Chronicle on Cuba - November 2006

Domestic Affairs

November 1: Cuba's top Olympic officer pleaded for baseball to be reinstated as an Olympic sport. Jose Ramon Fernandez, president of the Cuban Olympic Committee, said before the 11th World Sports for All conference in Havana that the International Olympic Committee's preoccupation with US-based professionals as the best players in the game was off base. Fernandez rejected arguments made by IOC president Jacques Rogge for dropping baseball. Rogge has said the Olympic Games need to be an arena for the best in sport. However, the Summer Olympics take place during the baseball season and many countries are deprived of their major leaguers. The Cuban Olympic boss questioned whether the major leagues represent the best after all. (Globe & Mail, 2/11/06)

November 1: The Cuban Foundation for Human Rights asked for solidarity as repression against dissidents increases. “The aggressiveness of the Cuban government against peaceful dissidents is extremely dangerous and worrisome, and we hold the Cuban government responsible for the life and health of the assailed dissidents and their relatives”, said the FCDH. (Cubanet, 1/11/06)

November 1: Contributing to sports being more attractive for young and old alike and encouraging the practice of sports among minorities and developing countries are challenges facing the International Sport for All Congress, affirmed Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in Havana. The sports official presided over the opening of the Congress together with Raúl Castro, Cuban first vice president. The IOC entrusted the organization of the Congress to Cuba "in recognition of a country that has made an extraordinary contribution to the international sports movement in recent years," Rogge commented. The Congress, sponsored jointly by the IOC, the World Health Organization and the General Association of International Sports Federations, featured the central theme of "Risks and Benefits of Physical Activity." José Ramón Fernández, president of the Cuban Olympic Committee, said that about 1,000 participants from 100 countries would participate in the event’s discussions. (Granma International, 1/11/06)

November 1: Presided by the prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso, the 20th International Ballet Festival of Havana opened with a gala to honor the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birth. The National Ballet of Cuba (BNC) staged the opening performance plus the premiere of Alonso's Mozart Divertimento, especially devoted to the magnificent Austrian composer. This year, the ballet festival will be hosted by different cities of the country, besides its traditional venues in Havana. Theaters in the central provinces of Matanzas and Cienfuegos will serve as venues for the 2006 festival. The Cuban audience will be able to enjoy world dancers such as Argentinean Julio Bocca and Maximiliano Guerra, Russian Natalia Osipova, and Italian Carla Fracci, who is premiering Desnuda luz del amor (Naked Light of Love), especially created for her by Alonso. (AIN, 1/11/06)

November 2: The president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, met Cuba's acting president Raul Castro for an hour as part of his visit to Havana for the World Sport For All Congress. "We spoke about doping in sport (…) sports in general and Cuba's unique position in athletics," Rogge told Havana reporters. (Xinhua, 3/11/06)

November 3: The latest Castro video aired on Cuban TV served as a ''proof of life'' of sorts. Rumors that he had died last week were churning so briskly that even Castro felt he had to respond. Yet the images released over the past three months show Castro in an apparent slow decline. He has acknowledged losing 41 pounds, but then said he regained about half of that. The latest video showed him doing what appeared to be walk-in-place exercises, slowly swinging his elbows as his slippered feet, set wide, marked time but did not move forward. That ''is exactly what you would have expected for somebody who has been ill for an extended period of time, who has not been active,'' said University of Miami gastroenterologist Dr. Jeffrey Raskin. ``You have a wide-based gait to steady yourself because you're weak (...) Probably in his own environment, he's walking around with a walker.'' Raskin and Dr. Charles Gerson, a gastroenterologist at Mount Sinai in New York, both said that Castro's three-months-and-counting recovery suggest a serious illness, such as cancer. ''Usually for a benign condition if you have surgery, after a month or six weeks you are back to normal,'' Gerson said. ``Three months after surgery, he should be better.'' (The Miami Herald,3/11/06)

November 5: The Provincial Committee of the Cuban Communist Party in the City of Havana, where the biggest social investment plans on the island are underway, pointed out deficiencies in the progress of the work, particularly in the health sector, reported the weekly newspaper “Tribuna de la Habana”. The first secretary of the Communist Party in the City of Havana, Pedro Sáez, expressed the “urgency to modify the methods and styles of work of the Party, in cases where subjective constraints have prevented meeting the deadlines for the improvement and expansion of some hospitals”, according to the source. Sáez presided over a meeting of the Provincial Committee of the PCC to examine the progress of the work of the so called “Battle of Ideas” program, aimed in particular at improving and expanding hospitals, cultural institutions and schools, among other social programs. (EFE, 5/11/06)

November 6: Cuba's foreign minister stepped away from an earlier assertion that Fidel Castro would return to power in December and declined to say whether the ailing Cuban leader would be well enough to attend the celebration of his 80th birthday on December 2, as was announced. Felipe Perez Roque said he couldn't discuss when Castro, who is recovering from intestinal surgery, will return. "It's a subject on which I don't want to speculate," the minister told the press in an interview. Castro's return, he said, "will come when it's the right moment." Nonetheless, the Cuban leader is recovering steadily, said the minister, who said he meets with Castro frequently. "He looks good. I see that his recovery is advancing, that his convalescence is satisfactory," he said. "We are optimistic, and happy. The only ones who are sad are our enemies, who were all prepared to celebrate (his death)." Perez Roque refused to speculate on when Castro might return, saying: "The important thing is his recovery, which he's doing in a serious and persistent manner." (The New York Times, Toronto Star, 6/11/06)

November 6: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said the US trade embargo is first to blame for scarcity of goods and lack of economic opportunity on the island, but he also acknowledged Cuban "errors" and "insufficiencies." "Does our economy require that we make decisions to change some things, to fix what is wrong? Yes," he said. "And it can be done, in the right moment." Observers have speculated that, under a more permanent leadership by Raul Castro, Cuba might adopt an economic model based on China, which is also communist but has increasingly opened markets. Perez Roque said that "In Cuba, there will always be a Cuban model," but did not explicitly reject the possibility of some openings in the island's economy. (The New York Times, 6/11/06)

November 6: In Cuba, alcoholism affects five percent of people over 15, including both clinical forms of alcoholism: binge drinking and heavy drinking on a regular basis. "In our country the proportion of men to women within that five percent figure is approximately three men to one woman”, psychiatrist Ricardo González told the press. In his view, such comparative data justify the statement that alcoholism is not a health problem among women in Cuba, although preventive policies take it into account because of the enormous risk to unborn and breastfeeding children. According to González, the head of Addiction Treatment Services at the Havana Psychiatric Hospital, and president of the Cuban Society of Psychiatry, alcoholism is determined by "a mosaic of factors," in which hedonism (pleasure-seeking) and socio-cultural circumstances play an important part. In seeking the causes of alcoholism in women, "one must not lose sight of the higher frequency of depression among the female sex, worldwide, and the relatively frequent use of alcohol to alleviate symptoms." Women are also more susceptible to liver diseases caused by alcohol, in a shorter time and with a lower consumption than men. "I hit bottom when I decided I didn't want to carry on living like that and I threw myself off the balcony," a woman said. A few days after leaving the hospital, she found an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) group in her neighbourhood that helped her reclaim her life. (IPS, 6/11/06)

November 6: Guillermo Espinosa Rodríguez of the Agencia de Prensa Libre Oriental (APLO), an independent news agency, was sentenced by a court in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba to two years of house arrest for being a “danger to society.” Espinosa was brought before the court after being held for 12 days at Department 21 of the state security police. The court also ordered Espinosa to get a state job and banned him from continuing his journalistic activities or he would be sent to prison. Espinosa worked as a nurse until three months ago when he was fired because of his dissident views. (RWB, Cubanet, 6/11/06)

November 6: The Catholic Bishops of Cuba met in plenary assembly to discuss among other things, preparation for the 5th General Conference of CELAM (Council of Latin American Bishops’ Conferences) in May 2007 at Aparecida, Brazil. After careful reading over the past months of the Document of Participation in various communities and representative sectors of the Church in Cuba, the Bishops will examine the results of this reflection in order to approve the national Church’s contribution to CELAM 5. The Bishops will also examine a study undertaken by a special team with regard to Baptismal Pastoral . The bishops will be presented with recommendations and guidelines from which they will elaborate adequate pastoral for better attention to the opportunity for evangelisation offered by the baptism of children. Catholic presence in Cuban culture and suggestions for celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the finding of the lost image of Our Lady of Charity are other themes on the Bishops’ agenda at the meeting. (FIDES, 6/11/06)

November 7: The group organizing Fidel Castro's 80th birthday party said it was unsure the Cuban leader would attend the December 2 celebration that also will mark the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution's start. The group's statement was the latest signal about Castro's health since intestinal surgery in July forced him to temporarily cede power to his brother Raul. "In the opportune moment, in the midst of Fidel's disciplined process of recovery, he will decide the circumstances in which it will be possible for him to accompany those of us who will be here," said Alfredo Vera, coordinator of the Guayasamin Foundation in charge of the birthday events. Vera, reading from a statement at a Havana press conference, declined to elaborate. (Reuters, 8/11/06)

November 8: The Progressive Arch coalition urged the Cuban government to stop the “acts of repudiation” against dissidents and to fulfil the government’s international commitments on terrorism. A written statement signed by the spokesman of the movement, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, calls such acts of repudiation a “particular form of State terrorism”. (AFP, 8/11/06)

November 9: The mass media war and the use of the Internet as a new battlefield were the topics on the first day of an international gathering of war correspondents taking place at the "Jose Marti" International Institute of Journalism in Havana. The first session was attended by Orlando Fundora, President of the World Peace Movement. Jose Dos Santos, first vice president of the Cuban Association of Journalists (UPEC), addressed the meeting on behalf of the Latin American Federation of Journalists. (Granma, 9/11/06)

November 10: Ailing Fidel Castro is recovering and expected to return to power, but he may not be well enough to attend his 80th birthday celebration on December 2, the head of Cuba's National Assembly said. ``I know he's doing well, that he continues to recover, fulfilling his rehabilitation program with discipline,'' Ricardo Alarcon told reporters at a journalism conference in the Cuban capital. ``I am sure that process will go on in the proper way to having him fully back,'' said Alarcon, one of Castro's closest advisers. But Alarcon held open the possibility he may not make it. ``It's in his hands, but it depends on the judgment of his doctors,'' he said. Castro turned 80 on August 13, but was not well enough for a celebration, so it was postponed to December 2. (Reuters, 10/11/06)

November 13: The second season of Male Sexual Diversity cinema opened its doors in Havana, aimed at preventing sexually transmitted diseases and to warn about the risks of HIV. In Cuba “there has been great progress towards accepting” gays, said Rubén de Armas, member of a group on HIV prevention and control, and organizer of the event. Local media has not publicized the event. (AFP, 13/1106)

November 13: The eldest son of Cuban leader Fidel Castro said his father is recovering from an unspecified illness that has forced him to temporarily give up power he held since a 1959 communist revolution. But Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, better known in Cuba as "Fidelito," did not answer when asked if his father would be well enough to attend a December 2 public celebration of his 80th birthday. "The only thing I can tell you is that he is recovering," the younger Castro told the press before quickly walking away. "Fidelito" Castro, who is 57 and a nuclear physicist, spoke to the press at a biotechnology conference in Havana. (Reuters, 13/11/06)

November 14: An epidemic of dengue fever that flooded hospitals and may have killed as many as 100 Cubans has been brought under control by a fumigation campaign involving 300,000 students, pensioners and healthcare workers. The outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus was the worst in a quarter of a century and appears to have afflicted thousands during its peak in September and October. The infection rate has slowed to only a few dozen new cases this month, said a senior doctor familiar with the scope of the epidemic, who added that the response was initially slowed by government secrecy.  The physician complained bitterly about the veil initially imposed by Communist Party officials. The ostensible purpose was to avoid panicking the public, but the demand that the epidemic be treated as a confidential security matter was strongest in early September, when preparations were underway for the 14th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, to be held in Havana. "We were forbidden even to refer to it as dengue fever, because the official position is that dengue was eradicated in the 1980s," said the doctor, who has nearly three decades of experience in Havana hospitals. "We were compelled to call it 'fever syndrome.' "  Cuba's Public Health Ministry later confirmed the outbreak, telling the Pan American Health Organization representative in Havana on October 13 that the country was suffering "a classic dengue outbreak" and that about 10% of the cases involved children. The ministry gave no count of the afflicted and said that an unspecified number of deaths were "associated with preexisting chronic conditions." (Los Angeles Times, 14/11/06)

November 14: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) convened a meeting of Cuba's 26 UNESCO-affiliated libraries in the northwest city of Matanzas. "The network of libraries (…) is a bastion of education, culture and information," said Blanca Patayo, a UNESCO representative to Havana, at the opening ceremony. "Human history is gathered and preserved in libraries, and they are essential institutions for the development of peace, and humanity's spiritual values," he added. This meeting, the fifth in a series organized by the Jose Marti National Library along with regional library institutions, will cover cultural activities in communities aimed at serving the disabled, caring for the environment and preserving cultural heritage. (Xinhua, 14/11/06) 

November 15: Cuba has barred leading dissident Guillermo Farinas from travelling to Germany to receive a human rights prize awarded by the city of Weimar, a human rights group said. The Frankfurt-based International Society for Human Rights (IGFM) said Cuban authorities had cited medical grounds for refusing Farinas permission to travel to Europe. Farinas went on a seven-month hunger strike this year to demand unrestricted Internet access for Cubans. He was admitted to an intensive care unit and is in a wheelchair. The Cuban state security services told Farinas that photographs of him in a wheelchair "would damage the image of the revolution", the IGFM said. (AFP, 15/11/06) 

November 15: A new synthetic product with anti-tumor properties has been patented by a team of scientists from the Cuban Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB). The first phase of the clinical trials was completed with 31 patients with cervical cancer, Granma newspaper published. Silvio E. Perea Rodriguez, a doctor in Biological Sciences, presented the test results during the Biotechnology Havana 2006 convention. He explained to the audience that the product is a peptide that inhibits and kills the kinase CK2 enzyme, found in high levels in malignant tumors. (ACN, 15/11/06)

November 15: In San Luis, Santiago de Cuba, State Security agents arrested Cuban opposition activist Maura Iset González, president of the Latin-American Federation of Rural Women (FLAMUR). González was collecting signatures for a FLAMUR campaign demanding that the Cuban currency be accepted as the method of payment in every establishment in the country. (EER, 16/11/06)

November 16: An influential program on state-run Cuban television described plans for ailing Fidel Castro's 80th birthday celebration but did not mention whether he would attend and said his ideas were more important than his presence. The nightly ``Mesa Redonda'' show, often used by the government to disclose news, was devoted entirely to the December 2 event, but its participants stayed away from the topic of Castro's health. Moderator Randy Alonso said in a closing statement that ''more than the physical presence, the ideas of Fidel, the ideas of the revolution'' were important to the celebration. His 80th birthday was August 13, but he was unable to celebrate in public and suggested it be marked on December 2. The highlight of the celebration will be Havana's first military parade in a decade, with art, music and literary events leading up to it. (The New York Times, 16/11/06)

November 16: At least one big French film star and a former first lady from that country will be on hand for the delayed celebrations of Fidel Castro's 80th birthday, though whether the ailing longtime leader himself will appear remains unknown. The Guayasamin Foundation, named for Ecuadorian painter Oswaldo Guayasamin, is organizing a series of round table discussions, concerts and art exhibitions between November 28 and December 1 as something of a postponed birthday party for Castro. Saskia Guayasamin, daughter of Oswaldo, said French actor Gerard Depardieu has confirmed his attendance, as has Danielle Mitterrand, wife of former French president Francois Mitterrand. Among others who have said they will come are Argentine Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel and Spain's Federico Mayor Zaragoza, former head of UNESCO. (EFE, 16/11/06)

November 16: Independent journalist Julio Aleaga Pesant was detained and handcuffed on the streets and taken to a police station in a patrol car. The incident took place minutes after the reporter, along with a group of colleagues, took part in a televised lecture on journalistic techniques sponsored by Florida International University, at the US Interests Section in Havana. (Cubanet, 21/11/06)

November 18: The Acting President of the Independent Movement for an Alternative Option, Juan Francisco Sigler Amaya, was forcefully arrested along with his son, Gulliver Sigler González. Juan Francisco and his son were thrown in a police car when they tried to cross a cordon of police forces and pro-government mobs that for several days impeded access to the block where some of their relatives live. (Cubanet, 25/11/06)

November 19: With one last chance to save face in an otherwise disappointing year, Cuba's national baseball team won the Inter Continental Baseball Cup. Cuba, long the dominant force in international baseball, had won all but one tournament this year, the Central American Games. When it had stepped out onto the larger world stage, Cuban teams had played well, but not well enough. The same Cuban national team, playing at home in Havana, lost to Team USA's roster of minor leaguers in the Americas Olympic qualifier in August, and Cuba's junior national and college national teams similarly had failed to win tournaments on Cuban soil. Cuba has now won back-to-back IC's, claiming the event the last time it was played in 2002. (Baseball America, 19/11/06)

November 19: The health of 62 year-old Cuban journalist Oscar Mario Gonzalez Perez has deteriorated considerably since he was detained and imprisoned in July 2005. Mr. Gonzalez has been held without trial and is being denied adequate medical treatment for serious health problems. Cuban prison authorities have refused to administer necessary medical tests despite pleas from his wife and a physician's diagnosis that such tests are needed. (Cuba News, 20/11/06)

November 20: Cuban official mass media admitted that the intense prevention and fumigation campaign carried out in the last several months has not managed to prevent the spread of Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that carries the dengue virus. The campaign has mobilized thousands of people across the entire country to spray every home. (EFE, 21/11/06)

November 21: Independent trade unionist Lázaro González Adán was sentenced to three years in prison after a trial held in the municipal court of Sibanicú, province of Camagüey. After two years in detention without charges or trial for the alleged crimes of disobedience and public disturbance, the court issued its sentence against González Adán. (Cubanet, 21/11/06)

November 21: Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage said he remains optimistic about the recovery of ailing leader Fidel Castro, and another senior Cuban official also said Castro was getting better after intestinal surgery four months ago. "He continues to recover, his health continues to improve," Lage said in a news broadcast on Cuban state television. “We are very optimistic about his recovery," Lage added in comments to reporters during a visit to the eastern province of Holguin. Ricardo Alarcon, a key figure in the communist-run government, was also optimistic about Castro's convalescence, telling reporters that the leader "is fulfilling his obligation to get better." (The Herald Tribune, 21/11/06)

November 21: The Cuban government released without explanation two dissidents who had been in prison since their arrests last year, an opposition leader said.  The regime set free Oscar Mario Gonzalez and Santiago Valdeolla, who were arrested along with 20 other people on July 22, 2005, as they were organizing a demonstration in front of the French Embassy, the head of the illegal Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, or CCDHRN, Elizardo Sanchez, told the press. Ricardo Medina and Francisco Moure, who had been arrested at the French Embassy protest, were set free on October 25. The head of the CCDHRN said that at the beginning of the year the island's communist government freed Jesus Adolfo Reyes, another member of the embassy protest group, but still in prison without any formal charges against them are Rene Gomez Manzano, Julio Cesar Lopez, Raul Martinez and Miguel Lopez Santos. Sanchez said that in August and September there had been a general decline in "acts of political repression" by the communist regime, but he added that in October and so far in November there had been "dozens of arrests." "It seems that the government is replacing the repression ... (of) long-term imprisonment with low-profile political repression: short-term arrests, threats, interrogations, (and) physical or verbal attacks," he said. (EFE, 21/11/06)

November 22: After a tour around the country, a commission of the Cuban parliament announced that it would look at the national program for home building and repair, which according to one of the members of the group, has some problems and deficiencies despite considerable state financial support. The statements were made by Leonardo Martínez, president of one of 10 commissions of the Cuban National Assembly of the People’s Power. (WDS, 22/11/06)

November 22: Dissident Oswaldo Payá called upon Cubans “to raise their voices” for the release of political prisoners on the island, two weeks after making a similar call of support to the United Nations Human Rights Council. “Once again we call upon all Cubans, inside and out of Cuba, to raise their voices in favour of the release of those subjected to suffering by cruel and inhuman imprisonment”, said Payá in a statement of the Christian Liberation Movement, over which he presides. (EER, 23/11/06)

November 23: A member of the Ladies in White – wives and relatives of political prisoners -- was attacked with stones by a State Security collaborator while walking along the main street of the town of Palmarito de Cauto, in Santiago de Cuba. Ana Belkis Ferrer García said the local chief refused to recognize the allegations when she reported the attack to the police. (Cubanet, 23/11/06)

November 23: Dissident Alberto Hernández Suárez, in detention since midyear, was set free. Hernández Suárez, the director of an independent library in Pinar del Río, had been serving one year in jail at the Taco Taco prison, in Pinar del Río, since April 12, under charges of “dangerousness”. (Cubanet, 23/11/06)

November 24: With a cultural gala at the Karl Marx Theater in Havana began the festivities in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the landing of the Granma yacht in eastern Cuba on December 2, 1956. The colorful event, broadcast on national television, was presided by commanders of the Revolution Juan Almeida, Ramiro Valdes and Guillermo Garcia —three of the 82 members of the expeditionary force who accompanied Fidel Castro on that historic voyage across the Gulf of Mexico. Among the guests attending the gala were members of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, participants in the 1953 assault on the Moncada Garrison in Santiago de Cuba, members of the Rebel Army established in the Sierra Maestra Mountains after the Granma landing, participants in the defense of Cuba in the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, Cubans who fought abroad on internationalist missions, and officers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and Ministry of Interior. Works of art were presented to the FAR from different Cuban political and mass organizations, received by Chief of Staff Vice-Minister, General Alvaro Lopez Miera. Army General and Minister of the Armed Forces Raul Castro did not attend the event. (Granma, El Nuevo Herald, 25/11/06)

November 25: Silvio Rodriguez, one of the icons of the Latin American political song, celebrated his 60th birthday along with a whole host of Cuban signer-song writers, friends and family. Some 40 Cuban singers from all generations joined the beloved purveyor of “nueva trova” for two concerts entitled “Te doy una cancion” (I give you a song) at the Pablo de la Torriente Brau Center in Havana. "We are gathered together to celebrate all these years of resistance. I would like to thank all the singer-song writers, those who learned my songs and those who didn’t pay any attention to them," said Silvio in front of a multitude that filled the halls of the center. Vicente Feliu, Gerardo Alfonso, Alberto Faya, Charly Salgado, Duo Karma, Eduardo Sosa, and Samuel Águila were among the singers that performed Silvio’s songs at the concert. (Granma International, AIN, 25/11/06)

November 26: An exhibition of photographs from Fidel and Raul Castro was inaugurated in Havana, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Armed Revolutionary Forces (FAR) and birthday celebrations for Fidel Castro. "Homage," title of the exhibition, was opened to the public at the Jose Marti Memorial, with 58 photographs by several Cuban artists, according to the official newspaper Juventud Rebelde. (Prensa Latina, 26/11/06)

November 28: The “Colegio Mayor San Geronimo de La Habana” was inaugurated as a branch of the more than two century old University of Havana at the same site where the first Cuban university was located. After a complex process or renovation undertaken by the Office of the City Historian of what was, until a few years ago, the venue of the Ministry of Education has been converted into a multifunctional installation in which the new university facilities will be sharing space with museums, a cinema and other facilities. This new institution is the second university campus in the municipality of Old Havana, and will be devoted to the training of highly skilled professionals in restoration, archeology and related fields. (Granma, 28/11/06)

November 28: Ailing Fidel Castro said that he was not well enough to attend a gala kicking off five days of celebrations of his 80 years.  Castro, who has not appeared in public since he underwent intestinal surgery in late July, said in a message that was read out to 5,000 supporters and admirers from dozens of countries that doctors had not allowed him to attend the packed event in Havana's Karl Marx Theatre. "It was only in the Karl Marx Theatre that all guests could be seated but, according to the doctors, I was not yet ready for such a challenging engagement," he said in the message. "I bid you farewell with great sorrow for not being able to personally thank you and embrace every one of you," he ended.  Attending the event were Cuban vice president Carlos Lage and Esteban Lazo, minister of Foreign Affairs, Felipe Pérez Roque, and the president of the National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcón. Interim president, Raul Castro did not attend the gala at the Karl Marx Theatre. [Mensaje de Fidel Castro] (Reuters, El Mundo, 29/11/06)

November 29: Over 1,600 renowned international figures from more than 80 countries inaugurated the colloquium "Memory and Future: Cuba and Fidel”. World Personalities from around the world stressed the role of Fidel Castro in the international struggle for global justice, during the first day of the Colloquium. Spanish journalist and writer Monserrat Poncha, Argentinean social activist Hebe de Bonafini, leader of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, and Chilean writer Volodia Teittelboim were among the speakers. A panel of Cuban professors briefed the audience on the latest changes in the Cuban education system and the positive impact of the literacy program "Yes I Can", implemented in several Latin American countries. Sponsored by the Guayasamin Foundation, the intellectual exchanges are part of the activities which kicked off the day before in Havana for the 80th birthday of Fidel Castro. (Radio Habana Cuba, AIN, 29/11/06)

November 29: Fidel Castro's absence from his belated 80th birthday celebration has reinforced suspicions he is too gravely ill to return to power he ceded provisionally to brother Raul on July 31. Questions about his health and fitness to govern have dominated the run-up to the week's events, which many have said felt more like a farewell to the bearded comandante than a celebration. Most analysts have basically written Castro off, saying even if he survives, he likely will be only a figurehead while his brother runs the government. (Reuters, 29/11/06)

November 29: Interim President Raul Castro made his first public appearance in weeks, as his brother Fidel remained absent from public celebrations marking his 80th birthday. Neither of the Castros was at the public events honouring Fidel's 80th birthday. However Raul Castro, 75, appeared at an open-air event in central Havana celebrating revolutionary folk singer and composer Silvio Rodriguez's 60th birthday. A group of schoolchildren at the event asked him to forward their greetings to his brother Fidel. "He's fine, today I'm going to see him," Raul Castro told the children, according to state television. Raul's last public appearance was on November 2, when he reviewed military equipment to be on display at a parade that marks both the 50th anniversary of a key event in the Cuban revolution and the culmination of five days of Fidel birthday celebrations. (Reuters, 29/11/06)

November 30: Acting president Raul Castro is the "guardian" of Cuba's communist government in the absence of his brother Fidel Castro and in the face of US threats, a hard-line member of the Cuban leadership said. "We recognize Raul as the firm guardian of the Cuban Revolution," Ramiro Valdes, a regime old-timer and current Communications Minister, told a 200,000 crowd of workers and students in a sea of red, white and blue Cuban flags, at a military-civilian rally in the eastern city of Santiago. His words added to the growing perception among Cubans that their ailing leader Fidel Castro, last seen in pictures on October 28 looking gaunt and frail, may be too ill to resume governing. Raul Castro often presides over military events in Santiago, about 900 kilometers (600 miles) southeast of Havana, and many Cubans expected he would take part there. Valdes, a veteran revolutionary who fought alongside the Castro brothers in their guerrilla force that seized power in 1959, said the future of Cuba depends on the unity of its people with the ruling Communist Party. In the four months since Fidel Castro stepped aside, "all our people, the Party, the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Interior Ministry, the revolutionary cadre, have grown stronger, shoulder-to-shoulder with Raul," Valdes said. Cuban institutions have continued to function efficiently despite the "blockade" of US sanctions, Valdes said. "Never have we been so strong, so united, so alert," said Valdes, who was reappointed minister in August. "Yankee imperialists" are dreaming of political change that will not happen, he said, in reference to increased pressures by the Bush administration to undermine a Castro succession. Historic Commanders of the Revolution Juan Almeida and Guillermo Garcia were also present at the rally commemorating the Santiago uprising against Fulgencio Batista’s regime in 1956. (Reuters, 30/11/06)

November 30: Fidel Castro's age and illness have prompted his family to urge him not to attend his 80th birthday celebration, and make his full return to power unlikely, the daughter of provisional Cuban leader Raul Castro said. Mariela Castro Espin told the press her uncle was still fragile after emergency surgery in July for intestinal bleeding and must take care of himself. Castro Espin, 44, said she had no inside knowledge, but thought that illness and age would prevent Castro from coming back as the full-blown leader of Cuba. "My impression as an ordinary Cuban is that we are going to have him in another role, as the wise 80-year-old leader that now is going to take care of himself," she said.  "He's not going to the festivities because everybody is telling him, 'We don't want you to move.' We're going to celebrate, but he should stay away and take it easy," his niece said. She said Raul Castro was taking care his sick brother not try to do too much by making sure "each person assumes his responsibility without putting it on the comandante." "He (Raul) has a lot of confidence in the intelligence of the comandante, not only to direct the revolution, but also to cure himself," she said. (Reuters, 30/11/06)

November 30: Some 1,500 members of the Hebrew community in Cuba commemorated the 100th Anniversary of their presence on the island. In a conversation with the press, current Cuban president of the community, Adela Dworin, said that some 1,500 Jews currently live in the island. She remembered that the first group of Jews, who arrived in 1906 from the US, founded the first Hebrew temple and bought land to build a cemetery in the municipality of Guanabacoa, east of Havana. During the Second World War, Cuba welcomed thousands of Hebrew refugees and it was at that time that the community reached over 20,000 persons living in the island, Dworin said. Visitors from Canada, United States, and Latin American countries joined the celebrations in Havana. The official newspaper “Juventud Rebelde” said a delegation of the New York based Appeal of Conscience Foundation, headed by its president, rabine Arthur Schneier, was welcomed by Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba’s National Assembly, and by representatives of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party. (EFE, 30/11/06)

November 30: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said Cubans "will keep on fighting for Fidel Castro's ideas and dreams, since they are our principles”. Perez Roque made a presentation in a panel called "Homeland is Humanity", which was part of the colloquium "Memory and Future: Cuba and Fidel", that has brought together nearly 2,000 personalities from eighty countries. "All that Fidel wants to bequeath are his ideas, nothing else. Recovering and returning to the struggle, he will once again be defeating his enemies, those who are so full of hatred and mediocrity," Perez Roque asserted. He praised the Guayasamin Foundation for having convinced the Cuban leader to celebrate his birthday; otherwise, he said such celebrations might have been very intimate and modest. Perez Roque highlighted Fidel Castro's honesty and rejection of vanity, a value he has taught all those around him. He stressed the close friendly relations between the Cuban people and their historic leader, whom they see as a father, an older brother and part of their own family. (AIN, 1/12/06)