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US lines up action against Cuba in UN
rights body
GENEVA, 31 (AFP) - The United States confirmed
that it would seek international censure
of Cuba's human rights record by presenting
a resolution at the United Nations' top
human rights forum.
"The United States is introducing
and offering a resolution on the human rights
situation in Cuba," US Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State Mark Lagon said on the
sidelines of the annual meeting of the UN
human rights commission.
Lagon told journalists that political prisoners
jailed two years ago were still locked up.
The resolution, part of perennial sparring
between Washington and Havana, would look
at past actions by the 53-member commission
and examine "whether Cuba has been
acting upon them," he added.
It will also seek an extension of the mandate
of the UN Special rapporteur examining the
human rights situation in Cuba, Catherine
Chanet.
European and Latin American countries were
likely to back the move before the meeting
ends on April 22, according to Lagon.
The Commission last year narrowly voted
to adopt a resolution criticising a crackdown
on dissidents in Cuba, which had been proposed
by Honduras and backed by Washington.
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque
said two weeks ago that he believed the
United States would not get the support
it needs this year to pass the motion.
Cuba has refused to cooperate with Chanet,
who has warned that dozens of dissidents
caught in a wave of arrests in 2003 were
being held in "alarming conditions."
Cuban activist calls on dissidents to
unite in shared cause
By Vanessa Arrington, Associated
Press Writer, March 29. 2005.
Public spats between dissidents are weakening
the opposition movement and playing into
the hands of the Cuban government's "repressive
forces," veteran activist Vladimiro
Roca said in a statement released Tuesday.
Roca, who served a five-year prison sentence
for his political activities, called on
fellow dissidents on and off the island
to stop fighting and unite in their shared
cause to prompt political and economic change
in Cuba.
All opponents of the island's communist
government should "impede, with resolute
action, manifestations of sectarianism,
intolerance and marginalization ... to create
a climate of trust and respectful debate."
Cuba's dissident movement is currently
fractured, with rivalry between two competing
projects for democratic reform - led separately
by well-known activists Oswaldo Paya and
Martha Beatriz Roque - generating deep mistrust
and bickering in opposition ranks.
There are also broad disagreements within
the movement over what role the United States
should play in promoting change on the island.
The situation has been exacerbated, Roca
said, by stepped-up actions by Cuban government
supporters to obstruct peaceful protests
by dissidents.
On March 19, scores of neighbors broke
up a protest by little-known dissident physician
Dr. Darcy Ferrer, striking him with sticks
and ripping down posters of prisoners' photographs
he had placed on the side of his house.
A day later, members of the Federation
of Cuban Women launched a noisy counter-protest
to a weekly silent march by wives of political
prisoners. A week later, however, the wives
marched without incident.
Roca called the counter-protests "aggressive
acts of intimidation," and said divisions
among dissidents "serve the repressive
forces, which rejoice with (the disputes)
and prove their repressive work ... is efficient."
Venezuela Bank Marks $65M for Cuba Exports
CARACAS, Venezuela, 31 (AP) -- One of Venezuela's
state-run banks is setting aside US$65 million
(euro50 million) to finance exports to Cuba,
the president of the Venezuelan Industrial
Bank said Tuesday.
Luis Quiaro said financing for 13 Venezuelan
exporters who want to ship goods to the
communist-led island, but currently lack
financial resources, could reach US$100
million (euro77 million).
Quiaro told the state-run Bolivarian News
Agency that exports to Cuba, which is Venezuela's
most important political ally in Latin America,
would begin in May. He did not provide additional
details.
Since taking office in 1999, Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez has strengthened ties
with Cuba by signing dozens of trade and
cooperation accords with Fidel Castro's
government.
Castro has recently expressed optimism
about his nation's economy, based primarily
on improved trade relations with Venezuela
and China and the recent discovery of oil
deposits off the island's coast.
Castro, Chavez are major threat to Latin
America, warns top ex-US official
WASHINGTON, 30 (AFP) - Cuba's Fidel Castro
and his ally Venezuelan leftist-populist
President Hugo Chavez have become a major
threat, a former top US administration official
for Latin America has warned.
"Our most pressing specific challenge
is neutralizing or defeating the Cuba-Venezuela
axis," argued Otto Reich, a controversial
Cuban-born US diplomat who was top official
for Latin America affairs in President George
W. Bush's first administration.
"With the combination of Castro's
evil genius, experience in political warfare,
and economic desperation, and Chavez's unlimited
money and recklessness, the peace of this
region is in peril," Reich warned in
a commentary for the National Review.
The latest edition of the conservative
magazine's cover was to feature a picture
of Chavez and Castro conversing under the
title "Latin America's terrible two"
and a banner reading: "The Axis of
Evil ... Western Hemisphere Version."
"In military terms, the Western Hemisphere
is the strategic rear area of the United
States," Reich insisted in the essay,
parts of which were put on the review's
website.
"The US needs a secure and prosperous
hemisphere not only to ensure a peaceful
neighborhood in which to live, but also
to be able to project its power to the farthest
reaches of the globe and win the War on
Terror," added Reich, a former ambassador
to Venezuela.
The Bush administration had cast North
Korea, Iran and Iraq as an axis of evil.
But previously it has not used the same
terminology to describe Cuba, the Americas'
only communist country, or Venezuela. The
US adminstration has expressed concern about
Venezuela's arms purchases however.
Castro Announces Welfare Payment Increase
HAVANA, 31 (AP) -- Cuban President Fidel
Castro announced increased payments for
citizens on welfare Thursday, marking the
latest effort by the island's communist
government to ease Cubans' economic pains.
Single mothers, senior citizens without
relatives, widows and the disabled are among
the hundreds of thousands of Cubans who
will benefit from the increase, which takes
effect May 1.
New payments will range from 150 to 300
Cuban pesos, approximately US$6 to US$12
(euro4.60 to euro9.30), per month. Previously,
nearly half of the 1.5 million Cubans on
welfare were receiving monthly payments
of less than 100 pesos, or US$4 (euro3).
"These people have been totally forgotten
(until now)," Castro said in a televised
speech that lasted nearly five hours.
The average Cuban government worker earns
300 pesos a month, or the equivalent of
about US$12 (euro9.30). Salary figures can
be misleading in Cuba, however, where most
citizens pay no rent, education and health
care are free, and the government offers
heavily subsidized basic services such as
utilities and transportation.
Castro has taken to the stage to announce
positive economic news for several Thursdays
in a row now, including the revaluation
of the nation's two currencies and the distribution
of thousands of new pressure cookers and
rice steamers at subsidized prices.
Beginning April 9, the exchange rate for
the Cuban convertible peso will no longer
be on par with the American dollar and instead
will be tied to several foreign currencies,
initially marking an 8 percent revaluation.
The regular Cuban peso -- a second currency
used on the island -- was also re-valued,
by 7 percent.
Castro has hinted that the island will
move toward a single currency, and stated
clearly that all Cuban currencies will be
independent of the U.S. dollar.
The Cuban leader's optimism on the state
of the economy is based primarily on improved
trade relations with Venezuela and China
and the recent discovery of oil deposits
off the island's coast.
EU: Castro shares interest in closer
ties
Vanessa Arrington, Associated
Press. March 26, 2005.
HAVANA - A top European Union official
said Cuban President Fidel Castro shares
the bloc's interest in strengthening ties
and tackling sensitive issues such as human
rights and called on all parties to avoid
"useless provocations."
EU development commissioner Louis Michel
met with Castro as Cuba struggles with international
criticism over political prisoners and an
upcoming U.N. vote on the island's human
rights record.
"We spoke together about all the issues,
even about the difficult issues, and sensitive
issues, and there is of course a common
interest to relaunch a political dialogue,"
Michel said.
The commissioner, who was set to leave
Havana on Sunday, underscored the delicate
nature of EU-Cuba relations and urged all
involved parties to avoid "useless
provocations."
"I think the situation, the way in
which we are working, remains rather fragile
- it is not so easy to lead these conversations,"
he said. "The challenge is so important,
that we have to be very prudent with any
kind of useless provocations."
Cuba-EU ties have been strained for several
years, primarily over the issue of human
rights and political freedoms on the communist-run
island. The breaking point came when the
Cuban government launched a massive crackdown
in 2003 that put 75 political activists
behind bars, prompting the EU to impose
sanctions against the island.
But a new chapter was opened earlier this
year when European nations lifted the sanctions,
partly in response to Cuba's release of
14 of the 75 political prisoners for medical
reasons last year. The policy will be up
for review this summer, but Michel made
clear he hopes new sanctions will not be
necessary.
"The sanctions lead to nothing, and
I would like that all these discussions
and debates lead to something," he
told reporters.
Michel also met with several activists
Saturday, as well as wives of the political
prisoners. "The Cuban government in
no way interfered with these meetings,"
Michel said, calling that a hopeful sign.
Earlier this year, Castro showed little
enthusiasm for renewed diplomatic ties,
saying Cuba did not need the 25-nation bloc.
"I was not so happy with that,"
Michel said of Castro's previous remarks.
"But I think things have changed."
Meanwhile, the lead member of a delegation
of a dozen EU lawmakers also in Havana warned
that new advances in Cuba-EU ties could
be undermined by anti-Castro exiles and
other enemies of Cuba.
"There are powerful sectors that will
try to sabotage this process ... among them
the United States and its mercenaries,"
Miguel Angel Martinez said at a news conference
Saturday, wrapping up a weeklong trip to
the island.
Martinez, of Spain's ruling Socialist party,
expressed sympathy for the Cuban government,
saying it was discriminated against on many
levels. But he also met with dissidents
while here and said imprisoned activists
did not constitute a security threat to
Cuba and should thus "be back at home."
Cuban central bank chief says island sees
first surplus in decade
Cuban central bank chief says island
sees first surplus in decade
HAVANA, 29 (AP) - Cuba's central bank chief
said Tuesday that the country's economy
registered its first surplus in a decade
in 2004 and expects another surplus this
year as the government reasserts economic
control after dumping the U.S. dollar and
strengthening its own national currency.
Central Bank President Francisco Soberon
said in an interview high international
prices for the nickel the island produces
and an improvement in tourism contributed
to creation of the first surplus since 1994.
Ten years ago, Cuba was still reeling from
a severe economic crisis brought on by the
loss of its Soviet aid and trade. Since,
the island has been forced to diversify
its economy from one that was once almost
wholly dependent on sugar exports and barter
trade with its former ideological allies.
"We have to keep an eye on the price
of petroleum," Soberon allowed, saying
higher crude costs would affect the Cuban
economy.
"But we are optimistic" about
another surplus in 2005.
Soberon declined to quantify Cuba's surplus,
saying that and other numbers such as reserve
figures are confidential information that
could be used against the island by the
U.S. government and other enemies of Cuba.
He also expressed optimism about recent
moves to strengthen both the Cuban peso,
which is used by government wage-earners
for subsidized goods and services and the
convertible Cuban peso, a second currency
used for consumer goods that aren't available
in poorly stocked peso stores or on the
government ration.
President Fidel Castro announced Thursday
that the convertible Cuban peso would no
longer be on par with the U.S. dollar.
After being the island's primary form of
legal tender for 11 years, the U.S. dollar
was removed from circulation four months
ago and replaced on a one-to-one basis by
the convertible Cuban peso as the primary
currency used for many consumer goods.
Now, beginning April 9, the convertible
peso will be tied to several major foreign
currencies including the euro, initially
marking an eight-per-cent revaluation.
The Cuban leader said the move was necessary
to create an economy that is no longer dependent
on the U.S. dollar, which he noted is steadily
losing value against other world currencies.
Castro's announcement came a week after
the government strengthened the regular
Cuban peso by seven per cent. That revaluation
marked the first change in the currency's
exchange rate since it was frozen in December
2001.
In addition, a 10-per-cent surcharge put
in place last year for the sale of U.S.
dollars at exchange houses remains intact.
That means with the eight-per-cent revaluation
of the Cuban convertible peso it will now
cost 18 U.S. cents for each dollar changed
into Cuban money.
Euros, British sterling, Swiss francs,
and other major international currencies
will lose eight per cent of their value
when changed into Cuban convertible pesos.
Soberon said those most likely to be affected
by the latest measures are Cubans who receive
U.S. dollar remittances from relatives in
the United States.
"It will all depend upon what their
family abroad does," the bank chief
said.
"If their relatives increase what
they send, it won't affect them. It really
isn't that much more they have to send."
Soberon said one of the measure's aims
is to narrow the difference between average
Cuban government workers who earn the equivalent
of $13 Cdn a month and people who receive
money from abroad.
Soberon said the measure would affect foreign
entities operating on the island, such as
embassies and international firms, requiring
them to pay eight per cent more on many
monthly bills, most of which are now charged
in convertible Cuban pesos.
Soberon said the measure probably would
not have a major impact on tourists travelling
to Cuba on package deals charged in foreign
currencies in other countries - as long
as the tour operators don't decide to pass
on their increased costs to consumers.
He admitted it will cost more for tourists
travelling on their own but said Cuba's
worth it.
"Cuba is so attractive, of such cultural
interest, that the eight-per-cent (increase
in cost) will be imperceptible," he
said.
More than 18,000 children from Chernobyl
treated in Cuba over last 15 years
HAVANA, 31 (AP) - More than 18,000 children
with health problems believed linked to
the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine
have received treatment in Cuba over the
last 15 years, officials said.
Hundreds of those children and their relatives
gathered to mark the 15th anniversary of
the program, launched in 1991 after the
Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded and caught
fire in 1986. The initial blast and fire
caused 31 deaths but the radiation plume
that spread from the crippled power plant
eventually killed and sickened many more.
"For many mothers, Cuba was the only
hope," said Svetlana Saslavskaya, whose
son showed officials and diplomats attending
Tuesday's event how he could stand up from
a wheelchair and move slowly after several
operations for an unidentified illness.
The children receive treatment at a coastal
sanatorium at Tarara, east of Havana. Cuba
pays for all medical treatment, room and
board. The average stay is 2 1/2 months.
About 250 children are at the sanatorium
at any one time. They live in houses surrounding
the medical facility, often with their parents.
When the program began, most of the young
patients suffered from leukemia, other forms
of cancer and cerebral palsy - health problems
doctors believe are related to the radiation.
But any sick child from the affected region
is eligible for the program, regardless
of their affliction.
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