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Spanish
WASHINGTON,
D.C., January 31
MEXICO
IGNORES LESSONS LEARNED BY CANADA AND THE VATICAN -- IT
ESTABLISHES A CUBA POLICY DESTINED TO FAIL
Secretary
of State Colin Powell defended the longstanding U.S. embargo against
Cuba, telling his visiting Mexican counterpart the Bush administration
is committed to punishing Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
ñWe will continue to pursue our relations with Cuba in
a way that lets Mr. Castro know that we disapprove of his regime.
We will maintain our sanctions, and will participate only in those
activities that benefit the Cuban people and not its government",
Powell emphasized in a joint news briefing following talks with
Mexican Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Castañeda.
However,
Castañeda, ignoring that Canada and the Vatican had failed
in their implementation of similar policies, called the U.S. position
ñcounterproductive,'' saying Mexico would concentrate on trying
to open Cuba to the rest of the world while more strongly condemning
its human rights violations.
President
George W. Bush, however, has repeatedly made clear his intention
to maintain the U.S. trade embargo, imposed after Castro's communist
government took power in 1959.
HAVANA, January
31
IT
SEEMS THE CUBAN DICTATOR WILL SURRENDER TO INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE
-- HIS ONLY OPTION: LET THE TWO CZECHS GO FREE WITH PETR PITHART
A
senior Czech official, on a mission to secure the release of two
prominent Czechs jailed in Cuba after meeting anti-Castro dissidents,
(See
the dissidentsÍ signed declarations in Spanish.)
visited the
pair Tuesday in a Havana state security prison. Senate President
Petr Pithart's visit to the Villa Marista detention center came
on the same day he began meeting Cuban authorities in an effort
to break the diplomatic deadlock over the dispute between the
two Soviet-era allies.
Pithart,
who arrived on the communist-ruled Caribbean island Monday night,
held a long meeting early Tuesday with a Cuban parliament delegation
to discuss the fate of ex-finance minister and current legislator
Ivan Pilip and former student leader Jan Bubenik, both detained
in Cuba since Jan. 12.
"We
are at the very beginning of a series of discussions," said
Pithart who was also scheduled to meet Foreign Minister Felipe
Perez Roque and probably Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. The Czech
Senate president's presence has raised hopes for a diplomatic
solution to an incident that has further soured already-poor relations
between Havana and Prague, which abandoned communism 12 years
ago.
MIAMI, January 31
JOHN
ASHCROFTÍS RECORD ON CUBA WORRIES THE CUBAN EXILE COMMUNITY
In Miami, John
Ascroft is best known as author of The Ashcroft Amendment, legislation
that sought to liberalize food and medical sales to Cuba at a
time of anxiety over the Elián González episode.
Although it has since been watered down, it sought to permit unrestricted
food and medical sales to countries on the State Department's
sponsors-of-terror list.
So the Cuban
exile community is wondering: If confirmed as President Bush's
top law enforcer, how would he wield those portions of his authority
that involve Washington ties to Havana? Would he use his power
to benefit the Cuban dictator?
At
his confirmation hearings, senators' questions focused on Ashcroft's
views on civil rights and abortion. No Cuba questions were asked.
WASHINGTON,
D.C., January 30
CHENEY
ASSERTS
CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO IS THE GREAT OBSTACLE -- SANCTIONS
TO CONTINUE AS LONG AS HE IS IN POWER, CHENEY SAID
U.S.
sanctions against Cuba will remain in place as long as Cuban dictator
Fidel Castro is in power, Vice President Richard Cheney said on
Sunday, calling recent comments from the Communist leader "a
little sour." But
Cheney said that the United States and Cuba could establish a
friendly relationship if Castro's presidency were to come to an
end. "I don't
think that there is any prospect certainly for lifting those sanctions
as long as Fidel Castro is there," Cheney said on NBC's "Meet
the Press" program.
"The
fact of the matter is the problem in Cuba has been and continues
to be his presence; a lack of freedom, a lack of free elections,"
he said. "As soon as he is gone from the scene there is no
reason in the world why we can't have a really first-class, normalized
set of relationships with Cuba."
The
previous day, the dictator was quoted by state media as saying
that he hoped Bush was neither as "stupid" nor as "mafiosi"
as he appeared. "He
doesn't appear to have a very good attitude," Cheney said,
saying Castro appeared to be "a little sour."
PORTO ALEGRE, January 31
ALARCON
CALLS BUSH ñILLEGITIMATE PRESIDENT"
Ricardo
Alarcón, the president of Cuba's National Assembly, delivered
a scathing speech on Sunday slamming U.S. President George W.
Bush and the election that brought him to power. "The super
state is being governed by an illegitimate president," Alarcón
said during a panel a World Social Forum meeting in Brazil. Alarcón
said many U.S. voters were marginalized in the "most scandalous
electoral fraud..." The gathering of anti-globalization activists
cheered Alarcón on with shouts of "Viva Cuba!"
and "Viva socialism, down with imperialism!"
Some
10,000 left-wing party leaders and intellectuals have descended
on Porto Alegre to attend the five-day meeting. The same protesters
who stormed business talks in Seattle and Prague hope to prove
they can come up with constructive alternatives to the neoliberal
economic policies they say have worsened the plight of the world's
poorest countries.
Alarcón
told his listeners that the new U.S. president will bring with
him new global threats. "The new administration, generated
in a crooked way, threatens the world with new and bigger dangers
for peace and world survival," he said.
When asked about the chances of the United States lifting
an economic embargo that Washington has maintained, Alarcón
said that pressure had been mounting but that there were no signs
of a change in policy.
WASHINGTON,
D.C., January 29
U.S.
RAILS AGAINST CUBA, DEFENDS JAILED CZECHS
The
United States on Friday issued its first criticism of Cuba since
President George W. Bush took office, dismissing, as "ludicrous"
Havana's allegations that two Czechs jailed on the communist island
were U.S.-backed, anti-revolutionary subversives. The sarcasm
with which State Department spokesman Richard Boucher delivered
the denial were a reminder that Bush has shown no intention of
ending the U.S. embargo imposed after Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's
revolution in 1959.
Cuba
issued a document to foreign envoys this week saying an "honorable
solution" to the two-week-old detention of Czech parliamentarian
Ivan Pilip and former student leader Jan Bubenik would be for
Prague to admit it was wrong for the men to meet anti-Castro dissidents,
and appeal to Havana's "generosity."
The dissidents met by the two Czechs were Antonio Femenías
Echemendía and Roberto Valdivia Hernández.
See
the dissidentsÍ signed declarations in Spanish.
Boucher
accused Cuba of issuing pieces of "distorted" analysis
and added, "The Cuban allegations that are in that Jan. 23
circular from the foreign ministry are ludicrous on their face."
He also hinted at the U.S. view of Cuba, just 90 miles
(145 km) off Florida's coast, by noting the Czech detainees were
citizens of a nation once under communist rule.
"They have direct experience as dissidents in a totalitarian
regime," he told a news briefing. He reiterated Washington's
support for Prague's appeal for an end to their detention which,
he said, provided "graphic proof of why it is important to
continue to focus international attention on human rights in Cuba."
CAMAG EY,
January 28
IMPROVEMENT
IN THE TELEPHONE SYSTEM IS OF LITTLE BENEFIT TO THE CUBAN PEOPLE
(CAMCOÍs Department of Engineers)
The
Cuban telephone company, with the help of foreign investors, has
been modernizing CubaÍs aging telephone system, but the improvements
are of little benefit to the average Cuban since only government
supporters get telephone service, many people complain here.
The
installation of a telephone line turns into a political issue
in this city. First the request has to be approved by a commission
composed of members of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution,
the Federation of Cuban Women, the Communist Party, and the local
government; and the standing order is to favor those most committed
to the government. Lately, members of the Committees for the Defense
of the Revolution have been issued cellular phones.
For
the rest, getting telephone service is unlikely. CubaÍs number
of telephone lines per thousand is well below the hemispheric
average. "To get a telephone, one would have to swallow an
alligator tail-first," said an indignant resident who says
he needs telephone service and canÍt get it.
HAVANA,
January 26
THE
CUBAN DICTATOR TAKES OFFENSIVE
SHOT AT PRESIDENT BUSH
In a Sunday
speech shown late Wednesday on state television, Cuban dictator
Fidel Castro said that ñsomeone very strange, with very little
promise, has taken charge of the leadership of the great empire
that we have as a neighbor ƒ That gentleman has arrived there,
and hopefully he is not as stupid as he seems, nor as mafia-like
as his background makes him appear,'' the tyrant said. He added,
however, that he was not troubled by Bush's presence, saying ñhe's
there, and we are calm over here.'' The United States ñcannot
invent anything against us,'' said Castro.
Bush is the
10th American president to serve since the 1959 triumph of Castro's
revolution. The new U.S. president has expressed support for the
four-decade American trade embargo on Cuba. He has said he envisions
no change in U.S. policy toward the communist island unless free
elections are held and political prisoners are freed.
The
dictator, who avoided personal attacks on his friend, former U.S.
President Bill Clinton, perhaps hoping for a rapprochement, has
let rip at Bush from the outset, describing him and rival Al Gore
as the most "boring and insipid" candidates in U.S.
election history. Bush is expected to take a tougher line on the
Caribbean island's communist government than his predecessor,
and his pre-election comments on Cuba were strongly anti-Castro.
In his customary apocalyptic style, Castro, whose four-decade
political life has been spent in confrontation with Washington,
also predicted, "That empire has little time left."
HAVANA, January
26
CZECH PRESIDENT REFUSES TO APOLOGIZE
With President
Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic refusing any apology to Havana,
Cuban and Czech officials nevertheless said Thursday that the
two countries would soon hold high-level talks over the detention
of two prominent Czech citizens accused of subversion in Cuba.
Cuba's Foreign
Ministry issued a statement Wednesday that said a meeting between
Czech and Cuban diplomats could lead to an ñhonorable solution''
that Havana proposed two days ago if Prague asked for the Cubans'
ñgenerosity.'' That prompted Havel's response Thursday that the
Czechs had no reason to apologize.
The
Cubans have been using the Czech communists as the sole channel
for negotiations, while the Czech Foreign Ministry has been insisting
on waiting for an official explanation.
Pilip and Bubenik, Cuban officials say, are among politicians,
journalists and community activists from Eastern Europe with experience
in democratic transitions. The two have been working, the officials
say, with Cuban exile organizations to destabilize Cuba.
BRUSSELS, January 26
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT
PRODI WRITES HAVEL OVER CZECHS HELD IN CUBA
European Commission President
Romano Prodi has written a letter to Czech President Vaclav Havel
pledging EU support for efforts to release two prominent Czechs
detained in Cuba, a Commission spokesman said on Thursday.
Prodi, replying to a letter from
Havel, himself a former communist-era dissident, said: "I
very much share your concern. "I would like to assure you
that the European Union is doing all it can at this stage to have
the Czech citizens immediately released and be allowed to return
home," Prodi said in his letter.
The president of
the European Parliament, Nicole Fontaine, and German Foreign Minister
Joschka Fischer have already issued strong separate protests against
the Cuban action, Prodi noted. He said Sweden, which holds the
rotating EU presidency, would lodge an official protest on behalf
of the Union, which the Czech Republic aspires to join in the
next few years.
HAVANA,
January 26
MOTHER
OF CUBAN WHO DIED IN Í99 TELLS OF SILENTLY BURYING HER SON
Félix
Julián García was killed on August 21, 1999, by
subfreezing temperatures and lack of oxygen in the landing gear
of a Boeing 777 jetliner bound for London. His frozen body was
found by authorities in the British capital when the jet arrived.
The young man's death and the repatriation of his remains
a month later were not noted in the state media, which last week
provided broad coverage of two teenage military cadets who died
the same way. Instead Lucía García buried her son
silently, accompanied by state security agents.
ñIt's an open
wound,'' García, 46, said of the death of her son, who
was 28. ñI have not become a person again.'' Holding a picture
of Félix in his casket, she said Tuesday that her son's
burial was ``the funeral of an opponent -- the police said so.''
She said her son never made a secret of his opposition to the
government ƒ His big problem was that he could not stand this
system,'' García said of her son, who first tried to leave
the island illegally when he was 19."
Félix García made
his first attempt to leave Cuba by sea, but was arrested on the
shore by Cuban authorities. He was sentenced to one year in prison.
Shortly after his release, he set sail again. He was arrested
again, this time at sea, and sentenced to 18 months. García
said she thought that after two failed attempts her son had given
up on trying to leave Cuba illegally. He was working at a textile
factory in Santiago de las Vegas, southeast of Havana.
And while she prefers not to comment on law or politics,
she said if his death had been covered in the media ¿ ñeven something
little'' -- perhaps the two cadets who died in the wheel well
of a London-bound jetliner on Christmas Eve would not have taken
the risk.
FRANCE, January
24
EURO
ASSEMBLY DEMANDS CUBA RELEASE OF TWO CZECHS
The
President of the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly, Lord
Russell-Johnston, wrote to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro on Wednesday
demanding the release of two prominent Czechs arrested after meeting
Cuban dissidents. "I strongly protest against the alleged
reasons for and the conditions of their detention," wrote
Russell-Johnston.
Russell-Johnston
called for the immediate release of former finance minister and
now parliamentary deputy Ivan Pilip and ex-student leader Jan
Bubenik. He said the two, arrested on January 12, should be allowed
to leave Cuba at once.
Russell-Johnston
said the incident was particularly worrying given a forthcoming
meeting in Cuba this April of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a
body which gathers the presidents of national and international
parliamentary assemblies and which meets once a year. "I
should like to inform you that there is a petition requesting
the release of these two men currently circulating among members
of the European Parliamentary Assembly which has already received
150 signatures," Russell-Johnston added.
HAVANA, January 24
RELATIVES VISIT ARRESTED
CZECHS
The wife a
former Finance Minister Ivan Pilip, a Czech lawmaker accused in
Cuba of acts against state security said Tuesday she hoped the
international community would work to help free her husband and
his friend Jan Bubenik, who were arrested after meeting with Cuban
dissidents.
As it has been
reported previously on these pages, Pilip, 37, and Bubenik, 32,
were arrested on Jan. 12 in Ciego de Avila, 235 miles east of
Havana, after meeting with two dissidents there. Cuba's communist
government was enraged last April when the Czech Republic and
Poland introduced a motion before the United Nations' human rights
body to censure the Caribbean island for its record on human rights.
The motion was later approved.
ñI
believe in my husband, that he is innocent and I hope that Cuban
authorities will free him,'' Lucie Pilipova said in Havana. Pilipova
who has visited her husband several times since arriving in Havana
on Saturday, said Cuban authorities charged her husband and fellow
detainee Bubenik on Thursday with ñacts against state security
related to rebellion.''
BubenikÍs brother, Martin, has also visited the prisoners
jailed at HavanaÍs Villa Marista prison.
WASHINGTON,
D.C., January 23
PRESIDENT
BUSH SELECTS CAREER DIPLOMAT AS NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR FOR
LATIN AMERICA
President Bush
has appointed former ambassador to Venezuela John Maisto as his
national security advisor for Latin America, the White House said
Monday.
Maisto, 62, a career officer who has also been ambassador
to Panama and Nicaragua, will oversee Latin American affairs under
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. Since leaving Caracas,
Maisto has been an advisor to the U.S. Southern Command in Miami.
The appointment
was seen by some as a sign that the administration is opting for
moderate career officers rather than political appointees with
strong ideological agendas for key jobs in regional affairs.
LA HABANA, January 23
CUBA TO
DETAIN TWO CZECHS AT LEAST 60 DAYS
Two
prominent Czechs arrested in Cuba and being held for meeting anti-Castro
dissidents will spend at least 60 days in prison and possibly
as long as six months.
A
Cuban prosecutor had informed Czech officials he would carry out
an investigation of parliamentarian and ex-Finance Minister Ivan
Pilip and former student leader Jan Bubenik, currently held in
detention. He said that he will keep the two in detention for
at least 60 days. After this they will stand trial, if the government
is prepared. If not, that period can be extended to up to six
months, according to Cuban law.
The
two were arrested last week in central Ciego de Avila province,
drawing a protest from Prague and further souring already hostile
ties between the onetime Socialist bloc allies. Cuba has said
the two men will be tried for "counter-revolutionary"
plotting on behalf of U.S. interests.
WASHINGTON,
D.C., January 22
A
MAN FOR SOUTH OF THE BORDER (Intelligence
Reports By Marcelo Fernández-Zayas -- For More Information
See: PUBLISHED
ARTICLES )
Roger Noriega,
an expert in Latin American politics and a senior aide to Senator
Jesse Helms, is being considered for a top job in the Bush Administration.
One observer noted that Noriega might be offered a post in the
State Department or on the National Security Council.
MONTEGO BAY,
January 22
CANADA
WILL NOT INVITE CUBA TO THE SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS IN QUEBEC CITY
Leaders
of Canada and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) ended a meeting
in Jamaica divided over whether communist Cuba should take part
in the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Canada.
Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien, speaking at a press conference
late Friday, made it clear that Cuba would not be invited to the
summit set for April 20-22.
Noting that Cuban President Fidel Castro was
not invited to the inaugural Summit of the Americas in Miami in
1994, he said this was because the intention was that all participating
countries should have democratically elected governments.
While acknowledging that some countries wanted Castro at
the summit, he said: "We operate on a consensus basis and
some are opposed so we cannot proceed. Even if I wished, I cannot."
The Sixth Canada-Caribbean
Summit in Montego Bay focused in part on the agenda for the Summit
of the Americas, which will take place in Quebec City in April.
That summit will focus on negotiations towards establishing the
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the OECD Initiative on
Financial Centers, crime, drugs, small arms and the HIV/AIDS crisis
in the Hemisphere.
HAVANA,
January 21
THE CUBAN DICTATOR ATTACKS FOREIGN MEDIA
Contending
some foreign media based in Cuba lack objectivity, Cuban dictator
Fidel Castro raised the possibility that entire news organizations
as well as individual journalists could be expelled from the island.
Insisting he was not issuing a threat, and without naming
any journalist or organization, Castro said in a speech broadcast
late Wednesday on state television: ñSome agencies are not at all objective ... while others are
more or less objective.
ñOn
occasion, it is not about the agencies, but about the reporters
tolerated by the agencies that they represent,'' the dictator
said. In some cases, he added, rather than expel a particular
journalist ñit would be more reasonable to cancel the permission
that the agency has to inform from Cuba.'' He said, ñWe prefer
that their own companies have enough common sense to call back
those people'' from Havana.
Castro said some
foreign correspondents based in Cuba ñare dedicated to defaming
the revolution ƒ They have been, sometimes for years, not only
transmitting lies but insults as well - insults against the revolution
and against me in particular,'' he said. Castro also said Cuban
leaders have ñtons of patience because we often know what they
seek with these insults: that we adopt a drastic measure by expelling
them.''
HAVANA,
January 19
CUBA
BLAMES THE UNITED STATES FOR STOWAWAYS
Cuba,
burying two young stowaways, Alberto Vázquez, 17, and Maikel
Fonseca, 16, on Thursday who perished in mid-air hiding in the
wheel-carriage of a British Airways jet, called a "massive
march" on the U.S. Interests Section in Havana for Friday
" to blame the Americans for their deaths."
Cuban
dictator Fidel Castro led the attack on U.S. immigration policies
which he says stimulate such desperate bids to leave the Caribbean
island. "They
are victims of the murderous law, victims of deceits and illusions,"
Castro said in a speech broadcast late on Wednesday, referring
to the 1966 U.S. Adjustment Act, which offers preferential treatment
to Cubans for U.S. residency.
Havana says the
Act encourages dangerous illegal immigration attempts by sea and
air, although U.S. officials retort that Castro's authoritarian
system and economic shortcomings are to blame for driving people
to desperation. In his speech, the dictator sent a message of
defiance to President-elect George W. Bush. "I say that there
is nothing they can possibly do that is capable of crushing the
Cuban Revolution."
WASHINGTON,
D.C., January 18
CUBA
IS A THREAT TO THE SECURITY OF THE UNITED STATES (Intelligence
Reports By Marcelo Fernández-Zayas„For More Information
See: PUBLISHED
ARTICLES )
Why
did Cuban Minister of Defense, Raul Castro, and Foreign Minister,
Felipe Perez Roque, speak openly about the need to normalize diplomatic
relations now, while Castro is still alive? Is that a threat?
F.D.E. Columbus, OH.
Of course it is
a threat to the United States. What the Cuban officials did was
to repeat in public a similar message sent by diplomatic avenues.
Castro has promised to "behave" if the economic embargo
is lifted. But Washington
does not believe that he would. Everybody knows that Castro is
very sick, but the US holds out the temporary suspension of the
embargo for his successors. Washington does not think that the
situation in Cuba will deteriorate after Castro's departure.
HAVANA,
January 18
CUBA
REJECTS DIPLOMATIC PROTEST OF CZECHSÍ ARREST
The
Cuban government rejected two diplomatic protest statements the
Czech Republic sent following the arrest of two of its citizens
-- Ivan Pilip, a former Czech finance minister and a parliament
member, and Jan Bubenik, a former student activist, the Cuban
communist paper Granma said. The Cuban Foreign Ministry said the
statements were too arrogant for the Cuban side to respond.
According
to a Prague daily, as a response to the Cuban actions, the Czech
parliament deputies plan to send a five-member delegation to Cuba
and President Vaclav Havel is considering forms of intervention.
ñLet's view the affair
as Havana's retaliation for the anti-Cuban resolution which the
Czech Republic, together with Poland, pushed through some time
ago,'' said the daily.
Pilip
and Bubenik were arrested on Jan. 11 when traveling in Cuba on
a tourist visa and were later sent to Villa Marista, a prison
used by Cuban authorities for political prisoners, Granma said.
The communist paper also said Pilip and Bubenik tried to contact
members of Cuban oppositions and pass finances on to them.
WASHINGTON,
D.C., January 18
CLINTON
SUSPENDS TITLE
III OF HELMS-BURTON LAW
President
Clinton suspended for another six months Title III of Helms-Burton
Law that would let Americans sue people using U.S. property confiscated
after Fidel Castro took power in 1959.
Clinton
extended for another six months a suspension of a provision in
the Helms-Burton law that would allow U.S. companies and Cuban-born
U.S. citizens to sue anyone using properties confiscated from
them after Cuban leader Fidel Castro took power in 1959.
"I believe
this action will enhance efforts by the United States to strengthen
international cooperation aimed at promoting peaceful democratic
change in Cuba", Clinton said in a statement issued by the
White House.
WASHINGTON,
D.C., January 17
NO
EASING OF CUBA POLICY SEEN AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT UNDER THE LEADERSHIP
OF COLIN POWELL
Madeleine
Albright, much like her 10 immediate predecessors, is stepping
down as secretary of state with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro as
firmly entrenched as ever, and the prospect does not please her.
ñPeople ask me what I'm really disappointed in,'' Albright
said recently, reflecting on her four years in office, ñthe Middle
East is one. The other is that I didn't see a change in Cuba.''
Secretary
of State-designate Colin Powell offers little comfort to the dictator.
A decade ago, following the collapse of a number of communist
regimes, some as a result of U.S. military pressure, Powell, then
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put Cuba on a short list
of hostile countries where he said change was needed. Coming from
the Pentagon's top officer, some Cuban officials saw the remark
as a warning.
It
seems that Powel will be backed by the president-elect in any
new tough policy he decides to recommend against Castro. Bush
said in August he has no plans to ease the Cuban embargo, in place
for 38 years. ñI
challenge the Castro regime to surprise the world and adopt the
ways of democracy,'' he said at the time. ñUntil he frees political
prisoners and holds free elections and allows free speech, I will
keep the current sanctions in place.''
HAVANA,
January 17
INCREASED REPRESSION IN CUBA -- CUBAÍS BIGGEST THREAT:
NEW IDEAS AND INFORMATION
An
aging dictatorship,
threatened by outside views, needs to repress free expression
in order to sustain itself in power.
Since Cuba's bankrupt regime cannot survive any close examination,
the free flow of information and ideas, however modest, is its
biggest threat. So while the world has opened to Cuba, as exhorted
to by Pope John Paul II in 1998, Cuba's regime hasn't opened to
the world.
Instead,
it has clamped down, harassing and detaining struggling dissidents
regularly. Such repression has well led to increasing international
condemnation of Cuba's human-rights abuses.
HAVANA,
January 17
CHARGED
WITH ñESPIONAGE TWO CZECHS WHO MET CUBAN DISSIDENTS
Granma, the
official newspaper of Cuba's Communist Party, said the two Czechs
would be tried for ñviolating their tourist visas and following
instructions'' from the U.S.-based "Cuban-American
mafia'' -- a term frequently used by the government to describe
anti-Castro groups.
The announced
trial of Ivan Pilip and Jan Bubenik suggests Cuban dictator Fidel
CastroÍs growing impatience with ideas and aid from residents
of countries that were once their Soviet-bloc allies.
Granma
mentioned a series of contacts by Eastern Europeans with ñsmall
counterrevolutionary groups'' beginning last year when several
Eastern Europeans -- two Latvians, a Pole, a Romanian and a Czech
-- were discovered in Cuba, making contacts with dissidents and
delivering money and other resources to carry out their activities,
as well as bringing in their ñexperiences about anti-socialist
activities.''
Unquestionably, the
only crime of the two Czechs is that they were protagonists of
their country's peaceful transition to democracy from Soviet-style
communism -- ñA VERY DANGEROUS EXAMPLE FOR
A COMMUNIST COUNTRY.
WASHINGTON,
D.C., January 17
EASY
APPROVAL SEEN FOR MEL MARTINEZ AS HOUSING CHIEF
With
his compelling background as a Cuban refugee who has always proclaimed
the right of the Cuban people to be free from Communist oppression,
Mel Martínez is expected to clear his confirmation hearing
on Wednesday to become President-elect George W. Bush's housing
secretary and the nation's first Cuban-American cabinet official.
One
of the most prominent Cuban-Americans in the United States, Martinez
started his life in America at age 15 in foster homes without
his family and speaking no English after fleeing Cuba during the
1962 airlift of children known as Operation
Peter Pan.
Married
with three children, Martinez was a leading voice advocating the
overthrown of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. "I come before
you today as the fulfillment of the promise of America, the promise
of freedom and opportunity for all people," he testified
at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in March 2000.
PRAGUE,
January 16
CUBAÍS
GOVERNMENT AFRAID THAT WHAT HAPPENED IN EASTERN EUROPE COULD HAPPEN
IN CUBA
The bitter
political differences between Cuba and the Czech Republic intensified
Monday as Czech Deputy Foreign Minister Hynek Kmonicek presented
a protest note to Cuba's top diplomat in Prague demanding the
immediate release of two prominent Czech citizens detained in
Cuba and an explanation for their arrest.
The
detention of the two, a Czech politician and a former dissident
student leader, while on a private visit in Cuba is a telling
indication of how rocky the relationship between Havana and Prague
has grown as the countries pursue different political paths. Their
alleged crime: ñviolating the rules governing foreigners'' who
visit Cuba. "The two agents at the service of the
United States ... will be placed at the disposition of the tribunals,
who will determine the relevant measures," a Havana's statement
said.
In
Prague, the Czech government said it would take all steps within
accepted international standards to secure the men's release.
The incident is unusual because foreigners who run afoul of Cuban
authorities generally are briefly detained and then deported.
CubaÍs action is interpreted as a sign that the Cuban government
is increasingly fearful that what happened in Eastern Europe could
also happen in Cuba and wants to stop the flow of ideas that might
encourage that scenario.
ATHENS,
January 15
CUBA
FORECASTS U.S. RELATIONS WILL NOT IMPROVE UNDER BUSH
Cuban
Foreign Minister Felipe Roque said on Monday relations between
the Caribbean island and the United States will not improve under
incoming president George W. Bush.
"We're not optimistic about better relations with
the United States although we are open to themƒWe don't hate the
United States and we don't believe they are the reason we are
suffering," Roque told reporters in Athens while on an official
visit.
Roque
said right-wing Cubans in Florida were to blame for Cuba's isolation.
"I'm not optimistic due to the extreme-right wing
lobby (in Florida)," Roque said. "These people helped
Bush get elected in Florida and they are asking him to tighten
the American position on Cuba."
Roque also said
a thawing of relations between the island and the United States,
which was initiated by outgoing president Bill Clinton, could
only continue if the 38-year old trade embargo was lifted.
CIEGO
DE AVILA, January 15
CZECH
LAWMAKER DETAINED IN CUBA
Two
Czech politicians have been detained in Cuba while on a private
visit. Former Czech Finance Minister Ivan Pilip, who now sits
in parliament, and Jan Bubenik, member of a Czech pro-democracy
foundation, were detained on Friday in Ciego de Avila, some 185
miles southeast of Havana.
There
was no Cuban official explanation, but according to unofficial
information from Cuban police, the two were detained for having
allegedly met with unidentified members of Cuba's opposition.
They were transferred to the Cuban capital of Havana, where
they remain in jail.
A Czech official
from the Foreign Ministry considers the detentions groundless
and incompatible with the Czech RepublicÍs democratic principles
as well as other Western states profess. All necessary steps are being taken by the Czech side to secure
their immediate release, the official said.
PANAMA,
January 14
POSADA
CARRILES SAYS AIM WAS CASTRO HIT
One
of the four Cuban exiles arrested in Panama last year in connection
with an alleged plot to kill Fidel Castro told investigators in
an ñinformal conversation'' that he planned to assassinate the
Cuban leader with a car bomb but changed his mind at the last
minute, Panamanian authorities say.
According
to Panamanian officials, 70-year-old Luis Posada Carriles, a veteran
of countless previous anti-Castro conspiracies, told investigators
that he called off the plan to kill Castro during a Latin American
summit in Panama because too many innocent people would have been
harmed as well.
However,
Panamanian officials -- who spoke on condition that they not be
identified -- admitted their case against the men is extremely
weak and predicted that they will be acquitted at trial. Posada
Carriles and three Miami men are in jail here on charges of illegal
possession of explosives and conspiracy.
HAVANA,
January 14
PILES OF DEBRIS ON HAVANA STREETS (CAMCOÍs Department of Engineers)
The
municipal service operations keep falling behind in Havana. Tons
of debris pile up on the streets, and some places havenÍt had
the trash picked up in months. The mounds of trash serve as breeding
grounds for mosquitoes and other vermin, which the Ministry of
Public Health is trying to combat by spraying, but residents here
complain that it seems to be a waste of scarce resources to spray
when the piles of trash are not cleaned up.
Public
Health is concerned about the spread of the Aedes aegyptis mosquito,
which can transmit dengue fever, among other diseases. To control
it, it is spraying with chlordane mixed with fuel oil.
An expert who declined to be identified said
that the spraying is effective, but that it affects some peopleÍs
respiratory system, especially the very young and old. Some residents
try to evade the spraying operation, but the officials have been
empowered by the government to spray inside every home and even
to impose fines on those who try to prevent it.
CIENFUEGOS, January 14
TONS
OF PORK LOST (CAMCOÍs Department of Engineers)
Two
tons of beef and one-and-a-half tons of pork were lost at the
local meat packing plant in Aguada de Pasajeros, Cienfuegos, due
to poor storage conditions.
The
meat had been stored for a long time, but at no time was it offered
to the public, in spite of the chronic shortage of all types of
beef products here. Usually consumers get feet, tails, offal and
other meat by-products, because all the better cuts are reserved
for the dollar-producing tourist trade.
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 12
HELMS
THINKS CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTROÍS FINAL HOURS ARE APPROACHING
Cuba
is in for a tougher time from President-elect George W. Bush,
warned Senator Jesse Helms, who will help shape U.S. foreign policy
in Congress as the Foreign Relations Committee chairman. Helms, a North Carolina Republican, said in a speech that he
wants a tightening of the embargo against Cuba, whose communist
government led by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has frustrated American
policy- makers for decades.
ñWith
the Bush election the opponents of the Cuban embargo are about
to run into a brick wall,'' Helms said. Because of a more stringent
embargo, Helms predicted, Bush will be able to visit Havana before
his term is up -- for the inauguration of a democratically elected
government.
What's
more, Helms vowed to overhaul the way the U.S. delivers foreign
assistance. He proposed abolishing the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) and replacing it with a foundation that provides
grants to religious organizations such as Catholic Relief Services
that work in poor countries.
HAVANA, January 12
TWO DESPERATE CUBAN ARMY CADETS DIE SEEKING FREEDOM
Cuba
said Thursday that two Cuban youths who died last month after
stowing away in the undercarriage of a London-bound British Airways
jet were military cadets who dreamed of living in the United States.
In
the first official Cuban report of the deaths, Cuban state TV
said the two, Alberto Vázquez Rodriguez, 17, and Michael
Fonseca, 16, hid themselves in the wheel well of the Boeing 777
just before it took off from Havana airport in the early hours
of Christmas Eve. They took advantage of the darkness, heavy rain and long grass
to evade perimeter guards at Havana airport.
Their bodies were
later discovered in Britain, one in a Surrey field after apparently
having fallen from the aircraft, and the other at London's Gatwick
airport. Cuban TV commentators said the two, both friends from
the same military academy at Guanabacoa in Havana, were apparently
motivated by the idea of living in the United States. A third
friend who had also talked of making the trip did not go.
WASHINGTON,
D.C., January 11
ALBRIGHT: CASTRO SHOULD MOVE ON
Last week, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
said one of her main regrets as she is about to leave office is
that Fidel Castro is still running Cuba. On Tuesday, Albright
went further, all but saying that it's about time that death claimed
the aging Cuban leader.
At
a farewell news conference at the State Department, Albright cited
a list of foreign policy stances that she hopes the incoming Bush
administration will pursue, adding at the end, to laughter: ñAnd
I wish them the actuarial tables in Cuba." she said. Life expectancy
for Cuban men is 68.4 years, according to the World Health Organization.
Castro turned 74 on Aug. 13.
HAVANA,
January 11
CUBAN
FOREIGN MINISTER URGES BUSH TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS
Cuba's
foreign minister urged President-elect Bush to negotiate with
74-year-old Cuban dictator Fidel Castro soon, saying Tuesday that
resuming ties between the Cold War-era foes could prove more difficult
after the communist leader dies.
Neither
the Perez Roque nor Castro's younger brother and designated successor,
Defense Minister Gen. Raul Castro, have elaborated on why negotiations
might be harder after Fidel Castro's death.
Raúl
Castro offered Bush the same advice in a television interview
over the weekend. Despite political differences, Perez Roque said
Cuba wants to fully restore diplomatic relations with the United
States that were severed 40 years ago this month. He said his
country would also welcome an end to the U.S. trade embargo, which
has been imposed on the Caribbean island for almost as long. ñWhile
waiting to see what will unfold in Washington, "we will remain
calm,'' said the foreign minister. ñWe are not anxious, nor are
we afraid. The ball now is in the hands of U.S. officials,'' he
added.
SAN JOSE, January 10
CUBAN
REFUGEES ARRIVE IN COSTA RICA
A
boat packed with 22 Cubans seeking political asylum in Costa Rica
has arrived at the Central American nation, the first to come
here from the communist country in four years. Officials said
the group - between the ages of 14 and 60 - came ashore late Saturday
on a stretch of Caribbean coast near Limon, 80 miles east of San
Jose, the capital. Police discovered the refugees on Sunday.
A
Costa Rican foreign relations adviser, talked briefly with the
group on Sunday and said it was made up of a family and several
friends. Cuba sent
a note to Costa Rica claiming the fishing boat belonged to the
government and had been stolen, Costa Rican Security Minister
Rogelio Ramos said. The boat has a capacity of 15 people. The
group of 17 men, including five minors, and four women left Cuba
on Dec. 28 aboard the Langostero I and was adrift at sea before
being towed to the Colombian island of San Andres, off Nicaragua's
Caribbean coast.
Cuba's
communist government says the vast majority of Cubans who leave
the country illegally by boat are economic migrants rather than
political refugees, no different from the thousands of Mexicans
and Central Americans who cross the U.S. border illegally in search
of work.
HAVANA, January 9
CUBAN MEDIA MOCKS SPAIN
EMBASSY
An
Epiphany parade organized by Spain's embassy in communist-ruled
Cuba was criticized on Sunday by Cuban media, which said the event
was an imported capitalist show dangerous for local children.
Cuban state television and an official newspaper slammed as "scarecrows,"
"clowns" and "insulting types" the Spanish
diplomats and businessmen who dressed up to represent the Magi
to throw sweets to children in downtown Havana on Saturday.
The
parade of the Three Kings riding in horse-drawn coaches was organized
by the Spanish Embassy's Cultural Center in Havana. Witnesses
said a crowd of children, both sons and daughters of Spanish nationals
working in Cuba and local children from Old Havana, rushed and
scrambled to pick up the candy, first as the parade passed, and
later inside the Cultural Center. In Spain and other countries
of Hispanic Catholic tradition, Epiphany, held on Jan. 6, is a
major feast day comparable with Christmas. In a report broadcast
late on Saturday and repeated on Sunday, Cuban state television
described the Three Kings as "imported monarchs" and
"strange and unrecognizable clowns."
Havana-based
foreign diplomats said the reaction from Cuba's state media appeared
to be part of a "battle of ideas" declared by Cuban
dictator Fidel Castro to defend the island's one-party communist
system against ideological threat. The 74-year-old Cuban dictator
and his ruling Communist Party have adopted a defiant "no
surrender" stance in the face of foreign calls for Cuba to
abandon one-party communism and embrace multi-party democracy
and free-market economics.
JATIBONICO, January 9
DAILY
CONTAMINATION OF JATIBONICO RIVER (CAMCOÍs
Department of Engineers)
A
large amount of daily contamination is dumped in the Jatibonico
river without any official reaction from the Ministry of ñMedio Ambiente and Salud Pública".
Sewer
waters, residual chemical discharge from different industries
and other discharges from a slaughterhouse located nearby, are
some of the contamination dumped daily into this Cuban River.
The
residents of the town of Jatibonico are very concerned about the
negative consequences that this contamination could bring to their
health and welfare.
HAVANA,
January 8
A
COURAGEOUS DISSIDENT
GROUP APPEALS TO CIVIC ACTIONS IN CUBA
The
Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) presided by Oswaldo Payá
Sardiñas, called on all Cubans to ñwake up" and carry out
civic actions to demand a popular referendum on the destiny of
the country.
In
its New YearÍs call for civic actions, the MCL declared that liberation
ñis a word used to wish peace, happiness, prosperity, and overcoming
of all personal and social problems of the Cuban people". ñFreedom
is not something that has to be asked for, it is something that
we must achieve and fight for; it is the beginning of being free
and fight for the liberation of all", the document added.
The
MCL affirms ñmany Cubans lie to themselves when they think time
will be the solution to our national problems and the changes
that the country so desperately needs". The MCL asserts that Cubans
should wake up and find out that changes are already taking place,
although not the ones needed by the country. These changes, the
document stated, could be the prolongation of injusticeƒit is
time to wake up.
The myth that nothing can be done, just for being a myth
is a lie, the MCL emphasized.
HAVANA,
January 6
RAUL
CASTRO TO US.: NORMALIZE TIES
Raúl
Castro, the Cuban Minister of Defense, asked the United States
to normalize relations with Cuba while Cuban dictator Fidel Castro
is still alive, because ñIt would be in imperialism's interest
to try, with our irreconcilable differences, to normalize relations
as much as possible during Fidel's life, it will get more difficult''
later on.
Gen.
Raúl Castro, the designated successor of the President
for Life, did not elaborate during the interview on state television
on Thursday about why negotiations could get harder. However,
Raúl is generally considered more of a hard-liner than
his older brother.
While lower level Cuban officials rarely dare
talk of the deaths of the Castro brothers, both Castros have indicated
they are very concerned about what would happen after they have
disappeared from the Cuban panorama.
"After I die I do not want my name on a street, much less
on a monument, or a factory or a farm or anything,'' Raul Castro
said in the interview. The only homage he and his brother want
``is that the revolution be maintained.''
Raul's comments were aired one day after
the 40th anniversary of the break in U.S.-Cuba diplomatic relations.
President Dwight Eisenhower broke the ties on Jan. 3, 1961. Washington
maintains that a political opening in Cuba's one-party system
and free and competitive elections are necessary before diplomatic
relations can be resumed.
OKLAHOMA CITY, January
5
JUDGE
STOPS OKLAHOMA WILL GIVING MONEY TO ELIÁN KIN
An
Oklahoma judge has overturned a suicide's will leaving half her
$500,000 estate to the Florida relatives of Cuban shipwreck boy
Elián Gonzales, according to court papers released on Thursday.
Pottawatomie
County District Judge Glenn Dale Carter ruled in favor of the
woman's family members, who argued that Anne Katherine Abernathy,
57, suffered from serious mental illness at the time she changed
her will just before committing suicide in July 2000. Albernathy
was 57 years old.
Abernathy shot
herself just hours after the death of her elderly mother, who
had lived with her in the same house in Shawnee. Prior to her
suicide, Abernathy changed her will to split her $500,000 estate
between the Gonzales relatives and members of the Amirault family
of Massachusetts, who were involved in a 1980s child abuse scandal.
Abernathy had never met either family.
HAVANA,
January 3
CUBAÍS
SANTERIA PRIESTS PREDICT STORMY, LUSTY 2001
Priests of the Afro-Cuban
Santeria religion have prophesied a potentially turbulent 2001
for the island, including stormy weather, threat of war, migratory
chaos, marriage woes and growing promiscuity. Making public their
traditional New Year forecast, or "Letter of the Year,"
published in Havana.
Santeria,
an Afro-Cuban religion that blends ancient beliefs brought from
Africa by black slaves with the worship of Roman Catholic saints,
has a widespread following in communist-ruled Cuba and is tolerated
by the authorities. The prophecy for 2001 predicted a sobering
series of events, including "desperation and rush in migratory
matters," "war threat" and "tropical storms,
strong rains and house collapses."
Such
forecasts were likely to have strong resonance in Cuba, whose
relations with the neighboring United States over four decades
have been characterized by mutual hostility and recurring crises
of Cuban migrants fleeing the island. Cuban dictator Fidel Castro
already has announced that he expects nothing good for U.S.-Cuban
relations from U.S. President-elect George W. Bush, who has vowed
to maintain the 38-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Havana.
CARACAS, January 3
VENEZUELAÍS
CHAVEZ DENIES RIFT WITH U.S.
Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez said that his country and the United States
would continue to cooperate under the George W. Bush administration,
refuting a New York Times report that predicted a growing rift
between the two countries over foreign policy.
Chávez,
in a speech following the inauguration of Puerto Rican governor
Sila María Calderón, said U.S. President Bill Clinton
ñdid not fall into editorial provocations or lies, and I am sure
that the George Bush administration will be serious and won't
fall for rumors or false stories, either.''
Chávez
also denied allegations that he is aligning Venezuela with Iraq,
his close friend of Cuba, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and other
anti-U.S. states, noting that Venezuela's foreign policy is based
on equal treatment of all countries. A series of editorials in
U.S. papers have quoted high U.S. officials as criticizing Chavez
for his vocal opposition to U.S. policies in neighboring Colombia
and his alleged association with Latin American rebel groups.
WASHINGTON,
D.C., January 1st.
MORE
SUFFERING FOR THE CUBAN PEOPLE LOOMS IN 2001
The
world welcomed 2001 with exuberant cries and solemn pronouncements,
putting the joys and sorrows of the past year behind and wishing
out loud for a better future. ñI wish that the new millennium
brings to all nations, peace, justice, brotherhood and prosperity,''
Pope John Paul II told a cheering midnight crowd in St. Peter's
Square.
However,
in Cuba, more suffering, hunger and desperation loom in the horizon
for its citizens despite the president for lifeÍs promises of
a better future. In the communist island, where Cuban dictator
Fidel Castro has been in power since 1959, he assured citizens
yesterday that ñthese hard and fertile years of combat and victory
have formed an indomitable people," and reluctantly has to recognize,
"there
is a great deal of injustice in societies, including our own,
where there are inequalities despite all the efforts we have been
making."
After
42 years of absolute power, Castro made another promise to the
poor Cuban people, "we will once again come closer to the
levels of justice and we will have more justice."
However, the whole world knows that the peace, justice,
brotherhood and prosperity that the Pope wishes for all nations,
will become a reality in Cuba only after the Castro brothers are
gone and, finally, a transition to democracy begins.
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