Chronicle on Cuba - December 2006

Domestic Affairs

December 1: The president of Cuba’s National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, convened in Havana the 8th Ordinary Sessions of the Sixth Legislature of the governmental entity. The meeting will take place at Havana’s Conference Center on December 22 with the attendance of over 600 deputies from the country’s various sectors. According to the Constitution, the Assembly is the only Cuban body with constituent and legislative authority. (Prensa Latina, 1/12/06)

December 1: A ceremony presided by First Vice President Raul Castro was held at the Karl Marx Theatre in Havana, as part of the activities organized by the Guayasamin Foundation of Ecuador for Fidel Castro’s 80thy birthday. Cuba's Vice President Carlos Lage delivered a firm defense of Cuba's one-party Communist system, insisting it would outlive ailing leader Fidel Castro. Lage, also vice president of the Council of State, told hundreds of supporters at a closing gala for celebrations honouring Castro's 80th birthday that: "We will have one party." "But I'm not talking about today, I am talking about the future. In Cuba, there will be no succession. There will be continuity. There will not be another Fidel Castro. No one will imitate him; many will follow him. There will not be ambitions, or ego trips (...) We will not allow that," Lage said. In another part of his speech, Lage said Fidel is recovering. “We will have him among us, he will continue to guide us. We are going to ask him to keep doing it for a few more years," Lage said. The Cuban Vice President said the ailing Fidel Castro was taking an "active and disciplined part in his recovery, minding all the details, asking questions, staying informed, helping out and approving things. In these difficult months for our people, and for so many friends in the world, Fidel Castro has continued to give us a good example," Lage added. (Granma, The Financial Express, The News, 2/12/06)

December 2: Fidel Castro missed a massive military parade held in his honour in Havana, fuelling more speculation about his health. Until the last minute no-one knew if Fidel Castro would make an appearance at the parade, held as part of belated birthday celebrations for him and to mark a key date in Cuban history. Fidel Castro has appeared in public only in sporadic videos and photographs, where the shrunken ailing leader was shown in his convalescence, sometimes in pajamas. His health has remained a state secret, and subject of rampant rumors. (The Miami Herald, 2/12/06)

December 3: Nobody knows where Cuba is headed, but the absence of Fidel Castro from his 80th birthday celebrations raised new doubts about his health and, for many, signaled a new era for Cuba. "It confirms that an era is over in Cuba, the Fidel era, and that a new one begins with Raul (Castro) as head of government, and with a strong military presence," said opposition leader and former political prisoner Vladimiro Roca. “Unfortunately, I don't expect any change for the opposition. Raul will begin ruling without Fidel Castro's mysticism and power, so he'll have to deal more harshly with the opposition," according to Manuel Cuesta Morua, of the dissident group Arco Progresista told the press. "Over the past few days, pressure and repression has been on the rise against practically all the opposition's" activities, he added. Economist Marta Beatriz Roque, who heads the opposition Assembly for Promoting Civil Society in Cuba, was certain Raul Castro would not alter the status quo. "If there were a true will to change things, we'd be seeing some improvement already," she said. (AFP, 3/12/06)

December 4: The National Independent Labour Confederation (CONIC) conducted an overhaul of its ranks in an effort to infuse more dynamism in its follow-up and denunciation of trade union violations as well as social and labor-related transgressions in the island. Replacements were appointed for provincial delegates who went into exile and the CONIC leadership in Granma, Las Tunas, Ciego de Ávila and Matanzas was restructured. The Confederation encompasses over 100 sectoral trade unions and has delegations in eight of fourteen provinces in the country. (Cubanet, 4/11/06)

December 4: Hundreds of people paid homage to Santa Barbara, who stands alongside Our Lady of Charity - the island's patroness - and Lazarus in the devotions of Cuba's Roman Catholic faithful. Since the eve of December 4, which is Santa Barbara's feast day, hundreds of people went to pray, make offerings and ask for miracles at the parish church bearing her name in the residential neighborhood of Parraga on the outskirts of Havana. As per custom, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the capital's archbishop, celebrated a Mass that drew about 1,000 people.  Flowers, candles and red garments stand out as the distinctive symbols of the conjunction of rituals and beliefs in the annual celebration. (EFE, 4/12/06) 

December 4: Labour authorities announced the postponement of the new “Internal Discipline Rules” (Reglamento Disciplinario Interno) on labour discipline of hours and day schedules until April. Resolution 187.2006 will come into force on January 2, but will not be put in effect until April 1, according to a resolution signed by Labor and Social Security Minister Alfredo Morales published in Trabajadores newspaper. (Prensa Latina, 4/12/06)

December 5: The 28th New Latin American Cinema Festival opened in Havana with the screening of Pan's Labyrinth, a film by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro. The film, which kept the audience on the edge of their seats, combines a magical fairytale with the crude reality of post-Civil War Spain.   Havana's Film Festival takes place at 18 theaters around the Cuban capital and includes in its competition full length fiction, documentary and short films, from or on Latin America, as well as a selection of films from several European countries and Canada and three independent productions about Latin Americans living in the United States. The documentary "People and Thoughts" was dedicated to Fidel Castro by President of the New Latin American Film Festival, Alfredo Guevara, at the opening ceremony of the 23 edition of this prestigious event organized by Cuba every year. (AIN, 5/12/06)

December 5: Fidel Castro is recovering well from his July surgery and will soon return to public life, Vice President Carlos Lage said. Castro, 80, is following doctor's orders in a disciplined manner, he said. That is why Castro was absent from the military parade commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces. (Xinhua, 5/12/06)

December 6: Hector Palacios, a well-known dissident jailed in a Cuban government crackdown on the opposition in 2003, was released from prison, Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said. Palacios is the sixteenth prisoner of the so called “Group of 75” who has been released on medical parole. According to opposition activists from Acción Democrática, Palacio’s wife, Gisela Delgado, received a call by State Security officials telling her that her husband would be released that same morning. Delgado has been active demonstrating with the Ladies in White for the release of all political prisoners. Palacios, a sociologist, is well known as one of the leading figures of the dissident movement in Cuba. Palacios joined the dissident movement in 1993 and was director of the illegal Center for Independent Social Studies and advisor to the Round Table for Reflection. He worked as a coordinator for Concilio Cubano, a coalition of dissident groups,  was a leader of the All United movement, and played an important role gathering signatures for the Varela Project, launched by Oswaldo Paya and his Christian Liberation Movement. In 1997, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for ''contemptuous'' statements about Fidel Castro. Palacios, 65, said he felt physically “destroyed” but remained “morally strong” in his opposition to the Cuban government. Opposition leaders wrote to Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations, asking him to monitor a human rights demonstration they plan for December 10. (AP, El Nuevo Herald, The Miami Herald, 6,7/12/06)

December 6: Acting President Raul Castro sat in for his ailing brother Fidel at an event marking Elian Gonzalez's 13th birthday -- and another year of the ideological campaign launched after an international custody battle over the Cuban boy. Raul Castro, 75, has been increasingly taking on his brother's public duties amid persistent questions about when -- or if -- Fidel Castro will return to power. Dressed in his habitual olive-green uniform, Raul Castro sat in the front row of the auditorium in Elian's hometown of Cardenas, a coastal city about 85 miles (140 kilometers) east of Havana, for the gathering that featured a children's choir and dance troupe. "Our greatest challenge is to strengthen and enrich the immense work of the revolution," Communist Party leader Mercedes Lopez said in a brief speech at the hour-long event. The younger Castro, who is also the island's defense minister, did not address the gathering. (AP, 6/12/06)

December 6: Cuban political prisoner, Normando Hernández, was urgently hospitalized after suffering several fainting spells. Some prisoners picked him up and called different human rights organizations within Cuba. Human rights activist Juan Carlos González Leiva spoke by phone with Hernández’ wife, who told him that her husbandwas not well, and that a doctor of the Ministry of the Interior had said that Normando would be moved shortly to the provincial hospital in Camagüey. A large number of prisoners in the facility where Hernández is incarcerated are accusing the State Security of committing a “slow assassination” against the political prisoner. Hernández is serving a 25-year sentence in Kilo 7 prison, Camagüey. (Payo Libre, 7/12/06)

December 7: A top Cuban dissident jailed in the 2003 nationwide crackdown was freed for health reasons, making him the seventh political prisoner released in the past two months. But human rights activists in Cuba warned that the releases, which could be interpreted as a goodwill gesture on the part of Havana, come at the same time that the government has increased repression against other opponents. ''The latest releases show a trend, but remember 300 are still in jail, which is the highest in the hemisphere and proportionately one of the highest in the world,'' said human rights activist Elizardo Sánchez. ``Today they released Héctor Palacios, but Monday they arrested independent journalist Ahmed Rodríguez and have held him incommunicado without charges.'' ''They are trying to create the false image that things are getting better,'' Sánchez said in a telephone interview from Havana. Leading democracy activist Oswaldo Paya, among well-wishers who rushed to greet Palacios at his home, called his colleague's early release "an act of justice." "They should release all of them," added Paya, the key promoter of the Varela Project campaign to gather signatures demanding a referendum on civil rights such as freedom of speech and business ownership. (AP, Reuters, 7/12/06)

December 7: A Cuban dissident group invited UNESCO’s regional director for the Caribbean, Hannsen Van Hoff, to participate in a silent walk on Human Rights Day and asked UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to monitor police response. In a letter delivered to the media, political opposition activist and medical doctor Darsi Ferrer, with the Patriotic National Front, informed Annan that Van Hoff, as well as all Cubans and representatives of the foreign diplomatic corps on the island have been invited to the walk. The organizers said that Cardinal Jaime Ortega, archbishop of Havana, will be asked "to encourage all parish priests to make a contribution by inserting references to the Human Rights Declaration in their sermons." (AFP, EER, 7/12/06)

December 7: With thousands in attendance, the Jehovah Witnesses of Havana held their district assemblies in the municipalities of Boyeros, Guanabacoa and Arroyo Naranjo. Both believers and guests spent time together for three days in a cordial atmosphere, with the enactment of Bible passages and the intonation of religious hymns. "We were much persecuted by this government… mercilessly, I would say. But for some years now, thank Jehovah, we have been enjoying a measure of freedom for our meetings and in our lives," a participant said. (Cubanet, 7/12/06)

December 7: Cuba, a country with one of the hemisphere's highest life expectancy rates and lowest birthrates finds itself with a dwindling population -- one that in just 13 years will see the number of retired people outnumber the labor force. The Cuban government-run media has tackled the issue in recent months, running remarkably candid coverage of a demographic phenomenon that promises to wreak havoc on an already strained social service system. As Fidel Castro -- himself 80 -- languishes in his sick bed, the effort to sustain the socialist society he built is being constantly challenged by emigration, aging adults and childless women. Since 1978, Cuba's fertility rate has decreased to levels that can no longer sustain current population levels. Now at 11.2 million, the Cuban media says it is unlikely to ever reach 12 million. During the 1960s and 1970s, Cuba's annual birthrate was about 250,000. In 2005, there were slightly more than 120,000 births, despite there being 1 million women of reproductive age. Seniors age 60 and older now make up about 16 percent of Cuba's population. The Cuban government estimates that by 2025, 26 percent of Cubans will be elderly. If current trends don't change, Cuba will join the 11 countries with the world's oldest populations, Granma, the island's main daily newspaper, reported. Another newspaper, Juventud Rebelde, put it like this: ``If in 10 years we haven't reached a coherent reproduction policy, we'll see each other more frequently at wakes than at children's birthday parties.'' Among the causes, Granma cited ''material'' problems such as housing shortages, high cost of living, lack of day-care centers and goods like children's clothing. The paper also acknowledged the outward migration of adults of child-bearing age, but said positive changes such as advances for women in the workforce and availability of birth control also contributed. (The Miami Herald, 7/12/06)

December 7: Independent journalist Ahmed Rodríguez Albacia, 21, a reporter with the Youth without Censorship news agency, is in police custody and remains incommunicado. According to the Cuban Human Rights Foundation (FCDH), his relatives have not been allowed any form of contact with him. (Cubanet, 7/12/06)

December 7: A multimedia CD entitled Fidel: Ethics and Human Values, was presented during a workshop at the Enrique Jose Varona Pedagogical Institute in Havana. The CD includes some 998 speeches delivered by the Cuban leader between January 1998 and September 2006, along with a glossary of terms, videos and photo galleries. Armando Hart Davalos, the director of the Jose Marti Program Office, presided the meeting in which members of the University Students Federation also participated. The product was made by a professor at the institution as a symbolic gift for Fidel Castro's 80th birthday. (AIN, 7/12/06)

December 7: A leading dissident group called for an urgent and definitive transfer of power to Raul Castro to better deal with the transition period in Cuban politics opened by Fidel Castro's absence. With concerns about the country's leadership heightened in the more than four months since Castro, 80, disappeared from public for an intestinal operation and turned power temporarily over to his brother Defense Minister Raul, Arco Progresista issued a written call to dialogue. Arco "demands that the definitive transfer of power take place, with urgency," during the December 22 session of parliament, and that the body take up a 13-point reform program the dissidents drew up for the transition, the statement said.  Whether he recuperates or passes on, dissidents insist the time has come for change. "Our country is undergoing an era change while it remains trapped at a historical crossroads: either Cuba opens up to itself -- the best way to open up to the world -- or it fizzles out as a nation amidst a spent revolution," said the Arco statement handed out to reporters. The group urged prompt economic and political reforms, a dialogue among Cubans "that respects our differences," and that "unconstitutional restrictions to Cubans' freedom of movement (and) the silence imposed on most citizens' right to freedom of expression be lifted”. There has been no official reaction to Arco's statement. (AFP, The Globe and Mail, 7/12/06)

December 8: The Latin American Federation of Rural Women (FLAMUR) will begin an international campaign to pressure the Cuban government to drop the mixed monetary system that currently operates on the island. According to this organisation, the fact that four currencies—the US dollar, the euro, the convertible peso (known as the chavito), and the Cuban peso—are circulating throughout the Caribbean country is generating economic discrimination against its poorest citizens. Cubans, who earn their wages in pesos, cannot access certain goods and services on the island unless they carry dollars or euros. According to a report by Univision, an American television network, the organisation hopes to collect at least 10,000 signatures within Cuba, which are necessary to push forward a constitutional reform as stated in the 1976 Cuban constitution. (Global Insight Daily Analysis, 8/12/06)

December 8: Ailing Fidel Castro is battling terminal cancer and could be dead by Christmas, senior Western diplomatic sources have said. Observers close to the Cuban regime have reported that the leader is suffering from an aggressive form of stomach cancer and has refused radiation therapy or any other form of treatment. Cuban officials are notoriously tight-lipped over the health of Castro, which they treat as a closely guarded state secret. While occasionally they have broken their silence to report that Mr Castro is suffering from a non life-threatening illness, these claims have been roundly discounted by Western sources. (The Independent, 8/12/06)

December 9: Cuba closes 2006 with 339 political prisoners, 77 fewer than in 2005, according to a report by the illegal National Coordinating Committee of Prisoners and former-Prisoners of Conscience (CNPP). The CNPP pointed to a “significant” increase in the number of women jailed in the island for political reasons. "At the beginning of 2006, we had three female prisoners," but "we close the year with 28 women convicted of political crimes, 27 of them in prison and one on extra-penal leave," indicated Aida Valdés, the CNPP president. (AFP, 9/12/06)

December 9: Carlos Lamelas, a Cuban evangelical pastor who spoke up about religious freedom on the island, first found himself booted from his church, and then jailed. But the former Church of God president does not stand accused of political dissent or other counter-revolutionary activities. His alleged crime: human trafficking. Lamelas went on trial for allegedly smuggling people out of the island, and if found guilty faces nine years in prison. ''Persecution of pastors is subtle,'' said Alexandri Sosa, a pastor who left Cuba after having problems with the government. ``The methods have changed. So if a wall collapses and you rebuild it, you go to jail for illegal construction.'' Last year, Pastor Manuel Jesús Rosado Arencibia, of Remanente de Dios church in Matanzas, was jailed after distributing evangelical leaflets. A Roman Catholic Church layman, an agronomist who edits the religious magazine Vitral, which runs articles that criticize the government, lost his job as president of a state tobacco company when he refused a government plea to give up the magazine. He now spends eight hours a day in a shed, guarding palm tree stalks used to make cigar boxes. (The Miami Herald, 9/12/06

December 9: Mariela Castro is seen by some as the future of Cuban socialism. While her father, Raúl Castro, has become the de facto leader of the country, with her uncle, the ailing president, Fidel, too sick to wield power, people are already looking to the next generation. In an interview with The Scotsman, she called for more open debate on economic problems. "I would like to hear more discussion. We need to experiment and to test what really works, to make the public ownership more effective, rather than simply adopting wholesale free-market reforms," she said. "As a Cuban citizen, I think we have to explain, discuss and listen to people's questions and criticisms. I don't agree with closing the door on people's experiences." She said that dealing with criticism of Cuba's human-rights record and its lack of political rights was "complicated because of the US threat". Referring to the US trade embargo and other efforts to topple Castro, she said: "We are a besieged country and, under these conditions, some puritans and authoritarians take advantage to impose their point of view. We have constant contradictions in Cuban society." (The Scotsman, 9/12/06)

December 10: A mob of some 200 people used force to halt a peaceful march organized by a group of government opponents in a central Havana plaza to commemorate International Human Rights Day. At least three of the dozen or so participants in the march, which was organized by the National Council of the National Patriotic Front, were shoved forcefully into cars and taxis halted by the mob and driven away from the spot along with people who had tried to intervene in the violent disruption of the protest. Three people in the mob tore off a white T-shirt worn by one of the marchers that said "Change." The foreign press were also verbally abused by people who were against the dissidents' protest, with members of the mob calling reporters "mercenaries" and "worms." Shouting "Viva la Revolucion" and "Viva Fidel," the regime's supporters first blocked the marchers from continuing and then started attacking them. Among the dissidents who were taken by force from the area were independent reporter Carlos Rios and regime opponent Darsi Ferrer, two of the people who had organized the march. In addition, according to Elizardo Sanchez, the head of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, independent journalist Julio Aliaga was arrested in El Vedado as he was trying to join the march. (EFE, 10/12/06)

December 10: About 30 women belonging to the Ladies in White, a group of wives and other relatives of imprisoned dissidents, marched peacefully down 5th Avenue in the Havana neighborhood of Miramar after attending Mass to call for the release of incarcerated opposition members.  Their march concluded in front of the Santa Rita Church with shouts of "Long live human rights" and "Freedom for our political prisoners." The Ladies in White also issued a statement in honor of Human Rights Day. ''In Cuba, lamentably, the totalitarian government has kept its people submerged in repression and fear for 48 years to prevent them from expressing their most basic ideals and aspirations,'' the statement said. It called for increased respect for human rights and the release of all political prisoners. Miriam Leiva, one of the Ladies in White, expressed dismay at the harassment of the dissidents in the march in Central Havana. ''They should have the right to protest, just like anywhere else in the world,'' Leiva said. ''It's pitiful that this happened on Human Rights Day.'' (EFE, AP, 10/12/06) 

December 12: Exactly 20 years ago, the International School of Film and Television (EICTV) in San Antonio de los Baños, in Havana province, opened its doors for the first time. It was the brainchild of Fidel Castro and the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, affectionately known to his friends as Gabo. In the words of the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude: "The fact of the matter is that Fidel had been set on the idea for a while." EICTV's 20th-birthday celebrations kicked off in tandem with Havana's New Latin American International Film Festival. In its time, the school has seen more than 500 students graduate (among the most well-known is Benito Zambrano, the man behind the scripts of Solas and Havana Blues) and 3,000 students attend its masterclasses. It has spawned more than 1,000 short films and documentaries, some of which have won awards. Those who have imparted their pearls of wisdom at EICTV include Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Redford, Steven Soderbergh, Constantin Costa-Gavras, Emir Kusturica, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Ettore Scola. Stepping into the halls of EICTV, located on the estate of the old San Tranquilino hacienda, 35 kilometers from Havana, is enough to see that this is no normal school. With the emphasis on hands-on experience, students from different Latin American and Third World countries use every inch of space to prepare their "sets" and others prepare film crews to go out into San Antonio, which the school has just dubbed "the most filmed town in the world." (El País, EFE, 12,15/12/06)

December 12: Cuban independent journalist Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez, honored with the "cyber-dissident" award by Reporters Without Borders, told the press he wants to dedicate the award to "all the political prisoners and, especially, to the independent journalists."  "I'm very surprised because I didn't know I was among the nominees," he said by telephone from his home in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara. "This prize is for all the Cuban political prisoners and, especially, for the independent journalists who are prisoners at this time," the dissident said. Fariñas said that he also dedicated the award "to those who are taking risks and could go to prison at any time." Fariñas said that "I want to thank my teachers, Raul Rivero, Manuel Vazquez Portal and Jose Ramon Moreno, the founding director of Cubanacan Press, who are in exile, (and) other independent journalists who have helped me and those fighting for democracy all over the world." (EFE, 12/12/06)

December 12: Margarita Albacia Sánchez began the fifth day of her hunger strike in demand of the immediate release of her son, independent journalist Ahmed Rodríguez Albacia. Ms. Albacia began the hunger strike across from the Technical Department of Investigations (DTI)’s head office, on the corner of 100 St and Aldabó Ave., where Ahmed remains in custody. When the authorities had her removed, she moved the protest to her home, in the Old Havana municipality. (Cubanet, 12/12/06)

December 13: Cuban authorities released an independent journalist - a category not tolerated by the Communist regime - after grilling him for nine days, but the young reporter says his prosecution on charges of "spreading false news" continues. Ahmed Rodriguez, a 22-year-old journalist for the "Young People Without Censorship" agency, told the press his treatment while jailed between December 4 and December 12, when he was released at night, "was not bad." But he also said he was interrogated "day and night" in sessions of up to six hours straight. "I was arrested on the charge of the supposed crime of spreading false news, which I think is a smokescreen used to prosecute me," he said. The terms of his release oblige him not to leave Havana and to remain "locate-able" while his prosecution continues. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to four years in prison. "I will continue to struggle for freedom of expression and I will carry on with my journalistic work. But I will try to be more moderate," he said. Rodriguez had been writing about conditions in Cuban prisons. He suffered a three-day detention in September. (EFE, 13/12/06)

December 13: Pope Benedicto XVI appointed two new bishops in Cuba, reported the Holy See’s press office. The new bishop for Guantánamo-Baracoa will be Father Wilfredo Pino Estévez while Monsignor Jorge Enrique Serpa Pérez will preside over the Pinar del Río bishopric. (AP, 13/12/06)

December 13: Cubans are increasingly talking in the past tense about Fidel Castro, the man who governed their lives for 47 years. Castro has not appeared in public since he underwent emergency intestinal surgery and temporarily handed over the presidency to his younger brother, Raul Castro, on July 31. Cubans have not been told what Castro, 80 and in power since 1959, has wrong with him or where he is. "On television they hardly mention him and when they do it's as if he was already dead," said Roberto, a self-employed Cuban who did not give his surname as he waited at a bus stop. "The official silence is preparing the country" for his death, said Walter, an artist. "But people love him and want to know what is wrong with him." There is no way to measure public opinion in the single-party socialist country, where the media is state-controlled, but many Cubans admit to anxiously believing Castro may be on his way out. (Reuters, 13/12/06)

December 14: A cell phone in Cuba is about as rare as an American executive without one. While the communist-led nation takes pride in its accomplishments in health and education, it ranks dead last in the Americas in cell phones per person and shares the second-worst standing in the world, according to a new UN study. Less than 2 percent of Cuba residents have cell phones, a ranking on par with countries like Nepal and Eritrea. Only Papua New Guinea has fewer -- with less than one cell phone for every 100 residents, according to the study by the UN Conference on Trade and Economic Development. The state-owned cell-phone company, known as Cubacel, won't allow Cubans living on the island to sign up for a phone on their own. Only foreigners or Cubans with residency abroad can open personal accounts. Some resident Cubans are issued cell phones through their employers -- but cannot open accounts on their own, according to Cubacel policy. Repeated attempts to reach top officials at Cubacel were unsuccessful. (Sun Sentinel, 14/12/06) 

December 14: Three-quarters of Cubans would like more freedom to make choices about their own lives and around 40 percent disapprove of the rule of the Castro brothers, according to survey results. The poll was conducted in September by CID Gallup Central America among 1,000 people 15 and up in the island's two biggest cities, Havana and Santiago de Cuba. Only one in four of those surveyed expressed satisfaction with the level of personal freedom in the Communist-ruled country, though two-thirds of those with jobs said they were satisfied with their work. Overwhelming majorities said that Cubans enjoy universal access to education and health care, and most praised the government's record on fighting crime. Regarding the government itself, 40 percent said they disapproved of the leadership of Fidel and Raul Castro, while 47 percent voiced approval for the nearly 48-year-old regime. The Cubans selected on a random, scientific basis were often very eager to share their views, poll organizers said. They said people's attitude to the government had not changed markedly since the 1994 survey. Organizers said they avoided talking to neighborhood block captains responsible for enforcing revolutionary zeal, and had to stick to the island's two main cities because travel to rural areas was too difficult. (EFE, Reuters, 14/12/06)

December 15: Brazil, Argentina and Cuba were the big winners at the 28th edition of Havana’s New Latin American Film Fest. Cuban feature films “El Benny” in the category of Opera Prima, and “La Edad de la Peseta” (The Silly Age) for photography and art direction, were awarded for their meticulous work in creating the ambience of the 50s. (Prensa Latina, 15/12/06)

December 16: Fidel Castro telephoned a meeting of provincial legislative leaders who reacted with jubilant applause to the call from their ailing leader, Cuba's Communist Party newspaper said. Castro's call to the assembly leaders preparing for an upcoming national parliament session, and another to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez the same day, constituted the first news about the convalescing 80-year-old Cuban leader in 11 days. Vice President Carlos Lage and National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon were presiding over the meeting of provincial assembly presidents when Castro called, Granma newspaper reported. The full National Assembly will hold a regular session on December 22 to vote on the island's budget and other matters. (AP, 16/12/06) 
 
December 17: Cuban officials told lawmakers from the United States House of Representatives visiting Havana that Fidel Castro did not have cancer or any terminal illness and that he would be making a public appearance shortly, according to Representative William Delahunt, one of the legislators. But Mr. Delahunt, Democrat of Massachusetts, said he concluded from the delegation’s discussions with senior Cuban officials and diplomats that Mr. Castro would not return to running Cuba on a day-to-day basis. Mr. Delahunt said he understood that government administration had been definitively passed to Mr. Castro’s brother, Raúl. “The Cubans were emphatic, and I believe them, that Fidel does not have cancer, and that the illness he does have is not terminal,” Mr. Delahunt said in a telephone interview after he returned to Washington. He said Cuban officials assured the delegation that Mr. Castro was planning to re-emerge shortly. (The New York Times, 19/12/06)

December 17: Hundreds of thousands of Cubans made their annual pilgrimage to honor Saint Lazarus for their health and well-being, but praying this year for a special patient: Fidel Castro.  Some pilgrims walked the 35 kilometers (22 miles) on their knees, carrying stones or flowers, to make good on promises to Lazarus, a Christian saint, at an abbey in Rincon the late pope John Paul II visited in 1998. Maria, 56, sat on a jute sack near one of the temple's columns praying before 17 candles. "I pray for everyone's health," she said, including Castro's: "He is number one. Saint Lazarus will raise him up, you will see," she told the press. Migdalia, 36, a school teacher said, "He is our idol, after God. He looks a little worse for wear because the operation was very demanding. "He is not immortal. We all have to die, but you have to have faith," she said.  "He is our man, although I know that there are people who do not agree with him and want him to die, said Osmany, 38, who works in a restaurant in Pinar del Rio. (AFP, 17/12/06)

December 17: An outdoor rock concert took place in Havana to remember John Lennon on the 26th anniversary of his assassination. The event was sponsored by the Cuban chapter of the In Defense of Humanity Network and chaired by Minister of Culture Abel Prieto and Omar Gonzalez, who heads the Cuban Film Institute. (Periódico 26, 19/12/06) 

December 18: Cuban First Vice President Raul Castro attended the unveiling of a mural dedicated to the 80th birthday of Fidel Castro and to the 50th anniversary of the landing of the Granma boat. At the request of Castro the mural was located at the Fine Arts National  Museum, so that the people can admire it. Fifteen Cuban painters made the artistic work, headed by Alexis Leiva Machado, also known as Kcho. (AIN, 19/12/06) 

December 19: Political prisoner Rafael Millet Leiva was released after a four-year incarceration without trial in "El Guayabo" prison, in southwestern Isle of Pines. Fabio Prieto Llorente, another political prisoner, told the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights (FCDH) that Millet Leiva was sent to prison without trial in 2003 under the alleged crime of public desobedience and distribution of “enemy” propaganda material. (Cubanet, 26/12/06)

December 20: Cuban First Vice President Raul Castro presided over the final session of the seventh FEU (University Student Federation) Congress, attended by almost 800 delegates and 300 guests. Cuban Communist Party leaders and top government officials, such as Political Bureau members Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, Esteban Lazo, and Carlos Lage, attended  this most important meeting of Cuban university students. This session included the announcement of the new FEU board of directors, analysis of the central report and of seven working committee reports. (Prensa Latina, 20/12/06)

December 20: Cuba's interim leader Raul Castro, signaling a different style of government from his ailing brother Fidel Castro, called for greater debate on public policies in the communist-run country. ``Sometimes people fear the word disagree, but I say the more debate and the more disagreement you have, the better the decisions will be,'' he told students in Havana. Raul Castro said he was delegating more responsibilities and making fewer speeches than his famously verbose brother, and running the country of 11 million in a more collegial way. The Cuban vice president called upon university students to fearlessly engage in debate and analysis, and to put forth differences of opinions, noting that timely discussions at the right place and in the proper fashion always yield the best decisions. Raul Castro, who is also Minister of Defense, said that based on his personal experience this is the best kind of attitude to foster. He pointed out that building an armed forces is based on the principal of having one person in command; "however, this does not mean that there is no space for discussion. I always say discuss everything as in-depth as possible and then bring me the discrepancies. That’s how our decisions take shape, and I am talking about major decisions," he said. (Reuters, Granma, 21/12/06)

December 20: Raul Castro, 75, said Cuba's one-party political system, or the ``Revolution'' as its backers call it, will continue with or without his brother. ``Fidel is irreplaceable, unless we all replace him together,'' he said, repeating a statement he made in June that Fidel Castro's only possible heir is Cuba's Communist Party. ``Fidel is irreplaceable and I don't intend to imitate him. Those who imitate fail,'' Raul said in the short speech to a conference of Cuba's Federation of University Students. Raul said Cuba was at an ``historic'' moment. ``I say historic because, like it or not, we are finishing the fulfillment of our duty and we have to give way to new generations,'' he said. He added that the congress’ discussions were based on Fidel Castro’s November 17, 2005 address at the University of Havana in which he warned of the dangers facing the Revolution in today’s unpredictable and complex world. (Reuters, Granma, 21/12/06)

December 20: Felipe Pérez Roque, foreign minister and member of the Central Committee, gave the closing remarks at the seventh FEU (University Student Federation) Congress. He said that the congress was different and better because, among other things, never before had the FEU had greater social responsibilities that it does now, and never before did it have such a close relationship with the people and the main tasks of the Revolution. As the political leader explained, the leadership of the Party, the State and the government have very closely followed proposals by the students throughout the nine months of discussion leading up to the congress, and based on proposals made by the FEU and the Young Communist League (UJC), it was decided to immediately respond to the most reiterated concerns. Thus, he said, stipends would be increased for full-time regular university students as well as those studying for their degrees in special and preschool education in the Higher Pedagogical Institutes. The 50% subsidy for travel on ASTRO buses would be extended, and two tickets per year would be assigned for students who are enrolled in colleges away from home, so that they could travel to and return from their home provinces. (Granma International, 20/12/06)

December 20: Political prisoner Normando Hernández was in critical condition when he was admitted last December 13 into a ward of the Camagüey Provincial Hospital, reported his wife, Yaraí Reyes. In declarations to the Cuban Human Rights Foundation, Yaraí said that it had been several days since Hernández had been confined in a room of that hospital and that, in spite of being in critical condition, the prison guards had kept him without a bed and other necessary furniture for a week. (EER, 21/12/06)

December 21: A Spanish surgeon traveled to Havana to consider what steps should be taken to halt the deterioration of Fidel Castro's health, a Spanish newspaper reported. Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, chief of surgery at the Spanish public hospital Gregorio Maranon de Madrid, departed for Cuba aboard an airplane the Cuban government chartered, El Periodico de Catalunya reported. The Cuban Embassy in Spain oversaw all details of the visit, the paper said. (CNN, 24/12/06)

December 22: According to an influential catholic publication of the island, the Cuban people live in constant doubt about its future, yet with the feeling that "something could come about and some things should be renovated" in the national landscape. In its Christmas-themed editorial message, "Between uncertainty and novelty," the latest issue of “Vitral” magazine describes "the novelty" of the current period as a sort of psychological shift that amplifies the sense of expectancy of many Cubans, pulling them out of their passivity. [Entre la incertidumbre y la novedad] (El Nuevo Herald, 22/12/06)

December 22: The Cuban parliament met to analyze the performance of the island’s economy and social programs during 2006 and to approve the budget and priorities for 2007. A two-day meeting of ten permanent parliamentary committees was held prior to the ordinary session of Cuba’s National Assembly. Cuba’s acting leader, Raúl Castro, sat silently as the country’s Parliament opened its year-end session in Havana, and all eyes were on the empty chair next to him from which his elder brother, Fidel, usually presides. The first meeting of the National Assembly since Fidel Castro went into surgery in late July was, according to news service reports, much like many other legislative sessions in Havana: bland. Before the meeting, speculation swirled about whether Fidel Castro might send a message to the Assembly. But there was no news forthcoming from the 80-year-old. At least one political dissident group, the Progressive Arch, has asked for Raul Castro to be made the permanent leader, a move that likely would require legislative approval. But the Assembly apparently did not address the issue. Officials continue to insist Fidel Castro is recovering. (The New York Times, Sun Sentinel, 23/12/06)

December 23: "I hope nothing perturbs the social coexistence; that the overall situation improves next year; and that well-being grows, so that we can live in tranquillity," Cardinal Archbishop Jaime Ortega of Havana said in his Christmas message. Ortega said that in the six Catholic celebrations held between September and December this year, "a unanimous clamour for peace" was heard from those attending. "How many things are Cubans referring to when they call for peace at this special moment in our national history!" he added. [Mensaje de Navidad] (IPS, 29/12/06)

December 24: As 2006 draws to an end, the 48th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution on January 1, 2007 is already being celebrated throughout the country. Cultural and recreational programs organized by the Young Communist League (UJC) and the local government in the capital took place at the esplanade of the Plaza of the Revolution and its surrounding areas. The festivities included a spectacular circus Fantasy 2006 show, sporting events including little league baseball, a carnival parade with conga drums and dancers, book sales and numerous food stands. The popular bands Bamboleo and El Clan de Pedrito Camacho accompanied by the Cuban TV dance troupe got people on their feet. Sunday afternoon included a fashion show, singer Haila Maria Monpie and the humor of Churrisco. Similar celebrations took place in the rest of Cuba’s provinces. (Periodico 26, 26/12/06)

December 25: Evangelical pastor Joel Rojas of Holguin was believed in custody, on Christmas Day, after he was convicted of "human trafficking" by helping Cubans flee the country. He was reportedly sentenced to seven years in prison and it was unclear what legal options, if any, there were for the church leader after the December 13 verdict by The Seventh Penal Court of the Provincial Peoples Tribunal in Havana. Another Cuban evangelical pastor, Carlos Lamelas, was acquitted on the "human trafficking" charge, but convicted on previously unannounced charges of falsification of documents. (BosNewsLife, 25/12/06)

December 26: Fidel Castro ''absolutely'' does not have cancer but is recovering from complications after surgery to treat a ''benign illness,'' a Spanish surgeon who examined the Cuban leader said in the first independent medical opinion of Castro's health since he gave up power almost five months ago. Dr. José Luis García Sabrido, chief surgeon at Madrid's Gregorio Marañón General Hospital, flew to Havana on a flight chartered by the Cuban government. In a press conference in Madrid, García Sabrido offered few medical details about what is ailing the controversial Cuban leader but insisted Castro is not dying of cancer. ''Within [the rules] of confidentiality, what I can say is that President Castro doesn't suffer from a malignant illness,'' García Sabrido said at the televised news conference when asked whether Castro's illness was curable. ``It's a benign illness for which he has had a series of complications.'' Asked if he had cancer, García Sabrido said, ``From what I know, I absolutely deny it.'' García Sabrido said Castro asks every day to return to work, but doctors in Havana have demanded prudence. García Sabrido did not discount the possibility that Castro could return to office if his recovery is ``absolute.'' ''I think that in these moments his decision to delegate power implies that he must now be dedicated to his recovery,'' the Associated Press reported. ``What happens in the future will be an absolutely personal matter.'' (The Miami Herald, 27/12/06)

December 26: Cubans concerned about the health of ailing Fidel Castro -- for most the only leader they have known -- were kept in the dark by official Cuban media, as a Spanish doctor who examined him refuted reports he was dying.  Tightly controlled state media published no news of the Spanish surgeon's health update on the ailing leader. In Cuba, the rumors about the doctor's report were flying. "Already at my house we know it and people in the neighborhood told my mother, that for sure it will be seen by antenna (illegal satellite television)," a youth in a crowded sector of Havana told the press. A 20-year-old University of Havana student said anonymously: "We would like more specific information, even if (Fidel Castro) does not appear in public; but we would like some message from the Comandante, an explanation." Castro's health condition has been a mystery since Cuban authorities announced in late July that the nation's long-serving leader suffered intestinal bleeding, underwent surgery and ceded power to his younger brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro. Absent information, many Cubans have come to  believe that Castro had undergone two or perhaps three surgeries and was suffering from cancer or another terminal illness. (AFP, Chicago Tribune, 27/12/06)

December 26: Despite pleas from fellow persecuted Christians not to do so, Cuban prisoner of conscience and journalist Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta sewed his mouth shut and was believed to continue his action, dissidents said. Harrera Acosta, 40, sewed his mouth, at the maximum security Prison of Kilo 8, in Camaguey, Cuba's largest province, said Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, a blind Christian lawyer and president of the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights (FCDH). He, "sewed his mouth shut to protest the hostile treatment he is suffering at the hands of State Security and Military officers at this penitentiary," said Gonzalez Leiva. "The guards deprive this prisoner of conscience his right to telephone calls and his end of the year family visit is suspended. Herrera Acosta is under continuous psychological persecution, since he is tormented  by dangerous common prisoners," he said in remarks released by an underground news agency. Oswaldo Paya Sardinas, who in 2002 received the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, said he had urged Herrera Acosta not to sew his mouth. In late October, "I asked him not to do it- I am not ashamed to say that I begged it of him- telling him that it is us who still have the opportunity to speak out," he said. At the same time Paya urged Christians and others that "before daring to judge him (...) ask themselves: 'What have I done in the face of this horror that so many human beings live through day to day in Cuban jails?'" (BosNewsLife, 30/12/06)

December 27: Members of Cuba's ever-beleaguered but generally optimistic pro-democracy movement say they are perceiving a rise in street-level consciousness of the need for change and expect 2007 to be a momentous year. Manuel Cuesta Morua, leader of the Social Democratic Progressive Arc, told the press that the phrase that best sums up the situation is "Cuba cannot stand more of the same." "Regardless of whether people are more critical of the regime or not, whether they have their thoughts aligned more coherently or not, running through the whole society is the sensation that Cuba cannot stand more of the same," he said. Hector Palacios, a former political prisoner released early this month after more than three years behind bars, said Cubans are more preoccupied with getting by than with Fidel's health. "The comandante's health is not a big concern of the people. They have so many things to resolve that they have no time to be thinking about Fidel's health, and they are aware of the need for change," he said. The coming year "will be crucial, a year of great shifts." He said movement toward some sort of climax is contributed to by economic woes, including "rampant inflation" spurred by hikes in utility rates and public transportation. For Elizardo Sanchez, president of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, "political repression has been a constant this year like in all previous years." He saw slight ups and downs in the level of application, but said he considered a pro-government mob's roughing-up of peacefully protesting dissidents on December 10 "a demonstration of muscle flexing" by Raul Castro. "What the average citizen on the street wants is for this page (regarding Fidel) to turn, and for better times to come," he said. On balance, (2006) was not negative," said Oscar Espinosa Chepe, another former political prisoner. "There have been advances in the public's consciousness of the need for change. That is something I perceive in the street." (EFE, 27/12/06)

December 27: Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega celebrated with a well-attended choral concert in Havana’s cathedral his silver anniversary as archbishop of Havana, issuing best wishes for 2007 but refraining from politically tinged comment on the shift of power on the Communist island. Hundreds gathered in the church for the concert, including Papal Nuncio Luigi Bonazzi and other clergymen. "We must make present in our lives every day the great mystery of Christmas," said Ortega, who was consecrated archbishop of Havana 25 years ago. Ortega, 70, called on the faithful to pray "for peace" and that 2007 "bring improvement in the overall situation and increased well-being" in the nation of some 11 million inhabitants. In what may have been an oblique allusion to the illness of Fidel Castro and his "temporary" substitution in power by his brother Raul, the cardinal called on Cubans to resist "the temptation of anxiety over the future," and reflected that violence can be used and even justified with "apparently very noble motives." The Roman Catholic Church in Cuba, which has played a role under the 48-year-old regime drastically reduced from the one it had in pre-revolutionary Cuba, expressed last summer, after Fidel's intestinal surgery was announced, its "concern" about the situation. Ortega, the top Catholic authority in Cuba, has scheduled a "Mass for Peace" in the same cathedral for New Year's day. (EFE, IPS, 27/12/06)

December 27: Cuban writer Leonardo Acosta was awarded with the country's 2006 National Literature Prize, local media reported. He won the award for the essay "Alien on Solid Ground: Intertextuality and Happy Coincidences", which also won the Cuban Language Academy's annual prize.  Acosta's works include 1967's “Human Landscape”, 1974's “Jose Marti, Pre-Colombian America and the Spanish Conquest”, “Music and Epics in the novel Alejo Carpentier”, “Music and Decolonization”, 1983's “From the Drum to the Synth”, 1984's “The Baroque of the Indies” and “The Political Novel in the Mass Media”. (Xinhua, 28/12/06)

December 28: Interim Cuban President Raul Castro delivered a message attributed to his ailing brother Fidel congratulating all who made the September summit in Havana of the Non-Aligned Nations a success, state news reported. During a meeting at the foreign ministry, Fidel's brother Raul "transmitted congratulations from the commander in chief to all those who contributed to the success" of the September 11-16 summit in Havana, the newscast reported. The message "underlined the prestige that Cuba has reached in the world and urged (Cubans) to continue working with the same dedication" to guarantee Cuba's successful leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement, which lasts through 2009. The newscast did not quote directly from the message. (AFP, 28/12/06) 

December 29: Fernando Martinez Heredia was awarded the 2006 National Sciences Award in recognition of "his important and prolific work in a wide spectrum of the social sciences with significant international implications, enriching Marxist thought" on a continental scale. The jury was chaired by jurist Julio Fernandez Bulte and included philologist Ana Ciro, philosopher Enrique Ubita and historians Sergio Guerra and Jorge Renato Ibarra. Among the most outstanding of Martinez’ works are: “Desafios del socialismo cubano” (Challenges of Cuban socialism) (1988); “El Che y el socialismo”(Che and socialism) (1989), “El mes más crudo de la siembra” (The rawest month of the harvest) (1990), “Repensar el socialismo” (Rethinking socialism) (2001); and “El corrimiento hacia el rojo” (Running towards red) (2001). (Granma, 29/12/06)