Chronicle on Cuba - November 2004

Security

November 15: Current issues of international security and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are the focus of a Russian-Cuban scientific seminar that opened in Havana. The PIR center for political studies in Russia and the Cuban Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Institute of International Relations are the organizers of the seminar, which is being held for the first time since the 1990s. “Cuba and Russia share similar approaches to the key aspects of international security,” PIR-Center Director Vladimir Orlov said in his opening address to the seminar. They are discussing the key issues and challenges related to disarmament and prospects for it in the light of the current developments in the world politics. Cuba “is calling on all countries of the world to make an effective contribution to the total disarmament under international control,” said a representative of the Cuban Center for the Study of Disarmament and International Security Issues. He said the resources released as a result of the disarmament process should be channeled to support the development of third-world countries. (ITAR-TASS, 15/11/04)

November 22: North Korea's top military officer Kim Yong-Chun is heading a delegation that began an official visit to communist-led Cuba, according to an official statement. Vice Marshal Kim, chief of the general staff of the Korean People's Army, and his delegation will visit the Revolutionary Armed Forces Ministry headed by Fidel Castro's younger brother, Raul Castro, according to the statement released in state-run newspapers. The North Korean delegation will also visit Cuban military units on the Caribbean island. (AFP 22/11/04)

November 24: Vice Marshal Kim Yong Chun, chief of the general staff of the Armed Forces of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (PDRK), held official talks with Cuban Army General Alvaro Lopez Miera at the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR). The North Korea's army chief of staff toured Cuban army units and observed training exercises during a five-day visit to Cuba, Cuban state media said. State television showed Kim watching Cuban soldiers firing rifles during infantry exercises. Cuba and North Korea are "in the front trench of the fight against North American imperialism and for the defense of socialism," Kim said in statements published by Cuba's ruling Communist Party daily, Granma. Kim praised Cuba for its resolve in "resisting threats of aggression" from the Bush administration, Granma said. (Prensa Latina, Reuters, 24/11/04)

November 26: Defense Minister Raul Castro, second only to his brother Fidel in the Cuban government hierarchy, met with North Korean Vice Marshal Kim Yong Chun and other members of the military delegation he leads. In a "friendly atmosphere that characterizes relations between the armed forces of both countries," according to the local press, Raul Castro, younger brother of Fidel Castro, together with other high-ranking Cuban and North Korean military, spoke about their respective efforts to strengthen their national defenses. (EFE, 27/11/04)