Block Grant Mitigation funds, approved by Congress in 2018 to help the island build resiliency against future disasters, reports NBC.

• Environmental disasters are inherently social and political phenomena. The magnitude and severity of the damage from a disaster depend on the vulnerability that some social groups are exposed to, explains a report by Los Chavos de María on information management for social-environmental risks in Puerto Rico.

• Police have positively identified 11 out of 47 DNA samples of victims who were killed during the deadly Hurricane Dorian in September 2019, reports Eyewitness News.

• Guyana's government said it is exploring whether ExxonMobil is liable for its fourth and latest flash gas compressor malfunction. “If there are issues of non-performance that result in a loss of revenue and income to the State of Guyana and to the shareholders, then the appropriate penalty must be introduced," said Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo.
  

Drug Policy

• Marijuana is a complex and many-layered issue in Jamaica -- and a real social issue, writes Emma Lewis at Petchary's Blog.

Gender

• Masculinity and Fathering in Jamaica is a groundbreaking study by Patricia Anderson, that departs from the tradition of Caribbean family research in which the focus has usually been placed on women and on households and instead gives men the opportunity to speak for themselves -- Repeating Islands.
  

Histories

• In the earliest known CIA assassination plot against leaders of the Cuban revolution, high agency officials offered the pilot of a plane carrying Raul Castro from Prague to Havana “payment after successful completion of ten thousand dollars” to “incur risks in arranging accident” during the flight, according to formally TOP SECRET documents posted last week by the National Security Archive.

• In George Padmore’s Black Internationalism, Rodney Worrell explores Padmore’s use of the ideologies of Marxism and pan-Africanism as vehicles to liberate Africa and the Caribbean from the grip of European imperialism -- Repeating Islands.
  

Events

23 April

• Cereus Blooms at Night at 25 - Bocas Lit Fest
  

25 April

• The Big Idea: The Way Ahead - Bocas Lit Fest
  

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