Privatization in Cuba looks like cronyism: selling the state, sparing GAESA | Opinion

Cuba’s market reform

While reading the June 19 story, “Cuba to privatize state companies; opens banking and energy to foreign and private capital,” several things came to mind.

First, many of these sweeping reforms merely legalize what already existed de facto. Exchange houses, for example, have operated informally for years, even before the Ordering Task.

The most surprising measure is private corporate banking. In most countries, banking is tied to central banks and to the monetary tools that allow banks to manage daily operations. Cuba lacks many, if not all, of those instruments. Any bank operating on the island would also face serious sanctions.

The sale of state-company shares and assets should not be termed market reforms but, rather, crony reforms. The state is being put up for sale so that today’s oligarchs can become tomorrow’s owners, while GAESA remains untouched.

That is not liberalization. It is regime preservation through privatization.

Carlos Luis Martinez,

Silver Spring, MD

West Park thrives

In March 2005, I was elected as the first mayor of West Park, a municipality in Broward County. Following a vote for incorporation, West Park became Broward’s 31st city — a multicultural community carved from the previously unincorporated neighborhoods of Carver Ranches, Lake Forest, Miami Gardens and Utopia.

On March 10, 2005, I and four commissioners were sworn in as the city’s first elected leaders, united by a vision: “The city of positive progression.” Incorporation mattered because residents could finally have a say in the development of their neighborhood.

I’ve discovered there are three kinds of people in the world: rowboat people, sailboat people and steamboat people. Rowboat people need to be pushed along. Sailboat people move only when conditions are favorable. Steamboat people press forward through calm and stormy seas alike — masters of themselves and their fate. We chose to be steamboat people.

As West Park reaches its 21st anniversary, we celebrate with optimistic hope. It’s easy to get discouraged by the negative narratives. There is a better use of our energy than complaining about what is not. Together, we can do something better if we pool that energy.

Are we just surviving, or are we thriving?

We have within us an ability to thrive. Let us resolve to use where we have come from to get where we need to be.

Eric H. Jones, Jr.,

former mayor,

founder/senior pastor,

Koinonia Worship Center & Village,

West Park

Hooked on soccer

A heartfelt “Yes!” to World Cup soccer!

What a wonderful taste of “World Peace” we are all experiencing. Even if it’s temporary; even if we don’t understand the game.

Goal!

Marcia Braun,

Miami Springs

Healthy communities

The most important takeaway from the Health Foundation of South Florida’s June 16 Black Health Summit wasn’t simply the data — it was the reminder that we all have a role to play in changing it.

As keynote speaker Dr. Roger Mitchell highlighted, civic participation is a social driver of health. “If you don’t vote, you give up the power to decide,” he said. Silence isn’t neutral; it’s compliance.

More than 500 community leaders gathered to confront difficult truths. In Miami-Dade County last year, Black women were eight times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes. Across our region, Black men are up to three times more likely to die from hypertension.

These disparities are unacceptable and should concern everyone who cares about the health of our community. Progress requires informed, engaged communities willing to advocate for solutions, support one another and hold institutions accountable.

The future health of South Florida will not be determined by what we know, but by what we do next.

Barbara Fonte,

board chair,

Health Foundation of South Florida,

chief impact officer,

Jackson Health System,

Miami

Question defense ties

South Floridians must pay close attention to Section 219 of the drafted 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This sweeping provision, titled “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” goes far beyond standard foreign aid. It mandates a deep, unprecedented integration of the U.S. and Israeli defense industrial bases, intertwining our military systems in highly sensitive areas like artificial intelligence, cyber warfare and biotechnology.

By shifting this defense relationship from transparent, publicly voted foreign aid into opaque Pentagon procurement and joint-production channels, Section 219 effectively strips away crucial congressional oversight and public accountability. This unyielding legislative framework limits future diplomatic leverage and structurally ties American taxpayers to foreign military operations indefinitely.

I contacted U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez to express my strong opposition to this measure, but he remains a staunch supporter. As our representative on the House Armed Services Committee, Giménez owes South Floridians total transparency. We deserve to know why he is backing a policy that embeds a foreign military apparatus directly into our domestic defense infrastructure while bypassing democratic scrutiny. Our community expects accountability, not blank checks signed in the dark.

Eric Rizo,

Key Colony Beach

Second-rate deal

Given the U.S. agreement with Iran, “Operation Epic Fury” ought to be renamed Epic Failure.

Emilio de la Cal,

Coral Gables

Foreign aid’s role

I am a Florida youth advocate. During this week’s Alliance for American Leadership’s Soft Power Summer Hill Day, I will urge Congress to recommit to international assistance. Skeptics of foreign aid characterize it as irresponsible “charity” to other countries. This view diminishes the role strategic foreign aid plays in protecting American interests.

The U.S. spends less than 1% of its budget on foreign aid, a small investment with a big impact on protecting American businesses and containing deadly diseases. Ebola is spreading rapidly, having already claimed 223 lives abroad. Every day this virus proliferates is a day of increased risk to American lives. An American doctor has already been infected.

Moreover, the New World Screwworm outbreak is threatening American lives. The screwworm fly reached Texas after the Trump Administration dismantled a USAID program designed to monitor the spread of the disease in Central America.

Who can imagine what may happen to Florida’s agriculture if the disease spreads here?

By employing foreign assistance, we can protect American businesses and consumers. U.S. Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Giménez, and U.S. Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody should urge the Office of Management and Budget to use appropriated foreign aid funds to contain global health crises before they cause further harm.

Joseph Quesada,

Miami

In the wrong spot?

The Herald’s June 22 story, “’Long overdue’” — about the City of Coral Gables’ decision to begin charging for parking in the open lot at the Biltmore Hotel — contained a long list of who doesn’t pay for parking. Conspicuously absent from this list are people with handicap license plates. This is not the first time the Gables has allowed a city-leased parking lot to charge handicapped parkers.

Earlier this year, it did the same when it leased the city-owned parking lot on Aragon Avenue. When I asked city staff why they had not continued the exemption at the Aragon lot, I was told that nobody thought of including an exemption for handicapped parkers.

That clearly is not the case with the Biltmore, as all the city commission members had received an email from me complaining about their decision to charge handicapped parkers at the Aragon lot.

From their recent action on the Biltmore lot, one can only conclude that commissioners are more concerned about raising additional revenue than they are about integrating disabled people into the social life of the community.

Drew Fishel,

Coral Gables