Chronicle on Cuba - December 2006

Foreign Affairs

December 1: Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived in Havana to attend the festivities of Fidel Castro’s 80th birthday and the 50th Anniversary of the Granma landing. "We express gratitude for the solidarity between the Cuban and the Bolivian people, as well as for Fidel Castro’s friendship," the South American statesman said. "As I promised, I brought a coca cake”, Morales responded to a journalist inquiring what had he brought as a gift for Castro. In August, Morales had promised that special birthday gift for the Cuban leader, but birthday celebrations were postponed due to Castro’s surgery. The Bolivian president was welcomed by Cuban Vice President, Carlos Lage, and by other top leaders and diplomatic staff from Cuba and Bolivia. (Prensa Latina, AFP, 1/12/06)

December 1: Haitian President Rene Preval is in Havana to attend celebrations of Fidel Castro’s 80th birthday. Nicaraguan president-elect Daniel Ortega is also expected. The two leaders are slated to participate in the program of activities that also include the 50th anniversary of the landing of the Granma yacht that in 1956 brought an expedition led by Fidel Castro to the southeastern coast of the island to begin what would culminate in the 1959 Cuban revolution. The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph E. Gonsalves; Yerodia Abdulaye Ndombasi, vice Head of State of Congo; and former Jamaican Prime Minister Persival Patterson also arrived in Havana for the celebrations. (Granma, The Miami Herald, 1/12/06)

December 1: Nobel laureate Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez said in Havana he is happy to be in Cuba for Fidel Castro’s 80th birthday. “What will make me happier is when I come to his 100th celebration," Fidel Castro’s friend said. Culture Minister Abel Prieto welcomed the Colombian writer. Garcia Marquez will also be attending in Havana the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the International School of Cinema and Television, in San Antonio de los Baños, that he founded together with the Cuban leader. (Prensa Latina, 1/12/06)

December 1: The Cuban embassy in the Democratic Popular Republic of Korea (DPRK) celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the island. The head of the diplomatic mission, Rubén Pérez, toured the Kim Il Sung Military College facilities in Pyongyang and laid a wreath at the statue of the DPRK founding father. (Granma, 1/12/06)

December 1: Nicaraguan President-elect Daniel Ortega said in Havana that the electoral triumph of the Sandinista National Liberation Front was the present he brought for Fidel Castro in his 80th birthday. Ortega spoke during the closing ceremony of activities organized by the Guayasamin Foundation for the birthday of the Cuban Revolution leader, which was attended by Cuban First Vice President Raul Castro. “The exchange with Fidel,” he said, “turns us more sensitive each day, more humane, friendly and supportive, firm and determined to defend the noblest ideas of humanity,” Ortega said.  In our bitter or good moments, we have always had the support and solidarity of the Cuban people and Fidel Castro, he stressed. (AIN, 1/12/06)

December 1: Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines highlighted Fidel Castro´s political and human values in his address of participants to the closing ceremony of activities organized by the Guayasamin Foundation for the birthday of the Cuban Revolution leader. Gonsalves said that Fidel is one of the most important personalities of today’s world and highlighted his leadership of the socialist revolution in the face of the United States, the most hostile and powerful empire of the world. The Caribbean leader thanked Fidel and the Cuban Revolution for their internationalist solidarity with his small country and referred to the Cuban assistance to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the fields of health and education. (AIN, 1/12/06)

December 1: Reporters Without Borders [RSF] demonstrated in support of 23 journalists imprisoned in Cuba at the human rights square in Paris. Twenty-three cages were placed in Trocadero Square, each holding a masked inmate, clad in prison dress. Each cage bore the journalist's name, media, sentence and the reasons for their imprisonment. The demonstration was attended by Cuban exiles, including dissident journalists, and drew journalists from the French and foreign press. (BBC, 4/12/06) 

December 3: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dedicated his landslide re-election to Fidel Castro but he is also keen to convince his supporters that he is not a leader in Castro's communist mold. Chavez said he would use his strong majority to intensify a self-styled socialist revolution that has already included land confiscations, higher taxes on foreign companies and the state taking control of private oil projects. "We dedicate this victory to the Cuban people and to Fidel Castro, my brother and comrade. We are sending an embrace to Fidel and to our brothers in Cuba who support our cause," Chavez told his rain-drenched supporters. (Reuters, 4/12/06)

December 4: Cuba and the United States should sit down to talk about their relationship without conditions and without making the talks dependent on the death of Fidel Castro, said the secretary general of the Organization of American States, José Miguel Insulza. ''If talks can begin later, why not begin to talk now?'' Insulza said, referring to the readiness for dialogue expressed by Cuba's interim leader, Raúl Castro, during a speech in Havana. “First thing is that [the talks] must be without conditions.” “Maybe, during the conversations, conditions will be set; then someone will say: ‘In exchange for this, we're willing to grant that,’” he added. (El Nuevo Herald, 5/12/06)

December 4: “My passion for theatre led me to be an actor,” said distinguished actor Ralph Fiennes to students at Cuba’s International Film and Television School, located some 50 kilometers from Havana in the town of San Antonio de los Banos. Fiennes, who played the main character in “The English Patient” and the role of a Nazi officer in Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler's List,” is delivering a workshop this week on his experience in the film industry. The British actor said he is also in Cuba to learn about its cinematography industry and expressed his admiration for Latin American films such as “City of God” by Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles. (AIN, 5/12/06)

December 5: Cuba's Fidel Castro congratulated Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for his re-election victory in a letter, but makes no mention of his own ailing health. The signed letter was published in the two leading newspapers, Granma and Juventud Rebelde.  It is the first statement attributed to Castro since November 30, and follows his failure to show up at any of the recent events honoring his 80th birthday, especially a high-profile military parade. "Hugo: I shall be brief so that emotions do not betray me. Your victory was overwhelming, crushing and without parallel in the history of our America," read the letter. (AFP, 5/12/06)

December 5: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque met in Havana with the President of the government of the Canary Islands Martin Menis. Menis also met with Vice President Carlos Lage, the President of the Cuban Parliament Ricardo Alarcon and Fernando Remirez de Estenoz, the head of the International Relations Department of the Cuban Communist Party. President Menis noted that the Cuban Canary Association is made up of 792 nationals of the Spanish islands and 59,000 second and third generation descendents. (AIN, 5/12/06)

December 5: The body of a Cuban rafter (balsero) was found on the coast of Cozumel Island, in the Mexican Caribbean. The Quintana Roo state authorities identified the deceased as 24-year-old Humberto Rivera Rodríguez, from Guantánamo, Cuba. His remains were found on a flimsy makeshift raft at one of the illegal entry hotspots most used by Cuban illegal migrants, also known as “balseros”. (EFE, 5/12/06)

December 5: Costa Rican President Oscar Arias urged the Latin-American nations to join their voices so that Cubans can achieve the freedom that other peoples of the region enjoy. In a speech before the Organization of American States, in Washington, Arias emphasized that freedom has come to all the countries in Latin America, with the noticeable exception of Cuba. He pointed that Latin America can strengthen its democratic systems and rise up as one, with one voice and one hope, so that the Cuban people can also come to enjoy the freedom they have been denied. Or, it can fall prey again to its old authoritarian demons, to the siren songs of autocratic and populist governments that have only caused famine and misery to the Latin-American peoples. (OCB, 5/12/06)

December 6: A Cuban delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Marcos Rodriguez is participating at the Council of Ministers Meeting of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP), underway in Khartoum, Sudan. Cuba has been a member of the group since December 14, 2000 and has actively participated in the ACP’s meetings despite not being a signatory of the Cotonou Accords. Made up by 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific nations, the group was founded in 1975 and currently has three working guidelines: the instrumentation of the ACP/European Union Agreement, known as the Cotonou Accord, North/South relations and cooperation between the ACP. (AIN, 6/12/06)

December 6: US President George W. Bush and his Costa Rican counterpart, Oscar Arias, discussed Cuba-related issues while reviewing the political situation in Latin America during a meeting at the White House. "We did a 'tour' of all of Latin America and exchanged views on how we perceive the region," said Arias. "You all know very well about my commitment to restore democracy for the Cuban people after 47 years of dictatorship," he told media representatives. (AFP, 6/12/06)

December 6: Haitian President René Preval made an unscheduled trip to Cuba to take a battery of prostate-related tests, said his office. A communiqué released in Port-au-Prince stated that Preval traveled to Havana for "health reasons" tied to prostate surgery he had undergone in Cuba early in the year. (AP, 7/12/06)

December 7: Reporters Without Borders called for the immediate and unconditional release of Ahmed Rodríguez Albacia of the Jóvenes sin Censura independent news agency, who was arrested by the State Security police on December 4, in Havana. The organisation also condemned the four-year prison sentence passed on independent journalist Raymundo Perdigón Brito on December 6 for being a “pre-criminal danger to society.” “Rodríguez Albacia and his family have been the victims of constant harassment by the political police since the start of the year,” Reporters Without Borders said. “This young journalist was even detained and ordered to stop his journalistic activities in September. This time the State Security has deprived him of his work material and thrown him in prison. Is any further proof needed that he has been arrested simply for being a journalist?” The organisation added: “We call for his immediate release and that of Perdigón Brito, who has been given a four-year sentence for the same reason, in his case on the false and absurd grounds that he poses a danger to society.” (RWB Press Release, 7/12/06)

December 7: Barbados and Cuba began two days of talks which they said would further deepen bilateral relations between the two countries. Theresa Marshall, Permanent Secretary in the Barbados Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, said the two day Barbados-Cuba summit would seek to enhance previous activities between the two countries and allow them to embark on new initiatives. (CBC, 7/12/06)

December 7: Cuba is one of the first Latin American countries that has finished a report on the Caribbean Sea pollution affecting national coasts. The conclusions of this research will be the basis for the development of a regional project against contamination that would include twenty-eight Caribbean nations, said the Director of the Caribbean Environmental Network (CEN), Dr. Antonio Villasol. CEN, based in Cuba, is one of the three protocols of the Caribbean Environmental Program (CEP). (ACN, 7/12/06)

December 7: The International Committee of the Red Cross said it would seek access to prisons in Cuba, one of the few countries to deny it permission to visit political detainees.  ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger told reporters he planned to make a new request to the government in Havana. The ICRC has not been able to visit Cuban prisons since July 1959, seven months after Fidel Castro came to power. After armed Cuban exiles launched the Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961 in a US-backed bid to overthrow the Castro government, more than 1,000 of them were captured and incarcerated. When the ICRC asked to visit them to ensure they were receiving fair treatment under international humanitarian law, Havana said no. In March 1962, when the Bay of Pigs prisoners were about to go on trial, the ICRC wrote to Castro saying it presumed Havana would respect Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war. It repeated its request to be allowed to visit the jailed fighters. Again the request was rebuffed. "The doors were closed to the ICRC, which did not obtain permission to send delegates to Cuba for many years to come," the ICRC says on its website. (AFP, 7/12/06)

December 7: After learning that a journalist was arrested and another convicted in recent days, the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) criticized the Cuban government for continuing to hound the independent press on the island. (El Nuevo Herald, 8/12/06)

December 7: Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez expressed in Brasilia his concern and that of his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, about Fidel Castro’s state of health. After a meeting with Lula, Chávez pointed out that the Brazilian president "told me of his wish to visit Fidel. We are both concerned." "I received a note from Fidel two or three days ago and the information that I have from Cuba indicates that his recovery is still slow," added Chávez. (Notimex, 7/12/06)

December 8: A Cuban Pastoral Forum has criticized the Czech Ecumenical Council of Churches for supporting what they call “anti-Christian measures” like the US blockade against the island. The statement issued by the forum was read by Reverend Pablo Oden Marichal at the Episcopal Cathedral of the Holily Trinity. It sustains that the position of the Czech Council is part of the US policy of recurring to third parties to justify the reinforcement of the criminal blockade against Cuba. Jitka Klubalova, Secretary General of the Czech council, had demanded Christians in Cuba not to support the Council of Churches of Cuba, which she described as an institution subordinated to the government. (Granma, 8/12/06)

December 8: China and Cuba have jointly built an ophthalmic hospital in northwest Qinghai Province, to help locals of the high-altitude province who suffer ophthalmic diseases. The Hospital Oftalmologico Amistad China-Cuba in Xining has a building area of 4,000 square meters, 80 beds, and 135 staff members, including 52 Cuban professionals. "This is the first cooperation project in ophthalmic area between China and Cuba," said Wang Xuan, vice mayor of Xining City, capital of Qinghai. The two countries have invested 39 million yuan (4.9 million US dollars) in the construction of the hospital. They planned a total investment of 60 million yuan (7.6 million US dollars) for the hospital. Under a 10-year cooperation term, Cuba will supply the hospital with equipment and experts, while the Chinese side provides space and other staff. (Xinhua, 8/12/06)

December 9: The President of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Denzil Douglas highlighted Cuban solidarity with the countries and peoples of the region. Douglas, Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister, remarked that at 34 years of the opening of relations between Cuba and four nations of the area those social, political and economic ties have been strengthened. On December 8, 1972, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago established relations with Cuba and that date is known as the CARICOM-Cuba Day. (Prensa Latina, 9/12/06)

December 10: Travel agents report a brisk demand for visas to Cuba, one of the few places that welcomes Palestinians. Two popular destinations for Gazans are Canada, which still offers legal immigration, and Cuba, which imposes few restrictions on Palestinian travelers. Those with tourist visas to Cuba often don't plan to go there. Instead, they get off in transit at a European airport, rip up their Palestinian travel document and seek asylum. Travel agencies in Gaza arrange for fictitious invitations, hotel bookings and Cuban visas for their clients, a Palestinian security official said. The cost of the service has gone up from $200 to $1,500 because of the high demand and increasing risk, the official said. Palestinian, Egyptian and European officials have begun to tighten restrictions in an attempt to stem the flow. Travel agent Mohammed Mouin said 65 of his clients with Cuban visas were sent back from Egypt, but that many more are trying. "Traveling to Cuba has become a fad," he said. (Chicago Sun Times, 10/12/06)

December 11: Former Czech president Vaclav Havel urged tourists to shun Cuba as a holiday destination, in a video message showing solidarity with Cuban dissidents. "I cannot go to Cuba to lounge on the beach and pretend not to notice anything while there are dozens of political prisoners behind bars," Havel said. "Today, we must not allow ourselves to be deluded that nothing bad is happening in Cuba. A lot of bad is happening in that country," Havel continued. Havel's message was aired at a conference organised by Polish Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former president Lech Walesa, aimed at showing solidarity with dissidents in Cuba. In a speech to open the conference, Walesa assured that the aim of the meeting was not to foment revolution on the Caribbean island, but to help Cubans to help themselves. "We are not trying to bring the people into the streets to start a revolution," Walesa said. "Our aim is more to give advice, because there are solutions to be found there," said the former leader of the Solidarity trade union. "Poland is an excellent example of the role that reconciliation can play on the peaceful path to democracy," Walesa said. (AFP, 11/12/06) 

December 11: The government of Dominica thanked Cuba for its cooperation, during a ceremony held in that Caribbean island with the presence of Dominica's President Nicholas Liverpool and other top government officials. In recognizing the work of the Cuban personnel in Dominica, acting Prime Minister Matthew Walter, Health Minister John Fabien and Parliament president Alix Boyd-Knight expressed their admiration for the Cuban professionals who are offering their services far from their land and families. Meanwhile, Cuban ambassador to Dominica Osvaldo Cobacho Martinez expressed his thankfulness for the ceremony, organized to recognize the work of the Cuban medical brigade as well as the assistance offered by representatives of the Cuban Aeronautics Institute in the expansion of Dominica's international airport. (ACN, 11/12/06)

December 11: In response to a proposal by the conservative Spanish People's Party (PP) that all Spanish political parties maintain a "common position" vis a vis the island, Cuba said that "it does not need advice from its former metropolis. The Cuban Communist Party (PCC) newspaper Granma characterized the PP initiative as just another "act of interference in Cuba’s domestic affairs.” (EFE, 12/12/06)

December 11: Photos that show the hurt felt by families of political prisoners in Cuba are on exhibit at the Organization of American States (OAS) headquarters in Washington. Thirty portraits of individuals holding small photos of husbands, brothers, children and parents who have been jailed by the Cuban regime make up the exhibit. "The thing that stands out (…) is the look of sadness in the eyes of family members," said Ambassador John Maisto, US permanent representative to the OAS. The photos will be displayed at OAS until December 15 and then continue to travel around the world until all Cuban political prisoners are released, according to Frank Calzon, executive director of The Center for a Free Cuba, which created the exhibit. The exhibit's other sponsors are the National Democratic Institute, the National Endowment for Democracy, Reporters Without Borders, and People in Need. (US Fed News, 11/12/06)

December 12: The Cuban government hasn’t issued an official statement on the death of Augusto Pinochet. The Cuban media, all under state control, didn’t highlight the death of former Chilean dictator. The Foreign Affairs Ministry hasn’t made any comment or official statement. (ABC, 12/12/06)

December 12: The North Korean government awarded Fidel Castro, Cuban media reported. On behalf of Castro, Esteban Lazo, Vice President of Cuban State Council, received the title of Work Hero, the Gold Medal and the First Class National Banner of the North Korean Parliament. "In accepting such high honour, Lazo transmitted Fidel Castro’s deep feeling of humbleness and gratefulness toward the Korean government”, official daily Granma said. (Reuters, 12/12/06)

December 12: Cuban-Russian relations are at a high level, and both sides are interested in further expansion of cooperation, Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Eumelio Caballero and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said in Havana. Caballero and Kislyak signed a protocol on political consultations between the Foreign Ministries of the two countries. "Through joint efforts, we can further expand and strengthen each other's positions within the framework of bilateral ties," Caballero said to the press. He noted that the visits which Russian and Cuban representatives have recently exchanged, helped "add new themes for consultations, which Cuba views as very important for further development of ties with Russia." For his part, Kislyak stated that relations with Cuba "have been developing very well and intensively."  Signing the protocol, Caballero and Kislyak noted proximity of their positions on the key issues of international politics. They stated that the recent visit to Cuba by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov gave a new impulse to bilateral ties. (Itar Tass, EFE, 13/12/06)

December 12: Ambassadors of the block of Non Aligned countries in the UN concur on the need to reform the Security Council and regretted the lack of agreement on the subject after 18 months of consultations and discussions. To date the General Assembly has not reached any conclusion over the number of permanent and non permanent members in the Security Council. Speaking as president of the Coordination Bureau of the Non Aligned Movement in the UN, Cuban ambassador Rodrigo Malmierca stressed that clearness, truthfulness and coherence are basic elements that the Security Council must respect. This is the first time that this group of 118 countries participates in these debates. (Prensa Latina, 12/12/06)

December 12: According to Guyana’s Foreign Trade Minister, Henry Jeffrey, the Cuban government cancelled millions of dollars worth of debt incurred by the South American nation in the 1980s, which the Guyanese government had declared itself unable to pay off. (EFE, 12/12/06)

December 13: Former president Vaclav Havel denied the information that he had called for boycott of tourism in Cuba, Havel's secretary Jakub Hladik said. The French news agency AFP said that Havel called on people to boycott tourist trips to Cuba in a video recording presented at a conference held by Lech Walesa, former Polish president and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, in Warsaw. Hladik said that the video recording was 18 months old. "However, Havel does not call for the boycott of trips to Cuba in it. He wants the public to realise the local political situation, which may not be always apparent from the suites of luxurious hotels," Hladik said in a press release. (CTK, 13/12/06)

December 13: Cuba has refused to issue visas to a German parliamentary delegation, officials said in Berlin. The Foreign Ministry said it regretted the decision not to admit the group. The communist nation's ambassador was to be summoned to the ministry, a spokeswoman said on customary condition of anonymity. Members of the cross-party German-Central American parliamentary group said Havana refused to issue visas on the grounds that a planned meeting with Cuban opposition figures at the German ambassador's residence was unacceptable. "This is a missed opportunity to continue the bilateral dialogue that the Cuban side also wants," the German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. In June, European Union foreign ministers deplored the state of human rights on the Caribbean island, and urged Havana to free all political prisoners.  They said they would strive for a dialogue with both the official Cuban authorities and the political opposition. (AP, 14/12/06)

December 14: Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet met Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Alejandro Gonzalez, with whom she reviewed the good state of bilateral relations and exchanged criteria on Latin America. The meeting was also attended by Cuba’s ambassador to Chile Giraldo Mazola and by Chilean Ambassador to Havana Jaime Toha. Gonzalez told the press that the president made inquiries on Fidel Castro’s state of health and wished him a prompt recovery. A release from the Chilean Foreign Affairs Ministry states that there was a consensus in the political dialogue between delegations to keep up the annual bilateral consultations. (Prensa Latina, 14/12/06)

December 16: A group of 21 Cuban immigrants in transit to the United States arrived in the Atlantic coast of Honduras, authorities reported. The immigrants arrived on December 8 at Cuzuna, in the Atlantic coast, and were sent by migration authorities to La Ceiba, 350 kilometers north of Tegucigalpa. (AP, 16/12/06)

December 18: The president of El Salvador, Tony Saca, gave assurances that his government would not refuse to allow Cuban acting president Raúl Castro into the country should he wish to attend the Sao Paulo Forum, scheduled for January in San Salvador. "Of course we’ll let him in... that’s the advantage of living in a free country," Saca said in reply to questions regarding Fidel Castro’s brother’s possible participation in the international conference of leftist parties, to be held January 12-16 in the Central American nation. (EP/AP, 18/12/06)

December 19: According to István Gyarmati, director of the International Centre for Democratic Transition (ICDT) in Budapest, Hungary wants to mobilize the European Union (EU) into supporting the democratization of Cuba. In Gyarmati’s opinion, the transition in Cuba will begin after the death of Fidel Castro and added that Hungarian politicians "have two important tasks in this situation," namely, to emphasize that the United States are not the ones "to carry out the transition in Cuba" and to stir the EU into playing a more active role on this issue. "Hungary, Spain and Germany could be the driving force behind US-EU cooperation" in support of the democratization process in the Caribbean country, said the director. (EFE, 19/12/06)

December 19: Honduras’ foreign minister, Milton Jiménez, travelled to Havana to meet his Cuban counterpart, Felipe Pérez Roque. The meeting is being held to discuss Honduras's maritime borders with other countries in the Caribbean, including Belize, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Guatemala, Cuba, Nicaragua and Mexico. Honduras has been at the centre of several maritime border disputes, including an intractable feud with El Salvador and Nicaragua over the Gulf of Fonseca. Honduran relations with Cuba are, however, more friendly and Jiménez said that he expected an agreement on maritime boundaries between the two countries would be signed by the end of 2007. The two countries reinstated diplomatic relations in 2002. (Latin News Daily, 20/12/06)

December 19: The Film Co-production Agreement signed between Chile and Cuba, during the 28th New Latin American Film Festival in Havana, one of the most important such events in the region, will enhance cooperation in this field. Chilean Foreign Ministry Cultural Director Emilio Lamarca said that the accord will help expand the industry in both countries and open doors to Third World productions. (Prensa Latina, 20/12/06)

December 20: The official Cuban newspaper Granma poked fun at the Spanish People's Party (PP). “The obsession of the right-wing People's Party (PP) with Cuba took a new beating at the Spanish Parliament, which shot down yet another of the aznaristas' made-in-USA initiatives against the Caribbean island," the article read. It added that "Aznar and his cohorts within the PP remain in the US government’s roster and are paid well by Washington, despite being 4th-category ‘players' of the political game and being unable to shake off the losing streak that began when they were overthrown from power in Spain in 2004." (AFP, 20/12/06)

December 20: Venezuelan Executive Vice-President José Vicente Rangel met with a Cuban delegation that is to advise the Venezuelan Government to create a commission that is to implement an internal control system to fight corruption in the Venezuelan public administration. "This system is not hard to design, and implementation requires the willingness of public agencies," said National Superintendent of Internal Audit, Vice-President's Office, Neida Camacho Montenegro. "The innovation here is that internal control is a process intertwined in every process of the public sector, including management, budget, procurement and biddings. All of these steps are integrated and combined with the audit." Fidel Castro, also leading his own campaign against corruption before falling ill in July, portrayed the widespread stealing from the state and other examples of ''moral decay'' as the greatest threat yet to Cuba's socialist system. “We've brought the experience on both the positive and negative points (…) of our model to share with our Venezuelan colleagues,'' Jose Carlos del Toro, a Cuban Finance Ministry official, was quoted as saying in the statement. (El Universal, The Miami Herald, 21,22/12/06)

December 20: Cuba lodged a protest over the UN Security Council’s refusal to allow it to participate in a debate on terrorism, adding that this decision confirms the urgent need for profound reform in that body. Ambassador Rodrigo Malmierca highlighted the importance Cuba puts on fighting terrorism and recalled the island’s prior attendance at these quarterly meetings. "We have been informed that it has been decided to use a new format in which only Committee presidents will be allowed to address the meeting," noted Cuba’s letter of protest. The Cuban Ambassador asked the Security Council to circulate the letter. The diplomat also requested that members receive the address that he was to pronounce on the subject, with detailed information on acts of terrorism against Cuba carried out by individuals and organizations that operate under the protection of the United States government. (Granma, 20/12/06)

December 21: The chancellors of Cuba and Honduras, Felipe Perez Roque and Milton Jimenez, expressed their willingness to recover dialogue and levels of bilateral cooperation, as well as intensify relations based on mutual respect. The Honduran Foreign Affairs minister initiated an official visit to Havana with a meeting with his Cuban colleague, to whom he confirmed Tegucigalpa government’s decision of appointing an ambassador to Cuba. Jimenez said he carried a message from President Manuel Zelaya to Fidel Castro, to whom he wished a quick recovery from the intestinal surgery he had in July. (Prensa Latina, 21/12/06)

December 22: Costa Rica's president compared Cuba's leader Fidel Castro to the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, an ideological foe, saying each was "savage, brutal and bloody" in his own way. President Oscar Arias, a Washington-friendly conservative who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for brokering deals to end Central America's civil wars, has traded barbs with Cuban officials since his election in February. "Fidel Castro began with the (execution) wall, killing those people who opposed him," Arias said in radio interview. "There is no difference. The ideology is different but both were savage, brutal and bloody." (Reuters, 22/12/06)

December 22: The Non-Aligned Movement demanded that the UN Security Council practice a policy of peaceful diplomacy and dialogue to find a lasting solution to the issue of Iran’s development of nuclear energy. Cuba’s ambassador to the UN Rodrigo Malmierca presented the Non-Aligned Movement position on the issue. Since September 2006, Cuba holds the presidency of the organization for a three-year period. The statement reaffirms "the fundamental and inalienable right" of all states to conduct research, produce and use atomic energy for peaceful ends, without discrimination and in compliance with their legal obligations. (Prensa Latina, 22/12/06)

December 24: The Bolivian government has announced plans to deport a prominent Cuban dissident who publicly criticized President Evo Morales' close ties to Havana.  Dr. Amauris Samartino, a Cuban who holds permanent residence status in Bolivia, will be expelled under a 1996 law forbidding immigrants to "intervene in any form in internal politics or incite by any means the alteration of the social and political order," according to a government statement. Samartino was arrested in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, a center of anti-Morales opposition, and later transferred to the Bolivian capital of La Paz.  He will be flown home to Cuba once his case has been processed, the statement said.  Samartino was one of a group of Cuban dissidents who fled to Bolivia in 2000, but the Bolivian government announced that Samartino does not hold refugee status. Samartino has been a vocal critic of Cuba's government and has publicly decried the influence of Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Morales' administration. (AP, 25/12/06)

December 26: The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani issued a document endorsing a draft agreement between Qatar and Cuba on reciprocal administrative assistance to facilitate the implementation of customs law and to prevent, track and fight customs crimes. The draft agreement was signed on November 7, 2006 in Havana, Cuba. (The Peninsula, 27/12/06)

December 26: The head of Madrid's regional government said that she does not like the idea of public monies being spent on medical attention for "the dictator Fidel Castro." Esperanza Aguirre, the conservative chief of the local administration, commented in light of the trip to Havana by surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido to examine ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Aguirre said it was the Cuban embassy in Spain that contacted Garcia Sabrido and asked that he travel to the island for the consultation. She said the regional administration for the past six months has been sending medicines to Cuba as part of a humanitarian aid program. "We give humanitarian aid to anyone who asks us for it," she said, although she also expressed regret that in this case such assistance was going to "a dictator." She wondered aloud "what must happen with the rest of the residents of the island, especially the political prisoners, if circumstances are such that when the 'comandante' is ill, they have to ask Madrid's public health system for help." (EFE, 26/12/06)

December 26: A government human rights monitor called for the government to halt the deportation of a Cuban dissident critical of President Evo Morales' ties to Havana, saying the move could hurt Bolivia's image abroad. Dr. Amauris Sanmartino, a Cuban who holds permanent residence status in Bolivia, was arrested in the eastern lowland city of Santa Cruz under a 1996 law forbidding immigrants to be involved in Bolivian politics. "This case could affect the image of Bolivia," said Public Defender Walter Albarracin, whose office has sought to block Sanmartino's deportation to Cuba. "Beyond whether someone thinks one way or another, here in Bolivia we live in a state of law, and we must be very careful with that state of law." (AP 26/12/06)

December 27: Cuba blasted Costa Rican President Oscar Arias for comparing ailing leader Fidel Castro to the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, calling Arias an "opportunistic clown" who does the bidding of the US government. In a statement published in the Communist Party daily Granma, the Cuban Foreign Ministry said it reacted with "profound indignation" to President Oscar Arias' comments likening Castro to his ideological foe.  [Declaración del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores] (AP, Prensa Latina, 27/12/06)

December 27: A Bolivian court ruled that a Cuban dissident who criticized improved relations between Bolivia and Cuba should be deported to the communist country. ``This is a death sentence. Cuba is a country where people who have different points of view, like me, don't have rights,'' Amauris Samartino told reporters after hearing the verdict. Samartino, who arrived in Bolivia in 2000, was detained on charges he violated a Bolivian law prohibiting immigrants from interfering in the South American country's internal affairs, government officials said. The Cuban ambassador in La Paz, Rafael Dausa, said his government did not ask Bolivia to detain Samartino, but acknowledged the dissident had publicly criticized both Morales and Castro. ``He has decided to politically act out against the Cuban revolution and the government of Bolivia,'' Dausa told the Red 1 TV network. (Reuters, 27/12/06)

December 28: Costa Rican President Oscar Arias refused to back off his harsh criticism of Fidel Castro and said Latin American countries need to help the communist-ruled island make a smooth transition to democracy following Castro's death. In interviews with the daily newspapers La Nacion and Al Dia, Arias also said he had "never heard so many rude epithets at the same time" as those the Cuban government unleashed at the president, whom it referred to as an "opportunistic clown" and a "vulgar mercenary" of US officials. "I stand by what I've said (...) that the Castro dictatorship has been as bloody and cruel as the Pinochet dictatorship, and that both regimes murdered innocent people."Arias said Cuban authorities are irritated because "my voice is one of the few in Latin America the island has heard regarding the necessity, once Fidel Castro is gone, to have Latin America (...) do something to reach a peaceful transition in Cuba toward a free and democratic regime." Arias said the Cuban people should be consulted as to whether they want Raul Castro to become the island's president-for-life. "All of the dictatorships have disappeared from this part of the world, except the Cuban one, and the Cuban people don't deserve 47 years of dictatorship," he added. (AP Herald Tribune, 28/12/06)

December 28: Havana will not accept a Cuban dissident set to be deported from Bolivia for criticizing President Evo Morales' close ties to the island nation, the government said. Bolivian Interior Vice Minister Ruben Gamarra called on the United States to help find another destination for Amauris Sanmartino because the US helped settle him in Bolivia. Sanmartino holds permanent residence status in Bolivia but was arrested under a law forbidding immigrants to be involved in Bolivian politics. ''We've spoken with Cuba and Cuba doesn't want him,'' Gamarra said. US officials confirmed that they were discussing Sanmartino's future with the Bolivian government but declined to comment further. The Bolivian government has accused Sanmartino of having ties to a radical separatist movement in the city of Santa Cruz, a center of conservative opposition to Morales about 340 miles east of La Paz. They also claim Sanmartino helped organize a December 15 protest. Sanmartino has denied both accusations. (AP, 28/12/06)

December 29: The solidarity and voluntary assistance provided by Cuban health workers in Guatemala earned the brigade the “2006 Personality of the Year” recognition from the editors, journalists and photographers of “Siglo Veintinuno” newspaper. The daily ran a front page photo of Cuban doctor Yoandra Muro, in charge of the medical brigade, with the headline: "We came to Guatemala to share not compete," along with a subtitle declaring the group Personality of the Year. (Granma, 29/12/06)

December 30: Cuba's Communist Party daily reported that ailing leader Fidel Castro telephoned the Chinese ambassador in Havana to wish his president Hu Jintao a happy New Year. The story in Granma said Castro called Chinese Ambassador Zhao Rongxian on December 25, and they discussed relations between their countries. The ambassador also transmitted his president's wishes for Castro's speedy recovery. Beijing’s local media headlined the congratulation messages exchanged by Fidel Castro and Hu Jintao on occasion of the New Year. The digital version of the People´s Diary in Spanish, organ of the Chinese Communist Party, conferred special significance to the news. (AP, Prensa Latina, 31/12/06)

December 30: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that he decided to drop plans to visit Nicaragua and Cuba. Lula said he would skip the inauguration of Nicaraguan President-elect Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, and that he would also give up the planned visit to Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Lula had said he would travel to Cuba to visit Castro after his trip to Nicaragua, where he would take part in Ortega's swearing-in ceremony on January 10. "I will not attend the presidential ceremony in Nicaragua because I convinced myself that I have to take 10 days off," he told journalists, adding that he would be on vacation on January 5-15, possibly on the seaside of the southeastern state of Sao Paulo. (Xinhua, 31/12/06)

December 31: Communist Cuba condemned the execution of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and called for the end to the war it said had caused the suffering of millions of innocent Iraqis. Hussein's execution by hanging over the weekend was ''an illegal act in a country that has been driven toward an internal conflict in which millions of citizens have been exiled or lost their lives,'' the Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on January 1 in the official daily Granma. The statement acknowledged that Cuba ''has not yet abolished the death penalty because of the brutal war imposed on it by the United States,'' referring to the US government's policy to undermine the communist country, including trade and travel sanctions. Nevertheless, the island nation ''has a moral duty to express its point of view about the assassination committed by the occupying power,'' the statement said.  [Declaración del MINREX] (Prensa Latina, The Miami Herald, 1,2/1/07)