Archive for January 30, 2008
Amenazan a consultor jurídico independiente
30 de enero de 2008
Amenazan a consultor jurídico independiente
LA HABANA, Cuba, 30 de enero (Reinaldo Cosano Alén, Sindical Press /
www.cubanet.org) – El doctor René López Benítez, abogado independiente,
y asesor miembro del ejecutivo nacional del Partido Liberal Nacional
Cubano, residente en la capital, fue visitado e interrogado por los
oficiales del Departamento de Seguridad del Estado, con la intención de
conocer detalles de una reunión del ejecutivo nacional, en días pasados,
según expone López:
"Durante la acción policial se hizo presente la amenaza de que sería
encausado porque soy el director de la Consultoría Jurídica de Servicios
Legales (independiente), que funciona en el Santuario Nacional Jesús de
Nazareno, en el municipio Arroyo Arenas, y también por mis estrechos
vínculos como asesor legal de diferentes partidos y movimientos
opositores en la Isla" –enfatiza el letrado.
Los agentes de la policía política le informaron a López que tiene
pendiente una citación oficial del DSE, y que de no asistir puede
incurrir en una infracción penal, y se le puede inhabilitar su título de
licenciado en Derecho.
Minutos antes de este acto intimidatorio contra López, el vicepresidente
del PLNC, Silvio Benítez, también fue visitado e interrogado en su
vivienda por miembros de la policía política
http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y08/en08/30a1.html
A sorbos de agua
30 de enero de 2008
A sorbos de agua
Lucas Garve, Fundación por la Libertad de Expresión. La Habana
LA HABANA, Cuba, enero (www.cubanet.org) – Hace la friolera de cinco
años que vivo a sorbos de agua. Hoy, llevamos unas tres semanas sin
abastecimiento del preciado líquido. La falta de agua es exclusiva de
las pocas casas de la cuadra donde resido. Acudir a las autoridades
municipales no ha servido de nada. Según ellas, ahora mismo, el
combustible para los camiones cisternas – las pipas de agua- tiene
retraso en llegar al municipio Arroyo Naranjo donde vivo.
Resulta que desde el pasado mes de diciembre tuvimos la sorpresa de ver
correr el agua por las tuberías en desuso desde unos cinco o seis años,
ya perdimos la cuenta. Y las supuestas roturas y deficiencias de las
tuberías se revelaron como parte de la ciencia ficción burocrática.
Hasta por la última llave de agua borbotó el líquido durante varias
noches para alegría nuestra.
Eran días cercanos a las elecciones municipales y hubo quien pronosticó
que la reaparición del agua en las tuberías se debía a las intenciones
del gobierno de que la mayoría dejara su voto en el proceso
eleccionario. Ya corría el agua por las tuberías normales desde ciertas
horas de la tarde a las primeras de la noche en algunas casas en las
que hizo tanta falta. De inmediato, suspendieron el abastecimiento de
agua por camiones cisternas.
Entonces, la desgracia se batió de nuevo sobre nosotros y el suministro
de agua a cada casa terminó de pronto, como se había presentado. Y
ahora, sin pipas abastecedoras que trajeran agua, aunque fuera una vez
cada diez o doce días.
Así penamos ahora por la falta de líquido, aunque a dos cuadras el agua
corra por las alcantarillas con cantarino rumor, al doblar la esquina se
bañen hasta los caballos, mientras a pocos metros vivamos la más penosa
escasez de agua, propia del desierto.
Meses atrás, una persona conocida mía, expresó en una reunión de
discusión del discurso del general Raúl Castro por el 26 de julio que si
algo le chocaba en la realidad de la isla, era la sensación de desamparo
que se experimenta ante cualquier problema particular sea de cualquier
origen. ¿A quién acudir cuando la burocracia con falta de sensibilidad e
ineficiencia naturales para resolver los asuntos que no la amenacen,
hace oídos sordos a las reclamaciones de la población?
Esto no es nada nuevo, sino algo más que identifica la naturaleza de un
sistema de carácter burocrático. Sistema que hoy en día ahoga hasta
las mismas estructuras de poder que lo instauraron y a la población que
lo soporta desde hace tanto.
Hay formas sutiles que esconden la represión que sufrimos quienes
vivimos de acuerdo a nuestra conciencia. No es algo alejado de la verdad
tampoco que la represión se dirige en general contra la población.
http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y08/en08/30a8.html
No será con cancioncitas…
Sociedad
No será con cancioncitas…
Los mismos artistas que han justificado la aplicación de la pena de
muerte ayudan ahora a maquillar la situación de las cárceles.
Leonardo Calvo Cárdenas, La Habana
miércoles 30 de enero de 2008 6:00:00
El trovador Silvio Rodríguez, otrora crítico irascible del sistema y
ahora apologeta incondicional, el mismo diputado que fue incapaz hace
unos años de responder a un entrevistador de la televisión mexicana si
en Cuba existían presos políticos, acaba de emprender, acompañado por
otros artistas, una gira por los centros penitenciarios del país.
El hecho es anunciado por los medios informativos oficiales como una
"encomiable iniciativa destinada a mejorar, a través de la cultura, la
vida y rehabilitación social de las decenas de miles de internos
cubanos", como se les llama a los sancionados en la terminología oficial.
Sí, porque desde arriba el español se maneja mejor. Aquí a los alumnos
internados obligatoriamente en centros educacionales preuniversitarios
se les llama "becados", y a los reclusos que cumplen sanción penal se
les llama "internos".
La iniciativa del famoso y controversial cantautor es una muestra
fehaciente de que las autoridades asumen que tienen un complicado
problema con la inflada población penitenciaria. Esto contradice de
plano los presupuestos teóricos tradicionales de la criminología
socialista, que expresa que las condiciones socioeconómicas del
socialismo no son generadoras de conductas criminógenas, sino que estas
últimas no son más que rezagos del superado sistema capitalista.
Llama la atención que mientras en el pasado capitalista existían menos
de diez centros penitenciarios en el país, ahora se cuentan por cientos.
De hecho, la realidad plantea un claro desfase cronológico y estructural
con el esquemático presupuesto, en tanto la inmensa mayoría de los
reclusos nacieron después de llegar al poder el sistema imperante, que,
por demás, controla estrictamente todos los espacios de formación y
difusión educacional y cultural.
Inquietud oficial
La iniciativa es, además, un paso más en el intento de sanear, en alguna
medida, el ambiente y la imagen de este delicado espacio social, de cara
a los compromisos, cuestionamientos y escrutinios internacionales que La
Habana enfrentará supuestamente en un futuro cercano.
La gira artística en proceso se une a otras medidas, como la celebración
de festivales de artistas aficionados de los centros penitenciarios y la
posibilidad de que los sancionados puedan cursar estudios, incluso
superiores —perspectiva a la que eventualmente no tienen acceso muchos
jóvenes egresados de la enseñanza preuniversitaria—. A esto se une el
establecimiento de centros "modelo", que actúan como vitrinas
propagandísticas del sistema carcelario, principalmente para
importantes, y a veces ingenuos, visitantes extranjeros.
Estas medidas confirman, en efecto, la inquietud oficial por un problema
antiguo. Está por ver si el gobierno decide esta vez volver a ocuparse
sólo del aspecto exterior, o si por fin está dispuesto a demostrar
valentía y responsabilidad política y humanista para enfrentar las
causas de un fenómeno que complica sobremanera la convivencia social.
Las autoridades de la Isla deben, ante todo, renunciar al monopolio
excluyente que ejercen sobre cada aspecto de la vida política, económica
y social del país, que en los últimos años ha empujado a tantos cubanos
al delito criminal y económico, principales causas del aumento de la
población penal. Si no se abren a los ciudadanos amplios espacios de
desenvolvimiento cívico, social y económico, en su plural diversidad, ni
todas las canciones del mundo podrán ayudar a rehabilitar a los reclusos
y, sobre todo, evitar la reincidencia delictiva.
Por otra parte, La Habana debe acabar de reformar el vigente Código
Penal para eliminar de su articulado muchas actitudes, comportamientos y
acciones que no son punibles en ninguna sociedad civilizada del mundo
moderno. Junto a esto, debe conectarse, sin condicionamientos, con la
extensa legislación internacional en materia de procedimientos
penitenciarios y abrir las puertas de todos los centros de reclusión a
los organismos internacionales especializados; además de hacer público
—y que se cumpla— el vigente "Reglamento de Cárceles y Prisiones".
Las autoridades deben renunciar, también en el ámbito penitenciario, al
monopolio y la impunidad, permitiendo que se activen mecanismos sociales
e independientes de escrutinio y cuestionamiento. Esto evitaría el
peligro de que los reclusos sean sometidos a la violación de su
integridad física y moral. Los centros penitenciarios no pueden seguir
siendo escenarios de abusos, arbitrariedades y corrupción.
Son muchas las desgarradoras experiencias que cientos de miles de
ciudadanos han sufrido en las galeras, patios y celdas de castigo de las
prisiones de la Isla, a lo largo de más de cuatro décadas, para que
ahora se les vuelva a ofender con un reportaje televisivo sobre las
cancioncitas salvadoras de intelectuales que, incluso, han utilizado su
prestigio para justificar la más inmisericorde aplicación de la pena de
muerte.
Dirección URL:
http://www.cubaencuentro.com/es/encuentro-en-la-red/cuba/articulos/no-sera-con-cancioncitas
Testimonios sobre represión en Villa Clara y La Habana
Testimonios sobre represión en Villa Clara y La Habana
30 de enero de 2008 / Radio Martí / Bitácora Cubana
MN – Mientras el régimen cubano movilizaba a sus partidarios para
conmemorar el 155 aniversario del natalicio de José Martí, la policía
política impidió a la fuerza varios actos organizados por opositores en
las provincias de Villa Clara y La Habana. En la ciudad de Placetas
Jorge Luís García Pérez "Antúnez" fue golpeado y detenido por la policía
que lo condujo a la ciudad de Santa Clara donde fue liberado este
martes, aunque según explica se le han levantado cargos de escándalo
público y resistencia al arresto.
JLGP – "una oficial de la policía me abracó, me hizo una llave de artes
marciales por el pecho, comenzó a apretarme, yo empecé, traté de
zafarme. Empecé a gritar !Viva la democracia!, !Viva los Derechos
Humanos! !Viva José Martí!. Empezaron a arrastrarme. Me arrastraron, me
patearon allí en la calle delante de toda la población. Mi esposa Iris
empezó a gritar que aquello era un abuso, empezó a dar vivas a los
derechos humanos".
MN – Por su parte, la periodista independiente Idania Yanes Contreras y
otros 11 opositores fueron víctimas de la represión cuando se
encontraban frente a la unidad policial donde estaba detenido Antúnez en
Santa Clara.
IYC – "Salió el jefe de la unidad, bueno el que dijo ser el jefe de la
unidad. Carlos Fidel dijo llamarse y nos dijo que allí frente a lo que
era la unidad no podíamos estar. Nos puso una señal que era de ahí para
allá donde nos podíamos poner. Bueno, nosotros no respondimos nada, nos
trasladamos hacia allí y nos sentamos y nos sentamos todos en la acera
de allí que quedaba en el lugar donde el nos había indicado. Otra vez
vino ya un policía de la Brigada Especial que no se identificó, no dijo
su nombre y dijo que ellos no nos querían allí, que teníamos que irnos.
Tampoco le hicimos caso y seguimos y allí bueno fue una masacre lo que
vino encima de nosotros. Nosotros nos tiramos en el piso y empezamos a
gritar ¡Viva los derechos humanos! ¡Abajo Fidel y Abajo la dictadura! Yo
le grité asesinos. Empezaron allí a dar golpes y a montarnos en los
carros patrulleros".
RM – René Montes de Oca de la organización de Derechos Humanos Andrei
Sajarov informó desde La HABANA de amenazas y detenciones a varios
opositores que fueron puestos en libertad en la mañana del martes 29 de
enero de 2008.
RMOM – "Sí desde la noche de ayer fueron liberados Alberto Bruno Sánchez
y José Candelario Suárez"
RM – Desde Miami Pablo Alfonso, Noticias Radio Martí
Audio publicado en Radio Martí y transcrito por Bitácora Cubana
http://www.bitacoracubana.com/desdecuba/portada2.php?id=6182
CIEN DÍAS EN CELDA DE CASTIGO
CIEN DÍAS EN CELDA DE CASTIGO
2008-01-30. www.PayoLibre.com
*Adolfo Fernández Sainz, Prisionero de Conciencia
30 de enero de 2008, Prisión de Canaleta, Ciego de Ávila, Cuba.- Dentro
de una prisión, la celda de castigo o de aislamiento se reserva para
indisciplinas graves, y los castigos suelen ser de entre tres y diez
días. ¿Qué tipo de indisciplina puede haber cometido un recluso para
merecer un castigo de 100 días en celdas de aislamiento? En el caso del
Activista de Derechos Humanos Robert Ley Villalobos Torres no ha habido
ninguna falta de conducta que justifique tan prolongado castigo.
Villalobos se encuentra allí por un motivo puramente político, este
recluso de 37 años, viene denunciando desde hace mucho tiempo los abusos
de los carceleros contra los presos y los frecuentes actos de corrupción
de muchos oficiales de esta prisión de Canaletas; por ello ha tenido que
soportar duros castigos psicológicos, morales y físicos, desde hace
muchos años. Robert Ley Villalobos Torres lleva en celdas de castigo
desde el 10 de octubre pasado.
Lo que realmente motivó esta dura represión, fue su valiente denuncia
ante funcionarios de la capital que practicaban una inspección del
penal, el pasado 18 de septiembre, allí puso al descubierto las
tropelías cometidas en presencia de algunos de los propios oficiales
comisotes de esos actos de abuso y corrupción, y los citó por su nombre.
De momento no le hicieron nada, pero el propio Villalobos sabía que le
estaban tramando una venganza, pues se sucedían las amenazas.
Un buen día, valiéndose de un motivo baladí lo llevaron a la celda de
castigo, desde donde se ha mantenido denunciando por todas las vías a su
alcance los abusos de que tiene conocimiento. Hubiese sido un bello
gesto que el Cantautor Silvio Rodríguez y su embajada artística
visitaran a este joven recluso, en su visita a este penal el pasado 25
de enero.
*****
*Adolfo Fernández Sainz fue condenado a 15 años de prisión durante la
ola represiva del 2003 en la Causa de los 75.
http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=13716
Cuban dissident’s mom attends State of Union address
CUBA
Cuban dissident's mom attends State of Union address
Posted on Tue, Jan. 29, 2008
BY FRANCES ROBLES
[email protected]
Among the invitees to President Bush's State of the Union address Monday
night was the mother of an imprisoned Cuban opposition journalist — the
latest in a series of dissidents invited to visit with Bush in Washington.
In the back row of First Lady Laura Bush's guest box, nestled between an
Indiana housewife and the president's national security advisor, was
Blanca González of Hialeah. Her son is Normando Hernández, serving 25
years in a Cuban prison for illegally writing negative news stories for
the opposition press.
''Imagine, I feel very happy that they invited me to be with the
president,'' González said. “It's good for all the Castristas in Cuba
to know that the president of a nation as big as this one is so
interested in political prisoners.''
Bush made only a fleeting reference to supporting Cuba in his 53-minute
speech, but earlier urged Congress to approve free trade agreements with
Colombia, Panama and South Korea.
''The first agreement that will come before you is with Colombia, a
friend of America that is confronting violence and terror and fighting
drug traffickers,'' Bush said before adding a thinly veiled reference to
President Hugo Chávez in Venezuela.
González, who lives in Miami, said it wasn't the first time she got to
see Bush in person. She met him at the White House in 2003.
González was joined in the gallery by University of Miami President
Donna Shalala, who helped lead the president's task force on veterans'
affairs.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/397315.html
A bold new documentary calls Castro to task for senseless murders
Shoot Down Over Cuba
A bold new documentary calls Castro to task for senseless murders
Michael C. Moynihan | January 29, 2008
In June 2000, this magazine published a cover story on Hollywood's
"missing movies." These were not, alas, films that had been neglected by
inattentive archivists or spurned by Ted Turner's guardians of classic
film. The target of this search-and-rescue operation, wrote critic
Kenneth Lloyd Billingsley, were those tales of injustice, those triumphs
of the spirit that Hollywood had little interest in producing. Long
under the spell of radical writers such as Dalton Trumbo and Clifford
Odets, Hollywood was "a town that welcomed Daniel Ortega of the
Sandinista junta but never took up the cause of a single Soviet or
Eastern European dissident."
Almost 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the entertainment
industry is still sensitive to charges of Cold War jingoism, though the
spread of hipster Buddhism has necessitated the occasional dramatization
of China's occupation of Tibet. A spate of recent films—none of them
produced in Hollywood—is also providing a more nuanced picture of the
Cold War, one that eschews simple moral equivalence in favor of the
dystopian reality of the Eastern Bloc.
This past year saw the release of The Singing Revolution, a riveting
documentary detailing the little-known story of Estonia's non-violent
resistance to Soviet occupation; the German political drama The Lives of
Others, a deeply affecting portrait of the Zamyatinian nightmare that
was East Germany; and Katyn, a dramatic recapitulation of the mass
murder of 20,000 Polish officers shortly after the country's partition
under conditions set by the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact. (Eight
years ago, Billingsley wondered presciently why the story of the Katyn
massacre never made it to the big screen.)
Even Hollywood's strange love affair with the Cuban revolution, recently
evidenced by Oliver Stone's Comandante and Walter Salles' saccharine
salute to Che Guevara, The Motorcycle Diaries, is at long last showing
signs of abating. A few years ago, New York painter/director Julian
Schnabel memorably upbraided Castro in his film Before Night Falls, a
portrait of the gay writer Reinaldo Arenas, imprisoned by the communist
government for both his aberrant politics and sexuality.
Now, from first-time director Cristina Khuly, comes Shoot Down, a
brilliantly rendered and scrupulously even-handed documentary revisiting
the 1996 Cuban downing of two civilian planes over international waters,
both piloted by Miami-based exiles from the group Brothers to the
Rescue. Khuly, a 37-year-old sculptor, is the niece of shoot-down victim
Armando Alejandre Jr.
An event soon overshadowed by the saga of Elian Gonzales, the attack on
the unarmed Brothers to the Rescue planes is now largely forgotten
outside Miami. And despite the smokescreen of misinformation presented
by Castro and his foreign enablers, the facts of the story are rather
straightforward and grimly characteristic of a totalitarian regime.
As three Brothers to the Rescue planes approached Cuban territory, the
lead plane, piloted by the group's founder Jose Basulto, briefly
breached Cuban airspace. While the planes were searching for refugees in
the water, officials in Havana, tipped off by a mole in the Brothers
leadership, scrambled Soviet-made MiG fighter planes to knock the planes
out of the sky. Basulto's plane managed to escape. When the other two
were vaporized by Cuban missiles, both were flying over international
waters.
The mole, former Cuban Air Force MiG pilot Juan Pablo Roque, is a
chilling reminder of the Stasi-like tactics of the Cuban secret police.
Roque infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue by insinuating himself into the
exile community—going so far as to write a book for the Cuban American
National Foundation detailing his escape from the island—and marrying a
local woman as cover. The day before the deadly flight, Roque declined
an invitation to participate in the mission and informed his wife that
he would be away on business. A day later, he reappeared on Cuban state
television to denounce the Brothers as "terrorists" of the empire.
It is perhaps unintentional, but Shoot Down reasserts the controversy
and complexity of the Clinton years, often obscured in hindsight by the
salaciousness of the Lewinsky scandal and the failures of the Bush
presidency. From our vantage point, it's easy to forget that Clinton
sanctioned the liberal use of heavily militarized federal agents at Ruby
Ridge, Waco, and during the seizure of Elian Gonzales from a Florida
residence. He also reversed a 30-year old American policy treating those
fleeing Cuba as political refugees.
It was this change, we learn, that precipitated Brothers to the Rescue's
shift from search-and-rescue operations in the Florida Straits to direct
confrontation with the Castro regime. (Prior to the shoot down, Brothers
dropped pro-democracy leaflets from within Cuban airspace, to be carried
by the wind to shore.) Under pressure from Castro, the Clinton
administration revised the 1966 Cuban Adjustment act, reclassifying
those fleeing Cuba from political refugees to illegal immigrants worthy
of repatriation—unless they managed to reach American shores. This was
the birth of the "wet foot-dry foot" policy, under which individuals
would be returned to Cuba if picked up at sea. This was also the death
of Brothers to the Rescue's previously cordial relationship with U.S.
authorities.
The Clinton administration's response to the shoot-down crisis, hotly
argued by the documentary's on-screen surrogates, is found by all to be
deficient. That leaves viewer wondering what, short of sending F-16s on
sorties over Havana, the appropriate response to such hostile acts
should have been. It is clear, though, that, as Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart
(R-Fla.) argues in the film, had such an event been perpetrated by the
apartheid government of South Africa or Pinochet's Chile, the level of
public outrage surely would have been greater.
But arguments like those of Diaz-Balart aren't offered in isolation.
Shoot Down strives not to be seen as a "Miami exile" film, leading Khuly
to explore—and subtly reject—the Castroite perspective. The strenuous
attempt at balance is, at times, irksome. One wonders if the inclusion
of Castro hagiographer Saul Landau, who signed a recent editorial on the
Cuban revolution with the exclamation "Viva Fidel!," adds anything to
the story, other than to act as another layer of insulation against
charges of bias.
But this is a minor quibble. Unctuous fellow-travelers such as Landau
(who sheepishly confesses to the camera that Cuba's judicial system is
"less than perfect") will convince no one that destroying civilian
planes was necessary for the revolution's survival.
Almost a decade ago in reason, Kenneth Lloyd Billingsley rightly
bemoaned the film industry's lack of interest in arguably the 20th
century's greatest tragedy: the stubborn adherence of politicians,
artists, and intellectuals to the dogma of Marxism-Leninism. The recent
crop of films promises, however belatedly, to begin the process of
correction.
Currently in limited release, Shoot Down by itself will not redraw the
image of Castro-as-beneficent-leader—Michael Moore's paean to Cuban
health care was just nominated for an Oscar, after all. But every little
bit helps.
Michael C. Moynihan is an associate editor of reason.
http://reason.com/news/show/124657.html
Family looking for millions from Cuba
Family looking for millions from Cuba
Associated Press – January 29, 2008 5:54 AM ET
MIAMI (AP) – The family of an American who was tortured and executed by
a Cuban firing squad is asking a federal court to enforce a state
judgment that awarded them millions of dollars.
Jeannette Hausler is the sister of Robert Fuller, a U.S. citizen who
owned a plantation in Cuba and was killed in 1960, in violation of U.S.
anti-torture and extra-judicial killing laws.
Last year a Florida state court awarded her family $400 million in damages.
They filed court papers last week asking a federal court to pay them $80
million.
Receiving payment is difficult in cases like this because they are
trying to identify Cuban assets frozen in U.S. bank accounts.
Banks can be secretive about saying how much money they have, fearing
lawsuits from the Cuban government.
http://www.mysuncoast.com/Global/story.asp?S=7788138&nav=menu577_2
Committee for Democracy in Cuba
Committee for Democracy in Cuba del
2008-1-28
Monday, January 28, 2008 3:56 PM
Subject: ICDC News
Dear Mr. Estefanía
Please find attached the news from Cuba and from the activities of the
International Committee for Democracy in Cuba (ICDC) from the months of
November through December 2007.
The ICDC has completed the overview of its 2007 activities. The bulletin
is giving a summary of the main events and actions taken by the ICDC
over the last year. It is available online in English and Spanish at the
ICDC website.
http://www.icdcprague.org/download/documents/en/ICDC2007-11_en_nahled.pdf
Also if you are interested in the new issue of Cuba-Europe Dialogues,
a quarterly bulletin issued by People in Need in cooperation with
European Cuba Network, visit
http://www.cubalog.eu/download/pdf/dialogues_21.pdf
Please feel free to contact us with questions or suggestions to the
reports or activities.
Best regards
Lucie Ne?asová
People in Need, Czech Republic
Human Rights and Democracy
ICDC Secretary
Tel: +420 226 200 462
Cell: +420 777 607 247
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.peopleinneed.cz, www.icdcprague.org
News from the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba
November through December 2007
News from Cuba
Hector Palacio Ruiz Allowed to Go to Spain for Medical Treatment
On October 25th Hector Palacio was allowed to leave Cuba for Spain for
urgently needed medical treatment. Hector Palacio's was arrested and
sentenced to 25 years in prison as one of the 75 dissidents imprisoned
during the crackdown in the spring of 2003. He had been hospitalized
from much of the last few years as his health deteriorated. His wife,
Gisela Delgado, the director of Cuba's Independent Library Project, was
allowed to accompany him.
Cubans Deliver Petition Calling for Monetary Reforms
On Wednesday, November 21st, a group of dissident women handed in a
petition signed by 10,738 people on Wednesday demanding an end to Cuba's
dual currency system which they said caused poverty and inequality. The
petition's signatures were gathered by members of the Latin American
Federation of Rural Women (FLAMUR) and delivered to Cuba's National
Assembly, which is required by the Cuban Constitution of 1976 to address
any petitions signed by more than 10,000 citizens. The campaign draws
upon the strategy used by the Varela Project, which in 2003 delivered a
petition with even more signatures calling for democratic reforms to be
made. The government rejected the Varela's projects petition outright,
but could handle this petition differently. Cubans are paid in pesos,
but have to use convertible pesos (CUC), which are 24 times more
valuable, to buy a wide range of consumer goods. It is still unclear
how the government will respond to this latest grassroots challenge.
Opposition Holds International Human Rights Day Events in Spite of Pressure
The Ladies in White and other prominent oppositions groups held
demonstrations in Cuba to mark International Human Rights Day on
December 10th and to increase pressure for the government to release
political prisoners and to make democratic reforms. The Cuban
government had increased its pressure on known opposition leaders in
hopes of preventing them from carrying out these planned protests.
Organizers and potential participants were harassed, detained and jailed
across the island in late November and early December. The opposition
held their demonstrations as planned, though they were reportedly
severely out numbered by counter- demonstrators paid for by the government.
Several Foreigners Deported For Joining Ladies in White in Silent
Protest March
Eight Spanish women were detained and deported on Monday December 10th
after participating in a Ladies in White demonstration calling for the
release of all prisoners of conscience in Cuba. The group of women, who
were members of the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia party, had
traveled to Cuba on tourist visas, and were seen by authorities carrying
banners that said "democracy" and "freedom." The Cuban government
stated simply that tourists have no business meddling in Cuba's internal
affairs and has in the past deported numerous foreigners who support
local dissidents.
Cuban Government Promises to Sign UN Rights Pacts
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque claimed that Cuba would soon
sign onto the U.N.'s International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights. The documents were approved by the U.N. General Assembly in
1976, but have remained unsigned by the Cuban government. In addition,
the Foreign Minister stated that Cuba would open its doors in 2009 to
scrutiny by the newly created U.N. Human Rights Council; even though the
former U.N. Human Rights Commission's special rapporteur's requests to
visit the island in the past were refused. Both claims surprised many
international observers, but were welcomed.
Activists Call for Independent Colleges in Cuba
A group of Cuban students and young professionals said Tuesday, November
27th it has collected 5,000 signatures petitioning the government to
allow universities that would operate independently of the state while
encouraging freedom of speech. Supporters of the University Students
without Borders Project want Cuba's communist government to permit
autonomous colleges and also reopen Havana's Catholic University of
Santo Tomas de Villanueva, which the Castro government shuttered in
1961. This latest petition drive was started only in August and hopes
to get the 10,000 signatures required to deliver it to Cuban lawmakers.
For now, organizers are afraid to submit the petition, since it
jeopardizes the status of thousands of students and various faculty
members who have signed, but are currently either studying or working at
one of Cuba's universities. The government has responded by arresting
two youth leaders from the Cuban university autonomy movement, Eliécer
Consuegra Rivas and Gerardo Sánchez Ortega on November 29.
News from the ICDC
2007 Overview of ICDC Activities Available
The ICDC has completed the overview of its 2007 activities. The
bulletin offers a foreword by Vaclav Havel, and articles by Madeline
Albright, Miriam Leiva and others, while giving a summary of the main
events and actions taken by the ICDC over the last year. It is
available online in English and Spanish at the ICDC website.
The Latest Issue of Cuba – Europe Dialogues
The latest issue of the bulletin Cuba – Europe Dialogues has been
completed and is available on line at www.cubalog.eu.
The current issue
focuses on trade, tourism and investment between Cuba and the European
Union. Feature length articles by Oscar Epinosa Chepe, Maria Werlau and
Pavel Res, amongst others, dissect the historical economic relationships
between Cuba and Europe by looking at how globalization and tourism are
transforming the island currently. There are also articles highlighting
the work being done by the European NGO network members, People in Peril
and Pax Christi, in Cuba over the last year. It is also available in
English and Spanish.
http://www.cubanuestra.nu/web/article.asp?artID=10782
35 very ill political prisoners in Cuba, says right group
35 very ill political prisoners in Cuba, says right group
From correspondents in Havana
January 27, 2008 09:03am
THERE are 35 political prisoners in Cuba in very poor health, and
authorities now have a novel way of taking dissidents out of circulation
for a short time, a leading human rights group said in a report.
Out of a total of 290 dissidents and prisoners of conscience in Cuba at
the close of 2007, 35 "are in a deplorable state of health inside
prisons," the National Coordinator of Current and Former Political
Prisoners (CNPP) said in the report issued in Havana.
Twenty-six of the ailing inmates are women, it added.
The rights group said there were "315 known prisons (in Cuba), including
56 maximum security facilities, 182 forced-labor camps, 46 minimum
security prisons, 18 juvenile detention centers and 13 prisons for women".
The report also mentioned "a new method to prevent opposition members
from reaching meeting places or diplomatic missions is taking them to a
police station for one or two days and then returning them … back to
their home towns."
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23116352-38199,00.html
In Cuba, use bug spray, skip water
In Cuba, use bug spray, skip water
January 27, 2008
Q: I will be visiting Cuba as part of a cultural exchange approved by
the U.S. government. Besides not drinking the water, are there any
health issues I should know about? — J.G., Los Altos, Calif.
A: Before leaving home, you should visit a health-care provider who
specializes in travel medicine to ask what precautions to take.
You can find a clinic at the Web site of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention ( www.cdc.gov). Click on "Travelers' Health," then
"Travel Medicine Clinics."
One of the most common diseases that can be transmitted in tropical and
subtropical regions is dengue, which can produce fever, joint and muscle
pain, and rash. There's no vaccine, but you can reduce your risk by
using insect repellent containing at least 30 percent DEET, wearing
loose pants and long-sleeve shirts when outdoors, and keeping screens
shut and the air conditioning on.
Other suggestions:
• Don't drink tap water or consume drinks with ice cubes.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water (or use an alcohol-based
hand gel).
• Don't eat food sold by street vendors.
• Make sure the food you eat is fully cooked.
Michael Martinez writes for the San Jose Mercury News.
http://www.dailypress.com/travel/dp-gl_travelqa_0127jan27,0,111509.story?track=rss