Chronicle on Cuba - August 2009

Foreign Affairs

August 1: Police in Cuba have detained six Canadians, including four men from Montreal and two women from Toronto, after a wild resort vacation ended in allegations of rape. The two women in their early 20s have accused the four men of assaulting them while they were vacationing in the popular resort town of Varadero. The men, identified by a defence lawyer as Hervé Kalongo Kalongo, Guems Jean, Michel-Ange Pierrecin and Steven Michel, have been in jail since their arrests on July 19. All in their mid-20s, the men accuse the two women of inventing the story to cover up wild vacation behaviour. Three of the men hired Montreal lawyer John Pepper, who has collected sworn statements from three fellow travellers saying the women were willing participants in a wild week of partying and casual sexual encounters. Cuban police trying to sort out the mess detained the young women just before they were to head home to Toronto. "Often our clients tell us lies, but in this case I'm convinced these boys are telling the truth," said Mr. Pepper (Globe and Mail, 1/8/09).

August 5: The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA) has taken another step towards cooperation with the setting up of an Economic Council that opens the doors to a common financial zone. The first meeting of this body, underway in Caracas, aims at complying with agreements made in the 6th ALBA Summit to strengthen the institutional nature of the organization made up of nine countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, Granma newspaper reported. The meeting was summoned to evaluate the situation of member countries amidst the global financial crisis, define the role of the ministerial council for economic complementation and distribute tasks among member countries. The Caracas meeting will be followed by another one in Quito, Ecuador, for the official inauguration of the Politics Commission. Later, on August 21, ALBA’s Social Council will meet in La Paz, Bolivia, as agreed in the 6th Summit (ACN, 5/8709).

Agosto 5: El embajador cubano en La Paz, Rafael Dausá, y la compañía Cubana de Aviación estarían involucrados en el traslado ilegal de una niña boliviana a Cuba en 2006, según el padre de la menor, el español Manuel Rodríguez. La niña, Manuela Rodríguez, tenía cuatro años cuando fue llevada ilegalmente a Cuba por su madre, Ivette Velaz, y su abuela, Guadalupe Saba Velaz, bajo el amparo de la embajada cubana en La Paz, denunció Rodríguez tras lograr documentos de la oficina de Migración de La Habana que involucrarían al embajador Dausá, informó el diario español El País.
Rodríguez, quien recibió la custodia legal de su hija tras el divorcio, aseguró que el diplomático viajó a la isla con las dos mujeres y la menor, en un vuelo de cooperación internacional entre Santa Cruz y La Habana. Dausá ha negado cualquier relación con el caso (Cubaencuentro, 5/8709).

Agosto 5: Expertos del gobierno de La Habana se desplazarán a la ciudad colombiana de Cartagena para la aplicación de programas de educación y salud cubanos. Según el diario colombiano El Tiempo, esto fue acordado durante una visita a la isla de la alcaldesa de Cartagena, Judith Pinedo Flórez, y de varios miembros de su gabinete, que firmaron con las autoridades cubanas convenios de cooperación bilateral en educación, salud, deporte, cultura y defensa de zonas costeras, entre otros (Cubaencuentro, 5/8709).

Agosto 5: El Principado de Asturias ha propuesto para la Medalla de Oro de Asturias 2009 al jurista gijonés, Aurelio Menéndez Menéndez, y al vicepresidente de Cuba, de origen asturiano, José Ramón Fernández Álvarez, conocido como “El Gallego”. La decisión se aprobará definitivamente en el mes de septiembre. Fernández Álvarez, nació en Santiago de Cuba el 4 de noviembre de 1923. Es de origen asturiano -su padre era de Morcín y su madre ovetense- pero se le apoda como “'El Gallego” por su peculiar ritmo al hablar y por ser el apodo con el que tradicionalmente se conoce a los cubanos con raíces en España. Desde pequeño, se inclinó por la disciplina militar hasta que en 1947 se graduó en la Escuela de Cadetes de Cuba y en la Escuela de Artillería. Actualmente, es vicepresidente de Cuba, diputado de la Asamblea Nacional Poder Popular, Vicepresidente del Consejo de Ministros y de su Comité Ejecutivo y Presidente del Comité Olímpico Cubano. Fernández ostenta los títulos de hijo adoptivo de Oviedo y de Morcín, en referencia a los orígenes de sus padres y el Premio Jovellanos, entre otros (Europa Press, 5/8/09).

August 6: Colombian rocker Juanes wants to hold his second Peace Without Borders concert in Havana's storied Revolution Plaza in September with a host of regional stars. He says he has met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in hopes that American musicians can join the extravaganza. In what could be the latest sign the art world is well into a thaw of nearly a half century of icy US-Cuba relations, Juanes' manager, Fernan Martinez, said the concert will be on September 20. The Cuban government gave permission to use the sprawling concrete plaza. The first Peace Without Borders concert in March drew 100,000 fans to the border between Venezuela and Colombia (AP, 6/8/09).

August 6: Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro said that plans to let the US armed forces use Colombian bases may force Venezuela to boost its military capacity. “Venezuela doesn’t arm itself against its brother community Colombia,” Castro wrote in a “reflection” posted today on Cubadebate. “It arms itself against the empire, which attempted to overthrow it and now expects to install its sophisticated weapons near the Venezuelan border”  (Seven Daggers at the Heart of the Americas; AFP, 6/8/09).

August 8: President Raul Castro presided over the swearing-in ceremony of 38 new Cuban ambassadors in Havana. “Being an ambassador of the revolutionary Cuba is a big commitment with the homeland, with Fidel (Castro) and Raul (Castro), with the
Communist Party and with socialism, and it entails representing a people that have carried out so many heroic deeds,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Ana Teresita Gonzalez addressing the diplomats. Alejandro Gonzalez, the new Cuban ambassador to Spain, spoke on behalf of the diplomats. “It is an honour for us to be sworn-in as ambassadors of Cuba and to represent the brave Cuban people and the socialist Revolution,” he said.  Also present were Ricardo Alarcon, President of the Cuban National Assembly; Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla; the head of the Foreign Relations Department at the Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist Party, Jorge Marti Martínez; and the Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca (ACN, 8/8/09).

August 9: Cuban President Raul Castro arrived in Quito, Ecuador, heading his country´s delegation to the swearing in ceremony of President-elect Rafael Correa Delgado. The Cuban delegation includes Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla and Havana´s Historian Eusebio Leal Spengler (ACN, 9/8/09).
 
August 9: Cuban President Raul Castro met with his Bolivian counterpart, Evo Morales, in Quito, Ecuador. Present in the meeting were the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, and Bolivia’s Defense Minister Dr. Walter San Miguel (ACN, 9/8/09).

August 10: Cuban President Raul Castro met with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez in Ecuador after they participated in the swearing-in ceremony of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.  According to Granma newspaper, during the meeting in Quito, both leaders spoke of topics related to the close relations between the two nations and about the current international situation (ACN, 11/8/09).

Agosto 10: El Consulado español en La Habana ha recibido desde el 29 de diciembre de 2008 hasta el pasado 15 de julio, 24,435 expedientes de cubanos que han solicitado la nacionalidad por la llamada Ley de Nietos, informó el diario español El País. Según el rotativo, alrededor de 8,000 casos ya han sido aprobados, y desde el pasado marzo, el consulado tiene previstos 325 turnos diarios para los solicitantes, que se elevarán a 425 a partir de octubre. Las citas concertadas por cubanos para entregar la documentación se elevan a más de 165,000, aunque desde un principio se calculó que unos 250,000 cubanos podrían optar a la nacionalidad española o recuperarla, contando con la prórroga de un año de la ley (Cubaencuentro, 10/8/09).

Agosto 10: Una organización opositora cubana consideró apaciguadora la postura de la Unión Europea (UE) respecto de esta isla, especialmente la de España, al tiempo que reclamó una "posición más enérgica" de la comunidad internacional en defensa de los derechos humanos en su país. "No nos oponemos al diálogo, pero nos parece pobre en relación con un tema que requiere mayor atención", dijo Elizardo Sánchez, tras difundir un informe sobre el panorama humanitario que emite cada seis meses la opositora Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliación Nacional (CCDHRN). En el seno de la UE, "debido a la pertinaz influencia del gobierno de España, sigue prevaleciendo una política de virtual apaciguamiento" hacia la situación de Cuba, consideró Sánchez en una declaración que acompaña el documento de la CCDHRN. En opinión del activista disidente, la comunidad de naciones y fuerzas democráticas internacionales deberían mostrar "una posición más enérgica, que se manifieste en una clara reclamación al gobierno de Cuba para que respete normas universalmente consagradas en materia de derechos civiles, políticos, económicos y culturales". Sin embargo, Sánchez aclaró que no está en contra del diálogo político que tanto la UE como España mantienen con La Habana. "Pero nos parece pobre en relación con estos temas humanitarios que requieren mayor atención", dijo el opositor, que encabeza la CCHRN desde su creación en los años 80 (IPS, 10/8/09).

August 10: President Raul Castro passed on greetings from Fidel Castro to the Ecuadorian people and congratulated President Rafael Correa – who was sworn-in for a second term in office until 2013 - and all Ecuadorians for their victory. Raul, his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez and the constitutional president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, were welcomed with a standing ovation by some 30,000 people that gathered at the Olympic Stadium in Quito, Juventud Rebelde newspaper reported. After being invited to take the floor by Correa, Raul recalled that Ecuador, and Quito in particular, has the honor of being the place where the Latin American independence movement began. Castro joined Chávez and Correa in comparing Spain with the US as forms of “imperialism” in Latin America. In a reference to the bicentenary of Ecuador’s independence, Castro said that “the previous master (Spain) was substituted by one even more powerful (United States)”  (ACN, Europa Press, 11/8/09).

Agosto 10: La secretaria española de Política Internacional y Cooperación, Elena Valenciano, dijo que Raúl Castro tiene que hacer "algún gesto aperturista" para que el presidente socialista José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero viaje a la isla, informó el diario El Periódico. Valenciano comentó que viajará a la Isla el próximo mes de septiembre para renovar los contactos tras la destitución del vicepresidente Carlos Lage y el canciller Felipe Pérez Roque. Según la funcionaria, es "útil y necesario" conocer a los "nuevos encargados de las relaciones internacionales" del régimen. Valenciano opina que por ahora no se ha visto nada nuevo más allá de la "retórica revolucionaria con algunas invitaciones a dialogar con Estados Unidos" (Cubaencuentro, 11/8/09).

August 11: Cuban President Raul Castro arrived in Havana after concluding his official visit to Ecuador, where he attended the swearing-in ceremony of his Ecuadorian counterpart, Rafael Correa. Present at Havana’s José Martí International Airport to welcome the Cuban head of state was First Vice-President Jose Ramón Machado Ventura. Castro headed the Cuban delegation to Correa’s swearing-in ceremony and among other activities he participated in the mass meeting held at Quito’s Atahualpa Stadium (ACN, 11/8/09).

August 11: Cuban academicians attended the Hiroshima and Peace summer course, following an invitation by this Japanese city’s university, where they held exchanges with colleagues and students of international relations from several countries. Cuban professors Ileana Capote Padrón and Raúl Roa Kourí, from the Higher Institute of International Relations, and Yanet Rojas from the University of Havana, dealt with a variety of issues affecting or threatening world peace and with others contributing to achieve it, like integration, disarmament and peace. Debates on these topics from the Cuban perspective and that of other countries from the South were also held (ACN, 12/8/09).

August 11: Mexican dancer and crótalo (ancient castanet) performer Sonia Amelio will participate in a cultural gala slated for August 19 in honor of late Cuban leader Vilma Espin, the founder of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC). Amelio, one of the most outstanding personalities of contemporary Mexican culture, will visit Cuba once again as of August 16. She is an exceptional dancer who masters the singular art of the crótalos, Granma newspaper reported. According to the program promoted by the Cuban Music Institute and the Mexican Embassy in Havana, Amelio will give a master class at the Plaza de la Revolución Culture Center (ACN, 11/8/09).

Agosto 12: Rogelio Polanco has been appointed Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Over the last five years, Polanco has fulfilled important missions linked to the Bolivarian Revolution. At the moment of his designation, he was holding the position of director of the Juventud Rebelde newspaper. A graduate in Political International Relations, he represented Cuba at the International Students Union (UIE), he was the head of the Department of International Relations of the Young Communists’ League. At present, he’s a member of the National Assembly of the People’s Power, Granma newspaper reported. Germán Sánchez Otero, who for 15 years carried out an outstanding work while in charge of the Cuban diplomatic mission in that South American nation, will be assigned other tasks. (ACN, 12/8/09).

August 12: Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, presented Fidele Diarra, Malian Ambassador to Cuba, with the Friendship Medal, as an acknowledgement of his permanent solidarity with the Caribbean nation. Ivan Mora, head of the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s Department for sub-Saharan Africa, highlighted that Diarra, after graduating from the University of Havana, contributed to the creation of the Malian Association for Friendship with Latin America and the Caribbean, in which solidarity with the Cuban people was permanent. Mora also said that during his over 8 years of work as ambassador, Diarra worked arduously in the strengthening and spreading of political relations and of cooperation at all levels between the two countries (ACN, 12/8/09).

Agosto 13: El vicepresidente cubano José Ramón Fernández, también presidente del Comité Olímpico de la isla, rechazó la decisión del Comité Olímpico Internacional (COI) de escoger al golf y al rugby entre siete como únicos deportes con opciones de entrar en los Juegos Olímpicos. Los cubanos apoyaban el béisbol, pero rechazan el golf y el rugby dijo Fernández a la agencia oficial Prensa Latina. “El deporte que esté al alcance de las masas es el que debe estar en los escenarios competitivos", mientras que "el golf es un deporte de elite, de las clases más altas", dijo (Martí Noticias, 13/8/09).

Agosto 14: Bajo el título "Blogueando a Cuba", autores de blogs cubanos residentes en el extranjero, compartirán las experiencias vividas como comunicadores cibernéticos, desde el espectro cubano y del fenómeno de la blogosfera dentro de Cuba. El evento se llevará a cabo hasta el domingo 16 de agosto, en Mallorca, España. La Blogosfera Cubana: su impacto social, cultural, político y mediático, es el tema central. Los organizadores esperan que se fomente el desarrollo de otros blogs sobre el tema cubano y permita un mayor reconocimiento de los ya lanzados". Los participantes en el evento pedirán nuevamente al gobierno cubano que deje de restringir el acceso a Internet en la isla (Martí Noticias, 14/8/09).

August 14: President Hugo Chavez said he found his close ally and mentor Fidel Castro in good health during a visit to Cuba to celebrate the Cuban leader's 83rd birthday. Chavez said they shared a cake. He said he also gave Castro Venezuelan products including chocolate and sardines, and two charcoal drawings: one of Venezuelan independence hero Francisco de Miranda, and a second of Cuban hero Jose Marti. He said Castro "is in absolute use of his mental faculties." "You know what the imperialists say," Chavez said. "Some say that Fidel is crazy (…) They create rumors."
Chavez said the two leaders talked for some five hours before he returned to Venezuela. "Fidel is fine, he's in his prime," he said (AP, 14/8/09).

August 14: La guerrilla colombiana marxista de las FARC felicitó a Fidel Castro por su cumpleaños 83, en una declaración divulgada en Internet y en la que reiteran que continuarán combatiendo hasta la victoria o la muerte. ``En este aniversario de su fecunda existencia sembrando perseverante lucha, audacia, convencimiento en la causa de la emancipación de los oprimidos, reciba nuestras felicitaciones'', señala el mensaje dirigido al "camarada'' y suscrito por la "comisión internacional'' del grupo guerrillero. Las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), dijeron además que "rinden homenaje a una historia de lucha inclaudicable con el compromiso de mantener el combate por la justicia social, con la absoluta determinación de entregarlo todo hasta la victoria o hasta la muerte''. "Celebramos la bondad y la entrega del valeroso hijo de Mayarí y de su pueblo, que tanta esperanza han dado con su ejemplo a quienes bregan por el decoro de la América Nuestra'', agregó el mensaje divulgado por la agencia Anncol que difunde la información de las FARC (AP, 15/8/09).

August 16: The ruling Socialist Party of Spain (PSOE) is planning to send a delegation to Cuba to "take the pulse of the situation" and establish contact with "some of the new interlocutors" in the Cuban government and Communist Party, a spokeswoman for the PSOE told the Europa Press agency.  Elena Valenciano, the party's secretary for international policy, said the PSOE has had "an open invitation from the Cuban government for a long time." The PSOE's deputy secretary general, José Blanco, visited the island in November 2008 and met with then-Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque and then-International Relations chief Fernando Remírez de Estenoz, but those men were ousted on March 2 of this year and replaced by Bruno Rodríguez and Jorge Martí, respectively. Valenciano did not speculate whether PSOE leader and Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero will visit the island this year. "That's part of the Prime Minister's agenda and I don't get involved in that," she said (The Miami Herald, 17/8/09).

August 16: Spanish singers Ana Belen and Victor Manuel say they are ready, if invited, to perform with Colombian crooner Juanes at the controversial September 20 concert he is set to give in Havana, and they lamented the intransigence displayed by members of the Cuban exile community in Miami in the matter. "We have sung with Juanes and we would be thrilled to do it in Cuba," Victor Manuel said in an interview published by the Colombian daily El Tiempo. Ana Belen, for her part, responded to the question of whether she would be willing to sing with Juanes in Havana by saying: "Yes, absolutely. Of course." "Some anti-Castroites from Miami are impossible. My opinion is that they should hold the concert. Juanes should go to sing there or wherever they call him. Why should Cubans who live in Cuba not have the right to enjoy Juanes?" said Ana Belen, who performed in Bogota with Victor Manuel. The Juanes concert in Havana has taken on political connotations because of the strong opposition to it by groups of Cuban exiles and well-known artists who oppose the Castro regime (EFE, 16/8/09).

August 17: Four members of Cuba's team have gone missing in the Canary Islands and may claim political asylum, said the president of the islands' basketball federation. Five players originally went AWOL and only one of them turned up for the flight back to Havana, federation head Jose Armas told the Spanish media. "We know what sportsmen and women tend to do when they leave Cuba and travel to compete in another country, request political asylum," Armas said. Spain's basketball federation (FEB) was unavailable for comment and the interior ministry said it would be unable to confirm the players' absence unless they claimed asylum (Reuters, 17/8/09).

August 17: Between songs and dances interpreted by young artists, anecdotes and bouquets of flowers, like the one sent to her by Cuban prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso, Mexican actress Sonia Amelio celebrated her birthday in Havana. Under the direction of maestro Hugo Oslé, the students of the Mariana de Gonitch National Singing Academy and the Mariachi group offered Amelio a gala performance at the headquarters of this institution. In her statements to the press, Amelio, now on her 7th visit to Cuba,
reiterated her love and respect toward Revolution leader Fidel Castro, whom she met several years ago at the Mexican embassy in Havana –a meeting she recalls as one of the unforgettable moments of her life (ACN, 18/8/09).

Agosto 19: El cantante español Miguel Bosé defendió el concierto que organiza junto al colombiano Juanes en la Plaza de la Revolución de La Habana y afirmó que las presiones de grupos del exilio cubano han hecho que artistas como Maná, Enrique Iglesias y Ricky Martin se retiren del cartel. "Nuestra intención era dar un concierto por la paz en la plaza de la Revolución de La Habana, un lugar reservado para las grandes ocasiones. Simplemente eso", dijo Bosé en un artículo publicado en el diario español El País. "La Habana nos pareció un buen lugar para reclamar la paz como una necesidad de bienestar y entendimiento social, de ausencia total de conflictos. No sólo como algo opuesto a la guerra (…) Lo que sucede es que la guerra es rentable en todos los sentidos, también mediáticamente. Y la paz no lo es tanto", lamentó el cantante, que junto a Juanes y otros artistas forma parte de la Plataforma Paz sin Fronteras. “En Florida la presión es enorme", añadió y dijo comprender que músicos como Enrique Iglesias, Maná o Ricky Martin, decidieran retirarse del evento (Cubaencuentro, 19/8/09).

Agosto 19: El cantante colombiano Juanes, criticado por el exilio cubano por organizar el concierto 'Paz sin fronteras' en La Habana para el 20 de septiembre, admitió al diario español El País que intenta que participe en él el roquero punk Gorki Águila, que estuvo detenido cinco días en Cuba. Cuando se le preguntó si Gorki Águila participará en el concierto, Juanes respondió "estamos intentándolo", en una extensa entrevista publicada por el diario español. Gorki Águila -líder del grupo cubano de punk-rock Porno para Ricardo y conocido por sus críticas al régimen castrista- estuvo detenido en Cuba en agosto de 2008 durante cinco días (AFP, 19/8/09).

August 19: The National Archives of Cuba and Venezuela will be soon interconnected through a digital system that will allow access to information in both offices. Director of Venezuela's General Archives of the Nation (AGN) Carmen Alida Soto told Granma newspaper while in Havana that the two offices are working together in the preservation of documentary heritage as part of an initiative of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA). She announced among future projects the elaboration of catalogues of
relevant documents about revolutions and revolutionary movements in Latin America, and the organization of bilateral meetings. Soto explained that her current visit to Cuba is intended to settle new projects with the Cuban National Archives within the framework of ALBA’s Cultural Grand National program (ACN, 19/8/09).

August 19: Four Cuban basketball players who failed to turn up for their squad's flight home from the Canary Islands have begun the process of seeking asylum in Spain, the local government said. Georvis Elias Sayus, Grismay Paumier, Taylor Garcia and Geofry Silvestre will now have to wait 30 days for a response from the Spanish authorities, according to a spokesman for the islands' government. The Cuban basketball squad had traveled to the Canary Islands for a series of friendly fixtures (Reuters, 19/8/09).

Agosto 20: El mandatario ecuatoriano, Rafael Correa, se tomará una semana de vacaciones y junto a su familia viajará a Cuba, por lo que dejará el cargo en manos de su vicepresidente, Lenin Moreno. Correa viajará junto a su esposa, Anne Malherbe, y sus tres hijos en un vuelo de la compañía ecuatoriana TAME, informó la secretaría de Comunicación de la Presidencia (EFE, 20/8/09).

August 20: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon highlighted the importance that his organization gives to relations with Cuba. In a meeting with Abelardo Moreno, who is concluding his term as Cuban permanent representative before the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon also praised the development of these bilateral relations during the period in which Cuba held the pro-tempore chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) from 2006 to 2009 (ACN, 20/8/09).

Agosto 20: El presidente Rafael Correa anunció que viajará a Cuba para someterse a exámenes médicos por invitación del gobierno de la isla, y dijo que irá acompañado de su esposa y sus tres hijos. Se informó que viajaba en la misma fecha prevista, pero sin precisar la hora de la salida de un avión comercial contratado. El mandatario ecuatoriano señaló que "no se trata de un viaje de turismo, ni de vacaciones, sino de una visita por invitación del gobierno cubano, para efectuarse una revisión médica", según una nota de prensa de la Presidencia que indicó que hizo el anuncio a sus ministros durante una reunión de gabinete en el palacio de gobierno (AP, 21/8/09).

August 21: A Cuban delegation headed by Higher Education Minister Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez arrived in Bolivia to participate in the first meeting of the Social Council of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) that takes place in La Paz, the Bolivian capital. Topics on the agenda include literacy and post-literacy campaigns
and health care for historically vulnerable sectors, Granma newspaper reported (ACN, 21/8/09).

Agosto 21: El Ministerio portugués de Sanidad anunció la contratación de 44 médicos cubanos, por un periodo de tres años, que ejercerán en centros de salud de las regiones del Alentejo, Algarve, Lisboa y Val do Tejo. En un comunicado, el Ministerio especificó que la Administración Central de Salud lusa y los Servicios Médicos Cubanos han concretado un protocolo que permitirá a estos médicos ejercer en Portugal durante tres años (EFE, 21/8/09).

Agosto 21: El cantautor guatemalteco Ricardo Arjona afirmó que realizará un concierto en la capital cubana el 25 de enero de 2010. En declaraciones al diario español El Mundo, Arjona criticó el embargo de Estados Unidos contra la isla y calificó de "barbaridad" que se bloquee "la posibilidad de compartir la música con los cubanos". El anuncio llega en medio de la polémica por el concierto por la paz del colombiano Juanes, que debe de efectuarse el próximo 20 de septiembre en la Plaza de la Revolución (IPS, 21/8/09).

August 21: Syria reaffirmed its interest in increasing sports cooperation with Cuba and to benefit from the island’s experience in this sector, particularly in disciplines such as boxing, volleyball and basketball. This interest was expressed in Damascus, by General Farouk Bouzo, President of the temporary Committee of the General Sports Federation of Syria, during a meeting with Pedro Estevez Piñeiro, First Secretary of the Cuban embassy in that country (ACN, 21/8/09).

August 21: Bolivian President Evo Morales met with Cuban Higher Education Minister Miguel Diaz-Canel, who heads Cuba’s delegation to the first meeting of the Social Council of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) that takes place in La Paz, the Bolivian capital. During the meeting, also attended by the Cuban ambassador in La Paz, Rafael Dausa, Morales and Diaz-Canel highlighted the excellent state of bilateral cooperation in the education and health sectors (ACN, 21/8/09).

Agosto 21: El presidente de Ecuador, Rafael Correa, está en Cuba "de vacaciones, para descansar unos cuatro días", informó el embajador de ese país en La Habana, Universi Zambrano. “El presidente llegó anoche a La Habana en un vuelo comercial de la aerolínea Tame, como cualquier pasajero común y corriente", dijo el embajador ecuatoriano. "No vino en el avión presidencial porque viene de vacaciones, a descansar. Vino acompañado de su esposa (Anne Malherbe) y de inmediato partió al destino que tenía previsto para descansar durante su visita privada de unos cuatro días", agregó el diplomático. Zambrano negó que el presidente haya viajado a Cuba para realizarse un chequeo médico, como informó un comunicado de la Presidencia en Quito (EFE, 21/8/09).

August 21: Members of the second Fidel Castro Ruz graduated class who recently finished their law studies in the University of Carabobo, Venezuela, traveled to Havana at the request of Castro. The ten young students were invited to visit the island to learn more about the Cuban people, which they consider an example of resistance and courage, as they told the Cuban press in Caracas. While in Cuba, they will visit Havana, Santa Clara, Santiago de Cuba and Varadero (ACN, 21/8/09).

Agosto 21: Fidel Castro met Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa in an undisclosed location where the Cuban leader recuperates from intestinal surgery. A front-page photograph of Castro meeting Correa was published in the official Juventud Rebelde newspaper. A brief official note said Castro and Correa spoke for a number of hours about recent developments in their respective countries, Latin America and the world (Europa Press, 23/8/09).

August 23. A footage, broadcast on Cuba’s official TV, showed Fidel Castro meeting students from Venezuela at an undisclosed location a day earlier. In the television broadcast he appeared telling the students that he was worried about the future of the planet, under threat from global warming. "Even the Pentagon has become involved," Castro said. "It has included the climate among things that threaten the security of the United States." The students presented Castro with a T-shirt and sang: "We love you, Fidel. We love you." Castro, wearing a blue track suit, told the students that Cuba stood by the Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez (Al Jazeera, 24/8/09).

August 23: Six track and field athletes from the world championships were arrested after a scuffle at a Berlin disco. The six were being investigated on possible charges of disturbing the peace and causing bodily harm after the incident at the Havanna Disco, police said. The athletes were not identified by name under German privacy laws. Police spokesman Frank Millert said the men all spent the night in jail, but were being released. The incident occurred just before 4 a.m. Sunday as the athletes, who were part of a group of 20 people, tried to get into the overflowing nightclub, police said. Words were exchanged with doormen after the group was told to stay in a waiting area, police said. The confrontation escalated when the doormen then tried to force the group to leave. Bottles were thrown at the club employees, injuring a 30-year-old and a 36-year-old in the head, and a 27-year-old in the face, police said. Once police were called, they arrested the three athletes from the Bahamas and the American. The two Cubans were arrested slightly later after more bottles were thrown, police said (AP, 24/8/09).

August 24: A top Manchester cop and his young daughter were held in a `diabolical' Cuban hospital for four days - because airport officials thought she had swine flu. Department Chief Inspector Pete Marsh, 47, spent £4,000 treating his wife and two children to a dream holiday. But it became a nightmare when a thermal camera showed daughter Bethany, 12, had a high temperature. She was rushed to a ramshackle hospital - with Pete insisting he went along too. They were put in a room with bars on the windows and no running water - and forbidden to leave. They only got out when Pete, of the Wythenshawe major incident team, told staff they would have to arrest him to make them stay. Now they are back at their hotel with the rest of the family - but claim the holiday has been ruined. "The conditions were absolutely diabolical," Pete, from Stockport, said from Cuba (Manchester Evening News, 24/8/09).

August 25: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez bestowed the Orden Libertador (Liberator Order) in its first class, on the outgoing Cuban ambassador to Caracas, German Sanchez Otero. During the ceremony, held at the Ayacucho Hall of the Miraflores Palace in the Venezuelan capital, Chavez also awarded Aldo Muñoz, outgoing coordinator of the Cuban Medical Mission in the South American nation, with the aforementioned order, in its second class, Granma newspaper reported. The Venezuelan leader highlighted the diplomatic work carried out by Sanchez Otero over the past 15 years. He also referred to the creation of the ‘Barrio Adentro’ social program and the contribution made by thousands of Cuban doctors, nurses and health technicians. The awarding ceremony was broadcast live by Venezolana de Television (ACN, 26/8/09).

August 25: Cuban President Raul Castro and Ecuador’s head of State Rafael Correa met in Havana on a wide array of issues, as part of a private visit by the Ecuadorian president.     According to Cuban TV, the two leaders followed up on a first encounter they held in Brazil last December 2008, when they attended international meetings that took place in the South American nation. The dialogue was previously resumed last July, when Raul Castro attended the presidential inauguration of Rafael Correa. The two presidents expressed their satisfaction with the increasing and positive bilateral relations between both countries. They also addressed the international situation, and issues of high concern
for Latin America and the Caribbean region (ACN, 26/8/09).

Agosto 25: Entre el 9 y el 21 de mayo de este año, 25 ecuatorianos de entre 20 y 33 años, viajaron a La Habana, Cuba, para participar en el Taller de Formación Intensiva de Promotores y Técnicos Sociales, con pasajes y viáticos cubiertos por el gobierno de Ecuador. Cuba cubrió la alimentación y la estadía de los ecuatorianos. Los participantes al taller de Cuba eran colaboradores de la Secretaría de Pueblos, con formación académica heterogénea, que varía entre estudios en Bellas Artes y en Hotelería y Turismo. El taller se realizó en la Escuela de Promotores Sociales de Cuba, puntal en la formación de los Comités de Defensa de la Revolución (CDR). El modelo al parecer será replicado en Ecuador. Esto se deriva del anuncio de Correa en el Estadio Atahualpa, mientras vitoreaba al mandatario de esa isla, Raúl Castro (Revista Vistazo, 25/8/09).

August 26: The ten Venezuelan lawyers who recently graduated from the University of Carabobo, members of the second “Fidel Castro” graduation, finished their visit to Cuba.     Before returning to Caracas, the young lawyers visited Santiago de Cuba, where they paid tribute to Cuban National Hero Jose Marti and toured historical places linked to Fidel Castro, Granma newspaper reported (ACN, 26/8/09).

August 26: Cuban President Raul Castro met with visiting Martin Torrijos, General Secretary of the Revolutionary Democratic Party of Panama (PRD) who arrived in Havana for a working visit. Torrijos’s previous visit to the island was last January, when he arrived in the Cuban capital for an official visit as president of his country, Granma newspaper reported. Also present in the meeting were Jorge Marti Martinez, head of the Foreign Relations Department at the Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist Party, and Luis “Lucho” Gomez, a leader of the PRD (ACN, 26/8/09).

August 27: Diplomats from European Union countries angered Cuba when they went to the home of a jailed dissident to express their concern about the case and what they view as government efforts to quell dissent. Their visit signaled that despite improved relations with Cuba, the EU still has reservations about the communist government's treatment of opponents. Cuba's government reacted swiftly, summoning ambassadors or charges d'affaires from the five countries whose diplomats made the visit -- Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Germany and Britain -- to say they had threatened recently renewed EU-Cuba dialogue. "The message was of criticism about the visit, meddling in Cuban internal affairs and putting at risk the political dialogue. It was a pretty strong move," said a European diplomat. The five diplomats had met with Yusnaimy Jorge Soca, the wife of Cuban physician Darsi Ferrer who has been imprisoned since July 21 on charges he bought two bags of cement on the black market and verbally assaulted a neighbor. No trial date has been set for Ferrer, 39, who has organized walks along Havana's seaside boulevard, the Malecon, and in front of local UNESCO offices to support human rights. Angry mobs attacked his small group at the UNESCO walks in 2006 and 2007. His wife, pointing to concrete ceiling beams with gaping holes in the living room of their cramped home, told reporters a friend had given them cement to make repairs. "My husband is not in prison for two bags of cement," she said. "He's in prison for dreaming" (Reuters, 27/8/09).

Agosto 27: Fidel Castro habló por primera vez en vivo desde octubre del 2007, en una conversación telefónica con el presidente de Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, a quien llamó para expresar su satisfacción por la graduación de 44 médicos nicaragüenses que estudiaron en Cuba. "Me alegra chico (..) me alegra saber que están 44 (nicaragüenses) graduándose de la ELAM (Escuela Latinoamericana de Ciencias Médicas)'', se le escuchó decir claramente a Fidel, en una breve conversación que sostuvo con Ortega, durante el acto de graduación en Managua. La comunicación había sido anunciada segundos antes por el presidente nicaragüense, quien interrumpió tres veces su discurso para atender una llamada telefónica en público que aparentemente no podía concretarse, hasta que explicó que Castro quería saludarlo en vivo. Entonces activó el altavoz del teléfono y lo puso cerca del micrófono para oír a Fidel, quien con un tono apacible y claro le manifestó que estaba contento por la graduación de los jóvenes nicaragüenses. "Me parece muy buena noticia saber que ustedes cuentan con una gran fuerza médica'' y que "están a la altura de las necesidades que tiene Nicaragua'', manifestó el ex gobernante (AFP, 28/8/09).

August 28: The Peace Boat ship left the Japanese city of Yokohama under the banner of “Creating a culture of peace” and will make a visit to Cuba during its global journey. The boat houses some 500 Japanese including 10 survivors of nuclear attacks against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At a press conference organized with the Hibakusha (the nuclear bomb survivors), an advisor at the Cuban Embassy in Tokyo, Andres Gonzalez Ballester, said that the seafarers will receive a warm welcome upon their arrival to Cuba (ACN, 28/8/09).

Agosto 29: El presidente ecuatoriano, Rafael Correa, pidió a Estados Unidos que "levante ese criminal bloqueo" que ha mantenido por décadas sobre Cuba y no dudó de que, si ello ocurriera, la economía de la isla podría convertirse en una de las más prósperas de la región. "Levanten ese criminal bloqueo", pidió Correa durante su enlace de radio y televisión sabatino, en el que informó, entre otras cosas, del viaje que efectuó con su familia en días pasados a Cuba, por invitación de autoridades cubanas y para un chequeo médico. Según el mandatario ecuatoriano, si se retira el bloqueo, se verá como Cuba, "con los recursos humanos, con su cohesión social que tiene, se dispara como uno de los países más prósperos de América Latina". Correa admitió que en Cuba existen serias deficiencias en varios campos como la vivienda, pero dijo que esa situación, según él, se debe al embargo comercial y financiero que Washington aplica a la isla desde 1962. Además, comentó que en Cuba se reunió con Fidel Castro, con el que conversó por más de cinco horas, según precisó, y con su hermano, el actual mandatario del país, Raúl (EFE, 29/8/09).

Agosto 30: El presidente de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, dijo que no es de extrañar que Fidel Castro asista como invitado a una cumbre de la Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de nuestra América (ALBA). "No les extrañe que aparezca Fidel invitado especial en una cumbre del ALBA, nadie se extrañe que aparezca Fidel un día de estos por allí", señaló en rueda de prensa con medios internacionales. Chávez indicó que pronto habrá una cumbre del ALBA en Bolivia, aún sin fecha, y en ese momento acotó: "un día de estos invitamos a Fidel" al evento, que tiene un carácter trimestral (ANSA, 30/8/09).

August 31: The president of the Permanent Committee of the Chinese National Assembly, Wu Bangguo, left Beijing for a tour that will have Cuba as its first stop.   Bangguo will arrive in Havana for an official visit at the invitation of his Cuban counterpart Ricardo Alarcon. Wu will also visit the Bahamas, where he will meet with the president of the Senate of this archipelago, Lynn Holowesko. The Chinese legislator will conclude his tour on September 12th in the United States, invited by Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives (ACN, 31/8/09).

August 31: A new group of Cuban youngsters arrived in Chinese universities to take language courses as part of collaboration programs between the two nations. Sources from the Cuban embassy in Beijing told Prensa Latina news agency that 19 out of the 32 students are on scholarships granted by the Ministry of Higher Education. The rest of the group will stay in China for two years. Among them are representatives from the ministries of Agriculture; Transportation; Science, Technology and the Environment; and the Basic Industry, among others (ACN, 31/8/09).

August 31: Cuba is not expected to seek to rejoin the Organization of American States anytime soon despite the OAS vote to lift a decades-old suspension, the multinational group's chief said. OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza told reporters it's likely that "some years" and "a lot of changes in Cuba" will happen before the Cuban government asks to return to the 34-nation organization. "We hope they will do so, but we don't think that they will do so in the near future," Insulza said in Barbados, where he was holding his first official meeting with the country's new foreign minister (AP, 31/8/09).