Chronicle on Cuba - February 2004

Exile Community

February 6: Lawyers working with the Democracy Movement (Movimiento Democracia) filed an emergency motion in federal court in Miami to try to bar the US Coast Guard from sending the Buick's passengers back to Cuba. A hearing on the motion -- which also asks the judge to extend the requested injunction to all migrants picked up at sea, including Haitians and Dominicans – has been scheduled before US District Judge Federico A. Moreno. ''The purpose is to stop the federal government from sending these Cubans back,'' said Democracy Movement founder Ramón Saúl Sánchez. "This is an embarrassment to Castro. They can't go back,'' Sánchez added. [For more on this, see US-Cuba Relations] (The Miami Herald, 6/2/04)

February 19: The Cuban Patriotic Forum, an alliance of several Cuban exile organizations issued a strong statement warning about “powerful interests” that seek a negotiated political transition with the regime of Fidel Castro. “Powerful interests from different viewpoints are attempting to pressure the governments of the United States and other European and American countries into negotiating a transition with the Castro’s tyranny”, added the document. (El Nuevo Herald, 19/2/04)

February 20: Cuban-American congressional leaders and members of anti-Castro exile organizations unveiled one of the most comprehensive proposals to date of how to proceed with a transition to democracy and a social market economy in a post-Castro Cuba. It calls for the privatization of joint ventures between the government and foreign investors, endorses the right of urban property dwellers in Cuba to remain in their homes as long as old private owners are properly compensated, and suggests that government-owned land be redistributed to small- and medium-sized private farmers to help foster a middle class. Republican US Representatives, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and brothers Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, championed the already formed Cuban Socio-Economic Reconstruction Commission as a necessary step in planning for a post-Castro Cuba. US Representative Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, sent a letter of support. Antonio Jorge, a Cuba expert and professor at Florida International University in Miami, will head the commission. The plan is in direct contrast to dissident movements such as the Varela Project, which is pushing for deep changes within the socialist framework, such as freedom to assemble and representation in the National Assembly. (AP, KRT, 22/2/04)

February 26: Most Cuban natives living outside the island can visit the country of their birth without a visa starting June 1, if they have a valid Cuban passport, the communist government confirmed. In order to validate their passports, Cuban-born people should present them at the Cuban consulate where a stamp free of charge will be placed. The Cuban Foreign Ministry announced the upcoming change last fall, but had not said exactly when it would take effect. Lazaro Hernandez, spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, told the press the change would occur June 1. (AP, Encuentro en la Red, 26/2/04)

February 26: President Bush gave the federal government new powers to keep American boats out of Cuba, a step in which s ome people have smelled politics: "This administration is clearly interested in the Cuban-American vote," said Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami. "Many Cuban-Americans had a lot of expectations about this White House, and unfortunately, most of them have not been met. And now the administration is scrambling to put together some type of comprehensive policy." [See also, US-Cuba Relations] (CNN, 26/2/04)