|
December
31
The Miami Herald
•
Is it Castro or Hitler? Photo stirs speculation
•
Cuba purchase of US cattle delayed over mad cow
concerns
|
Yahoo! News
•
Statue Unveiled in Cuba of Late Musician
|
A victim of Castro's tyranny tells his story
On
the first day of January 1959, eight-year-old Carlos
Eire awoke to a tropical sun peering through the
wooden shutters of his Havana bedroom. There were
"galaxies of swirling dust specks" in the soft light
and he "stared at the dust, as always, rapt."Z
Mary
Anastasia O'grady. WSJ The Americas |
External
links
|
Scorpion
concoctions
Jaguey Grande, Cuba · For most of his patients,
José Felipe Monzón's tidy home on the edge of
an overgrown sugarcane field is the last stop
on a long road of failed conventional medical
treatments.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
Castro's
New Year revolution still stands 45 years later
It was New Year's Day 1959, that the victorious
revolutionary forces of Fidel Castro swept into
power in Cuba. That was 45 years ago and today
makes Mr. Castro, who was then 31 years old, the
world's longest-serving dictator.
The
Christian Science Monitor.
|
Red-faces
after Castro photo doctored
Some say that those seated in the background of
the photograph, which was published on December
4, have had their glasses darkened, to make them
look like mafiosi, or that they have had white
lines superimposed on their lips, suggesting that
they dare not speak out against Dr Castro's wishes.
The
Age, Australia.
|
And
now a word from Cuba
The master of his own island gulag, Castro detains
thousands of Cuban citizens as political prisoners
- many of them journalists, writers, and librarians
- executes others at will, but takes issue with
holding 660 prisoners, whose fate will soon be
before the U.S. Supreme Court. Would Castro afford
his prisoners such an appeal?.
Boston
Herald editorial.
|
Castro
won't be attending leaders' summit in Mexico
Cuban leader Fidel Castro will not join a January
summit of Western Hemisphere leaders, preventing
any repeat of the anger touched off at a similar
gathering in 2002 after Mexican President Vicente
Fox asked Castro to leave before President Bush
arrived.
San
Antonio Express-News.
|
December
29
FROM
CUBA
The aging of the Cuban population: Elderly to exceed
children by 2010
Cuba's
elderly will account for 18% of the total of less
than 12 million by 2010, said a study from the
Demographic Studies Center at the University of
Havana, exceeding children for the first time
in history. The present level of elderly is 14%,
surpassed, in Latin America, only by Uruguay with
16%.
HAVANA
|
The Miami Herald
•
Castro warned Hussein about 'mistakes'
•
Pilot gets 7 years for dropping anticommunist
leaflets in Vietnam
|
Yahoo! News
•
Cuba Attacks Guantanamo Use for Prisoners
|
Criminalizing Librarians: Is Victor Arroyo a 'Traitor
to Cuba'?
But
in Cuba, 51-year-old Victor Rolando Arroyo-who
directed an independent, private library before
being sentenced to 26 years in prison after Castro's
crackdown on dissenters, is now also in solitary
confinement after protesting the treatment of
another prisoner. .
Nat
Hentoff, The Village Voice .
|
Librarians abandoned by the American Library Association
In
this country, the 10 independent librarians have
been abandoned by, of all people, America's public
librarians-that is, by the democratically elected
American Library Association Council that sets
policy for the ALA's 64,000 members, the largest
organization of librarians in the world.
Nat
Hentoff, The Village Voice.
|
External
links
|
Judicial
Hearings on Travel to Cuba Finally Begin
Vacationing in Mexico in 1999, Frederick Burks
could not resist hopping a cheap flight to Cuba
for a spur-of-the-moment visit, an excursion that
led to accusations by U.S. authorities that he
had illegally traveled to the country. Now, after
years of waiting, Burks faces a judicial hearing,
although he does not know exactly when.
The
Washington Post.
|
Providing
food for music lovers' souls
Shipments carrying tons of American food have
slipped into Havana's port this year as trade
between the feuding nations grows. But this month
another kind of U.S. cargo arrived -- not food
for the body, but for the music lover's soul.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
Star
of the Cuban Archives
American popular music in the 1950's had Frank
Sinatra's duality - a late-night morbid depression
record followed by a bright swinging one. At around
the same time, Benny Moré, El Barbáro del Ritmo,
the most popular singer in Cuba, was in the practice
of releasing two-sided 78-r.p.m. singles with
a dance number on one side (a son montuno or a
guaracha) and a bolero on the other.
The
New York Times.
|
Academic
ruins
Cuba's unfinished National Art Schools received
a revival four years ago when Castro ordered the
project be completed. Before construction was
halted in the '60s, the complex was one of the
utopian vi.
Chicago
Tribune.
|
Cuba:
Tale of survival and struggle in 2003
"How long do we have to wait until Fidel's gone?"
asked one exasperated woman, frustrated over the
high prices at a Havana shop. "Nothing will change
until then." Such vocal complaints about Mr. Castro
and his government were rare a few years ago.
Now they're slowly creeping into everyday conversations.
Tracey
Eaton / The Dallas Morning News.
|
Revolution
often a theme for Cuba's annual moniker
Cubans howl in laughter when asked to suggest
a name for 2004. "How about we call it, 'Year
of I'm Getting Out of Here and Moving to Miami?'
" joked Ángel, a 24-year-old cigar vendor who
declined to provide his last name.
Tracey
Eaton / The Dallas Morning News.
|
Sioux
City native studies evolution, ecology of lizards
in Cuba
Cuba, the Pearl of the Antilles, has had a travel
ban for United States citizens for more than four
decades. Except for Sioux City native Jason Kolbe,
who spent the summer of 2002, studying the evolution,
ecology and population of the lizard in the West
Indies island country, located about 90 miles
south of Florida.
Sioux
City Journal, IA.
|
Mad
cow might affect Cuba deal
Rancher Bud Adams said Friday it is too early
to tell how the outbreak of mad cow disease in
Washington will affect shipment of 249 Florida
beef cattle, which are scheduled to leave Tampa's
Port Manatee for Cuba's Port Mariel in March..
Fort
Pierce Tribune, FL.
|
The
Art of Isolation: Cuba's Very Late Modernists
The artworks Clyde Hensley adores can't be bought
in the famous art galleries of New York, Los Angeles
or London. Instead, he has had to travel to tiny,
far-flung towns in eastern Cuba. These days, though,
that's a problem.
The
Washington Post.
|
Trade
ideas sparked by trip to Cuba
U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Pall Mall, went to
Cuba on a trade mission for a specific Tennessee
agricultural company and says he came back with
ideas that may help other state businesses.
Knoxville
News Sentinel, TN.
|
December
23
FROM
CUBA
Funeral services leave a lot to be desired in town
outside Havana
Residents
of the town of Cabañas, on the outskirts of Havana,
say funeral services provided by the government
in the area leave a lot to be desired.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Residents complain about neighborhood pollution in
Cuba
A
number of residents of the Playa municipality
of Havana marched on the local government's headquarters
last Wednesday to complain about the poor state
of repair of sanitary drains in the area.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban police beat handicapped street vendors
A
police raid directed against street vendors during
which officers beat a number of blind and maimed
vendors provoked popular protests in Guanabacoa,
across the bay from Havana.
HAVANA
|
Political prisoners "Plantados" in prison
Plantados
are the most stubborn political prisoners, the
ones who have endured the harshest punishment.
They have lived for years in small, filthy cells
and been beaten with hoses, sticks and bayonets.
nformation
Bridge Cuba Miami.
|
Yahoo! News
•
Castro:
I Warned Saddam to Leave Kuwait
•
Mexico,
Cuba to patch old ties after 2002 tiff
•
Chavez,
Castro meet on Venezuela's La Orchila island:
TV
•
Castro
in Venezuela for Informal Talks
|
December
22
FROM
CUBA
Cuban police return typewriter seized as evidence
seven years ago
Seven
years after seizing a typewriter as evidence,
police called in dissident Javier García and told
him to take his machine back. No explanation given.
"I still don't understand why they returned it;
it's very unusual," said García
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Policeman in mufti beats street vendor in Havana
Just
before noon on Saturday, December 6, on a busy
street corner in Old Havana, a man in civilian
clothes alighted from an official Special Brigades
car and beat up a crippled street vendor, scattering
his merchandise.
HAVANA
|
Concern about Reporters Without Borders correspondent
on hunger strike in prison.
Reporters
Without Borders today voiced concern about its
correspondent in Cuba, Ricardo González Alfonso,
who began a hunger strike in prison on 8 December
to press his demand not to be held in a cell with
non-political detainees.
Reporters
Without Borders.
|
Cuban flight steward defects to U.S. after hijacking
trial
Mario
S. Cano, the lawyer for one of the six convicted
men, said Hernandez's defection will bolster his
client's chances for an appeal. ''It solidifies
our position with respect to a motion for a new
trial,'' Cano said. "The government's position
all along was that none of the crew members wanted
to stay.''
The
Miami Herald.
|
The Miami Herald
•
Castro,
Chávez to discuss health, education aid
•
Castro,
man of fewer words
•
Castro
looks to cash in with foreign franchises
•
Port
agrees to enhance shipping ties with Cuba
|
Yahoo! News
•
Station
Halts Show After Castro Meeting
•
Cuba
Inc.'s capital investment overseas more welcome
than Das Kapital
|
Nilo Cruz steals all the limelight
Nilo
Cruz, a Cuban-born, Miami-raised poet of the stage,
became the first Hispanic-American playwright to
win the Pulitzer Prize for drama. His Anna in the
Tropics, written on commission for the 104-seat
New Theatre in Coral Gables, won drama's top prize
without anyone on the drama jury or Pulitzer board
having seen it.
The
Miami Herald.
|
McClash takes flak for Cuba trade agreement
Several
Manatee County Port Authority board members are
upset that Chairman Joe McClash signed an agreement
with a Cuban government agency last month without
consulting them.
Herald-Tribune.
|
Cuba: Another imprisoned journalist on hunger strike
Committee
to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned
about the health of imprisoned Cuban journalist
Ricardo González Alfonso, who has been on a hunger
strike for the last 12 days.
CPJ
|
External
links
|
Flight
attendant who testified at Key West hijacking
trial remains in U.S.
Mario S. Cano, attorney for one of the hijackers,
said a defection would help the six defendants
in their appeals for a new trial. A key point
by the defense was that crew members participated
in the plan to fly the plane north to Florida.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
Florida
Straits: Sea of surprises - and miracles
Only hours before climbing into a flimsy, homemade
rowboat, Barbaro Antonio Vela let his wife and
daughter in on his clandestine plan to build a
new life across the Florida Straits and assured
them he'd make a safe passage despite the choppy
seas and whipping winds.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
Paulson
Premium Seed look to Cuba for international opportunities
As the U.S. and Cuba mark the two-year anniversary
of food and agricultural shipments being traded,
Larry White, staff animal scientist at Paulson
Premium Seed and Conditioning in Bowman, N.D.,
took part in this historical event traveling to
Havana, Cuba, Dec. 14-18 to further discuss trading
opportunities with the country.
The
Black Hills Pioneer.
|
Man
faces music over trip to Cuba
Fred Burks was hardly the first American tourist
to visit Cuba when he spent 10 days there four
years ago. The documentary "Buena Vista Social
Club," which reignited the faded popularity of
Cuban music, had helped make the island a trendy
vacation spot..
Tri-Valley
Herald, CA.
|
Ag
commissioner calls for an end to Cuba trade embargo
North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson
has joined other American farm leaders in calling
for an end to the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba.
Johnson said U.S. agriculture suppliers are "negotiating
with one hand tied behind our back" in trying
to sell food to the communist country.
Bismarck
Tribune, ND.
|
Embargo
ruling leaves engineer club in a tizzy
The list reads like a Who's Who of American business,
from Amazon.com (fined for an online auction of
Cuban cigars) to Wal-Mart (pajamas allegedly made
in Cuba). Playboy Enterprises paid a $27,500 fine
for a Cuban foray; the New York Yankees ponied
up $75,000, presumably for raiding Fidel Castro's
pitching rotation..
Newark
Star Ledger, NJ.
|
KU makes
Cuban debut
A group of 12 KU film students and four faculty
members has returned from a six-day trip for the
25th annual International Festival of Latin American
Film. It was the first trip a KU contingent has
made to the communist island nation since securing
a travel license from the U.S. Treasury Department
this summer.
Lawrence
Journal World, KS . |
Curbing
Cuban Hijackings
The tough stance taken by prosecutors in this case,
of course, reflects post-9/11 traumas and realities.
But it also should provide one more impetus to fix
the muddled U.S. policies toward an antagonistic
island neighbor. For more than 40 years, 10 U.S.
presidents have tried to tame Cuban dictator Fidel
Castro; none has succeeded.
Los
Angeles Times (subscription), CA. |
The
Havana Biennial
Several European funders of the Havana Biennial,
including the Hague-based Prince Claus Fund, withdrew
support of the show, and another Dutch organisation,
the International Humanist Institute for Co-operation,
suspended sponsorship when it learned that the exhibition
organisers were censoring artists' proposals.
Art
Newspaper, UK. |
December
18
FROM
CUBA
75 to top dissidents' Christmas trees
Many
dissidents and government opponents here are topping
their Christmas trees with the number 75, in remembrance
of the 75 political prisoners sentenced by the
government in April this year.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
One to go; the politics of free expression in Cuba
Cubans
sometimes find very imaginative ways to circumvent
their government's restrictions on freedom of
expression. Take for instance the fans' cheers
at last Sunday's baseball game.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuba retail sales down this season over last
Christmas
sales this year in Havana's dollar stores are
reportedly below last year's levels, reflecting
problems in several areas of the Cuban economy.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Sign celebrating Saddam capture disrupts law school
classes in Havana
A
home-made sign celebrating the capture of Iraqi
dictator Saddam Hussein resulted in the disruption
of classes at the University of Havana Law School
December 15.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
One dead, two injured in building collapse in Cuba
The
partial collapse of a building left one three-year-old
girl dead and her eight-year-old brother and father
in serious condition at a local hospital.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Potato crop doesn't meet quota standard
Instead
of the six pounds of potatoes a month Havana residents
are entitled to buy under the government's rationing
system, they were only able to buy five and four
pounds in October and November, respectively.
HAVANA |
FROM
CUBA
Fire damages seamen's hiring hall in Havana
In
fire of unknown origin caused extensive damage December
12 at the building housing the offices of Agemarca,
the Cuban government's hiring office for merchant
seamen.
HAVANA |
Yahoo! News
•
U.S.
artist killed in Cuba
•
Castro,
U.S. Farm Officials Discuss Trade
•
Festival warms to 'Havana' amid chill of U.S.-Cuba
relations
•
U.S. Farmers Call for End to Cuba Embargo
•
National Foreign Trade Council Lauds Senate Introduction
of the U.S.-Cuba Trademark Protection Act |
The Miami Herald
•
Castro,
U.S. Farm Officials Discuss Trade
•
Cuban
violinist proof that dreams can come true
|
US raps China, North Korea, Cuba on religion, warns
of anti-Semitism in Europe
United
States accused governments in five Asian states,
including China and North Korea, as well as Cuba
of pursuing a totalitarian drive to brand religious
groups "enemies of the state."
Yahoo!
News. |
A Glimpse of Cuba
While
in Cuba, I would come to fall in love with the graciousness
and humor of its people, the beauty of its land
and climate and the charm of its architecture. But
I would leave grieving over the poverty in the country,
the grinding oppression, the lack of any semblance
of human and civil rights, and the pervasive fear
by Cubans of their own government.
Digital
Freedom |
December
16
FROM
CUBA
Dissident sees pattern of increased harassment
A
government opponent in Holguín says he perceives
a pattern of increased harassment directed against
dissidents lately.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Nurse fired for signing Varela project petition
A
nurse at the Carlos Finlay military hospital in
Havana was fired for signing the Varela project
petition, asking for political change under provisions
of the Cuban Constitution.
HOLGUIN
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban independent journalist harassed
An
agent of the political police who only gave his
name as Manuel temporarily detained independent
journalist Ana Leonor Díaz December 10 as she
tried to board a bus to cover a dissidents' ceremony
in commemoration of International Human Rights
Day.
PINAR
DEL RÍO
|
The Miami Herald
•
Dissidents
gambled -- and probably lost
|
Yahoo! News
•
U.S.
Food Producers to Work With Cuba
•
Hearings
Begin in Cuba Travel Ban Case
•
Canada
loses to Cuba in opening game of women's volleyball
qualifier
|
Cabinet approves military cooperation protocol with
Cuba
A
technical and military cooperation protocol between
the Defence Minstries of Angola and Cuba, signed
in Havana, in the year 2002, has been approved by
the Cabinet Council, as stated in a recent edition
of the State's Gazette.
Allfrica.com..
|
All Female Hip-Hop Concert To Rock Cuba
In
the fall of 2002, Fidel Castro's government sanctioned
the Cuban Rap Agency, a state sponsored agency
that ear maked money for the Cuban Rap Festival
and the production of a hip-hop magazine "Movimiento."
AllHipHop.com.
|
Members of the Christian Liberation Movement abused
at the prison Combinado del Este
The
prisoner of conscience Jesus Miguel Mustafá Felipe,
member of the Christian Liberation Movement and
sanctioned to 25 years in prison in the repressive
wave that began in March, was able to smuggle a
note out of prison.
Information
Bridge Cuba Miami. |
December
15
FROM
CUBA
"This regime will be over when Cubans wish it": Manuel
Vázquez Portal
"As
long as we continue believing the regime's barrage
of propaganda, we will continue, like mesmerized
toads, living in the muck," wrote imprisoned poet
and journalist Manuel Vázquez Portal, serving
an 18-year sentence, to his wife.
AGUADORES
PRISON
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban engineer fired for having signed Varela Project
petition
An
engineer at the Polar beer bottling plant in Havana
was fired December 5 for having signed his name
to the Varela Project petition circulated by opponents
of the present government.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban masons donate layette to needy mother
A
group of Havana Masonic lodges donated a layette
to a needy mother on the 144th anniversary of
the founding of the Great Lodge of Cuba, December
5th.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Women's rap concert in Cuba a first.
A
concert featuring women rap performers will be the
first of its kind in Cuba. It will be held December
17 at the Covarrubias Hall of the National Theatre,
under the title Proven Presence.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Communist Party militant protests lack of governmental
response to his wife's death
A
Communist Party militant held a brief hunger strike
this week to protest what he called lack of response
from Fidel Castro on down to demands for clarification
of his wife's death.
HOLGUIN
|
FROM
CUBA
Swiss tourists robbed in downtown Havana
Two
Swiss tourists were robbed in broad daylight this
week after coming out of a session of the Latin
American Film Festival. Guillaume Pelletier and
Catheline Dubois, both professors at the University
of Berne, had come to Cuba to meet with wives of
imprisoned dissidents.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Interview with Attorney René Gómez Manzano
"The
change must be based on the democratic principles
of the Constitution of 1940," Attorney René Gómez
Manzano asserted.
HAVANA
|
The Miami Herald
•
Dissident
offers new democracy proposal
•
Cuban
dissidents feared lost at sea
•
Hijack
verdict a personal one for courtroom
•
6
Cubans guilty of hijacking
•
Fates
of dictators follow no pattern
|
Yahoo! News
•
U.S.
Farm Producers Travel to Cuba
•
Cuban
Film Tops at Latin America Festival
|
Cuban physician condemned to 25 years in prison for
defending human rights, is punished once more in
a "dungeon"
His
wife urgently requests international solidarity,
alleging the objective of Cuban authorities is to
destroy him physically and psychologically.
Net
for Cuba.. |
Actress' anti-Castro message rings strong in South
Florida
Living
in New York, actress Carmen Peláez overdoses on
Che Chic. They're everywhere, the hip-hoppers
and hippies and post-grungers who go around with
Che on their T-shirts like he's Biggie or John
or Kurt or somebody cool like that.
The
Miami Herald.
|
Veteran Cuban American playwright Eduardo Machado
gives the exile community tough love
Like
so many Cubans whose lives were forever altered
by Fidel Castro's revolution, Eduardo Machado has
spent years contemplating his fractured homeland.
The
Miami Herald. |
Diplomats get gift-giving warning
In
Havana, they're decking the halls with tinsel
and garlands. Mini-Christmas trees and twinkling
ornaments are flying off the shelves at government
run stores.
The
Sun Sentinel.
|
External
links
|
Internet in Cuba:
access barred
On the eve of the World Summit on the Information
Society, which ended Friday in Geneva, the director-general
of Unesco declared on these pages that "freedom
of expression, as expressed in Article 19 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights … applies
to the Internet as much as it does the older forms
of press and radio." Here in Cuba the government
jails its citizens for distributing this same
Declaration and we do not enjoy freedom of expression
in any media whatsoever, not even in private conversations.
Claudia
Márquez Linares.
|
Last
Call for Cuba?
We jumped at the opportunity to join a 10-day
tour of Cuba last February. My husband, Mike,
and I went legally as part of a study group flying
by charter from New York. Shortly afterward, the
American government announced that it would not
approve any more such "people to people'' educational
visits, and soon it will be impossible for most
American tour groups to go to Cuba.
The
New York Times.
|
U.S.
farm producers travel back to Cuba to do more
business
The door to American trade with Cuba was nudged
open a bit more this weekend as more than 250
U.S. agribusiness representatives traveled here
for sales talks, marking the second anniversary
of the first U.S. commercial food shipments to
the communist island.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
Dissident
issues Cuba manifesto
Osvaldo Paya, Cuba's most prominent dissident
and author of the Varela Project petition drive
for government reforms, initiated a new campaign
aimed at planning for a peaceful transition to
democracy.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
UNC study
abroad program expands to Cuba
The University of North Carolina has teamed up
with the University of Havana to allow students
to study abroad in Cuba. UNC-Chapel Hill will
send eight students there next month to study
Cuban history, culture and international relations,
along with Spanish grammar and language.
Bradenton
Herald, FL.
|
Preparing
for a Mass Exodus - into Cuba
John says he doesn't feel guilty about being at
Havana's sensual Tropicana stage show, especially
since he's there with his wife. All the same,
he would rather not give his last name. A former
State Department analyst from Virginia, John,
57, often leads U.S. tourists on licensed exchange
visits to communist Cuba.
TIME.
|
Travels
in a Complicated Cuba
Between its battered economy, sympathetic social
goals, lack of basic freedoms, proliferating prostitutes
and cultural richness, the country turned out
to be as complex as a logarithm.
AlterNet.
|
December
11
FROM
CUBA
Cuban dissident leader hit by military jeep while
riding his bicycle
Lázaro
Lemus González, president of the dissident Cuban
Union of Young Democrats, says that while riding
his bicycle December 4 he was hit by a Soviet-made
military jeep that fled the scene.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Three youths arrested in Cuba for setting off home-made
firecrackers
Three
young men were released pending trial after being
arrested for setting off home-made firecrackers
in various places in the mining town of Moa in
the province of Holguin.
HOLGUIN
|
FROM
CUBA
The sentence
You
could be miserable for one day, maybe two. What's
unbearable is being miserable every day. Misery
can be put up with, it's something that concerns
human kind. Perhaps this business of misery that
concerns us may seem rather gloomy. But that's
the way it is.
PINAR
DEL RÍO
|
The Miami Herald
•
Violations
up among travelers to Cuba
•
Six
Cubans convicted in plane hijacking
•
Wives
of dissidents fast to mark U.N. rights day
|
Yahoo! News
•
"Good
Bye Lenin", from Germany, a hit in Havana
•
Fans
Mourn Cuban Pianist Ruben Gonzalez
•
Cuban
pianist Ruben Gonzalez, of Buena Vista Social
Club fame, is buried in Havana
|
Elian's relatives sue federal agents.
Relatives
of Elian Gonzalez sued six members of the Immigration
and Naturalization Service Tuesday for storming
into their house and seizing the boy.
The
Washington Times. |
To the Cuban people on Human Rights Day
Fifty-five
years ago, on Dec. 10, 1948, the General Assembly
of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. It stated in its preamble..
The
Miami Herald.
|
U.S. notes anniversary of Cuban dissident's arrest
The
United States is noting the one-year anniversary
of the arrest of Cuban dissident Dr. Oscar Elias
Biscet, says State Department deputy spokesman Adam
Ereli.
Washington
File. |
December
8
FROM
CUBA
Sixteen arrested in Cuba for stealing boats and equipment
Police
arrested eight watchmen and nine accomplices,
accused of stealing fishing boats and navigational
equipment from a warehouse in the port of Batabano.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Two works of Cuban painters reported stolen
Two
important Cuban paintings have been reported missing
from the Antonia Eiriz art gallery in the San
Miguel del Patron district of the capital.
HAVANA
|
The Miami Herald
•
Health
rumors amuse Raúl Castro
•
Cuba
travel ban opposed
|
Cuban tourism officials confirm firing of company
president
Cuba's
Tourism Ministry confirmed Monday that the head
of the largest state-run tourism firm and several
other company managers were removed from their jobs
because of "grave errors'' in leadership.
South
Florida Sun-Sentinel. |
Students submitted to abhorrent indoctrination
When
my son's kindergarten teacher asked him to bring
a plastic gun to school, I was surprised. I asked
Cristian, then 5, why the teacher wanted this toy,
but he didn't know. I went to the classroom to ask
and found the teacher distributing plastic weapons
and shouting, ''Go! Shoot! Boom, boom! We are killing
imperialism!'.
Claudia
Marquez Linares, The Miami Herald. |
Not even Castro defends Chávez
It
appears that this time Venezuelans are going to
put Hugo Chávez out on the street. The work of the
Democratic Coordinating Committee has been magnificent.
The opposition democrats needed 2.4 million signatures
to request a referendum to revoke the president's
mandate; they collected 3.6 million.
Carlos
Alberto Montaner, The Miami Herald. |
Castro's daughter is far from a replica of Papa
She's
turned into an unrelenting critic of his 44-year-old
regime, first as a dissident daughter in Havana
in the early 1990s, then as an outspoken defector
in 1993 and recently as a talk show host at one
of Miami's Cuban exile radio stations.
Steven
Chase. The Globe and Mail, Canada.
|
Fact Sheet: Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba
On
December 5, 2003, the President's Commission for
Assistance to a Free Cuba held its inaugural meeting
at the White House. The meeting was co-chaired by
Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez
The
White House. |
US Demands Cuba Release Dissident
The
United States is demanding that Cuba immediately
release a dissident who was arrested last year
for trying to organize an event marking Human
Rights Day.Z
VOA
News.
|
His 15 minutes of fame long gone, Elian celebrates
another birthday
Over
three years later, not one reporter has been permitted
to observe his condition unmolested by communist
agents. Elian Gonzalez is fully enslaved and unseen,
except when he is used by Cuba's dictatorship as
a pawn for propaganda.
Scott
Holleran, Seattle Post-Intelligencer. |
External
links
|
Cuba
study trips face crackdown
Juliet Munoz left for Cuba on Friday, along with
26 other students and faculty from DePaul University,
hoping to learn during the next three weeks about
life and culture on the island nation under the
regime of Fidel Castro.
Chicago
Tribune.
|
Movie
holds a mirror to gritty Havana life
As Fernando Pérez pans over Havana's intimate,
decayed interiors and sweeping, once splendid
cityscapes, his camera quietly lingers over a
graffiti-scrawled wall someone has christened
"the corner of patience."
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
Castro,
celebrating Elian's birthday, says socialism will
survive
Cuban President Fidel Castro insisted Friday his
socialist system will survive him, characterizing
as "idiots" those who believe otherwise as he
feted Elian Gonzalez on his 10th birthday.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
Mendive:
Cuban national, Yoruban soul
Always dressed in full white with white flowing
locks and a wooden cane, world-renowned Cuban
artist, Professor Manuel Mendive, could easily
be mistaken for an African spiritual advisor.
Jamaica
Observer, Jamaica.
|
December
5
FROM
CUBA
Young Cuban baseball players must supply their own
equipment
The
manager of the Central Havana baseball teams says
that in the 18 months he's been on the job school
age and juvenile players have had to supply their
own equipment, which is only available at dollar
stores at very high prices.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Medical students praise imprisoned doctor on Medicine
Day in Cuba
Five
students at the Institute of Medical Science in
the capital sent a message to jailed dissident
doctor Oscar Elías Biscet on Medicine Day celebrated
this week in Cuba.
HAVANA
|
Witness calls Cuban hijack a sham
The
accused ringleader of six Cuban men being tried
on hijacking charges testified Thursday that the
flight's copilot and an airport guard sought him
out a year ago to help divert a Cuban airplane
to the United States and make it look like a hijacking.
The
Miami Herald.
|
The Miami Herald
•
Cuban
tourism boss fired over corruption
•
Coast
Guard: Ten Cuban migrants may have drowned
•
Cuban
defectors hoping to cash in
|
Yahoo! News
•
US
further tightens restrictions on business, travel
in Cuba
•
Ten
Cubans feared dead in bid to flee homeland: US
•
Cuban
defectors hoping to cash in |
Rubalcaba the new face of Latin jazz.
Cuban
jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba has a new home,
a new country and a new way of doing things. "For
many years, there's been a prototype and a form
to do Latin music. Personally, I am tired of the
way to make that music," he says by phone from
his home in Coral Springs, Fla.
author.
|
External
links
|
Fleeing
Cuba, Hoping to Soar on New Stage
Before dawn on Oct. 12, Cervilio Amador and Gema
Díaz, Cuban ballet dancers on tour, grabbed their
backpacks and walked briskly through the lobby
of their Daytona Beach hotel. Between them, they
carried 16 pairs of ballet shoes, several videos
of their work and $1,000. A few blocks from the
hotel they hailed a cab, which drove them to West
Palm Beach. There they flagged down another taxi.
The
New York Times.
|
An
island full of mobile intentions
Cubans wear them like fine jewelry, but they don't
glitter. They ring. They chime. They even vibrate.
Cellphones, old news in most of the Americas,
are the latest rage in this socialist nation.
They're a symbol of status and power, a way to
slip into the wireless world, if only for a moment.
Tracey
Eaton / The Dallas Morning News .
|
U.S.
steps up searches of Cuba travelers
President Bush's October call for more rigorous
enforcement of sanctions against Cuba has led
to an increase in searches of people traveling
to and from the island, Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development Mel Martinez said Friday.
Biloxi
Sun Herald, MS.
|
December
4
The Miami Herald
•
Slip
could bring Cuban hijack mistrial
•
Judge
delays mistrial decision in hijacking case
•
Clark
hints he would explore Cuba ties
|
Yahoo!
•
Cuban
Tourism Firm Head Leaves Post
•
Cuba
Welcomes U.S. Oil Companies
|
Local chiropractor adjusts schedule for Cuba
Based
inthe U.K., CORe was established for the purpose
of bringing chiropractic care to countries and
to people where there is none. A clinic was established
in Nuevo Gerona in April 1995.
MyTELUS,
Canada
|
SA, Cuba Sign ICT Co-Operation Deal
SA
has signed a co-operation agreement with Cuba
that will see the countries exchange technical
skills and human resources development in the
ICT arena.
AllAfrica.com
|
A Vatican for film-makers
A
staff of over 200 full-time cooks, maids, gardeners,
builders, drivers, translators and security staff
cater for the film student's every possible need.
Internet access is three cents a minute, cable
TV plays in the 24-hour cafeteria and, on Sundays,
there are even bus trips to Varadero.
Chris
Payne. The Guardian. UK,.
|
Top Cuban tourism officials held
Several
senior officials in the largest state-run tourism
organisation in Cuba Cubanacan have been placed
under house arrest on suspicion of corruption.
BBC,
UK.
|
External
links
|
All
options open, US warns 'rogue' countries
John Bolton, under-secretary of state for arms
control and international security, singled out
Iran, North Korea, Syria, Libya and Cuba as being
"hostile to US interests" during a speech in Washington.
Financial
Times.
|
Bauer
wants economic development trip to Cuba
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer says he wants to go on an
economic development trip to Cuba because South
Carolina's agribusiness has much to offer the
island nation. "Cuba is looking to spend money,"
Bauer said. "We have vendors who can sell many
things to Cuba. To me, that's economic development.".
The
State, SC.
|
Castro
greeted some who returned from diverted Cuban
plane
The mechanic of a Cuban passenger plane that six
men are accused of hijacking to the United States
testified Wednesday that Fidel Castro greeted
those who elected not to defect when they returned
to the communist island.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
'I want
my wife and children'
My family doesn't know about my situation. My
mother died in 1982 and my father in 1986. At
that time my brother was a captain in the army.
I wrote to him but he told me he wasn't interested
in my life here, that I should respect his ideals.
So I stopped writing to him. For more than 18
years, he doesn't know if I am alive or dead.
BBC,
UK.
|
SA, Cuba
Cement Ties
South Africa and Cuba have further deepened their
bilateral relations with the two nations committing
to joint cooperation in various cross cutting
areas. The move follows the conclusion of the
third bilateral commission yesterday on economic,
scientific, and technical and business co-operation
between Havana and Pretoria.
AllAfrica.com.
|
Washington
warns five countries over weapons of mass destruction
''Rogue states such as Iran, North Korea, Syria,
Libya and Cuba, whose pursuit of weapons of mass
destruction makes them hostile to US interests,
will learn that their covert programmes will not
escape either detection or consequences,'' said
John Bolton, US undersecretary of state for arms
control and international security yesterday.
Deepika,
India.
|
Traficant
Fugitive Sentenced
The Youngstown native had fled to Cuba in 1998
while free on bond after being indicted earlier
that year. He was captured in May. Information
provided by Bucci's brother helped lead to the
downfall of Traficant, a Democrat expelled from
Congress last year. Traficant was convicted of
bribery and racketeering charges and is serving
an eight-year prison sentence.
WXIX,
OH.
|
December
2
FROM
CUBA
Cuban
independent journalist urges Castro to undertake
a worldwide amnesty program
Independent
journalist Santiago du Bouchet has sent a letter
to president Fidel Castro asking him to undertake
a worldwide amnesty campaign for political prisoners,
including those in Cuba.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Building collapse injuries three in Havana
The
building started to collapse at 3:45 a.m. Most
of the 40 residents were able to escape before
it completely collapsed. The building was built
in the 1940s.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Month-long series of prayers undertaken in Cuba for
jailed independent journalist
Dissidents
and independent journalists in two provinces have
undertaken a month-long series on prayers for
Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, director of the College
of Independent Journalists of Camaguey, who is
serving a 25-year prison sentence, as well as
other imprisoned dissidents.
CAMAGUEY
|
FROM
CUBA
Three members of the Cuban Orthodox Party harassed
by authorities
Three
members of the Orthodox Cuban Party, an outlawed
civil rights organization, were recently harassed
by authorities in separate in incidences.
HAVANA
|
The Miami Herald
•
Hijacking
or 'freedom flight'?
•
More
migrants being halted off U.S. coast
|
A Web of Indoctrination Catches Cuba's Students
When
my son's kindergarten teacher asked him to bring
a plastic gun to school, I was surprised. I asked
Cristian, then 5, why the teacher wanted this toy,
but he didn't know. I went to the classroom to ask
and found the teacher distributing plastic weapons
and shouting, "Go! Shoot! Boom, boom! We are killing
imperialism!" All the children, including my son,
were shooting in the air and shouting "Boom, boom!"
against this invisible specter the teacher told
them was imperialism. .
Claudia
Marquez Linares, Los Angeles Times. |
Fight for freedom logs on
In
Cuba, the Internet has become the latest battleground
in that country's quiet struggle for freedom.
With World Wide Web access restricted to only
a few government-controlled websites, increasing
numbers of Cubans are hacking through President
Fidel Castro's censorship.
The
Miami Herald.
|
Jailed in Cuba International pressure can help journalists
The
repression of Cuba's independent journalists is
an issue that transcends the current U.S. debate
over how best to promote a democratic transition
in post-Castro Cuba. Advocates and opponents of
continuing the four-decade U.S. trade embargo
against the Castro dictatorship can agree that
imprisoning journalists and crushing their movement
for a free press are gross violations of human
rights.
Union-Tribune
Editorial.
|
External
links
|
Cubans
on Trial in Case That Led to Crackdown by Castro
Federal prosecutors outlined a meticulous yearlong
plot by six Cubans accused as hijackers as their
trial started here on Monday. The case involves
the first of several such incidents that heightened
tensions between the White House and Cubans in
both Havana and Miami.
The
New York Times.
|
'Scarface'
and the forgotten prisoners of Mariel
Today there are 1,100 Mariel Cubans being detained
indefinitely by the US government. In a scene
included on the 20th anniversary DVD, Pacino delivers
a rambling monologue noting that Castro won't
take the refugees back, that neither country wants
them - and that this can work to their advantage.
"This [is the] United States. They got nothing
but lawyers here... They're stuck with us, man.
They got to let us go." But the US does not have
to let them go - ever.
Mark
Dow, nthposition.com.
|
December
1
Both sides hobbled in Key West hijacking trial
The
defense isn't getting the witnesses it wants and
prosecutors lost half of the confessions from
six Cuban men charged with hijacking a plane from
the communist island to Key West.
HAVANA
|
Cuban politicians set sights on higher office
Cuban-American
politicians, long dominant in Miami-Dade County,
are now trying to make their influence felt more
in state and national races.
The
Miami Herald.
|
U.S. policy, Cubans on trial
The
politically charged trial of six Cuban men accused
of hijacking, set to start Monday in Key West,
may prove a litmus test for the Cuban government's
charges that the United States is too lenient
on hijackers, an accusation that prosecutors are
fighting hard to refute.
The
Miami Herald.
|
Making deals with communists
How
does it feel to shill for a tyrant? Ask the Indiana
Farm Bureau or Port Manatee officials on the west
coast of Florida. Both have signed quid pro quo
deals with the Cuban government.
The
Miami Herald.
|
Jews resurfacing in Cuba
For
Moises Rodriguez, growing up Jewish in today's
Cuba means spending hours each week studying Judaism
and its teachings and the Hebrew language.
PCUSA
News.
|
External
links
|
Hijacking
trial may test Cuba's accusations of U.S. leniency
The politically charged trial of six Cuban men
accused of hijacking, set to start Monday in Key
West, may prove a litmus test for the Cuban government's
charges that the United States is too lenient
on hijackers, an accusation that prosecutors are
fighting hard to refute.
Biloxi
Sun Herald, MS.
|
Cuba's
Barbarito Torres builds on the success of the
hit CD
In the wake of the Buena Vista Social Club's tsunami-scale
splash in 1997, a host of veteran Cuban musicians
-- including composer/guitarist Compay Segundo,
pianist Ruben Gonzalez, guitarist Eliades Ochoa
and singers Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo
-- enjoyed high-profile revivals of their careers.
San
Francisco Chronicle, CA.
|
Idaho,
Washington continue to ship food to Castro's Cuba
Although the U.S. Senate recently slammed shut
a bid to open the doors of tourism and trade with
Cuba, Northwest farmers continue to wedge open
a market there for wheat and legumes. Farmers
in Idaho and Washington expect to sell about 10,000
metric tons of lentils, and a smaller amount of
dry peas and chickpeas, to Fidel Castro´s communist
nation this year. That represents more than $2
million in sales.
IdahoStatesman.com,
ID.
|
From
Castro to Hemingway
After a week-long tour of Cuba, Jeff Crist wishes
he could step back in time. "I'd give anything
to have been in Cuba during its heyday in the
1930s and 1940s," he said. The Finney/Scott county
farmer caught images of what once was. Through
glimpses, sounds and smells, which included loud
Latin music and wafting cigar smoke, he imagined
the past life of a waning beauty.
Garden
City Telegram, KS.
|
Gay Cubans
fight own Aids battle
Take an evening stroll down the Malecon, Havana's
crumbling seafront promenade, and you will eventually
come across a large crowd. Get a little closer,
and you will see that it is made up of young Cubans.
All men.
BBC,
UK.
|
No
Christmas splurge in Cuba
One of Havana's fanciest shopping centers is Galerías
de Paseo, just off the Malecón, the city's famed
seaside highway. Many products - from TVs to boomboxes
- cost two and sometimes three times more than
they would in the United States. One store features
a garish three-piece living room set for $2,285,
an astronomical price in a country where most
people earn $10 per month.
Dallas
Morning News.
|
Press
honor stuns jailed Cuban
Mr. Vázquez, serving an 18-year prison term in
Cuba, won't be traveling to New York City's Waldorf-Astoria
to pick up his prize. But his wife, Yolanda Huerga,
44, said he knows about the award.
Dallas
Morning News.
|
|
CubaNet is not responsible for the content
of external internet sites. Some of the links are removed
after a period of time from their sites. |
Archives
| | |
CUBANET
|
145
Madeira Ave, Suite 207
Coral Gables, FL 33134
(305) 774-1887
|
|
|
|
|
|