Chronicle on Cuba - March 2007

Foreign Affairs

March 2: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque arrived in Panama for an official visit, heading a delegation to the first consultation meeting of the two countries' foreign ministries. The Cuban delegation is also scheduled to attend the third Cuba-Panama joint commission, where representatives from the two countries will discuss cooperation in three areas: education and culture, science and technology and health. During his stay in Panama, Perez Roque and his hosts are expected to sign several agreements including one on cooperation on penal matters and another on a mutual recognition of university degrees. Cuba’s Foreign Minister will open in Panama an ophthalmologic centre, donated by Havana, to offer free eye surgery for low-income Panamanian patients. Located in the province of Veraguas, west of this capital, the opening ceremony will be attended by the Cuban minister and the country’s President Martin Torrijos, as well as members of his government. Over 5,000 Panamanians have received ophthalmologic surgery free of charge in Cuba, as part of the “Operation Miracle” that has benefited tens of thousands of  Latin Americans and Caribbean. (ACN, Prensa Latina, 2/3/07)

March 2: The Comisión Médica Negociadora Nacional (National Medical Negotiating Commission), COMENENAL, Panama’s foremost doctors’ organization, took advantage of the visit of Cuba’s foreign minister to express their opposition to the hiring of 20 Cuban ophthalmologists who would work in poor communities. The COMENENAL, which maintains not to oppose Cuba’s “humanitarian assistance,” declared that Cuban doctors’ practice in Panama constitutes “an illegal exercise of the profession.” (AFP, 2/3/07)

March 2: Denzil Douglas, prime minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, began an official visit to Cuba to broaden cooperation ties between both Caribbean nations. His agenda includes collaboration meetings with Cuban officials in areas of agriculture and human resources, the press secretary of the prime minister informed. During his two-day visit, Douglas will meet with nursing students and other fields of study at Havana education centers. The prime minister just concluded a visit to Venezuela where he met with President Hugo Chavez to analyze aid received from Caracas in the development of tourism and financial services. (Prensa Latina, Granma, 2/3/07)

March 3: Mexican president, Felipe Calderón, said he prefers “constructive relations” with all Latin American countries, “including Cuba and Venezuela” during a press conference at the closing of the 19th Summit of the Rio Group. (EFE, 3/3/07)

March 3: Cuban candidate Reynaldo Gonzalez lost his bid for the presidency of the International Baseball Federation, the worldwide governing body for the sport, when he was defeated by a two-to-one margin at a delegates meeting in Beijing. Gonzalez, the Communist-ruled island's former sports minister and the candidate of choice for not only the Cuban authorities but several Latin American baseball federations, lost by a vote of 58-29 to US former Air Force General Harvey Schiller. (EFE, 3/3/07)

March 3: The Rio Group summit, attended by only eight Latin American presidents, debated whether to admit Cuba to this club of 19 countries of the region, before ending the meeting. Dominican President Leonel Fernandez, whose country chairs the group for the next year, said the group must identify cooperation projects. "Strengthening the group will depend on its ability to work together," he said. Bachelet, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Mexican President Felipe Calderon met privately to address the group's future. They also discussed the possibility of admitting Cuba, said Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim. "There is no reason to isolate Cuba, so long as we keep in mind that we are defenders of democracy," a fundamental principle of the Group of Rio, he said. Cuba, as the only communist country in the hemisphere, is suspended from the Organization of American States. (AFP, 4/3/07)

March 3: Ten Spanish university students are in hospital in Cuba, after their coach was involved in a pile-up near the island’s main tourist resort of Varadero. Two of the five seriously injured had emergency surgery, and are now reported to be out of danger. The accident happened 150 kms from the Cuban capital of Havana, when a van crashed into the lorry which was travelling behind the students’ vehicle. The group of 80 is studying at the Environmental Studies Faculty in the UAM, the Autonomous University of Madrid, and are all aged between 20 and 22. (Typically Spanish, 4/3/07)
 
March 4: Visiting representative of Havana University and chairman of the Iranian parliament's Training and Research Commission in a meeting in Tehran explored avenues for cooperation between the two countries' scientific and research centers. A statement released by the Information and Media Department of the Islamic Consultative Assembly said that during the meeting, the two sides stressed the need for cultural exchanges and increased educational and research cooperation between the two countries' scientific centers, given the cordial and developing ties between Iran and Cuba. (FARS News, 4/3/07)

March 4: Cuba's interim president, Raul Castro, met with the prime minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Denzil Douglas, and the two leaders discussed mutual links and matters of international interest, Cuban media reported. The official discussions were held at the Palace of the Revolution, the seat of Cuba's government, after Fidel Castro's younger brother welcomed Douglas to the communist island. Also present at the meeting were Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage and interim Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, among other Cuban officials. (EFE, 4/3/07)

March 5: Solomon’s foreign minister is in Cuba to finalise hiring of Cuban doctors. The Sogavare-led government will sign a deal with Cuba to recruit Cuban doctors into the Solomon Islands. Solomon Islands is currently facing an acute doctor shortage. Foreign Affairs Minister Patterson Oti will meet his counterpart in Havana to sign a technical cooperation framework, which will form part of the doctor recruitment exercise. Under the deal, 40 Cuban doctors will be recruited to serve at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara and also in provincial hospitals. (The Voice of New Zealand, 6/3/07)

March 6: Spanish secretary of state for Ibero-America, Trinidad Jiménez, said that Spain does not want the European Union to introduce any change when the common position on Cuba is revised in June, and supported the validity of resuming a dialogue with Cuban authorities. (Europa Press, 6/3/07)

March 6: Health workers from France, Argentina, Brazil and Cuba have joined their Paraguayan counterparts in battling an outbreak of dengue that has claimed 10 lives this year, Health Minister Oscar Martinez said. Martinez said 16,200 people in Paraguay have been infected with the mosquito-borne disease since January 1, up from 15,000 cases a week earlier. ''The specialists from these friendly nations are going to help us in the fight against this disease,'' Martinez told a news conference. He did not say how many outside health workers had arrived. (AP, 6/3/07)

March 6: A group of North American labor, community, and academic activists are sponsoring the first annual Global Solidarity School in Havana, Cuba, from May 6 to May 11, 2007. Participants will have the opportunity to share ideas, experiences, and strategies with leading Cuban activist educators and international cultural experts. The idea is to bring together people seeking to build a better world. Morning classes on subjects like the Spanish language, international relations, economics, the environment, and salsa dancing will be taught at Havana University. There will be guided afternoon tours to historic sites, artist's studios, museums, Afrocuban enclaves, and contemporary cultural centers. In the evening, Solidarity School participants will visit Cuba's best jazz clubs, an Afrocuban dance performance, and cabaret performances. (XTVWorld.Com, 6/3/07)

March 6: Cuba emphasized that the highest priority for the 186-member Non Aligned Movement is nuclear disarmament, historically defended by the organization. Cuban delegate Respel Pino recalled to the Disarmament Conference in Geneva that this position was reiterated during September s NAM meeting in Havana. He considered it contradictory for some states to pressure the international community for horizontal non-proliferation, while ignoring nuclear disarmament. "The only safe and effective way to avoid proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is by their complete withdrawal," he stressed. (Prensa Latina, 6/3/07)

March 6: Cuba and Saint Kitts and Nevis have fostered more ties of cooperation, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas said at the conclusion of a successful and useful official visit to Cuba. Douglas, who traveled to Havana five days ago at the government’s invitation, told Prensa Latina in an exclusive that his country's authorities' wish to broaden bilateral cooperation in several fields. (Prensa Latina, 6/3/07)

March 7: Venezuela, Cuba and Iran are studying how to add Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua to their three-way alliance, visiting Venezuelan Minister of Mining and Basic Industries Jose Khan said in Teheran. At the fourth Venezuela-Iran joint meeting, Venezuela and Iran are set to sign another 20 new agreements, adding to the 152 conventions the two nations have already signed, Khan was quoted by Venezuela’s official Bolivarian News Agency. The joint meeting, which began on March 6, drew over 100 delegates from the two countries to discuss the environment, agriculture, energy, petrol, communication, infrastructure, housing, industry and the economy. The two countries now have 27 agreements on agriculture, 26 on energy and petroleum, 22 on economic collaboration, nine on investment, nine on transport. The remaining accords cover trade, construction, tourism, science and technology, education, mining and health. (Xinhua, 7/3/07)

March 7: In 2006, 30 Cuban doctors deserted a cooperation program in Bolivia, before the US administration announced that any Cuban medical professional sent abroad was eligible for political asylum, probably to pursue private practice in the region. Their departure from the mission after less than six months was an embarrassment for Havana and the allied government of leftist President Evo Morales. In 2004, 10 physicians working in South Africa refused to go back home. But the desertion rate among the estimated 26,000 Cubans in Venezuela may be the highest of any mission. In the Maracaibo area alone, at least 100 of the 500 doctors sent since the mission began in 2003 have fled, a Cuban doctor who crossed the Colombian border said. Now they're holed up in Colombia, unable to work, while US authorities mull whether to accept them as political refugees. (The New York Times, 8/3/07)

March 8: A delegation headed by Julio Martínez Ramírez, first secretary of the national bureau of the Young Communists League (UJC), began an official visit to Iran on March 5th. The delegation met with several high-ranking Iranians officials. The Cuban group included: Buenaventura Reyes, vice-president of ICAP; Ernesto Corvo, member of the national bureau of the UJC; Patricia Flechilla, president of FEEM; and Antonio Guerrero, son of one of the five prisoners in the USA. (Juventud Rebelde, 9/3/07)

March 9: The General Secretary of Vietnam's Communist Party Nong Duc Manh said that the government, party and people of his country are resolved to continuously increase cooperation and friendship with Cuba, the Vietnamese News Agency reported. Nong Duc Manh made his statement in Hanoi during talks with the Head of the International Affairs Department of the Cuban Communist Party Central Committee Fernando Remirez de Estenoz, who is visiting that Asian nation. (AIN, 9/3/07)

March 11: Cuba’s Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque will visit several European countries, Bulgarian Diario Digital reported. Roque will visit France, Switzerland, Italy, the Vatican and Portugal. In Geneva he will take part in the UN Council on Human Rights. (FOCUS News Agency, 11/3/07)

March 11: Authorities in Grenada are investigating whether recent attacks on the Cuban ambassador and the Italian consul are related, police said. Ambassador Maria Delgado Valdes was sprayed with mace and received minor injuries when an unknown assailant or assailants broke into her home in St. George's on March 10. Her 62-year-old husband, Isaac Saavedra Valdes, was rushed to a hospital where he underwent surgery, police said.  
Police do not have a motive for the attack, which was the second on a diplomat in less than a week. The Italian consul, Vittoria Bertoletti, was injured after an unknown number of people broke into her home in the capital March 4 and stole items from the residence, said police spokesman Troy Garvey. (AP, 12/3/07)  

March 12: Marylisa Boni, president of Kristal International Centre Inc., condemned the US hostility against Cuba at the beginning of her visit to the island. Canadian solidarity with Cuba grows every day, the visitor told Prensa Latina. "We have been working with Cuba for 23 years and there is a great desire to increase cooperation with the island," the executive said. Collaboration has included the donation of products for schools, hospitals and scientific centres. (Granma, 12/3/07)

March 12: Convalescing Fidel Castro is gradually getting back to work on matters of state and took part by telephone in a presidential meeting in Haiti this week, officials said. The 80-year-old revolutionary has not appeared in public since emergency surgery forced him to hand over power to his brother Raul in July, but his aides say he is growing stronger by the day and using the telephone a lot. Castro called four times to speak to Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Rene Preval of Haiti during their meeting in Port au Prince to discuss Venezuelan and Cuban aid to the hemisphere's poorest country. "Fidel also took part in that meeting by telephone. He was very keen to make sure the trilateral cooperation succeeds," Preval said at a news conference. At the meeting, also attended by Cuban Vice President Esteban Lazo, Chavez announced $21 million in Venezuelan funding to extend medical programs carried out by Cuban doctors in remote rural areas in Haiti. (Reuters, 13/3/07)

March 12: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque assured that southern countries are victims of an absurd and cruel international order that impedes development, peace and progress. Perez Roque talked on behalf of the Non-Aligned Countries Movement (NAM), currently presided over by Cuba, at the UN Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) in Paris. He said that Europe, United States and Japan generate over 80 percent of all scientific publications and more than 90 percent of patents and 72 percent of international scientists live and work in industrialized countries. He also mentioned "brain drain," explaining how from Latin America and the Caribbean, there are 1.2 million professionals working in United States and other developed countries. (Prensa Latina, 12/3/07)

March 12: Cuba “is watching and waiting” to see if the new policy towards the island announced by the president of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, “translates into action,” said Cuban foreign minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, in Paris. Pérez Roque emphasized that the new Mexican government has said that “it wants to change the path” taken by the previous president towards Cuba. “We are watching and waiting to see if that translates into action” said Pérez Roque. (Milenio, 13/3/07)

March 12: Ambassador of Cuba to Pakistan, Gustavo Machin Gomez said the  contributions made  by Cuba in terms of medical aid to the victims of the earthquake of 2005, in Pakistan’s northern areas has made the bonds between the two countries stronger. He was speaking at an Interactive Session with him on the “Pakistan - Cuba relationship in the New Millennium” hosted by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations, Economics Affairs and Law. Responding to a call by Pakistan for relief operations in quake-hit areas, Cuba had sent medical teams immediately, comprising some 2500 doctors and relief workers, who remained active in relief activities in the quake-hit areas for seven months. Cuban Ambassador said last year his country  also offered a total 1000 free medical education scholarships to Pakistani students. (APP, 12/3/07)

March 13: Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez and his record company "Multimusica" are being sued by two Chilean lawyers for having allegedly broken the Consumer Law. The Cuban musician pointed out that he decided to cancel a concert in the city of Talca, Chile, after hearing about the elevated price of the tickets -between 80 and 110 dollars. In a communiqué published by his production company, Rodriguez apologized to the people who had bought the 1,030 tickets to the concert for the inconveniences his decision might have caused. (ACN, 13/3/07)

March 14: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque met in Berne, the Swiss capital, with Micheline Calmy-Rey, president of the Swiss Confederation. The meeting is due to conclude the extensive working agenda fulfilled by the island’s foreign minister, who attended in Geneva the top-level segment of the 4th UN Human Rights Council sessions. During his stay in this city, in addition to addressing the Council’s plenary session, Perez Roque held several meetings with figures and chiefs of delegations attending the event. The Cuban official met with Nicaragua’s Foreign Minister Samuel Santos, Malaysia’s Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and Iran’s Manouchehr Mottaki, Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister Raymond Johansen and Cyprus Alexandros Zenon, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour. (Prensa Latina, 14/3/07)

March 14: Cuban citizen Blanca González Arias said that she petitioned the government of Costa Rica for a humanitarian visa for her son, journalist Normando Hernández, who suffers from tuberculosis in Cuba and has been imprisoned since the 2003 crackdown against dissidents. González, a refugee in the United States, met with some members of the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly who support her plea. (Cubanet, 15/3/07)

March 14: Cuba and Venezuela created a USD 1 billion fund "to help Haiti," with resources devoted to purchase equipment, build dwellings and provide assistance to the Cuban doctors to be deployed in Haiti, said the Venezuelan People's Power Ministry of Communication and Information (Minci) on its website. In a joint news conference with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, Haitian President Rene Preval announced that they initialed a number of cooperation agreements during a tripartite meeting with Cuban State Council Vice-President Esteban Lazo, including the instrument creating the USD 1 billion fund. "In short time, with Cuban help and cooperation, integral healthcare will be provided in all Haitian communities. Further, we have a group of Haitians taking medicine studies in Cuba. They are to replace Cuban doctors. Besides, Venezuela has provided USD 20 million in humanitarian aid to help shore up this cooperation initiative in the healthcare area," Preval explained. (El Universal, 14/3/07)

March 14: The Committee to Protect Journalists sent a letter to Cuban interim president Raul Castro demanding respect for free expression and the “immediately release all reporters, writers, and editors” imprisoned in Cuba. According to the CPJ letter, journalists who were ill before being jailed in 2003 during the crackdown on dissidents “have seen their health worsen in prison, while others who were in good health have developed illnesses. Some have additionally developed alarming mental health problems”. The CPJ also expressed concern for the recent imprisonment of journalists Armando Betancourt Reina, a Camagüey-based reporter for Nueva Prensa Cubana, Guillermo Espinosa Rodríguez, who “was sentenced to two years of home confinement on charges of ‘social dangerousness’, and forbidden from practicing independent journalism”. “He had been covering an outbreak of dengue fever”, the letter added. [CPJ urges acting president of Cuba to immediately release all jailed journalists]. (EER, 15/3/07)

March 15: Nearly 56 low-income Nicaraguans with eye afflictions traveled to Havana to receive ophthalmologic surgery, as part of the Operation Miracle solidarity program boosted by Cuba and Venezuela. Reverend Sixto Ulloa, coordinator of the project the Democratic Mayors Association sponsors in Nicaragua, said that since the Central American nation started to receive the benefits of the program in June, about 1,665 Nicaraguans have received free eye surgery in the Caribbean island and 635 have been operated in Venezuela. (Prensa Latina, 15/3/07)

March 15: Italy’s foreign minister, Massimo D'Alema, asked Cuban foreign minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba, according to a communiqué from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting, requested by the Cuban minister, served “to resume, after four years, and in compliance with the European Union’s common position on Cuba, the political dialogue with Havana.” (AP, 15/3/07)

March 15: Cuban foreign minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, met for half an hour with the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Tarciso Bertone, according to sources from the Holy See. (EFE, 15/3/07)

March 15: About 100 demonstrators demanded freedom outside the Cuban embassy in Prague for the dissidents who are imprisoned in Cuba. The rally, staged by the People in Need group, will continue at Prague's Wenceslas Square. A symbolical prison cell will be constructed there in which it will be possible to "serve" a part of the sentence of one of the Cuban political prisoners. The demonstration began with Cuban melodies and whistles. The crowd was addressed by former Czech dissident and interior minister Jan Ruml and dissident and sociologist Jirina Siklova. "There is the saying that hope is the last to die, but I hope that Fidel Castro will die sooner than the hope," Siklova said.   There was no incident at the demonstration, to which the ambassadorial staff did not react in any way. (CTK, 15/3/07)  

March 15: Four years after the March 2003 crackdown, Cuba still has 270 prisoners of conscience including 25 journalists, which makes the island the world’s second biggest prisoner for the press after China, Reporters Without Borders said, after staging a protest at Cuba’s stand in the international tourism fair in Paris. The international journalist watchdog said “the human rights situation has shown no improvement since Fidel Castro officially transferred power to his brother Raúl on 31 July of last year.” [Spring Just as Sombre for Independent Press] (Canadian Press, RWB Press Release, 15/3/07)

March 16: Italian Deputy Premier and Minister for Foreign Affairs Massimo D'Alema received Cuban foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque yesterday at the foreign ministry in Rome. The meeting took place at the request of Perez Roque himself, falling within the scope of the Cuban minister's visit to Europe, which brought him first to Geneva to participate in the Council on Human Rights and which will later took him to Lisbon and Madrid. Their meeting offered an opportunity to reactivate Italy's political dialogue with Havana after four years, in full respect of the Common European Union Position on Cuba. It was also an occasion on which to review the status of and prospects for bilateral relations in economic and cultural spheres. More generally, Italy introduced the issue of human rights and basic freedoms, in the context of the hoped for improvement, given the appropriate conditions, of relations between the European Union and the government of Cuba. Minister Perez Roque met earlier on with Undersecretary Di Santo, with whom he had an exchange of views on specific bilateral topics and several international issues. (Turkish Weekly, 17/3/07)

March 16: Cuba’s Council of State has appointed Luis Hernandez Ojeda as new extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador to the Republic of Nicaragua, Granma newspaper reported. Before his appointment, Hernandez was an official from the Department of International Relations at the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party. (Prensa Latina, 16/3/07)

March 17: The Ladies in White asked King Juan Carlos, of Spain, and France’s prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, to intercede in favour of the 59 dissidents who have been imprisoned since 2003. The Ladies in White highlighted the “historical role played” by King Juan Carlos in “Spain’s peaceful transition towards democracy and observance of human rights.” The letters sent to both Dominique de Villepin and the King of Spain were announced at the start of a series of activities in commemoration of the fourth anniversary of the arrest of 75 dissidents in 2003. (AFP, 17/3/07)

March 18: Fidel Castro will return to Cuba's presidency on April 28, eight months after stepping aside temporarily following an operation, Bolivia's leader Evo Morales has been quoted in media reports. According to Morales, Castro, 80, will resume official functions on the occasion of the third anniversary of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, a regional cooperation mechanism joining Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia. The date also marks the first anniversary of Bolivia's signing on in Havana to the "Peoples' Trade Agreement" to implement the ALBA principles. The commemoration of the two events "will be the occasion to attend the return of our brother Fidel to Cuba's presidency.  The presidents of six countries will participate," said Morales, according to the newspaper reports. Morales did not explain how he knew of Castro's planned return. Last October the Bolivian president declared that Castro, who ceded power to his brother Raul last July 31 after he underwent intestinal surgery, would be back in his job in "two or three weeks." (Hindustan Times, 19/3/07)

March 18: Haitian president René Préval travelled to Cuba after visiting the Dominican Republic. Préval will undergo medical treatment for prostate cancer. (EFE, 18/3/07)

March 19: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque described his recent European tour as fruitful and noted that he was able to corroborate the existence of a large movement of solidarity with the people of Cuba and their Socialist Revolution. Upon his arrival in Havana, Perez Roque told Radio Rebelde that his trip met its goals, which included the reactivation of the work of the Non-Aligned Movement, currently chaired by Cuba, at the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO. Perez Roque also referred to his talks with other foreign ministers and heads of delegations and described his exchange with Italian, Portuguese and Spanish authorities as useful, despite their different viewpoints. The Cuban foreign minister indicated that relations with the European Union "have remained cool and paralysed for the last few years, since they hit bottom in 2003.” (ACN, EFE, 19/3/07)

March 19: There has been "significant deterioration" in terms of freedom of the press in the Americas since last October, the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) reported. "Outstanding cases were those of Cuba and Venezuela," the IAPA found in relation to freedom of expression. The findings came in a paper drafted by the IAPA's Commission for Information and Press Freedom based on country reports. The document was approved following a thorough debate where corrections, changes and additions were made to the initial proposal. (El Universal, 20/3/07)

March 20: Cuba is leading a bid by a number of countries to strip the Human Rights Council of its power to investigate and condemn violations, a move some activists warn could jeopardize the whole UN's credibility. The 47 member states of the new UN watchdog, set up last year to replace its largely-discredited predecessor, are quietly negotiating a package of measures which will define its role. At stake is the fate of ``special procedures'' -- independent investigators appointed to report on countries where abuses are suspected. The former Secretary-General Kofi Annan described these rapporteurs as the ``crown jewels'' of the UN human rights machinery. ``Our fear is that some governments are trying to sell the crown jewels, trying to undermine the independence of special procedures,'' Irene Khan, secretary-general of Amnesty International, told reporters in Geneva. Cuba -- which has never allowed a visit by the special rapporteur on Cuba, Christine Chanet -- is leading the charge to dismantle country investigators. Cuba and its allies argue that countries should submit their own reports on their domestic records and that there is no need for intrusive rapporteurs. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque warned against turning the Council ``into an Inquisition tribunal.'' ``The perpetuation of country-specific mandates, imposed by force and blackmail, would maintain the spiraling confrontation that did away with the authority and credibility of the defunct Commission on Human Rights,'' he said in a speech. (Reuters, 20/3/07)

March 21: Cuba’s official daily Granma said that the city of Madrid has become the “European Miami”, and accused the Spanish capital’s government of financing and providing refuge to Castro’s enemies. “The weakened and discredited counterrevolution of Cuban origin has found a breeding ground in the Spanish capital, where the autonomous government headed by the right-wing Popular Party (PP) is funding, subsidizing and fomenting aggressions of all kind against the island’s Revolution”, Granma said. According to Granma, “although the groups of Cubans based in Madrid are scarce, divided, and do not have the support of the Spanish people”, they are supported by well-known “anti Cuban media”. (Reuters, 22/3/07)

March 21: A diplomatic crisis developed between Sweden and Cuba after it was discovered that Cuban officials had opened a Swedish diplomatic post. The Cuban ambassador has been called to the foreign ministry. The Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, has also accused a Cuban delegate to the UN of "using unacceptable language". The row began when Foreign Minister Carl Bildt gave a speech to the UN Human Rights Council, in which he criticized Cuba's human rights record. Juan Antonio Fernandez Palacios, Cuba's delegate to the Human Rights Council, is quoted as having said that "Cuba, unlike Sweden, does not persecute migrants or carry out ethnic cleansing that only allows those whose skin and hair color fit with the racial patterns of former Viking conquerors to remain in the country". "It is completely unacceptable language," Bildt said. The foreign ministry called in Cuba's ambassador in Stockholm to explain the comments and apologize on his country's behalf. Some time later the foreign ministry discovered that its diplomatic post had been opened by the Cubans. "The Cuban ambassador is going to be called in again," he said. "When we put forward the view that respect for human freedoms and rights were lacking in Cuba, it led to a furious outburst from the Cuban ambassador about Sweden's blood, colonialism, imperialism, Vikings and oppression and so on and so forth. We have said that this is an unacceptable use of language," said Bildt. The Swedish Minister conceded that the situation was now so serious that it could be designated a diplomatic crisis. "We have had one case where diplomatic sacks were opened. That is serious. There are international conventions about this sort of thing, so we are going to take that up too," said Bildt. Juan Antonio Fernandez Palacios has accused Bildt of hypocrisy after the foreign minister failed to mention the Guantanamo base in Cuba or the American-led war in Iraq during his speech on human rights. (The Local, 21/3/07)

March 21: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said that Nicaragua will unlimitedly support Cuba in all international forums, including the Human Rights Council, and against the US embargo at the UN General Assembly. "Now we are sure that Nicaragua will vote to raise the blockade to Cuba and respect the Cubans' human rights," said Ortega after welcoming the island's new ambassador to Managua Luis Hernandez. Ortega said that during the last 16 years, Nicaragua became an ally of the US in the former Human Rights Commission in Geneva. The Sandinista leader ensured, however, that these links between Cuba and Nicaragua will be strengthened, as nations which are members of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas. (Prensa Latina, 21/3/07)

March 22: Cuba will set up three eye clinics in Nicaragua to operate free-of-charge on cataract patients, announced Luis Hernandez, the new Cuban ambassador. The diplomat, who presented President Daniel Ortega his credentials, said that in the coming days the first four Cuban doctors would install the first clinic on the outskirts of Managua, the capital. Hernandez said the other two clinics —each with the capacity to operate on 80 patients a day— are slated for Puerto Cabezas and Bluefields, capitals of the North and South Atlantic Autonomous Regions. A strengthened relation between Cuba and Nicaragua also includes Cuban collaboration on eradicating illiteracy with the Yo Si Puedo (Yes I Can) method, added Hernandez. Cuba is also providing technical assistance to the Central American nation to install electric generating plants supplied by Venezuela under the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), which promotes solidarity, social development and mutually beneficial trade. (Granma, 22/3/07)

March 22: Sweden's foreign minister is standing by his criticism of Cuba's human rights record, as a diplomatic row between the two countries shows no sign of abating. Cuba responded to Carl Bildt's comments at the UN by deriding what it called Sweden's imperial past. Mr Bildt has hit back describing Havana's response as "a desperate attack by a desperate regime". He also told the press that diplomatic mail at the Swedish embassy in Havana was being tampered with. "Whether it is linked to this [row] we don't know, but it happened at roughly the same time," he told the Europe Today programme.  The row dates back to 12 March, when Mr Bildt gave a speech before the UN Human Rights Council in which he accused Cuba and other countries of violating human rights. Following the address, the Cuban representative, Juan Antonio Fernandez Palacios, accused Sweden of hypocrisy. He said Mr Bildt's comments recalled "the not-so-glorious days of Swedish imperialism, which filled with blood and pain their neighbouring countries". Bildt rejected Cuban accusations saying that "the Viking days are gone", and that Sweden was "one of the most open countries in Europe in terms of immigration". A report from Cuban authorities was still pending concerning Swedish concerns that a Swedish diplomatic mail pouch had been opened in Cuba, which would be a breach of diplomatic conventions. (BBC, Monsters and Critics, The Local, 22/3/07)

March 22: More than fifty Cuban and Venezuelan writers started their 2nd meeting in Caracas, focusing debates on integration and Socialism as a cultural construction. During the gathering, the ministers of Culture, Abel Prieto from Cuba and Francisco Sesto from Venezuela, highlighted the importance of the recently-created ALBA Cultural Fund for the objectives of cultural emancipation. The president of Venezuela's National Book Center, Ramon Mederos, described the ALBA Fund as a means of great political, strategic importance to consolidate integration through culture. According to figures released during the meeting, the fund, which was created as a business entity by Presidents Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez on February 3, 2006, has published a dozen titles and more than 300,000 copies of books so far. The presence of writers from Bolivia and Ecuador in this two-day gathering opened in Caracas today has turned it into a large Latin American and Caribbean event. (Prensa Latina, 22/3/07)

March 22: Cuban Minister of Communications and Computer Sciences Ramiro Valdes Menendez arrived in the People’s Republic of China. The Cuban minister, who is also a member of the State Council, has a full working agenda in China, a country with growing relations and exchange with Cuba. Valdes is scheduled to meet with the Chinese Minister of the Information Industry Wang Xudong, the minister of the State Radio, TV and Film Administration, Wang Taihua, and other high level officials. (Granma, 23/3/07)

March 23: Writers from Cuba and Venezuela agreed Friday to establish a network of Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) cultural houses in different Latin American countries. Cuba’s Minister of Culture, Abel Prieto, a novelist himself, said the idea of the cultural houses is for them to be centers to promote book publishing, music and filmmaking and be accessible to the majority of the population.The decision to establish cultural houses throughout the region came at the 2nd Gathering of Cuban and Venezuelan Authors, which concluded in Caracas. Another initiative coming out of the meeting was the idea of a joint publication with contributions from several Latin American countries with distribution throughout the continent and also in Europe. (Granma, 26/3/07)

March 23: The Swedish ambassador to Cuba, Christer Elm, met with Cuban foreign affairs authorities who summoned him to discuss the strain on bilateral relations unleashed by an exchange of accusations between high ranking officials from both countries. “I can’t discuss what they talked about, it is a political issue,” the second secretary of the Swedish Embassy in Cuba, Peter Svensson, told the press. (AFP, 23/3/07)

March 25: A ring operating on the Caribbean coast of Honduras is smuggling Cubans and Chinese into the United States with the assistance of some local mayors, the press reported, citing Immigration Service chief German Espinal. Espinal told Honduran media that people traffickers were charging $55,000 to Chinese and $22,000 to Cuban nationals who wanted to get into the United States. The Bay Islands are the center of the people-trafficking business, the immigration chief said, without revealing the names of the mayors involved in the illicit industry. "A group of boat owners in the Bay Islands pick up Cuban rafters off the coast of Cuba , and for $22,000 they are taken to a transit country, like Honduras, to get them closer to the United States," Espinal said. Groups of Cuban rafters, as the migrants who attempt to leave the island on small, usually homemade vessels are known, have been sailing to the Caribbean coast of Honduras , with more than 350 arriving in 2006, and the majority later travel to the United States , Honduran officials said. (EFE, 25/3/07)

March 25: Cuban Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, attended the sessions of the Arab League in Saudi Arabia. As representative of the Presidency of the Non Aligned Movement, Rodriguez Parrilla addressed the forum expressing Cuba's condemnation of expressions of "disrespect and intolerance towards Islam and towards Arab peoples". Parrilla also emphasized the Cuban government view about discussions on human rights in multilateral forums. "Attempts are made to compel our countries to adopt values which are alien to them and put aside our idiosyncrasies, our history, our culture and our religions. If we do not comply, we are selectively condemned as violators of human rights and as enemies of “democracy”. Arab countries themselves have more than once been the victims of such practices, which persist today and which ignore their universal values and cultural legacies", the Cuban vice Minister said. [Statement by Cuban Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Arab League] (Prensa Latina, 25/3/07)

March 26: The Government of Cuba will donate 23 hospitals to Bolivia. The hospitals will be set up in the departments of Santa Cruz, Oruro, La Paz, Cochabamba, Potosí and Benin. Cuban ambassador to Bolivia, Rafael Daussá, indicated that 10 of the hospitals will be furnished with Cuban equipment and run by Cuban personnel. (EuropaPress, 26/3/07)

March 27: Two former Polish presidents have put aside their longtime rivalry to encourage Cuba 's struggling democratic opposition. Lech Walesa, the renowned Solidarity leader, and Aleksander Kwasniewski, a former communist who became a popular democratic president, jointly published an open letter to the people of Cuba encouraging them to persist in seeking democratic change and promising them Polish support. "May these words, which we write together, along with the example of a free and progressing Poland, serve as testimony to the victory of agreement over conflict, dialogue over quarrel, good over evil," read the letter, published by the Polish media. The leaders recalled how they sat on opposite sides during the so-called Round Table Talks -- historic negotiations in 1989 that brought a bloodless collapse of communism. "You are faced with a great opportunity to restore democracy in Cuba , an opportunity that you must not waste," they wrote in the letter. (AP, 27/3/07)

March 27: Five Latin American countries agreed to join the ALBA Cultural Fund during a meeting held this weekend in the capital of Venezuela, Caracas. The Fund, which is part of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) was first signed by the presidents of Venezuela and Cuba, Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro respectively in February, 2006. The initiative was penned during the 15th International Book Fair in Cuba. The cultural representatives of Antigua and Barbuda, Ecuador, Bolivia, Dominica, and San Vicente and the Grenadines, who attended the Caracas meeting agreed to join efforts to defend the Latin American and Caribbean identities from the global hegemonic trends, reported the Bolivarian News Agency. Cuban Culture Minister, Abel Prieto, also present at the encounter stressed that the initiative is based on the principle of respect of cultural diversity as opposed to the hegemonic globalization taking over the world. "Our top priority is to defend our multiple identities, traditions and the need to fight racism and any other form of colonization and exclusion," Prieto asserted. Among the most interesting proposals made by the government representatives at the meeting, were the co-production of audiovisual materials, including movies, radio and television works. Participants also encouraged the promotion of Latin American culture and a better use of technology to maintain inter-cultural exchanges. (ACN, 27/3/07)

March 28: The Non Aligned Movement is gaining in strength and revitalization, as well as in real influence in key world topical subjects, under the presidency of Cuba, official Anayansi Rodriguez said. Rodriguez, who is in charge of the Cuban Foreign Ministry's team that deals with NAM issues, highlighted NAM achievements since the 14th Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Havana last September. In remarks to the press, she said that the movement has moved from rhetoric and declarations to concrete initiatives, in line with the Final Declaration and Action Plan approved in the last summit. She insisted that Cuba's performance is marked by transparency, taking into account heterogeneity and internal differences among NOAL members "so as to favor elements that unite us rather than those that separate us." (Prensa Latina, 28/3/07)

March 28: Bolivian Mining Minister Guillermo Dalence was replaced following a controversy over a recent unauthorized visit to Cuba. Dalence told the press that his weeklong visit to the Caribbean nation to meet with mining ministers from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela -- taken without President Evo Morales' permission -- was a mistake, and that he harbored no ill will over the president's decision to fire him. "We Bolivians have a custom that when someone has made a big mistake, a change has to happen," Dalence said in an interview Wednesday. "I don't think the president has any complaint against me, and I have no reason to protest either." Mining Vice Minister Luis Alberto Echazu was sworn in to replace Dalence. (CNN, 28/3/07)

March 29: Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos will visit Cuba in early April to speak with the goverment in Havana about the situation on the communist island and to analyze bilateral relations. The foreign ministry announced in a communique that Moratinos will be accompanied by the secretary of state for Ibero-America, Trinidad Jimenez, and by the head of the AECI foreign aid agency, Leire Pajin. Arrangements for the April 2-3 visit were firmed up after Moratinos' March 17 talks in Madrid with Cuban counterpart Felipe Perez Roque. The Spanish authorities were negotiating with their Cuban counterparts a way to meet also with the dissidents. "Spain will do everything at hand to garantee a dialogue with Cuban authorities and with the dissident movement", a diplomatic source told the press. "But to maintain a dialogue doesn't mean that the Minister will meet the dissidents", the source added. An option could be that "a high-ranking official meets with the dissidents after the Minister has left the island". This is the first visit of a Spanish foreign minister to Cuba since 1998 which, together with the special circumstances in Cuba surrounding Fidel Castro's illness, makes Moratino's visit a historical event in Spain-Cuba relations. (EFE, Prensa Latina, El País, 29/3/07)

March 29: A delegation of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) will be present at the 14th Congress of the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) to be held in Caracas on April 9-14. Secretary General of the FMC, Yolanda Ferrer, told the press that the representatives of the island hope for this meeting to result in new actions to promote precepts defended by the WIDF worldwide. (Prensa Latina, 29/3/07)

March 29: The Government of Cuba will donate 23 hospitals to Bolivia. The hospitals will be set up in the departments of Santa Cruz, Oruro, La Paz, Cochabamba, Potosí and Benin. Cuban ambassador to Bolivia, Rafael Daussá, indicated that 10 of the hospitals will be furnished with Cuban equipment and run by Cuban personnel. (Reuters, 29/3/07)

March 29: The Czech Republic granted asylum to three Cuban families persecuted by Fidel Castro's regime, answering a request of the US to its allies concerning the refugees, the public broadcaster Czech Television (CT) reported. Tomas Haisman, head of Interior Ministry's asylum and migration policy department, said this has been the first time that the Czech Republic answered this kind of US request. The three families were among Cubans who tried to get to the US, but the US coast guard detained them. According to US law, refugees who do not touch US ground must be returned to their homeland. But in the case of the three families US authorities recognised political reasons for their escape from Cuba and asked other countries to accept the refugees. The Czech Republic was the first to answer the request. The Czech government agreed to accept the refugees in late February and the families arrived in Prague on March 21. (CTK, 29/3/07)

March 30: On the eve of Spain's foreign minister’s official visit to Cuba, Reporters Without Borders sent a letter to Angel Moratinos asking Spanish authorities to intercede on behalf of imprisoned journalists. "Dialogue with the Cuban government, which is deaf to the international community’s appeals, in no way precludes firmness towards it. You are the representative of one of the only governments likely to remind the Cuban authorities of their duty to act with humanity and justice", the letter to Moratinos reads. "The imprisoned dissidents must be freed", RWB said. [Letter from RWB to the Spanish government] (AFP, 30/3/07)

March 30: The EU Presidency, currently held by Germany, presented a document for discussion among member states outlining the community’s strategy towards Cuba. The document states that “the EU should hold a broad and open dialogue with Cuban authorities on every topic of mutual interest to improve relations between the EU and Cuba.” It also calls for “high-level political cooperation” in the areas of the “economy, science, culture and human rights” as well as “tourism.” (Europa Press, 30/3/07)

March 30: World famous Russian choreographer and ballet dancer Mijail Baryshnikov arrived in Havana to participate in an encounter of ballet academies. Other foreign participants will be Russian ballet dancer Azari Plisetski and Italian American coreographer Joseph Fontano. Baryshnikov praised the Cuban ballet academy and compared it with the Russian and the French. (AP, 30/3/07)