Fidel blasts sports 'traitors' who defect

In an article published Thursday in the Cubadebate website,  Fidel Castro denounced the defection of two Cuban players from the 2008 International Baseball Federation World Junior AAA Championships being played in Edmonton, Canada. Pitcher Noel Argüelles and infielder José Iglesias were last seen Sunday night at the University of Alberta. After relating how the Cuban team went on to win its next game despite the defections, Castro wrote: "Edmonton has become a garbage dump. The Cuban athletes were badly served. [...] We should analyze if it's worthwhile to attend again. [...] But the imperialist aggression occurs not only in baseball. Some months ago, several in our male soccer team allowed themselves to be dragged into treason in the United States, reducing Cuba's chances in that sport on the international stage. One Olympic judo athlete, a woman who was almost assured a gold medal, was bribed. Buying our athletes, they took away five sure gold medals in Olympic boxing. [The Americans] call for the beheading of Cuba, robbing our brains, muscles and bones. Why are the rich and powerful fearful of our small and blockaded island?" Castro concluded by saying: "In the Olympics, beginning Aug. 8, our athletes [...] will compete for the gold with more dignity than ever, and our people will enjoy their medals like they never did before. Then the fans will remember the traitors." For a Reuters report, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Pro-Castro banner allegedly seen on Miami rock house

  The rock house at the corner of Northwest 22^nd Avenue and 7^th Street has acquired the status of an almost mythical Miami landmark. Many Cuban exiles believe that Fidel Castro used to live there years before he led a revolution to force dictator Fulgencio Batista to flee Cuba on New Year’s Eve 1958. While there’s no evidence that Castro ever lived at the rock house, many witnesses remember seeing him there – receiving friends and supporters when he traveled to Miami in November 1955 to stage an anti-Batista rally at the now-defunct Flagler Theater downtown.  (The photo by Miami Herald reporter Luisa Yanez shows the rock house as it appears today).

 Max Lesnik, a maverick Cuban-American radio broadcaster who was a one-time Castro friend, said in his regular gossip e-mail column titled El Duende or The Goblin that a pro-Castro banner appeared at the rock house early Saturday, the 55^th anniversary of the July 26, 1953 attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba by Castro and a band of followers. The attack is regarded as the start of the Castro revolutionary movement known as the July 26 Movement.

 Lesnik said in his column that the banner carried the colors of the July 26 movement, red and black, and that it was removed “before a police cruiser arrived summoned by a neighbor.’’ Lesnik’s email said it was not clear whether the banner was placed as a joke.

 A man who lives in a house behind the rock house said he did not remember seeing a red and black banner on the rock house Saturday but said those flags appear in Miami from time to time because “this city is full of Fidel Castro supporters.’’

 Pedro Arredondo, manager of a travel business at the rock house, said he also was not aware of any banner Saturday.

 Castro’s Miami rally took place Nov. 20, 1955 and his supporters collected money to help finance the anti-Batista revolution. After Miami, Castro traveled to Tampa and Key West and then returned to Mexico where he was training a guerrilla force.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Novosti to open news bureau in Cuba

In one of the first results of the visit of Russian officials to Cuba, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti announced Thursday that it will open a bureau in Havana. The announcement was made by the Russian Minister of Communications, Igor Schogolev, and his Cuban counterpart, Ramiro Valdés. It did not say when the bureau will become operational. According to Novosti, the two officials also discussed "the development of stationary and mobile telephony in Cuba and [...] the modernization of the Cuban postal services, as well as the participation of Russian companies in investment projects in Cuba's computer and communications sectors."

Russian VP begins trade-expansion talks

A large delegation from Russia met with Cuban officials Wednesday in Havana, "in a climate of trust and commitment, to deepen the economic and trade relations" between the two countries, the daily Granma reported Thursday. The sides were headed by Igor Ivanovich Sechin, Vice President of Russia, and Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuban Minister At Large. Working groups met to discuss a rapprochement in the fields of basic industry, aviation/transport, education, science and technology, computer science and communications, tourism, agriculture, military, financial and banking, and pharmacology.
Russia’s trade with Cuba was $363 million in 2007, according to the Russian daily Kommersant; it was more than $207 million in the first half of this year, a 20-percent increase over the same period in 2007. The Russian news agency Novosti quoted Sechin as saying that oil production, tourism, health care, nickel production, telecommunications and nanotechnology "are the most promising spheres for cooperation between the two countries." Sechin also met with Vice President Carlos Lage. Trade missions pass regularly through Havana but the size of this Russian delegation, the heft of its members, and the variety of its interests make this visit noteworthy. The Russians plan to be in Cuba until Saturday. [UPDATE: Raúl Castro met Thursday afternoon with Sechin and Gen. Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council.]
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Revolutionary show heads for Broadway

New York producers Ben Sprecher and Louise Forlenza are lining up three Broadway shows, reports Crain's New York Business. One is Little House on the Prairie (remember the TV show?), another is Rebecca (remember the movie?), and the third one -- get this -- is Havana (remember the revolution?).
Crain's tells us that Havana, planned for the fall of 2010, is "a new musical about the days leading up to Fidel Castro's takeover of Cuba" and that it will cost "between $12 million to $15 million" to produce. No details as to who will write the script or compose the music.
My brain teems. I envision a musical in 1950s style, with a slam-bang overture, a big opening number and lots of tuneful solos. Picture this: Mr. Batista singing Why Do I Feel So Queasy?; a production number titled The Rebels Are Coming, The Rebels Are Coming!; a solo by Mr. Castro, This Is My Lucky Day; a dance number by Mr. Guevara titled Tengo Tango; and a chorus number, What Next, Fidel? [Photo shows: Entire cast singing the finale, Vamoose To Havana.)
If you have any ideas for other numbers, let me have them and I'll pass them on to the producers.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Cuban spies may be named

  Chris Simmons, a U.S. Army counterintelligence expert who in early July caused a stir in Miami for saying Cuba has rebuilt its Florida spy network, is coming back this week for an encore. A press release issued by Simmons’ associate in South Florida, Ana Margarita Martinez, said Simmons will be here Thursday to “follow through on his word to publicly name Cuban spies in South Florida.’’ Martinez is the ex-wife of Cuban spy Juan Pablo Roque, who evaded FBI arrest when he fled to Cuba on the eve of the downing of two Brothers to the Rescue planes by a Cuban MiG in 1996. Roque allegedly belonged to the Wasp Cuban spy ring discovered by the FBI in 1998. Martinez and Simmons (in the photo) are collaborating on a book and a movie about her relationship with Roque and the Cuban spy network to which he belonged – unbeknownst to her at the time. Martinez said Simmons returned to Miami because during a televised interview the last time he was here, host Oscar Haza challenged him to name spies who are currently in the U.S. working for the Cuban government. Simmons accepted the challenge and will once again appear on Haza’s A Mano Limpia show on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. on America TeVe 41 to disclose specific names. On Friday, Martinez said, Simmons will appear on Ninoska a las 3 with talk show host Ninoska Perez-Castellon at 3:00 p.m. on WQBA 1140 AM. Simmons has been a counterintelligence officer since 1987. He played a key role in theidentification, investigation, and debriefing of convicted Cuban spy Ana Belen Montes -the highest-ranking Cuban spy ever sent to prison in the United States.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Political Prisoner in Critical Condition

Directorio Democratico reports that jailed opposition journalist Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta sewed his mouth shut July 21 and is now on his 12th day of a hunger strike.

Herrera is demanding to be transferred to a prison closer to his home in Guantanamo. He is jailed in Holguin. Prisoners Alfredo Rodolfo Domínguez Batista, Orlando Zapata Tamayo y Luis Mariano Delís Utria joined his protest on July 19, Directorio said in a press release today.

"According to telephone statements given to the Cuban Democratic Directorate by Melba Santana Ariz, Domínguez Batista’s wife, and Reina Luisa Tamayo Dánger, Zapata Tamayo’s mother, the prisoners continue on hunger strike despite not receiving medical attention and their terrible states of health.

'[Juan Carlos] is in a very bad state of health. Three of the stitches with which he sewed his mouth shut are infected. He suffered a hypoglycemic attack on the 28th. He says he is going to let himself die, that he does not receive medical attention, that his blood pressure is very low,' stated a distraught Santana Ariz. 'When they say “strike,” they mean “strike”… We ask the world, and all people of goodwill to join the call not to allow the death of this worthy brother who is in that situation… We are willing to conduct sustained sit-ins, to do whatever needs to be done for this brother, but we cannot allow him to die,' stated Tamayo Dánger."

Herrera Acosta was one of the "75" swept up in the 2003 crackdown on dissent. (photo courtesy of the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy.)

- Frances Robles

Parke Wright: I'm too busy for Lincoln

Florida cattle rancher John Parke Wright says he’s got no time for meddling congressmen trying to rain on his little league game in Havana.

The Washington Post reports today that Lincoln Diaz-Balart held a meeting to express his dissatisfaction over a New England kids’ little league set to take place next month in Havana. Parke Wright, a Naples rancher who does business in Cuba, helped organize the trip and says it will take place no matter what Diaz-Balart has to say.

"There’s no Cuban in Miami who can stop me, not even a congressman," he told the Herald this morning. "These Cubans try to do things like that ought to go back to Cuba. This is Florida. We are Americans. We are Floridians. We don’t need some Cubans telling us in America what to do – especially Lincoln Diaz-Balart. I have no time for Lincoln Diaz-Balart. I have too much to do to worry about some Cuban in Miami."

Hmph!

-Frances Robles

Lawmaker finds kids' trip 'very troubling'

Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) is rounding up other members of Congress to stop a team of preteen baseball players from Vermont and New Hampshire from traveling to Cuba to play some goodwill games, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. The Havana-born legislator has also turned to State Department and Treasury Department officials in an effort to halt the trip, the paper says. At issue is "the very troubling granting of a Treasury/OFAC license to a Little League team to travel to Cuba in August," according to a message from Díaz-Balart to his fellow lawmakers. (See our May 31 blog item Little Leaguers Try Baseball Diplomacy and our July 10 item Play Ball!) The children's tour is scheduled to begin Aug. 8 and last 10 days; so as not to violate the embargo by paying for hotel rooms, they will be housed in a Havana convent. The trip has strong bipartisan support from the two states' top politicians, The Post says. To read the entire article, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

New mission chief is ready to work

The new chief of the U.S. Interests Section  in Havana, Jonathan D. Farrar, has asked for an introductory meeting with Cuban Foreign Ministry officials, the German news agency DPA reported Tuesday. He replaces Michael Parmly, who left his post early in July after three years in Cuba. Farrar, who arrived in Havana on July 17, will have to wait to meet Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque, who is in Iran this week attending a ministerial meeting of the Movement of Nonaligned Countries. The new mission chief was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. His overseas postings include stints in Uruguay, Paraguay, Belize and Mexico. In Washington, Farrar was Deputy Director of the State Department's Office of Andean Affairs. For more information about his career and personal life, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Family and friends outline desire for clemency for exile militant

  The name Eduardo Arocena evokes either fear or admiration – depending on your political views. As alleged mastermind of the Cuban exile militant organization Omega 7 mere mention of his name would at one time conjure up images of a mysterious terrorist bent on assassinating Cuban government officials or blowing up Cuban government embassies and other facilities associated or allied with the Havana regime. But to many Cuban Americans, Arocena is a patriot who acted as a revolutionary bent on overthrowing the Fidel Castro government that most exiles view as illegitimate and worthy of destruction. Those two radically different views of Arocena will be in play over the next few months as some Cuban exiles press their campaign to persuade President Bush to pardon Arocena. Arocena’s wife. Miriam, appeared at a news conference in Little Havana Tuesday to urge Cuban exiles and others to sign a petition she and her supporters are planning to send to Bush soon. She also said that she had forwarded letters to Bush and his wife Laura through Sen. Joe Lieberman who visited the Bay of Pigs museum in Little Havana July 20 while campaigning for John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate. Lieberman's office confirmed the meeting but said the senator has no position on the issue. “Senator Lieberman does not intervene in criminal proceedings including requests for pardons,’’ according to Scott Overland, a Lieberman spokesman. “The correspondence was merely forwarded without any comment, endorsement or support whatsoever.” The White House declined comment, and the Justice Department in general discussed its process to review clemency requests. Those rules would seem to rule out a pardon for Arocena – but not some form of presidential clemency. “No petition for pardon should be filed until the expiration of a waiting period of at least five years after the date of the release of the petitioner from confinement,’’ those rules say. Arocena was sentenced to life in prison plus 35 years. The rules say another form of clemency is commutation of sentence. (The photo shows a poster shown at the news conference in Little Havana Tuesday where Arocena's wife, Miriam, and supporters spoke. In Spanish, the poster says For Eduardo It's Time Already. 25 Years) Miriam said that if Bush does not grant clemency, then the earliest her husband can be considered for release would be 2050. “I don't think any of us are going be here on that year,’’ she said Tuesday.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Izvestia (sort of) recants tale of bombers

The Russian newspaper Izvestia reluctantly conceded it had been misled when it published a report that Russian bombers might use Cuba as a refueling stop. In an editorial Friday, titled "Who 'disinformed' our newsroom and why," Izvestia said the tip came from "a person of our own flesh and blood, someone whom there is no reason not to trust." And the newspaper trusted the source because "when politicians reach a certain level, they seldom make 'idle' comments." Besides, the source made the comment "in the presence of a sufficiently large number of people."
"We did not publish the hot news without checking," the editorial continued. "We telephoned officials and were given an evasive 'it cannot be said that such suggestions are groundless.' [...] Even Fidel Castro read our piece, responded, and generally approved." And though the Defense Ministry rejected the story, "we were absolutely correct in our formulation and conclusions and also were honest with our readers."
Still, the paper declined to rebuke or name the source. "We have no doubt about the reliability of this source. We cannot give his name; he is still useful to us, and his job is still useful to him." To read the editorial (in Russian), click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Chávez: Common cause against Bush

In an effusive letter to Fidel Castro, published Monday in the official daily Granma, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela congratulates the Cuban leader for an article in which he criticized a warning to Russia by a high-ranking officer in the U.S. Air Force. (See our July 24 blog item Fidel Urges Prudence in Bomber Flap.)
In the letter, addressed by hand to "Dear father Fidel," Chávez praises "the precise lucidity and enviable gift of synthesis" of Castro's article. "[It] is illuminating in the sense that a new attempt at aggression against Cuba is being designed," Chávez writes."And not only against Cuba; Venezuela is also in the crosshairs. [...] Bush, in the face of his inevitable decline, wants to revive the Cold War. The fact that Russia has stood up is driving the hawks out of their skins and they try, through the communication transnationals, to click the key of fear."
Alluding to published reports that Russia might be considering using Cuba as a refueling stop for strategic bombers (a report subsequently denied by Moscow), Chávez says: "I am fully in accord with you. We don't have to give explanations or report on our actions to the Yankee Empire, much less excuse ourselves or beg forgiveness. On this exact point, which admits no hesitation of any kind, Venezuela makes common cause with Cuba. To hesitate, and I paraphrase Bolívar, would be to lose our way."
To read the entire letter, in Spanish, click here. [Photo shows Chávez meeting in Havana with Fidel and Raúl Castro on June 17.]
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Mexico Cuban migrant route could close

    After interdictions by the U.S. Coast Guard increased in the Florida Straits, Cuban migrants seeking to reach the United States began using an alternate route through Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. As a result, the bulk of undocumented Cuban migrants reaching the United States is now arriving through the Yucatan peninsula. How long the Mexican route will remain open remains to be seen, but Mexico and Cuba are negotiating an immigration agreement aimed at ending or reducing the current migrant flow to Yucatan. A Reuters dispatch from Havana last week said Mexican officials hope to sign the agreement with Cuba in September. The story quoted the Mexican ambassador to Havana Gabriel Jimenez. At least 5,784 undocumented Cuban migrants arrived at the U.S.-Mexican border between Oct. 1 and April 15, according to figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection released earlier this year. Between Oct. 1, 2006 and Sept. 30, 2007 at least 11,487 undocumented Cuban migrants arrived at the Mexican border.

    The total for the these two periods is more than 17,000 and it’s safe to say that the majority of these Cuban border arrivals landed first in the Yucatan peninsula after crossing the Yucatan Channel from western Cuba. (The Associated Press photo shows a group of Cuban migrants in Cancun in June under Mexican military custody).

   The numbers of undocumented Cuban migrants interdicted in the Florida Straits or who have arrived on South Florida beaches pale in comparison.

   Between Oct. 1 and July 15, for example, at least 2,568 undocumented Cuban migrants arrived in South Florida while at least 1,335 were interdicted between Jan. 1 and July 21 for a total of 3,903.

-- Alfonso Chardy

No major improvements, Raúl hints

Raúl Castro made no major pronouncements in his speech Saturday in Santiago de Cuba. And some of his statements were almost downbeat. Examples:
• "I repeat that the Revolution has done, and will continue to do, whatever it can to continue to move forward and reduce to a minimum the inevitable consequences of the current international crisis for the population. Nevertheless, we must explain the difficulties to our people in a timely manner and thus prepare ourselves to deal with them. We must get used to hearing not only the good news.
• "We still lack many things that we wish our people could enjoy, although this is a very different reality to [the reality] encountered by the Revolution.
• "Much as we may wish to solve every problem, we cannot spend more than what we have. And to gain the best advantage, it is indispensable that we save everything, primarily fuel.
• "I repeat what [Fidel Castro] said on this same podium, a day like this, 35 years ago: [...] 'As a poor country, without great natural resources that can be easily exploited [...] the objectives of our people on a material level cannot be very ambitious.' And he added: 'It will be our duty in the years ahead to raise to the maximum our efficiency in the utilization of our economic and human resources. To keep a detailed account of the expenses and the costs. And we should valiantly rectify any errors in idealism that we may have committed in the management of the economy,' he concluded."
For the full text of Castro's speech (in English), click here. For The Herald's report on the event, click here. For an NPR analysis, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Spanish bank helps small meat producers

Caja Granada, a major Spanish savings bank, on Friday announced it will grant microcredits totaling 90,000 euros (US$141,050) to small livestock farmers in Cuba. The credits will be funneled through the United Nations' human-development program in Cuba and will be earmarked for the commercialization of pork, beef and lamb in the provinces of Las Tunas and Holguín. The initiative is expected to benefit 11,000 local meat producers by boosting production and generating jobs. Sergio Novás, the U.N. program's coordinator, said that increasing food production had top priority. "The price of food has risen significantly, and Cuba depends a great deal from imports. Therefore, this measure is basically aimed at preventing and combating hunger," he said.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Fidel to athletes: Remember the Spartans

Message from Fidel Castro to the Cuban athletes who left Havana this week for the Olympic Games in Beijing, published Saturday in the official daily Granma:
"To the selfless athletes of our Olympic Delegation: You must overcome the distance and the change in time, forget the public and the stage, concentrate, and do what you know best how to do.
"Never forget that in your hearts you carry the honor of your people.
"The motto of the Cuban athlete must be that of the ancient Spartans: '[Return] with your shield or on your shield.'
"Motherland or death. We shall win. Fidel Castro Ruz. July 19, 2008."

How the Cuba bomber flap evolved

    Lost in the unfolding controversy about the possible deployment of nuclear-capable strategic bombers in Cuba is an explanation of how the flap began. The current controversy arose with an article Monday July 21 in the Russian newspaper Izvestia, said to be close to the centers of power in the Kremlin. What is not yet clear is how Russians came to consider Cuba as a possible refueling site for strategic bombers. But a Miami expert on Cuba believes the root of the controversy dates back to a speech by then Russian president Vladimir Putin last year. Read on.

   In the now famous article, Izvestia said Russia is considering sending long-range bombers to Cuba in response to Washington's intentions to deploy an antimissile system in eastern Europe. (The Associated Press 1997 file photo shows a Tupolev-160 bomber during a combat training flight in Russia).

   An item on this blog by my blogging colleague Renato Perez Pizarro quoted Izvestia as saying: "While [the Americans] deploy antimissile systems in Poland and

the Czech Republic, our long-range strategic aircraft will be landing on Cuba."

   Izvestia attributed that statement to a military source and added that talk of a deployment was ongoing, “but it's only talk."

   Perez Pizarro noted in his blog item that the source Izvestia quoted did not say whether the planes would be stationed permanently on the island, but that a former official at the Russian Defense Ministry, Col. Gen. Leonid Ivashov, pointed out Cuba could be used as “an auxiliary airport for refueling," the same way Russia now uses the Cape Verde islands.

   That piece in Izvestia is the one that launched the still ongoing furor about whether Russia is planning to challenge the United States like Moscow did with nuclear missiles during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

   Within hours of the Izvestia report, the Russian defense ministry denied it and then White House spokeswoman Dana Perino minimized the whole situation, calling Russia a partner -- not a threat. On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry moved more aggressively to tamp down speculation calling the Izvestia report a “hoax.’’

   But also on Thurdsday Izvestia surprised the world yet again with a report attributed to Russian defense ministry sources as saying that bomber crews had visited Cuba to survey for sites for possible refueling stops.

   Two Cuba experts at the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, said it was possible Russia is trying to nudge the U.S. toward the negotiating table on the anti-missile system in Eastern Europe. But one of the experts said the report may be linked to the Putin speech.

   “It appears to me that the Russian leadership doesn’t want us trying to build that anti-missile system in its periphery and is trying to put a little pressure on us,’’ said Brian Latell, a former CIA analyst on Cuba and Latin America.

   “It could be a trial balloon to scare the Americans to bring them to table over the

anti-missile system in eastern Europe or it could be a desire of Russia to extend its reach into several parts of the world,’’ said Jaime Suchlicki, director of UM’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies.

   Suchlicki, who believes Venezuela could also be a refueling stop for Russian aircraft, recalled that last year Putin ordered the resumption of long-range patrols by strategic bombers which had ended with the Soviet collapse.

   “I have made a decision to resume regular flights of Russian strategic aviation,’’ Putin said in televised remarks Aug. 17, 2007 during joint Russian-Chinese maneuvers. “We proceed from the assumption that our partners will view the resumption of flights of Russia's strategic aviation with understanding.’’

   Suchlicki may have found the genesis of the current Cuba bomber flap.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Russia calls pit-stop reports 'a hoax'

Reports that Russian bombers might use Cuba as a refueling base are "disinformation," a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday. Ilshat Baichurin told foreign reporters that statements to that effect in Monday's Izvestia, attributed to an unnamed government official were "a canard." "We consider such communications from anonymous sources as disinformation and a media hoax," Baichurin said. "The Defense Ministry regrets that some respected Russian media outlets, for incomprehensible reasons, accepted these unreliable allegations." The disinformation likely "was initiated by certain circles in those countries that themselves emplace military bases and objects around Russia," he said, alluding to U.S. plans to build antimissile bases in Poland and radar facilities in the Czech Republic. "Russia, because of its peace-loving policies, does not build military bases along the borders of other states," he said.

Cubans want change, says Milanés

Nueva-trova singer Pablo Milanés continues to speak out on the situation in Cuba during his tour of Spain. Here's some quotes from an interview with Periodismo Digital this week in Madrid.
Q.: Paraphrasing [your] song I Do Not Ask You, what would you NOT ask Cuba today?
A.: I would not ask it to continue this situation. I would ask it to change, to finish changing, because the entire country is asking for it. We have made a change that is still flirting with reality and the facts. I am confident these things will occur. I do NOT ask for the situation to stagnate.
Q.: Are you a bit disappointed that after Castro comes another Castro?
A.: That was expected, more so when people expect an immediate reaction in favor of changes.
Q.: Do you think it's the beginning of a new Cuba?
A.: Yes, the people are expecting it anxiously, although it's coming too slowly for everyone.
Q.: Do you think the people are asking for it with sufficient energy?
A.: Yes, they're asking for it peaceably and with sufficient energy. There are assemblies, there are meetings, opinions, and those things are being done.
[See also our July 14 blog entry "Milanés: 'No queers in the Party.'"]
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Cuban American National Foundation arm praises Al Sharpton

    The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, an arm of the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation, has publicly praised liberal New York civil rights activist Al Sharpton (photo at left) for leading a human rights protest in front of the Cuban mission to the United Nations. “It is with great respect for your efforts that the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba commends your concern and interest in the deplorable lack of human rights on the island of Cuba,’’ a letter from the foundation to Sharpton said Tuesday. It was written by Omar Lopez Montenegro, the foundation director. You can read Lopez Montenegro’s letter here The photo below shows Lopez Montenegro (left) interviewed at Miami Spanish-language radio station WQBA. Sharpton led the demonstration on Tuesday outside the Cuban U.N. mission in New York. Also on hand at the rally were former Cuban political prisoners and family members of prisoners and dissidents on the island and leaders of some militant exile organizations such as Alpha 66.

   Ernesto Diaz, the Alpha 66 leader, called The Miami Herald from the site of the demonstration also to express support for Sharpton’s gesture.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Fidel urges prudence in bomber flap

Stay cool, seemed to say Fidel Castro in his latest "reflection", published Thursday in the official daily Granma under the title Machiavellian strategy. Here are excerpts, as translated by The Miami Herald.
"Raúl did very well by keeping a dignified silence over the statements published last Monday, July 21, by Izvestia, in connection with the eventual installation of bases for Russian strategic bombers in our country. The news arose from hypotheses elaborated in Russia over Yankee obstinacy in emplacing radar stations and launching pads for a nuclear shield near the borders of that great power.
"Yesterday, the 22nd, Gen. Norton Schwartz, who has been nominated as the new U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff, declared in the Senate that, if Russia does that, it would cross the red line, which is inadmissible for the security of the United States.
"If you say yes, I kill you. If you say no, the same, I kill you anyway. That's Machiavelli's strategy, which the empire applies to Cuba. It is not necessary to give explanations, to apologize, or ask for forgiveness.
"What is needed in these times of genocide is nerves of steel, and Cuba has them. The empire knows it." To read the entire article, in Spanish, click here. For background, see our blog post General Cautions Moscow on Cuba Flights, below.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Farmers are offered supplies on credit

The Cuban government has begun offering private farmers equipment and other resources on credit, along with land in usufruct, the Reuters news agency reported Wednesday. Farmers are being asked what machinery and supplies they need to exploit the land to its fullest, the agency said. Government officials "told us to present our requests immediately for what we need, and [said] that Venezuela, Iran and other countries had given credit to cover the resources," a member of a cooperative told Reuters. "We can ask for whatever we need. Machinery, spare parts, irrigation systems, wind mills, land-clearing kits, you name it." International sugar expert G.B. Hagelberg told Reuters that "the government recognizes the key role of the private sector in solving Cuba's food problems and has junked the long-held doctrine of the superiority of large-scale collectivist agriculture." For the entire Reuters report, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Exile article in Cuban paper derides Miami

     It’s not often that the Cuban communist party newspaper Granma publishes an article written by a Cuban American living in Miami. But that’s exactly what Granma did Wednesday. On Page 5 under the headline Miami: The Rotten City, maverick Cuban exile radio commentator Max Lesnik writes about what he describes as rampant political corruption in Miami and cites the case of local auto dealer Norman Braman.

   Braman has filed a lawsuit against a $3 billion development plan. Braman is suing Miami, Miami-Dade and the Marlins over the public-works project to build a ballpark and other downtown projects, including a tunnel to the Port of Miami.

   In the article Granma published Wednesday, Lesnik defends Braman from what he says is a campaign of “insults and taunts’’ and ends his piece with a blunt statement: “Let no one complain then when it is said that Miami is a rotten city. It smells bad, as bad as the smell of a sewer. Phew! What a stink!’’

   While a Lesnik article in Granma may not come as a surprise to many Cuban exiles who perceive him as sympathetic to the Cuban revolution, Lesnik says he did not write the piece for Granma. (The photo shows the article as it appeared Wednesday in Granma with a picture of the area around the Miami-Dade county hall building downtown).

   Lesnik told The Miami Herald Wednesday that he wrote the article for his Radio Miami Internet website (http://www.laradiomiami.com/) and then Granma reprinted it – without his knowledge. Lesnik is not upset but noted that other media should also print the article including The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Works by Lam on display in L.A.

An exhibition of paintings by Wifredo Lam (1902-82) opened this week at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, Calif. According to the Los Angeles Times, it is "the largest American museum exhibition of Lam's work since his death and the only one outside New York in nearly half a century. Spanning his career, Wifredo Lam in North America is drawn from eight public and numerous private collections. Organized by the Haggerty Museum of Art at Milwaukee's Marquette University, the 57 paintings on canvas and paper [...] offer a concise introduction to a complex artist's work." For a review by Times art critic Christopher Knight, click here. [Photo shows: Woman With Long Hair (1938), one of the paintings in the exhibition.]
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Berta Antunez in NY

The Cuba Solidaridad Movement offers this snapshot of Berta Antunez with Rev. Al Sharpton in New York this morning protesting outside the Cuban United Nations mission.

Antunez was known for years as the voice from Villa Clara denouncing prison abuses. Her brother Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, known as "Antunez" was in prison for 17 years. Her uncle Omar Pernet was one of the "75" jailed in 2003; he was freed in February and sent into forced exile in Spain.

Berta Antunez arrived in Miami five months ago. She's working at Directorio Democratico recording human rights denunciations -- like like someone used to do with her back in the day.

-Frances Robles

White House: Russia is no threat

Following is an exchange Tuesday between reporters and White House spokesperson Dana Perino on the subject of the Izvestia report:
Q.: Dana, did you look into the report about the Russian bombers in Cuba?
A.: Yes, it appears to be just speculation and hypotheticals right now. I would repeat that what President Bush said to President Medvedev and had said to President Putin beforehand on our missile defense plan is that we want to work with them, we seek a strategic partnership with the Russians. We are working to prevent missiles from rogue nations. We do not believe that Russia is a threat. Nor do we believe that our missile defense system would be any sort of a match-up against the vast arsenal of weapons that Russia has. So our target is not Russia. In fact, what we would like to do is work as equal partners with Russia, with the Europeans and here in our own country. We've been trying to have a dialogue with them. The Russians have said that they will keep having that dialogue. So on that specific report, I'll decline to comment, since it seems speculative at this point.

General cautions Moscow on Cuba flights

Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz warned that Russia would cross "a red line" if it used Cuba as a refueling stop for strategic nuclear bombers. (See blog item "Izvestia: Russia sees Cuba as landing strip," below.) Asked on Tuesday by members of the Senate Armed Service Committee how he would respond to such a move, Schwartz answered: "I certainly would offer best military advice that we should engage the Russians not to pursue that approach. And if they did, I think we should stand strong and indicate that that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America." Schwartz spoke at a hearing for his confirmation as Air Force Chief of Staff. For a news report from Reuters, click here. For an AFP account, click here. Read also this report by the McClatchy news service.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Fears of a Cuba crisis emerge

    Now that rumors are circulating that Russia may be planning to base or re-fuel long-range strategic bombers in Cuba or Venezuela, experts are beginning to sound the alarm about a possible future crisis over Cuba. In a piece titled A New Missile Crisis? University of Miami Cuba think tank leader Jaime Suchlicki is one of the first academic experts in the United States to raise the issue of a possible coming confrontation. (You can read Suchlicki’s article here. )  “Look, it may be nothing or it may be the glimmer of a strategic Russian challenge to the United States,’’ Suchlicki told The Miami Herald Tuesday. (Suchlicki is in the photo at right)

   Speculation about a possible crisis began when the Russian newspaper Izvestia reported on Monday that Moscow is considering the possibility of sending long-range bombers to Cuba in response to the possible deployment of an anti-missile shield in eastern Europe. (The Associated Press photo above shows a Russian aircraft in China during joint Russian-Chinese military exercises in 2005).

   Though the Russian defense ministry denied Izvestia’s report, Suchlicki followed up with his article saying: “It’s possible that the Russians may be willing to gamble again in Cuba.’’

   Meanwhile, a Reuters story from Washington said a top U.S. Air Force officer warned Congress on Tuesday that Russia would be crossing "a red line" if it were to use Cuba as a refueling base for nuclear-capable bombers.Reuters said Gen. Norton Schwartz spoke at his Senate nomination hearing to become the Air Force's top military officer.

  Suchlicki said Russians may be thinking about using not just Cuba but also Venezuela as a refueling stop for long-range bombers. After all, there is no understanding between Washington and Moscow over Venezuela as there is over Cuba in the aftermath of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis caused by Moscow’s decision to send nuclear missiles to the island.

   The world avoided nuclear war when Washington agreed not to invade Cuba and Moscow agreed to withdraw its missiles and not send nuclear weapons again to the island.

    Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is now visiting Russia and on Tuesday was quoted as saying that he is interested in a strategic alliance with Moscow to protect his country from possible U.S. intervention.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Sharpton: Free Dr. Biscet!

The Cuba Solidarity Movement reports that civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton held a protest today (Tuesday, July 22) in front of the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York, demanding the release of Afro-Cuban prisoners.

On hand with him in New York was Berta Antunez, the sister of Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, better known as "Antunez," who was released last year after serving a 17-year sentence.

"Antunez's sister Berta and several former Cuban political prisoners - each who have spent terms between ten and twenty-nine years - stood alongside Rev. Sharpton as he shared the stories of their suffering.  Rev. Sharpton spoke to "Antunez" personally yesterday evening from Cuba and he received a first hand account of the continued harassment he encounters daily in Cuba," the Solidarity Movement said.

Sharpton took particular notice of the case of prisoner Elias Biscet, a jailed Afro-Cuban doctor.

"We applaud Rev. Sharpton for bringing attention to the unjust incarceration of Cuba's many political prisoners. The Castro regime should take notice that the world will not stand for its systematic and violent oppression of Cuban citizens," Peter Mirijanian, spokesperson for the Cuba Solidarity Movement, said in a statement.

  - Frances Robles

Curacao slave movie: correction

Friday night's showing of "Curacao" - the movie about the three Cuban men who escaped their miserable jobs at a Cuban joint venture at a Curacao ship dock has changed. The movie starts at 5:30 p.m. Friday, and the time may also change on Saturday. More details in an earlier blog posting.
-FR

Izvestia: Russia sees Cuba as landing strip

Russia is considering sending long-range bombers to Cuba in response to Washington's intentions to deploy an antimissile shield in eastern Europe, the Russian newspaper Izvestia reported Monday. "While [the Americans] deploy antimissile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, our long-range strategic aircraft will be landing on Cuba," a military source told Izvestia, hastening to add that "such talk is ongoing, but it's only talk." The source did not say whether the planes would be stationed permanently on the island, but a former official at the Russian Defense Ministry, Col. Gen. Leonid Ivashov, told Izvestia that Cuba should be used as "an auxiliary airport for refueling," the way Russia uses the Cape Verde archipelago. The Cubans "probably will not object if we rebuild the electronic surveillance post at Lourdes," Ivashov added. That radar base was deactivated in 2002. The former commander of Lourdes, Lt. Gen. Mikhail Oparin, told the Interfax news agency he welcomed the idea. "Russia's air fleet must work towards a presence in every corner of the world," he said. Hours later, the Russian Defense Ministry denied Izvestia's report. To read the Izvestia account (in Russian only), click here. For a Reuters account in English, click here. For a Bloomberg update, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Dissidents create an alternative party

Manuel Cuesta Morúa, who is usually described by the media as "a moderate dissident," announced over the weekend that his group, Arco Progresista, or Progressive Arc, has become a social-democratic political party "open to those traditions of liberal socialism and christian socialism, fused in a center-left party, that can offer a better alternative for democratic change and stability" for Cuba. In other words, an alternative party within socialism, composed of AP and three other groups with socialist hues. The announcement appears (in Spanish only) in the cubanuestra website and merits a careful reading, as does Cuesta Morúa's address to the other leaders of the new organization. Cuesta Morúa openly admits that he is betting on the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States to solidify his party's position in Cuba. And he rejects "the cultural models that have ruled our political coexistence [as] useless. Neither Generals nor Doctors nor Enlightened Despotism dubbed Revolution" have worked, he says. "Without the right to control our lives, we're suspended over three failed platforms: a failed revolution, a failed nation, and a failed country." Cuesta Morúa's criticism of the state is unlikely to gain him sympathy in government circles, and (let's be realistic) a multiparty system in Cuba is an oxymoron at this time. What are his chances, now or in the future? I'd be interested in your comments.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

More peso protests reported in Havana

    The Cuban dissident group Federation of Latin American Rural Women, known for its Spanish-language acronym of Flamur, has staged several other protests in government-controlled sales outlets demanding to pay for goods and services in regular Cuban pesos. Places frequented by foreign travelers such as major restaurants or drug stores only accept payments in so-called convertible pesos which is a parallel currency tied to foreign money such as dollars or euros. For months Flamur has been spearheading a campaign dubbed Con la Misma Moneda or With the Same Currency aimed at forcing the Cuban government to accept regular pesos from ordinary Cubans who wish to buy meals or goods at convertible-peso outlets. The campaign has taken the form of personal protests in the style of the civil disobedience protests at lunch counters in the United States during the 1960s civil rights movement by black leaders.

   The first protest took place June 24 when four couples, all members of Flamur, walked into the Havana restaurant Vadia and offered to pay in regular pesos to cover their meals. The restaurant refused to accept the money and summoned police. Officers briefly arrested the eight dissidents.

   Last week more protests took place in Havana, according to Flamur Miami representative Magdelivia Hidalgo.

   In a statement, Hidalgo said the latest protests occurred at three pharmacies and one cafeteria. (The photos, provided by Flamur in Miami, allegedly show activists at a restaurant and a pharmacy).

   She said that on Wednesday, two groups of activists showed up at the pharmacies offering to buy medicines with regular pesos. Security was called and the pharmacies were shut down.

   On Thursday, she said, three more activists showed up at a cafeteria in Havana and tried to buy two hot dogs with regular pesos. Police officers were called, but Hidalgo said cafeteria workers accepted payments in regular pesos.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Cuban migrants continue to land in South Florida

    New figures released this week by the U.S. Border Patrol indicate that the number of Cuban migrants landing in South Florida continues to increase. (The photo by Miami Herald photographer Tim Chapman shows a group of Cuban migrants in the Florida Keys in February). It’s not a mass exodus, but it’s a steady stream of migrants that has been growing since Fidel Castro took ill and ceded power to his younger brother Raul in July 2006. Between Oct. 1, 2007 and this past Monday, at least 2,568 Cuban migrants have landed in South Florida – about 945 more than the number of Cuban migrants stopped at sea in the Florida Straits between Oct. 1, 2007 and June 30. An even larger number of Cuban migrants has arrived through the Mexican border – almost 6,000 between Oct. 1, 2007 and April 15.The Mexican route has become the most popular since U.S. authorities began a crackdown against Cuban migrant smugglers in the Florida Straits over the last year. On May 6, for example, federal prosecutors in Miami disclosed a dozen indictments charging 23 men with attempting to smuggle Cuban migrants by boat into South Florida.

   It is unclear if the crackdown has diminished the number of Cuban migrants headed for South Florida.

   Interdictions of Cuban migrants in the Florida Straits during June dropped dramatically compared to prior months. Between January and May, between 100-200 Cuban migrants were interdicted at sea every month – but in June only 46 were stopped, according to Coast Guard figures.

   Border Patrol figures show that Cuban migrants are still getting through, given the 2,568 reported to have landed in South Florida between October and mid-July.

-- Alfonso Chardy

More raves for book on pre-Castro Cuba

Rachel Kushner and her publisher, Scribner, must be thrilled by the good reviews her book Telex From Cuba has gotten. "And they're more than well deserved," The Washington Post says in its own review, published Friday and wryly titled "Back when Cuba was libre." The novel "is a pure treat from the cover to the very last page," writes Post reviewer Carolyn See. "It's the kind of thing you should stock up on to give sick friends as presents. They'll forget their arthritis and pneumonia, I promise, once they walk into a land that's gone now, but not yet quite forgotten: Cuba in the last few years before Fidel Castro took over." Cuba seen through the eyes of Americans living and working in Oriente province. That Cuba is a land "lost and gone, a world we'll never see again, any part of it. Rachel Kushner uses her considerable powers to bring it back for us, one last time."
To read the review in full, click here. For a previous Cuban Colada item on Kushner's book, read our July 5 entry, "Critics praise novel about Cuba in '50s." [UPDATE: Three more positive reviews appeared Sunday, in The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, The Dallas Morning News and The Columbus Dispatch. And Kushner will appear at Books & Books in Coral Gables at 8 p.m. Thursday the 24th.]
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

More on Yoani, the “Blind Blogger.”

Just in case you haven’t had enough yet on Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez, here’s a clip from a recent interview with Telemundo.

Sanchez reports that her “Generation Y” blog – www.desdecuba.com -- has been blocked for most internal Cuban consumption. She sends her dispatches via email to friends, but doesn’t herself read the blog. She says the Cuban government is quickly losing its monopoly on information.

Sanchez, 32, has become quite the media sensation since she launched her cyber diary 15 months ago.

“I am a blind blogger, a cybernaut with a leaking raft that manages to keep afloat with the help of a spontaneous citizens network,” she wrote earlier this month.

-Frances Robles

Laws on land, jobs get swift publicity

The official daily Granma on Friday took the unusual step of publishing the entire text of two decrees issued by Raúl Castro -- one on the granting of idle land in usufruct, and the other on the rehiring of retired teachers at full pay. Castro had previewed both measures during a National Assembly meeting on July 11.
Decree No. 259, dated July 10, "authorizes the delivery of idle state-owned land to natural or legal persons, in usufruct, [...] for up to 10 years and may be successively extended for a period of up to 10 years for natural persons." Legal persons (companies or cooperatives) can work the land for up to 25 years and extend the usufruct for another 25 years. Other provisions:
• The usufruct is "nontransferable and may not be ceded or sold to third persons," except when the farmer cannot continue to work the land because of advanced age or ill health. He can then recommend his successor.
• Farmers availing themselves of the new law will be taxed for the use of the land.
• Farmers who own no land can receive a maximum of 33.16 acres in usufruct; those who already own land can expand their property to 99.48 acres.
• The new law takes effect as soon as published in the Official Gazette; the rules to implement it will be announced on Aug. 11.
Decree No. 260, dated July 15, "provisionally and exceptionally authorizes teachers and professors retired for reasons of age [...] to receive the full salary of the post they assume, plus their pension."
To read the entire text of both decrees (in Spanish only), click words in blue, above. For a detailed account in The Miami Herald, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.