Chronicle on Cuba - Enero 2010

Relaciones Cuba-Estados Unidos

Enero 4: El ex presidente cubano Fidel Castro acusó al gobierno del mandatario estadounidense, Barack Obama, de pretender "dividir al Tercer Mundo" con sus posiciones sobre el cambio climático y llamó a los estados en desarrollo a "luchar" para impedirlo. En su primer comentario para la prensa local en 2010, artículos que comenzó a escribir en 2007, Castro acusó al presidente estadounidense de "engañar" a la opinión mundial con un discurso "hueco, demagógico y justificativo" en la Cumbre de Copenhague, realizada en diciembre.  "Ha pretendido con sus maniobras dividir al Tercer Mundo, separar a más de 150 países subdesarrollados de China, India, Brasil, Sudáfrica y otros con los cuales debemos luchar unidos", expuso. En el tercer comentario sobre los resultados de la cumbre el ex presidente, en retiro a causa de su salud, abogó por "verdaderos acuerdos" climáticos que impidan "una catástrofe que puede conducir a la extinción de nuestra especie". "Las naciones ricas y sus líderes, incluido el Congreso de Estados Unidos, parecen estar discutiendo cuál será el último en desaparecer", aseguró Castro (El mundo medio siglo después; ANSA, 4/1/10). 

January 4: Cuba denounced as "anti-terrorist paranoia" new US security measures for air travelers from the island and 13 other countries, but passengers waiting to fly from Havana said thorough checks before heading to the United States were nothing new. A sign informs passengers of a "High Risk of Terrorist Attack" at the departure security line at Reagan National Airport in Washington December 29, 2009. The measures call for inspecting baggage and patting down US bound passengers from four countries -- Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria -- that the US government considers state sponsors of terrorism and 10 other "countries of interest." Granma, the newspaper for the ruling Communist Party, called the measures a "desperate directive" that was "part of the (US) anti-terrorist paranoia." The US Transportation Security Administration announced the increased screening on January 3 following a botched Christmas Day bombing attempt by a Nigerian man on a Northwest Airlines flight into Detroit (Reuters, 5/1/10).

January 4: Cuba's leadership has "slammed the door" on improving relations with the United States by fiercely and publicly attacking President Barack Obama, a retired US general who backs better ties with Havana said. General Barry McCaffrey, a former head of the US military Southern Command and former White House drug czar in the Clinton administration, said he was disappointed by a recent barrage of high-level official Cuban criticism of Obama, who last year pledged to seek a new beginning in US-Cuban ties. "It was an opportunity for the Cubans to come out of the box, get back into the community of nations (…) They walked away from it," the retired four-star general told Reuters in a telephone interview. Citing Cuba's "shallow and vitriolic" criticism, McCaffrey, who has advocated dismantling the longtime US embargo against the communist-ruled Caribbean island and increasing contacts, last month canceled a planned January 3-6 visit to Havana. This would have discussed ways of improving cooperation and ties.
McCaffrey's visit to Cuba was to have been sponsored by the Washington-based Center for International Policy think tank, which has backed greater engagement with Cuba (Reuters, 5/1/10).

January 5: Cuba summoned the top US diplomat on the island to protest extra screening for Cuban citizens flying into the United States, calling the rule a "hostile action" meant to justify America's trade embargo. Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, director of the Cuban Foreign Ministry's North American affairs office, said the new security controls were "discriminatory and selective." "We categorically reject this new hostile action by the government of the United States against Cuba," she told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview. Vidal Ferreiro said she lodged the protest in an afternoon meeting with Jonathan Farrar, the head of the US Interests Section, which Washington maintains in Cuba instead of an embassy. Cuba's top diplomat in Washington delivered a similar message to State Department officials earlier in the day, she said (AP, 5/1/10).

January 5: A group of foreign investors is seeking a US government license to buy claims against Cuba for American-owned properties seized in the 1960s, and then swap them with Havana in a debt-for-equity exchange. The settlement would resolve one of the oldest US-Cuba disputes and perhaps open the way for other improvements in bilateral relations, according to the investors' company, Clarinbridge. Clarinbridge requested the license in a July 17 filing with the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces US sanctions against Havana. OFAC has not yet replied, said Tim Ashby, a Miami lawyer who represents Clarinbridge and other firms considering business opportunities in Cuba. Clarinbridge investors also have presented the idea to Cuban officials in Havana, Ashby told El Nuevo Herald. "I understand the Cubans took it seriously and took a wait-and-see attitude.'' Clarinbridge's request to OFAC, provided by Ashby, says the company hopes to acquire "600-700 of the US claims (…) [that represent] 85 percent of the aggregate certified monetary value of all US claims” (El Nuevo Herald, 5/1/10).

January 6: A senior Cuban official accused a detained US government contractor of spying, a month after the man was arrested on suspicion of handing out communications equipment to opposition groups. Parliament leader Ricardo Alarcon said the man is under investigation but has not yet been charged. Neither government has identified the man, who was arrested on December 4. "There is a new institution in the United States which is made up of agents, torturers and spies that are contracted as part of the privatization of war," Alarcon said. "This is a man who was contracted to do work for American intelligence services." The man was detained as he attempted to board a plane leaving Cuba, but Cuban officials did not grant him access to consular officials from the US Interests Section until December 28 (AP, 7/1/10).

Enero 6: Estados Unidos justificó la imposición de medidas de seguridad adicionales para los cubanos y personas que viajen de Cuba a su territorio porque ese país "patrocina el terrorismo" al dar cobijo a miembros de ETA y de la guerrilla colombiana. "Fue incluido en la lista porque Cuba es uno de los cuatro Estados que patrocinan el terrorismo", dijo Laura Tischler, portavoz del Departamento de Estado. Estados Unidos también acusa de patrocinar el terrorismo a Irán, Siria y Sudán (EFE, 7/1/10).

Enero 6: Around 500 Cuban doctors have defected to the United States while serving on aid missions in Venezuela, according to members of Cuban exile groups in Miami. The latest case occurred when seven Cuban physicians managed to leave Caracas’ Maiquetia International Airport, after being held there for several hours and after paying hundreds of dollars each to officials. “The Venezuelan and Cuban officials at Maiquetia systematically subject the doctors who want to leave to psychological pressure until finally they pay bribes,” Cuban doctor Keiler Moreno, who left Caracas five months ago. The bribes can range from $300 to as much as $2,000. Moreno helped several of his colleagues who left Caracas and he waited for them at the Miami airport while they went through legal procedures with US immigration authorities. “We’re from the same class that graduated in medicine in 2007 and we help each other out,” he added. Several Catholic associations and the Miami-based organization Solidaridad Sin Fronteras (Solidarity Without Borders) will also provide assistance to the four Cuban men and three women who arrived in Miami (LAHT, 7/1/10).

Enero 7: El secretario de Estado de Puerto Rico, Kenneth McClintock, informó que el Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos ha expresado "su disposición de dialogar'' sobre la participación de Cuba en los próximos Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe (JCC) en Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, en julio de este año. McClintock dijo que el gobierno de EEUU estableció recientemente "contacto directo'' con las autoridades cubanas a través de la Sección de Intereses Cubanos en Washington y con la Sección de Intereses estadounidenses en La Habana, para expresar su disposición de dialogar sobre los planteamientos. Indicó además que "la respuesta inicial cubana fue que se comunicarían más adelante, pero que el diálogo propuesto por los Estados Unidos no ha comenzado'' para que el gobierno estadounidense apruebe las visas de los atletas cubanos para su participación en los Centroamericanos, que se celebrarán del 17 de julio al 1ro de agosto. McClintock abundó que "sólo en contadas ocasiones durante el pasado medio siglo ha habido un ofrecimiento estadounidense de entablar diálogo directo con los cubanos'', por lo que le pidió al gobierno cubano "reconocer que la bola está en su cancha y que deben sentarse a dialogar'' (EFE, 8/1/10).

January 7: The State Department denied a senior Cuban official's claim that a US government contractor detained on the communist island is a spy, and the head of the man's company said he was working not with dissidents but with a religious and cultural group recognized by the Cuban government. "Those comments are false," spokesman P.J. Crowley said, referring to remarks made by Cuban parliament leader Ricardo Alarcon on Wednesday. Alarcon said the contractor, who has not been identified by either government, had been hired to work for "American intelligence services." "Cuba has a history of mischaracterizing what Americans and NGOs in Cuba are doing," Crowley told reporters, referring to civic groups. "This person is not associated with our intelligence services." Gloria Berbena, a spokeswoman at the US Interests Section in Havana, told The Associated Press that American officials had not met with the detained American since the initial consular visit. "We will seek continued access," she said, adding that State Department officials are "in continuing contact with family members of the detained American" (AP, 8/1/10).

January 8: Cuba angrily rejected US accusations that it supports terrorist groups and demanded its removal from a US list of "state sponsors of terrorism." In the communist-led island's latest public criticism of the Obama administration, Cuba's government issued a statement disputing US charges that it backs Basque and Colombian groups engaged in terrorist activities and that it illegally harbors fugitives from US justice. Cuba demanded its "immediate exclusion" from the US terrorism list, calling it an "unjust, arbitrary and politically motivated designation that contradicts the exemplary conduct of our country in confronting terrorism." It accused the United States of harboring "hundreds of criminals, murderers and terrorists" it said had acted against the Cuban government since Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution (Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Reuters, 8/1/10).

January 8: The arrest in Havana of an American on charges of distributing electronic devices "says more about Cuban paranoia than US policy," says an article in the current online issue of Foreign Policy magazine. "In what other country in the hemisphere would it be considered a crime for a foreigner to give out a cell phone, laptop, or any other modern tool of communication? Brazil? Argentina? Mexico? Venezuela? Of course not. In fact, Americans passing out free cell phones and computers in those countries are called, appropriately, humanitarians," says the article, written by Christopher Sabatini, former director for Latin America of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and current director of policy at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. "To consider basic communications tools the legal equivalent of an anticommunist weapon is to take the deranged, power-obsessed, atavistic view of the Cuban government," Sabatini writes. Besides, "the Cuban regime's absurd abrogation of its citizens' rights to information makes it necessary" to distribute those tools covertly. Barack Obama is partly to blame, the writer says. In an April speech, the president "called for a change in U.S. policy, allowing private companies to develop direct contacts with the Cuban people. It sounded nice, but unfortunately something got lost in the translation from presidential directive to governmental regulation to reality." "None of this matters for the poor American contractor who spent Christmas in a Cuban jail, a political pawn in a sorry game," Sabatini sums up. "That what he did is a 'crime' is the fault of the Cuban regime. But the fact that he was tasked with such a low-level activity, handing out communications devices, is the fault of the broader framework of US regulations" (The Miami Herald, 8/1/10).

January 9: The official daily Granma published a graphic illustration of the government's reaction to Washington's inclusion of Cuba on its list of nations that sponsor terrorism. A cartoon on the newspaper's front page shows a Cuban traveler at a US airport throwing open his raincoat and flashing his lower body to a Customs inspector. "Okay, mister, here's my secret weapon," he says. The cartoon illustrates an article about nationwide demonstrations demanding the immediate removal of Cuba's name from the State Department list (The Miami Herald, 9/1/10).

Enero 9: El gobierno cubano dijo que no quiere un "tratamiento especial" para garantizar la participación de Cuba en los Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe de Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, y consideró que no tiene que participar en negociaciones al respecto. "Cuba quiere tener el mismo tratamiento que se le va a dar a todos los comités olímpicos nacionales que estén representados en estos juegos, y para eso no tenemos que participar en ninguna negociación porque eso es nuestro derecho, no es nada especial", dijo el vicepresidente del Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Física y Recreación (INDER), Alberto Juantorena. El funcionario, campeón olímpico de los 400 metros planos y de los 800 metros, agregó: "Si alguna discusión se produce en un futuro iremos con la fuerza de la moral, la razón y la verdad". El secretario de Estado de Puerto Rico, Kenneth McClintock, había informado que el Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos expresó "disposición de dialogar" sobre la participación de Cuba en los Juegos Centroamericanos (Diario de Cuba, 9/1/10).

Enero 10: La cantante puertorriqueña Olga Tañón se unió al gobierno de Puerto Rico para pedir a EEUU que apruebe las visas de la delegación de Cuba y asegurar así su participación los Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe (JCC) Mayagüez 2010. La artista, conocida como "La mujer de fuego'', indicó en un comunicado de prensa que tanto el gobierno puertorriqueño, los altos ejecutivos de los JCC y "todas y todos los puertorriqueños queremos tener a nuestra hermana isla de Cuba en estos Juegos'', que se celebrarán del 17 de julio al 1 de agosto próximos. "Cuba y Puerto Rico tienen estrechos lazos de hermandad y confío en que nuestros hermanos cubanos estarán aquí para unidos rendirle tributo al deporte, que como la música, unen y marcan la grandeza de los pueblos'', afirmó la intérprete (EFE, 12/1/10). 

January 11: The Foreign Relations Commission of the Cuban National Assembly urged legislators from all over the world to reject the inclusion of Cuba on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism as this decision offends truth and the dignity of the world. A statement issued by the Foreign Relations Commission reads that the Cuban people have rejected a recent decision by the US Security Transportation Administration (TSA) to carry out more rigorous screening–including full-body pat-downs, body scans and hands-on luggage inspection– to all passengers with passports from, or itineraries through “state sponsors of terrorism and countries of interest”, including Cuba. The note recalls that the world public opinion has also rejected this absurd allegation because they know that Cuba has traditionally been a victim of a terrorist policy carried out for almost half a century by almost a dozen US administrations that includes actions such as the 1961Bay of Pigs invasion and assassination attempts on the life of Cuban leader Fidel Castro that were publicly acknowledged by the US President and Congress, respectively. The declaration adds that US terrorist attacks against Cuba have left 3,478 people dead and 2,099 disabled. “The list of attacks is long and the cruellest one was the first mid-air blowing up of a civil airliner in the Western Hemisphere, whose masterminds – Orlando Bosch Avila and Luis
Posada Carriles – live as free men in Miami,” the text reads (ACN, 12/1/10).

January 12: The United States contractor detained in Cuba in December 2009 and accused of being a spy is a 60-year-old social worker from the Washington suburbs who had gone to Cuba to provide communications equipment to Jewish nonprofit organizations, according to American officials. In postings on the Internet, the contractor, Alan P. Gross — whose identify had not previously been made public — said he had more than 20 years’ experience in development work around the world. One of his Internet networking sites said he had been a volunteer field organizer for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. American officials say that Mr. Gross had gone to Cuba as part of a United States government program and was providing encouragement and financial assistance to religious nonprofit groups. The officials acknowledge that Mr. Gross entered Cuba without the proper visa, though they contend that he was not involved in any activities that posed a violent threat to the Cuban government. And they flatly dispute any allegations that he is a spy. The Cuban government, however, has characterized his work as a threat to national security (The New York Times, 12/1/10).

January 13: A US government subcontractor jailed in Cuba and branded as a spy was helping Jewish groups get "unfiltered'' Internet access to sites like Wikipedia, sources said. The identification of Alan P. Gross, 60, of Potomac, Md., and his mission on the island cast a new light on a case that has sharpened the discord between Washington and Havana. “If this is true, it moves the case away from politics, and the world Jewish community could make a lot of noise,'' said Max Lesnick, a Cuban Jew and Miami radio commentator who often visits the island. "But we have to ask if he's also been in contact with other groups that Cuba considers more destabilizing,'' added Lesnick, referring to political dissidents. The sources, who asked for anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said as far as they knew Gross was only helping two or three Cuban Jewish groups obtain "unfiltered access to the Internet'  (El Nuevo Herald, 14/1/10).

January 15: The Cuban government has agreed to let the US military use restricted Cuban air space for medical evacuation flights carrying Haitian earthquake victims, sharply reducing the flight time to Miami, a US official said. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said a deal had been reached allowing evacuation flights from the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to pass over the communist-ruled island on the way to Florida. The deal would shorten the flight time by 90 minutes on trips that normally are routed around Cuba. US military disaster relief teams in Haiti have been taking injured quake survivors to Guantanamo for treatment. Some victims are being sent from Guantanamo to south Florida for further treatment (Reuters, 15/1/10).

Enero 15: La secretaria de Estado, Hillary Clinton, agradeció a La Habana que haya autorizado el paso de aviones estadounidenses por su espacio aéreo en misiones de evacuación de damnificados y socorro a Haití. "Agradecemos mucho a Cuba que haya abierto su espacio aéreo para vuelos de emergencia y evacuación sanitaria", dijo Clinton, en una rueda de prensa en la que anunció que viajará a Haití, cuatro días después del terremoto de 7 grados de magnitud de la escala Richter que ha devastado el país. Clinton, que viajará junto con el administrador de la Agencia de EE UU para el Desarrollo Internacional (USAID), Rajiv Sah, agregó que Estados Unidos dará la bienvenida "a cualquier otra acción que el gobierno de Cuba pueda tomar en apoyo de la misión internacional de rescate y recuperación en Haití" (EFE, 15/1/10).

Enero 15: El presidente de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, prorrogó por otros por otros seis meses la suspensión del derecho incluido en la Ley Helms-Burton de demandar a empresas extranjeras que negocien con propiedades confiscadas a estadounidenses por el gobierno de Cuba. La disposición está incluida en el Capítulo III de la Ley Helms-Burton de 1996, que refuerza el embargo comercial de Estados Unidos al régimen cubano desde 1961. La notificación enviada a los comités del Senado y de la Cámara de Representantes indica que la prórroga de seis meses regirá desde el 1 de febrero de 2010. Agrega que la medida es "necesaria para los intereses nacionales de Estados Unidos y acelerará la transición a la democracia en Cuba". La Ley Helms-Burton castiga a empresas extranjeras que realicen negocios en la isla, permite las demandas contra compañías o personas que usen bienes expropiados por La Habana a ciudadanos o empresas estadounidenses y niega el ingreso a este país de directivos de esas empresas. Sin embargo, los dos presidentes anteriores a Obama, Bill Clinton y George W. Bush, prorrogaron la suspensión del Título III cada seis meses (EFE, 15/1/10).

January 15: For the first time in nearly half a century, a shipping line will provide weekly transport from Houston's docks to Cuba. Local officials view this as the beginning of increased exports to a Latin American nation that still faces a partial trade embargo with the US. “What we're witnessing is the important first step,” said Jeff Moseley, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership. Shipping company CMA CGM of Marseille, France, recently began hauling food, medical products and other items allowed by the U.S. government to two Cuban ports from Houston. Every week, the vessels will stop in Kingston, Jamaica, before moving on to Havana and Santiago de Cuba from Houston's Bayport terminal. “This would definitely be easier for our people to get their product to Cuba out of the port and into a potential other market,” said Ron Hufford, executive vice president of the Texas Forestry Association, which hopes to sell railroad ties, utility poles, furniture and other items. Two years ago, a top Cuban official toured Texas mills to see the state's wood products, Hufford said. CMA CGM received a US government license through October 2011 to move cargo to Cuba from the US. Texas officials have been urging a carrier to seek such approval for years (Chron.com, 15/1/10).

Enero 16: Cuba expresó su voluntad de cooperar con Estados Unidos para ayudar a las víctimas del devastador terremoto en Haití, permitiéndole usar su infraestructura médica en ese país, tras autorizarlo a utilizar su espacio aéreo en la labor humanitaria. "Cuba está dispuesta a cooperar con todas las naciones en el terreno, incluyendo los Estados Unidos, en aras de ayudar al pueblo haitiano y salvar más vidas'', afirmó la directora del departamento de América del Norte de la cancillería, Josefina Vidal. Vidal, en declaraciones suministradas por la oficina de prensa de la cancillería, destacó, como parte de esa colaboración, la autorización de Cuba "de manera inmediata tras la solicitud'' de Estados Unidos para que sobrevolara su espacio aéreo a fin de acelerar la llegada de ayuda a Haití. Vidal comentó que "Cuba tiene la infraestructura necesaria'' en Haití para ayudar a socorrer a las víctimas, por lo que médicos de otros países, incluidos los estadounidenses, pueden usarla. "En estos momentos Cuba está cooperando con Venezuela, Namibia y Noruega, para apoyar al pueblo haitiano. También estamos cooperando con China, República Dominicana, México y Rusia'', subrayó (AFP, 17/1/10).

January 17: A French shipping company has been authorized by Washington to provide weekly cargo transport from Houston to Cuba, The Houston Chronicle reported. The Marseilles-based CMA CGM Group, a container line, has begun to carry food, medical supplies and other products to Havana and Santiago de Cuba, via Kingston, Jamaica. The company received a US government license through October 2011 to move cargo to Cuba from the United States. For Cuba, the new shipping route means faster delivery of products, The Chronicle says. Instead of waiting weeks or months for goods from other continents, Texas goods can arrive in Cuba much sooner. Prior to this new route, Texas producers seeking regular service had to haul their Cuba-bound products to Florida ports. That added costs and delays. Or companies had to charter an entire vessel for the occasional shipment to Cuba. “When a marketplace opens up, everybody wants to get into the action,” said Port of Houston Chairman Jim Edmonds. “Cuba is attractive to us from the standpoint of its proximity.” “What we're witnessing is the important first step” to increased exports to Cuba, Jeff Moseley, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, told The Chronicle (The Miami Herald, 19/1/10).

Enero 18: La líder de la principal asociación hebrea en Cuba dijo que no tenía conocimiento sobre el caso de un subcontratista estadounidense detenido en la isla por entregar ayuda del gobierno de Washington a grupos judíos en la isla. "Nosotros recibimos a diario muchos visitantes, recibimos cientos de visitantes'' desde el extranjero, dijo Adela Dworin, a cargo del Patronato Hebreo Cubano. "No puedo recordar los nombres de todos lo que nos visitan,'' agregó Dworin en conversación telefónica desde La Habana. Alan P. Gross, de 60 años y de Potomac, Maryland, fue identificado como el subcontratista del gobierno estadounidense que fue detenido el 4 de diciembre. Fuentes cercanas al caso declararon a El Nuevo Herald que Gross solamente estaba ayudando a "dos o tres grupos judíos a obtener acceso sin filtro a internet''. El gobierno cubano, que trata de controlar todo el acceso a internet, ha dicho que Gross está vinculado con los servicios de inteligencia de Estados Unidos. Autoridades del gobierno federal negaron rotundamente tal acusación. "El gobierno aquí [en Cuba] no nos ha informado nada sobre este caso (...) jamás se ha dirigido a nosotros'', agregó Dworin (El Nuevo Herald, 19/1/10).

January 19: A cooperation agreement to continue preserving the Cuban legacy of Ernest Hemingway was signed in Havana by the Cuba’s National Heritage Council and the US Vigia Farm Foundation. The documents signed guarantee the upholding of cooperation between the two parties in the preservation of the books and documents zealously kept in the house where US writer Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba for over 20 years. The parties consider that, in this way, they contribute to increase the knowledge on the life and work of Hemingway during the period he lived on the island. The document was signed by Margarita Ruiz, president of the Cuban institution and by Jenny Phillips and Robert Vila, co-presidents of the US Foundation (ACN, 19/1/10).

Enero 20: La represión en Cuba se incrementó en los últimos meses, denunció la legisladora republicana Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, tras entrevistarse con el jefe de la sección de intereses de Estados Unidos en la isla, Jonathan Farrar. "Mis discusiones con Farrar confirmaron los informes acerca del aumento de la represión en la isla en los últimos meses, lo que deja claro que las señales de apertura de Estados Unidos hacia el régimen (de La Habana) siguen sin respuesta'', dijo Ros-Lehtinen en un comunicado. La representante cubano-estadounidense del Estado de Florida afirmó que el gobierno de Barack Obama debe mantener una política firme frente a La Habana hasta tanto no se observe una apertura democrática. Ros-Lehtinen lamentó que Cuba mantenga detenido desde el 5 de diciembre a un estadounidense, que Washington identifica como "contratista'' de la empresa Development Alternatives (DAI) pero La Habana acusa de dotar a la oposición cubana de sofisticados medios de comunicación. "Es una prueba más de que las políticas tiránicas y antiestadounidenses del régimen persisten'', dijo (AFP, 21/1/10).

January 21: Cuba's Raúl Castro may try to "institutionalize the revolution'' before he leaves power by strengthening the military and legislature and "revising'' the communist ideology, according to one scenario crafted by a Cuba expert at the University of Miami. "This is the most conservative scenario of all -- continuity and stability,'' said Andy Gomez, senior fellow at UM's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. Gomez wrote the scenario for a US intelligence community review of Cuba's possible future paths. U.S. agencies regularly conduct such exercises and invite academics to take part, he said, declining to identify the agency in charge of the current review. Gomez said he was asked to focus on the post-Fidel and Raúl Castro scenario, while others were asked to focus on other possibilities, including dramatic changes brought on by social unrest or natural disasters. "The key is to begin to think past Fidel and Raúl. The dialogue has been stuck on that, and we need to think strategically in terms of what comes next,'' he said. Under Gomez's scenario, Castro, who succeeded his ailing brother Fidel in early 2008, would focus on "trying to institutionalize the revolution'' before he dies or retires. His study listed nine "principal actors'' in the post-Raúl Castro era: Gen. Alvaro López Miera, FAR Chief of Staff and member of the ruling Council of State.; Gen. Lucio Morales Abad, chief of Western Army; Gen. Rafael Bello Rivero, chief of the Central Army; Gen. Onelio Aguilera Bermudez, chief of the Eastern Army; Gen. Eduardo Delgado Rodriguez, deputy interior minister for intelligence and counter-intelligence; Comandante Ramiro Valdés, vice president of the Council of State and minister of communications; Foreign Relations Minister Bruno Rodriguez; Marino Murillo, minister of the economy and vice president; and Maj. Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Callejas, Raúl Castro's son-in law and administrator of the armed forces' many business ventures (The Miami Herald, 21/1/10).

January 21: A new international campaign in favor of the liberation of five Cubans who remain as prisoners in the US since 1998, is getting ready in Washington, with an edition of 20 thousand postcards addressed to President Barack Obama. The postcards carry a request by 10 Nobel Prize laureates demanding the immediate release of Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, Gerardo Hernandez and Fernando Gonzalez – internationally known as the Cuban Five. The Free the Five International Committee, promoter of the initiative,  announced that friends and solidarity groups from Germany, Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Lebanon, Spain, France, Guatemala, Ireland, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela, among others, have joined in the campaign (ACN, 21/1/10).

Enero 21: Cuba aún no ha recibido garantías de Estados Unidos que le permitan confirmar su participación a los Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe de Mayagüez, declaró José Ramón Fernández, presidente del Comité Olímpico cubano. "Las autoridades de Puerto Rico han realizado algunas gestiones (con el gobierno estadounidense) pero todavía no hemos logrado que se le brinden a Cuba las garantías necesarias" para asistir a la cita regional, afirmó Fernández. El también vicepresidente cubano agregó que "a nosotros nos gustaría mucho estar allí (en la ciudad puertorriqueña), pero todo depende de que se creen las condiciones apropiadas de garantía y de respeto a la delegación cubana". Fernández explicó que Cuba ha exigido "un tratamiento igual al de todas las delegaciones, aterrizaje del avión cubano sin conflictos y con garantías, visas para todos sin exclusiones, entrada de los equipos y los materiales necesarios sin problemas" para competir en los Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe a celebrarse en Mayagüez en la segunda quincena de julio. Además las autoridades de la isla pidieron para los miembros de su delegación "respeto y protección" durante su estadía en Puerto Rico, con el fin de evitar "peligro y amenazas", manifestó Fernández. El funcionario cubano reconoció las gestiones del Comité Olímpico de Puerto Rico y de las autoridades de Mayagüez con funcionarios estadounidenses. Sin embargo, no mencionó si hubo algun intercambio o conversación directa entre las autoridades de Estados Unidos y las de Cuba (AP, 21/1/10).

Enero 22: Agencias de viaje de Estados Unidos y representantes del sector turístico de Cuba se reunirán en el balneario mexicano de Cancún entre el 24 y el 26 de marzo próximo, informaron fuentes de la organización del encuentro, que tiene como objetivo esencial explorar las posibilidades de negocios si la restricción de viajes a los estadounidenses es finalmente levantada por Washington (IPS, 22/1/10).

January 22: The US government has offered medical supplies to Cuban doctors in earthquake-devastated Haiti, but the Cubans have not yet formally agreed to accept the aid, the State Department said. The Cubans were reported to be running out of supplies at the three hospitals in Port-au-Prince where they have been treating hundreds of patients a day and performing surgeries almost around the clock. “We have offered medical supplies, but the Cubans have not formally agreed to such assistance, nor have any materials been provided as yet,'' said Charles Luoma-Overstreet, spokesman for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the State Department. "We will continue to identify areas where our cooperation [with Cuba] can support the overall relief effort in Haiti,'' added Luoma-Overstreet in an e-mail from Washington. The Irish Times newspaper reported that some of the Cuban medical teams had run out of anaesthetics and were performing amputations on aware patients (The Miami Herald, 23/1/10).

January 25: The US government's Cuba democracy programs are all but paralyzed, facing political, safety and bureaucratic hurdles that critics and backers agree could end up halting their more aggressive features. The US Agency for International Development (USAID), which doles out much of the money, has not requested new funding proposals since March, and groups that run the programs complain they have little money left. Powerful Democrats in Congress are vowing to block the more "provocative'' programs, and the Obama administration is hinting it may halt a key part of the programs that Cuba brands as "subversive.'' "If this continues in the same way, the whole pro-democracy program is going to be dead,'' said Frank Calzon, whose Center for a Free Cuba in suburban Washington stopped receiving US funds last year (The Miami Herald, 25/1/10).

Enero 27: Cuba dijo que no irá a los Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe en Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, si sus deportistas son sometidos a controles adicionales de seguridad, una medida de Estados Unidos para varios países tras un frustrado ataque contra un avión de pasajeros en Navidad. "Insistimos en que nosotros no admitiríamos bajo ningún concepto que a la delegación cubana se le aplique a su arribo a territorio puertorriqueño el tratamiento reservado a los ciudadanos de países considerados terroristas (...)", dijo José Ramón Fernández, presidente del Comité Olímpico Cubano. Fernández, vicepresidente del Consejo de Ministros, dijo al diario oficial Granma que la voluntad del gobierno es participar en estos Juegos, pero exige las visas para toda la delegación, seguridad para sus equipos y que el traslado a la sede sea directo desde La Habana en su aerolínea local. Cuba no ha confirmado su asistencia a los Centroamericanos y del Caribe que se disputarán del 17 de julio al 1 de agosto en Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. San Juan no tiene control sobre su inmigración ni sobre sus relaciones (Reuters, 27/1/10).

Enero 27: Un movimiento ecuménico de la isla, denominado Grupo de Reflexión y Solidaridad "Oscar Arnulfo Romero", cuestionó en una carta abierta al presidente de Estados Unidos, que Cuba aparezca en la lista de países patrocinadores del terrorismo, informó la Agencia Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Comunicación (ALC). "Las 'promesas' usadas en su campaña (la de Obama) respecto a nuestro país, eran solamente eso; simples promesas que usted y su partido solo utilizarían para ganar aquello por lo que cualquier persona, que aspira a la presidencia del país que usted representa, busca: el poder', dijeron los religiosos.  "Así mismo le fue entregado el Premio Nobel de la Paz y desde nuestra vocación cristiana entendemos que la Paz que usted y su país representan es la Pax Romana, expansionista y lograda solo a fuerza de poder y rastros de víctimas", añadieron. Según el grupo de "católicos alternativos", "algún día" el "imperio caerá como todo imperio que ha tenido la Historia". También afirmó que "algún día se escribirá la lista de países solidarios y justos y (...) el primer país será Cuba". La misiva la firman Gabriel Coderch Díaz y Luis Carlos Marrero Chasbar, directivos de dicha organización ecuménica. (Diario de Cuba, 27/1/10).

January 27: Cuban and US negotiators will meet in February for a second round of talks on migration issues since the discussions were renewed last summer, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said. He said no date was set for the meeting, which had been scheduled for December in Havana but was postponed for undisclosed reasons. The United States has said since December that the talks would be reset for February, but Cuba remained silent about it until now. Officials from the two countries met in New York in July, reviving talks last held in 2003 before they were cancelled under President George W. Bush. The US State Department described the renewal of negotiations then as part of U.S. President Barack Obama's desire to pursue a more constructive relationship with Cuba, after five decades of hostility. Rodriguez, who spoke at a Havana conference for Cuban who live abroad but back the Cuban government, repeated complaints that US policy remains essentially unchanged under Obama. "Obama has not used the prerogatives the president of the United States has to make practical changes in relations with Cuba," he said (Reuters, 27/1/10).

January 28: Members of a local group that promotes international trade returned from talks with Cuban officials about establishing business ties between Tampa and the island nation. Steve Michelini, the World Trade Center of Tampa Bay's managing director, said 14 representatives of the group met with high-ranking officials who oversee Cuba's import agency, tourism board, and the airport and port in Havana. "They were very interested in Tampa and still a little tentative about Miami," he said. The World Trade Center of Tampa Bay called on the Tampa Port Authority and Hills­borough County Aviation Authority to push for direct shipping and air connections between Tampa and Cuba. Tampa International Airport has applied to the Treasury Department to authorize flights between the airport and Cuba for close relatives of Cuban nationals (St. Petersburg Times, 28/1/10).

Enero 27: Las autoridades dominicanas detuvieron a 13 cubanos, entre ellos una niña de dos años, que trataban de viajar en forma ilegal a Puerto Rico. El portavoz de la Marina de Guerra, Juan Crisóstomo, dijo que los cubanos fueron detenidos en la desembocadura de un río en La Romana, a unos 110 kilómetros al este de la capital. "El capitán de la embarcación fue identificado como Leandro Alberto Brito Gálvez, quien escapó y es perseguido para su sometimiento a la justicia'', aseguró Crisóstomo. Indicó que los cubanos serán entregados a las autoridades de migración para ser repatriados hacia su país. Los dominicanos y los cubanos suelen llegar a la isla de Puerto Rico por la costa oeste en viajes clandestinos, en los que cruzan los más de 112 kilómetros del peligroso Canal de la Mona (El Nuevo Herald, 28/1/10).

January 28: A US contractor accused by Cuba of distributing illegal communications equipment remains under investigation, and his alleged actions would be considered a "serious crime" anywhere in the world, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said. Whether Rodriguez signaled that Cuba will deal harshly with the man identified in media reports as 60-year-old Alan Gross was not clear, but the case has endangered modest efforts by President Barack Obama to improve long-hostile US-Cuba relations. "In any place in the world, what has been attributed to what you call the American contractor would be a serious crime," Rodriguez told reporters after a ceremonial event in Havana. He said Gross has not been officially charged, but continues to be "under investigation." Cuba has previously accused Gross of working for US "secret services." His employer, Maryland-based Development Alternatives Inc., has said he was setting up an Internet system for a "non-dissident religious organization" under a US-funded program promoting democracy in Cuba. "The government of the United States has not renounced the destruction of the Cuban revolution. It has not renounced trying to change the social and political regime of our country," Rodriguez said (Reuters, 29/1/10).

Enero 28: El canciller Bruno Rodríguez confirmó que Cuba ha discutido con Estados Unidos una eventual cooperación para auxiliar a los damnificados en Haití, pero no hay un plan concreto. Reitero la disposición de Cuba a cooperar en el terreno con cualquier país, sin excepción, envuelto en una operación humanitaria, dijo Rodríguez a la prensa. A renglón seguido, el canciller describió a los periodistas la forma en que La Habana caminaría en Haití junto con Washington: Estaríamos en disposición de establecer la cooperación con Estados Unidos, si fuera trascendente e importante para el pueblo haitiano, si fuera estrictamente humanitaria y si se expresara de manera seria y responsable, en magnitudes adecuadas. Aclaró que aunque ha habido contactos, no hay aún una propuesta concreta de Estados Unidos (La Jornada, 29/1/10).

January 28: Cuba wants to negotiate an agreement with the United States to slow the trafficking of its citizens fleeing the island and hopes to tackle the issue at immigration talks in February, the foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, said. He said negotiators would meet on February 19 in Havana and that Cuba wanted Washington’s help in combating people smuggling. He also said the United States had yet to respond; a spokeswoman at the United States Interests Section in Havana said that Washington had not settled on a date for the talks (The New York Times, 29/1/10).

Enero 28: El gobierno de Cuba ofreció a Estados Unidos intercambiar a los cinco presos cubanos en cárceles de esa nación por los prisioneros políticos en la isla. “Estamos en disposición de considerar la liberación de las personas detenidas en nuestro país por delitos previos, por haber cometido delitos de diferente naturaleza en caso de un proceso que lleve a la liberación de los 5 héroes”, expresó Bruno Rodríguez, canciller de Cuba. El canciller confirmó que sigue detenido el estadounidense David Gross, quien presuntamente viajó a Cuba para otorgar teléfonos satelitales y herramientas de internet a disidentes (Once TV, 29/1/10).

Enero 31: Los pianistas Bebo y Chucho Valdés ganaron el Grammy al Mejor Álbum de Latin Jazz por Juntos para siempre, el primer disco que padre e hijo han grabado juntos. "Uff, mi corazón", dijo Chucho Valdés en inglés, visiblemente emocionado. "Muchas gracias. A nombre de mi padre, Bebo, y mío. Dedico este premio a mi abuela Caridad", añadió el músico al recoger el premio en el Staples Center de Los Angeles, California.Luego, entre bambalinas, dijo: Este Grammy "es el más especial de todos (...) Es un tributo a nuestra familia porque era sueño de mi abuela, la mamá de Bebo, de vernos un día tocar juntos. Por eso ha sido tan especial, por haber tocado con mi papá, con mi profesor, y porque mi familia va a estar muy orgullosa de eso". Este es el tercer Grammy para Bebo, de 91 años, y el cuarto para Chucho, de 68. Ambos nacieron el mismo día, 9 de octubre, con 23 años de diferencia. El padre tiene cinco Latin Grammy; el hijo, dos. El diario oficial Granma, órgano del Partido Comunista, dio en su sitio en internet la noticia del premio a Bebo y Chucho Valdés. Sin embargo, otros medios, como Radio Reloj, evitaron mencionar a Bebo, exiliado en Suecia desde hace décadas (Diario de Cuba, 1/2/10).