Chronicle on Cuba - June 2005

June 1: Some Czech deputies considered reviving the Czech-Cuban parliamentary dialogue and visiting Cuba, but their plan has been "frozen" by the expulsion of Czech Senator Karel Schwarzenberg from Cuba and Cuba's refusal to grant visas to a few MEPs in May. "The situation has complicated possible progress in the [dialogue] project," lower house foreign committee chairman Vladimir Lastuvka told the press. He said the plan had not exceeded its initial stage, and it had not been discussed with the Cuban side either. The idea was hatched at a meeting of deputies with Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda. However, Cuba's approach towards the foreign legislators in May has complicated everything, Lastuvka said. (CTK, 1/6/05)

June 1: Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage received in Havana the Under Secretary General of the United Nations for Humanitarian Affairs and Coordination of the Emergency System, Jan Egeland, who made a three-day visit to this island. The high UN official recalled that the hurricane season started for the North Atlantic-Gulf of Mexico-Caribbean. The number and magnitude of these events grow by the year, so it is urgent that more efficient preparatory work is done in the whole zone, he indicated. In this sense, he endorsed that the Cuban system of measures to protect the population and its training to reduce losses is among the best in the world. (Prensa Latina, 1/6/06)

June 1: An exhibition of photographs presenting the life of mothers and wives of Cuban dissidents imprisoned by Fidel Castro's regime opened in the Prague House in Brussels, organised by the Czech Republic's People in Need association. The photographs document the courage and suffering of the women persecuted by secret police, authorities and sometimes even by fellow citizens. Cuban poet Raúl Rivero attended the exhibition opening ceremony with his wife Blanca Reyes, who, along with other women, has struggled for the dissident prisoners' release. Both Rivero and his wife are currently living in Spain, after Rivero’s release from prison by Cuban authorities. (CTK, 1/6/05)

June 1: A small group of pro-Cuban protesters demonstrated outside the US embassy in Mexico City to demand the US government send Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela to face charges in an airplane bombing that killed 73 people. The protesters, about a dozen members of the Mexican Movement in Solidarity with Cuba, donned masks representing US President George W. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and Osama bin Laden; they then doused their hands with fake blood and held out false dollars they said represented US protection and funding for terrorists. (AP, 1/6/05)

June 1: Cuban Ambassador to the Philippines Jorge Rey Jimenez backtracked on previous statements requesting the assistance of the Philippine government in extraditing a Cuban renegade from the United States. Jimenez told a news conference he was only trying to "solicit public opinion" over claims that the US had been blocking all efforts to extradite Luis Posada Carilles, a former operative of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) wanted for the 1976 fatal bombing of a Cuban airliner. Jimenez stressed the initiative did not come from Havana but from a group that wanted Posada to face trial for the 1976 bombing. He said one of the four Philippines-Cuba friendship associations had actually called the press conference held at the Cuban embassy in Makati City. "The press conference was called by one of the four Philippines-Cuba associations and not by the Cuban Embassy," Jimenez clarified. (The Philippine Star, 1/6/05)

June 1: Pope Benedict XVI expressed hope that a recent meeting in Havana "would give a new impulse to the tireless missionary efforts of the Church in Cuba." The Pope relayed that expectation in a message to the participants in the 1st Missionary Meeting of Cuba, held in Havana in May. The text was read by the apostolic nuncio in Cuba, Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi, in the course of the first meeting of the event. The conference attracted 141 delegate representatives from the 11 Cuban dioceses, including 110 lay missionaries, in addition to 23 seminarians, according to Father Raúl Rodríguez Dago, national director of the Pontifical Missionary Societies in the country. Resolutions reached by the participants included the decision to endorse the commitment taken by the National Meeting of the Catholic Church in Cuba in 1986. That commitment included making the mission central to pastoral work. Among those attending the Missionary Meeting was Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino of Havana. (Zenit, 1/6/05)

June 2: Havana has held out an assurance to Islamabad that it would open its embassy in Islamabad by the end of 2006, at the latest, but pointed out that the Cuban ambassador accredited to Pakistan, based in China, has been waiting since July 2004 to present his credentials. In a meeting with Pakistan’s Special Envoy Nasim Zehra, the Cuban foreign minister said that he was pleased to convey his government’s decision to open an embassy in Pakistan, which was earlier delayed due to financial constrains. The special envoy held out an assurance that Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad is already working on ensuring that the Cuban envoy can present his credentials within the next couple of months. (The News International Pakistan, 2/6/05)

June 2: Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda does not expect the EU foreign ministers to revise their January decision to soften the EU stand on Cuba and resume the previous diplomatic sanctions, he said, but added that there exist many other ways to exert pressure on Fidel Castro's regime. "We must not let ourselves be impressed by cosmetic changes, no crucial progress had been made [on the part of Cuba]," Svoboda told the press after a Brussels meeting of politicians from the European People's Party (EPP) which focused on the EU policy towards Cuba. At the seminar meeting, EPP politicians agreed that the EU has to pursue an uncompromising policy toward Cuba until the local regime starts democratization and releases its dissidents, sentenced to many years in prison. (CTK, 2/6/05)

June 4: Fidel Castro called upon the OAS to “support almost unanimously” a request for the extradition to Venezuela of anti-Castro firebrand Luis Posada Carriles, currently detained by US authorities. Castro spoke at the closing ceremony of a three-day conference that brought together hundreds of social activists and political leaders, mostly from Latin America, to review, starting with the case of Posada Carriles, a long list of violent and repressive events spanning the last four decades. (La Jornada, 4/6/05)

June 4: The OAS Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, weighed in on the debate regarding the situation of Cuba within the Inter-American system. Insulza declared that the OAS position on Cuba, ostracized from the organization for the last 41 years, “is well known” and has been “cemented” by the approval of the Inter-American Democratic Charter in 2001. “With that Charter, to be in the OAS you have to meet the requirements of the Charter,” he said. “Therefore, if the issue of Cuba is brought up again within the OAS – at Cuba’s request or the OAS’s – and the return of Cuba is laid once more on the table – which we have always been willing to consider --, it has to be within the framework of the Inter-American Democratic Charter (…) That’s the focal point,” he said. (El Nuevo Herald, 4/6/05)

June 4: More than two dozen foreign dignitaries joined a call in South Florida for the Organization of American States to make Cuba's transition to democracy one of its top priorities. The University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies took advantage of the OAS' annual General Assembly, being held in Fort Lauderdale, to organize a seminar on how the 34-hemispheric bloc can play a constructive role in Cuba's future. ''It is high time [the OAS] addresses the issue of Cuba and Cubans,'' said Martin Palous, the Czech Republic's ambassador to Washington. "If anything can come out of this general assembly (...) it is [that] Cuba is part of the American discussion. It would be a tremendous boost for Cuban freedom fighters.'' A dozen Latin American and European leaders signed a three-page declaration on Cuba passed around at the seminar and urging the OAS to "consider how it can play a constructive role in helping a future Cuban democratic transition government rejoin the hemispheric family of democracies and rebuild its political, legal, economic system.'' [Consensus for Democracy in Cuba] (The Miami Herald, 5/6/05)

June 4: East Timor Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister Jose Ramos Horta began an official visit to Cuban to strengthen the relations between both countries. Ramos Horta will hold official talks with his Cuban counterpart Felipe Perez Roque and other Cuban officials. The agenda of the 1996 Peace Nobel Prize Winner will include a meeting with the Cuban Communist Party´s Central Committee International Relations Department chief, Fernando Remirez, and the Foreign Investment and Economic Collaboration Minister, Marta Lomas. (Prensa Latina, 4/6/05)

June 5: The Cuban-Mexican Civic Association, a non-governmental organization, accused the Mexican government of treating Cuban illegal immigrants like “5 th class citizens.” According to the organization, at least 16 Cuban balseros (illegal migrants who brave the ocean on homemade rafts) were deported back to Cuba, while another 50 were transferred from Veracruz to Mexico City for the same purpose. (EFE, 5/6/05)

June 6: Brazil called on the OAS to engage in "constructive cooperation" with Cuba, which was suspended from the regional organization in 1962. "Constructive cooperation, even when there are differences in perceptions, sometimes profound differences, is the best path for ensuring that the goals of the (OAS) charter are fully achieved," Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said. During his address at the first session of the 35th Organization of American States General Assembly, the foreign minister referred to the "empty seat" at the regional gathering, a clear allusion to Cuba. "We also believe that it's an anomaly and also regret that it's that way. In 1994, Brazil, with the support of other countries, advocated opening a dialogue about this situation," Amorim said in his address to the gathering, which is being presided over by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. (EFE, 6/6/05)

June 6: Cuban volleyball player Javier González requested political asylum in Italy, where the Cuban national team was competing in the Men’s World League. Gonzalez is the 10 th volleyball player to defect in the last 3 years. (EFE, 6/6/05)

June 6: The President of Cape Verde, Pedro Verona Rodrígues Pires, began a working visit in Cuba and is expected to meet with Fidel Castro. (Radio Habana Cuba, 6/6/05)

June 6: King Mswati III of Swaziland began an official three-day visit to Cuba to strengthen bilateral ties. Africa's last absolute monarch arrived in Havana at the invitation of Fidel Castro. The southern African king will visit the Institute of Tropical Medicine and the International Sports School, both of which are in Havana. This is Mswati's second visit to the island, after an April 2000 summit of the Group of 77. Cuba and Swaziland established diplomatic relations on September 22, 1996. (AFP, Radio Habana Cuba, 6/6/05)

June 9: Angolan deputy minister of health, Natália do Espírito Santo, in Havana, defended the need for strengthened cooperation with Cuba, especially in the technical and scientific fields. "Now in times of peace we are in a position to further strengthen this co-operation. We will finalise all work that we started in 2004 which might lead to the signing of a project of cooperation between both Health Ministries", said Natália do Espírito Santo. (AllAfrica.com, 9/6/05)

June 9: EU governments should rethink their policy towards Cuba and stop helping European companies support the island's Communist regime by skimping on labour rights, a leading Cuban opposition figure said. "We recognise that the EU has good intentions but words alone will not do it. Sanctions did not work but lifting them didn't work either," said Eduardo Perez Bengochea, travelling in Europe as the representative of three Cuban dissident groups. "We think that the European Union should consider a complete 'no' policy towards Cuba -- proactive and socially responsible, not reacting to Castro's moods, wishes and actions," he said. Perez said he represented economist Martha Beatriz Roque, 60, who has spent four of the last eight years in jail for criticising Castro, and her Assembly to Promote Civil Society. (Reuters, 9/6/05)

June 9: Canadian Cuba solidarity activists are to hold a press conference to inform the Canadian people about the implications for their country of the arrest of international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles. They will demand that the Canadian government intervene so that the US extradites Posada to Venezuela. "It all began with Fidel’s speeches on the Carriles case," recalled Philippe Leroux, of the Coordinating Committee in the province of Quebec, which brings together the different Cuba solidarity groups. "In Canada, we have been dealing with Bush’s new anti-terrorist measures, which signify the loss of civil rights and freedoms," Leroux emphasized. "Moreover, the Montreal Convention against terrorism was signed in that city in 1997, so it is normal for us to be particularly concerned about that issue." (Granma International, 9/6/05)

June 9: Carlos Nieto Palma, director of Una Ventana a la Libertad [Window to Freedom], expressed his opposition to the presence of Cuban professionals in Venezuelan jails. "They have nothing to contribute to us in the penitentiary area," he explained and referred to those who graduate with advanced technology degrees in prison administration. Nieto Palma said statements by the head of the Prison Mission, Sara Infante, were irresponsible, after she said that her work is to make a diagnosis in the area and then to tackle the situation. "This doctor, who will evidently guide the fate of our prisons, does not have the least idea of what she is saying. In Venezuela, we have plenty of diagnoses, we do not need any more, much less from people who are not familiar with our prison system," he said. The lawyer wondered if Infante will try to treat the inmates who are addicts the way they do in Cuba. "The Cubanization of our prisons, more than a step backwards with regard to prison practices, is an affront to the graduates of the University Institute of Penitentiary Studies and to the personnel who work in those prisons, in addition to demonstrating the inability of the Interior and Justice Ministry through its director of custody and rehabilitation to resolve the problem internally," he explained. (El Nacional, BBC Monitoring, 14/6/05)

June 10: The European Union will not revive diplomatic sanctions against Cuba despite the expulsion of several EU lawmakers and journalists who tried to attend an opposition conference last month, diplomats said. The Czech Republic, a former communist state and new EU member, led efforts to re-impose the sanctions, arguing that the EU should respond to the communist government's refusal to admit European Parliament members. But Spain convinced a big majority of member states that the move would be counter-productive, noting that political dialogue with Havana had only just resumed and it was a step forward that the authorities had permitted the dissident meeting at all. "They (the 25 EU countries) have agreed at ambassador level to maintain the suspension of the sanctions. I expect the ministers to do the same”, one EU diplomat said. (Reuters, 10/6/05)

June 12: Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza said that the US trade embargo against Cuba, in effect for more than 40 years, "has not worked" and "it would be good" to look at other options for effecting change in the island. "The most discreet reply would be to say that when a thing has not worked for more than four decades, it might be good to try something else," Insulza told the La Tercera newspaper. The former Chilean interior minister said it was not clear what the OAS could do with regard to Cuba, because there was "a structural problem" in light of the fact that the island was suspended from the organization in 1962. "We can talk about mechanisms, instruments, but it is not very clear which ones the OAS could use with regard to Cuba," Insulza said, noting that the regional organization only deals with the Cuban issue in the human rights commission. "When Fidel Castro recently said some less than loving things about me, a lot of time had gone by since he had spoken about the OAS," Insulza said, noting that, after his election as secretary-general, the Cuban leader referred to him as "silly" for saying that the organization should serve as a guardian for democracy in the Americas. (EFE, 13/6/05)

June 13: As was expected, foreign ministers of the European Union decided not to reimpose on Cuba the diplomatic sanctions suspended earlier this year, despite noting on the record a lack of "satisfactory progress" toward respect for human rights on the Communist-ruled island. The ministers approved a document reiterating the 25-nation bloc's intention to continue dialogue with Havana, said Jean Asselborn, foreign minister of Luxembourg, which currently exercises the EU's rotating presidency. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, whose Socialist government pushed for late January's suspension of the diplomatic sanctions, argued during debate in favor of giving the rapprochement more time to work. The ministers said the policy would again be reviewed in June 2006. (EFE, 13/6/05)

June 13: "The Cuban regime behaves as a totalitarian one and it is not possible to be silent on this," Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda told the press before the EU’s discussion on a draft resolution on Cuba. The EU will take a very critical stand on human rights violations in Cuba, but it will not resume diplomatic sanctions which were suspended in January, it ensues from the draft resolution. The resolution was originally expected to be approved without a debate, but the Czech Republic raised an objection to the text, and therefore the debate was held. (CTK, 13/6/05)

June 14: In a press Conference, Deputy Chairman of the Cuban Friendship Association Enrique Ramón Hernández underscored the strong ties between Syria and Cuba in the political, cultural and scientific domains, pointing out that his visit to Syria “aims at cementing friendship relations between the two countries.” Hernández reviewed the economic changes in the world during this stage, asserting the need for “boosting Arab-Cuban cooperation” to face challenges imposed by the economic great blocs that aim at dominating other nations’ capacities. (SANA, 14/6/05)

June 14: Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez said that the Vicente Fox administration is waiting for Havana’s consent to send its new ambassador to the island, a post that has remained vacant since last February. “Trade ties with Cuba are still maintained. Yes, we do not have an ambassador there at present, but we are awaiting word from Havana to send in our new representative,” Derbez told Mexican senators. (AFP, 14/6/05)

June 14: Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage arrived in Qatar to attend the high level meeting of the Second South Summit, where representatives of 132 member countries of G-77 are participating. Lage was received in the Qatari capital by Minister of State Chej Hamad Ben Abdallah Al Thani and Cuban Foreign Minister, Felipe Perez Roque, already in Doha. The Cuban official will participate in the meeting of presidents, heads of government and state representatives of the Third World, to be held in Doha, where they will approve the Final Declaration of the Summit and the Plan of Action of the Group of 77 for the next five years. (Prensa Latina, 15/6/05)

June 15: In a message addressed to the 2nd South Summit in Doha, Qatar, Fidel Castro called for a more equitable and sustainable world order to deal with the economic model neoliberalism has imposed on it. Fidel Castro pointed out that the neoliberal system implacably takes the life of millions of people in the poorest nations of the Earth. "Our countries are included for exploitation but excluded from development," he denounced in his message to the Doha Summit, which is calling for larger South-South trade exchange and integration. (Prensa Latina, 15/6/05)

June 17: While portraying himself as a ‘friend’ of the Cuban government, Portuguese author José Saramago defended the right of Cuban dissidents to voice their views. During a press conference following a lecture at the University of Havana, Cuba, where he arrived at the government’s request, Saramago said, “I do not agree with what has happened in Cuba. But I am in Cuba right now and the Cuban government has not asked me to leave.” The writer tried to elaborate on his position and indicated that “dissent is a right” and, as such, no one should be stripped of it. However, he quickly went on to claim to being a “friend” of Cuba and the local authorities. (AP, 17/6/05)

June 19: Cuban advisors have retrained 3,017 teachers from 35 Colombian public schools and the government of President Álvaro Uribe wants the program, implemented by agreement with the government of Castro, to be extended to another 211 educational centers, whose student population is primarily Afro-Colombian. These are government-run schools located in the cities of Tumaco and Buenaventura, on the Pacific coast, as well as in Quibdo, in the Chocó jungle region, and on the Caribbean island of San Andrés. (El Nuevo Herald, 19/6/05)

June 19: Angola's Culture Ministry is negotiating a contract so that Cuban teachers work in the country at artistic schools, Minister Boaventura Cardoso announced. The Minister made the announcement at his arrival from Madrid where he represented the Angolan government at the Foro de Concertación of various Culture Ministries, a meeting preceded by the fourth International Congress on Culture and Development, which took place in Havana. (Angop Press, 19/6/05)

June 19: Fidel Castro has called for concrete steps towards genuine integration among the peoples of Latin American with a view to solving serious health problems that plague the region. At the closing ceremony of the Fifth International Ophthalmology Congress, the Cuban statesman said he is convinced that great accomplishments in terms of health are in store through solidarity, cooperation, and mass training of highly qualified personnel. Approximately 180 million people throughout the world are blind and the sad fact is that 80 per cent of blindness cases are curable and preventable, Castro said. He pointed out that in Latin America alone the rate of blindness is 8,000 per million inhabitants. (Media Monitor, 19/6/05)

June 20: Seven Cubans and two Dominicans who attempted to reach Puerto Rico illegally by boat are missing, the Dominican Navy reported. A Navy spokesperson said that relatives of the illegal migrants had reported them missing, and added that they had passed themselves off as tourists before setting out for Puerto Rico. (AP, 20/6/05)

June 21: Cuban Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas is attending the first day of the 81st session of the Africa, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) Group’s Council of Ministers. After arriving in Brussels, Cabrisas held talks with ACP General Secretary John Kaputin. Meeting participants will discuss, among other topics, measures of the Cotonou Agreement, as well as analyze basic topics like sugar, banana and cotton. (Prensa Latina, 21/6/05)

June 21: Mexico is against the trade embargo with Cuba, Mexican President Vicente Fox said at Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations (MGIMO). "We are strongly against the trade embargo with Cuba," he said. "It is not a solution to the issue." The Mexican president pointed out that Mexico has "great relations with Cuba." He called the relations "very productive" and said they included trade and economic cooperation. (Novosti, 21/6/05)

June 21: Retired army officers who oppose the government of President Hugo Chávez appealed to Venezuelans to take to the streets of Caracas and other Venezuelan cities to protest a possible Fidel Castro visit to that country. The Institutional Military Front called upon the population to demonstrate against the Cuban President’s visit. (OCB, 21/6/05)

June 21: Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia highlighted the need for strengthening the existing traditional ties between Bangladesh and Cuba to a new level for the benefit of the two peoples. She was speaking to new Cuban envoy to Bangladesh Juan Carretero Ibáñez when he made his first call on her at the Prime Minister's office here. Mr. Carretero, based in New Delhi, said in addition to the existing political ties, Bangladesh and Cuba have the scope of cooperation in the fields of trade and economy for the benefit and welfare of the two peoples. (BSS, 21/6/05)

June 26: Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said he expects Fidel Castro will not attend an oil summit with Caribbean leaders in Venezuela and will instead send his vice president, Carlos Lage. The talks in the northeastern city of Puerto La Cruz are to center on Chavez's proposal to create a regional company, called Petrocaribe, to offset high oil prices by distributing Venezuelan crude and refined oil products to the Caribbean at lower prices. (EFE, 26/6/05)

June 27: Onelia Ross, a Cuban-Canadian, who looked forward to sipping mojitos and swimming in the warm turquoise waters of the Caribbean during a trip back to Cuba, instead, spent five days sitting in a Havana prison cell. "They held me for five days while they investigated the case and they didn't let me call a lawyer," Ms. Ross said from her Ottawa home. They accused her of trying to enter the country illegally. “I said no, that there must be a mistake," recalled Ms. Ross. As she argued with the official, the situation devolved into a shouting match at the small airport in Holguin. She also said she was manhandled by her jailors and suffered bruising and scrapes. Reynald Doiron, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs, confirmed that Ms. Ross was held in prison for five days. "We sent a diplomatic note to Cuban authorities requesting they check into the allegation of Ms. Ross being beaten or roughed up and no reply has been received so far," he said. Ms. Ross's dual citizenship "may be a complicating factor" in receiving a timely response, he said. "However the treatment of a Canadian citizen as reported by her is of concern to Foreign Affairs and deserves a full explanation. We hope they will provide one." Ms. Ross, a 47-year-old accountant, has never been involved in politics or been critical of Cuba, and left the country 28 years ago when she met and married a Canadian diplomat who was posted in Havana. After five days in prison she was released and put on a plane to Ottawa. Cuban authorities kept the $500 (U.S.) in cash that Ms. Ross was carrying, saying it covered the cost of feeding her for five days, and flying her from Holguin to Havana. (The Globe & Mail, 27/6/05)

June 28: An orthopaedic surgeon from Cuba has claimed that the Health Professions Council of South Africa had refused to renew his yearly registration certificate because of pressure by Cuban authorities. According to the professional, Cuban authorities hope to make an example of him so that other Cuban doctors would "toe the line". Pietermaritzburg-based Mario Menchero - who is married to an attorney who has represented numerous Cuban doctors in legal battles with the South African health authorities - has said in the Pietermaritzburg High Court that he has been labelled a "traitor" and was being victimised as a result of his marriage. Menchero alleges in court papers that the fact that he was not registered led him to being placed on leave without pay. He was based at Grey's Hospital in Pietermaritzburg. (IOL, 28/6/05)