February 24

FROM CUBA
Drivers of government-issued cars risk losing them unless they pick up riders
The drivers of government-issued cars will now risk losing them unless they stop to pick up passengers going their way, at the same time that police impose heavy fines on private car owners who try to do the same.
HAVANA

FROM CUBA
Two suspects in serial murders apprehended in Havana
Two residents of Santiago de las Vegas, on the outskirts of Havana, were apprehended as suspects in a series of murders after an old man digging for empty cans in a garbage bin found the mutilated body of a man.
HAVANA

Information Bridge
• Political prisoner harassed in Guantánamo
• Relatives of political prisoners will fast on anniversary of wave of repression

The Miami Herald
• No plans to restart talks on migration, U.S. says
• Florida lawmakers are battling Castro
• Exiles offer post-Castro Cuba plan
• Roman Catholic prelate

Yahoo! News
• Key to Cuba tobacco harvest is patience
• Knee injury sidelines US forward for Cuban trip
• Speedboat Smuggles 13 Cubans Into U.S.

External links

Cuba travelers gain hearing
Four years after traveling to Cuba on a church mission without U.S. government approval, three Milwaukee residents have been granted the hearings they've requested.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI.

A new war of words with Cuba is likely
As sure as election years bring stump speeches and confetti-strewn conventions, history has shown they also breed heightened tensions between Washington and Havana as presidents and candidates ratchet up the rhetoric in a race for Cuban-American voters.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, FL.

February 23

FROM CUBA
In Cuba, Committees for the Defense of the Revolution prepare for war
After Castro called a U. S. invasion of the island a "sure thing" in his last speech, the neighborhood watch Committees for the Defense of the Revolution together with Civil Defense authorities have been preparing a plan they are calling "update in time of war".
HAVANA

FROM CUBA
Cuban agricultural workers not paid on time
Salaries for the 44 employees of the Revolución Co-op in the Isle of Youth have been as much as 15 days late in the last two months because, managers say, the company doesn't have the liquidity.
NUEVA GERONA

FROM CUBA
Road in poor state of repair hampers transportation
Residents of La Demajagua, a town in the Isle of Youth, complain that the main thoroughfare in town has been unusable for the last 9 months, making access to the many homes along the road difficult and life in general inconvenient.
NUEVA GERONA

The Miami Herald
• Memorial honors Cuban dead
• Conservative exile leaders unveil plan for post-Castro Cuba
• Bush, Castro allies of a sort, prof says
• Contreras feels betrayed
• Cuban dancers who defected given asylum, hired in Cincinnati

A lifeline for loved ones in Cuba.
Considering the benefits derived from remittances to Cuba from South Florida, as they ponder how to ''toughen'' the rules, U.S. officials should keep in mind the time-honored cardinal rule of physicians: First, do no harm.
The Miami Herald.

External links

Baseball star's millions can't buy freedom for family
In this corner of Cuba's tobacco-growing province, it's no secret that the wife of José Contreras, one of Cuba's star pitchers who defected and signed with the New York Yankees, now also wants out to join her husband. It's also no secret that the Cuban government has denied her exit visa request, saying she must wait five years because of Contreras' status as a "deserter."
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, FL.

Cuba's human rights assailed
A month before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights convenes in Geneva, a U.N. envoy filed her first report on Cuba, calling the imprisonment of 75 dissidents an "unprecedented wave of repression" and condemning their prison conditions.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, FL.

The difficulties of Cuba
Middle Keys photographer Larry Benvenuti has traveled to Cuba 15 times since 1993, on humanitarian trips and to record on film the island's beauty. Here, he recounts the difficulties of getting permission on his most recent trip, in October.
Florida Keys Keynoter, FL.

The Cuban
Photographer Bob Harper traveled to Cuba with a good camera, a good eye and a pocketful of good will. He came home with hundreds of eye-catching photographs he is using in a series of collages depicting Cuban life.
Richmond Times Dispatch, VA.

Group Making Plans for a Free Cuba
Four Cuban-American members of Congress lent their support Friday to a commission of academics, exiles and dissidents intent on devising ways to foster democracy and a free economy on the island once Cuban President Fidel Castro is no longer in power.
Lakeland Ledger, FL.

Ballet lands Cuban dancers
Two former members of Cuba's national ballet company who defected to the United States have gained political asylum and have contracts with the Cincinnati Ballet, their Miami immigration attorney said Wednesday.
Cincinnati Enquirer, OH.

Miami a changed city 45 years after Cuban revolution
When Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution took hold in 1959, Juan Clark thought his move north to Miami would only be temporary. He was ready to join a movement against Castro's new government and forge his own return to his homeland. Clark, then in his 20s, joined in the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion and spent two years in a Cuban jail.
Bradenton Herald, FL.

February 18

FROM CUBA
Cuban police call Sat TV antenna "subversive," confiscate it
After a two-hour home search, police confiscated a satellite TV antenna, a VCR and some tapes, labeling them "subversive," and fined their owner 500 pesos.
HAVANA

FROM CUBA
Tourism workers in Cuba fear home inspections
Cubans working at the new resorts in Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo, off the north coast of the island, are afraid they may be subject to home searches by police.
HAVANA

The Miami Herald
• Cuba remittance limits feared
• U.S. Treasury to investigate money being sent to Cuba

Yahoo! News
• Walker Debuts Spanish Version of Book

External links

Political reform not in Cuba's future
In Miriam Leiva's cramped Havana apartment, there is little to indicate that her husband, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, played a role in the pivotal event of 2003 in Cuba. A small Christmas tree stands on a round dining table. Family photographs line several walls. Only one photograph, the most recent, seems out of place.
San Luis Obispo.

Inside Cuba: 45 Years Of Castro
In many ways the old cars of Havana are like a symbol of Cuba. They've been running well beyond their expectations. The question is how long cane they continue to run in this same fashion?
CBS 2.

SA Students Doing Well in Cuba
The Department of Health in the Northern Cape has welcomed as impressive a report about the academic performance of 16 youths who left the province last year to study medicine in Cuba.
AllAfrica.com.

February 16

FROM CUBA
Water weights down bottled gas in Cuba
This is incredible!" said a Ciego de Ávila gas customer. "Just 15 days ago I got the [bottled gas] tank refilled, and I'm out already." Many of his fellow customers would agree. It turns out the gas tanks here are being partly filled with water in a scheme to divert some of the gas nobody knows where.
CIEGO DE ÁVILA

FROM CUBA
Former Cuban political prisoner "untrustworthy"
A former political prisoner was fired from his job mending fences in a dairy farm because he was declared "untrustworthy."
HAVANA

FROM CUBA
Waiting room of fear
A toothache is something unbearable. But where you're really put to the test is when they tell you they have to work on your mouth without any anesthetic.
PINAR DEL RÍO

Cuban Dissident Paya Among Nobel Peace Prize Nominees
Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya is among the record number of nominees for this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Paya, who was also nominated for the award in 2003, heads the so-called Varela Project
VOA News .

External links

'They Are Killing These People'
Sanchez said five prisoners had been hospitalized. He said Espinosa is in the same hospital with Martha Beatriz Roque, a dissident economist sentenced to 20 years, who is suffering from diabetes, ulcers, high blood pressure and is paralyzed on one side of her face. He said two men who had heart attacks before being imprisoned, Roberto de Miranda and Orlando Fundora, are suffering worsening heart disease and have been moved to prison hospital wards. Julio Antonio Valdes, who needs a kidney transplant because prison conditions have further damaged his already weak kidneys, is in a prison ward in a Havana hospital, Sanchez said.
The Washington Post (subs).

Vanessa Bauza: Life in Florida stays a dream in a bottle
In the hours before she embarked on the 1959 Buick's short-lived odyssey at sea, Nivia Valdes carefully rolled up her marriage certificate, her sons' birth certificates and her medical diploma and pushed them through the narrow mouth of a rinsed-out plastic soda bottle.
Sun-Sentinel.

Revolutionary Road
In her first book, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd, Ana Menendez assembled an enchanting collection of short stories. Crafted with a lush, poetic prose, the stories were lyrical, wise and affecting, offering up a vision of Cuban exile life filled with aching loss and absurd hilarity. Loving Che, Menendez's first novel, has many of the same qualities, but her hand is not as deft, her footing not as sure.
The New York Times.

Latest effort to flee drives Cuban migration debate
Rafael Díaz is broke and beleaguered, and his vintage 1959 Buick is sitting somewhere on the ocean floor. But he can't help but smile when describing how he turned his beloved car into a boat and chugged through shark-infested waters while trying to reach America. "We almost made it, too," said Mr. Díaz, a soft-spoken mechanic. "We could see the shoreline. But the Coast Guard caught us.".
The Dallas Morning News.

Cuba Is Just a Friend, Venezuela Tells Suspicious US
As U.S. officials lob accusations that President Hugo Chavez is conspiring with Cuban leader Fidel Castro to destabilize U.S. allies in Latin America, Venezuelan officials say the allegations are much ado about nothing.
Los Angeles Times (subs), CA.

Wrong way on Cuba clear from Idaho
Rep. Butch Otter, R-Idaho, learned something about Cuba even before traveling there this month. He found out why it was so hard for Americans to go to the island.
Oregonian, OR.

Decatur Remembers a Cuban Native as a True American
Tony Goodner is visiting the restaurant where he loves to eat. But the head chef and owner of Mando's Pizza isn't behind the counter taking orders. Armando de Quesada died Saturday morning as he was getting ready to open the restaurant for customers.
WHNT, AL.

February 13

FROM CUBA
Dissident Todos Unidos group offers solutions to Cuba's problems
Todos Unidos spokesperson Vladimiro Roca said: "We put this document at the disposition of all Cubans with a view to initiating the changes that Cuban society needs to start solving the grave problems, above all economic, that the Cuban people have faced for many years."
HAVANA

FROM CUBA
Soap, toothpaste and sugar unavailable under the ration book on the Isle of Youth
The 80,000 residents of the Isle of Youth cannot find soap, toothpaste and sugar available for purchase under ration books.
NUEVA GERONA

FROM CUBA
Families of Cuban imprisoned dissidents seek signatures on a petition requesting amnesty
Families of Cuban imprisoned dissidents seek signatures on a petition requesting amnesty
HAVANA

The Miami Herald
• Car-boat Cubans' next stop will be U.S. base
• Cuba's tourism chief replaced by army colonel
• Dissident presses for more rights
• 8 Cubans returned home

Cuban Police Conduct Boat-Car Inspection
Cuban police inspected a house and several auto repair shops Wednesday in a neighborhood where residents recently converted two 1950s cars into boats that refugees used in attempts to reach the United States..
Yahoo! NewsA

External links

Homeland Security will review asylum cases for Cubans caught in '59 Buick
A family of three Cubans who captured the hearts of well-wishers on both sides of the Florida Straits after twice trying to sail vintage American jalopies to South Florida will be sent to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, where their requests for political asylum will be reviewed.
Sun-Sentinel, FL.

Havanatur wary of U.S. Cuba travel crackdown
Havanatur Bahamas Ltd is forced to change the way it does business, in the face of an embargo by the United States Treasury Department for allegedly providing Americans with illegal travel packages to Cuba..
The Nassau Guardian .

CUBA: The second edition of the Esteban Salas Early Music Festival ends in Havana
The Festival, that was celebrated at the old church of San Felipe de Neri and at the Basilica Menor de San Francisco de Asís, Havana, Cuba, came to its end last Sunday February 8th.
Goldberg, Spain.

Memoirs of Her Last Tango With Cuba
"Dancing With Cuba" tells of six months as a 20-year-old teacher of modern dance in the revolutionary Cuba of 1970. Despite the exotic setting, the book is basically a traditional coming-of-age tale. Its antiheroine is "an inept young woman." Its themes are disenchantment, self-doubt and failure in love and work.
Newsday.

February 11

FROM CUBA
E-mail, dollars, and the Internet in Cuba.
The recent news that the government was getting ready to move against unauthorized Internet connections shook many here who had somehow contrived to get online.
HAVANA

FROM CUBA
Venezuelan students displace Cubans
Hundreds of Cuban students at the school for social workers in Cojímar, east of Havana, were taken out of their school last week to allow the ministry to use the school for a contingent of Venezuelan students.
HAVANA

FROM CUBA
Cuban independent journalist missing for two months
The mother of independent journalist Omar Darío Pérez Hernández fears her son might have drowned fleeing Cuba with four companions.
HAVANA

The Miami Herald
• U.S. set to get tougher on Cuba
• 'Car-boat' case a dilemma for president
• Cubans not going back -- for now

Yahoo! News
• Dissidents' plan would end Cuban crisis
• Cuban Dissidents Request Civil Rights
• Cubans on Floating Buick Returned Home
• Castro Signs Baseballs, Talks U.S. Ties By LISA J. ADAMS, Associated Press Writer

External links

Idaho Looks to Boost Trade with Cuba
Idaho Senator Larry Craig and Representative Butch Otter returned Monday from a three day trade mission to Cuba. Craig and other members of the Idaho delegation were talking about Idaho agriculture products. Craig expects immediate results, with orders for $10-million worth of Idaho potatoes and beans.
KIDK.

Craig, Otter visit Castro to support travel to Cuba
President Fidel Castro signed baseballs, handed out cigars and flower bouquets, and discussed increased ties with the United States during a three-hour meeting Monday with two Republican congressmen who want to lift a ban on U.S. travel to Cuba.
IdahoStatesman.com.

Tuner strikes sour note with U.S. over Cuba
Last week, the New York piano tuner received a Treasury license to donate a pair of crutches and a walker to a Havana music conservatory instead of a renewal of his 8-year license to ship used pianos, musical instruments and piano parts.
MSNBC.

Cuba defends human rights record
Cuban authorities defended their human rights record Tuesday, saying much of the criticism directed at the communist island has come from groups whose only aim is to bring down the government.
Bradenton Herald, FL.

US lists Montreal-based Caribe Sol in its Cuba-linked ban
A Montreal company is among 10 foreign concerns linked to Cuba by the Bush administration yesterday and, thus, forbidden to do business in the United States.
Montreal Gazette, Canada.

Flying eye care hospital bound for Cuba next
Parked out behind Galaxy Aviation, among the private jets and across the tarmac from Palm Beach International Airport is a big, state-of-the-art ... operating room. It landed here Monday. It's leaving here -- with a local eye surgeon at the helm and two pilots at the wheel -- in two weeks.
Palm Beach Post, FL.

Republicans in Senate race eying Cuba card
The rule for those running in a crowded party primary is to play to a strongly defined bloc to anchor a base of support while trying to take as many of the other votes from your party as you can.
Lakeland Ledger, FL.

February 9

FROM CUBA
Cuban prisoners of conscience submit report to the National Directorate of Jails and Prisons
Dissident prisoners Léster González Pentón and Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta took advantage of a visit by a delegation from the National Directorate of Jails and Prisons to submit a report on conditions at the Kilo 7 prison.
SANTA CLARA

FROM CUBA
Tomato crop lost because of lack of boxes on the Isle of Youth, Cuba
Some 35,000 pounds of tomatoes rotted in the field because they were not harvested by the Conrado Benítez Cooperative, which didn't have any boxes in which to put them.
NUEVA GERONA

FROM CUBA
Cuban dissident prisoner to be tried for insulting an official re-educator
Ailing dissident Miguel Galbán Gutiérrez, serving a 26-year sentence for anti-government activities, will face a disciplinary court on charges he insulted an official re-educator, according to members of his family.
HAVANA

The Miami Herald
• U.S. identifies 10 companies controlled by Cuban governments
• 3 car-boat Cubans given reprieve
• Scam artist promised money from Castro, indictment says
• Car-boaters gain support

What is lost by denying visas to Cuban artists? Hearts and minds?
The decision by the U.S. government to deny visas to Cuban musicians invited to attend the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles yesterday is in sync with the sentiment of many in Miami's Cuban community. But, how smart is it?
Enrique Fernandez, The Miami Herald.

External links

Venezuela: definition of hell
You know it's bad when you run away from Cuba and Venezuela to seek a new life in Colombia. That's called desperation.
V Crisis, Venezuela.

Cuban youths turn tattoos into show of defiance
Body art is especially popular among the island's Generation Y crowd, those under 25. And many are having their skin emblazoned with symbols of defiance: from marijuana leaves and the face of reggae legend Bob Marley to guitarist Jimi Hendrix and Harley-Davidson's screaming eagle.
The Dallas Morning News, TX.

NCC Delegation Says U.S.-Cuba Contacts Important in Tense Times
Participants in a U.S. ecumenical delegation visit to Cuba in late January returned convinced of the importance of maintaining contacts with churches there, especially at this time of heightened tension between the United States and Cuba. For their part, Cuban church leaders asked their U.S. counterparts for pastoral accompaniment and prayers.
Worldwide Faith News.

Cuban rhythms take center stage at Atwood
Imagine a night when the warm air is scented by spicy ginger, sweet frangipani and the musky smell of cigars. Through an open window elegant women with upswept hair, evening gowns and bare shoulders dance close to dark-eyed men in white tuxedos.
Anchorage Daily News, AK.

Cuba's art schools may finally be completed
Roberto Gottardi stands on the edge of a crater-size ditch, imagining the fulfillment of his dream to build one of the world's great theaters.
Chicago Tribune, IL.

The right way to invade Cuba
Fidel Castro sought to reignite the revolutionary fire of his youth last week with a speech in which he challenged the United States to invade Cuba. The 77-year-old dictator ranted and raved for 5-1/2 hours, also charging that the Bush administration was plotting with Cuban exiles in Miami to kill him.'
Charleston Post Courier (susc), SC.

Garden club taking green thumbs to Cuba
The Key West Botanical Garden Society has come up with a unique fund-raising idea - an eco-tour of Cuba. The seven-day package will take the botanically minded to three of the island nation's most acclaimed garden spots.
Florida Keys Keynoter, FL.

February 4

FROM CUBA
More than 100 booked for "dangerousness" in eastern Cuba
Sixty-eight whom the government considers "potential delinquents" were called into the police station in San Cristóbal January 27, photographed, fingerprinted, booked, and warned about their "proclivity to criminal activities".
HAVANA

FROM CUBA
Cuban police search woman's home for the third time in three years
Lorenzo is the wife of a man who used to work in a Cuban Armed Forces' radar base and who left Cuba for the United States three years ago. Last November, she tried to leave the island in a raft and was returned.
HAVANA

The Miami Herald
• Cubans trade in pickup for Buick on trip to U.S
• Exile activist says Cubans in floating Buick are sent back to Cuba, car sunk

External links

Give Me Your Hand
Joyous, exuberant docu, "Give Me Your Hand" is about Cuban expatriates in New Jersey and the music that sustains them: the rumba they credit with everything from curing breast cancer to maintaining erections at age 83. Latest entry in the impressive oeuvre of Dutch helmer Heddy Honigmann, who was the subject of a recent retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art, "Dame La Mano" builds to a half-hour musical climax that sends auds dancing out of the theater..
Variety.com.

Cuba's new ally
Amid a new round of rumors that his health is failing, Fidel Castro has found a key benefactor and heir apparent to the cause of derailing the U.S.'s agenda in Latin America: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Knoxville News Sentinel, TN.

Cuba calls for media ties with Iran
Cuba has called for the expansion of cooperation with Iran in the fields of press and mass media, said an Iranian official on Monday. Iran's Ambassador to Havana Ahmad Edrissian said that head of Cuban Prinsa Latina News Agency (Agencia Informativa Latino Americana) has called for such cooperation.
Irib, Iran.

February 3

FROM CUBA
Chávez followers said to be training for referendum in Cuba
Up to 7,200 young followers of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez could be training in Cuba in preparation for an upcoming referendum Chávez may be facing as early as next April.
SANTA CLARA

FROM CUBA
Merchant marine crew frustrated with downsizing of fleet in Cuba
More than 100 merchant marine crewmen were brought together January 23 by the contracting agency Agemarca to notify them of downsizing decisions in the fleet that will idle more than 2,500.
HAVANA

FROM CUBA
Store's stocks of powdered milk in damaged by rats
A substantial part of the powdered milk stock at a dollar store in Arroyo Naranjo has been spoiled by rats, said a clerk at the store, adding that there is little they can do about it.
HAVANA

FROM CUBA
No unemployment under Socialism
There are no unemployed in Cuba. The government's Newspeak calls those without a job either "available" or, by a locution as convoluted as the logic behind it, "interrupted."
HAVANA

The Miami Herald
• Bush, exiles plotting to kill me, Castro says
• Concerns over policy on Cuba linger
• The city speaks

Yahoo! News
• Returning Exile Asks to Stay in Cuba

External links

Cuban league is nation's passion
In the fourth inning, Castro's bearded men suddenly left the ballpark. Minutes later, Lasorda recalls hearing machine-gun fire close by as the game continued uninterrupted. They returned to the ballpark 20 minutes later, having just executed 30 Batista holdouts in a nearby building.
MLB.com.

Cuban musicians' tales bring this history to life
In 1996, American guitarist Ry Cooder went to Havana and gathered several prominent local musicians for a recording session that produced the highly successful album "Buena Vista Social Club.".
Indianapolis Star.

A good place for Cuba debate
Now that the bait has been dangled in front of the candidates, perhaps the race for a U.S. Senate seat in Florida can produce a more meaningful discussion of Cuba diplomacy. Yeah, fat chance, but here's hoping.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel .

Fidel, it's time for your close-up
It used to be that fringe candidates for Congress could say something reckless and outrageous without being taken seriously. Now, who knows.
Palm Beach Post, FL.

Cuba visit enjoyable for Burke
"I thought that I would see that America was correct in enforcing the embargo that has been in place for so many years. I hoped I would be able to see the other side of this issue and I certainly did. I definitely saw the effects of America's embargo on the people of Cuba".
Pontiac Daily Leader, IL.

America: The accidental empire?
In the second of a six-part series entitled Age of Empire, the BBC's Jonathan Marcus visits Cuba in a continuing investigation into whether the United States is an imperial power.
BBC, UK.