Chronicle on Cuba - June 2004

US-Cuba Relations

June 2: Cubans turning on their television sets in recent days have picked up programming rarely seen on this communist-run island: US President George W. Bush defending his Iraq policy, American cartoons, news programs from Tampa Bay, Florida. But, this isn't a US government propaganda effort. It's a regular atmospheric phenomenon that occurs for several days or weeks at the start of each summer, allowing Cubans in some coastal areas -- especially those living in tall buildings -- to tune in to regular TV and radio programming from Florida, 90 miles (about 145 kilometers) to the north. (CNN, 2/6/04)

June 2: The US government expects to enact new Cuba travel and spending restrictions on June 30, nearly a month later than originally planned, a State Department official said. "We had talked about a June 1 date at one point," said Daniel Fisk, a deputy assistant secretary at the US State Department. "But at this point it looks like it's going to be June 30 by the time the regulations are promulgated, published and take effect." The Bush administration announced measures that would make it harder for Cuban Americans to travel to the communist-run nation and send money to relatives there. (Reuters 2/6/04)

June 3: The Mississippi Coast Trade Council has received its third license in 2004 to engage in travel-related transactions in Cuba. The Trade Council, representing South Mississippi, will be an agent for Gulf Medical International Trade LLC to identify trade opportunities in Cuba. (The Sun Herald, 3/6/04)

June 3: Senator John McCain said he struggle for freedom in Cuba remains strong despite brutal repression by the Castro regime. "Dissent in Cuba is alive and well," said McCain, (Republican-Arizona) "The pro-democracy movement has survived the repression organized by Castro to crush it. It has weathered the storm." McCain is chairman of the International Republican Institute, an organization dedicated to advancing democracy in Cuba and other countries worldwide. McCain spoke to mark the release of "Dissenting Voices," an institute publication detailing the struggles of Cuba's pro-democracy movement since March 2003, when the Castro regime launched a crackdown. (AP, 3/6/04)

June 4: US Congressman Kendrick Meek asked Secretary of State Colin Powell that the 35 Cuban dissidents detained in the US Naval Base of Guantánamo be released while a third country willing to receive them is found, indicated the Democracy Movement—a Cuban exile organization in Miami. (AFP, 4/6/04)

June 4: New US travel restrictions could cut travel by Cuban Americans to the island by as much as 40 percent - despite new Cuban rules making it easier for them to visit relatives in the island, a Foreign Ministry official said. Under new US regulations, Cubans living in the United States will be able to legally travel to the island only once every three years, rather than annually. "In the end, it is the Cuban family that suffers," said Benigno Perez, head of the Foreign Ministry's Department of Consular Affairs and Cubans Living Abroad. Perez spoke in an interview with the press. The rules also limit which relatives Cuban Americans can send financial assistance to. Now, Cuban Americans will only be able to help their children, parents, grandparents and siblings on the impoverished island - but not their cousins, aunts and uncles. (AP, 4/6/04)

June 5: Forty operations were done in a week at Cimeq, one of Cuba's top hospitals, by a 42-member team of medical practitioners from Los Angeles and different cities in Florida. Cimeq usually performs 50 to 60 such surgeries a year, said Dr. Alfredo Ceballos, an orthopedic surgeon who coordinated the Americans' visit to the hospital. "This allowed us to take care of a large number of patients and significantly reduce the waiting list," Ceballos said. "And all without politics, or having to deal with money." Prostheses are limited in Cuba, a communist country under a U.S. embargo where hard currency to import goods from overseas is scant. (AP, 5/6/04)

June 6: Denouncing President Bush's crackdown on Fidel Castro as election-year politicking that "punishes and isolates the Cuban people," John Kerry said he would encourage "principled travel" to the island and lift the cap on gifts to its people. In his first detailed remarks on Cuba policy since clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, the Massachusetts senator sought to carve out a middle ground in what has been a dicey subject for him. He embraced the US trade embargo against Cuba and support for dissidents, but criticized Bush's restriction of travel and cash gifts to Cubans on the island as a "cynical and misguided ploy for a few Florida votes." Kerry said in a telephone interview that Bush's new hard-line policy restricting travelers to a single visit every three years "punishes and isolates the Cuban people and harms the Cuban Americans with relatives on the island while leaving Castro unharmed." "Selective engagement, not isolation, is the best way for the American people to send real, not just rhetorical, hope for a better future to the Cuban people," he said. (The Miami Herald, 7/6/04)

June 6: Cuba harshly criticized former President Ronald Reagan and his policies, saying he should "never have been born." In the first reaction to Reagan's death from the communist government, Radio Reloj said: "As forgetful and irresponsible as he was, he forgot to take his worst works to the grave," the government radio station said. "He, who never should have been born, has died," the radio said. The statement did not mention Cuba's relationship with the United States under Reagan, a staunch foe of communism. (CNN, 7/6/04)

June 7: At an International Labor Organisation (ILO) conference, the Cuban Minister of Labor and Social Security, Alfredo Morales Cartaya, denounced the US attempts to “manipulate” the international forum, and to destabilize his country. Cartaya said that one of the measures being implemented by the US is “the allocation of 59 million dollars for the funding and promotion of a “fifth column’ that will support aggressions” against Castro’s regime. [Speech by the Cuban Minister of Labor] (EFE, 8/6/04)

June 8: Havana accused Washington of trying to bring the island nation "to its knees" by tightening the economic embargo with measures announced last month. A communique published in the government-run press abounded in negative characterizations of the US government and policies, including "fascists," "criminal," "perverse" and "cynical." "The extreme right wing of the administration (of US President George W. Bush) is taking clear steps aimed at blocking income for our country from tourism and other services and to reducing to zero the possibility that Cuban residents in the United States can send remittances to their relatives in Cuba," the communique added. [Denuncia Cuba nueva y cobarde medida] (EFE, 8/6/04)

June 9: In a surprising operation, posing more questions than it answers, the Cuban government filtered US$ 3.9 billion into the international banking system using a US Federal Reserve program for the replacement of deteriorated bills, as an investigation by the Federal Reserve bank of New York revealed. Some analysts believe the funds, which had been deposited in the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), could be a money laundering operation. However, the general opinion in government circles is that the money is simply income from tourism and remittances, said an official from the Federal Reserve. Last May, the Federal Reserve bank penalized UBS with a $100 million fine. (El Nuevo Herald, 9/6/04)

June 9: A US congresswoman requested an investigation into what she described as a Cuban government operation to launder $3.9 billion using a Federal Reserve program. Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen told the press that she made the request to a congressional committee of the Federal Reserve and to Union Bank of Switzerland. "Today I sent a letter to Congressman Michael G. Oxley, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, asking for a formal investigation into this maneuver by Cuba which, in an illegal way, has used the US Federal Reserve to launder $3.9 billion," Ros-Lehtinen said. The Cuban government used a US program to replace deteriorated US bills and deposit the $3.9 billion into the Swiss bank accounts of unknown owners. (EFE, 9/6/04)

June 9: A lawyer was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for smuggling thousands of fine Cuban cigars into the US and selling them for a fat profit. Richard "Mick" Connors, 54, was also fined $60,000 and placed on three years' probation. Connors was convicted in 2002 of smuggling, trading with the enemy, conspiracy and lying to a passport officer.(CNN, 9/6/04)

June 9: First baseman and outfielder Kendry Morales, considered by some to be Cuba's top young player, has defected to the United States, his stepfather said. Henry Núñez confirmed in an interview with the press that Morales, a switch-hitter said to be 20, had defected but provided no details. US immigration officials in Miami confirmed that Morales had arrived in the United States and was allowed to stay. (The National Post, Sports Illustrated, 9/6/04)

June 10: The organizers of a sailboat race from Key West to Cuba have been indicted on two counts of providing unlicensed travel services to the Communist island nation, the US Attorney's Office said. Peter Goldsmith and Michele Geslin ran the race in violation of the Trading With The Enemy Act, federal officials said. The most serious count of the indictment carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence. (AP, 10/6/04)

June 11: Cuba clarified its position on former U.S. president Ronald Reagan, saying Friday that a harsh editorial aired on state radio after his death was not the government's official opinion. ``The Foreign Ministry has been instructed by the Revolution's leadership to clarify that the comments made by that radio station do not constitute an official declaration by Cuban authorities, nor do they express their positions,'' the statement published in Granma said. [Información del MINREX] (AP, 11/6/04)

June 12: The US government denied a visa to moderate Cuban dissident Dimas Castellanos, despite US policies that encourage links between the United States and Cubans opposed to Fidel Castro's communist government. The opposition group Arco Progresista, to which Castellanos belongs, said that the United States was targeting moderate dissidents who criticize US policy as well as the Cuban government. Castellanos, whom Arco Progresista described as a "prominent, social-democratic thinker," was invited to participate in a conference at the Institute of Cuban Studies in Miami at the end of June. "What's puzzling about the denial is that it comes from a government that says it supports the promotion of human rights, the exercise of personal liberties (...) and the democratization of Cuba," Arco Progresista said in a statement. (AP, 12/6/04)

June 12: The President of the Communist Party of the United States Sam Webb met with the First Secretary of the Havana Division of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) Pedro Sáez Montejo on the fourth day of Webb's week-long visit to the island. (Radio Habana Cuba, 12/6/04)

June 14: The 2004 Trafficking in Persons report, issued by the US Department of State, rated 10 nations in the Tier 3 category (the least favorable rating): Bangladesh, Burma, Cuba, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Guyana, North Korea, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Venezuela. [Trafficking in Persons Report. Western Hemisphere] (Washington File, 14/6/04)

June 15: A group of 19 Cubans who reached the Florida coast may be eligible for residency in the US, said the border patrol. (AFP, 16/6/04)

June 15: A Jamaican resort company has cut back its business in Cuba to avoid having top officers denied entry into the United States for investing in confiscated property, company officials and a lawyer close to the case said. They said SuperClubs Super-Inclusive Resorts has canceled three hotel management contracts - a move analysts said is likely to have a chilling effect on foreign investment in Cuba. "We now have two hotels in Cuba. Until two months ago we had five, but we've been closing contracts," said one SuperClubs official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. (Reuters, 15/6/04)

June 16: The Cuban government criticized the United States’ decision to include Cuba in the list of negligent countries which do not prevent the illegal trafficking of thousands of persons every year. In a front-page note, the daily Granma described the classification of Cuba as a destination for sex tourism as a “cynical and shameful accusation.” (Notimex, 16/6/04)

June 16: The US government published in the Federal Register regulations that further tighten the embargo against Cuba. The Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said in the Federal Register that the new regulations would take effect on June 30. The tough new rules allow Cuban-Americans to visit immediate relatives on the island only once every three years, instead of once per year. Visits can last no longer than 14 days, according to the published regulations. US citizens who are not Cuban-Americans are banned from visiting the island, just 90 miles (150 km) from Florida, with a few exceptions like journalists and legislators. And authorized visitors can now take only $300 in cash to Cuba, down from $3,000. The rules also limit to 44 pounds (27.5 kilograms) the amount of baggage travelers can carry to the island and reduce the daily spending limit from $167 to $50. (CNN, 16/6/04)

June 16: During a conference of the Texas-Cuba Trade Alliance, Jim Stinehagen, in charge of Montana-based Yellowstone Bean Co., shared his exporting experiences with Texas businesspeople interested in cashing in on a reopened Cuban market. More than 11 million potential consumers live on the Communist-controlled island, according to Stinehagen. The conference focused on helping state exporters navigate through the strict regulations governing trade with Cuba. "Cuba once was one of the bigger markets for Texas," said Parr Rosson of the Center for North American Studies at Texas A&M University. Cynthia Thomas, president of the trade alliance, said that at one point before the embargo, all Texas rice was exported to Cuba. While agricultural exports to the island have been strong, Thomas said the export of medical supplies has been limited because Cubans' low incomes don't allow the purchase of high-priced American medical supplies. (San Antonio Express News, 16/6/04)

June 16: The US Interests Section in Havana confirmed that Cuban dissident Dimas Castellanos' visa request was denied, but issued a statement saying that "support or nonsupport for US policy is not a litmus test for receiving a US visa." It declined say why the visa was denied, citing confidentiality rules. "Our long-standing policy is to provide uncensored information to Cubans," the statement continued. "We have provided informational materials to supporters of Arco Progresista, despite this organization's well-known disagreement with US policy." (AP, 16/6/04)

June 17: A senior Cuban official termed cruel and inhumane new US measures to limit the flow of dollars to the Communist-run Caribbean island. The tough new rules, to take effect on June 30, allow Cuban-Americans to visit immediate relatives on the island only once every three years, instead of once per year. Visits can last no longer than 14 days. Opponents of the sanctions in the United States say the Bush administration steps pander to Cuban-American voters in Florida, a key swing state in November's presidential election. "These regulations are a harsh blow to the Cuban family, "Rafael Dausa, director of the Foreign Ministry's North America department, said on a state-run television talk show. Dausa charged that under the regulations there were no exceptions for humanitarian concerns and the right of Cuban-Americans to visit uncles, aunts and cousins was banned entirely. (Reuters, 17/6/04)

June 18: American luxury yacht owners and rough-hewn sailors alike have navigated around US travel restrictions through a loophole that allowed them to cruise legally if they could prove they hadn't spent a cent "trading with the enemy." Armed with letters from Havana's Marina Hemingway generously waving all docking, visa and cruising permit fees, hundreds of American pleasure boaters sailed home from Cuba's forbidden shores claiming they had been "fully hosted" by the marina. Now under new, tighter travel restrictions meant to strangle Cuba's economy and precipitate the end of Fidel Castro's 45-year rule, the Bush administration plans to eliminate the "fully hosted" provision as of June 30, a move many critics deride as a ploy aimed at pleasing Cuban American voters. (Reuters, 18/6/04)

June 21: Cuban exile activists are asking for the release of Cubans and Haitians who are being held, more than three years in some cases, at the US Naval Base at Guantánamo. The activists say the indefinite detention violates the detainees' civil rights. "The president of the United States needs to allow them to come here," said Cuban-American activist Ramon Saul Sanchez. "That's the bottom line." The Cubans and Haitians are refugees who were intercepted by the US Coast Guard at sea and transferred to Guantánamo to process their claims for political asylum. (Sun Sentinel, 21/6/04)

June 21: Tens of thousands of Cubans rallied, as Fidel Castro warned President Bush against launching a military attack on Cuba, saying it would provoke a mass exodus and an all-out ground war. Fidel Castro declared that in an invasion of Cuba, his hypothetical physical absence would not mean the slightest difference in the Cuban people´s ability to fight and resist. "In Cuba´s present condition to confront an invasion, my physical absence by natural or other causes would not hurt our ability, in any way, to fight and resist," the Cuban leader said in an open letter directed to US President George W. Bush read to more than 200,000 people in Havana. [Segunda Epístola] (AP, Prensa Latina, 21/6/04)

June 21: New federal regulations on studying in Cuba could cancel a proposed Indiana University course in geography and telecommunications. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations prohibit students from traveling to Cuba for courses that last less than 10 weeks. That would block IU from offering the course scheduled to start next summer. It would have included 12 days of field work near Santa Clara, Bloomington's sister city in central Cuba. (AP, 21/6/06)

June 21: Andres Oppenheimer of The Miami Herald asked John Kerry what he thought of something called the Varela Project. Kerry said it was "counterproductive." It's necessary to try other approaches, he added. As he told Oppenheimer, the Varela Project "has gotten a lot of people in trouble (…) and it brought down the hammer in a way that I think wound up being counterproductive." (The New York Times, 21/6/04)

June 21: A Cuban rafter intercepted at sea who slit his wrists in an attempt to prevent his repatriation remained aboard a US Coast Guard patrol boat, according to an exile group lobbying for him to be allowed into the United States. The Miami-based Democratic Movement, or MD, said it was doing everything possible to have Hector Martin Sanchez brought to a hospital in Miami, but noted that if authorities order him to be treated aboard the Coast Guard boat, he would probably be deported back to Cuba. (EFE, 21/6/04)

June 21: A go-fast boat with 21 Cuban refugees and two suspected smugglers aboard led the US Coast Guard on a three-hour chase, then brought the Cubans ashore at Big Pine Key before they could be intercepted. Earlier, 26 migrants, also Cuban, were discovered at Elliott Key. Their boat came ashore after a two-hour journey from Cuba, according to US Coast Guard representatives. (The Miami Herald, 21/6/04)

June 22: Jose Contreras' family defected from Cuba this week, and the New York Yankees pitcher left the team and traveled to Miami to reunite with his wife and two daughters. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Barbara Gonzalez said she did not know details on how the family got out of Cuba. Contreras, the former star on Cuba's national team, defected in 2002. Nicaragua twice granted Contreras' family visas, but the Cuban government denied permission for his relatives to leave the island. Contreras' family was informed in late 2002 that it would have to wait five years for a document required to leave. (AP, 22/6/04)

June 22: Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón has strongly condemned Washington's latest measures against Cuba, saying that the White House is trying “to destroy the Revolution by intensifying the blockade and economic war” against the island. Speaking at the University of Havana at a meeting between US and Cuban philosophers and social scientists, Cuba's top legislator said that a military attack against Cuba may not be imminent, but it cannot be discarded. Ricardo Alarcón said that not only has the United States not discarded the possibility of an invasion, but Washington has actually said that they might use force if all other actions to overthrow the Cuban Revolution fail. Alarcón said he was sure that all other actions would fail, as a military attack itself would also fail. (Radio Habana Cuba, 22/6/04)

June 23: During her first electoral campaign visit to Miami, Teresa Heinz Kerry drew parallels between the Cuban exiles’ experiences and the expulsion of her family from Mozambique, when this African country began to be ruled by a communist government. Heinz Kerry, the wife of Democrat candidate to the US presidency, John Kerry, also warned that to impose sanctions against a country is not always a good decision in international politics. During a session with the press about the last US sanctions against the Cuban communist regime, Heinz Kerry showed an inclination to maintain remittances, and to increase cultural exchanges and person- to-person contacts. ''John [Kerry] is advising a policy of exchanges, so the Cubans could feel a good impact from Americans”, she added. (El Nuevo Herald, 24/6/04)

June 23: US residents will no longer be allowed to send to Cuba clothing, personal hygiene items, fishing gear and other goods under new rules unveiled by the US Department of Commerce. Gift parcels are limited to food, vitamins, medicine, medical supplies and equipment, and receive-only radio equipment. Previously, the parcels could include such other items as seeds, veterinary supplies and soap-making equipment. Parcels containing items other than food are limited to once per month per household, instead of once monthly per individual. The recipient must be a grandparent, grandchild, parent, sibling, spouse or child of the donor. (The Miami Herald, 23/6/04)

June 24: Cuba bought 5,300 tonnes of US durum wheat during the week ended June 17, the US Agriculture Department said. In its weekly export sales report, the USDA said Cuba's durum purchase was the first since the USDA began reporting such data in 1973. (Reuters, 24/6/04)

June 24: In an interview with The Miami Herald, Senator John Kerry caused a controversy by seeming to slight the Varela Project, which tries to promote democracy by using the legal mechanisms of the state. ". . . It has brought down the hammer in a way that I think wound up being counterproductive," Kerry said. After the controversy broke, Kerry wrote an article explicitly endorsing the Varela Project. Jamie Rubin, one of his foreign policy advisers, said this week by telephone that the senator was most concerned that fervid US support fostered a perception that dissidents were tools of Washington. (The Boston Globe, 25/6/04)

June 24: Independent journalist Manuel Vázquez Portal, who was recently released from prison, called for the prevention of a war between Cuba and the United States, and urged Fidel Castro to put an end to his “obstinacy” toward the US and the European Union. In declarations to the press, he said that Castro’s “partisan entrenchment” in condemning the likelihood of an attack against the island “is not the solution” and that it is time for “sensible thinking” because a modern war is not fought with machetes but with missiles and “intelligent bombs.” (Notimex, 24/6/04)

June 24: The US government will give air charter companies and travelers more time to adjust to stringent new rules curtailing visits to Cuba, a top State Department official said. "We are in the process of formulating a response that we will make generally known to the travel service providers, the US Interests Section in Havana and to the public that those who are legally in Cuba will be able to make arrangements to come back to the US," said Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fisk, the top US diplomat for Cuba. "They will have to return by a certain date, but they will have sufficient notice," Fisk told Reuters, adding "it will be respectful of logistics and of the efforts needed to get people back from a country that has an information embargo." Fisk did not provide additional details. (Reuters, 24/6/04)

June 25: The University of Havana honored US writer Howard Zinn, known for his best-seller “The Other History of the United States”, with the Honoris Causa Doctorate in historic sciences. Cuban Congressional Speaker Ricardo Alarcon, Culture Minister Abel Prieto, and University of Havana rector Juan Vela, who personally gave the diploma to Zinn, attended the act. (Prensa Latina, 25/6/04)

June 25: The United States defended the new restrictions it plans to adopt against Cuba, saying these respond to "the needs of the Cuban people" and will help promote democracy on the communist-ruled island. The restrictions come from recommendations made in May by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, created by the White House with the aim of fostering a transition toward democracy in Havana. At a press conference, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said the US measures seek to respond to "the needs of the Cuban people," though he gave no further explanation. (EFE, 25/6/04)

June 26: Some 10,000 Cubans summoned by authorities rallied against tighter US sanctions to try to hasten the departure from power of Fidel Castro. The massive rally against the policies of US President George W. Bush was held in Jatibonico, 350 kilometers (215 miles) east of Havana. (AFP, 26/6/04)

June 27: Two small groups of refugees landed in the Keys within about 24 hours in homemade boats, according to the US Border Patrol. Two Cuban men in a homemade, wooden boat powered by an engine landed along Long Beach Road on Big Pine Key. The men, who departed from Havana, were taken into Border Patrol custody and transported to Krome detention center in Miami-Dade. Another group of three men landed in Marathon after departing from Villa Clara province on Cuba's north coast. (The Miami Herald, 28/6/04)

June 28: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said the new US restrictions against Cuba could hurt President George W. Bush's bid for re-election in November. "These measures, thought up to please the ultra-right in Miami and guarantee its support in the elections, could end up being costly for President Bush from the electoral point of view," Perez Roque said during a legislative session in Havana. "However, these measures come up against our people's resistance capacity and have raised in the United States themselves an enormous wave of indignation and opposition," Perez Roque told local television. (EFE, 28/6/04)

June 30: US officials said harsher Cuban sanctions that have angered those on and off the island are intended only to hurt Castro. Tightened restrictions on Cuba travel, remittances and gift parcels taking effect today mark the start of a ''comprehensive, integrated strategy'' intended to hurt Fidel Castro's government, not Cubans or Cuban Americans, US authorities say. ''These are specific steps to signal to the regime that they cannot simply hold on,'' said a senior State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It's a sign of disapproval of the [Cuban] government's current and past behavior and to show that the behavior has consequences.'' (The Miami Herald, 30/6/04)

June 30: A group of well-known musicians criticized new US regulations that will further limit travel to Cuba, urging the United States to build bridges to the island instead of tearing them down. The musicians tied their comments to the release of "Bridge to Havana," a combination CD-DVD produced by dozens of US and Cuban artists during a song-writing workshop and cultural exchange program in Havana in 1999. The product "proves the brotherhood that exists between American and Cuban musicians," said a statement signed by "the unstoppable Cuban musicians," about 10 of whom held a news conference to call for a second such meeting of artists in Cuba. (AP, 30/6/04)

June 30: Fidel Castro said US President George W. Bush was given bad advice when he decided to impose new and highly unpopular restrictions cutting visits and money remittances to Cuba. "The least I can tell you is that Bush was ill advised," Castro told reporters at the Argentine Embassy where he met with a group of Argentine business leaders. Castro said the new US restrictions on Cuba "could work against his efforts to get reelected." "The measures injure the sensibilities of Cuban families," Castro said, adding that the US policy "was not well thought out." Despite Bush's hardening of the 42-year-old economic embargo on Cuba, Castro said: "Mentally, we're ready for any measure; either a message of peace or war." (AFP, 1/7/04)

June 30: In a statement on US politics towards Latin America, Democratic candidate John Kerry said that democracy should “flourish and spread as it never had before” in the Americas. “Only Cuba remained outside this new community of nations”, Kerry said. “I n Cuba, the angry red scar in a sea of democratic blue, we have seen a further deterioration, with widespread arrests of dissidents and human-rights activists”. “In Cuba, we must support Oswaldo Payá and his brave colleagues on the Varela Project. I have honored principled dissent, civil disobedience and peaceful challenges to authority my entire adult life. Indeed, without dissent we could not have made progress toward civil rights in America, ended the war in Vietnam or defeated apartheid and communism abroad”, Kerry added. “We should be working through the OAS, with our allies and with democratic friends worldwide to put pressure on the Castro regime to release political prisoners, allow room for political opposition and accede to initiatives such as the Varela Project, which will move Cuba toward democracy. (The Miami Herald, 30/6/04)