Chronicle on Cuba - November 2009

Domestic Affairs

November 1: More than 100 Cuban government supporters massed and shouted slogans outside the home of prominent dissident Vladimiro Roca, in which about a dozen regime foes are carrying out an anti-government sit-in. The government often rallies its supporters to publicly condemn opponents of the Americas' only communist regime. Demonstrators with megaphones shouted "Commander in Chief, Hand down your orders" waving signs and flags and singing pro-revolutionary songs. Dissident Martha Beatriz Roque said the sit-in, in its 24th day, was called to protest specifically against an incident in which police seized a camera. Roque charged that "demonstrators burst in and beat us, one person has their head injured and I have a fractured finger." "It's not true; that aggression did not take place," claimed rally participant Avila Gongora, 73, a Tourism ministry employee (AFP, 1/11/09).

November 2: A popular website of classified ads that has given Cubans a taste of the free market has been blocked on the communist-run island, Internet users said. Cubans trying to access Revolico.com, which says it has more than 1.5 million page views a month, are being diverted to the search engine Google.com. "If I type the address and press 'enter,' I get redirected. If I Google it and click, I get redirected. What is going on?," asked Sandra a 30-year-old government employee who, like several others interviewed, did not give their full names. Cuban computer experts say an Internet content filter is preventing access to the Craigslist-like site, which has emerged as a booming virtual free market in the socialist nation with a tightly controlled economy where consumer goods tend to be scarce and expensive. On Revolico.com, Cubans with access to the Internet can buy and sell anything from computer memory sticks to a 1950 Plymouth. "There you can find all the things the government sells you at brutal prices and freely pick exactly what you want," said Alberto, who recently used Revolico.com to buy a computer that was not available in the stores. Whether the state was blocking the site was unknown but Cuban authorities have in the past reportedly prohibited access to pages they consider "counter-revolutionary," including blogs critical of the socialist system (Reuters, 2/11/09).

Noviembre 2: El médico activista de derechos humanos, Darsi Ferrer Ramírez está muy débil y delgado: “Yo creo que no voy a poder resistir estas dos horas”, le comentó a su esposa Yusnaimy Jorge Soca durante la visita del pasado jueves 29 de octubre. Ferrer se encuentra en huelga de hambre desde hace casi veinte días, en protesta por su encarcelamiento, que considera injusto. En un inicio lo pusieron a convivir entre unos 150 reos comunes entre los cuales hay muchos enfermos de tuberculosis y SIDA. “El dormía en el suelo, le ponían una colchoneta a las 12 de la noche y se la quitaban a las 5 de la mañana”, comenta su esposa, “Apenas puede hablar, de lo delicado que está”. La visita se realizó bajo la vigilancia de un “reeducador” (Cubanet, 2/11/09).

Noviembre 2: The autobiography of Juanita Castro, sister of Raul and Fidel Castro, is “a commercial venture in bad taste and of low morality,” a magazine published by Cuba’s Culture Ministry said as a first official reaction to the book. “Through techniques of political recycling and marketing that includes advertising, manipulation and sensationalism, Miami’s anti-Castro industry, under the auspices of the publisher Santillana and the PRISA Group in Spain, has launched a new product on the market: the memoirs of Juanita Castro,” an article in La Jiribilla magazine said. The article entitled “Memorias para el olvido” (Memoirs to Forget) broke the official silence on last week’s launch of the book by the sister of the two men who have ruled Cuba since January 1, 1959. “The fact is more shocking precisely because to keep his distance from the usual frivolity as no other western leader has done, for more than 50 years Fidel Castro has made an effort to preserve the privacy of his family from the vicissitudes of his public activities,” La Jiribilla said. The book is “a rag created to spread statements that are frankly trivial,” the article said (EFE, 2/11/09).

Noviembre 3: Cuba, donde la práctica del aborto es gratuita y legal desde 1965, producirá y distribuirá en el 2010 la ‘‘píldora del día después'' como un anticonceptivo que ayude a reducir los 85,000 abortos anuales. El Levonorgestrel empezó a usarse en Cuba progresivamente hace un año y, según prevé el Ministerio de Salud (MINSAP), podrá adquirirse en el 2010 en todas las farmacias del país, sin receta médica. La gragea inicialmente se producirá para 225,000 dosis al año, precisó el presidente de la Comisión de Salud Sexual y Planificación Familiar, Miguel Sosa. Unas 2.6 millones (de 3.3 millones de cubanas en edad fértil) son sexualmente activas, y de ellas un 25 por ciento (650,000) no usa anticonceptivos, 200,000 porque prevén embarazarse, 100,000 son infértiles y el resto es vulnerable a embarazos no deseados. Uno de cada cuatro embarazos no deseados son entre menores de 20 años, dijo Sosa. En un país con una sexualidad precoz, donde según estudios los hombres comienzan su vida sexual a los 13 años y las mujeres a los 14, se acude al aborto muchas veces como un método anticonceptivo más (AFP, 3/11/09).

November 3: President Raul Castro attended the funeral in Havana of Carmen Nordelo, the mother of one of the five Cuban agents jailed in the United States for spying. Fidel Castro, Raul’s older brother and predecessor, sent a wreath to Colon cemetery for the 76-year-old Nordelo, who died the day before. She was the mother of Gerardo Hernandez, now serving two life prison sentences for espionage and for his alleged role in the Cuban air force’s 1996 downing of two small planes belonging to the Miami exile group Brothers to the Rescue, an incident in which four men aboard the aircraft died. Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez and Antonio Guerrero were arrested by the FBI in 1998 and found guilty in a Miami federal court three years later. While acknowledging that the “five heroes” are intelligence agents, Havana says they were spying not on the US government, but on Miami’s Cuban exile community  (EFE, 3/11/09).

Noviembre 3: El médico opositor Darsi Ferrer abandonó una huelga de hambre de 17 días, informó su esposa en un comunicado. Ferrer se encuentra detenido desde el 21 de julio en la prisión de Valle Grande, acusado de presuntos delitos comunes. Según Yusnaimy Jorge Soca, que le visitó el pasado 29 de octubre, el activista se encontraba "muy deteriorado de la salud, prácticamente cadavérico, apenas podía conversar por las fatigas y mareos, estaba muy decaído". Yusnaimy Jorge Soca apuntó que Ferrer dejó la huelga de hambre a petición de personalidades del Movimiento Negro de Brasil, quienes enviaron una carta abierta al presidente Lula da Silva para que "medie urgentemente con el gobierno de la República de Cuba a favor del respeto de los derechos democráticos" del preso político. La carta del Movimiento Negro del Brasil, firmada por el ex senador y ex diputado Abdias Nascimento, que afirma hacerse eco de las "demandas de intelectuales, activistas sociales y personalidades de diversas partes del mundo", también fue dirigida al general Raúl Castro y al propio Ferrer (Cubaencuentro, 3/11/09).

Noviembre 5: El periodista Ricardo González Alfonso, preso desde la ola represiva de 2003, se encuentra en precario estado de salud, denunció su esposa en un comunicado. "Está padeciendo de neumonitis en el pulmón derecho y, a pesar de que tiene tratamiento de antibióticos, el estado gripal nunca se le quita, los oídos le supuran y la audición la tiene baja", explicó Alida Viso Bello. "Todo es debido a la extrema humedad de la celda, que le destila agua por las paredes, y en el techo tiene un nylon para no mojarse y no tiene ventana, sólo la puerta (barrotes)", añadió. Según Viso Bello, el periodista del Grupo de los 75 "tiene tendencia a glaucoma (...) padece de la presión arterial alta y en estos momentos la tiene descompensada, es decir muy baja (se siente muy decaído). No lo han llevado al especialista para examinarlo. Cuando se siente mal se pone sal fluorada o común debajo de la lengua, indicado por él mismo y no por un médico" (Cubaencuentro, 5/11/09).

Noviembre 6: El gobierno que preside el general Raúl Castro está reduciendo con cuentagotas los productos de la "libreta de racionamiento". En los últimos meses disminuyeron las raciones de alimentos que se entregan con precios subsidiados a los once millones de cubanos que quedan en la isla con la llamada oficialmente "libreta de abastecimiento", a la que le auguran poco futuro incluso los medios informativos del país, todos oficiales. Desde este mes las patatas y los guisantes o chícharos han sido excluidos, sin aviso público ni explicaciones, como es habitual en el único país de América gobernado por un Partido Comunista, del que Fidel Castro sigue siendo primer secretario. Ahora se pueden comprar esos víveres en el mercado libre, sin límite de cantidad, al doble del precio subsidiado, aunque todavía a tarifas que no son comparables con muchos países (la patata, a solo unos 10 centavos de dólar por kilo). Antes habían sido mermadas las cuotas de otros alimentos y de la sal, también sin previo aviso (EFE, 6/11/09).

November 6: Famed Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez said she and another blogger were punched and thrown violently into a car by presumed state security agents as they walked to participate in a peaceful march in downtown Havana. “No blood, but black and blues, punches, pulled hairs, blows to the head, kidneys, knee and chest,'' Sánchez the press shortly after she and Orlando Luis Pardo were freed. “In sum, professional violence.'' “I, being a person of verbal pacifism, am shaken by this violence, because violence silences anyone,'' the blogger said. Sánchez, the best-known Cuban blogger on the island and off, said she and bloggers Pardo and Claudia Cadelo and a woman friend were walking to join a “march against violence'' organized by several young musicians when they were intercepted by three men in civilian clothes. Cuba's state security service agents frequently operate out of uniform. “We were almost there when we were intercepted by three men in a car with civilian license plates who ordered us to get in,'' she said. “We refused. She and Pardo were “dragged toward the car.” She was “thrown head-first inside,'' where “they applied judo or karate holds to us and the punches (…) kept raining down.'' The driver stopped in an area far from where Sánchez and Pardo had been detained “and we were violently thrown on the street,'' Sánchez said. The two later reunited with Cadelo and the friend, who told her they had been taken in another car to a police station, but with less violence, and were then freed, Sánchez said (The Miami Herald, CNN, Reuters, 7/11/09).

November 6: A demonstration took place in Havana as “a peaceful performance-march” -- neither a protest nor a political demand'' organized by Luis Eligio of the musical group OMNI Zona Franca and the two members of the rap group Los Aldeanos, according to the blog Penultimos Días -- Penultimate Days. According to the blog, which features several writers, the demonstrators carried cardboard signs with messages like “Join us,'' “No more violence'' and “For the future of our children'' as they marched near the Yara movie house in downtown Havana. “These are new people, with stunning ingenuity,'' said Penultimos Días, which added that the organizers had carried out a prior event in the Dimitrov Park that included “group fraternizing exercises (…) and group theater.'' The march, which Penultimos Días said drew some 200 participants, was the second demonstration in Havana in the past three weeks to bring together young Cubans generally critical of the island's communist system (Video of the demonstration; El Nuevo Herald, 7/11/09).

Noviembre 8: The number of people in Cuba infected with HIV – the virus that causes AIDS – increased to 11,208, compared with 10,454 a year ago, the official daily Juventud Rebelde said. The paper also confirmed previous information that the HIV virus has spread to all parts of the island. The number of new cases of the disease “is on the rise” in Cuba, where there are some 9,237 people with AIDS, not counting HIV-infected people without symptoms or not yet detected, according to figures provided by the Public Health Ministry. Of the 11,208 HIV-infected people detected since 1986, 1,971 have died. Men represent 80 percent of those infected, but among women AIDS “is growing proportionally very quickly,” the report said (EFE, 8/11/09).

November 8: The provincial committee of the Communist Party in Havana met to evaluate ways to deal with "illegalities, social indiscipline, crime and corruption," Radio Guantánamo reported. The local party's first secretary, Lázara Mercedes López Acea, said that "the lack of administrative control facilitates the criminal acts, half of which are committed by persons not linked to the work place." This seems to be an allusion to the theft of raw materials from work places such as construction sites, a major problem in the city. López blamed "the lack of control by those who manage the resources of the state and must keep track of them." Another topic discussed was "the recovery of land that is idle or insufficiently exploited for the production of food. The main difficulties in the sector are the delays in the execution of contracts, delays in the clearing of the areas, deficient utilization of spaces and insufficient frequency in the control by agrarian commissions. Although the article does not impute any wrongdoing to "comrade Roberto García Díaz, who looked after the sectors of the Economy, Judicial Organizations and Popular Power," it says that the Party "liberated him from his post" as a member of the Party's provincial bureau. "Comrade Julio Martínez Ramírez, who was until recently first secretary of the National Committee of the Union of Communist Youths," replaced García, the report said (The Miami Herald, 9/11/09).

Noviembre 9: El opositor Fidel García Roldán fue recluido el pasado 3 de noviembre tras condenársele a un año de prisión por el supuesto delito de acaparamiento. Según García Roldan el tribunal municipal de Manatí le había comunicado que debía presentarse el día 29 de octubre para comenzar a cumplir la condena impuesta por dicha instancia; pero ese día pudo hacerlo  porque no tuvo dinero para el pasaje. Agregó que al presentarse el día 3 de noviembre, el juez decidió agravarle la condena. En vez de cumplir un año de trabajo correccional, ahora tendrá que cumplirlo en la Prisión El Típico de Las Tunas. García Roldán, residente del reparto Sanfiel, Holguín, ya había cumplido 4 años y medio en las cárceles castristas por sus actividades opositoras pacíficas (Cubanet, 9/11/09).

November 9: A vaccination campaign against the seasonal flu virus began in Cuba aiming at protecting some 900,000 vulnerable people. Granma newspaper reported that the program will stretch over two weeks and its main goal is to prevent complications caused by the seasonal flu virus. The Granma note explains that this vaccine does not create immunity against the A H1N1 Influenza virus (ACN, 9/11/09).

Noviembre 9: The weekly publication of Cuba’s only legal labor union says residents of the communist-ruled island will have to get used to belt-tightening “with intelligence” amid a severe recession and little prospect of improvement in the short term. Cuba is struggling to cope with the effects of the global slump at a time when it has yet to recover from the $10 billion in losses left by three hurricanes in 2008, Trabajadores said in an editorial. “Let us tighten our belts, but with intelligence: that is the alternative,” the union weekly said. The editorial also warned of “inevitable restrictions and cutbacks in every sector” as a result of tough financial straits aggravated by the costs of dealing with the AH1N1 flu outbreak. Cuba is suffering one of its worst economic crises since the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power in January 1959 (EFE, 9/11/09).

Noviembre 9: El presidente del Consejo de Ciencias Sociales de Cuba, Miguel Limia David, advirtió que si el modelo cubano no eleva su productividad perderá viabilidad incluso si Estados Unidos finalmente levanta las sanciones contra la nación caribeña.
"Si no trabajamos con la calidad y no nos preparamos para tener una economía eficiente y autosustentable no tendremos perspectiva como nación. Eso es lo que no puede pasar", indicó Limia. Incluso "el debilitamiento del bloqueo" estadounidense manifestó Limia "no implica la solución de nuestros problemas" en relación a la productividad, agregó el especialista, quien preside la dependencia adscripta al Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Medio Ambiente (CITMA). El funcionario dio una inusual entrevista al semanario Trabajadores, órgano de difusión de la Central sindical, ligada al gobierno. Destacó la necesidad de mejorar los salarios --cuyo promedio es de unos 20 dólares mensuales pero a los que se suman las gratuidades del sistema-- como una forma de estimular el trabajo, pero también de incrementar la conciencia "política" de los ciudadanos sobre su papel en la sociedad (AP, 9/11/09).

November 10: The Cuban government has long tried to control Cubans' access to the Internet, putting restrictions on computers and subscriptions, keeping prices high and blocking access to unfriendly sites, including most alternative blogs. It also has assigned university students of computer sciences to post comments supporting the government and attacking its critics. But Cubans have found myriad ways to get around the roadblocks: Passwords for Internet access sell on the black market for $10 a month. People with access download information to CDs and USB thumb drives and pass them on to others, who then copy the data and pass it further on. One file being passed around instructs cybernauts on how to get around government blocks on the unfriendly blogs and other websites. Yosvani Anzardo, a young engineer from the eastern province of Holguin, even established the digital newspaper Covadonga and a private e-mail system called Red Libertad -- Liberty Net -- by reprogramming his laptop to work as a much more powerful server. Then there's Bluetooth, which allows the rapid transfer of files such as forbidden books, songs and foreign news reports between cellphones that are near each other, without going through telephone or computer lines. Security agents probably don't realize the impact of Bluetooth, blogger Reinaldo Escobar said. “Those people studied in the KGB and maybe now they are studying in China, but their knowledge is antiquated," he said in a telephone interview from Havana (The Miami Herald, 10/11/09).

November 10: Neighbors are gathering around a single light bulb and a Cuban flag. They have come for a meeting of the local Committee for the Defense of the Revolution — a neighborhood organization founded in part to root out anti-government subversion. Now the group is tasked with collecting criticism of Cuba's socialist system and ideas for how to reform it. Similar discussions are being held across the island, as communist authorities urge Cubans to work harder, expect less and speak freely about the country's nagging problems. Aurelio Alonso, deputy editor of Cuba's Casa de las Americas journal, says he thinks Cuba's economy must face major changes. Like many Cubans who say they support the government but want it to change, he believes the state should allow for more small businesses and cooperatives. Alonso says simply asking Cubans to work harder for no new benefits is an empty formula. "Now, all that we are doing is we have our leaders on the screen of the TV saying, 'You have to produce more,'" Alonso says. "In the history of society I don't remember any situation where economic accumulation has advanced because some charismatic leader says, 'You have to produce more' " (NPR, 11/11/09).

November 11: The headline in Cuban Communist Party daily Granma was a 39-year-old quote from the country’s now-retired leader, Fidel Castro, complaining of low productivity on the island. “Productivity is practically forgotten, and lack of productivity is the abyss that threatens to swallow the island’s human resources and wealth,” Fidel said in a 1970 speech. Cuban state media – there are no independent outlets – have been sounding the same theme for the past few years, with still greater urgency since Fidel Castro was sidelined by illness in July 2006 and turned over power to younger brother Raul (EFE, 11/11/09).
 
November 12: Cuban First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura urged all national health centers to increase their saving efforts and the efficient use of resources.    During a visit to the Agosthino Neto General Hospital in eastern Guantanamo province,
Machado Ventura said that this goal has to be attained without affecting the quality of services.    In order to achieve this, he added, “it is necessary to have more organization, control of resources and a proper use of the technological equipment for the diagnosis of patients that really need it,” Juventud Rebelde newspaper reported (ACN, 12/11/09).

November 12: The husband of an internationally known dissident Cuban blogger is challenging the presumed state security agents who roughed up his wife to a verbal duel on a Havana street corner. Reinaldo Escobar said he feels compelled both as a husband and open critic of the communist government to avenge an incident, when two men in plainclothes allegedly forced political blogger Yoani Sanchez into an unmarked sedan, pulled her hair and kicked her. The confrontation was so violent, Sanchez said she thought the men might kill her, but instead they dropped her off near her apartment. "I had many options, like throwing two molotov cocktails at the Interior Ministry or keeping quiet like a coward," Escobar said in a phone interview. He said challenging the assailants to a duel is the most decent way to respond, since he doesn't have their names or addresses. Escobar posted a photo on his blog of a security agent at another event who he thinks was involved (Challenge to a duel; AP, 13/11/09).

November 12: Leading Cuban dissident Martha Beatriz Roque is extremely ill due to complications from a liquids-only fast as a protest against the government, another dissident reported. “A doctor who visited her this morning said she may not last the day,'' said Vladimiro Roca, who along with Roque and six other dissidents launched the fast at his Havana house. A younger dissident is on a total hunger strike, he added. The 64-year-old Roque, who is diabetic and has suffered two heart attacks, was released early from prison in 2004 because of her health. She had been sentenced to 20 years following her arrest during the 2003 crackdown on dissidents known as the “Black Spring.'' Roque, an economist, is one of the most active and well-known dissidents in Cuba. She also served three years in prison, 1997-2000, for her participation in the Dissidence Working Group, which issued a key opposition document, “The Country Belongs to All.'' Roca said Roque fainted twice and was staying in his bedroom, conscious but weak. “She can't speak, and she's very ill,'' he added. An emergency ambulance crew apparently called by state security agents checked on Roque four times. The crew's doctor asked her to sign a document saying she was continuing the fast on her own responsibility, but she refused, Roca added. “We hold the Cuban government and the State Security responsible for what could happen to Martha,'' Roca said (The Miami Herald, 13/11/09).

November 13: Peas and potatoes have become the harbingers of change in Cuba as President Raul Castro chips away at some of the Cuban revolution's most hallowed social programs. Without a word, the two vegetables were removed this month from the subsidized food ration Cubans have received since 1963 and prices shot up in what people fear was a glimpse of the future. Many view it as the first step toward the end of the ration program, known here as the "libreta," and possibly other government subsidies that Castro has complained are too costly for the cash-strapped government and discourage productivity. "There's a lot silence from the country's leaders about most of the things that are affecting we Cubans. The libreta is slowly disappearing without explanation," said Marco, a retired lawyer who did not give his full name. "People are not very happy about it. It's not that what you get lasts for the whole month, but it's a help because you can get those things at a price that's not too high," said Havana housewife Yuliet Cruz. The prospect of losing handouts has made some Cubans long for the days when Fidel Castro, not younger brother Raul, was in power, said housewife Cruz. "They say if the comandante was in charge, none of this (stuff) would be happening," she said (Reuters, 13/11/09).

November 13: Cuban dissidents holed up in a Havana house for 36 days started a liquids-only fast this week that led a doctor to order one of them to go home for health reasons, one of the protesters told the press. The doctor ordered another protester -- the only one who had been on a full hunger strike since the fast began on November 11 -- to start drinking liquids, protester Lazaro Yuri Valle Roca said in a telephone interview. The dissident vowed that the nine people remaining in the house will continue their protest. "We remain firm in our decision and our disposition is to go forward," Valle Roca said. Asked what they are protesting, he said, "We are demanding our rights as Cubans." Cuban authorities have set up a perimeter several blocks from the house and do not allow anyone who does not live in the neighborhood to enter, Valle Roca said. Authorities have not allowed food or medicine into the house, the dissident said. Under pressure from diplomats, Cuban authorities allowed a doctor into the house, Valle Roca said. In addition, crowds of government-supported demonstrators have surrounded the house, yelling insults and taunts at those inside, Valle Roca and his uncle told reporters in telephone interviews. Valle Roca said he was attacked with a rock on November 11 when he was trying to go to the store with his uncle. "They cut my head open in two places," he said. In addition to opposition leaders Vladimiro Roca and Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, Disidente Universal group identified the other protesters as Zoila Hernandez Diaz, Elizabet de Regla Alonso Castellanos, Eriberto Liranza Romero, Yasmany Nicles Abad, Georgina Noa Monte, Armando Rodriguez Lamas, Yuniet Reina Hernandez and Valle Roca. The dissidents told Reina Hernandez, 24, to go home after the doctor diagnosed a bacterial kidney infection, Valle Roca said. Niclas Abad, 21, was told to stop his hunger strike and start drinking liquids, said Valle Roca (CNN, 14/11/09).

Noviembre 14: Cuba registró 63 casos de dengue en lo que va del año, todos importados por viajeros de otros países y ninguno grave, dijo un alto funcionario de Salud. "Ya hemos reportado y diagnosticado por nuestro sistema de vigilancia 63 casos importados de varios países del área, del continente americano, que son personas que vienen incubando la enfermedad o finalmente la desarrollan en nuestro país'', dijo el director nacional de Etmología y Lucha antivectorial, Juan Vázquez. En declaraciones a la televisión local, Vázquez precisó que "ninguno de los casos ha sido grave, ni ha presentado fiebre hemorrágica de dengue y mucho menos hemos tenido fallecidos por esta enfermedad'' (AFP, 14/11/09).

Noviembre 14: Los usuarios de telefonía celular en Cuba disponen desde esta semana de un paquete de servicios agregados mediante mensajes de texto, una opción que en la isla parecía hasta ahora de "ciencia ficción", informó el semanario Opciones. Ahora los cubanos podrán consultar desde sus móviles las carteleras de las salas de cine, la ubicación de las embajadas, el estado del tiempo y el curso de un huracán, entre otros datos. También tendrán la opción de votar con mensajes de texto (SMS, por su siglas en inglés) en los concursos convocados por el Festival Internacional de Cine de La Habana y la competencia "Lucas", que elige al mejor video clip musical del año en la isla. El nuevo servicio es resultado del trabajo de la división de Telecomunicaciones de Desoft, una empresa perteneciente al ministerio de la Informática y las Comunicaciones de Cuba, del cual el Comandante de la Revolución Ramiro Valdés es su titular (EFE, 14/11/09).

November 15: Cuban First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura presided over the ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM). The idea of the educational center was conceived by Fidel Castro, in response to two devastating hurricanes – George and Mitch - that hit Central America. Dr. Juan Carrizo, the founding rector of the institution, told the press that the project has already expanded to all Cuban medical universities and, after five graduations, a total of 7,256 health professionals from some 30 countries – including 33 youths from the United States - have graduated. He added that there are currently more than 21,300 undergraduate students from nearly 100 countries receiving medical training in Cuba while more than 2,500 graduates are currently taking post-graduate courses (ACN, 16/11/09).

Noviembre 15: El disidente Ricardo González Alfonso, encarcelado desde la primavera de 2003, inició un ayuno para exigir que las autoridades cubanas reconozcan "la categoría de prisioneros de conciencia" a aquellos reos de la Isla calificados como tal por Amnistía Internacional. En una carta abierta, González Alfonso, de 59 años, explicó que ha renunciado a los alimentos sólidos y advirtió que no descarta convertir su protesta en una huelga de hambre, si los carceleros toman represalias en su contra. "Este ayuno no es una indisciplina, sino una acción cívica en demanda de justicia", dijo. "El gobierno de La Habana se niega a reconocerlo (el estatus de los presos de conciencia). En cambio, desarrolla sistemáticamente una campaña difamatoria en contra de estos cautivos", agregó (Cubaencuentro, 16/11/09).

Noviembre 17: Más del 75 por ciento de los cubanos quieren un cambio político y el 86 por ciento votaría por cambios económicos si tuvieran esa oportunidad, de acuerdo a los resultados de una nueva encuesta realizada dentro de Cuba por el Instituto Republicano Internacional (IRI) . A un año y medio después que el gobernante Raúl Castro asumiera la presidencia en Cuba, cuatro de cada cinco ciudadanos en la isla (82 por ciento), no creen que la situación marcha bien, revela la encuesta. Los resultados de la encuesta de 38 páginas revelan, entre otros, los siguientes hallazgos: El 52 por ciento de los encuestados citó entre sus mayores preocupaciones los bajos salarios, el costo de la vida y las dificultades que plantea la doble moneda. Casi dos tercios (66 por ciento) de los cubanos no creen que el gobierno tendrá éxito en la solución de los desafíos más apremiantes en la isla. Uno de cada cinco cubanos citaron la escasez de alimentos como su mayor preocupación (20 por ciento). Aproximadamente el 77 por ciento de la población cubana dice que han sido afectados por la decisión del gobierno cubano en reducir la cantidad de comida que se vende por la libreta de racionamiento mensual y el 30 por ciento de los encuestados afirmó que se han visto negativamente afectados por esto. El 91 por ciento de los cubanos apoyan la capacidad de comprar y vender libremente sus casas, un derecho que no les es permitido actualmente. En general, el número de cubanos que hacen llamadas de teléfono celular aumentó diez por ciento desde noviembre de 2008, mientras que el número de cubanos que reciben correo electrónico creció un 23 por ciento durante el mismo período. Llama la atención que el 30 por ciento de los entrevistados respondió que no trabajaban, el 19 por ciento lo hacían en el mercado informal y un 10 por ciento se definió como cuentapropistas. El 32 por ciento se negó a contestar las preguntas (Encuesta; Marti Noticias, 18/11/09).

November 17: Members of the Cuban Network of Community Communicators announced the end of a hunger strike they began last week to protest the Communist government’s repression of independent journalism. Six of the 10 hunger strikers, including Marta Beatriz Roque, whose chronic diabetes and hypertension were aggravated by her taking part in the protest, received members of the press to read a communique. “We wish to communicate our decision to call off this activity, but not our protest against the totalitarian regime that has violated every kind of freedom,” the text read by Lazaro Yuris Valle said. The document said that the health of most of the participants in the hunger strike “has been affected” and that 80 percent of the group is willing to “give their lives for Cuba’s freedom.” The Cuban Network of Community Communicators began a protest 40 days ago at the home of prominent dissident Vladimiro Roca after police seized a digital camera from a member of the group. Roca said that it was after authorities interrupted their food supply that the dissidents decided to go on hunger strike (LAHT, 17/11/09).

Noviembre 18: Los disidentes Rolando Jiménez Posada, Fidel Francisco Rangel y Favio Prieto Llorente, denunciaron a través de la periodista independiente Lamasiel Gutiérrez las condiciones inhumanas que padecen la mayoría de los presos políticos cubanos y comunes en la cárcel "El Guayabo", localizada en Isla de Pinos. Se refieren los activistas encarcelados a la falta de atención médica, precarias condiciones de alimentación, hacinamiento, promiscuidad, torturas y maltrato por parte del personal penitenciario. Los disidentes encarcelados denunciaron también que el trato médico y los medicamentos son manejados por la guarnición del penal como moneda de cambio y chantaje. Por otro lado, dijeron que cuatro reos contagiados con el virus del SIDA permanecen en una celda sin ningún tipo de atención médica (Marti Noticias, 18/11/09).

Noviembre 18: En el barrio de Luyanó, Ciudad de La Habana, un joven apuñaleó brutalmente a su pareja. Según testigos fueron más de 30 puñaladas y otros, dicen que más de cuarenta. Al ver aquella horrenda escena, trabajadores de almacenes y talleres cercanos, vecinos y transeúntes, acorralaron al atacante, quien se autopropinó una puñalada y después intentó defenderse tirando estocadas con su cuchillo. Observadores le lanzaron piedras y cuantos objetos contundentes encontraron y otros lo golpearon hasta dejarlo inconsciente, en una especie de linchamiento espontáneo. El atacante fue transportado al hospital Miguel Enrique (antigua Benéfica) con fracturas de huesos y, según testigos, con el rostro desfigurado, dientes partidos y en completo estado de inconciencia, debido a los golpes propinados por la multitud (Cubanet, 23/11/09).

Noviembre 20: La periodista independiente Aini Martín, de Agencia Libre Asociada (ALAS), informó que el pasado10 de noviembre fue detenida y conducida a la unidad policial de Zanja, en Centro Habana, mientras tomaba fotos a un policía que decomisaba la mercancía a un anciano vendedor ambulante. “Iba por  la calle Zanja cuando vi que le quitaban jabones, pasta dental, cigarros y otros artículos al señor, y que se negaba a acompañar al agente. El anciano le dio un puñetazo al agente, y en ese momento tomé la foto sin percatarme que dos policías me observaban,” dijo Martín.  La periodista independiente fue conducida a la estación, donde la interrogó un agente conocido como Gabriel, de Seguridad del Estado, quien ya la había interrogado en otra ocasión. Valero fue liberada después de cuatro horas de arresto. Se le devolvió la cámara y se le informó que las fotos habían sido borradas. “En el momento no encendí la cámara, pero al llegar a la casa me di cuenta que no funcionaba. Al parecer la rompieron para impedir que tome fotos,” concluyó (Cubanet, 20/11/09). 

November 20: Cuba's government has offered its first free penis implants, part of a program set to be expanded across the communist island, an official newspaper has reported. It is likely not what Karl Marx had in mind when he imagined a society transformed "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs," but Juventud Rebelde reported that the silicon and silver penis implants are set to become more common. Men in seven Cuban provinces will be eligible for the procedure, which urologist Juan Carlos Yip boasted was normally "exclusive to first world countries and at a high cost. "It will be carried out in patients whose sexual suffering does not respond positively to traditional treatments" (AFP, 21/11/09).

November 20: The husband of Yoani Sanchez, an acclaimed dissident Cuban blogger, was punched and shouted down by a pro-government mob after he challenged the presumed state agents who earlier roughed up his wife to a street corner debate. As he promised earlier on his blog, Reinaldo Escobar went to the intersection of Havana's 23rd and G avenues for the proposed discussion. Escobar was waiting with at least two companions when he got into an argument with another man. What appeared to be a prearranged group of government supporters then moved in, screaming obscenities. They hit him and slapped him in the head and pulled his hair and shirt, but never knocked him down. Several hundred people gathered and began shouting "Viva Fidel" and "Viva la Revolucion." Soon, Escobar and the others were surrounded by men thought to be state security agents who protected them as they walked about two blocks. All around, Cubans pushed and screamed "Fidel! Fidel! Fidel!" and "Get out worm!" slang for Cuban-American exiles. At one point, a band organized as part of a nearby street festival joined the mob, marching through flower beds on the median of a boulevard. The music added an odd soundtrack to a tense situation. After about 10 minutes, Escobar and the others were placed in unmarked cars and driven away. Ahead of Escobar's arrival, Cuba's Young Communists Union organized a street book fair on the same corner, blocking off traffic. "This street is Fidel's!" the mob shouted. They eventually chanted the name of the current president, Raul Castro, who replaced Fidel in February of 2008 (Video; AP, Reuters, 21/11/09).

November 20: According to a version issued to the foreign press by an office of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Reinaldo Escobar, husband of famous Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez, “tried to break up the closing ceremony of the University Book and Reading Fair” in Havana “but the game went badly for him.” Escobar had challenged the presumed state agents who earlier roughed up his wife to a street corner debate. “Cubans are tired of so much provocation and to a conga rhythm the young people taking part in the event began to cry out spontaneously ‘This street is revolutionary!’ and ‘Down with the worms!’ and ‘Raul, for sure, be tough on Yankees,’” the official version said. “What is odd about the incident,” it continued, “is that the security agents that Yoani Sanchez has denounced so often for presumed aggression and harassment had to be the ones to save her husband so he wouldn’t suffer the anger of a people who are tired of so much provocation.” According to video images, a crowd began to surround and hit Escobar, who was removed from the place by the supposed agents (LAHT 22/11/09).
 
November 23: As the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinematography (ICAIC) celebrates its 50th anniversary during the Havana film festival beginning December 3, its founder, Alfredo Guevara, a college friend of Fidel Castro's, provided written answers to questions from The Associated Press. "Cinema was the great communicator and Fidel knew it. We were inspired protagonists and accomplices in the urgency of the revolution," said Guevara, who is not related to Che. Guevara, 82, stepped down as institute head in 2000, but remains one of the government's behind-the-scenes power-brokers. He was a communist who went into exile in the 1940s but returned to Cuba in 1951 and became a public face of the party long before Castro did. "I'm not a rebel, or at least not a professional rebel," Guevara said, "I'm a revolutionary." But Guevara says the film institute is not in the propaganda business. "We have a mission, an end we always work toward," he said. "It's not ideology, it's idealism." The institute has produced more than 300 films, winning international acclaim and helping keep the Castro government hip in intellectual circles — despite its bans on free speech, expression, assembly and press. Despite those obstacles, the institute produced powerful, unfiltered looks at Cuban reality — especially the work of late director Tomas Gutierrez Alea (AP, 23/11/09).

Noviembre 23: El diario Granma, órgano oficial del Partido Comunista, principal censor de los medios cubanos, se quejó de funcionarios intermedios que restringen el acceso de los periodistas a la información. Desde hace meses, la prensa de la isla —toda bajo control gubernamental— publica críticas a funcionarios, directivos de empresas y otros cargos, pero sin llegar a tocar nunca a altos cargos del gobierno y el PCC. "¿Qué esconden quienes rehúsan fotos y entrevistas? ¿A qué temen quienes aluden a disposiciones y autorizos para impedir que periodistas y fotógrafos de nuestros medios de prensa ofrezcan informaciones?", preguntó Granma en un artículo titulado "Periodismo con fobias". "¿Cómo trabajar en un diario y lograr así la inmediatez; cómo hacer del derecho a la información una realidad cotidiana?", añadió. El diario oficial acusó a los funcionarios de incumplir "la resolución del Buró Político, emitida en el 2007 para incrementar la eficacia informativa de los medios de comunicación, la cual establece que 'salvo el secreto militar y estatal, nadie tiene derecho a negarnos información'" (Cubaencuentro, 23/11/09).

November 24: Cubans are scrambling to turn off lights and appliances and children are going door to door reminding them to do just that under a government threat of dreaded blackouts if energy consumption is not reduced through the end of the year. The drive to reduce energy use appears aimed at saving foreign exchange, and not related to the lack of oil and generating capacity that caused up to 18-hour blackouts in the 1990s after the demise of Cuba's patron the Soviet Union. In easternmost Guantanamo province, neighborhoods, on a rotating basis, are abstaining for an hour in the evenings when consumption peaks. In various provinces grammar school children, organized into "click brigades," were reported going door to door to remind residents to save power. "We are taking exceptional measures, such as shutting off air conditioning and refrigeration in all state entities that do not stockpile medicines and food," the deputy governor of central Villa Clara province, Jesus Martuste, told the official Radio Rebelde. "We have not shut down production, only adjusted some in the name of efficiency," he said (Reuters, 24/11/09).

Noviembre 24: Los promotores de la campaña "Con la misma moneda" entregaron 10,489 nuevas firmas a la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular, informó el grupo en un comunicado. Una delegación de la Federación Latinoamericana de Mujeres Rurales (FLAMUR) trasladó las firmas a la sede del organismo del régimen. Es la tercera vez que FLAMUR presenta este tipo de solicitudes a la Asamblea, en apoyo a la campaña que exige pagar con la misma moneda que reciben los trabajadores. Las firmas ya ascienden a 30,587, "sin que las autoridades hayan respondido a la petición ciudadana", afirmó FLAMUR. "Es una muestra del amplio respaldo popular con que cuenta la campaña", declaró desde La Habana María Antonia Hidalgo Mir, vicepresidenta de FLAMUR, añadió la nota de prensa (Cubaencuentro, 24/11/09).

Noviembre 26: La Iglesia católica se sumó a la fiebre bloguera que vive Cuba, un país con limitaciones de acceso y velocidad en Internet, con la bitácora www.creerencuba.org'. El espacio está dirigido por el católico Sergio Cobarrouy, desde Sagua la Grande, centro de la isla, y "auspiciado por la Red Informática de la Iglesia Católica en Cuba". La web de la Conferencia Episcopal promocionó como "un espacio para la fe" el nuevo blog, el cual aclara que "se podrá proponer, opinar y discrepar, pero habrá de respetarse siempre a las personas y renunciar a los partidismos políticos", para que sean publicados los comentarios (AFP, 27/11/09).

November 27: The Cuban Council of State, at the proposal of its President, Army General Raul Castro, granted the “Jose Tey” Medal to families that offered their houses as classrooms after the devastation caused by three hurricanes that hit the Caribbean nation last year. “The medal, established by Decree-Law 53 of March 27, 1982, is granted in recognition of these families’ outstanding contribution to the educational development in the country,” the accord, published by Granma and Juventud Rebelde newspapers, reads. The text adds that in 11 provinces out of the country’s 14 as well as in the Isle of Youth Special Municipality, these families offered and fitted out their houses as classrooms where nearly 17,000 students from partially or totally destroyed schools continued to receive classes (ACN, 27/11/09).

November 27: The fourth ordinary period of sessions of the seventh Legislature of the Cuban National Assembly will take place on December 19. The call by the President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada, was published by the Granma and Juventud Rebelde newspapers (ACN, 27/11/09).

Noviembre 27: Félix Navarro, preso de conciencia confinado en la prisión provincial de Canaleta, informó que el 12 de noviembre el Consejo de Estado se negó a recibir una carta redactada por él, que su hija Saily Navarro intentó entregar en la entidad. La misiva denuncia maltratos a los prisioneros y varios suicidios ocurridos en esa prisión. Según Navarro, la funcionaria del Departamento de Atención a la Población, después de estampar el cuño en la carta, se retiró a consultarlo y al regreso se la devolvió a su hija con el cuño eliminado. Saily contó a su padre que la funcionaria le dijo: “No podemos darle entrada porque fue redactada por un contrarrevolucionario, y eso no puede llegarle a Raúl Castro” (Cubanet, 27/11/09). 

Noviembre 27: El semanario Granma Internacional dedicó sus páginas centrales a la laureada bloguera cubana Yoani Sánchez, a la que consideró una "lobezna disfrazada de cordero'' y ubicó en el centro de una operación mediática contra la isla. "El caso Yoani -o si se prefiere, la operación Yoani- seguramente se estudiará en el futuro como ejemplo de manipulación mediática y de injerencia en los asuntos internos de una nación soberana, a pesar del poco éxito que ha tenido su traje de cordero, en un mundo acostumbrado a distinguir a cada lobezno disfrazado por sus peludas orejas'', subrayó el texto, de un suplemento cultural oficialista. Destacó que con su blog "Generación Y'', crítico de la realidad cubana, Sánchez ‘‘llena titulares de la llamada prensa establecida en Europea y Estados Unidos, con el consabido rebote en los medios oligárquicos de América Latina''. Fue "fabricada para parecer una joven inconforme de su cotidianidad, y no una política'', pero "no solo habla de política'' sino que "hace política'' y "organiza reuniones de blogueros 'libres', es decir, políticamente definidos en contra de la Revolución'' cubana, apuntó Granma Internacional. También cuestionó los premios internacionales que ha recibido Sánchez, entre ellos el Ortega y Gasset que le concedió en 2008 el diario español El País, "una 'limpia' manera de pagar los servicios (anticastristas) y de otorgar legitimidad internacional'', dijo el semanario (AFP, 28/11/09).

Noviembre 29: Cuba arrested the son of the late revolutionary leader Juan Almeida on his way to a protest march, a clandestine human rights group said demanding that he be released at once for medical reasons. The Cuban Committee on Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCHDRN) said Juan Juan Almeida was arrested on November 27, adding: "According to our preliminary investigations, he committed no crime." The group asked that Almeida, 43, be set free immediately "taking into account that he suffers from a dangerous degenerative disease that could worsen under subhuman conditions of confinement." Almeida is one of nine children of commander Juan Almeida Bosque, who along with Fidel and Raul Castro formed the triumvirate of power after the 1959 revolution that ushered in Castro's communist dictatorship. Juan Juan Almeida was previously arrested in May when he attempted to join his wife in Miami, Florida. Two months ago he published a book in Spain on his experience with Cuban leadership. He was arrested as he was walking to a public square in Havana to protest his trampled civil rights, the CCHDRN said, adding it did not known if any charges have been filed against him (AFP, 30/11/09).

Noviembre 30: The dissident son of late Cuban Vice President Juan Almeida Bosque was released after being under arrest for three days in Havana, the outlawed Cuban Human Rights and National Reconciliation Commission said. The spokesman for the Commission, Elizardo Sanchez, told the press that Juan Juan Almeida Garcia had been “released without charge” and that “after speaking with him” he was convinced that “it was an arbitrary arrest.” Almeida was arrested on November 27 as he was walking along a street carrying a sign directed at Cuban leader General Raul Castro that said: “Mr. President: respect the law and respect my rights” (EFE, 30/11/09).

Noviembre 30: El sitio oficial en internet Cubadebate.cu, en el que suele publicar sus columnas de Fidel Castro, divulgó una petición para que se otorgue al ex gobernante el Premio Nobel de Paz. Cubadebate.cu invitó a suscribir un documento que afirma que "los logros de Cuba en salud y educación, con metas tan elevadas como la drástica disminución de la mortalidad infantil hasta menos de seis por mil de nacidos vivos, así como la matrícula escolar que abarca a prácticamente el cien por ciento de la población, así lo ameritan". "Lo llamativo —prosigue— es que tales objetivos se hayan logrado en medio de un ilegal bloqueo estadounidense que ya dura 47 años". El documento ya ha sido respaldado por miles de personas de diferentes países, según el sitio en Internet, que publica una lista de unos 200 adherentes, en su mayoría argentinos. "Fidel Castro ha hecho una contribución a un mundo de paz, fletando médicos y ejércitos de 'batas blancas', maestros, educadores, deportistas y artistas", añade (EFE, 1/12/09).