Chronicle on Cuba - January 2007

Domestic Affairs

January 1: Cuba celebrated the 48th anniversary of the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, but the ailing leader remained out of sight five months after intestinal surgery that sidelined him. Parties were held across the Caribbean island and at Havana's Revolution Square, while Cuba media reprinted a written message from Castro, the first in two months, in which he warns that his recovery will take time. Castro, 80, has yet to make a public appearance since handing power to his brother Raul on July 31 while he recovers from surgery. (AFP, 1/1/07)

January 1: In separate and virtually competing new-year predictions, two groups of Cuban Santería priests are predicting a ''funereal'' future but also an ''ideal'' moment for an economic recovery. The island's “babalawos” have long been split into several groups, with one group relatively loyal to the government. But their annual predictions nevertheless are anxiously awaited by the many Cubans who practice the mixture of African and Catholic religions. The Yoruba priests who make up the relatively independent Commission for the Year's Letter announced that 2007 would be marked by wars and ''military interventions'' although the island will see an economic improvement based on the discovery of oil and mineral deposits. While they refused to speak specifically about Castro's health, babalawo Lázaro Cuesta, who read the year's prediction, made comments that seemed to be directed at the Cuban leader's ailment. ''The panorama that presents itself to us is a little funereal,'' he said. ``When one doesn't leave his place at its proper time, one runs the risk that unpredictable things happen.'' Meanwhile, the Cuban Council of Senior Ifá Priests, considered to be more loyal to the government, said its predictions ``speak of legal problems and their repercussions, which could bring as a consequence an increase in corruption and crime.'' (The Miami Herald, 3/1/07)

January 1: The eastern Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba is celebrating the 65th birthday of the late intellectual Joel James with the longest drum jam. On January 13, Joel James’ birthday, numerous traditional groups from all over the country will dedicate this tribute to James, who was director of the Casa del Caribe in Santiago up until his death in 2006. The drum jam will start in the western-most province of Pinar del Rio on January 12 with the groups ‘1802’ and ‘Tambor Yuca’, who will be followed by other groups from the provinces of Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Ciego de Avila, Camaguey, Las Tunas, Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba. The jam will finish with the group ‘Barrancas’, of Haitian origin, from the Santiago municipality of Palma Soriano. They will play by the tomb of Joel James, in the city’s Santa Ifigenia cemetery. (Granma, 1/1/07)

January 2: The Gran Teatro de La Habana Award was granted to Cuban singer Pablo Milanes. This award is conferred to people or groups that have reached an "extraordinary importance," local media reported. Milanes received the award from Alicia Alonso, Cuba National Ballet director and president of the jury, who highlighted "the merits of the singer and his contribution to the Cuban and Latin American singing." (Prensa Latina, 2/1/07)

January 3: Cuba registered the lowest infant mortality rate in Latin America with 5.3 deaths for every 1,000 live births in 2006, only surpassed on the continent by Canada, local dailies revealed. Granma daily quoted sources from the National Statistics Department of the Public Health Ministry as saying that the Caribbean country reached its lowest mortality rate in under one-year old children in history, and was among the 30 world nations with best results. (Prensa Latina, 3/1/07)

January 3: Participants in the peaceful march for the National Unity of the Internal Dissidence arrived in the city of Camagüey. Rufina Velázquez and her parents, Ramón and Bárbara, began their march on December 10th, 2006 in Santiago de Cuba, with the intention of reaching Havana. The march attempts to attract national and international attention to human rights violations on the island (Cubanet, 5/1/07)

January 4: State Security and police forces arrested participants of the march for National Unity. Rufina Velázquez and her parents, Ramón and Bárbara, were thrown in police cars and taken to the province of Las Tunas. They were released after warnings that they would be sent to prison if they continued the march. The family had started a walk across the island to call attention to human rights violations in Cuba, and to encourage unity of the internal dissidence. (Cubanet, 7/1/07)

January 6: Over a hundred people were detained in Mayarí, Holguín, as part of an anti-drug operation conducted by the provincial police. The operation started in early November after a shipment of cocaine reached the coasts of the region when foreign drug traffickers disposed of their cargo at sea for fears of being caught. The police operation focused on the localities of Nicaro, the Guatemala sugar-cane mill and the municipality of Mayarí. (Cubanet, 6/1/07)

January 6: About 30 children of Cuban political prisoners urged the communist government to free their fathers, nearly four years after they were rounded up in a crackdown against dissidents. The Ladies in White, a group of mothers and wives of political prisoners, organized a gathering at the home of one of their members and gave the children gifts to mark the Christian feast of the Epiphany, which marks the arrival of the three wise men, or Magi, to see the newborn Christ. The gathering took place in the home of activist Laura Pollan, whose husband, Hector Maseda, is also serving a 20-year sentence. The Ladies in White said they would continue their "peaceful" pleas until the "absolute liberation" of their husbands and sons. Pollan said the children came from across Cuba and that the event was organized without the help of the US government, which has an economic embargo against Cuba. European Union countries and organizations donated gifts, she said. (AFP, 6/1/07) 

January 7: Cuba's official youth newspaper reported an increase in sales of children's toys this year but warned against a rise in consumerism on the communist-run island. In a two-page spread, the Juventud Rebelde reported on the revival of "Three Kings Day," a Latin American tradition of giving gifts to children on January 6, commemorating the arrival of three wise men who offered the newborn Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. "A tradition that seemed extinct in Cuban society rises again," the state-run newspaper said. "Although no one sees celebrating the millennial festivity of the Three Kings as heresy, the danger could be in (the holiday) accentuating consumerist habits and social differences." Christmas is a low-key affair in Cuba. The government discouraged holiday celebrations for religious and consumerist reasons for decades following Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, but made Christmas a holiday in 1997 ahead of a visit by Pope John Paul II in 1998. (AP, 7/1/07)

January 8: Cuba has called on its boxing authorities to stem the flow of talent that continues to quit the impoverished Communist nation. Every year, Cuba loses some of its top athletes, particularly boxers and baseball players, who choose to escape the country for pastures new. Many boxers, such as current WBC lightweight champion and 1992 Olympic gold medallist Joel Casamayor, find their way to the United States to start up professional careers that are banned under the regime of Fidel Castro. Cuba is now trying to find a way to hold onto its greatest talents and boxing bosses have been told to set up an elite national squad "inside and outside the ring" to fend off the vultures. Offical state newspaper Granma said: "In various Olympic forums, such as the National Assembly of Olympic Committees and the Pan-American Sports Organisation, Cuba has denounced the harassment that it's sports suffer at the hands of unscrupulous dealers, which it describes as a theft of talents." It singled out the United States as the prime importer of boxing talent. The Cuban denunciation of this phenomenon took place just over a week before the beginning of the national championships. (AFP, 8/1/07)

January 8:  Residents of Havana took part in observances to mark the 48th anniversary of the arrival in Cuba’s capital of the revolutionary army led by Fidel Castro. A procession made up of children dressed as guerrillas, and former revolutionary fighters re-enacted the triumphal entry of January 8, 1959. Retired Captain Arsenio Nestor Sosa, 68, who accompanied Castro on his entry into Havana and was the main speaker at the anniversary rally in the suburb of El Cotorro, recalled that "when we arrived here we didn't know what the revolution was, because we were very young." Now, he said, "we have to trust in the continuity of the revolution because when we triumphed we didn't have much understanding, but those charged with continuing (the revolution) are much better prepared and know what they're fighting for." (EFE, 8/1/07)

January 8: Juan Alberto Fernández, better known as "El Congo", a member of the Confederación Obrera Nacional Independiente de Cuba (CONIC), was beaten by two police officers in the Manatí police station in Las Tunas. They also insulted him verbally and threatened him with an "uncertain future". Juan Alberto said that he did not suffer further injuries thanks to the intervention of a lieutenant from the Technical Department of Investigations and other officials, who prevented further beatings. "El Congo" suffered several fractures as a result of the beatings and was fined 30.00 pesos for peacefully opposing the government. (Cubanet, 8/1/07)

January 9: Respect for human rights has not improved in Cuba under interim leader Raul Castro, though the number of Cubans jailed for political reasons has fallen to 283, the country's main rights watchdog said. Cuba remains the Western hemispheric nation with the most political prisoners in proportion to its population, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation said in its year-end report. The group, illegal but tolerated by Cuba's communist government, expects the civil liberties situation, from freedom of association and information to the right to travel and self-employment, to remain unchanged or deteriorate further because no reforms are in sight. ``The provisional team designated by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro has done nothing to improve fundamental rights,'' said the commission, led by veteran rights activist Elizardo Sanchez. ``Cuba's government continues to violate each and every civil, political and economic right,'' it said. Barring a ``political miracle'' short-term prospects for human rights are negative and there is little internal pressure on the ruling bureaucracy to change its policies, the commission's report said. ``Due to the oppressive and repressive nature of the totalitarian regime and its enormous capability for social control, we cannot see any factors or components that are able to exert effective pressure on the government from inside Cuban society to begin a process of modernizing reforms,'' it said. (Reuters, 9/1/07)

January 10: Some influential Cuban intellectuals are laying plans for a more market-oriented approach to fortify the island's ailing communist economy. The debate over economic experimentation, squelched a decade ago by the Castro regime, offers a glimpse of what a post-Castro Cuba could look like. The Cuban economists' proposals would cut down on state interference in businesses and aim to wring more productivity out of the island nation's economy. Among the steps under discussion: decentralizing control, expanding the power of managers at privately owned agricultural cooperatives, extending private ownership to other sectors, boosting investment in infrastructure and increasing incentives to workers.  None of the plans would shuck communism for capitalism or open the island further to foreign investment -- which economists outside Cuba say are critical for the island to prosper. But the fact that the government is permitting -- and perhaps even encouraging -- the debate suggests regime officials might find these kinds of changes acceptable, though it may take Mr. Castro's death to put them into action.  "We are in the midst of a process of debate, which is cautious and controlled, but is happening for the first time in many years," said Pedro Monreal, a senior professor at the Center for Research on the International Economy in Havana. The disconnect between the Cuban government's claims and the Cuban's people's bleak living standards may increase popular pressure for change. "The Cuban people can believe that the economy is growing statistically, but it's not growing in their homes," says Rafael Hernandez, editor of the magazine "Temas" -- "Issues" in English -- a scholarly quarterly in Havana that writes about the Cuban political-economy and society. Mr. Hernandez says the government should pick up the renovation agenda that Mr. Castro and his brother Raul, now Cuba's acting president, shut down in 1996 for straying too far from socialist ideology and for potentially undermining political control. (The Wall Street Journal, 10/1/07)

January 10: Recent public appearances by three former Cuban officials linked to harsh political purges in the cultural sector during the 1960s and '70s has aroused the ire of some of the island's intellectuals and artists. The unusually public criticisms posted on the Internet include comments by three winners of Cuba's top literary prize, the National Literature Award, and several other well-known authors and artists. The intellectuals demand an urgent response from the government in view of the ''political error'' represented by the reappearance of the former officials, most of them now in their 80s and not seen in public for many years. The controversy arose after an appearance by Luis Pavón Tamayo, former chairman of the National Culture Council, on a Cuban television program on January 7. Pavón was in charge of the harsh cultural policy that alienated and censured hundreds of Cuban writers and artists in the early 1970s.  The TV program -- devoted to Pavón as part of a series on Cubans who have influenced the nation's culture -- exalted him, displaying medals that he won and showing photos of him with high-ranking government officials. ''There he was, dressed in white, the great arbiter of important artists,'' wrote Havana author and National Literature Award winner Antón Arrufat in a letter posted on the Internet. ``He was the man who hounded them and expelled them from their jobs, the man who (…) took away their wages and jobs, condemned them to ostracism and social vilification.''  Also signing messages of support for Arrufat posted on the Internet were authors and artists Miguel Barnet, Desiderio Navarro, Arturo Arango, Enrique Pineda Barnet, Jorge Angel Pérez, Ena Lucía Portela, Senel Paz, and Sigfredo Ariel. A Cuban TV program on December 13, 2006, included an appearance by Jorge Serguera, a former prosecutor in the trials that sent dozens of Fidel Castro opponents before firing squads in the early 1960s and later head of the Cuban Institute of Radio Broadcasting. In November, another Cuban television program interviewed Armando Quesada, a subordinate of Pavón's who in the 1960s was in charge of watching over the ideological purity of Cuba's theatrical world. The controversy arose a few weeks after the resignation of Carlos Martí as president of UNEAC, apparently for personal reasons.  (El Nuevo Herald, 10/1/07)

January 10: Cuban dissident Manuel Valdes Tamayo, one of 75 activists jailed in a massive crackdown in 2003 and released a year later for health reasons, died, according to one of the island's leading activists. He was 50. Valdes Tamayo died of a heart attack, Martha Beatriz Roque, also among the original group of detained activists, told the press. He had been released from prison June 9, 2004, because of his health problems. Valdes Tamayo was among 75 dissidents rounded up in the spring of 2003 and sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to 28 years. Sixteen of those prisoners, including Valdes Tamayo and Roque, had since been released for health reasons.  Roque said the dissident had been waiting for government permission to leave the island. Cuban authorities have allowed two of the 16 activists -- poet Raul Rivero and independent journalist Manuel Vazquez Portal -- to leave. "He hoped to be able to go," said Roque, adding that Valdes Tamayo "was a very loved man" among Cuban dissidents. (AP, 11/1/07)

January 11: Cuban dissidents and wives of political prisoners paid their respects to activist Miguel Valdes Tamayo, who died of a heart attack at age 50. He was one of 75 government opponents jailed in a massive crackdown in 2003. Laura Pollan, whose husband, Hector Maseda, is one of 59 prisoners from the group still behind bars, urged the Cuban government to release all the men. Valdes Tamayo was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but was released after a year for health reasons. "He is the first, but there are others who are very sick who are going to follow him," Pollan said at the Havana funeral home, where he was taken ahead of burial at the Colon Cemetery. "They have to return our men to us." Pollan is a member of the Ladies in White, a group of wives and mothers of political prisoners who peacefully march every Sunday after church to demand their loved ones' liberation. "He was already sick when he arrived at prison, but he got worse there," said Carmelo Diaz, one of those released. "This loss is irreparable." (AP, 11/1/07)

January 11: A group of scientists exploring caves in Matanzas, Cuba, has astonished the island’s scientific community with the discovery of fossil remains of a giant owl. The discovery by the Matanzas Speleology Group is considered an important source of evidence of the country’s fauna and food chain over the last 20,000 years. The fossilized "eagle owl" was a bird of prey with small talons and a large beak, better adapted for running than flight, which made it easy prey for other species, thus reducing its population. A similar bird was found in the 60’s, also in a Matanzas cave. (Prensa Latina, 11/1/07)

January 11: Cuba’s new TV news channel ACN, a new information support with a dynamic vision of Cuban life, was presented at the 8th National Written Press Festival. Esteban Ramirez, general director of Cuba’s National Information Agency (AIN), which heads this project, said they want to bring press material and messages from Cuba to Cuban collaborators abroad, mainly in Bolivia and Venezuela. ACN has an attractive design, with three application modules and is presently visible for 70,000 Cuban inhabitants living in mountainous zones. (Prensa Latina, 11/1/07)

January 11: "Journalism and loyalty to the Revolution" is the motto of the 8th Festival of the National Print Media taking place in Havana's Convention Center. During the event, some 450 delegates and guests will meet to exchange ideas and experiences with the hope of maximizing their work, Granma newspaper reported. A total of two panel discussions include one on "The effectiveness of the Cuban Print Media" and another on "The quality and Reach of Cuban Digital Journalism." Several other workshops will be held on other topics such as how to measure the impact of reporting, tools to improve digital design and the Internet as a source of consultation. The first print media festival took place in November 1999, in response to a call from Fidel Castro to fight the "Battle of Ideas" both inside the country and abroad. (AIN, 11/1/07)

January 12: A recent episode of a Cuban television detective serial portrayed the Abakuá secret society in an unusually favourable light, after more than a century of discrimination and calumnies in Cuba against this sect of African origin. In an intentionally didactic manner, the programme made a clear distinction between this mutual-aid religious brotherhood and criminals, with whom it was formerly identified in Cuba, and stressed the ethical and moral values demanded of those who wish to join it. In an interview with the press, Cuban anthropologist and expert on religious affairs Jesús Robaina said that at present, Cuba "has shifted from merely tolerating, to accepting and living with" this particular sect. Unlike other Afro-Cuban religions, Abakuá or Ñáñiga, as it is also known, is selective and only for men, and it maintains rigorous silence about the mystery of its beliefs. In Robaina's view, the members of the Abakuá religion "became essential and fundamental components of Cuban nationality, because of the cultural resistance that was the basis of their action." That is why "there is now political understanding of the need for this religion as part of our national values, and a participative process with Abakuá practitioners is being developed, to contribute to demolishing the negative legends that surround them," he added. There were 120 recognised lodges in 2005, and in 2006 there were 147, with a membership of more than 20,000. This number may already have increased because after Jan. 6, Abakuá Day on the island, new initiations always occur. Robaina said a study of eight lodges in 2004-2005 found "an increase in membership, including graduates and university students." (IPS, 12/1/07)

January 12: The 8th National Festival of the Cuban Print Media came to a close with a call for stepped up training of journalists in the new computer technologies and more effective use of the Internet to circulate Cuba’s reality and positions to combat the hostile international mass media. Rolando Alfonso Borges, head of the Ideological Department of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, gave the closing speech. “We need a press at the same height as the major transformations and needs of the Revolution,” said Alfonso adding, “People must see their problems and concerns increasingly reflected in the media. For that to happen we need investigations, a wealth of language, and creativity with professional and political responsibility.” The final session opened with a presentation by Eliades Acosta, director of the National Library, who suggested a richer use of language in tune with daily life in Cuba to achieve a better communication with the population. He also emphasized the need to make increased use of the numerous sources available like archives, libraries and the Internet to back up journalist’s arguments and unmask distortions of history that he said take place on a regular basis. Several presentations were made on the quality and reach of the Cuban online press. The island’s media currently has 128 Internet sites, 34 of which belong to newspapers and local and national magazines. In graphics, the need was shown to seek ways to increase the visibility of the Cuban websites. (Granma, 15/1/07) 

January 13: Fidel Castro's eldest son said that his ailing father was on the mend and in good spirits. "He is recovering, I see him recovering," Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 54, told reporters in the southern Chilean city of Valdivia. "He is in good spirits and optimistic."Castro Diaz-Balart, a nuclear scientist, was in Chile for the inauguration of a scientific research center. He attended a dinner hosted by President Michelle Bachelet. (AP, 13/1/07)

January 14: Cuba’s ambassador in the Dominican Republic said that, due to his condition and the fact that he’s 80 years old, it’s very unlikely that Fidel Castro will return to that nation’s presidency. Juan Astiasarán Ceballo said however that the revolution and socialism will remain in the Caribbean island-nation with or without Castro’s physical presence. The diplomat, speaking in a televised program, discarded that Castro’s possible disappearance would lead to the formation of political parties different from the organization which rules in the Cuban state today. "At the moment most of the provincial and municipal ministers and officials are young people who are not over 40 years of age and are the people in charge of giving continuity to this process headed by our commander Fidel Castro," said the Cuban ambassador in the country. Interviewed in the program D'Agenda on Channel 11, Astiasarán said that during the revolutionary process which is more than 40 years old, Castro sought to create a political-state structure able to maintain the revolution beyond his death. (Dominican Today, 15/1/07)

January 16: Fidel Castro has had at least three failed operations and complications from an intestinal infection and faces "a very grave prognosis," a Spanish newspaper reported. The newspaper El Pais cited two unnamed sources from the Gregorio Marañón hospital in the Spanish capital of Madrid. The facility employs surgeon Jose Luis García Sabrido, who flew to Cuba in December to treat the 80-year-old Castro. The Spanish newspaper said that Mr. Castro, who has not been seen in public since July 26, had suffered from diverticulitis, a serious ailment caused when the bulges that sometimes form in the colon of older people become infected. El Pais said: "A grave infection in the large intestine, at least three failed operations and various complications have left the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, laid up with a very grave prognosis." El Pais' report, which could not immediately be confirmed, was a rare detailed description from a major media outlet about Castro's condition. A Cuban diplomat in Madrid said the reports were lies and declined to comment. "It's another lie and we are not going to talk about it. If anyone has to talk about Castro's illness it's Havana," the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of official policy. Quoting an unidentified diplomat from a country with close relations to Cuba, Reuters said Mr. Castro was taken to the operating room seven times in a single day in December to deal with the problem. (AP, Reuters, Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, 16/1/07)

January 16: The latest rumor whispered on the crumbling streets of Havana is that ailing leader Fidel Castro cannot appear in public because he lost his hair -- and his famous beard -- to chemotherapy for cancer. Cubans searching for reasons for the almost six-month public absence of the 80-year-old revolutionary can only speculate about what's wrong with him, for lack of official word. They do not know what he has or even where he is being treated. Cuba's communist leadership has kept water-tight secrecy around Castro's health crisis and told Cubans nothing other than reiterations that the "comandante" is recovering slowly and will be back. There have been no leaks from Castro's inner circle and his doctors have reportedly been sequestered since his emergency surgery in late July.  Cuban officials decline to comment on news reports from abroad, the only source of information about Castro for the few Cubans who have access to Internet or get to watch Miami television stations on illegal satellite dishes.  Cubans, whether they support Castro or not, are worried about their country's future in the vacuum he will leave. Some are angry they are not being told the full story. (Reuters, 16/1/07)

January 17: Fidel Castro himself told surgeons not to perform a colostomy, opting instead for a course of surgery that produced a complication leaving the Cuban leader in far worse condition, according to a newspaper report. The shortcut involved sewing the colon to the rectum but did not heal properly and broke apart, releasing gastric fluid with feces that caused serious infection, El Pais said. The newspaper reported a day earlier that Castro's prognosis was "very serious" and that he is being fed intravenously after three failed operations for diverticulitis, or pouch-like bulges in the large intestine that get infected. "It sounds like they tried to spare him the colostomy, which would have been the safer and more conservative approach," said Dr. Meyer Solny, a gastrointestinal expert at New York Presbyterian Hospital. (AP, Reuters, 17/1/07)

January 17: Reports by a Spanish newspaper about Fidel Castro's health were based on rumors, and the Cuban president is in fact showing "some progressive improvement," said the Spanish surgeon who examined him last month in Cuba. "The only truthful parts of the newspaper's reports are the name of the patient, that he has been operated on, and that he has had complications," said the surgeon, Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido. "The rest is rumors." The doctor disputed reports by El Pais that Castro was in serious condition following surgery. The paper cited unnamed medical sources at the Gregorio Maranon hospital in Madrid, where Garcia Sabrido is the chief surgeon. "According to my information, there is even some progressive improvement in Castro," Garcia Sabrido said, adding "that is normal for a patient who is recovering and where there are no incidents." (CNN, 17/1/07)

January 18: Communist Cuba's official guild of writers and artists has expressed its solidarity with intellectuals who criticized the air time given recently to the regime's most stringent censors from a generation ago, figures now generally discredited for their persecution of homosexuals and anyone who deviated even slightly from the party line.  The creative professionals' union, known as UNEAC, issued a communique seconding the "just indignation" expressed by authors and filmmakers in Cuba at seeing the heavy-handed cultural gatekeepers from the 1970s taking part in several programs broadcast by the government. Particularly galling to the artists was the participation of Luis Pavon Tamayo, who presided over the National Cultural Council from 1971 to '76.  Culture Minister Abel Prieto, other high-ranking members of the Communist Party, and authorities of the Cuban Broadcasting Institute (ICRT) met with a score of upset intellectuals in an effort to calm the waters. Among the local creative figures angry at seeing Pavon on the tube were writers Anton Arrufat, Reynaldo Gonzalez, Cesar Lopez, Reina Maria Rodriguez and filmmaker Senel Paz. The polemic spread via Internet, and the local artists received the support of exiled intellectuals including Abilio Estevez and Eliseo Alberto. The UNEAC said in its communique that, during the conciliatory meeting, the ICRT acknowledged that it was "a mistake" to broadcast the programs refloating discredited figures from the past. But the official union also lamented that "this intense exchange of opinion" was being taken advantage of by exiles "who obviously are working for the enemy." (EFE, 18/1/07) 

January 18: Juan Carlos Herrera, a political prisoner sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2003, denounced the harassment and threats by prison authorities at the Kilo 8 prison in Camagüey. Herrera was interrogated by a State Security agent who told him that "people who act like him could be found hanged or murdered in their cells". (Cubanet, 18/1/07)

January 19: Fidel Castro is making a "slow but progressive" recovery although his condition is serious due to his advanced age, a Spanish doctor who has examined him said. Castro, 80, has suffered complications after undergoing surgery on his digestive system but could return to normal activities if he makes a full recovery, Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido told the press in an interview. "I have recent information that his recovery is slow but progressive," said Garcia Sabrido, who examined Castro in Havana late last year and is a consultant to his medical team. Castro has not been seen in public since July, fuelling speculation he is so ill he may never return to power.  The surgeon largely dismissed other reports in El Pais that Castro had undergone three botched operations for diverticulitis or bulges in the large intestine. "They are full of inaccuracies -- they are fundamentally rumours, and in some extreme cases absolutely false," said the doctor, who regularly visits Cuba for medical conferences and medical consultations. He said he did not know who El Pais's sources were, but recommended scrutiny regarding reports on Castro's health. "Good, good information, comes from few sources, the rest you can consider rumour and in some cases speculation," he said. Ana Alfageme, one of the El Pais reporters who wrote the stories, told the press Garcia Sabrido was not their source. (Reuters, 19/1/06)

January 21: A debate over economic reforms that flourished inside Cuba in the early 1990s, until a crackdown in 1996, appears to be reemerging under the presumably more pragmatic rule of interim leader Raúl Castro. ''There is a debate,'' said Rafael Hernández, the editor of the quarterly Cuban magazine “Temas” (“Issues”), and one of the country's leading intellectuals. Hernández said the debate taking place at different levels of Cuba's government and society focuses on proposals such as decentralizing the highly centralized economy, forming cooperatives in areas outside of agriculture, and creating openings for more small and medium-size private enterprises. ''In Cuba, no IMF formula is foreseeable,'' said Hernández, referring to the International Monetary Fund and its free-market economic policies. Another proponent of reforms, prominent Cuban economist Pedro Monreal, recently told The Wall Street Journal that Cuba needs an overhaul to inject motivation and innovation into the economy although the direction of the debate is difficult to follow. ''It's a kind of black-box process,'' he said. Reached by telephone in Havana, Monreal said he told The Wall Street Journal what he wanted to say and would have no further comment. (The Miami Herald, 21/1/07)

January 21: Many Cuba watchers were shocked to see that there were no protests, not even a peep of public dissent, in the months following the announcement that Fidel Castro had undergone surgery and ceded power to his younger brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro. But to Dagoberto Valdes, a 51-year-old Roman Catholic layman who has spent more than a decade quietly working to change Cuba, the collective silence came as no surprise. "The art of thinking has been damaged tremendously [among Cubans]. During this half-century, we have been forced to think like one person," said Valdes, referring to Fidel Castro. "Now we are teaching people again to think with their own head."  While experts focus on whether Cuba is poised for large-scale economic and political changes, Valdes believes that change must start with the average Cuban citizen.  Working out of a cramped office in the Catholic Archdiocese in the western city of Pinar del Rio, Valdes conducts workshops and publishes a magazine aimed at introducing Cubans to such alien concepts as free speech and freedom of association.  "We believe at the bottom of all these limitations, isolations and closures, there is fear," he wrote. "A fear of the truth, a fear of debate (…) a fear of losing control." Valdes says his efforts are like "a drop in the ocean," but he is optimistic about Cuba's future given the recent change in leadership and what he describes as the resilience of the human spirit. "I believe in the capacity of the Cuban people to recover," he said. "The secret is (…) freedom." (Chicago Tribune, 21/1/07) 

January 22: Cuba's vice president said that Fidel Castro continued to recover from intestinal surgery and the country was operating normally in his absence. Vice President Jose Ramon Fernandez indicated the leader is recovering and added that “after six months of his convalescence the nation is functioning with normality,'' the official Prensa Latina news agency reported. Cuban authorities deny Castro suffers from terminal cancer, as US intelligence officials have claimed. Cuban officials have nonetheless stopped insisting Castro will return to power. (AP, 23/1/07)

January 22: With power transferred to Fidel Castro's brother Raul, Cuban dissidents have begun testing the island's political waters after decades of ironclad rule, but found little hope of fundamental changes. "I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel," said Martha Beatriz Roque, the "iron lady" of Cuban dissidents. The almost six months since Raul Castro, 75, was named acting president by his ailing brother, were marked by "a continuation of the totalitarian regime," she said. "We are still waiting to see what happens, but after six months of ups and downs, the tension is still there," said Elizardo Sanchez, a leading opponent of the communist regime. He said nothing short "of a true political miracle" would bring about an improvement in the human rights situation on the Caribbean island. Sanchez admits there has been a drop in the number of political prisoners last year, but claims this is just a new strategy by the government, which now favors short but frequent detentions and intimidation rather than long prison terms. "We still face days of tension, particularly for us since our husbands are still prisoners of 'Doctor Castro' and nobody dares do anything with them until his fate is decided and Raul definitely takes power," says Laura Pollan, of the "Ladies in White" group. For now, the prisoners "as well as the entire country, will remain in a limbo, that is why we don't expect any to be released," said Pollan.  Moderate dissident Manuel Cuesta is among the few members of the fractious opposition who sees improvements, saying "a relative drop in repression" has slightly eased tension, facilitating efforts to strengthen "cohabitation between the government and the opposition." (AFP, 22/1/07)

January 23: A Jewish couple finally got married in Havana under a Chuppah canopy according to Jewish custom. It was no ordinary ceremony. Twenty other couples of all ages took their marriage vows in a ritual officiated by three visiting Argentine rabbis. It was the largest wedding members of Cuba's depleted Jewish community can remember and a sign of a revival of Judaism in a country where there has been no resident rabbi since an exodus of Jews fleeing Fidel Castro's communist government in the early 1960s. The mass nuptials at the restored conservative Beth Shalom synagogue, the largest of three in Havana, were preceded by 70 conversions, including whole families, and dozens of young Cubans. When Castro took power in 1959, there was a flourishing and prosperous Jewish community of 15,000 in Cuba. Within a few years, as the new government nationalized businesses and steered Cuba toward communism, 90 percent of them left for southern Florida, Mexico, Venezuela and Israel. Cuba became an atheist state and the synagogues emptied. Congregations fell below the quorum for prayer ceremonies as Jews that stayed assimilated into the new status quo, stopped teaching their children Hebrew and lost their customs. Things changed after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and Cuba struggled to survive a severe economic crisis. Cuba became a secular state and allowed religious worship even by card-carrying Communist Party members. Impoverished Cuban Jews began to receive aid from abroad, especially the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which has helped rebuild a community of 1,500 people. Community leaders say their numbers have doubled, but many young Cuban Jews have immigrated to Israel. "People have left for different reasons, but there has been a constant renewal. This is a crucial moment in our revival," said Annette Eli, a young architect. (Reuters, 23/1/07)

January 23: Acting President Raul Castro is pressing for a reorganization of Cuba's state-dominated economy to extend the "enterprise perfection" model that was pioneered by the island's business-minded armed forces, official media reported. Thirty-two percent of the country's firms operate under the enterprise perfection model, launched 20 years ago within the military and extended 7 1/2 years ago to civil firms, said the executive secretary of the Governmental Group for Enterprise Perfection, Col. Armando Perez Betancourt.  At the end of 2006, a total of 844 firms were employing the model, including 77 managed by the armed forces, while another 500 were in the process of applying to use it, according to Communist Party daily Granma.  "If we want the entire economy to function better, and it is shown that with the perfection (model) this can be achieved, even if everything is not perfect, the issue is for more firms to enter into the system," Perez added.  With the extension of the enterprise perfection model, Cuba is trying to increase productivity and efficiency and reduce the serious problems existing within the island's industrial network, from the lack of on-the-job discipline to labor organization problems. (EFE, Granma, Reuters, 23/1/07)

January 23: Dolia Leal Francisco, one of the founders of the ¨Ladies in White¨, made a desperate appeal for the life of her husband and political prisoner, Nelson Aguiar Ramírez, in an open letter to world leaders. "Nelson is living in a terrible hell", says Dolia in the letter addressed to presidents and heads of democratic governments, Pope Benedict XVI, UN Secretary-general, the International Red Cross and human rights organizations in the world. (Cubanet, 23/1/07)

January 25: Ailing Fidel Castro, who dropped from public view six months ago after undergoing emergency surgery, is recovering and is still in charge of Cuba, a senior government official said. "He is still at the helm," Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly, told reporters. Alarcon said the 80-year-old Cuban leader was out of sight because he was following strict doctor's instructions for his recovery "which is going very well."  Alarcon said the timing of Fidel Castro's return to public life would depend on his recovery and indicated that skeptics were in for a surprise. Alarcon dismissed as "speculation by gossip mongers" a Spanish newspaper report that Castro had had a series of three failed operations on his large intestine since last July that caused severe infection. (Reuters, 25/1/07)

January 25: Cuban writer Alberto Abreu received the Casa de Las Americas 2007 Award in the category of artistic-literary essay. Abreu, a narrator and art critic, won the award unanimously for his essay “Los juegos de la escritura o la (re) escritura de la Historia” (The games of writing or re-writing history). Likewise, Argentinean writer and journalist Susana Silvestre took the prize for her novel “Mil y una” (A thousand and one), while his compatriot Rafael Spregelburd was awarded in the category of theater. Uruguayan Edda Fabbri was recognized in testimonial literature with “Oblivion”; Brazilian Ana Maria Goncalves, was also acknowledged for her novel “Um defeito de cor”. (AIN, 25/1/07)

January 27: Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told Guatemalan reporters that the health of his country's president, Fidel Castro, shows progressive improvement and announced his prompt return to power. "I can say that his recovery is progressive," the Cuban deputy foreign minister told reporters, adding that Castro is convalescing acceptably, but through "a natural process that is necessarily slow." According to the deputy foreign minister, the Cuban president is following doctors' orders "and will return to the full exercise of his responsibilities as soon as the doctors think it appropriate." Rodriguez said that Fidel Castro is keeping up to date on events in Cuba and is being consulted on the important decisions being taken in the country. (EFE, 27/1/07) 

January 27: Josefina Mendez, world renowned as one of “the four jewels” of the Cuban National Ballet (BNC), passed away in Havana after a four-year battle with cancer. Her death brings sorrow not only to the Cuban dance stage, but to all of the island’s culture, since she was one of its most valuable exponents. A ballerina of the highest quality, she brought glory to an entire age of the Cuban ballet, with her solid technical and artistic training, her stylistic ductility. Possessor of a complex and charismatic personality, in which perfectionism, good taste, sense of humor, refined irony and almost tragic sobriety coexisted, she knew how to use all these features for the successful portrayal of the most varied characters. (Granma, 27/1/07)

January 28: The Cuban newspaper "Juventud Rebelde" urged drivers of the new Chinese buses "Yutong" to be more careful as they were involved in 437 traffic accidents from July 2005 to the end 2006. Of the 437 accidents, 313 were considered minor, 88 less serious, 11 serious and 25 fatal. (EFE, 28/1/07)

January 28: Dissident doctor, Darsi Ferrer, was besieged by over a dozen government supporters who gathered in front of his house to prevent visitors from going in or out of the house. The group were mostly individuals over fifty years of age, pensioners and militants of the Communist Party. Some neighbours expressed to Ferrer their disapproval of the constant harassment to which he and his family are subjected. (Cubanet, 31/1/07)

January 29: With the production of 79,000 doses of recombinant streptokinase in 2006, Cuba upped manufacturing of this life-saving medicine 50 percent over initial 2003 production, Cuba’s National Bio-preparedness Center reported. Recombinant streptokinase is used to treat thrombosis and heart attacks, given intravenously as soon as possible after the onset of a heart attack to dissolve clots, BIOCEN active ingredients plant chief, chemical engineer Dervis Llopiz, explained. (Prensa Latina, 29/1/07)

January 29: Cuban writers who believe in democracy and freedom of expression joined a "Quixotic" and dangerous - to themselves - project to publish fiction, poetry and essays that have no chance of dissemination on the Communist-ruled island, and their collected work was hailed here as "a gesture of love." The Pan America Development Foundation has sponsored a book which, under the title "Voices of Change: New Cuban Literature," offers a collection of works by 21 authors living in Cuba but opposed to the Fidel Castro regime. The anthology, published in Miami and presented in New York, includes essays, journalism, poetry and short stories that unanimously express the desire for change in Cuba on the part of the authors who, in some cases, are prisoners on the island. "This book is a civil-society project that comes out of a literary contest unique in all the world, one in which those participating risk their liberty just by taking part," said Marc Wachtenheim of the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba/ICDC at the presentation of the anthology in New York. "Voices of Change" is the result of the fourth edition of the El Heraldo contest, organized by the Independent Libraries of Cuba, a project that puts in circulation books that have been banned on the island. It was preceded in 2003 by the acclaimed "Eyes Open: New Voices in Cuban Literature." (EFE, 29/1/07)

January 29: ETECSA, state-run telecom entity, will introduce as of next May 26 numbers of seven digits in the capital´s telephone system. This measure will ensure service capacities in this city by expanding the access availability adding 6 as prefix to all numbers south of the city and 7 to those east of the capital. Jose Antonio Roche, deputy Manager of Institutional Communication of ETECSA, explained to local media that capital municipalities like Boyeros, Arroyo Naranjo and 10 de Octubre, are among those with the changes in benefit of users who only have to add a 6 before the usual numbers. He said in the case of Guanabacoa and Eastern Havana, located east of the capital, residents will have to dial 7 before the rest of the number. (Prensa Latina, 29/1/07)

January 30: Cuban state television showed a video of Fidel Castro meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and saying his recovery was ''far from a lost battle,'' in the first images of the ailing leader in three months. Castro stood and appeared alert in the 10-minute video clip, which state TV said was shot during Chavez's previously unannounced visit to Havana on January 29. Castro looked heavier than in previous images that showed him much more thin and frail. He stood in most of the images, but at one point he seemed to be reclining on a high chair. He mumbled some of his words and seemed to gasp for air in between sentences, and overall looked frail and still ailing.  Dressed in a red, white and blue track suit, the 80-year-old was shown sitting and drinking juice. ''This also is far from being a lost battle,'' Castro said of his current health problems. Later in the video, Chavez was even more optimistic, saying Castro had already won the battle to recover his health. The Venezuelan president's brother, Education Minister Adan Chavez, was also seen in the video visiting Castro. (AP, The Miami Herald, 30/1/07)

January 30: The papal nuncio in Cuba, archbishop Luigi Bonazzi, called on the unity of all Christians during the closing of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Along with the nuncio, the liturgical celebration was presided over by the bishop of the Anglican dioceses of Cuba and Uruguay, reverend Miguel E. Tamayo Zaldívar. Also present were representatives from different denominations of the ecumenical world with representation in the country. (OCB, 30/1/07)

January 30: Writers and publishers are gearing up for the Cuban International Book Fair 2007 that takes place in Havana from February 8 to 18 before extending throughout the island until March 11. Argentina is this year’s international guest of honor at the popular event in its 16th edition. Tribute will also be paid to Cuban poet, essayist and literary critic Cesar Lopez (National Prize in Literature 1999) and Cuban essayist and researcher Eduardo Torres-Cuevas (National Social Science Award 2000). All together, 82 foreign book sellers are set to staff stands representing 550 publishers from 28 countries along with 53 Cuban publishing houses, said Maria Mederos, vice president of the Cuban Book Institute and Book Fair general manager during a press conference in the capital. Argentinean Ambassador to Havana Dario Alessandro announced at the press conference that his country’s booksellers will be housed at a 516 square meter pavilion and that a large delegation led by Argentinean Secretary of Culture Jose Nun will participate in the event. (Granma, 31/1/07)

January 31: More than 400 Cuban writers and artists met for an unprecedented debate on censorship of Cuban culture in the 1970s. Attendance was by invitation only. Organized by the Magazine "Criterios", the conference titled the "Dark Quinquennium" was held at the Casa de las Américas in the wake of the controversial reappearance of former censors on television in early January. About one hundred young people who wanted to participate in the conference chanted "Desiderio: hear my opinion", "Desiderio: I want to express my opinion," in reference to intellectual Desiderio Navarro, one of the promoters of the meeting. "The group of young people here knows they will not let us in but we want them to see that we are here," said Lizabel Mónica, a 25-year-old writer. "We do not plan to stand by quietly," she added. (Reuters, 31/1/07)