|
BIG PINE
KEY, Fla., el 31 de agosto
23 CUBANS TAKEN INTO U.S. CUSTODY
Twenty-three
Cubans smuggled to the United States were taken
into custody Tuesday after their small boat landed
in the Florida Keys. The 20 adults and three children
were found uninjured on Big Pine Key around 1:30
a.m. They said they left Havana on a 26-foot fishing
boat early Monday and told the Border Patrol they
each paid a smuggler the equivalent of $455.
More
than 2,100 Cubans have been picked up by the Border
Patrol since October. The government generally allows
Cubans who reach U.S. soil to stay but returns those
found at sea. Officials have not said whether those
taken into custody Tuesday will be sent back to
Cuba. They was being processed by the Border Patrol
and will be sent to an Immigration and Naturalization
Service detention center in Miami.
PINAR
DEL RÍO, August 30
ANTI-GOVERNMENT
SLOGANS PAINTED IN WESTERN CUBAN TOWNS
Anti-government
slogans are beginning to appear again in several
towns of Pinar del Río province. Someone
painted "Down with Fidel" on the walls
of the Manuel Lazo hospital, in the town of the
same name, between August 19 and 20. The next morning,
the walls of the beauty salon in Las Martinas sported
"Down with Fidel" and "Stop electrical
blackouts."
A
dissident said the painted slogans emerge as a form
of expression and protest. "The crisis becomes
more acute and some find in the slogans the best
way to express demands that there is no legal way
to express," he said.
Some
residents found it curious that this time around,
State Security agents did not come running when
the slogans appeared. Instead, agents of the Technical
Investigations Department were assigned clean-up
duties. As usual, the official press made no mention
of the incidents.
HAVANA,
August 29
CUBA SLAMS ISRAEL KILLING OF PALESTINIAN LEADER
Communist-run
Cuba condemned on Tuesday Israel's assassination
of Palestinian faction chief Abu Ali Mustafa as
a U.S.-facilitated act of "bloody terrorism"
and called for an end to Israeli "aggression"
in the Middle East. A communique from Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's government,
a vociferous supporter of the Palestinian cause,
expressed "energetic condemnation" of
this "latest crime."
Israeli
helicopter gunships fired missiles through two windows
of Mustafa's top-floor office in a three-story building
in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday, killing
him. Mustafa, whom Israel accused of masterminding
a wave of bombings, was the head of the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a founder
of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The
ruling Communist Party's daily, Granma, reported
the killing on its front page, and Cuba's second
newspaper, Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth) of the
Communist Youth movement, was also virulent in its
condemnation of Israel.
HAVANA, August 28
CUBA
TO EN CIRCULATION OF U.S. COINS
In
what some analysts believe may be a first step toward
eliminating the U.S. dollar from circulation in
Cuba, the Cuban Central Bank said on Tuesday that
American coins would no longer be accepted from
Oct. 15. "It
is international practice not to accept fractional
foreign coins, due to the high cost of their handling
and export," the Central Bank said in a brief
statement explaining the move.
Cuba
dictator Fidel Castro's government took the embarrassing
decision to legalize the circulation in Cuba of
its archenemy's currency in late 1993, one of many
measures aimed at recovering from an economic crisis
brought on by the collapse of Eastern European communism.
Cuban
officials have since said repeatedly that the dollar's
circulation is temporary, although no date for ending
the Caribbean island's dual peso and dollar monetary
system has been set. Central Bank President Francisco
Soberon said recently the government was working
toward ending circulation of the dollar, but added
the move was not imminent in the short term. The
dollar has clearly helped pull Cuba out of crisis,
but its use has created serious political problems
too. Confusing the issue further, Cuba in 1995 issued
convertible pesos, which it said were equal to the
dollar.
HOLGUIN,
August 27
MORE
THAN 70 DIE OF INFLUENZA IN FOUR MONTHS
More
than 70 residents of Holguín province have
died in the last four months of a disease local
doctors have called influenza, while the local government
press has made no mention of the outbreak. Older
residents are the most severely affected by the
disease. In a pensioners' home in the city of Holguín,
21 have died.
The
symptoms of the infection include high fevers, head
and joint aches, diarrhea, dizziness and weakness.
The most common complications among the elderly
are dehidration, heart attacks and strokes.
CARACAS,
Venezuela, August 25
VENEZUELAÍS
CHAVEZ VOWS NOT TO FALL LIKE ALLENDE
Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday his government
and the nation's armed forces were "one being,"
and he faced no risk of being toppled in a military
coup like Chile's Salvador Allende. Chile's socialist
president Allende was overthrown and killed in 1973
in a military uprising.
Political
opponents and the opposition-dominated media frequently
raise the specter of unrest in the military, but
the government has vehemently denied coup plot rumors.
Chavez said he, like Allende, also faced internal
opposition from "the old oligarchy and political
parties" he defeated in democratic elections.
He added the late Chilean president had also been
the target of international pressure, including
efforts by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
to destabilize him. Chavez said his political opponents
at home and abroad were also attempting to isolate
and destabilize his government. "They have
also tried to isolate Venezuela, but they have failed
and they will never be able to isolate us,"
he said.
Since
his 1998 election win, Chavez has appointed loyal
military officers to key posts in the government
and openly promoted his allies in the armed forces.
His political opponents have accused him of trying
to turn the Venezuelan military into a personal
guard, and of moving toward increasingly authoritarian
rule.
HAVANA,
August 25
MENINGITIS
OUTBREAK IN HAVANA
More
than 80 children have been treated for meningitis
recently at the Pediatric Hospital in the El Cerro
district of Havana, according to a nurse at the
facility who spoke on condition her name not be
used. "As far as we know, the type of meningitis
affecting the children is viral," she said,
as distinguished from the bacterial, more serious,
variety of the disease.
"As to how
many children have come down with the disease, the
government is keeping that a secret," she said.
The Ministry of Public Health has designated the
El Cerro Pediatric Hospital to care for the more
serious cases, she said, "although it is foreseen
that other hospitals in the city will help if the
outbreak spreads."
SAN
JUAN Y MARTINEZ, August 24
THREE OF THE FOUR EXISTING PIZZA PARLORS CLOSED
IN SAN JUAN Y MARTINEZ
Authorities
in the Pinar del Río town of San Juan y Martínez
closed three of the four existing pizza parlors
August 12 in spite of higher-than-ever demand for
the product due to a scarcity of flour, yeast and
cheese and the lack of "financing to acquire
them," in the words of the economic director
of the town's Food and Commerce Authority.
"The only
items you can consistently find in the Food and
Commerce Authority's outlets are alcoholic beverages,
cigarettes, and cigars; but what people need is
food," said a town resident.
HAVANA,
August 23
EUROPEAN
UNION ENVOY SEEKS TO IMPROVE TIES WITH CUBA
A
European Union (EU) mission headed by Belgian Foreign
Minister Louis Michel began a visit to Cuba on
Wednesday aimed at repairing relations hurt
by EU criticism of the communist-run island's human
rights' record.
"At the moment, relations are frozen,
but I think there is an important goodwill to improve
those relations and build a new climate between
the union and Cuba," Michel, whose country
holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters
on arrival.
The
visit comes after Cuba-EU relations hit rock-bottom
last year when Havana angrily canceled the visit
of an EU "troika" of ministers. Cuba was
angry at western European nations' backing for a
U.S.-promoted censure, debated annually at the United
Nations' human rights commission, of Cuban dictator
Fidel Castro's government for alleged repression
of dissidents.
Signaling that
the EU still considered that an important issue,
Michel, in the presence of Cuban Foreign Minister
Felipe Perez Roque, confirmed plans to meet with
anti-Castro activists during a visit he described
as exploratory.
ñI think I have in my agenda a certain number
of meetings with civil society, also with some opposition
members. And, well, I am going to carry out those
engagements," Michel said.
MIAMI,
el 22 de agosto
THE
LATIN GRAMMYS MOVED TO LOS ANGELES
The
Latin Grammys organization pulled its awards show
out of Miami on Monday and moved it to Los Angeles,
saying a planned protest by Cuban exiles jeopardized
the safety of attendees who would be forced to march
a dangerous ñgantlet'' past demonstrators to reach
AmericanAirlines Arena. Latin
Grammy chief executive C. Michael Greene flatly
rejected as inadequate a compromise plan for the
protest site worked out among exile organizations,
the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and
Miami Mayor Joe Carollo. The plan would have put
demonstrators across Biscayne Boulevard from the
arena.
Greene
said that the plan would have allowed the demonstrators
too close to attendees making their way to the arena.
Greene said he was less concerned about having ñlimousines
pelted with eggs'' than about the security of about
7,000 attendees who he said would be walking past
the protesters to the arena entrance.
ñHaving to run that gantlet is demeaning
at best and dangerous at worst,'' he said, citing
a 1999 Miami Arena concert by Cuban band Los Van
Van in which some attendees were escorted out by
riot police while demonstrators launched eggs, soda
cans and other missiles at them.
Exile
organizations, who had vowed the demonstration would
be peaceful, and the ACLU criticized Greene for
what they said was his unwillingness to compromise.
ACLU attorney Randall Marshall accused the Latin
Grammy group of seeking ña sanitized TV image of
the event'' by keeping protesters out of sight.
ñIt is a sad day for our community,'' said
one of the protest organizers. ñWe didn't want to
lose the Latin Grammys. But Mr. Greene and his Grammy
organization have no respect for our rights to
protest.
HAVANA,
August 22
FAMILY
DOCTORS MUST INFORM ON PATIENTS WHO TAKE IN BOARDERS
The
Cuban Ministry of Public Health has ordered family
doctors to report all guests or boarders in private
homes to health authorities as part of the campaign
to control the spread of dengue fever, Public Health
officials in the Arroyo Naranjo district of Havana
said.
"We
were told that any person in the district that is
not registered as a patient of the nearest clinic
has to be reported immediately to the authorities,"
said one family doctor. As part of the Cuban health
care system, every resident must register with the
nearest neighborhood clinic.
The announcement
of the measure irked people here who saw it as another
extension of government control. "Now doctors
will have to dedicate their time to informing on
who rented to a foreigner or who rented to a Cuban,
when what the Ministry has to do is improve the
service to the population, which is not free as
the government would have you believe, but is paid
for by the people with their labor," said one
irate Arroyo Naranjo resident.
SANTIAGO
DE CUBA, August 21
WATER SUPPLY
CRISIS WORSENS (CAMCOÍs
Department of Engineers)
The
water supply crisis in Santiago de Cuba has worsened
lately; there are areas like Veguita de Galo that
have done without for up to 20 days at a stretch
and others like La Torre where the service is frequently
out for four and five days at a time. Water distribution
has been planned by the local government by areas,
but generally the plan fails and water ends up being
supplied arbitrarily. "After days and days
without water, they turn it on for two or three
hours, and that's not enough time for so many people
to solve all their problems," said one resident
of Veguita de Galo.
In
order to get at least some water, residents of Veguita
de Galo go to a private well that provides a turbid,
salty liquid not recommended for drinking. At Carretera
del Morro and A Street there is another well with
better quality water, but authorities have shut
it down due to the high concentration of people
in the area. According to trustworthy sources, the
local government and police agencies shut down the
well for fear that there could be protests and anti-government
demonstrations among the crowds. There are some
people who have found an opportunity in the crisis,
selling water at 10 pesos a 55-gallon drum.
HERRADURA,
August 21
COOKING
FUEL SCARCER IN SUMMER (CAMCOÍs
Department of Engineers)
As
in previous years, summer means to the townspeople
that finding fuel to cook with is even more problematic
than usual and that prices have gone up. It is not
unusual to see residents walking around with a gallon
jug asking each other "Where is there fuel,"
typically diesel oil. The going price in Pinar del
Río province is now 5 pesos per liter. The
average Cuban worker makes 10 pesos a day.
Diesel
oil became the usual fuel for people to cook about
ten years ago when supplies of kerosene were drastically
curtailed. So far this year, residents have been
able to buy from the government six liters of kerosene
per month, or about a tenth of what they need. The
rest must be "procured," as Cubans say,
which essentially means it must be stolen, since
all diesel fuel belongs to the government and there
is no legal trade in it. People make do substracting
a trickle from truck and train fuel tanks, warehouses,
storage depots or any other source their ingenuity
gives them access to.
Those
who don't have access to the fuel or the money to
buy it from those who can get it, have resorted
to home-made electric-hot-plates, wood, or coke.
Some use a "Torricelli," a rustic, one-time-use
contraption made of mud, scraps of wood and rice
chaff. It is named after U. S. senator Robert Torricelli,
whom the Cuban government blames, among others,
for its economic difficulties. Since many Cubans
live in apartments, many constructed by the government
in the 1960's and 1970's, even in rural areas, a
lot of these improvised cooking methods are used
indoors, with predictable results for the air quality
in the homes.
HAVANA,
August 19
HAVANA HOSPITAL LACKS RUNNING WATER, SENDS PATIENTS
HOME
All
except the most critical patients at the Julio Trigo
hospital in Havana were sent home starting August
13 because the hospital doesn't have running water.
The Julio Trigo is a general hospital located in
the Arroyo Naranjo municipality of the city.
"Those
of us in better physical shape were sent home. Only
the most critical cases were left behind,"
said one woman who was discharged before being diagnosed.
Patients
say there is no running water at the hospital, there
are visible signs of leaks in the structure, and
the air conditioners don't work. For years, the
hospital has had problems, evidenced by the periodic
closing of operating rooms or their use under sub-standard
conditions.
LA
HABANA, el 19 de agosto
LOS
HACKERS CUBANOS PREFIEREN OPERAR EN EL ANONIMATO
El
mundillo secreto de los hackers de Cuba reaccionó
con particular indiferencia al enterarse de que
la versión digital del diario oficioso Granma
fue objeto de un ataque cibernético que lo
mantuvo off-line durante tres días.
Los
directivos del diario "aseguraron que fue la
primera vez que el sitio (de Granma) sufre un ataque
tan grave, desde su lanzamiento en 1997", al
tiempo que afirmaron desconocer el origen de la
agresión. Sin embargo, personas vinculadas
al mundo de la computación isleño
manifestaron su preocupación por lo que dicho
ataque pudiera significar para las operaciones de
los emergentes hackers de Cuba. Algunos, incluso,
han llegado tan lejos como para sospechar que la
versión digital de Granma fue objeto de una
autoagresión de ensayo, cuyo propósito
estratégico sería el de justificar
acciones contra el movimiento de hackers.
Anónimos,
clandestinos, ya conocidos como diseñadores
de las computadoras "Frankestein", los
hackers de Cuba parecen dados a un modus operandi
que les aleja de la posibilidad de ser los autores
de la agresión al diario Granma. En primer
lugar, la mayoría de ellos -según
fuentes que obviamente prefieren el anonimato- no
se interesan por la política. En segundo
término, son miembros de las jerarquías
más bajas de la naciente estratificación
isleña en el acceso a Internet. Y, como tercer
aspecto, se debe señalar que se trata de
personas sin recursos económicos para pagar
una cuenta a los servidores cubanos, razón
que determina en mucho su manera de operar. El principal
interés de los hackers es pasar inadvertidos,
razón por la cual sería un disparate
organizar una agresión contra nada menos
que el diario Granma.
HAVANA,
August 18
CUBA
SAYS IRA SUSPECT IN COLOMBIA WAS SINN FEIN REPRESENTATIVE
Havana
said on Friday one of three suspected Irish Republican
Army (IRA) members arrested in Colombia on charges
of training Marxist rebels was Niall Terence Connolly,
Northern Irish political party Sinn Fein's frontman
for Latin America, based in communist-run Cuba since
1996. Initially, the three men arrested were identified
as Martin McCauley, James Monaghan and David Braken.
However, British Intelligence Services said on Thursday
that Braken
was in reality Niall Connolly, born in Dublin, who
speaks fluent Spanish and has resided in Havana
during the last five years. The public prosecutor's
office in Bogotá has said it will decide
within days whether to try or free the three, all
from Northern Ireland, whom both Colombian and British
officials have linked to the IRA.
"Mr.
Niall Terence Connolly is the official representative
of Sinn Fein for Cuba and Latin America," Aymee
Hernandez, a spokeswoman for Cuban dictator Fidel
Castro. She noted Sinn Fein, the IRA's political
ally for whom the arrests in Colombia have been
an embarrassment, was "legally recognized as
a political party in the United Kingdom and the
Republic of Ireland."
Authorities
suspect the trio had been training the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's
largest guerrilla group, in bomb-making and the
fabrication of non-conventional weapons in a demilitarized
area the government handed over to rebels 2-1/2
years ago to launch peace talks. Spokeswoman
Hernandez declined to give more details about Connolly's
stay on the Caribbean island, but sought to distance
Cuba from the allegations against him in Colombia.
In
Washington, the State Department expressed its concern
about the links established between FARC and IRA.
Recently, Caracol, a Colombian radio station, denounced
the presence of Cuban instructors in the area controlled
by the FARC.
WASHINGTON,
D.C., August 18
SENATOR CALLS FOR CUBA TRAVEL BAN HALT
At
a news conference on Friday, Sen. Byron Dorgan urged
the Bush administration to stop its stepped-up enforcement
of the travel ban to Cuba until Congress decides
whether to change the law. Dorgan, of North Dakota,
chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that
funds the Treasury Department, which enforces the
embargo.
The
Bush administration and Congress have been moving
in opposite directions on the travel ban
intended to force democratic changes on Castro's
communist government. In recent months, the Treasury
Department has sharply increased the number of letters
it sends seeking fines from Americans suspected
of violating the embargo. Meanwhile, a House amendment
to a Treasury spending bill approved last month
would prohibit Treasury from enforcing the travel
ban. Dorgan said he will propose an amendment to
the Senate version of the bill to eliminate the
ban altogether.
Dorgan also asked
the Treasury Department to stop plans to use Environmental
Protection Agency administrative judges to hear
travel ban violation cases. Embargo supporters say
American travel to Cuba would boost the Cuban economy,
helping Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's authoritarian
government. They say it would be foolish to lift
the ban without getting concessions from Cuba.
WASHINGTON,
D.C., August 17
U.S. CRACKS DOWN ON TRAVEL TO CUBA
The
Treasury Department has stepped up enforcement of
the travel ban to Cuba even as Congress acts to
ease the prohibition. Treasury has increased sharply
the number of letters it sends seeking fines from
Americans thought to have violated the ban. Suspected
violators must pay the fine, prove their innocence
or request a hearing before an administrative judge.
The
maximum penalty is $55,000, but lawyers say the
average is about $7,500.
From May 4 to July 30, Treasury sent out
443 letters, compared with 74 letters from Jan.
3 to May 3. That is an average of about 19 a month
before May and 150 a month afterward. President
Bush said on July 13 that he was tightening enforcement
of the 39-year-old embargo, intended to pressure
democratic changes on Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's
communist island.
Treasury
is likely to keep up the pressure. The office is
considering how to implement Bush's order for stricter
enforcement of the embargo, a
department's spokesman
said.
Congress, meanwhile, is moving to lift the travel
ban. A House amendment to a Treasury spending bill
would bar the department from enforcing it. The
bill will now be considered by the Senate. The Cuban
government estimates that 120,000 Cuban-Americans
visited last year, 60 percent of the 200,000 overall
American visitors. The New York-based U.S.-Cuba
Trade and Economic Council estimates 173,000 Americans
visited Cuba last year, including 22,000 in defiance
of the travel ban.
RUSSIA,
August 16
RUSSIA
REFUTES REPORTS OF CLOSING ITS ELECTRONIC ESPIONAGE
CENTER IN CUBA
Russia
has dismissed media reports it plans to shut down
its electronic listening facilities in Cuba. Russian
First Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov and Defense
Minister Sergei Ivanov said they cannot confirm
the reports.
Several
Russian news media reported in their Tuesday editions
that Russia is ready to dismantle the electronic
center at Lourdes in a suburb of Havana before December
2001. The media reports said Moscow has already
begun withdrawing some one thousand specialists
and part of the equipment from the base.
The
Lourdes facility was constructed during the Cold
War and can monitor electronic communications in
the United States.
HAVANA, August 16
DENGUE
EPIDEMIC IN HAVANA -- VICE MINISTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH
DECLARES A ñREGIONAL QUARANTINEî
At
least 30 cases of dengue fever in the Havana municipality
of Arroyo Naranjo have prompted a vice minister
of Public Health to declare a "regional quarantine"
of the municipality at a meeting held at the Mantilla
polyclinic.
The
director of Public Health and the director of Hygiene
and Epidemiology for Arroyo Naranjo, also present
at the meeting, reportedly threatened all medical
personnel participating in the campaign to combat
the disease should they reveal any information about
the seriousness of the epidemic. The threat extended
to termination of employment and rescission of professional
degrees.
The
areas most affected by a plague of Aedes aegyptii
mosquitoes, principal vector for dengue fever, are
the neighborhoods of El Moro, Mantilla, and Párraga.
They are all characterized by high population density
and poor sanitary conditions. Reportedly, cases
of dengue have also been found in the Havana municipalities
of Boyeros, San Miguel del Padrón, and El
Cotorro. Children infected with the disease are
being admitted to the Aballí hospital in
Arroyo Naranjo. "The government is handling
the crisis with discretion, so as not to alarm the
population or affect the tourist sector," said
one local official.
MIAMI,
August 15
STILL A MYSTERY THE COUPLE WHO DIED WHILE TRYING
TO HIJACK PLANE
The
Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) on Tuesday
appealed to the public for help in identifying "Juan"
and "Rosa" -- the mystery couple a pilot
says died while trying to hijack his plane to Cuba
during a sex-in-the-sky flight over the Florida
Keys. The agency also released sketches of the couple,
based on information from the pilot, Thomas Hayashi.
Investigators
were still puzzling over the identity of the couple
five days after the incident. They say it is odd
that no one has come forward to report friends or
relatives missing. No one other than Hayashi has
said they saw them at the airport. In a statement
issued Tuesday, the FBI called the couple "Juan"
and Rosa" and described them as stocky and
in their 60s. Rosa was dressed for the trip in a
pink and yellow flower sun dress, Juan in shorts,
a polo shirt and a fishing cap, it said.
SANTIAGO
DE CUBA, August 15
CUBANS
STILL JAILED FOR ñILLEGAL EXIT FROM THE NATIONAL
TERRITORYî
Diosmede
Aponte Martínez was sentenced to four years
in jail for attempting to leave the country through
the U. S. naval base at Guantánamo April
11. Aponte,
53, said he wants to leave the island because his
economic situation is unbearable even though he
has worked all his life.
Along
with Aponte, two of his neighbors also tried to
reach American territory. One of them succeeded,
but the other was killed by an anti-personnel mine
on the Cuban side of the border. Aponte was arrested
by border guards and jailed at the Combinado de
Guantánamo provincial prison.
The prosecution
in the case asked for an eight-year sentence, but
he received half that. Notwithstanding, sources
say the sentence shows that "illegal exit from
the national territory" is still very much
a presence in the Cuban penal code. Capítulo XI del Código Penal / Entrada y salida ilegal del
territorio nacional
WASHINGTON,
D.C., August 14
U.S.
SAYS TIME FOR CASTRO TO RETIRE
The
United States took the occasion of Cuban dictaro
Fidel Castro's 75th birthday on Monday to
say it was time for him to retire and make way for
a more liberal system of government on the Caribbean
island. "Inasmuch
as Castro has reached the mandatory retirement age
for dictators, we hope he will be moving on soon
into retirement," said State Department spokesman
Philip Reeker.
"One
often talks about wisdom coming with age and experience
and we would certainly hope for the sake of his
people that Mr. Castro would develop enough wisdom
to think about taking steps to let his people celebrate
their own freedom and their own human rights under
a regime that respects international standards of
human rights," he added.
Despite
some domestic pressure to ease the sanctions and
allow more contacts between Americans and Cubans,
the Bush administration has given no indication
that it is seriously thinking of changing U.S. policy.
Caracas,
August 13
CASTRO
LOOKS VERY TIRED DURING HIS VISIT TO VENEZUELA
On
Saturday, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro received military
honors in Caracas, flew to the southern city of
Ciudad Bolivar to receive a tribute in what he called
the îsacred ground'' of South American independence,
and then traveled to Puerto Ordaz for talks with
Chavez and to celebrate his Monday birthday early.
Worries
over Castro's health lingered in his first foreign
trip since he fainted during a speech in the town
of Cotorro on June 23. Rumors of prostate cancer,
heart troubles, Parkinson's disease and other ailments
have been swirling around for years. Castro recently
has appeared distracted during speeches, sometimes
fumbling over notes and repeating himself. In Caracas,
On Saturday, Castro stumbled briefly and was held
up by aides when a crush of reporters surrounded
him at the airport. He walked rigidly as he reviewed
an honor guard. Visibly affected by the tropical
heat, Castro - renowned for speeches lasting hours
- apologized: ñI don't have a very clear voice today.
I'm not thinking of delivering a long speech today.
It's very hot.''
Castro's weekend
visit came amid a spat between Venezuela and the
United States over American military offices in
Caracas. Venezuela last week ordered the U.S. military
mission to vacate the rent-free offices, saying
it needed the space. The announcement angered U.S.
officials. Venezuela said the mission, which had
occupied the offices for 40 years, could relocate
in Caracas. ñWe
regret this decision as it will make it difficult
to carry on our long-standing relationship with
the Venezuelan government's military,'' a U.S. Embassy
spokesman said.
CARACAS,
August 12
CUBAN
DICTATOR ARRIVES IN VENEZUELA
Cuban
dictator Fidel Castro arrived in Venezuela on Saturday.
"I will complete my 75 years in the land of
the liberator. It will be like being born again,"
Castro said in a brief arrival speech which he read.
Castro was greeted at Maiquetia airport with
full military honors, a 21-gun salute and a hug
from Chavez.
"We welcome this 75-year-old youngster,
the same Fidel as ever," the Venezuelan leader
said. He hailed the Cuban dictator as a "brother,
friend and revolutionary soldier."
The
latest meeting between the two ruling revolutionaries
will cement already strong trade and political ties
which have converted oil-rich Venezuela into communist
Cuba's closest strategic ally in Latin America.
After Castro's arrival, the two leaders signed
a cooperation accord aimed at increasing the farming
of food crops in Venezuela. The accord foresees
the participation of around 70 Cuban agriculture
experts, who would join several hundred Cuban doctors
and ñsports expertsî already working in Venezuela.
Chavez
said the two leaders would also discuss joint tourism
projects and review an existing year-old bilateral
cooperation treaty which supplies Cuba with up to
53,000 barrels a day of Venezuelan oil. Chavez'
admiration for Castro and Cuba's 42-year-old dictatorship,
and his declared aim to fight poverty with his own
"peaceful, democratic revolution" has
alarmed his political opponents, who accuse him
of trying to "Cubanize" Venezuela.
WASHINGTON,
D.C., August 12
TREASURE
DEPARTMENT EXAMINES TV EXECUTIVESÍ TRIP TO HAVANA
The Treasury
Department is asking questions of several prominent
entertainment moguls about a private trip they took
to Havana last February that featured a private
dinner with Fidel Castro. The moguls mixed fun with
work, hitting the beach, visiting jazz clubs and
drinking ña lot of white rum,'' according to a subsequent
press report.
Now, in a sign that the once-cozy relations
between Hollywood and the White House may have grown
more distant under President Bush, authorities are
seeking details about what the entertainment executives
did -- and whether their activities were covered
by a license allegedly issued by the Treasury Department
before the trip. ñWe have requested information
from these particular parties,'' said Tasia Scolinos,
a Treasury spokeswoman.
The executives
picked a sensitive time for travel -- boarding a
private jet to Havana shortly after President Bush
took office. Bush won the presidency with the critical
backing of Cuban Americans. Now the Hollywood honchos
have become the first known high-profile figures
questioned about their reasons for visiting Cuba.
The group reportedly included CBS top dog Leslie
Moonves; MTV chief executive Tom Freston, who controls
64 domestic and international channels; William
Morris talent agent Jim Wiatt; Vanity Fair magazine
editor Graydon Carter; and independent producer
Brad Grey, whose credits include Scary Movie and
the HBO hit The Sopranos.
Under the 1963
Trading with the Enemy Act, U.S. travel to Cuba
is sharply restricted, although certain categories
such as business executives, journalists, religious
activists and others may visit the island with a
Treasury Department license. President Bush announced
on July 13 that he would crack down on illegal travel.
Those who violate federal regulations regarding
travel to Cuba can face civil fines ``up to $55,000
per violation,'' according to a Treasury Department
publication on Cuba entitled: What You Need to Know
About the U.S. Embargo.
HAVANA, August 12
INDEPENDENT
UNIONIST THREATENED WITH DEATH
Four
unidentified men seized independent union activist
Rigoberto Sobrado Ramos, threw him to the ground,
placed a pistol to his head, beat him and threatened
to kill him. The assault took place this week in
Campo Florida in the Guanabacoa district of Havana.
"Between
blows the assailants told me they would kill me
if I continued speaking about the commander-in-chief
(Cuban dictator Fidel Castro) and that they would
disappear me and my family would never hear from
me again," Sobrado Ramos said.
The
victim is an activist of the Confederation of Democratic
Workers of Cuba. "The fact is IÍm anti-communist,
I donÍt hide to avoid saying IÍm a peaceful dissident,
and IÍm not afraid of what might happen to me because
IÍm not in agreement with the communist doctrine,"
he said. According to eyewitnesses, the assailants
fled in a white Lada car that was waiting for them,
leaving Sobrado Ramos laying on the ground.
CARACAS,
August 11
VENEZUELA
ENDS RENT-FREE DEAL FOR U.S. MILITARY
The
government of Venezuela said Friday it has asked
the U.S. military mission to vacate its rent-free
offices and seek alternative premises, a move that
seemed to signal a cooling of bilateral military
ties. "We need the space ... they weren't paying
anything," Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel
said to the press about the decision, announced
a day before Cuban dictator Fidel Castro was due
to arrive in Venezuela for an official visit.
Rangel
said he contacted Col. Michael Rhea, chief of the
American military cooperation team, on Wednesday
and asked that the mission leave its offices in
Fuerte Tiuna military headquarters in Caracas and
other local military dependencies.
"There's
no political ingredient, it's purely a logistical
thing," the minister said. But diplomatic sources
said the surprise ending of the rent-free deal for
the U.S. military was a fresh sign that President
Hugo Chavez' government wanted to loosen Venezuela's
traditionally close political alliance with the
United States. "It is political, there is no
doubt about that ... it's the Chavez government
poking its finger in the U.S. government's eye,"
said a diplomat. Since he took office in 1999, Chavez,
an outspoken, left-leaning nationalist, has forged
closer ties with communist China and Cuba, and with
Russia, Iraq and Iran.
CARACAS,
August 11
CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO WILL CELEBRATE HIS 75TH
BIRTHDAY IN VENEZUELA
When
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wishes Fidel Castro
"Happy Birthday" this weekend, he will
also celebrate a revolutionary friendship that has
made his oil-rich nation one of Cuba's closest allies.
Chavez, 47, will this weekend play host to Cuba's
veteran "Comandante" on the eve of his
75th birthday on Monday. Castro is due to receive
a high-level Venezuelan civil decoration -- the
Order of Angostura -- in the southeastern city of
Ciudad Bolivar, and Chavez has promised to send
him back to Havana "with Happy Birthday ringing
in his ears."
Risking
the displeasure of Washington, which maintains long-standing
Cold War sanctions against communist Cuba, the Venezuelan
leader has forged a strong political and economic
alliance with Havana in the name of revolutionary
brotherhood. Several hundred Cuban doctors, sports
trainers and sugar experts are currently working
in Venezuela, and a year-old oil supply deal that
guarantees Havana up to 53,000 barrels a day has
put Venezuela top of the list of Cuba's trade partners.
Ironically, Venezuela's own biggest trade link is
with the United States -- Cuba's bitter foe -- and
the oil-rich South American nation is the third
largest supplier of oil to the huge U.S. market.
Political
opponents of Chavez have seized on the strengthened
ties with Havana to accuse him of seeking to become
Castro's revolutionary heir in Latin America and
of trying to install a Cuban-style society in Venezuela.
Many Venezuelan doctors have objected to the presence
of Cuban medical brigades and small "No to
Cubanization" protests were staged in Caracas
following Chavez' announcement in June that he would
set up pro-government neighborhood groups. Critics
immediately denounced these as Venezuelan copies
of Cuba's "Committees of the Defense of the
Revolution," which are intended to defend the
island's one-party political system.
KEY WEST, August 11
TWO DIE IN ATTEMPT TO
HIJACK A PLANE TO CUBA
A couple who
chartered a small plane tried to hijack it to Cuba
but instead died after a scuffle with the pilot
sent the plane into deep waters Thursday in the
middle of the Florida Straits, authorities said.
The pilot, Thomas Hayashi, 36, of Key West, managed
to scramble out of the plane and survive the crash,
which occurred around 12:15 p.m. about 40 miles
south of Key West.
Federal and local investigators were still trying
late Thursday to identify the two mysterious hijackers,
who chartered the one-hour flight. The plane they
hijacked at knifepoint -- a single-engine 1968 Piper
Cherokee -- had not been recovered as of late afternoon.
A
Coast Guard cutter and helicopter searched the vast
waters near the Marquesas where the plane went down
for about five hours, but the passengers are believed
to have sunk inside the plane in more than 600 feet
of water, a Coast Guard spokesman said. By evening,
the U.S. Coast Guard had called off a search-and-rescue
effort in. The couple were described by one source
as Hispanic and in their 50s.
HAVANA,
August 10
CUBAN
DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO SQUANDERS FUNDS IN FUTILE
DEMONSTRATIONS
A
group of dissident economists blasted the government
of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro on Thursday for wasting
funds on political propaganda while the country
continued to suffer from a decade-long economic
crisis. "State funds are being spent without
any controls on endless marches...and weekly public
rallies," the Cuban Institute of Independent
Economists said in a statement faxed to foreign
news agencies in Havana.
The
organization is led by one of the Caribbean island's
better known dissidents, Martha Beatriz Roque, released
last year after serving close to three years behind
bars. "We could fill pages with examples of
the government's squandering of funds on political
propaganda," the group, which is not recognized
by the government, added.
The
dissident economists pointed to a July 26 march
in front of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana
as an example of wasting state funds. The demonstration
of 1.2 million people led by Castro to denounce
U.S. policies against Cuba and to mark the 48th
anniversary of a failed attack on a military garrison
by Castro, cost over $60 million. The economists
said the money could have gone for school materials,
public transportation, or food for the people.
MIAMI, August 10
SUSPECTÍS
FAMILY DIED IN ACCIDENT AT SEA
Three
Cubans killed when their boat capsized off Florida
were the wife and daughters of one of the men the
federal government has charged with organizing what
prosecutors have said was a voyage to smuggle illegal
aliens into the United States for money.
Six
people died when the dangerously overloaded speedboat
capsized in a storm southwest of Key West on Aug.
1. Twenty-two other Florida-bound passengers were
rescued by the Coast Guard and the crews of a freighter.
Two of the survivors, Osvaldo Fernandez Marrero,
35, and Roberto Montero Dominguez, 30, were jailed
on federal charges of alien smuggling for commercial
gain. A federal grand jury in Key West is hearing
testimony to determine if they should also face
charges of alien smuggling resulting in death, which
could carry the death penalty.
Relatives
said that Fernandez Marrero's wife, Iraida Martinez,
37, and their daughters, 7-year-old Irdelis and
one-year-old Irelis were among the dead. They said
Fernandez Marrero had emigrated to Miami in 1999
and missed his family, adding that the older daughter
had complained, "Papi doesn't love me. He doesn't
come to get me." They said he went back to
Cuba to pick them up, not to make a quick profit.
"If you think he did this for money, he didn't,"
said Daili Martinez, Fernandez Marrero's sister-in-law.
"He was desperate. Completely desperate".
HAVANA,
August 9
MASSIVE ARRESTS OF CUBAN DISSIDENTS
Cuban
State Security detained opposition activists over
the weekend to block protests planned to coincide
with the seventh anniversary of an anti-government
disturbance in Havana.
Most
of the detentions appeared to be temporary measures
to prevent various gatherings and a march planned
by the dissidents for last Sunday. It seems that
dozens of arrests were carried out. There was a
big mobilization by State Security.
On
August 5, 1994, on HavanaÍs Malecón, hundreds
of Cubans took part in an unprecedented street clashes on the
Molecón, with some protesters throwing rocks
and police firing bullets into the air, according
to witnesses and officials reports at the time.
The riot was considered the worse demonstration
against Cuban dictator Fidel Castro since he assumed
power in 1959. The riots, which took place at the
height of an economic crisis and just before a mass
exodus of Cubans to the United States, were quelled
within hours by authorities and Castro supporters.
MIAMI,
August 9
CUBA
RETURNS AND U.S. ARRESTS FLYING STUDENT
Milo
John Reese, 55, a pizza delivery man who crash-landed
on the Cuban coast after a flight in a stolen plane
from the Florida Keys was flown back to the United
States on Wednesday and immediately arrested.
On
July 31, Reese took off on his first solo flight,
in a Cessna 172 owned by the flight school. He was
supposed to circle the airport and land. Instead,
Reese flew to Cuba, flipping the plane over as he
brought it down on the rocky coast a few miles from
Havana. He spent more than a week at the Cuban Naval
Hospital in the fishing village of Cojimar, just
outside Havana, where he was treated for minor injuries.
Calling
ReeseÍs landing
in Cuba "an accident," Cuban authorities
put him on a commercial charter flight from Havana
that landed in Miami on Wednesday afternoon. Reese
was arrested when he debarked at Miami International
Airport and turned over to federal agents, who charged
him with transporting a stolen plane in violation
of interstate and foreign commerce laws. Reese also
faces a state charge of grand theft for allegedly
stealing the $60,000 plane. He is scheduled to appear
before a federal magistrate in Miami today on the
afternoon.
MIAMI,
August 8
SURVIVORS OF A TRAGIC CUBA-MIAMI SEA VOYAGE REMAINED
AT THE KROME DETENTION CENTER
The
20 surviving Cubans of the sea tragedy mentioned
earlier on these pages, likely will get to stay
in the United States, serving as witnesses against
two suspected smugglers who allegedly helped organize
the voyage and were charged Friday.
The
two Miami-Dade County men accused of ferrying the
large group on board the capsized boat were scheduled
to make their first appearance in federal court
last Monday. They are Osvaldo Fernández Marrero,
35, and Roberto Montero Domínguez, 30.
Both are being
held at the downtown federal detention center and
will be prosecuted by the U.S. attorney's office.
The case against them will likely be pieced together
from information obtained from the 20 Cuban survivors,
who remain at Krome in west Miami-Dade County. "They
will be held there indefinitely for now because
they are witnesses in this case,'' INS spokesman
Rodney Germain said. "There's no immediate
time frame for their release.''
WASHINGTON,
D.C., August
7, 2001
ILLEGAL
TRAVELERS TO CUBA WILL PAY A HIGH PRICE
U.S. citizens
who defy legal restrictions on travel to Cuba, increasingly
are returning home to find an unexpected souvenir:
a letter from the feds demanding they pay $7,500
or so in fines. The number of such penalty letters
has spiked, and unsuspecting U.S. travelers are
suprised with the increased cost of their travels.
From May 4 to July 30, a division of the U.S. Treasury
Department that monitors travel to Cuba sent out
443 letters seeking average fines of $7,500 -- a
sharp increase from the 74 letters mailed from Jan.
3 to May 3.
The
travel restrictions are now enforced as the White
House and Congress veer in sharply different directions
on policy toward Cuba. Staking out a hard line,
President Bush pledged July 13 to detect and punish
those who visit Cuba illegallyto the fullest extent
with a view toward preventing unlicensed and excessive
travel.
For
many years, restrictions were enforced with little
vigor. Lawyers counseled potential travelers that
risks were minimal. "My advice to people was,
'It's not legal to go to Cuba but enforcement is
low and the fines are not very big,' '' said the
head of a
group that provides counsel for travelers facing
fines from the Treasury Department„ it seems those
days are over. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality
of restrictions on travel to Cuba in the early 1980s
LAS TUNAS,
August 7, 2001
EVICTION
OF FAMILY PREVENTED
More
than 80 residents of Amancio Rodríguez municipality,
province of Las Tunas., came to the aid of Ana Escalona,
46, and her family when police and housing authorities
tried to evict them.
The
residents of Conrado Benitez neighborhood, Reparto
Jardin, acted upon hearing the breaking of AnaÍs
back door after she refused to open it.
The police were
in the kitchen pushing and abusing of the family
when the neighbors challenged them and stopped the
eviction. No reason was given for the police action,
but AnaÍs husband is in jail. A second confrontation
between the police and the town people is expected.
HAVANA,
August 7
COMPLYING
WITH CLINTON ADMINISTRATIONÍS POLICY, RECENTLY ADOPTED
BY PRESIDENT BUSH, THREE MEN WERE RETURNED TO CUBA
BY THE COAST GUARD
Repatriated
to the island late Saturday were three men intercepted
on Tuesday just off South Florida on a boat allegedly
hijacked from a resort town in Cuba, the U.S. Coast
Guard said.
The trio's claim for political asylum denied
by Washington was relayed to U.S. Attorney General
John Ashcroft by Miami Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
and Lincoln Díaz-Balart.
The three Cubans intercepted at sea are Jorge Félix
Martínez Barceló, who reportedly designed
a popular tourist attraction, Orelvis Bringas Alvarez,
a diving instructor, and Luis Manuel Martínez,
the boat's skipper. The men sailed away from the
Cayo Coco resort, across Los Perros Bay from Ciego
de Avila province.
According
to U.S. Coast Guard, the vessel was intercepted
by U.S. authorities at about 4 p.m. Tuesday, approximately
three miles off Fowey Rocks, near Miami Beach. The
three men had flagged down a boat operated by Sea
Tow, a company that assists stranded boats. The
Sea Tow crew notified the Coast Guard and the men
were transferred to the Seneca, where they were
interviewed by U.S. officials. The three were returned
to Cuba under the Clinton Administration policy
ñWet Fee/Dry Feetî recently adopted by President
Bush.
HAVANA,
August 6
SEVERAL
ARRESTS IN ñOPERATION RAKEî
A number
of people presumably involved in black market activities
have been arrested in the Havana municipality of
Arroyo Naranjo as a result of "Operation Rake."
Authorities have been searching every house and
have found stocks of cooking oil, alcoholic beverages,
candy, meat, gasoline and several other goods. Residents
here resent the operation and openly criticize the
government's economic policies which, they say,
make a black market necessary in the first place.
"The
government and the officials know perfectly well
that average workers cannot live on what they get
paid and that they have to look in the black market
for whatever they don't get under the rationing
plan," said a 25-year-old resident as he watched
agents search a home. Another resident said, "This
Operation Rake is nothing other than a series of
house searches without a search warrant, it's a
violation of people's rights.
"It's
understood that here in Cuba, we all have to steal,
sell of buy so as not to go hungry; if not, where
does the stuff sold in the black market come from?
And you can use my name. I'm not afraid," added
the young resident.
WASHINGTON,
D.C., August 5
PRESIDENT
BUSH: ñWET FOOT-DRY FOOTî POLICY WILL STAY IN PLACE
President George
W. Bush said Friday that the controversial policy
of the Clinton administration to send Cubans intercepted
on the high seas back to Cuba remains in place.
ñWe
will analyze all policies with Cuba, but right now,
the same policy that my predecessor had in place
stands,'' Bush said during an interview in the White
House with several U.S. newspapers.
It
should be kept in mind that Cubans are daily risking
their lives through the dangerous Florida Straits
because they are desperately trying to escape from
a Communist dictatorship. Before the triumph of
the revolution, not a single Cuban tried to illegally
reach this land of freedom. CAMCOCUBA
would like to ask its readers the same question
it asked when, a couple of moths ago, the Secretary
of State praised Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
WHAT
WOULD YOU DO IF YOUR OWN COUNTRY HAD BEEN GOVERNED
BY THE SAME PARTY AND THE SAME DICTATOR FOR FORTY-TWO
YEARS?
PINAR
DEL RIO, August 5
BLACKOUTS
IN PINAR DEL RIO (CAMCOÍs
Department of Engineers)
Several
districts of Sandino municipality, in Pinar del
Río province, were without electricity July
21 and 22 due, according to rumors, to sabotage
at a power sub-station, but authorities have not
released any information.
Dissident Julio Piña
relates that unknown persons threw a metallic chain
over a group of electrical transformers, presumably
shorting them out and leaving the towns of Cortés,
Pasada de Marín, and Babineyes without power.
Residents
initially assumed that the outages were routine,
but now it has come to light that four men, aged
between 18 and 27, have been arrested for trying
to leave the island illegally on the same day as
the presumed sabotage. A fifth man, 36-year-old
sports instructor Pedro Romero Espinosa, is being
sought by police in connection with the attempted
escape. Residents say police, who have no clues
on the outage, could try to link the five's escape
attempt to the presumed sabotage
MIAMI,
August 4
CUBAN ECONOMY
BELOW 1989 LEVEL
About
300 economists, bankers and policymakers from the
United States, Latin America and Europe are attending
the annual conference of the Association for the
Study of the Cuban Economy at the Biltmore Hotel
in Coral Gables. According to Carmelo Mesa-Lago,
an economist at the University of Pittsburgh who
compiles data based on official Cuban government
sources, the Cuban economy is far behind where it
was in 1989 -- even though it grew 5.6 percent in
2000. So says Carmelo Mesa-Lago,. In his report
to the conference, Mesa stated that a basic figure
of the economy -- gross domestic product per capita
-- has grown gradually since hitting bottom in 1993.
Per capita income climbed to 1,476 pesos in 2000,
up slightly from 1,405 in 1999 -- but still down
25 percent from 1989's 1,976 pesos per person.
Though
most of the conference participants were accustomed
to hearing negative reports about the Cuban economy,
many were surprised by Mesa-Lago's figures on education,
which has traditionally been one of Cuban dictator
Fidel Castro government's strong points. Mesa-Lago
reported that university enrollment has plummeted
-- from 242,000 in 1989 to 102,000 in 1998. The
reason is that, as Castro has shifted to a tourism
economy, said Mesa-Lago, the value of education
has declined dramatically. ñDo you want to be an
engineer earning pesos, or a taxi driver earning
dollars? . . . I don't know
of any other nation in Latin America that has such
such a high period of decline in education over
the past 10 years,'' the economist concluded.
MIAMI, August 4
RESCUED CUBANS BROUGHT
TO U.S.
Twenty-two
Cubans rescued after their boat capsized off Florida
were allowed to enter the United States on Friday
-- two as migrant smuggling suspects in the fatal
voyage and the others as witnesses, the Coast Guard
said. The Cubans were brought ashore in Key West
and turned over to the Border Patrol at the request
of immigration authorities, who interviewed them
aboard a Coast Guard rescue ship, the Officer added.
Cubans
intercepted at sea are usually returned to the communist
island under a U.S. immigration policy commonly
known as "wet-foot/dry-foot" in which
only those who manage to reach shore are allowed
to stay.
In
the capsizing incident on Wednesday, two passengers
died and the Coast Guard suspended its search late
on Thursday for a woman and three children still
missing and presumed dead.
FORT
WASHINGTON, August 3
IMPORTANT
NOTICE FOR CAMCO MEMBERS
We
recommend our membership to regularly visit our
ñCLASSIFIED
AREA.î
Critical
and important updates on our ACTIVITIES /
PROJECTS and CUBA are posted regularly
in the sections: "DEPARTMENT
OF INTELLIGENCE" AND "INSTRUCCIONES /
ACTUALIZACIONES."
(See
Also "Mensajes Electrónicos")
MIAMI, August 3
TRAFFIC
OF CUBANS MULTIPLYING
Virtually all
Cubans now coming to the United States by sea are
doing so as part of smuggling rings that appear
to be multiplying, according to U.S. officials who
monitor the illegal traffic in humans across the
Florida Straits. ñThere is certainly an increase
in the number of smugglers bringing people into
the states,'' said Lt. Cmdr. Ron LaBrec of the U.S.
Coast Guard in Miami. ñEspecially in the last year,
almost exclusively, people coming in from Cuba are
with smugglers. The number of self-help migrants,
those on rafts or homemade vessels, are few and
far between,'' he added.
Authorities
said the increased activity became apparent in 1999
when agents detected a dramatic hike in the number
of Cubans trying to make it to U.S. shores in fast
boats. That fiscal year, ending in September 1999,
nearly 4,000 Cubans were apprehended in water-related
incidents. That compares to about 1,400 during the
same time frame the previous year. Over the past
10 months, more than 2,000 Cubans have been apprehended.
LaBrec said smugglers are using ñgo-fast'' boats that vary from cigarette
boats to sport fishing vessels capable of traveling
40 to 50 miles per hour, making the journey from
Cuba to Florida shores less than a three-hour ride
in calm seas. The boats typically carry from a dozen
to 30 people and smugglers usually are aboard operating
the vessels.
KEY WEST, August 3
SIX CUBANS STILL MISSING
AT SEA
Hampered by
six-foot waves, the U.S. Coast Guard searched late
Wednesday for six Cubans who were missing in the
Florida Straits after a trio of go-fast boats capsized.
Crews rescued 22 people, including four children
and a 23-year-old man who said he treaded water
without a life jacket for close to 12 hours. Rescuers
were unable to save one man, whose lungs spewed
water when they tried to revive him.
The
Coast Guard said a search helicopter also spotted
the body of a woman floating in the water but that
by the time rescuers arrived in the area, the body
had disappeared. Survivors were taken aboard a Coast
Guard cutter at sea, where immigration officials
were deciding whether to bring them ashore or return
them to Cuba. The survivors were nine men, nine
women, two boys and two girls. In Miami, the
exile community was rallying for their release.
During the search,
the Coast Guard found one other capsized go-fast
boat, and another swamped with water and carrying
55-gallon drums. It was not known whether the 22
survivors -- half of whom were wearing life jackets
-- were on one boat, or were dispersed among three,
the Coast Guard said.
PINAR DEL RÍO, August 3
ANTI-GOVERNMENT SLOGANS
PAINTED IN PINAR DEL RÍO
Someone painted
slogans against de regimen of Cuban dictator Fidel
Castro in broad daylight July 30 on the walls of
the Military Advisement Center in the town of Manuel
Lazo, Pinar del Río province.
Later
in the day, two Department of State Security officers,
Arcadio Cisneros and Juan Carlos Travieso, were
seen washing off the wall. Townspeople reported
the two were very apparently bothered by the number
of onlookers passing by.
MIAMI,
August 2
22 CUBANS RESCUED OFF KEY WEST
A
smuggling boat on a night run from Cuba capsized
in rough seas off Key West
early Wednesday, dumping more than two dozen
people in the water, the Coast Guard said. One person
died. Cutters rescued 22 people, and as many as
seven people, including two children, may be missing,
said Coast Guard spokesman Luis Diaz. He said one
body was recovered.
The
group, which included four children, was first spotted
17 miles southeast of Key West by passing boaters
who heard the migrants screaming for help in the
water. The boaters called the Coast Guard.
Only
the bow of the capsized speedboat was visible in
the 8-foot seas, Diaz said. Thunderstorms and 20
mph wind gusts hampered the search. Diaz
said those rescued will be interviewed by Immigration
and Naturalization Service officials and may be
sent back to Cuba because they were found at sea.
HAVANA,
August 2
MYSTERY
SHROUDS PIZZAMANÍS FLIGHT TO CUBA
Authorities on both sides
of the Florida Straits were scratching their heads
on Wednesday over why a 55-year-old American pizza
delivery man flew a small Cessna from the Florida
Keys and crash-landed it in Cuba. The pilot, Milo
John Reese, had been taking flying lessons for about
two weeks from Paradise Aviation, which operates
out of Florida Keys-Marathon Airport in the Middle
Keys.
Reese
took off on his first solo flight on Tuesday in
a Cessna 172 owned by the flight school, and was
supposed to circle the airport and land. Instead,
he flew the plane to Cuba, crash-landing on rocky
terrain near the sea a few miles from Havana. Reese
was being treated for unspecified injuries at a
local hospital.
U.S. deputies and
flight school staff were at a loss to suggest a
motive, especially after speaking to his wife, Susan.
She said he suffers from manic depression and periodically
disappears from home. Apparently he has been treated
for it, but she said he wasn't taking his medication
before he left home.
HAVANA,
August 1st
CUBA
REPORTS SLOWDOWN IN 1ST-HALF ECONOMIC
GROWTH
Cuba
said on Tuesday a poor sugar harvest and high oil
prices slowed economic growth to 3.6 percent in
the first half from 7.7 percent in the same period
last year, but forecast a second-half recovery that
should produce an annual 5 percent expansion. Economy
Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez, in a presentation
to parliament and comments afterward to reporters,
also predicted Cuba's next sugar harvest should
be higher than the disastrously low just-ended crop
of 3.53 million tonnes. He made last year the same
prediction.
Cuba's
communist economy plunged into crisis after the
demise of the former Soviet Union a decade ago,
but has recovered since the mid-1990s, largely due
to a boom in Western tourism, which is now the island's
main earner. The Caribbean island's gross domestic
product rose an average 4.7 percent over the last
five years, and 5.6 percent in 2000.
HAVANA,
August 1st.
MEDICINES
LANGUISH IN WAREHOUSE AS THEY ARE NEEDED IN HOSPITAL
Hundreds of
bottles and jars containing medicines needed in
the hospitals are sitting past their use by dates
on the shelves of the Ministry of Public Health
warehouse at Los Maceos, Guantanamo, said sources
who work in the public health arena and did not
want to be identified.
The
medicines, whose names are well-known to Cubans
who need them and spend whole days going from one
pharmacy to the next looking for them, are wasting
away because of a lack of inventory control, said
the sources.
|
