Chronicle on Cuba - October 2005
Highlights
Domestic Affairs: Cuban authorities increase repression and harassment against the dissident movement. Cuba’s National Statistics Organization (ONE), reveals that migration is a factor in the decline of the Cuban population.
Economy: Hundreds of young people take control of Havana's gas stations to eliminate pilfering at the pump. Massive waves churned by Hurricane Wilma provoke flooding in Havana. Venezuela becomes Cuba's top trading partner.
Exile Community: Cuban dissidents asked a Spanish court to indict Fidel Castro on charges of genocide and other offenses.
Foreign Affairs: Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister visits Canada. Cuba sends medical aid contingents to Guatemala and Pakistan. Ibero-American leaders demand to end the US economic “blockade” against Cuba. Eleven members of a Cuban choir defect in Toronto. The European Parliament grants the Sakharov award to the Ladies in White.
US-Cuba Relations: The number of Cubans trying to make the voyage across the Florida Straits to the United States reaches a 10-year high. US Coordinator for Transition in Cuba defends in Madrid the importance of a “real transition” in Cuba. Fidel Castro denies that his government has accepted US aid in the wake of Hurricane Wilma.
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