 |
|
|
May
28
FROM
CUBA
Government
bars church from giving away medicines
The sign at the door of
La Pastora church, in Santa Clara, reads: "After
June 1, no more medicines will be donated since
the church is not authorized to provide that service."
HAVANA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Chief
of national police out
National police chief Colonel
Ramón Rodríguez was removed from his command on
orders from the Interior Ministry and General
Pascual Rodríguez (no relation) named to replace
him.
HAVANA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Dissident
held for 18 days after visit to U. S. diplomatic
office
Two agents of the Department
of State Security arrested Niurkis Padrón as she
was leaving the U. S. Interests Section in Havana
and, after confiscating some books, magazines
and brochures she had received at the diplomatic
office, held her for 18 days at State Security
headquarters.
HAVANA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Seven
prescriptions and not one filled
Dr. Dulce Leonor Torres
slapped her hand to her forehead; she had just
written seven prescriptions for an older patient
and not one had been filled: the medicines were
not available in the pharmacy.
HAVANA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Art
student expelled for anti-government poster
Officials at the Art Teachers'
School in Villa Clara expelled a 16-year-old student
for producing a poster in which could be read
in big, bold letters, Down with Fidel. Observers
say the whole affair has been handled very quietly.
SANTA
CLARA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
More
than 11,000 boxes of counterfeit cigars confiscated
National police and Customs
inspectors said they had confiscated 11,935 boxes
of counterfeit cigars and closed more than 150
underground factories in a series of raids.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Police
investigate fire at tourist attraction
NPolice and officers from
the Technical Investigations Department cordoned
off a tourist attraction on the outskirts of Morón
May 19 after an early morning fire caused thousands
of dollars worth of damage.
CIEGO
DE ÁVILA |
|
Yahoo! News
•
Cuba, Mexico Decide to Return Ambassadors
•
Latin American, European Leaders Meet
•
Catholic Bishops Decry Cuban Price Hikes
|
|
The Miami Herald
•
Mexico, Cuba end diplomatic controversy
•
Cuban-American reggae man on a musical mission
•
Castro won't attend European-Latin American summit
|
Venezuela,
Cuba rooting for Mexico City mayor
Venezuela and Cuba seem to
be openly campaigning for Mexico City's leftist
mayor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the front-runner
in Mexico's 2006 presidential race. Yet Mexican
nationalists who normally jump in anger when other
countries interfere in Mexico's internal affairs
are notoriously mute on this occasion.
Andres
Oppenheimer, The Miami Herald. |
|
External
links
|
|
Plantation
United touches Cuba
Plantation United Methodist Church is reaching
across the ocean to share prayer and faith with
Cuba. Four members recently returned from a six-day
trip to Cuba, where they visited La Iglesia Metodista
del Consolacion del Sur. Plantaton United Methodist
adopted the church about a year ago and has been
swapping e-mails and prayer ever since.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
|
Breathtaking images recall a Cuba of wealth,
style and grace
"The
people in Cuba are so proud of their patrimony
that they are more willing to share that part
of their material culture," he said in an interview
on a recent trip to South Florida. Connors was
here to promote his new book, Cuban Elegance,
and to speak at the Institute for Cuban-American
Studies at the University of Miami.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
|
May
25
FROM
CUBA
Price
increases announced for dollar stores
The Cuban government has
finally specified the extent of the price increases
it proposed to impose in dollar stores after U.
S. president Bush announced new measures his government
would adopt regarding Cuba.
HAVANA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Price
increases announced for dollar stores
The Cuban government has
finally specified the extent of the price increases
it proposed to impose in dollar stores after U.
S. president Bush announced new measures his government
would adopt regarding Cuba.
HAVANA
|
|
Yahoo! News
•
Cuba's Dollar-Only Stores Reopen
•
Scores of Cuban emigres Meet With Castro
•
Dollar stores reopen; prices up
|
|
The Miami Herald
•
Chamber issues new report on Cuba business opportunities
•
Chinese-Cuban roots and thrifting prizes
|
Bush
administration is acting prudently
As foreign-policy initiatives
go, Bush's actions were logical, compassionate and
consistent with current law to deny Castro the dollars
he needs to finance his anti-American mischief around
the world and to maintain his oppressive control
over the Cuban people.
Frank
Calzon. The Miami Herald. |
Castro's
prisoners
Earlier this month in Havana,
Fidel Castro led hundreds of thousands of Cubans
in a demonstration against the "world tyranny" of
George W. Bush. Some protesters shouted "Long live
free Cuba! Fascist Bush!" and brandished posters
of the U.S. President with a Hitler mustache. Others
carried photos of the Iraqi prisoners abused by
U.S. jailers.
The
Globe and Mail, Canada. |
Escaped
from Cuba
A few weeks shy of his 18th
birthday, Alex Sanchez was fed up with communist
Cuba, fed up with its poverty, its despair, its
lack of a future. He had a friend who was planning
to cross the dangerous Florida Straits to freedom.
Ron
Musselman, Toledo Blade. |
In
Rift With Mexico, Cuba Is the Loser
Fidel Castro's verbal attacks
on Mexico, following Mexico's criticism of Cuba's
human rights record, threaten to isolate Havana
from the rest of Latin America as never before.
Louis Nevaer, Pacific News Service |
|
External
links
|
|
Bush
panders for votes while hurting Cubans
While
the media have been focused on the atrocities
inside Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the Bush administration
has embarked on another counterproductive, expensive
and irrational foreign policy initiative. The
president announced two weeks ago that he planned
to further tighten the U.S. embargo of Cuba.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
|
Cuban
émigrés criticize Bush at conference
Billed as a bridge-building event between Fidel
Castro's government and Cuban émigrés abroad,
the third Nation and Emigration conference ended
Sunday much the way it began, with participants
shouting pro Cuba slogans and a consensus among
most that the U.S. trade and travel embargo is
the foremost obstacle to reconciliation between
émigrés and the Cuban government.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
|
Aiming
at Castro, hitting Cubans
There are shortages of most everything in Cuba,
except absurdity and political hyperbole -- which
admittedly are difficult to tell apart. Relations
with the United States would seem to be nearing
an all-time low, but there have been so many bottoms
during the past 40 years that no one can find
the baseline to say for sure.
Palm
Beach Post. FL.
|
|
Cuba re-opens
hard-currency shops
Cuban shoppers are quietly returning to the department
stores and clothes shops that have been off-limits
for two weeks. There's no evidence of any rush
to buy things, instead many people seem to be
milling around, keen to find out just how much
prices have gone up.
BBC,
UK.
|
|
May
21
FROM
CUBA
Shop
windows smashed overnight in apparent protest
in Cuba
After the government announced
Monday night that dollar stores in the island
would curtail their sales, someone smashed the
display windows of one such store in Guanabacoa's
main drag and painted anti-government slogans
on the walls.
HAVANA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Dollar
stores appear deserted in Santa Clara
A week after the Cuban government
announced measures it implemented as a reaction
to U. S. policy changes regarding its dealings
with the island, dollar stores in Santa Clara
remain mostly closed, and the few that are open
are selling only food and personal hygiene items.
HAVANA
|
Cuban
activists 'held at US base'
Thirty Cuban dissidents
are being held by US authorities at the Guantanamo
Bay naval base, a Cuban exile leader says. The head
of the Miami-based Democracy Movement, Ramon Saul
Sanchez, told the BBC the dissidents fled Cuba last
year after the arrest of 75 activists.
BBC,
UK. |
|
The Miami Herald
•
Dollar-store prices go up
•
CANF: Cuba's liberty lies with activists
•
I'll keep heat on Castro, president says
•
Citing ties to Cuba, U.S. bars resort execs
|
|
Yahoo! News
•
Bush lashes Castro, lawmakers seek sanctions curb
•
Cuban Dollar Stores Asked to Raise Prices
•
U.S. to deny visas for resort chain execs
•
Immigrations officials can deport accused Cuban
spy
|
To
free Cuba, support Venezuelan referendum
The best way to hasten democracy
in Cuba is not by increasing ineffective economic
sanctions. It's by helping Venezuela to regain its
own democracy, which is being stolen bit by bit
by Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's increasingly dictatorial
president.
Diego
E. Arria, The Miami Herald. |
Principles
for an Effective Cuba Policy
Castro is a dictator who denies
his people fundamental political and civil liberties.
Those who clamor for change on the island report
losing their jobs and access to goods and services.
They are ostracized by their neighbors - under pressure
from Castro's local watchdogs - and do not know
whom they can trust.
Center for American Progress. |
Noted
historian recaptures past as Cuban boy
After Fidel Castro took control
of Cuba, thousands of middle- and upper-class parents
in that country sent their children to the United
States. The mass migration became known as Operation
Pedro Pan, or the Peter Pan Airlift. Carlos Eire
was one of the children, arriving in the United
States in 1962, at age 11.
The
Charlotte Observer. |
Rift
burdens those who love U.S., Cuba
This month, the Bush administration's
new group - the Commission for Assistance to a Free
Cuba - issued its first report. The report is a
500-page treatise on how the United States will
continue ratcheting up controls on Cuba.
Mary
Sanchez, Kansas City Star. |
|
External
links
|
|
Conference
casts eye to the future
At a Cuban government sponsored conference that
starts today in Havana, about 200 invited émigrés
from South Florida and other Cuban communities
around the world are expected to raise these issues
and others as part of their ongoing efforts for
reconciliation and normalized relations with Cuba.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
|
200
protest in Miami about tougher travel restrictions
to Cuba
On the 102nd anniversary of Cuban Independence
Day on Thursday, groups in Washington and South
Florida expressed strong opposition to new restrictions
on travel and other transactions the Bush administration
says will spur a democratic transition in Cuba.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
|
Cuba's
debts
All the antsy businessmen who think they are going
to hit it big if they invest early should take
note: Castro owes billions and no one's getting
paid. Thanks to the United States embargo on Cuba
that forbids giving Castro credit, we're not in
that long line of creditors.
The
Chicago Tribune, IL.
|
|
Mexico's
Castaneda on Election Platform, Cuba: Charlie
Rose Listen
Former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda
talks with Charlie Rose in New York about the
most important issues his country faces, world
opinion of the U.S.-led war in Iraq and Mexico's
relationship with Cuba and its President Fidel
Castro. Castaneda is running for president in
Mexico's 2006 election. ("Charlie Rose" airs weeknights
on PBS.)
Bloomberg.
|
|
Cuba: Cooperation
On Artistic Training Reinforced
Angola and Cuba might cooperate, soon, in the
setting up of a sub-system on artistic training,
affirmed recently, in Havana, the Angolan Vice-minister
of Culture, Andre Mingas.
AllAfrica.com.
|
|
Cuba: Ambassador
Hands Over Credential Letter to Consul
The Angolan Ambassador to the Republic of Cuba,
Antonio Condesse de Carvalho "Toka", handed over
recently, the credential letters to the newly-appointed
Angolan consul to the Republic of Panama, Carlos
Gonzalez Martinez.
AllAfrica.com.
|
|
McAuliffe
statement on Cuban Independence Day
Washington, D.C.- Democratic National Committee
(DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe issued the following
statement in honor of Cuban Independence Day.
The
Democratic Party .
|
|
Tough,
Empty Cuba Policy
Talking tough to Fidel Castro usually pays off
with votes in Florida, even if it doesn't move
Castro or help forge a viable U.S.-Cuba policy.
Hence President Bush's latest Cuban initiative,
which amounts to little more than election-year
pandering.
L.A.
Times.
|
|
May
19
FROM
CUBA
Cuban
high school student stabs, kills, teacher in school
A 16-year-old 11th grade
student stabbed a teacher at the "Luis Artemio
Carbó" secondary school in Sagua de Tánamo, in
Holguín province April 30. The teacher died from
his wounds a short time later.
HOLGUÍN
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Crisis
climate in Cuba becomes more acute
A week after the government
decreed changes in the way dollar stores, in many
ways the lifeline of Cuban consumers, operate,
the prevailing mood is still uncertainty.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Grocery
employees unhappy about neglect
Employees of the "El Bodegón"
grocery store, in the Mazorra neighborhood of the
city say they are upset about the authorities' disregard
for their petition to repair the building where
they work.
HAVANA |
|
Yahoo! News
•
US deplores sentencing of three Cuban dissidents
•
Three dissidents sentenced in Cuba
•
Fidel Castro can live to 140, doctor says
|
"Humanities
in Cuba" Program Ignores Artist Persecution
wonder if part of the humanities
segment of the week in Cuba covers an inclusive
study of the many ways in which the Cuban government
violates all 31 articles of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights.
Tanya
S. Wilder. NewsMax.com. |
Would
Kerry shove Castro, or embrace him?
For the past 15 years, the
Cuban intelligence services have learned to associate
with European and Latin American investors and have
welcomed literally millions of Canadian, German,
Spanish and Italian tourists, without modifying
a single basic aspect of the communist model.
Carlos
Alberto Montaner, The Miami Herald. |
|
External
links
|
|
U.S.
restrictions to curb attendance at talks in Cuba
At a time when the U.S. government is imposing
tougher travel restrictions on Cuban-Americans,
Cuban officials say they are trying to normalize
relations with émigrés .
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
|
SA trio discharged
from Cuba hospital
Three South African medical students injured in
a car accident in Cuba have been discharged from
hospital, the North West health department said
on Tuesday.
AllAfrica.com,
SA.
|
|
Cuba
travel limit stirs anger, fear
Many Cuban- Americans worry that newly enacted
travel restrictions will make their families suffer
even more.
St.
Petersburg Times, FL.
|
|
Cuba
lends a helping hand for Palestinians.
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno
travelled all the way here to lend a helping hand
to the Palestinian cause, despite his country's
mounting problems with the United States.
The
Star, Malaysia.
|
|
May
17
FROM
CUBA
Closing
of dollar stores engenders uncertainty in the
population
The sudden and unexpected
closing of the dollar stores this week and the
prohibition on sales of all but food and personal
hygiene products engendered uncertainty among
the population, who responded by lining up outside
the stores to buy what they could while they still
could.
HOLGUÍN
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Plebiscite
What would have happened
if at the time of the great parade there had been
a flotilla of American ships off the coast? Or
if there had been a rumor that the American Interests
Section and accredited embassies in the city had
announced they were opening their doors to give
out free of charge immigrant visas?
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Leaning
post causes dissension among neighbors
Residents of Sofía Street,
in the Párraga neighborhood of Havana, spent months
feuding over a leaning light pole that threatened
to fall on one of their houses until they decided
to pool their resources and solve a simple problem
the electric company refused to take care of.
HAVANA |
|
FROM
CUBA
Parents
barred from primary school
School administrators barred
parents from the "Carlos Gutiérrez Menoyo" primary
school in the Havana suburb of Arroyo Naranjo,
ostensibly as a result of the theft of a VCR from
the principal's office.
HAVANA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Dollar
stores reopen under tight security
After the government's announcement
that the prices of some products would increase
and the sale of others would be restricted provoked
a general feeling of uncertainty, long lines of
would-be consumers waited for dollar stores to
reopen in the midst of an increased military and
police presence in the streets.
HAVANA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Sugar
cane harvest will not achieve goals, says expert
The expected growth in sugar
production will not be achieved this coming year,
said a sugar specialist who asked to remain unnamed.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Government
calls for "People's March" at U. S. Interests Section
Previous marches have been
organized by labor unions and Committees for the
Defense of the Revolution, the neighborhood watch
organizations, who mobilize hundreds of thousands
of people as ordered.
HAVANA |
FROM
CUBA
Dollar
stores closed "until further notice" in Ciego de
Ávila
The sign on the door of the
TRD store in Morón was very clear. The other dollar
stores in the city also did not open at nine, their
accustomed time.
MORON |
FROM
CUBA
The
street reacts to government measures
The street reacts to government
measuresMost people agreed the one with the most
impact was the restriction of sales in the dollar
stores across the island to foodstuffs and products
for personal hygiene.
HAVANA |
FROM
CUBA
No
sutures in Havana hospitals
A seven-year-old girl hurt
her foot last Sunday and, after finding there was
no suture material available to stitch her wound,
her parents decided to make do at home.
HAVANA |
FROM
CUBA
Judge
imposes limitations on the freedom of González Leiva
Recently released prisoner
of conscience, Juan Carlos González Leiva, was officially
summoned to appear Monday, May 10th before the sentencing
judge to be informed of "the restrictions that he
must exercise concerning his social and work behavior
and, the obligations he must observe" according
to what appears in the order of the court, before
the sentencing judge.
HAVANA |
They
take the risks to tell Cuba's story
More than a dozen new writers
and reporters have begun work in recent months despite
the government's imprisonment of 26 journalists
last spring, said a senior U.S. official in Havana.
"They're not only courageous, they're good journalists,"
he said.
Tracey
Eaton / The Dallas Morning News |
The Miami Herald
•
Anti-Castro pilots' kin meet
•
Castro leads a protest denouncing embargo
•
U.S. moves to deport Cuban
•
Dollar stores to reopen in Cuba
•
Few may attend migration talks |
|
Yahoo! News
•
Company anti-theft effort pulls plug on TV in
Cuba
|
The Information Bridge Cuba Miami
•
Normando
Hernández González brutally beaten in prison
•
Political prisoner sent to punishment cell for having
a magazine in his cell |
S.
Florida children send money, hope to families of
Cuban dissidents
In neat cursive handwriting,
16-year-old Jennifer Valle made her best attempt
to comfort the children of a man who was reportedly
dying because he'd stopped eating to protest being
imprisoned for two years in Cuba without a trial.
The
Sun-Sentinel. |
EU
Condemns Conviction of Cuban Dissidents
The European Union has
strongly condemned the recent convictions and sentencings
of 13 human rights dissidents and journalists by
the Cuban government.
VOA News |
|
May
12
FROM
CUBA
Cuban
political prisoner offers to trade sentences with
Martha Beatriz Roque
A political prisoner serving
a sentence of six years and 10 months has offered
to assume the sentence of ailing dissident Martha
Beatriz Roque if it could lead to an earlier release
for her.
SANTA CLARA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban
government criticizes limited visits by exiles
Government participants
in the "Mesa Redonda" television program say that
Washington's decision to limit visits by Cuban
exiles to one every three years is an attack on
the Cuban family.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuban
independent journalist confined to home on Mother's
Day
Díaz said she believes the
action was taken against her to prevent her attendance
at a Sunday Mass in the Saint Rita Church along
with the Ladies in White, the name given to women
whose dissident husbands are imprisoned.
HAVANA |
Dissident
study calls Cuban prisons 'tropical gulag'
Cuba has 100,000 prisoners
behind bars, though just 4,000 were imprisoned before
Fidel Castro came to power 45 years ago, according
to what dissidents call the first study of the "tropical
gulag."
Yahoo! |
|
Information Bridge Cuba Miami
•
Medical attention denied to political prisoner
•
Political police arrested members of the opposition
|
|
Yahoo! News
•
Cuba Stunned As Dollar-Only Stores Close
•
Cash-strapped Cuba counters tighter US sanctions
with more austerity measures
•
Cuba Freezes Most Sales at Dollar Stores
|
|
The Miami Herald
•
Use of dollars cut back, Castro government says
•
Policy on Cuba will cost Bush votes, group warns
|
Abusive,
meddling neighbor
Castro has insulted Mexico
and Peru and both countries have recalled their
ambassadors from Cuba as a sign of protest. Why
did Castro insult them? Because the two nations,
along with almost all the other democracies on the
U.N. Human Rights Commission voted in favor of a
reasonable petition.
Carlos
Alberto Montaner, The Miami Herald. |
|
External
links
|
|
SA Students
Die in Cuba
The two students, Daniel Tinyiko Nkuna from Moretele,
Hammanskraal in the North West and Thulile Mbatha
from Vryheid in KwaZulu-Natal were part of the
309 South African students studying medicine in
Cuba, through a government-to-government agreement
with that country.
AllAfrica.com.
|
|
Flake
wants Bush to open Cuba to Americans
Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake says President Bush's
announcement Thursday that his administration
will seek to end the jamming of American radio
and TV broadcasts to Cuba carries "great potential"
to expose ordinary Cubans to democratic ideals
and independent news.
Arizona
Republic, AZ.
|
|
Cuba
working to snuff nation's tobacco habit
"They taste terrible. Even worse than that ugly
thing," she said, pointing to a dead gray mouse
next to her table at a Havana cafeteria.
Dallas
Morning News (subscription), TX.
|
|
Dreaming
of Cuba in an East Village Breeze
Rom around the world, immigrants come to New York
seeking new lives. As a glorious fringe benefit,
they replenish and infuse the New York restaurant
stew with all sorts of new flavors, direct from
home. But a few countries are left out of the
mix - Cuba, for example.
The
New York Times.
|
|
May
10
FROM
CUBA
Paroled
Cuban dissident told to report to court on Monday
Juan Carlos González Leiva,
paroled April 26 with 22 months of his sentence
remaining to be served, has been told to report
to the Ciego de Ávila municipal tribunal Monday
May 10.
HAVANA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Officer
threatens street vendors in Havana by waving a
pistol around
Guanabacoa police sector
chief Lázaro Smith recklessly waved his Russian-made
Makarov pistol threatening several street vendors
trying to peddle cigarettes, coffee, toothpaste,
and plastic bags, in the local park.
HAVANA
|
CUBA:
Imprisoned journalist on hunger strike
The Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the
health of imprisoned Cuban journalist Manuel Vázquez
Portal, who has been on a hunger strike since April
30 to protest prison conditions.
Committee
to Protect Journalists |
|
The Miami Herald
•
Powell aide blasts policy on Cuba
•
Chávez expanding influence of Cuban advisors
•
U.S. plan for Cuba called 'crazed'
•
Fox opposes U.S. on Cuba
•
Exiles' plane to symbolize Cuban thirst for freedom
•
Bush to tighten Cuba sanctions, seek new funds
|
|
Yahoo! News
•
Cuba takes aim at 'cruel' Bush plan to tighten
US sanctions
•
U.S. Seeks to Subvert Succession in Cuba
•
Pebercan's Q1 profit falls to US$2.6M from US$5.9M
as Cuba output slips
•
Federal Reserve Fines UBS $100 Million
•
Cuban dissidents slam US steps to topple Castro
|
The Information
Bridge Cuba Miami
•
New posters outsting Fidel appeared in Havana
•
3
members of the opposition arrested in 2002 were
tried and convicted in Havana |
Cuba's
cruel prisons
In a free country, journalist
Manuel Vázquez Portal wouldn't be in prison for
practicing his chosen profession. In totalitarian
Cuba, not only is he serving an 18-year term but
he has gone on a hunger strike to protest cruel
prison conditions. Concerned about his health, the
Committee to Protect Journalists advocacy group
rightly calls for his release.
The
Miami Herald. |
Report
on Cuba highlights the wrong issue
Judging from what I heard
in telephone interviews with key Cuban opposition
leaders on the island, I wonder whether President
Bush's newly released 500-page Cuba Commission report
will not do more harm than good for the cause of
hastening the end of Cuba's dictatorship.
Andres
Oppenheimer , The Miami Herald. |
Putting
together all the pieces of Cuban policy
Even before it was issued,
the Bush administration's report on Cuba policy
was dismissed by some as just another election-year
gimmick. South Florida's voters can't be blamed
for being skeptical, considering the long history
of inflated promises regarding Cuba that U.S. political
leaders from both major parties are inclined to
make during the campaign season.
The
Miami Herald. |
Mexico's
closer look at relations with Cuba
Mexico doesn't need an obsolete
dictator to hijack attention for himself at Mexico's
expense. Neither does any other Latin American democracy.
That's why it was appropriate and helpful for Mexico
to call the Cuban regime's game and downgrade diplomatic
relations with Havana -- and for Peru, Honduras
and Nicaragua also to reject regime antics last
week.
The
Miami Herald. |
Stone
discusses work on Fidel Castro
The director blamed the pulling
of "Comandante" from the HBO lineup on a "lynch-mob
mentality." "We react like sheep, like a nation
of sheep," he added. While some Americans see Castro
as a Stalinist dictator, Stone cautioned that "every
case is gray. It's not all black and white."
The
Daily Princetonian. |
|
External
links
|
|
Three
Dissidents Sentenced to Prison in Cuba
Three members of a small, illegal Cuban dissident
party have been sentenced to prison for four to
five years for taking part in a demonstration,
according to relatives and a local human rights
group.
1010
Wins, NY.
|
|
Bush
Proposes a Plan to Aid Opponents of Castro in
Cuba
President Bush announced a plan on Thursday to
use military aircraft to help American broadcasters
reach Cuba and to increase sharply the money for
Cuban critics of the government of President Fidel
Castro.
The
New York Times.
|
|
More
Cuba limits endorsed by Bush
President Bush yesterday endorsed a major package
of recommendations to support political dissidents
in Cuba, tighten the flow of money into the island
and prepare for the day when Fidel Castro's regime
is swept from power.
The
Washington Times.
|
|
As
Bush gets tougher on Cuba, groups worry about
impact on Jews
Richard Smith, who runs a website called www.jewishcuba.org,
said that Jewish humanitarian groups visiting
Cuba won't be seriously affected by the crackdown,
but elderly and infirm Cuban Jews who depend on
remittances will be.
Jewish
Telegraphic Agency.
|
|
Boat
stolen in Keys recovered as it speeds away from
Cuban coast
A boat stolen from a waterfront home in the Lower
Keys was recovered over the weekend as it sped
away from the Cuban coastline --leaving behind
a dead man's body -- the Monroe County Sheriff's
Office said on Monday.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
|
Bush
cuts back on Cuba visits, restricts cash and gifts
to families
Cuban-Americans will be allowed to visit relatives
in Cuba just once every three years under new
restrictions on travel to the island ordered by
President Bush on Thursday.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
|
Cuba
policy report elicits wide-ranging reactions
From Havana homes to the streets of Hialeah, President
Bush's new initiatives to hasten a political transition
in Cuba brought a range of reactions -- from applause
for tougher travel restrictions to pessimistic
suggestions that the measures will become only
the latest in four decades of failed sanctions
and diplomatic isolation.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
|
Mexico versus Cuba and
Castro's senility
Few people in the diplomatic world were surprised
after last week's highly publicized verbal brawl
between Mexico and Cuba. It was clearly understood
by most that Fidel Castro had managed to get caught
by willingly involving himself and his government
in the internal affairs of another nation
Mexidata.info,
CA.
|
|
Cuba
policy all about Florida votes
If a policy hasn't worked for 40 years, you'd
think the first solution wouldn't be more of the
same. But that's the recommendation of the White
House commission on Cuba, which essentially rubberstamped
what President Bush planned to do all along.
Rocky
Mountain News, CO.
|
Exiled US
philanthropist 'probed'
The
76-year-old multimillionaire, who made his fortune
from a pet care publishing empire, faces up to five
years in prison if found guilty of defrauding the
US tax authorities by hiding $700,000 in a Swiss
bank account - a charge he denies.
BBC,
UK |
|
May
7
FROM
CUBA
New
school in Cuba presents problems 20 months after
completion
A primary school rushed
to completion a year and eight months ago in response
to a government ideological campaign is already
exhibiting serious construction and maintenance
problems.
HAVANA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Life
in the Workers' Paradise: Worker fired for medical
absence in Cuba
Lidia Sánchez, a cleaning
woman, presented a medical certificate to her
employer that would have kept her out of work
for three days. Her employer, a government corporation,
fired her.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
New
bus service meant to displace private transportation?
When the transportation crisis
hit Havana hard in the last few years, private operators
arose to satisfy the public's need to get about
and make a living for themselves.
HAVANA |
|
FROM
CUBA
Two
Cuban journalists detained for questioning on
World Press Freedom Day
Journalists Anna Rosa Veitía
and Ernesto Roque, her husband, were picked up
at home "just minutes after the children left
for school, and... were released after 3 p.m.,"
said Veitía.
HAVANA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Someone
forgot to plan for a supply room in newly-built
polyclinic in Cuba
The newly-built polyclinic
in Guanabo, a seaside town just east of Havana,
is the answer to the accumulated demands of residents,
who for years have been asking that the previous,
crumbling structure be replaced.
HAVANA
|
|
Yahoo! News
•
Private Business Faces More Curbs in Cuba
•
U.S. Seeks to Subvert Succession in Cuba
•
US to make airborne broadcasts to communist Cuba
•
Bush to impose extra curbs on Cuba travel
•
Cuba Slams Mexican Government
•
Bush to Toughen Policies Toward Cuba
|
Mexico
reminds Cuba of its debt
The Mexican government Thursday
reminded Cuba of its debt of $450 million owed to
the National Bank of Foreign Business, known as
Bancomext. The reminder came in the wake of a diplomatic
rupture between the two governments.
The
Washington Times |
|
External
links
|
|
Ag
commissioner opens chicken sales to Cuba
Over the past few days, Alabama Agriculture and
Industries Commissioner Ron Sparks has successfully
negotiated with Cuban officials to allow Alabama
farmers to resume the sell of chicken to Cuba.
Cleburne
News, AL .
|
|
Getting
Into Cuba
Travel to Cuba is still severely restricted, but
a new book allows us to see what few tourists
ever visit: sumptuous private homes built over
the centuries by pre-Castro sugar, cotton and
tobacco plantation owners.
The
Washington Post.
|
|
Local family hopes
U.S. ends trade embargo with Cuba
Several weeks ago we told you about a St. Charles
family traveling to Cuba in hopes of ending the
U.S. imposed trade embargo. Farmer Ralph Kaehler,
his wife and two sons recently returned from another
trade conference in the communist nation.
KAAL,
MN.
|
|
Cuba urged
to release dissidents
US and European diplomats have called for the
immediate release of 75 Cuban activists jailed
last year during a major crackdown on political
dissent.
BBC,
UK.
|
|
May
5
FROM
CUBA
Bus
passengers searched three times in 60-mile trip
in Cuba
Police stopped a bus, made
all passengers get off, and searched them three
times last Tuesday, all in the space of a 60-mile
trip between San Cristóbal, in Pinar del Río province
and the city of Havana.
HAVANA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Police
confiscate residents' fishing gear in Cuba
Police arrested two youths
whom they found in possession of 12 lobster tails
and confiscated boats, fishing nets and line,
even tractor inner tubes that are used as boats,
from residents of El Rosario beach in the southern
Havana municipality of Güines.
HAVANA
|
FROM
CUBA
Marble
slabs stolen in centric Havana park
In months past, thieves had
stolen a number of the marble slabs from a monument
to the mother of two of Cuba's national heroes in
a centric Havana park.
HAVANA |
|
FROM
CUBA
Private
taxis eliminated from Capitol's vicinity in Havana
The taxi stand in front
of the Capitol in Havana has been eliminated and
the drivers told to relocate to the railroad station
several blocks away under the pretext that they
obstruct tourists who want to photograph the building.
HAVANA
|
|
Yahoo! News
•
Diplomats Visit Home of Jailed Reporter
•
Mexico, Peru pull ambassadors from Cuba
•
Critics See Bush Errors on Cuba Policy
•
Castro's Cuba running out of friends
•
Report May Dramatically Effect Cuba Travel, Money
•
Powell welcomes move by Mexico, Peru to pull envoys
to Cuba
•
Mexico Defends Curbing Ties With Cuba
•
Iraq, Cuba, worst places to be a reporter
|
|
The Miami Herald
•
Cuban ambassador leaves Mexico
•
Peru joins Mexico in suspending Cuba ties
• Americas envoy to quit, join Bush's campaign
•
Cuba, Haiti called perilous to press
|
Castro
is increasingly isolated
Hundreds of thousands of Cubans
were obliged to provide a mass audience for Fidel
Castro as usual on May 1 in Havana, still a red-letter
day on the Communist Party calendar, but celebrated
by fewer people and with less fervency.
Charleston
Post Courier, SC. |
There's
nothing to celebrate in Cuba
On this World Press Freedom
Day, it might be appropriate to consider that Cuba
has the largest number of journalists in prison
of any country in the world. The 28 journalists
suffering in Cuban prisons is two more imprisoned
journalists than in runner-up China, which has 100
times the population of Cuba. And they're imprisoned
in Cuba simply because of what they've reported.
John
Virtue, The Miami Herald. |
Mexico,
Peru Recall Ambassadors From Cuba
Relations between Cuba and
Mexico continued to worsen Monday when the Fidel
Castro regime accused the government of Mexican
President Vicente Fox of arrogance, mendacity and
stupidity.
MercoPress,
Mercosur |
How
to Support Cuba's Democracy-in-Waiting
Prospects for a free Cuba
still hinge on a deathwatch over dictator Fidel
Castro and hopes of influencing reforms under his
successor. But that assumption could change. In
May 2002, Cuban human rights advocate Oswaldo Payá
Sardińas presented Cuba's National Assembly with
a petition--signed by more than 11,000 citizens--calling
for a referendum on Cuban socialism.
Stephen
Johnson, Heritage.org |
Analysis:
Cuba's isolation deepens
Still going strong at
77, the Cuban president shows no signs of softening
his grip on power. Indeed, he seems determined to
preserve his diehard brand of socialism at any cost,
even if that means alienating his fellow Latin leaders.
Robert
Plummer, BBC News Online |
|
External
links
|
|
Cuba row
dominates front pages
The decision by the governments of Mexico and
Peru to withdraw their ambassadors from Cuba following
scathing remarks by Fidel Castro makes front-page
headlines in both countries' newspapers. In marked
contrast, the diplomatic row, one of the most
serious to affect Havana in recent years, fails
to get a mention on the web sites of Cuba's leading
dailies.
BBC,
UK.
|
|
More
Latin anger aimed at Castro
Cuba's ambassador to Mexico left the country Tuesday
as Honduras and Nicaragua criticized Cuba in what
has become a growing regional outspokenness against
President Fidel Castro. Mexico said late Sunday
that it was recalling its ambassador, Roberta
Lajous, from Cuba and giving Jorge Bolanos 48
hours to leave the country after what it said
was Cuba's inappropriate meddling in its affairs.
Chicago
Tribune, IL.
|
|
Cuba
report gets heavy scrutiny
The final report of the White House Commission
for Assistance to a Free Cuba is expected to recommend
a fivefold expansion in funds to promote democracy
on the island, according to sources familiar with
its contents.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
|
Cuba
ties to Mexico, Peru at risk in diplomatic feud
Mexico's decision to recall its ambassador from
Havana and expel Cuba's top diplomat capped two
years of tensions between the former allies and
brought a century of close diplomatic contacts
to an all-time low.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
|
Cuba
a promising market for US dairy exports, says
DairyAmerica
Despite a US trade embargo with Cuba, DairyAmerica
has finalised two sales of skim milk powder to
the Caribbean island, among the first sizeable
sales of US dairy products to Cuba in more than
40 years.
just-food.com.
|
|
Free
Cuban media
It is more than just ironic that a country like
Cuba, which was a strong supporter of freedom
for South Africa's black majority during the bleak
days of apartheid, should itself seek to repress
internal dissidents.
Trinidad
and Tobago Express.
|
|
Oliver
Stone's Cuban Lovefest
In the battle between tyranny and truth, artists
shouldn't be on the side of tyrants. "And the
simple step of a simple courageous man is not
to partake in falsehood, not to support false
actions," Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn remarked in his
1970 Nobel Lecture in literature.[1] For artists
living in free societies, abstention from such
support requires conscience more than courage.
Myles
Kantor / FrontPageMagazine.com.
|
|
Cuban
Elegance: Book Signing
Michael Connors presents not the picturesque Cuba
of Castro's era, with its derelict buildings and
peeling paint, but the opulent world of the Spanish
Creole aristocracy of the colonial period, which
has continued to influence Cuban taste and cultural
life on a more modest scale even to this day.
His engaging talk with gorgeous slides, offers
a fresh, surprising perspective on an intriguing
country. Connors' book Cuban Elegance (Abrams
4/04), with photos by Bruce Buck, is available
for signing.
The
Corcoran Gallery of Art.
|
|
Florida
Lawmaker Worried Over Castro's Growing Power
State-sponsored terrorism is coming closer and
closer to America's doorstep, and Castro's growing
power thoughout Latin America has many in Congress
and the Bush administration worried.
NewsMax.com.
|
|
May
3
FROM
CUBA
Police
blackmail Cuban dissident with his own photographs
Police arrested dissident
Dagoberto Quintana, confiscated his photographs
of a meeting of dissidents, and told him they
were going to tell his fellow dissidents that
he had given them the pictures so they could identify
the people in them.
SANTA
CLARA
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuba's
coffee crop the worst in 50 years
The Ministry of Agriculture
reported this month that the current coffee crop
is down 5% in relation to last year's, and calls
it one of the worst of the last 50 years, said sources
who had seen the report that has not been made public.
HAVANA |
|
FROM
CUBA
Teacher
shortage acute in Havana
Cuba's much-vaunted educational
system has trouble attracting teachers; primary
schools in Old Havana still have 31 unfilled classroom
spots in April, two-thirds into the school year.
HAVANA
|
|
FROM
CUBA
Cuba
pays in services for Venezuelan oil
Cubans are noticing more
Venezuelan students in the island lately. The
students range from middle school to university,
and are one way the Cuban government has found
to pay for the up to 53,000 daily barrels of crude
the Venezuelan government sends to the island.
HAVANA
|
|
Yahoo! News
•
Panel Seeks Steps for Cuba Regime Change
•
Mexico Recalls Ambassador From Cuba
•
U.S. Review Recommends Cuba Cash Squeeze
•
Iraq Tops Worst Places for Reporters
•
Castro Rails Against New U.S. Measures
•
Castro urges Bush not to use force as response
to terror
•
2003 a 'black year' for journalists worldwide:
RSF report
•
Photos Show Hemingway, Evans Friendship
|
|
The Miami Herald
•
Report to offer U.S. guidance on Cuba policy
•
Jailed Cuban writer wins U.N. press prize
•
More focus on Cuba embargo than terror trail is
questioned
•
Cuba and Mexico clash on return of bribe suspect
•
Reflections of Cuba's colonial splendor
|
Wife
of former political prisoner calls for the release
of the political prisoners and those of conscience
The wife of political prisoner
Julio Antonio Valdes Guevara, released from prison
in recent days due to his critical health condition,
calls for the release of ALL the political prisoners
and those of conscience, confined in Cuban prisons.
Information
Bridge Cuba Miami. |
World's
Worst Places to be a Journalist
The Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ) is again marking World Press Freedom Day,
Monday, May 3, by naming the World's Worst Places
to Be a Journalist. The list of 10 places represents
the full range of current threats to press freedom.
Committee
to Protect Journalists |
|
|
14th
World Press Freedom Day
More than 130 journalists
are currently imprisoned around the world just for
doing their job. Forty-two were killed in 2003 in
the course of their work or because of their opinions.
Reporters Without Borders |
Durum
to Cuba: No Sale
A reported sale of American
durum to Cuba apparently isn't coming off. At least
not yet. North Dakota's Wheat Commission says the
sale was listed on a weekly U-S-D-A publication
-- that tracks export commodity sales.
KXMC, ND |
A
nostalgic glimpse into Cuba's colonial interiors
The book is a wonderful alternative
to the trite compendia of neocolonial photographs
of jineteras.
The
Miami Herald. |
|
External
links
|
|
It's
Time Castro Let Contreras See His Family
Why do he and his family have to wait five years
to be reunited when Orlando Hernández, the Cuban
right-hander you know as El Duque, didn't have
to wait that long to be reunited with members
of his family after he defected?
The
New York Times.
|
|
Castro:
Cuba will withstand pressure
Cuba's socialist system would overcome any new
U.S. initiatives aimed at hastening political
change on the island, President Fidel Castro told
a sea of flag-waving Cubans in a two-hour May
Day speech.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
|
Women
take the field in a league of their own
Having abandoned their bats and gloves a half-century
ago when two short-lived teams folded, Cuban women
are now back on the field, and no one seems to
mind that they have defied Tom Hanks' dictum from
the 1992 movie A League of Their Own: "There's
no crying in baseball!"
Sun-Sentinel,
FL.
|
|
Report:
Feds Probe Smithsonian Donation
Axelrod -- living in Cuba since fleeing unrelated
federal tax charges in the United States -- also
sold 30 rare stringed instruments to the New Jersey
Symphony Orchestra last year at a large claimed
discount.
The
New York Times.
|
|
Cubans set
new world chess record
About 13,000 chess fans gathered in the central
Cuba city of Santa Clara for the mass game. Former
world chess champion Anatoly Karpov took part
in the event, held in a square dominated by a
statue of the Che Guevara. himself a keen player.
BBC.
UK.
|
|
Charlie's Band
Of Ballplayers Revisits Cuba
For a political junkie, this was heaven. It was
late in the morning, and the West Tampa Sandwich
Shop was packed with the usual suspects.
Tampa
Tribune, FL.
|
CubaNet is not responsible for the content
of external internet sites. Some of the links are removed
after a period of time from their sites. |
Archives | | |
|
CUBANET
|
145
Madeira Ave, Suite 207
Coral Gables, FL 33134
(305) 774-1887
|
|
|
|
|
|
