Cuban Colada

Cuban envoy to Nicaragua goes home; was cause a political tiff or failing health?

The Cuban government on Friday withdrew its embassador to Nicaragua, Luis Hernández Ojeda, following "a conflict" with Rosario Murillo, President Daniel Ortega's wife, El Nuevo Diario reported Saturday in Managua, citing diplomatic sources.
According to the newspaper, Hernández was asked to return to Cuba after "a strong discussion" during which "the diplomat received mistreatment and contempt" from Murillo. The exchange, which began Wednesday and continued Thursday, was characterized by "language loud in tone," the report said.
Hernández was a familiar face in Managua. From 1979 to 1981, he was Cuba's chargé d'affaires and later ambassador. He resumed that post in March 2007 after Ortega's election.
[UPDATE: A source at the Cuban Embassy in Managua told El Nuevo Diario late Saturday that Hernández's hasty departure "was due to health problems." According to the source, Hernández spent three months in Havana because of "a delicate heart operation" and later returned to Nicaragua, where he remained for two months until this week, "when he concluded his mission to this country."]

Cuba and Libya reestablish trade relations

Cuba and Libya on Friday resumed trade relations after an 11-year pause by signing a protocol in Havana, the Cuban agency Prensa Latina reported.
The signatories were Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmed Fituri and Cuban Deputy Foreign Trade Minister Ramón Ripoll Díaz.
The agreement covers commerce, tourism, biotechnology, medicine and construction. Libya has requested the assistance of the UNECA construction company to build highways, public buildings, hospitals and schools, Prensa Latina said.
Prior to the ceremony, another accord was signed "to strengthen diplomatic relations, and in the next several months other agreements will be signed to renew [bilateral] exchanges in various sectors," the announcement said.
(ABOVE: Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and Fidel Castro in an undated photo.]

Cuban singer gets visa, performs in DC

Singer-songwriter Carlos Varela, who was barred from the U.S. by the Bush administration, performed at a church in Washington on Thursday, taking advantage of a three-week visa granted him by the Obama administration, Reuters reported.
Varela met with an unidentified White House official, according to the organizers of his trip, the Center for Democracy in the Americas. He also spoke with representatives Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and John Tierney (D-Mass.)
Thursday evening, Varela was scheduled to take part in a symposium on Cuba at American University in Washington. The university helped the CDA secure the singer's visa.
Varela, who last visited the U.S. in 1998, hopes to bring his band on a tour next year, Reuters said.
In 2004, the Bush administration denied Varela a visa to perform in Miami, even though 1,700 tickets had been sold. To read the Reuters report, click here. (PHOTO of Varela speaking at American University was provided by the CDA.)

Migration talks postponed till February

The talks between Cuba and the United States on the subject of migration, scheduled for December, have been postponed until February, an unidentified State Department official said, according to the German news agency DPA. The official gave no explanation for the delay, but The Associated Press said that the rescheduling was done "at the Cuban government's request.".
The negotiations, which the parties agreed should be conducted twice a year, had been scheduled for this month as a continuation of the first round of discussions, in July.
Suspended by the Bush administration in 2004, the talks review the migration accords of the 1990s, which sought to prevent a flow of migrants to the U.S. like the 1980 Mariel exodus and the 1994 wave of rafters.

End trade and travel bans, L.A. Times says

In an editorial titled "Cracking Cuba," published Thursday, the Los Angeles Times concludes that "the economic pressure that failed to yield either regime change or human rights reforms over more than four decades of Fidel Castro's rule is just as ineffective today as it has always been.
"Instead of continuing a failed policy," The Times says, "the Obama administration should craft a new one of incentives for Cuba to improve its human rights record."
The Times concedes that "Raúl Castro continues to stifle political dissent" and cites a recent Human Rights Watch report that says activists "are subjected to systematic due process violations, including abusive interrogations, the denial of legal counsel and sham trials."
Yet, the editorial says, the "U.S. travel and trade bans [...] must be lifted."
In addition, "it would be best if the U.S. and the European Union forged a common policy pushing for the release of political prisoners and other human rights improvements, while making clear they do not seek regime change," the editorial continues.
"Frequent contact between peoples and the free flow of goods and ideas are the best means to create pressure for change. As Human Rights Watch notes, the U.S. embargo has too long served the Castros as a pretext for cracking down on dissidents. Try something else."
To read the entire editorial, click here.

Salvadoran vice president flies to Havana; first top official to visit Cuba in 48 years

Vice President Salvador Sánchez Cerén of El Salvador flew to Cuba on Thursday at the invitation of the Cuban government, the Spanish news agency EFE reported. It is the first visit to Cuba made by a Salvadoran official after diplomatic relations between the two countries – broken in 1961 – were restored in June of this year.
Sánchez, 65, is a historic leader of the Farabundo Martí Front of National Liberation (FMLN) and holds the title of Minister of Education.
Neither his agenda nor the duration of his visit to Cuba were disclosed by the vice presidential office in San Salvador. However, the Cuban agency Prensa Latina reported he will meet with First Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura "and tour areas of economic and social interest."

Castro won't attend summit in Portugal

Raúl Castro will not attend the 19th Ibero-American Summit, to be held Nov. 29-Dec. 1 in Estoril, Portugal, the Cuban daily Granma announced Saturday in a two-paragraph note.
No explanation was given. Cuba will be represented by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.
Several other presidents will not show up for the gathering. They are Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Tabaré Vásquez (Uruguay), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua) and Alvaro Colom (Guatemala).
It is unclear who will represent Honduras, whose elected president, Manuel Zelaya, was overthrown in June.
Attendees will include the chiefs of state and government of Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and the Dominican Republic.

Los Van Van plan 70 concerts in the U.S. next year, but only 'one or two' in Miami

Los Van Van, Cuba's top-ranking timba band, plans to give 70 concerts in the United States in a three-stage series in 2010 that might extend until 2011, the band's founder and musical director, Juan Formell, said Friday in Havana.
He gave no specifics, other than "one or two" of the performances might take place in Miami, where the group had a stormy reception in 1999.
"Miami has changed a lot in the past 10 years," said Formell, adding that the situation is more "favorable" to the Cubans' presence, without "so much aggressiveness." There are "many young people from Cuban families who are in favor" of a visit by Los Van Van, he said.
Formell and his son Samuel – his successor as the orchestra's leader – were attending the premiere of a documentary about the 40th anniversary of the band's creation.
The orchestra will give an anniversary concert Dec. 9 at the Karl Marx Theater in Havana, featuring musicians such as singers Omara Portuondo and Pedro Calvo and pianist César "Pupy" Pedroso. Later in December, it will embark on a tour that will take it to Colombia and Panama.

–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Chávez pays a 'lightning' visit to Raúl, Fidel after talks with a high-level Cuban mission

Hugo Chávez made an unannounced trip to Havana on Tuesday to meet with Raúl and Fidel Castro, the Venezuelan president said Wednesday in Caracas during a ceremony for the visiting president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“I made a lightning trip to Cuba and spent seven hours yesterday with Fidel going over various topics. We do this with considerable frequency," Chávez said, according to the Venezuelan daily El Universal.
"Fidel told me: 'Tell Ahmadinejad that going to Venezuela is like coming to Cuba, because they're one and the same country,'" Chávez said.
Chávez's trip to the island came two days after he met in Caracas with a top-level Cuban delegation, reportedly to make plans for the summit of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America) set for Dec. 13-14.
The delegation, led by Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, vice president of the Council of Ministers, included:
• Jorge Luis Sierra Cruz, vice president of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Transport
• Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment
• Salvador Pardo Guerra, Minister of the Iron and Steel Industry
• Yadira García Vera, Minister of Basic Industry
• Rogelio Sierra Díaz, Vice Minister of Foreign Relations
• Alberto Rodríguez, Vice Minister of Computer Sciences and Communications
• Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, Ambassador to Venezuela
The Cuban news agency Prensa Latina reported that Chávez's trip was to discuss ALBA-related matters. (PHOTO at left shows Chávez and Raúl Castro at the airport. No pictures of Chávez and Fidel were immediately released.)
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Senator: Save $300M. End Radio-TV Martí.

Dump Radio and TV Martí. Virtually no one tunes in to them, contends Senator Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) in a press release issued this week.
Feingold, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, on Monday launched a Spotlight on Spending series "to highlight actions Congress can take to reduce the deficit," currently at $1.42 trillion.
One of those actions would be to terminate Radio and TV Martí, "relics of the Cold War [,,,] that virtually no one tunes in to." According to Feingold, "government studies show that Radio and TV Martí are riddled with problems and fall short of journalistic standards."
The deficit reduction thus achieved would be $300 million over 10 years, Feingold maintains.
"As we progress toward a more modern and constructive relationship with Cuba, Radio and TV Martí no longer have any real diplomatic or fiscal purpose," he said.
Feingold said he intends to bring up the issue when the Senate takes up President Obama's nominees to the Broadcasting Board of Governors that oversees RTV-Martí.
"The political environment has changed significantly since the inception of Radio and TV Martí, and President Obama's commitment to international diplomacy and dialogue offers a more effective way to engage with the people of Cuba," Feingold's press release says.