CUBA NEWS
The Miami Herald

Castro stalls any change in Cuba

The top U.S. diplomat for Latin America says that the uncertainty created by Fidel Castro's condition prevents any economic or political shifts by the Cuban government.

By Alfredo Corchado, The Dallas Morning News. Posted on Thu, Jan. 04, 2007.

WASHINGTON - Even with Fidel Castro seriously ill and power transferred to his brother, the ailing leader's presence is widely felt and is keeping the country from taking any new economic or political direction, says the U.S. government's top diplomat for Latin America.

''We see that this regime has made this successful transfer of power and is trying to consolidate itself, but it can't define itself or separate itself from Fidel,'' Thomas Shannon, assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, said in an interview. "My guess is that we're not going to see that until Fidel Castro is dead and buried.''

''Fidel Castro is in this odd moment where he is neither alive nor dead politically. He is alive physically, but he's not in charge day to day, and he's obviously not present day to day, but it appears that he still has the ability to sit up in bed and give orders occasionally,'' Shannon said.

Castro's medical condition has been a state secret since he underwent surgery for intestinal bleeding in late July and temporarily ceded power to younger brother Raúl Castro. He has not been seen publicly since July 26, fueling intense speculation about his future.

Shannon said that Raúl Castro has shown no sign that he will be any different from Fidel, despite Raúl Castro's call on Dec. 2 for the U.S. government to meet with the Cuban government to work through their differences.

Shannon said four goals must be met before the U.S. government considers a change in policy: All political prisoners must be freed, human rights guaranteed, trade unions allowed to form and concrete moves made toward free elections.

''We're not going to engage with Cuba just to engage,'' Shannon said. "Any engagement we have with Cuba has to be part of some kind of change process that leads toward this transition to democracy, and therefore we depend on what the Cuban people think and will want us to do.''

Shannon acknowledged that the U.S. government has no clear idea what ails Castro. Last month the U.S. director of national intelligence, John Negroponte, told The Washington Post that Castro had ''months, not years'' to live.

''We know he's really sick, that he's not really getting any better,'' Shannon said. "But it's not clear to us what his problem is and what his timeline is, if I can speak of it crudely. Negroponte said that the information available to us portrays his demise in a question of months as opposed to years, but the reality is that we don't know because the Cubans don't share that information.''

The Spanish surgeon who has been treating Castro, Dr. José Luis García Sabrido, indicated last week that his patient was ''absolutely'' not dying from cancer, but was recovering from complications after surgery to treat a "benign illness.''

Cuba's Santería priests predict 'funereal' future

By Rui Ferreira, El Nuevo Herald. Posted on Wed, Jan. 03, 2007

'SANTERO' AUTHORITY: Babalawo Lázaro Cuesta reveals 2007 predictions at his home in Havana, Cuba.In separate and virtually competing new-year predictions, two groups of Cuban Santería priests are predicting a ''funereal'' future but also an ''ideal'' moment for an economic recovery.

The island's babalawos have long been split into several groups, with one group relatively loyal to the government. But their annual predictions nevertheless are anxiously awaited by the many Cubans who practice the mixture of African and Catholic religions.

This year, the predictions were awaited with special interest because of Fidel Castro's still-unknown ailment, which has kept him out of the public eye since July 26 and sparked speculation that he's seriously ill.

On Monday, the Yoruba priests who make up the relatively independent Commission for the Year's Letter announced that 2007 would be marked by wars and ''military interventions'' although the island will see an economic improvement based on the discovery of oil and mineral deposits.

While they refused to speak specifically about Castro's health, babalawo Lázaro Cuesta, who read the year's prediction, made comments that seemed to be directed at the Cuban leader's ailment.

''The panorama that presents itself to us is a little funereal,'' he said. "When one doesn't leave his place at its proper time, one runs the risk that unpredictable things happen.''

Castro surrendered power for the first time in 47 years after undergoing intestinal surgery in late July. A Spanish surgeon who visited him two weeks ago said Castro was recovering from ''complications'' following "very grave surgery.''

The 80-year-old Castro turned over most of his power temporarily to his younger brother Raúl, who is believed by many Cuba-watchers to be more willing than his brother to open the island's economy to more market forces.

''I was powerfully impressed that they [the babalawos] were so categoric on this,'' said María I. Faguaga Iglesias, a Havana anthropologist who took part in the process of developing the commission's predictions.

Although the Cuban babalawos usually avoid making statements with political implications, this year they raised eyebrows when they called for more care and attention to the island's youth "because today's youth will be called to rule from a house to a country in the not-too-distant future.''

The babalawos' comments coincided with recent statements by Raúl Castro that the generation that fought in and led the Castro revolution is reaching the end of its time "and we must give way to new generations.''

Meanwhile, the Cuban Council of Senior Ifá Priests, considered to be more loyal to the government, said its predictions "speak of legal problems and their repercussions, which could bring as a concequence an increase in corruption and crime.''

A third group of babalawos in Miami, which will make its own predictions public today, said the true forecast falls somewhere between the two Havana groups. ''If we take a piece of each letter to make up one real letter, if out of all this mess we take a little bit of each, this year, simply put, the letter is predicting something bad,'' said Miami babalawo José Montoya.

Fewer Cuban, Haitian migrants stopped at sea in '06

Coast Guard figures show a decline in the number of illegal Cubans and Haitians stopped at sea -- but do not portend an end to arrivals on U.S. shores.

By Alfonso Chardy, achardy@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Wed, Jan. 03, 2007

While Cuban interdictions are down, the number of Cuban arrivals in South Florida on smuggling and other organized trips is up -- with 546 more landings in fiscal year 2006 than 2005, according to Border Patrol figures.

The Coast Guard, which tracks interdictions monthly and by calendar year, notes that 769 Haitian migrants were intercepted in 2006 compared to 1,828 in 2005 -- the first significant decline in Haitian interdictions since 1999 when 480 were stopped. Coast Guard figures can be found at www.d7publicaffairs.com.

There were 2,260 Cubans interdicted in 2006, compared to 2,952 in 2005 -- the first decline in annual Cuban interceptions since 2001 when 777 were stopped.

The figures may simply reflect cyclical declines, but they could also represent a more complex set of factors such as weather, a new government in Haiti and use of alternate routes by Cubans to reach the United States including more efficient smuggling trips.

Petty Officer Jennifer Johnson, a Coast Guard spokeswoman, attributed the decline in Haitian and Cuban interdictions to weather ''particularly during the winter months.'' But Ralph Latortue, the Haitian consul in Miami and Marleine Bastien, a prominent Haitian community activist, said fewer Haitians left their homeland last year because of the advent of a new government in Port-au-Prince.

'RENEWED HOPE'

The presidential election last year of René Preval, a former president and one-time ally of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ''brought renewed hope among the people of Haiti who love their country and prefer to live in Haiti and raise their children there,'' said Bastien, executive director of Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami or Haitian Women of Miami. However, she added, some people are beginning to lose hope because of renewed violence and instability in Haiti.

Ira Kurzban, a Miami immigration attorney who has represented the Haitian government for years, said the decline also reflects tightened Coast Guard patrolling off Haitian shores "which has forced people to remain in Haiti.''

The drop in Cuban interdictions, however, does not reflect the change of leadership in Cuba where an ailing Fidel Castro temporarily turned over power to brother Raúl in July.

In fiscal year 2006, there were 3,076 Cuban arrivals in South Florida on smuggling and other organized trips. Additional undocumented Cuban migrants have arrived via land borders with Mexico and Canada.

Unauthorized Haitian arrivals are significantly down -- just like interceptions at sea. In fiscal year 2006, for example, only 23 undocumented Haitians were detected and detained on arrival compared to 119 in fiscal year 2005. Many other Haitians may have arrived undetected.

HAITIANS' FATE

Haitians who reach U.S. shores are subject to detention and deportation. Cubans who make it to shore, however, report themselves immediately to U.S. authorities because they are generally allowed to stay under the wet-foot/dry-foot policy. Those interdicted at sea are generally sent back.

Bastien said a decline in Haitian interdictions also occurred in 1990 whenAristide, a Roman Catholic priest, was elected president.

That year 1,124 Haitians were stopped at sea compared to almost 4,000 in 1989. Aristide's overthrow in 1991 unleashed a mass exodus with more than 10,000 Haitian migrants stopped at sea that year and 31,438 the next year.

Fewer Haitians attempted to leave in 1995, a year after Aristide returned to power following the landing of U.S. forces in Haiti.

Migrant flows began to increase again in 2004, when Aristide was forced to resign during a violent uprising.

Havana condemns Hussein execution

Posted on Tue, Jan. 02, 2007email

HAVANA - (AP) -- Communist Cuba on Monday condemned the execution of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and called for the end to the war it said had caused the suffering of millions of innocent Iraqis. Hussein's execution by hanging over the weekend was ''an illegal act in a country that has been driven toward an internal conflict in which millions of citizens have been exiled or lost their lives,'' the Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official National Information Agency.

The statement acknowledged that Cuba ''has not yet abolished the death penalty because of the brutal war imposed on it by the United States,'' referring to the U.S. government's policy to undermine the communist country, including trade and travel sanctions.

Nevertheless, the island nation ''has a moral duty to express its point of view about the assassination committed by the occupying power,'' the statement said.

The U.S. military had held Hussein since capturing him in December 2003 but turned him over to the Iraqi government for his hanging.

Castro says he is battling to recover

By Anita Snow, Associated Press. Posted on Sun, Dec. 31, 2006

HAVANA - Ailing leader Fidel Castro saluted Cubans on the eve of the revolution's 48th anniversary, thanking them for their support during his illness and telling them he had not lost his battle to recover.

''I am grateful to you for your affection and support,'' said the message read by a newscaster on state television and radio Saturday. "Regarding my recovery, I have always warned that it could be a prolonged process, but it is far from being a lost battle. I collaborate as a disciplined patient, attended by the consecrated team of our doctors.

Castro, 80, traditionally sends a similar message to Cuban citizens every New Year's Eve to mark the anniversary of the Jan. 1, 1959, triumph of the revolution that brought him to power.

''I have not stopped being in the loop on main events and information,'' he added. "I have had exchanges with our closest comrades always when cooperation has been necessary on vitally important issues.''

Earlier Saturday, Cuba's Communist Party daily reported that Castro telephoned the Chinese ambassador in Havana to wish his president, Hu Jintao, a happy new year.

REASSURING PUBLIC

Castro's message to the Cuban people and the short story about his call to the Chinese ambassador seemed aimed at ensuring the world that the leader's recovery continues five months after he underwent emergency intestinal surgery.

Speculation about Castro's medical condition has been rife amid a lack of information from the communist government.

The last news in the state media about Castro was a story published Dec. 16 saying he had made separate telephone calls to Cuban lawmakers and his friend and ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

Castro has not been seen in public since several days before he announced on July 31 that he was temporarily stepping aside after an operation for an intestinal infection. He has provisionally ceded his powers to his brother Raúl, the 75-year-old defense minister.

Saturday's story said Castro called Chinese Ambassador Zhao Rongxian on Thursday evening, and that they discussed relations between their countries. The ambassador also transmitted his president's wishes for Castro's speedy recovery.

The island's official media has not commented on a Spanish surgeon's declarations earlier this week that Castro did not have cancer and was slowly recovering from a serious operation.

VISIT TO HAVANA

José Luis García Sabrido, chief surgeon at Madrid's Gregorio Marañón Hospital, said he flew to Havana on Dec. 21 to see Castro and consult with the Cuban leader's medical team on how his treatment was progressing.

Castro's medical condition is a state secret, but Cuban authorities have denied he suffers from terminal cancer, as U.S. intelligence officials have claimed.

Cuban officials have nonetheless stopped insisting Castro will return to power.

García Sabrido said Castro could resume the presidency if his recovery is "absolute.''

Some doctors believe Castro may suffer from diverticular disease, which can cause bleeding in the lower intestine, especially in people over 60. In severe cases, emergency surgery may be required.

Cuba rejects Castro-Pinochet comparison

The Cuban government called Costa Rican President Oscar Arias an 'opportunistic clown' for comparing Fidel Castro to the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

By Anita Snow, Associated Press. Posted on Thu, Dec. 28, 2006

HAVANA - Cuba blasted Costa Rican President Oscar Arias on Wednesday for comparing ailing leader Fidel Castro to the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, calling Arias an ''opportunistic clown'' who does the bidding of the U.S. government.

In a statement published in the Communist Party daily Granma, the Cuban Foreign Ministry said it reacted with ''profound indignation'' to President Oscar Arias' comments likening Castro to his ideological foe.

''There is no difference'' between the men, Arias said in an interview in Costa Rica last week. "The ideology differs, but both were savage, brutal and bloody.''

Pinochet, who died on Dec. 10 at age 91, was blamed for a political crackdown that killed nearly 3,200 people during his right-wing military rule from 1973 to 1990.

The 80-year-old Castro governed communist Cuba without interruption for more than 47 years until he temporarily ceded his powers to his younger brother Raúl following intestinal surgery on July 31.

The Washington-friendly Arias, who won the Nobel Peace Price in 1997 for helping broker an end to Central America's civil wars, has exchanged salvos with Cuban officials since he was elected earlier this year.

Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage and Arias quarreled publicly in August after they suspended a meeting on reestablishing diplomatic relations between the two nations. Arias had also wanted to use the meeting to discuss civil rights on the island, but Lage rejected that idea.

In the statement on Wednesday, Cuba called Arias a ''vulgar mercenary'' of U.S. officials and said Washington 'always had on hand another opportunistic clown ready to follow its aggressive plans against Cuba. President Arias shamelessly supports the United States' annexation plan against Cuba and disrespects the heroic and selfless struggle of our people.''

Doctor: Castro doesn't have cancer

A Spanish surgeon says Fidel Castro is recovering from surgery to treat a 'benign illness,' in the first independent report on the Cuban leader's health since he fell ill five months ago.

By Frances Robles. frobles@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Wed, Dec. 27, 2006.

Dr. José Luis García Sabrido, chief surgeon at Madrid's Gregorio Marañón General Hospital, flew to Havana on Thursday on a flight chartered by the Cuban government. In a press conference Tuesday in Madrid, García Sabrido offered few medical details about what is ailing the controversial Cuban leader but insisted Castro is not dying of cancer.

''Within [the rules] of confidentiality, what I can say is that President Castro doesn't suffer from a malignant illness,'' García Sabrido said at the televised news conference when asked whether Castro's illness was curable. "It's a benign illness for which he has had a series of complications.''

Asked if he had cancer, García Sabrido said, "From what I know, I absolutely deny it.''

The doctor's words did little to sway U.S. officials from their belief that the Cuban leader is gravely ill.

Castro stepped down from office July 31, saying he had undergone intestinal surgery. Officially a state secret, little has been said about his health since. Most Cuba-watchers came to believe Castro was in the last stages of a terminal illness when he failed to appear at a Dec. 2 parade in his honor.

On Dec. 13, U.S. Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte told The Washington Post that Castro had ''months, not years'' to live and ''we think he's terminally ill.'' That belief was reiterated by several officials Tuesday, though they were careful not to suggest that Castro was suffering from some form of terminal stomach cancer.

EVALUATION STANDS

One official said his government agency had ''no reason'' to reconsider its evaluation that Castro's condition was ''very serious indeed.'' The official spoke on condition that his name and affiliation not be revealed, given the sensitivity and speculative nature of the subject.

The State Department declined to comment on the Spanish doctor's assessment. But privately officials reiterated the U.S. government's previously stated belief that Castro is more ill than Cuban officials have let on.

The State Department has said since August that it believes Castro will not return to wield the kind of absolute power he once held.

García Sabrido said Castro asks every day to return to work, but doctors in Havana have demanded prudence. García Sabrido did not discount the possibility that Castro could return to office if his recovery is "absolute.''

''I think that in these moments his decision to delegate power implies that he must now be dedicated to his recovery,'' the Associated Press reported. "What happens in the future will be an absolutely personal matter.''

Among García Sabrido's revelations:

o For now, no more surgeries are being considered.

o Castro is in stable condition after the very serious surgery.

o His mental condition is ''exceptional and fantastic,'' and he has a surprising ability to recount historical anecdotes.

o His recovery includes nutrition and physical therapy.

o This was the first time he examined Castro, but they had met previously.

''One of the big problems facing the medical team is how to limit his [physical] activity, an activity that has been long recognized as excellent,'' García Sabrido said. "But that's very difficult.''

The press conference was the first time a credible source backed up the Cuban government's account of Castro's condition. But even when the Spanish Health Ministry made news around the world Monday by confirming Dr. García Sabrido's visit, Cuba's media made no mention of it.

García Sabrido's trip is already causing controversy in Spain, where conservative politicians questioned the use of Spanish funds to pay for medicines being sent to the Cuban leader since June.

The Heath Department declined to specify the cost, Europa Press reported.

''If the comandante has to ask for help . . . what happens to the rest of the Cuban citizens, especially the political prisoners?'' Esperanza Aguirre, president of the Madrid regional government, said on Spanish TV.

AID 'FOR A DICTATOR'

Although Aguirre noted that the Spanish government offers humanitarian aid to whoever asks for it, she said it was unfortunate that in this case it was for "a dictator.''

García Sabrido insisted that his medical services were offered on a personal basis, and not on behalf of the Spanish government.

''The consideration for a doctor when they asked for a medical opinion is to be a doctor,'' he said. "I do not ask patients either their religion, their political ideology or tendencies. I am a medical professional and I dedicate myself to my profession. For me, President Castro is an exceptional patient, but he does not stop being a patient.''

The surgeon said his relationship with Cuba dates back several years, and that he has ''had the privilege'' of government and scientific contacts on the island.

García Sabrido's specialty is in the digestive system and in transplants. This year, he gave a lecture on pancreatic surgery.

Europa Press reported that the Cuban embassy in Madrid was pleased with García Sabrido's report -- suggesting he gave it with permission from the Cuban government.

Miami Herald translator Renato Pérez and staff writer Pablo Bachelet contributed to this report.

New line of work in Cuba: begging

Once, panhandlers were a rare sight in Cuba. But within the country's ailing economy, begging tourists is relatively lucrative.

By Miami Herald staff report, cuba@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Mon, Dec. 25, 2006.

HAVANA - Daniel Avila's source of income is irregular, subject to weather conditions, and offers no paid holidays or vacations.

But as a full-time beggar on Havana's famed seaside avenue, Avila can make in two days what the rest of his countrymen earn in two weeks: about $8.

Avila, disabled from a bike wreck 10 years ago, waits until the new tourist buses park along the Malecón in Old Havana and drop off dozens of foreign tourists for an afternoon of crafts-shopping, then hobbles up and down the street asking for money, a metal brace in each hand.

''Five years ago, you didn't see as many people doing this,'' he said, lamenting that day's competition: a rail-thin young mother toting an infant baby. "Five years ago you could get by in Cuba. Now you see a lot of elderly and handicapped out here asking for money. The pension they give us just isn't enough.''

Avila is not alone. Anyone strolling through Cuba's tourist spots like Old Havana is likely to encounter a number of panhandlers, from the disabled like Avila and the elderly like Cecilia in the Plaza de Armas, to those struggling with mental illness such as Irma Castillo at the Parque Central.

One neatly dressed middle-aged woman walks up and down the Prado, a main thoroughfare in central Havana, showing a well-healed scar on her back, explaining that she had surgery and needs money.

Along the cobblestone streets of the tourist city of Trinidad, a young pregnant woman lifts her shirt to expose her swelling belly, hoping to tear at tourists' hearts and pockets. Another middle-aged woman there trails tourists at the craft fair, asking for spare clothing or even a pen.

They share a common idea: in Cuba, it's far more lucrative to beg from tourists than to work full-time.

Many Latin American nations have large numbers of poor who live in shantytowns and beg to survive, and of course the United States has its share of panhandlers. But begging was virtually unheard of in Cuba before its economy crashed with the fall of the Soviet Union.

The Cuban government has long extolled socialism's superiority over capitalism, precisely because of the lack of indigents on the street in Cuba.

''Without socialism, we could not have a society without beggars wandering the streets, without children going barefoot or begging, or absent from school because they need to work for a living, . . . things that are so common in other parts of the world, including the United States,'' Fidel Castro said in a 2001 speech commemorating the 40th anniversary of his switch to socialism.

As the Cuban government publicly grapples with a lack of ''efficiency'' by workers and a disinterest in the 40-hour workweek, it has yet to find an answer to address the root of that apathy: low wages. The socialist government provides a number of benefits, from housing and free education to medical care, but one month worth of rationed food lasts only 1 ½ weeks and salaries hover around $15 a month.

For a few, that means hopping on a bus to their favorite panhandling spot.

''I don't like to beg,'' said Castillo, 48. "But lots of people do it. They do it all the time because times are tough. I've only been doing it for two months. Foreigners have been kind to me.''

She said mental illness keeps her from working, and her government pension is just $10 a month. Sometimes, she said, she can get that much from a single tourist. Dressed in rags as much indicative of her mental deterioration as her poverty, she showed her worn down flip-flops and rotting toenails.

''Look at the shoes I wear,'' she said. "Don't you have $10 to give me? How about a pair of shoes? You didn't bring any clothes to give away?''

These are not like inner city homeless Americans in need of a drug fix. They come from all walks of life, all races and ages. Several interviewed were elderly or appeared to be mentally ill people who seem to have slipped through the holes in Cuba's social service net.

Experts say the beggars are yet another sign of the strategies -- part survival, part hustle -- that some Cubans turn to when their income cannot meet their needs.

''The government is basically in denial of poverty,'' said Daniel Erikson of the InterAmerican Dialogue think tank in Washington.

He said Cuban panhandling is quite different from other parts of Latin America.

''The Cubans that are out there asking for money go home to their houses,'' Erikson said. "They are not people living on the street like the rest of Latin America.''

Still, for other Cubans, begging is an embarrassment.

''I have gotten to the point where I don't go to the town square. I'm too embarrassed,'' said Odelia, a retired grandmother in Trinidad. "I'm ashamed to see people -- people who just don't want to work -- asking tourists for money. I would sooner do whatever it took -- clean, iron clothes -- before asking anybody for anything.''

Avila said he turned to begging a year ago. He claims he makes 50 Cuban pesos a month on disability -- about $3 -- and said he takes care of a sick mother.

''I live off foreigners who help me,'' he said. "I come about 11 in the morning and stay until 4.''

He shunned other beggars on the malecón as frauds.

''Some people aren't needy; they just don't want to work,'' he said. "We have a free education and health care in the country, but what good is it if everyone is really bad off?''

Offered lunch, Avila declined, saying what he really needed was cash.

The Miami Herald withheld the name of the correspondent who filed this report because the author lacked the Cuban journalist visa required to work on the island.

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