Chronicle on Cuba - December 2009

US-Cuba Relations

December 1: A group of prominent African Americans, traditionally sympathetic to the Cuban revolution, have for the first time condemned Cuba, demanding Havana stop its ``callous disregard'' for black Cubans and declaring that ``racism in Cuba (…)  must be confronted.'' ``We know first-hand the experiences and consequences of denying civil freedoms on the basis of race,'' the group declared in a statement. ``For that reason, we are even more obligated to voice our opinion on what is happening to our Cuban brethren.'' Among the 60 signers were Princeton professor Cornel West, actress Ruby Dee Davis, film director Melvin Van Peebles, former South Florida congresswoman Carrie Meek, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of President Barack Obama's church in Chicago, and Susan Taylor, former editor in chief of Essence magazine. The four-page statement demands that Raúl Castro end ``the unwarranted and brutal harassment of black citizens in Cuba who are defending their civil rights (…) We cannot be silent in the face of increased violations of civil and human rights for those black activists in Cuba who dare raise their voices against the island's racial system.'' The statement demanded the immediate release of Darsi Ferrer, a well-known Afro-Cuban physician and activist jailed since July while under investigation on charges of illegal possession of two sacks of cement. The statement called Ferrer a political prisoner. “Racism in Cuba, and anywhere else in the world, is unacceptable and must be confronted,'' their statement declared (Declaration of African-American Support; El Nuevo Herald, 1/12/09).

Diciembre 2: El legislador republicano Jeff Flake admitió que el proyecto de ley para levantar las restricciones de los viajes de los estadounidenses a Cuba no cuenta aún con los votos para ser aprobado en el Congreso. Flake, congresista por Arizona, afirmó a periodistas que la iniciativa que se estudia en la Cámara de Representantes cuenta con el apoyo de alrededor de 180 legisladores, menos de los 218 que se necesitan para su aprobación. ``Estamos trabajando para alcanzar esa meta. Será una votación cerrada, pero seguimos trabajando'', dijo Flake, uno de los principales impulsores del proyecto que pretende levantar las restricciones para viajar a Cuba. El congresista admitió que la política punitiva contra Cuba ha estado vigente por bastante tiempo y ``muchos legisladores no desean cambiar su postura o ceder'' (AFP, 3/12/09).

December 2: The American Choir SANS, visiting Cuba for the third time, held an exchange and friendly meeting with the Chamber Choir of Matanzas in this city’s cultural community center Abraham Lincoln. Musical Director of the American choir Diane Winchester highlighted the quality and professionalism of this Cuban cultural institution.  SANS’ President Lee Harrison said the purpose of the choir's visit to Cuba is to exchange with Cuban vocal groups, and to promote understanding through culture and friendship among artists (ACN, 3/12/09).

Diciembre 3: El diario oficial cubano Juventud Rebelde criticó a la empresa estadounidense Google por bloquear para los usuarios de la isla varias de sus herramientas de Internet, incluido el estudio de tendencias de navegación Zeitgeist. "A pesar de tener Google un redireccionamiento bajo el dominio de Cuba (.cu), Zeitgeist parece pasar por alto al archipiélago caribeño al ofrecer sus resultados", asegura un artículo del diario, portavoz de la rama juvenil del gobernante Partido Comunista. Agrega que esa firma también bloquea a los cubanos Google Earth, Google Destktop Search, Google Code, Google Toolbar y Chrome. "Tal parece que para Google, que, según sus creadores tiene la intención de posibilitar el acceso masivo a la información, los cubanos no contamos", dice Juventud Rebelde, que no menciona las múltiples restricciones que imponen los proveedores de acceso a Internet de la isla, todos estatales. Añade que "no es la primera vez, y casi seguro tampoco será la última, en que Google contradice su propia 'filosofía' y se suma al bloqueo norteamericano a Cuba, incluso en contra de los pronunciamientos del actual presidente norteamericano, Barack Obama, quien dijo estar comprometido con facilitar el acceso a las nuevas tecnologías a los cubanos" (EFE, 3/12/09).

December 3: Cuba hit back at 60 prominent US black leaders who challenged its race record, with island writers, artists and official journalists calling the criticism an attack on their country's national identity. The five-page signed statement, distributed by Cuban government press officials in an e-mail, defended Cuba's progress in providing social and personal opportunities for blacks and people of mixed race. But it focused more on Cuba's past than the racial inequalities of contemporary Cuban society that came under criticism from Americans such as Princeton University professor Cornel West; Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of President Barack Obama's Chicago church; and Susan Taylor, former editor of Essence magazine. Cuba's response said the country has proven its racial credentials by sending troops to Angola and Ethiopia during the 1970s and offering free education through exchange programs and medical schooling to youngsters from Africa. It also recycled past Fidel Castro comments on race and noted that the 1959 revolution his bearded rebels "dismantled the institutional and judicial bases of a racist society." It also accused the signers of the US statement of being unaware that Cuba offered to send medical assistance after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans — a gesture the US State Department turned down (Mensaje desde Cuba a los intelectuales y artistas afroamericanos; AP, 4/12/09).

December 3: A Cuban musician barred from the United States by the Bush administration performed in Washington and had lunch with a White House official in a new sign of a thaw in US-Cuba relations. Singer-songwriter Carlos Varela, whose songs capture the disenchantment of young Cubans, was given a three-week visa by the Obama administration, which has sought to improve ties with Cuba's communist government. Varela met the White House official for lunch at a Washington restaurant, according to the organizers of his trip, the Center for Democracy in the Americas, a liberal group that seeks the lifting of the US travel ban and trade embargo. The group did not identify the official. Varela also met with two members of Congress, Democratic Representatives Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and John Tierney of Massachusetts. "We don't have 80 television channels in Cuba, so we have nothing else to do but sing to each other about what we do," Varela, 46, said at a church where he gave a talk on Cuba's musical culture and performed several songs. He said Cuba's radio stations did not play his more critical songs about the frustrations and dreams of his generation. He also criticized the travel restrictions between the two countries that began before he was born (Reuters, 3/12/09).

December 3: Long-planned talks on Cuban migration to the United States have been delayed by two months until February, a State Department official said, offering no explanation for the postponement. The talks, which are supposed to take place twice a year, had been scheduled for December as a follow-up to the Obama administration's first round of migration discussions with Havana in July. The July meeting was the first since 2003 and the State Department had portrayed the renewal of the dialogue as a signal of its desire to work constructively with the communist-run island, which lies just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. The State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US-Cuba migration talks scheduled for December had been delayed until February. According to the news agency IPS, the talks were postponed at the request of the Cuban government citing “bureaucratic reasons”, a State Department spokesman said (Reuters, 3/12/09; IPS, 6/12/09).

Diciembre 4: Escritores y artistas cubanos identificados con el gobierno rechazaron alegaciones de racismo y represión en Cuba hechas por un grupo de afro-norteamericanos. La respuesta la firmaron ocho partidarios del gobierno cubano que tienen que ver de forma regular con el tema de los negros. Pero al parecer cuenta con la aprobación oficial toda vez que la oficina de prensa del gobierno fue quien distribuyó la declaración de los firmantes. Siete de ellos son negros, y el octavo es el escritor Miguel Barnet, presidente de la Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas Cubanos (UNEAC).
Victoria Ruiz-Labrit, residente de Miami, y defensora de los disidentes negros de la isla, dijo que recibió información desde Cuba donde se le decía que funcionarios del gobierno estaban presionando a otros cubanos negros para que firmaran la respuesta. Algunos se negaron, y otros accedieron a firmarla, agregó Ruiz-Labrit. Oscar Elias Biscet, importante disidente y médico negro que cumple una condena de 25 años de cárcel en La Habana, dio a conocer una declaración en la que le agradece a los norteamericanos su respaldo a los cubanos, informó la estación Radio Martí, con sede en Miami. Tres líderes de dos movimientos de derechos civiles de negros en Cuba también dieron a conocer un documento donde elogian a los norteamericanos por su respaldo "al creciente movimiento en la isla para luchar contra el racismo y la marginación''. La declaración fue firmada por Manuel Cuesta Morúa, portavoz del partido Arco Progresista, y por Juan A. Madrazo Luna y Leonardo Calvo Cárdenas, coordinador y vice coordinador, respectivamente, del Comité de Ciudadanos por la Integración Racial. El gobierno no reconoce a ninguna de las dos organizaciones (El Nuevo Herald, 5/12/09).

Diciembre 5: El famoso músico y productor estadounidense Robert Kraft, supervisor musical de filmes como "Titanic" y "Moulin Rouge", afirmó en La Habana que ama a Cuba y "en particular" la música de la isla que consideró "la mejor del mundo". "Amo a Cuba y en particular amo su música. En Cuba la música fluye como el agua y estar aquí no es para mí una cuestión de negocios, sino de sentimientos", dijo Kraft, presidente de la compañía Fox Music Inc., tras impartir una clase magistral sobre la música en el cine, en el marco del Festival de Cine de La Habana. "Es la invitación más emocionante que podría tener, porque me da la oportunidad de escuchar música en La Habana", añadió Kraft, tras subrayar que "la música cubana es la mejor del mundo". "He escuchado más buena música en tres días aquí, que en todo un mes en Los Ángeles", apuntó. Durante hora y media, Kraft, ganador de un Oscar en 1989 por el tema "Under the Sea" del filme animado de Disney "La Sirenita", reveló los secretos de su profesión a un auditorio formado fundamentalmente por cineastas, compositores y musicalizadores, que colmaron uno de los salones del Hotel Nacional de La Habana (El Nuevo Herald, 6/12/09).

December 4: A groundbreaking multimedia theater performance created in an unprecedented collaboration between US and Cuban artists was set to debut in Havana.“La Entrañable Lejania” (The Closest Farthest Away) is part of the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, commonly called the Havana Film Festival, one of the island's biggest cultural events. It will have its US debut at Miami Beach's Byron-Carlyle Theater in March. Entrañable was finally realized with the help of Miami's Ever Chavez, director of FUNDarte, and Beth Boone, artistic and executive director of the Miami Light Project, who specialize in US-Cuba cultural projects. Chavez and Boone connected the creators with official Cuban sponsors and will present Entrañable's US premiere (The Miami Herald, 7/12/09).

December 4: Highly anticipated immigration talks between Cuba and the United States have been pushed back because of scheduling concerns that each side blames on the other, another hint that reconciliation may be more difficult than it once appeared. A US State Department official told the press that both sides intend to continue holding periodic negotiations on immigration issues twice a year, but that bureaucratic concerns derailed talks that had been scheduled for early December in Havana. “At the Cuban government’s request, the talks have been rescheduled for February,” he said. A senior Cuban official confirmed that the negotiations had been delayed, but said it was at Washington’s bidding - not Cuba’s. “We were ready to hold the talks in December,” he said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the delay publicly (AP, 7/12/09).

December 8: Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said his government was ready for a "respectful" dialogue with the United States, noting that since President Barack Obama took power there is "less tension" and "less rhetoric against Cuba." "There is no change in U.S. policy," however, because the economic blockade of Cuba "remains intact and is applied to its full extent," Rodriguez said at a press conference on the third and last day of his state visit to Japan. "The economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba remains intact and is applied to its full extent," Rodriguez said, adding that Obama "could use his executive powers" to "modify aspects of the blockade's application." "The Cuban government is ready for a respectful dialogue at any level with the United States," the Cuban foreign minister said. He noted that in recent months there have been "official talks on migration subjects and on a direct postal service" with the US, which have been "respectful and productive," and that in July Cuba presented the Americans with "a proposed agenda for an eventual bilateral dialogue." "We await an answer from the US government," Rodriguez told about 30 reporters gathered at Japan's National Press Club (EFE, 8/12/09).

Diciembre 8: El senador demócrata John Kerry dijo que Estados Unidos tiene que cambiar su política hacia Cuba, porque —a su juicio— la estrategia de los últimos 50 años ha sido un fracaso. En un artículo de opinión publicado en el diario Saint Petersburg Times, Kerry apunta que "la realidad ha cambiado, porque Cuba ya no es una amenaza, se acerca la posibilidad de cambios en el gobierno de La Habana, y los cubano americanos buscan cada vez más contacto con la isla". A juicio del legislador por Massachusetts, Estados Unidos tiene que mirar hacia el futuro para fomentar la democracia en Cuba, y evitar dar al régimen castrista argumentos que sirvan para distraer la atención de lo que ocurre en la isla. Kerry, que preside la Comisión de Relaciones Exteriores del Senado, agregó que el presidente Barack Obama ha tomado medidas positivas en cuanto a los envíos de remesas y los viajes de cubanoamericanos a la isla. El senador sugiere otras medidas, como reformar Radio y TV Martí, y aprobar la Ley de Libertad para Viajar a Cuba, que evitaría levantar el embargo, pero autorizaría a todos los estadounidenses a viajar a la Isla, donde "podrían influir en la sociedad cubana con sus valores e ideas democráticas". Por su parte, el congresista Mike McMahon expresó su oposición a eliminar las sanciones contra La Habana y condicionó cualquier paso en ese sentido a que el régimen castrista respete los derechos humanos (Diario de Cuba, 9/12/09).

December 8: A US judge reduced the prison terms of two convicted Cuban spies in the latest twist of a high-profile espionage case that has strained already hostile ties between Havana and Washington. US District Judge Joan Lenard cut the sentence of Ramon Labanino, also known as Luis Medina, from a life term to 30 years. In a separate later ruling, Lenard reduced the sentence of a second convicted spy, Fernando Gonzalez, also known as Ruben Campa, from 19 years to 17 years and nine months. Cuba said the sentence reductions did not go far enough. US prosecutors said they were part of a Cuban espionage ring that had spied on the Cuban exile community in Florida and sought to penetrate US military facilities there (Reuters, 9/12/09).  

December 8: In Havana, the president of Cuba's National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, said the decision to reduce the sentences of two Cubans convicted of espionage in the US did not go far enough, and criticized the US justice system. "Any sentence imposed on these comrades is unjust, but that doesn't mean that the reduction of the sentences is insignificant," Alarcon told a Cuban television talk show. "This is an important day, a victorious day, but it isn't cause for satisfaction, nowhere near. This must serve as an additional argument, not only to continue the fight but to intensify it," said Alarcon, Cuba's long-time pointman on relations with Washington. In October, one of the five, Antonio Guerrero, had his sentence reduced from life to about 22 years (Reuters, 9/12/09).  

December 8: The number of freelance journalists jailed around the world has almost doubled in the past three years and reflects a changing global news business, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. A report by the New York-based press freedom group found that as of December 1 there were 136 reporters, editors and photojournalists behind bars, an increase of 11 from 2008. Almost half of those jailed are freelance media members. China was found to have jailed the most journalists for the 11th year in a row, holding 24 members of the media, followed by Iran, Cuba, Eritrea and Burma, the report found. Cuba is holding 22 journalists, 20 of whom were jailed when former leader Fidel Castro targeted independent press in 2003 (Database of Jailed Journalists; Reuters, 8/12/09).

December 8: One of the 60 African Americans who signed a letter alleging Cuban repression against the island's black-rights activists has asked to be removed from the list, saying the letter ``is being manipulated to undermine the legitimacy of the important social project underway in that nation.'' ``Although I know that racism [in Cuba] has not been overcome, I also know that the progress in Cuba is envied even in the United States,'' Makani Themba-Nixon, executive director of The Praxis Project in Washington, D.C., wrote to one of the letter's organizers. ``This does not mean that there should be no criticism, or no push for more progress. But I don't want any public statement we make to be turned into a weapon to attack a nation and a revolution that have contributed so much to the world,'' she added. The Praxis Project -- a nonprofit that addresses health issues in black communities -- will probably issue a statement ``for our friends expressing our love and solidarity with the signers, but expressing our decision to withdraw our signature,'' the letter added. A Spanish-language version of the letter was published in the Cuban government-controlled Internet site, Cubadebate (Diario de Cuba, 8/12/09; El Nuevo Herald, 9/12/09).

Diciembre 9: El régimen acusó al investigador Carlos Moore de hacerse "de un modus vivendi en Estados Unidos y Brasil a costa de manipular la realidad cubana", en respuesta a las gestiones del activista negro para que la comunidad internacional denuncie la represión en la isla. El diario oficial Granma cuestionó los documentos firmados por líderes afro americanos y brasileños contra la discriminación racial y la represión en Cuba. "Moore había logrado embaucar a un respetable activista del movimiento de vindicación de la población negra brasileña, haciéndole creer que la acción legal seguida (...) contra uno de los beneficiarios de los fondos de la política anticubana de las administraciones norteamericanas, era por su condición de negro", dijo Granma sobre la detención arbitraria del activista de derechos humanos Darsi Ferrer, aunque sin mencionar su nombre. "Esa misma fábula se la hizo creer a las personas que recibieron la declaración", añadió el periódico. Según La Habana, "la declaración emitida en Estados Unidos es un tiro fallido en el flanco equivocado" (Diario de Cuba, 9/12/09).

December 11: A United States government contract worker, who was distributing cellphones, laptops and other communications equipment in Cuba on behalf of the Obama administration, has been detained by the authorities in Havana, American officials said. The officials said the contractor, who works for a company based in the Washington suburbs, was detained on December 5. They said the United States Interests Section in Havana was awaiting Cuba’s response to a request for consular access to the man, who was not identified. The detention and the mysterious circumstances surrounding it threaten to reignite tensions between the countries at a time when both had promised to open new channels of engagement. American officials said they were encouraged that the Cubans had not publicized the detention, and they said they were hopeful that he might be quietly released (AP, 11/12/09).

December 11: Ricardo Alarcon, President of Cuba's National Assembly, said he had heard nothing about the detention of an American who was distributing cellphones, laptops and other communications equipment in Cuba on behalf of the Obama administration, in Havana. Alarcon termed the policy changes instituted so far by Mr. Obama as “minor” and described the White House as too distracted by other issues to focus attention on Cuba. “You have two wars,” he said. “You have the economy. You have the debate on health care. It is clear to me that the administration is not prepared at this moment to give a priority to the relationship with Cuba” (AP, 11/12/09).

December 12: An American citizen has been arrested in Cuba and the US Interests Section in Havana is awaiting permission from Cuban authorities to visit him, a spokeswoman for the US office told the press. The official was not at liberty to provide further details of the arrest a week ago, at the individual's request. But The New York Times said he was a US government contract worker, without identifying him. The newspaper said the man worked for a company based in a suburb of the US capital, Washington, and at the time of his arrest was distributing cell phones, laptops and other communications equipment in Cuba on behalf of the US government. "We confirm that a US citizen was arrested by the Cuban government. I was informed it happened on December 5," the US Interests Section spokeswoman said. "We have contacted Cuban authorities to request consular access" to the detainee, she said, adding that they were still waiting for an answer (AFP, 12/12/09).

December 13: The US Senate approved a provision to facilitate cash sales of farm goods to Cuba, overturning restrictions by former President George W. Bush's administration, a senator said. "By allowing cash-based sales of our world-class US goods to Cuba, we restore congressional intent and make it easier for American producers to export during a critical time for our economy," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said. The move follows efforts by President Barack Obama to improve relations with Communist-run Cuba. Obama says he wants to "recast" ties and has announced a slight relaxation of the five-decade old US trade embargo on Havana. The farm goods provision was added to legislation to fund dozens of federal agencies for the rest of the 2010 fiscal year, which ends September 30, 2010 (Reuters, 13/12/09).

Diciembre 13: El presidente cubano Raúl Castro convocó a los gobiernos de la Alianza Bolivariana para las Américas (ALBA) a unirse ante “la ofensiva hegemónica” de la administración de Barack Obama, en lo que observadores consideran un “regreso a la retórica de confrontación de la guerra fría”, pese a las promesas de diálogo de La Habana y Washington. Al inaugurar la octava cumbre de la Alba ante representantes de los nueve países que la integran, Castro dijo que “en América Latina y el Caribe se agudiza el enfrentamiento” entre las fuerzas “subordinadas a los intereses del imperio” y “las revolucionarias y progresistas, en avance”.  “Se trata, en esencia, de la lucha histórica para concretar la visión bolivariana y martiana de nuestra América”, aseguró, al dar paso a una revisión a puertas cerradas de lo hecho por esa agrupación de izquierda desde su fundación hace cinco años. El gobernante informó que su hermano, el ex presidente Fidel Castro, fundador de la alianza junto con su colega venezolano Hugo Chávez, quien también participó en la inauguración, seguía por televisión los pormenores de la cumbre. Entre los temas a debatir en la reunión figurarán “el control de los medios masivos de comunicación”, la implementación a partir de enero del sucre, moneda que sustituiría al dólar como mecanismo financiero de la alianza, y varios proyectos de integración (Discurso de Raúl Castro, ABC, Milenio, 13/12/09).

December 14: Fidel Castro said President Barack Obama's "friendly smile and African-American face" are hiding Washington's sinister intentions for Latin America - more evidence of a new cooling in US-Cuba relations after a thaw had seemed possible just months ago. In a letter to Hugo Chavez that the Venezuelan president read at the close of a summit of leftist Latin American nations, Castro said the US "empire is on the offensive again" in the region. He blamed Washington for a military coup that toppled leftist President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras in June and criticized a US agreement with Colombia that allows US troops greater access to seven of that country's military bases. "They are obviously the real intentions of the empire, this time under the friendly smile and African-American face of Barack Obama," Castro said. The 83-year-old former Cuban president heaped praise on Obama when he first took office, calling him intelligent, sincere, serene, courageous, honest and well-meaning. He later endorsed Obama's winning of the Nobel Peace Prize. But Castro has turned on Obama, saying in an opinion piece in state media that the US president's acceptance of the Nobel prize after deciding to send 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan was "a cynical act." His letter to Chavez is the latest sign that reconciliation between the US and the communist-governed island isn't likely soon. That had seemed a possibility as recently as the spring, when the White House eased restrictions on Cuban-Americans who want to travel and send money to this country and Obama spoke of a possible new beginning in relations (Message to the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; AP, 15/12/09).

Diciembre 14: La secretaria de Estado, Hillary Clinton, defendió la política de derechos humanos que tiene en cuenta Estados Unidos para definir sus relaciones exteriores y criticó la falta de libertades en países como Cuba y Nigeria. "Esta administración, como otras anteriores, promoverá, apoyará y defenderá la democracia", señaló la secretaria de Estado en una conferencia sobre la política estadounidense en materia de Derechos Humanos que pronunció en la Universidad de Georgetown. "La democracia no significa sólo la lección de unos líderes, sino también ciudadanos activos; prensa libre; independencia del poder judicial y legislativo; y también instituciones transparentes y responsables", dijo Clinton, que subrayó que derechos humanos, democracia y desarrollo no son tres objetivos separados al hacer política. Expresó que los países están dispuestos a hacer cambios para establecer instituciones y proteger a sus ciudadanos, como las nuevas democracias africanas, "pero no pueden hacerlo sin apoyo". "En otros casos como Cuba y Nigeria, los Gobiernos pueden pero no están dispuestos a hacer los cambios que sus ciudadanos merecen", agregó la secretaria (EFE, 14/12/09).

December 15: The United States is still waiting for Cuba to make good on its offer to grant consular access to a US citizen it arrested 10 days ago, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said. "On multiple occasions (...) on December 8, December 11, December 12, we have asked for consular access. We have been assured that it will be granted. It has not been granted at this point," Crowley told reporters. Lacking a privacy waiver from the detainee himself, he added, "it's difficult for us to get into any more specifics on the case." The New York Times last week said the detainee, who has not been publicly identified, was a US government contract worker employed by Development Alternatives (DAI) of Bethesda, Maryland. The newspaper said he was arrested December 5 while distributing cell phones, laptops and communications equipment in Cuba. DAI, which is regularly contracted by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), confirmed one of its employees had been arrested, but provided no additional details, citing privacy concerns. "The detained individual was an employee of a program subcontractor, which was implementing a competitively-issued subcontract to assist Cuban civil society organizations," DAI president and CEO, James Boomgard, said in a statement. The contract, awarded in 2008, "involves support for the peaceful activities of a broad range of non-violent organizations through competitively awarded grants and subcontracts," said the statement on the company's website. "We have been working closely with the State Department to ensure that the detainee's safety and well-being is given top priority," the CEO added. Crowley said part of US programs in Cuba "are centered on providing and helping groups provide a capability to network and to communicate" (AFP, 15/12/09).

December 15: Organizers of the Ernest Hemingway International Marlin Fishing Tournament asked the US government to allow fishermen from that country to participate in this year’s event in Cuba. In a press conference offered by the Commodore of the Cuban International Nautical Club Jose Miguel Díaz, at the Hemingway Marina, he noted that the traditional event is dedicated to the American writer and stressed that Hemingway has become a symbol of fraternal relations between the American and Cuban people. Diaz stressed that the fishing tournament seeks to promote friendship and develop bonds among fishing lovers (ACN, 16/12/09).

December 16: It's too soon for Americans to plan a Cuban vacation of beach, mambo and mojitos, but the US travel industry is gearing up for a return to its largest Caribbean destination before Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. Tour operators held a video conference with Cuban tourism officials in Havana and asked them if they are ready for the "rush" of Americans if the US travel ban is lifted as proposed by legislation now under consideration in the US Congress. "Americans really want to see Cuba," said Robert Whitely, president of the US Tour Operators, which together with the National Tour Association also present at the event, handles 75 percent of all package tour business to the Caribbean. "We predict that at least 850,000 Americans will go to Cuba in the first year," Whitely said. That does not include an estimated 480,000 Americans who will go to Cuba on Caribbean cruises when U.S. ships are allowed to dock there, and another 480,000 Cuban American visiting family in Cuba each year, a Cuban official said. Cuba plans to build 30 hotels over the next six years with the help of foreign investors, adding 10,000 rooms to the 48,600 that exist now, as well as golf courses, said Miguel Figueras, the top adviser to the Cuban tourism minister (Reuters, 16/12/09).

December 16: US and Manhattan prosecutors detailed a "decades-long scheme" by Credit Suisse to hide thousands of transactions on behalf of clients in Iran, Sudan, Libya and other nations, and said the Swiss bank had agreed to pay $538 million in fines. More than $1.6 billion was moved through the US financial system through the transactions, prosecutors said. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau told a news conference that other banks were being investigated for similar transactions. "There will be other prosecutions," he said. "Not only of financial institutions, which carry the money, but also of the suppliers." In Zurich, a source who declined to be identified, said nine banks were involved and that four had settled, including Lloyds TSB Group of Britain and Credit Suisse. While the majority of the transactions involved Iran, other transactions violated US sanctions against Sudan, Libya, Myanmar, Cuba, and the former Liberian regime of Charles Taylor, the US Treasury Department said in a statement. The department called the settlement the "most significant" in the history of its Office of Foreign Assets Control and said the penalty could have been "substantially higher" had the bank not cooperated with the government over the past two years and agreed to take remedial action. "Credit Suisse turned a blind eye to indicators that should have led to these practices ending much sooner," Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey said in a statement. "Credit Suisse learned that another international bank had ceased to handle Iranian banks' US dollar clearing business. Instead of perceiving potential risk, Credit Suisse saw a business opportunity and sought to take over the business," Levey said. US Attorney General Eric Holder called the Credit Suisse's misconduct "simply astounding" (Reuters, 17/12/09).

Diciembre 16: El gobierno de Estados Unidos dijo que no ha aplazado los viajes oficiales a Cuba tras el reciente arresto de un contratista estadounidense en La Habana, y cualquier decisión dependerá de las circunstancias individuales. El Departamento de Estado dijo en un comunicado que los viajes de empleados del gobierno de EEUU a cualquier país se determinan "caso por caso" y en base "a las circunstancias específicas" en cada país de destino. Sin ofrecer más detalles, el Departamento de Estado respondió así a preguntas sobre si la Agencia Estadounidense para el Desarrollo Internacional (USAID), o cualquier otra agencia federal, han postergado viajes a Cuba tras el arresto de un contratista estadounidense en La Habana. Previamente, durante una rueda de prensa, el portavoz del Departamento de Estado, Ian Kelly, indicó que EEUU espera que Cuba cumpla con sus obligaciones internacionales y permita el acceso consular al estadounidense detenido el pasado 5 de diciembre. Kelly señaló que Cuba no ha respondido a la petición que Estados Unidos le presentó en tres ocasiones distintas, los pasados días 8, 11 y 12 de diciembre, para que las autoridades cubanas le permita acceso consular al detenido (EFE, 16/12/09).

Diciembre 16: El gobierno de Estados Unidos afirmó que el régimen castrista no tiene intención alguna de poner fin a cinco décadas de represión. Así se expresó el embajador alterno de Estados Unidos en la OEA, Lewis Anselem, durante una sesión del consejo permanente, donde se trataron varios temas que incluyeron el aniversario de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos. El embajador Anselem dijo que en Cuba el atropello a los derechos humanos es sistemático, y no hay indicios de que el régimen comunista cese la brutal represión ni las medidas del gobierno que inducen a la pobreza y a la miseria. El embajador de Estados Unidos ante la OEA declaró que en la isla se siguen repitiendo las mismas viejas consignas y con los mismo viejos dirigentes que han llevado al país a la miseria (Marti Noticias, 16/12/09).

December 18: Cuban enterprise Cubatabaco recently won a court order forbidding the US company General Cigar to continue using the COHIBA name in that country for its product. According to a Cubatabaco’s communiqué, American federal judge Robert W. Sweet of the Southern District of New York, made public his decision on December 14. The communiqué highlights that COHIBA is the world’s most famous and coveted cigar. It is commercialized in all countries except the United States because Washington’s embargo against Cuba prevents its sale in that country. General Cigar, a major US cigar company, sells Dominican-made cigars under the name of COHIBA in the United States, thus violating the international law, Cubatabaco noted (ACN, 18.12/09).

December 20: Cuban President Raul Castro accused the Obama administration of maintaining hostile policies toward the communist-run island by sending a contractor to distribute illegal satellite equipment. Castro said the US government contractor arrested in Havana on December 5 was supplying opposition groups with "satellite communication equipment" that is banned in the Caribbean country. "The enemy is as active as ever, as demonstrated by the detention in recent days of a US citizen," Castro told the country's National Assembly in Cuba's first comment on the American's detention. "The US government has not renounced the destruction of the revolution ... (and) in recent weeks we've been witnesses to a multiplying of such efforts by the new administration," said Castro. Castro also insisted President Barack Obama's administration has been waging a months-long diplomatic campaign to convince the international community that repression is on the rise in Cuba, even organizing and instigating opposition street protests. Castro also said his government remained open to better relations as part of a "respectful dialogue" (Discurso de Raul Castro; Reuters, AFP, 20/12/09).

December 20: Kool & the Gang, the venerable US rhythm and blues group, played Havana to a rapturous welcome in the first concert by a US group in the communist nation since 2005. "They just bring back so many memories. Their music influenced a whole generation of Cubans, my generation," glowed Ana Estevez, 50, who turned out and got down with her whole family including her two-year-old grandson. About 30,000 Cubans boogied to Kool & the Gang, which has been getting down on it since the 1960s, at an open air concert venue on Havana's waterfront boulevard. Fans waved signs like "After 30 years, we still love you" (AFP, 20/12/09).

December 21: Cuba accused US President Barack Obama of being "imperial, arrogant" and dishonest during last week's global climate conference in the latest sign of deteriorating relations between Havana and Washington. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said in a televised press conference that Obama lied during the United Nations summit in Copenhagen and is making a habit of it after less than a year in office. "He lies all the time, deceives with demagogic words, with profound cynicism," Rodriguez told reporters. "In this summit there was only an imperial, arrogant Obama who doesn't listen, who imposes positions that even threaten developing countries," he said (Reuters, 21/12/09).

December 21: The four leading candidates for Florida's open US Senate seat in 2010 were in the same room for the first time at the US-Cuba Democracy Political Action Committee's annual luncheon -- where they staked out their positions on the future of Cuba and its relations with the United States. ``The quest for an open, democratic and free Cuba has to guide all of the United States' actions with respect to Cuba,'' said Democrat Maurice Ferré, the former Miami mayor who was the first to speak at the event at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. Ferré was joined on the dais by his rival for the Democratic nomination, US Representative Kendrick Meek, and by the Republican hopefuls, Governor Charlie Christ and former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio (El Nuevo Herald, 22/12/09).

December 22: Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto handed over the 2009 Honorary Cubadisco Award to US band Kool and the Gang in a warm and informal meeting at the Cuban Music Institute in Havana. This important award is granted to musicians that have contributed to human improvement. After receiving this acknowledgement, Robert Kool Bell, the band's leader, said they have received numerous prizes in their country, as the Grammy, but they consider this award as one of the most important in their long career. He highlighted that they have visited many places in the world, but undoubtedly Cuba has been the best and they are longing to return sometime (Radio Cadena Agramonte, 22/12/09).

December 23: Comments about President Obama and the United States voiced by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla and Raúl Castro have caused General Barry McCaffrey, US Army (retired), an advocate of unfettered travel to Cuba, to turn down an invitation to visit that country, on January 3-6. General McCaffrey, who on November 19 told a House panel that Americans should be allowed to travel to Cuba without restrictions, took offense at Rodríguez's words. In a message to Wayne Smith, director of the Cuba Program at the Washington-based Center for International Policy, McCaffrey said that he had read reports that Rodríguez had "denounced President Obama at the Copenhagen Conference as an 'imperial and arrogant liar' in the most vile and personal terms imaginable." The Foreign Minister could not have borrowed talking points from Cuba's worst enemies to more effectively harm the country's future economic and political  interests," McCaffrey wrote. "The [Associated Press] wires also note Raúl Castro mentioned Cuba's recent 'war games' to prepare for US invasion," the general continued. "What a laughable assertion of an external US military threat." "This type of shallow and vitriolic 1960s public diplomacy also makes Cuban leadership appear to be non-serious, polemical amateurs. President Obama is the most thoughtful and non-ideological US Chief Executive that the Cubans have seen in 50 years. This Foreign Minister Rodríguez speech probably slammed the window shut on US Congressional and Administration leaders being willing to support bringing Cuba back into the community of nations." "This situation makes me very sad for the Cuban people. I see little reason to visit Cuba and deal with leadership of this appalling lack of good judgment. Please withdraw my name for the proposed visit to Cuba in January" (The Miami Herald, 23/12/09).

December 23: Grammy-winning Cuban band Los Van Van are celebrating 40 years of salsa revolution with a long-awaited return to the United States in January 2010. Often called the 'Rolling Stones of salsa', the group will perform in Key West, Florida on January 28, ending a long absence from the United States caused by tense US-Cuban relations during the administration of President George W. Bush. Band leader and bassist Juan Formell hopes the tour will exorcise memories of one of the group's last U.S. appearances -- a 1999 show in Miami where US anti-riot police had to keep angry Cuban exile protesters from harassing concert-goers. But Formell, 67, says that hostility against artists from the island has eased. "I was in Miami recently and nobody treated me poorly. On the contrary, people wanted to have pictures taken with me, they asked for autographs," he said in a recent interview. "Miami has changed a lot ... there is a new, younger generation that thinks differently," said the gray-haired, bespectacled bandleader (Reuters, 23/12/09).

Diciembre 23: La Habana deberá prepararse por si el gobierno de Barack Obama decide dialogar, pero "jamás" negociará bajo "amenaza" o "presión", afirmó el canciller Bruno Rodríguez, citado por la prensa local. "Jamás aceptaremos negociar bajo amenaza, coerción o bajo presión de una potencia extranjera (...) No nos rendiremos", subrayó Rodríguez citando la Constitución, en una ceremonia en que fueron otorgadas a los hermanos Fidel y Raúl Castro medallas por el aniversario 50 del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. Rodríguez dijo "que la política exterior deberá prepararse para si algún día Washington decide dialogar" y destacó como los logros de la política exterior que Cuba tiene relaciones diplomáticas con 182 países, el apoyo casi unánime de la votación en la ONU contra el embargo estadounidense, y "el enfrentamiento a las mentiras y campañas del imperio" (AFP, 24/12/09).

December 26: Nine people from a Portland church group hoping to perform humanitarian work in Cuba were detained overnight at an airport in Havana. Rev. Kate Lore of the downtown Portland-based First Unitarian Church received word of the incident. Initially, 16 people from the church headed from Portland to Cancun, Mexico. They departed Mexico and arrived at the airport in Cuba, but five were immediately sent back to Cancun. The other nine were detained at the airport in Havana for hours. "It was a scary situation for our members because the Cuban authorities weren't forthcoming with the reasons they were detained," Lore said. "(They were) forced to sleep on the floor. We had elderly people there." Several hours passed before the detainees were allowed to contact their church. Lore received an e-mail that said the group was being "held as prisoners." "They didn't know what was going to happen to them," Lore said. The group was allowed to leave Cuba next day. It appeared a mix-up with their paperwork led authorities to believe the group was traveling as tourists. The First Unitarian Church holds a religious activities license providing legal travel and has made several trips to Cuba for humanitarian work, bringing medicine and helping the country's AIDS patients. Members of the church have also performed as a choir and their Web site said the church aims to keep the struggles of the Cuban people on the radar screen for Americans. Lore said the incident won't deter church members from returning to Cuba.  "This was a paperwork glitch and we will remedy it in the future," she said. (KPTV.Com, 27/12/09).

December 29: After pressing for more than three weeks for access to an American citizen detained in Cuba, an American diplomat in Havana has finally met with the man grabbed by state security for distributing electronic equipment to community groups, American officials said. ``Today the US Interests Section in Havana was granted access to the US citizen detained on December 4,'' said Virginia Staab, spokeswoman for the State Department's Western Hemisphere Affairs section. ``We remain focused on the welfare of the detained US citizen.'' Staab declined to comment further, citing privacy restrictions. Development Alternatives Inc., (DAI) a suburban Washington firm that manages an $8.6 million part of the US government's pro-democracy programs for Cuba, has identified the man as a DAI contractor working to help civil-society groups on the island. Neither the State Department nor the Cuban government has released the identity of the detainee. The American contractor was reportedly arrested when he turned up at the Havana airport for his trip home, and has been detained at a facility reserved for important cases, according to US Congressional staffers, likely the Villa Marista facility in Havana reserved for state security cases. Cuban officials notified the Interests Section in Havana of the arrest on December 5, according to the staffers, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the case. The State Department had asked four times for access to the detained man, required by international diplomatic agreements. Such visits are carried out by consular officials at the US Interests Section (The Miami Herald, The New York Times, 29/12/09).

Diciembre 29: Los cuatro candidatos al Senado estadounidense por la Florida forman parte de un mecanismo mafioso y no trabajarán por un acercamiento entre Cuba y la vecina nación, auguraron medios de prensa oficiales cubanos. "El mecanismo de dominio mafioso de la ciudad de Miami y de la política norteamericana hacia Cuba" continúa en pie pese a "los sondeos que enseñan el rechazo en el resto de Estados Unidos de las tradicionales políticas agresivas contra la isla", expresó una nota del periódico oficial Granma luego reproducida por el portal Cubadebate y firmado por Jean-Guy Allard. Según el artículo el republicano Marcos Rubio, el representante demócrata Kendrick Meek, el gobernador Charlie Crist y el ex alcalde Maurice Ferré "hablaron sucesivamente ante unas 400 personas" en un acto realizado por el grupo de cabildeo anticastrista US Cuba Democracy (USCD). Los cuatro son candidatos a cubrir la vacante dejada por el cubano-americano Mel Martínez para el escaño de la Florida y todos "están firmemente a favor del bloqueo y en contra de una normalización de las relaciones con Cuba", dijo la nota (AP, 29/12/09).

Diciembre 30: Washington denegó nuevamente la visa a Olga Salanueva, esposa de René González, uno de cinco agentes del gobierno cubano que cumplen condena desde hace 11 años por espionaje en Estados Unidos. De acuerdo con la agencia oficial Prensa Latina, el pasado 18 de diciembre el gobierno estadounidense negó "la solicitud de parole humanitario" de Salanueva. La solicitud había sido presentada el 23 de octubre, avalada por instituciones como el Consejo Mundial de Iglesias, el Consejo de Iglesias de Cristo de Estados Unidos y el Consejo de Iglesias de Cuba. La organización de derechos humanos Amnistía Internacional también apoyó la demanda, según la agencia cubana. René González, ciudadano estadounidense, fue condenado a 15 años tras su arresto en 1998. La justicia estadounidense le encontró culpable de actuar como agente de la Dirección General de Inteligencia cubana (DGI) en el país y de infiltrarse en grupos del exilio, como la organización Hermanos al Rescate, entre otros cargos. Salanueva fue expulsada de territorio norteamericano en 2000. En un documento publicado en junio de 2008 para explicar el caso, el Departamento de Estado dijo que los cinco espías "tienen todos los mismos privilegios" de que disponen los presos comunes en Estados Unidos. "Se les permite las visitas de familiares, funcionarios del gobierno cubano y sus abogados”. Asimismo, el Departamento de Estado indicó que "de conformidad con el derecho estadounidense a protegerse de espías encubiertos, el gobierno de Estados Unidos no ha concedido visas a las esposas de dos de los prisioneros", en referencia a Salanueva y a Adriana Pérez, esposa de Gerardo Hernández. "Una de ellas (Salanueva) fue miembro de la Red Avispa, y fue deportada por participar en actividades relacionadas con espionaje y no es elegible para regresar a Estados Unidos. La otra esposa (Pérez) fue candidata a formación de espía por la DGI radicada en Estados Unidos, cuando las autoridades estadounidenses rompieron la red", indicó el gobierno estadounidense (Documento del Departamento de Estado de junio de 2008; Diario de Cuba, 30/12/09).

December 30: Olga Salanueva, wife of Rene Gonzalez – one of the five Cubans  who remain imprisoned in the United States since 1998 – urged US President Barack Obama to release her husband and his four comrades from prison. “It is time that Obama answers why these men that were fighting terrorism remain in prison. Only he can set them free,” Olga said at the venue of the Cuban Friendship Institute (ICAP) in Havana. In a meeting with more than 100 members of the US solidarity group ‘Global Exchange’, Olga gave details of the tortuous legal path followed by the Cuban Five’s defense team to obtain a re-sentencing of three of them (Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Ramon Labañino). After recalling many of the numerous terrorist actions suffered by the
Cuban people over the past five decades, Magalis Llort, mother of Fernando, said that it is a paradox that her son, along with Antonio, Rene, Fernando, Ramon and Gerardo Hernandez, remain in prison as they were fighting this kind of criminal attacks (ACN, 30/12/09).

Diciembre 31: La ciudad de Nueva Orleans ofrece un homenaje a lo más representativo de la cultura cubana en una muestra titulada "¡Sí Cuba!", que se exhibirá en varios museos y galerías desde principios de año hasta fines de marzo. La iniciativa está organizada conjuntamente por la Newcomb Art Gallery, el centro de estudios latinoamericanos Stone de la universidad Tulane y el Museo de Arte de Nueva Orleans (NOMA). Aunque la celebración no comienza oficialmente hasta enero, NOMA inició su participación en "¡Sí Cuba!" el pasado 18 de diciembre con una muestra del pintor cubano Luis Cruz Azaceta. Miranda Lash, curadora de arte moderno y contemporáneo de NOMA, dijo que decidieron inaugurar la muestra de Cruz Azaceta para la época de fiestas y así darle una mayor realce a "¡Sí Cuba!" Residente en Nueva Orleans desde 1992, Cruz Azaceta ha vivido las circunstancias que propone en su obra, la cual también ha sido expuesta en importantes museos como el Museo de Arte Moderno y el Metropolitan de Nueva York y Smithsonian en Washington, D.C. La segunda muestra artística, "Polaridad Complementaria", se enfoca en la producción artística reciente de la isla. Bajo la dirección del Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam de La Habana, la muestra itinerante abarca más de 50 obras de pintura, dibujo, escultura, fotografía, vídeo e instalación de 27 artistas cubanos contemporáneos entre los cuales figuran René Peña, Luis Enrique Camejo, Ricardo Elías y Douglas Pérez (EFE, 31/12/09).