Chronicle on Cuba - February 2005

Domestic Affairs

February 3: Havana's International Book Fair opened its doors with an activity at the San Francisco de Asís Plaza in Old Havana. This year's fair is dedicated to Cuban writer Abelardo Estorino and Poet Jesús Orta Ruiz, known as El Indio Naborí. Brazil is the guest of honor and boasts a delegation of over 80 renowned intellectuals and artists. A record number of over 500 publishing houses from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe Australia and Oceania are attending the fair. (Radio Habana Cuba, 3/2/05)

February 3: A significant reduction in illegal drugs in Cuba was recorded in 2004, thanks to energetic measures taken to stem the trafficking of illegal substances. Recent Cuban Interior Ministry statistics confirm a significant reduction in illegal drug activity off Cuban coasts, with the lowest figures of suspicious activities reported since 1996. In 2004, sixteen planes and 15 boats were reported approaching the island, presumably involved in air drops of illegal drugs for pick up and transfer to the United States via speed boats. Last year, Cuban authorities confirmed 50 such drug drops on the island's coasts, though this was well below the figure of 330 recorded in 2003. Stepped-up use of helicopters and even the Cuban armed forces have contributed to this reduction. (Granma, Notimex, 3/2/05)

February 4: Cuban medical authorities expressed concerns over the rising numbers of Cuban teenagers who resort to an abortion as a solution to unplanned pregnancy. According to the President of the Cuban Family Development Association, although the medical procedure can be performed in Cuba legally and under stringent sanitary conditions, there are no guarantees against possible post-abortion “physical and psychological complications.” In 1990, 147,530 abortions were performed on the island, which means that 45.6 per thousand women between the ages of 12 and 49 underwent the procedure. Although by 2001 the number of cases had decreased to 69,563, a ratio of 21.2 per thousand is still considered high by the specialists. (AFP, 4/2/05)

February 5: The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN), an illegal Cuban opposition organization, warned that at least 16 of the 75 oppositionists incarcerated in 2003 are showing “alarming health deterioration symptoms.” (Europa Press, 5/2/05)

February 6: The President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, named Sunday as a day of solidarity with the Five Cuban prisoners in the United States. The top Cuban official made the comment during the launching of five new titles linked to the Five in the framework of the 14th International Book Fair, underway in Havana. (Radio Habana Cuba, 7/2/05)

February 7: Once a smoker's paradise, Cuba is banning smoking in stores, theaters, meeting halls and other public places. And longtime smokers in this island nation, one of the world's tobacco capitals, are fuming about the new rules. ''They can't take this away from me. I'll kill them,'' said Graciela González, 80, clutching a fat stogie. "This is my life.'' Smoking is widely accepted in Cuba, where at least a third of the population lights up. With the new restrictions, Cuban officials hope to change people's thoughts about smoking and save lives. But it's an uphill fight in a country that sells cigarettes for as little as eight cents a pack, cheaper than anywhere else in the world. ''I dread trying to make this thing work,'' said a security chief at La Bodeguita del Medio, a restaurant/bar in Old Havana. "Someone's going to have to tell people not to smoke. It's not going to be me.'' (Dallas Morning News, 7/2/05)

February 7: Dania Rojas Góngora, 18, has been released after serving 20 months out of a two-year jail sentence she received for her involvement in the attempted hijacking of the Baraguá ferryboat in Havana’s harbor that led to the executions by firing squad of three young men in 2003. “We lived terrible moments back then,” she told the press. “My boyfriend asked to see me the day before his execution. He (…) said not to worry, that he was no longer going to be executed. Now I don’t know whether he was just trying to cheer me up, or whether he had been lied to like the rest of us. The next day, I was told the executions had been carried out.” Although still a minor under Cuban legislation, Dania was confined in a jail for adult women in Holguín. (APLO, 7/2/05)

February 7: The former Cuban bodyguard of American mobster Meyer Lansky showed up for the presentation of a new Spanish-language book about the island's legendary past as a haven for US gangsters and their casinos before the Cuban revolution. "All is told in the book," former bodyguard Armando Jaime Casielles, now 73, said at the International Book Fair of Havana. In the "La vida secreta de Meyer Lansky en La Habana," or "The Secret Life of Meyer Lansky in Havana," Casielles narrates to Cuban writer Enrique Cirules his experiences as the mobster's sidekick from 1957 to early 1959, shortly after the triumph of the Cuban revolution. (AP, 7/2/05)

February 7: The 7th International Encounter of Economists on Globalization and Development was officially inaugurated by Roberto Vernier, president of the Association of Accountants of Cuba, and of the Latin America and the Caribbean Economists Association. During his speech, Vernier, quoting Cuban singer and songwriter Silvio Rodriguez, said that these debates in Havana “don't change the world, but help to make it better”. Also presiding over the prestigious event were Jose Luis Rodriguez, vice-president of Cuba's Council of Ministers; Armando Hart, director of the National Office of the Jose Martì Program; Osvaldo Martinez, president of the event's Organizing Committee, and foreign guests. (Radio Habana Cuba, 7/2/05)

February 8: One of Cuba's most important Afro-Cuban singers, Lázaro Ross, died in Havana at the age of 79. Lazaro Ross, a self-taught musician, considered “the king of Yoruba songs”, was born in the Cuban capital. Ross, who was nominated for a Latin Grammy in the category of Folkloric Music in 2001, was strongly influenced in his music by his religious beliefs. He made two important records entitled: "Yemaya" and "Chango". In 2002, Lázaro Ross received Cuba's Fernando Ortiz International Prize which is a recognition awarded to artists, researchers and specialists who have contributed to the social sciences, anthropology and culture. (Radio Habana Cuba, 9/2/05)

February 9: For the first time in Cuba and possibly in the world, an International Centenarians Conference took place in Havana, in which a group of men and women aged between 100 to 124 shared their experiences and responded to geriatrists’ and experts’ questions on lifestyle and other factors that help to prolong life. People invited from Mexico, Chile, Spain, France, Haiti and Cuba attended the event, stated Doctor Eugenio Selman, president of the 120 Years Club, who presented diplomas to the organization’s honorary members.  (Granma International, CNN, 9/2/05)

February 9: Some 1,200 delegates from 36 countries and 15 foreign institutions attending Havana's 7th International Encounter on Globalization and Problems of Development focused attention on the world economy. Participants examined economic challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean regarding globalization. 1994 Nobel prize winner in Economy, German Reinhard Selten, presented a guest lecture on the topic, with a representative of the Inter American Development Bank analyzing the world economy. (Radio Habana Cuba, 9/2/05)

February 11: Over a thousand economists from 36 countries wound up discussions in the 7th International Meeting on Globalization and Problems of Development held in Havana. Fidel Castro closed the event in which economists discussed issues related to the world economy, the integration process, China's role in the region, challenges posed by the foreign debt and development in the conditions of globalization. (Radio Habana Cuba, 12/2/05)

February 12: As he was writing a document in the prisoner’s ward of the “Celestino Hernández Rumbau” Hospital in Santa Clara, political prisoner Jorge Luis García Pérez, “Antúnez,” was attacked from behind by a supposedly mentally incapacitated inmate. The individual had arrived an hour earlier claiming he had been transferred from the Manacas prison. According to his family, this is not the first time “Antúnez” has been attacked. (Cubanet, 13/2/05)

February 13: The reorganization process of the dissident organization Confederation of Democratic Workers of Cuba (CTDC) ended in Havana, a spokesman of the organization reported. "All plans encompassing the current year's agenda were discussed and approved during the first month of this year”, Niurka H. Martínez told the press. According to Martínez, the newly elected members of the National Executive are: Raúl Sosa Torres as president and Pedro Arocha Urquiza as vice president, while the affiliated dissidents Obet Matos Rodríguez, Alián Trojillo Larraza, Manuel Florencio Piedra Rivas and Alexie Gutiérrez Estrada were elected for the positions of National Coordinator, Advisor and Attention to Political Prisoners, respectively. (Puente Informativo, 13/2/05)

February 13: The first stage of Cuba’s Book Fair was successfully closed at the San Carlos de Cabaña fortress, visited by nearly 600,000 people from Havana for 10 days. In the closing ceremony, Brazilian Culture Minister Gilberto Gil highlighted his country’s contribution of 7,000 titles and 18,000 copies of his nation’s best literature, to enrich Cuban culture. The Brazilian minister invited Cuba to participate in the Rio de Janeiro Book Biennial later this year. Cuban Book Institute chairman Iroel Sanchez emphasized the fair’s diversity of options, and announced next year’s event will be dedicated to other two important Cuban writers, Nancy Morejon and Angel Augier, both winners of Cuban National Literature Awards. (Radio Habana Cuba, 13/2/05)

February 13: Two books on Fidel Castro and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chávez were launched at Havana's International Book Fair. According to AIN news agency, "El Encuentro" (The Encounter) by Rosa Miriam Elizalde and "Chávez Nuestro" (Our Chávez) by Luis Báez were both presented at the fair, attended by Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón and the ministers of culture, Abel Prieto, and foreign affairs, Felipe Pérez Roque. (Radio Habana Cuba, 14/2/05)

February 14: A public audience on the electoral system and democracy in Cuba took place at Havana’s International Conference Center in view of the district elections on April 17. Participating experts discussed the historical record of elections since the country ended an institutionalization process in 1976 that also included the promulgation of the Socialist Constitution. Cuban officials analyzed the national legislation regarding the electoral process and compared it with elections in Latin America. Discussions focused on the US government’s plans against Cuba. At the audience, Cuban Parliamentary President Ricardo Alarcón said that the island's electoral system is totally transparent and far ahead of so-called “representative democracy” in the United States. (Radio Habana Cuba, Prensa Latina, 14/2/05)

February 14: Pedro Ross, secretary general of the Cuban Workers Central Office (CTC), called for a massive participation of Cuban workers in the debates for the 19th Congress of CTC, scheduled for April 2006. These discussions should leave a mark in the Cuban working class actions to find solutions to the concrete problems of every workplace in our country, Ross pointed out in statements published by Cuban weekly Trabajadores. Debates of the CTC members will be centered in topics such as employment, economic efficiency and defense. (Prensa Latina, 14/2/05)

February 14: Hundreds of artists from Holguin, the Cuban eastern province 743 kilometers from Havana, are preparing to paint the biggest outdoor mural in the country’s history. Fifteen meters long by five meters high, in low and high cement relief, the work will represent the main heroic deeds that have occurred in this north eastern city since the arrival of its first inhabitants up to today. (Prensa Latina, 14/2/05)

February 14: Independent journalist and political prisoner Héctor Maseda told his wife Laura Pollán that he would be transferred to a cell in the Higher Security Wing. Maseda has been confined in the maximum security prison since January 28. “The transfer took place after I spoke with officials from the State Council and the Ministry of the Interior to denounce and protest arbitrary measures taken against my husband. He and another inmate were the only ones made to strip in front of all the other inmates during a visual search of his block,” said Pollán. (Cubanet, 17/2/05)

February 15: Cuban State Security agents warned independent journalist Iván García to “stop writing (…), or else.” García, a frequent contributor to the online magazine “Encuentro en la Red,” was summoned to a police station where he had a two-hour "meeting" with two State Security officers. “They told me they were under orders to have me and other independent journalists stop writing, particularly for ‘Encuentro.’ They claimed to have information that ‘Encuentro’ is funded by the CIA and the US government…,” explained García. (Encuentro en la Red, 15/2/05)

February 15: The primary electoral registers for April elections were published in public places throughout the island until March 17. These lists are one of the conditions for citizens’ right to vote or be elected to the Peoples’ Power municipal assemblies, government bodies renewed every two and a half years. (Prensa Latina, 15/2/05)

February 15: A microwave signal transfer system signals started operating in Cuba´s central province of Ciego de Avila, 262 miles from this capital, in order to improve the reception of TV broadcast images in the area, the National Information Agency reported. About 4,000 students of all education levels will benefit from this new 100 watt powered technology as they will now be able to receive their lessons through one of the island's two educational channels. Director of the Radio Cuba in Ciego de Avila, Idalberto Moreira, explained the project was carried out in this particular area because geographical features prevented straight line TV signals from being received. (Prensa Latina, 15/2/05)

February 15: Dissenters of the Castro regime in the island continue to be removed from their jobs by members of the State Security as part of their usual tactics to restrain the internal opposition. Joenny Alonso Saiz, dissident and member the Democratic Party 30 of November "Frank País", told the press that after agents of the political police visited the cafeteria where he used to work, both managers fired him for no reason. They simply said they did not want any trouble with the government. Later on, two police officers cited him to appear at a local police station where he was threatened with a 20 year sanction if he continued his activities in the opposition. In Camaguey, Yolanda Martínez Vargas told the press that she was denied a position as secretary in a military committee in her area because she is affiliated to an opposition party. (Lux Info Press, 15/2/05)

February 16: Recently released dissident Julio Antonio Valdés Guevara, one of the 75 oppositionists incarcerated during the 2003 crackdown, is awaiting authorization from the Cuban authorities to emigrate. Following his release, Valdés was admitted into several Havana hospitals for treatment of a severe kidney condition. The rest of Valdés’s family has already been authorized to leave the country. (El Nuevo Herald, 16/2/05)

February 16: Political prisoner Héctor Palacios Ruiz was hospitalized at the Combinado del Este hospital, according to his wife, Gisela Delgado Sablón. Gisela told the press that her husband is suffering from different illnesses, as reported by doctors at the prison’s health facility. Palacios received a 25-years sentence during the crackdown on dissidents in 2003. (Cubanet, 16/2/05)

February 16: Cuba will have an exceptional health system for all its citizens and those who need it worldwide, Fidel Castro affirmed when closing the 9th Congress of the National Health Workers' Union. The Cuban leader assured the island will undoubtedly become a unique health care provider in the world. "Medicine and the health of our people and that of neighboring countries and friends are perhaps the highest priorities in our Revolution," Fidel Castro stressed. In the last few years, Cuba has invested about 150 million dollars in high quality medical equipment for primary care, prevention and hospitals, thus improving specialized services, he revealed. (Prensa Latina, 16/2/05)

February 17: Cuba is hosting for the first time a meeting of Education Ministers of the Andres Bello Agreement in Havana. The Andres Bello Agreement is an international intergovernmental organization that favors the strengthening of integration processes, configuration and development of a common cultural ground. It embodies Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Spain, Panama, Paraguay, Peru Venezuela and Cuba. (Prensa Latina, 17/2/05)

February 17: Dolia Leal, wife of Cuban dissident Nelson Aguiar Ramírez, one of the 75 oppositionists incarcerated in 2003, sent a letter to Fidel Castro petitioning for her husband to be granted an "extra penal license." Aguiar Ramírez, 59, is in the hospital wing of the "Combinado del Este" prison in Havana, where he underwent epigastric hernia surgery last December. (EFE, 17/2/05)

February 17: The Cuban capital is preparing for 10 days of Carnival festivities set to begin February 26 along the city's oceanfront, organizers said. The fete will include parades of floats and performing troupes as well as street dances and performances by popular artists, state-run media reported. Most of the activities will take place along the Malecon, Havana's seaside boulevard, where crews are putting up bleachers and reviewing stands that will stretch for some 3,000 meters (almost 2 miles) to accommodate spectators. (EFE, 17/2/05)

February 18: In a rare display of public dissent, the wives of several Cuban dissidents -- wearing pictures of their husbands on their shirts -- marched to Revolution Plaza to demand amnesty for all political prisoners. The women delivered a letter with their demands to state offices behind the plaza's monument to independence hero Jose Marti. Loyda Valdes, whose husband Alfredo Felipe Fuentes is serving a 26-year sentence, said "the apathy of Cuban authorities'' had "practically forced'' her to be there. The women marched 45 minutes through Havana to reach the plaza before delivering the letter, which bore the signatures of more than 1,000 friends and relatives. Laura Pollan expressed both hope and pessimism about the government's reaction. "I think they're going to listen, that they're going to read the letter,'' said Pollan, whose husband Hector Maseda was sentenced to 20 years in prison. "But (...) this is an unpredictable government,'' she said. "It's possible that we're here and then tomorrow they send our husbands home. Or, they'll simply keep them stashed away, and there they will be for 20 years.'' (The New York Times, 19/2/05)

February 18: Cuban opposition leader Oswaldo Payá launched a new stage in his campaign for a peaceful democratic transition, calling on Cubans within and outside the island to participate in a national dialogue to shape a post-Castro future. Payá, who earned international attention for organizing a petition drive signed by 25,000 Cubans in favor of government reforms, hopes his Committee for National Dialogue will spark a discussion across political and geographic lines and dispel some of the uncertainty shrouding Cuba's future. "Here there is room for liberals, conservatives, social democrats and those communists who have liberty and courage,'' Paya told reporters. Paya said activists in the new project have been harassed by the government, receiving visits at home from state security agents trying to persuade them not to take part. Paya announced the creation of a committee to organize participants, which he estimated in the thousands. The committee is made up of 110 Cubans, about half on the island and the rest participating from the United States, Spain, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Brazil, he said, emphasizing that it was nonetheless a distinctly Cuban project. The Cuban government has not publicly commented on the movement, which was formally launched last summer. [Diálogo Nacional] (The New York Times, Sun Sentinel, EFE, 18/2/05)

February 18: A Cuban court sentenced 13 people to prison sentences ranging from 6 to 25 years for their involvement in drug trafficking, according to radio reports. The accused, most of whom had prior criminal records, were part of a drug-trafficking network and confessed during their trial in the eastern Cuban province of Holguín. (EFE, 20/2/05)

February 19: Differing views on Cuba's future among Havana dissidents are becoming more apparent with ongoing efforts by prominent activists to reinvigorate a movement crippled by a government crackdown in 2003. Oswaldo Payá and Martha Beatriz Roque agree that Fidel Castro must release his 46-year grip on the island and that the future should be decided by the Cuban people. But differences between Payá's Committee for National Dialogue and Roque's Assembly to Promote Civil Society have become more clear in recent days as both groups gear up for upcoming events meant to search for a consensus. ''We want nothing to do with the government,'' said Roque, whose group is planning a gathering May 20 and has invited notable figures like former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and former Czech President Vaclav Havel. ''We can't include them because the government doesn't listen,'' added Roque. ''Ours is a dialogue without borders,'' said Payá. He said the National Dialogue will soon make formal proposals for everything from revamping the justice system to ecological concerns. ''What we are trying to do is find common ground.'' "We can't exclude people who have government jobs just because they might think differently.'' ''If we want change, we must include them,'' he said. "Otherwise, it won't happen.'' (The Miami Herald, 19/2/05)

February 22: Harry Potter made the Cuban media but not the death of Guillermo Cabrera Infante, the world famous exile writer whose books are banned on the island because of his criticisms of Fidel Castro. Cuba's government-controlled dailies such as Granma, Juventud Rebelde and Trabajadores printed stories about J.K. Rowling's upcoming installment of the Harry Potter series or the Havana International Book Fair. But the newspapers, as well as government television and radio stations, ignored the death in London of Cabrera Infante, who left Cuba in 1965. O nly the online version of the culture magazine La Jiribilla noted Cabrera Infante's passing -- in a four-paragraph story that said his writings were "unfortunately tainted with his stance against the Cuban revolution, which became a fanatical obsession.'' [See also Exile Community] (The Miami Herald, 23/2/05)

February 22: A video that pokes satirical fun at Cuba's feared State Security agency and hints at corruption within this institution is making the underground rounds of the communist-ruled island, prompting shock over its boldness and chuckles over its jabs. The few Cubans who have seen the 15-minute tape say its comical references to listening bugs and other usually sensitive issues have them wondering how long it will take for the government to crack down on the well-known actors. While it makes fun of State Security -- the Interior Ministry agency that focuses on repressing the domestic opposition to Fidel Castro -- the video does not carry an openly anti-Castro message. Few Cubans have seen it because it is being passed around in a DVD, and access to DVD players or personal computers capable of playing DVDs is not widespread there. The video features three well-known Cuban artists who use their own names in the credits -- Eduardo del Llano, Luis Alberto García and Néstor Jiménez. (The Miami Herald, 23/2/05)

February 22: Cuban officials declared their fight against drugs a national security issue after destroying 25 sacks of marijuana recently seized with US Coast Guard backup by tossing them into a boiling-hot cauldron. Authorities burned the drug at a steel factory in eastern Cuba, later telling international reporters they were determined to keep the island as drug-free as possible. The Cuban Government invited the media to fly to Holguín province, 457 miles east of Havana and smack in the middle of the most common drug routes according to Lt. Col. Miguel Guilarte, the Cuban border guard's anti-drug czar. "This is the region of Cuba most affected by drug trafficking." The marijuana was seized in the seas and along Cuba's northern coast in a bust that also netted three suspected Jamaican smugglers in a speedboat. "For us, drugs represent an issue of national security,'' said Lt. Col. Miguel Guilarte, the coast guard's anti-drug chief. The Cuban revolution's advances "will disintegrate if our citizenry doesn't fight against (...) this phenomenon that corrupts society.'' (AP, CBS, 24/2/05)

February 23:The Cuban Catholic Church is distributing among its congregation fliers warning against the ills of alcoholism. Written in a FAQ format, the flyer declares alcoholism to be “a severe problem in Cuba, with major personal and social repercussions,” the extent of which there is little awareness. (Cubanet, 23/2/05)

February 23: Hundreds of prisoners from across Cuba began fierce competitions in the nation's first Inmate Olympics, official media said. The official newspaper Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth) said the prisoners are representing their regions in four geographic divisions with competition heated in this sports-minded Caribbean country: in baseball, basketball, track and field, table tennis, and presumably for the older and less fit, dominoes and chess. This is the first time an Olympic-style sports competition is being held for Cuba's prisoners. Previously only match-ups in the national pastime of baseball had been held. (AFP, 23/2/05)

February 24: Rolando Camacho, head of the oncological program in Cuba, said in Havana that cancer could become the leading cause of death on the island. Camacho made this assertion during the public invitation to participate in the 7 th Terry Fox International Run to be simultaneously carried out in 50 countries next March 20. Over a million Cubans are expected to participate. (EFE, 24/2/05)

February 24: Cuban political prisoner and independent journalist Mario Enríque Mayo Hernández recently underwent surgery at the hospital wing of the “Combinado del Este” prison, where he was visited by his wife Maidelín Guerra Álvarez. Mayo has three brain nodules and suffers from glaucoma. (Cubanet, 24/2/05)

February 25: The first phase of Cuba's 44th polio vaccination campaign - this year aiming to inoculate 402,000 children against the disease – began. According to Dr. Miguel Angel Galindo, head of the National Immunization Program, all clinics in the country are prepared to provide the initial dose of the vaccine to children between the ages of one month and three years. (Radio Habana Cuba, 25/2/05)

February 25: The President of the Cuban Parliament Ricardo Alarcón, termed the Cuban election process "an exceptional privilege" given the current world situation. In an interview published in Cuba´s Granma newspaper, Alarcón stressed that the capacity and legal authority of the Cuban people to directly nominate and elect candidates rather than depending on machine politics is a unique opportunity, which should be used with great wisdom, making sure that the right person is elected in each constituency. (Radio Habana Cuba, 25/2/05)

February 25: Fidel Castro snubbed hundreds of cigar aficionados by skipping a gala dinner closing the annual Habanos festival, and British actor Jeremy Irons took his place as the star attraction. It was the third year in a row that Castro, 78 and recovering from a broken knee, has been a no-show at the dinner for worldwide cigar lovers and retailers of Habanos cigars, an incongruous meeting of the well-heeled and Communist Cuba. (Reuters, 25/2/05)

February 27: Someone scrawled "Christ yes, Castro no, down with Fidel" on a Havana church as wives of imprisoned dissidents attended Mass inside. "This is a provocation by state security to cause trouble for us and the church," said Gisela Delgado, wife of well known dissident Hector Palacios and a member of the Santa Rita Church in the upscale Miramar district. Once the graffiti was found, police quickly arrived at the church and covered the large green letters on the front of the building with cardboard, then waited for the graffiti to be cleaned off. About a dozen women in white held a quiet march outside the church as police looked on, one holding the cardboard over the sign. The wives said state security agents were always posted outside the church on Sundays and it would have been impossible to vandalize the building without their noticing. (Reuters, 27/2/05)

February 27: Raquel Rodríguez, the maternal grandmother of the young Cuban castaway Elián González, has died after an illness, state media said. The Communist Party daily Granma and other newspapers said Rodriguez died two days before, but did not specify her illness or give her age. Rodriguez was the mother of Elián's mother, Elisabeth Brotons, who perished along with 10 other adults in a November 1999 attempt to reach Florida by sea. Elian and two other people survived. National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón, who played a key role in Cuba's attempts to repatriate the boy, delivered the eulogy for Rodríguez when she was buried in the family's hometown of Cárdenas, a coastal city east of Havana. "Raquel is a hero of our people," Alarcón declared. "We are not burying her, we are planting a beautiful flower in the heart of the motherland." (AP, 27/2/05)