Chronicle on Cuba - August 2005

US-Cuba Relations

August 1: Cuba's communist government is bristling over President Bush's efforts to hasten its downfall by appointing a "transition coordinator'' to prepare for a post-Castro Cuba. "Once again Bush is rudely meddling in Cuba's internal affairs by appointing one of his men to publicly coordinate subversive actions against the island,'' the ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma said. The Bush administration named Caleb McCarry to the State Department post of Cuba transition coordinator, a position created last year as part of a strategy to prepare for what it hopes will be a move from communism to democracy. (Reuters, 1/8/05)

August 1: A humanitarian group that travels each year to Cuba to protest the US economic blockade returned to the United States without incident, organization officials said. Members of Pastors for Peace had prepared for their belongings to be confiscated or to even be arrested after returning through Mexico from Cuba, said spokeswoman Ellen Bernstein. The group skirts US travel restrictions to the impoverished island by flying from Mexico. When the group crossed the Hidalgo/Pharr International Bridge into Mexico on July 21, US Customs officials seized 43 boxes filled with computer and other electronic equipment. The items were seized because the group did not obtain a license from the US Department of Commerce to export the equipment. (AP, 1/8/05)

August 2: Cuba praised the value of the verdict from the UN Group for Arbitrary Detentions on the arrest and sentences against five Cubans imprisoned in the United States. Attorneys Roberto Gonzalez and Roberto Davalos said the prestigious UN panel conclusion, issued on May 27, renders the arrest and sentences against the “Cuban Five” illegal because of the evident political interests involved and violation of US and international laws. Among the violations lie solitary confinement, the manipulation of the Act for the Protection of Classified Information, and holding the trial in an adverse environment like Miami that led the prosecutors to declare them a threat for national security in 2001. (Prensa Latina, 3/8/05)

August 3: “Young Rebels”, a short documentary about the growing hip-hop movement in Cuba, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, follows five hip-hop groups as they struggle to put together the ninth annual Havana Hip-Hop Festival. Whether because of government censorship or simple lack of means, most of these artists can perform and record their music only in cramped family apartments, hunched over their computers, as relatives burst in to complain about the noise. The festival, a yearly outdoor concert in Almendares Park, is their one chance to reach large audiences, including record companies and foreign media outlets. The film traces the increasingly bitter division between commercially successful groups that have recorded and traveled outside the country under the auspices of a government ministry, the Agency of Rap, and the more subversive acts that have remained underground, loosely banded into a group known as the Youth Cultural Association. The film, which opened in Manhattan, concludes with a too-short sequence featuring the performances at the festival itself, which include a lesbian feminist collective called Krudas, or Raw Girls, and all-male groups with idealistic names like Hermanos de Causa (Brothers of the Cause) and Familias Cuba Represent. (The New York Times, 3/8/05)

August 4: Amidst the anxiety of his relatives and faced with the possibility of repatriation, a captain in the Cuban State Security service who escaped from the island on a boat along with another 27 people, remained aboard a US Coast Guard vessel. According to his wife's testimony, 39-year-old Guillermo Alfonso Alfonso, an officer with the Cuban Ministry of the Interior (MININT) since 1983, exited the island from the north coast and was intercepted the next day by a US Coast Guard patrol, when the longboat in which he was traveling ran out of fuel. (El Nuevo Herald, 5/8/05)

August 5: The US authorities granted visas to the three daughters and the wife of Ramón Labañino Salazar, who is one of five Cuban citizens currently serving lengthy prison terms in the United States. Since he was convicted in 2001, Labañino has not received family visits in spite of reiterated requests to the US authorities from his wife, Elizabeth Palmeiro. (World Data Service, 5/8/05)

August 5: The US Coast Guard has intercepted 1,524 Cuban migrants at sea so far this year -- more than the total for any single year since more than 37,000 migrants rode the waves to South Florida in the 1994 rafter exodus. US officials say the increase in the number of Cuban migrants stopped at sea is relatively small -- only 25 more people so far this year than during all of last year. Last year's figure of 1,499 was the largest yearlong tally since 1994. The trend suggests that the 2005 total will be considerably higher by year's end than for 2004. Figures for Cuban migrant interdictions compiled in fiscal year format -- October 1 to September 30 -- appear more impressive: 2,027 so far this fiscal year compared to 1,225 in fiscal year 2004. By July 29 of the 2004 fiscal year, 1,068 Cuban migrants had been intercepted. (The Miami Herald, 5/8/05)

August 5: Three children and their father were returned to the US by Cuban authorities. On July 27, Foreign Affairs Canada, akin to the US State Department, was told a Canadian father and his three children had disappeared from the US. Two days later, the Canadian embassy in Havana learned that three Canadian children had arrived in Cuba with their father and without travel documents. Cloe Rodrigue, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Canada, said her office then worked with Cuban authorities to ensure the children's safety and swift return. Canadian embassy workers, helped by Cuban officials, approached Mel Dressler's catamaran, docked in Puerto de Vita on the Cuban coast, and removed the children from his care. The youngsters were flown to Montreal, where their step father Richard Subbio met them. Then all four returned to Philadelphia. Dressler, meanwhile, sailed to the Bahamas, after being told he would be arrested in Cuba. He faces a bench warrant in Philadelphia, and the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office charged him with child concealment, a third-degree felony that carries a maximum five-year sentence. According to Committee for Missing Children representative David Thelen, Cuba has been more helpful in international child custody cases since the return of Elián González in 2000. (The Miami Herald, 12/8/05)

August 6: A ship that docked in Havana contained 93 cows from three states, including 40 heifers from Vermont and Maine. It was the second shipment of Vermont cows. The first shipment arrived last month. The arrival marked the culmination of an effort begun nearly 18 months ago by Lt. Governor Brian Dubie, who traveled to Cuba on a trade mission and returned with letters of intent to buy 100 cows, 2,000 bushels of apples and 3,000 metric tons of powdered milk. (AP, 7/8/05)

August 9: Cuban-American leaders in Congress are expressing outrage that the governor of Nebraska, David Heineman, will lead a trade delegation to Cuba in the immediate wake of crackdowns on dissidents and as leaders of the island's pro-democracy movement encounter greater repression from Cuba's communist dictator, Fidel Castro. They are urging the governor, who is seeking to establish a long-term trade relationship with the Cuban government, to mitigate the effects of his trip by visiting with dissidents, advocating the release of political prisoners, and urging free elections on the island during his stay in Cuba. Representatives Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, all Republicans of Florida, sent a letter to Mr. Heineman denouncing his willingness to visit Cuba and trade with Mr. Castro's regime in the wake of recent crackdowns on the island's dissident movement. “Your decision to travel to totalitarian Cuba at this time demonstrates a profound insensitivity toward the suffering of the Cuban people and to the fact that Cuba is one of only six remaining state sponsors of terrorism in the world today," the representatives' letter stated. (New York Sun, 10/8/05)

August 9: In a startling setback for prosecutors in a politically charged case, a US appeals court overturned the convictions of five Cubans sentenced in 2001 to long prison terms on spy-related charges. Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, René González, Gerardo Hernández and Ramón Labañino were convicted in 2001 after US agents dismantled a Cuban spy network called La Red Avispa, the Wasp Network. In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that the five Cubans were unfairly tried in Miami because of community prejudice, extensive media coverage and prosecutors' inflammatory remarks. Although none of the jurors was Cuban-American, defense attorneys argued that Miami's anti-Castro atmosphere ensured their clients would be railroaded into prison sentences ranging from 15 years to life. Leonard Weinglass, an attorney for one of the defendants, described the appeals court decision as "remarkable" and "courageous." Defense attorneys said they would seek bail for their clients, who they argued should be freed pending a new trial. Paul McKenna, Hernandez's attorney, said it was too early to say where the new trial would be held but prefers any place other than Miami."It really can't be held in the Southern District of Florida," McKenna said at a joint news conference with other defense attorneys. Federal prosecutors in Miami had no immediate comment on the court's decision, which is likely to be appealed. [US Court of Appeals Ruling for the 11th Circuit] (Chicago Tribune, BBC, Reuters, EFE, 10/8/05)

August 10: Cuba said that it was a "happy day" on the island after a US federal appeals court decided to throw out convictions and sentences for five Cuban intelligence agents. A statement on the front page of the Communist Party daily Granma called the ruling "ethical" and urged Cubans to be patient as the men, known locally as the "Five Heroes," prepare for a new trial. "The wait has been long (...) and there's no doubt that it will continue to be so," the newspaper said. "It is not easy to overcome a wall of prejudice and blasphemy created over 45 years." (AP, 10/8/05)

August 10: Parliament Speaker Ricardo Alarcón called on the US government to release five accused Cuban spies serving long prison terms after a federal appeals court threw out their convictions and sentences. Alarcón applauded the ruling that said the men's trial in Miami wasn't fair and impartial because of community prejudice and extensive media coverage. He insisted the men be liberated while awaiting a new trial. "What the US government should do is grant them freedom immediately," Alarcon told Granma International, the Communist Party's weekly newspaper distributed overseas. "If they want to accuse them of something else, then accuse them, present evidence, and search for an impartial tribunal." (CNN, EFE, 10/8/05)

August 11: Cuba's parliamentary speaker accused the US government of illegally keeping five Cuban men behind bars, saying they should be freed after a US appeals court threw out their convictions on spying charges. Flanked by the men's relatives, Parliament Speaker Ricardo Alarcón held up a copy of the 93-page ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, and called it "an exceptional document." "Two days have already passed and those five compatriots remain illegally locked up in maximum-security prisons," Alarcón said at a news conference with the men's relatives during a visit to Venezuela. He called the Miami trial that ended in convictions a "farce" and said the new decision revoking their prison sentences means the Cubans are being held "hostage" without cause. "At this time, they aren't guilty of anything," Alarcón said. (AP, Prensa Latina, 12/8/05)

August 11: The US Foreign Claims Settlement Commission has established a second Cuban Claims Program to receive claims of US citizens or corporations against the Government of Cuba for previously undjudicated losses of real and personal property taken after May 1, 1967, chairman Mauricio Tamargo announced. In the earlier Cuban Claims Program, completed on July 6, 1972, the Commission certified 5,911 claims to the US Department of State. Any new claims certified as valid by the Commission will be added to those already certified in the previous program. Although there are no funds currently available to make payment on any American claims, the certification of the Commission's findings to the Secretary of State will be used as a basis for future negotiation of a claims settlement with the Government of Cuba. (US Newswire, 11/8/05)

August 12: Miami's top federal prosecutor says he will retry the five accused Cuban spies whose 2001 convictions were just overturned by a federal appeals court -- most probably next year in another city. But US Attorney R. Alexander Acosta is weighing another potential legal move: challenging the stunning decision by the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. Legal experts said the three-judge panel cited so much overwhelming evidence -- including a court-approved, pre-trial survey showing widespread community prejudice toward the five Cuban defendants -- that there is nothing factually for prosecutors to challenge. (The Miami Herald, 12/8/05)

August 14: Fidel Castro marked his 79th birthday with relatives of five Cuban agents whose convictions on spying charges were overturned, and he spoke to two of the men in US prisons, official media said. "The best they could do would be to set you free," the Cuban president told one of the five agents, Gerardo Hernandez, at the Lompoc prison in California, according to the official daily Juventud Rebelde. Hernandez was speaking to his wife by phone when the Havana gathering fell silent so Castro could address him, the newspaper said. Castro later spoke to another of the agents, Antonio Guerrero, in the same manner, the paper reported. Guerrero is imprisoned in Florence, Colorado. Castro said the ruling was "a victory for the truth in the best tradition of the North American people," and had made his 79th birthday the most memorable, according to the report in Juventud Rebelde. "Stay firm. You are heroes among heroes," the paper quoted Castro telling Hernandez. He also promised to continue to mobilize Cubans and the international community in their defense. Cuba has organized defense committees for the five around the world and made their freedom a cause celebre at home. (Reuters, 14/8/05)

August 14: A Cuban national detained by immigration officers last year on suspicion of being involved in the torture of Fidel Castro's political foes has been released, but may still face deportation. Luis Enrique Daniel Rodríguez was from an immigration facility in Bradenton on Florida's Gulf Coast, where he had been held for months, his attorney, Leonardo Viota Sesin, said. Sesin said he was not sure why his client was freed. Dean Boyd, a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman in Washington, said Daniel Rodríguez was released because of a Supreme Court ruling that prohibits the indefinite detention of foreign nationals whose countries refused to readmit them. (The Miami Herald, 15/8/05)

August 14: A trade delegation led by Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman arrived in Havana with hopes of clinching deals to sell beans, corn and wheat to the island during its four-day mission. Heineman immediately entered a meeting at the Havana airport with Pedro Alvarez, the chairman of Cuba's food-import company, Alimport, to start discussing business. ''Our focus is on agricultural trade, particularly dry beans,'' Heineman told reporters in brief comments. "Nebraska has many high-quality agricultural products, and we are looking forward to opportunities to open trade with Cuba.'' (AP, 15/8/05)

August 16: Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman secured a deal for his state to sell $17 million in farm goods to communist Cuba, starting with the first US shipment of great northern beans to the island since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. Cuba said it will make the purchases, which also include corn, wheat, and soybeans, within the next 18 months. "I know that Nebraska farmers and ranchers will be very happy with this agreement," Heineman told a press conference in Havana's historic Hotel Nacional. Heineman led a 10-member trade delegation including Agriculture Secretary Greg Ibach and representatives of the Nebraska Farm Bureau and the state's corn and wheat boards. (AP, CNN, 16/8/05)

August 16: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused Washington's leftist foes Venezuela and Cuba of trying to destabilize Bolivia, embroiled in indigenous revolts that have overthrown two presidents in two years. ``There is certainly evidence both Cuba and Venezuela have been involved in the situation in Bolivia in unhelpful ways,'' Rumsfeld told reporters while flying to Paraguay on an official visit. He gave no evidence to support his claim. (The New York Times, 16/8/05)

August 16: Coast Guard officials said that 234 migrants from Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti have been repatriated after they were stopped at sea on boats headed toward the United States. The total number of Cubans stopped at sea this year is increasing -- 1,856, the largest number intercepted in a single year since 1994, when 37,191 Cubans were stopped during the rafter exodus. According to a Coast Guard statement, its vessels returned 100 Haitians, 121 Dominicans and 13 Cubans. (The Miami Herald, 17/8/05)

August 17: US Congressman José E. Serrano criticized US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's statements made during the Secretary's recent visit to Paraguay. Congressman Serrano called Rumsfeld's comments "baseless". "Secretary Rumsfeld is following the careless and dangerous line that this administration has always held on Cuba, though now they have added Venezuela to their equation" said Serrano. "For the past five decades we blamed Cuba every time impoverished people in Latin America were upset with their governments and did something about it. Now the formula is that Cuba and Venezuela are to blame," he said. (Venezuelanalysis.com, 17/8/05)

August 17: Two well-known Cuban opposition leaders met with Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the United States' Senate Judiciary Committee, to brief him on recent official actions against members of Cuba's dissidence. The outlawed Assembly to Promote Civil Society (APSC) stated that Marta Beatriz Roque and Vladimiro Roca met the Republican senator from Pennsylvania at the residence of James Cason, Chief of Mission of the US Interests Section in Cuba. Roque, the APSC's principal leader, and Roca, who heads the All United movement, were both targets of recent "acts of repudiation" in front of their homes by supporters of the Cuban Government, an APSC press release stated. The press release indicated that during the meeting "both opposition leaders informed the senator about the most recent wave of repression unleashed by the government against members of Cuba's democratic opposition, of which they personally were victims." (Netfor Cuba, AFP, Notimex, 16/8/05)

August 17: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter was in Havana trying to meet with Fidel Castro. Specter's spokesman, William H. Reynolds, confirmed that Specter was in Havana in hopes of meeting with Castro -- although it was a bit uncertain whether he succeeded. The excursion to the Cuban capital was a side trip on a visit to the region that also took him to the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, where suspected terrorists are held. He returned to Havana and went to Venezuela. Reynolds said Specter met two or three times in the past with Castro; the senator and Castro talked previously about drug interdiction. "I don't know the specifics of why he went down this time," Reynolds said. Reynolds at first said Specter "met with Castro." In a subsequent conversation, Reynolds hedged that, saying that there was "an attempt to try to get them together" but that he could not confirm whether a meeting had actually occurred. (The Washington Post, 17/8/05)

August 18: Nicanor Duarte, president of Paraguay, defended the relations of his government with Cuba and Venezuela to Donald Rumsfeld, US defense secretary, according to Paraguayan Defense Minister Roberto González. A communiqué read out by González, affirmed that Duarte highlighted to Rumsfeld the total educational support his country receives from Cuba, as well as the economic benefits of the energy agreements signed with Venezuela. “At the same time we agreed on the need to build a united South America, with greater political power in world decisions, especially in the economy, finances, the distribution of information and knowledge,” according to the text, circulated a day after Rumsfeld’s official visit to Asunción. (Granma, 19/8/05)

August 19: Crew members aboard a US Coast Guard cutter stationed at Fort Myers Beach had busy days when they encountered 33 would-be Cuban immigrants and three suspected smugglers during routine patrols southwest of Fort Myers. "We had them all up forward at the bow of the ship," said Lt. J.G. Pate, who alerted news media to the accomplishments of his crew of nine plus four more Coast Guard staffers who joined in the patrol. The crew came across 16 Cubans in a homemade metal-and-fiberglass boat; took 11 Cubans from the cruise ship Navigator of the Sea, which had found them in a rubber raft north of Havana; picked up a solo Cuban found near Key West by a boat called the Matagorda; found five more immigrants near the Marquesas. Those Cubans were in a 10-foot wooden boat they were trying to row after tossing the engine -- presumably not working or out of fuel -- overboard. The would-be immigrants were brought aboard one or two at at time, frisked for weapons and given food, water, blankets and medical attention, Pate said. The Cubans were transferred to the Coast Guard cutter Hawk, which took them to Bahia de Cabanas in Cuba. (News Press, 19/8/05)

August 21: The ''Fat Albert'' blimps that broadcast TV Martí to Cuba and scanned the Florida Straits for drug smugglers are skinny now, ruptured by the unforgiving winds of hurricane season. The $3 million blimps that hovered over the lower Florida Keys were torn apart July 9 in 46 mph winds during Hurricane Dennis, US government officials confirmed. That means TV Martí's 31 ½ hours of weekly programming have been slashed to fewer than 10 hours broadcast by satellite and the US military's flying radio stations known as Commando Solo C-130s. Few people watch the U.S.-government station's programs because Cuba jams the signal. And critics say that the fact it took the US media more than five weeks to notice the blimps were missing proves the station has no impact. (DPA, The Miami Herald, 21/8/05)

August 21: Fidel Castro and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez made a joint television appearance overnight in which Chavez accused Washington of destroying the world. The two Latin American leaders, wearing olive military uniforms, talked for five hours and 40 minutes in a special broadcast of Chavez' weekly radio and television show, "Hello Mr. President," from Cuba's western Pinar del Rio province. "US imperialism represents the greatest threat weighing on the world," Chavez said, calling the United States the "great destabiliser" and "the destroyer of the world." Taking a sarcastic tone, Castro told Chavez: "You already know, we cannot make a student study because that would be destabilising, we cannot invite patients to get medical care because that is destabilising." The Foreign Ministers of both countries were in attendance, as well as Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista former president, Daniel Ortega, and former Salvadoran guerrilla leader Schafik Handal. (The Australian, 22/8/05)

August 22: Cuba will purchase $30 million in Nebraska agricultural products in the next year and a half, Governor Dave Heineman said. The news came less than a week after Heineman secured a deal for Nebraska to export $17 million in agricultural goods to the communist nation, starting with the first US shipment of great northern beans to the island since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. Heineman said Pedro Alvarez, chairman of Cuba's food import company Alimport, contacted Nebraska officials soon after they returned from Cuba and expressed interest in making more purchases. (AP, 22/8/05)

August 23: Cuba accused the United States of having a strategy to protect terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, for whom Venezuela has filed for extradition, and of not releasing the five Cubans whose sentences were overturned by a court two weeks ago. In a statement to the press, Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba’s parliament, said that part of that maneuvering is the hearing set for August 29 during which a judge in El Paso, Texas – where Posada is being held – will hear arguments for and against his deportation. "What has the United States done with Venezuela's application? Evidently nothing. Three months ago now, they should have sent him to a federal court, not before a so-called immigration judge. It is all part of a scandalous maneuver not to extradite him," he said. (Granma International, 23/8/05)

August 22: The US Coast Guard searched for 31 Cubans reported missing at sea after their boat capsized between Florida and Cuba. Three survivors were plucked out of the water by the crew of a merchant ship about 30 miles north of Matanzas, Cuba, and told their rescuers their speedboat had overturned with 31 other people aboard, the US Coast Guard said. The survivors were taken ashore in Cuba and Cuban authorities alerted the US Coast Guard. Search crews found a capsized boat in the area but had not found any more survivors. A Coast Guard spokesman said he did not know whether any passengers had life vests or if the voyage was a migrant smuggling attempt. (The New York Times, 22/8/05)

August 22: A shipment of 200 wheelchairs repaired and refurbished by inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola left for Cuba. The wheelchairs will be given to those in need as part of the Joni and Friends program. Angola is the first US state prison to participate in the effort. Joni and Friends was started in 1979 by Joni Eareckson Tada, a quadriplegic. Her Wheels for the World project has provided more than 20,000 refurbished wheelchairs to more than 60 countries. (The Baton Rouge Advocate, 22/8/05)

August 25: The US Coast Guard has given up a search for 31 Cuban migrants missing at sea for over a week since their overcrowded speedboat capsized between Cuba and Florida. Coast Guard aircraft and vessels had searched more than 26,000 sq km of ocean - an area about the size of Massachusetts - for survivors of the shipwreck, since three people were rescued by the crew of the merchant ship Antigua-flagged Melfi Habana. The US Coast Guard learned, through an exchange of search and rescue information with Cuban border guards, that as many as 14 people were initially able to cling to the hull of the vessel when it reportedly capsized on August 16, while up to 20 others drifted away. Eleven people reportedly drifted away as they lost their hold on the capsized vessel, leaving the three people who were rescued. They were reportedly wearing life jackets that allowed them to float until the Melfi Habana rescued them. (AP, US Fed News, 25/8/05)

August 25: The US government has requested the Atlanta Court of Appeals for an extension of the deadline, so that prosecutors have more time to appeal the pannel’s unanimous decision of August 9th that reversed the convictions of the five Cubans imprisoned in the US. According to the verdict of the US Court of Appeals 11th Circuit in Atlanta, prosecutors had 21 days to appeal its ruling. The White House, acting on behalf of the Miami Attorney’s office, has requested 30 more days, till September 29th, so the Miami attorneys make their case. (Prensa Latina, 25/8/05)

August 25: Four decades after Fidel Castro's government had apparently seized all foreign-owned properties in Cuba, it now turns out that a US telephone company retained some 400 acres of land in and around Havana until just two years ago. News of the surprising landholdings came after Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide -- owners of the Sheraton hotel chain -- filed a complaint with the US Justice Department for $63 million worth of land it said the Cuban government seized in 2003 from a Starwood subsidiary. Starwood's land was owned by Radio Corporación Cubana (RCC), a company established in Cuba in 1922 as a subsidiary of the International Telephone and Telegraph Corp. In 1998, Starwood acquired ITT's ownership of RCC. RCC used the land for a transmitting station, buildings and equipment needed for international telephone service until 1992, when Hurricane Andrew knocked out the Florida side of the phone service. The property remained largely unused until 2003, when both the land and RCC were seized. Castro nationalized virtually all foreign-owned properties in 1960, from land to sugar mills to factories. (The Miami Herald, 25/8/05)

August 25: US producers and Cuban officials reported that US rice shipments to the island have plunged by half this year with Washington's tightening of already limited trade between the two countries. According to US producers, only 90,000 metric tons of US rice so far had been exported to Cuba this year, compared with 172,000 metric tons in 2004. "Unfortunately, our trade with Cuba has fallen over 50% in 2005 because of the stringent export restrictions imposed by the US government," said Lee Adams, USA Rice Federation chairman during a visit to Havana with a delegation from the Arlington, Virginia-based trade group. Increased measures by US President George W. Bush's administration "have shown that the United States markets are totally insecure about our country," said Pedro Alvarez, head of the Cuban food import firm Alimport. (Dow Jones Newswires, 25/8/05)

August 26: Cuba blamed the US government for the deaths of 31 people who authorities believed perished in the Florida Straits when their overcrowded boat capsized during an apparent smuggling trip to the United States. "We blame the United States for the deaths of 31 people, almost certain that all have died," Cuba said in an official statement published on the front page of the Communist Party daily Granma. "We call again on American authorities to end the contraband of people, organized and financed from that country, and eliminate the murderous Cuban Adjustment Act" [Official Statement] (CNN, 26/8/05)

August 26: The US Interests Section in Havana, the American mission in Cuba, rejected the Cuban government's statement blaming the US for the disappearance of 31 Cubans at sea, calling it ''a cynical attempt to deflect blame from itself.'' ''Those who died did so fleeing Cuba’s political repression and government-inflicted impoverishment,'' the Interests Section said in a statement distributed to international journalists. (The New York Times, 26/8/05)

August 26: Fidel Castro claimed that US policies were responsible for the latest tragedy to befall Cubans trying to reach American shores -- 31 people believed killed in the Florida Straits. The Cuban are missing and feared dead after their overcrowded boat capsized, officials said. Fidel Castro appeared on state-run television to point the finger at an American law that allows Cubans to apply for permanent residency if they reach the US, saying it encourages dangerous, illegal migration. ''Lives have been lost for the last 40 years since they created that law,'' he said, referring to the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act. ''This policy is absurd.'' (The New York Times, 26/8/05)

August 26: Cuba's food importing monopoly said it would purchase 130,000 tonnes of US rice in the coming months, putting 2005 imports of the US grain above last year's 172,000 tonnes. "Beginning in September we will purchase 100,000 tonnes of paddy rice and 30,000 tonnes of milled rice," Alimport Chairman Pedro Alvarez told a Havana news conference, adding all contracts would be signed in the next few days. A group of rice producers, led by the trade association, USA Rice Federation, arrived in Cuba concerned that the 90,000 tonnes of rice sold to Cuba so far this year was 50 percent below last year's January-August level. "With this agreement we will purchase more US rice than last year," Alvarez said, adding Cuba appreciated the rice federation's opposition to the US embargo. (Reuters, 26/8/05)

August 27: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged Americans with eye problems to visit Caracas' embassy in the United States, saying Venezuela and Cuba are ready to treat them. Chavez and Fidel Castro, who relish pointing up shortcomings in the US health care system, met in Cuba, where they touted their "Miracle Mission," a plan to treat millions of Latin Americans for eye diseases over the next 10 years. Chavez said 150,000 US citizens could be treated per year. "In Venezuela and Cuba, we are willing to bring American men, women and children to get eye treatment," the leftist president said in his weekly television show "Hello Mr. President." "We already talked about this with Fidel Castro," he said. (AFP, 28/8/05)

August 29: A US immigration judge ruled that if an asylum-seeking former CIA operative from Cuba is deported, he would be sent to Venezuela -- where he has been charged in connection with the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner -- and not returned to his Communist homeland. Representing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, attorney Gina Garrett-Jackson asked for Posada to be extradited to Venezuela because he holds citizenship there, adding that at least "initially," return to that nation would pose no danger to the 77-year-old. Judge William Lee Abbott agreed that Venezuela would be the destination country, unless witnesses called before the court can show that sending him to the South American nation would represent a risk to Posada's well-being. The decision by Judge William Abbott came in advance of a hearing on the asylum application of 77-year-old Posada Carriles, which was expected to last three to five days. Posada, who has admitted working against Fidel Castro and to a role in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, has been wanted in Venezuela since escaping from prison there in 1985. (The New York Times, EFE, 29/8/05)

August 29: In Florida, six people were charged with trafficking in protected species of migratory birds, after one man was caught with two rare Cuban songbirds hidden in his underwear at the airport, officials said. The suspects, named in a 21-count indictment unsealed, were charged with illegally dealing in protected species of migratory birds, including indigo and painted buntings, blue grosbeaks and Northern cardinals. The six sold the birds, violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the US Attorney's office said. Among the suspects was Giraldo Wong, who prosecutors said was discovered with two Cuban grassguits in his underwear at the Miami International Airport after he returned from Cuba in May. (The New York Times, 30/8/05)

August 30: The Bush administration backed away from claims that Cuba has an offensive biological weapons effort, acknowledging in a report to Congress that ''there is a split view'' among intelligence analysts on the question. The report says instead that Cuba has the ''technical capability'' to pursue biological weapons research and development because of its advanced pharmaceutical industry. But it leaves open the critical question of whether it has done so. The State Department report apparently marks the first time that the US government has publicly softened its earlier charge, which has been controversial from the outset. [US State Department Report] (The Miami Herald, 31/8/05)

August 30: An anti-Castro militant initially refused to answer questions from US immigration attorneys at his deportation hearing, but later acknowledged using several aliases and passports with different names. When first asked about a series of aliases, including "Bambi," Luis Posada Carriles invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. After consulting with attorneys, Posada acknowledged using aliases and passports with various names as he traveled among Latin American countries and the United States. Government attorneys presented a copy of a passport with the name Franco Rodriguez Mena that they said was used to enter the United States in April 2000 at Miami. After initially refusing to identify the photograph in the passport, Posada said it was possible he used the passport, although he said he could not specifically remember that one. An ex-CIA operative, Posda denied that he tried to assassinate Fidel Castro. He also denied he had arranged a 1997 series of Havana hotel and restaurant explosions. (AP, Reuters, 31/8/05)

August 30: Nobel prize winners, singers and novelists, more than 600 intellectuals and artists overall, called on the United States to free five Cubans jailed for spying in Florida. In an open letter to US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, they said a ruling overturning the Cubans' convictions meant that the five should be released after seven years in US prisons. "At the present time, considering the nullification of the sentences, nothing justifies their incarceration," the letter said. "We are demanding their immediate liberation." Five Nobel prize winners, including South Africans Nadine Gordimer and Desmond Tutu, signed the letter. So did singer Harry Belafonte and actor Danny Glover, frequent critics of US hostility toward Fidel Castro's government. Other signatories included MIT linguist Noam Chomsky and rock singer Manu Chao. The letter was given to reporters at a news conference by Cuban writer Roberto Fernandez Retamar as part of a campaign by Cuba's government to win freedom for the five men. (Reuters, 30/8/05)

August 30: In early July, Rolando Sarabia, 23, one of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba's leading dancers, sneaked across the border into the United States in the way, he said, that so many Cubans do: "Walking, walking, walking." His is the latest in a wave of defections that have hit the brilliant but beleaguered Cuban national ballet company since 2002. Critics have called him the "Cuban Nijinsky" and compared him to the young Mikhail Baryshnikov. Mr. Sarabia said his decision to leave Cuba was purely artistic, spurred, he added, by the refusal of Alicia Alonso, the general director of the Ballet Nacional, to allow him to accept a principal dancer contract with the Boston Ballet in 2003. "Artistically, they shut the door on me," he said by telephone from Miami. "I am now making a new life." (The New York Times, 31/8/05)

August 31: Cuban artists recently nominated for Latin Grammy awards said they hope the US government will grant them visas in time to attend the November 3 ceremony in Los Angeles. In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult for Cuban musicians to obtain US travel visas, with 48 such visa requests denied in less than two years, Cuban authorities said at a news conference organized for the Grammy nominees. "The last group to appear in the United States was that of (Juan) Formell in November 2003," said Jorge Gonzalez, vice president of the government's Cuban Music Institute, referring to the popular group Los Van Van. Those nominated for Latin Grammy awards this year said they had begun the visa process, starting with asking the awards program organizers for a "letter of invitation," which is needed to request the US visas. (AP, 31/8/05)

August 31: An anti-Castro militant accused of illegally entering the United States withdrew his request for asylum. A lawyer for Luis Posada Carriles, Matthew Archambeault, told Immigration Judge William L. Abbott that his client, a former C.I.A. operative, decided to withdraw the asylum request to avoid embarrassing the American government. Some questions about his background that government lawyers asked Mr. Posada "may step in areas sensitive to the US government" and other governments, Mr. Archambeault said. Mr. Posada's lawyers said they would now focus on trying to prevent his deportation to Venezuela. (AP, 31/8/05)

August 31: Anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles may not be deported to Venezuela, where he fears he would be tortured, if his plea for protection in the United States fails. The judge overseeing his asylum and deportation trial in El Paso said that on the face of it, Posada had presented enough evidence to persuade him that he could qualify for a form of US protection. But Judge William Abbott said he would defer a ruling. ''He has made a prima facie case,'' Abbott said. Unless Judge Abbott changes his mind, the striking development in immigration court could allow Posada to stay in the United States -- although he could be subject to indefinite detention. Posada's attorneys argue that he qualifies for the protection, known as ''deferral'' of deportation, under terms of the Convention Against Torture, widely called CAT by immigration lawyers. ''If Adolf Hitler applied for CAT, this court would have to grant deferral,'' Abbott said. ''Not that your client is like Hitler,'' Abbott added quickly, noting that no matter how terrible a deferral applicant's criminal or terrorist past is, it does not disqualify him from the benefit if he can show likely torture in the country to which he is expelled. (The Miami Herald, 1/9/05)