Chronicle on Cuba - April 2006

Foreign Affairs

April 1: Colombian president, Álvaro Uribe, and Fidel Castro exchanged official visit invitations for dates yet to be confirmed, said Colombian foreign minister Carolina Barco in Havana. “We are talking about a bilateral visit”, said Barco adding that Castro has also invited Uribe to attend the XIV Summit of Non-Aligned Countries that would take place in Havana in September. (IPS, 2/4/06)

April 1: Paraguayan Public Health minister, Teresa León, confirmed that the Cuban Government will build and equip an ophthalmology centre in the department of San Pedro, in Paraguay. On the other hand, the agreement under which for five years Cuban medical brigades had been working in Paraguay will not be renewed to give job opportunities to Paraguayan doctors who are graduating on the island, said León. She also added that the returning young graduates from seven Cuban faculties will need jobs, thus it was decided not to renew the agreement on the Cuban medical brigades. (La Nación, 1/4/06)

April 3: Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi received and held talks with a special envoy of Fidel Castro at his office. Prime Minister Meles was invited by Castro to attend the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement member states due to be held in September in the Cuban capital. Briefing journalists after the talks with the prime minister, Castro's special envoy, Cuban deputy foreign minister, Ambassador Marcos Rodriguez Costa, said the prime minister has accepted the invitation extended to him by Castro. (BBC, 3/4/06)

April 4: The Venezuelan Acción Democrática party issued an alert on the announcement by Jesse Chacón, minister of the Interior and Justice, of the intention to hand over to the Cubans the identification, land registration and notary systems. This would put state security affairs in the hands of foreigners, no different than passing them over to the US, added the party. Henry Ramos Allup, secretary general of AD, noted that considering that the principle of private property does not exist on the island, registration expertise, in particular with regards to real estate, the Cuban “specialists” must be “in Prehistoric times”. (El Universal, 4/4/06)

April 4: The building work on an ophthalmological clinic, fruit of Cuba's international collaboration, has started in the province of Djelfa, Algeria. The ground breaking ceremony of this project was attended by local authorities and the Cuban ambassador to that African country, Roberto Blanco Dominguez. (CAN, 4/4/06) 

April 4: “I feel grateful when I come to Cuba and see the generosity of its people who every day demonstrate how globalization could have a radically different face from the one of deterioration of the humankind and the planet”, said Canadian scientist David Suzuki in Havana. The world-renowned environmentalist gave a lecture on "Science, Human Foresight and the Survival of the Earth" at the Latin American School of Medicine. Present at the main auditorium of the Latin American School of Medicine for Dr. Suzuki’s lecture was Her Excellency Alexandra Bugailiskis, Canadian Ambassador to Cuba; Jorge Francisco Soberon, deputy director for North America of the Cuban Foreign Affairs Ministry; and Dr. Juan Carrizo Estevez M.D., the dean of the academic institution, as well as other distinguished guests. (Granma, 6/4/06)

April 5: Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Suyed Hamid Albar said Cuba-Malaysia relations are excellent and expressed his certainty that Cuba will be successful at the chairmanship of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM). Malaysia, the current chair of the Movement has conducted a constructive and sound effort at the helm of NAM. In this regard, Hamid Albar noted that his country will help muster support for the Caribbean island, when it becomes NAM’s new president in its upcoming summit in Havana this September. In a meeting with his Cuban counterpart, Felipe Perez Roque, both officials delved into preparations for the event in September and the ministerial meeting, which will take place in Malaysia in May. (Reuters, Granma, 5,6/4/06)

April 5: The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs reprimanded Cuban ambassador to Spain, Alberto Velazco San José, for his criticism against the president of the Madrid regional Community, Esperanza Aguirre, after she met with Cuban opponents in Miami. The director-general for Ibero-American Affairs, Javier Sandomingo, phoned the Cuban ambassador in the afternoon to indicate to him that his words against a representative of the Spanish public service “is not the kind of job a head of mission should do”. The Cuban ambassador had said he could picture Aguirre “next to those who for decades have had plans of assassinating Cuban leaders and organizing terrorist acts in our country”. (Europa Press, 6/4/06)

April 5: Nearly 100,000 inhabitants of Michoacan state in Mexico have been taught to read and write with the Cuban method "Yo Si Puedo" (Yes, I Can). Michoacan governor Lazaro Cardenas declared free of illiteracy the indigenous community of Pichataro. He denied that the so-called Alfa-TV program, advised there by 41 Cuban experts, has any political slant. "The aim is to seek another type of globalization: that of knowledge, culture, health, equity and justice, and not only accept the one that subjugates us to hegemonic centers of the international economy," he upheld. (Prensa Latina, El Universal, 6/4/06)

April 6: Pledging to share its experiences in the human rights field with the international community, Cuba's communist government has announced its candidacy for the United Nations' new Human Rights Council (HRC). "The Cuban people can show to the world, with deep modesty but with full satisfaction and pride, its tremendous achievements," Fidel Castro's government said in a document sent to other UN member states' missions in New York, requesting support for its candidacy. The HRC, which will hold its inaugural meeting in Geneva on June 19, replaces the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), long criticized because rights-abusing states were accused of seeking admission to block criticism of themselves and their allies. Cuba, which held a seat on the now-defunct UNCHR from 1976 to 1984 and again from 1989 until its dissolution last month, was one of the countries most frequently cited by critics in this regard. Cuba is one of 34 countries whose candidacies for the 47-seat HRC have been made public by the UN. (CNSNews.com, 6/4/06)

April 6: Cuban songwriter Silvio Rodríguez was granted the Latin Award by the Spanish Academy for Music. The Academy highlighted that Rodriguez’ compositions are “a symbol of social and political commitment, and examples of poetry”. Rodriguez will receive the award at a ceremony in Madrid, in May. (AFP, 6/4/06)

April 6: In 2000, Cuban doctors working in the Honduran Integral Health Program began to work at the Proyecto Victoria rehabilitation center for addicts in Tegucigalpa. They have contributed with therapeutic techniques and research that has proven very beneficial for the institution. "You could say we were working in an empirical manner until the Cubans arrived," Rosa Aguilera, the project’s director for the last seven years, said. The first Cuban at the center, Havana psychiatrist Octavio Garciga, wrote four important texts for the work of the program, which, put into a book, have also served as a guide for other Cubans who came later. The psychiatrist Victoria Gomez Sanchez, of the Joaquin Albarran Clinical-Surgical Hospital in Havana, speaks highly of the book, entitled "How to treat an addict and gang member." Victoria arrived in Honduras in 2005 and her commitment with the program was immediate. "The Cubans are teaching us a lesson on humanism: they always say yes when help is needed, no matter how difficult it might be," Noemi Perdomo, a Honduran psychologist working with the program, noted. (Granma, 6/4/06)

April 6: Jose Ramon Balaguer, Cuban Healthcare minister and member of the Communist Party Political Bureau, is on a working visit to the People’s Republic of China where he held talks with his Chinese counterpart Gao Qiang. According to a report from Prensa Latina news agency, the meeting took place in a friendly and brotherly atmosphere, and both sides expressed their opinions on the excellent relations between the two nations. The ministers exchanged ideas aimed at strengthening and further developing bilateral cooperation in the area of healthcare. Balaguer also toured several healthcare facilities in the Chinese capital including the Center for Control and Prevention of Infectious Diseases, before traveling on to Guangzhou, capital of the southeastern province of Guangdong. Later the Cuban official is scheduled to visit Sichuan and Qinghai. (Granma, 6/4/06)

April 6: In fifteen days, some 27 Cuban immigrants have arrived in Honduras, an official source said. The head of Honduras’ International Migration, Carlos Sánchez, said a first group of 18 Cubans arrived at Swam Islands, in the Caribbean. Sánchez also said a group of nine made it to Puerto Cortes. (EFE, 6/4/06)

April 7: The Cuban government accused Mexican authorities of Quintana Roo of being involved in an aborted human smuggling operation, where one person died and another was injured after Cuban coast guards fired on the boat. According to Havana, this incident reaffirms the existence of a complex ring that uses Mexico as a bridge to the United States. “Boatmen of Cuban origin, Mexican fishermen, Mexican state authorities and elements of the anti-Cuban mafia who live in the area and who have connections with Miami” are involved in this operation, said an official note published in the daily Granma. Pedro Ramírez Violante, head federal prosecutor in Quintana Roo, said there is no indication of a human-trafficking ring. The spokeswoman of the National Migration Institute’s office in Cancún, Claudia Teyer, refused to comment. For his part, Miguel Kim, legal affairs director for the Cancún Preventive Police, said that all cases are immediately passed to immigration authorities. [El tráfico humano y la muerte viajan en lancha rápida] (AFP, 7/4/06)

April 8: Cuba declared its concerns in a diplomatic letter over the deteriorating Middle East situation, after having been prevented from addressing the Security Council on the theme on March 30. Cuban ambassador to the UN, Rodrigo Malmierca, in a letter pointed out that events in that region have a multiplicity of important implications for international peace and security and so are of interest to all UN member states, and regretted the Security Council’s "arbitrary" limiting of the rights of non-Council members to speak at the public meeting. The Cuban diplomat said it was necessary to publicly state that the March 14 Israeli military attack on the Jericho jail constitutes a grave violation of international legal obligations and humanitarian law, and adds to its decades-long list of violations and aggressions against the Palestinian people. (Ahora, 8/4/06)

April 9: The Czech ambassador to the USA, Petr Kolar, sent Easter greetings to Cuban dissidents imprisoned in Cuba for their political stands. "We want to support our Cuban friends who could [otherwise] lose hope and start believing that the world has forgotten them," Kolar said to the press. He said the greetings he had sent to 188 Cuban political prisoners means an expression of direct support and a call on them not to give up hope. "We know about them and we think about them. Easter has come nearer and it is natural for us to send greetings to the people we like and we think about," Kolar said. He said the greetings do not contain any political declarations. "We’ve only expressed support to them and our belief that their hope will hold on," Kolar said. (CTK, 9/4/06)

April 9: Bolivian President Evo Morales expressed gratitude for Cuba's solidarity in the field of health, when announcing the opening of a new center for "Operation Miracle" in this country. During a tour of the central region of Cochabamba, Morales pointed out that this ophthalmologic center, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, was to open at the Villa Tunari Hospital, east of La Paz, "thanks to support from the Cuban government and people". (Prensa Latina, 10/4/06)

April 10: Wives of Cuban imprisoned dissidents known as the “Ladies in White” invited the leader of Izquierda Unida Spain (United Left), Gaspar Llamazares, to travel to Cuba to get to know the reality in the country, after the coalition vetoed a proposal in favour of the release of the prisoners. “We understand that honest people are confused”, they say in a letter in which they urge Llamazares to walk the streets, visit the homes and “to show up at any prison (...) in any province, at random”. (EFE, 10/4/06)

April 10: Two officials from the Mexican embassy in Cuba will attend as observers the trial of three Mexicans accused of human trafficking, more than 10 months after being arrested in the southern city of Cienfuegos. The Mexican embassy officials are the head of the Consular Section Ana Mercedes Hernández, and the Civil Attaché for Protection Affairs, Carlos Zamora Treviño, said the diplomatic mission in a press release. (Notimex, 10/4/06)

April 10: Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), met with Jose Ramon Balaguer, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party in Beijing. The two sides spoke positively about the relation between the two countries and the two parties, vowing to push forward the party relations at various levels. (Xinhua, 10/4/06)

April 10: Cuba and China began a medical collaboration program this weekend, which will contribute to improve ophthalmologic attention to the population in regions of western China. With this objective, an association agreement for the creation of an ophthalmologic center was signed in Xining, Qinghai, by Dr. Tania Gonzalez Perez, representative of Cuban Medical Services Cubanos in China, and Dr, Chai Duo, director of Peoples Hospital 1 in Xining. Cuba will supply its experience in this branch of medicine, Cuban diplomatic sources said Monday, and will be staffed by Cuban and Chinese specialists, so that residents of Qinghai Province and other regions will be able to receive medical treatment. (Prensa Latina, 10/4/06)

April 11: Approximately 300,000 Latin Americans of scant means of support have received vision treatment free of charge in Cuba in the last 16 months, as part of a health program promoted by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez, said a diplomat. Patients from 24 countries of the region were operated in Cuba thanks to the so-called Operation Miracle, an initiative launched in 2004 that seeks to benefit 6 million poor patients with vision problems in the next decade, said Adan Chávez, Venezuelan ambassador to Cuba. (Reuters, 11/4/06)

April 11: The Government of Cuba donated an ophthalmology clinic to Bolivia. The clinic is located in the coca-producing region in the centre of the country, said Bolivian president Evo Morales in the Town of Tunari, Cochabamba, in the presence of the Cuban foreign minister, Felipe Pérez Roque. “These eye-surgery equipments do not even exist in other Bolivian clinics. Everything has been imported from Europe”, emphasized Morales. He also announced that Cuba is setting up a similar clinic in another Bolivian city, to tend to those who need eye-surgery free of charge. (EFE, 11/4/06)

April 11: Uruguay’s Public Health minister, Maria Julia Muñoz, arrived in Havana accompanied by 123 Uruguayans that will receive vision treatment in Cuba, in the framework of Operation Miracle. Thanks to Cuba through Operation Miracle, hundreds of Uruguayans are receiving invaluable assistance that will allow them to return to our country with recovered vision, said Muñoz on her arrival. (AFP, 11/4/06)

April 11: Cuba refused to repatriate four Mexicans charged in Havana with human trafficking after they requested to carry out their sentences in their country, in accordance with a bilateral agreement. The Mexican ambassador, José Ignacio Piña, said he has made a new request to local authorities. The Cuban government had refused the requests of the Mexican prisoners, invoking the “social impact of the crime” for which they were sentenced, indicated the diplomat. (La Jornada, 11/4/06)

April 11: The head of the Canada Desk of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the World's Peoples was in Manitoba on a recruiting mission looking for local residents interested in donating three weeks' worth of labour to the Caribbean country's economy. Fernando Duque said his goal is to find 80 to 100 Canadians to join the Che Guevara Brigade -- a program named after the iconic Cuban guerilla leader -- that encourages foreigners to work and study in Cuba each August. Last year, he said there were about 30 Canadians who made the trek and lent their backs to the effort. "The benefit to us is we'll get visitors who realize Cuba is not really how it's depicted in much of the media. Cuba is usually depicted as a country with a tyranny, no democracy and where you can't go out in the streets after six o'clock. That's not true," he said in an interview. He said the work is primarily in farmers' fields and construction sites. Duque's cross-Canada tour is also taking him to Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria and a number of stops in Ontario. (Winnipeg Free Press, 12/4/06)

April 12: Three top Cuban scientists will be in Kuala Lumpur to showcase their pioneering biotechnology products and share their experience with their Malaysian and Singaporean counterparts. They will zoom in on the treatment of cancer and the advancements in immuno- therapy (experimental cancer vaccines) emerging from Cuba which have proved successful against the disease. A local biotech company which has worked with Cuban scientists for years, Bioven Sdn Bhd, is bringing Dr Augstin Lage, Dr Rolando Perez and Dr Gerardo Guillen down for a Cancer Immuno- therapy workshop at the NCI Cancer Hospital. (New Straits Times, 12/4/06)

April 12: Haitian President-elect Rene Preval left for Cuba in an unannounced trip aimed at rekindling relations between the Caribbean neighbors. Preval, a former president who is due to take power next month, is to meet with Fidel Castro during the three-day trip and is expected to discuss Cuban aid for his impoverished country, Preval spokesman Volce Assad said. Relations between Haiti and Cuba were warm during Preval's 1996-2001 presidency, but ties have suffered since a US-backed interim government was appointed to replace former president Jean-Bertrand-Aristide, who was ousted in a February 2004 revolt. "President Preval had a good relationship with Cuba so he's going there to restart the relationship," Assad said. "Cuba has done a lot to help Haiti and the president wants to see how we can make the relationship better." (AP, 12/4/06)

April 12: A group of 17 Cuban immigrants, from Camaguey province, arrived to the Caribbean coast of Honduras. According to local authorities, 15 women and two men arrived in a small boat at Bajamar beach, 200 kilometres northwest of Tegucigalpa, after sailing for seven days. (AP, 12/4/06)

April 12: Cuban prosecutors asked for 25-year jail sentences for three Mexican fishermen charged with smuggling people out of Cuba by boat to Mexico, diplomatic sources said. The harsh sentences were sought by the island's Communist authorities as they move to crack down on the increasing number of smugglers ferrying Cuban migrants to Mexico, where they try to cross into the United States. The Mexicans, who were arrested on a boat stranded off Cuba in May 2005, went on trial in the city of Cienfuegos. The trio are among 12 Mexicans jailed in Cuba for people smuggling. They were accused of attempting to smuggle out 17 people, including four children, when the boat's engine failed. "They did not deny anything,'' a diplomat, who asked not to be identified, told the press. (Reuters, 12/4/06)

April 13: Cuban prosecutors lowered from 25 to 10 years jail terms they are seeking for three Mexican fishermen charged with smuggling people out of Cuba, Mexico's ambassador in Havana said. Relatives of one of the men said they hoped the trio would be absolved after attending their one-day trial on April 12 in the southern coast city of Cienfuegos. A decision could take up to a month. Mexican Ambassador Jose Ignacio Pina said defense lawyers refuted evidence that the fishermen were planning to pick up 17 people on Cuba's south coast. The three Mexican fishermen, who were arrested a year ago, insisted in court they were on a fishing trip when their boat broke down and they entered Cuban waters to fix the engine. (Reuters, 13/4/06)

April 13: Nearly 600 Cuban doctors have arrived in Bolivia since the new government took power, along with waves of Cuban and Venezuelan teachers and social workers, on a mission that critics fear is more political than humanitarian. The leftist government of President Evo Morales says the foreign workers are providing badly needed relief to poor areas hit by recent floods and support for a new literacy program. But the political opposition and some civic leaders charge that the visitors have been sent by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez to help their Bolivian ally consolidate political control -- echoing US criticism of a similar Cuban program in Venezuela. "The Cubans are setting up the framework for a Castroite system in Bolivia. It's very worrying," said popular radio commentator Arturo Mendivil. He and other critics accuse the Cubans of organizing neighborhood vigilante groups modeled on Cuba's notorious "committees for the defense of the revolution." (The Washington Times, 13/4/06)

April 13: Haitian President-elect Rene Preval met Fidel Castro to discuss new ways for improving bilateral cooperation. "If Haiti does not integrate into the region it will have great difficulties in development. So we are going to do everything possible to join with the region politically, economically and culturally," Preval said after meeting Castro. "The future of Haiti is to strongly advance its integration with Latin America and the Caribbean," he said. Preval, visiting Cuba with a delegation that includes future members of his government, earlier praised Cuban-trained doctors for the healthcare they have given needy Haitians. "There's a saying in Haiti: 'After God, there are Cuban doctors'," Preval was quoted as saying, adding: "They have done more than eight million consultations and over 100,000 operations." (AFP, 13/4/06)

April 13: The Cuban government denied a request to renew the visa of Czech Embassy political counselor Stanislav Kazecky and gave him until April 15 to leave the country, the diplomat told the press. "The authorities refused to prolong my visa and gave me a period of 72 hours to leave the country," Kazecky said, adding that the Cuban government has not given any official explanation for its decision. "In practice it's the same as an expulsion," said Kazecky, who began his mission to Cuba in April 2004. "We've requested to meet with the Cuban Foreign Ministry to ask for an explanation but they haven't granted us the meeting and thus far there's no explanation. Kazecky said that while he has been a forceful spokesman for his government's stand on human rights in Cuba, his relationships with opposition figures were no different than those maintained by "many other diplomats from several other countries." Cuban authorities have not yet released a public statement on the matter. (EFE, 13/4/06)

April 13: Czech diplomats perceive the denial of a visa to the first secretary of the Czech embassy in Havana as an act of expulsion. The Czechs are protesting against it and have immediately summoned Cuban charge d’affaires in Prague Aymee Hernandez for an explanation. "Cuba is undoubtedly reacting to the Czech foreign policy which constantly criticizes human rights abuses in Cuba and supports the Cuban opposition," the Foreign Ministry said. "The Czech Republic understands this as an act of expulsion," the ministry said in a statement. The Czech Republic is one of the toughest critics of Fidel Castro in the EU. The ministry views this unusual conduct as an "evident effort at escalating the tension in relations between the Czech Republic and Cuba." The Czech diplomacy has made it clear that it will not extend the visa to one of the Cuban diplomats working in Prague by which it would expel him. "The Czech Republic will take a reciprocal measure," the ministry said. The case of the Czech diplomat is another in a series of rifts in relations between Prague and Havana. (CTK, Reuters, 13/4/06)

April 14: The European Commission “regretted” the decision taken by the Cuban government of denying the renewal of a visa of Czech Embassy political counselor Stanislav Kazecky . “We are in contact with our delegation in Havana to follow up this situation”, a spokesman for the Commission, Ferrán Tarradellas, said, but he avoided any other comment on this issue. (EFE, 14/4/06)

April 14: The minister of State and minister of Foreign Affairs and Francophony of the Republic of Congo, H.E. Rodolphe Adada, arrived in Havana, following an invitation by Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Felipe Perez Roque. This is the third visit to Cuba of the Congolese foreign minister. (Granma, 14/4/06)

April 14: No fewer than 50 leaders of developing nations are expected to attend September's Nonaligned Movement summit in Cuba, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said. In remarks reported by Cuba's National Information Agency, Perez Roque said invitations so far had been personally delivered by Cuban envoys to 95 of the 114 countries belonging to the Nonaligned Movement, the largest grouping of the world's nations after the United Nations. Perez Roque made his comments during a visit to Cuba by Congo Foreign Minister Rodolphe Adada. The summit will be held in Havana on September 11-16, when Malaysia will turn over chairmanship of the Nonaligned Movement to Cuba. The summits are held every three years, with the last one held February 2003 in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. (AP, 14/4/06)

April 14: Cuban Parliament Speaker Ricardo Alarcon conferred in Teheran with Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on the expansion of relations between the two countries. The two sides met on the sidelines of the Third International Conference on Qods and Support for the Rights of Palestinian People, kicked off in Tehran with a key note speech by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei. At the meeting, Mottaki described expansion of relations between Iran and Cuba at mutual and international levels as very 'valuable'. Referring to the stands taken by Cuba during NAM troika session, the South African conference as well as the country's stance in the IAEA Board of Governors on Iran's peaceful nuclear dossier, Mottaki described them as very significant. Referring to the upcoming conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Havana, and presence of Iran's president in the session, he underlined that the Islamic Republic of Iran calls for expansion of political and economic relations with Cuba. The Cuban parliament speaker, for his part, voiced support for Iran's peaceful nuclear activities and congratulated the recent access of Iranian scientist in attaining nuclear technology and joining the nuclear club countries. (IRNA, 16/4/06)

April 15: After four fruitful days of debates opposing the free trade agreements and its consequences, the 5th Hemispheric Meeting against the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) came to an end. The forum closed with the presentation of the action plans of the Continental Alliance for Latin America and the Caribbean and of other bodies such the Network of Networks in Defense of Humanity. Attendees made important proposals such the creation of a world legal network to direct anti-FTAA fighting. Concrete actions were presented to handle Washington´s maneuvers on their own level and a boycott was called of US products on May 1 to illustrate the importance of the immigrants in that nation’s economy and support recent protests by those people. Likewise, delegates urged to closely follow the plans of the Alliance for Security and Prosperity of North America, a new mechanism to extend the FTA among the US, Canada and Mexico throughout America. (Prensa Latina, 15/4/06)

April 15: The mother of a Mexican fisherman tried in Cuba for people trafficking called on Fidel Castro to allow her son to return to Mexico. Lucia Rivero said that her son, Juan Ramon Barco, was innocent and should be released by Cuban authorities. Rivero returned from Cienfuegos, Cuba, where she attended the trial of her son and two other Mexican fishermen, Luis Nicolas Chan Campos and Johnny Enrique Fuentes, accused of smuggling Cubans out of the island. "I am going to ask Fidel Castro to listen to his heart and allow my son to return to Mexico because he is innocent, and his only problem is that he was a victim of nature when his boat experienced a problem," Rivero told reporters. Rivero said she also planned to ask Mexican President Vicente Fox to work to win her son's freedom. The Cuban government denounced the existence of organized people trafficking networks on the Yucatan Peninsula and accused US and Mexican authorities of tolerating such activities. (EFE, 16/4/06)

April 16: Four Cuban rafters -- two of them identified as political advocates-- were detained by the Mexican Navy at Contoy Island, Yucatan, Mexican authorities reported. "They are Oskel Lezcano Chávez, 30, who said he is a member of the Movement for Human Rights in Cuba, and Lorenzo del Toro Ramos, 40, who said he is president of the “Sanluiseña” Democratic Alliance”. The other two rafters are Valentín García Fuentes, a 53 year-old fisherman, and 29 year-old Maikel Jiménez Chávez, (AFP, 16/4/06)

April 16: A group of 20 Cuban immigrants arrived at the Caribbean coast of Honduras, local authorities said. The 14 men, five women and a 5 year-old girl arrived at Puerto Cortés, 200 kilometers north of Tegucigalpa, after sailing for ten days in two boats from Santa Cruz, in the southern coast of Camaguey province. The boats were named “Liberty Bus One”, and Liberty Bus Two (Guagua Uno de la Libertad y Guagua Dos de la Libertad), authorities said. (AP, 16/4/06)

April 17: Mexican foreign minister, Luis Ernesto Derbez, rejected Cuban allegations that state authorities in Quintana Roo are encouraging illegal immigration of Cubans to Mexico. “I refuse to believe that”, said Derbez. As to the influx of Cubans to Mexico by boat, Derbez said that they are “specific” cases where the individuals involved, in his opinion, do it for economic reasons. (EFE, 18/4/06)

April 17: The Czech Republic is preparing steps and proposals for the European Union talks regarding relations with Cuba, Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda told reporters at an extraordinary press conference after the return of expelled Czech diplomat Stanislav Kazecky from the island. Svoboda did not specify what proposals the Czech Republic would submit to the EU. He only said that the Czech Republic wants the EU to take a joint stance on Cuba. "This does not mean that we will embrace Fidel Castro," Svoboda noted. ( CeskeNoviny, 17/4/06)

April 17: A cultural program to honor Fidel Castro on his 80th birthday was announced by the Guayasamin Foundation during the 5th Hemispheric Encounter against the US-promoted Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which wound up in Havana.
Foundation president Pablo Guayasamin said that Castro’s birthday represents 80 years of dignity and victorious struggle against US imperialism, 80 years that set an example to follow for the peoples of the Americas and the Third World. He said the occasion will be marked by celebrations from August 10-13 in Havana. Pablo is the eldest son of outstanding Ecuadorian painter Oswaldo Guayasamin, a long-time friend of the Cuban Revolution and its leader Fidel Castro. He referred to the support given to the celebration by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Nobel Peace Laureates Rigoberta Menchu and Adolfo Perez Esquivel and other members of honor of the Guayasamin Foundation. (CAN, 17/4/06)

April 18: Belarus Prime Minister Serguei Serguelevich Sidorski will start an official visit to Cuba on April 20, responding to an invitation by Fidel Castro. According to a note published by Granma newspaper, the aim of his visit is to foster the excellent political, friendship and cooperation ties existing between the two nations. (Prensa Latina, 18/4/06)

April 18: Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Felipe Perez Roque underscored in Caracas the importance of the unity of Venezuelan university students to buttress the Bolivarian Revolution. During the opening ceremony of the first National Meeting of Venezuela´s Bolivarian University Students, Perez Roque recognized the effort of the youth to hold this encounter while remembering his experience as a young leader. (Prensa Latina, 19/4/06)

April 18: Belarus' Prime Minister, Serguei Sidorski, said that Cuba is an important and reliable partner in political and economic matters in the Western Hemisphere, as the two nations have kept relations for a long time. "I don't think I am mistaken if I say that Belarus is a strategic ally for the island," said Sidorski in an exclusive interview with Prensa Latina in Minsk before engaging in a trip to Cuba. The state of bilateral relations was clearly demonstrated in a letter of congratulations from Fidel Castro on the recent election of Alexander Lukashenko to a third term, noted the Belarus Prime Minister. (ACN, 19/4/06)

April 18: Dominican Republic and Cuba would be members of a group of more than 100 nations which launched a news service via Internet, pooling their resources to offer an alternative to the Western news media. Malaysia’s Bernama news agency will sponsor the ‘NAM News Network,’ of the 114 members of the Non-aligned Countries Movement, Cuba’s ambassador in Malaysia, Pedro Monzon Barata said. (Dominican Today, 19/4/06)

April 19: The first secretary of Cuba’s diplomatic mission in the Czech Republic, Manuel Ángel Baltar Charnicharo, left the country after local authorities did not renew his visa. Baltar “left Prague”, said chargé d’affaires Aymee Hernández. Hernández and second secretary, Alex González García, are the only two Cuban diplomats who remain on post in the Slavic nation. (EER, 19/4/06)

April 19: Cuban foreign minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, arrived in the Paraguayan capital accompanying Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, who would take part in the so-called “Gas Summit” along with his counterparts from Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay. The Cuban foreign minister, who had been on a visit in Caracas, arrived in Chávez’s plane. “President Chávez invited the minister, en route to Brazil. He has no official activities in Paraguay, except a courtesy visit with the foreign minister”, said Paraguayan vice-minister of foreign affairs, Emilio Giménez. (Reuters, 19/4/06)

April 19: Fidel Castro defended Iran’s nuclear program and warned that a military aggression by the United States against that country could trigger “a world war, which no one could prevent”, affirmed Castro during an event marking the victory of his troops in Playa Girón 45 years ago. “How can they (the United States) threaten Iran because it wants to produce nuclear energy? There is no doubt that they would be making a mistake with Iran”, said Castro before some 3,000 veterans, armed forces officers, students and diplomats who attended the event at the Karl Marx theatre in Havana. (AFP, 20/4/06)

April 19: Approximately 2,000 students gave Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, a big ovation during a ceremony at the national university in the Paraguayan capital where Cuban foreign minister Felipe Pérez was also applauded. Nobody explained, officially, when Pérez arrived in Asunción, but unconfirmed reports indicate that he would have been part of the Venezuelan delegation in the trip from Caracas. (AP, 20/4/06)

April 20: Canada refused to allow Belarussian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky's plane to land for refueling en route to Cuba, a Belarussian diplomat and Canadian officials said. Ottawa, which last month froze most ties with Belarus to protest against the controversial March 19 presidential vote, said it had strong concerns about the country's commitment to democratization and human rights. "In light of these concerns, we were not prepared to facilitate the entry of senior-level representatives of the Belarussian regime onto Canadian soil," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Pamela Greenwell. In Havana, Belarussian embassy councilor Victor Kozintsey said the reason Canada gave was that Sidorsky's delegation included officials banned from entering the European Union for their role in the presidential election. The plane refueled in Boston instead, delaying Sidorsky's arrival in Havana, Kozintsey said. (Reuters, UNIAN, 20/4/06)

April 20: Seeking to expand relations substantially with Cuba, the Prime Minister of Belarus, Sergei Sidorsky, arrived in Havana for an official visit at the invitation of Fidel Castro. The Belarus Prime Minister called Cuba a "strategic ally" and a political and economic partner. "This visit is an expression of the excellent bilateral relations between the two countries and will serve as a framework for a broad exchange of political and other matters," he said in a statement published in the official daily Granma. Sidorsky, 51, told Cuba's Prensa Latina news agency, "Cuba is an important, reliable partner in political and economic matters in the Western Hemisphere." The countries have long ties, going back to when Belarus was part of the Soviet Union, which was Cuba's main trading partner. Cuba and Belarus established diplomatic ties in April 1992. Sidorsky arrived just 12 days after Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko was sworn in for a third term, amid US and EU criticism. (Granma, AFP, 21/4/06)

April 20: Cuban government opponents asked the United Nations to demand the release of political prisoners on the island as a condition for the Caribbean country to join the new Human Rights Council. “The announcement of the immediate release of peaceful Cuban political prisoners is the essential step that would give sense to the Cuban vote and the country’s aspiration to be a member of the Council”, said the Christian Liberation Movement. “Not to call on the release of political prisoners would be an outright denial (...) of the Universal Declaration of Human rights”, said the group who is lead by Oswaldo Payá in a message to the UN. [Mensaje a la ONU] (Reuters, 20/4/06)

April 20: Cuba offered free ophthalmologic assistance to the Montserrat population, in the British Caribbean. Cuban professionals working in Antigua will visit Montserrat monthly to assist local patients. Those in need of surgeries or other advanced treatments will be sent to Cuba, Montserrat’s minister of Health, Idabelle Meade, said. (AP, 20/4/06)

April 20: Minister of Health Sports, Youth Affairs and Carnival, John Maginley is heading a delegation to Cuba to discuss a number of programmes including medical assistance between Antigua & Barbuda and Cuba. Maginley will attend a welcome dinner where he will meet with the Cuban Minister of Health Dr. Jose Ramon Balaguer Cabrera. They will review the eye care programme and look at the continued health care services for the Cuban doctors and nurses who are working in Antigua & Barbuda. (Antigua Sun, 20/4/06)

April 21: Fidel Castro received Serguei Sergueievich Sidorski, prime minister of the Republic of Belarus, in the Palace of the Revolution, in an atmosphere in which the excellent relations between both countries were reflected. The leader of the Cuban Revolution greeted the members of the visiting delegation and had an animated conversation with each one of them on their field, especially about the wide range of possibilities that are offered in spheres like transport. The Belarus leader also talked with the Cuban party and expressed his pleasure at being on the island at the moment. After the official photograph, Fidel and Sidorski reviewed the present situation of bilateral links, discussed aspects of mutual interest and explored future prospects in commercial terms and for collaboration, demonstrating the respect and understanding that exists between both nations. (Granma, 21/4/06)

April 21: Venezuelans will spill blood to defend Cuba against a possible US invasion, President Hugo Chavez said. "If the US empire were to invade Cuba, Venezuelan blood would run in the defense of Cuba and its people," Chavez said during a speech to government supporters in Venezuela's capital. The Venezuelan leader repeated that the US "is preparing an aggression," though it was not clear which country he believed was the target. ''Patria o muerte! (Countryland or Death), that is our device; Socialism or Death!, united for whatever may come”, Chavez said about his vision of unity between Cuba and Venezuela. (El Nuevo Herald, Jerusalem Post, 21/4/06)

April 21: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez decorated 28 Cuban healthcare workers with the Francisco de Miranda Order for their work in "Mision Barrio Adentro", a community-based medical services program serving in his nation. Since the program’s inception, on April 16, 2003, 175 million medical consultations have been performed with Venezuelan people in poor communities and remote areas – 16 million of those calls were in dentistry and more than four million in ophthalmology. In all, about 17 million individuals have benefited. Chavez awarded the medal, accompanied by the Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and Venezuelan Minister of Health Francisco Armada during a ceremony that took place in the Municipal Theater in Caracas. (Granma, 22/4/06)

April 21: Czech diplomats in Cuba do not carry out spying activities for the USA and neither do they act according to instructions from the USA, said Czech diplomat Stanislav Kazecky in response to allegations from Havana that he was spying on behalf of the USA. "We did not receive any instructions that could be interpreted that we were working according to their instructions. We are accredited in Cuba as representatives of an independent country and that is also they way in which we behaved," added Kazecky, whose visa was not renewed by the Cuban authorities last week because of alleged subversive activities for the benefit of the USA. According to Kazecky, the motive of his expulsion is clear - it is a reaction to the Czech policy criticizing the state of human rights in Cuba. (Pravo, 23/4/06)

April 21: The Dominican Republic asked Havana to review a migratory agreement between the two countries. The Dominican Assistant Secretary for Foreign and Migratory Affairs , Rosario Graciano de los Santos, said her country asked the Cuban government to review an agreement signed in 1997. "We are begging them to allow us to return undocumented Cubans to the island, but they don’t allow us to do that because the agreement needs to be changed”, Graciano de los Santos said. Since October 1 st, 449 Cubans have arrived in Puerto Rico, most of them from the Dominican Republic. (EER, 21/4/06)

April 22: Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in a meeting with the Cuban Minister for Government and Head of the Iran-Cuba Commission Ricardo Cabrisas said that given the close relations between the governments and nations of both countries, there are hopes that continuous exchange of views will strengthen mutual ties. A report released by the Foreign Ministry Media Department, quoting Mottaki, said that given the common interests of the two states, cooperation in uncovering the political nature of global hegemony in various regions will be achieved through promoting common goals and strategies. Mottaki added that the flourishing of the allied forces in Latin America has strengthened the positions of pioneering nations and Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member states. Expounding on the capacities of Iran and Cuba to cooperate in Latin America, Africa and the international scene, he pointed out that the two countries have much potential in the economic fields and common political strategies in the global arenas. (IRNA, 22/4/06)

April 23: Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno and his visiting Uruguayan counterpart Maria Belela Herrera signed four cooperation agreements in Havana. The deals cover the facilitation of entry visas for those who carry diplomatic and official passports; the exchange of information on the archives between the two foreign ministries; the cooperation between the two foreign ministries' Institutes for International Relations; and a joint statement on supplementary economic cooperation. This is the third visit to Cuba of a top official from the Uruguayan government of Tabare Vazquez. (VNA, 23/4/06)

April 24: Kashmir's Prime Minister Sandar Shahar took note of Cuba´s example of solidarity and expressed gratitude for the work of the Cuban medical brigade that cared for those affected by the October earthquake in Pakistan. “I think Cuba, its people and government, have earned the respect of the entire world, especially in Kashmir and those territories fighting for freedom and development,” he said in an interview broadcast on Cuban TV. (Prensa Latina, 24/4/06)

April 25: The leftist and "anti-imperialist" governments of Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba are to sign an agreement in Havana on April 29 to launch the Peoples Trade Treaty (TCP), an accord seen as counterweight and alternative to US-pushed free-trade pacts, local media reported. The signing date was announced by Bolivian President Evo Morales, the reports said. Morales will travel to Havana to meet with his Cuban and Venezuelan counterparts, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, respectively. According to the Bolivian president, Cuba and Venezuela accepted his proposal for the TCP as a means of implementing the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), a Venezuelan-backed trade initiative. (EFE, 26/4/05)

April 25: Four ambassadors were presented to Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf at the Executive Mansion. They are ambassadors of Russia, The Vatican, India and Cuba. The ambassadors promised their respective government's assistance for the reconstruction of post- war Liberia. Ambassador Lucens Domingo Polledo of Cuba called on President Sirleaf to identify the government's priorities for immediate assistance. The Cuban ambassador also extended an invitation to President Sirleaf to attend the 14th summit of non-allied countries in Cuba. (India Daily, 25/4/06)

April 25: Police officers had to escort a Cuban novelist critical of Fidel Castro past protesters as she left a book fair in the Dominican Republic's capital that attracted both supporters and critics of the communist leader. During a talk given by writer Zoe Valdes, who was born in Cuba and fled to France as an adult in 1995, a physical struggle broke out among attendees of the Ninth International Book Fair of Santo Domingo as she made critical comments about Castro. The author's speech, titled 'Cuba: Fiction and Reality,' was interrupted repeatedly by Cuban and Dominican hecklers. Between interruptions, Valdes made her argument against Castro's Cuba: "It is a regime of tremendous cruelty. He is a man that has simply used the Cuban people to build his estate." An article in the Dominican newspaper El Caribe warned readers that protesters would attend the book fair and claimed the Cuban government pressured organizers to exclude Valdes. Warner Lores, the cultural attache from the Cuban consulate in Santo Domingo, denied the accusations. (AP, El País, 26/4/06)

April 26: The state of human rights in Cuba is increasingly worsening, Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda (the Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) told a meeting of European diplomats and NGOs on the situation in Cuba. The number of political prisoners and attacks on dissidents and their families is increasing on the island, ruled by a Communist regime headed by Fidel Castro for almost 50 years, Svoboda said. "We will advocate the release of all political prisoners," Svoboda said. "When the Czech Republic wants to celebrate its national holiday, it will invite even those who seek democratisation and freedom in Cuba," Svoboda said, alluding to an incident last year when Cuban authorities banned the celebrations of the Czech national holiday in Havana, arguing that it is a counter-revolutionary act. (CTK, 26/4/06)

April 26: The president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, received Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, who is in Teheran heading the delegation that participated in the 11 th Session of the Iran-Cuba Joint Commission for Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation. During their talk, the Iranian president highlighted the sincere spirit of relations between both countries, and appreciated the "brave support of Cuba for Iran." Minister Cabrisas underlined that in the last few months they had not only created the basis to deepen the bilateral relations, but also to diversify those relations, as it was proved by the results of the work of the Joint Commission. Cabrisas also mentioned the upcoming 14 th Summit of the Non Aligned Movement in Cuba, which is an excellent opportunity to continue strengthening negotiations between the two nations. (Granma, 27/4/06)

April 26: The Mexican Navy rescued eight Cuban rafters in a wooden boat close to Isla Mujeres, in the Mexican Caribbean. The immigrants, who had sailed from Cuba eight days before, were trying to reach US soil. (EFE, 26/4/06)

April 27: The Russian Orthodox church thinks the US economic sanctions against Cuba are unfair. “Certainly, we disagree with the economic blocade of Cuba. We consider the presence of an American military base on Cuba as wrong”, deputy chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for external church relations bishop Mark of Yegoryevsk said when answering the questions of journalists in Moscow. He said a jaundiced view was often taken of Cuban problems, as “the position of its mighty Western neighbour is taken into consideration”. “We are convinced, however, that Cuba should be treated without prejudice”, bishop Mark said. (Interfax, 27/4/06)

April 26: Reporters Without Borders, or RSF for its initials in French, said that Cuban authorities are carrying out a campaign to silence journalist Roberto Santana Rodriguez, who works for the on-line publication Cubanet. In a communique, RSF said that over a number of months the Cuban police several times have "ordered" Santana to stop writing for Cubanet and have threatened to throw him in jail. The press organization criticized the "blackmail of resorting to Law 88, regarding national independence and the Cuban economy, which provides the regime with an argument for sentencing dissidents to (lengthy) prison terms. (EFE, 27/4/06)

April 29: Three Latin American presidents - Cuba's Fidel Castro, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales of Bolivia - signed a trade agreement designed to strengthen the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, the regional integration initiative. The three leaders signed two accords in Havana, the first admitting Bolivia into ALBA, originally an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela, and the second making the three countries members of the Peoples' Trade Treaty (TCP) proposed by Morales. At a ceremony in the Cuban capital's Palace of Conventions, the presidents signed the agreements formalizing the Republic of Bolivia's membership in ALBA as well as the adherence of all three to the Peoples' Trade Treaty. Under this second agreement Cuba and Venezuela will eliminate all tariffs on Bolivian products. Venezuela agreed to provide "all the energy resources Bolivia needs'' as the second poorest country in the hemisphere nationalizes its natural gas reserves, and to help it develop a petrochemical industry. Chavez and Morales contrasted the agreements with faltering US plans for a "Free Trade Area of the Americas,'' each charging the United States with trying to impose "imperialist domination'' on the region. "All Venezuela's and Cuba's experience over these years building integration, all the potential of our economies and people are at the Bolivian people's disposal,'' Chavez said during the signing ceremony. (EFE, The New York Times, 29,30/4/06)