Chronicle on Cuba - July 2004

US-Cuba Relations

July 1: Cuba's parliament speaker, Ricardo Alarcon, painted a bleak picture of what the communist nation would be like if a US plan for a "Free Cuba" ever became reality. Speaking at a general meeting of Cuba's National Assembly attended by Fidel Castro and Defense Minister Raul Castro, Alarcon said that under such a plan Cubans would have their property taken away, lose free access to education and health care and pensions for the elderly would disappear. The United States wants to "convert our country into an American territory, and subject our people to slavery," said Alarcon, the president of the assembly. (AP, 1/7/04)

July 1: The Cuban National Assembly issued a strong statement condemning Washington's anti-Cuba measures and the objective of destroying the Cuban nation. The island's parliament passed the document during a session that was attended by both Fidel Castro and Raul Castro. The statement passed by the Cuban parliament says the US measures seek to intensify Washington's economic war against Cuba, encourage internal subversion, step up anti-Cuba propaganda and pressure other countries to join in isolating Cuba - all with the aim of creating conditions for a direct military aggression against the island. [Statement by the National Assembly] (AIN, 1/7/04)

July 1: The US Congress TV station expressed interest in the TV broadcast of the Cuban parliamentary session dealing with the impact of the new batch of measures against Cuba implemented by Washington, said Fidel Castro following the debates and the approval of a declaration on that issue. (AFP, 1/7/04)

July 1: The US Coast Guard returned to Cuba 23 migrants who were found at sea in the past week, officials said. Two groups of Cubans were spotted on rafts by a Coast Guard jet on June 27, about 25 miles southwest of Key West. A cutter took 10 migrants from the first raft and 12 from the second, the Coast Guard said. (AP, 1/7/04)

July 1: Citing the US Supreme Court ruling that gave suspected terrorists at Guantánamo the right to challenge their captivity in federal court, advocates for Cuban and Haitian refugees at the US Navy base said that they too should be allowed to come to the United States to press their case for asylum. The 38 Cubans and 14 Haitians -- including at least four children -- have already cleared an initial hurdle: proving credible fear of political persecution if returned to their countries. But US policy prevents them from entering this country, even though many of them have relatives in South Florida. The State Department has been unable to find a third country to take these refugees -- some of whom have languished at Guantánamo for three years. (The Miami Herald, 2/7/04)

July 2: The island's coalition of writers and artists celebrated the anniversary of US independence by paying homage to the late writer Ernest Hemingway. The decision to focus their celebration on Hemingway, who made pre-revolutionary Cuba his home for many years, represents "the desire to approach the true values of the American culture, and demonstrate that there exists no animosity toward the American people," said Lisandro Otero, a Cuban writer. Otero spoke to about 100 members of the coalition attending a conference on Hemingway and his links to Cuba. The group also planned a gala concert in Havana to mark the Fourth of July celebration of the US Independence Day. (The Globe and Mail, 4/7/04)

July 4: New US restrictions towards Cuba have caused an outcry from Democrats and some Republicans. They are complaining that the Bush administration is causing suffering among the people it is wooing politically. "Why would we be promoting something that's so antifamily?" said Representative Jo Ann Emerson, Republican of Missouri, worrying aloud that the measures could turn some critical votes against President Bush in his reelection campaign. "I think it will alienate Cuban-Americans who would otherwise be inclined to support the president, because he has been so strong against the Cuban regime." The issue "very much" could affect the outcome of the Florida presidential race, said Representative Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona. "I think we've been very close to the tipping point for awhile, and now we've crossed it," he said. (The Boston Globe, 4/7/04)

July 5: American medical students in Cuba have rushed back to the United States, missing their final exams, over fears that US authorities will jail them, fine them thousands of dollars, or revoke their citizenship for studying medicine on the island. "The majority of the students have left," said one student, of New York. James Cason, the top US diplomat in Cuba, said he wasn't aware the American students were cutting their education short. "It wasn't our intention," he said. "We'll have to get word to them somehow." (Knight Ridder Tribune, 5/7/04)

July 4: The 35th Contingent of the Venceremos (We Will Prevail) Brigade arrived in Santiago de Cuba, in open defiance of Washington's newly tightened restrictions on travel to the island. The group, made up of 81 US citizens from different backgrounds and states, flew to Cuba from Canada and plans to hold several meetings with the community and engage in agricultural and other activities. Venceremos was founded in the United States in 1969 and made its first visit a few months later, helping with that year's sugar harvest. (Radio Habana Cuba, EFE, 5/7/04)

July 4: The African Awareness Association arrived in Havana in rejection of the Bush administration's new measures aimed at strengthening Washington's economic blockade against the island. (Radio Habana Cuba, EFE, 5/7/04)

July 7: Days before tighter restrictions on travel to Cuba went into effect, Secretary of State Colin Powell quietly agreed to tweak the new rules to allow a small group of US students attending medical school on the island to continue to do so. Nearly 80 US students -- mostly black and Hispanic -- are enrolled in Cuba's Latin American Medical School. Located on the outskirts of Havana on the campus of the country's old naval academy, it has more than 3,000 students from Africa, Central and South America, plus the US contingent. The students are attending school in Cuba "because our constituents could not -- and still cannot -- afford the high cost of medical education in the United States," 28 black and Hispanic members of Congress said in a letter to Powell. They asked him to ensure that the students "be permitted to continue their studies uninterrupted." That's exactly what Powell has done. After reading their missive, he scribbled on the letter: "We ought to find a way to fix this," according to a State Department spokesman. (USA Today, 7/7/04)

July 7: If senator John Kerry wins US presidential elections, “he will change US politics towards Cuba the same way he will be changing politics towards other international issues”, Jose Villareal, co-president of the Democratic national electoral campaign, said to the press. “The international community, especially those countries south of the US border, will be invited to build a strategy that could bring dictatorship in Cuba to an end”, he added. Kerry ''will not follow the same regulations decided by president Bush”, Raul Grijalva, lawmaker from Arizona, said. Grijalva stated that strengthening the embargo is “a punishment to the Cuban community living in Florida, that are not allowed to provide aid to their relatives”. “This Bush-style politics is something that will change under Kerry-Edwards presidency”, the lawmaker from Arizona said. (El Nuevo Herald, 8/7/04)

July 7: In a dialogue between journalist Andres Oppenheimer and senator John Kerry, broadcast by the TV program “Oppenheimer introduces”, the US Democratic presidential candidate was tough on Fidel Castro. Oppenheimer asked Kerry how he would manage to make that Lula, Kirchner, and all Latin American presidents close to Castro, be exerting more pressures on the Cuban dictator in order to open the island to democracy. “One of the reasons is that we [the US] have not been completely committed to that goal”, Kerry answered. “The US hasn’t shown the same commitment it demonstrated [towards Latin America] when the Alliance for Progress took place, nor when former president Bill Clinton organized the Americas Summit (…) “I don’t like the Castro government, and I say it clear”. “Behind that romantic façade, built by some journalists and others, there is a man that kills those who oppose him”. “I unconditionally support Cuban dissidents”. “I want to give democracy and change in the island full power; and I think that if we extend our hands to those Latin American leaders in a respectful, considered and committed way, we will be able to get back their commitment and respect”, Kerry added. (El Tiempo, 8/7/04)

July 7: The House dealt an election-season setback to President Bush by voting to overturn restrictions his administration has issued on the gift parcels that Americans can send to family members in Cuba. The 221-194 vote was won by a coalition in which Democrats were joined by nearly four dozen farm-state and free-trade Republicans to rebuff the president. The debate was an emotional one, as the debates over Cuba policy often are. "It's hard to think of an economic sanction that does more harm to the welfare of families in Cuba, or does more to make the US seem mean-spirited toward families who already have the misfortune to live under communism," said Representative Jeff Flake, Republican-Arizona, one of the sponsors. Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Republican-Florida, a Cuban-American, said the proposal was "dishonest" and "condescending," adding, "It seeks to undermine an entire policy President Bush has just implemented (...) to hasten the Democratic transition in Cuba." (AP, 8/7/04)

July 7: A caravan of vehicles carrying 100 tons of goods crossed into Mexico from Texas bound for Cuba in a show of civil disobedience toward the US embargo of the communist-run island. It is the 15th year the Pastors for Peace humanitarian organization has delivered food, medicine and equipment to Cuba, but this year's trip comes as the Bush administration has toughened travel restrictions to put pressure on Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Pastors for Peace is an arm of the Inter-Religious Foundation for Community Organization, "whose mission is to help forward the struggles of oppressed people for justice and self-determination," according to a statement on its web site. (Reuters, 7/7/04)

July 7: The US Treasury Department has denied a license to a delegation of American designers to travel to Cuba to attend the 7th Design Meeting Havana 2004. Kristina Goodrich, President of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), sent a message to participants of some 10 nations who are on hand for the event expressing her regret for missing the opportunity of exchanging with her colleagues. (AIN, 7/7/04)

July 7: The United States repatriated 12 Cuban rafters detained in two separate operations by the Coast Guard off the coast of Florida. The Coast Guard in Miami said agents in a helicopter detected the first group, two Cubans on a raft, and they were intercepted 74 kilometers (50 miles) south of Key West by a Coast Guard vessel. Coast Guard agents rescued the second group, 10 Cubans on a raft, in international waters north of the communist-ruled island, providing them with life jackets, water, food and medical attention. (EFE, 7/7/04)

July 8: Despite a telephone call from the White House asking him not to do so, Representative Jeff Flake, Republican-Arizona, still persuaded his House colleagues to vote to overturn President Bush's new policies restricting the sending of gift parcels to Cuba. "The administration did ask Mr. Flake to withdraw the amendment," Flake spokesman Matthew Specht said. That telephone request came from the White House's Office of Legislative Affairs just before the House's 221-194 approval of Flake's measure, a vote won with a coalition of Democrats and 46 farm-state and free-trade Republicans. (Republic Washington Bureau, 9/7/04)

July 8: The Cuban government has confiscated the trademark for Havana Club rum and made an agreement with French liquor conglomerate Pernod Ricard to produce and market the product around the world. US Congress should take prompt action to strengthen protections for intellectual property and prevent foreign governments from profiting from confiscated trademarks, the U.S. Business and Industry Council said. The USBIC endorsed H.R. 4225 and its Senate counterpart S. 2373 -- legislation that would amend US trade law known as Section 211 (Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 1999).  Both bills have substantial, bi-partisan support. "This legislation upholds the principle that stolen trademarks should not be recognized by the US government," said USBIC President Kevin L. Kearns. "Foreign regimes that confiscate private property should not find the United States to be a safe haven in which they can profit from their misdeeds." (PRNewswire, 8/7/04)

July 8: Elvira de la Vega Glen, now 95 and living in Miami, wants Club Med, the company that built a 337-room luxury hotel in her property, at Varadero Beach, Cuba, to pay her family for using their confiscated land. Glen’s oceanfront property was confiscated after the family fled in 1959 by the Cuban government. “I don't see any reason why Club Med should be there,'' Glen said. “They didn't buy it from me. What would you think if someone just went ahead and built something on your land without asking? I'm furious.'' Glen and her son, now 60, filed a federal suit against French corporations Club Mediterranée and Club Mediterranée Group for ''wrongful exploitation'' of the family's property and ``unjust enrichment.'' Club Med profited richly from the five-star resort, the suit claims, but refused to share any of the money with the Glens. The family wants compensation for the seven years the resort has been in business. The suit, to be filed in Miami, also seeks to show that by working with the Cuban government to develop the Varadero resort, Club Med violated the Trading with the Enemy Act. Club Med issued a statement from Paris on Wednesday saying it had not yet been served in the lawsuit and could not respond to specific allegations. (The Miami Herald, 8/7/04)

July 8: More than 75 members of the Juan Ruis Rivera Brigade left Puerto Rico on the first stage of an embargo-breaking solidarity mission to Cuba in open defiance of US authorities. The President of the Cuban Solidarity Committee in Puerto Rico, Milagros Rivera, told the press that the “brigadistas” would first cross over to the Dominican Republic from where they would catch a chartered flight to arrive in Cuba. (Radio Habana Cuba, 9/7/04)

July 8: Biotechnology company Chiron Corp. (CHIR) admitted it illegally exported goods to Cuba and paid the US government $168,500 in civil penalties, the US Treasury Department reported last month. The Emeryville, California-based company voluntarily disclosed to the department that a European subsidiary illegally shipped two vaccines for infants to Cuba between 1999 and 2002. "It was an inadvertent shipment on our part," said Chiron spokesman John Gallagher. He said Chiron is licensed to ship one type of pediatric vaccine through UNICEF to Cuba but inadvertently shipped two others not approved by the US government. (AP, 8/7/04)

July 8: The US Coast Guard unveiled new restrictions for US recreational vessels traveling to Cuba, changing its focus from preventing international incidents in Cuban waters to tightening the economic embargo against the island. The original restrictions were created by then-President Bill Clinton after two exile group planes were shot down over international waters in February 1996, hoping to avoid a similar situation. The new restrictions, part of the Bush administration's crackdown on travel to Cuba, prevent boaters from leaving any part of the United States without first getting a permit, not just from the Coast Guard, but also from the US Treasury and Commerce departments. It no longer matters whether boat operators intend to enter Cuban waters, Coast Guard Lt. Tony Russell said. Anyone who does so without a permit will be in violation of US policy, he said. (Sun Sentinel, 9/7/04)

July 9: The United States Treasury Department has denied a license to a delegation of US designers to travel to Cuba for the 7th Design Meeting Havana 2004. Kristina Goodrich, President of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), sent a message to participants of some ten nations who are on hand for the event, which opened in the Cuban capital. (Radio Habana Cuba, 9/7/04)

July 9: US and Cuban artists have joined hands in Havana, displaying engravings and photographs inspired by the harrowing images of the 9/11 tragedy in New York, in an exhibition entitled "Date With Angels". Opening the exhibition at Havana"s Jose Marti memorial, Speaker of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, recalled the violence of the 9/11 attacks, how they shocked everybody, and how images, repeatedly played on television, brought pain and concern to millions all over the world. (Prensa Latina, 9/7/04)

July 9: Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón said that the US House of Representatives delivered a setback to the George W. Bush administration by voting against restrictions on gift packages that Cuban-Americans can send to family members on the island. Cuba's top legislator told reporters that the 221 to 194 vote demonstrates that a majority in the US Congress are opposed to Bush's measures against Cuba. Alarcón spoke at the opening of a photo exhibit by US and Cuban artists, inspired by the tragic images of the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York City. (Radio Habana Cuba, 9/7/04)

July 9: The United States is accusing Cuba of ''blatant distortions'' in claiming that Washington intends to invade the island and evict people from their homes as part of a post-Castro occupation plan. Responding to an official Cuban statement issued on July 9, the State Department registered its disagreement in a four-page note sent to the Cuban diplomatic mission in Washington. The Cuban position had been set forth in a statement by National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon the day after new US penalties against Cuba took effect. The State Department note said Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have said repeatedly that the United States has no intention of invading Cuba. It added that Cuban authorities have refused US offers to directly inform the Cuban people of American policy, including the goal of a peaceful transition in Cuba. President Bush's directives are partly designed to curb the flow of US dollars to Cuba. Visits by Cuban-Americans to the island can be made only at three-year intervals instead of annually, with no humanitarian exceptions allowed. (AP, 15/7/04)

July 9: An appeals court ruling means a high-profile Cuban migrant smuggler may have his sentence reduced from life in prison to 13 years or less. A US federal appeals court has thrown out the longest prison term ever meted out to a South Florida migrant smuggler -- life in prison plus five years -- and ordered that he be sentenced within guidelines that call for fewer than 13 years. Cuban migrant smuggler Jorge ''Bombino'' Aleman, 39, was handed the heavy sentence in 2002 after pleading guilty in a massive, multi-count smuggling case that resulted in the 2001 death of a 48-year-old Cuban woman fleeing the island. But the Atlanta-based US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that US District Judge James Lawrence King ''improperly considered'' what King characterized as Aleman's ''total callous disregard for human life'' in sentencing Aleman to a much harsher punishment than anticipated in a plea agreement. (The Miami Herald, 9/7/04)

July 9: A Cuban dance company billed to perform at Las Vegas's legendary Stardust Casino this month defied Cuban authorities and applied for US visas, in a rare case of overt disobedience in communist-run Cuba. Fifty-three dancers, musicians and singers with the Havana Night company went to the US Interest Section for visa application interviews even though Cuban officials told them they should not travel to the United States for the five-week show. The National Union of Writers and Artists, or UNEAC, which holds their passports, had summoned the company to a meeting the same morning, but the dancers stayed away -- something unheard of in Cuba. "The dream of any singer is to perform in Las Vegas. It is a dream that can come true," said 18-year-old Osmany, who sings in the music and dance extravaganza. He declined to give his last name. (Reuters, 9/7/04)

July 10: Cuba's Foreign Ministry said that it was holding one of Colombia's top drug kingpins, Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante. The United States has been offering a $5 million reward for information leading to Bustamante's arrest. He was indicted last May on charges of drug-trafficking, money-laundering and racketeering. If convicted on all counts, he could face life in prison. However, there is no extradition agreement between Cuba and the United States. Bustamante also is wanted in Colombia, but it was unclear whether Cuba would agree to turn him over to that country or try him in Cuba. There were reports that if Bustamante were deported to Colombia, Colombian authorities planned to extradite him to the United States for trial. [For more on this, see Foreign Relations] (CNN, 10/7/04)

July 10: Cubans will no longer have to find pirated copies of the controversial film "Fahrenheit 9/11" in the island's illegal private video libraries because the government has decided to debut Michael Moore's documentary across the country this month. The film, a harsh critique of US President George W. Bush, will be shown at all the island's premiere movie theaters, official Cuban television news reported. (EFE, 10/7/04)

July 10: A group of Americans openly challenged the Bush administration's tough new restrictions on Cuba by traveling to the Communist-run island to donate 126 tons of aid gathered in the United States. Wearing T-shirts that said "Regime change in the US, not in Cuba," the 120 members of the Pastors for Peace humanitarian organization arrived in Havana from Mexico before a shipment that includes school buses, medicines, medical equipment, computers and books. "We have one purpose: to challenge our government's blockade of Cuba," said the group's leader, Baptist Rev. Lucius Walker. (Reuters, 10/7/04)

July 11: Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (Republican -Florida) released a statement denouncing John Kerry’s two-sided Cuba strategy: “Once again, John Kerry is trying to be on both sides of an issue.  He says he supports the Cuba embargo, but then he wants to allow travel, which is 90 percent of what the embargo is.  Either he does not know what he is talking about or he is blatantly lying.  Either way, Kerry is clearly incapable of handling foreign policy”. “Kerry may claim to be ‘committed to seeing the end to the Castro regime,’ but he has a long record in the Senate of supporting whatever the anti-American, terrorist dictator Castro wants.  While he claims to support policies that would hasten the end of Castro’s regime, Kerry actually supports Castro-friendly policies that would strip the United States of the only leverage we have to encourage a democratic transition.  Kerry’s policy would provide Castro the funding he needs and wants to continue oppressing the Cuban people and would allow him to once again spread anti-American terrorism around the world – not just today but after his death as well.” (NetforCuba, 11/7/04)

July 13: The US State Department said Cuba had informed it of the arrest of an alleged Colombian drug kingpin wanted in the United States, but his possible extradition from the island remains unclear. "The Cuban government has informed us by our interests section in Havana that they've arrested an individual who claims to be Luis Hernandez Gomez," department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters. "At this point, we're looking at it as a law enforcement matter and our law enforcement agencies are studying the situation," he said. Boucher referred to the Department of Justice for any comment on his possible extradition to the United States. [For more on this, see Foreign Affairs] (AFP, 13/7/04)

July 13: Cuban Health officials have refused US offers to vaccinate all children on the island, at a time, they added, when Washington has failed to completely immunize its own underage population. Medical personnel have also joined the ranks of those slamming the White House´s proposal, especially because it comes attached to a previous ousting of the current government in the island, as part of a US project to hasten a political transition in Cuba. Doctor Concepción Campa, general director of Carlos Finlay medical Institute, said at a TV appearance that "our children do not need to be vaccinated by anyone, especially by those unable to render equal protection to their own children, and have come to the extreme of fining (a US) pharmaceutical firm for supplying us with two vaccines for children from 1999 to 2002." (Prensa Latina, 13/7/04)

July 14: "It is outright injustice, shocking, I hope it is settled soon," said Perez Roque in speaking of the US youth studying at the Latin American Medical School in Havana, whose studies were cut short because of the measures that Washington recently enforced. (Prensa Latina, 14/7/04)

July 15: T he federal government has permitted a California biotechnology company to license three experimental cancer drugs from Cuba, making an exception to the Bush administration's policy tightly restricting trade with that country. The company, CancerVax had said late last year that it was trying to license the drugs and had been awaiting needed permission from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. That permission has been granted. CancerVax officials said that it was the first time an American biotechnology company had obtained permission to license a drug from Cuba, a country that some industry executives and scientists say is surprisingly strong in biotechnology for a developing nation. (The New York Times, 15/7/04)

July 15: A Cuban dissident who was once a State Security agent has requested asylum in the European Union, complaining the United States revoked his visa even though he served a six-year prison sentence in the communist-ruled island. Bernardo Arevalo Padron, who worked as an independent journalist, told the press that in April he obtained a refugee visa at the US Interests Section in Havana to travel to the United States. Arevalo Padron said he received a telegram from the Interests Section telling him his visa had been revoked "without the right to appeal," and his flight had been canceled. "I need to get out of the island. I am requesting a visa from the European Union countries," said Arevalo Padron, who had planned to leave Cuba with his wife. "We were left without work, without money, marked by the regime, and the Americans turned their backs on us," he said. (EFE, 15/7/04)

July 16: The International Committee for Justice and Freedom for the Five organized a meeting in Havana, to review the campaign in support of the five Cuban prisoners in the United States and to make plans for future actions. The meeting was addressed by the coordinator of the host committee, Graciela Ramírez and Gloria La Riva, coordinator of the US national campaign to free the five. (Radio Habana Cuba, 17/7/04)

July 16: President Bush accused Fidel Castro of taking advantage of US goodwill in the past to foster child prostitution in Cuba, turning the island nation into what the president called a ''major destination'' for visitors seeking sex. In Florida, US President George W. Bush addressed a meeting organized by the Justice Department, its first conference on human trafficking, including sexual servitude. He used the occasion to criticize Cuba and its leader, Fidel Castro. ''The regime in Havana, already one of the worst violators of human rights in the world, is adding to its crimes,'' Mr. Bush said. ''The dictator welcomes sex tourism.'' Cuba has ''replaced Southeast Asia as a destination for pedophiles and sex tourists,'' the president said, quoting from a recent study by Johns Hopkins University. His administration, Mr. Bush said, ''has put a strategy in place to hasten the day when no Cuban child is exploited to finance a failed revolution and every Cuban will live in freedom.'' While pledging that he would give no quarter to countries and individuals who engage in trafficking, Mr. Bush laced his remarks with references to his administration's policy of compassion for victims. (The New York Times, The Miami Herald, 17/7/04)

July 19: An immigration judge has issued an order to deport Jorge de Cárdenas Agostini, a Cuban detained in Miami on suspicion of having supervised a team of torturers targeting dissidents in Cuba in the 1990s. Nina Pruneda, a spokeswoman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami, said: "Mr. de Cárdenas will be removed from the United States at some point, based on the final order of removal issued by an immigration judge." But Linda Osberg-Braun, de Cárdenas Agostini's lawyer, said she was working to have her client released instead. She declined to discuss the removal order. (The Miami Herald, 19/7/04)

July 19: Two separate groups of American activists returned without incident to US soil after deliberately defying new rules increasing travel restrictions to Cuba. About 90 members of the Venceremos Brigade reentered the country on foot in groups of 15, carrying banners and pulling suitcases behind them. Meanwhile, in Texas, about 100 volunteers with Pastors for Peace crossed the US-Mexican border over the Hidalgo International Bridge without any incident or arrests.  Officials with the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, a division of the US Department of Homeland Security, said both groups reentered the country without incident. (The Miami Herald, 19/7/04)

July 20: A Cuban dissident said the US government revoked his visa after granting him political refugee status, prompting other opponents of Fidel Castro’s communist government to express concern they are losing support from the United States. Some dissidents said they have also been denied visas or suddenly lost permission to enter the US Interest Section in Havana and use computers there. "They didn't give me an explanation. The guards at the door simply took away my pass," said dissident Gradys Muñoz. Vladimiro Roca, a leading dissident with the opposition group United For All Movement, said officials at the American mission "have really changed their treatment of some dissidents lately." Elizardo Sanchez, an activist who heads the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and Reconciliation, said the US government appeared to suspect that dissidents were working as undercover agents for Castro. "I am very surprised and worried about the possibility that the United States' immigration service is adopting unjust measures in the midst of a certain paranoia," Sanchez said. (AP, 20/7/04)

July 21: Cubans are eagerly awaiting news of the outcome of oil exploration off Cuba by Spain's Repsol YPF that could turn cash-strapped Havana into an oil producer overnight and breathe life into Fidel Castro's communist regime. The possibility of striking major oil reserves off Cuba has prodded US oil lobbies close to US President George W. Bush's administration into action. John Gibson, president of the top US oil distributor Halliburton, came out against the US economic embargo on Havana which keeps US oil companies locked out of the potential for profit so close to home, The New York Times reported recently. (AFP, 21/7/04)

July 21: Puerto Rican lawyer Rafael Rodriguez, of the Rosenberg Fund for Children (RFC), is contemplating charges against the US Federal Government for violating the rights of six-year-old Cuban girl Ivette Gonzalez. The girl, younger daughter of Rene Gonzalez, one of the five Cubans prisoners currently in US jails, has been unable to visit her father in prison, because, as a minor, she should go with her mother, to whom the United States has repeatedly denied an entry visa. (Prensa Latina, 21/7/04)

July 21: The US Interests Section in Havana issued an official statement on migration agreements between the island and the US. The USIS’ statement says that, “20,000 travel documents to Cubans” have been issued this fiscal year, “fulfilling the annual US obligation under the US-Cuba Migration Accords”. “This achievement, the earliest ever in the fiscal year, underlines our continuing commitment to safe, legal and orderly migration”, the statement adds. It also emphasizes, that “the Cuban government’s repeated assertions about US designs to cause a mass migration crisis are patently false”. “If the Cuban government would allow the US Interests Section access to Cuban official media equivalent to that which the Cuban Interests Section has to American media, we could inform the Cuban people that there is hope to seek a better life through legal means, not by taking to dangerous seas. Instead, Cubans are kept uninformed about their options to emigrate”. The statement says that the US government expects “that the Cuban government also would adhere to its commitments and issue exit permits to the almost 1,352 Cubans who have received US travel documents but have been denied exit permits by the Cuban government”. “Meeting our obligation also is a reminder to ordinary Cubans that the 1998 special Cuban lottery, also known as “el bombo”, is still functioning. We help keep alive the option of a safe, legal way for entire families who participated in the 1998 lottery to leave Cuba”. The statement reiterates that, “US policy toward Cuba is a rapid, peaceful transition to a democratic, market-oriented Cuba. The US government has no intention to invade Cuba and does not support military action or a violent overthrow to change the Cuban police state”. (USIS Press Statement, 21/7/04)

July 21: The US government expressed concern over the treatment of jailed Cuban dissident Oscar Elias Biscet, who has been placed in solitary confinement. Biscet was arrested on December 6, 2002, at his home, where - according to US officials - he was holding a discussion on human rights, and later convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison. A communique released by the US State Department said Biscet, whose health has significantly deteriorated, "has been forced to live on handouts from fellow prisoners because regime authorities refuse to permit his wife to bring in the meager rations of food and medicine that are allowed other prisoners." [Treatment of Oscar Elías Biscet] (EFE, 21/7/04)

July 22: A US State Department press release revealed the results of its annual visa lottery, whose winners can apply for US visas and permanent resident status. In Latin America, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba emerged as the big winners, with 674 Cubans hitting the jackpot. (EFE, 22/7/04)

July 22: The United States welcomed the release from prison of Cuban dissident Marta Beatriz Roque, one of 75 opponents of the Fidel Castro government jailed in a widely-criticized political crackdown last year. Her release, confirmed by family members in Havana, was welcomed by State Department spokesman Steven Pike, who said the 59-year-old Ms. Roque should never have been imprisoned in the first place. "Like many other prisoners of conscience held in Castro's Gulag, she suffered from inadequate medical care in prison," he said. "Typically, the Castro government has once again released an activist only when her deteriorating health became and inconvenience." (VOA, 22/7/04)

July 23: Nearly a month after the US government clamped down on travel to Cuba, local air charter companies say their businesses have been decimated, passengers have yet to receive new licenses required for travel and thousands have voiced their opinions to the Treasury Department about the proposed new rules. "Today is the 24th day of the [new] regulations, and not one Cuban-American has been able to travel because the Treasury Department has not issued any -- zero -- licenses," said Xael Charters owner Eddie Levy. Levy, who had already laid off 14 of his 16 full-time employees, says his business has been paralyzed. Treasury Department official Juan Zarate, in town this week to meet with local federal officials, said his office has received more than 2,000 comments about the new regulations. (Sun Sentinel, 24/7/04)

July 24: The Union des Banques Suisses, the largest banking group in Switzerland, rejected allegations of money laundering on Cuba's behalf. Three members of the US Congress Chamber of Representatives leveled the accusations at the UBS and called for an investigation. A UBS spokesperson said the bank had no knowledge of any on-going inquiry into its activities and denied involvement in any money laundering schemes. (AFP, 25/7/04)

July 24: Cuban media reported that the island would attempt to jam increased anti-Castro radio broadcasts from US-based radio stations, which currently stand at 2,247 hours per week. Quoted by the international edition of Granma, Ramón Linares, First Deputy Minister of Information Technology and Communications, said that "We will use the telecommunications technology at our disposal" to "respond to our adversaries' actions." (Europa Press, 24/7/04)

July 26: Fidel Castro vigorously denied recent charges by President Bush that he encourages sex-tourism in Cuba to attract US dollars to the impoverished island. Castro also became personal with Bush, bringing up old reports about his American nemesis' alleged past drinking habits. Speaking at the island's annual Revolution Day celebration in the central city of Santa Clara, Castro said the sex tourism allegations show that what the White House considers to be true about Cuba is ``that which the president makes up in his head, whether it corresponds to reality or not.'' Fidel Castro also said an attack on the island would be a "colossal mistake." [Speech by Fidel Castro at the ceremony for the 51 st anniversary of the 26th of July] (AP, EFE, 26/7/04)

July 27: US officials have refused to back down from President Bush's charge that Cuba promotes sex tourism - something Fidel Castro denies. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli says the issue of prostitution in Cuba is well documented. He referred to a 2002 human rights report that said Cuba had replaced Southeast Asia as one of the world's top sex tourism destinations. [Department of State Daily Press Briefing and Trafficking in Persons Report. 200 4 ] (VOA, 27/7/04)

July 27: According to federal government figures, Florida-Cuba trade volumes have increased ten-fold in the last five years. The Foreign Trade Division of the US Census Bureau contrasted Florida's exports to the island in 2003 adding up to US$ 13.4 million vs. only US$ 1.6 million in 1998. This year, up until May, exports to Cuba through Florida ports have reached US$ 5.5 million. (UPI, 27/7/04)

July 27: John Kerry’s advisor on Latin America, Nelson Cunningham, said that if the democratic senator wins the US presidential elections the embargo against Cuba “will not be ifted”. Cunningham said that Kerry will try to pressure Castro with a “multilateral approach”. “ Senador Kerry will not lift the embargo, but he believes that current US policy towards Cuba is wrong”, Cunningham said during a closed meeting with Latin American diplomats. Kerry’s strategy towards the island will have a multilateral approach that involves the whole hemisphere, he added. On the other hand, he said, tools to provoke changes will include “family contacts”. (Notimex, 27/7/04)

July 28: Fidel Castro and US policy on Cuba has emerged as a critical topic in the Republican race for the US Senate, signaling the importance that the leading contenders place on support from South Florida's Cuban exile community. The issue escalated into a spat between GOP frontrunner Bill McCollum and his nearest rival, Mel Martinez, that culminated in McCollum filing a complaint with state Republican Party officials. McCollum, a former Orlando-area congressman, charged in a letter to state GOP Chairwoman Carole Jean Jordan that Martinez has attacked his integrity "in a manner that is quite simply deplorable." The complaint follows statements to reporters by Martinez and his aides suggesting that McCollum is "working in tandem" with Castro to keep Martinez out of office.  Martinez's aides called McCollum's complaints a "silly campaign tactic." They said it comes on the heels of the distribution in South Florida of a McCollum campaign brochure touting McCollum's views on US policy with Cuba and Castro, and promoting endorsements he's received from two influential South Florida GOP congressmen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart. (Sun Sentinel, 29/7/04)

July 29: US director Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" was shown on prime time Cuban state-run television after playing to packed cinemas for a week. In a country with a deep-seated distrust of US governments, the film has generated widespread public interest and added to a recent barrage of official criticism of President Bush. Cuban dissidents who saw "Fahrenheit 9/11" praised the United States for its freedom of expression and lamented that such criticism of a president was not allowed in Cuba where the one-party state controls the media. (Reuters, 29/7/04)

July 30: A prominent human rights advocate in Cuba says the US immigration service has made a mistake in detaining two Cuban exiles in Miami over alleged past persecution of dissidents in Cuba. Elizardo Sánchez Santacruz, president of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said one of the Cubans -- accused of raiding Sanchez's home more than 10 years ago -- did not participate in the raid, and that his office has no record linking the second Cuban to persecution of dissidents. "It's very likely that injustices have been committed," Sánchez told the press. Jorge de Cárdenas Agostini was detained June 8 and Luis Enrique Daniel Rodríguez July 2. Both men live in Miami-Dade County. Both also once worked for Cuban state security. Their lawyers say their clients are defectors, not persecutors. Both men are in detention awaiting deportation or supervised release. Barbara González, a spokeswoman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined comment on Sanchez's contention. (The Miami Herald, 30/7/04)

July 30: Cuban Parliament chairman, Ricardo Alarcon, warned of an election fraud in the making in the United States and supported the proposal to send in international observers to Florida State in particular. Alarcon told Granma International that, "the United Nations and Carter Center, that send out so many observer missions through out the world, must send observers to Florida to verify the elections "in the country that provoked the greatest scandal of the century at the last elections." Alarcon commented on some groups in Florida that already adopted measures "fearing they will do the same again" in a state where Jeb Bush, brother of the President, runs the arrangements for the up coming elections. (Prensa Latina, 30/7/04)

July 30: Half of the island's 6,700 species of plants are found nowhere else, even within the greater Caribbean region. Despite the four-decades-old US embargo, a cadre of American scientists has been working quietly for years with their Cuban colleagues, racing to protect as much as possible before the natural splendor butts heads with resorts and condominiums. But recent Bush administration restrictions on travel to Cuba are reducing the flow of information once more. Scientists no longer can go for a few days to collect plants or consult with colleagues -- they must stay for 10 weeks. They can't spend more than $50 a day, so renting a car may prove impossible. And a separate, specific license must be obtained if a research scientist wants to collaborate with a Cuban counterpart. Molly Millerwise, a Treasury Department spokeswoman, said the new rules will allow a trickle of exchange. ''An accredited university can apply to have 10 weeks in Cuba, and when licensed, it can engage in research,'' she said. ``That includes having a scholar come up to the US and teach. Cuban nationals under this license -- they can teach, and the university can pay them for it.'' The rules make it ''much more difficult for people to engage in legitimate scientific research,'' said John Croatsworth, director of Harvard University's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. (The Miami Herald, 1/8/04)