|
|
August
29
FROM
CUBA
Imprisoned Cuban journalist describes
conditions
"I'm
in Pinar del Río in a cell with little ventilation
from which I only go out for one hour a day Mondays
through Thursdays," wrote imprisoned journalist
José Ubaldo Izquierdo, 38, in a letter to a colleague,
Dorka Céspedes.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Deficient medical care for imprisoned
Cuban journalist
It
took Bárbara Rojas and her five-year-old son six
days' travel time to visit her husband, imprisoned
journalist Omar Ruiz, at the Combinado de Guantánamo
prison, about 400 miles from her home in Villa
Clara.
SANTA
CLARA
|
FROM
CUBA
Prosecutors demand 20-year sentence
for peaceful opponent in Cuba
At
various times in the past, Pérez had staged non-violent
demonstrations against government authorities
who had denied him a ration card for more than
a year and who had harassed his family, tried
to evict them and to demolish their house.
SANTA
CLARA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Carter endorses Payá's nomination for prestigious
Spanish prize
• Native American group honors Castro with its
highest award
• Pro-Castro activists to join the fray at Latin
Grammys
• Severo Alberto 'Lino' Borges, interpreter of
Cuban bolero music
|
PEN USA Honors Raúl Rivero Castañeda
PEN
USA, part of the 82-year old worldwide association
of writers which promotes literacy and defends freedom
of expression - will award the 2003 Freedom to Write
prize to Raúl Rivero Castañeda. We honor him for
his courage against overwhelming odds and his commitment
to .
PEN
USA |
Yahoo!
News
•
Cuban Rolls World's Biggest Cigar |
WSJ: Don't Forget the Victims In Castro's
Gulag
It's
a good time to remind Washington that, pros and
cons of Wyoming beef sales to Fidel aside, the innocents
rotting -- and getting beat up -- in Cuban jails
must not be forgotten.
Net
for Cuba International. |
School Trade With Plantation Cuba?
The
matter of Cuba's benighted revolution continues
to grip the interest of Americans-or so one might
conclude from the fact that a recent panel discussion
on the U.S. embargo against Cuba drew a lunchtime
crowd of some 400 persons to the Commonwealth Club
of San Francisco.
David
Landau. Accuracy In Media. |
|
August
28
FROM
CUBA
New antennas an effort to jam U.S.-based
Radio Martí?
The
Cuban government has installed four large parabolic
antennas in Palma Soriano, in easternmost Cuba,
which experts have said could be intended to jam
transmissions of U. S. -based Radio Martí. It
is widely known that at San Felipe, in southern
Havana province, there are several such antennas,
as well as in several other places on the island.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Free without permission
Today,
the Cuban secret police lets us know that we may
not practice journalism. For that reason, many
of my colleagues, friends and brothers are serving
long sentences in sub human prison cells.
HAVANA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Jose Delarra, sculptor of Guevara monument, dies
• Banking family patriarch was seen as a pioneer
of Cuban-American Bar
• Exiled Cuban painter to visit Miami
|
Yahoo!
News
•
Powell's double joy over Pedroso failure
|
Cuban Doctors Feel Insecure Commissioner
Soma Jobe Warns
The
Commissioner of the North Bank Division was recently
quoted as expressing disquiet over the knowledge
that the Cuban doctors posted in his division
no longer feel secured after a spate of thefts
that left them deprived of their valuables and
fearing for their lives.
AllAfrica.com
|
Cuban doctor visits DeVos Children's
Hospital
"It
would be like walking into a hospital in the 50's
in the United States," says Marc Bohland, Vice President
of First-Hand Aid. He says one of the group's main
goals is getting medicine to hospitals and clinics
in Cuba. Medicines like aspirin and cough syrup,
which are easy for us to get, are difficult to obtain
there.
WOOD-TV,
MI. |
Cuban railroad to freedom?
Cuban
Americans see their migration to the United States
as African-American former slaves saw the Underground
Railroad to the North -- the only way to freedom.
But it is almost impossible for other, well-intentioned
Americans to see it the same way because the Cuban
migration issue has been left in the hands of interest
groups for too long.
Soren
Triff, The Miami Herald. |
External
links
|
An
Assist From Left Field
Garrett learned that Jose Piloto, a Cuban left-hander
once nicknamed "Pototo" after a character from
a Cuban television show, played professional baseball
in about 10 countries and three continents during
the 1940s and '50s. He pitched for the Memphis
Red Sox in the Negro American League from 1948-1950,
coming up one year short of qualifying for Major
League Baseball's pension plan.
Dan
Steinberg / The Washington Post.
|
No call
yet on Castro
The European Union trading bloc has been upset
with Cuba ever since a Cuban crackdown on democratic
protesters during the spring. Greece, which hosts
next year's Summer Olympics, is a member of that
union. Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, reportedly
wants to attend those Olympics. He last attended
the Games in Barcelona in 1992.
Philadelphia
Daily News.
|
|
August
27
FROM
CUBA
Police confiscate 20 piglets from
Cuban rural residents
Police
confiscated 20 piglets belonging to four men,
charging that they had bought them illegally.
The four, José Luis Álvarez, William Mederos,
and Edel García, residents of Cabaiguán, and Reinier
Castellón, a resident of Yaguajay, said they bought
the piglets for 8,287 pesos. They were transporting
them home in a tractor when the chief of police
for the Mayajigua sector arrested them.
CABAIGUAN,
Villa Clara
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban dissident called a "threat to
national security"
Padrón
said that during their conversation, the officer
told him: "You are a threat to national security;
because of you and others like you the country
could be bombed. What would you do if one of those
bombs fell on the school your niece attends? If
you continue with your activities, we will try
you under Law 88."
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Celebration rubs Havana residents
the wrong way
The
government threw a street party in Palma Soriano,
celebrating the successful production of books
and school supplies destined for Cuba's cooperative
effort with Venezuela and irked local residents
pointed out that the same supplies are not available
for Cuban children.
HAVANA
|
Yahoo!
News
•
Relatives: Cuban Dissidents Sick in Jail
• Cuban exiles get a place, but no more reason
to protest Latin Grammy
• Four-time champion Pedroso out of long jump
|
The Travel Industry's Push to Unlock
Cuba
Politicians
who favor a change in U.S. policy toward Cuba
are getting new ammunition from the travel industry.
Still struggling to recover from the effects of
September 11 and the economy's downturn, the travel
trade is mounting an aggressive lobbying campaign
to get restrictions on travel to Cuba lifted when
Congress returns in the fall.
Yahoo!
|
33 Cuban Migrants Repatriated
The
migrants were from two groups intercepted by the
Coast Guard; one Saturday, another Sunday. Saturday
evening, about 21 miles off Elbow Cay, Bahamas,
the Coast Guard intercepted an overloaded 25-foot
go-fast boat carrying 31 migrants and three suspected
smugglers
Click10.com
|
No cars for Cubans
"For some time, the Cuban government has imposed
a series of impediments, obstructions, denials
of service, and unjustifiable costs upon the functioning
of the U.S. Interests Section and living conditions
of the Interests Section's employees and dependents,"
the department said.
The
Washington Times
|
|
August
26
FROM
CUBA
Cuban independent journalist denied
exit visa
The
refusal was due to “orders,” officials told González,
without specifying from whom. González said he
had gone to the migration office after receiving
a summons from a major Enrique, who told him “for
now, you can’t travel; your trip is canceled.
When you can travel, we’ll call you on the phone.”
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban authorities accede to meet with
pedicab drivers union
The
Cuban Office of Taxation agreed to meet with members
of the pedicab drivers union after repeated appeals
by the union to the Ministry of Transportation,
and the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
The meeting has been set for September 20 at the
auditorium of the Hermanos Aimejeiras hospital
in Havana.
HAVANA
|
Three
jailed journalists on hunger strike
Mario
Enrique Mayo, Adolfo Fernández Sainz and Ivan
Hernández Carillo - who have been on hunger-strike
for the past 10 days in the town of Holguin. They
are demanding proper food and medicine for prisoners
who have serious illnesses.
Reporters
Without Borders
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Democratic contender Dean alters Cuba stand
• Memories of Cuba thrive in South Florida shops
and beyond
|
Increased
suppression of cultural expression in Cuba leads
the Prince Claus Fund to withhold support
As
a result of the arrest of 75 Cuban cultural and
social activists in recent months and their being
sentenced to harsh terms of imprisonment of up
to 28 years, the Prince Claus Fund has decided
not to provide financial support to the 8th Havana
Biennial, which will be held in November 2003.
All those sentenced were engaged in the critical
Cuban cultural and social arenas.
Prince
Claus Fund
|
External
links
|
Scoops
for the revolution
With a signed contract worth about $775,000, Young's
Y & Y Agriculture is sending 420 tons of a soy-based
dry ice cream mix to the island nation of 11.2
million residents. Though a vocal opposition to
normalizing relations with the Republic of Cuba
remains active in the United States, trade restrictions
with the island have loosened to the point that
small businessmen are now getting into the market.
Savannah
Morning News, GA
|
Alabama
products headed to Cuba soon
Alabama
wood products worth $2.5 million will soon be
shipped from Mobile to Cuba as the state takes
advantage of a narrow opening in the trade embargo
with the communist nation.
Atlanta
Journal Constitution, GA
|
Havana
What
a difference five years makes. Back then, there
was a solitary boutique hotel in La Habana Vieja
— Hostal Valencia — and virtually nowhere to get
a decent meal. Today, there are almost 20 small
hotels and scores of new restaurants. Old Havana
is being gentrified — and without any loss of
innocence or authenticity. The fabric of the place
survives.
Times
Online, UK
|
|
August
25
FROM
CUBA
Motorcycle thefts on the increase
in Cuba
Private
owners who lose their motorcycles often do not
report the theft to authorities. This peculiarity
arises because if the stolen motorcycle is never
found, the authorities annul the vehicle's registration.
But to the owner, the registration papers, even
without the underlying vehicle, have value. They
could validate the existence of a subsequent machine,
put together from spare parts and patience.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Police infiltrate young rock fans
Ever
since the government initiated a broad campaign
against civil society in January under the pretext
of combatting drugs, the Ministry of the Interior
has fielded more than 200 undercover agents to
infiltrate groups of hippies of "freakies," as
they are called in Havana.
HAVANA
|
Yahoo!
News
•
Angry US makes life more difficult for Cuban diplomats
in Washington
• Yankees' Contreras Dominates in Return
• 3rd Cuban Defects at World Championships
|
A
smear campaign
Cuba's
smear campaign against Elizardo Sánchez reveals
more about its own desperation than about the
longtime human-rights activist. The regime wasn't
satisfied with locking up 75 dissidents on prison
terms totaling 1,454 years. Now, it is angling
to finish the job by attempting to discredit the
few critics it didn't jail -- most likely because,
like Mr. Sánchez, they are internationally prominent.
Who is next? Vladimiro Roca and Oswaldo Payá?.
The
Miami Herald
|
Northern
Cape Students to Study Medicine in Cuba
Ten
students from previously disadvantaged areas in
the Northern Cape have been chosen to study medicine
in Cuba. The students left for Cuba last night,
after the provincial health department held a
function to see them off.
AllAfrica.com
|
External
links
|
Dance
keeps its foothold in Cuba
Dancing
brings joy and camaraderie to Cubans in what otherwise
might be somber situations. Salsa and son – even
classical ballet – are alive and well in Havana,
practiced in nightclubs, on street corners and
in old, weathered ballet studios.
The
Dallas Morning News y
|
For
Contreras, a Victory; for the Yanks, Vindication
The knee buckled, the pitch knuckled and, in the
stands at Yankee Stadium, Billy Connors might
have chuckled. When José Contreras struck out
the Orioles' Jay Gibbons on a forkball in the
seventh inning yesterday, it delighted Connors,
the Yankees' organizational pitching sage. This
is what the Yankees had been waiting for.
New
York Times
|
Doctors
Rouse Suspicion in Venezuela
The
Venezuelan Medical Federation, a trade group with
45,000 members, contends that it is Chavez who
has undermined the public health system. Douglas
Leon Natera, the federation's president, said
the national health budget has declined 30 percent
under Chavez, leaving many neighborhood clinics
without adequate funding. Roughly 9,000 doctors
are underemployed or without work.
The
Washington Post
|
|
August
22
FROM
CUBA
Imprisoned Cuban journalist in punishment
cell
Imprisoned
Cuban journalist Fabio Prieto has been confined
to a punishment cell at Guanajay prison, presumably
for insulting a Department of State Security officer
known as Omar. Prieto, 41, is serving a 20-year
sentence at the prison. Recently he had been transferred
to a cell block holding hardened criminals serving
30-year and life sentences.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban political police threaten government
opponent
Political
police in the Isle of Youth threatened to prevent
government opponent and human rights activist
Huber Rodríguez from leaving the island to be
with his young son when he has surgery in the
U. S.
HAVANA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Venezuelan court bars Cuban doctors
• Some criticize indictments as politics
• Indictment largely symbolic without a U.S.-Cuba
treaty on extradition
• For fliers' relatives, indictments offer some
relief
|
An
outrage not forgotten
Seven
and a half years after a cowardly ambush in the
Straits of Florida, a federal grand jury finally
has indicted a Cuban general and two fighter pilots
responsible for the deaths of four Brothers to
the Rescue fliers who occupied the unarmed planes
that were shot down. For the families of the victims,
the indictment provides a symbolic measure of
solace and validates the outrage that has been
felt in this community for years.
The
Miami Herald
|
Another
victim of the Castro regime
The
subconscious betrays them. When all the lies and
slander fail, when all the means of communication
-- newspapers, radio, television, movies, books
even -- are not enough to confuse the Cuban people,
then come the desperate acts.
Oswaldo
Paya / The Miami Herald
|
|
August
21
FROM
CUBA
Cuban political prisoners denied regular
visit
Relatives
of two political prisoners were turned back at
the gates of the Valle Grande prison August 13
and told the inmates they wanted to visit were
in punishment cells.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
In Cuba not all quota goods are available
all the time
The
Cuban government's rationing system is supposed
to at least guarantee consumers a minimum quantity
of scarce domestic cleaning products and other
goods. Lately, however, a number of products which
consumers are entitled to buy under the system
have not been available in distribution outlets.
HAVANA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Three Cuban airmen indicted for shooting down
civilian planes
• Brothers to the Rescue founder says he'll invest
money from shootdown court award in Cuba -- whenever
he gets it
• TV Martí may soon switch to satellite
• Cubans' truck was sunk to prevent copycats
• U.S. seeks to improve transmission of TV Martí
|
Yahoo! News
•
Cuban general, two pilots indicted in 1996 downing
of two civilian planes
• CANF praises indictment of Cuban pilots, airforce
commander
|
External
links
|
Paradox
regained: a conversation with an old comandante
in Cuba
Since
Cubans are not allowed to travel or even to question
the state of the regime, it is hardly surprising
the regime looks askance at the possibility of
tourists bringing unwanted, provocative influence.
So it started out as enclave tourism, with parts
of the island given over to touristic ventures.
That soon collapsed, but there are times when
anyone who brings a Cuban into a hotel may be
asked to leave their guest outside, on the possible
grounds that they may be pimps extending their
network of clients.
Bella
Thomas, Open Democracy
|
FMLN
candidate says would restore El Salvador ties
with Cuba
Presidential
candidate Shafick Handal told reporters on Thursday
that he would restore El Salvador's diplomatic
relations with Cuba and China if elected next
year.
San
Francisco Chronicle, CA
|
|
August
20
FROM
CUBA
Cuban imprisoned journalist expecting
disciplinary action
Imprisoned
Cuban journalist Normando Hernández is expecting
to be disciplined by prison authorities after
a late-night argument days ago, said his wife
Yaraí Reyes. Hernández is serving a 25-year sentence
in Boniato prison, in Santiago de Cuba province.
HAVANA
|
Yahoo!
News
•
New NYC School Named for Legend Celia Cruz
|
Cuban
Dissident Ramon Colas to Speak on Future of Human
Rights in Cuba
The
founder of Independent Libraries of Cuba, Ramon
Colas, will discuss the future of human rights
in Cuba in the new international context at the
National Press Club.
U.S.
Newswire
|
External
links
|
For
Cubans on birthright, a tie is formed to their
ancestors' land
Cuba
began allowing its Jews to emigrate in 1994 for
a fee, paid by the Jewish state. By 2000, some
500 Cuban Jews had reached Israel under the behind-the-scenes
arrangement, known as Operation Cigar. For most
of those who remained in Cuba, however, a trip
to Israel was out of the question - until birthright
came along.
Jewish
Telegraphic Agency
|
Group
plans demonstration on behalf of Cuban artists
at Miami Grammys
Alianza
Martiana, which supports an end to the U.S. embargo
of Cuba and dialogue between the United States
and Cuba, also applied for a permit -- to demonstrate
in support of the right of musicians from Cuba
and all over the world to express themselves.
Sun-Sentinel
|
Knight
Foundation Grant Supports Independent Journalism
in Cuba
In
the wake of Cuba's latest crackdown on free expression,
the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has
awarded a grant to a nonprofit, nonpartisan Cuban-American
organization that promotes independent journalism
on the island.
PNN,
VA
|
Second Group
of Medical Students From Cuba Returns to Eastern
Cape
The
second group of students sent from Eastern Cape
to study medicine in Cuba have returned to the
province. Eastern Cape has since 1998 sent 30
students to study medicine in Cuba as part of
bilateral agreement signed in 1995 between the
South African and Cuban governments.
AllAfrica.com
|
|
August
19
FROM
CUBA
Audits reveal multiple irregularities
in Cuba's public sector
Nineteen
recent audits of public-sector enterprises by
the Ministry of Auditing and Control in Holguín
province have uncovered multiple irregularities,
prompting government officials to call for better
controls.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban health care worker fired for
political reasons
Administrators
of the Hygiene and Epidemiology Center in Niquero,
Granma province, fired a worker, accusing him
of fostering an unfavorable climate among his
fellow workers and of expressing negative opinions
about the government.
HAVANA
|
3
Cuban athletes defect at Pan Am Games
Three
Cuban athletes have defected to the Dominican
Republic, where they were competing in the Pan
American Games, an official said Tuesday. The
defections occurred during the international competition,
which started Aug. 1 and ended Sunday, said Gen.
Fernando Cruz, director of the Dominican intelligence
agency.
Yahoo!
News
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Cuban dissident disputes book's claim
• Antonio Navarro, 80, led resistance in Cuba
• Where to see Cuban artists
|
Yahoo!
News
•
Another Cuban Gymnast Defects in Calif.
• Cuba says Iran was jamming US satellite broadcasts:
State Department
• U.S. Rejects Cuba's Claim About Activist
|
External
links
|
Cuba
dissident accused of spying
Whatever
the basis of the allegations, they do confirm
the Cuban Government's determination to sow suspicion
amongst its opponents. The Cuban authorities will
no doubt be hoping that a dissident movement where
no one can trust anyone becomes impotent.
BBC
|
Teammates
reunite in Los Angeles
Charles
Leon Tamayo joined teammate Michel Brito Ferrer,
whose uncle Ramon Ferrer brought Brito Ferrer
to his Los Angeles home Sunday. Attorney Luis
Carrillo was at Ramon Ferrer's home Monday and
said the athletes are "very exhausted. They're
very tired. These are difficult times for them.
"They're here because of the political repression,
the political persecution for them in Cuba,''
he said.
ESPN
|
|
August
18
FROM
CUBA
Cuban political prisoner forcibly
given psychoactive drugs
Imprisoned
Cuban political prisoner Oscar Espinosa Chepe
complained to family members during a recent visit
that he's been given psychoactive drugs that make
it hard for him to concentrate at the military
hospital in which he is interned.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban government undertakes island-wide
computer census
The
Cuban government undertook an island-wide computer
census last week. The measure, code-named "Operation
Windows," seeks to inventory all computers, including
those in government offices as well as the ones
in private hands, and to confiscate any that are
deemed of "dubious origin."
HAVANA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Cuban police visit men who made floating truck
• Local Republicans write Bush urging new Cuba
policy
• Exiles In Culture
• Anniversary of Mariel produces cultural jewel
|
Yahoo!
News
•
Cuban gymnast defects after team competition
• Castro Draws a Crowd in Paraguay
|
For
coherent Cuba policy
The
boisterous debate over the policies of the Bush
administration toward Cuba should come as no surprise.
The Cuban exile community is diverse, mature and
increasingly sophisticated. It speaks with --
and has room for -- a variety of distinct voices.
As long as no single group or person can claim
the right to speak for all, robust debate is to
be expected -- and encouraged.
The
Miami Herald
|
Surer
footing on Cuba
The
wet-foot/dry-foot Cuba policy has created an equally
crazy corollary that can be termed the Wet Tarp
Rule. Five Cubans caught trying to land in Palm
Beach County were stuck on a Coast Guard vessel's
deck, huddled under a tarp to escape Wednesday
night's storms. They couldn't come ashore -- where
dry feet would mean sanctuary -- and security
concerns kept them from going below.
Palm
Beach Post
|
External
links
|
Latin Grammy
Party Draws Protesters
The
Latin Grammys are still a month away, but the
protests have already begun. Cuban exiles lined
the streets of southwest Miami-Dade County Sunday.
They are angry about Cuban artists set to perform
at the show.
Click10.com,
FL
|
Filmmaker
and advocate seeks 'to be who I am'
The
film deftly demonstrates the deficiencies in Cuba's
policy with footage of a health minister vowing
better assistance that cuts to scenes from a factory,
where visually impaired people are sent to assemble
razors -- Cuba's notion of independent living
and "job placement."
Contra
Costa Times, CA
|
Threat
to Cuba's Aids success
In
the mid-1980s, when little was known about the
virus, Cuba compulsorily tested thousands of its
citizens for HIV. Those who tested positive were
taken to Los Cocos. They were not allowed to leave.
The policy, perhaps only possible in a highly
controlled communist society, was condemned by
human rights groups across the world.
BBC
News
|
|
August
15
FROM
CUBA
Civic-minded protesters labeled "dissidents"
in Cuba
A
group of 37 intellectuals in the small port city
of Batabanó, south of Havana, who signed a letter
to the local government seeking to address certain
municipal problems were labeled "dissidents" by
a Communist party official.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cubans banned from fishing
Police
recently searched travelers going from the fishing
port of Batabanó, in the south coast of Havana
province, and the capital, and found several of
them carried fish, shrimp, and about a dozen lobsters.
The travelers and their seafood were taken to
the police station.
HAVANA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Pleas made for dissidents' care
• Rancher ships 148 cattle to Cuba
|
Yahoo!
News
•
Cuban-Americans Hit Bush Policies
• DeLay: Happy Birthday to Who? Castro Celebrates
as Cuba Suffers; Dictator Should Hold Free Elections
• Cubana One Network: Bright House Networks of
Tampa Insensitive to Cuban American Heritage
|
Cuban
doctors' fate unknown
Polokwane
- The future of seven Cuban doctors who want to
withdraw from the bilateral Cuba/South Africa
agreement has yet to be decided by the medicine
professions watchdog after it failed to take a
decision early this month.
News24.com,
SA
|
External
links
|
SA
medical students return from Cuba
The
second group of 17 South African medical students
has returned from Cuba. Welcoming them back today,
Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the Health Minister,
said they would help contribute to provincial
efforts to redress problems of scarcity and mal-administration
in the medical field.
SABCnews.com,
SA
|
Engagement
with Cuba? Why not?
Some
will ask, why should we engage with Cuba? It is
not a democracy, after all; on the contrary, its
government can be quite repressive. Yes, all the
more reason to engage. The idea is not to reward
Cuba, but to bring about change.
San
Fransisco Chronicle
|
Away
from theme park Havana
When
we visited, it sometimes seemed as if the restored
sections were an enclave or a theme park reserved
for the Italians, French, Canadian and other foreign
tourists. Near the San Francisco church, I made
a phone call and Ariel drifted off on his own
to visit a curious small garden dedicated to the
memory of Princess Diana. But he was quickly warded
off by a security guard. I could understand why
so many Cubans quietly and despairingly grumble
about "tourist apartheid".
Financial
Times
|
Cuba
in control en route to sweep
Cuba
swept the United States in the Pan American Games
semifinals of women's volleyball, using a powerful
attack the Americans could not match. Cuba seldom
trailed, en route to a 25-19, 25-19, 25-21 win
on Thursday night.
ESPN
|
|
August
14
FROM
CUBA
Cuban independent journalist held
in solitary confinement
Independent
journalist Omar Ruiz Hernández is being held in
solitary confinement at the Guantánamo provincial
prison in the eastern end of the island. Ruiz
was sentenced to 18 years in April along with
74 other journalists and dissidents. He used to
work with Grupo Decoro, one of several independent
news agencies.
HAVANA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Venezuelans cheer and protest presence of doctors
from Cuba
• Meet the narcos and 'capos' of the Cuban drug
trade
|
Yahoo!
News
•
Cuba Sentences Hijackers to 7-10 Years
|
Grammys
-- and Dissent
Miami
and Cuban-exile groups have settled on a location
where protesters can express themselves. They
will stand about 260 feet from American Airlines
Arena, and on the same side of the street. A coalition
of exile organizations approved the agreement
Tuesday night. This is heartening news.
The
Miami Herald
|
Happy
Birthday, Fidel
My
cousin Pedro's birthday also comes this month.
But the last one he celebrated was his 18th. That
was in 1961, the year he fell into the custody
of Fidel "Helluva Guy" Castro's secret police,
for "questioning." Pedro was a frail, mild-mannered
boy and member of the youth group Catholic Action.
Humberto
Fontova / NewsMax.com
|
External
links
|
Bury
me in Cuba, Celia said
Her
beloved Cuba may yet be the final resting place
for Celia Cruz. The salsa legend's husband, Pedro
Knight, told the Daily News yesterday that he
dreams of someday taking his wife's remains from
the Bronx to the island she fled when Fidel Castro
seized power in 1960.
New
York Daily News, NY
|
5
Cubans wait aboard Coast Guard cutter
Amid
stormy conditions that could create 12-foot swells
overnight, five Cuban migrants continued to bob
about the ocean on the deck of a U.S. Coast Guard
cutter Wednesday, awaiting word on their futures.
Palm
Beach Post, FL
|
Florida
cattlemen keen to keep doing business with Cuba
A
group of Florida cattlemen said Thursday they
remained dedicated to doing business with Cuba
despite increasingly tough rhetoric from some
of their state's politicians toward the island.
Herald
Tribune
|
|
August
13
FROM
CUBA
Cuban political prisoner offered freedom
in exchange for collaboration with the government
Department
of State Security officials told jailed dissident
Leonardo Bruzón that he could be freed if he retracted
his previous activities against the government
in front of a camera. The officials had also requested
Bruzón should speak on tape about how well he
had been treated in prison, and about the medical
care he had received.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban workers unhappy with schedule
change
"We
have received complaints from the workers, who
are unhappy with the measure, since it wasn't
discussed with the workers," said Héctor Pacha,
of the independent Workers' Federation. He said
the workers also complain about their pay, 148
pesos a month.
NUEVA
GERONA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Report: Cuban requested asylum
• Venezuelans cheer and protest presence of doctors
from Cuba
• Paraguay abuzz over Castro's arrival
• Collectors of Cuban art get costly education
in forgeries
• One man's crusade against fakery
|
Yahoo!
News
•
Security Heightened at U.S.-Cuba Game• Fidel Castro
Marks 77th Birthday Today
• Cuba Wins Pan Am Games Baseball Gold Medal
|
Gorbachev coming to Miami summit on
Cuba
The
National Summit on Cuba announced that former
Soviet leader President Mikhail Gorbachev is coming
to Miami to discuss historic perspectives on U.S.
policy toward the island at the upcoming Florida
National Summit on Cuba Oct. 4 at the Biltmore
Hotel in Coral Gables.
Tampa
Bay Business Journal, FL
|
Trouble
in Florida
Mr.
Reich's mission went awry when, in an interview
on WSCV-Telemundo 51, he explained that Cubans
need to be screened like other immigrants to avoid
opening the United States to criminals and terrorists.
"What would Dade County do with a million more
Cubans who don't speak English, who haven't been
well-educated, that have lived under a totalitarian
government where values don't exist, moral or
economic ... ?" Mr. Reich asked.
The
Washington Times
|
Changes
among Cuban Americans
What
are we to make of Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo's decision
to remain in Cuba? To answer that, we first have
to figure out what it was: A reverse defection?
A re-defection? A courageous anti-Castro act?
The act of a secret Castro collaborator?
Michael
Putney / The Miami Herald
|
External
links
|
Cubans
who took boat get quick convictions
A
panel of Cuban judges delivered a swift verdicts
on Tuesday, finding six men guilty of stealing
a government-owned vessel and sentencing them
to jail -- less than 24 hours after their trial
began. Four of the six defendants received jail
sentences, ranging from seven to 10 years, requested
by prosecutors at Monday's trial.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL
|
G.O.P.
Legislators in Florida Criticize Bush on Cuba
A
song enjoying frequent airtime on a Spanish-language
radio station here crystallizes the deepening
discontent of Cuban-Americans with the White House.
It ends, "All together, let's sing: Bush is betraying
us."
The
New york Times
|
|
August
12
FROM
CUBA
A Cuban prisoner convicted of drug
trafficking bears witness
Under
the cover of waging war on drugs, the Cuban government
has embarked on a campaign against any person
who has managed to survive and perhaps even obtain
minimal wealth as a self-employed worker.
BONIATO
PRISON, CUBA / José Eduardo Girón Cabrera
|
FROM
CUBA
Some
drug lords!
On
March 19, I was taken to Villa Marista, the State
Security headquarters, where I was held in cell
47 until April 24. It was there I lost my name;
they called me 239682. It was also there I saw
my first Cuban drug lords: Mumúa, Cachirulo, and
Hectico the butcher. My cellmates. The four of
us were stuffed into the minuscule cell; we had
to be careful when turning over in bed so as not
to poke each other.
BONIATO
PRISON, CUBA / Manuel Vázquez Portal
|
FROM
CUBA
Operation Popular Shield in Cuba:
sewing machines confiscated
Under
the umbrella of Operation Popular Shield, last
week State Security officials searched the homes
of seven seamstresses in Güines, a small city
south of Havana, and confiscated their sewing
machines.
HAVANA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Legislators say Cuba letter may get results
|
Yahoo!
News
•
Candles burning at both ends, Castro to mark 77th
birthday amid crises
• U.S., Cuba Compete for Pan Am Dominance
|
CPJ alarmed by deteriorating health
of Cuban journalist
CPJ
is alarmed by the deteriorating health of imprisoned
journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who was transferred
last week to a military hospital in the capital,
Havana.
Committee
to Protect Journalists
|
A
letter to the president
This
is a letter sent Monday to President Bush by several
state Republican representatives from South Florida
regarding U.S. policy on Cuba.
The
Miami Herald, MIAMI
|
External
links
|
Swiss
open doors for Cuban film-makers
The
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
has stumped up SFr550,000 ($405,000) to assist
film-makers from poorer countries. The three-year
"Open Doors" programme will allow Cuban directors
to show their finished work at the Locarno International
Film Festival and bring them face-to-face with
European producers to pitch new projects.
swissinfo,
Switzerland
|
Cuban
film-makers pitch projects to Euro financiers
Daniel
Diaz Torres, Humberto Solas and Humberto Padron
were among ten Cuban filmmakers invited to launch
the three-year project "Open Doors - World Producers
Meet The World Cinema" which is to be devoted
to promoting film industries which are going through
a period of crisis.
Screendaily.com,
UK
|
Health
Concerns Raised Regarding Cuban Political Prisoners
The
United States voiced "deep concern" Monday over
the "ill health and poor treatment" of Cuba's
political prisoners. The U.S. expressed particular
worry.
GOPUSA,
TX
|
Cuban
criminal justice: Don't punish me with brutality
Journalist
Héctor Maseda defied the Cuban government and
got a 20-year prison sentence for his troubles.
A half century earlier, young Fidel Castro led
the July 26, 1953, rebel attack that killed 19
police and soldiers, and he spent less than two
years in prison. "I wish Fidel Castro would show
some mercy," said Mr. Maseda's wife, Laura Pollán.
"I wish he would remember how he was treated 50
years ago."
Tracey
Eaton / The Dallas Morning News
|
Envoy
Called 'Scum' Skips Talks
In
June, an intelligence analyst, Christian Westermann
of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence
and Research, told the Senate Intelligence Committee
that he had felt pressure from Bolton after the
two disagreed over whether Cuba had a biological
weapons program. Bolton said last year that the
U.S. believed Cuba had such a program.
CBS
News
|
Cubans
capture hoops title
Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic- After surviving a
protest by Brazil, the U.S. women couldn't handle
their nemesis on the basketball court as Cuba
won the gold medal at the Pan American Games.
Cleveland
Plain Dealer, OH
|
For
Cuban-Americans, more empty promises
It
was nice and cozy while it lasted, but the Bush
administration's honeymoon with Cuban-American
exiles was never likely to endure. Cuban exiles
are steaming over the White House's failure to
deliver on its promises of a beefed-up policy
toward Cuba. In particular, they are angry over
the recent repatriation of Cuban asylum seekers
picked up at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard.
St.
Petersburg Times, FL
|
Roberto
Forte's mother sent him to Duluth from Cuba in
1961 as part of Operation Peter Pan
The
separation was supposed to last three months,
but it would take four years for Manuela Forte
to reunite with her son, Roberto. Roberto has
not been back to Cuba since 1961, when, at 11
years old, he was one of 10 Cuban children sent
to Duluth to begin a life in exile.
Duluth
News Tribune, IA
|
Terror
link to West Nile?
There
is increasing suspicion that one of his labs is
not in Iraq at all - but less than 50 miles from
the Florida coast. Cuban defectors say that Fidel
Castro's Biological Front studied ways of using
migratory birds to spread infectious diseases
to the U.S. Saddam Hussein was also known to have
close ties to Castro.
WorldNet
Daily
|
Analysis:
Fla. Republican Unity Cracks
Florida's
Republican politics is going to need some healing
in the next year going into President Bush's bid
for re-election in 2004. Florida was the most
important state in his election in 2000 and that
could well happen again. A united party could
be essential next year, and right now, that's
not the case.
NewsMax.com
|
Cuba
Libre
Why
is the Bush administration clinging to a Clinton
policy that's a matter of presidential discretion,
not federal law? Five words: fear of another Mariel
boatlift. In 1980, Castro cleaned out his jails
and insane asylums and sent a flotilla of some
125,000 refugees to Florida. The sudden influx
created some havoc in Miami and even in Arkansas,
where violence and rioting by Cubans held at Fort
Chafee contributed to Bill Clinton's defeat for
reelection as governor.
Fred
Barnes / The Weekley Standard
|
Editorial:
End the embargo
Plainly
put, it's materialism that draws Cubans across
the Straits, the belief that a land of plenty
lies just over the horizon. More Americans are
shoppers than voters, and the same impulse is
evident in Cuba.
Concord
New Hampshire News
|
In
Cuba's Tropical Gulag
Our
plight is very small indeed compared to what Cubans
face every day. The latest crackdown on political
dissidents and independent journalists and the
execution on April 11 of three young men who had
tried to hijack a ferry in order to reach the
coast of Florida set off a wave of condemnation
and even got the European Union to rethink its
cooperation with Cuba. It was high time. It remains
for those who regularly visit the Cuban beach
resort of Varadero to ask what is going on out
of view in the backyard of Latin America's last
dictatorship.
Free
Republic
|
|
August
12
FROM
CUBA
A Cuban prisoner convicted of drug
trafficking bears witness
Under
the cover of waging war on drugs, the Cuban government
has embarked on a campaign against any person
who has managed to survive and perhaps even obtain
minimal wealth as a self-employed worker.
BONIATO
PRISON, CUBA / José Eduardo Girón Cabrera
|
FROM
CUBA
Some
drug lords!
On
March 19, I was taken to Villa Marista, the State
Security headquarters, where I was held in cell
47 until April 24. It was there I lost my name;
they called me 239682. It was also there I saw
my first Cuban drug lords: Mumúa, Cachirulo, and
Hectico the butcher. My cellmates. The four of
us were stuffed into the minuscule cell; we had
to be careful when turning over in bed so as not
to poke each other.
BONIATO
PRISON, CUBA / Manuel Vázquez Portal
|
FROM
CUBA
Operation Popular Shield in Cuba:
sewing machines confiscated
Under
the umbrella of Operation Popular Shield, last
week State Security officials searched the homes
of seven seamstresses in Güines, a small city
south of Havana, and confiscated their sewing
machines.
HAVANA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Legislators say Cuba letter may get results
|
Yahoo!
News
•
Candles burning at both ends, Castro to mark 77th
birthday amid crises
• U.S., Cuba Compete for Pan Am Dominance
|
CPJ alarmed by deteriorating health
of Cuban journalist
CPJ
is alarmed by the deteriorating health of imprisoned
journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who was transferred
last week to a military hospital in the capital,
Havana.
Committee
to Protect Journalists
|
A
letter to the president
This
is a letter sent Monday to President Bush by several
state Republican representatives from South Florida
regarding U.S. policy on Cuba.
The
Miami Herald, MIAMI
|
External
links
|
Swiss
open doors for Cuban film-makers
The
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
has stumped up SFr550,000 ($405,000) to assist
film-makers from poorer countries. The three-year
"Open Doors" programme will allow Cuban directors
to show their finished work at the Locarno International
Film Festival and bring them face-to-face with
European producers to pitch new projects.
swissinfo,
Switzerland
|
Cuban
film-makers pitch projects to Euro financiers
Daniel
Diaz Torres, Humberto Solas and Humberto Padron
were among ten Cuban filmmakers invited to launch
the three-year project "Open Doors - World Producers
Meet The World Cinema" which is to be devoted
to promoting film industries which are going through
a period of crisis.
Screendaily.com,
UK
|
Health
Concerns Raised Regarding Cuban Political Prisoners
The
United States voiced "deep concern" Monday over
the "ill health and poor treatment" of Cuba's
political prisoners. The U.S. expressed particular
worry.
GOPUSA,
TX
|
Cuban
criminal justice: Don't punish me with brutality
Journalist
Héctor Maseda defied the Cuban government and
got a 20-year prison sentence for his troubles.
A half century earlier, young Fidel Castro led
the July 26, 1953, rebel attack that killed 19
police and soldiers, and he spent less than two
years in prison. "I wish Fidel Castro would show
some mercy," said Mr. Maseda's wife, Laura Pollán.
"I wish he would remember how he was treated 50
years ago."
Tracey
Eaton / The Dallas Morning News
|
Envoy
Called 'Scum' Skips Talks
In
June, an intelligence analyst, Christian Westermann
of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence
and Research, told the Senate Intelligence Committee
that he had felt pressure from Bolton after the
two disagreed over whether Cuba had a biological
weapons program. Bolton said last year that the
U.S. believed Cuba had such a program.
CBS
News
|
Cubans
capture hoops title
Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic- After surviving a
protest by Brazil, the U.S. women couldn't handle
their nemesis on the basketball court as Cuba
won the gold medal at the Pan American Games.
Cleveland
Plain Dealer, OH
|
For
Cuban-Americans, more empty promises
It
was nice and cozy while it lasted, but the Bush
administration's honeymoon with Cuban-American
exiles was never likely to endure. Cuban exiles
are steaming over the White House's failure to
deliver on its promises of a beefed-up policy
toward Cuba. In particular, they are angry over
the recent repatriation of Cuban asylum seekers
picked up at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard.
St.
Petersburg Times, FL
|
Roberto
Forte's mother sent him to Duluth from Cuba in
1961 as part of Operation Peter Pan
The
separation was supposed to last three months,
but it would take four years for Manuela Forte
to reunite with her son, Roberto. Roberto has
not been back to Cuba since 1961, when, at 11
years old, he was one of 10 Cuban children sent
to Duluth to begin a life in exile.
Duluth
News Tribune, IA
|
Terror
link to West Nile?
There
is increasing suspicion that one of his labs is
not in Iraq at all - but less than 50 miles from
the Florida coast. Cuban defectors say that Fidel
Castro's Biological Front studied ways of using
migratory birds to spread infectious diseases
to the U.S. Saddam Hussein was also known to have
close ties to Castro.
WorldNet
Daily
|
Analysis:
Fla. Republican Unity Cracks
Florida's
Republican politics is going to need some healing
in the next year going into President Bush's bid
for re-election in 2004. Florida was the most
important state in his election in 2000 and that
could well happen again. A united party could
be essential next year, and right now, that's
not the case.
NewsMax.com
|
Cuba
Libre
Why
is the Bush administration clinging to a Clinton
policy that's a matter of presidential discretion,
not federal law? Five words: fear of another Mariel
boatlift. In 1980, Castro cleaned out his jails
and insane asylums and sent a flotilla of some
125,000 refugees to Florida. The sudden influx
created some havoc in Miami and even in Arkansas,
where violence and rioting by Cubans held at Fort
Chafee contributed to Bill Clinton's defeat for
reelection as governor.
Fred
Barnes / The Weekley Standard
|
Editorial:
End the embargo
Plainly
put, it's materialism that draws Cubans across
the Straits, the belief that a land of plenty
lies just over the horizon. More Americans are
shoppers than voters, and the same impulse is
evident in Cuba.
Concord
New Hampshire News
|
In
Cuba's Tropical Gulag
Our
plight is very small indeed compared to what Cubans
face every day. The latest crackdown on political
dissidents and independent journalists and the
execution on April 11 of three young men who had
tried to hijack a ferry in order to reach the
coast of Florida set off a wave of condemnation
and even got the European Union to rethink its
cooperation with Cuba. It was high time. It remains
for those who regularly visit the Cuban beach
resort of Varadero to ask what is going on out
of view in the backyard of Latin America's last
dictatorship.
Free
Republic
|
|
August
12
FROM
CUBA
A Cuban prisoner convicted of drug
trafficking bears witness
Under
the cover of waging war on drugs, the Cuban government
has embarked on a campaign against any person
who has managed to survive and perhaps even obtain
minimal wealth as a self-employed worker.
BONIATO
PRISON, CUBA / José Eduardo Girón Cabrera
|
FROM
CUBA
Some
drug lords!
On
March 19, I was taken to Villa Marista, the State
Security headquarters, where I was held in cell
47 until April 24. It was there I lost my name;
they called me 239682. It was also there I saw
my first Cuban drug lords: Mumúa, Cachirulo, and
Hectico the butcher. My cellmates. The four of
us were stuffed into the minuscule cell; we had
to be careful when turning over in bed so as not
to poke each other.
BONIATO
PRISON, CUBA / Manuel Vázquez Portal
|
FROM
CUBA
Operation Popular Shield in Cuba:
sewing machines confiscated
Under
the umbrella of Operation Popular Shield, last
week State Security officials searched the homes
of seven seamstresses in Güines, a small city
south of Havana, and confiscated their sewing
machines.
HAVANA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Legislators say Cuba letter may get results
|
Yahoo!
News
•
Candles burning at both ends, Castro to mark 77th
birthday amid crises
• U.S., Cuba Compete for Pan Am Dominance
|
CPJ alarmed by deteriorating health
of Cuban journalist
CPJ
is alarmed by the deteriorating health of imprisoned
journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who was transferred
last week to a military hospital in the capital,
Havana.
Committee
to Protect Journalists
|
A
letter to the president
This
is a letter sent Monday to President Bush by several
state Republican representatives from South Florida
regarding U.S. policy on Cuba.
The
Miami Herald, MIAMI
|
External
links
|
Swiss
open doors for Cuban film-makers
The
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
has stumped up SFr550,000 ($405,000) to assist
film-makers from poorer countries. The three-year
"Open Doors" programme will allow Cuban directors
to show their finished work at the Locarno International
Film Festival and bring them face-to-face with
European producers to pitch new projects.
swissinfo,
Switzerland
|
Cuban
film-makers pitch projects to Euro financiers
Daniel
Diaz Torres, Humberto Solas and Humberto Padron
were among ten Cuban filmmakers invited to launch
the three-year project "Open Doors - World Producers
Meet The World Cinema" which is to be devoted
to promoting film industries which are going through
a period of crisis.
Screendaily.com,
UK
|
Health
Concerns Raised Regarding Cuban Political Prisoners
The
United States voiced "deep concern" Monday over
the "ill health and poor treatment" of Cuba's
political prisoners. The U.S. expressed particular
worry.
GOPUSA,
TX
|
Cuban
criminal justice: Don't punish me with brutality
Journalist
Héctor Maseda defied the Cuban government and
got a 20-year prison sentence for his troubles.
A half century earlier, young Fidel Castro led
the July 26, 1953, rebel attack that killed 19
police and soldiers, and he spent less than two
years in prison. "I wish Fidel Castro would show
some mercy," said Mr. Maseda's wife, Laura Pollán.
"I wish he would remember how he was treated 50
years ago."
Tracey
Eaton / The Dallas Morning News
|
Envoy
Called 'Scum' Skips Talks
In
June, an intelligence analyst, Christian Westermann
of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence
and Research, told the Senate Intelligence Committee
that he had felt pressure from Bolton after the
two disagreed over whether Cuba had a biological
weapons program. Bolton said last year that the
U.S. believed Cuba had such a program.
CBS
News
|
Cubans
capture hoops title
Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic- After surviving a
protest by Brazil, the U.S. women couldn't handle
their nemesis on the basketball court as Cuba
won the gold medal at the Pan American Games.
Cleveland
Plain Dealer, OH
|
For
Cuban-Americans, more empty promises
It
was nice and cozy while it lasted, but the Bush
administration's honeymoon with Cuban-American
exiles was never likely to endure. Cuban exiles
are steaming over the White House's failure to
deliver on its promises of a beefed-up policy
toward Cuba. In particular, they are angry over
the recent repatriation of Cuban asylum seekers
picked up at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard.
St.
Petersburg Times, FL
|
Roberto
Forte's mother sent him to Duluth from Cuba in
1961 as part of Operation Peter Pan
The
separation was supposed to last three months,
but it would take four years for Manuela Forte
to reunite with her son, Roberto. Roberto has
not been back to Cuba since 1961, when, at 11
years old, he was one of 10 Cuban children sent
to Duluth to begin a life in exile.
Duluth
News Tribune, IA
|
Terror
link to West Nile?
There
is increasing suspicion that one of his labs is
not in Iraq at all - but less than 50 miles from
the Florida coast. Cuban defectors say that Fidel
Castro's Biological Front studied ways of using
migratory birds to spread infectious diseases
to the U.S. Saddam Hussein was also known to have
close ties to Castro.
WorldNet
Daily
|
Analysis:
Fla. Republican Unity Cracks
Florida's
Republican politics is going to need some healing
in the next year going into President Bush's bid
for re-election in 2004. Florida was the most
important state in his election in 2000 and that
could well happen again. A united party could
be essential next year, and right now, that's
not the case.
NewsMax.com
|
Cuba
Libre
Why
is the Bush administration clinging to a Clinton
policy that's a matter of presidential discretion,
not federal law? Five words: fear of another Mariel
boatlift. In 1980, Castro cleaned out his jails
and insane asylums and sent a flotilla of some
125,000 refugees to Florida. The sudden influx
created some havoc in Miami and even in Arkansas,
where violence and rioting by Cubans held at Fort
Chafee contributed to Bill Clinton's defeat for
reelection as governor.
Fred
Barnes / The Weekley Standard
|
Editorial:
End the embargo
Plainly
put, it's materialism that draws Cubans across
the Straits, the belief that a land of plenty
lies just over the horizon. More Americans are
shoppers than voters, and the same impulse is
evident in Cuba.
Concord
New Hampshire News
|
In
Cuba's Tropical Gulag
Our
plight is very small indeed compared to what Cubans
face every day. The latest crackdown on political
dissidents and independent journalists and the
execution on April 11 of three young men who had
tried to hijack a ferry in order to reach the
coast of Florida set off a wave of condemnation
and even got the European Union to rethink its
cooperation with Cuba. It was high time. It remains
for those who regularly visit the Cuban beach
resort of Varadero to ask what is going on out
of view in the backyard of Latin America's last
dictatorship.
Free
Republic
|
|
August
11
FROM
CUBA
Corruption in Cuban jails extends
to medical personnel
From
Ariza prison, in Cienfuegos province, prisoner
of conscience Jorge Luis García denounced rampant
corruption among medical personnel assigned to
the facility.
VILLA
CLARA
|
FROM
CUBA
Prisoner dies without medical attention
In
a letter from Boniato prison, Santiago de Cuba,
independent journalist and prisoner of conscience
Juan Carlos Herrera revealed that an inmate who
died last month was refused medical attention
for his condition.
HAVANA
|
Yahoo!
•
US wants international supervision of Cuban prisoners
•
Cuba Starts Trial for 6 Repatriated Ment
•
US firm on Cuba sanctions, on returning Cubans
found at sea: diplomat
• U.S. Seeks Ideas for Cuban Democracy
|
The
Miami Herald
•
State GOP legislators urge action on Cuba
• Cuban officials contact exile who has come home
to live
• Opposition leader planned Cuba move for months
|
One
more dissident in Havana
In
a letter from Boniato prison, Santiago de Cuba,
independent journalist and prisoner of conscience
Juan Carlos Herrera revealed that an inmate who
died last month was refused medical attention
for his condition.
The
Miami Herald
|
Cuba:
No Social Club for Journalists
In
raids March 18, Cuban secret police arrested 28
journalists who practiced their craft in defiance
of the draconian "Law 88" and other anti-press
statutes. Castro may have calculated that world
public opinion would be too distracted by the
impending Iraq war to care. Instead, furious protests
only increased after the journalists were tried
in secret and sentenced to prison terms ranging
from 14 to 27 years.
Mark
Fitzgerald / Editor & Publisher
|
External
links
|
|
6
Cubans repatriated after hijacking attempt go
on trial in Camaguey
The
six men charged in last month's hijacking of a
government-owned boat went on trial Monday in
the central-eastern provincial capital of Camaguey,
authorities here confirmed.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL
|
Many
eyes trained on Cubans' trial in boat theft
The
first time Yosvel Chávez Novo tried to slip away
from his rural port town, U.S. Coast Guard officials
intercepted his sputtering fishing boat and repatriated
him with little fanfare. Back in his hometown
of Nuevitas, in central Cuba, the young bakery
worker promised his sobbing mother he would not
risk another illegal trip.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL
|
Cuban
music you listen to with your hips
Red
hot salsa music leaks out on to Dufferin at Dundas
in the dry hot afternoon. The music is made by
nine Cuban girls. Some of them have long, thick,
dark, wavy hair like so many quattrocento madonnas.
Some of them have pigtails like so many cute camp
counsellors.
Toronto
Star, Canada
|
|
August
8
FROM
CUBA
Cuban rafters held in Jamaica
Nine
Cuban rafters, two of them government opponents,
have been held by Jamaican immigration authorities
since they reached the island three weeks ago.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Local government officials constitute
"prophylactic" group against dissidents in Cuba
Three
local government officials in the town of Güines,
south of Havana, have constituted themselves into
a group they call "Support prophylactic group
against government opponents."
HAVANA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Foe back in Cuba to oppose Castro
• Leap of fate
|
Yahoo!
•
U.S. Seeks Ideas to Promote Cuba Change
• US says Cubans have not applied for visas to
attend Latin Grammys
• Largest Shipment of U.S.-Bred Cattle Departs
for Cuba; First Cattle Shipments from Florida
in over 40 Years
|
Cuban
political prisoner Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello
without family visits at the Hospital since Friday
The
security officer indicated that although she would
not be able to see Martha Beatríz on this occasion,
she would be able to bring clean clothes and food
for Martha Beatriz. The niece asked about Martha
Beatriz' health condition and was told by the
security agent that "she was fine".
M.A.R.
Por Cuba
|
External
links
|
U.S.
to bolster Cuba broadcasts, aid to dissidents
Washington
· Otto Reich, President Bush's chief adviser on
Latin America, said on Thursday that the administration
will step up efforts to pressure the Fidel Castro
regime, aid dissidents and hasten the political
transformation of the island.
South
Florida Sun-Sentinel, FL
|
Breaking
the Cuban Spell
Last
week, Roger F. Noriega became the State Department's
first Latin American policy chief to be confirmed
by the U.S. Senate in seven years. President Bush's
previous nominee to the highest ranking diplomatic
post for the region was blocked in large measure
due to the same single issue that delayed Noriega's
own confirmation for months: Cuba.
The
Washington Post
|
Sandoval
Summons Plenty Of Horns
Sandoval
chronologically surveys a full century of trumpet
playing -- mostly jazz, but some classical as
well -- in the style of, and through signature
tunes associated with, 19 standard-bearers. The
resulting album is a sterling tribute to influences
and innovators by a man many consider the most
technically gifted and versatile trumpeter.
The
Washington Post
|
|
August
7
FROM
CUBA
Three dissident groups issue liberal
manifesto in Cuba
The
Liberal Democratic Party, the Cuban Change Liberal
Movement and the Democratic Solidarity Party have
issued a "Liberal Manifesto of Havana" in which
they oppose the death penalty. The document said
the three groups consider the current economic
crisis to be of national origin and not caused
by external factors, an allusion to the U.S. trade
embargo.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban independent librarian threatened
Two state security officers visited the Jorge
Mas Canosa independent library and told librarian
Librada Alvarez Leyva, a former political prisoner,
that her conditional liberty will be withdrawn
if she continues to accept visits by "counter-revolutionaries"
in her home.
HAVANA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Dangers in Cuba policy shift seen
• Grammy visas for Cubans unlikely
• Gladys Gutíerrez Menoyo arrives in Miami, says
husband's decision to stay in Cuba was a surprise
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Cuban Hijacker Confessions Can't Be Used
• Cuban doctors sent to Venezuela living in harsh
conditions
• Cuban Jews Make Historic Visit to Israel
|
Cuban
government could reconsider economic measures
After
seeing how managers and foreign companies doing
business in Cuba got upset by the announce of
new controls of foreign exchange in state-run
enterprises, Cuban government could reconsider
the measures, said Reuters in a dispatch from
Marc Frank in Havana.
MIAMI
|
External
links
|
Amid
fear, dissidents' kin in Cuba pray
Their
husbands or sons have been locked behind bars
for criticizing the government. Their homes have
been ransacked. They say they've been threatened
with imprisonment themselves. With few places
to turn, many wives and mothers of Cuban dissidents
seek solace each Sunday in the Church of St. Rita,
named for a patron saint of desperate causes.
Boston
Globe, MA
|
Exile
leader stays in Cuba
He
opposes the U.S. embargo and has given up calls
for an armed resistance in favor of working for
movement toward democracy, even if Castro remains
leader. Gutierrez Menoyo has criticized exiles
for having a too cozy relationship with the United
States and has called on them to keep a distance
from U.S. leadership to have what he calls a truly
homegrown opposition movement. Some exiles call
him a virtual agent of Castro.
CNN
|
Venceremos
Brigade Returns from Cuba
About
80 Americans walked across the Peace Bridge from
Fort Erie this morning. The groups travelled from
Cuba without a Treasury Department license to
challenge the U.S government's restrictions on
travel to the communist country.
WNED,
NY
|
Cuban
exile leader returns 'for peace'
He
told reporters he wanted to work "for a legal
space for the opposition from which we can build
a future based on pluralism and cohabitation".
But he said his calls for legalisation of opposition
parties in Cuba should not be seen as an open
challenge to Mr Castro.
BBC
|
|
August
6
FROM
CUBA
Cuban prisoner of conscience in bad
shape
The
wife of independent union leader Nelson Molinet
Espino says he has lost 40 pounds since his imprisonment
four months ago. Molinet, the secretary general
of the Confederation of Democratic Workers of
Cuba, is serving a 20-year sentence in the Kilo
8 ½ prison in Pinar del Rio province.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Light bulb denied to Cuban political
prisoner
When
the brother of Miguel Galván Gutiérrez brought
him a light bulb to illuminate his cell at the
Aguica prison in Matanzas province, he was told
it could not be given to him.
HAVANA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
6 of 12 hijackers sent back by U.S. are freed
in Cuba
• Rights activist imprisoned in Cuba is honored
|
Yahoo!
•
Bush under attack from Cuban Americans who helped
elect him
• Havana launches web site to "fight media terrorism"
|
It's
time to fulfill promises on Cuba
The
Cubans are finally rebelling. But it's the Cubans
in Miami, not in Havana, who are up in arms. Simmering
doubts in the Cuban-American community about President
Bush's unexpectedly anemic Cuba policy have erupted
into open discontent with the recent decision
to negotiate the return of refugees to Cuba to
face potential summary trials.
Paul
Crespo / The Miami Herald
|
External
links
|
Iran and Cuba
Zap U.S. Satellites
State
sponsors of terrorism not only threaten U.S. interests
on land, at sea and in the air, but now they have
teamed up to attack U.S. assets in space. By successfully
jamming a U.S. communications satellite over the
Atlantic Ocean, the regimes of Cuba and Iran challenged
U.S. dominance of space and the assumptions of
free access to satellite communication that makes
undisputed U.S. military power possible.
Insight
on the News, DC
|
Myriam
Marquez: Devil is in details of hypocrisy in Cuba
The
12 Cubans figured that, even if they didn't reach
Florida and the U.S. Coast Guard caught them at
sea, their contraption was so outrageous, their
creativity so amazing, that the United States
would be hard-pressed to send them back. They
figured wrong.
The
Tallahasee Democrat, FL
|
Casting
West "CUBA FILM"
Claude
Brickell (dir.) is accepting submissions for Cuba
Film, a digital production set in Havana during
the Revolution. Shoot starts Sept. 15. There is
pay.
Back
Stage, NY
|
|
August
5
FROM
CUBA
Self-employed coachmen march to protest
abuses
Thirty-four
self-employed coachmen marched on the headquarters
of the Camagüey municipal government Wednesday
to protest perceived abuses perpetrated on them
by police and government inspectors.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Independent labor leader held for
two days, threatened
An
independent labor leader here said he was detained
July 25 and brought under heavy pressure by Department
of State Security officials to cease his organizing
activities before being released two days later.
HAVANA
|
Wife
of jailed journalist Raúl Rivero attacks "unacceptable"
prison conditions
The
Castro regime has long targeted the United States
for intensive espionage activities. Castro himself
told CNN in an interview in 1998, "Yes, we have
sometimes dispatched Cuban citizens to the United
States to infiltrate counter-revolutionary organizations,
to inform us about activities that are of great
interest to us. I think we have a right to do
this."
Reporters
Without Borders
|
The
Miami Herald
•
7 Cubans from boat receive safe haven
• Truck lovers mourn the sinking of migrants'
floating Chevy
• Fate of 14 held by Coast Guard raises concerns
|
Cubans-American
leaders outraged by repatriation of Cubans
US
authorities said they repatriated a dozen Cubans
intercepted at sea, prompting outrage among Cuban-American
leaders who claimed the group included known dissidents
who risked severe punishment.
Yahoo!
News
|
|
August
4
FROM
CUBA
Cuban independent journalist's daughter
pressured
Officials
of the Department of State Security in Pinar del
Río summoned the daughter of independent journalist
Adela Soto to the department's provincial headquarters
and grilled her for more than four hours.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Blackouts damage Cubans' appliances
Electric
service blackouts and, more frequently, fluctuations
in voltage, damage their hard-to-get and hard-to-repair
appliances, Cubans say. Refrigerators become the
biggest headache, because they are the most necessary
domestic appliance, and since they are always
plugged in, are most often damaged by variations
in the line voltage.
HAVANA
|
Cuba's
Political Prisoners
It
is contemptible that the Cuban regime imprisons
people for activities such as speaking their minds,
meeting with others or using typewriters. Yet
the regime compounds its discredited policies
with cruel inhumanity. It withholds medical treatment,
denies family visits and subjects prisoners to
subhuman conditions. The international community
must continue to insist that Cuba release these
political prisoners.
The
Miami Herald
|
Administration
officials debate Cuban repatriation
A
growing controversy about the fate of 19 Cuban
migrants aboard a Coast Guard cutter has prompted
a debate within the Bush administration about
its policy of repatriating most Cubans intercepted
at sea, according to several administration officials.
The
Miami Herald
|
Yahoo!
•
Cuba Tops U.S. in Pan Am Women's Hoops
• Cuba Wins Seven Pan Am Wrestling Golds
|
Squandering
the Cuban vote
As
the paper went to press last night, 19 Cubans
were awaiting their fate aboard a U.S. Coast Guard
ship. They had been picked up in a rag-tag boat
after escaping Cuba for Florida on Monday. Some
are relatives of a man executed for trying to
escape Cuba in April. As members of pro-democracy
opposition groups, the 19 face time in Mr. Castro's
prisons if they are sent back. This should offer
enough justification for asylum.
The
Washington Times
|
External
links
|
Repatriation
of Cubans sparks a family feud
When
the Bush administration decided last month to
repatriate a group of Cuban refugees intercepted
in a Cuban government boat, it highlighted a season
of atypical political turmoil in Florida for President
George W. Bush and his brother Jeb, Florida's
governor, and the state's dominant Republican
party.
Financial
Times, UK
|
One-time
revolutionary seeks peaceful move to democracy
in Cuba
At
one end of the Havana hotel's Internet café, Eloy
Gutiérrez Menoyo, former rebel fighter-turned-counterrevolutionary,
sips a café con leche and reflects optimistically
on possibilities for a democratic change in Cuba.
Sun-Sentinel,
Fl
|
Cuban
officials free 6 hijack suspects
Six
of the 12 accused Cuban hijackers whose repatriation
last week launched a firestorm of criticism of
the Bush administration have been released by
the Cuban government while others remain at state
security headquarters. Yosvel Chavez Novo, 22,
remains at the Villa Marista security headquarters
in Havana, apparently accused of leading the group
that stole the government-owned Gaviota 16 on
July 15, Perez Novo said. No trial date has been
announced.
The
Boston Globe
|
Cuba
libre
Since
1959, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has outlived
eight presidential administrations. Even the loss
of billions of dollars of aid caused by the collapse
of the Soviet Union was not enough to loosen his
grip on power.
The
Washington Times
|
Politics
on Cuba Changing
Cuban
politics around the world has always been a tangle,
and now it seems to be unraveling and tangling
again. It's happening in Cuba itself, in Europe
and in the United States.
NewsMax.com
|
Azucar!
It
seemed as if his entourage, and then the whole
room, and by extension, the whole Latino universe,
was showering me with love. Everywhere I turned
I was met with smiles and unimaginable warmth
created by the expectation of Cruz's performance.
It was that kind of love that spilled out onto
the streets about two weeks ago when Cruz's faithful
wished her a final good-bye outside of St. Patrick's
Cathedral.
Ed
Moralez / Newsday
|
Cuba
embarks on an 'educational revolution'
Youth
are key to the socialist government's survival,
analysts say, yet many grew disillusioned in the
'90s. They dropped out of society. They left school.
And some turned to the black market to survive.
Tracey
Eaton / The Dallas Morning News
|
|
Forget
the cigar -- get a guayabera
Dozens
of 1960s-era sewing machines hum in the room off
a cobblestone street in Old Havana, the drone
mixing with strains of salsa music and the chatter
of elderly women at work. Hunched over their tables,
seamstresses twist and shape long strips of linen
and cotton, stitching together a tropical shirt
that is a symbol of Cuban pride.
The
Globe and Mail, Canada
|
|
August
1
FROM
CUBA
Cuban government advocate censured
for turnabout
"Give
the people what belongs to the people," said Committee
for the Defense of the Revolution member Olga
Lidia Arboláez at a meeting held to censure her
for having signed on to Project Varela, an initiative
advocating change in Cuba's government through
peaceful means, such as elections.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuba's Batabanó smothered in its own
waste
Batabanó,
a small fishing town about 30 miles south of Havana,
has a waste-disposal problem: garbage pickups
and septic tank cleaning services are so inadequate
that refuse is growing in the streets.
HAVANA
|
The
Miami Herald
•
Cubans' return 'just not right,' Gov. Bush says
• Some Cuban dissidents are heading to U.S. base
• Dozens of migrants land in Keys
• Cuban defector reaches Miami destination
|
Cuba:
Espionage
The
Castro regime has long targeted the United States
for intensive espionage activities. Castro himself
told CNN in an interview in 1998, "Yes, we have
sometimes dispatched Cuban citizens to the United
States to infiltrate counter-revolutionary organizations,
to inform us about activities that are of great
interest to us. I think we have a right to do
this."
U.S
Department of State
|
Independent
journalist in Guantánamo detained and whereabouts
unknown
His
wife explains that her husband was supposed to
appear at the police unit on July 24, but he didn't
go. Then the next the morning the Sector Chief
showed up at their home and took her husband away
to an undisclosed location. She has visited all
the police units and the only response she gets
is that they don't know where he is and that they
have nothing to do with that matter.
Information
Bridge Cuba Miami
|
External
links
|
Going
Loco For Mojitos
You
wouldn't know it in the moist heat of midsummer,
but Washington is a long way from Cuba. Maps don't
lie, and the quest to find an authentic mojito
in the area is a sure way to measure the distance
.
The
Washington Post
|
A
taste of Cuba
When
forced to discard a piece of his freshly baked
bread, Palomino, the new operator of the Sandwich
Market & Deli, must first show a small sign of
respect. "I never throw away a piece of bread
without giving it a little kiss," he said. It's
a tradition, he says, within his Cuban family
that was passed to him from his mother, Migdalia.
Fort
Pierce Tribune, FL
|
KU wins
U.S. approval to do research in Cuba
Now,
thanks to a travel license granted to Kansas University,
Berg will have the opportunity to see the Caribbean
island nation for himself and to research its
arts scene.
Lawrence
Journal World, KS
|
|
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