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Criticism on DACA-themed Grey's Anatomy episode

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Criticism on DACA-themed Grey's Anatomy episode

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Most episodes of makes me cry. In fact, I'm pretty much all over the emotional spectrum when it comes to this show. But last night's episode titled "Beautiful Dreamer" made me angry. As a writer that covers immigration, I was extremely curious to see how Grey's Anatomy would tackle immigration, specifically the Dreamers.

Define American, an organization that fights injustice and anti-immigrant hate through storytelling, was consulted on this episode which would add an authentic storyline. The episode centers around Dr. Sam Bello, an intern obsessed with Dr. Andrew Deluca. When Bello first joined the cast I was elated because I missed seeing a Latina on the show after actress Sara Ramirez left the show. Bello was funny, quirky, and a go-getter. I loved that her relationship with Deluca began to evolve, and surely would become one of the "it" couples on the show.

In this episode [spoiler alerts], we learn more about Bello after an immigration officer - otherwise known as an ICE official - came to the hospital to look for her. Bello's bosses - Meredith Grey and Miranda Bailey - both approach Bello to figure out why an immigration officer is requesting her. Bello tells them that she came to the U.S. as a 1-year-old from El Salvador. She tells them she's protected under her Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, and reassures them that she hasn't broken any laws. So her supervisors stall the officer by telling him that Bello is busy with a surgery.

More than ever, we need STORIES to humanize people and liberate them from the limits of partisan politics. Thank you for your leadership, @shondarhimes: https://t.co/k3p9UwG0SS @GreysABC @DefineAmerican

- Jose Antonio Vargas (@joseiswriting) April 13, 2018

Here's where I begin to get peeved. Bailey realizes that the ICE officer has some health issues and needs to be checked out. It begins as a way to stall him, but then it turns out that he's in danger of having a heart attack. Here we go...is what I'm thinking. Let's have some compassion for the ICE officer, is that where this is going? The only part about that story premise that I appreciated is when the officer begins to confide to Bailey. "I don't know why we're doing this," he says. He begins to unload about detaining children at school, taking in doctors, etc. Yes, detaining people for no fault of their own is idiotic so it's good to say that on primetime TV. But then before his surgery he goes on to say that he will have to call another officer to detain Bello.

So what did she do to make ICE come after her? She apparently ran a red light. That's it! But again, that's not the part that really made me angry.

Once word gets out that ICE is looking to deport Bello, they begin to offer her ideas of how to get out of it. She can marry Deluca! Yeah, marrying a U.S. citizen to secure status for a DACA beneficiary, that should work right? Wrong. Bello informs them that it's not as easy as it sounds. In fact, that's a huge misconception about gaining citizenship and some Dreamers are currently stuck in another country because of it. Then her boyfriend says "let's run away to Canada." But her supervisors advise, "don't run, don't become what they want you to be". And we all know what happens to people when they flee from ICE. Another friend suggests Bello escape, changes her name and her whole life. But Bello says to them that the idea of changing her whole identity after being in the top of her class, studying medicine, and becoming a freakin' doctor is absurd.

Then there's a solution: she's going to continue working as a doctor in Switzerland. Meredith got her a position to work in Switzerland, which is apparently allowed to do because it means she is continuing her studies. Which means she can remain a doctor but just in another country where her life won't be in danger. And so she goes. Just like that, she leaves her whole life because she ran a red light. Because her parents brought her to the U.S. to escape violence and death in their native country. That's the part that infuriated me.

I am so glad that one of my favorite shows took on the battle that Dreamers are facing in this country, but I also wish they would have shown more of the reality that they also endure. Not all Dreamers are doctors. Not all Dreamers have friends in high places. Some of them actually go back. They return to a country they don't know. They now live in a place where every day is uncertain, where they may be killed or even worse, experience unending torture.

I wish Dreamers like Bello were as accomplished - many of them are - but many them, however, don't have the luxury to have options. Many of them are taken away, separated from their families, and never heard from again. That is why I'm angry. Having said that, we do need more stories like this to be told. We need people everywhere to grasp what is happening in this country. Maybe then will there be an end.

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Grey's Anatomy DACA-Themed Episode Made Me So Angry

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Most episodes of makes me cry. In fact, I'm pretty much all over the emotional spectrum when it comes to this show. But last night's episode titled "Beautiful Dreamer" made me angry. As a writer that covers immigration, I was extremely curious to see how Grey's Anatomy would tackle immigration, specifically the Dreamers.

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Jane the Virgin and the "Me Too" movement

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Jane the Virgin and the "Me Too" movement

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SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched "Chapter Seventy-Five," the 11th episode of the fourth season of "Jane The Virgin"
"Jane The Virgin" is getting in on the conversation around #MeToo and #TimesUp.

In "Chapter Seventy-Five," Jane (Gina Rodriguez) revisits her grad school experience and with age, wisdom and reflection begins to see her relationship with her professor Jonathan Chavez (Adam Rodriguez) differently.

"I've always felt a big responsibility in terms of portraying sex, sexuality [and] choice in terms of who Jane is and who watches the show and what we want to put out in the world," series creator and showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman tells Variety. "[This story] came out of the sea change - the long needed sea change happening right now. Obviously we talk about it every day in the writers' room, and it makes you look back on everything - so many interactions. It's been so empowering on every level to watch so many people coming forward."

Urman and her team wanted to engage in the conversation, too, but in a way that felt natural for the world of the show they had set up.

The approach, therefore, was not to dive into a backstory of assault that had never been touched upon in a character's history before - or even to set up a new one in the present day timeline. Instead, Urman wanted to reflect on a story that was originally told with a romantic gaze and show another side.

"The events that we showed were perfectly fine, but what if there was more to the story that you didn't know?" Urman says. "So much of what you're realizing now is that there are patterns, and you're one of many, and people who transgress [do so] often usually. We wanted to figure out a way within Jane's world on how to engage with what's happening right now."

This led Jane to catch Chavez kiss a student and begin to wonder if preying on young, impressionable women is a pattern for him. While she once thought they shared a unique connection that made their relationship special - so much so that she almost lost her virginity to him - now questions of abuse of power emerge in her mind.

"We need to be looking at these power dynamics and talking about them," Urman says. "If you want to have a consensual relationship with someone that has more power than you, that's totally fine - that's a valid choice - but she felt like she didn't have all the information when she made that choice."

Urman admits that upon reflection, the story of Jane dropping Chavez as her advisor so she could pursue a romantic relationship with him stirred a feeling of discomfort among the writers - so much so that it inspired a return to it in order to present a more nuanced and full picture.

"We wanted to look at the gray area, so that Jane could be working it out," Urman says. "Even though it was fine [at the time], it doesn't feel as fine in retrospect. We wanted to see how this moment has changed the way people look at stories and the way Jane looks at something that happened post- the Me Too movement."

In the world of " Jane The Virgin," the university Chavez taught at did not have a policy about such relationships, which added to the complicated gray area of the situation. It was an area ripe with storytelling possibilities - including shedding a light on the fact that in today's climate, institutions need to look at and possibly revise their conduct policies.

It was also important for the show to give Jane a moment of speaking her peace, not only to Chavez but to the student she saw him kissing.
"Jane The Virgin" airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on the CW.
"We talked a lot about what Jane's responsibility would be in the situation," Urman says. "She felt a responsibility to talk to the other girl in the situation so that she would have the information necessary to make a choice. Because in retrospect, Jane thought she wasn't [as] special and what transgressed [with Chavez] made her feel icky. She wanted to wade into this grayer area and have some solidarity with the girl who came after her."

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'Jane The Virgin' Boss Breaks Down Revisiting the Jane-Chavez Relationship Through the 'Me Too' Lens

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SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched "Chapter Seventy-Five," the 11th episode of the fourth season of "Jane The Virgin" "Jane The Virgin" is getting in on the conversation around #MeToo and #TimesUp.

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Us versus Them. How neurophilosophy explains our divided politics

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Insights from brain science shed light on why we build barriers and scapegoat outsiders.

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One Day at a Time Netflix Series, positive latinx media portrayals

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One Day at a Time Netflix Series, positive latinx media portrayals

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The show is a remake of Norman Lear's hit show, "One Day At A Time," which ran from 1975 to 1984. The groundbreaking comedy featured a divorcée and her teen daughters, as well as the building's lovable super or handyman.

The show's modern 'reboot' has legendary actress Rita Moreno playing a feisty widowed grandmother, Lydia Rivera, and her daughter Penelope Alvarez, a veteran of Afghanistan struggling with PTSD and combat-related injuries and a marriage that unraveled mainly due to her husband's PTSD and related issues. She is grappling with work and parenthood as she raises two teenagers: Elena, played by Colombian-American actress Isabella Gomez and Alex, played by Marcel Ruiz, who is the grandson of famed Puerto Rican actor and artist Silverio Pérez.

The show has been praised for its details that so accurately portray its Cuban-American household, touches that will draw chuckles from those who grew up with them: the ever present cafetera (coffee pot) and the specific way the grandmother beats the sugar and coffee to make the morning drink, the ropa vieja (shredded beef) that Abuela takes to a sports outing in a tub of margarine.

These kinds of touches were important to the show's co-creator and showrunner, Gloria Calderón Kellett, who was tapped by Lear when they decided to make the remake with a Hispanic American family.

"I really didn't want to explain stuff, because as a Latina watching television when I was growing up, nothing was ever explained to me. I always had to figure it out," said Calderón Kellett in a previous interview with NBC News. "I didn't know what a bar mitzvah was until I saw it on TV and went to my Encyclopedia Britannica and I looked it up. People get it, and I think we have to give our audience a little bit of credit that they may be a little smarter than we think."

Calderón Kellet's perspective is something Machado finds pivotal to the success of the show.

"She fought for the specificity -she was on it. And, by the way, that's what we hear the most, is how relatable it [the show] is."

But amid the laughs and the cultural details, the show does not shy away from tacking issues of color, race and discrimination that will feel painfully familiar to many American families.

In Season Two, Alex tells his mom he got into a fight because he was told 'to go back to Mexico' and had a schoolmate chant, "Build the wall!," comments that he has been getting repeatedly. As the family discusses racial slurs, Moreno's character, Abuela, gets very emotional recalling being called a "spic" when she first immigrated from Cuba, a derogatory term used against Hispanics that for a younger generation doesn't bear the same weight.
RELATED: Meet the woman who gave 'One Day at a Time' its bicultural, Latino flavor
Yet the episode also addresses the fact that ethnic families have their own troubling issues with racism and colorism. Lydia, the grandmother, proudly states that "all Cubans are white;" she is admonished by her daughter, who points out Lydia's darker grandson. Machado praised the show for tackling this issue head on.

"We have different stories, we look different and it's important to put that out there," said Machado.

The show also tackles the topic of acceptance in different forms. Elena, the teen daughter, struggles with not being accepted by her father after coming out as a lesbian. Lydia struggles with renouncing her Cuban citizenship in order to become a U.S. citizen. Penelope struggles with balancing work, school and dating, her battle with PTSD and depression and a combat-related injury from her time in Afghanistan. Alex struggles with trying to have a secret relationship with his father, who doesn't accept his own sister.

Throughout the show, it's the open dialogue, along with the laughs and the family squabbles, that pulls the viewer in.

"That's what's so beautiful about this Alvarez family, they communicate so well. It's a family to aspire to be like, quite frankly," said Machado. "They have different opinions about different things, but at the end of the day, there's so much love, there's so much communication, and they let the person be who that person is."
RELATED: #NBCLatino20: Hollywood Hotshot Gloria Calderón Kellett
Like so many successful sitcoms, the story lines reassure the viewer that a family without struggles and dysfunction is not real. The wide array of topics discussed - from marriage to depression to work and parenthood - make it nearly impossible not to find a connection.

"It's all about representation," said Machado. "It's all about seeing yourself up there, hearing yourself up there, and knowing that you're not alone."

And the all-American show about a Latino family, including its two teens, is more and more a reflection of the country. According to 2016 figures from Pew Research Center, about a third of the U.S. Latino population is younger than 18 and about a quarter is under 33, making Latinos the youngest ethnic or racial group in the country.

The show comes at a time when the headlines surrounding Latinos revolve mainly around immigration and deportations amid a more polarized political climate. Though the show does tackle all of these issues, it ultimately strikes a different tone.

"Your struggle is my struggle - our show is uniting people, because it's a show about love, it's a show about respect, it's a show about compassion, it's a show about communication," said Machado. "And it's a universal story about family, told through the Latino lens. And I hope that it's helping to change the Latino narrative."
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The all-American family, through a Latino lens: Justina Machado reflects on 'One Day at a Time's' success

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The show is a remake of Norman Lear's hit show, "One Day At A Time," which ran from 1975 to 1984. The groundbreaking comedy featured a divorcée and her teen daughters, as well as the building's lovable super or handyman.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz accused of sexual misconduct, misogynistic behavior as of May 4th, 2018

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Interview with Junot Diaz on why his male characters are misogynists

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Interview with Junot Diaz on why his male characters are misogynists

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Diaz said he wrote the book, in part, to acknowledge the deep sexism that pervades our culture but frequently remains unaddressed. He admits that, by tackling the topic head-on, he risks writing a book that is perceived as sexist (or is sexist). But he quoted a favorite line from James Baldwin: "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." In this light, Diaz feels he has a moral obligation to reckon with male privilege. "I think the average guy thinks they're pro-woman, just because they think they're a nice guy and someone has told them that they're awesome," he said. "But the truth is far from it. Unless you are actively, consciously working against the gravitational pull of the culture, you will predictably, thematically, create these sort of fucked-up representations."

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This class has really struck home for me because in October, I will be marrying a man from Argentina and I've seen the ways family members reacted when I first told them I was marrying Luciano. My dad upon hearing his name: "I hope he's not latino," my aunt: "he better not cheat on you, list goes on and on. Seeing this firsthand is powerful and I have no idea how damaging experiencing this stuff would be.

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Then Vs. Now: TOP 5 Latino Stereotypes In Hollywood | mitú

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Jane the Virgin and defying/re-asserting stereotypes

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You don't have to be in Latin America long to realize that there's a cheating bonanza going on. Men are the main culprits, but women aren't entirely innocent either; many a personal trainer has laid pipe to a housewife while el señor was away at the office.

Don't believe me? Ask the New York Times. In a not-so-recent article, the newspaper reported that Latin American men are the second-most adulterous on the planet (after sub-Saharan Africans).

But why, you ask. Why do Latinos cheat more than, say, Caucasians?

Well I'm not Latino, but I have cheated and lived in Latin America so I'm going to take a stab at this one.

Latinos have a culture that's grounded quite solidly in "machismo." This trait, internalized by men and tolerated by women, reinforces traditional gender roles and drives men to flaunt their manliness whenever an opportunity presents itself. This includes doing things like fighting (there's a reason why boxing is so popular in Latin countries), cursing, drinking to excess and, of course, seducing beautiful women.

You see, that pesky movement known as "Feminism" didn't quite catch on here as well as it did in North America and Western Europe, so there's never been much doubt cast on the historical roles of men and women. And, although this is changing in the region, as many women get jobs and are able to support themselves, the need for a man to feel like a man is still very much alive.

In the West, a man's desire to exert his masculinity has been largely subdued by a hypersensitive cultural narrative and media machine that condemns traditionally male behaviour. Look no further than modern television sitcoms, where the women are strong and aggressive and the men are docile buffoons.

I think that North American men cheat less than Latinos not because they are inherently more loyal, but because they have been conditioned to be more afraid, both of their partner's wrath, and of societal backlash.

Let's take the time I cheated on a Latina. After a series of conversations, I was eventually forgiven by her, as well as her friends and family.

And the time I cheated on an American girl? I was ostracized by everyone who was even vaguely connected to the relationship, save for my own family and a few close pals.

Of course, neither reaction was appropriate; cheating shouldn't be met with such leniency nor with such obtuse exclusion. And, obviously, infidelity should not be used as a measure of manliness. I also don't mean to suggest that fear is the only thing keeping men in the United States from cheating. I'm only trying to guess why Latinos cheat more.

In my experience, Latinas have a much better understanding of why men cheat than American women. American women think that men cheat for the same reasons women cheat: because we felt a "connection" to someone else, or because we fell in love with someone else. Latin women adopt more of a "men are horny and that's what they do" stance. Latinas, for better or for worse, can more easily reconcile the differences between sex and love as they occur in a man's brain: which is that you can have sex with a woman without having an emotional connection, or without feeling anything for them at all, really. This means, for better or for worse, that women in Latin American countries have a higher tolerance for cheating because the implications aren't as catastrophic to them as they are to an American girl.

In machismo-driven cultures, men are constantly looking for ways to prove their masculinity. In a region where unemployment is high and many males workers are unskilled, there are few outlets for this aside from sport and sex.

Dating sites such as this one also throw gas on the fire.

All this, accompanied by the fact that Latinos generally have a more passionate approach to love and life, it should come as no surprise that men step outside of their relationships every once in a while.

Until next time,

Vance
Want More Information About Latin America? Check Out My City Guides Do you agree with this post? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

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You don't have to be in Latin America long to realize that there's a cheating bonanza going on. Men are the main culprits, but women aren't innocent either; many a personal trainer has laid pipe to a housewife while el señor was away at the office. Don't believe me?

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Afro-Latinos face many challenges when it comes to identity, particularly when people refuse to believe that being Black and Latino aren't mutually exclusive experiences.

The Latino identity denotes an ethnicity, which means that Latinos exist in every color and race imaginable -- and explaining the difference between race and ethnicity can be quite a cumbersome task to take on on a daily basis. And yet, many Afro-Latinos are often forced to do so after being told they're not "Latino enough" or being asked to choose between being Black and Latino.

While many Latino actors have been brutally honest about the limitations that come with working in a predominately white industry, Afro-Latino celebrities often face even tougher challenges in Hollywood and beyond.

Take a look at what Laz Alonso ("The Mysteries of Laura"), Tatyana Ali ("Fresh Prince of Bel-Air") and more famous Afro-Latinos have said about being Black and Latino.

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9 Famous Faces On The Struggles And Beauty Of Being Afro-Latino

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Afro-Latinos face many challenges when it comes to identity, particularly when people refuse to believe that being Black and Latino aren't mutually exclusive experiences. The Latino identity denotes an ethnicity, which means that Latinos exist in every color and race imaginable -- and explaining the difference between race and ethnicity can be quite a cumbersome task to take on on a daily basis.

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All you brands and people who want to succeed on Facebook should look at what the Facebook page of US Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) did this week. First off, set it up with a video for the ages (over 60,000 views in like 2 days) on the floor of Congress that got picked up by outlets such as TMZ and others.

Then follow up with some very clever Facebook memes that have gotten thousands of likes and shares in less than 48 hours. Rep. Gutierrez is becoming the Social Media Congressman, no? Here are the three images that are going viral on Facebook.

Bieber vs. Gomez: Pick out the immigrant. Over 1,000 likes and 560 shares so far.

Gerardo vs. Koppel. Over 570 likes and 290 shares so far.

But the best one is saved for last. Understanding that social media is a nerd's paradise, Gutierrez's page posted Olmos vs. Shatner. Jackpot. Over 1,000 likes and now at 1,599 shares.

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Congressman Luis Gutierrez's Immigration Memes Become Facebook Viral Hits

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All you brands and people who want to succeed on Facebook should look at what the Facebook page of US Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) did this week. First off, set it up with a video for the ages (over 60,000 views in like 2 days) on the floor of Congress that got picked up by outlets such as TMZ and others.

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My grandpa will, in the same breath, both applaud and condemn immigrants of latinx descent. He owns a business and almost exclusively hires undocumented immigrants solely because they are cheaper to employ and "work harder than any white or n_____." He frequently insults their intelligence, family status, and their tendency to send their earnings back to where they came from. He calls them lazy. And yet, because he can exploit them, he "loves them."

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Deportation/Repatriation from Hospitals, represented in Jane the Virgin

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Deportation/Repatriation from Hospitals, represented in Jane the Virgin

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Much like its Golden Globe-winning star, "Jane The Virgin" isn't afraid to speak out on controversial issues.

The CW dramedy returned from its midseason break this week. In Monday's episode, the show took a stand on a hot-button topic: immigration reform.
WARNING: The following contains plot spoilers, if you haven't watched "Chapter Ten," do not read further.
In December, "Jane The Virgin" left fans in disbelief after Petra's mother threw Alba, Jane's grandmother and Xiomara's mother, down the stairs. In Monday's midseason premiere, the series reveals that Alba, who is residing in the U.S. without papers, is in a coma and her legal status in the U.S. could prove problematic once again.

As Alba lays comatose, a doctor informs Xiomara that her mother will be deported after waking up because she is undocumented and has no health insurance.

"She doesn't have insurance and the hospital can't afford to absorb the cost of her care," the doctor tells Xiomara. "When the hurricane lifts, we will have to notify [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and they will deport her to Venezuela where she can continue to receive care if she needs it."

Shocked by the doctor's words, Xiomara yells back in disbelief, "That can't be legal!" In case any viewers thought the Alba plot twist was an exaggeration (after all, the series is adapted from a Venezuelan telenovela), the screen freezes at that moment and the following reminder appears:

Indeed, incidents like this do occur in real life.

A report published in 2012 by the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest documented 800 cases of so-called "medical repatriation" carried out or attempted by hospitals over the previous six years.

A 2009 Florida state court case was one of the first to test the legality of the practice. Luis Alberto Jiménez was an undocumented immigrant who suffered brain damage and was left in a wheelchair. After administrators privately arranged to send him back to Guatemala, Jiménez's guardian sued Martin Memorial Hospital in Stuart, Florida. The hospital had treated him for years, at a cost of $1.5 million.

The jury, which had no Hispanic members, eventually found in favor of the hospital. But Miami attorney John de Leon, who has represented people in similar cases, told The Huffington Post that the case nevertheless made hospitals wary of medical repatriation because "they're subject to liability in a way they weren't in the past."

De Leon said these repatriations have generally been carried out by hospitals rather than U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He added that ICE is now less likely to target undocumented immigrants in hospitals because of the Obama administration's recent directives to focus deportation proceedings on border incidents and on people with criminal records or prior immigration offenses.

"Obviously the U.S. government at any point could try to do that, but there would be so many procedural obstacles to moving forward on it that the U.S. government, as far as I know, is not taking those cases on anymore," de Leon said.

Ahead of the series' midseason premiere, actress Gina Rodriguez, who plays Jane, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about her thoughts on tackling the immigration issue within the show.

"I love the fact that we bring up immigration because it is an ever-present problem in our country," Rodriguez told the site. "Why anyone isn't allowed to be anywhere in our country, obviously it has to do with tax reasons [too], but that's crazy ... that's disappointing."

"Having an actress on our show, Diane Guerrero, who has spoken very openly about her situation with immigration and losing her family, I think it's important to have these social commentary episodes that you're not beating people over the head with it," the actress continued. "Nobody likes to be beat over the head with anything. And I really like the fact that they integrated something so valuable and so important in our daily lives."

"The beautiful opportunity we have on 'Jane the Virgin' is to discuss social commentary and issues in a manner that places no judgement," Rodriguez told HuffPost in an email. "It simply educates others on issues that may not arise in their area or community. The blessing on education is it creates tolerance. Why not use our art to inspire thought?"

"Immigration and immigration reform is something that we always knew we were going to touch on -- because it affects so many families in the Latino community, the community we're representing; it's something our country is grappling with, and it's something that we feel strongly about in our writer's room," said Jennie Snyder Urman, co-executive producer and showrunner for "Jane The Virgin. "We decided at the beginning of our season that Alba would be in this country illegally and discussed ways that this would be brought up and how it would affect our characters and their decisions. And then when we had Alba in the hospital, my writers discovered "Medical Repatriation" and it seemed like such a crazy and extreme, and yet possible thing ... The pause, and the hashtag advocating immigration action was in the script from the beginning (pitched and written in September/shot in October) and once Obama made his historic speech on Immigration, it became more timely."

"The response I've seen online has been largely positive, which I'm grateful about," Urman continued. "But the best response was when we had our table read, and the cast read that stage direction, and they all spontaneously cheered ... that was an awesome moment."

It seems fans were also quite happy with how the show went about addressing immigration reform:

I loved that #JaneTheVirgin took a stand on the last episode with immigration reform. Another reason why I adore this show!

- Georgina Blewett (@redbeanmilktea) January 21, 2015

Man that immigration reform bit in the newest episode of #JanetheVirgin was perfect!!!

- julianlytle (@julianlytle) January 21, 2015

#JaneTheVirgin going all in on immigration reform. Thank you for writing this story so beautifully @JaneWriters and @JennieUrman.

- Kate Forristall (@KateCForristall) January 20, 2015

H/T Remezcla
This story has been updated to include comment from Gina Rodriguez and Jennie Snyder Urman.

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'Jane The Virgin' Pauses Mid-Episode To Drive Home The Need For Immigration Reform

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Much like its Golden Globe-winning star, "Jane The Virgin" isn't afraid to speak out on controversial issues. The CW dramedy returned from its midseason break this week. In Monday's episode, the show took a stand on a hot-button topic: immigration reform. WARNING: The following contains plot spoilers, if you haven't watched "Chapter Ten," do not read further.

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Excerpt from "We Call Them Greasers" by Gloria Anzaldua

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Excerpt from "We Call Them Greasers" by Gloria Anzaldua

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"Oh, there were a few troublemakers who claimed we were the intruders. Some even had land grants and appealed to the courts. It was a laughing stock them not even knowing English. Still some refused to budge, even after we burned them out."

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HOW TO MAKE MEXICAN MENUDO SOUP RECIPE
Cuisine: Mexican
Author: Mely Martinez - México in my kitchen
Ingredients
For the broth:
3 pounds of clean tripe cut into small bite size pieces
1 cow’s feet It’s usually sold already cut up in pieces
1 pound narrow bones
4 large garlic cloves
1 medium onion cut into thick slices
1 ½ teaspoon salt to taste
2 teaspoons dry oregano
For the sauce:
6 guajillo peppers cleaned seeded, open flat, and deveined
1 teaspoon of freshly ground cumin optional
3 garlic cloves
For the garnishing:
1 Tbsp. Piquin peppers crushed to add when serving if you like hot food.
Lemons cut into wedges
Dry Mexican oregano
¾ cup white onion chopped
To be eaten with warm corn tortillas.
Instructions
Simmer the cow feet and marrow bones in a large pot with 6 quarts of water, 5 garlic cloves and an onion for about 15 minutes at medium heat without covering. During this time, skim off the foam that forms. Add the tripe and oregano and cook for about 2 – 2 ½ hours approximately until tripe is tender but firm (make sure you do not overcook). You could also use a crock pot and set it in low for 6 hrs.
Remove the cow feet and marrow bones from the pot. Skim the fat that forms on top of the broth. Once the Cow foot cools a little, remove the bones and chop the meaty parts of to be returned to the pot.
While the meat is cooking, prepare the guajillo sauce. Toast the Guajillo peppers in a griddle over medium heat. Press them down with a spatula slightly toasting them without burning them.
Place the roasted peppers in a bowl and cover with water. Let them soak for about 25 minutes until soft. After that, drain the peppers and place them in your blender with the rest of the garlic, ½ cup of the broth, and cumin if using. Blend until very smooth. Strain the sauce using a sieve and pour into the pot. Simmer the broth for another 30 minutes, partially covered. Taste to season with more salt if needed.

Serve the soup in large bowls and place the garnishes in a dish in order for everyone to add to their liking. Do not forget warm corn tortillas to soak in the broth.
Recipe Notes
Some people add Hominy to the soup. If you can buy Hominy in a can, drain it and add it to the soup in the final simmering.

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Leading facts and statistics on the demographics of domestic violence victims and abusers.

January 07, 2015

By domesticshelters.org

Infographic

Click to view and share

The likelihood of domestic violence varies widely depending on gender, race, education and income, as well as a series of psychographic characteristics such as sexual preference, substance abuse, history of family violence, and history of criminal activity.

85% of domestic violence victims are women. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, February 2003.

Approximately 4 out of every 10 non-Hispanic Black women (43.7%), 4 out of every 10 American Indian or Alaska Native women (46.0%), and 1 in 2 multiracial non-Hispanic women (53.8%) have been the victim of rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. These rates are 30%-50% higher than those experienced by Hispanic, White non-Hispanic women and Asian or Pacific non-Hispanic women. Source: National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 2010 Summary Report. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Atlanta, GA, and Control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Nearly half (45.3%) of American Indian or Alaska Native men and almost 4 out of every 10 Black and multiracial non-Hispanic men (38.6% and 39.3%, respectively) in the U.S. reported experiencing rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime. These rates are nearly twice the rate experienced by Hispanic and White non-Hispanic men. Source: National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 2010 Summary Report. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Atlanta, GA, and Control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The higher prevalence of intimate partner violence among ethnic minorities cannot be explained by any single factor, but seems to be related to risk factors such as substance abuse, unemployment, education, cohabitation of unmarried partners, pregnancy, income. Source: Raul Caetano, M.D., Ph.D.; John Schafer, Ph.D.; and Carol B. Cunradi, M.P.H., Ph.D., "Alcohol-Related Intimate Partner Violence Among White, Black, and Hispanic Couples in the United States." National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Acoholism.

Most studies agree the majority of domestic violence perpetrators that come to the attention of criminal justice or court authorities have a prior criminal history for a variety of nonviolent and violent offenses against males as well as females, and of a domestic or nondomestic nature. Source: Practical Implications fo Current Domestic Violence Research: For Law Enforcement, Prosecutors and Judges, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institutes of Justice. June, 2009.

The most common age when intimate partner violence is first experienced by women is age 18-24 (38.6%), followed by age 11-17 (22.4%), age 35-44 (6.8%) and age 45+ (2.5%). For men the most common age is age 18-24 (47.1%), followed by age 25-34 (30.6%), age 11-17 (15.0%), age 35-44 (10.3%) and age 45+ (5.5%). Source: National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 2010 Summary Report. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Atlanta, GA, and Control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

44% of percent of lesbian women and 61% of bisexual women - compared to 35% of heterosexual women - experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Source: National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 2010 Summary Report. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Atlanta, GA, and Control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

26% percent of gay men and 37% of bisexual men - compared to 29% of heterosexual men - experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime. Source: National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 2010 Summary Report. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Atlanta, GA, and Control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Leading facts and statistics on the demographics of domestic violence victims and abusers. January 07, 2015 By domesticshelters.org Click to view and share The likelihood of domestic violence varies widely depending on gender, race, education and income, as well as a series of psychographic characteristics such as sexual preference, substance abuse, history of family violence, and history of criminal activity.

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Barriers preventing Mexican immigrants from becoming naturalized in the US

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Barriers preventing Mexican immigrants from becoming naturalized in the US

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Pew Research Center's Hispanic Trends Project

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Among Mexicans, desire is high, but about half cite language, cost barriers

The overall percentage of lawful immigrants to the United States choosing to apply for and gaining citizenship is at its highest level in more than two decades. Yet in terms of naturalization rate, Mexicans - the single largest group of lawful immigrants by country of origin - lag well behind green-card holders eligible to apply from other parts of the globe.

Based on Pew Research Center estimates using the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data available, two-thirds (67%) of lawful immigrants eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship had applied for and obtained citizenship by 2015. This is the highest share since at least the mid-1990s. But among Mexican lawful immigrants eligible to apply, only 42% had applied for and obtained U.S. citizenship by 2015, a rate little changed since 2005 and one of the lowest among all immigrant groups when it comes to country of origin.

Naturalization rate

The number of naturalized immigrants divided by the number of naturalized immigrants plus the number of lawful immigrants who are eligible to apply for naturalization in a given year.

As part of a larger survey of Hispanic immigrants fielded in late 2015, Pew Research Center asked Mexican green-card holders why they had not yet become naturalized U.S. citizens. The most frequent reasons centered on inadequate English skills, lack of time or initiative, and the cost of the U.S. citizenship application. These appear to be significant barriers, as nearly all lawful immigrants from Mexico said they would like to become U.S. citizens someday.

Overall, 11.9 million of the nation's 45 million immigrants in 2015 held lawful permanent residence (LPR) status - that is, they held "green cards," according to Pew Research Center estimates. Of this number, most (9.3 million) had met the eligibility requirements - including length of residence - to apply for U.S. citizenship in 2015. Mexicans made up 37% of this group and constituted the single largest group of green-card holders without U.S. citizenship by country of origin.

In the United States, the citizenship, or naturalization, rate among all lawful immigrants steadily increased from 1995 to 2005, rising from 47% to 62%. Until about 2005, the naturalization rate among lawful immigrants from Mexico also increased steadily, but did so more rapidly (from 20% in 1995 to 38% in 2005), narrowing the gap between Mexicans and other immigrants. However, between 2005 and 2010, the naturalization rate of Mexican green-card holders leveled off, even as the rate for lawful permanent residents from other parts of the globe continued to rise. Only in the period from 2011 to 2015 did the rate of naturalization among eligible Mexican immigrants significantly increase again at a pace higher than that of other lawful U.S. immigrants - going from 38% to 42% among Mexicans, compared with a 2-percentage-point increase, from 72% to 74% among non-Mexican immigrants.

As of 2015, the naturalization rate for lawful Mexican immigrants trailed that of green-card holders from the Middle East by 42 percentage points (42% vs. 83%), and was 33 points behind green-card holders from Africa, 74% of whom had naturalized by 2015. Middle Eastern immigrants had the highest naturalization rate among all immigrant origin groups, while African immigrants saw the highest increase in naturalization rate in the last decade.

Early signs are that 2017 could see an increase in the rate of naturalization of lawful permanent residents. According to the latest figures released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration Services, there were 525,000 naturalization applications submitted during the first half of fiscal year 2017, which started Oct. 1. That number is up 21% from the 435,000 applications submitted in the same period of 2016, which already had seen a spike on naturalization applications compared with previous years. The total applications for fiscal 2016 were up by 24% compared with 2015, and represented the highest number of applications for naturalization since 2008. Meanwhile, the number of lawful permanent residents admitted since 2010, many of whom would have recently become eligible to apply for citizenship, has stabilized at around 1 million per year since 2010.

Even so, the volume of citizenship applications in 2017 and 2016 still pales in comparison to the record levels seen in 1997 (1.41 million applications) and 2007 (1.38 million).These spikes were triggered in large part by congressional legislation passed a decade earlier that provided a path to lawful permanent residence and eventual citizenship for many unauthorized immigrants. The spike in 2007 occurred ahead of an increase in the citizenship application fee for adults, which rose from $330 to $595 on July 30, 2007.

Some have posited that fiscal 2016's growth in applications and the more recent spike during the first quarter of fiscal 2017 (right after the election) are attributable to anti-immigrant rhetoric associated with 2016 U.S. presidential election. There is also evidence that some organizations worked to help lawful immigrants submit naturalization applications during the campaign. But at least some immigrants may have applied to avoid a further $45 increase in the citizenship application fee that was scheduled to go into effect Dec. 23, 2016. That increase, which raised the total application fee to $640 per adult, was officially announced in May 2016.

Naturalization rates among Mexican and other Latino immigrants

In 2015, half (52%) of all Latino lawful immigrants (mainly originating from Mexico, as well as Central and South America) eligible to become U.S. citizens had in fact naturalized. Among this group, Mexicans had a naturalization rate of 42%, compared with 64% among lawful immigrants from other countries in Latin America.

In its 2015 survey of Latino immigrants, Pew Research Center found that among lawful Mexican immigrants and other Latino immigrants, the desire to become U.S. citizens was high. Nearly all (98%) Mexican lawful immigrants and 94% of other lawful Latino immigrants said they would naturalize if they could.

The survey also found that about two-thirds (67%) of Mexican lawful permanent residents said they had investigated the citizenship application process, compared with 80% of non-Mexican Latino lawful permanent residents. And a large majority of Mexican and other Latino lawful permanent residents (70% and 66% respectively) said they planned to stay in the U.S. and not return to their home country later in life, one reason some of them might seek U.S. citizenship.

Despite their wish to naturalize, many Latino lawful immigrants were not familiar with details of the process. Just 16% of Mexican and 21% of other Latino lawful immigrants correctly answered that two tests are part of the U.S. naturalization process.

It is not only Latino lawful permanent resident immigrants who want to become U.S. citizens: In the 2015 survey, Latino immigrants who did not have a green card and were not eligible to naturalize (a group likely in the country without authorization) also wanted to become U.S. citizens. According to the survey, fully 91% in this group said they would naturalize if they could, and about one-third (32%) had done some research into the steps needed to become a U.S. citizen, though only 5% knew they need to take two tests to naturalize.

Mexican and non-Mexican Latino lawful immigrants face somewhat similar barriers to citizenship

Asked why they hadn't yet naturalized, the Center's 2015 survey found that 35% of Mexican and 23% of other Latino immigrants with green cards identified personal barriers, such as a lack of English proficiency. Another common reason given was a lack of interest or just having not applied yet. About a third (31%) of Mexican lawful immigrants said this, while only 16% of non-Mexican Latino immigrants said the same. An additional 13% of Mexican and 19% of non-Mexican lawful immigrants identified financial and administrative barriers, mainly the cost of naturalization.

This report is based on three data sources. Data on naturalization trends among lawful immigrants are based on Pew Research Center estimates based on the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) and Current Population Survey (CPS). The ACS is a year-round survey of 3.5 million households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The CPS is a monthly survey of about 55,000 households conducted jointly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau. Each March, the CPS is expanded to produce additional data on the nation's foreign-born population and other topics. Legal status of immigrants in the ACS and CPS is inferred based on methods described in the Center's research on unauthorized immigrants in the U.S.

Latino immigrant attitudes about naturalization come from a nationally representative bilingual telephone survey of 1,500 Latino adults, including 795 immigrants. The survey was conducted between Oct. 21 and Nov. 30, 2015. The margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level; for foreign-born Latinos, the margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. For a full description of the survey methodology, see the Methodology section at the end of the report.

U.S. Citizenship Eligibility

To become a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident in most cases must:

Be at least 18 years old.

Have lived in the U.S. continuously for five years.

Be able to speak, write, read and understand basic English.

Answer questions that demonstrate knowledge of U.S. government and history.

Undergo a successful background check.

Demonstrate attachment to the principles of the U.S. Constitution.

Take the oath of citizenship swearing allegiance to the U.S.

Some of those requirements are waived for certain groups:

Spouses of U.S. citizens can naturalize after three years of continuous residence, if the sponsoring spouse has been a U.S. citizen for all three years.

Foreign-born minor children become citizens when their parents naturalize.

Foreign-born minor children who are adopted by U.S. citizens are eligible for citizenship upon their arrival in the U.S.

Military personnel, their spouses and foreign-born minor children are eligible for expedited and overseas citizenship processing with the possibility of having some of the eligibility requirements diminished or waived. Additionally, in the case of death as result of combat while serving in active duty, citizenship may be granted posthumously to the military member and immediate family members.

The filing fees of processing a citizenship request for all applicants were $680 at the time of the Center's survey in 2015. This included a $595 filing fee and an $85 biometric services fee for processing fingerprints. Starting Dec. 23, 2016, the citizenship application fee rose by $45.

The filing fee could be waived for applicants with family incomes below 150% of the poverty line, if they, their spouse or head of household receives a means-tested benefit, or if the applicant is experiencing a financial hardship that prevents them from paying the fee (such as unexpected medical bills). Starting Dec. 23, 2016 there is also a reduced filing fee of $320 available for naturalization applicants with family incomes between 150% and 200% the poverty line.

Terminology

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Mexican Lawful Immigrants Among the Least Likely to Become U.S. Citizens

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Among Mexicans, desire is high, but about half cite language, cost barriers The overall percentage of lawful immigrants to the United States choosing to apply for and gaining citizenship is at its highest level in more than two decades.

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America Ferrera and Eva Longoria: Stop Mistaking Latina Actresses For Each Other

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3 Months Post-Maria, 45% of Puerto Ricans still without power

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3 Months Post-Maria, 45% of Puerto Ricans still without power

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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/us/puerto-rico-power-outage.html

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"The Government does not make roads, nor establish schools, nor reform criminals, nor stretch out its strong arm to prevent the offences of ignorant and depraved youth. The roads, consequently, are few and dangerous,-a great part of the Island being transversable only on horseback."

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http://www.cubanartnews.org/news/cuba-golden-60s-brings-classic-cuban-cinema-to-brooklyn

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The area of the Cuban island is approximately 44,206 square miles (110,860 sq. km.), about the size of Pennsylvania.5 The Cuban population is approximately 11.4 million, close to the Pennsylvanian population of approximately 12.3 M. The total mileage of the Cuban road systems is over 18,750 miles (30,150 km) including 16,000 km of paved roads. Approximately 53% of the Cuban road networks are paved and the road density is 2.64 km of roads per 1,000 persons, or 272 km per unit area of 1,000 sq.m. (see Table 1). Nearly all Cuban cities, towns, airports, harbors, and agricultural areas are accessible by paved roads, and there are approximately 677 km of completed expressways (4 lanes or more) and 114 km of expressways in construction or near completion. In comparison, the length of the Pennsylvania road networks is approximately 116,016 miles (186,554 km), or 1567 km of roads per a unit area of 1,000 sq. km. (see Table 1).

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Notes1

Cuba, the largest Caribbean island, has approximately 186,554 km of roads; 53% of these roads are paved and provide reliable accessibility to nearly all the cities, towns, airports, harbors, and agricultural areas.1,2 The Cuban road density is approximately 2.6 km per 1,000 people or 272 km of roads per area of 1,000 Sq. Km. These road densities levels seem to be sufficient to serve most of the current vehicle fleet and traffic demand. However, considering Cuba's strategy for its economic development,3 the current institutional set up of the Cuban ministry of transportation (MITRANS), and post transition accelerated traffic demand, the authors recommend modernizing the management of the road sector including improvement of priority roads that would sustain reduction of road transportation costs and support the Cuban foreign exchange earning strategy.3

The authors estimate that the proposed modernization of the Cuban road system would probably support other crucial social and economic savings when traffic demand will grow, including improving the highway safety services, implementing clean and cost effective urban and inter-urban rapid bus services that support reduction of CO2 and other transportation related contaminants, improving the pedestrian, bicycle and other non-motorized traffic, and optimizing the life cycle costs of road investment and maintenance programs. The authors have concluded that the road authority of the new Cuba could meet donors' conditionality during a short and peaceful transition and sector modernization periods of approximately six to nine months and could start the implementation of a 15-month and a $24 million (M) accelerated road improvement and sector modernization programs. This conclusion goes in tandem with the latest announcement of the acting Cuban president, Mr. Raúl Castro, published in The Washington Post (July/26/07, "Cuba's call for economic détente") and indicating that Cuba is considering opening itself further to foreign investments of capital and technology and U.S. might play a role in a new Cuba.

Cuba's strategy for its economic development is in the process of reformulation and the "grand design" that predominated since the ending of the special relationship with the former Soviet Union has essentially been terminated.3 The basic features of the new Cuban economic strategy include the generation of foreign exchange earnings now emphasizing exports of nickel, medical and educational services, and, in time, perhaps oil. Modernization of the management of the Cuban road systems would contribute to the reduction of the overall road transportation costs, including vehicle operating costs and will support the Cuban foreign exchange earning strategy. Lessons learned from international donors such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the World Bank (WB) show that modernization of roads management would probably support other crucial social and economic savings when traffic demand will grow, during and after the transition period, including improving road safety services, implementing clean and cost effective urban and inter-urban rapid bus services, improving pedestrian, bicycle and other non-motorized traffic, optimizing road improvement and maintenance services and keeping low CO2 and other transportation-related contaminants.

Considering that during the current Cuban economic crises, 1989 to date, investment in the road sector was insufficient to maintain the road network in safe traveling conditions,(1-4) the authors recommend to accelerate the modernization of the road sector to reduce transportation costs and support the new Cuban "grand design" for economic development.3 In tandem, to accelerate urgent road improvement and maintenance works the authors recommend using:

1. Online GPS-digital video logging of road conditions and non destructive techniques pavement evaluation to identify and design priority road improvement and maintenance works for motorized and non motorized traffic services. The estimated cost and implementation time of the planning and design services is $1.6 M, and 6 months. 2. The estimated cost and implementation time of the priority construction and maintenance works is approximately $20 M and 9 months;
3. The estimated cost of the proposed road safety, urban transport and institutional modernization studies of the Cuban ministry of transportation- MITRANS is $2.4 M and the implementation period is estimated at 6 to 9 months. Lessons learned from LAC and Asia indicate that these studies are needed in tandem with the accelerated road improvements and maintenance works to optimize the expenditures of MINTRANS, sustain the future effective and safer road services and attract institutional and financial support of international donors, including the WB and IADB.

The area of the Cuban island is approximately 44,206 square miles (110,860 sq. km.), about the size of Pennsylvania.5 The Cuban population is approximately 11.4 million, close to the Pennsylvanian population of approximately 12.3 M. The total mileage of the Cuban road systems is over 18,750 miles (30,150 km) including 16,000 km of paved roads. Approximately 53% of the Cuban road networks are paved and the road density is 2.64 km of roads per 1,000 persons, or 272 km per unit area of 1,000 sq.m. (see Table 1). Nearly all Cuban cities, towns, airports, harbors, and agricultural areas are accessible by paved roads, and there are approximately 677 km of completed expressways (4 lanes or more) and 114 km of expressways in construction or near completion. In comparison, the length of the Pennsylvania road networks is approximately 116,016 miles (186,554 km), or 1567 km of roads per a unit area of 1,000 sq. km. (see Table 1).

The distance between the eastern and western extremities of the Cuban island is approximately 1,200 km, connected by the main Cuban highway between Pinar del Rio and Santiago de Cuba. The highest mountainous top is approximately 2,000 meters (6,000 ft.) above sea level, located in the southeast of the Island. Seventy percent and thirty percent of the Cuban population, respectively, live in urban and rural areas with a high literacy rate of 97%. Table 1 compares the road density and road surface-paving density ratio in ten countries.5, 6 Table 1 indicates that the Cuban road density is not surprisingly far behind the road density of the state of Pennsylvania, but similar to the road density rates of Guatemala, Peru, and Mexico of 1.17 to 3.51 km of roads per 1000 people. Nevertheless, in terms of paving ratio, Cuba is more advanced with 53.3% of paved roads that provide adequate accessibility to all the seaports, ports, major production centers, and nearly all Cuban cities, towns, airports, harbors, and agricultural areas. In comparison, Guatemala, Peru and Mexico have only 13.3% to 39.4% of paved roads that carry more traffic volumes than the Cuban roads, but do not serve many townships or other social and economic centers.

Lessons learned from international donors and Latin American countries indicate that road networks with high rates of paved roads and relatively low traffic volumes, similar to the Cuban road conditions, require first investment in road maintenance works and then in construction of new roads. 6-11 This conclusion is relevant for the Cuban road system that has suffered from insufficient road maintenance funding and accelerated deterioration for approximately 16 years.1,2, 4

Lessons learned from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), African, Asian and East European countries indicate that donors would finance accelerated infrastructure improvement works in transition countries to support the following goals:7-12 (a) peaceful political transition; (b) sustainable economic growth; and (c) poverty reduction. In the road sector, these goals are translated into the following objectives:

1. Implementation of effective, productive and competitive employment of construction and maintenance services;
2. Acceleration of road improvement and maintenance activities;
3. Road safety improvements for motorized and non-motorized traffic demands;
4. Modernization of the road sector and provision of institutional and technical capacity building to road agencies, consultants, contractors; and
5. Incorporation of local communities into the road maintenance services (road ownership). 7

Donors would tie their interest to support accelerated road improvement projects to the provision of the following socio/economic, technical and institutional tests, including:

* Definition of the problems that the project will solve, such as reduction of transport costs and fewer accidents, and the sectoral context of the project implementation and operation, including a commitment of Government to provide adequate funding for maintenance and road safety services.
* Determination of the root causes of the problems, including insufficient investment and maintenance funds, ineffective institutional capacity, and insufficient community and road users' participation in the project planning and implementation stages.
* Identification of the stakeholders who would benefit from (road users), or be harmed by the project (affected communities), and provision of adequate and affordable mitigation procedures.
* Determination of the project dimensions, socio/ economic ranking and priorities, demonstrating that the proposed project is a clear priority in relation to other road needs and Government is committed to provide enough political support.
* Provision of a project level detailed financial and socio/economic viabilities, demonstrating that the project is viable (high financial and socio/ economic values of net present value and economic returns) and affordable with reliable financing for the construction works and for the future maintenance activities.
* Verification of the project's internal and external consistencies, demonstrating that the project is consistent with the multi-annual macro-economic framework of the ministry of finance and considered a priority within the overall inventory of the country's projects, not only the road sector.
* Incorporation of lessons learned from international best practices of road and bridge modern planning and design tools to optimize the life cycle costs of construction, maintenance and operation expenditures.

The authors estimate that the road authority of new Cuba could meet donors' conditionality during a short and peaceful transition period of approximately three months and could start the implementation of a 15-month and a $ 24.0 M accelerated road improvement program using the engineering tools and related lessons learned described in the following sections.

Accelerated road and bridge improvement works Engineering considerations: International donors have historically associated road improvements works, including pavement rehabilitation works, with major project level investment programs.7-11 Road network-level routine maintenance works have been considered as recurrent expenditures. Pavement improvement works are major investments that play an important financial role and are evaluated using the highway design and management tool (HDM-413), developed by the WB and the University of Birmingham (UK), among others. The HDM-4 is designed to achieve desired pavement serviceability levels for minimum life cycle costs. The HDM-4 achieves this by analyzing the road and its pavement condition assessments; social, environmental and road safety characteristics; construction, maintenance and road user's costs needed to predict the performance of several alternatives of road improvement works from thin pavement strengthening using road asphalt surface dressing to long range pavement rehabilitation, road widening and improvement works.9-13

The HDM-4 has been extensively and effectively used in LAC, Australia, Georgia and other countries in Asia and Africa to reduce overall road transportation costs including vehicle operating costs, travel time, and improved road safety. There are usually three levels of road investment works, defined by the HDM-4 that international donors have supported world wide, including periodic maintenance, rehabilitation and improvement works. The selected projects normally undergo detailed engineering and design, usually by the private sector. Project construction and supervision is also generally performed by the private sector.7-12

* Periodic maintenance is defined as investments that extend the life expectancy of a roadway and have a life expectancy of from three to seven years. It includes the improvement of ride quality and possibly pavement strengthening with at least a double surface treatment and usually a thin overlay of 3 to 6 cm of asphalt concrete (AC). It may also improve the drainage conditions and safety.
* Rehabilitation has a life expectancy of seven to ten years. This is because materials, traffic, and environmental considerations in developing countries generally do not allow a life of more than ten years. It includes thick overlays with preparatory road surface repairs and improvements and, if feasible, restructuring of the original characteristics of the road. These investments require more detailed engineering so a level of service as near as possible to a new surface can be achieved. These will include restoration of all safety aspects and may include localized geometry changes when necessary, as long as it does not cause any environmental impacts.
* Improvements include pavement widening for safety or congestion reasons, realignment to achieve safety goals, and pavement strengthening. These generally achieve a life expectancy of 10 to 15 years. The expected life is usually closer to 10 years (the lower level) due to materials, environmental, construction quality and other constraints.

In comparison, in the United States other pavement management systems12, 14 to 18 have been used to primarily covered capital improvement programs for reconstruction and rehabilitation projects. Safety improvements and widening are addressed when necessary on major rehabilitation and reconstruction projects. Minor rehabilitation and major periodic maintenance are handled by some of the more sophisticated systems. These general categories of treatment have different meanings and may include different specific treatments depending on the state DOT and the project location. The following are general definitions of these treatment categories.12, 16,18

* Preventive maintenance includes larger maintenance treatments such as Chip seals, thin overlays, machine patching, and other more substantial treatments that extend the life of the pavement and drainage elements for a period of 5 to 10 years and bridges from 10 to 25 years. These treatments may be programmed by pavement management systems.
* Rehabilitation involves major treatments such a thick overlays and milling with overlay. Such treatments are intended to restore lost structural strength and add significant new life of 10 to 20 years, and bridges from 10 to 50 years.
* Reconstruction includes major works in which the entire structure of the road is reworked in order to ensure a new pavement and drainage service life of 15 to 20 years and bridges 20 to 100 years. Reconstruction also includes roadway improvements to improve safety or alleviate congestion including realignment and widening.

Modern planning and engineering tools: Lessons learned from Peru and other LAC countries indicate that modern engineering tools are very useful to accelerate functional and structural evaluation of road and bridges. The online-GPS-GIS-multimedia road and bridge inventory and condition assessments system was very useful to accelerate the evaluation of the functional and structural characteristics and conditions of the 900-km Peruvian road corridor from Lima (Pacific Rim) to Pucallpa, located in the Amazonas region, the engineering evaluation and design of this road was financed by USAID. International donors recommend that online multi-media road functional and structural evaluation devises include (see Figure 1): (1) a video camera system, usually with 3 to 4 cameras, and voice recording hardware and software equipment; (2) a Bump Integrator to measure the road surface roughness, in units of m/km (see Figures 1 and 2), and a road condition information system that determines and records other road surface defects; (3) Gyroscope, GPS and GIS integrated systems; (4) notebook computer with video capture cards and distance-speed sensors systems; and (5) a laser-guided surveying equipment that measures other road's geometric characteristics and surface defects, including rutting and roughness.

The recommendations of The Little Book of Roughness19 (see Figure 2), are universally used by all donors. This book indicate that paved roads in good to fair conditions should have IRI values of less than 3.0 m/ km, and old roads with IRI of over 4.0 m/km with surface imperfections including minor but frequent depressions/defects need urgent periodic maintenance works to avert costly reconstruction works. The normal and safe traveling speed is greatly affected by road surface roughness, as an example the traveling speed is reduced approximately from 100 km/h to 60 km/h when the roughness is increase from 4 m/km to 10 m/km. Roughness values of over 4.0 m/km affect vehicle operation costs and road sections with high roughness values could be considered by donors for improvement if the HDM- 413 program indicates that they are priorities.

The equipment devices of the online-multimedia road and bridge inventory and condition assessments are mounted to a vehicle that travels at a normal speed and gathers and records the road characteristics and conditions. Occasionally it is necessary to stop and survey structure defects of bridges, culverts and other drainage facilities that are hidden from the road surface and special video recording under the bridge or inside the culvert are needed. The productivity of one team, usually one driver and one technician is approximately 200 to 400 km per day.

The most practical and quick procedures to evaluate the pavement structural capacity is to use the falling weight Deflectometer (FWD) or the Benkelman Beam (BB).9, 10, 20-24 The FWD and BB are non destructive testing (NDT) devices that measure the elastic surface deflections under the vehicle axle load, see in Figure 3 the principles of the FWD. The FWD measured the surface deflection basin of the 4-layer pavement system, including the asphalt layer-h1, the base course and subbase layers h2 and h3 and the pavement subgrade foundation. The thickness of each pavement layer, h1, h2 and h3 are determined using the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) device. Once the pavement layer-thicknesses and the road surface deflection basin are known, the pavement structural capacity, in terms of the layer elastic modulus, E1, E2, E3, and E4, is back calculated using linear or non linear universally recognized engineering tools. 20 to 25 The NDT test results are used to identify structural deficiencies of the pavement systems and to feed the HDM-4 to determine the most cost effective investment program.13

Selected road improvement program

The authors recommend using the HDM-4 program to select and design of approximately 100 km of priority paved roads that need urgent improvement works.1,2 The HDM-4 will evaluate the: (1) the functional and structural deficiencies of the Cuban pavement and road systems; (2) projected traffic volumes and axle load characteristics; and (3) financial, social and environmental constraints,1,2,26,27 to determine the most feasible and affordable road improvement works.

The authors estimate the planning and design fee, for the 100 km priority roads, at $1 M, and its accelerated implementation costs at $18 M (see Table 2). The duration periods of the design and construction activities are estimated at 6 and 9 months.

Routine maintenance programs

Lessons learned show that the principles of routine maintenance programs of modern road administration include:9 to 12

* Quantitative evaluation of the road and bridge characteristics and conditions, using the modern video logging inventory described in the previous section, in order to determine the extend and the severity of the existing distresses that need urgent remediation works.
* Annual planning (network level) and weekly/ monthly programming (project level) of maintenance work activities under budget, social and environmental constraints;
* Procedures of quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) including a system for reporting of the magnitude and quality of maintenance activities actually carried out; and
* A system for monitoring and evaluating road maintenance activities.

Network Level Routine Maintenance Planning Model: Prediction models of pavement performance are used to estimate pavement deterioration and distress development.10 to 13, 18 Figure 4 presents typical prediction of pavement deterioration curves from Jamaica. 12 The deterioration curves indicate the projected pavement conditions in terms of conditions scores from zero to 100, following the scale of the Pavement Condition Index (PCI).18 Pavement conditions score of over 80 indicate good road surface conditions with roughness values (IRI) of less than 2m/km to 3m/km and conditions score of less that 40 indicates very bad road surface conditions with IRI of values of approximately over 5.5 m/km. Engineering decisions trees are used to select investment programs in terms of all periodic maintenance as well as major work (rehabilitation and reconstruction) required, and determine the scope of routine maintenance works.11 to 13 These can be summed to develop overall needs and estimate the 'desirable' level of funding for pavement maintenance (and improvement). This is supplemented by minimization of lifecycle costs to ensure that maintenance and invested funds are properly accrued for any given network level of service in terms of surface conditions and highway safety conditions. An example of minimization of road investment and maintenance life cycle costs is given in Figure 5. This figure describes the optimal case of total transport cost including: (a) the capital and recurrent expenditures of Government (GOC) and (b) the road user's costs. Good road conditions with IRI of less than 3 m/km are associated with low user's costs and high GOC costs and vice versa. This can establish the baseline from which the minimum acceptable funding and finally the affordable level of funding may be estimated. A general network level life-cycle cost analysis is used to estimate the minimum acceptable funding such that a structurally sound road will transition to a structurally damaged road if the routine maintenance actions are not accomplished. Likewise, all critical safety related maintenance is included.

Desirable Funding (Optimum Level of Service): The desirable level of funding generally addresses all maintenance needs and minimizes life-cycle and road's user costs, as shown in Figure 5. It includes routine maintenance activities such as surface treatment, thin overlays, shoulder repair, patching, and crack sealing. Desirable funding levels always program these maintenance activities in a timely manner to maintain low distress severity levels and low user's costs. Also, application of the desirable maintenance service levels will defer needs for pavement strengthening, rehabilitation, or reconstruction. Under desirable funding, the level of service is maintained at a high level (e.g., roughness IRI value less than 4 for all roads and less than 3 for major roads).

Affordable Funding (Reasonable Level of Service): An affordable level of funding is usually less than the desirable level but should be as high as possible within available budgets. Investment activities should at least ensure a five year life expectancy under routine maintenance management with no pavement strengthening. This will provide as much maintenance as a limited budget will allow. The entire network can be maintained somewhat above the minimum level of service with or a decision is made to maintain a reduced portion of the network at the optimum service levels obtained under desirable funding.

Minimum Acceptable Funding (Minimum Level of Service): The minimum acceptable level of funding defines the maximum size of network dimensions where the surface distress severity varies between a medium to high degree, while the total distressed area is below a set maximum allowable level. The rate of deterioration is still being controlled to some extent, but road surface roughness is often above 4 m/km and rehabilitation and periodic maintenance works are needed. Distresses do not exceed the allowable maximums and high severity does not exceed 50%. The maintainable network starts to be reduced when funding drops below this amount. The level of service in terms of roughness will usually be IRI greater than 4.0 m/km and less than 6.0 m/km or less than 7.5 m/km in poor and post conflict countires.8 Under the minimum funding scenario, although the distresses are still being controlled to some degree, rehabilitation or reconstruction will definitely be needed in a relatively near term (e.g., 1 to 5 years). In other words, low level routine maintenance funds are shifted to a high level of expenditures of rehabilitation and reconstruction work (investment program) that could provide life expectancy of 7-15 years with affordable and desirable road maintenance funding.

Model of Routine Maintenance Programming -Project Level: 10 to 12 The project level programming model determines priorities of actual maintenance project work in terms of actual quantity, schedule, and activity by project location. This analysis provides the monthly and weekly work program to address the specific pavement distresses and maintainable elements for any given level of service and quality assurance procedures.

The project level program includes quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) procedures to evaluate, accept or reject maintenance works. A cost formula is used to acknowledge actual quality of pavement conditions vis-à-vis QA criteria in terms of measured extent and severity of representative pavement distresses; roughness, potholes, rutting, shoulder drop-off, drainage conditions, and cracking. Higher levels observed in the field trigger higher needs, in terms of cost to repair. This can also be used to flag poor quality work.

Affordability and regional or local cultures determine the allowable distress extent and severity, scope and preciseness of the road conditions database, and degree of reliability. Higher reliability leads to more certainty of donors' funding allocations and reduction of unjustified pavement expenditures. Reliable road conditions database and rational analysis of the maintenance needs are essential tool to produce transparent, feasible and practical road maintenance management recommendations attract the support of international donors.9,10,12

Model for Monitoring Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC): Maintenance quality is important in order to maximize the potential benefits of maintenance management and funding. The QA/ QC model defines pavement condition before and degree of the effectiveness of the implementation of the maintenance works. It determines road surface safety and drainage conditions and QA requirements for any given level of service and road classification (primary, secondary and tertiary). This model monitors actual work accomplished and new pavement conditions for contractor compensation or rejection when the new surface conditions do not meet QA criteria. To determine the actual contractor's compensation, the QA/QC model monitors the road conditions before and after maintenance work and compares it with quality assurance (level of service) criteria in terms of distress type, severity, and extent (e.g., no more than 0.2% of potholes is allowable for primary and secondary roads and less than 60% and 40% of the potholes will have high or medium severity respectively, all year round).10,12,25

Model for Maintenance Effectiveness: The effectiveness of maintenance depends on several factors including the budget, productivity of the maintenance activities, materials, procedures, prior conditions, elements maintained, and the environment. The maintenance effectiveness model defines the benefit of maintenance in terms of improved performance and the diminishing returns of these benefits as the original condition of maintainable elements drops below some maintenance threshold criteria. At these levels, if funds are available programming for rehabilitation or reconstruction by the HDM-4 becomes the most cost effective option.10,12,13 The RMMS is used to determine the dimension of the reduced maintainable network, identified roads that local communities and users would have to maintain in accessible conditions. Therefore, the authors recommend using the HDM-4 and the RMMS programs to optimize the selection, planning and design of priority road investment and maintenance works, Table 2.

Model for Reporting: The reporting module provides standard graphical reports indicating what actually was accomplished including costs, quantities, and productivity. Reporting goes to all levels and includes budget, level of standards, network planning, project planning, level of service, quality assurance, lessons learned etc. The reports cover multiple levels of management including the administrative level, engineering level, and maintenance superintendent level.

Selected Road Maintenance Program: Lessons learned from accelerated maintenance projects in LAC and Africa8 to 12 indicate that international donors could support a fast track road improvement and maintenance works, if: (1) detailed designs of road maintenance programs are developed, using the HDM-4 and the RMMS programs; (2) Government modernizes the road sector, and the procurement procedures are effective and transparent; (3) the road agency implements modern design tools and transparent QC/QA procedures. The authors estimate that a new Cuba road authority could meet donors' conditionality during a short transition period of 3 months and use the RMMS and HDM programs for approximately 6 months to design an accelerated 500-km road maintenance program. The design and the implementation of the maintenance works are estimated at $600,000 and $2.0 million.

Institutional responsibilities and possible assistance and training needs: The Cuban Ministry of Transportation (MITRANS) is responsible for directing, executing, and controlling the application of government policy in matters involving land, maritime, transportation or connected services, and civil maritime navigation.1, 2 In the road sector, MITRANS is responsible for the planning, development activities, environmental protection, issuance of transport service licenses, security of all transport modes, road maintenance and safety services. The authors estimate that if requested by a transition government of Cuba, international donors including the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and specifically the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) could provide immediate assistance to support the capacity building of critical technical and institutional activities of MITRANS, including: (a) implement priority and urgent road improvement and maintenance works using the HDM-4 and RMMS programs; (b) implement innovative engineering technologies, including online multi-media video logging of road evaluation services, non-destructive testing of pavements; (c) design and implement transparent and modern services of quality control and quality assurance procedures of road construction and maintenance works; (d) improve road safety services; (e) improve engineering preparedness of MITRANS to minimize damages to roads and seawalls from future hurricanes storms;9, 28 to 30 (f) promote private sector participation in road investment projects or in possible new concession projects and leverage donor's financial and technical support; (g); promote innovative procurement procedures such as performance-based-lump-sum road construction, maintenance and supervision services to encourage cost effectiveness and reduce cost overruns and implementation delays; (h) implement risk sharing procedures for public-private sectors partnerships of road investment and maintenance projects; (i) promote the use of community-based micro-enterprises for road maintenance works; (j) develop reference baselines for competitive construction and maintenance unit costs to attract international bidders, support the development of infrastructure market economy, break local monopolies and promote transparency; and (k) promote engineering initiatives to protect the environment and support energy efficiency for road construction and maintenance projects.

Institutional considerations of construction and maintenance quality procedures: Donors and LAC countries give high priority to quality, social and environmental conservation, ethics and transparency of road construction and maintenance works.7 to12, 17, 26, 27 Donors define quality as the responsibility to deliver safe, on time and effective road services to the taxpayer and user and associate this responsibility with quality assurance (QA) programs. Quality assurance refers to all the institutional activities necessary to verify, audit, evaluate and implement road quality services. It may also refer to the quality of data collected for use in the HDM-4 and RMMS road maintenance management systems. To obtain a reasonable degree of QA, cost effective and affordable design standards and specifications acceptable to the users and affected communities should be developed for the project specific characteristics and conditions. QA procedures are adjusted to the inherent variability of construction conditions and local soils and material characteristics, sampling and testing guides, and maintenance standards.

Quality control (QC) procedures ensure that proper materials and procedures are used and placed in a definite context so that the end product will have the desired level of performance in terms of service and life. Quality control activities are specific steps taken during construction and maintenance to control the quality of materials and workmanship. Donors have requested that the QA and the QC procedures will be included in the bidding documents prior to their financial approval.7 to 12

Donors and road agencies give priority to implement construction and maintenance works, using contractors rather than using the agency's own forces. Therefore, MITRANS would probably need to accelerate its institutional modernization and using international contractors to attract significant donors' support. However, to accelerate the improvement of the Cuban road services during a short transition period, donors may accept to finance urgent and high impact works perform by: (1) contractors, or (2) MITRANS in-house forces, but using performancebased lump-sum road construction and maintenance contracts.7,9,10 Therefore, MITRANS must establish the necessary procedures to ensure that these contracts will be let on the basis of least costs and acceptable quality of services, following donors' approved specifications and QC/QA procedures. The authors have considered the following specifications, pay equations and value engineering procedures that could support transparency and quality of the proposed accelerated implantation of the road improvement and maintenance works:

Recipe specifications: Also referred to as method specifications, describe what is wanted and how it is to be obtained. For an asphalt pavement, the engineer would specify fatigue characteristics, stability, workability, air voids, durability, surface smoothness; plasticity, gradation and other requirements of the quality of materials; the general types of equipment to be used; and hauling, placing, rolling and degree of compaction. Presently, recipe specifications are used in the cost plus fixed fee road construction and maintenance contracts and are primarily developed by experience.

Disadvantages of recipe specifications include: (1) natural product variability is not adequately accounted for; (2) little or no recourse is available if the specifications were followed but the results were unsatisfactory; (3) material sampling often does not yield a statistically significant or reliable result; (4) little opportunity or incentives for innovation is allowed on the part of either contractor or engineer; and most important (5) most of the project implementation risks lie with the public sector road agency.

Advantages of recipe specifications include: (1) the inspectors and contractors involved with construction are familiar with the specifications; (2) they are relatively easy to understand; and (3) clear guidelines are provided for those who are inexperienced in planning, supervising, and inspecting construction activities.

Performance-based specifications (PBS): Also referred to as end-result specifications, describe what the product is and what are its performance characteristics, QC/ QA criteria and implementation procedures. PBS describe how the completed product must perform. In the case of road pavement construction works, the PBS would describe the allowable maximum severity levels of the road surface defects (such as potholes, cracking, breakup, rutting and roughness) during the project operation warranty periods and its lifetime, before a next cycle of pavement rehabilitation, usually 7 to 12 years and 3 to 5 years for well maintained paved and gravel roads. PBS give the contractor considerable freedom in choosing how to satisfy the requirements. With PBS, the primary responsibility for quality control is placed on the contractor. The engineer/ supervisor monitors the contractor's quality control, and accepts, rejects or adjusts the work and the contractor invoice according to contractual pay equations and value engineering procedures included in the bidding documents of the project.9, 10, 31,32 PBS are statistically oriented and are based on random sampling techniques, with acceptance on a lot by lot basis (a lot being a given quantity of material, i.e., 1,000 tons of implemented granular base course or asphalt concrete paving materials).

Disadvantages of performance specifications include: (1) full implementation requires good engineering knowledge of statistical procedures and engineering expertise associated with continuous training, on the job or in special training courses; (2) continuous research and performance monitoring of material characteristics variability and changes of projected traffic loading that may affect the road pavement performance and may modify maintenance needs, such as pavement resurfacing versus grading of gravel roads; (3) the additional responsibilities placed on the contractor could result in higher bid prices, however the authors experience indicates that in competitive procurement conditions this possible higher cost is insignificant; and (4) the lack of specific "how to" specifications require experienced and competent inspectors and contractors.

Advantages of performance specifications include: (1) a realistic picture of the true quality of a product or material provided to the engineer; (2) the incentives and relative freedom allowed contractors encourages innovation which should eventually result in lower prices; (3) an expected decrease in inspection requirements and expenses; and (4) less claims, less costs overrun, and less delays in project implementation. 7,9,10,32

Cost effectiveness considerations of road investment and maintenance projects: Donors and road agencies in LAC emphasize that their road projects must be transparent, cost effective and affordable. To achieve these goals in developing countries, especially in post conflict or poor countries, it is necessary to establish a baseline of productive construction and maintenance unit costs.8,9,10,32,33 The goal is to carry out a unit price analysis for each construction and maintenance cost item.9,10,33 For each unit cost it is necessary to consider:

a. unit prices of ongoing and recent of construction and maintenance contracts;
b. actual characteristics, conditions and dimensions of the project including geotechnical, geological, drainage, seismic, social/ environmental, quality and location of potential construction materials;
c. project specifications and QA/QC procedures;
d. productivity of materials produced by equipment, skilled and unskilled labor;
e. hourly or daily unit costs of skilled and unskilled labor and equipment; and
f. Overhead expenditures and profit, considering risk sharing procedures of the project implementation, maintenance and operation activities.

Donors and the author's experience indicate that having a reference unit cost analysis is useful to improve transparency, to attract national and international bidders and therefore reduce costs.9,10, 33 The authors recommend incorporating reference unit cost analysis to the bidding documents of the proposed accelerated road improvement and maintenance works, using either recipe or performance based specifications of construction or maintenance works.

Pay Equation and Value Engineering principle: Donors and road agencies in LAC recognize that adequate properties and uniformity of materials and construction procedures are important quality characteristics needed to reduce construction, maintenance and vehicle operating (VOC) costs. Therefore, these agencies have used construction specifications that award adjusted payment appropriate for the level of quality received.7 to 12,17,31,32 This has led to the use of the term percent defective (PD), representing the portion of the construction or maintenance lot falling outside specification limits, as the statistical measure of quality.

Using asphalt pavement as an example, there are several measures of quality that are used for works acceptance, such as engineering properties of aggregates and bitumen, air voids, asphalt thickness, stability, elastic modules, smoothness or surface roughness.8,9,33 Because it is possible to measure the engineering properties of aggregates and bitumen such as gradation, absorption, specific gravity, penetration and ductility before they are mixed together and placed on the road, it has been the practice of highway agencies to either accept or reject these materials based on laboratory test results as they are delivered to the job site. On the other hand, since the asphalt thickness, in-situ stability or density, and surface smoothness or roughness cannot be measured until after the asphalt concrete (AC) has been placed and compacted, tests for these characteristics are typically completed a week or so after the completion of the asphalt layer. In this case, the acceptance decision may take the form of a pay adjustment, depending upon the level of quality that has been achieved. One possible pay-equation that comprises, thickness, stability and roughness for individual acceptance lots is the following:10,31,32

PF=106-1.314*(TPD+DPD)-0.2045*(RPD) ^2 (1)

Where: PF= pay factor (percent); TPD= Thickness percent defective; DPD= Density percent defective; and RPD= Roughness percent defective.

The use of percent defective provides a clear pay equation. It can easily be seen that equation (1) pays a maximum of 106 percent or a bonus of 6 percent when all quality measures are at zero percent defective and that this value decreases as the percent defective of any of the individual quality measures increases. 10

The use of the pay factor as a QA procedure requires the definition of the acceptable (AQL) and rejectable (RQL) quality level at which the road agency accepts or reserves the option to require removal and replacement or corrective action. As a general rule, RQL values must be clearly defined and set at sufficiently low levels of quality that such drastic action is truly warranted. Since asphalt pavement failure does not pose a major safety hazard (such as the catastrophic failure of a bridge or tunnel member) and can easily be repaired as compared with concrete pavement, the RQL limits for thickness and density can be set at a relatively high level of percent defective. On the other hand, surface roughness experience has indicated that a percent defective length of 15 that does not meet the smoothness criteria of a 10 foot straight edge along the wheel paths provides a rough and costly ride that usually requires immediate corrective action. Thus RQL limits for roughness are set at low level of percent detective. RQL-PD limits and pay factors in Table 3 are proposed.10,12,31,32

The proposed RQL of PD=15 for pavement smoothness is usually required to achieve surface roughness of less than 2.5 m/km for a new construction of asphalt pavement. The proposed RQL for thickness and density is defined as the average values that are more than 12 mm and 2.5 percent less than the design values of thickness and density, respectively.

Equation (1) awards a maximum pay factor of 106 percent for pavement that is of clearly outstanding quality (zero percent defective for all three measures). In this case the highway agency and the road users receive more than comparable value in terms of the extended service life of pavement of this quality. 9,10 For pavement of varying levels of percent defective in the three quality measures, equation (1) assigns pay factors that range from the maximum of 106 percent down to a minimum of 60 percent. This minimum occurs when one of the three measures approaches its respective RQL or when a combination of the three measures results in the minimum pay factor of 60 percent. If the RQL value is reached on any one of the quality measures, the highway agency has the option to require removal and replacement of the defective pavement section or any other corrective action. If, for practical reasons, these options are not exercised, a minimum pay-factor of PF=60 is assigned. Another feature in equation (1) is the use of the second power of roughness percent defective. As a result, this term tends to exert greater influence so that relatively high levels of riding quality and lower VOC expenditures must be achieved in order for the contractor to benefit appreciably from the bonus provision.

A distinctive feature of this acceptance procedure is that, provided none of the quality measures reaches its RQL value, it permits surpluses and deficiencies in thickness and density to offset one another. As an example, if a contractor cannot produce roughness percent defective (RPD) and density percent defective (DPD) of less than 12 percent he will have to deliver a thickness percent defective of less than 1 percent in order to meet the acceptable quality level (AQL) and the minimum pay factor of 60 percent.

Financial sustainability considerations: Donors have concluded that most of the roads all over the world are owned and operated by different levels of governments.5,6,7,15,34,35 Most of these roads, except the toll roads, are not capable of being operated on a strictly commercial basis.35 Even the toll roads require a minimum amount of traffic in order to be commercially viable, and often governments secure minimum traffic volumes in road concession programs. As a result even in industrialized countries, toll roads account only for about 5% to 10% of the primary road network, which itself represents only about 10% to 20% of the overall road network, or toll roads account for less than 0.5% of the total road networks. Toll roads in the United States, for example, represent 0.08% of the paved roads. By and large the aim of all road administrations all over the world is to carry out the construction and maintenance of road works in a cost effective manner and try to recover from the road users as much revenue as possible to match the expenditure on roads. Motor vehicle tax and fuel tax are the two traditional sources of revenue. To the extent that the revenue from them is not adequate to meet the road expenditure, allocations are made from other general tax revenues of the country. Often a part of the revenues from the two sources are used for other purposes and only the remainder is allocated for the roads. To avoid this, many governments used to credit the fuel tax and vehicle tax to a separate Road Fund Account which would finance road maintenance expenses only. However, the more recent public finance practices of many governments do not seem to prefer this option on basis of greater flexibility of use of tax revenues. Therefore, the authors recommend incorporating the road financial sustainability issue into the institutional modernization study of the Cuban road authorities of MITRANS (see item 5 of Table 2).

Institutional decentralization considerations: Lessons learned from LAC indicate that institutional decentralization of responsibilities is a useful tool in the administration of road systems.7,11,34 Road agencies depend on quality and quantity of information technology, and it is important to keep pace with technological developments. Decentralization does not mean that everything is delegated. Activities that are best performed at the central level need not be delegated to the district level.

The principal advantages of a decentralized highway agency are: (a) better response to users and local community needs; (b) road investment and maintenance goals are adjusted to the local conditions of every district; (c) rational commitment of fund allocations; (d) effective and transparent distribution of allocated funds; (e) effective accountability and consistency procedures in monitoring and auditing the project. The authors recommend incorporating the institutional decentralization issue into the institutional modernization study of MITRANS.

Possible donors' support for MITRANS institutional modernization: Lessons learned from LAC5 to 9 indicate that donors support institutional modernization of road agencies, including:

a. decentralization of responsibilities and fund allocations of road agencies;
b. improving quality and response to users and local community needs;
c. optimizing and adjusting road investment and maintenance expenditures to the local conditions of every district, county or municipality;
d. rationalizing the commitment of fund allocations;
e. effective and transparent distribution of allocated funds;
f. use of new engineering techniques for road investment and maintenance projects;
g. use modern financial systems for evaluating various available funding scenarios.

The authors estimate that $500,000 and 9 months are needed to develop an institutional modernization and capacity building for MITRANS, see Table 2.

Donors and LAC road agencies request that road investment and maintenance programs include quantitative road safety improvement sub-programs, accompanied with a socio/economic evaluation of the road safety improvement works.10, 36 This conditionality goes in tandem with the mission statement of MITRANS to provide a safe transport system. Nevertheless, it seems that GOC has not implemented its mission statement, considering that 1,000 "Stop" signs, 2,000 "Yield" signs and 9,000 "One Way" signs are urgently needed in Havana. Also, international travel guides indicate that "there are very few road signs and directional aids and even rarer are protective crossbars or warning lights at railroad crossings". Considering the limited information on actual road safety conditions, and the lessons learned from donors and LAC countries, the authors recommend to integrate a road safety activity into the proposed road improvement and maintenance program (see Table 2), including:

1. Establish an inter-institutional working group including the ministries of transport, finance, education, health; police; road users; insurance companies; affected communities and their school systems.
2. Develop a road accident database, including: police reports; accident costs (fatalities, injuries, damages); severity, frequency, location and cause of accidents; traffic volumes; road network and demographic characteristics; vehicle registration; emergency medical services; traffic court decisions.
3. Train and monitor the police force in road safety, and in using the database and digital forms for evaluating and reporting of road accidents.
4. Develop a public transport policy, including road safety planning and modern regulatory services.
5. Improve the driver licensing and vehicle safety codes code and strengthen the regulatory capacities.
6. Develop a road safety education curriculum for introduction into the schools' systems at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
7. Carry out a quantitative engineering and a socio/ economic evaluation of critical road sections with the most frequent and the most severe accidents.
8. Design road improvement works with quantitative calculations of accident reductions (AR) factors. As an example, following the recommendations of the Departments of Transportation of Florida and Louisiana that were adjusted by the IADB and the Guyanese road agency:10, 36 AR=R1+(1-R1)*R2+(1-R1)*(1-R2)*R3+(1-R1)*(1-R2)* (1-R3)*R4+....

Where: R1=0.4-for road signing; R2=0.7-for marking; R3=0.3 for reflecting spikes; R4=0.2 for road lighting; R5=0.15 for sidewalk services; R6=0.22 for effective law enforcement; R7=0.34 for removal of bridge/culvert obstacles; R8=0.42 for proper traffic lights-signalization.

The authors estimate that $1 M and 9 months are needed to carry out an accelerate road safety improvement study and implement urgent traffic signs and demarcation works, not included in the accelerated road improvement and maintenance works.

Donors, national transport agencies and municipalities of medium and large cities give priority to the provision of safe and effective motorized and non motorized urban traffic services.37to39 Lessons learned of the WB, IADB, DFID, and from LAC and Asian cities, including Lima, Bogota, Pereira, Quito, Guayaquil, indicate that proper planning and administration of public transportation services is necessary to avert increase of pollution, accidents and overall congestions. The authors have concluded that relevant donors' lessons learned applicable to major cities of the new Cuba, include: (a) design and implementation of rapid bus services (RBP), using an integrated strategy of urban transport planning, land use, road safety and air quality conservation; (b) design and implementation of a modern regulatory services of RBP; (c) Incorporation of low income users into the RBP system in terms of accessibility and affordability; (d) implementation of solid financing mechanisms of the RBP services to ensure long term sustainability, including progressive private sector participation in the operations and investment costs.

The authors recommend to use the following planning and implementation principles:37to30

a. get top-down approval procedures of high level decision makers early in the process;
b. give priority to regulatory issues and try to create a special purpose agency (such as PROPRANPORTE in Lima Peru39) to plan, oversee and control the RBP system development and implementation;
c. be creative in funding the project development, using new taxes, loans and non traditional financial sources including privatizations and special purpose bonds;
d. involve existing operators to mitigate conflicts, but use open competitive bidding process with strong private sector-public sector collaboration and risk sharing procedures to reduce user costs;
e. seek strong public support and go for gradual implementation, adapting the project on the basis of a pilot project; f. maximize the use of the existing ROW to avert land acquisition and non voluntary human resettlement;
g. use modern pavement engineering, such as NDT, video logging and PMS procedures, to avoid rapid deterioration of the pavement systems;
h. consider realistic maintenance and operation expenditures in the business plan in order to optimize the life cycle cost of the investment, maintenance and operation expenditures;
i. dedicate funds for user and community education programs and emphasize general public and user benefits over special interests;
j. focus on system integration during the planning and implantation and consider to renew the bus fleet using agile planning procedures to match the demand and remember that feeder-trunk operations might not be the one-size-fits-all;
k. use strong road dividers to segregate traffic and improve the safety of pedestrian, bicycle and other non-motorized traffic services;
l. give preference to median lanes and level access platforms with many doors to access the buses to increase speed and reliability;
m.estimate future impacts on the reduction of CO2 and other transportation related contaminants,
n. use advanced transit management procedures and apply them to support service reliability and monitor the performance of the system;
o. consider that the total capital costs vary from $1.35 M/KM (Jakarta) to $8.2 M/ KM (Bogotá) and if affordable consider fares similar to those of pre-existing services.

The authors estimate that the current low traffic demand in Havana and other major Cuban cities would increase significantly after the political transition and towards the establishment of a new Cuba. Considering that seventy percent of the Cuban population of 11.4 million already live in urban areas (2 million in Havana), and the current low level of income and automobile ownership, it is logical to assume that effective public transportation services would play an essential role in the socio economic development and competitiveness of the new Cuba. Therefore, the authors recommend carrying out a pilot integrated urban public transport study in two major cities to identify investment priorities in civil works, purchasing and operation of new buses. The authors estimate the cost of the RBP study at $900,000 and its implementation period at 9 months (see Table 2).

Modernization of the Cuban road sector would reduce the transportation costs and support the new Cuban economic strategy to generate foreign exchange. The road modernization would probably support other social and economic savings including improvement of highway safety, implementing clean and cost effective urban and inter-urban rapid bus services, expansion of the pedestrian, bicycle and other non-motorized traffic services, and keeping low CO2 and other transportation related contaminants.

Since 1989, investments in the Cuban road sector have been insufficient to maintain the road network in safe traveling conditions for the projected post conflict traffic demand. The authors estimate that after the transition period, urban and inter-urban priority roads and bridges would need significant investment and maintenance works. To accelerate the implementation of these works and to attract international donors such as the IADB and the WB, the authors recommend to use innovative engineering techniques including agile transportation asset management programs with full infrastructure inventories capabilities (pavements, drainage facilities, signs, lighting, guardrails, walls, bridges, painting, etc) that fit the AASHTO transportation asset management Guide of 2002 including cameras, PC, GPS, DMI, Video-GIS software and hardware for road network functional and structural evaluation (see Figure 1).

The authors estimate that if the new Cuba would follow the latest declarations of Raúl Castro that Cuba is considering opening itself further to foreign investments, donors might consider to support the new Cuban road sector improvements of priority projects and could provide approximately $24.0 M for an accelerated 15-months road investment, maintenance and institutional modernization program proposed in Table 2.

Lessons learn from accelerated road improvement and maintenance projects in LAC and Africa indicate that international donors could support a fast track road improvement and maintenance works, if the Cuban road agency would: (1) use the HDM-4 and the RMMS programs to develop road investment and maintenance programs; (2) modernize the road sector and demonstrate that the procurement procedures are effective and transparent; (3) implement modern design tools and QC/QA procedures to determine urgent needs of improvement and maintenance works and bridge works actually done.

1. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the U.S. Government.

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Cuba: Highway and Road Systems Priority Improvements - ASCE

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Notes1 Cuba, the largest Caribbean island, has approximately 186,554 km of roads; 53% of these roads are paved and provide reliable accessibility to nearly all the cities, towns, airports, harbors, and agricultural areas.1,2 The Cuban road density is approximately 2.6 km per 1,000 people or 272 km of roads per area of 1,000 Sq.