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Cuba Warns Satellite TV Pirates
AP, February 9, 2007.
The U.S. government strives mightily to
stamp out intellectual property theft all
over the world _ except for Cuba, where
it tries to broadcast anti-communist messages
to anyone able to see U.S. programming through
illegal satellite dishes.
Now the Cuban government is striking back,
warning TV signal pirates that they face
stiff fines and jail terms.
The Communist Party newspaper Granma dedicated
a full page Thursday to an account of the
discovery and prosecution of four men who
sold or maintained the sort of jerry-built
satellite TV systems believed to be hidden
on thousands of rooftops across Cuba.
It came three days after Cuba denounced
a U.S. government strategy that began in
December to use Florida television stations
to get around Cuban jamming of TV Marti
_ a move that has made the U.S.-funded station,
aimed at undermining Fidel Castro's government,
accessible to thousands of Cubans who could
never see it before.
By law, TV Marti is barred from broadcasting
propaganda inside the United States, but
anti-Castro advocates believe they've found
a loophole, and that the Florida stations
can be used to reach the island as long
as any U.S. viewing is "inadvertent."
At any rate, Cubans themselves aren't saying
much about the programs. This may be due
to the fact that several households typically
share a single antenna and decoding box;
all must watch the same program, and most
prefer the same sort of shows that are popular
anywhere else _ music, soap operas, comedy,
drama and movies.
Commercial U.S. signals provide a rich
alternative to the thin programming on Cuba's
four state channels, whose offerings include
courses in mathematics, nightly 90-minute
pro-government debates and local baseball
games.
Miami-based commercial Spanish language
stations are particularly popular, and their
news and political programs _ many of them
created by Cuban exiles _ are often as stridently
anti-Castro as TV Marti's programming.
Granma said Thursday that many of those
U.S. channels, along with TV Marti, transmit
a message that "is destabilizing and
interventionist and forms part of the Bush
administration plan aimed at destroying
the revolution and with it the Cuban nation."
There is a government-approved satellite
television service in Cuba, but it's offered
only to resident foreigners, tourists and
a select group of officials, and subscribers
need a special license to receive the Florida
programming.
Under the new U.S. plan, officials pay
commercial stations in Florida to carry
TV Marti programs. The stations are included
in satellite TV packages picked up by the
clandestine receivers in Cuba.
Granma's story reflected the grass roots
nature of satellite piracy in Cuba, where
private business is tightly restricted to
promote social and economic equality: Three
culprits were caught in a small bicycle
tire repair shop in Havana where satellite
dishes were made. Also seized were materials
to build 30 satellite dishes, metal-cutting
equipment, coaxial cable and paint.
Another man who allegedly reactivated satellite
reception cards was found with 14 satellite
dishes and fined $44,390 _ a hefty figure
in a country where many official salaries
are as low as $14 a month.
All face prison terms as well.
In 2004, U.S. officials estimated there
were roughly 10,000 satellite TV dishes
in Cuba. Many dishes serve several homes
at once and their influence spreads as people
tape programs and rent them around the neighborhood
for a few cents.
But few Cubans talk openly about the dishes:
They're strictly banned for homes and police
raids periodically are staged to confiscate
illegal antennas hidden in water tanks,
behind windows or in air conditioner boxes.
Cuba sends key drug suspect to Colombia
By Cesar Garcia, Associated
Press Writer Fri Feb 9, 4:17 AM ET
BOGOTA, Colombia - Cuba deported reputed
drug kingpin Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante
to Colombia, which plans to extradite him
to the United States to face trafficking
and money laundering charges, officials
said Thursday.
Gomez, an alleged boss of the Norte del
Valle cartel known by his alias "Rasguno,"
had been held in Cuba since his 2004 arrest
at Havana's main airport. He fled Colombia
after Washington offered a $5 million reward
for the capture of that country's top drug
traffickers.
Cuba's government said Gomez was turned
over to Colombian authorities Thursday at
Havana's international airport. Oscar Galvis,
a spokesman for the Colombia's DAS intelligence
agency, confirmed to The Associated Press
that Gomez arrived in Colombia on an air
force flight from Cuba.
The Cuban statement did not mention Colombia's
plans for Gomez. Cuba has no extradition
treaty with the United States and harbors
some suspects wanted in the United States
who are considered political refugees here.
But a Colombian official said Wednesday
that an order had already been signed to
send Gomez to the United States. He spoke
on condition of anonymity because he was
not authorized to divulge the information.
Gomez is wanted on a U.S. indictment in
New York on drug trafficking, racketeering
and money-laundering charges.
His extradition appears to be more a result
of his desire to get out of Cuban jail than
a desire by Havana to improve relations
with Washington. Last year, Gomez expressed
to Colombian media his desire to leave the
Cuban jail even if it meant extradition
to the United States.
He would be the most senior reputed drug
boss extradited to the United States since
Cali cartel chief Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela
was handed over in March 2005.
Gomez's Miami-based attorney, Oscar Rodriguez,
told the AP on Wednesday he had no information
on the deportation and would not answer
questions about Gomez's intentions until
he has had a chance to speak with his client.
The Norte del Valle cartel, the most powerful
traditional drug organization in Colombia,
is believed to account for as much as 60
percent of the cocaine consumed in the United
States, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration.
However, many of its top bosses have been
captured in recent years and a campaign
by the U.S. Treasury Department had succeeded
in freezing many of their assets, including
front companies.
In March of 2004, Colombian authorities
seized $100 million worth of Gomez's assets
including 68 farms, 24 offices and 17 parking
lots.
According to prosecutors, Rasguno went
from pumping gas at a petrol station in
1991 to declaring property worth more than
half a million dollars a year later.
AP writer John rice in Havana, Cuba Bogota
contributed to this report.
Anand Sharma to visit Cuba, Dominican
Republic and Jamaica
By ANI. February 9, 2007.
New Delhi, Feb.9 (ANI): Minister of State
of External Affairs Anand Sharma will undertake
a week-long three-nation tour from February
12. Mr. Sharma will be visiting Cuba, the
Dominican Republic and Jamaica.
In Havana, Sharma will co-chair the Indo-Cuban
Joint Commission Meeting in Havana on February
12 and 13. The Joint Commission will review
and expand cooperation in areas such as
Information Technology, Biotechnology, Energy,
Sports and Science and Technology.
Cuba has recently awarded two off-shore
oil blocs to ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) Besides
this, OVL has got a 30 percent share in
six more off-shore blocs in a consortium
led by the Spanish oil company, Repsol.
Indian biotech companies, Biocon and Panacea,
have established joint ventures to produce
vaccines using Cuban technology.
Sharma will hold talks with Cuban Foreign
Minister Felipe Perez Roque and other Cuban
Cabinet Ministers. They will exchange views
on regional and global issues in the context
of Cuba being the Chairman of the Non-Aligned
Movement since September, 2006.
During his stay in Dominican Republic from
February 14 to 16, Sharma will meet the
Foreign Minister of the Dominican Republic
Carlos Morales Troncoso and call on President
Leonel Fernandez Reyna.
The Dominican Republic has recently opened
its Embassy in New Delhi. The Government
of Dominican Republic is keen to attract
Indian companies in IT and other areas.
During his visit to Jamaica from February
17 to 19, the Minister will meet t Jamaican
Foreign Minister K.D. Knight and would call
on Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller.
Jamaica is the largest country in the Caribbean
region and has a leadership role in the
15-Member Caribbean Community, which is
integrating as a single market. There is
business opportunity for Indian companies
in the sugar and mining sectors in Jamaica.
(ANI)
Acting President Raul Castro Makes Visit
AP, February 9, 2007.
Acting President Raul Castro made a surprise
appearance Thursday at the opening of Havana's
annual international book fair _ an event
his ailing brother Fidel had often attended
in past years.
The younger Castro, who was accompanied
by Culture Minister Abel Prieto, greeted
other members of Cuba's caretaker government,
including Foreign Minister Felipe Perez
Roque, Vice President Carlos Lage, and National
Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon.
Fidel Castro stunned Cuba with a July 31
announcement that he had undergone intestinal
surgery and was provisionally ceding power
to his younger brother. Since then, Raul
Castro has led a collaborative leadership
that has kept the government running calmly
in his brother's absence.
In past years, Fidel Castro had often attended
the opening of the book fair, arriving last
year with his good friend and ally, Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez.
Fidel Castro's illness remains a state
secret, but Cuban officials have denied
past U.S. government reports that he suffered
from fatal cancer. A Spanish newspaper reported
last month that Castro had diverticular
disease, a weakening of the walls of the
colon common in older people.
Meanwhile, a dissident attorney who helped
organize an unprecedented gathering of opponents
of Cuba's government in 2005 was unexpectedly
released from jail Thursday after being
held for 19 months.
The reasons for Rene Gomez Manzano's sudden
release were not immediately clear but the
activist said it probably had nothing to
do with Fidel Castro's recent health problems.
Gomez Manzano, a longtime opponent of Fidel
Castro's government who helped organize
an unprecedented gathering of dissidents
in Havana on May 20, 2005, was jailed for
allegedly violating a law that prohibits
Cubans from working with a foreign power
to undermine the island's communist system.
Cuba Episcopalians Have 1st Woman Bishop
AP, February 7, 2007.
The Episcopal Church has named a woman
as bishop in Cuba, the first such appointment
by the church in the developing world, church
officials said Tuesday.
The Rev. Nerva Cot Aguilera was named suffragan
bishop on Sunday during a service in the
Cuban city of Matanzas, said Robert Williams,
director of communications for the U.S.-based
Episcopal Church.
"Her appointment is a wonderful reminder
that in some nations, leadership is primarily
about gifts for service and not about gender,"
said U.S. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts
Schori, who took office in November as the
first woman to lead the church.
Cot will be consecrated in Havana on June
10, along with Cuba's other newly named
suffragan bishop, Ulises Mario Aguiera Prendes.
Cot, 69, told The Associated Press that
she was "tremendously honored"
but also faces "a great challenge"
as the church, with some 10,000 members,
moves toward greater national autonomy.
She said she had not seen the sort of divisions
over the ordination of women within Cuba's
relatively small church that Anglican communities
elsewhere have experienced in recent years.
Cot was a secondary school teacher before
church reforms permitted her ordination
as one of the first three Episcopal women
priests in Cuba in 1987.
Cuba was a diocese of the U.S. church until
1967, when it was forced to break away because
hostility between the U.S. and Cuban governments
made contacts difficult. Cuba's communist
leaders were embracing official atheism
at the time, a stance abandoned in the early
1990s.
It has operated under a Metropolitan Council
now chaired by the archbishop of Canada,
Andrew Hutchison. It also includes Jefferts
Schori and the archbishop of the West Indies.
Cuba's interim bishop, Miguel Tamayo, is
also bishop of Uruguay.
As suffragan bishops, Cot and Aguiera will
serve under Tamayo. Cot said she will be
responsible for western Cuba with Aguiera
heading the church in the east.
Cuba blasts anti-Castro TV programming
AP, February 5, 2007.
HAVANA - Cuba on Monday blasted a new move
by a U.S.-funded TV Marti to provide its
anti-Fidel Castro programming to Spanish-language
stations in Miami that are picked up by
popular illegal satellite dishes on the
island.
The Miami station WPMF-TV, an affiliate
of the Spanish-language Azteca Americas
network, in December announced plans to
air the Marti programming daily. It appears
to be the first time Marti programming has
been broadcast on U.S. airwaves. TV Marti
is paying $195,000 for six months worth
of broadcasts.
"They are trying new ways to get their
meddlesome and subversive messages, designed
to destabilize the Cuban revolution, seen
and heard in our country," an article
in the Communist Party newspaper Granma
said.
"The authorities of our country, with
the support of the vast majority of the
people, are taking and will take the necessary
measures" to halt this new effort to
bring TV Marti programming to the country,
Granma said.
Other U.S. government attempts to beam
TV Marti into Cuba have largely failed because
of the communist government's successful
efforts to jam the signals, most recently
being sent from a cargo plane off Florida's
coast.
The older sister station, Radio Marti,
historically has been more successful in
broadcasting to the island through both
shortwave and AM signals.
This new method of broadcasting TV Marti
to Cuba comes as the Washington-funded program
faces renewed criticism for spending $10
million annually to produce programs that
in the past were rarely seen on the communist-run
island.
It is uncertain how many Cubans have illegal
Direct TV satellite dishes that access Miami
programming. But far more people on the
island seem likely to pick up TV Marti through
those dishes than through the U.S. government's
past efforts.
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