Chronicle on Cuba - April 2006

Security

April 10: The Cuban government perceived the US military maneuvers in the Caribbean as a demonstration of force. The United States is conducting a series of military maneuvers in the Caribbean in conjunction with NATO forces and all countries of the hemisphere, except Cuba and Venezuela, indicated Prensa Latina. The stated objective of the maneuvers is "to strengthen military relations between the US Navy and the countries of the region," and "to fine tune efforts against drug trafficking and terrorism." Regional analysts believe, however, that for the United States the reconnaissance flights and the depth measurement and terrain analysis program could mean an evaluation of its possibilities of success in an attack against a country in the area. The exercise —dubbed in Curacao as "Emplacement for Cooperative Security"— will have the Hato Rey base as its main headquarters. The international military exercise is considered as one of the largest carried out in recent years because of the participation of an aircraft carrier and an amazing naval fleet. (Granma, 10/4/06)

April 17: Guo Boxiong, vice-chairman of the Chinese Central Military Commission (CMC), met with a visiting Cuban military delegation in Beijing. The delegation, invited by the General Logistics Department of the Chinese Liberation Army (PLA), was led by Claro Orlando Almaguel Vidal, director of the General Logistics Department of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces. Guo said the military relations of the two countries had witnessed great progress in recent years, with frequent high-ranking visits and smooth cooperation in technical and personnel training. (Xinhua, 17/4/06)

April 17: "Arms oligarch" Mikhail Kalashnikov will be visiting Cuba shortly. As far back as the Soviet era, the AK rifles made in Cuba were of good quality. According to Kalashnikov, he's interested in whether the Cubans are using modern production facilities to manufacture his creation these days. But there seems to be some greater purpose to Kalashnikov's forthcoming trip - judging by the fact that Rosoboroneksport spokesman Nikolai Shvets gently but firmly silenced the veteran designer when Kalashnikov started elaborating on his "creative plans." Russia's chief arms exporter, Rosoboroneksport, has denied allegations in the American media that Russia is delivering poor-quality AK automatic rifles to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. (Vremya Novostei, 17/4/06)

April 18: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who accuses Washington of planning to invade Venezuela, said recent deployment of US warships in the Caribbean Sea threatened his country and its ally Cuba. Four US warships, including an aircraft carrier, and 6,500 sailors, are in a two-month deployment in the Caribbean Sea dubbed "Partnership of the Americas" by the US Navy. "They are doing maneuvers right here," Chavez told a student meeting in the country's western territory. "This is a threat, not just against us, against Venezuela, against Cuba." (Reuters, 18/4/06)

April 18: Venezuela's foreign minister denied a local media report alleging that Iran was planning to send nuclear missiles to Venezuela and Cuba. The Caracas-based newspaper 2001, citing unnamed US intelligence sources, reported that Iran and Venezuela had reached a secret arms deal to ship missiles to Venezuela and Cuba aboard oil tankers to avoid detection from US satellites and spy planes. "It tops a chain of absurdities that have been unloaded on Venezuela in recent years,'' Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez was quoted as saying in an interview with the state TV broadcaster. (AP, 18/4/06)

April 19: Forty-five years after it defeated a CIA-trained invasion force at the Bay of Pigs, Cuba continues to defy the world's biggest power, Fidel Castro said. Castro said his Communist-run country was not afraid of a US naval force led by the aircraft carrier USS George Washington currently carrying out exercises in the Caribbean. "This nation faced up to the strongest superpower on Earth and it is still on its feet," Castro said in a speech marking the failed U.S.-planned attempt to overthrow his fledgling revolutionary government in 1961. Castro said the US government had too much on its plate elsewhere to be a threat to Cuba today. "There are some little boats going about. Who is afraid of them? Nobody," Castro, dressed in his trademark green uniform, told militia veterans at Havana's Karl Marx theater. "They never frightened anyone. They should not waste their time here. They have enough problems in the world," said the Cuban leader, who will be 80 in August. (Reuters, 19/4/06)

April 23: Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, Member of the Political Bureau and Communist Party First Secretary in Holguin province, addressed the political and military ceremony to celebrate the 45th Anniversary of the founding of the Cuba's Eastern Regional Army, presided over by its founder, the Second Secretary of the Communist Party and Armed Forces Minister, General Raul Castro Ruz. “Only a legitimate Revolution, made up of common people in uniform, can achieve the miracle of a close alliance between the Army and the population”, Diaz-Canel said. A crowd of more than a hundred thousand attended the ceremony, interspersed around the military equipment deployed in the local Calixto Garcia square. After the military parade, and a salute to the participants by the young Brigadier General Onelio Aguilera Bermudez, Chief of Staff of the Eastern Army, retired Lt. Colonel Rubinelson Silva Perez spoke on behalf of the Army’s founders. (Granma, 24/4/06)

April 28: Russia's state-controlled arms exporter will push to stop the illegal production and supplies of Kalashnikov assault rifles, a company spokesman said. "Rosoboronexport is resolved to use all available legal means to press for an end to the illegal production and supplies of Kalashnikov automatic rifles," Valery Kartavtsev said, adding that Russian enterprises intended to file lawsuits against illegal producers. Rosoboronexport says that almost 20 countries, including Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Germany, produce the cult rifle illegally. "In some instances, the terms of such agreements have expired, while in others different-caliber weapons are being made, since all licenses for the production of Kalashnikov rifles were issued decades ago," he said. (Novosti, 28/4/06)