Chronicle on Cuba - January 2005

US-Cuba Relations

January 5: A trio of US senators is protesting a US Treasury Department proposal they contend could seriously hamper the growing trade in agricultural products between the United States and Cuba. One of the trio, Senator Max Baucus (Democrat-Montana), has threatened to put a hold on any new Treasury Department nominees that come before the Senate if the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control goes ahead with plans to require payment in advance of shipment on sales to Cuba. "Moving to obstruct lawful trade after three years of it functioning without incident takes this administration's dangerous obsession with Cuba to a whole new level," said Baucus. “I will not sit idly by if the Treasury Department attempts to rewrite legislation Congress intended to facilitate trade with Cuba. I am prepared to hold up the next significant Treasury Department nominee until this gets resolved.” In a November 23rd letter to Treasury Secretary John Snow, Baucus joined Senators Larry Craig (Republican-Idaho), and Byron Dorgan (Democrat-North Dakota), in noting that “OFAC's mission is to enforce sanctions in place against Cuba, not to regulate or interfere in lawful commerce between the United States and Cuba. (Southeast Farm Press, 5/1/05)

January 5: Florida residents are raising money to deliver a transportation care package to impoverished people in Cuba. Local groups — the Cuba Study Group, the Live Oak Grange and Three Americas — are working to support Pastors for Peace, a national organization, to buy a used bus and load it with much-needed educational and medical supplies. The bus and other items will be driven from Santa Cruz to Tampico, Mexico, where they will be put on a ship and sent to Havana. (Sun Sentinel, 5/1/04)

January 5: The president of the Cuban National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, has challenged the US-designed electoral model for Cuba, saying it is meant to do away with a system based on fairness and grass-root participation. "According to this US plan there will no longer be an automatic, transparent registration by which the elector is registered without too much paperwork and without having to pay a cent for it," he added in an obvious reference to measures against the island announced by Washington in May. (Prensa Latina, 6/1/05)

January 5: Commerce Secretary nominee Carlos Gutiérrez sailed through his Senate confirmation hearing as lawmakers praised his climb from refugee to chief executive of Kellogg Co. Gutiérrez, 51, left Cuba as a child when communists seized power and rose through the ranks of Kellogg . He is credited with transforming the maker of Frosted Flakes cereal and Eggo waffles from a giant but sleepy food company to one of the best-managed US businesses. Gutiérrez promised Senator Byron (Democrat-North Dakota) to look into the senator's concerns about pending Treasury Department regulations that could effectively cut off US food sales to Cuba allowed under a bill passed by Congress in 2000. But he made clear he would not be an advocate for easing the Bush administration's hard line toward the island nation. ``I support the president's policy on Cuba,'' he said. (Reuters, 5/1/05)

January 9: The Rev. James "Jim" Reeves of Christ Boulevard United Methodist Church traveled to Cuba on a mission trip. Reeves worked for the week with a network of Christians that help churches in Cuba. Called the "Cuba Connection," the network includes groups, individuals and churches from various denominations and ministries from various states. The missionaries spread the Gospels and provide food, clothing and other needs for people. Reeves traveled to Cuba through Canada because the United States does not recognize Cuba or allow travel between the countries. He obtained special licenses through the church for travel to Cuba -- for religious purposes only -- and was limited to what he could take and spend there. (Charlotte Observer, 9/1/05)

January 13: The US Supreme Court has ruled that about 2,000 foreign nationals held in indefinite detention in US jails must be freed. Most of those affected by the decision are Cuban migrants US authorities have been unable to deport back to Cuba. There are between 700 and 1000 Cubans held in US jails in indefinite detention. Nearly all of them came to the United States in the 1980 Mariel boatlift when more than 100,000 Cubans fled the communist-run island from the port of Mariel in Cuba. The Cubans, and other foreign nationals affected by the decision, were languishing in US jails because their countries of origin refused to take them back. Nearly all had been convicted of crimes in the United States and deemed "excludable" by US immigration authorities, making them ineligible to remain in the country once they had served their sentences. (VOA, 13/1/05)

January 14: President Bush notified Congress that he would maintain a ban on lawsuits by US citizens whose property was taken by the Cuban revolution. Bush said in a letter that the action was ``necessary to the national interests of the United States and will expedite a transition to democracy in Cuba.'' The lawsuit provision was included in a 1996 law aimed at tightening sanctions against Cuba. Secretary of State Colin Powell recommended that Bush renew the waiver, but some officials urged that the provision be allowed to lapse, thus opening the way to lawsuits. (The New York Times, 15/1/05)

January 18: US Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice warned about the "close association" between Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, both outspoken critics of the United States. "We do have to be vigilant and to demonstrate that we know the difficulties that (Chavez's government) is causing for its neighbors, and about his (Chavez) close association with Fidel Castro," Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Rice was responding to questions by Democrat Christopher Dodd about US relations with Latin America ahead of what is expected to be easy Senate confirmation. Rice was referring to a flap between Chavez and the staunchly pro-US Colombian government of President Alvaro Uribe. (AFP, 18/1/05)

January 18: In an echo of President Bush’s “axis of evil,” Condoleezza Rice named Cuba, Myanmar, Belarus and Zimbabwe as “outposts of tyranny” requiring close US attention. Cuban authorities have long said the US government is planning a military attack on the island — something US officials deny, Rice said. US-Cuba relations, never good during Fidel Castro’s four decades of communist rule, have deteriorated further under the Bush administration. (AFP, 18/1/05)

January 18: The number of Cubans who manage to slip by US Coast Guard patrols and reach US soil remains on a steady decrease. Only 955 Cuban illegal migrants reached US territory last year, as compared to 1,072 in 2003. (The Miami Herald, 18/1/05)

January 19: Cuba accused the United States of lying about its treatment of inmates at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, claiming torture and cruelty occur daily at the prison camp for terror suspects. The Cuban Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it sent a letter to the US government urging authorities to immediately stop the alleged abuse at the camp, which sits on Cuba's easternmost tip. Cuba said the United States has been lying to hide "the horrendous torture, cruelty and humiliating and insulting treatment of prisoners'' that are all part of the abuse "the US government commits every day.'' Cuban authorities were informed but not consulted about the US decision to transfer a group of prisoners from the war in Afghanistan to the US base in Guantanamo, the note stresses. On January 11, 2002, Cuba issued a statement expressing that such transfer of prisoners to the military base was not in line with regulations under which the facility came into being. It also stressed that the Caribbean nation had "noted with satisfaction public statements by US authorities that prisoners will receive an adequate, human treatment."[Declaración del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores] (The New York Times, Prensa Latina, 20/1/05)

January 21: Cuba's state-run media derided US President George W. Bush the day after his inauguration, dubbing the American leader an "emperor" and "the worst president ever." Juventud Rebelde, the Communist Youth's daily newspaper, focused its coverage on those in Washington who marched against Bush's inauguration, printing photographs of protesters and anti-Bush signs. The newspaper called the inauguration the "coronation of the emperor" and described Bush "the worst president ever." Granma, Cuba's Communist Party daily, had little but disdain for Bush's speech. "Putting forth increased interventionism as the axis of foreign policy for this new era, (Bush) justified the necessity of extending his empire's hegemonic power," an article said. (AP, 21/1/05)

January 28: The US Coast Guard Service has confirmed that, at least 30 Cuban illegal immigrants, including several children and a baby, were rescued from an islet just yards away from the Florida coast and remain in Border Patrol custody. (AFP, 28/1/05)

January 30: Texas Cooperative Extension, a partner in the Texas-Cuba Trade Alliance, will present an educational program to help agricultural producers, businesses and others improve their chances for success in trading with Cuba. A half-day seminar, "Doing Business with Cuba," will be held at the University of Houston. Owners of businesses that market foods, other agricultural products and medical supplies will benefit from seminar subjects that include how to trade with Cuba, how to get paid, information on port facilities, and trade opportunities, said Extension agriculture economist Dr. Parr Rosson. (North Texas E-News, 30/1/05)

January 31: A documentary on the five Cuban political prisoners incarcerated in the United States, is being shown in various cities across the United States through February 27. Co-directed by Radio Havana Cuba journalist Bernie Dwyer, and Cuban television producer Roberto Ruíz, the documentary "Mission Against Terror" will be shown in 30 US cities according to the Cuban Antiterrorist web site. (Radio Habana Cuba, 31/1/05)