Chronicle on Cuba - September 2004

Domestic Affairs

September 1: The Coordinator of the Democratic Party November 30 "Frank País", Ada Kaly Márquez, reported from Cuba that seven members of this dissident organization were “forced” to abandon the island, risking their lives, due to the constant persecution they were facing. The Cuban State Security initiated an all search operation in Havana, looking for the seven members of this illegal opposition party. Márquez made an appeal to the Cuban exile community, and to Brothers to the Rescue, in support of these dissidents. (Puente Informativo, 1/9/04)

September 1: Eighty-five-year-old Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés and Spanish singer Diego El Cigala received their first Latin Grammy for best traditional tropical album for their "Lagrimas negras”. Valdés, who has lived out of Cuba since the early 60’s, said he would not use his win as a means to comment on his homeland's politics. "The music is art. My politics are private," the 85-year-old said backstage. "It's been 24 years since I go to my country." He had totaled four nominations. Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés, Bebo’s son, won his 5th Grammy Award with "New Conceptions”, best Latin jazz album. In an emotional presentation, Cuban salsa singer Celia Cruz received a posthumous Grammy for best salsa album for "Regalo del alma," and for best tropical song for "Ríe y llora." (EFE, The Washington Post, Prensa Latina, 2/9/04)

September 2: Cuban transvestites say police have come to their homes lately to warn them to dress ''in a corresponding manner.'' Gillian, 19, says she is afraid to go outdoors dressed as a woman. This summer, she says, she was detained twice by police who threatened her with prison for the crime of peligrosidad -- dangerousness. Her ''dangerousness,'' apparently, is her dress and makeup. But help is on the way. Mariela Castro Espin, an internationally renowned sexologist who happens to be the niece of President Fidel Castro, wants Cuba's National Revolutionary Police to undergo gender-sensitivity training. ''The police take measures -- that's what they are there for -- but they interpret things with their own way of thinking,'' she said in an interview. "They have learned over their lifetimes that transvestites or homosexuals are intrinsically bad.'' (AP, 2/9/04)

September 2: Fidel Castro welcomed the Cuban athletes who competed at the Athens 2004 Olympics, at Havana´s Jose Marti International Airport. Talking to the delegation, Fidel Castro praised highly various Cuban performances in the Olympic, including that of baseball, which won its third title, and the boxing squad with "its incredible straight winning streak." "This the first time a boxing tournament has been fairly refereed, although not 100 percent, and there were no big scandals," he noted. (Prensa Latina, 2/9/04)

September 2: Dozens have joined a fast supporting the hunger strike that dissident Berta Antúnez has maintained since August 23. Antúnez told the press that Cuban authorities have given her no other option than the hunger strike. She is demanding that her brother, political prisoner, Jorge Luis Pérez, “Antúnez” be transferred to a prison in his home province. (Radio Martí, 2/9/04)

September 3: Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, dissident leader of the Asamblea para Promover la Sociedad Civil (APSC) in Cuba, suggested that her organization will not join the National Dialogue proposed by the organizers of the Varela Project. Although Roque Cabello said that she is unaware of the document calling for a National Dialogue, she pointed out that the APSC "can not join any organization” because it is “a coalition of different organizations in itself”, and because in the APSC’s political platform “it is stated not to combine its purposes with those of a political party”. (Cubanet, 3/9/04)

September 3: After a mass at the Catholic temple in Santiago de las Vegas, Havana, 44 peaceful dissidents, members of the Opposition Movement for the New Republic, presided by José Díaz Silva and the Cuban Pro Human Rights Party (affiliated to the Andrei Sajarov Foundation led by René Montes de Oca Martija), they all marched throught the streets of Santiago de las Vegas in a peaceful demonstration until they arrived at the José Martí Park. Once in the park, they sang the National Anthem and Montes de Oca called for national reconciliation, peace and love amongst all Cubans, asking also for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners. The State Security watched the peaceful demonstration. (Puente Informativo, 3/9/04)

September 4: A group of dissident organizations and individuals who had been supporting Bertha Antúnez in her hunger strike have stopped fasting. Antúnez, the sister of political prisoner, Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez”, also stopped a hunger strike she had begun last month waiting for Cuban authorities to respond to the petitions she had made of transferring her brother to a prison in their home province. Officials from the Ariza prison in Camagüey, are planning to transfer Bertha’s brother to a prison in Villaclara, the province where the Antúnez live. (Cubanet, 9/9/04)

September 6: "Only education can save the world," Fidel Castro told attendees at Karl Marx Theater and the television audience during the official opening of the academic year. Calling Cuban education "a heroic feat," Castro cited statistics from international organizations on the success of the universal and free Cuban educational system, and thus welcomed the 2.8 million students to their new year of study. (Prensa Latina, 7/9/04)

September 6: According to a declaration issued in Havana, the dissident coalition Mesa de Reflexión de la Oposición Moderada (MROM), created in 1998 by several organizations in the island, has been dissolved. The communiqué, signed by Fernando Sánchez López, president of the Partido Solidaridad Democrática (PSD), and Manuel Cuesta Morúa, secretary general of the Corriente Socialista Democrática Cubana (CSDC), states that both organizations decided to dissolve the MROM due to “differences on the vision and politics these organizations have towards US-Cuba relations”. (Encuentro en la Red, 7/9/06)

September 6: Two-time Olympic boxing champion Mario Kindelán of Cuba announced his retirement. Kindelán, 32, who won the gold medal in the 60-kilogram category in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, assured to the local press "time for retirement has come. Boxing is my life, but I must retire." (Xinhua, 7/9/04)

September 7: Wives and family of the 75 Cuban dissidents incarcerated in the spring of 2003, also known as the "ladies in white," held a candlelight vigil to pray to the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, Cuba's patron saint, for the release of their relatives. At the Centro Habana home of Raúl Rivero, some twenty women in white attire lit candles and prayed to the Saint on her designated feast day. (AFP, 8/9/04)

September 7: Independent journalist and prisoner of conscience Víctor Rolando Arroyo Carmona, sentenced to 26 years in prison, has been on a hunger strike since September 1, according to his mother, Martha Carmona. Ms. Carmona, 76, fears for the health of her son, whom she has not been able to see since his arrest on March 18, 2003. (Cubanet, 7/9/04)

September 7: Fidel Castro underscored the quality of the educational system in Cuba, a country with the highest teacher-student ratio in the world, with a teacher for every 36.8 people. The Cuban leader focused on the advantages of the Cuban educational system, which is free to all at all levels, as well as the universal use of audio-visual and computing programs in teaching in a TV discussion. He said capitalist countries cannot do what Cuba does because their system has not been designed to give education to everyone, "what feelings can a savage and selfish society have, when it is poisoned by all possible means?" he asked rhetorically. It has taken a great effort to start the current academic year just three weeks after the passing of Hurricane Charley through western Cuba, the leader said. (Prensa Latina, 8/9/04)

September 8: The signature campaign in support of the Varela Project is an uphill battle. Oswaldo Payá, leader of the unofficial opposition Christian Liberation Movement, is author of the first major non-governmental petition circulated since Fidel Castro ousted Batista in 1959. “We're in a competition with State Security." According to Paya, when his supporters revisit those who have already signed the petition, they discover that government agents have already been there. "They threaten them. They ask them to retract," he says. "They speak ill of me." Moreover, according to Paya, State Security agents are now showing up "wearing the American flag on their chest" and impersonating Varela Project supporters. Payá, engaged in collecting still more signatures on his petition, issued a challenge to the Cuban Government: "Why don't you acknowledge to the Cuban people that it is their constitutional right to sign the Varela Project and ask for a referendum. " The answer says Payá "is that millions of Cubans would sign, more than in Venezuela", a reference to the recent petition drive for a referendum to oust President Hugo Chavez. American observers say the Cuban Government is very concerned about the tens of thousands of Cubans who have signed the Varela Project, noting that something between a third and a half of the 75 convicted in the May 2003 arrests and trials of dissidents had links with the Varela Project. To further thwart his campaign, Payá charges that State Security "infiltrated false signatures" on the petition, making it necessary to recheck all 25,000 names. (CBS, 8/9/04)

September 8: Cuban religious devotees celebrated with processions and church activities the island's patron saint's day. One of more than 50 carried out in her honor in several dioceses throughout the island, a procession of thousands led by Cardinal Jaime Ortega in Havana paid tribute to the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre. (Martí Noticias. Com, 9/9/04) 

September 8: The illegal Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), led by Osvaldo Payá, maintained that it is "fighting for the freedom that will soon bring about a nonviolent political transition" in Cuba. This peaceful transition "will not represent a conflict among Cubans but a new beginning as brethren," says a document sent by the group to foreign media outlets on the occasion of the 16 th anniversary of the organization's inception. (EFE, 8/9/04)

September 8: Cuban political prisoner Nelson Aguiar Ramírez remains on a hunger strike, demanding a transfer to another prison, his wife Dolia Leal told the press. According to Leal, her husband began his hunger strike when he was released from solitary confinement into a cellblock reserved for dangerous inmates. Aguiar is serving out a 13-year prison sentence. (Martí Noticias.Com, 9/9/04)

September 9: The wife of political prisoner Oscar Elías Biscet made an urgent appeal to the international community in support of her husband. In an open letter, Elsa Morejón, Biscet´s wife, blamed prison authorities for the “acts of cruelty and abuses” her husband has suffered while in jail. ''I feel the urgency to denounce these acts of abuse against him”, she said. “Nothing justifies to have a human being living in a catacomb, sleeping on a cement floor with a thin mattress that is handed to him at night and retired at dawn, with no access to fresh air, nor to his belongings”, Morejón added. (El Nuevo Herald, 10/9/04)

September 9: Fidel Castro said discipline is very important to face the battering of hurricane Ivan, whose strong winds and intense rain are expected to hit Cuba within the next 48 hours. Castro said that Cuba is better prepared than other countries to handle a hurricane, but the Cuban people in all provinces should stay informed about its trajectory and follow all instructions from Civil Defense. (Prensa Latina, 9/9/04)

September 9: According to a WHO report, Cuba has the highest suicide rate in Latin America. "In Latin America, Cuban suicide statistics stand out as the highest, followed by Brazil's and Colombia's," said Jesús Ramón Gómez, a psychologist and director of the Fundación Amor a la Vida (Love for Life Foundation), a Colombian non-governmental organization devoted to suicide prevention. However, United Nation's affiliate organization WHO maintains that, compared to the rest of the world, Latin American suicide rates are among the lowest on record. [Cuba: Suicide rates, pdf] (BBC, 9/9/04)

September 10: Concerned about tougher prison conditions and dissident poet Raúl Rivero's precarious health, his wife appealed to international public opinion to push for his release, and blamed Fidel Castro for the risks the prisoner is facing. [Carta de Blanca Reyes a la opinion pública mundial] (El Nuevo Herald, 11/9/04)

September 11: Fidel Castro stressed the need to employ all preventive measures in the face of deadly hurricane Ivan, which was on its way towards Cuba. He placed emphasis on saving human lives and then protecting material resources, as the strongest storm of the last 50 years approached the western part of the island. Speaking in a special edition of the nationally televised "Round Table" program, the Cuban leader exhorted Cubans to put into practice the solidarity that characterizes the nation by inviting neighbors in vulnerable dwellings to seek shelter in more stable buildings. (Radio Habana Cuba, 11/9/04)

September 11: Cuba girded for Hurricane Ivan by evacuating 40,000 people from flood-prone areas and directing some of them to a network of tunnels dug long ago to resist a US attack. Long lines formed at markets and gas stations, Havana residents hoarded supplies, and workers trimmed tree branches and cleared street drains as the hurricane that Cuban weather forecasters were calling ''Ivan the Terrible'' approached. Many stores had already run out of many goods, particularly candles and batteries, and buses were packed with people who were running to make last-minute purchases. One woman said the government had ordered neighborhood grocery stores to sell all their produce and issue current and future rations of the subsidized food items, so that none of it spoils. But lines were reported to be even longer at stores that sell goods for US dollars, where there is typically a greater supply and variety of food items and other goods. (The Miami Herald, 11/9/04)

September 12: Fidel Castro was again on Cuban national TV urging citizens to prepare for the onslaught of hurricane Ivan, the deadliest storm to threaten the island since the 1959 revolution that brought him to power. "We can't let our guard down," the 77-year-old dictator said as Ivan veered toward Cuba after ripping its away through the Caribbean. "There are still many hours in which this monster can do many unpredictable things," Castro said. (The Globe and Mail, 13/9/04)

September 13: A group of independent journalists and collaborators of the independent Lux-Info-Press, are publishing a Digital News Bulletin from Cuba. According to the information, under the direction of journalist Gilberto Figueredo Álvarez, they are generating a news report edited for the digital international press, with reports from their investigative unit, and other news provided by their permanent collaborators. "We hope to improve the design, the editing and volume of the information of future editions, by including reports from all over the island as we increase the number of collaborators and investigative units in all of the provinces"- affirmed in Havana, Figueredo Álvarez. "We want to thank and give special recognition to the US Interest Section in Havana and their Internet Unit, for providing us with the possibility to freely access the Internet and at the same time for teaching us the use of this new technology”, he added. (Puente Info Cuba, 13/9/04)

September 13: Oswaldo J. Payá Sardiñas sent another SOS to the international community denouncing the Cuban regime's desperate attempts to stop the work of the Christian Liberation Movement (MLC) and the Varela Project. Now, they showed no mercy to Adrián Curly Cedeño, member of the MCL, who was sent by a Tribunal to the Psychiatric Hospital San Luis de Sagua as a patient. This abusive and Stalinist style of punishment is a recurrent pattern with the members of the Christian Liberation Movement (MLC) and other activists in favor of the Varela Project. (Puente Informativo, 13/9/04)

September 13: As part of the National Vigil Campaign "Liberty Without Exile for All Political Prisoners", members of the Union Liberty Foundation Movement demanded in Havana the unconditional release of all the political prisoners that are presently serving unjust sentences in prisons in the island. "We are demanding from the Cuban government the unconditional release of all political prisoners confined in more than 200 prisons throughout the island. Guarded by the Cuban flag during the vigil, upon singing the national anthem, the dissidents held hands in a chain of prayers at plain view of dozens of citizens passing by who stopped and watched the event. (Puente Informativo, 13/9/04)

September 14: Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), considered the first leading cause of death in infants between one and twelve months of age in western countries, is not so frequent in Cuba. However this syndrome, whose direct cause remains unknown, has become a nightmare tormenting many parents. In essence, it is defined as the sudden and unexpected death of an apparently healthy nursing infant. "It's very traumatic for the parents," Virginia Díaz, a specialist in neonatology told WFS. "The infant is healthy and death always occurs during sleep" According to Dr. Díaz, in Cuba national statistic data on this syndrome are not collected, but lack of data doesn't mean that SIDS doesn't occur. The incidence of this syndrome is not considerable, she explains. (WFS, 14/9/04)

September 14: Nowadays less Cuban young women have an abortion to interrupt an unwanted pregnancy, according to official records, but the abortion rate continues to be high and its practice worries health specialists and authorities. According to official reports, the abortion rate of adolescents shows a major decrease (30, 8 percent) between 1990 and 2001. However, "the great problem is that it's mostly used by the young population as a natural fertility control, and it even precedes contraception," Dr. Aldo Izquierdo Rodríguez, assistant gynecology professor says. In a country where abortion is free, legal and performed by a specialized medical staff in medical institutions, it is use with extreme frequency and not considered a last option to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, specialists point out. (WFS, 14/9/04)

September 14: In Havana, members of the Investigative Reporting Unit trained in the island by correspondents of Lux-Info-Press, affirmed that they support The Working Document for the Transition Program, presented to the Cuban people, by the Christian Liberation Movement, in December, 2003. "For the first time, the population has the opportunity to prepare for their own transition before the falling of the regime"- pointed out Rolando S. Calvet, reporter of Lux-Info-Press. Calvet added that, "all Cubans are invited to participate without exclusions, from political prisoners who are serving unjust sentences today in Cuba, exiles, to common citizens”. [Documento de Trabajo para el Programa de Transición pdf] (Puente Informativo, 14/9/04)

September 16: Cuba began a three-day National Crime Watch Training for neighborhood organizations to reinforce control of drug trafficking and other crimes in the community. The training, organized by the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, is within the scope of the normal activities performed by this organization in each neighborhood. The preparation is in conjunction with local police forces and includes reinforcement of the control of crime and encouraging CDR vigilance. (Prensa Latina, 16/9/04)

September 17: Cuban singer and songwriter Silvio Rodriguez dedicated one of his shows in Madrid to the five Cuban prisoners in the United States. Rodríguez participated at the Spanish Communist Party festival, in Casa Campo. As it happened in his recitals in Barcelona, Salamanca, San Sebastian and Vigo, the show was sold-out long before and the arena was crowded. (Prensa Latina, 17/9/04)

September 18: Over 20 "Ladies in White," as a group of wives and relatives of the 75 dissidents incarcerated in Cuba in 2003 is referred to, held a fast in Havana to mark the 18th month of their loved ones' imprisonment. Coinciding with the "Oppositionist's Day," the event took place at the home of Laura Pollán, wife of Héctor Maseda, independent journalist and leader of the Cuban Liberal Democratic Party, who is currently serving out a 20-year prison sentence. (El Nuevo Herald, 19/9/04)

September 21: Just one week after hurricane "Ivan" hit the province of Pinar del Río, local students were back in school. According to government newspaper Granma, the only exceptions were 17 boarding schools that remain without power. In order to allow schools to resume classes, the authorities have turned various facilities into makeshift classrooms temporarily substituting for those damaged in 251 schools affected by the hurricane's strong winds and heavy rains. (Europa Press, 21/9/04)

September 22: Over 1,000 senior citizens from the Cuban province of Matanzas will participate in an initiative of the World Alzheimer's Association to investigate factors that may increase the risk of contracting the disease. According to a story in the daily Juventud Rebelde, the study that includes 36 nations will be carried out in several municipalities of Havana where neurological and genetic tests will be performed in addition to interviews. (Radio Habana Cuba, 22/9/04)

September 24: A disabled Cuban athlete is to be stripped of his gold medal at the Paralympic Games in Athens after failing a drug test. Sergio Arturo Perez tested positive for the banned steroid prednisolone after winning in the men's judo category. He will not face any other sanction because prednisolone is not considered performance-enhancing for judo. (BBC, 24/9/04)

September 24: Cuban authorities say that the power system of almost all of Cuba´s western towns has been recovered after the passage of hurricane Ivan that cut off the service in most of the municipalities of this region. Over 95 percent of the inhabitants in this area, battered by the meteor, already have electricity, declared engineer Rolando Blanco, director of this enterprise. (Prensa Latina, 24/9/04)   

September 24: The "Ladies in White" prayed to the Virgen de las Mercedes (Our Lady of Mercy) for the release of their incarcerated husbands. The overnight vigil was held at the home of Gisela Delgado, wife of Héctor Palacio, who has so far served 18 months of the 25-year prison sentence he received in 2003. (El Nuevo Herald, 25/9/04)

September 27: Luis Enrique Ferrer García, a political prisoner who was sentenced to 28 years in jail, initiated a hunger strike. According to Oswaldo Payá, leader of the Movimiento Cristiano Liberación (MCL), Ferrer García stated that he will “continue the strike until the end”, after having received a “sadic treatment” and having been beaten by prison authorities at the Prisión Juvenil of Santa Clara. Ferrer García, 30, who is the youngest of the 75 dissidents sent to prison last year, is determined to go on with the hunger strike, Payá said in Havana. The prisoner was the coordinator of the MCL at the time he was sent to jail in April 2003. (AFP, 28/9/04)

September 29: Cuban dissident René Montes de Oca Martija, was sentenced to 8 months in jail. Montes de Oca, secretary general of the dissident Partido Pro Derechos Humanos de Cuba, affiliated to the Andrei Sajarov Foundation, was charged with minor contempt of authorities, a minor crime that usually doesn’t result in a prison sentence. (Puente Informativo, 29/9/04)

September 29: A well-known member of the Cuban dissidence, who was arrested and condemned in 2001 for threatening the Mexican Ambassador in Havana, was revealed as agent of the Cuban intelligence according to sources from the Cuban internal opposition. The alleged activist, Elizardo San Pedro Marín, founder of different oppositionist groups, was presented to his neighbors as a “collaborator” with the Cuban State Security (Ministry of Interior) by Cuban authorities. Back in 2001, San Pedro Marín threatened former Mexican Ambassador, Ricardo Pascoe, on behalf of the Miami based anti Castro organization Alpha 66. (El Nuevo Herald, 29/9/04)