Chronicle on Cuba - December 2004

Domestic Affairs

December 1: At least 18 jailed Cuban dissidents have been transferred to a prison hospital in Havana amid speculation they may be released. Relatives say activist physician Oscar Elias Biscet and opposition politician Hector Palacios were among those transferred. The move comes after authorities this week released five of 75 pro-democracy activists jailed last year in a crackdown on dissidents. (AFP, VOA, 2/12/04)

December 1: World AIDS Day was commemorated throughout Cuba with special media attention given to the fight against HIV/AIDS. Educational programs as well as radio and television announcements openly discussed AIDS and ways to prevent and combat the disease that is sweeping many countries around the world. (Radio Habana Cuba, 1/12/04)

December 2: The Cuban authorities have released a journalist who was serving a 15-year term for anti-government activities. Edel Jose Garcia Diaz, 60, was freed following a medical checkup at a Havana prison hospital, his sister, Esperanza Garcia, told the press. She said he suffered from emotional problems and a cyst on his kidney. "Now I have to recover my health," Garcia said after showing up at the home of the wife of another dissident still behind bars. Garcia said he was granted an immigrant visa by the US government years ago and would now try to get permission from the Cuban government to leave. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it was heartened and relieved at the release, but spokesman Carlos Lauria said it was vital to remember that 24 independent journalists are still behind bars in Cuba "simply for doing their jobs." (BBC, AP, 2/12/04)

December 2: Cuban Parliament President, Ricardo Alarcón, has summoned over 600 deputies to participate in the 4th Period of Sessions scheduled for December 23rd in Havana's International Convention Center. (Radio Habana Cuba, 2/12/04)

December 2: The Karl Marx Theater served as the venue for a political-cultural gala that opened the 8th Congress of the Young Communist League (UJC). The cultural gala was also a tribute to the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) on its 48th anniversary. It was attended by Raúl Castro, minister of the FAR; Ricardo Alarcón, president of the Cuban Parliament; Felipe Pérez Roque, foreign minister; and Esteban Lazo, vice president, and 1, 200 delegates and invited guests attending the Congress. (Granma International, 2/12/04)

December 3: The 8th Congress of the Cuban Young Communist League (UJC) began its debates with the participation of 1,200 people in six working commissions on issues related to the work of the political organization. The meeting, being held at Havana´s Conference Center, gives delegates the opportunity to analyze topics such as the “Battle of Ideas”, social workers´ work and its impact on the population, role of youth in the current educational revolution, improvement of health care services, economic activity and defense, among others. (Prensa Latina, 3/12/04)

December 3: Migdalia Hernández Enamorado, a 35 year old forgotten activist and member of the group of the 75 was released from the prison Combinado de Guantánamo for women on November 12, 2004, said Ada Kaly Márquez Abascal, acting national delegate of the Democratic Party November 30 "Frank País". Agents of the State Security arrested Hernández Enamorado and her husband Rafael Benitez Chui on March 19, 2003, when they protested the regime's 2003 crackdown against the Cuban internal opposition in front of the local police headquarters in Guantanamo. Immediately thereafter, they were both sent to the prison Combinado de Guantánamo. On September 18, 2003, Hernández Enamorado and Benitez Chui were tried for the supposed crime of contempt and were sentenced to 2 and 4 years in prison respectively. (Puente Informativo, 3/12/04)

December 3: Oppositionist leader Bertha Antúnez Pernet initiated a protest in front of the penitentiary La Pendiente, in the city of Santa Clara. Berta has been protesting a 21-day-punishment imposed on her brother, the imprisoned dissident Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez". Luis Pozo, the prison’s director, told Berta that Jorge Luis was sent to a punishment cell for disrespecting Fidel Castro. Over 15 oppositionists have joined Berta in her protest, despite the deployment of police forces in front of La Pendiente. (Grupo Decoro, 3/12/04)

December 5: Fidel Castro pronounced the closing speech of the VIII Congress of the Young Communists Union (UJC), in a session at Havana’s Palacio de Convenciones that was attended by 1200 delegates and guests. Ideas will decide this universal struggle, stressed the Cuban leader when he referred to the vital role of Cuban youth in facing the US government attempts to destroy the island’s economic and social project. [Discurso pronunciado por Fidel Castro] (Prensa Latina, 6/12/04)

December 6: The Cuban government released independent journalist Jorge Olivera Castillo, the seventh dissident to be released in the past week. His release brings to 14 the number of prisoners let out this year for health reasons from among the "Group of 75" democracy advocates, including rights activists, independent journalists and non-official librarians, sentenced to long prison terms in the repressive wave of the spring of 2003.
Speaking to journalists at his home, Olivera defended his opposition to Castro. "Dissent shouldn't be seen as a criminal act," he said. Olivera said he planned to leave Cuba for the United States on a visa he was granted before his arrest. The former television editor worked for an independent news agency, Havana Press, which is coordinated by a Cuban exile in Miami. He also contributed to the country's first dissident magazine, De Cuba, which was closed down after publishing two issues last year. (EFE, CNN, Los Angeles Times, 6/12/04)

December 6: Cuba plans to release more dissidents from jail and expects a thaw in the European Union relations with the communist government of the island, said Ricardo Alarcón, President of Cuba’s National Assembly. Alarcón indicated that the release of prisoners was not done for political reasons but on the grounds of health, age and good behaviour. During an interview in Caracas, Alarcón confirmed more would be freed. He also added that “maybe the entire group” could eventually be granted an early release from prison. (Reuters, 6/12/04)

December 6: Vicente Campanioni, a human rights activist and member of the Democratic Party November 30 "Frank País" was fired from his job at a health care center in Centro Habana. According to the report given to the press, the dissident was fired after refusing to participate in political activities organized by regime authorities during working hours, and for refusing to join the National Health Workers Union, under the control of the official Cuban Workers Union (CTC). According to data provided, more than three thousand human rights activists, independent workers and members of the opposition have been fired from state posts for political reasons. (Reuters, 6/12/04)

December 7: Daybreak found the walls of several streets of Santiago de Cuba plastered with anti-government posters and slogans like “Down with Fidel”. Anti-government posters and graffiti appeared on some of the main streets, on walls and facades of homes. (Cubanet, 7/12/04)

December 7: Cuban dissidents, seeking to regain the initiative after a wave of arrests last year, announced plans to hold a national meeting of opponents of Fidel Castro's Communist government in May. Economist Martha Beatriz Roque, who was freed in July after 16 months in jail, said the umbrella organization she leads, called the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba, will meet on May 20, 2005. The coalition of 343 groups includes small political groupings, human-rights activists and independent libraries. It was unlikely the Cuban government would authorize the meeting. "This is a demonstration that the dissident movement is not fragmented, because it is not easy to bring so many people together," Ms. Roque said at a news conference at her home. "There is enormous interest in attending," she said. (The Globe and Mail,Reuters, 8/12/04)

December 7: Cuban movie-goers are ready to enjoy 11 days of constant screening of some 400 films from different parts of the world in the 26th Havana International Film Festival. Cuban film "Tres veces dos" (Three times two) by Giroud, Lester Hamlet and Esteban Insausti was selected to open the festival at Karl Marx Theater. The opening ceremony included the performance of musicians of the National Symphony and Cuba´s National Choir. (Prensa Latina, 7/12/04)

December 7: Cuban dissident Marta Beatriz Roque said that the recent release of several imprisoned opponents is a public-relations gambit by the Fidel Castro regime and demanded the unconditional release of all other political detainees. Roque, 60, said those releases are "just another way in which the Cuban government tries to clean up its image." "They are 'convertible' prisoners, prisoners with a price tag," she said, comparing them to Cuba's 'convertible peso,' worth a US dollar, "but what we want is for them to be freed without conditions or any type of restriction." "I don't think that (the releases) are going to improve the situation of the (other) prisoners or of human rights" in Cuba, she noted. The recently released dissidents "are exchangeable currency, and the government needs to improve its image in exchange," she added. She said that she, as well as the other recently released dissidents "are out on the street, we're out of jail, but we're not free." (EFE, 7/12/04)

December 8: The Cuban government denied permission to the President of the Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, Elizardo Sánchez, to attend a ceremony at the Élysée Palace, said the spokesperson of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hervé Ladsous. Sánchez had been invited by the French government to attend the presentation of the Human Rights Award of the French Republic, which he himself had received in 1996. (Europa Press, 8/12/04)

December 8: Cuban authorities confirmed the prison sentences recently imposed on two opponents of the Communist regime. The sentences against two militants of the opposition Cuban Liberal Movement (CLM), considered illegal by the Cuban government, were handed down during an appellate hearing in Havana's provincial court. Last month, Alexis Triana Montesinos, 25, was sentenced to three months in prison and Jose Lorenzo Perez Fidalgo, 49, to four months on charges of damaging state property. Both were arrested July 5 and accused of throwing rocks at the windows of two buildings. Leon Padron Azcuy, the leader of the CLM, said there was no convincing evidence against the pair. Triana Montesinos and Perez Fidalgo "have been sentenced simply for being members of the Liberal Cuban Movement and opponents of the government," said Padron. (EFE, 8/12/04)

December 8: Cuban political prisoner Héctor Palacios Ruiz, one of the 75 dissidents sent to prison in the spring of 2003, visited his mother in Havana for nearly four hours, according to family sources. This is the first time that authorities have allowed Palacios to leave prison to visit a relative. On November 30, Palacios, together with other jailed dissidents, was transferred to the hospital of Combinado del Este Prison in Havana, but was not released. (EFE, 9/12/04)

December 9: Cuba's Higher Education Ministry announced that there is one university graduate for every 17 inhabitants. According to Granma newspaper, the report also notes that one out of every seven workers on the island is a university graduate. (Radio Habana Cuba, 9/12/04)

December 10: Some 20 white-clad Cuban women - wives and mothers of political prisoners - marked International Human Rights Day with a public fast to demand the release of those jailed for peacefully opposing the 45-year-old Communist regime. "We have come together because we aspire to free our men, reunite our families and denounce the human rights violations existing in our country," the women said in a communique. The fast was held at the home of Laura Pollan, wife of Hector Maseda Gutierrez, one of 75 dissidents sentenced in the spring of 2003 to up to 28 years in prison. On the 56th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the women said "we are alone, but not for having chosen the path of retreat and solitude. Our fate has been truncated because they have taken away our men, our youth, and destroyed our families." They said that for almost two years they have "suffered the locking up, the ill treatment and the lack of human rights that our relatives endure in Cuban jails." "We, the 'Women in White,' on this day ask that justice be done and that they unconditionally release our husbands and relatives, and we pledge to continue struggling as long as a single one remains in prison," they said. Surrounded by other wives and relatives, Pollan read the communique in her home against the backdrop of a Cuban flag inscribed with the names of the 75 imprisoned opponents of the regime who were sentenced in March and April of last year. (EFE, 10/12/04)

December 13: The Council of State of the Republic of Cuba has appointed Otto Rivero Torres vice president of the Council of Ministers to oversee investments of the Battle of Ideas and other tasks of the Revolution, "Granma" newspaper published. Rivero Torres has recently wound up his responsibility heading the Young Communist League. The so-called Battle of Ideas comprises 170 programs being implemented by the Cuban government in social, economic and political fields. (Prensa Latina, 13/12/04)

December 13: Three Cuban dissidents say they have found tiny listening devices in their homes, underlining and to some degree embarrassing the communist government's efforts to monitor the affairs of its critics. Prominent activist Oswaldo Payá showed foreign reporters in Havana two small microphones he said he found inside the telephone junction boxes in the walls of his bedroom and dining room. ''We are indignant that such a low method was used against a family's home,'' Payá, leader of a signature drive for a referendum on democratic reforms, told the reporters. Laura Pollán, wife of jailed independent journalist Héctor Maseda, said that she had found a listening device hidden in the telephone box in her dining room -- a frequent gathering spot for visitors. ''It's a tiny rectangular chip,'' Pollán told the press. "It's not a complete surprise because I've always suspected they listened to my conversations. But when I actually found [the device], I was somewhat stunned. All I could do was laugh.'' (The Miami Herald, 13/12/04)

December 15: The leader of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba, Marta Beatriz Roque, said that the Spanish government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has been invited to attend that organization’s general meeting in Havana on May 20. The meeting will gather some 300 dissident organizations on the island. “The meeting is open to all wishing to attend (...) we have invited other organizations which are not members of the Assembly such as those led by Vladimiro Roca and the Lawton Foundation— founded by Oscar Elías Biscet”, added Roque. Likewise, “we have invited heads of state and governments from around the world, including Jacques Chirac, of France (...) and Zapatero, of Spain; but we have not received a reply as of yet.” (Europa Press, 15/12/04)

December 17: Thousands of Cubans walked, crawled or literally dragged themselves to the St. Lazarus shrine in one of the most public outpourings of religious faith in Cuba. Many devout pilgrims were dressed in clothing fashioned out of burlap sacks, a sign of respect and act of penance for the humble saint who seems to have a special following among the poor. The pilgrimage is a raucous affair, blending elements of a street party with stunning displays of devotion in a communist nation that has become more tolerant of religion. Along the road to the shrine, teenagers drank rum and danced to hip-hop, rock and salsa music while couples pushed baby strollers and quietly held candles and flowers as offerings to St. Lazarus and his Afro-Cuban counterpart, Babalu Aye. (Chicago Tribune, 17/12/04)

December 18: “ Whisky”, a film by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, won the First Coral Prize for Uruguay at the 26 th International Film Festival of New Latin American Cinema held in Havana, while “Punto y raya”, by Elia Schneider, won the Jury’s Special Prize and the Coral for Best Actor for Venezuela. Cuban films only managed to win the Third Coral Prize in the documentaries category and the Third Coral Prize for animation. (Granma, 18/12/04)

December 18: Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, Thoraya Obaid, praised Cuba for advances made in sexual and reproductive health. "What I have seen in the island in terms of sanitary conditions, reproductive and sexual health, as well as education is something I have not observed in any other country I visited in the past," said Obaid, of Saudi Arabia, who is on a three-day visit to the island. She noted that nearly all Cuban children are in school, the health services have a universal character, and the dangerous pandemic of HIV/AIDS is kept at a low rate of incidence, thanks to a correct government strategy. (Xinhua, 18/12/04)

December 20: Three youths, Alexis Pérez Ricardo, Yordanis Hernández and Angel Millan, were brutally attacked and beaten by combined forces of the police and the so-called “Brigadas de Respuesta Rápida” ( Rapid Response Brigades ) after attending a patriotic ceremony organized by the Christian Democratic Party. They were intercepted on the street by over 20 people chanting pro-government slogans, who threw rocks at them and beat them with sticks. (Cubanet, 20/12/04)

December 21: Custom officers at the Havana José Martí airport seized a chess set whose pieces were made of cocaine, reported the daily Granma. Since the beginning of 2000 until July this year, Cuban custom officers have uncovered 92 drug-trafficking operations, mainly cocaine. (AFP, 21/12/04)

December 21: Moderate dissidents launched a new magazine called "Consensus," saying it was necessary to expand the spectrum of opinions presented in Cuba's state-run media. The idea is to create a space "where people with positive projects for our country can be published," said activist Reinaldo Escobar, in charge of news for the magazine. "We think that a better Cuba is possible," he added. Escobar was joined by other opponents of Fidel Castro's government, including Manuel Cuesta Morua, and Eloy Gutierrez-Menoyo, a former exile. "Consensus" was presented in the headquarters of a state-owned construction company, which is unusual for a dissident activity. Government opponents generally don't hold public gatherings, especially not in state-controlled offices. (AP, 21/12/04)

December 21: With support from other dissident organizations, members of the Liberal Democratic Party of Cuba (PLDC) went on a fast in solidarity with Héctor Maseda, president of the PLDC, who is in the La Pendiente Prison, in Santa Clara. The protesters demanded his release. (Cubanet, 21/12/04)

December 22: Delegates to the Cuban Parliament, meeting in 10 permanent commissions, discussed different topics, as a prior step to the 4th session period of the current legislative body. The agenda included a discussion on international affairs, as well as other issues on services, health and sports, education, culture, constitutional and legal affairs, national defense, science, technology and the environment. Parallel to this, the economic affairs commission will debate behind closed doors the budget plan for 2005, which will be discussed and approved by legislators. (Prensa Latina, 22/12/04)

December 22: The need for youngsters to have access to sexual and reproductive health services and information has been a subject of heated debate in the workshop "Cuba, Ten Years After Cairo", organized by the United Nations Population Fund, among other institutions. Juan Carlos Alfonso, a National Statistics Office (ONE) official who coordinated the meeting, said a number of the goals set in Cairo for 2015 had already been met in Cuba even before the 1994 conference. According to ONE, Cuba already had a life expectancy of 72.9 years for men and 76.9 for women in 1994, while maternal mortality stood at 42.8 per 100,000 live births, and dropped to 33.9 per 100,000 by 2001. But even more difficult than preventing maternal deaths is the challenge of getting Cuban women to stop regarding abortion as a birth control method, or to overcome the widespread resistance to using condoms, a reluctance that cuts across gender and sexual orientation lines. The case of Cuba shows that guaranteeing services, rights and resources is only part of the long road towards full sexual and reproductive health and rights. The challenge now in this country of 11.2 million is to bring about cultural changes that would make it possible to maintain the gains achieved so far and to continue making progress. (IPS, 22/12/04)

December 22: The Cuban Parliament's ten working commissions continued in Havana with discussions on Cuba’s economic development and government’s response to difficulties during 2004. Participating in the parliamentary session were Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Directors and representatives of different institutions of the State's Central Administration responsible for evaluating the performance of the different sectors. The Economic and Social guidelines and the State's Budget Law for 2005 were also debated at Havana's International Convention Center. (Radio Habana Cuba, 22/12/04)

December 22: State Security agents seized several documents from activist Fredesvinda Hernández, coordinator of the Varela Project campaign in San Cristóbal, Pinar del Río. Among the documents seized were several issues of the “Revista Hispano Cubana” (Spanish-Cuban Magazine) and a draft list of the signatories of the copy of the Varela Project which was submitted to the National Assembly in 2002. (Cubanet, 22/12/04)

December 23: Cheered by hundreds of lawmakers, a smiling Fidel Castro walked in public for the first time since shattering his kneecap in a fall two months ago. Legislators looked stunned, then smiled and applauded, when Cuba's 78-year-old president entered the main auditorium of the Convention Palace on the arm of a schoolgirl to attend a year-end National Assembly meeting. "Long live Fidel!" a lone deputy shouted as Castro took his seat, followed by a shout of "Long live a free Cuba!" (The Boston Globe, 24/12/04)

December 23: Shortly after dissidents launched a new magazine, the Cuban government retaliated by confiscating various books and written documents, a political activist said. Manuel Cuesta Morua, a well-known dissident who helped present the magazine "Consensus", said authorities entered the house of his former partner that night and took all of the books, writings and computer discs he had left there. "It's a clear and direct message of intolerance," Cuesta Morua said in a statement. According to the activist, authorities presented a search warrant and said they took the belongings "to look for counterrevolutionary literature." They said they believed there were documents connected to US institutions, he said. (AP, 24/12/04)

December 25: The 2004 Social Sciences National Award has been granted to academic and researcher Salvador Bueno Menéndez - also former president of the Cuban Academy of Language. On explaining their decision, the jury mentioned Bueno's studies of Cuban literature and his contribution to the national literary identity. (Radio Habana Cuba, 25/12/04)

December 24: A fire broke out and various explosions occurred at an ammunition warehouse in Coliseo municipality in the western Cuban province of Matanzas. According to a release from the Armed Forces Ministry (MINFAR), there were no casualties in the incident, and investigations are being carried out. MINFAR and the Civil Defense decreed the temporary evacuation of several families. (Prensa Latina, 25/12/04)

December 25: The Cuban public healthcare system is undergoing profound changes. New ideas and concepts are being implemented with the purpose of bringing medical specialties closer to the community, and providing a service of excellence. A key element of these transformations has been the refurbishing of polyclinics. Over 200 physiotherapy gyms have been opened, and by the end of 2005, all of the polyclinics will have this service available. (AIN, 25/12/04)

December 26: Cuba has become something of an anomaly in Latin America: a destination for sex tourists where AIDS has yet to become an uncontrollable pandemic. Cuba has the lowest infection rate in the Western Hemisphere, less than 0.1 percent of the population, according to the World Health Organization. That is not to say the disease is not spreading in Cuba, and some outside the government say a thriving sex industry has contributed to its spread. Cuban health officials acknowledge that the number of infections has increased, as in most countries, but they say the overall rate is very low for a population of 11 million. UN officials who track AIDS say Cuba has done a better job than most countries at corralling the disease. ``They have a very good medical infrastructure, and people have access to care and prevention,'' said Paloma Cuchi, who oversees the UN AIDS program in Latin America. (The New York Times, 26/12/04)

December 28: Fidel Castro and Army General Raúl Castro were awarded Foreign Ministry´s diplomas, acknowledging their contributions as founders of this institution, on the occasion of its 45th anniversary. During a special meeting at Havana´s Convention Center, Raul Castro, on behalf of Fidel Castro and the Council of Ministers, sent a message of congratulation to the ministry workers, for their outstanding performance in the international arena over the years. Similar diplomas were also granted to a group of leaders, including Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón, while Ernesto Che Guevara, Carlos Rafael Rodríguez, and Raúl Roa García were given post mortem recognition. (Prensa Latina, 29/12/04)

December 30: Shortages of schoolteachers and the need to fill teaching staff vacancies in schools were the central themes of debates during the plenary sessions of the Provincial Committee of the Communist Party in Villa Clara. Although 921 schoolteachers have graduated in the last three years, that figure is still insufficient due to the number of teachers who leave the education sector and the shortage of students who enter teacher training, according to a report presented at the Plenary. (Granma, 31/12/04)

December 30: Celebration for the 46 th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban revolution began through January 2 with a wide range of cultural and recreational activities. Popular musical figures, together with famous foreign performers are participating in concerts, ballet galas, and outdoors dancing. Among the performers will be the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Italian, Claudio Abbado, Cuban "trovador", Santiago Feliu, Cuban National Ballet, and renowned dance bands like Los Van Van and Adalberto Alvarez, among others. (Radio Habana Cuba, Prensa Latina, 30/12/04)

December 30: Two Cuban dissidents who were recently released after being behind bars since March 2003, say they do not feel free and want to leave the island, according to French newspaper Le Monde. "I don't feel free, as no Cuban is free, and parole is fictitious freedom," said Vazquez Portal, who was released in June for health reasons. In Cuba, "we have two options: exile or total silence," Vazquez said, because "the threat of returning to prison is always there." Jorge Olivera, like Vazquez, an independent journalist, was released on December 6. He said the government had been particularly spiteful toward him and his wife, Nancy, who was "constantly harassed" by state security so that she would stop talking to the press and taking part in the protests of the "women in white," as the dissidents' outspoken wives are known. "I have to think of my family, which has already suffered quite a bit. I hope to leave as soon as possible," Olivera said. But because Cuban state security took away his passport when he was arrested and now refuses to give it back, he has to request a new one, which entails a five-to-six month wait and "the need to find $55 US dollars." (EFE, 30/12/04)

December 31: Cuba welcomed 2005 and the 46th anniversary of the revolutionary triumph by establishing a new tradition: 21-gun salute which marked the dawn of a new year. A communique was read at 12 midnight by a network of radio and TV stations which termed 2004 as a year of difficulties, efforts, fruitful achievements, the gigantic work of the Cuban population and promising news. It highlights solid collaboration and trade relations with China and deepening friendship with other nations, especially with Venezuela. In 2005, the document adds, Cuba will continue fighting for the idea of a united Latin America and for the liberation of the five Cubans prisoners in the United States, where they carried out anti-terrorist tasks by infiltrating what it considers to be violent emigration groups. (Prensa Latina, 31/12/04)