Chronicle on Cuba - September 2008

Security

September 9: Russia is not planning to reopen a radar base at the Lourdes facility in Cuba, according to the news agency Novosti which quoted the Russian foreign minister. ''This matter is not under consideration,'' Sergei Lavrov told reporters at a joint news conference with Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik. The electronic monitoring and surveillance facility near Havana at Torrens, also known as the Lourdes facility, the largest Russian electronic eavesdropping site abroad, was shut down in October 2001 by then-president Vladimir Putin. The facility, which covered a 28-square-mile area, was manned by about 1,000 to 1,500 Russian engineers, technicians and military personnel. The complex was capable of monitoring a wide array of commercial and government communications throughout the southeastern United States, and between the United States and Europe (Novosti, 10/9/08).

September 12: "The Russian strategic bombers Tu-160 will not be flying to Cuba just yet, but if required they could go there and land in the airfields of that country,” claimed Russian Strategic Aviation commander, General Pavel Androsov. “We have no plans to fly to Cuba yet, but we would have no problems landing in Cuban airfields,” said Andrósov, commenting on remarks by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who expressed his wish to fly in a Tu-160 over Cuba to greet Fidel Castro. “It is a very interesting area because a new US operational fleet is being deployed in the Gulf of Mexico,” pointed out Androsov (Adnmundo.com, 12/9/08).

September 13: Cuba announced that it is postponing a military exercise so soldiers can focus on helping the country recover and rebuild from the devastation of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. An "informative note" in the Communist Party newspaper Granma said President Raul Castro had decided to put off "Bastion 2008," an exercise scheduled to begin in November. It provided no further details about the exercise. Cuba's armed forces had begun to tap into reserve stocks of food and other supplies to provide aid to tens of thousands left homeless (AP, 13/9/08).

September 17: Moscow is ready to help Cuba develop its own space center, Russia's space agency chief said after talks in Caracas with Venezuelan and Cuban officials, Itar-Tass news agency reported. Russia has stepped up efforts to develop closer links with both countries, which are ideological enemies of Washington, including sending Russian strategic bombers on a mission to Venezuela this month. "We have held preliminary discussions about the possibility of creating a space center in Cuba with our help," the chief of Russia's Federal Space Agency Anatoly Perminov was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass in Caracas. "With our Cuban colleagues, we discussed the possibilities of joint use of space equipment (…) and the joint use of space communications systems," Perminov was quoted as saying. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin visited Cuba and together with representatives from several Russian ministries and large Russian companies looked at ways to help Cuba recover from hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Russian officials have said they want to renew Cuban ties that were neglected after the Soviet Union's collapse (Reuters, 17/9/08).

September 18: Russia is in talks to build a space center in Cuba as it forges closer ties with Latin American countries opposed to the US in the wake of Cold War-era tensions sparked by the Georgia conflict. The head of the Russian Federal Space Agency, or Roscosmos, Anatoly Perminov, who visited Havana with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, made the announcement in a statement posted on the agency's Web Site. After Cuba, Sechin traveled to Venezuela, whose President Hugo Chavez heads to Moscow next week, and Nicaragua. Russia is playing its most active role in the region since the Soviet era, in a challenge to the U.S. in its traditional backyard. ``We're increasing our presence in Latin America -- the countries in the region themselves want this,'' said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Lyakin-Frolov. ``There's a big power in the north. They need a counterweight,'' he said by telephone from Moscow today, referring to the US (Bloomberg, 18/9/08).