Chronicle on Cuba - December 2004

Highlights

Domestic Affairs: The Cuban Young Communist League (UJC) holds its 8th Congress in Havana. Dissident Jorge Olivera Castillo is released, the seventh political prisoner been released in a week. The Council of State appoints Otto Rivero Torres as vice president of the Council of Ministers to oversee investments of the Battle of Ideas. Moderate dissidents launch the magazine "Consensus".

Economy: Cuba's sugar harvest begins with the drought-ravaged crop estimated at no more than 1.8 million tons. Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez sign major economic agreements in Havana. Cuban government reports the economy grew 5 percent in 2004. Cuban government assigns $1.469 billion for defence, out of a total budget of $22.704 billion. Fidel Castro announces the discovery of oil deposits. Cuba moves to a further centralized economy.

Exile Community: Cuba increases to $350 the cost of issuing a passport to Cubans living abroad. Representatives of theplatform Cuba Democracy Now presents to the Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos a document comprised of 15 points on the EU position toward Cuba.

Foreign Affairs: The Argentine government tries to find a solution to the case of Cuban doctor Hilda Molina who has been denied permission by Cuban authorities to visit her family in Buenos Aires. The European Union's Committee on Latin America (COLAT) reaches a consensus to recommend the suspension of diplomatic sanctions imposed by the EU on Cuba. Cuba´s National Assembly issues a statement calling Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez “founders of a new era for Latin America and the Caribbean”.

Security: Cuba's armed forces holds their biggest military exercises in almost 20 years.

US-Cuba Relations: The Cuban government responds to a Christmas display in support of imprisoned Cuban dissident at Havana’s US Interest Section. Cuba agrees to buy about $125 million in farm goods from US companies. Fidel Castro says that the risks of attack by the US are real. The number of passengers flying to Cuba from the US plummets in 2004.