Chronicle on Cuba - December 2005

US-Cuba Relations

December 2: Cuba seems to be preparing to participate in next year's inaugural World Baseball Classic -- the first international tournament to include Major League players -- Fidel Castro said on several occasions in Havana. "We will participate and demonstrate that we know what to do in baseball," Castro told Panamanian reporters visiting Havana. In the spare comments, published in La Prensa, a Panamanian newspaper, Castro added that the tournament should be "very interesting." But Major League Baseball officials, aware of those comments, said that paperwork involving MLB, Cuba, the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and the US State Department is incomplete and the committee overseeing the 16-team tournament is not yet prepared to make an official announcement. (MLB.Com, 2/12/05)

December 4: Nine of the 10 Cubans rescued in the Florida Straits on November 27 by the Celebrity Cruises ocean liner Zenith were returned to Cuba, the US Coast Guard reported. Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Gretchen Eddy would not disclose why the 10th migrant was not returned with the others, or when a decision would be made about the individual's fate. Also, 18 Cubans who apparently reached the US Virgin Island of St. Croix by boat were turned over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents by local police, and will be flown to Miami to be reunited with relatives, according to the press. (AP, 4/12/05)

December 5: With blaring horns and pounding African drums, Grammy-winning pianist Chucho Valdés and other Cuban performers wrapped up an international music festival with an Afro-Cuban tribute to Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, birthplace of American jazz. The tribute concert ended Cuba's annual international jazz festival, Jazz Plaza 2005, and featured a new Valdés composition called "Canto a Dios," which Valdés dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. (CNN, 5/12/05)

December 5: In a harangue about how a suspected anti-Cuba terrorist entered the United States, Fidel Castro singled out Governor Jeb Bush. Castro called the governor ''the fat little brother in Florida'' and wondered if Bush had helped Luis Posada Carriles into the country, according to a transcript released by the Cuban press of the November 17 address to University of Havana students. The Cuban leader didn't stop there. 'Forgive me for using the term `fat little brother' '' Castro said. ``It is not a criticism, rather a suggestion that he do some exercises and go on a diet, don't you think? I'm doing this for the gentleman's health.'' The governor's office wouldn't ''dignify this with a response,'' a spokesman said. Bush declined to discuss Castro's comments, saying questions about it were the product of a ``slow news day.'' [Fidel Castro’s speech] (The Miami Herald, 6/12/05)

December 6: Jeb Bush said that he was ''honored'' Fidel Castro had referred to him as President Bush's "fat little brother in Florida.'' Castro made the comment while wondering if the governor had helped a suspected anti-Cuba terrorist enter the United States in a November 17 speech at the University of Havana. Students responded with laughter. ''I'm flattered and honored,'' Bush said with a smile, but then turned serious. "I will take any criticism from Fidel Castro, of all people, as an honor given the fact that, you know, eight million people, I believe, live on the island, eight million people are repressed and they've been that way for 40 or 50 years. ''To be criticized by a man like that who has repressed people for such an extended period of time is a high honor,'' Bush added. "He can call me whatever he wants.'' (The Miami Herald, 7/12/05)

December 8: US Representative Robert Menéndez will become the second Cuban-American in the US Senate, with New Jersey governor-elect Jon Corzine expected to name the Democrat to fill his remaining term in office. The selection of the former mayor of Union City, New Jersey -- the second-largest Cuban stronghold in the United States -- carries major significance for Cuban-Americans in Miami. Menéndez is a frequent visitor to South Florida, raising money, campaigning for Democrats -- and proving a stalwart voice in efforts to oust Fidel Castro. (The Miami Herald, 8/12/05)

December 10: America's top diplomat in Havana saluted Cuban activists pushing for change on the communist-run island, highlighting what he called their bravery and perseverance in a Human Rights Day event. Michael Parmly, the chief of the US Interests Section, at the same time chided the Cuban government, accusing it of repressing its citizens' rights in order to cling to power. "Sadly, Cuba has been left behind in the global march toward democracy and greater respect for human rights," Parmly told a crowd of about 100 gathered at his residence. "The Cuban regime does not represent the people, nor does it have any interest in bettering their lives. Rather, the regime is obsessed with self-preservation." Government opponents at the gathering included pro-democracy activist Oswaldo Paya, former political prisoner Martha Beatriz Roque, and the "Ladies in White," a group of Cuban women who have been holding a weekly silent march for two years to protest the government's jailing of their activist husbands. Parmly praised them all for their leadership and vision. (AP, 11/12/05)

December 11: Maine Governor John Baldacci, the third US governor to travel to Cuba this year in search of trade, won a deal to sell $20 million in farm goods to the country's state-run food import agency. "We appreciate our trade with Cuba. It is good for our farmers and good for our state," Baldacci said, after signing a series of documents with Cuba's Alimport. The governor of Nebraska visited Cuba in November and the governor of Louisiana in March, each walking away with similar agreements and meeting with Fidel Castro. Baldacci, a Democrat, is in Cuba with a delegation of businessmen, farmers and state officials. (Reuters, 11/12/05)

December 11: The president of Cuba’s Olympic Committee, José Ramón Fernández, confirmed the island’s participation in an international tournament sponsored by the Major League Baseball. The Cuban official denied making any other comments to the press. (AFP, 11/12/05)

December 12: Baseball is in Congress's crosshairs again due to Communist Cuba's participation in an upcoming international tournament sponsored by Major League Baseball that is under fire from Capitol Hill. Cuban-American leaders in Congress are urging the league's commissioner, Allan "Bud" Selig, to rescind an invitation to the Castro government to field a team for the league's inaugural World Baseball Classic. The members of Congress want instead to allow free Cubans to represent the island nation. The Bush administration, too, is being pressed to deny the league's application for a license that would permit Cuba - a State Department-identified state sponsor of terrorism, subject to a Treasury embargo - to participate in the tournament. The first World Baseball Classic is an 18-day, four-round international tournament established and sponsored by Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association. According to the league, the tournament, to be held in March, will feature 16 teams from North America, Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Latin America, and will be played in Tokyo, San Juan, Florida, Arizona, and California. (The New York Sun, 12/12/05)

December 13: In the three months that Michael Parmly has been the top US diplomat in Cuba, he has talked to many "awfully smart people" he thinks have the pulse of the island: the leading dissidents and opposition figures. Based on those conversations, Parmly is convinced that Cubans yearn for a transition from the island's communist system to a new democratic government. "I don't know when a change is happening," said Parmly, the chief of the US Interests Section. "I just know that a change is happening." Parmly, a career diplomat who replaced Interests Section chief James Cason in September, said the United States would offer help to a new government only if Cubans on the island asked. He also said that if Cubans here were to transform their communist country into a democracy, Cubans from South Florida and other nations would help in a transition. "Every country that's changed starts with the diaspora," Parmly said in an interview with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "So long as it's the Cuban people who have the lead -- those with an intimate stake in what the future will look like -- they're going to reach out to Miami. They're going to reach out to Florida." (Sun Sentinel, 13/12/05)

December 13: A prominent Cuban-American linked to a militant accused of blowing up a Cuban airliner in 1976 pleaded not guilty to weapons charges in federal court in Miami. Santiago Alvarez, a close ally and benefactor of Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles, could face 20 years or more in prison if convicted of possessing automatic rifles, a grenade launcher and other weapons. "His spirits are very high and he is confident that justice will prevail," said Vivian Alvarez, the defendant's wife. The outcome of the case also may have a strong bearing on the future of Posada, who is being held in federal detention in El Paso, Texas. (Chicago Tribune, 14/12/05)

December 13: A trade mission resulting in a commitment from Cuba to purchase $20 million of products from Maine companies underscores the growing importance of foreign trade for the state's economy, Governor John Baldacci said. Baldacci signed a trade agreement with Cuban officials calling for the purchase of items such as potatoes, dairy cows and apples. The trip led to more sales commitments than three previous trade missions to France, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and Germany and Italy combined. (AP, 13/12/05)

December 14: Washington's new top diplomat in Havana sees mounting frustration and anger in Cuba and is preparing for rapid change on the communist-run island, but he cannot predict when -- or how -- that will happen. US Interests Section chief Michael Parmly believes Cubans have had their fill of Fidel Castro's rule and will not wait for his demise to see change. From his experience as a US diplomat in Romania, where communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu was ousted in street protests, Parmly envisions revolt possibly spreading like wildfire in the streets and a dictator's authority crumbling when he is shouted at in the main square. "You cannot predict these things, but you do try to prepare for them when you are pretty sure they are coming and I am pretty sure it is coming," Parmly said in an interview. "I wouldn't try to mark a date on the calendar, but I see an awful lot of signs of frustration, even anger. When the rubber band snaps it is up to the Cuban people," he said. (Reuters, 15/12/05)

December 18: At least 100 members of Congress have weighed in on the controversial US decision to deny Cuba a license to play in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Most of them want Cuba to play ball. Eighty members of Congress signed letters to Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary John Snow urging them "not to take international politics to the ball field.'' Major League Baseball and the Players Association organized an international baseball tournament to be played by 16 teams this March. But Treasury denied Cuba a necessary license because making money in a baseball tournament would violate the US embargo against Cuba. ''Let's just enjoy the game and put sportsmanship over politics,'' wrote the members in favor of a Cuba team. (The Miami Herald, 18/12/05)

December 19: In a letter to US energy company executives, Fidel Rivero Prieto, President of Cuba Petroleo, told his counterparts from the US energy sector that Cuba "would be very pleased to do business together", and invited them to meet with him and his Cuban colleagues at the US-Cuba Energy Summit scheduled for February 2-4, 2006, in Mexico City. Citing the need for "investments by additional foreign companies," Rivero wrote that the meeting in Mexico "will permit us to provide the information that is most useful to your company (…) and we will have the opportunity to learn about your products and services. In this way," Rivero wrote, "both of us will be prepared to discuss real business opportunities as soon as that is possible." This historic US-Cuba Energy Summit is being organized by Alamar Associates, which has organized five previous Cancun Business Summits that have brought more than 500 US executives together with their Cuban counterparts. [The Energy Summit] (PRNewswire, 19/12/05)

December 19: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice chaired the second session of a panel to "hasten and ease a democratic transition" in Cuba and spoke of change partly by denying the Castro government money and supplying the Cuban people with information. In a move that puts Cuba back in the sights of the Bush administration, Rice said that she is reconvening the cabinet-level commission that last revised the overall US policy on the island. The reconvened commission will present President Bush with a new report by May 2006, ''with both updated recommendations to hasten democracy and an inter-agency strategic plan to assist a Cuban-led transition,'' Rice said. ''The work we do now will ensure that our government is fully prepared, if asked, to assist a genuine Cuban transition government committed to democracy and which will lead to Cuba's reintegration into the inter-American system,'' she added in a statement. The Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba issued its recommendations in May 2004 after deliberating for 18 months. Its list of ways that Washington could assist a transition toward democracy was controversial because it tightened several sanctions, including a cut in the number of trips that Cuban Americans could make to visit their relatives. [US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba] (The Miami Herald, AP, 20/12/05)

December 20: The chairman of the US Olympic Committee, Peter Ueberroth, requested from US president George Bush to revert the decision of banning the Cuban baseball team from participating in the Baseball World Classic in 2006. Ueberroth, who was the president of the organizing committee of Los Angeles Olympic Games, said that the Treasury Department decision will damage US aspirations to host the Olympic Games in the future. (AP, 20/12/05)

December 20: Cuba launched a blistering verbal attack on the top US diplomat in Havana and on dissidents it accused him of organizing to overthrow the government. Washington's top diplomat in Havana met with dissidents and charged that some communist supporters acted like Nazi ''brown shirts'' or Ku Klux Klan members. Former communist youth leader Randy Alonso, moderator of state television's nightly ''Round Table'' program, said the December 10 gathering at the residence of new US Interests Section chief Michael Parmly was ''a new provocation against our people.'' ''To compare Cuba to the worst fascism, and the worst racism of the United States (…) it is very hurtful,'' Alonso said. Cuba regularly uses the government program to express views on everything from world events to people it doesn't like. ''Up to December 10, Parmly wore the suit of a diplomat, but a change came during that speech,'' pro-government journalist Arleen Rodriguez said on the program. Parmly, attending a Christmas party with his adult children in Havana, declined to respond to the attack. (The New York Times, Reuters, 21/12/05)

December 20: The US government continues to ignore reiterated requests by the International Telecommunications Union to stop interfering with Cuban Television broadcasts, Cuban experts said. Experts from the Cuban Information Technology and Telecommunication Ministry told the press that the 2004 and 2005 congresses on Information Technology warned that US military aircraft beaming the so-called TV Marti, blocks Cuban TV signals. In view of the violation, specialists maintain that the island has the right to jam subversive broadcasts that go against State security, since they call for violence and openly promote the practice of terrorism. (Prensa Latina, Radio Habana Cuba, 20/12/05)

December 21: A group of Cuban major leaguers will meet with Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart to discuss forming a team to play in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in March. Diaz-Balart, Florida Republican and a native of Cuba, declined to identify the players but said they have enough for every position, plus a manager. "Cuban players have rights, too," Diaz-Balart said. "They are organizing and want to play together as a team." The issue of Cuban players in the tournament -- a World Cup-style competition that is being heavily promoted by Major League Baseball and the players union as a historic event -- has become a point of contention. A group of congressmen from South Florida, including Diaz-Balart, successfully lobbied the Bush administration to deny Cuba a permit that would have allowed its national team to play in the United States during the tournament, which will be held March 3-20 in the United States, Puerto Rico and Japan. (The Washington Times, 21/12/05)

December 21: Cuba’s TV show “The Round Table” was particularly virulent against the US representative in Havana and the local dissident movement. It followed a broadcast on December 20 that accused US mission chief Michael Parmly of using the dissidents to carry out the Bush administration's declared goal of ousting Fidel Castro from power. “He's like a pig that puts on clothes but is still a pig. And in this case, the pig is the American policy against Cuba, a policy that attempts to strangle us one way or another”, Cuban official journalist Arleen Rodríguez said. (The New York Times, CNN, 22/12/05)

December 22: Cuba said it would donate its revenues from a world baseball tournament to Hurricane Katrina victims if the Bush administration reverses a controversial decision to bar Cuba's participation. "The Cuban baseball federation, in an effort to find options, would be ready for the money corresponding to its participation in the classic to go to the victims of Hurricane Katrina left homeless in New Orleans,'' the federation said in a letter to US Major League Baseball. Cuba labeled the Bush administration's position as "shameful'' and "absurd'' and "having nothing to do with sports.'' (The New York Times, 23/12/05)

December 22: Fidel Castro has called the head of the US diplomatic mission in Havana, Michael Parmly a "little gangster" for slamming the regime's human rights record. Parmly, head of the US interests section in Havana, criticized the Castro regime at a speech marking International Human Rights Day earlier this month. Castro said during a rambling speech to the rubber-stamp National Assembly that he did not know who was worse -- "that little gangster," referring to Parmly or "the previous gangster" -- meaning Parmly's hard-charging predecessor, James Cason, who Castro earlier had described as a "bully." (The Sun Sentinel, 23/12/05)

December 23: Fidel Castro said that any US invasion to his country would fail and called US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "mad" after Washington announced plans for a "democratic transition" in the Caribbean island. Castro said before the National Assembly: "I am going to tell you what I think about this famous commission, for the democratic transition in Cuba: they are a group of shit-eaters who do not deserve the world's respect". "In this context, it does not matter if it was the mad woman who talks of transition - it is a circus, they are completely depraved, they should be pitied," added the 79-year-old Cuban leader. While US imperialism was in its decline, Castro said, his revolution is "uncontainable and unstoppable”. "We are in transition: to socialism, to communism," Castro insisted. (EFE, Pravda, 23/12/05)

December 25: In an interview published in The Miami Herald, the chief of the US Interest Section in Havana, Michel Parmly, answered why he never mentions the name of Fidel Castro: “I never met the man. When I see the senior leadership performing on TV, I scratch my head, because it's surreal (…) The logic is very hard to follow. The logic is from another place. The logic is very harsh and cruel (…) My interest is the future, and the Cuban people.” A career diplomat, Parmly has served in a number of countries emerging from conflicts, such as Afghanistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina. “We need to play for today while being concerned for tomorrow. That's what I think about every morning when I wake up: What can I do for people today? We stand ready to help them”, Parmly said. (The Miami Herald, 25/12/05)

December 28: The criminal trial against Santiago Alvarez Fernandez-Magrinat and Osvaldo Mitat has been set for May 8, 2006 to take place at the Fort Lauderdale Federal Court. Lawyers for the defense continue to try to get the case moved to Miami. The office of judge James I. Cohn officially announced the date when six charges of illegal arms possession will be heard against the accused. During a December 13 court hearing, both defendants entered a plea of innocent. Fernandez-Magrinat was a main supporter of Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban born anti Castro militant now under arrest in a US migration detention centre. (Granma, El Nuevo Herald, 26/12/05)

December 28: Venezuela offered to host part of next year's World Baseball Classic in place of Puerto Rico and suggested moving the final to Canada, proposals aimed at keeping Cuba in the 16-team tournament. Such an arrangement would open the way for communist-led Cuba to participate in the first World Cup-style baseball tournament. Cuba is banned from playing on US soil, and Puerto Rico is a US commonwealth. ''We hope that the United States' government changes its position,'' Edwin Zerpa, president of the government-run Venezuelan Baseball Federation, said. ''But if not, we are proposing that group C play in Caracas. We don't approve of Cuba's exclusion.'' Only teams in group C -- Olympic champion Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Netherlands and Panama -- would be invited to play in Venezuela, with the final in Canada, Zerpa told the press. (AP, 28/12/05)

December 28: The US Coast Guard returned 159 illegal Haitian and Cuban migrants to their homelands, officials said. The 51 Cuban migrants were returned to Bahía de Cabañas, Cuba, said Coast Guard Lt. Petty Officer James Judge in Miami. Coast Guard crews intercepted three separate Cuban vessels between December 15 and 26. The number of captured migrants spiked to 2,834 in 2005 from 1,499 the previous year. It is the highest number since a mass exodus from Cuba in 1994 when 37,191 migrants were intercepted, said Judge. (AP, 28/12/05)

December 30: Eighty-seven Cuban migrants reached Florida's coast, including a group of 28 who waded ashore in a Miami Beach waterfront park. Federal officials said most of the migrants appeared to have been brought to the United States by smugglers who carry Cubans in fast boats across the 100 miles of open water that separates the communist-ruled island from Florida. Fifty-six Cubans landed in the Florida Keys and three came ashore in Key Biscayne, a wealthy island town near Miami. The 12 men, seven women and nine children who landed at Miami Beach told police they left Cuba on December 28 in a makeshift boat, which began to sink somewhere between Cuba and Florida. They said they were picked up by a yacht and dropped off in waist-deep water just off South Pointe Park in Miami Beach. But Steve McDonald, an assistant chief with the US Border Patrol, said the Miami Beach incident and some of the other landings bore the hallmarks of smuggling operations. The U.S. Coast Guard has picked up 2,866 Cubans at sea in 2005, nearly twice as many as last year and the highest number since 1994, when more than 37,000 were intercepted in a major exodus from the island. Only Dominicans have taken to sea in greater numbers in the Caribbean region. Fewer Haitians have attempted the journey this year. (Reuters, 30/12/05)

December 30: Fidel Castro and Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales said cooperation between their countries will bloom despite US worries about more nations allying with communist Cuba. During Morales’ visit to the island, the two men announced a 30-month plan to erase illiteracy in the South American nation as Cuba moves to increase hemispheric cooperation without US influence. Castro anticipated that Washington would not welcome him gaining another close ally in South America, where he already boasts a strong friendship with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. "Could it be that the government of the United States feels hurt that Cuba cooperates with a brother nation?" Castro asked. "Does that offend the US government (…) is it anti-democratic, is it a crime?" (CNN, 1/1/06)