Chronicle on Cuba - July 2006

Foreign Affairs

July 1: Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Felipe Perez Roque, addressing the special ministerial session of a summit of the African Union, highlighted the importance and relevance of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). He stressed the significance of the movement in today’s world marked by unilateral and aggressive policies and disrespect by powerful countries for the most basic standards of international law and the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter. During his speech delivered to the representatives of the 53 nations which make up the African Union, Minister Perez Roque said these were the reasons which show "the urgency for maintaining a united front in the defense of the rights of peoples to self-determination, independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. [Discurso del Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores] (Granma, 1/7/06)

July 2: Cuban Foreign Ministry condemned Israeli warplane violation of the Syrian airspace, saying that this act "poses a danger to the international peace and security". The Ministry stressed in a statement that the violation further escalates tension in the Middle East. It called on the international community and all peace-loving countries to immediately move and demand Israel to withdraw from Gaza and stop state terrorism against the Palestinian people. (SANA, 2/7/06)

July 3: The Non-Aligned Movement is totally satisfied with preparations for its 4th Conference-Summit in Havana, next September. "The information on those preparations has been positively received given the progress we have achieved," asserted Cuban Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Manuel Aguilera de la Paz. Aguilera briefed the NAM Bureau of Coordination at UN about details of the summit with documentation in an Operating Handbook. (Prensa Latina, 3/7/06)

July 4: Supporters of Cubans jailed by the regime for challenging the one-party state held a press conference in Vienna to urge the Castro government to free more than 300 political prisoners. The president of the Dutch-based Cuba Futuro Foundation, Jan ter Laak, and the executive director of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Aaron Rhodes, said that a recent visit to the island left them convinced that "the general human rights situation in Cuba is rapidly deteriorating." Rhodes said that Cuba's more than 300 political prisoners "are suffering from malnutrition, rat infestation and they have little chance of seeing their families." Locked up in Cuban jails, he said, are people who have been arrested for using computers, publishing articles, having telephone conversations with foreigners, owning certain books or disseminating the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Cuban authorities have classified as enemy propaganda. (EFE, 5/7/06)

July 4: According to European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel, the European Commission representation in Havana also endures "access restrictions to certain Internet servers, blocked by the only local ISP available in Cuba.” In response to a Euro Representative who asked whether the EC delegation in Havana had "unrestricted Internet access," the Commissioner confirmed the access restrictions. (EFE, 4/7/06)

July 4: The Canadian University of Quebec, Montreal, and the Pedagogical Superior Institute Enrique Jose Varona in Havana City strengthened ties with the celebration of the event “Following Iberville’s Footprints”. Both institutions have maintained their exchange program since 2000 and now intend to diversify collaboration perspectives extending them to the fields of science and culture. The event includes a colloquium on the life of Pierre Le Moyne de Iberville, hero of the New France, who died on July 9, 1706, in Havana’s harbour. Iberville, the name which refers to the exchange between Cuba and Canada, was an adventurous character who had been a pirate, captain, soldier and even once the prime governor of Louisiana. (Prensa Latina, 4/7/06)

July 4: The annual program of the European Initiative for Democracy and Human rights allotted 10, 700, 000 euros for an ad campaign and deemed the government of Cuba to be eligible for national project development. The EU Commissioner for International Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, confirmed the news to José Ribeiro e Castro, representative of the European People's Party, who denounced that the communist regime of Cuba controls and restricts Internet access, echoing some of the accusations by independent journalists imprisoned since March, 2003. (MartiNoticias, 4/7/06)

July 4: Peruvian former presidential candidate, Ollanta Humala, said that Fidel Castro visited him when he was been treated in a Havana hospital. Humala said he traveled to Cuba because wanted to avoid the local press. (El Comercio, 5/7/06)

July 5: President Nguyen Minh Triet said more efficient co-operation programmes should be carried out to expand the traditional friendly relations between Viet Nam and Cuba. The newly elected President was speaking upon receiving a high-ranking Cuban Communist Party delegation, led by Vice President of the Cuban Council of State Esteban Lazo Hernandez, in Ho Chi Minh City. (VNS, 6/7/06)

July 5: The Ecuadorian and Cuban governments are determined to strengthen their ties of friendship. Within this context, Foreign Minister Francisco Carrion travelled to Havana for an official two-day visit. According to the Ecuadoran Foreign Ministry, two key issues will be examined during Carrion's stay in Cuba. First, issues of common interest will be reviewed. Second, preparations for the Summit of Non-Aligned Countries will be coordinated. Carrion will meet his Cuban counterpart, Felipe Perez, to review the bilateral agenda and to make preparations for the presidential summit scheduled for September in Havana. A Foreign Ministry communique said that "the ministers will also sign a cooperation agreement for the exchange of information and technical guidance in the area of historical documents and archives". (El Comercio, 6/7/06)

July 6: Little more than six months after the arrival in Bolivia of the first contingent of Cuban doctors, the Cuban Embassy confirmed to the press that there have been defections. In response to questions regarding reports of 30 Cuban doctors who might have defected, Miguel Ángel Puente, Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of Cuba in Bolivia, admitted that “in all the missions there are always members who decide to remain in other countries.” However, he dismissed the notion of a massive defection.
 (El Nuevo Día, 6/7/06)

July 6: Twenty-two Cubans were rescued by a group of Honduran fishermen when they were trying to reach the US coast in two small boats. In 2005, 171 Cubans arrived in Honduras, while 331 have made it between January and June 2006. (AP, 6/7/06)

July 6: The UN Human Rights Council deplored Israel's military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as breaching international humanitarian law and voted to send a fact-finding mission to the region. The resolution received considerable support from the non-Muslim members of the council, including India, Russia, South Africa, Brazil, Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala, Cuba, the Philippines and Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Uruguay and Zambia. Canada and European countries opposed it. (AP, 6/7/06)

July 7: The ruling presidential candidate Felipe Calderon affirmed he will seek "constructive, beneficial" relations with Cuba and Venezuela. In a press conference, Calderon indicated that, "as president, I will establish a fruitful relationship with Cuba and Venezuela, apart from the ideological stances of each nation." Shortly before the press conference, he sustained his foreign policy will be based on respect for self-determination, non-intervention, and human rights defence. (Prensa Latina, 7/7/06)

July 7: Cuba´s Culture Minister Abel Prieto and Antigua and Antigua and Barbudas´ Eleston Admas signed in Santiago de Cuba an agreement of exchange and collaboration, aimed at fostering bilateral ties of friendship and solidarity. As part of the 26th Caribbean Festival, the document establishes the presence in their respective nations of artists and groups from different tendencies international cultural events, including the Festival of Fire. The accord, in force for five years, also includes, among other things, exchange of trade, displays between the two islands’ institutions, as well as the publication of magazines, catalogues and other visual arts materials. (Prensa Latina, 7/7/06)

July 9: Bolivian Ambassador to Cuba Saul Chavez Orozco said that relations between the two countries get stronger according to their peoples´ wish. Our mission is to work intensively to consolidate bilateral ties and friendship between our peoples, said Chavez Orozco upon his arrival in Havana after being appointed by President Evo Morales. (Prensa Latina, 9/7/06)

July 10: Francisco Carrion Mena, Foreign Affairs Minister of the Republic of Ecuador said that cooperation between his country and Cuba “is working”. During an interview with the local press just a few hours before returning back to his country, Carrion Mena said that, “there is a historical tuning between the two peoples, that makes that us feel proud of the friendship that exists between Cuba and Ecuador". Invited by his Cuban counterpart Felipe Perez Roque, Carrion Mena fulfilled a tight agenda that served, he explained, "to tighten the ties of friendship between the two nations; historical and brotherly ties". The Ecuadorian Minister praised the cooperation provided by Cuba for a campaign in 16 of the 22 departments of that Andean nation, where a Cuban literacy program is been used. He also acknowledged the results of Operation Miracle, which has returned sight to more than 2,000 Ecuadorians, and also the training provided here in Cuba to young health care professionals. (Granma, 10/7/06)

July 10: The Cuban doctor who defected while on an aid mission to Bolivia seeks political asylum in another country, another dissident from the island who has lived in Bolivia for several years, Amauri Samartino, told the press. Samartino telephoned from the eastern city of Santa Cruz to say that he has helped Dr. Alberto Aguila Rios hide while he looks for refuge outside Bolivia, and said he had previously done the same for another Cuban doctor whose name he preferred not to reveal. Samartino who is also a physician has lived in this Andean capital since the year 2000 when he arrived from the US Navy base in Guantanamo, Cuba, with 10 of his compatriots seeking political asylum in Bolivia. Samartino cited rumors that there are at least 30 Cuban professionals who have fled the mission in Bolivia and have headed for the neighbouring countries of Argentina and Brazil. In a statement on a local television channel, the Cuban ambassador in La Paz, Rafael Dausa, dismissed Aguila by calling him a "petty traitor." The ambassador has denied that as many as 30 have deserted the mission and would only say that there have been "a few cases”, without giving a specific number. (EFE, 10/6/07)

July 11: Cuba will receive more than 1,200 foreign “brigadistas” this summer for its social-political tourism program. They are so-called revolutionary tourists who arrive in Cuba each year from about 50 countries for a ‘total immersion’ in one of the world’s few remaining socialist countries. “I call it a revolutionary vacation. I dedicate my free time to doing something concrete for the Cuban revolution,” Mr. Carlo Sarpero, a 26-year-old shopkeeper from Genoa, Italy, explained, as he repaired a school. The Caribbean island’s government does not measure the program’s impact in monetary value, like that of sun and beach tourism which brings in more than $2.5 billion a year, but in political terms. “A big majority of those who participate become activists in Cuban solidarity groups in their countries,” said Mr. Gabriel Benitez of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples, the program sponsor. The 21-day trip package, which includes lodging in the modest Caimito camp just west of Havana, costs $350. Recently, the government has been trying to attract young Europeans during their summer vacations in hopes of influencing a sector of the Left not always sympathetic to Fidel Castro. “That way the revolutionary message reaches places it didn’t before,” the ICAP’s Mr. Benitez said. (Reuters, 11/7/06)

July 12: The Honduran government began contacts with Cuba as initial steps on a negotiation between the two countries to avoid the transit of undocumented Cuban immigrants through this Central American nation. “It’s a first approach with Havana”, the press secretary of the Honduran chancellery said. In the last 18 months most of the almost 600 undocumented Cuban immigrants who have arrived in Honduras have left for Miami. (AP, 12/7/06)

July 14: With an interview on "All TV," Brazil started an international crusade to denounce new aggressive US plans for Cuba. The first and largest online TV network of this South American country met live Cuba's General Council to Brazil, Ambassador Carlos Trejo, for almost one hour. On the program, the diplomat spoke of the criminal brutality of these new measures announced against Cuba by US President George W. Bush and his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. (Prensa Latina, 14/7/06)

July 14: Cuba has been appointed to chair the Committee on Rivers of the Pan-American Engineers Associations - made up of 26 countries in the region, with Spain as an observer. With Cuban expert Rafael Feito to head the specialized institution, this is the first time for the island to chair the expert group. (ACN, 14/7/06)

July 14: Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto met in Rio de Janeiro with Brazilian intellectuals during his second day of visit. Prieto held talks with a group of cultural figures sympathetic with Cuba, in which he analyzed aspects on the Cuban reality and established priorities for current situations. Prieto invited Brazilian intellectuals to attend festivals like the New Latin American Cinema festival, Havana Biennial, theater and other cultural activities taking place in Cuba. (Prensa Latina, 15/7/06)

July 16: Cuba strongly condemned the Israeli aggressions on Lebanon, which led to the killing of innocent civilians and destruction of the country's infrastructure. "Cuba condemns Israeli violations of the international laws and norms through its military offensive on a sovereign country under different pretexts to protect its security by the military and financial support of the US Administration," a statement by the Cuban Foreign Ministry said. (SANA, 16/7/06)   

July 17: Honduran authorities are devising a plan to halt what they say is an organized smuggling operation, fearing an ''avalanche'' of illegal landings by Cuban migrants who are using Honduras as a gateway to the United States. ''What we are witnessing is the trafficking of human beings,'' Germán Espinal, Honduran director general of international migration, told the press. ``We need to find a mechanism that will distance us from being accomplices to human trafficking.'' A record number of Cubans have landed on Honduran beaches this year: at least 380 over the past six months, compared to 179 in all of 2005 and 47 in 2002. Soon after arrival, the Cubans usually leave Honduras by land to make their way to the US-Mexico border and become beneficiaries of the US wet-foot/dry-foot policy upon stepping on US soil. Honduran authorities say they hope to reach some kind of accord with the US and Cuban governments that will dissuade those trying to flee the island from using the Central American nation as a stopover to “El Norte”. (The Miami Herald, 17/7/06)

July 17: Frederick A. Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Public Service of Bahamas, began an official visit to Cuba at the invitation of his local counterpart, Felipe Perez Roque. During his visit, the Bahamas Foreign Minister will open an embassy for his country in Havana. Among those joining Mitchell on his visit to Cuba are Melanie Griffin, Minister of Social Services and Community Development; parliament members Tennyson Wells, Keod Smith and Whitney Bastian; the standing secretary of the Foreign Ministry, Patricia Rodgers; and the Bahamian ambassador to Cuba, Carlton Wright. Diplomatic relations between Cuban and Bahamas were established in November 1974. Bahamas and Cuba are both members of the Association of Caribbean States and the Non-Aligned Movement, which is holding its 14th Summit in Havana in September. (Granma, 17/7/06)

July 17: South Africa's Nelson Mandela said he "never imagined" reaching the age of 88 as he received one of his first birthday presents -- a shipment of rum and cigars from Fidel Castro.  Mandela's spokeswoman, Zelda La Grange, said the man affectionately known as "Madiba" around South Africa was in fine shape and looking forward to his birthday.  La Grange said presents for Mandela were beginning to arrive from around the world, including the special birthday shipment from Cuba's Castro. "The president kept his promise and sent the rum and cigars," La Grange said of Castro. Mandela, however, is a committed anti-smoker and not known as a drinker. (Reuters, 18/7/06)

July 18: Cuba´s National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon publicly denounced the connivance of the European Union nations with the aggressive US policy against the island. Local Granma daily published an article in which Alarcon termed the EU a “Sleeping Beauty” v/v the most recent public plans of President George W. Bush.
Alarcon condemned the additional measures on the Caribbean nation passed July 10 by the White House, which include suits against nations trading with Cuba, as the extra-territorial Helms-Burton Act sets out. He recalled that when the US enacted that legislation in 1996, Europe condemned neither its genocide and interventionist nature nor its aim to wipe out the island’s independence and sovereignty. (Prensa Latina, 18/7/06)

July 18: Cuba's National Assembly (Congress) Deputy Speaker Jaime Crombet reasserted in Managua the ties of friendship and cooperation that join the island's legislative power with its counterpart in Nicaragua. "Our relations are excellent, because we have historically worked closely," said the Cuban legislator after meeting with his Nicaraguan counterpart Rene Nuñez. The aim of Crombet's visit to Nicaragua is to attend the celebrations for the 27th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution. (Prensa Latina, 19/7/06)

July 18: Cuban analysts linked to official media openly expressed their support for the Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador and demanded a recount of last elections’ votes to guarantee the governability in that country. The political crisis in Mexico was the topic of discussion at the Round Table, a television talk show through which the Cuban authorities usually voice their position on current events. On that particular broadcast, the producers interspersed telephone interviews with Mexican analysts partial to López Obrador and with PRD senator Jesús Ortega. (AP, 19/7/06)

July 19: Cuba opened its embassy in Islamabad, establishing diplomatic relations with Pakistan for the first time. Cuba evinced interest in establishing formal ties with Pakistan following last year's devastating earthquake when teams of Cuban Doctors helped treat Pakistani quake victims. (New Kerala, 19/7/06)

July 19: A Cuban union leader said Australian workers face an attack on their rights from the federal government's workplace reforms. Gilda Chacon-Bravo, head of the Asia Pacific region of the Cuban Federation of Workers, said she found it hard to believe Australian workers were experiencing such an onslaught.  "In Cuba, 98 per cent of workers have union affiliation and collectively bargain," said Ms Chacon-Bravo, who will be the keynote speaker at a Australia-Cuba Friendship Society public forum in Adelaide. "It is clear that the Australian government is trying to destroy any opposition it encounters, and that its current target is to divide and undermine Australian working families," Chacon-Bravo added. (AAP, 19/7/06)

July 19: Cuban Johandry Núñez Fioveredo spent his 14th day "living" at Juan Santamaría Airport because he has no valid visa to enter Costa Rica. Immigration authorities confirmed that Núñez, 27, tried to clear customs with forged travel documents. According to Deputy Director of Immigration and Foreigner Status Xinia Sossa, his situation is complex as he cannot yet be deported. Meanwhile, Núñez, who cannot leave the airport grounds, strolls around the boarding area, chats with other passengers and borrows the phone to make personal calls. (La Nación, 19/7/06)

July 19: In an interview with the Spanish daily ABC, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, José Miguel Insulza, said that “if it is not possible to establish a dialogue with Cuba, we cannot resort to violence either.” To a question about how the OAS could influence the process of succession in Cuba, Insulza replied that the sanction applied against Cuba in 1962 imposes limits. “I believe that this policy is not going to change because the Cubans do not want it to either. Now, when the transition takes place, no one knows what will happen.” And he added, “if it is not possible to establish a dialogue with Cuba, we cannot resort to violence either.” (ABC, 19/7/06)

July 19: From inside the Cuban embassy in Mexico City, Peter Gellert, a non-diplomat and representative of the Mexican Movement of Solidarity with Cuba, called upon alternative groups to support the social mobilization before the possible accession of Felipe Calderón to the presidency. "It is important to support the anti-imperialist mobilization before Felipe Calderón takes office," said Gellert. The declarations were made during a conference with the so-called alternative press, where both José Leyva, the embassy’s Press Attaché, and Gellert, discussed the events scheduled to take place this year in Havana and Mexico on the occasion of several commemorative dates such as the 53rd anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban Revolution on July 26 and the celebration of  Fidel Castro's 80th birthday on August 13. (El Universal, 19/7/06)

July 19: With the possibility that Fidel Castro will visit Cordova to attend the Mercosur Summit, Roberto Quiñones, son of Cuban dissident doctor Hilda Molina, renewed his calls for the Argentinean government to intercede with the Cuban president so that his mother is allowed to travel to Argentina to meet her grandchildren. He indicated that the Argentinean authorities should deliver a "firm and direct" request to Castro, asking that his mother and his 87-year-old grandmother be allowed to go to Argentina, where Quiñones resides. (La Nación, 19/7/06) 

July 20: Following the success of the launch of its internet freedom campaign in the UK, Amnesty International is going global with “irrepressible.info”, a campaign that aims to claim back the web as a force for change in the face of an increasing willingness on the part of technology companies to aid censorship and repression. AI said that from Iran to the Maldives and Cuba to Vietnam, governments are both cracking down on those who use the internet to communicate their views and denying their citizens access to its wealth of information. “Web users are locked up, internet cafes are shut down, chat rooms are policed and blogs deleted. Websites are blocked, foreign news banned, and search engines filter out sensitive results,” a press release said. "The internet can be a great tool for the promotion of human rights -- activists can tell the world about abuses in their country at the click of a mouse. People have unprecedented access to information from the widest range of sources," said Amnesty International. [AI Campaign] (AI Press Release, 20/7/06) 

July 20: The Cuban government’s rejection of European Union (EU) funds for cooperation projects and new requirements for resource mobilization threaten the continuity of the work of European NGOs in Cuba, said Marco Terreni, one of the directors of the Italian sustainable development project Habana Ecópolis. "We are trying to build up decentralized cooperation," in other words, resources originating from "small organizations, affiliations, mayoralties, regions" in Europe. However, the funds obtained are "insufficient and scattered," which "puts us in a difficult situation," he said. Habana Ecópolis is a consortium of Italian non governmental organizations (NGOs) that since 2000 advances a wide spectrum of projects of collaboration concerned with broad issues affecting the socio-cultural environment, urban environmental sanitation and ecological protection in five municipalities of the Cuban capital. (IPS, 20/7/06)

July 20: In a rare trip abroad, Fidel Castro arrived in Cordoba, Argentina's second-largest city, to join a summit of heads of state, boost his island's trade with South America and visit the childhood home of revolutionary hero Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara. The landing of Castro's plane was broadcast live on many local news channels, and hundreds of curious people waited around the city to catch a glimpse of the 79-year-old who has ruled Cuba since the revolution in 1959. His surprise arrival -- his visit was officially announced only hours before his landing -- at the meeting of heads of state from the trade group known as Mercosur eclipsed many of the other agenda items and events scheduled for the summit, including the formal entrance of Venezuela into the bloc. Castro is expected to sign trade agreements with the Mercosur nations -- Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela -- visit Guevara's home and perhaps attend a rally with his top South American ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. (AP, 21/7/06)

July 20: The "Ladies in White," representing the families of scores of Cuban dissidents jailed in 2003, appealed to the leaders of the Mercosur trade bloc to urge Fidel Castro to free the island's more than 300 political prisoners. In a communique released after learning of Castro's travel plans, the Ladies in White asked the seven other heads of state who will be at the meeting in Argentina to intercede with "the maximum authority in the government of Cuba" in the name of basic human rights. "It is estimated that there are more than 300 peaceful political prisoners in all," the statement said. "All of them should be released." The Ladies in White asked Mercosur leaders to make surprise visits to Cuba jails and to the homes of the prisoners' families in order to see for themselves "the psychological torture, the intimidation and the smear campaigns" to which the prisoners and their relatives are subjected. The Ladies in White, which last year received the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for human rights activism, is comprised of wives, mothers, sisters and other female relations of 75 peaceful opponents of the Castro regime who were sentenced in 2003 to stiff prison terms for allegedly conspiring with Washington to undermine the Cuban Revolution. (EFE, 20/7/06)

July 20: Cuba condemned the international community’s lack of action in the face of the Israeli bombings against Lebanon and called upon the UN to have a hand in the resolution of the conflict. The president of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcón, said that the United Nations must take the initiative, call a cease-fire and demand that the sovereignty of Lebanon be respected. Alarcón, one of Fidel Castro’s closest collaborators, said that the countries of the Third World will "force" to the UN to act.
 (Reuters, 217/06)

July 20: Cuba donated four-million-US-dollars worth of modern medical equipment to Bolivia's hospitals, according to reports. Bolivia's Health Minister Nila Heredia, told Bolivian media that the donation was "state of the art in [terms of] what is needed to attend the patients," and thanked Fidel Castro for his solidarity. (Xinhua, 21/7/06)

July 20: The Bolivian Minister of Health, Nila Heredia, will face a disciplinary process that could culminate in the suspension of her professional license for allowing more than one thousand Cuban doctors to practice in the country, the Bolivian Medical College announced. The president of the Medical College, Fernando Arandia, said that the organization will also initiate legal proceedings to seek the annulment of a bilateral agreement signed early this year by virtue of which more than 1,000 Cuban doctors currently provide medical attention in Bolivia free of charge. (Reuters, 21/7/06)

July 21: In contrast with other Latin American countries, Havana will not evacuate 100 Cuban citizens living in Lebanon. According to Cuban Ambassador to Beirut, Dario Urra, Cuban diplomats will “resist until the end” Israeli attacks against Lebanon. “We will remain here, as our Commander-in-Chief says, ‘Homeland or Death’”, Urra told Juventud Rebelde newspaper. Some 100 women married to Lebanese or Palestine young men who studied in Cuba, are living now with their new families in Lebanon. “None of them have died or have been hurt. Most of them have left for safe places and have regrouped with other Cubans”, Urra said. All the relatives of Cuban diplomats in Beirut were evacuated. (Reuters, 21/7/06)

July 21: Fidel Castro briefed the leaders of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) nations on Cuba’s experiences in the areas of education, public health and in energy savings. Castro spoke as a special guest at the 30th Mercosur Summit held in the city of Cordoba, Argentina. Fidel Castro stressed the good results obtained with the application of the Cuban literacy program "Yo sí Puedo" (Yes, I can) in Venezuela, where 1.5 million people were taught how to read and write. The Cuban Head of State also underscored the results of the Operation Miracle free eye-surgery and treatment program launched by Havana and Caracas. (Granma, 21/7/06)

July 21: Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez rallied thousands of leftist sympathizers after a South American trade summit in Argentina, railing against U.S.-backed free market policies they blame for many of Latin America's woes. Addressing 15,000 people, Castro praised Venezuela's entry into Mercosur, a move that gave the South American trade bloc a hard push to the left. ``Mercosur once was just four countries. Now it is improved and is expanding,'' Castro declared on a stage beneath a banner reading ``integration is our flag.'' He said a "social Mercosur" could provide millions of Latin Americans with healthcare and education. (Granma, AP, 21/7/06)

July 21: For the second time, Argentine President, Néstor Kirchner, mediated in favour of Cuban surgeon Hilda Molina trying to facilitate her a trip to Argentina to visit her son and grandson. For over ten years, Molina has requested the Cuban government permission to travel to Argentina for family purposes, but it has been denied.  "As you well know, it is in my interest to make possible the reunion of doctor Hilda Molina with her relatives living in Argentina”, Kirchner said in a letter addressed to Fidel Castro. The letter was handed by Argentina’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Taiana to Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, during a meeting both ministers held in Cordoba, after the celebration of the 30th Mercosur Summit. (EFE, 22/7/06)

July 22: Fidel Castro and Venezuelan ally Hugo Chavez toured the Argentine boyhood home of Castro's fallen comrade and legendary guerrilla, Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Cordoba. It was a first visit for both. The two Latin American leaders also saw memorabilia including Guevara's birth certificate and hand-written letters. Castro and Chavez viewed the house with three childhood friends of Guevara's — Calica Ferrer, Enrique Martin and Ariel Vidoza — and left 90 minutes later without talking to the press. (AP, 22/7/06)

July 24: Former Czech president Vaclav Havel and former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who is of Czech origin, highlighted the latest project of Cuban Oswaldo Paya, who recently unveiled the programme of non-violent transition of Cuba to democracy. Havel and Albright said about Programa Todos Cubanos (Programme for All Cubans) that it was an excellent road map for Cuba. Havel and Albright said that the programme had arisen from a discussion among 12,000 Cubans living both in Cuba and abroad. "The Program for All Cubans, and the national dialogue from which it sprang, is an extension of the Varela Project, a remarkable model of an indigenous, grassroots effort to bring about democratic reform," they said. (CTK, 24/7/06)

July 24: Once a subservient member of the Soviet bloc, the Czech Republic is now one of Fidel Castro's top foreign tormentors, providing material and moral support to dissidents, leading efforts to condemn the island's human-rights record in UN bodies and pushing a reluctant European Union to take a tougher stance on Castro. Such actions have earned the tiny nation of 10 million vitriolic condemnations by the Castro government, the harassment of its diplomats in Havana and the gratitude of the Cuban-American community. Lately the Central European nation seems to be devoting more resources to the cause. The embassy has a full-time Cuba desk officer and is distributing pro-democracy literature on the island, said Czech Ambassador Petr Kolar. The 44-year-old Kolar, who worked as janitor in the 1980s after he was ejected from a university for refusing to join the Communist Party, and more recently oversaw a human-rights division in the foreign ministry, said Czechs have a sense of kinship with the Cuban opposition.
''After the fall of communism, it became our natural duty to help people in countries where they have authoritarian or totalitarian regimes,'' he told the press. ``We remember how important it was to be supported from outside.'' (The Miami Herald, 24/7/06)

July 26: Bilateral relations between Dominica and Cuba have deepened with the opening of the newly refurbished Nursing School and Nurses hostel. Under the Cuban Technical Assistance Programme, the Cuban Government has so far contributed materials in the amount of over $500,000 while the Government of Dominica has contributed labour in the amount of $400,000 towards the refurbishment of the old Nursing School and Nurses hostel, now to be referred to as the Faculty of Health Sciences, Goodwill Campus. Under the Programme, the Cuban Government is providing seventeen nursing tutors over the next two and a half years. (CaribbeanNetNews, 28/7/06)

July 27: The Marxist Communist Party of India (CPM) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretaries Prakash Karat and AB Bardhan are visiting Havana to attend the birthday celebrations of Fidel Castro on August 13. Communist leaders from across the world are gathering in Havana for a Left re-union of sorts. As Castro, whose movement was an inspiration for the Indian Left, turns 80, Mr Karat and Mr Bardhan will rub shoulders with communist leaders from other Latin American countries including Hugo Chavez. The guest list for the celebrations includes renowned Latin American writer and Castro's friend Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as well as legendary footballer Diego Maradona, who apparently, sports Castro and Che Guevera tattoos.  (The Economic Times, 27/7/06)

July 27: The Mexican Secretary of External Affairs, Luis Ernesto Derbez, announced he will not be attending the 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Havana, next September, due to a very busy agenda. "Unfortunately, there’s a UN International Meeting on Migration taking place the same days in New York. México has been very active promoting this meeting”, Derbez said. The Secretary also said it hasn’t been decided yet who will be heading the delegation that “could” be attending the Havana Summit. “Probably, we’ll find someone who will be representing us in that meeting in Havana”, he added. Mexico has observer status in NAM. (AFP, 28/7/06) 

July 28: Cuba has re-affirmed its strong support for India’s candidature for permanent membership of the UN Security Council and given a positive response to the candidature of Mr Shashi Tharoor, India's nominee for the post of the UN Secretary General. The two countries held extensive exchange of views on issues related to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), preparatory to the 14th NAM Summit which will take place in Havana in September. The Indian delegation which was led by Ms. Shashi U. Tripathi, Secretary (West) in the External Affairs Ministry, met Acting Foreign Minister of Cuba, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, Deputy Foreign Ministers Marcos Rodriguez Costa and Abelardo Moreno, responsible for bilateral and multilateral affairs, respectively, and other senior officials. (UNI, 28/7/06)

July 28: As the head of Cuba's National Centre for Sexual Education, Mariela Castro is a vocal supporter of rights for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the transgendered. That support brought her to Montreal, Canada, to speak at the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights, being held in conjunction with the First World Outgames. Castro, 43, is the daughter of Raul Castro, Cuba's defence minister and the first in line to succeed 80-year-old dictator Fidel Castro, who has ruled the country for 50 years. Mariela Castro's participation was a matter of controversy. Some applauded her for supporting Cuba's sexual minorities; others, however, were skeptical. "Perhaps her intentions are good, but until people can express themselves freely in Cuba and have freedom to associate, I won't believe things have changed for gays and lesbians," said Toronto film editor Ricardo Acosta, a gay man who was expelled from Cuba in 1980 as part of a massive deportation that became known as the Mariel boatlift. Speaking to reporters, Castro acknowledged Cuba's history of suppressing LGBT rights, but she insisted the mass arrests, imprisonments in work camps, job discrimination and deportations of the 1960s, '70s and '80s are things of the past. (Montreal Gazette, 29/7/06)