Chronicle on Cuba - October 2005

Domestic Affairs

October 3: The Cuban Council of State removed Humberto Rodríguez González as president of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER). Rodríguez, a member of the Central Committee of the PCC and deputy to the National Assembly, would be replaced by Julio Christian Jiménez Molina, former first vice-president of that institution. No details on the decision were provided. (AFP, 3/10/05)

October 3: Garlic tincture, copal wood resin syrup and a compound known as Imefasma are the three most highly sought after "phytopharmaceuticals" or plant-based medicines produced by the state-run pharmaceutical industry in Guantánamo, located some 1,000 km southeast of Havana. Although natural and traditional medicine has been incorporated into the mainstream public health care system throughout Cuba as a whole, the use of herbal remedies is particularly widespread in Guantánamo. At the same time, however, some doctors warned of the potential risks posed by this practice, given the fact that some of the plants used can have toxic effects in overly large doses. The province's herbal medicine industry encompasses three laboratories and 26 dispensaries spread throughout ten municipalities, seven of them in mountainous regions. (IPS, 3/10/05)

October 3: Elsa González, wife of political prisoner Víctor Rolando Arroyo, on hunger strike since mid September due to poor conditions and harassment by Cuban authorities in jail, said that she conveyed to Arroyo statements regarding Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega’s comments about Arroyo’s hunger strike. “The first thing I did when I began the hunger strike on September 10th was to entrust myself to Jesus. Let everyone know that this was the only thing I could do. I am not playing with my life, I am defending my life and the life of everyone that is going through the same tortures as me, Arroyo said. Cardinal Ortega had asked the prisoners on hunger strike to put an end to that kind of protest. Authorities have shown no will to stop this situation where Arroyo’s physical integrity is at risk. (Puente Informativo, 3/10/05)

October 3: Two Cuban political prisoners on a hunger strike were transferred from jail in the island's southeast to separate prisons in other provinces as their health worsened, an opposition activist said. Victor Rolando Arroyo and Felix Navarro were both sentenced in the Spring 2003 crackdown that saw 75 dissidents, mostly rights activists and independent journalists, given jail terms averaging 20 years in summary proceedings. Arroyo began a hunger strike to protest the conditions of his confinement. Navarro followed suit three days later. Both had been admitted to the infirmary at the prison where they were being held in Guantanamo province, but were transferred to two different institutions in other parts of the island, human right campaigner Elizardo Sanchez told the press. He said Arroyo was sent to a prison in Holguin while Navarro was taken to a penitentiary in Bayamo. Sanchez said both men are in poor health, had lost considerable weight and display "disturbing symptoms." Jose Daniel Ferrer, another member of the "Group of 75," abandoned a hunger strike after refusing food for 18 days. (EFE, 3/10/05)

October 3: Elizardo Sánchez, president of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, told the press about a "visible increase in political repression throughout the country" in recent months, with police calling dissidents in for questioning and paying visits to others to convey "threatening messages." According to Sanchez and other rights watchdogs both inside and outside Cuba, the Fidel Castro regime is holding around 300 political prisoners. (EFE, 3/10/05)

October 3: A study on Intra-family Child Abuse, conducted in a "health area" (área de salud) of Santiago de Cuba addresses the high levels of violence against children in Cuba. According to the investigation, carried out six years ago by a group of scientists from the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences, half of the children polled between 8 and 10 years of age reported fights and beatings from their parents in inebriation. Of all children interviewed, 56.3 per cent had been physically abused and 55.7 per cent emotionally abused, being the mother the person who ill-treats more, followed by the father, the stepfather, the uncles, the brothers and the grandparents. Beating is the most common educational method employed in the “Health Area 30 de Noviembre”, where the investigation was carried out. Only 13 per cent of the children polled said their parents use persuasion as an educational tool. (El Nuevo Herald, 3/10/05)

October 3: Darsi Ferrer, a Cuban dissident doctor, sent a letter to Cardinal Jaime Ortega, president of the Bishops’ Council of Cuba, asking the bishops to intercede with the Cuban authorities in favour of political prisoners Víctor Rolando Arroyo and Félix Navarro, on a hunger strike in the Guantánamo prison. “The Church condemns suicide; these innocent brothers in prison are not committing suicide, they are being murdered, since only desperation led them to go on a hunger strike” due to the subhuman conditions in prison, says the letter. “(...) Why does the Church keep quiet and does not to stand up publicly for these brothers in danger of physical and spiritual death?” (Cubanet, 4/10/05)

October 4: Cuban political prisoner Víctor Rolando Arroyo ended the hunger strike he began on September 10. According to Oswaldo Payá, leader of the illegal Christian Liberation Movement, Victor is being fed little bits of yogurt, and the doctor has treated his relatives in a nice way. Also, according to information provided by Payá during the radio program "La Noche Se Mueve", a Cuban official apparently spoke to Arroyo and told him that conditions in prison will change, and that an investigation is underway regarding what transpired at the Combinado de Guantánamo. (Puente Informativo, 5/10/05)

October 5: Political prisoner and president of the Pedro Luis Boitel Party for Democracy, Félix Navarro Rodríguez, ended the hunger strike he began on September 15, in solidarity with political prisoner Victor Rolando Arroyo. Navarro was transferred from Guantanamo to Bayamo. (Lux Info Press, 6/10/05)

October 8: Meetings and cultural activities were held in Cuba to commemorate the 38th anniversary of the death of Argentine-born Cuban revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara, who was executed in Bolivia on October 9, 1967. Thousands of people attended a grand meeting in the central island city of Santa Clara where Che's remains are buried. (VNA, 8/10/05)

October 10: Dozens of pro-government sympathizers prevented the leader of a center-left Cuban dissident group from attending a meeting in Havana, resorting at one point to shoving him as he tried to join his colleagues in their home. The pro-regime mob gathered in front of the home of Progressive Arc members Marta Cortizas and Eugenio Leal in Havana's Nuevo Vedado neighborhood and shouted revolutionary slogans and insults at the dissidents. The tension grew when the leader of the opposition group, Manuel Cuesta Morua, appeared on the scene accompanied by another colleague. The angry crowd surrounded Cuesta Morua, pushed and insulted him and prevented him from going into the house, eventually forcing him to leave the area. Holding his hands high and refusing to respond to the insults or the pushing, Cuesta Morua was swept along for several blocks surrounded by dozens of people who removed him from the area while they shouted "Fidel, Fidel" and "gusano" (worm), the latter a typical epithet for opponents of Fidel Castro's 46-year-old communist regime. The Progressive Arc leader said that the scheduled meeting was one of the regular get-togethers held each Monday by members of the organization. (AP, The New York times, EFE, 10/10/05)

October 11: Former political prisoner Roberto de Miranda Hernández said that a political demonstration organized by agents of Cuba’s State Security against his wife was frustrated. De Miranda Hernandez, a leader of the School of Independent Educators of Cuba (SIEC) revealed that one of his neighbors alerted him that an agent of the State Security was visiting several houses on the block where De Miranda lives asking about his wife, Soledad Rivas Verdecia. The agent was pointing out to De Miranda’s neighbors Rivas Verdecia attendance to the Catholic church of Santa Rita, where the Ladies in White pray for the liberation of their relatives every Sunday. The neighbor said that the political police has not been able to organize the demonstration against the dissidents due to lack of support from the residents in the area. (Lux Info Press, 11/10/05)

October 11: In an eight-point document titled “Juntarse, palabra de orden”, three dissident groups called for unity among internal oppositionists and exiles to achieve the democratization of the country. The document is signed by the Assembly to Promote Civil Society (APSC), the “All United” platform, and the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights on behalf of opponent Oscar Elías Biscet, serving 25 years in prison, a sentence imposed in April 2003. (AFP, 11/10/05)

October 11: Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, Monsignor Alfredo Víctor Petit Vergel, lamented the impossibility of building new churches in the country. He also referred to the role of the “Houses of Prayer” where the faithful meet under the guidance of committed laymen, nuns or deacons. During the XII Congregation of the Synod of bishops held in Cuba, the bishop mentioned that “in light of the difficulty and virtual impossibility of building new temples”, the Catholics in the country have been forced “to create the so-called ‘houses of prayer’”. (EFE, 11/10/05)

October 13: The aging and decline of the Cuban population due to increased life expectancy, low infant mortality, low fecundity and migration will force the authorities to take measures to avert a crisis, admitted researchers and officials on the island. Sponsored by the National Statistics Department (ONE), the report points out that of 11,241,291 inhabitants–end of 2004 figures–15.4 per cent are aged over 60. “By 2025, or even earlier, the Cuban population will start decreasing”, forecasts the report. Migration, especially towards the United States, is an element in the decreasing of the population, added the document, highlighting exoduses like “Mariel” (1980), the “Balseros” (Raft People, 1994), the approximately 20,000 annual visas Washington grants to Cubans, as well as illegal migration. (AP, 13/10/05)

October 14: Mobs organized by Cuban authorities attacked a group of peaceful dissidents in Villa Clara. As a consequence, Juleski García López and Bárbara Jiménez were taken to a police station. A few moments later, a group of dissidents went to the police station to inquire about García and Jiménez, but a few dozen Castro followers surrounded them and brutally beat them. Jesús Alberto Gutiérrez, a member the Democracy Movement, suffered detachment of his left kidney due to the kicks he received. Joel Fonseca a member of the Christian Democratic Movement, was hospitalized with a broken ankle, a broken wrist, and other contusions. (Puente Informativo, 16/10/05)

October 17: Fidel Castro, 79, is in excellent health, the head of Cuba's legislature said, denying that illness explained his absence from an Ibero American summit. "He enjoys excellent health, which is enviable," said Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly, after a reporter asked about Castro's decision not to attend the summit of leaders from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries with leaders of Spain and Portugal in Salamanca, Spain. (AFP, 17/10/05)

October 16: Herminia Ramírez Jiménez, a resident of Guantánamo, reported to the independent press about harassment outside her house from groups organized by Cuban authorities against dissidents. Herminia was with her 13-year-old daughter while the group yelled insults at them and hit on the windows and door. Both Herminia and her husband are linked to the illegal Assembly to Promote the Civil Society. (Netfor Cuba, 17/10/05)

October 16: For the first time in Camagüey, a group of Ladies in White went on a silent walk demanding their imprisoned relatives be released, under the attentive watch of state security officials and astounded passers-by. The Ladies in White started their walk after attending mass at Santa Ana Church. (El Nuevo Herald, 19/10/05)

October 18: Cuban dissident Ernesto Martinez Fonseca and his family were evicted from their house in Havana by police and government officials, who said that they were living there illegally. "It's very arbitrary of the government, which is solely responsible for this," said Martinez Fonseca, a member of the Liberation Christian Movement, or MCL, since 1989, adding that the act was a "reprisal for my militancy in the (MCL) and my defense of the rights of all Cubans for the past 17 years." He, his wife Judith Arbesu and two daughters aged 8 and 10 were evicted from the small house in the residential neighborhood where they had lived since 2000. The couple said that the eviction came "without any advance warning" and that about 100 police and other officials were on hand to carry out the deed. Martinez is the personal secretary of Oswaldo Paya, Cuba's best-known pro-democracy advocate and winner of the European Union's top human rights award -- the Sakharov Prize-- in 2002. (EFE, Reuters, 18/10/05)

October 18: Dissident Vladimiro Roca of the All United Movement (Todos Unidos), said that Cuban authorities arrested opposition figure Niurka Brito Rivas thus preventing her from holding a scheduled press conference. Brito Rivas had called the press conference where she planned to reveal new elements in an alleged case of administrative corruption at a Havana milk company. Roca said that the arrest came a few hours before Brito Rivas was to meet with the press. Brito, a former director of the Havana province milk company, accused other executives at an August 9 news conference of skimming off funds with the illegal sale of 34 tons of powdered milk. Since then, police have harassed Brito by investigating her relatives and friends in their homes and workplaces, she said in a statement issued by Roca. (EFE, Reuters, 18/10/05)

October 17: Juan Carlos González Leiva, president of the illegal Cuban Foundation for Human Rights, denounced to the independent press the beatings received by political prisoner Virgilio Mantilla in the Kilo 9 prison, Camaguey. Mantilla was tied to a gate while several prison guards beat him with clubs. As a result of the blows, he was taken to Camagüey’s Provincial Hospital. (InfoNet, 17/10/05) 

October 17: A bishop in eastern Cuba issued a complaint to the island's communist government about a recent assault on a deacon who is also a political dissident. The deacon, Andres Rodriguez Tejeda, confirmed that two men hit him in the face and chest and shouted out insults last week as he left his house on his way to church with his wife and 14-year-old son. Hector Luis Pena Gomez, a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in the province of Holguin, denounced the attack as well as other recent protests against Rodriguez by government supporters in a statement calling on authorities to prevent and punish such acts, which are on the rise across the island. Rodriguez said the bishop delivered an official complaint to the Communist Party's office of religious affairs. The dissident is a member of the Christian Liberation Movement and worked as a coordinator with the Varela Project, a democracy drive led by internationally known activist Oswaldo Paya. (AP, 18/10/05)

October 19: The health of political prisoner Omar Pernet Hernández who has been on a hunger strike since October 10 in Santa Clara's Old Hospital took a turn for the worse. According to some relatives, the prisoner is suffering from diarrhea and refuses intravenous feeding. On October 10 of 2004, Pernet Hernández was involved in an automobile accident, while he was being transferred from the prison Las Mangas, in the eastern province of Bayamo, to another prison in Las Villas province, in the center of the island. In the accident, the prisoner suffered fractures to his clavicle and his right leg. Pernet Hernández, 60, is serving a 25-year sentence since April 2003. (Puente Informativo, 19/10/05)

October 20: Delegations from seven countries are participating in the First International Health Congress underway in the Eastern Cuban province of Holguín. At the conference there will be discussions and exchanges of experience between professionals interested in improving healthcare for the current and future generations. The event, taking place in educational centers across the province, is sponsored by the Center for Comprehensive Care for People with HIV/AIDS and the Foundation for the Prevention and Fight against AIDS. (Ahora, 20/10/05)

October 23: Fidel Castro appeared on a television program to calm Cubans anticipating increased winds and flooding as hurricane Wilma passed overhead en route to southwestern Florida. Castro praised the island's efficiency in hurricane preparation, saying that despite scarce resources, Cuba has become internationally recognized as ''a model country that protects the lives of its citizens.'' He also offered Cuban doctors to Mexico to help the neighboring nation recover from the natural disaster. (The New York Times, 24/10/05)

October 25: Over 170 delegates from 32 countries are attending the International Jose Marti Conference "With and for the Good of All" at Havana´s Conference Center. The aim of the meeting is to tackle Cuba´s National Hero´s legacy and thoughts on global problems, analyze humanity’s current challenges and discover possible actions for a possible better world, among other issues. Armando Hart, director of Marti Program Office, opened the forum, while Francisco Piñon, general secretary of the Organization of Ibero-American States (OIS), analyzed the struggle against poverty as a result of neoliberalism and the US blockade of Cuba. (Prensa Latina, 25/10/05)

October 27: Lamasiel Gutiérrez Romero, a journalist who had been under house arrest since August, has been transferred to prison because she continued her journalistic activities in defiance of a court order. The report, which has been confirmed by the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN), said Gutiérrez was incarcerated in the Mantonegro women’s penitentiary in Havana province on 11 October. She is the Nueva Prensa Cubana correspondent on the Isle of Youth, where she lives. Gutiérrez, who was sentenced on 9 August to seven months of house arrest for “resisting the authorities and civil disobedience,” joins the 23 other journalists currently imprisoned in Cuba. (RWB Press Release, 27/10/05)

October 28: Fidel Castro participated in the graduation of 3,092 arts instructors of the second national graduation in this specialization in Cuba. Like the first graduation group, the members of this one are to become part of the José Martí Brigade of Arts Instructors, a vanguard detachment in the mass promotion of a general and comprehensive culture. That provides at least one instructor in the 4,898 kindergarten, elementary, junior high, special and senior high schools in the country. [Fidel Castro’s speech] (Granma International, 27/10/05)

October 28: Celebrations for the 13th anniversary of Ibero-American Culture honored the mutual discovery of cultures from the Old Continent and New World. The presentation of the book, "Identity, Emancipation and Cuban Nation", by Rigoberto Pupo, was a very important moment in the 13th Ibero-American Culture celebrations. (Prensa Latina, 28/10/05)