Chronicle on Cuba - May 2005

Exile Community

May 6: Attorney Rafael Diaz-Balart, a bitter enemy of Fidel Castro's regime and father of two Cuban-American congressmen, died of leukemia in the city of Miami. "His death is one more reason to continue to fight for Cuba's freedom, which was my father's ideal all his life, as it was of so many Cubans who died yearning for a democratic Cuba," said the man's son, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Republican who represents a Florida district in the US Congress. Youngest son Mario Diaz-Balart, also a Republican congressman, said his father was "a guide, leader, inspiration, a man who to the last kept teaching us to live, with his love, commitment to one's word and to honor." Rafael Diaz-Balart was a senator and undersecretary of the interior in Cuba prior to the 1959 revolution. One of his sisters, Mirta Diaz-Balart, was Castro's first wife and mother of his eldest child, Fidel Felix Castro, born in September 1949. Castro and Mirta divorced in 1955. (EFE, AP, 6/5/05)

May 10: More than 40 Cuban-American organizations are celebrating New Jersey's first Cuban Heritage Month in May with a series of events to raise funds and provide moral support for the Cuban dissidents, who are planning the May 20-21 Assembly to Promote a Civil Society in Cuba. In New Jersey, Silvio Acosta, spokesman for the group, said that whether the meeting occurs or not, it is already a success, especially because human rights activists from all over the world are keeping a close eye on Cuba. "If they put them all in jail, before the eyes of the world, they will be arresting people simply for trying to attend a public meeting," Acosta said. "And if they let them hold the meeting, they will be denounced for their atrocities. It's a win-win situation." (The Record, 11/5/05)

May 10: Cuban journalist and author Raúl Rivero, released from prison last November, opened the 2nd International Poetry Festival "Ciudad de Granada." In this edition, the festival honours Rivero, whose presence in the opening ceremony realizes the objective of the “Granada Declaration”-- a document written last year by writers, musicians, professors and journalists, seeking Rivero’s release. (Europa Press, 10/5/05)

May 12: The Social Security Administration has relaxed its policies to benefit elderly Cuban and Haitian immigrants, The Miami Herald reported. The change would mean hundreds and maybe thousands of elderly and disabled Cubans and Haitians will soon get monthly checks from the Supplemental Security Income program. Each immigrant could receive up to $579 a month and couples as much as $869. Some Cuban immigrants were being denied benefits because they had overstayed their visa before becoming legal residents. Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart, (Republican-Florida), and Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, (Republican-Florida), both asked for a review of the situation in March. (UPI, 12/5/05)

May 12: The Cuban American National Foundation won US permission to travel to Cuba for a dissident meeting on May 20, a foundation official said. Alfredo Mesa, the foundation's executive director, said he received official word from the US Treasury Department but he declined to detail what plans, if any, members have for travel to the island. "We will make the final determination on the eve of May 20th," Mesa said. (Sun Sentinel, 13/5/05)

May 12: The US government announced a contribution of $6 million USD to the efforts of the Support Group to Democracy (GAD), a Miami-based organization with a broad network providing humanitarian assistance to activists, political prisoners and their relatives on the island. The donation was channelled through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), whose Cuba Program has a budget of $15 million USD. (El Nuevo Herald, 13/5/05)

May 17: An influential exile group will help publicize a $1 million reward now on the head of a convicted black militant who escaped from prison and is living in Cuba. At an afternoon news conference, the Cuban American National Foundation will renew a call for the capture and return to the United States of Joanne Chesimard, now making her home in Havana. Chesimard, 57, a Black Liberation Army member, was given safe haven in Cuba after she escaped from a maximum-security prison in 1979. Chesimard, known as Assata Shakur, returned to the spotlight when the US government added her to its terrorism watch list and the bounty for her arrest was increased from $150,000 to $1 million. (The Miami Herald, 17/5/05)

May 17: Following the International Tourism Fair held in Havana, the Group for Corporate Social Responsibility in Cuba, comprised of organizations, independent trade unions and NGOs, has released a document denouncing the “unethical” treatment that foreign investors, shielded by current Cuban labour legislation, afford their Cuban employees. The Group, created in Madrid last April and made up of members of diverse organizations, seeks to raise awareness regarding the working conditions of Cuban workers. (Europa Press, 17/5/05)

May 18: Cuban journalist and author Raúl Rivero remembered his friends still imprisoned in Cuba when he was bestowed the “Award in Acknowledgment to Tolerance” by the Autonomous Community of Madrid. “For me, being tolerant means being willing to respectfully listen to views different than my own while being allowed to voice the latter with passion and conviction, so that a middle ground can be found that may lead to satisfactory solutions to any issues at hand,” said Rivero, adding that, in that vein, “Cuba needs a large dose of tolerance.” (AFP, 18/5/05)

May 18: In Miami's Little Havana, exile leaders said they anticipated few protests of Luis Posada Carriles’ arrest -- though many exiles view him as a patriot for the cause of Cuban freedom and hope he is granted asylum. ''We don't want to play into Castro's hands and have him start criticizing us,'' said Enrique Carrazana, 72, a Bay of Pigs veteran sitting at a barber shop. Indeed, Castro has daily branded Posada a terrorist and ridiculed President Bush as a hypocrite for waging a war on terrorism while harboring Posada. Ninoska Pérez Castellón, an influential radio personality and founding member of the hard-line Cuban Liberty Council, said the community was reassured by the Bush administration's statement that Posada would not be deported to Cuba or Venezuela. Some saw a partisan political factor in the exiles' restraint. Chin Martinez, a community activist and the father of Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez, said exiles, who favor the Republican Party, should be defending Posada more vocally. ''If a Democratic president was in power, there would be demonstrations,'' said Martinez, 80, who is a registered Democrat. "This is about partisanship.'' (The Miami Herald, 19/5/05)

May 23: At age 87, an architect and professor of art history, Manuel de la Torre, was still fighting to recover the art collection he left behind when he fled Cuba more than four decades ago as an anti-Castro protester after the communist revolution. Two months after his death, members of de la Torre's family picketed the Upper East Side headquarters of Sotheby's, repeating claims that the international auction house had attempted to sell one of their prized paintings that had been seized by pro-Castro militants. The picketing was sparked by the breakdown of settlement talks between the family and Sotheby's. Absent a settlement, the tangled and lengthy court battle over the ownership of "La Hamaca," a painting by a Cuban artist who was de la Torre's friend, Mariano Rodriguez, is likely to continue into the summer. (The New York Sun, 24/5/05)

May 24: Despite accusations that Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles has carried out deadly attacks in his four-decade battle against Fidel Castro's government, most Cuban exiles in South Florida think he is a patriot who deserves political asylum in the United States, according to a poll released. The poll of 300 Cuban-born people in Miami-Dade and Broward counties was conducted May 13-22 by Bendixen & Associates, which asked respondents about their views on Posada. More than 60 percent said they had a positive view of the aging exile and former CIA operative who has been accused of a number of violent acts, but they also said they preferred that a future transition to democracy in Cuba be peaceful rather than violent. The poll's margin of error was 6 percent. (Sun Sentinel, 24/5/05)

May 24: A Cuban exile organization asked for the US government's help in securing an indictment of Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro for the 1996 downing of two of the group's planes by fighter jets over the Straits of Florida. Jose Basulto, president of Brothers to the Rescue, pleaded for support from other Cuban-American groups to join him in his call for charges against Castro -- Fidel Castro's brother and his designated successor. "We also respectfully ask President George W. Bush to convert, into action, his recent words and his expressed desire for a democratic Cuba by removing the political obstacles to the indictment," Basulto said. Even if Raul Castro were indicted, it is unlikely that he would ever face US justice. Still, an indictment would make it more difficult for Raul Castro to succeed his brother, Basulto said. The Cuban government has always maintained that the Brothers to the Rescue planes were in Cuban airspace when they were shot down. A UN inquiry concluded they were outside Cuban territory. (AP, 24/5/05)

May 30: A new demonstration was held in Miami urging the Bush administration to deny political asylum to terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and instead extradite him to Venezuela where he is wanted on several criminal charges. The protest took place in front of a Florida Immigration Office in Miami and is the second in a month sponsored by members of the Jose Marti Association, says a report in Granma daily newspaper. (Radio Habana Cuba, 30/5/05)