Chronicle on Cuba - July 2008

US-Cuba Relations

July 1: Travel agents and charter companies are set to ask a federal judge to issue an emergency stay blocking a new law that would make it harder for them to book trips to Cuba. In the hearing in Miami, the agencies will argue the measure is unconstitutional and could drive up costs and put them out of business. The new law was set to take effect Tuesday and would force the agencies to put up a $250,000 state bond if they book tours to Cuba. Other travel agencies would only pay $25,000. Republican State Representative David Rivera sponsored the measure. He hopes it will cut down on travel fraud, provide greater homeland security, and deny resources to the Cuban government (AP, 1/7/08).

July 1: A federal judge ruled to allow flights to Cuba to continue while he considers travel agents' arguments over whether they should be regulated by the state of Florida for selling direct flights to Cuba. The two sides will return to court on July 11 for another hearing to determine the validity of the law, which was set to kick in July 1. The group of 16 Miami-Dade travel agencies specializing in trips to Cuba are suing the state in federal court to stop increased fees from taking effect on Tuesday. Those fees are on hold until the judge's decision is rendered (The Miami Herald, 1/7/08).

July 2: Two men from Charlotte County were indicted on charges of boating to Cuba. Authorities believe they were going there to smuggle in people. Francisco Leon Marquez and Walter Pereira Flores allegedly traveled to Cuba on February 16 on a 30-foot speedboat. It is against the law to travel to Cuba without written permission of the US Coast Guard. On February 17, according to court documents, a US Coast Guard boat was patrolling near the Dry Tortugas and spotted the boat, which was traveling north. The next day, Coast Guard seamen found Marquez and Flores in the boat without gas, 66 miles southwest of Fort Myers Beach. One of the men allegedly threw a GPS system off the boat, which the Coast Guard recovered. The GPS system documented locations from Port Charlotte to Boca Grande Pass and Cuba (News-press.com, 2/7/08).

July 2: Cuba accused US diplomats of instigating opponents of the communist-run government to hold public protests to mark American Independence Day. "There has been an escalation of provocative actions organized and financed by the US Interests Section in Havana," the Foreign Ministry said in a communiqué published in Granma. It said the mission "is trying to organize other illegal activities and is instigating the mercenaries in Cuba to realize provocative public actions around July 4, US Independence Day." It did not describe what sort of demonstrations might be planned. US Interests Section officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In June, Communist officials accused Michael Parmly, America's top diplomat in Havana, of carrying funds to dissidents from a Cuban-American businessman who was once convicted in the US of conspiring to collect military-style weapons to overthrow Cuba's government. Parmly, who is winding up his assignment in Havana, has declined to respond to the allegations (Cuba acusa a Estados Unidos; CNN, 2/7/08).

July 3: American diplomats denied instigating opposition demonstrations to coincide with the Fourth of July holiday, a spokesman for the US mission in Havana said. At least seven dissidents, meanwhile, were reportedly detained before the monthly meeting of an opposition group, according to the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation. Cuba's Foreign Ministry accused US diplomats in Havana of "instigating the mercenaries in Cuba to realize provocative public actions around July 4, US Independence Day." The statement did not describe what kind of protests were planned but warned that the US would be held responsible. “If they are planning something, I don't have any advance knowledge," Greg Adams, a spokesman for the US Interests Section, said of the opposition. "The government of Cuba is a dictatorship that oppresses its people," Adams told reporters. "The Cuban people do not need outside influence to seek relief from this oppression" (Sun Sentinel, 3/7/08).

July 3: The 19th US-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan, which challenges the US embargo against Cuba on an annual basis, was stopped at the US-Mexico border. The Pastors for Peace Caravan, as it is also known, was carrying medicines and other materials to show their solidarity with the people of Cuba. "We’ve had 31 computers seized by the Customs and Border Patrol at the US-Mexico border. These computers were destined for classrooms, clinics and hospitals in Cuba. These are 31 classrooms, clinics and hospitals that now will not have the opportunity to have computers," Rev. Thomas Smith, President of the Board of Directors for the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization/ Pastors for Peace, said. The Pastors for Peace/ Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization has been bringing humanitarian aid to Cuba since 1992 without asking the US Treasury Department for a permit (ACN, 4/7/08).

July 4: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez said that the Cuban government is willing to negotiate with the United States on equal footing without compromising its principles. Perez made the remarks during the Non-Alliance Movement (NAM) meeting on Margarita Island off the north-eastern coast of Venezuela. Answering questions about the prospect of relations between the two countries after the US presidential elections in November, he said it is premature to make any comment on this, but one thing is certain: Cuba's principled positions will remain unchanged. These include safeguarding Cuba's national independence, building the country free of any foreign interference, and opposing the economic blockade imposed by Washington (Xinhua, 4/7/08).

July 4: A cultural gala in honour of the American people on the occasion of their Independence Day July 4 is scheduled to take place at Havana's Amadeo Roldan Theater. Cuban and American classics will be played by Cuban musicians, reported Granma online. The program includes performances by the Banda Nacional de Concierto, Ensemble Vocal Luna, Ventus Habana, Cuba's National Choir, and the Entrevoces Chamber Choir (ACN, 4/7/08).

July 4: The chief of the US Interests Section in Havana, Michael Parmly, said Washington "would not be opposed" to granting Cuba cable access to the Internet if the Castro government allows all Cubans to utilize it, the Spanish news agency EFE reported. "US technology companies are ready at this moment– now–to connect Cuba to the Internet and our government would not be opposed," Parmly was reported as telling guests at a Fourth of July party. "The only thing missing is for the Cuban government to lift its restrictions, lose its fears and begin to trust its own people." According to Cuban authorities, the US trade embargo bars Cuba from tapping the underwater Internet cable that runs from Miami to Cancun, Mexico, only 20 miles from Havana, so Cuba must use satellite connections, which are more expensive than cable and technologically more restricting. For that reason, Cuba limits its citizens' private use of the Internet, favouring its "social use" by state-run institutions, Cuban authorities say. Parmly's comment may have been in response to criticism of Washington's Internet policy voiced frequently during the Journalists' Union Congress in Havana (The Miami Herald, 6/7/08).

July 5: Cuba's communist government has rebuilt its network of spies in Florida to the levels that existed before the FBI rounded up more than a dozen members of the Cuban spy Wasp Network, according to a US Army expert on Cuban intelligence. Lt. Col. Chris Simmons, an Army counterintelligence officer, told the press that within nine to 18 months of the network's 1998 dismantling, the number of Cuban agents and intelligence officers in the state was back up to pre-Wasp Network levels–or about 210. ''The loss of any one network doesn't compromise anything outside its own structure,'' said Simmons, noting that Cuba's spies appear to operate within compartmentalized cells not directly connected to each other. Simmons' statement marks the first time a US official has detailed the number of Cuban spies in Florida in recent years. He also outlined the spies' likely targets, including Cuban exile groups and US military installations. The Cuban government's diplomatic mission in Washington did not take a question on the issue. Judy Orihuela, an FBI Miami spokeswoman, declined to comment on the matter. But Jaime Suchlicki, director of the University of Miami's Institute on Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, said Simmons' claim is ''within the realm of the possible in the nebulous world'' of intelligence (The Miami Herald, 5/7/08).

July 5: Representatives from the Pastors for Peace Caravan from the United States reached Havana. Caridad Diego Bello, head of the Communist Party of Cuba’s Central Committee religious affairs office, leaders of the Cuban People’s Friendship Institute and Cuban religious leaders gathered at José Martí International Airport to welcome the group. Rev. Lucius Walker led the delegation which is bringing solidarity aid to Cuba, despite the challenges faced crossing the border into Mexican territory via the Pharr Bridge near Reynosa. At this border crossing between the states of Tamaulipas and Texas, US agents confiscated 35 computers, part of the 100 ton shipment which included several vehicles. Members of the 19th US-Cuba Friendship Caravan, in a demonstration of protest, occupied one lane of automobile traffic at the Pharr border crossing station for half an hour, until their entrance into Mexico was authorized. The Pastors for Peace delegation includes activists from the US, Canada, Europe and Mexico, and every year challenges the US blockade against Cuba which prohibits trade and travel to Cuba by US citizens (Granma International, 6/7/08).

July 7: Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc raised the political and emotional stakes in its fight against an unwanted $46.3 billion takeover bid by highlighting its foreign suitor's ties to Cuba. Belgium-based InBev NV wants to buy Anheuser-Busch to create the world's largest beer brewer, but its overtures have been rejected repeatedly by the St. Louis-based brewer of Budweiser. InBev moved ahead with plans to try to replace Anheuser-Busch's board with its own nominees. In rejecting InBev's offer as too low and uncertain, Anheuser-Busch on Monday also called attention to InBev's operations in Cuba. InBev, through a subsidiary, has a partnership with the government of Cuba to produce and distribute products in Cuba, Anheuser-Busch said. "InBev has not commented on how that would impact business with Anheuser-Busch's customers, nor on its ability to complete an acquisition under U.S. laws that affect acquisitions of US companies by foreign companies," Anheuser-Busch said. US companies are barred from doing business with Cuba under most circumstances (Reuters, 7/7/08).

July 8: After a few weeks of uncertainty, business dealings will remain the same for Florida travel agencies specializing in trips to Cuba–at least until August. A lawsuit between 16 Miami-Dade-based travel vendors and the state of Florida was initially scheduled for a federal court hearing on July 11, but it was postponed until August 29 at the state's request. At stake is whether a law aimed at increasing state regulation of Florida travel agencies selling trips to Cuba unfairly targets a specific group of companies. ''The long holiday weekend would not have given us sufficient time to prepare and provide a full and meaningful response,'' said Terence McElroy, spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (The Miami Herald, 8/7/08).

July 10: A US Senate committee approved legislation that would undo tougher travel restrictions to Cuba imposed by the Bush administration in 2004, but Republican opposition could stop the measure. The change approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee would allow Cuban-Americans to travel to Cuba once a year to visit relatives. It would also allow them to spend more money there, about $160 a day. The current restrictions allow limited family travel from the US to Cuba–trips lasting a maximum of 14 days once every three years. Daily spending is limited to $50. If approved, the change would put US travel policy to Cuba back to where it was before the restrictions were introduced by President George W. Bush in 2004. Democrats controlling Congress are trying to loosen restrictions on allowing people of Cuban descent to visit their relatives on the island. But efforts underway in Congress–including a measure adopted by the Senate panel–appear unlikely to loosen the restrictions before President Bush leaves office in January. Bush opposes efforts gaining steam in Congress to ease a longstanding embargo and recently-toughened travel restrictions on Cuba. His veto promises have carried the day, despite majority support for loosening restrictions on travel to Cuba and trade with the authoritarian state (Reuters, The Miami Herald, 11/7/08).

July 10: The United States' newly reactivated Fourth Fleet for Latin America does not have an offensive capability, a senior state department official said in Argentina. US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Tom Shannon made the assurance in a joint media conference with Argentine President Cristina Kirchner in the capital Buenos Aires, after several Latin American nations voiced concern at the return of the US navy patrol mission for the region. Shannon stressed that the fleet, which was inactive for nearly six decades, had no aircraft carrier or large warships in its composition. The largest vessel in the fleet was a hospital ship, he said. As well as Argentina, several leftist-run states in Latin America such as Cuba, Bolivia and Venezuela have said they fear the move signals a return to US gunboat diplomacy (AFP, 10/7/08).

July 10: Fabian Pina Amargós arrived in Fort Lauderdale from Havana with hopes of networking with his colleagues to find solutions to some of the problems facing coral reefs around the world. Instead, he wandered the cavernous exhibit halls at the Broward County Convention Center alone. Pina is the only one of four Cuban scientists who focus on coral reef research allowed to attend the International Coral Reef Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, the largest gathering of scientists on the subject in the world. His three colleagues never received a response from the US State Department regarding obtaining visas. Pina's experience is the latest chapter in the bitter relationship between the United States and Cuba in which seemingly everything–even the undersea world of coral, scuba and grouper–is politicized. In an interview, Pina talked about the state of coral reefs in Cuba and the challenges and rewards of pursuing a science career on the communist island. He also lamented that his colleagues could not make it to the symposium. ''There is a desire from the scientific community on both sides to do more exchanges,'' Pina said. “I'd like to see much more exchanges'' (The Miami Herald, 11/7/08).

July 11: Cuban lawmakers adopted a declaration supporting the cause of the five Cubans held in US jails, during the First Session of the Cuban Parliament’s 7th legislature, underway at Havana’s Convention Center with the presence of President Raul Castro. 
The declaration was presented by Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon, who called on all lawmakers around the world to join the declaration and the accords adopted at the Latin American and Caribbean Parliamentary Encounter, held in Panama on July 7-8.
Alarcon reiterated the need to multiply world solidarity in favour of the cause of Ramon Labañino, Gerardo Herñandez, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez, known as the Cuban Five. The US Administration’s backdrop against the Five is countered by this Draft Declaration, which was approved unanimously, he said (ACN, 11/7/08).

July 11: Cuba’s President Raul Castro has taken a more conciliatory tone toward the United States than his brother, even offering in speeches to talk with the country that has maintained a trade embargo against Cuba since 1962. But in his speech to the National Assembly, he accused the United States of subverting the changes he had pushed and adding to Cuba's woes. "The enemy," he said, "is doing everything possible to increase the difficulties, with the absurd hope of bringing us to our knees. Faced with the measures adopted lately in our country, some official in the United States comes out immediately, from a spokesman to the president, to brand them 'insufficient' or 'cosmetic,'" Castro said. "Although no one here asked their opinion, I reiterate that we will never make any decision, not even the smallest one, as a result of pressure or blackmail." (Discurso de Raul Castro ante la Asamblea Nacional; Reuters, AP, 12/7/08)

July 13: Anheuser-Busch agreed to sell itself to the Belgian brewer InBev for about $52 billion, people briefed on the matter said, putting control of the nation’s largest beer maker and a fixture of American culture into a European rival’s hands. Both Anheuser and InBev resorted to lawsuits as bludgeons. InBev began a campaign to oust Anheuser’s board, while Anheuser accused its suitor of lying about its financial commitments and criticized its beer business in Cuba (AP, 14/7/08).

July 15: The investigating branch of the US Congress has accused the federal agency that oversees radio and television broadcasts to Cuba of awarding more than $1 million in contracts to two Miami news outlets without following regular contract-bid procedures. In a report, the Government Accountability Office said the International Broadcasting Bureau failed to follow federal contract-awarding regulations when it authorized no-bid deals totalling about $1.1 million for WAQI Radio Mambí 710 AM and TV Azteca. The 30-page report is the first of a series of GAO reports on the operations of Radio and TV Martí, which beam commentary, entertainment and news to Cuba under the Miami-based Office of Cuba Broadcasting. The GAO released the report as part of an ongoing broader probe into the management and broadcasting practices of the controversial Radio and TV Martí services. The GAO opened the probe in response to a request from Representative William D. Delahunt (Democrat-Massachusetts), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight. ''It's important that we step back and look not just at an individual report,'' Delahunt told the press. “But cumulatively, the Martís have been plagued by allegations of mismanagement and corruption, inefficiencies and ineffectiveness and thus we need constant monitoring and oversight of Martí operations” (The Miami Herald, 15/7/08).

July 15: Responding to constant pressure from communities all across the US, US officials returned to the members of the 19th US-Cuba Pastors for Peace Caravan 32 computers that had been seized on July 3. A report by the organization says the “caravanistas” hand-carried the computers across the International Bridge from Hidalgo, Texas into Reynosa, Mexico, to make sure that they would be on their way to Cuba. The computers will be sent from Reynosa on to Cuba, which means that every item of the nearly 100 tons of humanitarian aid collected by the caravan from all across the US will in fact be donated to Cuba. "We appreciate that the computers were released today. But our work could not be complete until we knew for sure that the computers would be
on their way to their intended home," said Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., Executive Director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace. "In fact, even now, our work is not complete–not until this mean-spirited, foolish, petty, counterproductive, immoral blockade against our Cuban sisters and brothers is ended" (ACN, 15/7/08).

July 15: Fidel Castro has come out against wiretapping–if done by countries other than Cuba. In his latest "reflection," published in the official daily Granma, the former Cuban leader expressed barely suppressed shock at the enactment last week of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which granted immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated with Washington in the wiretapping program instituted after the attacks of September 11, 2001. "Something that offends people's sensitivities, in any social system, is the disrespect for privacy," Castro wrote. "In the past [...] the laws protected correspondence. Later, protection extended to telephone communications [...]. The laws of the United States prohibited their interception without legal warrants." Not anymore, apparently. And Castro quoted the American Civil Liberties Union, which "described the law as 'unconstitutional' and 'an assault on civil rights and the right to privacy,'" as well as a news account from Sweden, which criticized the enactment there of similar wiretapping legislation (La impotencia de las potencias; The Miami Herald, 1/7/08).

July 15: Boulder-based Platte River Associates faces criminal charges of "trading with the enemy" for allegedly providing computer software and training in 2000 used to help oil and gas exploration and development in Cuba's territorial waters. The charges in US District Court in Denver were announced by the US Attorney's Office in Colorado. If convicted, Platte River Associates faces a fine of up to $1 million plus restitution (Rocky Mountain News, 16/7/08).

July 16: Defense lawyers will introduce to the Ninth Circuit of the Court of Appeal of Atlanta a document requesting to reconsider the case of the five Cubans imprisoned in the US on July 24. Roberto Gonzalez, a member of the defence team told the press that when the reconsideration document is introduced the process is halted until an answer is received as it appeals the verdict issued by the three judges on June 4. That panel ratified the guilty verdicts and the sentences of Rene Gonzalez (15 years in jail) and Gerardo Hernandez (two life terms plus 15 years). The cases of Ramon Labañino (life term plus 18 years), Fernando Gonzalez (19 years) and Antonio Guerrero (life term plus 10 years) were submitted to Florida Court for re-sentencing by Judge Joan Lenard, the same judge that imposed the sentences on the Five in 2001 (ACN, 16/7/08).

July 21: A new jet service taking off in December from Windsor Airport will bring the allure of a forbidden Cuban vacation within minutes of downtown Detroit. Sunwing Airlines, a Canadian leisure carrier, will offer weekly flights to Varadero, Cuba, a popular beach resort about 50 miles east of the capital, Havana. While US citizens are mostly barred from spending money on travel to Cuba, officials with the airline and airport expect Americans to make up at least half the passengers on the route. ''On average, about 50 per cent or more of passengers flying to Cuba from Canada are from the US,'' said Federica Nazzani, Windsor Airport's manager. ''Given our unique geographic position near Metro Detroit, we're expecting at least that.'' Because of decades-old government restrictions on Americans traveling to Cuba, flights are limited from the US to the Communist Caribbean island nation south of Key West, Florida. Most Americans who do make the trip must get there through a third country, such as Canada or Mexico (The Detroit News, 21/7/08).

July 21: Rev. Al Sharpton stood with several Afro-Cubans adjacent to the Cuban Mission to the United Nations to protest the jailing of Afro-Cuban political dissidents by the Cuban government. The imprisonment of Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez “Antunez,” and other Afro-Cuban dissenters and opposition leaders has prompted Sharpton to speak out against Cuba’s many human rights abuses and to ask to meet with Cuban representatives. “I want to extend an invitation to [President of Cuba] Raul Castro for an open dialogue,” said Sharpton. Charlie King, acting Executive Director for Sharpton’s nonprofit civil rights organization National Action Network (NAN), spoke on Sharpton and the NAN’s behalf. “We’re going to investigate the facts of this troubling civil rights issue. If these allegations are true, we will send a request for a humanitarian mission to be sent to Cuba, and we will do anything and everything we can to [ensure justice],” he said. According to the Cuba Solidarity Movement, Dr. Biscet was detained in Cuba for “25 years for speaking out against the Castro regime, [and was] subjected to torture and extended stays in vermin-infested solitary confinement cells” (Epoch Times, 22/7/08).

July 21: Congress has put the 2008 funding of the $45 million Cuba program of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on hold, following a series of troubling audits and fraud cases. In a quest to get the funding hold lifted, USAID ordered a bottoms-up review of all its Cuba democracy programs and suspended a Miami anti-Castro exile group that spent at least $11,000 of federal grant money on personal items. Representative Howard Berman (Democrat-California), ordered a hold on the USAID Cuba program funding last month, partially in response to a $500,000 embezzlement case at the Center for a Free Cuba in Washington disclosed earlier this year, said federal officials (The Miami Herald, 22/7/08).

July 22: The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee lifted the hold he had placed on the US Agency for International Development's $45 million Cuba democracy program, saying steps are being taken to address corruption and misspending. Representative Howard Berman (Democrat-California) had put a hold last month on USAID's 2008 funding for its controversial Cuba democracy program. The program is aimed at bringing democracy to Cuba, but critics have said the bulk of the money has gone to Miami exile organizations and universities. Two of the program's 11 grant winners are under investigation for misspending funds, including the Center for a Free Cuba, where an employee, who last worked at the White House, allegedly embezzled more than $500,000. A Miami organization, Grupo de Apoyo a la Democracia (Group in Support of Democracy), had its funding cut off after one of its employees charged $11,000 in personal items to the grant, federal officials said. USAID ordered a top-down review of all the grants and promised to suspend any grants that show signs of misspending (The Miami Herald, 22/7/08).

July 23: John Parke Wright wants to provide Florida's best restaurants with the finest steaks around, and he wants to do it from a ranch in Cuba. "I've got a plan," says the sixth-generation Floridan whose ancestors were pioneers of the once-thriving Havana-Tampa trade route. "I'm ready to go." Cuba, on the other hand, is not quite ready for him. But could it be soon? Mr. Wright, a rancher, is one of many long-time Cuba watchers who agree that Raúl Castro is following the "China model" of managed movement toward a free market economy. He visits Cuba frequently, finessing close ties with the Castro government in order to push for any small trade openings between the island nation and the US. He was also one of the first businessmen to open up trade with China 30 years ago when Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping began his famous economic reforms to that country's communist economy. Wright compares Raúl to the practical Deng, saying Raúl wants to have Cuba be a little more like Florida. "Raúl's goal is to modernize and to normalize trade relations with the US. If we normalize relations now, it’ll be a whole new world. Havana will be the Hong Kong of the Caribbean. From 1860 to 1960, Cuba had some of the best land for cattle in the Western hemisphere," says Wright. In 1960, Cuba had about 6 million people and 2 million cattle, but now has only 2 million cattle for 12 million people, he explains. "There's a tremendous need to restock Cuba's ranches, and the opportunity has to be given to people like me," he said (The Christian Science Monitor, 23/7/08).

July 24: The president of the American Federation of Labour-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), John J. Sweeney, sent a letter to Cuban President Raúl Castro on behalf of more than 10 million working women and men of the US, petitioning for the release from prison of “independent journalists, human rights advocates and pro-democracy activists.” “Although two of the unionists have been released, the following six still remain in detention”, and he named them in the letter (Cubanet, 24/7/08).

July 24: Russia's denial of reports that it plans to send strategic nuclear bombers to Cuba is “a very good thing,'' the US State Department said. The daily newspaper Izvestiya reported on July 21 that Russia may set up a refuelling base for strategic aircraft in Cuba in response to US plans to deploy elements of a missile defence system in Europe, citing an unidentified “highly placed source.'' Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Ilshat Baichurin denied the reports, blaming unnamed foreign states themselves expanding their military bases around Russia for disseminating misinformation. “I think that's a very good thing,'' Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, said in comments posted on the department's web site (Bloomberg, 25/7/08).

July 26: President Raúl Castro warned Washington that Cuba would stay focused on defence regardless of who wins November's presidential election. He put the United States, which hoped for greater change under his regime, on notice. ''We shall continue paying special attention to defence, regardless of the results of the next presidential elections in the United States,'' Raúl said (Raul Castro’s speech; AP, 27/7/08).

July 27: Teresa Aral, a travel agent in South Florida, was relieved after learning she did not have to pay the state $250,000 to keep booking trips to Cuba. For now, at least. Ms. Aral, along with 15 other agents providing charter flights to Cuba, filed a lawsuit in Miami against the State of Florida, challenging a new law requiring them to post a one-time $250,000 bond and disclose the names of clients in order to continue their business with Cuba. But earlier this month, a federal judge temporarily lifted the measure while he considered its legality. “I’m very grateful that at least the judicial branch of government here is still working,” Ms. Aral said after the ruling. Cuban Americans are allowed to visit the island every three years and must obtain visas through the federal government. Despite the recent ruling, the legal battle between the travel agents and Florida lawmakers over the cost of doing business with the Raúl Castro-run government, which controls all aspects of commercial air travel into Cuba, is far from over (The New York Times, 27/7/08).

July 28: It was a run-of-the-mill immigrant-smuggling case: a boatload of Cubans brought from the island for $10,000 a head, until the smugglers made a serious goof. As often happens, the alleged smugglers held onto their passengers until relatives paid their fee. Except that one relative they phoned to demand cash from happened to be a US Customs and Border Protection officer. He promptly alerted agents at his sister agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to documents filed in Miami federal court. The officer and an ICE agent then set up a late-night meeting at a drugstore parking lot, swapped the cousin for $10,000 in cash and signalled a waiting ICE SWAT team, which arrested the two alleged smugglers. They found themselves indicted not just for alien-smuggling, but also on the rarer and more serious charge of hostage-taking. The accused smugglers, Niovel Chirino Alvarez, 33, and Lazaro Martinez Padron, 21, face life in prison if convicted. Both have pleaded not guilty. ICE officials declined to comment, citing the pending nature of the case. But the indictments, and investigators' statements filed in Miami federal court, describe how the alleged smugglers unwittingly handed immigration agents a crack at an often hidden aspect of alien smuggling–holding people for alleged ransom (The Miami Herald, 28/7/08).

July 29: The new Chief of the US Interests Section (USINT) in Havana, Jonathan D. Farrar, officially initiated his mission in Cuba with a request for an introductory meeting with government authorities but is still awaiting reply. "We asked for an appointment with MINREX [Foreign Office] when Mr. Farrar arrived in Cuba and we are still waiting," said USINT Public Affairs Officer, Gregory Adams. Farrar arrived in Havana on July 17 to replace exiting Chief of Mission Michael Parmly. "This time we proceeded just like we did when Parmly arrived; we requested the interview in the first week," remembered the official. "But Parmly was never received" (El Nuevo Herald, 30/7/08).

July 30: Producers wanting to learn more about exporting goods to Cuba can attend an August 15 conference in San Antonio, Texas. “Exporting to Cuba”, to be held at San Antonio’s International Center, will help participants learn more about how to export food, agricultural goods, lumber and certain medical products, said Dr. Parr Rosson, Texas AgriLife Extension Service economist and one of the conference presenters. The workshop will begin with an overview of recent changes in the Cuban political system and the implications for Texas by Dr. Jonathan Brown, Institute for Latin American Studies, University of Texas. “This conference will help producers, ranchers, agribusiness, export-service providers as well as government officials receive an in-depth look at how to reach the Cuban export market,” Rosson said. “Cuba has become an important market for Texas over the past four years, and it holds promise for the future.” The workshop will focus on the future of the Cuban export market, opportunities for food and agricultural trade, and provide a forum featuring several industry leaders. The export process, shipping, logistics and port facilities will be discussed (Farm Press, 30/7/08).

July 30: Senator Arlen Specter said he hopes to meet with Cuban President Raul Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during a trip to Latin America in August. "I'm a firm believer in dialogue," the Pennsylvania Republican told reporters. Speaking to reporters on a wide range of subjects, Specter said his experience has been that meeting with world leaders leads to change. "I think President McCain will understand (…) an independent senator that has a different point of view," he said when asked about his view versus McCain's on the matter. Specter said he met with Fidel Castro during previous stops in Cuba and talked to him about drug interdiction. He said he would like to follow that up with Raul Castro, as well as to discuss trade and tourism during a visit there. He said he believes the United States is "on the cusp" of re-establishing formal relations with Cuba. "I've been to Cuba three times and I think the chances are really on the horizon for re-establishing relations with Cuba now that Fidel Castro is no longer in charge," Specter said. He said he wrote a letter to Raul Castro requesting a meeting, but has not heard back (AP, 30/7/08).

July 30: A Florida congressman is criticizing a Vermont-New Hampshire Little League team's trip to Cuba. According to a column in the Washington Post, Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart (Republican-Florida), an anti-Castro Cuban-American, held a meeting of the Cuba Democracy Caucus on July 10 to discuss "the very troubling granting of a Treasury/OFAC license to a Little League team to travel to Cuba." The 14- 12- and 11-year-olds plan to be in Cuba for 10 days starting August 8 for a series of games. Americans are prohibited from traveling to Cuba unless they get permission from the US government. The team was granted a travel license from the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control and is permitted to spend US money in Cuba (AP, 31/7/08).

July 30: Vermont's senior US senator has some blunt advice for a South Florida congressman: "He should pick on someone his own size." Senator Patrick Leahy (Democrat-Vermont), levelled his criticism at Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart (Republican-Florida), who has expressed serious reservations about a combined Vermont-New Hampshire youth baseball trip to Cuba. Leahy said in a statement that Diaz-Balart should leave the kids alone. "I don't like the idea of the government telling ordinary Americans, let alone Little Leaguers, where and when they can travel," Leahy said. "If the president can go to China at taxpayers' expense, these kids ought to be able to go on a privately paid trip to Cuba to play some baseball." Diaz-Balart, a staunch anti-Castro Cuban-American, convened a meeting of the Cuba Democracy Caucus on July 10 to discuss the trip, according to a column in The Washington Post (Rutland Herald, 31/7/08).

July 31: The President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, said that the US Government is guilty of corrupt practices in the case of five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters who remain imprisoned in the United States after almost 10 years. Speaking at the prime time radio and television program ‘The Round Table’, Alarcon stressed that Washington has failed to comply with or ignored its public duties, which has been perceived in the behaviour of all government officials involved in the case against Rene Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez and Antonio Guerrero internationally known as the Cuban Five–since their arrest in 1998 (ACN, 1/8/08).