|
November
27
FROM
CUBA
Pedicab leader detained for transporting Italian tourists
in Cuba
Milton
Meléndez Reinaldo, secretary general of the Union
of Pedicab Drivers, was held for 48 hours last
week after being arrested while transporting two
Italian tourists.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban tobacco company won't pay bonuses to workers
Workers
at the Feliú Leyva tobacco factory in Holguín,
makers of Monte Cristo, Romeo y Julieta and Cohiba
cigars, say the company is four months behind
in paying agreed upon work bonuses.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Apparent split between Cuban government and Italian
investors
Italian
investors in the Cuban telephone monopoly are
reportedly increasingly unhappy with their partners
in the Cuban government and might even pull out
of the joint venture.
CIEGO
DE ÁVILA
|
FROM
CUBA
U. S. tourists in Cuban resort
A
group of 30 tourists from the United States stayed
last week at the Sol Club Cayo Coco, a hotel operated
by the Spanish company Sol Meliá, according to
several workers at the facility.
CIEGO
DE ÁVILA
|
FROM
CUBA
Anti-government slogans in "school in the countryside"
An
unlikely slogan, Down with Fidel, showed up overnight
painted on a wall of the Eulogio Fernández "school
in the countryside" a few kilometers outside the
city of Morón, in Ciego de Ávila province.
HAVANA |
'Informaticos' in Cuba route around tyranny via Web
The
government controls all four of Cuba's Internet
Service Providers (ISP). These ISPs block any
sites that are viewed as remotely anti-Castro,
anti-communist or pro-democracy. In fact, anything
considered even possibly subversive is banned.
HAVANA
|
Yahoo! News
•
Four Journalists Receive Freedom Awards
• Cuban scientists say they have cheaper vaccine
|
Accused Cuban
hijackers lose try at trial delay
The
trial of six men accused of hijacking a Cuban Douglas
DC-3 plane in March, which landed at the Key West
International Airport, is scheduled to start Monday,
despite defense attorneys' attempts Wednesday to
get it delayed or dismissed.
Key
West Citizen, FL.. |
A trumpeter's
trumpeter
Recently,
a CD came out that might totally confound trumpet
players taking part in the test: though the styles
and music on the 19 tracks might cause someone
to think that they are listening to a historical
archive of the great players from the last century,
in reality there is but one trumpeter blowing
his horn.
Paul
Andersen, Redlands Daily Facts.
|
External
links
|
Kansans
want U.S. policy changes for more trade with Cuba
Having visited Cuba recently, Kansas Agriculture
Secretary Adrian Polansky said Wednesday he would
like to return to the island nation to pursue
trade agreements covering grain and other products.
Dodge
City Daily Globe, KS.
|
Economist:
Opening Trade With Cuba Would Benefit U.S. Ag
Kansas State University ag economist Barry Flinchbaugh
says opening trade and tourism with Cuba would
benefit.
AgWeb.
|
Letting
off steam at train races
An itinerant festival celebrating vintage steam
locomotives on furlough or permanently retired
from their jobs hauling sugar cane is delighting
Cubans around the island. Crowds cheered at the
rare opportunity to watch six of these vintage
locomotives race in Cardenas, about 240 miles
east of Havana.
South
Florida Sun-Sentinel, FL.
|
November
25
FROM
CUBA
Four drown on school visit in Cuba
A
five-year-old girl and three adults drowned November
16 in a mountainous region of Holguín province
when the boat in which they were crossing Cuba's
largest reservoir overturned as they returned
from a visit to other children picking coffee
in a "school in the countryside" in a remote location.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban police confiscate pedicab
Police
confiscated a pedicab driven by the vehicle's
owner's son alleging that only a pedicab's rightful
owner may drive it, and have so far refused to
return the vehicle.
HAVANA
|
Defense attorneys accuse Castro of manipulating hijacking
trial witnesses
Lawyers
involved in the case learned Nov. 14 that Cuba
would permit some prosecution witnesses to travel
to Key West for the trial. But other witnesses
who could help exonerate the accused hijackers
will stay behind, according to defense attorney
Ana Jhones, who filed the papers in federal court
in Miami.
Sun-Sentinel,
Florida.
|
Cuba's Cardinal Analyzes Impact of John Paul II's
Pontificate
Cardinal
Jaime Ortega Alamino, archbishop of Havana, assessed
the 25 years of John Paul II's pontificate by
describing it as "a colossal effort to take history
out of its present inertia."
ZENIT
|
Kennedy & Castro' spins preposterous and inaccurate
yarn
''Kennedy
is a cretin,'' he told an American reporter. ''If
U.S. leaders are aiding terrorist plans to eliminate
Cuban leaders, they themselves will not be safe.
Let Kennedy and his brother Robert take care of
themselves since they, too, can be the victims
of an attempt which will cause their death.''
Glenn
Garvin, The Miami Herald.
|
JFK backed secret meeting with Castro 17 days before
his assassination
The
tape shows the ill-fated Kennedy's approval of
the meeting, if official US involvement could
be plausibly denied.
Yahoo!
News.
|
External
links
|
In
Journalism, Only the Good Die Poor
Manuel Vázquez Portal, a Cuban journalist, was
arrested this year and given an 18-year prison
sentence. His crime was to have written courageously
about his country's political and economic failings
under Fidel Castro.
Clyde
Haberman / The New York Times.
|
Standing
Guard in the Kitchen as the Castro Revolution
Arrives
"The Cook," at the Intar 53 Theater, is about
the melancholy heroism of the title character,
a woman named Gladys (Zabryna Guevara, in a lovely
and assured performance) who maintains her personal
loyalties to life before Communism at high cost
and little reward.
The
New York Times.
|
November
24
FROM
CUBA
Fasting poet Manuel Vázquez Portal's wife fears for
his health
The
wife of dissident poet Manuel Vázquez Portal says
she fears for the health of her husband, who's
on a hunger strike in support of prisoners of
conscience in Holguín province.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Freed Cuban independent journalists says he plans
to write again
Bernardo
Arévalo Padrón, freed after serving a six-year
prison sentence for insulting Fidel Castro, says
he's going to go back being an independent journalist.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban dissident to be tried in December
Leyva
was arrested in March when police raided his home
and seized copies of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, CubaNet bulletins and literature
on civil disobedience from Martin Luther King's
movement.
HAVANA
|
Tourism in Cuba: Who benefits?
Walking
with an American on a busy boulevard was enough
reason for a young actor to be stopped by police
and threatened with jail. The officer, wearing
a gray and blue uniform, studied the identification
card in his hand and asked what the man was saying
about Cuba.
Sarasota
Herald-Tribune, FL
|
Honored reporter locked up in Cuba
Cuban
journalist Manuel Vazquez Portal will not be available
to receive the 2003 International Press Freedom
Award that the Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ) will present to him and other reporters on
Tuesday.
The
Washington Times. |
The Miami Herald
•
Evangelical church thrives
• Cuban exiles reunite to help dedicate historic
county park
• Playwright feels the joy and tears at end of
a long artistic journey
• Revival as touching as funny
|
PRIMA's correspondent freed from isolation cell
Adolfo
Fernandes, PRIMA's correspondent in Havana, who
was sentenced to 15 years in prison for "anti-state
activities", has been transferred from an isolation
cell to a communal cell in the Olgin prison.
HAVANA |
The saga of Rolando Cubela
After
President Lyndon B. Johnson reviewed the report,
he told a reporter, in confidence at the time: "Kennedy
was trying to kill Castro. Castro got him first."
Mark
Howell. keysnews.com, FL. |
External
links
|
Hitching:
Sometimes the only way to travel
With dark storm clouds gathering above and twilight
fast approaching, hordes of hitchhikers waiting
for a ride home know their time is running out.
If no cars or trucks come by soon, they'll be
spending the night on concrete benches in an open,
palm-thatched rest stop and using their bags and
bundles as makeshift pillows.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
Recapturing
a Childhood in a Prerevolutionary Eden
For most of his adult life Carlos Eire had tried
to run away from Cuba. The island was his only
briefly, for 11 years, before the Cuban revolution
ushered in a world of heartache in which he was
separated from his parents and spent years of
hardship in the United States.
The
New York Times.
|
Visions
of Dollars Dance Before Cuban Artists' Eyes
The theme of the 2003 biennial, "El Arte con la
Vida" or "Art With Life," foreshadowed the event
itself, as the Prince Claus Foundation, a Dutch
cultural fund that supported the biennial in the
past, withheld its $100,000 pledge in protest
against the imprisonment, in April, of 75 dissidents
- primarily librarians, journalists and organizers
of a referendum calling for democratic reforms
like freedom of association and expression - sentenced
to up to 28 years in jail by the Cuban government..
The
New York Times.
|
Cuban
prostitutes go off the street to online
Cuba is no longer one of the world's top destinations
for sex tourism after five years of relentless
police crackdowns, travel experts say. But another
trend has emerged: More travelers are using the
Internet to find prostitutes in Cuba. And rights
advocates say that computer-assisted sex tourism
is troubling because it makes it easier for men
to sexually exploit Cuban women and teenagers.
Tracey
Eaton / The Dallas Morning News.
|
Return
to Cuba an eye-opener for refugee who made good
It's been 40 years since Maria Gelabert was a
7-year-old girl forced to work in the fields of
rural Cuba, but tears still come easily when she
talks about the lunch she and the other children
were fed: sugar, water and two crackers.
NewHavenRegister.com.
|
November
21
FROM
CUBA
Cuban authorities persecute private fishermen
Regional
authorities are actively persecuting private parties
fishing on their own behalf off the waters of
the Isle of Youth, south of Cuba.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Patient dies after laparoscopy at Havana's premier
hospital
Magalys
Mena Méndez, 66, had a routine laparoscopy November
2 at Havana's showcase hospital, the Hermanos
Ameijeiras. A week later, she was dead.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Frustated by inefficiency Cuban doctor gets fired
and his license suspended
Hospital
administrators fired a doctor and suspended his
medical license for nine months after he loudly
expressed his frustration with widespread inefficiency
in Fidel Castro's government.
HAVANA
|
The Miami Herald
•
Jailed Cuban writer receives press award
• He's delivering 'a new concept' in Cuban music
• Brass reunion
|
Cuba can't hide truth
Last
April, Cuban journalist Adolfo Fernandez Sainz
was sentenced to 15 years in Holquin Prison, Cuba,
for doing his job of speaking freely and exercising
his professional right to inform the public. He
languishes along with hundreds like him in jails
around the world, but they are not forgotten
The
Miami Herald.
|
External
links
|
Commentary:
Paradise before Disneyfication
After only a couple of hours, you realize why
wealthy Americans once flocked to its gorgeous
beaches and expansive nightlife before Fidel Castro
took over and the U.S. economic embargo began.
Cuba is the literary concept of an island paradise
incarnate. That's if you can get past the abject
poverty and totalitarian government.
The
Washington Times.
|
Cuba sells
its medical expertise
Cuba's position in the developing world has always
been something of a paradox. Its low material
living standards and crisis-ridden economy leads
to a low per capita income, but President Fidel
Castro's Caribbean blend of socialism has developed
a public health system that places Cuba in another
league altogether on human development indexes.
BBC.
|
Cuban-Born
Priest Named Auxiliary of Miami
John Paul II has appointed Father Felipe de Jesus
Estevez, a native of Cuba, as auxiliary bishop
of Miami. The Vatican press office made the announcement
today. Born in 1946 in the town of Pedro Betancourt,
Father Estevez has been director of spiritual
formation at the St. Vincent de Paul Regional
Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida.
Zenit,
Rome.
|
Panel
discusses Cuban science fiction
As part of Cuba Week at the Univeristy of Alabama,
a panel was held at Bryant Conference Center to
various influences on, and the effects of, Cuban
science fiction.
Dateline
Alabama, AL.
|
PEN Hails
Releases of Tunisian E-Zine Writer And Cuban Journalist
PEN American Center hailed the release this week
of Zouhair Yahyaoui, an Internet activist whose
popular electronic magazine earned him a 2-year
prison term in Tunisia. Yahyaoui was one of two
recipients of PEN's 2003 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith
Freedom to Write Awards; his release came just
a few days after the release of co-recipient Bernardo
Arévalo Padrón, an independent journalist who
served a 6-year prison term for calling attention
to rights violations in Cuba.
AllAfrica.com,
Africa.
|
Cuban
artists thrive on popularity abroad
As the fame of young island masters spreads, collectors
flock to the communist-run country to capitalize
on an 'extremely inventive' phenomenon.
Chicago
Tribune (subscription), IL.
|
Port
Manatee open for more Cuban imports
Port Manatee and Cuban importer Alimport announced
Wednesday that they entered into a memorandum
of understanding that paves the way for increased
shipments of legal commodities from the Tampa
Bay seaport.
Tampa
Bay Business Journal, FL.
|
Historic
voyage for herd
A shipment of nine bulls and 241 head of cattle
is scheduled to leave for Cuba from Port Manatee
during the first quarter of 2004. It will be the
port's third shipment to Cuba and its first cattle
shipment. The other two shipments carried dicalcium
phosphate, a cattle feed supplement.
Sarasota
Herald-Tribune.
|
November
19
FROM
CUBA
Employee in Cuba fired for discussing Human Rights
Declaration
Administrators
of a nickel refining plant in Niquero, in eastern
Cuba, accused an employee of distributing subversive
materials for talking to other workers about human
rights, and fired him.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban family of three on the streets after eviction
A
mother and her two children lived on the streets
for 12 days after being evicted from their home
October 9 in the mining community of Moa, in Holguín
province.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Crackdown on pedicabs in eastern Cuba province
The
National Revolutionary Police recently arrested
and fined 25 pedicab owners, most of whom did
not have licenses to operate.
HAVANA
|
Cuban journalist tells CPJ of physical and psychological
torture
Imprisoned
Cuban journalist Bernardo Rogelio Arévalo Padrón
was released last week after serving his six-year
sentence on "disrespect" charges. In a phone interview
with the Committee to Protect Journalists, he described
physical and psychological torture at the hands
of prison authorities.
Committee
to Protect Journalists. |
Cuba's defiance upsets defense
Cuba's
defiance upsets defense Lawyers decry Cuba's defiance
of a federal magistrate's order to let defense witnesses
fly to the United States to testify in a plane hijacking
trial.
HAVANA |
The First Orthodox Church opens in Cuba on January
25, 2004
The
first Orthodox Christian church dedicated to Saint
Nikolaos, will open in Havana, Cuba on January
25, 2004, 44 years after the Cuban revolution
in the presence of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
and Fidel Castro.
HAVANA
|
External
links
|
Rumbera
Heaven
In a Miami version of the Cinderella story, the
candlelit restaurant 190 undergoes a magic transformation
every Saturday night at 11. At the first tuck-tuck-tuck
of the drum, that hollow but warm sound of human
palm against taut mule hide, plates are pushed
back, tables are removed and the restaurant becomes
a patio of a Cuban solar - a common space where
Havana dwellers with a weakness for rumba gather
to dance to the drums.
The
New York Times.
|
Cuban
defectors having big effect
Orlando (El Duque) Hernandez pitched for the Yankees
after fleeing Cuba. The Yankees are wooing Andy
Pettitte, have had trade talks about Curt Schilling,
Javier Vazquez and Odalis Perez, and will court
Bartolo Colon as part of their offseason plan
to reconstruct their starting rotation.
New
York Daily News.
|
Kucinich
to Bush: Lift Cuban Embargo
Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich and President
George W. Bush have taken diametrically opposite
positions concerning Cuba. Kucinich has now called
for an end to the embargo against that Communist
nation.
Men's
News Daily, CA.
|
Judge - Conditions
in Cuba irrelevant to hijack case
Defense attorneys representing six Cuban men charged
in the March hijacking a Cuban Douglas DC-3 that
landed at Key West International Airport will
not be allowed to tell jurors about difficult
economic and political conditions in Cuba.
Key
West Citizen, FL.
|
November
17
FROM
CUBA
Jailed Cuban dissident asks wife to fire his lawyer
Dissident
Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, jailed director of
the Cuban Human Rights Foundation who has been
held for 18 months pending trial, has asked his
wife to dismiss his lawyer as a sign of protest.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Sugar shortage causes soft drink plant to cut production
in Cuba
Latinoamericana,
one of the largest soft drink companies in Cuba,
has been forced to cut production because of a
shortage of sugar, according to employees.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban independent journalist freed after seven years
of imprisonment
Independent
journalist Bernardo Rogelio Arévalo Padrón was
released from prison this week after serving a
seven-year sentence for being disrespectful to
President Fidel Castro. .
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Ferry link to Isle of Youth in Cuba interrupted
Maritime
transportation between the Isle of Youth and the
mainland has been interrupted because the three
catamarans which carry passengers are out of service.
HAVANA
|
Cuban independent journalist and her husband brutally
beaten and detained
The
Independent Journalist María Josefa Díaz Fernández
and her husband Lázaro González Ávila, a member
of the Christian Liberation Movement in Camaguey,
were brutally beaten, then arrested.
Information
Birdge Cuba Miami
|
Wife of political prisoner continues to be harassed
and threatened
Mrs.
Yolanda Triana Estupiñán, wife of political prisoner
Orlando Fundora Álvarez, detained and sanctioned
to 18 years in jail in the wave of repression
which began last March, continues to be a victim
of harassments and threats on the part of the
State Security.
HAVANA
|
The Miami Herald
•
Chicken sale to Cuba a beginning
• Veto threat halts effort to ease Cuba sanctions
• Teacher facing trip penalty lobbies against Cuba
ban
• Carlos Manuel Arteaga / Aide to '50s Cuban vice
president
• 'Anna in the Tropics' shines on Broadway |
Yahoo! News
•
Cuban researchers develop synthetic vaccine against
pneumonia, meningitis
• Cuban independant journalist freed after six years
in prison |
External
links
|
UA
to host week-long seminar on Cuba
From baseball to mambo to chicken exports, the
University of Alabama will be exploring the past,
present and future of Cuba and its relationship
to the United States in a week-long Alabama-Cuba
Conference beginning tonight.
AL.com,
AL.
|
Cuba's
new oil industry
Cuba's fast-improving energy sector - with domestic
oil production now at 4.1m tons a year and accounting
for 80% of the country's electricity needs - is
expected to eventually ease the country's current
economic woes.
BBC.
|
Carnival
runs in troupe director's blood
It's carnival week in Havana, and for Santos Ramirez
Garcia that means no time for fun and games. "I'm
drained; I can't wait until this is over," he
says as fireworks explode over his head and the
sounds of blaring trumpets, thundering drums and
brash salsa music envelope Havana's seaside avenue.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
Fidel's
Triumph on Capitol Hill
In the debate over how to export American values
to Cuba, Congressional leaders have managed to
import some of Fidel Castro's values. That old
tyrant in Havana is the prime beneficiary of the
decision this week to drop a measure that would
have effectively lifted the ban on travel to Cuba.
He can now go on railing against Yankee imperialism,
trying to pin the blame for all of his regime's
shortcomings and brutality on American sanctions.
The
New York Times.
|
Visiting
Cuba: The Law
The government grants two kinds of licenses to
travelers who want to visit Cuba legally. General
licenses are for some journalists and other researchers
and Americans with close relatives in Cuba. Such
travel does not require prior approval, though
travelers may be asked to prove that they qualify
for it. The other type of permission.
Visiting
Cuba: The Law / The New York Times.
|
Cuba:
You Can't Get There From Here . . .
For a 52-year-old Manhattan lawyer, there is a
lot about Cuba that is alluring, from the beaches
to the architecture to the music straight out
of "Buena Vista Social Club." But the real draw
of traveling to Cuba: it is illegal.
The
New York Times.
|
An
Old Band, by No Means Faded Away
This is part of the surprise in coming across
Septeto Habanero as current performers rather
than as a name on very old records. Coming out
of Havana in 1920, when the rural son style was
ready to be urbanized and commercialized, the
band has long played a repertory that forms part
of the island's collective memory.
The
New York Times.
|
In
Havana, an Air of Possibility
Most of the time, art's meanings shift only subtly
when it gets shown in a new context. But Havana
is such a strange, fascinating, bewildering place
that almost any art shown here seems to come unmoored.
The city's stunning contradictions -- fervent
creativity coupled with heavy-handed politics;
grand historic buildings housing sewage-scented
poverty -- force their way into your consciousness
as you try to contemplate this exhibition's art.
The
Washington Post.
|
Advocates
of Travel to Cuba Angry at Congress
Opponents of a travel ban to Cuba reacted furiously
yesterday to a decision by lawmakers to dump provisions
that would have allowed Americans to travel freely
to the island for the first time in decades.
The
Washington Post.
|
Editorial:
Cuba travel victim of unilateralism
Arguments about travel to Cuba had been about
whether it would hurt or help Castro, but the
salient fact was that President Bush, careful
to appease Florida's large Cuban voting bloc,
had wanted the provision gone. So it went. (There's
not much new there - the Clinton administration
was equally anxious to avoid antagonizing the
fiercely anti-Castro Cuban expatriates).
The
Helena Independent Record.
|
Editorial:
Cuba off limits
Bush may have been bluffing on the veto threat
(he has yet to veto a bill) but the lawmakers
would have risked delaying a bill that funded
highway construction, Amtrak - and Congress' own
pay raise.
Vero
Beach Press-Journal, FL.
|
Anna
in the Tropics: The Poetry of Yearning, the Artistry
of Seduction
That slowly rotating ceiling fan isn't the only
thing stirring the air in Nilo Cruz's "Anna in
the Tropics," the earnestly poetic play that won
this year's Pulitzer Prize for drama and is only
now making its New York debut..
The
New York Times.
|
'Anna
in the Tropics' thrilling theater
When Nilo Cruz's "Anna in the Tropics" received
the 2003 prize last spring, after a brief 2002 run
at the tiny New Theatre in Coral Gables, Fla., many
wondered how the play would fare when it finally
opened to wider audiences. With the Broadway premiere
of Cruz's lush, poetic drama at the Royale Theatre
last night, the mystery is solved.
Seattle
Post-Intelligencer |
Cuba
trip brings big fine
David Heslop knew about the travel restrictions
to Cuba before he made his three trips in 2000,
but the island was so appealing -- the music,
the architecture, the lack of commercialization
and maybe even the allure of a forbidden destination.
The
News & Observer.
|
November
13
FROM
CUBA
Cuban dissident denied enrolment in computer program
Héctor
Ramón Novo Suárez, a member of the November 30
Frank País Democratic Party, was denied admission
to a government computer course on the grounds
he was a political dissident.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban prisoners of conscience sent open letter of
complaint
Eight
dissidents confined at the Kilometer 5 ½ prison
in Pinar del Rio province have written an open
letter denouncing their treatment.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban dissidents and independent journalists visited
by police agents
State
Security agents have recently visited the homes
of various dissidents and independent journalists
or told them to report to police stations for
interrogation.
HAVANA
|
CUBA: CPJ concerned about imprisoned journalists'
welfare
The
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is extremely
concerned about the lack of information regarding
the situation of imprisoned Cuban journalists Mario
Enrique Mayo Hernández, Adolfo Fernández Saínz,
and Iván Hernández Carrillo, who began a hunger
strike on October 18.
CPJ |
Cuba expected to send more doctors Harare Herald,
Zimbabwe
Cuba
is expected to send more health professionals
in the country next year in addition to the 187
who have already been deployed at various hospitals.
Harare
Herald, Zimbabwe
|
Yahoo! News
•
Democrats seek out Cuban-American vote
• Congress Upholds Ban on Cuba Travel
|
Venezuelan court shelves Cuban doctor programVenezuelan
court shelves Cuban doctor program
Venezuela's
Supreme Court threw out Tuesday the government's
appeal of a lower court's decision to suspend a
program putting hundreds of Cuban doctors to work
in Caracas slums.
The
Miami Herald. |
External
links
|
Mexico
warms to better Cuban relations
Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister Miguel Hakim Simon
said Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque
and his Mexican counterpart Luis Ernesto Derbez
would probably meet at the upcoming Ibero-American
Summit in Bolivia.
Washington
Times, DC .
|
Two
spots look to Cuba for inspiration
Remember when almost every restaurant that opened
was painted some shade of yellow and more than
likely had a Mediterranean menu? Well, it may
not be an avalanche yet, but Cuba -- definitely
pre-Castro Cuba -- is on the minds of restaurateurs
and designers. At opposite ends of the bay, two
restaurants with the flavors of Cuba will open
within the next week.
San
Francisco Chronicle, CA.
|
Little
Havana still wary about ties to Cuba
Anaivys
Alvarez will never forget the night nine years
ago when her father took her hand and led her
aboard the homemade wooden boat that was to carry
several Cuban families to a better life in the
United States.
Christian
Science Monitor.
|
Cuba's
baseball team qualifies for Olympics
Cuba's baseball team is going back to the Olympics,
and wishing the United States was there as well.
"We regret the elimination of the U.S. team because
we will not be able to test ourselves against
them," Olympic Committee president Jose Ramon
Fernandez said Tuesday.
The
News & Observer.
|
Alaska's
International Peace Choir to sing in Cuba
Choir members are traveling at various times to
Cuba for the Nov. 17-30 events. They'll rendezvous
Tuesday afternoon in Havana, to the welcome of
a Cuban singing ensemble. The choir will travel
and sing around the island in a musical exchange
at the beginning of the trip, then stay for the
concerts and workshops of the festivals.
Anchorage
Daily News, AK.
|
Who's
Afraid of "Uncle Fidel"?
When one thinks of Abraham Foxman, timid isn't
a word that comes to mind. In his new book Never
Again? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism, the
national director of the Anti-Defamation League
condemns anti-Semitism in countries ranging from
Argentina and Mexico to France and Iran. But there
is a conspicuous omission: Cuba.
Myles
Kantor / National Review.
|
Havana
cooks up schemes to boost Beijing relations
A Chinese gate and wall, the largest in Latin
America, now looms over the entrance to Havana's
tiny Chinatown, a gift from the Asian giant. Along
the one-block strip of restaurants, cooks are
busy studying a new government-issued guide on
how to prepare traditional fare.
Financial
Times, UK .
|
Only
a few monuments show the bond Cuba and the U.S.
once hadMonday, November 10th
There are just a few monuments in Havana that
connect Cuba with the United States. One monument
commemorates 260 Americans sailors who perished
when the battleship Maine exploded in the harbor
of Havana, Cuba, then under Spanish rule.
Bay
News 9, FL.
|
US
Farmers Worried Tensions with Cuba Will Affect
Exports
Since the United States cracked open the trade
embargo on Cuba two years ago to allow farmers
to sell agricultural and food products there,
American exports to the island nation have been
on the rise. Cuba is now the United States' 35th
largest agricultural export market, up from 208th
just two years ago. However some farmers are concerned
that heightened U.S.-Cuba political tensions will
affect their exports.
Voice
of America.
|
Illegal
travelers to Cuba get judicial notices
The Bush administration for the first time is
beginning judicial proceedings against dozens
of people accused of visiting Cuba illegally,
even as Republicans and Democrats in Congress
move to end enforcement of the four-decade-old
U.S. travel ban to the island.
South
Florida Sun-Sentinel.
|
Cuba
may open sugar market to local firm
The future for trade relations with Cuba is looking
sweet. Cuba's state-based import company announced
last week that it is considering opening up its
sugar market to P.S. International, a trading
company based in Chapel Hill.
The
Duke Chronicle, N.C.
|
Cubans
plant trees to save soil
Cuban farmers are working to make good years of
deforestation and soil loss by planting trees
on sensitive hillsides.
BBC.
|
$1.5M
in regional beans headed for Cuba
Cubans will enjoy pinto beans from Montana and
Wyoming for Christmas because a Billings businessman
sealed a contract this week. The deal calls for
6.6 million pounds of dry beans from the Yellowstone
Bean Co. to be on a barge to Cuba by Dec. 15,
said Jim Stinehagen, YBC owner.
Montana
Forum, Montana.
|
The Cuban embargo myth
A Miami TV station recently aired home video of
Cuban leader Fidel Castro dining in a fancy restaurant
with a group of Italian businessmen. On the tape,
Castro is seen savoring the restaurant's finest
French wines before indulging in a lavish meal
with his fat-cat capitalist buddies.
Alameda
Times-Star, CA .
|
Cuba's
lesson for Iraq
If Fidel Castro was miffed at not making the "Axis
of Evil," he must have been apoplectic this week
at being relegated by President George W. Bush
to a mere "outpost of oppression," shoved in the
corner of the Dictators' Waxwork Museum alongside
Mr. Mugabe.
National
Post, Canada.
|
November
11
FROM
CUBA
Farmers markets shut down in eastern Cuba
Farmers
markets in three neighborhoods in the eastern
city of Holguín were shut down after police raids,
labor activists said, making area residents travel
longer distances to obtain their produce at what
some complained were higher prices.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban retiree fined for selling candy
Authorities
have twice fined a retiree for selling candy in
the beaches east of Havana. The last time, they
threatened him with a prohibitive 1,500 peso fine
for a third offense.
HAVANA
|
Cuba's dissidents seek international summit platform
to make their case
Prominent
Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya made an impassioned
appeal to organizers of an Ibero-American summit
this week to speak out on human rights in communist-ruled
Cuba.
Yahoo!
News
|
The Miami Herald
•
Cuba: U.S. inflated cases of visa denials
• Cuba says U.S. firms won sales race at its fair
|
Termination of Cuban doctors' contracts could close
Cradock Hospital
Residents
of Cradock in the Eastern Cape yesterday marched
to the Cradock hospital demanding the Eastern Cape
department of health reverse its decision to terminate
the contracts of two Cuban doctors who have applied
for South African citizenship.
AllAfrica.com. |
External
links
|
Journalist
defends independent magazine in Cuba
Ever since her husband was arrested and sentenced
to 18 years in prison, Claudia Márquez divides
her life into two time lines: Before March and
after March. An independent journalist, Márquez
now dedicates much of her time to writing about
the 75 dissidents arrested and jailed last spring
in a sweeping government crackdown.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
Cuba
For many Americans, Cuba is Fidel Castro. For
his dwindling band of loyal supporters, Castro
is and always will be a romantic figure, if only
because of his unflinching defiance of the United
States.
The
Washington Post.
|
November
10
FROM
CUBA
Cuban doctors promised housing and car incentives
for Venezuelan duty
The
Cuban government is offering doctors who serve
for two years in the joint project with the Venezuelan
government advantages upon their return to Cuba
in renting housing or acquiring a car.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Pay phones taken away in Havana
Administrators
of the Cuban telephone company announced they
were taking away pay phones in an under-served
area of Havana because the service was not profitable.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Portrait of Cuban national hero removed from dissident's
cell wall
Lacking
paint, jailers at the Aguadores prison scraped
off a portrait of Cuban national hero José Marti
that imprisoned writer Manuel Vázquez Portal had
sketched on the wall of his cell.
HAVANA
|
Cuba: Torture of women prisoners
The
Cuban Foundation for Human Rights reports the agonizing
conditions of terror and torture suffered by women
detained at this penitentiary, a unit of Cuban State
Security in the province of Holguin, Cuba.
Juan
Carlos González Leiva, State Security Prison. The
Cuban Foundation for Human Rights. |
The Miami Herald
•
Beatle meets Bolshevism at Havana cultural show
• Judge wants Cubans sent to court
• Panel OK's Cuba travel
|
Yahoo! News
•
Cuban sugar plantations turn into farmland; Cuba
talks of buying U.S. sugar
• Cuba May Import Sugar From the U.S.
|
Wives of detainees on hunger strike stage overnight
protest outside prison
Reporters
Without Borders today called on the authorities
of Holguín prison to allow six detained independent
journalists and dissidents who are on hunger strike
to receive visits immediately from their wives -
or in one case, mother - who have reportedly been
waiting outside the prison since yesterday to see
them.
RSF,
France. |
Send right message to Cuba's regime
Rewarding
Cuba's repressive dictatorship makes no sense, especially
now. Only months ago, Cuba's dictatorship summarily
executed three young men for an alleged hijacking
and slapped 75 activists into prison for 1,454 years
for peacefully promoting human rights and democratic
changes.
The
Miami Herald. |
November
6
FROM
CUBA
Cuban parents will be asked to do guard duty at schools
where equipment is being stolen
Teachers,
parents and students are going to be asked at
a meeting scheduled for Friday to do guard duty
at Havana area schools where television and video
equipment has been disappearing.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Police threaten 77-year-old Cuban opposition leader
Two
political police officers told Humberto Guerra
Perugorria, 77, president of the Libertad human
rights movement, that in the future he'll be prevented
from attending Mass.
HAVANA
|
Testimony of a dissident from a punishment cell
My
life as a peaceful opponent began in 1990 and
since then, I have been, imprisoned, kidnapped
and tortured in more than one occasion. I will
proceed to mention some relevant elements in regards
to the political persecution I have suffered.
Information
Bridge Cuba Miami.
|
Free Trade Won't Free Cuba
I can only hope that in their deliberations, Mr.
Bush, Congressional lawmakers and the farmers
they represent will consider the "freedom of movement"
I and the other wives of Cuban political prisoners
will enjoy for years to come: traveling every
three months to spend just two hours with our
husbands.
Claudia
Márquez Linares. The New York Times.
|
Senate committee gives its blessing to lifting Cuba
travel ban
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, by a vote
of 13-5, approved lifting a ban on travel to Cuba
by US citizens, following recent similar votes
in both the House of Representatives and the US
Senate.
Claudia
Márquez Linares. The New York Times.
|
External
links
|
Cuba's
prestigious cultural showcase strained by political
fallout
Allegations that the works of two artists, Alexander
Apóstol of Venezuela and Priscilla Monge of Costa
Rica, were censored also cast a pall over this
year's show. Both Apóstol and Monge, who participated
in previous years, declined invitations to the
Biennial after Cuban curators requested changes
in the explanatory texts accompanying their work.
Sun-Sentinel.
|
Argentina
and Uruguay face off over Cuba
Argentina will pressure Uruguay to drop its opposition
to offering Cuba membership in a key regional
trade bloc.Known as Mercosur, the association
is a South American common market that has long
excluded Cuba.
The
Washington Times.
|
Bush
calls N Korea, Cuba others as 'outposts of oppression'
U.S. President George Bush said Thursday that
North Korea, Myanmar, Cuba and Zimbabwe test U.S.
commitment to democracy, denouncing the four countries
as "outposts of oppression.
Japan
Today.
|
GVSU
students heading to Cuba
Propaganda and a general lack of what Americans
would consider basic necessities are two of the
things that immediately struck Jeff Lamb when
he visited Cuba last summer.
Holland
Sentinel, MI.
|
Cuban
delegation visits Botswana
A Cuban government delegation led by the Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Armando Guerra
Menchero is scheduled to arrive in Gaborone on
Friday for a four-day official visit.
Mmegi,
Botswana.
|
Cuba's
last refuge
For several threatened species, as well as adventurous
tourists tired of packaged vacations, the Zapata
Peninsula offers one of the Caribbean's most entensive
wildlife habitats.
The
Globe and Mail, Canada.
|
November
5
FROM
CUBA
Deaf-mute woman threatened with removal from her home
Housing officials have threatened to fine a deaf-mute
woman if she and her eight-year-old daughter don't
leave a house declared to be an illegal residence.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban dissident couple ordered to appear in different
police stations for questioning
Enri Saumell Peña, president of the dissent Republican
Alternative human rights group, and his wife,
Miriam, were summoned to appear on the same day
and the same time for questioning -but at separate
police stations in different parts of the city.
HAVANA
|
The Information
Bridge Cuba Miami
•
Luis Campos Corrales handcuffed and thrown from
the second floor of the prison
• Urgent action of alert for the life of Rafael
Ibarra Roque and Pedro Argüelles Morán, on a hunger
strike at Combinado del Este
|
Argentina determined to have Cuba in Mercosur
Argentina
will pressure Mercosur partner Uruguay to drop
its "intransigent" opposition to the idea of offering
Cuba membership in the regional trade block, according
to Argentine ambassador in Havana Raul Taleb.
MercoPress.
Uruguay.
|
Cuban political prisoners on brink of death Prima
News. Russia
The
well-known Cuban political prisoners Rafael Ibarra
Roque, leader of the "30 November" opposition
party, and Pedro Arguez Moran, editor in chief
of the SARI independent news agency, are close
to death in the so-called "Block 47" of Combinado
del Este prison, to the east of the Cuban capital.
Prima
News, Russia.
|
Fidel Castro plays with the truth
If
these lines see the public light, it will have been
because the author eluded the vigilance of the prison
guards and someone else dared break Cuban laws to
get them published abroad.
Adolfo
Fernandez Sainz, Holguin prison, Cuba. Prima News. |
External
links
|
Cargill
signs $4 million contract with Cuba
Cargill Inc. has signed a new $4 million contract
to sell food products to Cuba. The Minnetonka-based
company will supply wheat and soy protein to the
island in the next few weeks, said spokeswoman
Sara Thurin Rollin. Privately owned Cargill has
been doing business with Cuba since Congress partially
lifted the decades-old trade embargo against the
island nation in 2000.
Twin
Cities Business Journal, MN.
|
Lawyers
assess risks of defection in Cuban hijacking trial
Federal prosecutors say in court papers that bringing
defense witnesses from Cuba to testify at a hijacking
trial in the United States could strain already
touchy relations between the two countries.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
Cuba
signs more deals with US companies
Cuba signed contracts with nine American companies
at an island trade fair Monday, saying it reflected
a move to more normal ties with the United States.
Cattle and soybeans, newsprint and fruit juice
were among the goods listed in $30 million worth
of contracts, according to Pedro Alvarez, head
of the Cuban state export company, Alimport.
The
Times and Democrat, SC.
|
Visiting
lecturer speaks on Cuban culture
Cuban-American author Cristina Garcia read excerpts
from her three novels Dreaming in Cuban, The Aguero
Sisters, and Monkey Hunting on Tuesday, Oct. 28
in the Ekstrom Library Auditorium. Prior to each
reading, Garcia introduced each novel, discussing
its plot as well as the processes involved in
the creation of each.
Louisville
Cardinal.
|
With
rooms named from Bible, historic Cuban hotel caters
to Jews
Care for an authentic Cuban mojito at the L'chaim
bar? How about Israeli salad, matzah-ball soup
and cheese blintzes? They're all now on the menu
at the Hotel Raquel, Cuba's first boutique hotel
catering specifically to adventurous Jewish tourists.
.
Jewish
Telegraphic Agency.
|
Report
to Collier cops: 2 Cuban refugees landed on Marco
Collier sheriff's deputies were told that the
two approached a man at the La Sorpresa Latina
Market in East Naples and told him they sailed
from Cuba to Marco on a catamaran boat, sheriff's
spokeswoman Sheri Mausen said.
The
News-Press.
|
New
finds, Cuban denial in boaters search
One theory family and friends had been clinging
to was a rumor the Cuban government picked up
the fishermen and are holding them in prison.
Late Wednesday the U.S. State Department says
the Cuban government denied picking up anyone.
WBBH,
FL.
|
71
American firms ignore Cuban embargo, flock to
Havana for trade fair
Selling mojito and daiquiri mixes to Cuba may
seem a little like peddling refrigerators at the
North Pole, but for Richard Waltzer, president
of Fort Lauderdale-based Splash Tropical Drinks,
it's been big business.
Sun-Sentinel.
|
November
3
FROM
CUBA
Four Cuban physicians resign to protest on-call assignment
Four general medicine practitioners submitted
their resignations from the René Vedia polyclinic
in Santiago de las Vegas, a town south of Havana,
to protest their permanent assignment to the on-call
roster due to a scarcity of physicians.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban teacher collecting signatures for Varela project
fired
Valentín
Cabrera, a physical education teacher at the Enrique
Galarraga middle school, was fired after five
years of service for being engaged in collecting
signatures for the Varela project.
HAVANA
|
Independent journalist arrested in the centre of the
country
Reporters Without Borders today condemned the
arrest of independent journalist Abel Escobar
Ramírez on 29 October near Morón (350 km east
of Havana) and called for his immediate release.
RSF.
France.
|
Editorial: Journalist in Cuba a profile in courage
When
this newspaper or one of its columnists criticizes
the Bush administration - or any branch of the
U.S. government - the only retribution may be
a round of angry letters from readers. If we lived
in Cuba, as does one of our freelance contributors,
Claudia Márquez Linares, our penalty for such
criticism could be intimidation or imprisonment.
San
Antonio Express-News
|
Cuban dissidents continue hunger strike
At
least three of political prisoners in Holguin prison
in the east of the country continue the hunger strike
they began on 18 October: Adolfo Fernandez Sainz,
journalists Mario Enrike Mayo and Ivan Hernandez
Carillo.
Prima
News. Russia |
Yahoo! News
•
U.S. firms selling products at Havana fair
• US, Cuba open World Cup volleyball with wins |
External
links
|
Uruguay
vetoes Cuba's entry to Mercosur
Argentina and Brazil want Cuba to become an associate
member of Mercosur, but have come across Uruguay's
negative says the latest edition of the Brazilian
magazine Epoca.
MercoPress,
Uruguay.
|
No.
1 fan reigns as the king of baseball
Havana's Latin American Stadium, home to the city's
dueling baseball teams, seats about 40,000 screaming
fans. But only one boasts a permanent place in
the second seat of the seventh row between third
base and home: Armando Torres Torres, Cuba's most
famous fan.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
Cuban baseball
stars defect
Two Cuban baseball stars have defected from the
Communist-led island with the apparent intention
of playing professional baseball in the United
States.
BBC
News, UK.
|
Missouri
Southern to present Cuban play
Southern Theatre will present Deviations by Julio
Matas at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 12-15 in the Bud Walton
Theatre at Missouri Southern State University
in Joplin, Mo.
Pittsburg
Morning Sun, KS.
|
Georgia
companies to attend food show in Cuba
A delegation of Georgia food companies is attending
the 21st Havana International Trade Fair this
week in Havana to feature a wide array of agricultural
products.
Global
Atlanta, GA.
|
Ballet
Nacional de Cuba strong on technical style
Expert technical stylists are hard to find in
ballet, unless you're Ballet Nacional de Cuba,
where they seem to proliferate like magic. Take
Laura Hormigon, whose exquisite portrayal of Odette
in Act II of "Swan Lake" leads to a floating exit
where her willowy, watery arms undulate with such
unreal beauty that you could swear you were watching
computer animation.
Chicago
Tribune.
|
Hoosier
faces fine for trip to Cuba
Joni Scott flew to Cuba to hand out Bibles four
years ago. Now, the federal government wants her
to pay a fine of up to $10,000 for her unlicensed
trip to the communist country. "It's wrong," said
Scott, 43, a mother of two children who lives
in rural Clinton County.
Indianapolis
Star, IN.
|
|
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