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Archive 5/06-8/06
Cuba's economic fate up in air 8/28/2006 USA Today: "Kirby Jones, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association, says Canada and European nations have more than 300 joint ventures with Cuba in telecommunications, oil and energy, mining, port management and other sectors. "This is not the Cuba of old, when everything was under Soviet Union domination," he says. "This is a brand new version, a mixture of capitalism and socialism."
Raul Castro could continue in that direction, some economists and scholars say. Initially, he might unveil small, cosmetic reforms to polish Cuba's image and win over his people. He might let Cubans start thousands of small businesses in trade, agriculture and tourism, as the Castros allowed in the mid-1990s.
One scenario: Cuba copies China, a blend of authoritarian state control, manufacturing, mass-market consumerism and high-tech development.
"At best, Raul will try the mini-China model," says Antonio Gayoso of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy and a former economist in Cuba's finance ministry. "At worst, he and the military will continue the repressive control they have now.""
Let the Cubans Make Plans for Cuba's Future 8/27/2006 Washington Post: By Wayne S. Smith
Grupos de extrema derecha de Miami rumian su frustración y alientan planes contra la Cumbre de NOAL en Cuba 8/26/2006 Jiribilla
Women's Federation starts campaign 8/25/2006 CubaNet: "HAVANA, Cuba - August 25 (Ahmed Rodríguez Albacia, Jóvenes sin Censura / www.cubanet.org) - The Latin American Federation of Rural Women has launched a campaign demanding that Cubans regain the right to pay in pesos everywhere on the island."
Project for final declaration for NAM Summit 8/24/2006 Radio Progresso: "Cuba submitted its proposed project for the final declaration of the 14th Summit of the Non Aligned Countries Movement (NAM) to be held in Havana next September to NAM’s Coordinating Bureau. The draft was prepared by Cuba because of its condition as host country for the upcoming meeting of NAM’s heads of states and governments. The island nation will also chair NAM for the second time. The Middle East’s explosive situation because of Israeli actions aided and abetted by the United States, Washington’s threats on Iran and Venezuela, as well as U.S. plans to strengthen the blockade on Cuba will in all probability be discussed during the Summit."
US offers to lift Cuba embargo if Havana embraces democracy 8/23/2006 AFP: "Washington has dismissed suggestions it would take advantage of Castro's illness to foment a crisis in Cuba, but reiterated demands for free elections and democratic change in the Americas' only one-party communist regime. But just last week the United States named a special "manager" for its intelligence operations against Cuba and its strong ally Venezuela."
Cuban Popularity in Indonesia 8/22/2006 BBC: "Many of the international aid teams that descended on Indonesia after the 27 May earthquake in Java have packed up and gone home. But a medical team from Cuba has proved so popular that locals have asked it to stay on for another six months. "
Raul Castro says Cuba open to normalized relations with U.S. 8/19/2006 AP
Anti-Castro Disclosures Could Help 'Cuban Five' 8/19/2006 LA Times: "Attorneys for five Cubans convicted of espionage are hoping new disclosures about exile-sponsored plots to kill Fidel Castro could win a new trial for the men, now serving sentences of 15 years to life in maximum-security prisons… Among the developments is the admission by Jose Antonio Llama, a 75-year-old exile, that he financed a 1997 mission to kill Castro for which he had already been tried and acquitted. In addition to Llama's admission, Robert Ferro, a Cuban exile in Upland, Calif., said in April that he collected 1,500 guns and grenades for an assault on Cuba during U.S. military exercises in the Caribbean in May. Ferro was charged with illegal weapons possession. And trial begins next month in the case of Miami developer Santiago Alvarez on charges of amassing guns last year for an attack on Castro."
Steven Hill: Fidel Decides U.S. Presidential Elections 8/18/2006 Buzzflash: "Yet as we saw in the last two presidential elections, two battleground states were most important -- Ohio and Florida. Florida, our fourth largest state with 27 electoral votes -- one-tenth of the number needed for victory -- is the biggest of prizes in the presidential sweepstakes. Voters in Florida are much more important to who wins the presidential election than voters in any other state except Ohio. The extremely close presidential race in Florida is heavily influenced by a particular group of voters: Cuban Americans. They are a well-financed and vocal minority with a leadership of Cuban exiles that for decades has loved to hate Fidel. Both Democrats and Republicans fall all over themselves to court the Cuban vote, which comprises only one half of 1% of the U.S. population. This special interest group has much greater influence than their size should warrant for no other reason than the crucial role that Florida plays in our presidential election."
Cuban Exiles Wage War of Terror 8/16/2006 Alternet
Church fined after Cuba travel canceled 8/14/2006 Birmingham News
Cuban Media: Cuba's Fidel Castro Is Fully Recovered 8/13/2006 AHN
Commentary - Cuban dialogue uninformed 8/13/2006 Jamaica Gleaner: "What is often misunderstood in interpreting developments in Cuba is that it is not monolithic, and that its guiding principles are social. That is to say that all policy options in Cuban society are led by the contribution that any decision makes to development of the Cuban people. This means that the characteristics of the transition process in Cuba will be determined by the individual or individuals who can most command the trust of the Cuban people and best exhibit the personal characteristics promoted by the Cuban revolution. President Castro will return to power, but his health will determine the extent to which he will take back control in some or all of the areas in which he has ceded power. More importantly, his illness may now cause an acceleration in a lengthy process already under way and a greater concentration on winning the support of the younger generation. This will most probably mean a gradual process of economic liberalisation within the context of the Cuban economic system which has been steadily improving for the past few years." by David Jessop, director of the Caribbean Council
Mensaje del Presidente Fidel Castro a los cinco cubanos antiterroristas 8/13/2006 Juventud Rebelde: written at 12:30 AM…
Cuba's Agricultural Revolution an Example to the World 8/13/2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Report: Castro walking, talking after surgery - Cuban leader said to even be doing a little work while recovering 8/12/2006 AP
U.S. Official Predicts Tumult in Cuba 8/12/2006 Washington Post
Fidel at 80: Confidential Memories by Leonardo Boff, Theologian 8/11/2006 AfroCubaWeb: "Due to the North American pressure I had to make a rapprochement to the Soviet Union, but if I had had at that time a theology of liberation, I would most certainly had embraced it and applied it in Cuba."
US court upholds Cuban spy trial 8/10/2006 BBC: "The judges overturned an earlier ruling which found the group could not have received a fair trial in Miami, where there is a large Cuban exile community. Cuba says the five were not spying on the US, but on Cuban exiles in Miami who were plotting against Fidel Castro's government. The country's official newspaper has condemned the judgement as "political". "The trial of these five combatants was loaded with hatred and vengeance against the Cuban nation," Granma said. "
Mixed messages blur outlook for Cuba's ailing Castro 8/8/2006 AFP: "But Roberto Fernandez Retamar, a member of Cuba's Council of State, estimated that it would take "several months" before Castro resumes his presidential functions. Though the government position officially is that no transition has taken place and that Fidel Castro will be back, Fernandez Retamar was the first authority to allow that Cuba, much to US chagrin, has already pulled off a succession. The United States "expected that it was not possible to go through a peaceful succession in Cuba; well, in fact, a peaceful succession has taken place in Cuba, and Raul (Castro) will address the people when he deems it appropriate," Fernandez Retamar said. The Miami daily El Nuevo Herald reported from Havana, citing sources close to state health services, that Fidel Castro had undergone a successful colostomy but that his recovery could take a year if he does not have infectious complications. Many Cuba experts in the United States believe that regardless of Castro's health, a succession has already occurred, with some even predicting that Raul Castro's reign would not last long. Jaime Suchlicki, director of the Institute of Cuban and Cuban-American Studies in Miami, said that "succession has taken place" in Cuba, adding that if Castro were to return at all, "it will be in a ceremonial cap.""
Bush administration shifting Cuba policy 8/8/2006 AP: "Bolstered by Fidel Castro's surprise handoff of power, the Bush administration is preparing to ease some immigration rules for Cubans who want to live in the United States, focusing largely on reuniting families now separated by politics and the sea. ADVERTISEMENT The draft plans, still under debate, seek to discourage a mass migration from Cuba over choppy waters — a journey that violates current immigration law and risks lives. But administration officials said they also hope the relaxed rules will prompt Cubans to push the Castro regime for official permission to head to the United States. While stressing that any policy shift was not yet final, administration officials said the changes could be announced as early as this week."
Dominicans continue to benefit from Cuban eye care program 8/8/2006 Final Call
Gesto solidario de religiosos afrocobanos 8/8/2006 Granma: "Sacerdotes de la religión afrocubana invocaron a sus dioses para ayudar a la recuperación del Presidente Fidel Castro, según reportes de la agencia Reuters. "Hay que abogar por la salud. Queremos hacer un tambor (ritual) en la playa a Olokún (la divinidad de la profundidad) con sacrificio de animales", dijo el sacerdote Víctor Betancourt. La Asociación Yoruba de Cuba rogó al panteón de los orishas, o divinidades, por la salud del mandatario."Como religiosos, nuestra posición es seguir los designios de los dioses, que son entender y apoyar las decisiones tomadas por nuestro máximo líder", dijo la Asociación."
THE FIDEL CASTRO WHOM I KNOW -- BY GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ 8/7/2006 Granma
Cuba: Castro to Return 'in a Few Weeks' 8/6/2006 AP: "Cuba's vice president said Sunday Fidel Castro would return to work in a few weeks after intestinal surgery that forced him to hand over power temporarily to his younger brother. "Fidel's going to be around for another 80 years," Vice President Carlos Lage said. Castro turns 80 next Sunday. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Castro was out of bed and talking following his surgery as messages wishing the Cuban leader a quick recovery poured in from Latin America's leading leftists and Elian Gonzalez."
Where are Cuba's dissidents? 8/5/2006 Chicago Tribune: "They have received tens of millions of dollars in U.S. assistance. Many have spent years in prison. And the moment they have been waiting for has finally arrived. But Cuba's tiny and divided opposition is largely invisible as Fidel Castro is convalescing after undergoing major surgery and the nation faces a historic moment that could determine whether Cuba remains a tightly controlled one-party state. "Fidel Castro may be sick, but neither the Ministry of the Interior nor the state security is sick," said Vladimiro Roca, a prominent dissident and head of a small opposition political party. "The only thing we can do for the moment is wait." "
Cuban-Americans Keep the Hyphen 8/3/2006 NYT: "No one knows for sure how many Cuban-Americans would go back if they could. But most experts agree that time has taken its toll and that the numbers have dwindled. “They will all tell you of course they’ll go visit,’’ said Sergio Bendixen, a pollster who conducted surveys on the question in 1989 and 2005. “Of course they’ll buy a vacation home so they can spend time there, but the overwhelming majority, 80 percent plus, will remain in the U.S. because it’s been too long, it’s been 45 years.” A day after Cuban officials said Mr. Castro was recovering from surgery and had only temporarily ceded power to his brother, the topic of what might come next in Cuba was on everyone’s mind at the Shops at Sunset Place mall in South Miami. Reynaldo Ulloa, 19, said his father wanted to return to Cuba, and had tried to persuade him of its advantages. “He says the lifestyle is better,” said Mr. Ulloa, a criminal justice major at Miami-Dade College. “Here you live to work, but there you work to live.” But Mr. Ulloa said he had little interest in going to Cuba except to visit."
Castro exports medicine instead of revolution 8/3/2006 Reuters: "For hundreds of thousands of poor people from the Andes to the Himalayas, the legacy of Cuba's ailing communist leader Fidel Castro will be not revolutionary war but eyesight. For decades, the now ailing Castro, who temporarily handed over power to his brother Raul on Monday, prescribed armed revolution to cure the Third World's ills. But more recently he has preferred to export doctors to treat poor people in the undeveloped world. The programs have expanded rapidly thanks to financial support from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, leader of the world's eighth-largest oil producer and Castro's main ally. Medical diplomacy is helping Cuba gain friends in its ideological battle with Washington. But at home, Cubans have mixed feelings about so many of their doctors going abroad. It has affected the free health-care system that once boasted a family doctor on every block. "Every time you go to a clinic now there is a line of 30 people," one young man said. "There are no more family doctors, now there is a community doctor." Castro has described the program's security benefits. "These programs make us stronger, since it is not easy for the empire to destroy a people giving back vision to millions of Latin Americans," Castro said in July, making a pejorative reference to the United States which calls him a menace to regional stability."
Experts: Belief that Castro’s Illness Will Trigger Change in Cuba Premature 8/2/2006 Black America Web
Castro's Brother at the Helm, but No Change in US Policy for Now 8/2/2006 Interpress Services: "Thale described what he called a worst-case scenario where anti-Castro Cuban-Americans, believing that population is ready to be "liberated," try to take boats to Cuba and are arrested – or worse – in Cuban waters. "It's possible," said LeoGrande, "but you've got to figure that the Cubans are on a heightened state of alert on the expectation that crazy people in Miami might try to do something like that. In fact, I hope that the U.S. is on the alert, too, and both sides are very much aware of the potential for Cuban-American adventurism to provoke a serious conflict between the two countries." "Having regular diplomatic contact is a way of preventing misunderstandings that could escalate into conflict, and it's especially important to have them at a time of uncertainty," he noted. "And it's almost certain that this administration won't do it.""
Speculation swirls in Miami, Havana 8/2/2006 Miami Herald: "An ambiguous, somewhat cryptic statement issued Tuesday night in Fidel Castro's name said his health was ''stable'' and ''my spirit is perfectly fine.'' But it also contained clues that a complete recovery might not be certain. ''A real evolution of the state of one's health requires the passing of time,'' the statement said. ``The most I could say is that the situation will remain stable for many days before a verdict can be delivered.''"
Castro Is ‘Stable,’ but His Illness Presents Puzzle 8/2/2006 NYT: 'President Bush said Monday, before Mr. Castro’s illness was announced, that the United States policy would be to undermine Raúl Castro’s rise to power. “We are actively working for change in Cuba,” he said, “not simply waiting for change.”"
James Early's Post-Publication Comment on the Article "Experts: Belief that Castro's Illness Will Trigger Change in Cuba Premature" by Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com, August 2, 2006 8/2/2006 TransAfrica: "I do not associate my views with the loaded phrase "peaceful transition and liberalization of policies" which are code words for imposition of U.S. government and right-wing Cuban exile policies."
Brothers versus brothers 8/2/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to Aug. 2, 2006 - " Bush and his right-wing Cuban-American friends and donors engaged in a macabre Castro death watch in Miami. President George W. and Florida Governor Jeb Bush, two brothers who owe their offices to the power of the right-wing Cuban-American community in south Florida, engaged in a macabre and sinister death watch for Cuban President Fidel Castro while being hosted by wealthy Cuban-American supporters. As Castro was rushed to the hospital suffering from internal bleeding, just two weeks after visiting, along with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, the boyhood home of Che Guevara in Alta Gracia, Argentina, the Bush brothers began planning action against the Cuban government and the two Castro brothers -- Fidel and Raul. Defense Minister Raul Castro took over the reins of power from Fidel, the first time the Cuban leader had given up power since 1959. The Bush brothers huddled at a Republican National Committee fundraiser with Jeb Bush's business mentor and partner, wealthy Cuban-American real estate developer Armando Codina, head of the Codina Group and close friend of George H. W. Bush. Codina sponsored the fundraiser at his Coral Gables home. Until 1994, the firm was known as the Codina-Bush Group. Codina and Jeb Bush made a fortune in developing southern Florida real estate properties. He invested $1000 in 1984 in a Miami office tower project and cashed out his shares in 1990 for a hefty $346,000. Before he left Codina in 1993, Jeb earned huge commissions for the sale of real estate to Japanese investors. Jeb also sold water pumps to Nigeria in a questionable deal involving Nigeria's military junta, M&W Pump, and another Bush company, Bush-El. These deals occurred at the same time that Jeb Bush was enmeshed in the savings and loan scandal involving Florida-based financial institutions. As reported by WMR last November, the politically-powerful St. Joe Company has a significant investment in the Codina Group. After Jeb Bush became governor, he took care of his real estate business friends, selling them state-owned land at cut rate prices. Joining the Bush brothers in Coral Gables were the Florida Cuban-American GOP congressional team of Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who best represents the fact that America's foreign policies on the Middle East and Latin America have been outsourced to two vocal and politically powerful special interests -- the Israeli and Cuban exile lobbies. Ros Lehtinen's mother was a Jewish-Cuban refugee from Cuba. Joining the Bush brothers in the Florida death watch huddle were another GOP brother team, Representatives Lincoln and Mario-Diaz Balart. The brothers Bush and Balart and Ros-Lehtinen and Codina have their eyes set on lucrative real estate development schemes for post-Castro Cuba. The fact that oil has been discovered in Cuban waters has also earned the interest of the Bush-Cheney petroleum cartel. The Bush crime family and their associates see Cuba as a place where they can either force European and Canadian hotels to pay original land owners compensation for deals made with the Castro government or forfeit their properties to Miami-based Cubans working in concert with multi-billionaire non-Cuban GOP moguls, including another major Bush donor in Florida, real estate developer, GOP financier, pro-Israel activist, and former ambassador to Australia and Italy, Mel Sembler. Like buzzards and hyenas waiting for the death of an old elephant, the Bush cartel and their Florida friends are anxiously awaiting the death of Castro in order to devour the self-sufficient nation he and his fellow Cuban revolutionaries took so long to build. And there is little wonder that the Cuban government insists on keeping Fidel Castro's medical condition secret. They, too, are aware of the Coral Gables GOP confab and have said they do not want to tip off the plotters to the north about their leader's condition."
Castro undergoes surgery, relinquishes power - Government: Cuban leader delegates powers provisionally to brother Raul 8/1/2006 AP
International Republican Institute Grants Uncovered Reporters Without Borders and Washington's Coups 8/1/2006 Counterpunch: "In spite of 14 months of stonewalling by the National Endowment for Democracy over a Freedom of Information Act request and a flat denial from RSF executive director Lucie Morillon, the NED has revealed that Reporters Without Borders received grants over at least three years from the International Republican Institute. The NED still refuses to provide the requested documents or even reveal the grant amounts, but they are identified by these numbers: IRI 2002-022/7270, IRI 2003-027/7470 and IRI 2004-035/7473. Investigative reporter Jeremy Bigwood asked Morillon on April 25 if her group was getting any money from the I.R.I., and she denied it, but the existence of the grants was confirmed by NED assistant to the president, Patrick Thomas. The discovery of the grants reveals a major deception by the group, which for years denied it was getting any Washington dollars until some relatively small grants from the NED and the Center for a Free Cuba were revealed (see Counterpunch: "Reporters Without Borders Unmasked"). When asked to account for its large income RSF has claimed the money came from the sale of books of photographs. But researcher Salim Lamrani has pointed out the improbability of this claim. Even taking into account that the books are published for free, it would have had to sell 170 200 books in 2004 and 188 400 books in 2005 to earn the more than $2 million the organization claims to make each year 516 books per day in 2005. The money clearly had to come from other sources, as it turns out it did."
MAFIA SUMMIT IN HAVANA: (part five) 8/1/2006 Cuba Now
Announcement from the President to the Cuban people 8/1/2006 Granma
Castro's Younger Brother More Radical 7/31/2006 AP
Proclama del Comandante en Jefe al pueblo de Cuba 7/31/2006 Granma
Should the U.S. break its Cuba trade embargo? 7/27/2006 AP: "From here on out, say a growing chorus of experts, America will pay a price for maintaining its 45-year trade ban with the communist nation — a strategic and economic price that will have negative repercussions for the United States in the decades to come. What has changed the equation? Oil. To be more specific, recent, sizable discoveries of it in the North Cuba Basin — deep-water fields that have already drawn the interest of companies from China, India, Norway, Spain, Canada, Venezuela and Brazil. This, in turn, has reheated debate in the U.S. Congress and the Cuban-American community on an old question: Has the time finally come to shelve the embargo — given America's need for more sources of crude at a time of rising gas prices, soaring global demand and the outbreak of war in the Middle East? Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, an expert on Cuba energy matters and a political science professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, says America's thirst for oil will soon force a fundamental change in Washington's relations with Havana. “I've always argued that we would keep the Cuban embargo in place until we got to the point where it started to cost us something.” Today, he adds, “we're almost there.” Says Phil Peters, vice president of the Lexington Institute, a think tank in Arlington, Va., that defends limited government and free trade, and a Cuba expert: “If Cuba discovers a lot of oil and becomes an oil exporter, the embargo almost becomes an absurdity.” Kirby Jones, founder and president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association in Washington, D.C., which has long sought an end to the trade ban, says the reality of Cuba as an oil producer makes the embargo too costly a policy to keep. “Our choice is: Are we going to let those other countries take that oil? Or are we going to look at our strategic interests and recognize that very close to our shores is a substantial quantity of oil that is going to be exploited?” Cuba has been oil hunting, not always successfully, for decades. With Soviet help, it discovered the Varadero Oil Field in 1971. This reservoir, within 5 miles of Cuba's northern coast, today yields about 40 per cent of Cuba's total production — roughly 75,000 barrels a day of poor-quality, heavy, sour crude. In July 2004, however, the Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF, in partnership with Cuba's state oil company, CUPET, identified five fields it classified as “high-quality” in the deep water of the Florida Straits, 20 miles northeast of Havana. Seven months later, a report by the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed it: The North Cuba Basin held a substantial quantity of oil — 4.6 billion to 9.3 billion barrels of crude and 9.8 trillion to 21.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Cuba wasted no time, dividing the 120,000 square kilometre area into 59 exploration blocks, and then welcoming foreign oil conglomerates with offers of production-sharing agreements. Oil companies from China and Canada, already prospecting for oil along Cuba's coast, began talks with Cuban energy officials about investments in deep-water operations. Then, in May, Spain's Repsol-YPF announced it was partnering with India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp., and Norsk Hydro ASA of Norway to explore for oil and gas in six of the 59 deep-water blocks along Cuba's maritime border with the United States. (Sherritt International Corp., the Canadian oil company, has acquired exploration rights in four of the deep-sea blocks.) That raised the eyebrows of many an oil executive, says Jorge Pinon, a former senior executive with Amoco Oil and a research associate at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami. Norsk and ONGC are among a select group of companies with deep-water know-how and technology, so when they signed on with the Spanish, “everyone else said, 'Maybe we better take a look at Cuba again.”'"
Peace caravan harassed on return to USA 7/20/2006 Granma: "One aggressive Cuban-American plainclothes agent, who repeatedly refused to identify herself or the US agency for which she works, took photographs of caravanistas, asked harassing questions, and was finally reduced to spending 20 minutes rifling through the papers in Rev. Walker’s briefcase."
Bush extends suspension of application of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act 7/18/2006 Granma: "U.S. President George W. Bush has extended for six months starting August a regulation that suspends cases being brought against Cuba by U.S. Americans for properties nationalized on the island, which is contemplated in Title III of the Helms-Burton Act."
Santrina owner arrested 7/17/2006 Granma: "The 43-year-old man, son of notorious terrorist Ernestino Abreu, and an accomplice of Posada since his days in Panama, appears in the official register as president of the Caribbean Marine Ecological Protection Foundation (FPEMC), the phony owner of the Santrina shrimper in which Posada made his clandestine crossing."
Agresiones y trampas en el campo de la informática 6/21/2006 Cubarte: "Cubarte.- Altos funcionarios del gobierno norteamericano como Donald Rumsfeld, secretario de Defensa, y el subsecretario de Estado, después embajador en la ONU, John Bolton, han tratado de implicar a Cuba en trampas y mentiras absurdas relacionadas con las nuevas tecnologías de la información. Estos engaños no han prosperado porque no tienen credibilidad y es suficientemente conocida la falta de ética y las .mentiras de estos personajes. Resulta una vergüenza que no les importe verse desacreditados ante la opinión pública mundial. Hostilizada, perseguida y saboteada en sus esfuerzos de modernización, Cuba asumió con cierta tardanza y dificultades este camino, ya en la década del sesenta. Todo conspiraba para retardar el desarrollo en este campo, incluso la introducción de virus informáticos malignos, bajo la cobertura de software gratuitos y el donativo de sistemas aplicados."
Entrega universidad estadounidense a Cuba valiosa colección de filmes y fotos 6/16/2006 Radio Progreso: Yales gets around the embargo - "El Instituto de Historia de Cuba obtuvo una valiosa colección de más de 60 películas y cinco mil fotografías inéditas, acerca del proceso revolucionario cubano, realizadas por el periodista húngaro Andrew St. George y el estadounidense David Stone, en el período comprendido del año 1957 a 1970. La colección fue entregada a esa institución por representantes de la Universidad de Sterling de Yale, una de las más importantes de Estados Unidos."
Signs of Progress - Return to Cuba 6/3/2006 Counterpunch
Hemingway papers link Cuba and US 5/20/2006 BBC: "Cuba is sending the US copies of more than 20,000 papers relating to the Nobel Prize winning American writer Ernest Hemingway. The move is part of a deal on restoring Hemingway's legacy that, correspondents say, has united the usually feuding governments of Havana and Washington. The papers sent to the US Library of Congress include copies of Hemingway's letters and some of his famous novels. Hemingway spent much of his time living in Cuba between 1939 and 1960."
Add Cuba and Venezuela to the list of countries that knew of and informed the Bush administration about a "major terrorist attack" prior to 911 5/17/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to May 17, 2006 - "In addition to Russia, Jordan, France, Germany, and other nations, Venezuelan and Cuban intelligence picked up chatter about a "major terrorist attack" on the United States prior to 911. Cuban intelligence, which has an extensive network in Florida -- a home base of the hijackers and their handlers -- initially picked up reports about the attack and passed the information to both the United States and Venezuela. However, the Bush administration failed to react to this and other foreign warnings. Venezuelan intelligence, likely from its own sources in Florida and elsewhere, confirmed that something major would occur in the United States. The failure of the Bush administration to heed these warnings coupled with subsequent intelligence picked up by the Cuban and Venezuelan security services have led them to conclude that 9-11 was carried out as a result of an "inside job" within the Bush administration. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced plans to hold an international 9-11 commission of inquiry in Caracas that will bring together a host of international government, security, and political leaders. Already, preliminary meetings in Caracas for the conference have attracted the attention of the FBI. Recently, an FBI agent asked for the guest list of a hotel on Margarita island to check on names of guests, including Americans, associated with the preliminary planning meetings for the conference."
CONGRESSMEN FROM BUSH’S PARTY - Present bill to facilitate oil investment in Cuba 5/13/2006 Granma: "The disquiet of the Republican majority in U.S. Congress assumed a distinct form this past week, which stems from reasonable U.S. business interests affected by the group of Cuban-Americans associated with the Bush family. The powerful nation’s policy on Cuba is hostage to such spurious objectives, in spite of the fact that five years ago, the majority of federal and state legislators expressed their determination for change, approving bills aimed at facilitating economic and trade relations between the two countries. Senator Larry Craig of Idaho said that the U.S. people would be surprised and amazed if they knew that the country was suffering a serious energy crisis while foreign oil companies like "China, India, Norway, Canada and Spain have already…bought the rights to undertake exploratory drilling in the North Cuba Basin," just 50 nautical miles from the U.S. coast." Fellow Republican and U.S. Representative Jeff Flake of Arizona said that there needs to be a "convincing reason" why U.S. companies cannot explore energy resources so close to home, and "I’m not sure that a 45-year-old embargo that has failed should be mentioned as a convincing reason," he said, according to the AFP."
Miami banker Eduardo Masferrer facing 300 years’ imprisonment 5/12/2006 Granma: "BANKER Eduardo Masferrer, cousin of Cuban capo Rolando Masferrer, an accomplice of Jorge Mas Canosa, money laundering specialist and former star of the Miami pro-Batista circles, who preached in favor of a Mafiosi "transition" is facing 300 years’ imprisonment for a series of giant frauds, according to the Miami District Attorney’s Office. The ex-president and director of the Hamilton Bank, who prided himself on his vision of "another" Cuba, was found guilty on 16 charges of fraud. The cousin of one of the most infamous killers for the Batista dictatorship, whose bloody gang – the Masferrer Tigers – was possibly the pioneer paramilitary group in the America, was the last criminal within the institution to be accused of fraud, after two others had pleaded guilty."
Recycled Non Sequiturs - State Department Report Offers No Evidence that Cuba is a "Terrorist State" 5/11/2006 Counterpunch: by Wayne Smith - "In the case of Cuba, the State Department's annual report on "State Sponsors of Terrorism," issued on April 28 of 2006, is a complete dud. It presents not a shred of evidence to confirm that Cuba is in fact a terrorist state: nothing! It says, for example, that: "Cuba did not attempt to track, block, or seize terrorist assets, although the authority to do so is contained in Cuba's Law 93 Against Acts of Terrorism, as well as Instruction 19 of the Superintendent of the Cuban Central Bank" But the obvious response to that is "what assets?" There is no evidence at all that al-Qaeda or any other foreign terrorist organization has any assets in Cuba. So, there is nothing to seize. The statement does make clear, however, that Cuba has laws on the books against acts of terrorism! The report goes on to complain that: "To date, the Cuban government has taken no action against al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups." But, again, the charge is a non sequitur. Neither al-Qaeda nor any other terrorist group has a presence in Cuba and thus it is not at all clear what "action" Cuba could take against them."
Recycled Non Sequiturs - State Department Report Offers No Evidence that Cuba is a "Terrorist State" 5/11/2006 Counterpunch: by Wayne Smith - "In the case of Cuba, the State Department's annual report on "State Sponsors of Terrorism," issued on April 28 of 2006, is a complete dud. It presents not a shred of evidence to confirm that Cuba is in fact a terrorist state: nothing! It says, for example, that: "Cuba did not attempt to track, block, or seize terrorist assets, although the authority to do so is contained in Cuba's Law 93 Against Acts of Terrorism, as well as Instruction 19 of the Superintendent of the Cuban Central Bank" But the obvious response to that is "what assets?" There is no evidence at all that al-Qaeda or any other foreign terrorist organization has any assets in Cuba. So, there is nothing to seize. The statement does make clear, however, that Cuba has laws on the books against acts of terrorism! The report goes on to complain that: "To date, the Cuban government has taken no action against al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups." But, again, the charge is a non sequitur. Neither al-Qaeda nor any other terrorist group has a presence in Cuba and thus it is not at all clear what "action" Cuba could take against them."
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