Colada blogger Renato Pérez Pizarro is taking two weeks off beginning Wednesday, Jan. 27. Because the news never stops, turn to the Cuba Page of The Miami Herald for your daily ration of Cuba-related news, tidbits and other morsels.
« December 2009 | Main | February 2010 »
Émigrés to gather this week in Havana
More than 400 Cuban émigrés from 42 countries are expected to gather in Havana this week for what is billed as an "Encounter of Cuban Residents Abroad Against the Blockade and in Defense of the Nation's Sovereignty," the Cuban Foreign Ministry announced Monday.
The meeting will be held Jan. 27-29 at the Palace of Conventions, said Deputy Foreign Minister Dagoberto Rodríguez Barrera.
Its purpose is "to give continuity to a frank and direct exchange between the diaspora" and the Cuban government, Rodríguez said, at a press conference in Havana. "The process of normalization of the links between the diaspora and the nation is continuous, irreversible and permanent."
A similar gathering, in March 2008, attracted about 140 Cuban émigrés. This time, 450 are expected, including about 200 from the United States.
Rodríguez is a former chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington.
Its purpose is "to give continuity to a frank and direct exchange between the diaspora" and the Cuban government, Rodríguez said, at a press conference in Havana. "The process of normalization of the links between the diaspora and the nation is continuous, irreversible and permanent."
A similar gathering, in March 2008, attracted about 140 Cuban émigrés. This time, 450 are expected, including about 200 from the United States.
Rodríguez is a former chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington.
Talks on cooperation resume in Moscow
The officials, co-chairmen of the Russo-Cuban intergovernmental commission, will review the accords made by the two countries at their previous meeting, in January 2009, and plan the next one, set for April in Havana.
Topics for discussion are the credits granted to Cuba by Russia, Russian investments in the Cuban economy, and bilateral cooperation in science, communications, transportation and basic industry, among other endeavors.
Cabrisas is accompanied by the head of the Cuban Civil Aeronautics Institute, Rogelio Acevedo, and representatives of several Cuban ministries.
Fidel: Protect Morales from 'the empire'
Fidel Castro has asked the people of Bolivia to protect the life of their president, Evo Morales, from the actions of the "empire," as the Cuban leader describes the United States.
On Friday, Morales began his second term as president; his mandate will last until 2015.
In a message to Morales, delivered Friday by Cuban Vice President Ramiro Valdés, Castro said that "to the degree that the empire overcomes its domestic opposition and Evo's leadership becomes ever stronger and more undeniable, [the empire] will escalate its actions to achieve its objectives.
"To care for Evo, protect his life and support him will therefore be one of the fundamental duties to perform under these circumstances," Castro's message said, according to the Bolivian Information Agency.
"Let us not deceive ourselves for a minute with the idea that this empire will resign itself to the existence of an independent and revolutionary Bolivia," the note continued. The Bolivian people's victory at the polls "is a formidable obstacle that rises at the right moment to block the imperialist plans," schemes that "ensure a greater plunder of the natural resources that will be increasingly scarce in this region."
To protect Morales "is to defend everything that life represents in the face of the threat to fall once more under the dominion of the forces of death," the note said. For a longer report on Castro's message, in Spanish, click here.
(PHOTO SHOWS: Morales, in ceremonial robes, at an Indian ritual Thursday.)
[UPDATE: In his inauguration speech Friday, Morales restated Bolivia's sovereignty, saying: "Let's not have officials from the United States Embassy come again to tell us what countries we ought to have relations with or not. I want you to know that some time ago I received visits from these representatives telling us that we couldn't have relations with Cuba, Venezuela and Iran.
"Well, Bolivia not only maintains diplomatic relations with those three nations but also maintains bilateral cooperation with them," he said, quoted by the Venezuelan news agency ABN.]
Voice ofAmerica acknowledges Cuban role in Haiti, favors more 'bilateral cooperation'
Voice of America, a Washington-based news service that by its own definition "reflects the views of the United States government," this week acknowledged the accomplishments of Cuban health workers in Haiti and said that the government in Havana has "aided United States relief efforts by opening restricted Cuban air space to American planes flying medical evacuation missions." In an editorial published Friday, VOA said that "the U.S. reached agreement with Havana for evacuation flights from the U.S. Navy base in Guantánamo Bay to pass through Cuba on their way to Florida." The overflights begin Sunday.
"An understanding had been in place allowing individual emergency flights to travel through the area," the editorial said, "but the new agreement expands that authority to a standing basis. Now planes that are carrying badly injured people for medical treatment in the U.S. won't have to be pre-cleared by Cuban authorities."
In what sounds like a statement from the State Department, the VOA editorial says that "the bilateral cooperation between the U.S. and Cuba reflects our overwhelming concern for the welfare of the Haitian people. We will continue to look for areas where cooperation between our two nations can support Haitian relief."
To read the entire editorial, click here. For an article in The Miami Herald about the overflights, click here. [UPDATE: Washington has offered Cuba medical supplies for Haiti, The Miami Herald reports.] [2nd UPDATE: Fidel Castro appears to have indirectly accepted the U.S. offer of humanitarian aid for Cuban medics in Haiti. In an article written Saturday, the Cuban leader writes: "Any important cooperation offered to our country will not be rejected, but its acceptance will be entirely subordinated to the importance and transcendence of the aid required from the human resources of our Motherland.]
Woman in line for Episcopal bishop's post
The Rev. Griselda Delgado del Carpio has been appointed by the Metropolitan Council of Cuba as bishop coadjutor of the Episcopal Church of Cuba, the Episcopal News Service reported Friday.
Now the rector of Santa María Virger in Itabo, Matanzas province, Delgado will be ordained and consecrated on Feb. 7 at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Havana.
She will work with Bishop Miguel Tamayo of the Anglican Church of Uruguay as he completes his work as Cuba's interim bishop, and a date will be set for her installation as diocesan bishop. Tamayo has served as interim bishop of Cuba for six years and plans to retire.
The announcement came five months after Cuba failed for the second time to elect a bishop coadjutor, the news service said. After 13 inconclusive ballots were cast in September, the choice of a coadjutor fell to the Metropolitan Council.
The Cuban church has not elected its own bishop for more than 20 years because of internal divisions within the diocese.
The Metropolitan Council, which governs the Cuban church in matters of faith and order, is made up of the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, the archbishop of the Province of the West Indies, and the Presiding Bishop of the U.S.-based Episcopal Church. The Council has overseen the church in Cuba since it separated from the Episcopal Church in 1967.
The Cuban church has about 40 congregations and some 10,000 Episcopalians.
Primakov gets Cuba's Order of Solidarity
Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov, president of the Russian Chamber 
of Commerce, was awarded the Cuban Order of Solidarity at a ceremony in Moscow, the Russian and Cuban media reported Friday.
The award, presented by Cuban Ambassador Juan Valdés Figueroa on behalf of President Raúl Castro, was given to Primakov for his efforts "to strengthen and expand bilateral relations" between the two nations.
Valdés praised Primakov "for the solidarity he has shown despite the harsh conditions of the [U.S.] blockade of Cuba and for his honest friendship and assistance in developing new opportunities for cooperation between our two countries."
Valdés described the honoree as "a prominent politician and statesman, a shrewd diplomat, an experienced academician, and a close friend of Cuba."
Primakov, 81, has had a busy career in government. The director of the International Relations Institute from 1985 to 1989, he served as deputy chief of the KGB and director of the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) from 1991 to 1996.
He had short stints as Foreign Minister (1996-98) and Prime Minister (1998-99) and ran unsuccessfully for president in 2000. He is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The award, presented by Cuban Ambassador Juan Valdés Figueroa on behalf of President Raúl Castro, was given to Primakov for his efforts "to strengthen and expand bilateral relations" between the two nations.
Valdés praised Primakov "for the solidarity he has shown despite the harsh conditions of the [U.S.] blockade of Cuba and for his honest friendship and assistance in developing new opportunities for cooperation between our two countries."
Valdés described the honoree as "a prominent politician and statesman, a shrewd diplomat, an experienced academician, and a close friend of Cuba."
Primakov, 81, has had a busy career in government. The director of the International Relations Institute from 1985 to 1989, he served as deputy chief of the KGB and director of the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) from 1991 to 1996.
He had short stints as Foreign Minister (1996-98) and Prime Minister (1998-99) and ran unsuccessfully for president in 2000. He is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Keep travel restraints so long as American is in detention, newspaper tells Congress
Cuba's imprisonment of Alan Gross, the American detained in Havana for distributing communication devices, "is a rebuke to Obama," says an editorial Friday in The Washington Post.
The newspaper refuses to believe that Gross was part of an espionage operation. "Only in the ancient, crumbling regime of the Castro brothers could this ridiculous charge be leveled," the editorial scoffs.
The reason for Gross' detention is different, The Post believes. The man's arrest came two weeks after the U.S. president, responding to an e-mail from Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez, praised her for her efforts to "empower fellow Cubans to express themselves through the use of technology."
That was the wrong thing to say, The Post says, "because Cuba is virtually alone [...] in trying to prevent most of its population from using the Internet, even for nonpolitical purposes."
Gross' arrest is a "crystal-clear" answer to Obama: "Fidel and Raúl Castro have no interest in easing repression or in improving relations with the United States."
So, the newspaper counsels Congress, "which is considering legislation authorizing another liberalization of travel restrictions," to tell Cuba that "no action will be considered while Mr. Gross remains in prison."
To read the entire editorial, click here.
The newspaper refuses to believe that Gross was part of an espionage operation. "Only in the ancient, crumbling regime of the Castro brothers could this ridiculous charge be leveled," the editorial scoffs.
That was the wrong thing to say, The Post says, "because Cuba is virtually alone [...] in trying to prevent most of its population from using the Internet, even for nonpolitical purposes."
Gross' arrest is a "crystal-clear" answer to Obama: "Fidel and Raúl Castro have no interest in easing repression or in improving relations with the United States."
So, the newspaper counsels Congress, "which is considering legislation authorizing another liberalization of travel restrictions," to tell Cuba that "no action will be considered while Mr. Gross remains in prison."
To read the entire editorial, click here.
Russian foreign minister to visit Cuba
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov will visit Cuba Feb. 11-12, Radio Habana reported Thursday, citing the Russian news service ITAR-TASS. The visit "will be a key event in Russo-Cuban relations," said Foreign Ministry aide Viktor Koronelli, who made the announcement in Moscow.
Lavrov, 60, will head a Russian delegation to Havana's 19th International Book Fair, which will run from Feb. 11 to Feb. 21.
The foreign minister first visited Cuba in September 2004, when he restarted relations between the two countries. Before assuming his post, in March 2004, he was Russia's representative at the United Nations.
[UPDATE: Lavrov will also visit Mexico (Feb. 13-16), Guatemala and Nicaragua, the Spanish daily ABC reported Friday.]
A weekend with 'Without Fidel'
• Friday, Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 23 at 10:30 a.m., at the Martin County Library, 2351 S.E. Monterey Road, Stuart.
• Sunday, Jan. 24 at 6 p.m., at Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables.
Next time she's in Florida, Bardach will speak at the University of Miami Law School on Feb. 19 and 20.
