Chronicle on Cuba - January 2005

Foreign Affairs

January 3: The 22nd Contingent of the Southern Cross Solidarity Brigade began its voluntary agricultural work as part of a program that will run through the 20th of January. Sponsored by the Cuban Friendship Institute, 14 Australian Friendship with Cuba Associations, and five similar organizations in New Zealand, the Southern Cross Brigades have been visiting the island on an annual basis since 1984. (AIN, 3/1/05)

January 3: Cuba ended a diplomatic deadlock with eight European Union nations in response to proposals by EU officials to stop inviting dissidents to National Day receptions in Havana. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said Cuba was reopening official contacts with the embassies of France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Greece, Portugal and Sweden. "As a result of the decision by the EU's Latin American committee to renounce invitations to national day celebrations of mercenaries paid and directed by the United States, Cuba has decided to restore official contacts with the embassies of a group of EU countries,'' Perez Roque told reporters. Cuba had already restored contacts with Spain, whose Socialist government called for the policy review to end the deadlock with its former colony, while Belgium avoided the diplomatic freeze by not inviting dissidents to its receptions. Still on Cuba's blacklist among the EU countries with embassies in Havana are the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which have opposed a softening in policy until Cuba releases all political prisoners. (Reuters, 3/1/05)

January 3: European diplomats welcomed the announcement made by Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister ending a deadlock with the eight European Union nations. But they said Cuba could not expect Europe to abandon the dissidents. To allay any impression of a climb-down, the EU will continue to press for the release of all political detainees and intensify contacts with dissidents and civil society, EU officials said. “Both sides have shown goodwill to improve ties, and that is a very positive development. But there is still some way to go,'' a European diplomat said. He said the Cuban government did not accept alternative contacts with the dissidents. Another diplomat said Cuba was trying to divide the European Union by "unfreezing'' some nations but not others, which was unacceptable since the 25-member bloc has a common policy on Cuba. (The New York Times, Reuters, 3/1/05)

January 3: Martha Beatriz Roque, one of 14 dissidents released from prison last year, said she was disappointed European countries were again warming up to Cuba. "We are going to continue working to achieve democracy in Cuba, despite the European Union turning its back on us and supporting the Cuban government," Roque said in a telephone interview. (AP, 3/1/05)

January 4: France has expressed satisfaction over Cuba’s decision to resume “normal diplomatic relations” with the majority of the European states and has called upon the Cuban government to extend the measure as soon as possible to include all remaining countries in Europe and the EU. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hervé Ladsous stressed that neither France nor its partners in the EU will let this new development affect their ongoing dialogue with Cuban dissidents. (EFE, 4/105)

January 4: One of Cuba's best known dissidents said that renewed contacts between Cuba and European countries that are likely to kick him and other activists off the embassy cocktail party circuit won't hurt their efforts to change the communist system. Oswaldo Payá, lead organizer of the Varela Project democracy drive, said that a policy by European embassies in Havana to invite dissidents to national day events for more than a year had already served a purpose. "The EU had made the decision to invite us as an expression of solidarity with the people of Cuba, as a gesture of displeasure with the detention of our 75 brothers," Paya told the press. "We have clearly expressed that changes in Cuba depend on us, on the people of Cuba," Paya said. "I think that within the European Union there exists the good will to contribute (…) so that changes toward democracy can happen (in Cuba)," he added. (AP, 4/1/05)

January 5: Diego Maradona returned to Cuba to continue drug addiction treatment after defying doctor's orders and taking a month-long Christmas break with his family in Argentina."He went this morning," Maradona's lawyer Roberto Damboriana told the press. "He's going to resume the treatment and study some offers he's received from Spanish television." (Reuters, 6/1/05)

January 5: The European Union's executive arm welcomed Cuba's renewal of diplomatic contacts with eight EU states, but said the bloc still wants a full resumption of contacts. "They are steps in the right direction," said a European commission spokeswoman, referring to Havana's response to decisions by eight European capitals to stop inviting dissidents to official embassy functions. "All these things are positive developments," added the spokeswoman, Francoise Le Bail. "Clearly diplomatic relations do need to be established with all members of the (European) Union," said Le Bail, adding that Cuba is on the agenda of a scheduled meeting of EU foreign ministers on January 31. "Cuba will be discussed (…) Various aspects will be discussed including sanctions on that day," she said. (AFP, 5/1/04)

January 6: Two Cuban teenagers who lost limbs to cancer are set to receive new artificial legs in Glasgow. Yamelis, 17, and Ernesto, 18, each had to have a leg amputated above the knee after contracting cancer. The pair's journey is the result of a chance meeting with George Paterson of Glasgow City Council's International Section of the Development and Regeneration Service. "The likelihood of prosthesis in Cuba is limited”, Mr. Paterson said. (BBC, 6/1/05)

January 6: The European Union reiterated the need for Cuba to renew diplomatic ties with the whole 25 member bloc, saying it was "unfortunate" that Havana had resumed contacts only with eight EU states. "It is a bit unfortunate that measures were for a few countries and not for others," said a diplomat from the EU's current Luxembourg presidency. "We are discussing this," she added, but said: "It puts the EU in an uncomfortable position. The EU has a joint policy. And if we change, a decision must be taken jointly," she added. (AFP, 6/1/05)

January 6: Poland will not consent to the EU easing diplomatic sanctions against Cuba until Fidel Castro's regime releases all political prisoners. For several months, Polish diplomacy has been endeavouring within internal EU debates to ensure that the EU does not ease sanctions against Cuba. "All changes in this policy must be made by the EU countries unanimously, and cannot serve to allow Castro's regime to announce a propaganda victory," a diplomatic Polish source maintained. “And more importantly, Poland believes that changes to this policy can only be discussed once all political prisoners are released from Cuban prisons”. (Gazeta Wyborcza, 6/1/05)

January 7: A political party in Slovakia's ruling coalition spoke out against eight European Union countries' renewal of diplomatic contacts with Cuba. The change is an "unhappy and wrong move," said the Christian Democratic Movement, one of four ruling parties in Slovakia. It said decreasing the international pressure on Cuba "lowers the chance for an early release of imprisoned opponents of (President Fidel) Castro's regime and de facto legitimizes the tough oppression of any opposition in this country." (AP, 7/1/05)

January 7: Cuba's resumption of contacts with only eight EU countries is not enough, according to the EU Presidency currently represented by Luxemburg, which wants the authorities in Havana to restore relations with all 25 EU members. The government of Luxemburg stated that Havana's diplomatic move to re-open relations with only a limited number of states was not sufficient and should be extended further. "Resumption of relations with all embassies and the Representation of the European Commission was indispensable within the framework of a normalisation of relations between the EU and Cuba", the EU Presidency statement said. (ISN, 8/1/05)

January 10: Cuban Ambassador to Mexico Jorge Bolaños Suárez acknowledged that diplomatic relations between the two countries remain affected by “persisting differences” and both Foreign Ministries are working to resolve them. According to the diplomat, despite “obvious efforts on both sides to work out their differences,” there are still some unresolved issues. He would not care to elaborate any further but added that the fact that there is an ongoing dialogue is “commendable.” (La Jornada, 11/1/05)

January 10: Syrian president Bashar al-Assad received a message from Fidel Castro about bilateral ties between Syria and Cuba and ways to strengthen them. The Cuban Vice President of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, Jose Ramón Fernandez, handed the message to President Assad during a meeting at al-Shaab Palace. (SANA, 10/1/05)

January 10: Some 200 members of a South American solidarity brigade arrived in Havana to do voluntary agricultural work as a solidarity gesture towards the Cuban people. According to official sources, the brigadistas will meet with representatives of local institutions and will visit other provinces. (Radio Habana Cuba, 10/1/05)

January 10: Cuba announced resumption of contacts with the European Union's office in Havana and the nations with which relations had remained frozen. ”We can say that from this moment on, Cuba has re-established official government-level contacts with all of the countries of the EU,” Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque told a press conference. In making the announcement, Perez Roque referred to a recent recommendation by the EU's Committee on Latin America (COLAT) to suspend European sanctions against the Communist island. Though the 25 EU foreign ministers have not tipped their hand as to what the final disposition will be, Perez Roque spoke as if the rapprochement were practically a done deal. Perez Roque said Havana was responding to "respectful" requests made by Luxembourg, which currently is exercising the EU's rotating presidency, and from Spain and Belgium, the bloc's main proponents of improving ties with the Cuban government. As a result, Cuba has now resumed normal diplomatic ties with all of the countries of Europe. (EFE, IPS, 10/1/05)

January 10: The European Union's executive Commission welcomed Cuba's decision to renew ties, and said it would quickly send a top official to discuss future bilateral relations. The decision by Havana "should open new possibilities in the relations between the Union and Cuba," European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said in a statement. Brussels will send humanitarian aid and development commissioner Louis Michel to Havana soon to discuss bilateral relations, said the statement. (AFP, 10/1/05)

January 10: Manuel Cuesta Morúa, spokesman for Arco Progresista, a coalition of small, moderate opposition groups with a social democratic slant, told the press that the resumption of relations between Cuba and the European Union creates a climate for rational dialogue between the two sides, which will allow the EU to exercise a favorable influence with regard to human rights and democratization in Cuba. ”This influence is like an umbrella that is permanently open over Cuban society, and should never be closed,” he said. Meanwhile, Vladimiro Roca, spokesman for the Todos Unidos dissident group, said that the Cuban government has been attempting to divide the EU for a long time, ”and it has finally succeeded.” At the same time, Roca harshly criticised the position adopted by the European bloc, claiming that it has not acted on the basis of principles or the defense of democracy and human rights, but rather ”its own interests, which are essentially economic.” (IPS, 10/1/05)

January 11: New Cuban ambassador to Spain Alberto Velazco presented his credentials to King Juan Carlos at the Royal Palace of Madrid, in a traditional ceremony. Before his appointment, Velazco was a director of Asia and Oceania Department at the Cuban Foreign Affairs Ministry. (Prensa Latina, 11/1/05)

January 11: French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Cecile Pozzo di Borgo expressed satisfaction that Cuba is normalizing its diplomatic ties with the European Union but added that France and the rest of the EU will continue to pursue their dialogue with Cuban dissidents. According to the diplomatic spokesperson, the Cuban decision to resume diplomatic relations with the European bloc will facilitate the pursuit of EU-25 goals, which continue to be the advancement of the cause of democratic pluralism, human rights and fundamental freedoms. (Notimex, 11/1/05)

January 11: The daughter-in-law and grandchildren of a Cuban woman who has been trying in vain for 10 years to obtain a visa for a trip to Argentina to see her son and his family in Buenos Aires will travel to the Communist-ruled island in May. "The family of Roberto Quiñones will travel to Cuba the first week in May of this year. May 2 is the birthday of Hilda Molina," Quiñones' mother, said Eduardo Valdes, a former top official of the Argentine Foreign Ministry now acting as the family's legal adviser. Quiñones himself will not travel to his native land because he is not sure he would be allowed to leave again, but he trusts his wife and two sons will have no trouble entering and leaving the island, because they are Argentines. (EFE, 11/1/05)

January 11: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, arrived in Havana for his third visit to Cuba in the last five years. Cuba and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines established diplomatic relations on May 26, 1992. (Radio Habana Cuba, 11/1/05)

January 11: Reporters Without Borders said it holds the Cuban government responsible for the state of health of imprisoned journalist Normando Hernández González, who appears to have contracted tuberculosis in prison, and it reiterated its call for his immediate release. "We call on the Cuban authorities to give him all the treatment he needs in order to recover quickly," the organisation said, adding that it also called on the European Union to maintain pressure on the government to obtain the release of all the journalists imprisoned in Cuba. (RWB Press Release, 11/1/05)

January 12: Ricardo Pascoe, former Mexican Ambassador to Cuba, considered it odd that 23 Cubans are being tried in court for breaking into the Mexican Embassy in Havana in 2002. “In the first place, it was 21 individuals who did it, so I don’t understand why 23 are being charged,” said the then Ambassador. On the night of February 27, 2002, a group of 18 young people hijacked a transit bus and drove it through the embassy’s front gate in a bid to obtain political asylum. Pascoe pointed that another three had climbed over the perimeter wall prior to the bus crashing through the gate. In his book entitled En el filo. Historia de una crisis diplomática, Cuba 2001-2002, Pascoe claims that those three Cubans had been "planted," implying that they had been sent by the Fidel Castro government. (AFP, 12/1/05)

January 13: Cuba voiced its firm support for and solidarity with India on the 45th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, the local daily Granma said. Marking the occasion, Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Jose Guerra said the relationship between Havana and New Delhi "is a true example of sincerity and coordination." "What has brought us together is the coincidence in participating in the common cause of development and welfare," Jose was cited as saying. (Radio Habana Cuba, 13/1/05)

January 13: Cuban authorities have agreed to let two children of a Cuban refugee couple join their parents in the Czech Republic 18 months after being separated, their father Liuver Saborit said. "Yancarlos and Ivana received permission from the Cuban government to leave immediately (..) they will arrive at Prague airport on January 22," said Saborit to the press. Saborit, 29, and his wife Mayda Arguelles, 32, obtained political asylum in the Czech Republic after arriving in Prague on a tourist visa in July 2003. Since then they have tried in vain to be reunited with their children, now aged nine and two, who remained in the care of their grandparents in Cuba after being refused a tourist visa. (AP, 13/1/05)

January 13: Cuba and Uruguay plan to re-establish mutual diplomatic relations on March 1, the same day Socialist Tabare Vazquez is scheduled to be sworn in as president, officials in the incoming administration told the press. On April 23, 2002, Uruguay broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba following 18 days of mutual charges and countercharges. Cuba was incensed that President Jorge Batlle's government had introduced a resolution in the UN Commission on Human Rights calling for monitoring respect for human rights on the island. (EFE, 13/1/05)

January 13: Council of Ministers Vice President and Chairman of the Cuban Olympic Committee, José Ramón Fernández, continues his tour of four Middle East countries, with a 4-day official visit in Lebanon. This is the second country the Cuban official visits following Syria, while Iran and Qatar are next on the list. (Prensa Latina, 13/1/05)

January 13: Fidel Castro met with the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves for official talks at Havana's Revolution Palace. The two leaders revised current bilateral ties and looked at ways to improve existing cooperation relations. The Prime Minister is on an official visit to Cuba and is touring places of interest and meeting with a variety of government officials. (Radio Habana Cuba, 14/1/05)

January 17: Cuba will send a group of doctors to Rwanda under a health cooperation agreement signed by the foreign ministers of both nations. Cuba's Prensa Latina news agency offered few specifics of the agreement, signed by Charles Murigande of Rwanda and Felipe Perez Roque of Cuba. The accords also call for Cuba to offer medical and other scholarships to young Rwandans wanting to study on the island. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1979. (AP, 17/1/05)

January 18: Roberto Quiñones and Veronica Scarpatti, son and daughter-in-law of the dissident Cuban physician, Hilda Molina, obtained a commitment from Argentine Foreign Relations minister, Rafael Bielsa, that they will be received by president Nestor Kirchner "soon". The couple had repeatedly insisted on being received by Kirchner, in order to obtain directly from the president all the guarantees for the trip that Scarpatti and their children will undertake to Cuba in May, possibly joined by Molina's son, as the latter admitted. "The president is willing to receive them soon," Bielsa told Molina's relatives during the meeting that they held on the Foreign Ministry's 14th floor, in an encounter that helped to thaw the relationship with the government. (BBC, 19/1/05)

January 18: “The French government is following very closely the situation of political prisoners in Cuba and frequently requests that the Cuban authorities revise their position on this matter,” said French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier in a recent correspondence with the “Ladies in White” (mothers and wives of political prisoners sentenced in 2003). The letter was read at one of the now-customary tea-and-a-book events organized by the wives and relatives of 75 imprisoned dissidents at Laura Pollán Toledo’s home in Downtown Havana. (Cubanet, 20/1/05)

January 19: The Honduran government announced that it was working with Cuba to halt a wave of migrants who have been leaving the communist-ruled island and arriving on Honduran shores. Immigration official Carlos Sanchez said the talks with Cuba began five months ago, although he didn't give details. Nearly 500 Cubans have arrived in Honduras in the past two years. Most ask for temporary asylum so they can later travel north to the United States. Honduras re-established diplomatic ties with Cuba in January 2001, 42 years after both countries broke off contact. Honduras still hasn't designated an ambassador to the island nation, however. (Sun Sentinel, 19/1/05)

January 19: European Commissioner for Development Louis Michel is planning to visit Cuba in March and not in early February as previously scheduled. The European Commission had announced the Commissioner’s trip to the island following the Cuban authorities’ decision to renew its diplomatic ties with the EU-25. The visit has been postponed due to conflict with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque’s agenda that would make it impossible for him to meet with the Commissioner in February. (AFP, 19/1/05)

January 20: Malaysia seeks assistance from Cuba in raising the standard of sports in the country.  A high-powered delegation led by Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said will leave for Cuba to look into ways to tap into Cuban expertise in coaching and also its scientific preparation of athletes for competitions.  Also leaving with Azalina are Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tunku Imran Tuanku Jaafar, National Sports Council (NSC) director general Datuk Wira Mazlan Ahmad and director of development Datuk Zolkples Embong. (The Star Online, 20/1/05)

January 20: Cuban dissident groups have called on the European Union (EU) to formalize a dialogue with them. The request was made by the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) and made public by top dissident and architect of the Varela Project Oswaldo Payá. Payá stressed the need to maintain official contacts with European diplomats in order to 'promote peaceful change towards democracy'. (WMRC Analysis, 20/1/05)

January 21: Fidel Castro congratulated the Our Ukraine coalition's leader Viktor Yuschenko on his victory in the Ukrainian presidential elections, Markian Lubkivskyi, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry's press service, said to the press. Castro used the occasion to confirm his country's interest in strengthening and broadening the existing friendship and cooperation between Cuba and Ukraine. (Ukrainian News, 21/1/05)

January 21: Renowned Canadian scientist, David Suzuki, will give a conference on the environment to be held in the University of Havana´s Master Lecture Hall. Of Japanese origin and the recipient of important United Nations awards, David Suzuki is currently visiting the island. He told the press in Cuba that he is taking advantage of his visit to donate audiovisual materials on his scientific work on the preservation of the environment world-wide. (Radio Habana Cuba, 21/1/05)

January 21: Argentina will get nowhere pressing Cuba to allow a dissident neurosurgeon to travel to see her son and grandchildren in Buenos Aires, the country's former ambassador in Havana, Raul Taleb, said. "Cuba does not act under pressure. They got the wrong country,'' Taleb said, criticizing the Argentine Foreign Ministry for its handling of the case. "I am taking the blame for someone else. I was the fuse in this short-circuit,'' he said. Taleb said he believed Molina planned to stay in Argentina for good, and Cuban authorities feared she would take her Cuban expertise and set up a rival neurosurgery clinic in Argentina. (The New York Times, 22/1/05)

January 21: Cuban vice president, Esteban Lazo, held talks with members of Angola's Popular Liberation Movement, MPLA, who are visiting Havana. The Angolan delegation, headed by MPLA general secretary, Juliao Meteus Paulo, is visiting the island at the invitation of the Central Committee of Cuba's Communist Party. (Radio Habana Cuba, 21/1/05)

January 22: Diego Maradona has left a Cuban mental health clinic where he was being treated for drug addiction and moved to a health spa, said Argentina’s ambassador in Havana. The ex-Argentina soccer captain is recovering from his latest relapse and will try to tackle his ballooning weight, said ambassador Raul Taleb after visiting Maradona at Havana’s La Pradera health farm. (Scotsman.Com, 22/1/05)

January 23: A new agreement between Cuba and Venezuela will give Cuban judges, police and State Security personnel jurisdiction to operate in Venezuelan territory -- in collaboration with Hugo Chávez’s secret police -- in the investigation, capture, and interrogation of Cubans residing there, or even Venezuelan citizens requested by Cuban authorities. The new Law on Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters, passed last December 22, grants Cuban judges and State officials broad discretionary powers to administer justice by tapping into Venezuelan resources and the country’s judicial structure. According to experts, this legislation could be used as a powerful retaliatory instrument against dissidence from a community of more than 30,000 Cubans residing in Venezuela since Chávez’s ascent to power. (El Nuevo Herald, 23/1/05)

January 24: Spain is pushing a "constructive dialogue" with Cuba that has begun to yield positive results, Spanish ambassador to Havana Carlos Zaldivar said in an interview with the press. The ambassador did not deny that differences remained between Havana and Madrid in the area of human rights, but noted: "The question is how to manage those differences”. "There are two ways of doing it. One is to turn the differences into discord and have blazing rows. The other is to make them the basis for a constructive dialogue." "This line (constructive dialogue) has begun to yield positive results”, the envoy said, pointing to the recent release of Cuban dissidents that had been jailed in a 2003 crackdown after many EU nations started inviting Castro opponents to embassy cocktail parties. Zaldívar stressed that his government wanted to help Cuba and to pursue a dialogue with its government and society. "Spain wants to help ease the suffering (of the Cuban people) and have a dialogue with the state and all of Cuban society," he noted. (AFP, 24/1/05)

January 24: A Cuban medical team is in Sri Lanka assisting the victims of the tsunami that crashed into several Asian and African countries last month. The medical team, composed of 16 physicians, two nurses, two hygiene specialists, three experts from Cuba's biological and pharmaceutical laboratories and an engineer, is stationed some 80 miles from the capital, Colombo. The Cuban medical brigade is offering medical services in the town of Galle where the tsunami affected a large part of the area's 80 thousand residents. The medical professionals' first tasks have been assisting some 1,400 elementary and high school children as well as residents of a senior citizens home and an orphanage. (Radio Habana Cuba, 24/1/05)

January 24: Cuba scoffed at a proposal offered by a Mexican senator to provide support to Cuba's political prisoners. The Cuban ambassador to Mexico, Jorge Bolanos Suarez, said the proposal put forward by Mexican Senator Cecilia Romero to supply Cuban prisoners with medical supplies constituted interference in the country's internal affairs. In statements before the Meeting on Regional Consultation and Cooperation on Human Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Cuban diplomat denied that in Cuba those who differ with Fidel Castro's regime are taken to tribunals or prisons. Bolanos Suarez said if Mexico approved the proposal to provide medical support to Cuba's political prisoners, diplomatic relations between Mexico and Cuba would again be strained. (UPI, 24/1/05)

January 24: A former Cuban spy living in South Africa could be sent to the United States for trial after his application to prevent his extradition was dismissed in Johannesburg High Court. In April 2003, Randburg magistrate's court ruled and ordered that, on the evidence before the court, Nelson Yester Garrido be extradited to America. He has been in custody since April 2002. The United States had asked that Garrido be extradited to stand trial on drug trafficking charges. It was unsuccessfully argued that the matter be returned to the Randburg court. A document sent to South Africa in support of the extradition request claimed there had been a plan to import drugs by using a submarine running between South America, the United States and the former Soviet Union. (News24.Com, 24/1/05)

January 24: The Cuban delegation to the V World Social Forum in Porto Alegre left for the Brazilian city. The president of the Economic Affairs Commission of the Cuban Parliament, Osvaldo Martinez hopes positive results will come of the event that appeared in 2001 answering to Davos Economic Forum held in Switzerland with the participation of powerful countries, Martinez expressed to the press. The meeting of Porto Alegre has always been held in that city, except for the previous meeting that was held in India, and is the world social movement’s greatest event, asserted the professor. (Prensa Latina, 24/1/05)

January 24: A new accord between Venezuela and Cuba to cooperate in judicial affairs is stirring debate over whether the agreement could be used by the Cuban government to pursue its critics in Venezuela. Venezuelan congressman Ricardo Sanguino, an ally of President Hugo Chávez, said the agreement is positive because it allows Cuba to advise Venezuela on judicial matters. "It is simply advising," he said, adding the fact that Cuban authorities could "come here doesn't mean it will be an interference in our internal affairs." Some critics say the agreement, published in Venezuela's official gazette on December 22, could be interpreted to allow for Cuban security agents to conduct investigations on Venezuelan soil or for Cuban authorities to extradite Cuban dissidents or Venezuelans who are critical of Fidel Castro's government. Alberto Arteaga, a law professor at the Central University of Venezuela, criticized the "broad terms" of the pact and said limits should be spelled out in cases of "political crime" and "military crime" to avoid any action that could infringe on the right of asylum. Thousands of Cuban exiles live in Venezuela, and many of them have been in the South American country for decades. (AP, 24/1/05)

January 24: Mexico proposed creating a regional organization to promote and evaluate human rights throughout Latin America, a mechanism meant partly to depoliticize conflicts with Cuba over the island's human rights record. The gathering comes as the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva prepares to publish reports on the rights records of individual countries. That event usually prompts strained relations with Cuba, which contends the UN criticisms result from behind-the-scenes maneuvering by Washington to force other countries to support negative assessments. Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez told representatives of 30 countries that the plan would help build a culture of human rights throughout the region. The Cuban ambassador to Mexico, Jorge Bolaños, also endorsed the idea. "We are here to participate, to make our contributions and we wish it success," Bolaños said. Bolaños told the press that the UN commission should be restructured to prevent countries such as the United States from imposing their will on other nations. He said countries should "participate under equal conditions" and should avoid a division between the "the condemned of the Earth and the condemners." (AP, 24/1/05)

January 25: An unlikely trio comprising Cuba, Zimbabwe and China are to form a group that will hear complaints about other countries before the United Nations' top human rights forum, a diplomat said. Frequently condemned themselves for alleged human rights abuses, the three countries were each nominated by their respective regions along with Holland and Hungary, said Ivan Mora, Cuba's ambassador to the UN in Geneva. The five-nation group is due to meet in this Swiss city on February 7 ahead of the annual, six-week gathering of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which is due to start on March 14. During four days, the body will study complaints from governments and other parties about human rights abuses in different countries across the world. It must decide which cases should be considered and whether or not this should be done publicly or behind closed doors. According to UN sources, the five states have already received 85 complaints including those against the United States for its invasion of Iraq as well as New Zealand and Australia for their treatment of their indigenous populations. (AFP, 25/1/05)

January 25: Human rights activists were outraged over Cuba's appointment to an elite ''action panel'' that will influence the work of the UN Commission on Human Rights, which has consistently condemned the communist nation's miserable record. “It's shameful that anyone would support Cuba to play any relevant role in the human rights machinery,'' said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch in Washington, D.C. ''A government as recalcitrant as the Cuban government should not be rewarded with membership of any kind,'' Vivanco added. "It clearly undermines the legitimacy or credibility of institutions that are supposed to be supervising and monitoring human rights.'' (The Miami Herald, 25/1/04)

January 25: An independent journalist jailed in Cuba needs six months of treatment for tuberculosis, Reporters Without Borders said. Normando Hernandez, sentenced to 25 years in prison after a crackdown on Cuban dissidents in March of 2003, was reportedly transferred from prison to a hospital in the western province of Pinar del Rio for his condition earlier this month. Hernandez's wife, Yarai Reyes Marin, was allowed to visit him at the hospital, where she was told he needed the treatment, Hernandez's mother, Blanca Gonzalez, told Reporters Without Borders. But according to a news release from the Paris-based advocacy group, Reyes told Gonzalez the prisoner was not getting the special diet he requires. (AP, 25/1/05)

January 26: The prime minister of Guinea-Bissau was scheduled to arrive to Cuba for an official five-day visit, state-run media reported. Carlos Gomes Junior was expected to meet with Fidel Castro and top Cuban officials, as well as visit "places of social and historic interest," according to Granma, Cuba's Communist Party daily. Cuba and Guinea-Bissau established diplomatic relations more than 30 years ago, shortly before the West African nation gained independence from Portugal in 1974. (AP, 25/1/05)

January 25: The 25th International Caribbean Festival, celebrated every July in the island's second largest city of Santiago de Cuba, will help consolidate relations in the region, said Venezuelan ambassador to Cuba, Adam Chavez. The gathering -also known as the "Fiesta del Fuego" or Fire Festival- will be dedicated to Venezuela this year. The event will feature important artists and musicians from the land of Simon Bolivar. (Radio Habana Cuba, 26/1/05)

January 27: The European Union will suspend sanctions against Cuba, in a further step to end a standoff sparked by a crackdown on dissidents in 2003, according to a draft document. The "temporary" move, expected to be made at a regular meeting of EU foreign ministers, comes after Fidel Castro's regime announced this month a renewal of official contacts with all EU countries. "All the measures taken on June 5, 2003 will be temporarily suspended," said the draft conclusions of talks in Brussels, in reference to the EU decision 18 months ago to slap the sanctions on Havana. This will notably allow EU countries to receive high-level Cuban visitors, the statement noted, but said such visits must be used to push for improvements in human rights and the rights of dissidents in Cuba. (EUBusiness, 27/1/05)

January 27: Cuban dissidents, regardless of their assessments of the European Union's forthcoming decision to suspend sanctions on Cuba, agreed that Brussels needs to pressure the Cuban government to release its political prisoners. Vladimiro Roca, of the All United Movement, criticized the EU move. "The signals are disastrous for the opposition," he said, adding that what the European embassies need to do is increase, not decrease, their contacts with the opposition. "Those measures are not going to help the rest of the imprisoned dissidents get out," Roca added. In contrast, Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo of Cambio Cubano called the EU's decision "fantastic" and said he was sure Cuba will "respond in like manner." In his opinion, the EU should select "some leaders of the truly independent opposition" and support dialogue with them, as well as demand legal "space" for that opposition. Elizardo Sanchez of the Human Rights Committee said the EU should keep up its efforts on behalf of the dissidents' release. According to Sanchez, Brussels' recent inclination to seek rapprochement with Havana has not yielded "practical results," because the recent releases "were politically utilitarian measures on the part of the Cuban government, which wanted to prevent some prisoner from dying and sending the wrong signal to the international community." "One response to Europe's move would be to release all the prisoners. The release of prisoners of conscience and the abolition of the death penalty in Cuba would be the right way to go to normalize relations completely," he said. (EFE, 27/1/05)

January 27: Venezuelan government officials are heatedly denying opposition complaints that a new treaty with Cuba allows Havana to harass and even force the repatriation of Cuban exiles and defectors living in Venezuela. ''If there are those who are worried about political persecution in Venezuela, they shouldn't be, because there will be none here,'' said Saul Ortega, president of the legislature's international commission and member of President Hugo Chávez's political party. But Chávez foes, who complain about his close friendship with Fidel Castro and allege that he is leading Venezuela toward a Cuban-styled dictatorship, claim that the language of the law is vague enough to permit Cuban authorities to persecute Cuban citizens living in Venezuela. (The Miami Herald, 27/1/05)

January 27: Eight Cuban refugees have reached Honduras' Atlantic coast, officials said, continuing a flow of migrants that has caused growing concern in Tegucigalpa. Jeovanny Ochoa, chief of the merchant marine for Guanaja island, said the six men and two women set out in a 19-foot boat from the town of Santa Cruz del Sur, on Cuba's southeastern coast. They were picked up by a fishing boat near Guanaja. (Orlando Sentinel, 27/1/05)

January 27: Fidel Castro and Colombian President Álvaro Uribe have spoken several times over the telephone, as part of efforts to defuse a diplomatic crisis between Colombia and Venezuela. According to Colombian radio broadcasting chain RCN, Castro has been directly involved in assisting Colombia and Venezuela in the resolution of their dispute, triggered by the capture of Colombian guerilla Rodrigo Granda. (EFE, 27/1/05)

January 27: In a statement to the press, National Assembly Deputy and President of the Permanent Commission on Foreign Policy Saúl Ortega rejected claims by Venezuela's opposition leaders over a security agreement signed with Cuba that critics say will pave the way for persecution.  Ortega called the claims as alarmist, and denied that the security convention with Cuba would result in persecution.  The bilateral agreement is intended to promote "collaboration in the fight against crime, based upon the principle of reciprocity, and with strict respect for the internal legislation of the participating states," Ortega said. "We believe that behind the criticisms of this agreement," he continued, "[critics] are only pursuing political interests aimed at sullying Venezuela's image."  Ortega added that the agreement in question is identical to a 'mutual assistance treaty' Venezuela signed with the United States. (VenezuelaAnalysis. Com, 227/1/05)

January 28: Malaysia's youth and sports minister, Datuk Azalina Dato Othman Said, termed her three-day visit to Cuba as "very fruitful". The South Asian minister along with her accompanying delegation, sustained dialogues with Cuban officials of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER), resulting in the drafting of a Memorandum of Understanding, to be signed by both sides in the coming months. (Radio Habana Cuba, 29/1/05)

January 29: Brazil has announced that it will donate 400 complete collections of books amounting to over 51,000 copies, to Cuba's International Book Fair. Educational cooperation and culture director of Brazil's Embassy in Havana, Pedro Etchebarre, made the announcement, adding that most of the texts are devoted to the formation and training of children and teenagers. (Radio Habana Cuba, 29/1/05)

January 30: The Dominican Navy has announced the arrest of three Cubans and a Dominican citizen attempting to cross illegally into Puerto Rican territory. The illegal migrants were cheated out of their money by human smugglers who dropped them off on Dominican shores, telling them that they had reached their intended destination. All four detainees are part of an initial group of 15 who attempted the crossing. (Europa Press , 30/1/05)

January 30: A leading human rights group urged the European Union not to normalize economic relations with Cuba unless Fidel Castro's communist regime releases dozens of dissidents and introduces legal reforms. "Cuba's recent release of some of the dissidents is a welcome step, but it does not signal a meaningful change in the government's repressive policies," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch. In a statement, the watchdog organization said it expected an EU foreign ministers' meeting to consider dropping restrictions on relations with Havana. (AP, 30/1/05)

January 30: Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda wants to convince other EU member countries not to change their policy towards Cuba and stop inviting dissidents to receptions at their embassies in Havana, he said on a Czech Television's discussion programme. "I want to achieve there not being any obligation to not invite representatives of the democratic opposition and that there will be communication with them. If we are successful in pushing this through, then we will hold to it. I hope that other countries will act similarly," Svoboda said. (CTK, 30/1/05)

January 31: European Union foreign ministers agreed to end a nearly two-year-old freeze on high-level contacts with the Cuban government, while pledging to increase contacts with critics of Fidel Castro. The decision announced by Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn restores normal diplomatic ties after the freeze imposed by the 25-nation bloc after Havana cracked down on dissidents in March 2003. A statement approved by the ministers said the EU was now willing to resume "a constructive dialogue with the Cuban authorities aiming at tangible results in the political, economic, human rights and cooperation sphere." But the EU insisted it would continue to raise human rights issues. It demanded the "urgent" and "unconditional" release of all dissidents, including the 75 given prison terms of up to 28 years in the 2003 clampdown. The decision will be reviewed in July to see if Cuba's human rights record has improved. The rules for receptions at EU embassies will be amended so that only nationals of the mission hosting the event and members of the diplomatic corps will be invited. This will mean that both Cuban dissidents and Cuban government officials will not be invited. (AP, The Guardian, 31/1/05)

January 31: Former President Vaclav Havel urged the European Union keep supporting Cuba's dissidents even as it restores diplomatic relations with Havana. Havel, himself a former anti-communist dissident, said in an editorial in the daily newspaper Hospodarske Noviny that the newly expanded European Union must "defend its freedoms and values, and not abandon them" by aligning itself with dictators. "How would it end? By releasing Milosevic? (...) By an apology to Saddam Hussein (...) and a start of peace talks with al-Qaida?" Havel wrote. Havel appealed to the EU's newest members, most of them former communist states, "not to forget their experience with totalitarian regimes" and to "reflect that experience in their behavior in the organs of the EU." (AP, 31/1/05)

January 31: Members of the Cuban dissident movement differ on the European Union's new policy toward Havana, but they are united in asking that Brussels use the recent normalization of diplomatic relations with the island's regime to demand that it free all political prisoners. The new European strategy has been received with skepticism by most of the Cuban dissidents and with a certain amount of hope by some opposition leaders. Among the skeptics are Oswaldo Paya, the leader of the Christian Liberation Movement and winner of the Sakharov Prize awarded by the European Parliament, who said that the EU would be an "accomplice" of Fidel Castro's regime if it did not work to secure freedom for dissident prisoners. For Elizardo Sanchez, who heads the illegal Cuban Commission for Human Rights, "if there are no visible and practical results in the area of human rights and the release of political prisoners, some European foreign ministries would be running the risk of promoting a type of capitulation in the face of an oppressive regime." In the judgment of Marta Beatriz Roque, one of the dissidents freed from prison last year, the EU's decision constitutes a "tremendous political error ... (and) goes against the principles of democratization, liberty and respect for human rights that the European Union proclaims." On the other hand, Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, the leader of the moderate exile group Cuban Change on the island, said that the new European policy toward Cuba was a "fantastic" shift that could foster a constructive dialogue allowing movement toward the recognition of an independent opposition in Cuba. Also, Gisela Delgado - the wife of Hector Palacios, who received 25 years in prison in the March 2003 show trials - said she hoped that the new strategy would lead to the release of the political prisoners. (EFE, 31/1/05)

January 31: The European Union should make normalizing economic relations with Cuba contingent on Cuba’s meaningful progress on human rights, Human Rights Watch said, as EU foreign ministers meet to consider dropping measures imposed in 2003. Meaningful progress would include the release of all wrongfully imprisoned dissidents. In the April 2003 political crackdown, 75 peaceful dissidents were arrested and sentenced to long prison terms; 61 dissidents remain incarcerated. In the recent release of 14 dissidents, the Cuban government did not acknowledge that they had been wrongly incarcerated, but instead released them for "humanitarian" reasons. "Cuba’s recent release of some of the dissidents is a welcome step, but it does not signal a meaningful change in the government’s repressive policies," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "President Fidel Castro is using human beings as pawns in a political game aimed at improving relations with Europe." (HRW Press Release, 31/1/05)

January 31: Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos expressed satisfaction over the European Union’s decision to temporarily lift diplomatic sanctions against Havana. Moratinos said that, to be “effective,” the EU needs to be able to utilize its "instruments," i.e. its ambassadors, and maintain “smooth and steady relations with the Cuban authorities.” On the other hand, Moratinos said he is “certain” that Havana will take steps in keeping with EU-25 goals. (AFP, 31/1/05)

January 31: The 5th World Social Forum dedicated several spaces to Cuba at the gathering that concluded in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Activities related to the island included the presentation of the book "Minister Che Guevara: Testimonies of a Colleague," by Tirso Saenz, who worked alongside the guerrilla fighter as deputy Minister of Industry in Cuba. Coinciding with the Social Forum, the signing of a cooperation agreement between Cuba´s Prensa Latina News Agency and Brazil's Inverta Journalism Cooperative will allow the island's press outlet to offer information services in Brazil. Also, Cuban labor leader Leonel González, spoke at the Continental Assembly against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. (Radio Habana Cuba, 31/1/05)

January 31: Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, said that his government appreciates the aid offered by Cuba. He added that the Cuban government has given its maximum support by sending medical personnel and medicine. The Sri Lankan official was speaking to journalists from Cuban television and Granma newspaper. (Radio Habana Cuba, 31/1/05)