China's Ministry of Public Security, which oversees the country's police forces, will advise the Cuban police forces on how to improve "law enforcement [...] in an integral and profound manner," the Xinhua news service reported. At a meeting Tuesday between Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu and Cuban Interior Minister Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, Meng said that his institution "will promote cooperation in law enforcement and strengthen the exchanges of experiences in police affairs with the Cuban ministry to improve their practical cooperation."
Sino-Cuban cooperation in law enforcement "has entered a new phase of integral growth," Meng said.
Colomé expressed his appreciation for China's support "in the fields of technology, equipment and police training," Xinhua said.
[UPDATE: According to the Cuban News Agency, Colomé also met with Zhou Yongkang, director of the Public Security Commission of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee and secretary of the CCP's Political and Legislative Commission, the organ dealing with the legalities of law enforcement. Zhou was Minister of Public Security from 2003 to 2007. "We must work together to safeguard the security and the interests of our respective nations," Zhou was quoted as saying.]
« July 2010 | Main | September 2010 »
Fidel admits responsibility for persecution of gays in 1960s, calls it 'a great injustice!'
In the second installment of an interview with the editor of the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, Castro said that the revolutionary government's actions represented "a great injustice – a great injustice! – whoever committed it. If we committed it, we committed it. I am trying to limit my responsibility in all that because, of course, personally I don't have that type of
The interviewer paraphrases him as saying that "everything came about as a spontaneous reaction in the revolutionary ranks that came from the nation's traditions. In the old Cuba, blacks were not the only ones discriminated against; there was discrimination against women and, of course, homosexuals."
Was the Communist Party to blame, the interviewer asks.
"No," Castro responds. "If anyone is responsible, I am. True, at that time I couldn't concern myself with the subject. I was deeply and mainly involved in the October Crisis, the war, the political issues. [...]
"But in the end, if responsibility must be assumed, I assume mine. I'm not going to blame others," Castro says.
"We had so many and such terrible problems of life or death [...] that we didn't pay enough attention to it. [...] It's like when the saint sins, right? It's not the same as when the sinner sins, no?"
To read the entire interview, in Spanish, click here. (PHOTO SHOWS a gay pride parade in Havana in May 2009.)
Fidel takes 2 U.S. visitors to the Aquarium
PHOTO SHOWS: Fidel Castro at the National Aquarium in Havana on Monday, with Adela Dworin, president of the Jewish Community of Cuba, and journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, at right, a writer for The Atlantic. Also with them, but not in this photo, was Julia Sweig, director for Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Men behind Castro are bodyguards.
According to the Cuban News Agency, Castro granted Goldberg an interview on Sunday and took Dworin and the American visitors to the Aquarium to watch the dolphin show. The Atlantic's September issue carries an article by Goldberg on the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran, a topic much on Castro's mind.
Security and law-enforcement cooperation are topics during Colomé's visit to Beijing
From the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
Senior Communist Party of China leader Zhou Yongkang said in Beijing Monday that the Chinese government hopes to increase security and law enforcement cooperation with Cuba.
"We should work together to jointly safeguard the two nations' security and interests," Zhou, Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said when meeting with Cuban Interior Minister Abelardo Colomé Ibarra.
Hailing the traditional friendship between China and Cuba, Zhou spoke highly of Cuba's efforts to cope with the international financial crisis and natural disasters.
He also applauded Cuba's achievements in social and economic progress.
Colomé, also vice president of the Council of State of Cuba, said he was encouraged by China's achievements and his country will firmly support China in issues concerning its core interests.
(PHOTO SHOWS Colomé and Zhou during their meeting. Interpreters are behind them. For background, read our Aug. 25 blog item "Colomé arrives in Beijing from Hanoi.")
[UPDATE: The Cuban Foreign Ministry reported Tuesday that Colomé had met with Minister of State Security Geng Huichang and was to meet with the Minister of Public Security, Meng Jianzhu. During his trip to China, Colomé reportedly visited Beijing, Shanghai and the province of Guangdong.]
Fidel: I died and was resuscitated
• Fidel reveals that "I came to be dead," without explaining if he actually was clinically dead or whether it was a mental attitude in his admitted "calvary."
"Sixty-six kilograms," his wife, Dalia, corrects him. That's 145 pounds.
"Imagine. A fellow my height weighing 66 kilos," Castro goes on. "Today, I'm up to 85 and 86 kilos [187-189 pounds] and this morning I was able to take 600 steps all by myself, without a cane, without help."
• "I want to tell you that you're looking at some sort of re-sus-ci-ta-ted person," Castro tells his interviewer, stressing each syllable. Now he follows all the rules imposed by his physicians. "I never commit the slightest violation" of those rules, he says. "Needless to say, I've become a doctor, with the cooperation of the doctors. With them I discuss, ask, learn."
• During his illness, "stretched out on that bed, I could only look around me, ignorant about those [medical] devices. I didn't know how long that torment would last and the only thing I hoped for was for the world to stop. But I revived."
• Asked about his recent bursts of activity, he answers: "I don't want to be absent these days. The world is in the most interesting and dangerous phase of its existence and I'm very committed with everything that will happen. I still have things to do."
To read the entire interview, in Spanish, click here. For Castro's views on Cuba-Mexico relations, click here. (PHOTO SHOWS Hugo Chávez visiting Castro in August 2006.)
Visit by Spanish socialists draws fire
Leire Pajín, the PSOE's secretary for Organization, and Elena
The women's visit represents an expression of "unconditional and unhesitating" support for the Castro regime, De Arístegui said.
Spanish
The Zapatero administration has "consolidated the Cuban dictatorship because it has facilitated a succession" from Fidel to Raúl Castro, rather than "a full transition" to democracy, he added. [UPDATE: The PP's spokesman at the European Union, Jaime Mayor Oreja, echoed De Arístegui's criticism. Click here.]
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.
Villa Clara touts own international airport
It is "a functional and beautiful installation, capable of offering high-quality and competitive service," the article says. An international airport since 2001, it served 248,000 travelers in 2009.
The landing strip was extended in 2006-2007, for use by large aircraft, and will be improved again next year, Vanguardia says.
Just north of the city of Santa Clara, the airport serves the tourist destinations of Caibarién and Cayo Santamaría. It is used primarily by Canadian airlines (Air Transat, CanJet, WestJet, SkyService) British (Monarch) and Cuban airlines (Cubana).
Presumably, U.S. airlines would be welcomed there, too – if circumstances change.
Expansion of Havana's airport will begin, maybe to prepare for increased U.S. travel
Terminal Two at José Martí International Airport in Havana "has temporarily closed its doors for repairs," the newspaper Juventud Rebelde reported Saturday. That terminal receives flights from the United States.
The indefinite shutdown "is due to the works being carried out for the expansion of the airport," the report said. Work is scheduled to begin Sept. 1.
Flights arriving to and departing from Terminal Two are being transferred to Terminal Five, near the Wajay district of Havana.
Rumors are increasing that the Obama administration will relax the travel restrictions on American citizens, allowing some educational, cultural and religious travel. For more, from The Associated Press, click here.
Blogger predicts Roig's successor –in code
In a two-sentence entry, blogger Rui Ferreira reveals that "the defenestrated fellow from TV Martí already has a successor. He is a Cuban-American with curly hair."
Ferreira writes in Spanish, so his description says Pedro Roig's successor's hair is "crespo" – which happens to be the surname of Paul Crespo, the conservative political consultant and commentator.
I mention this because Ferreira predicted Roig's departure in his blog on Aug. 20, fully one week before it was announced. The man must have good sources.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.
[ADDENDUM: A reader messages me that, "depending on the results of the November elections," the successor will be Joe García, not Crespo. García has curly hair; Crespo doesn't. Fair enough.]
