Cuban Colada

Russia will help boost Cuba's civil defense

Russia will help Cuba create a training center for civil defense and emergency response workers, said Sergei Shoigu, Russia's Minister of Emergency Situations, in Havana Thursday.
A delegation headed by Shoigu and his deputy, Vladimir Puchkov, arrived in Cuba on Tuesday and met with Cuban officials, including Gen. Ramón Pardo Guerra, civil defense chief; Gen. Julio Casas Regueiro, minister of defense; and Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, vice president of the Council of Ministers, the newspaper Izvestia reported Friday.
An agreement was signed Thursday whereby Shoigu's ministry will supply Cuba with equipment and staff. "We will try to fill [the center] with modern technology, the most modern technology," to provide "swift response to various emergencies," the Russian minister said.
The center, to be established by 2010, will prepare a wide range of specialists, including rescuers, firemen and divers. Some Cuban specialists will be taken to Russia and trained there.
"Issues relating to civil defense in Cuba are of strategic importance," Izvestia commented. "There are high risks associated with tropical storms. In 2008, three devastating hurricanes caused damage to the Cuban economy estimated at $10 billion."
According to the Russian newspaper Gazeta, the pact includes "improving the systems for meteorological and seismological observations."
No details of the agreement appeared in the Cuban media's account of Shoigu's visit. Prensa Latina said only that Shoigu met Thursday with Raúl Castro and that both men "reaffirmed their satisfaction over the advances in collaboration between the institutions in charge of civil defense in their respective countries."
Shoigu then left Cuba for Caracas and similar talks with Venezuelan civil defense officials.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

A leak is plugged at Cuban mission in DC

A gas leak inside the Cuban Interests Section in Washington caused part of Northwest 16th Street to be closed for a couple of hours Thursday, Herald reporter Lesley Clark told us from the nation's capital.
Issues of diplomatic security hampered the work of the firefighters who responded to the first emergency call.
DC Fire spokesman Pete Piringer told the Washington website DCist that the Cuban diplomats "met our guys at the gate. We had about 15 people ready to go in, and they selected a small group, and the firefighters were escorted in."
Some Cubans left the building, which was aired while Washington Gas Company technicians plugged the leak. But, Piringer said, firefighters and technicians were not allowed into some parts of the facility.

Trial is planned for individuals whose acts led to the ouster of Lage and Pérez Roque

Several Cuban personalities associated with ousted Vice President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque will go on trial next year on charges that may include espionage and the disclosure of state secrets, El Nuevo Herald has learned from sources in the Cuban Prosecutor General's office.
The Prosecutor General himself, Juan Escalona Reguera, is expected to present the government's case. The defendants include:
• Entrepreneur Conrado Hernández, who worked for a Basque trade association and is believed to have delivered information about affairs of state to the Spanish intelligence service;
• Hernández's wife Amalia, a physician who worked at the Havana hospital where Fidel Castro was operated in 2006. She allegedly gave information about Castro's condition to Hernández, who in turn passed it on to his Spanish handlers.

• Raúl Castellanos Lage, cousin of the ousted Vice President, who allegedly made "counter-revolutionary statements" and disparaging remarks about First Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura. (For background on the ouster in March of the two high officials, click here and also here.)
Prosecutor Escalona, 78, a retired Army general, is described as a hard-liner, whose prosecution of the case does not bode well for the defendants. According to Alcibíades Hidalgo, a former Cuban deputy foreign minister, Escalona's assignment to the case "is a terrible sign. [It] means that these people are going to be tried with the maximum severity. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes."
For the full story in El Nuevo Herald, click here.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Machado attends ALBA parley in Bolivia; so does Russia's Security Council chief

Cuba's First Vice President, José Ramón Machado Ventura, will substitute for Raúl Castro at the Seventh Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for Our America (ALBA) that begins today Friday (Oct. 16) in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Other participants are presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Rafael Correa of Ecuador, as well as prime ministers Roosevelt Skerrit (Dominica), Ralph Gonsalves (St. Vincent & the Grenadines) and Baldwin Spencer (Antigua & Barbuda). (PHOTO ABOVE shows Machado, at right, and Morales.)
The overthrown Honduran administration of Manuel Zelaya will be represented by Patricia Rodas, Zelaya's foreign minister.
Although not a member of ALBA, Russia sent a group of observers led by Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev, head of the Russian Security Council and former chief of the Federal Security Service (FSB), successor to the KGB. (PHOTO SHOWS him arriving in Cochabamba). "I came to listen," he told Bolivian journalists at the airport.
Patrushev was accompanied by a delegation of Russian businessmen who are participating in a trade conference parallel to the ALBA summit.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Granma: Sentence reduction is still 'unjust'

The revised prison sentence imposed on Antonio Guerrero by a Florida court – 21 years and 10 months – was not lenient enough for the Communist Party daily Granma. (See Miami Herald story here.) Originally, Guerrero had been sentenced to life plus 10 years.
Although the new sentence "is not as absurdly exaggerated as the previous one, it is still unjust," Granma says in an article taken from the antiterroristas.com website.
It is "one proof of many that confirm the absolute arbitrariness of the process followed against those who are imprisoned in the United States solely and exclusively for fighting against the anti-Cuban terrorism promoted by the American authorities."
The sentences imposed on the five Miami Cubans arrested in September 1998 on espionage-related charges reflected an "irrational disproportion" between crime and punishment, the newspaper said.
As of Wednesday morning, neither Fidel nor Raúl Castro had commented publicly on the news. Official reaction will likely come from Ricardo Alarcón, the National Assembly president, who has been the government's point man in advocacy for The Five Heroes, as they are known in Cuba. (The Miami Herald's Jay Weaver takes a close look at the judge's decision; click here.) (Guerrero will mark his 51st birthday on Oct. 16; click here.) 
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Rebuilding Cuban Army is a daunting task, assesses Russian report on general's visit

Russia will have a big job in its hands once it begins to rebuild Cuba's armed forces, the newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta pointed out Monday in an article titled "Cadres from Makarov: Russia will train Cuban Army officers." (For background, read previous blog items on the visit to Cuba of Gen. Nikolai Makarov.)
"After talks with Cuban leader Raúl Castro, [Makarov] announced two principal agreements: Cuban officers will again study at our military colleges and training centers, and Russian defense industry specialists will help Havana modernize its combat arsenal," the paper said.
Recalling that "the Soviet Union supplied Cuba with large quantities of equipment and armaments," the paper remarked that many of those units "are out of order and require repair and restoration. [...] The general did not conceal that we're talking about large-scale tasks," the article said. "The Cuban Army is large enough, with more than 550,000 servicemen and officers. On the basis of the number of weapons, it's on a par with the

leading countries of Latin America."
But Cuba's arsenal is of Soviet vintage and in disrepair. "For example, out of 150 fighters, two thirds of them are MiG-21s and MiG-23s. True, Cuba bought several MiG-29s from Russia but they don't spend much time on the airfield," the writer said, insinuating that they spend more time in the repair shop. "A similar situation afflicts the tanks, armored personnel carriers, antiaircraft-missile complexes and communications systems." (PHOTO SHOWS a MiG-21.)
Information appears to have leaked that Russia and Cuba "may establish joint ventures for the production of small arms and ammunition, and the repair and modernization of aircraft and armored vehicles, along the lines of what Russia already does in India and other countries."
As to the conditions of sale, "it is clear that the giveaways of supplies and manpower that were common in the middle of the last century are out of the question. On the other hand, [payment] terms for Havana can be made sufficiently soft. Russia is interested in a partnership with Cuba and for that reason will likely make some financial concessions."
"According to experts, [Raúl] Castro can reciprocate by allowing the pilots of our long-range aircraft to touch down in local military airfields and permitting Russian seamen to use Cuban ports to replenish their food and supplies," the paper said.
And referring to the official flag of the Russian Navy – a blue cross on a white field – the article ended by saying that "Makarov hinted that the Andreyev flag could fly permanently in the Caribbean basin."
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Russia vows to help rebuild Cuba's military

Here's more about Gen. Nikolai Makarov's statements to Russian reporters in Havana, made Friday before he returned to Moscow. (See previous blog item.) The quotes, which were not published in the Cuban media, are from the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

• "When analyzing the state of the war materials [furnished to Cuba by the defunct Soviet Union], experts defined the measures to adopt to maintain the country's defensive potential at his proper level." Makarov promised to "deliver all the supplies that may be necessary."
• Havana has asked Moscow to train its military specialists, and "that request will be met."
• Alluding to the United States, Makarov said that "Russo-Cuban cooperation in the military sphere is not directed against third countries, The contacts being made seek to reestablish the relationship of friendship that existed between the two countries until the early 1990s."
• "The time has come to aid the friendly nation in its development, especially on the socioeconomic level."
For more information in The Miami Herald, click here. (PHOTO SHOWS Makarov during his visit to Cuba.)
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Russia's top spy was among Raúl's visitors

Raúl Castro on Thursday met with visiting Gen. Nikolai Y. Makarov, chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, who was in Cuba for a five-day official visit. According to the daily Granma, the two men "broached different topics within the growing bilateral relations and made a brief overview of the international situation."
Judging from Granma's description, the room was full of military brass. On the Cuban side: Corps Gen. Alvaro López Miera, chief of the Cuban Armed Forces General Staff; Div. Gen. Leonardo Andollo Valdés, López Miera's deputy; Brig. Gen. Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, the Armed Forces' foreign relations chief. (Corps Gen. Julio Casas Regueiro, the Cuban Defense Minister, was also present, according to Radio Baraguá.)
On the Russian side: Lt. Gen. Alexander V. Shlyakhturov; Maj. Gen. Vyacheslav M. Proshkin; and Col. Vladimir A. Androsov, the Russian Embassy's military attaché in Havana. Russian Ambassador Mikhail L. Kamynin was also present.
One visitor bears scrutiny. Last April, Shlyakhturov was appointed chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (GRU), Russia's largest intelligence agency. Little is known about him, except that he was the GRU's deputy chief in charge of strategic intelligence and that he's 62, married, and has two children. The GRU (acronym for Glavnovo Razvyedvatyelnovo Upravlenya) is responsible for military intelligence and conducts radio intercept, radio technology and aerial reconnaisance. It provides a daily brief for the chief of General Staff.
Proshkin is head of the General Staff's department of International Military Cooperation. (PHOTO SHOWS Castro greeting Makarov.)
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Russia's top general arrives in Havana

Army Gen. Nikolai Yegorovich Makarov, chief of the Russian armed forces general staff, arrived in Havana on Monday at the invitation of the Cuban Communist Party, according to the Russian newspaper Gazeta. The Russian Ambassador to Cuba, Mikhail Kamynin, told the newspaper that Makarov "will hold talks with the chief of general staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, and meet with other representatives of the Cuban military command. He will also visit some military facilities on the island."
Makarov, 59, a former First Deputy Defense Minister, was appointed to his current post in June 2008 by President Dmitri Medvedev. In the state hierarchy, Makarov is the third man (after the president and the defense minister) holding the secret codes that control Russia's nuclear arsenal.
Recently, Makarov has expressed great concern over nuclear tests being conducted by North Korea near its border with Russia in the Pacific far east. Two weeks ago, he announced that Russia had deployed an anti-missile defense system near that border. One of the reasons for his trip to Cuba may be the visit to Pyongyang made by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Sept. 3-5. Cuba and North Korea maintain good diplomatic relations.

[UPDATE: On Tuesday, Makarov met with his Cuban counterpart, Army Corps Gen. Álvaro López Miera, and deposited flowers at the tomb of independence hero Antonio Maceo. According to the Prensa Latina news agency, Makarov will be in Cuba until Friday.]
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Gumshoes wanted, preferably educated

The Cuban secret police is looking for a few good men and women to join its ranks.
The Organization for Secret Operative Work (OTOS) of the National Revolutionary Police has issued a public invitation to men and women, 18 to 40, with a high-school education or higher, to join OTOS, Cuba's National Information Agency reports.
To qualify for plainclothes-person, "it is imperative that [the candidate] feel motivated by that activity, enjoys investigation and risk-taking, and be able to confront cases of criminal demonstrations, so as to help correct twisted behavior," the invitation reads.
"The operative agent tracks events that, at first sight, have no perpetrators, and contributes the necessary evidence to take [the perpetrators] to court according to the law." The agent "also dismantles groups or gangs involved in criminal activities and hampers their contacts abroad."
No salary is mentioned, but the job has some perks. There is "the chance to obtain a degree in Law and achieve a superior level in the specialty by two means: being a cadet for five years or taking an 11-month basic course via long-distance education.”
According to the news agency, "OTOS works in the exposure, prevention and solution of criminal and economic delinquency, through the use of secret operative methods."
And secret agents don't have to worry about wearing a pressed uniform every day.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.