Chronicle on Cuba - May 2007

Exile Community

May 7: Either by chance or by design, a growing number of Venezuelans - more than 2,000 since 2002 - are marrying Cuban refugees on the fast track for green cards, and drawing scrutiny from US immigration officials. The escalation coincides with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's increasing ties to Cuba's Fidel Castro, which have prompted thousands of Venezuelans to flee and then overstay their visas in the United States. In South Florida, attorneys say marriages between Cuban refugees and Venezuelan immigrants top the list of non-Cubans marrying Cubans, followed by Colombians and Mexicans. For undocumented immigrants, marrying a Cuban with a green card can be their ticket to staying in the United States - and even a better deal than marrying a US citizen. Non-Cubans married to US citizens for less than two years obtain conditional residence, but those who marry Cubans with green cards can get permanent residency after a year. (McClatchy Newspapers, 7/5/07)

May 10: Friends and sympathizers of former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles toasted a federal judge's decision to drop immigration charges against him, as pressure mounted on the US government to prosecute the aging activist on terrorism counts. Cuban-American hard-liners celebrated the news that Posada was coming home and described him as a patriot. They tuned in to Spanish-language radio programs and waited to hear if he had arrived home after the ruling in El Paso. Miguel Saavedra, a Posada supporter and head of the Cuban exile group Vigilia Mambisa, said he and others hoisted cups of Cuban coffee as a toast for the aging militant. “We are celebrating Posada Carriles' freedom," he said. "He is a great man, a fighter. We have seen the triumph of justice in the United States." (Sun Sentinel, 10/5/07) 

May 11: Former “Comandante” with Fidel Castro’s guerrillas in the Sierra Maestra remembered Cuban interim leader Raúl Castro, a comrade-in-arms during the fight against dictator Fulgencio Batista, as a vengeful and calculating man who helped put him in jail for 20 years. Huber Matos also doesn't think much of Castro's ability to rule Cuba in place of 80-year-old brother Fidel. ''Raúl is not really governing. His older brother continues to manipulate him at will and rein in his initiatives,'' Matos said. Matos, 88, arrived in Miami in 1979 after serving his sentence, imposed when he tried to resign from the Cuban armed forces with a letter accusing the elder Castro of leading the country into a communist system. He now believes that there's a ''command crisis'' in Cuba, pitting members of the ruling class against each other, and hopes that armed forces and interior ministry officials will step in to lead the island toward democracy. Dissidents ''form the democratic (…) leadership inside Cuba [and] are called upon to play a future role next to those military people who, in due course, opt to follow the changeover,'' he added. ``The Castro model is exhausted and I have faith that democracy in Cuba has a future.'' (The Miami Herald, 11/5/07)

May 18: The Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF) claimed that it is willing to establish "a bridge" with the Cuban military and civilian leadership to avoid a succession when Fidel Castro permanently leaves the political arena in the island. Jorge Mas Santos, president of CANF’s executive board, said that it is necessary to admit that "all Cubans must join efforts to find a solution leading toward freedom and democracy." But in this search, neither Fidel nor Raúl Castro can take part, and least of all those who "have blood on their hands," elaborated Mas Santos. (EFE, 21/5/07)

May 25: “Havana Today in Images”, a Miami Dade College (MDC) photo exhibit that opened at the Tower Theater in Little Havana, raises new though uncertain hopes among Cuban exiles for the reclamation of their property in a post-Castro Cuba. The exhibit, which was organized by a Florida International University-based NASA office in collaboration with MDC, matches satellite images of specific zones of Havana with building-by-building, street-level photography. A link on the project's website clicks to an affidavit that can be filed, with supporting documentation, claiming ownership of the building photographed. ''Whether this is considered proper evidence depends on who would be processing these applications,'' says Tania Mastrapa, who runs a Miami consulting practice on property reclamation in Cuba. ''I have not heard of these claim mechanisms being used in other countries,'' says Mastrapa, whose doctoral thesis at the University of Miami examined post-Communist property claims in the Czech Republic and Nicaragua and the lessons they could have for Cuba. Still, she says, ``owners can see how their building is being used, if there's a sign for a restaurant, for example, or what shape it's in. Then they can decide if they want to try to reclaim it. On the issue of exiles trying to take back property, architect Nicolás Quintana, who owned property in Havana but does not plan to try to reclaim it, thinks a great deal of wisdom must be exercised. ''You just can't evict people who've been living in a residence for 35 years,'' he says. ``There has to be some social justice.'' (The Miami Herald, 25/5/07)

May 29: Organizations of Cuban residents in Spain expressed skepticism regarding upcoming Havana talks on human rights between the Governments of Spain and Cuba. The Cuban Liberal Union said that the release of political prisoners should be a pre-requisite for establishing a mechanism on rights and freedoms. The platform Cuba Democracia Ya claimed not to be expecting much on account of the lack of a clear agenda or a provision of access to those who see their rights trampled on. The Cuban-Spanish Association declared to have "zero faith" in the outcome of the talks. (El País, 29/5/07)