|
January
30
FROM
CUBA
Ongoing repressive campaign in eastern Cuba
A
repressive campaign unleashed by police in the
mining community of Moa, in eastern Cuba, seems
directed against the self-employed in the area.
HOLGUÍN
|
FROM
CUBA
Soap and detergent in short supply in dollar markets
in eastern Cuba
A
perceived shortage of soap and detergent in the
dollar markets in the mining community of Moa,
in eastern Cuba's Holguín province, caused a run
on what supplies there were, as consumers bought
out the stocks.
HOLGUÍN
|
The Miami Herald
•
Castro accuses Bush of plotting with Cuban American
exiles to kill him
•
Activist: Cuba refuses to let him travel to human
rights ceremony
•
Priest remembered for his humanitarian work
• Klayman says Castro has biochemical weapons
in Cuba
|
Yahoo! News
•
Castro accuses Bush of plotting to assassinate
him
•
Candidates on the Issues: Cuba
•
Their Man in Havana
|
Cuban urges unity against Castro
he
head of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, Ricardo
Bofill, on Thursday called on the international
community to show solidarity with those suffering
"severe repression" at the hands of Fidel
Castro's regime
South
Florida Sun-Sentinel. |
ALA Updates Online Information on Intellectual Freedom
in Cuba
In
an effort to provide access to the range of ALA
and IFLA (International Federation of Library
Associations and Institutions) documents related
to this issue, the ALA's International Relations
Office has created a Web page with links to reports,
statements and press releases.
Managing
Information .
|
Redford's love affair with Castro
Some
time ago, Hollywood luminary Robert Redford was
asked about the Cuban regime and he said something
to the effect that he didn't care about Castro's
politics. To the victims, that's like saying that
you don't care about the crimes of Hitler or Stalin.
Agustin
Blazquez / Jaums Sutton, NewsMax.com. |
Redford: Tyranny's useful idiot
I
have a few choice words for Redford and other
Hollywood elites, such as Sean Penn, Danny Glover,
Oliver Stone and Harry Belafonte, who have taken
similar trips to pay homage to Castro.
Joseph
Farah, WorldNetDaily.com .
|
In Cuba, players look for a way out
Two
days later -- under the cover of darkness and some
36 hours before the island nation of Cuba would
mark the 45th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution
-- Morales and Canizares were apprehended by national
security police for attempting to flee the country
in a boat targeted for the Bahamas.
Joe
Connor, MLB.com. |
External
links
|
Castro 'prepared
for US invasion'
"With a gun in my hand, I don't care how I die,
but I'm confident that if they invade us, I will
go down fighting," Mr Castro said to tumultuous
applause from the audience, which included Andean
Indians, landless Brazilians, and Canadian postal
workers.
BBC,
UK.
|
U.S.
clamping down on Americans' visits to Havana
The Bush administration is making it very hard
for American tourists to lie on the white sand
beaches of Cuba's Varadero or enjoy a daiquiri
at Old Havana's El Floridita without facing a
stiff fine when they get home.
The
Washington Times.
|
Tampa
company selected as Cuba's import agent
Alimport, Cuba's official agency responsible for
imports into Cuba from the United States, has
selected Tampa-based A.R. Savage & Son, Inc. as
its shipping agents for all legal export transactions
from Tampa Bay into Cuban ports.
Tampa
Bay Business Journal.
|
Cuba
might be opening its doors
With Cuba having recently marked the 45th anniversary
of its revolution, MLB.com contributor Joe Connor
visited this Caribbean baseball hotbed for more
than three weeks. He visited their academies,
sports institutes and ballparks across the country's
14 provinces. Today, the fifth and final part
of a weeklong series, taking baseball fans inside
"The Forbidden Isle.
MLB.com.
|
Cuba
photography on display in Napa Valley College
library
A display on Cuba is currently featured at the
Napa Valley College library. It includes information
and visuals on Cuban history, politics, leaders,
art, dance, crafts, photography and culture brought
back by students who recently returned from Cuba.
NapaNet
Daily News, CA.
|
CUBA: 'Drugs
Have No Borders,' Warns Former Addict
He was in hell, and still feels the impacts of
a journey from which many others never return.
"Sometimes I talk too much, or I walk too fast,
and I don't realise what I'm doing," says Yosmany,
36, a former drug addict.
IPS
News.
|
Off
to Cuba
The USC baseball team competes in Cuba for three
exhibition games, giving players a cultural experience
and many memories.
Daily
Trojan Online, CA.
|
A Cuban vacation?
Not from U.S.
The
Bush administration has eliminated cultural exchange
licenses that allowed just about any American to
travel to Cuba, which has been subject to a U.S.
trade embargo for more than four decades since Fidel
Castro seized power.
IHT,
UK. |
January
29
FROM
CUBA
Spoiled yogurt sold to sick Cuban children
In
several distribution centers in central Havana
spoiled yogurt has been sold for children who
cannot tolerate fresh milk, causing them severe
stomach distress.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Violations in retail establishments plentiful, inspections
reveal in Cuba
Among
the violations found: overpricing, prices not posted
as required, underweight products, products not
up to standards in weight or quality, and price
gouging involving merchandise in short supply.
HAVANA |
FROM
CUBA
Prostitutes arrested in Havana and Pinar del Rio
According
to residents of the area, the women came from
the interior and did not even have the necessary
residents' permits to allow them to live in the
capital.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Varela Project activist and his mother harrassed
The
mother of Varela Project activist José Enrique
González Robira-Pelegrín says two men posing as
supporters tried to distort the aims of the project
in a visit to the home she shares with her son.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Oscar Elías Biscet accused of insulting Fidel Castro
The
wife of dissident Oscar Elías Biscet González
says her husband, currently serving a 25-year
prison sentence, has been accused of insulting
Fidel Castro.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban independent journalist and her 16-year-old daughter
attacked
Independent
journalist María López says she and her 16-year-old
daughter, Idaima Paz, were attacked Friday night
when they left a movie house in Old Havana.
HAVANA |
New report dismisses 'feeble pretexts' for political
detentions
Harassment,
intimidation and bans on freedom of expression against
dissidents must end in Cuba, said Amnesty International
in a new report today, detailing the cases of four
new prisoners of conscience.
Amnesty
International. |
The Miami Herald
•
4 more Cubans are 'prisoners of conscience'
•
Values of Cuban exiles, islanders seen to differ
•
Beloved Cuban exile priest dies at age 62
• Candidates eye Cuban vote
• Eight Cuban migrants land at Key West
|
Yahoo! News
•
Cuba postpones tightened controls on Internet
use
•
Cuba Sees Drop in Number of U.S. Visitors
•
Robert Redford shows Che film in Cuba
• Cuba's Entrepreneurs Come Creeping Back
|
Cuba: The cruel anachronism
Cuba's
regime is a twenty-first century anachronism, but
its detractors and supporters continue to make the
reactionary revolution a constant controversy.
ProCubaLibre
. |
Taking a page out of Cuba's book hardly wise
Lieutenant
colonel Hugo Chávez explained it very clearly
at the recent Monterrey summit: He and his nation
are profoundly grateful to Fidel Castro's government
for the help it provides in the field of education.
Carlos
Alberto Montaner, The Miami Herald.
|
External
links
|
Cuba's
baseball legends live on
With Cuba having recently marked the 45th anniversary
of its revolution, MLB.com contributor Joe Connor
visited this Caribbean baseball hotbed for more
than three weeks. He visited their academies,
sports institutes and ballparks across the country's
14 provinces.
MLB.com
.
|
A
rough start for college trip to Cuba
A Napa Valley College photography class was bound
to get some negatives from its trip to Cuba this
month, but the students didn't know that the start
of the journey would be one of them.
Napa
Valley Register, CA .
|
January
26
FROM
CUBA
Police arrests teenagers who attacked gays in Havana
Fourteen
youths between the ages of 13 and 18 were arrested
by police for attacking gays in the Habana del
Este district, according to residents in the area
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Trial of three Cuban dissidents suspended
The
trial of dissidents Raúl Arencibia Fajardo, Orlando
Zapata Tamayo and Virgilio Morante Guelmes was
suspended this year as it was about to begin.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban language teacher fired after applying for U.S.
visa lottery
José
Luis Rodríguez, who holds a degree in foreign
languages, says he's now working as a carpenter,
all because he submitted his name for the lottery
for emigration to the United States in 1997.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban dissident union member grilled for three hours
by political police
Félix
Rivero Cordovi, delegate to the dissident National
Independent Workers Confederation of Cuba in Bayamo,
Granma province, says he was questioned for three
hours by political police January 11 and warned
not to continue his union activities.
HAVANA |
Yahoo! News
•
National Council of Churches to send delegation
to Cuba
•
Orthodox patriarch dines with Castro
•
Castro Consecrating Gov't-Built Church
• Orthodox Christian Leader Visits Cuba |
Information Bridge Cuba Miami
•
Action Campaign requested on behalf of prisoner
of conscience
•
Mother of political prisoner in fast, also shaves
her head
|
Seeing no evil in Cuba
The
remarks of Raúl Taleb, Argentina's ambassador
in Havana, are an insult to Cubans who suffer
human-rights abuse first hand. ''Human rights
are not violated in Cuba, at least not more or
less than in other countries,'' the ambassador
said last week to La Nación, a Buenos Aires daily.
Susana
Barciela, The Miami Herald.
|
Free Cuba's unjustly convicted activists
Below
are comments made this week by U.S. State Department
Spokesman Adam Ereli about Cuban dissidents.
The
Miami Herald. |
Boy's view of life in Cuba reads like Huck Finn in
Havana
Carlos
Eire's award-winning memoir beautifully captures
the story of children caught up in political cataclysm.
Elizabeth
Hanly, The Miami Herald.
|
Cuban-born artist Abelardo Merell uses old-fashioned
camera obscura to show the world in ways that often
leave you speechless
Every
year, when Morell turns off the light in a classroom
where windows are draped in black, so that only
a slim beam of light shines through a small hole,
his students become uncharacteristically still.
A few jaws are sure to drop.
Elisa
Turner, The Miami Herald. |
External
links
|
Prisoners
in Cuba tell of misery
Imprisoned last spring for opposing Cuba's one-party
state, Oscar Biscet has spent the first nine months
of his 25-year sentence in solitary confinement
or with hardened criminals, enduring insufficient
food and unsanitary conditions, according to his
wife and letters smuggled out of prison. Many
of the 74 other dissidents imprisoned with Biscet
for challenging President Fidel Castro's government
face similar hardships, according to their wives,
human-rights workers and other sources .
Chicago
Tribune .
|
Politics
complicate Orthodox patriarch's visit
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I's schedule
was thrown into disarray on Friday amid disorganization
and rival political forces tugging at the visit
here by the spiritual leader of the world's 300
million Orthodox Christians.
CNN.
|
Politics
tinges Orthodox clergy's visit to Cuba
Patriarch Bartholomew and his flowing beard are
in Havana today to celebrate the opening of a
new church, the first built in communist Cuba
in 45 years. And even though he's the spiritual
leader of tens of millions of Orthodox Christians,
he's a mystery in Cuba.
The
Dallas Morning News.
|
2
go-fast boats, 8 suspects, drugs seized after
wild chase off Cuba
Federal authorities on Friday said they seized
two go-fast boats and arrested eight smuggling
suspects caught transporting 5,600 pounds of marijuana
and 100 pounds of hashish between Great Inagua
Island in the Bahamas and Cuba.
Sun
Sentinel, FL.
|
Havana
and Miami, united by distrust
The Castro government fine-tuned the tradition
with Committees for the Defense of the Revolution
(CDRs), local watchdog groups that specialize
in neighbors informing on neighbors. Typically,
the offenses involve petty infractions, such as
black market trading, and the accusations are
often motivated by envy
The
Washington Post.
|
Seeking
her past in Decaying Cuba
The least interesting thing about Ana Menendez's
first novel, following the estimable success of
her short-story collection, In Cuba I Was a German
Shepherd, is the titular romance.
Sun
Sentinel, FL.
|
Exhibit
will highlight how freedom is oppressed in Cuba
Most people don't understand the nature of that
regime, but those that live there will tell you
it is hell," said Carro, now president of the
Coalition of Cuban-American Women in Miami. "There's
one TV (station), one newspaper - they control
the media. You have to go to your job and do what
they want. After living in a free world, it's
insanity.".
Marietta
Times, OH.
|
Cuba
: More Than Cigars, Fidel And Great Cars
Chatham resident Julia Marsh, a junior at Colorado
College, spent the past four months studying at
the University of Havana. A former Chronicle intern,
she filed this report based on her experiences.
Guardian,
UK . |
Believe
it or not, college baseball has begun, and the road
to Omaha goes through . . . Cuba?
USC is in the midst of a historic, five-day trip
to Cuba in which the Trojans will be the first college
team to play a series against a team from the Cuban
Baseball Federation.
San
Diego Union Tribune, CA . |
January
21
FROM
CUBA
Cuban government redoubles efforts to jam Radio Martí
At
the same time the Cuban government protested the
U. S. government's decision not to continue migratory
talks, it was redoubling its efforts to jam U.
S. broadcasts through Radio Martí short-wave frequencies
into the island nation.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Price of fruit juices up; quality down
The
price of fruit juices sold in the Isle of Youth
has gone up by government order, and consumers,
who say the quality of the product is worse than
ever, are unhappy.
NUEVA
GERONA
|
Yahoo! News
•
Contreras Says Family Can't Leave Cuba
•
Scouts to look at Cuban
|
The Miami Herald
•
Castro assassination plot trial postponed
• Chávez's brother gets post in Cuba
• Cuba enters wireless world
•
Phones in Cuba
|
Reporters Without Borders demonstrates in Paris against
imprisonment of journalists in Cuba
Demonstrators
made their protest at the Great Arch of La Défense
on 20 January as the Cuban minister and the Cuban
ambassador to Paris visited the rooftop opening
of a major exhibition of contemporary Cuban art.
Reporters
Without Borders.
|
Anti-democratic actions have boomerang effect
While
some believe that 2003 was a negative year for Cuba,
for the internal opposition and the country's democratic
fate, the opposite is more accurate.
Jorge
Luis Ramon Castillo, The Miami Herald. |
Locked up indefinitely on a technicality
Immigrants
who can't be deported should be released
The
Miami Herald. |
External
links
|
Cuba
Calls U.S. Charges Against Envoy A 'Gross Lie'
The Cuban foreign minister has strongly denied
allegations by U.S. officials that a Cuban envoy
in Washington associated with criminal elements
and was involved in narcotics trafficking. The
foreign ministry in Havana called the allegations
against Roberto Socorro Garcia, who was expelled
by the United States, a "gross lie" and a "manipulation
of reality."
The
Washington Post.
|
US-Cuba
relations strained as Castro era winds down
His argument is that any US move toward normalization
of relations with Cuba must be preceded by movement
toward democracy and recognition of human rights
by the Castro regime. No signs of such moderation
are evident in Havana. To the contrary, there
is a tightening of censorship.
The
Christian Science Monitor.
|
Travellers
to Cuba get fleeced of $20,000
Christmas trip did not go ahead Refund cheques
to group bounced.
Toronto
Star, Canada.
|
Cuban
dissidents report bleak life in prison
Imprisoned last spring for opposing Cuba's one-party
state, Oscar Biscet has spent the first nine months
of his 25-year sentence in solitary confinement
or with hardened criminals, enduring insufficient
food and unsanitary conditions, according to his
wife and letters smuggled out of prison.
Kansas
City Star (sub), MO.
|
Evidence
that in Castro's Cuba, at least the music is irrepressible
Underneath the ebullient surface of Gary Keys's
uplifting documentary "Cuba: Island of Music"
is a plea for an end to the United States embargo
on trade with Cuba. Or as Mr. Keys wonders: why
is what's good for China not good for Cuba?
The
New York Times.
|
January
19
FROM
CUBA
Imprisioned journalist Vázquez Portal hospitalized
The
ailing independent journalist and poet, serving
an 18-year jail sentence for crimes against state
security, has been transferred to the Ambrosio
Grillo Hospital.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Fine levied in Cuba against owner of home-made satellite
dish
Police
seized a home-made satellite television dish this
week and fined the owner 1,000 pesos, more than
the equivalent of four months' salary.
HAVANA |
FROM
CUBA
House burns to the ground as no one answers fire station
phone in Havana
A
wooden house burned to the ground this week in
the Cerro district of Havana when no one answered
the telephone at the fire station.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban police agent fatally shoots car occupant
The
occupant of a car whose passengers were involved
in a discussion with two police agents in another
car was shot and killed this week after being removed
from the vehicle.
HAVANA |
FROM
CUBA
Cuban rafters feel harassed by authorities
Five
returned rafters were arrested Friday and held for
several hours, accused of stealing a motorcycle
that later turned up without incident.
HAVANA |
FROM
CUBA
Limitations on Internet access for Cubans to become
more stringent
Cubans
not authorized by the government to use the Internet
who log on through their phones now run the risk
of losing their phone service, under new measures
taken by the government.
HAVANA |
Phones buzz with rumors of Castro's demise
Uncorroborated
rumors that Cuban President Fidel Castro had died
or suffered a stroke buzzed around Miami-Dade
County on Friday, with anxious callers inundating
police departments, media outlets and exile groups.
The
Miami Herald.
|
The Miami Herald
•
New travel rules make life easier for Cuban Americans
•
Planning on Cuba urgently needed, U.S. told
•
Officials warn of need to plan for social chaos
in a post-Castro Cuba
• Real Ché Guevara is still an enigma
• Patriarch to dedicate cathedral in Cuba
• Jailed Cubans will be heard |
Life after prison means facing fear daily
It's
a habit Bernardo Arévalo Padrón picked up in his
last year behind bars. To mark time, he crossed
off each remaining day in his six-year sentence
on a calendar that hung in the cell he shared
with 28 other prisoners
Sun-Sentinel,
Florida.
|
Librarians' deep concern over Cuba's move to restrict
Internet access
"While
the World Summit of the Information Society was
debating how best to improve access to information
using information technology, the Cuban government
was preparing a law that will further restrict Internet
access for its citizens", says the Chair of the
IFLA/FAIFE Committee Mr Paul Sturges.
IFLA.
|
January
15
FROM
CUBA
Imprisoned Cuban journalist placed in solitary confinement
for threatening a hunger strike
The
sister of independent journalist Fabio Prieto
Llorente says her brother remains in solitary
confinement as a result of threatening a hunger
strike to protest being kept with dangerous common
criminals.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Families of Cuban prisoners told to bring cleaning
supplies
An
official addressed family members in the visiting
room on January 8, according to María de los Angeles
Borrego, wife of political prisoner Jesús Adolfo
Reyes Sánchez .
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Thieves dressed as policemen carry out robberies in
Cuba
A
group of thieves dressed as policemen has been
carrying out home robberies in the municipality
of Antilla in Holguín province.
HOLGUIN
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban pacifist dissident threatened with job loss
Isidoro
Batista Pupo, activist in the Christian Liberation
Movement, was recently threatened with the loss
of his government job on the grounds he was a counter-revolutionary
and wasn't paying union dues.
HOLGUIN |
FROM
CUBA
State security's penetration of Cuban society all-pervasive,
says ex-agent
Groups
practicing religions of African origin are given
priority, said the ex-agent, adding that these groups
are infiltrated to a greater extent than even dissident
groups, because typically dissidents operate openly,
whereas African religious groups tend to operate
as secret societies.
HAVANA |
FROM
CUBA
Violence among youths on the rise in Cuban province
At
a recent meeting of the Provincial Assembly of the
Popular Power in Camagüey province, officials aired
a growing concern over the increase in violence
and criminality among the young, as well as related
developments involving youths who are neither working
nor in school and who engage in prostitution.
CAMAGÜEY
|
Cuba owes $891 million to Venezuela
Data
show that the island nation made no payment in
2003. Five oil shipments had not been registered
on Pdvsa's books by December.
El
Universal, Caracas.
|
Call to conscience: Library group is shamefully silent
on Cuba
The
American Library Association, officially pledged
to promote freedom of information and expression,
begins its midwinter meeting today in San Diego
shamefully silent on just that issue.
Union-Tribune,
CA.
|
Librarians group opposes crackdown in Cuba
The
organization has been debating what stance to take
on a spring 2003 crackdown by the Cuban government
that included the jailing of independent librarians.
Librarians, newspaper columnists and others have
criticized the American association for failing
to speak out on behalf of the jailed librarians.
Union-Tribune,
CA. |
Venezuelan President Travels to See Castro
Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez flew to Cuba Wednesday after
the Americas Summit in Mexico to meet with friend
and political ally Fidel Castro, state television
reported Wednesday night. The short report offered
no details about the encounter and it was unclear
how long Chavez planned to stay on the island.
NewsMax.com
. |
The Miami Herald
•
Forgotten photos recall Havana friendship
|
Yahoo! News
•
Bogota Mayor: Castro's Health Declining
|
External
links
|
14
migrants found on rafts near Dry Tortugas sent
back to Cuba
The Coast Guard on Thursday transported 14 Cuban
migrants back to their homeland while another
was sent to Guantanamo Bay for further questioning
by federal immigration officials.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
Students
buzzing about BVU course in Cuba
Whether internships, travel or special on-campus
classes, the January Interim period at Buena Vista
University offers students time for special opportunities
during the period between the first and second
semesters.
Sioux
City Journal, IA .
|
January
14
FROM
CUBA
Theft affects electric service in Santiago de Cuba
The
continued theft of supplies has had serious repercussions
in the level of service rendered by the electric
and telephone companies in Santiago de Cuba province.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Poor mail service irks Isle of Youth residents in
Cuba
Residents
of La Demajagua, a small town in the Isle of Youth,
complain that mail service has reached new lows
in quality of service and dependability.
NUEVA
GERONA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cubans will not need visas to travel to the island,
says official
A
high Cuban immigration department official announced
that shortly Cubans residing abroad will in most
cases, not need visas to travel to the island.
SANTA
CLARA
|
Prison guards brutally beat jailed Cuban journalist
Reporters
Without Borders has strongly condemned an assault
against a journalist who was brutally beaten by
prison guards in the provincial Guantánamo prison,
eastern Cuba, and urged the authorities to punish
his assailants and to protect prisoners from further
harm.
Reporters
Without Borders.
|
Yahoo! News
•
Cuba tightens controls on Internet use
|
Cuba: Further bans on freedom of expression
Amnesty
International today expressed concern at the impact
on freedom of expression and information of Cuba's
new law restricting internet access.
Amnesty
International . |
Country Gets Cuba Dons
Cuba
has offered five professors to teach technical
programmes at the 2-year old Kyambogo University
over the next two years, reports Geresom Musamali
AllAfrica.com.
|
External
links
|
Kansas
signs deal with largest food importer in Cuba
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed a nonbinding deal
with Cuba's largest food importer, which has agreed
to spend $10 million on Kansas agricultural products.
In return, the state will try to promote business
opportunities in the Cuban market and encourage
normalization of trade relations between the two
nations.
Dodge
City Daily Globe.
|
Castro
in Venezuela: what’s the score this time?
Revolutions don’t bend to organized fascist, elitist
and coup-mongering opposition groups, revolutions
don’t recourse to electoral challenges, and revolutions
don’t participate in the democratic game. How
can then be interpreted the recent visit -surrounded
by utmost secrecy- of Cuban dictator to his Venezuelan
protégé?
V
Crisis, Venezuela.
|
Make
it strictly business with Cuba
Had our state officials held their noses while
trying to persuade the regime of Fidel Castro
to buy agricultural goods from South Carolina,
they wouldn't have clinched the $10 million deal
announced in Havana on Thursday. But they shouldn't
forget that they are dealing with a ruthless dictatorship.
Charleston
Post Courier (subscription), SC.
|
Castro’s
Venezuelan Piracy
The flights from Havana go to ramp number 4 at
Maiquetia Airport 25 miles from downtown Caracas,
a ramp re-designated for military use by Venezuela’s
Marxist President Hugo Chavez and exempt from
the usual customs controls or inspections..
FrontPageMagazine.com.
|
Remarks
by President Bush at Inauguration Ceremony of
the Special Summit of the Americas
And through our democratic example, we must continue
to stand with the brave people of Cuba, who for
nearly half a century have endured the tyrannies
and repression. Dictatorship has no place in the
Americas. We must all work for a rapid, peaceful
transition to democracy in Cuba. Together we will
succeed, because the spirit of liberty still thrives,
even in the darkest corners of Castro's prisons.
The
White House.
|
Cuban
ports off-limits for Cape students
Between 1999 and 2002, college students on Sea
Education Association cruises stopped eight times
at Cuban ports, as allowed by licenses obtained
from the U.S. Treasury Department every year.
Cape
Cod Times, MA.
|
Survey
of Cuban music hits high note
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."
AZ
Central.com, United States.
|
January
12
FROM
CUBA
Government clamps down on the self-employed
By
strictly applying every statute and regulation
in the books, a number of government agencies
found more than 9,643 instances of illegal activity
in the latest two months, according to a report
by the National Taxation Office.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Open letter to U. S. farmers from independent Cuban
farmers' leader
The
president of the National Alliance of Independent
Cuban Farmers, Antonio Alonso, wrote this letter
to U. S. farmers, explaining the situation faced
by Cuban farmers, whom the government prevents
from freely planting and selling their produce.
SANTIAGO
DE CUBA
|
FROM
CUBA
Two men exchange gunfire with police in Havana
Early
Wednesday morning residents in the neighborhood
of 23 Street between D and E Streets, in the upscale
Vedado district of Havana, woke up to the sound
of gunfire.
PINAR
DEL RÍO
|
Cuba tightens its control over internet
Cuba's
communist government already heavily controls
access to the Internet. Cubans must have government
permission to use the Web legally and most don't,
although many can access international e-mail
and a more limited government-controlled intranet
at government jobs and schools
Yahoo!
News .
|
The Miami Herald
•
Claims of drug ties in envoy's expulsion rejected
•
Trip to Cuba turns into movie
|
Yahoo! News
•
US scolds Venezuela's Chavez on Cuba, recall
•
Cuba Defends Diplomat Expelled From U.S.
•
Jimmy Rankin in Cuba to shoot music videos
|
Cuban volleyball player stays behind in Puerto Rico
Cuban
volleyball player Yosleider Cala didn't board
a plane with his teammates to return to Cuba after
an Olympic qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico,
an official said.
Puerto
Rico Wow.
|
Cuba's Castro censors cameraphones
A
British couple on a Caribbean cruise tried to take
their cameraphone ashore when their liner docked
at Havana in Cuba. However, once the customs officials
spotted that they were carrying a cameraphone, they
were strongly advised to take the device back to
their cabin and swap it for an ordinary (digital)
camera.
The
Inquirer. |
Florida resident serving prison term in Cuba sends
letter
On July 2, 1999, I was intercepted in the East
Coast of Havana by members of the Cuban political
police, while attempting to pick up my family
and bring them with me to the United States. My
family never arrived at the rendezvous point and
later I learned that the Cuban political police
had my family arrested 4 hours before I reached
the Cuban shore.
Information
Bridge Cuba Miami.
|
Visitors to Cuba should take care to be discreet
Two
Cubans were waiting for us in a 1952 Dodge at the
appointed time. The driver opened the trunk, and
his partner hopped in. The driver then shut the
trunk. This seemed odd. The six of us piled in the
car with the driver, and away we went, finally stopping
on a dirt road outside a house that looked very
unlike a restaurant.
The
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO. |
Up close with Castro
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, who found Castro to be "disarming
and sincere," was accompanied on the visit by Commissioner
of Agriculture Charles R. Sharpe, state Rep. Chip
Limehouse and executives of Maybank Shipping.
Charleston
Post Courier, SC. |
Finding Cuban refugees at sea barely rocks the boat
The
bellyflop contest had ended and the jackpot snowball
bingo game had yet to begin when someone spotted
a gray speck, off to starboard, in the middle of
the Caribbean Sea. "Maybe it's a dolphin,'' said
a woman in a rhinestone-studded T-shirt.
San
Francisco Chronicle, CA. |
External
links
|
Cuba cracks
down on internet use
A new law has been passed in Cuba which will make
access to the internet more difficult for Cubans.
Only those authorized to use the internet from
home like civil servants, party officials and
doctors will be able to do so on a regular phone
line. The bill says the state telephone company
Etecsa will use technical means to detect and
impede access. Cuba's licensed internet terminals
are meant only for tourists.
BBC,
UK .
|
Sebelius
signs trade pact with Cuba
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has signed a joint communique
with Cuba's largest food importer, hoping to increase
trade between Kansas companies and the island
country. Under the deal, the Empresa Comercializadora
de Alimentos, also known as Alimport, will spend
$10 million on Kansas agricultural products.
Lawrence
Journal World, K.
|
Duvall
and Spielberg clash over Cuba visit
Spielberg issued his response yesterday. A spokesman
said in a statement that the trip to Cuba was
authorised by the US government as part of a cultural
exchange programme. His trip to Cuba in 2002 was
cultural, not political," said the statement.
Guardian,
UK.
|
Texas
firms jump into Cuba business
As 2003 drew to a close, Texas began to grab some
agricultural trade with Cuba just as the Bush
administration clamped down on travel there. In
the two years since Congress has allowed American
farmers to export to the socialist nation, $328
million in U.S. beans, rice, chicken and other
goods have sold to Alimport, Havana's food-buying
agency.
San
Antonio Express, TX.
|
An
aching daughter of the Cuban revolution
The pain and loneliness of exile -- surely a cornerstone
of Cuban American fiction -- permeates this poetic,
fragmentary first novel by Ana Menéndez, a former
journalist born in Los Angeles to Cuban emigres
and the author of a well-received book of short
stories ("In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd,'' 2001).
San
Francisco Chronicle, CA.
|
Cuban
surfboard crisis: Surfing is no easy bag in socialist
Cuba. But then few good things are.
Like everybody else in this country of 11 million
who have learned to live with food and gas rations,
Cuban surfers have learned to make do and do without.
Santa
Cruz Sentinel, CA.
|
January
8
FROM
CUBA
Four baseball players banned for life, probably because
they were caught trying to flee
The
National Baseball Commission announced on Television
Sunday the sanctions against Kendry Morales, a
20-year-old switch hitter who was batting .350,
catcher Barbaro Cañizares, right-hand pitcher
José Ibar and Juan Miguel Abat, whose position
was not given.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Two political prisoners accused of trying to foment
a riot
Two
residents of South Florida currently serving 30-year
prison sentences have been accused of trying to
foment a riot in the Aguica prison in Matanzas
province.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello has serous health problems
Reports
from the Carlos J. Finlay military hospital say
that dissident Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, serving
a 20-year prison sentence, is facing serious health
problems.
PINAR
DEL RÍO
|
The Miami Herald
•
Migration talks canceled
•
Why talks were canceled
•
South Carolina trade delegation in Cuba
|
Yahoo! News
•
Cuba and US at loggerheads over immigration talks
|
External
links
|
U.S.
Halts Cuban Immigration Talks; Worsening of Ties
Seen
Richard A. Boucher, the State Department spokesman,
said the United States had repeatedly sought in
recent years to address issues related to exit
visas, monitoring of dissidents and other matters,
only to be rebuffed by Cuban officials.
The
New York Times.
|
Actor
slates Spielberg Cuba trip
Duvall said he would never work for Spielberg's
film studio again Actor Robert Duvall has criticised
director Steven Spielberg on US TV for visiting
Cuban president Fidel Castro.
BBC,
UK.
|
Open
Up Travel to Cuba
Fred Burks could have lied, like the more than
20,000 Americans who annually engage in unauthorized
travel to Cuba. He didn't, and his trouble hasn't
stopped.
Los
Angeles Times (subscription), CA.
|
Argentina
and US row over Cuba
Diplomatic relations between Argentina and the
US deteriorated into mudslinging yesterday after
Washington said the country's left-leaning government
was too soft on communist-run Cuba.
Guardian,
UK.
|
Mankato
lawyer visits Cuba to promote economic exchange
Experts say in the future American business dealings
with Cuba will grow substantially. And if the
American Bar Association has its way, there'll
be plenty of lawyers around to make sure it all
goes well.
Mankato
Free Press, MN.
|
Castro
has hairy question for producer Brian Grazer
He managed an audience with the dictator himself,
Fidel Castro. After a three-hour session with
Fidel - with Castro doing the majority of the
talking via a translator - Grazer was honored
with one burning question from the leader: "How
do you get your hair to do that?
SunSpot.net.
|
January
7
FROM
CUBA
Cuban government trucking concern takes measures to
prevent theft
The
government trucking company in the central Cuban
province of Villa Clara has been training its
drivers to spot attempts at pilferage and other
illegal diversions of their loads.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Handicapped seat ordered out of Havana buses
The
closest anyone can come is a widely-circulated
rumor that a high ministry official, some say
the minister himself, learned of a conductor who
would use the seat whenever there were no handicapped
users on board, and ordered the man fired and
the seats removed from the fleet.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Authorities in Cuba take measures to increase horse
stocks
Local
authorities in Batabanó, a coastal town south
of Havana, have forbidden the use of mares for
pulling carts in order the foster an increase
in depleted horse stocks. The mares are henceforth
reserved for breeding.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Bus stops don't have up-to-date signs in Cuba
At
least 1,564 bus stops in Havana either don't have
the appropriate signs or the signs that are there
are not up to date, says a report from the office
of traffic regulation.
HAVANA
|
Yahoo! News
•
US says Cuba to blame for cancellation of immigration
talks
•
Cuba Says U.S. Suspends Migration Talks
•
Argentina enraged by US comments on Cuba policy
|
The Miami Herald
•
Eight
Cubans repatriated to Cuba after being rescued
by a cruise ship
|
State Department Briefing about Cuba
We
have told Cuba that we're ready to go to talks when
they're ready to discuss the serious issues that
need to be discussed. Unfortunately, the Cubans
have continued to refuse to discuss the issues that
we've identified..
xxxxxxxxxxx.
|
In Cuba's Gulag
Cuban
dissident Oscar Elías Biscet's offense was to
openly advocate for human rights in Cuba. For
that he is serving a 25-year prison term in sub-human
conditions. The real crime here is how Cuba's
dictatorship is torturing Dr. Biscet for his nonviolent
opposition to its barbaric regime.
The
Miami Herald
|
Communist Memorial Museum: A Monument to Murder
When
you leave Washington, D.C.'s Holocaust Museum, you
leave sick, heartbroken and burdened with the atrocities
of Nazism. It's time we had a building that evoked
similar feelings from communism.
Radley
Balko, CapitalismMagazine.com.. |
External
links
|
Duvall's
directing fire at Spielberg
Steven Spielberg is E.T. - extra-testy - at actor
Robert Duvall for claiming he has grown too cozy
with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Duvall has said
the director was "very presumptuous" to visit
Cuba in 2002.
Daily
News, NY.
|
Reflecting
Cuban life
Not a word is spoken by the main characters in
Fernando Perez's stunning new film "Suite Habana."
But the movie, which won top prize in the fiction
category at the 25th annual Havana film festival
in December and played to large crowds, speaks
volumes about the gritty and arduous life of this
city's 2.2 million residents.
Chicago
Tribune.
|
GlobalNet
Announces Exclusive Telephony Contract for Cuba
GlobalNet Corporation (OTCBB:GLBT) announced today
that it has been awarded an exclusive contract
for worldwide termination of voice and data mobile
satellite telecommunications traffic originating
in Cuba. The announcement comes on the heels of
one made on Monday disclosing that it had received
a coveted contract to service Iraq and another
announcement just two weeks earlier confirming
that GlobalNet had received the rights to service
Libya..
Tampa
Bay Online.
|
Just
get the message to Garcia
In preparation for a U.S. invasion of Cuba, a
young lawyer named Garcia had organized an army
of Cuban patriots that would support the U.S.
troops. President William McKinley needed to get
a hand-carried message to the young leader and
receive his assurance that the invasion could
begin. The message was crucial message because
despite all the prewar planning, success rested
not on the plan but on the execution of the plan.
Star
Tribune Online, MN.
|
January
6
FROM
CUBA
Steep fines levied in Cuba on private produce vendors
Inspectors
of the National Taxation Office levied steep fines,
which some called prohibitive, on more than 30
self-employed produce vendors at the Camagüey
agricultural markets.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Havana for sale
In
the next to last day of 2003, thousands of Havana
denizens poured into the streets as if answering
the call of a bell. Most were selling something,
in spite of police hostility. Main thoroughfares,
such as Galiano, Monte, and Neptuno, seemed to
have been taken by storm.
HAVANA
|
The Miami Herald
•
U.S. cites angst over Venezuela-Cuba ties
•
Cruise ship rescues Cubans
|
Yahoo! News
•
U.S. Official: Castro 'Playing With Fire'
•
U.S. Wary of Cuba's Support for Leftists
•
Tampa Bay signs Cuba's Baez
|
2003, a black year
In
Latin America, press freedom violations remained
relatively stable in contrast with 2002, with
the notorious exception of Cuba where the leading
figures of the independent press have been imprisoned.
Reporters
Without Borders.
|
Europe and the world's Left at last alienate Castro
First
of all, the obligatory medical update. As far as
we know, Fidel Castro is a walking catalog of geriatric
ailments, meticulously detailed by castropathologists
who are always on stand-by for his ''biological
inevitability''.
Carlos
Alberto Montaner, The Miami Herald |
External
links
|
Time
to end dangerous Cuba naivete
But agreeing to trade with Cuba comes with acquiescing
to things that most Canadians would never accept
for themselves. For example, agencies of the Cuban
government provide almost all the workers for
joint ventures in the country. The state then
keeps roughly 95% of what the joint venture companies
pay those workers, and the Cuban government pays
employees less than $30 per month and keeps the
rest.
National
Post, Canada.
|
No
6: Heady atmosphere of cars and cigars in Cuba
The throb of big-finned American cars hangs in
the air and mingles with the smoke from my cigar.
It is dusk. The street is loaded with warmth,
dust and stickiness. A narrow street of Spanish
colonial buildings with peeling paint and intricate
balustrades relaxes as night time creeps in.
New
Zealand Herald, New Zealand.
|
January
5
State Department Expels Cuban Diplomat
The
expulsion of Roberto Socorro Garcia, a third secretary
at the Cuban mission in Washington, was carried
out last month without announcement. Officials
at the Cuban mission did not immediately respond
to messages seeking comment.
Yahoo!
News
|
The Miami Herald
•
Cuba unafraid of U.S. beef, official writes
•
Is Cuban singer Lucrecia the next Celia?
|
A socialist system turned to anguish
Below
are quotes from Cubans in exile and on the island
from the Jan. 1 El Nuevo Herald article, The tally
on 45 years of the Cuban Revolution, by El Nuevo
Herald staff writer Wilfredo Cancio Isla.
The
Miami Herald.
|
In danger life of incarcerated Cuban physician Dr.
Oscar E. Biscet
Cuban
prisoner of conscience, Dr. Oscar E. Biscet Gonzalez,
who is serving a 25 year prison sentence, continues
confined with a common criminal in a cell with
no windows or light which he described as a "dungeon",
for refusing to stand up to acknowledge the presence
of prison guards and officials.
Coalition
of Cuban-American Women.
|
External
links
|
President's
Interpreter in Fight on Cuba Ban
Two months ago, Fred Burks sat at the side of
George W. Bush, serving as the president's trusted
interpreter during a whirlwind visit to the Indonesian
island of Bali. Today, he's locked in a testy
fight with the Bush administration over a trip
he took four years ago to Cuba.
Los
Angeles Times (subscription), CA.
|
Gulfport,
Pascagoula ports call Cuba trip a success
Officials from the ports of Gulfport and Pascagoula
felt they got what they expected out of their
recent trip to Cuba.
Biloxi
Sun Herald, MS.
|
Help
for twins' parents remains stalled in Cuba
Beatriz Alvarez gave birth to twins on New Year's
Day, and the new mom was hoping her own mother
would come to New Brunswick from Cuba to help
care for the babies for a few months. But despite
letters from Alvarez's doctor and her congressman,
as well as a bit of intervention from Greek and
Swiss officials, the grandmother must stay home.
Alvarez's mother, a physical therapist in Cuba,
has been denied a visa to visit the United States.
New
Brunswick Home News Tribune, NJ.
|
A Visit With Castro
What, one wonders, is keeping it all alive? Is
it the patriotic love of Cubans, conformist or
dissident, for their country, or is it the stuck-in-cement
manic hatred of US politicians, whose embargo
quite simply gives Castro an insurance policy
against needed change, injecting the energy of
rightful defiance into the people?
Arthur
Miller / The Nation Magazine .
|
Fidel
Castro Ate Here, but Now It's a Piece of Bronx
History
Jimmy's Bronx Cafe, which drew everyone from Yankee
stars to Bronx politicos to Fidel Castro, closed
its doors for good on New Year's Eve after a decade
of salsa-inflected evenings..
The
New York Times.
|
January
2
Cuba's Castro Marking 45 Years in Power
While
Castro's communist government celebrates its survival
and exhorts its people to unity, a potent dissident
movement still bubbles beneath the surface - even
after the roundup that jailed 75 independent journalists,
opposition party leaders and other activists in
March.
Yahoo!
News
|
Castro's tale one of survival and struggle in 2003
Castro's
tale one of survival and struggle in 2003 Castro
loyalists kept the economy growing despite fierce
U.S. opposition. But many Cubans say they are
tired of their government.
Tracey
Eaton, The Dallas Morning News
|
External
links
|
A
New Year's wish for Cuba
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
A living example of this is Fidel Castro, who
on New Year's Day completed 45 years as absolute
dictator of Cuba.
Charleston
Post Courier (subscription), SC.
|
Cuban
base has American flavor
The 76-year-old Butler is one of five Cubans still
working at Guantanamo Bay more than four decades
after Washington severed diplomatic relations
with the government of Fidel Castro.
The
Morning Call.
|
Castro
reloaded
The counter-revolution may not be kicking in Cuba,
but it is alive. In a rather embarrassing moment
for the regime lorded... sorry, 'comraded'… over
by President-for-Life Fidel Castro, the official
newspaper of the Communist Party, Granma, ran
a front-page photograph of the president sporting
what appears to be an Adolf Hitler moustache.
HindustanTimes.com.
|
Cuban
leader sees invasion risk as 'real'
Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon,
dismissing U.S. charges that Cuba is developing
weapons of mass destruction as the words of a
"liar," says Bush administration policies have
made the risk of U.S. invasion "a real, present
danger for us.".
The
Washington Times.
|
Cuban
Master Mines Local Talent
You can start to take the virtuosity of Cuban
musicians for granted sometimes, especially when
they're playing material that binds itself in
technique. One example is Chucho Valdes, the pianist
who is the dean of Latin jazz..
The
New York Times.
|
'Sexual
tourism' linked to health risk
If Cuba's beaches are a magnet for men seeking
the four Ss, they are especially attractive to
aging Quebec women looking for eligible men. Some
return in subsequent years - and arrange in advance
for gigolo services.
'Montreal
Gazette, Canada.
|
|
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