Chronicle on Cuba - November 2004

Domestic Affairs

November 1: Fidel Castro is healing nicely after shattering a kneecap and breaking an arm in an accidental fall, his older brother Ramon said, adding that their family has always enjoyed good health and longevity. "It seems that we have a good genetic mix," Ramon Castro, 80, said after the opening of a weeklong International Fair of Havana. He said he expected that his brother Fidel, 78, would be walking again soon. (Canadian Press, 1/11/04)

November 1: The health of jailed Cuban dissident Raul Rivero has deteriorated following the appearance of cysts in his kidney, his wife Blanca Reyes said. "His kidney has multiple cysts, seven cysts, one of them measures 20 millimeters (3/4 inch)," the wife of the journalist and poet told the press. Reyes noted that Rivero suffers from emphysema, which "is not receiving proper treatment in jail." Rivero, 59, was sentenced in 2003 to 20 years behind bars in a summary trial following the arrests of 75 pro-democracy advocates accused of conspiring with Washington against the Cuban state. The writer is serving his sentence in Canaleta prison, some 460 kilometers (285 miles) east of Havana. (EFE, 2/11/04)

November 2: Prominent Cuban dissident, Oswaldo Payá, leader of the Christian Liberation Movement (MLC), denounced the "massive torture" practices against imprisoned dissidents in the island, and asked the international community to join together in a petition of amnesty for all political prisoners in Cuba. Payá expressed his concern for the "systematic cruelty applied" to "the prisoners of the Cuban Spring", the 75 dissidents sentenced in 2003, and further denounced "particular sadism in the actions of the prison authorities". "The physical and psychological damage the prisoners suffer should not leave Cubans and the international community in silence and insensitive”, pointed out Payá in a press release issued from Havana. (EFE, 3/11/04)

November 3: Two people died and 62 were injured when a bus overturned near the eastern Cuban city of Holguín. The accident, the cause of which is still under investigation, occurred on the road that links the city of Holguín with the town of Mayarí, the National Information Agency reported. Two people were killed and 40 people remained hospitalized with injuries of varying degrees, although their lives were reportedly not in danger. (EFE, 3/11/04)

November 3: Cuba continues perfecting organ and tissue transplants as a procedure to improve the quality of life of those affected by different diseases. The eastern city of Santiago de Cuba is second nationally in this important activity with over 900 kidney and nearly 100 cornea transplants. Preparations are also being created for future heart and liver transplants. Transplant coordinator Dr. Manuel Rodríguez Beltran told reporters that Santiago de Cuba has effective technical infrastructure as well as qualified personnel and multidisciplinary groups created to advance in the field. (Radio Habana Cuba, 3/11/04)

November 3: Mirta Villanueva Almeida, a 68-year-old Cuban lady was brutally beaten in her own home by Luis Batista Tamayo, a former agent of the Cuban Interior Ministry. Mrs. Villanueva is the mother of the former Cuban political prisoner Camilo Pérez Villanueva, recently released from the prison Combinado del Este after serving a 12 year prison term. "As my mother was entering our home through the rear porch, she was physically attacked by Luis Batista Tamayo, a former member of the Cuban Interior Ministry, presently with SEPSA, acronym for an organization that provides security and protection for the Cuban Government. The beating was so brutal that she was hospitalized for 4 days in the Fructuoso Rodríguez hospital, in the Vedado municipality," Mr. Pérez denounced to the press. (Puente Informativo, 9/11/04)

November 4: Headed by Olympic javelin-throw champion Osleidys Menendez, a group of Cuban athletes started training aiming for the Olympic Games of Beijing 2008. Menendez, also the holder of a world record in her discipline, started training in the Pan-American Stadium of Havana, to prepare for the 2005 season, which will have its zenith in the World Championship of Helsinki. (Xinhua, 4/11/04)

November 4: A proposal for a peaceful transition to democracy, "A Transition Project by Cubans, for All The Cubans and for a Free and Democratic Cuba”, has been circulating amongst representatives of dissident organizations in the Isle of Youth. The project is the result of an exchange of ideas amongst the Consejo por la Libertad de Cuba (Cuban Liberty Council), Mujeres Anti Represión en Cuba MAR por Cuba (Women Against Repression MAR for Cuba), and "Plantados" por la Libertad (Plantados por la Libertad). (Puente Informativo, 4/11/04)

November 6: Although no executions have been carried out in Cuba in the last 18 months, a human rights organization has denounced that Cuban authorities' continue to ignore international requests for a ban on capital punishment on the island. According to a special report by the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN), the last executions on record were those of three individuals accused of hijacking a ferryboat and taking those on board hostage in April 2003. "Presently, there are 40-50 people on death row," said the organization, whose estimates place the number of executions by firing squad in the last 4 decades on the island between 5,000 and 6,000. (Sun Sentinel, 6/11/04)

November 6: In its latest edition released in Havana, the catholic magazine Palabra Nueva (The New Gospel) issued an appeal to replace the culture of violence in Cuba with one based on good faith, trust and social accountability. According to the publication, Cuban society "is not a compassionate society; supportive, yes, but not compassionate. Not even at its higher levels. There is talk of peace but the actions are not peaceful or compassionate." The magazine, published by the Archdiocese of Havana, pointed that "(…) social and political intolerance is a form of violence that generates further violence and intolerance; a poison that permeates our lives, making us accept the idea that acting tough and authoritarian, and saying no and being inflexible is the only way to obtain success and respect in this world." (AFP, 6/11/04)

November 7: Political prisoner Fabio Prieto, jailed in Kilo 8 prison, Camaguey, denounced what he calls “never ending beatings” against political prisoners by prison authorities. Prieto specially denounced beatings against Daniel Ferrer Martínez, Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta and other prisoners, locked in the torture area known as "Major Severity". Prieto said that the prison guards broke the telephones, mostly to avoid news getting out of the prison. Prisoners refused to stand up for the morning “count” as a form of protest, causing extreme anger to the State Security guards who then authorized the brutal beatings in retaliation. (Puente Informativo, 7/11/04)

November 7: In a letter sent to Fidel Castro, Dolia Leal Francisco, the wife of political prisoner Nelson Aguiar Ramírez, denounced the abuses against her husband by prison guards at Combinado de Guantánamo facility. “Today I received the terrible news from Guantánamo that my husband Nelson was a victim to another beating”, the letter says. Nelson is 69 years old and suffers from several illnesses all of which have been aggravated in jail. "How can such an ill, peaceful and defenseless individual be brutally beaten? Why such terror? Isn’t it enough to keep him in jail? Is it that they want to kill him?,” Dolia asked in her letter to Castro. (Puente Informativo, 7/11/04)

November 8: Intellectuals from 20 countries are participating in an international congress in Havana to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier. The international congress, titled "The Century of Alejo Carpentier," was inaugurated at Casa de las Américas cultural institute. At the inauguration, Casa de las Américas president Roberto Fernandez Retamar emphasized the universality of Carpentier, author of among other works "The Consecration of Spring," and his contributions to both literature and journalism. (EFE, 8/11/04)

November 9: After being more than 60 days in a punishment cell at the Kilo 8 prison, Pinar del Río, political prisoner Nelson Moline Espino was transferred to a unit with criminal prisoners, at Kilo 5 ½ prison. "They had him locked in a punishment cell for over 60 days for refusing to follow military orders, and for refusing to eat the food served in prison”, Moline’s wife, Kirenia Guerra Lugo said. Moline Espino was sentenced to 20 years in jail, during the March 2003 repression against dissidents. He has been recognized prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. (Puente Informativo, 9/11/04)

November 9: Recognized by Cuban authorities for their excellent medical quality, the Sisters of Mercy at "St. Vincent de Paul" religious order are celebrating 150 years of labor in the National Dermatology Institute. These religious women have been working since 1954 in the hospital, located in the outskirts of the town known as El Rincón -19 miles southern Havana-, sharing life, reality and sorrows with leprosy patients. The institute is carrying out a program to control leprosy with multi-drug treatments, with the objective of not prolonging this disease. (Prensa Latina, 9/11/04)

November 9: Cuban communist authorities convicted two dissidents on "vandalism" charges and sentenced them to prison terms of three years and four months, a human rights organization said. The two - Alexis Triana Montesinos and Jose Lorenzo Perez Fidalgo - are members of the Cuban Liberal Movement, which is banned by authorities on the island, said the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, also not officially recognized. The pair were arrested in July and accused of breaking windows at an exchange house and a computer club. “Triana, 25, and Perez Fidalgo, 49, "are members of the Cuban Liberal Movement, an opposition group that in no way promotes acts of that kind," said the Commission, headed by dissident Elizardo Sanchez. (EFE, 9/11/04)

November 11: Spokespersons for the Cuban Party for Human Rights informed that members of that organization initiated an open-ended fasting period, demanding that incarcerated dissident René Montes de Oca be given proper medical attention. (AFP, 11/11/04)

November 13: The City of Havana is celebrating its 485th anniversary by receiving delegations from some 30 countries for the 12th annual Meeting of Solidarity and Cooperation of City Halls with Havana. Local authorities from all 15 municipalities in Havana participated in welcoming the foreign guests who joined more than 1, 200 people in a ceremony in the city's Gran Teatro to mark the founding of Villa de San Cristóbal de la Habana in 1519. Havana's mayor, Juan Contino, and city historian Eusebio Leal were the guest speakers. (Radio Habana Cuba, 13/11/04)

November 14: Tropicana is closing the racy show that has entertained foreigners since the communist government began courting tourists in the 1990s. It will be replaced with ''Tambores en Concierto'' -- ''Drums in Concert'' -- a spectacle that, while retaining the spirit of Cuban sensuality, will drop some of the more blatant skin-baring. 'It's time to make some changes,'' says Tomas Morales, a dancer, choreographer and director who created the show that takes the stage in April. The new show will be more theatrical, with increased emphasis on stage sets and technology, Morales said. The show will guide the audience through different music and dance acts, ''taking you to the roots of Cuba,'' he said. (Chicago Sun Times, 14/11/04)

November 14: Following a procession through the streets of the city's historic district, religious figures and Cuban government officials laid down the first stone of what will become the island's first-ever Russian Orthodox church. The church will constitute "a monument to Cuban-Russian friendship," said Metropolitan Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church's foreign relations department. He traveled to Cuba from Moscow for the consecration. The church will also pay homage to the thousands of Russian workers, soldiers and technicians who cooperated with communist Cuba for three "glorious" decades before the fall of the Soviet Union, he said. "The past can reunite with the present, with the result being a common future," Metropolitan Kirill said. "Russia will again be a great power (...) that supports and defends its friends." (AP, 14/11/04)

November 15: Dagoberto Valdés Hernández, director of both the Civic and Religious Education Center and Vitral Magazine, published by the Archdiocese of Pinar del Río, has received the Jan Karski Award for Valor and Compassion. Valdés Hernández, an agronomist, has been appointed by Pope John Paul II to the Holy See's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. (AFP, 15/11/04)

November 16: The members of the Villa Clara delegations of the Cuban Party for Human Rights, which is affiliated with the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, have joined an open-ended fast organized in support of the Party's incarcerated secretary general, René Montes de Oca Martija. The fast is being held in demand of proper medical care for Montes de Oca. (Puente Informativo, 16/11/04)

November 16: In the Isle of Youth, a region of an estimated 56 thousand inhabitants, inefficiency in state-run-companies has provoked a widespread dissatisfaction among residents. Deficiencies in public health services, sewer and community systems, gastronomy, and agriculture has been denounced in more than 100 neighborhood assemblies of the People’s Power. The lack of physicians, crisis of public bus services, instability in food products, and lack of drinking water, have been the center of popular denounces. The local government has placed the blame on the embargo, and on damages caused by the hurricanes Isidoro and Lilly, which affected this territory on October and November of 2003. (Puente Informativo, 16/11/04)

November 17: Two people were killed when fire destroyed the former Club Casino de Banes, which had belonged to the United Fruit Company. Upon being nationalized in 1959, the club - also known in the old days as the American Club - and surrounding land in Holguin province were given to the Ministry of Education. Lately the facilities had been operated by the University of Banes. The victims had entered the building to retrieve some of their possessions. Three fire engines from Banes were unable to save the neoclassical structure. (Cubanet, 24/11/04)

November 18: A group of dissidents and wives of political prisoners attended a Mass, in Havana which they said was dedicated to "the freedom of Cuba." "It's simply something to demonstrate our desire for Cuba to be free soon," said dissident and former political prisoner Martha Beatriz Roque as she left the service at the capital's Church of Our Lady of the Rosary. Other attendees included Rene Gomez Manzano and Felix Bonne, Roque's colleagues in the Assembly to Promote Civil Society, and the wives of jailed dissidents Oscar Elias Biscet, Angel Moya, Adolfo Hernandez and Arnaldo Ramos. The Mass followed the drafting and dispatch of a letter to leaders meeting at the Ibero-American Summit in Costa Rica asking them to press Fidel Castro's regime to free political prisoners. (EFE, 18/11/04)

November 22: Cuba's Communist regime edges out China's when it comes to censoring the Internet, according to a study released by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) to coincide with a meeting between those countries' leaders in Havana. The comparison is based on 10 categories, in four of which Cuba ranks "worst" compared to three in which China receives bottom billing. In the other three, the two countries are judged to be virtually tied. It should come as no surprise, then, that in a section titled "Governmental position toward the Internet," the RWB report notes that Hu Jintao's China says the Internet must be "developed and controlled," while Fidel Castro's Cuba says it must be "above all, controlled." In that same chapter, Beijing is reported to consider the Internet "indispensable for economic development, an instrument of propaganda and a 'subversive' force," while Havana calls it "the great malaise of the 21st century," RWB said. Cuba also ranks last in the number of Web surfers, having "tens of thousands of selected Internet users," since governmental authorization is required to buy a modem. [Internet under surveillance] (EFE, 22/11/04)

November 22: Laura Pollán Toledo, wife of prisoner of conscience Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, incarcerated in La Pendiente prison in the province of Villa Clara, denounced that her husband remains "plantado" (refusing privileges and/or duties, in protest) since last September. According to Pollán, Maseda Gutiérrez has been the victim of arbitrary decisions on the part of the prison staff and, in protest, since last September 14 he refuses to accept neither family or conjugal visits, nor the food packages he is allowed to receive from his family every 3 months. (Cubanet, 22/11/04)

November 22: According to the illegal Christian Workers’ Union, self-employed citizens in Downtown Havana were targeted by a large operation during which fines of up to 1,500 pesos were imposed for alleged price-gouging practices and sales of unauthorized products. Large amounts of merchandise were confiscated while offenders were threatened with operating license suspensions. (Info Lux Press, 34/11/04)

November 24: Thanks to assistance provided by Aid to the Church in Need, Cuba's bishops are evangelizing the country using small comic books on the lives of Father Felix Varela and Our Lady of Charity. ACN financed the printing of 80,000 copies of the comic book, "Father Felix Varela, the Cuban Saint," which is being distributed among young people in order to introduce them to "one of the most important men from Cuba." The Secretariat of the Bishops Conference of Cuba said that the comic books are intended to spark interest in knowing more about "that person who knew how to respond, with truth and love founded upon his Christian commitment," to the challenge of the times in which the Cuban nation and the "dream of freedom" were born. Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Havana, president of the bishops' conference, said, "The Cuban Catholic is inheritor of the Christian and patriotic thought of Father Felix Varela, of his zeal for independence, of his love for Cuba, of his faithfulness to the Church." (Catholic World News, 24/11/04)

November 24: Independent journalist Manuel Vazquez Portal, one of the 75 dissidents rounded up and jailed by the Fidel Castro regime in April 2003, told the press that the Cuban government has authorized him to emigrate to the United States. Vazquez Portal said he has just been given the green light by Cuban migration authorities to leave the Communist-ruled island, accompanied by wife Yolanda Huerga and 10-year-old son Gabriel. Vazquez Portal said that upon his release a State Security agent told him leaving the country would be his best bet. "What made me decide to leave is the Cuban government's stubborn attitude toward the request made by Europe and the world for democratic changes, openness, the possibility of honorably exercising my profession within a legal framework," he said. Faced with the government's attitude, Vazquez Portal said, "The Cuban people have two options: massive migration or rebellion”. (EFE, 24/11/04)

November 24: The UNAIDS Specialized Office recognized the low AIDS/HIV level in Cuba and said that the island represents the exception in the Caribbean, according to a report made public in Havana. The UN office claims the credit to the policy of taking patients into specialized centers (sanatoriums) since the 1980s and the later treatment with antiretroviral medicines. Estimates by the Cuban Public Health Ministry says that the highest level of AIDS/HIV is in the people between 35 to 44 years, followed by people from 20 to 24 years as people between 15 to 19 have maintained a stability in the last few years. (Prensa Latina, 24/11/04)

November 26: The Rector of the University of Havana was appointed president of the Union of Latin American Universities (UDUAL) at the closing of the 15th Rectors' General Assembly that began in Havana with record attendance. Dr. Juan Vela Valdés was selected to occupy the top UDUAL post by unanimous vote of the 85 delegates from 51 Latin American higher education institutions. (Radio Habana Cuba, 26/11/04)

November 26: Cuban authorities have transferred 13 imprisoned dissidents, journalist-poet Raúl Rivero among them, from facilities around the island to Havana, a move the opposition hopes signals their imminent release. All were part of the ''Group of 75,'' peaceful dissidents who were sentenced to up to 28 years in prison after summary trials in the spring of 2003. The prisoners were told that they would be transferred to Havana for medical checkups, a procedure usually undertaken prior to release, said Elizardo Sánchez of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation. Among the transferees is Raúl Rivero, who was serving a 20-year sentence at Canaletas, 280 miles from Havana. (EFE, 28/11/04)

November 29: Cuban authorities began releasing some jailed dissidents, including independent economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe. Espinosa was granted parole on his 64th birthday for health reasons and returned to his Havana home. Espinosa said the Cuban government made "a very serious mistake" when it jailed 75 dissidents in the spring of 2003, and the releases came because authorities "should be reconsidering (the issue)." Despite the difficulties he suffered in jail, Espinosa Chepe said he had no intention of leaving Cuba. "I feel Cuban and I want to die in my own country," he said. Also freed were dissidents Marcelo Lopez and Margarito Broche. The three prisoners released (Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Marcelo Lopez and Margarito Broche) were the most ill among 10 prisoners whose health was delicate. (EFE, Notimex, CNN, 29/11/04)

November 29: Cuban opposition activist Elizardo Sanchez considered the release of several of the 75 dissidents who were incarcerated for long prison terms as a false message to the international community. "The government lacks the will to change," was the opinion of the president of the dissident Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) In statements to the press, he expressed his view that these are "useful decisions on the part of the Cuban government which have two objectives: that they should not die in prison under its care (the sick dissidents) and to send false messages of change to international public opinion. In Sanchez's opinion, these releases are no different from the ones carried out several months ago "for reasons well classified as poor health", the grounds for which they received permits to leave prison. (Notimex, EFE, 30/11/04)

November 30: Cuba has freed one of the country's best-known dissidents, the acclaimed poet and journalist Raul Rivero. The 59-year-old was among 75 people arrested in a huge government crackdown last year and given long prison terms. He said he was in good health and attributed his release to international pressure and in particular efforts by the Spanish government. "I thought I might be released because they told me they were moving me to Havana, but they didn't make anything clear until today," Rivero said, explaining that he had been paroled indefinitely and that, during the last few minutes, "the treatment was very cordial." Rivero insisted his intention was to "continue writing and doing what I've always done." He would not say if he planned to stay in Cuba or leave over the next few months. "I believe this is a time to wait. I'm going to see what's happening, how much movement I'm allowed and how much work I can do," he told the press. According to Rivero, the release of dissidents over the past few hours indicates "a desire to correct certain positions" on the part of the Cuban government, although "I don't know if they realize it was a mistake to jail the 75 dissidents." (BBC, EFE, The Globe and Mail, 30/11/04)

November 30: Though the releases from prison of poet and journalist Raul Rivero and dissident Oswaldo Alfonso were applauded by Cuba's internal opposition, opponents of Fidel Castro's regime nonetheless continued to demand that all political prisoners be released from the island's jails. "Raul is the most emblematic Cuban political prisoner for most of the world, but I think that the government is providing ammunition for the Spanish government's agenda," activist Elizardo Sanchez, of the banned Human Rights Commission, told the press. "Raul is the crown jewel, but there are still more in the prisons, and the Cuban government has presented foreign governments with political prisoners in some fashion over all these years," said Sanchez, who recalled that Havana released 3,500 such inmates in 1978-79 as part of an effort to forge a dialogue with the United States. Sanchez also expressed concern that many of the nearly 20 political prisoners who, such as Rivero, were recently transferred to prison hospitals in Havana would return to jail after undergoing medical exams. Vladimiro Roca, spokesperson of the opposition group Todos Unidos, said Rivero's release "changed nothing ... (and) the government is not giving any positive signs with respect to human rights." Roca was critical of the government's parole system, noting that the released prisoners' freedom is "reversible" and may be revoked at the discretion of authorities. "They put the sword of Damocles over their heads and are showing that the petitions by Spain and the European Union are a despicable request," he said. Marta Beatriz Roque, one of the released members of the "Group of 75," said Rivero's parole is directly related to the maneuverings of the Spanish government. (EFE, 30/11/04)