Chronicle on Cuba - May 2004

US-Cuba Relations

May 1: Cuba's socialist system would overcome any new US initiatives aimed at hastening political change on the island, Fidel Castro told a sea of flag-waving Cubans in a two-hour May Day speech. Referring to a report by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, expected to be presented to the US President, Castro said his enemies across the Florida Straits are "once again making themselves hoarse, shouting threats of upcoming measures to affect our economy and destabilize our country." "To those who persist in their efforts to destroy the revolution I simply say, in the name of the crowd gathered here (…) long live socialism!" he said. [Fidel Castro’s May Day speech] (Knight Ridder Newspapers, 1/5/04)

May 1: Cuba's Fidel Castro urged US President George W. Bush not to use force as strategy against terrorism. In an almost two-hour speech marking May 1 celebrations, Castro counseled US authorities to "be calm, act with equanimity, not be carried away by anger and hatred, or hunt people with indiscriminate bombing”. "None of the world's problems, including terrorism, can be solved with force," said Castro, clad in his customary olive drab military fatigues. "Only reason, intelligent policy with the strength of consensus and international public opinion, can remove the problem at its roots," Castro told the Revolution Square crowd officially estimated at more than one million. (AFP, 1/5/04)

May 2: A government commission is recommending to President Bush a series of measures to cut US dollar flows to Cuba as part of a broader policy to hasten the end of the country's communist system, an administration official said. A commission report, in preparation for six months and overseen by Secretary of State Colin Powell, also calls for steps to overcome Cuban jamming of US-government sponsored radio and television broadcasts to Cuba, the official said. The official, asking not to be identified in advance of the report's public release, said it urges increased support for Cuban dissidents and families of political prisoners and also calls for measures to encourage foreign governments to distance themselves from the Cuban regime. (AP, Canadian Press, 2/5/04)

May 3: Even if the United States tightens its economic stranglehold on Cuba, the blockade is doomed to failure because the Island advances and even is able to help other nations, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque asserted. Alluding to President George W. Bush´s "program for democratic transition in Cuba" in his talk with the more than 600 delegates from 50 countries at a solidarity with Cuba meeting, Perez Roque stressed the determination of the Cuban people to resist any new aggression, including military. (Prensa Latina, 3/5/04)

May 3: Secretary of State Colin L. Powell praised Mexico and Peru for recalling their ambassadors from Cuba to protest derogatory comments made by Cuba's communist dictator Fidel Castro. The US official made the comment in a speech to the Council of the Americas, a forum for discussion between the United States and Latin America held at the State Department. (The Washington Post, 4/5/04)

May 3: Secretary of State Colin Powell presented recommendations to President Bush to end communist rule in Cuba. His recommendations to Bush on Cuba were in a 500-page report that included a chapter on how to end the Castro government. The remaining four chapters covered ways the United States can help a post-Castro government committed to democracy. Bush "will decide which recommendations will be implemented and when," Boucher said. He refused to provide details of the study. [Report by the Commission for the Assistance to a Free Cuba] (AP, 3/5/04)

May 3: A growing number of international tourists could help revitalize and upgrade Cuba's processed tropical fruit products industry, the US Agriculture Department said. In a special report on Cuba's tropical fruit industry, the USDA said the island's climate and land are ideal for growing plantains, papayas, avocadoes, mangoes and pineapples. If trade relations between Washington and Havana were normalized, the United States would be a likely market for Cuban tropical fruit, the USDA said. The growing number of tourists could help generate the hard currency needed to modernize and expand the island's existing fruit processing plants, the report said. "The tourist sector, in fact, may generate the hard currency needed to fund the purchase of inputs necessary to allow increased utilization of existing plants, to allow the capital upgrades needed to modernize and improve efficiency of existing facilities and to allow expansion of sector capacities," the USDA said. [Cuba’s Tropical Fruit Industry] (Reuters, 3/5/04)

May 5: John Kerry reiterated his support for easing travel restrictions to Cuba, a stance that puts him sharply at odds with President Bush. Kerry's remarks, made in his first national Hispanic TV interview, came as he faces criticism for what some Democrats say is a dearth of Hispanics and other minorities in his campaign's inner circle and a lackluster effort to woo Hispanics, a key voting bloc in several battleground states, including Florida. But softening the travel ban to Cuba could fare poorly with Cuban Americans, who have called for even greater barriers against Fidel Castro. In the interview, taped in California where Kerry marked the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo, Univisión network anchor Jorge Ramos said Kerry supports the economic embargo against Castro, but backs increased travel as a means of hastening democracy. (The Miami Herald, 6/5/04)

May 5: The new measures against Cuba prepared by the United States are doomed, assured Cuba. It said it has the solidarity of Latin America on her side. Asked at a press conference on the announced project to promote a political transition in Cuba prepared by the George W. Bush administration, Cuban foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque said the US plan violates international law. He warned that the report of the Commission appointed by Bush is an escalation in the aggressive policy against the island and expressed hope that Latin American governments do not support the plans contained in that document, with a goal of strengthening the economic blockade against Cuba. (Prensa Latina, 6/5/04)

May 6: President Bush, declaring "we are working for the day of freedom in Cuba," took steps to end jamming of US broadcasts to the island as part of a tough new strategy to hasten the demise of communist rule. Bush decided to order deployment of military aircraft to transmit signals of the Miami-based Radio Marti and TV, an effort to end Cuba's jamming of US government broadcasts. The measure was one of a number of recommendations in a report prepared by a government commission on Cuba headed by Secretary of State Colin Powell "We are working for the day of freedom in Cuba," said Bush, speaking during a meeting with commission members in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. (AP, 6/5/04)

May 7: Cuba has denounced that the brutal economic and political measures US President George W. Bush announced against the island are inspired by cruelty and hate. In a joint communiqué of the Cuban Government and the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, published in Granma daily on Friday, local authorities said the Bush dispositions "reiterated the hate and aggression" against the Cuban people shown in his traditional and cynical interfering attacks. [Brutales medidas políticas y económicas contra nuestro país] (Prensa Latina, 7/5/04)

May 6: Democrats quickly denounced the new measures by the Bush administration tightening the 40-year-old U.S. financial squeeze on Cuba. Democrats and some Republicans were quick to dismiss the effort, either because they believe the policy of financial pressure has failed after four decades or because the announcement was made during a close presidential campaign. Representative Bob Menendez (Democrat-New Jersey), accused Bush of "playing election-year politics with the lives of the Cuban people." Representative Jeff Flake (Republican-Arizona), is a leading proponent of congressional efforts to lift ever-tighter restrictions on travel to Cuba, a proposal that won majorities in the House and Senate last year. He said trying to use a C-130 aircraft to defeat Cuban jamming of US government broadcasts is laudable but insufficient. "If we're really serious about letting Cubans hear a voice other than Castro's, why not let Americans travel there?" Flake asked in a written statement. "After all, Castro can't scramble a firsthand conversation." (The Washington Post, 7/5/04)

May 6: A group of US senators have sent President George W. Bush a letter rejecting the latest measures recommended by the Commission for the Assistance to a Free Cuba, as they will further harm the Cuban people. The letter was signed by Senators Max Baucus (Democrat-Montana), Mike Enzi (Republican-Wyoming), Larry Craig (Republican-Indiana), Christopher Dodd (Democrat-Connecticut), and Byron Dorgan (Democrat-North Dakota). In comments after hearing Bush’s endorsement of the measures on Thursday, Senator Baucus insisted that "at a time when the United States faces very real terrorist threats in the Middle East and elsewhere, the Administration´s absurd and increasingly bizarre obsession with Cuba is more than just a shame, it´s a dangerous diversion from reality". (Prensa Latina, 7/5/04)

May 7: Former political prisoner Vladimiro Roca was unconvinced that further limiting the flow of dollars to Cuba would do much to change Castro's hold on power. Given that the Cuban regime is the only employer on the island and doesn't allow opponents to get jobs, ''any gesture from any government in support of democracy in Cuba is welcome,'' he said. The problem is, I wonder whether the new US measures will have enough of an impact to offset the public relations harm they will cause. "I am a practical person. If in more than 40 years [the embargo] hasn't brought results, it won't bring them now," said Roca, whose father was one of the founders of the Cuban Communist Party. (Sun Sentinel, The Miami Herald, 7/5/04)

May 7: Cuban dissident Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo commented that it is not up to the White House to plan political change in Cuba, because that task is up to Cubans, including the single-party administration of Fidel Castro and the domestic opposition. In the opinion of the former rebel commander and political prisoner, Castro, who has been in power for 45 years, "would be the appropriate person to make that peaceful transition (towards democracy)". A transition in which "we do not have to worry about a debacle happening here and about the matter being left up in the air without any planning", added the former political prisoner. He felt that, otherwise: "We could have uncontrollable chaos in which we may lose control over weapons in Cuba. A total anarchy. We lose control over mass exodus and, in that anarchy, we run the risk of losing the country completely." According to Gutierrez Menoyo, a scenario such as that "could bring difficulties to the United States. The loss of control over mass exodus would also destabilize the Caribbean, at the gates of the south" for the USA. "When we had realized what was happening, the sole alternative left would be a UN intervention," said the opposition leader, who spent 22 years in prison for taking up arms against the Castro government. (Notimex, 7/5/04)

May 7: The Cuban-American Alliance Education Fund, based in Washington, offered a press conference condemning US President George W. Bush's cruel measures against Cuba. During the press conference, the Cuban-American solidarity group said that the Bush administration is attempting to get the financial and political support of the right wing sector in South Florida for the November presidential elections. (Radio Habana Cuba, 8/5/04)

May 8: According to its president, Marcelino Miyares, the National Executive Secretariat of the Christian Democratic Party of Cuba (PDC) unanimously agreed that the new US initiatives allegedly aimed at speeding up democratic transition on the island are just "more of the same" policy that defines the Cuban issue as part of the US-Cuba differendum, instead of a problem that concerns Cubans alone. [Comunicado de Prensa] (PDC Press Release, 8/5/04)

May 10: The current situation of the five Cubans incarcerated in the United States was the main focus of a public hearing by the Cuban Parliament. The meeting was convened by the Parliamentary Commissions for Constitutional and Legal Affairs and International Relations at Havana's International Conference Centre to discuss the current situation of Gerardo Hernández, René González, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino and Fernando González, and the increasing public awareness of the case around the world. (Radio Habana Cuba, 10/5/04)

May 10: A group of Cuban dissidents has sharply criticised the US for measures aimed at speeding up the end of Fidel Castro's communist rule. Leading dissident Oswaldo Paya said it was up to Cubans, not the US, to bring about change in the country. "It is not appropriate or acceptable for any forces outside Cuba to try to design the Cuban transition process," said Mr Paya, winner of the European Parliament's Andrei Sakharov human rights prize, in a separate statement. Two other Cuban dissidents handed in a protest letter at the US diplomatic mission in Havana. One of the authors, Manuel Cuesta, said the US had "no right to set the pace of a transition in Cuba". The other, fellow dissident Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, said: "This is a total interference that does not benefit the building of democracy in Cuba." He said his letter to US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the US plan was tantamount to incitement to armed conflict. Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said in an interview from Havana that ``it's hard [for the United States] to deal with a totalitarian government: If you normalize relations, it takes advantage of it, and if you impose sanctions, it takes advantage as well. Sometimes, the best thing is to do nothing.'' (BBC News, The Miami Herald, 11/5/04)

May 10: Cuban workers from various unions have publicly rejected the recent US aggressive measures against the country and ratified their support to the island´s unions and social system, Granma daily reported. The newspaper covered a number of public events held by unions, responding to a weekend call by the Cuban Workers Central (CTC). (Prensa Latina, 10/5/04)

May 11: The United States accused Fidel Castro of playing the victim by introducing "bizarre" sales suspensions in Cuba to counter new US sanctions. "Castro always likes to play the victim and to lay blame for his failures on others," US Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega said in a telephone interview. "What's being exposed is that they have such a stranglehold on the economy." Castro's countermeasures could backfire by further fueling a black market for goods stolen from the government, he said. "Frankly, the measures are sort of bizarre (...) It's clear that Castro would flunk economics 101, if he thinks that people are going to continue to go in and to pay these prices," said the top US diplomat for the Western Hemisphere. (Reuters, 11/5/04)

May 12: Hundreds of thousands of Cubans are expected to take to the streets in a huge march in front of the US Interest Section in Havana to protest the recently announced sanctions against Cuba by the Bush administration. The demonstration will take place along the Havana seawall drive and will end in front of the US Interest Section, according to an official call in Cuban media. (Prensa Latina, 12/5/04)

May 12: The African Awareness Association is organizing a 60's-style "freedom ride" that will use buses and planes to protest the US economic blockade of Cuba. Organizers with the group, based in Richmond, Virginia, say the protest is designed to create awareness on the way Washington's economic blockade hurts the Cuban people. The group announced it will travel to Cuba in July without requesting a license from the US government -- adding that it is working with a number of other organizations, including Pastors for Peace, the Venceremos Brigade, the National Committee to Free the Five and the Latin American Group of the National Lawyers Guild. (Radio Habana Cuba, 12/5/04)

May 12: In its 2004 Report, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom states that, “as a result of the recent government crackdown on democracy activists, religious freedom conditions in Cuba may decline further as part of a generally deteriorating situation”. “The Commission will continue to monitor conditions of freedom of religion or belief in Cuba to determine if they rise to a level warranting designation as a “country of particular concern,” it adds. [2004 Report on International Religious Freedom] (US Commission on IRF Press Release, 12/5/04)

May 13: US writer and sociologist James Petras has proposed the five Cubans imprisoned in the United States for combating terrorism originating in Florida, as candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize. In his proposal, Professor Petras (SUNY, Binghamton) pointed out that compiling information about terrorist groups that conspire to commit acts of violence is an accepted national security policy in every part of the world. (Prensa Latina, 13/5/04)

May 14: Fidel Castro launched an immense anti-American protest with denunciations and ridicule of President Bush, saying the US leader was fraudulently elected and trying to impose "world tyranny." The Cuban leader led a sea of Cubans past the US diplomatic mission in Havana on the oceanfront Malecón Boulevard in a demonstration organized by the communist government against new US measures aimed at squeezing the island's economy and pushing out Castro. The crowd chanted "Free Cuba! Fascist Bush!" Castro said the march was "an act of indignant protest and a denunciation of the brutal, merciless and cruel measures" announced by Bush to tighten the 44-year US embargo on the island. Speaking directly about Bush, he said "everything that is said in your world about human rights is a lie." He said: "These words do not seek to offend or insult you" but given that President Bush "is committed to threaten and attack" Cuba and "destroy its independence and economy," he said it was his duty to remind President Bush of some basic facts, mainly: "you lack the moral authority". [Fidel Castro’s speech] (CNN, EFE, 14/5/04)

May 15: A Cuban accused of spying for Fidel Castro's government will be deported from Miami because he failed to register as a foreign agent and overstayed his visa after coming to the United States in 2000, immigration officials said. Lázaro Amaya La Puente, 40, who is in custody at Krome detention center in West Miami-Dade County, acted as an ''operative of the Cuban state security service,'' according to federal agents. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in Miami said he gathered intelligence on human rights activists in Cuba and spied on a US diplomatic office in Havana. (The Miami Herald, 15/5/04)

May 17: Cuban dissident Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo sent a letter to US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, asking the George Bush administration to meditate on the consequences of the Report by the Commission for the Assistance to a Free Cuba to the Caribbean Basin security. Gutierrez Menoyo foresees that current confrontation between the US and Cuba may generate public disorders and even an insurrection in the island. (El Nuevo Herald, 17/5/04)

May 17: United States denounced that Cuba’s human rights record worsened during 2003. In its new Report 2003-2004, Supporting Human Rights and Democracy, the US Department of State affirms that the Cuban government “ continued to commit numerous serious abuses.” [Supporting Human Rights and Democracy] (Notimex, 17/5/04)

May 18: Cuba's foreign minister accused the US government of trying to provoke a mass exodus of Cubans to the United States by tightening its economic embargo against the island. Felipe Perez Roque said US President George W. Bush's administration was encouraging Cubans to leave the communist-run island by adopting new measures designed to "increase pressure, provoke more suffering and destabilize the country." Under existing law, the United States can interpret a massive influx of Cubans to its shores as an act of war, Perez Roque told a news conference. "We believe the objective of these measures is to instigate a migration crisis," Perez Roque said. But he stopped short of saying the US government would use a potential crisis as a pretext to invade the island. (AP, 19/5/04)

May 19: The United States condemned Cuba's sentencing of three dissidents to three years in prison, more than one year after they were arrested for studying human rights in a Havana home. Activists Orlando Zapata, Raul Arencibia and Virgilio Marante, who were arrested in December 2002, were charged with "public disorder, disobedience and resisting authority." They each received the maximum of three years in jail after a one-day trial. "The real, quote-unquote, 'crime' was to study the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at a home in Havana over a year ago. And in the year since that, I would say, innocent gathering, they've been awaiting trial," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. (AFP, 19/5/04)

May 20: Thirty Cuban dissidents are being held by US authorities at the Guantanamo Bay naval base, a Cuban exile leader says. The head of the Miami-based Democracy Movement, Ramon Saul Sanchez, told the press that the dissidents fled Cuba last year after the arrest of 75 activists. They were stopped by US vessels and had been held secretly for the past year - even though they had been promised passage to a third country, he said. The US says its Cuba base holds nearly 600 prisoners from the "war on terror". There is no reported comment from US officials on the allegations. The Guantanamo group is said to include four women and four children. Mr Sanchez told the press that Washington had threatened to hand over the dissidents to the Cuban authorities if they talked to the press. Human rights groups have criticised the facility and the treatment of detainees. [Denuncia de la situación de cubanos en la Base de Guantánamo] (BBC, 20/5/04)

May 20: President Bush marked Cuban Independence Day by pledging to ratchet up restrictions against Fidel Castro amid signs that his hard-line policy could cost him points among Cuban Americans with relatives on the island. Bush chose an uncharacteristically low-key approach to note the Cuban holiday, in sharp contrast to the fiery speech he gave in Miami six months before his brother, Governor Jeb Bush, faced reelection in 2002. ''We stand firmly with the 11 million Cuban people who still suffer under the repressive Castro dictatorship,'' Bush said in the statement, promising to ''vigorously implement'' the findings of a Cuba study panel that recommended more aid for island dissidents, less travel to Cuba and greater restrictions on cash and gifts to people on the island. [President George Bush Statement] (The Miami Herald, 20/5/04)

May 20: US lawmakers introduced a bill that would subject the four-decade-old US trade embargo against Cuba to an annual review by Congress. The bipartisan measure, the latest effort to chip away at the embargo, comes as President George W. Bush prepares to make it harder for Cuban Americans to travel to the communist-run nation and send money to relatives there. "These new restrictions are simply the latest in a long series that have been implemented without congressional consultation," said Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat sponsoring the bill. Introduced on the day when Cuban Americans celebrate the country's independence from Spain more than a century ago, the measure is based on the annual review process that Congress set up last year for sanctions against Myanmar. Baucus was accompanied by Representative C.L. "Butch" Otter, an Idaho Republican, Representative William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Representative Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican. (Reuters, 20/5/04)

May 20: The Center for Cuban Studies in New York City could soon close its doors after 32 years of operations. The reason: recent restrictions imposed by US President George W. Bush on educational and cultural trips to Cuba. According to the staff and management of the Center for Cuban Studies, in spite of the efforts of its sponsors and members around the United States, the increased restrictions on trips has considerably reduced the center's income. (Radio Habana Cuba, 21/5/04)

May 20: After a four-day trade mission in Havana and other rice industry areas of Cuba, the USA Rice - led delegation returned to the United States with a stronger trade relationship and a better understanding of Cuba's rice needs. “Cuba is estimated to import 550,000 tons of rice this year, however, only a fifth of that comes from the US due to US-imposed export restrictions,” said USA Rice Chairman Gary Sebree, a rice grower from Arkansas. “However, if that market was made available to us, it would become a top market overnight. This visit helped to further strengthen or relationship with the buyers of rice, the users of rice, and most importantly, the consumers of rice in Cuba.” The USA Rice delegation was the largest and most visible among the estimated 400 farmers and food traders in Havana to make trade contacts. (Southwest Farm Press, 20/5/04)

May 20: A group of leading US personalities has sent an open letter to President Bush, calling on the administration to lift all restrictions on humanitarian trade and free travel to Cuba. The letter was issued by Americans For Humanitarian Trade With Cuba (AHTC) in response to the administration´s recent adoption of measures that would limit Cuban American family visits, humanitarian aid and travel. Among the most prominent signers of the document figure David Rockefeller, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford; former chair of the US Federal Reserve Bank Paul Volcker and filmmaker/producers Francis Ford Coppola and Oliver Stone. (Prensa Latina, 20/5/04)

May 21: US authorities denied statements made by Cuba’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Felipe Pérez Roque regarding migration agreements. Pérez Roque accused Washington of having issued only 700 travel documents to Cuban citizens by the middle of last fiscal year. In a statement distributed to the press by Washington’s Interest Section in Havana, it was said that by the middle of last fiscal year (from October 2002 to September 2003) that diplomatic office had issued almost two thousand travel documents. The statement also noticed that the Cuban Foreign Affairs minister “deliberately distorts facts” and “lies” to the internacional press. (Notimex, 21/5/04)

May 22: The Cuban government plans to raise prices to replenish its coffers with much-needed funds and is using recent measures announced by Washington as an "excuse" to do so, the head of the US diplomatic mission in Havana said. Fidel Castro "knew exactly when the (US) recommendations were going to come out and he had everything prepared. It was an excuse to raise prices and take money from the population as quickly as possible and direct it toward other uses," James Cason said in an interview. "They are spending a lot of money on repressive forces and the army," the head of the US Interests Section in Havana said. The US diplomat was referring to a decision by the Cuban government to raise the prices of basic products sold at dollar-only stores by up to 30 percent. (EFE, 22/5/04)

May 22: Resort chain Superclubs, based in Jamaica, was informed by Washington that its top executives, stockholders and their families will be denied entry into the United States due to their investments in Cuba. SuperClubs, with properties in Jamaica, Bahamas, Curazao, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Brazil, operates five hotels in Cuba, accounting for 1,500 rooms. The most recent one is the Grand Lido Varadero in the 5-star category and 442 rooms in the island´s most famous beach resort. (Prensa Latina, 22/5/04)

May 25: In its third report in just over a decade on opportunities in a post-Castro Cuba, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce offers a road map for investing and trade but concedes that it could be a bumpy path to the long-expected economic reforms. The latest study, titled ''The Trade Impact of a Free Cuba'' which stresses potential business opportunities in the island, was released during a chamber panel discussion that brought together executives, diplomats and Chamber representatives. The study, the Chamber's third on the topic since 1991, aims to provide the local business community with an understanding of the implications -- both in opportunities and challenges -- of a ''free'' Cuba. (The Miami Herald, 26/5/04)

May 25: Cuban authorities have declined to broadcast a US-made video portraying the often mortal danger faced by emigrants who depart the island illegally on precarious vessels or the "fast boats" of people smugglers. The approximately one-minute video shows images of shipwrecked rafts and fast boats on the Florida Straits as a voice-over lists the perils involved in the journey. But the offer of the tape was rebuffed by officials at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, said James Cason, head of the US Interests Section in Havana. "We can discourage the population from venturing out on rafts without videos such as this," Cuban officials said when asked about the US offer. (EFE, 25/5/04)

May 25: The Reverend Lucius Walker, founder of Pastors for Peace, describes Washington's latest measures against Cuba as "draconian." Upon his arrival in the Cuban capital, the US religious leader said that in his attempts to get more votes in Florida, the current occupant of the White House has earned the wrath of many Cuban-Americans and may have shot himself in the foot. (Prensa Latina, 25/5/04)

May 27: Plantation United Methodist Church is reaching across the ocean to share prayer and faith with Cuba. Four members recently returned from a six-day trip to Cuba, where they visited La Iglesia Metodista del Consolacion del Sur. Plantation United Methodist adopted the church about a year ago and has been swapping e-mails and prayer ever since. "We wanted to establish a personal connection with them, to worship with them and talk with them," Plantation Senior Pastor Tim Smiley said. "We're both praying and fasting for each other." This was the church's first trip to Cuba, Smiley said. (Sun Sentinel, 27/5/04)

May 30: John Kerry’s campaign team is denying that the Massachusetts senator is not committed to a policy towards Cuba. Kerry’s campaign spokesman, Mark Kornblau, stated that the democratic candidate supports the embargo, but that he is interested in lifting travel restrictions in order to encourage changes towards democracy in Cuba. ''George Bush has created a positive gap for any candidate when failing to show a coherent policy”, Kornblau said. ``In several occasions, John Kerry has formulated a clear anti Castro policy, that also explains how it will encourage democracy through person to person exchanges and the revival of Cuban civil society”, he added. But, Bush’s campaign team has said that the president may show a record of how Kerry has changed his position in relation with Cuba: he supported the 1996 Law that strengthened sanctions against the island, even when he voted against it in its final phase. ''The information we are receiving indicates that people are satisfied with Bush’s consistent policy against Castro”, Bush’s spokesman, Reed Dickens, said. (AP, 30/6/04)