Chronicle on Cuba - June 2007

Foreign Affairs

June 1: Cuba's First Vice President Raul Castro received the Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nong Duc Manh, at the Council of Ministers headquarters in Havana. Vietnamese Ambassador to Havana, Pham Tien Tu, said the parties will ink accords in several fields, contributing to strengthening the links between the two countries. Cuba is the fourth and last leg in Manh's Latin American tour that also included Chile, Brazil and Venezuela. (Prensa Latina, 1/6/07)

June 1: Leonel Cota Montaño, president of Mexico’s Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), said that, “the first foreign visit we have made is to Cuba, responding to an invitation by the Communist Party, something we greatly value". Cota Montaño was in Cuba heading a delegation with a wide program of activities and meetings. He spoke about the importance of resuming the process of international relationships beginning with Cuba, "a country that has remained steadfast and grown stronger over the last few years and one with which the Mexican people have a long history of friendship." (Granma, 1/6/07)

June 1: The Mexican Foreign Undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, Gerónimo Gutiérrez, indicated that there is a will from the governments of Mexico and Cuba “to search for new areas of understanding”. Gutiérrez said that in recent months there have been contacts with officials from Cuba and Venezuela, and such contacts will be maintained “in a discreet manner”. (AP, 1/6/07)

June 2: In a meeting with Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, the chief of Vietnam’s Communist Party, Nong Duc Manh Nong, said he was "very happy and content" for his "very deep conversation" with Fidel Castro. "We spoke happily, I'm very moved," said the Vietnamese communist leader, after lauding relations between Havana and Hanoi. He added that Fidel Castro's words were "very deep", and added that he listened to him "very attentively and he really convinced me" when he told me about the Energy Revolution. The Vietnamese delegation will conclude its visit on June 3 in Santiago de Cuba, where they will pay tribute to Cuban National Hero Jose Marti and will learn about several programs of the revolution. (Prensa Latina, 3/6/07)

June 3: Secretary of State for the Dominican Republic Miguel Mejías arrived in Havana on invitation of the Communist Party of Cuba. Mejia, general secretary of the United Left Movement, told Prensa Latina that Latin America and especially the Caribbean are at an important juncture of integration. He spoke about the importance of the recently revitalized Dominican-Cuban joint committee, calling it a space for exchange and a guarantee of the continuity of bilateral relations. Mejia is in Cuba until June 10. (Periódico 26, EFE, 3/6/07)

June 3: Member nations of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) should pursue a federation of republics, said Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez during a ceremony attended by his Nicaraguan counterpart Daniel Ortega, on a working visit to Caracas. "ALBA countries, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, should go for a federation of republics that could be joined eventually by other Caribbean, Central American and South American nations," said Chávez during a ceremony at Miraflores presidential palace, aired during a speech on mandatory nationwide broadcast. Chávez reported that the ALBA Council of Ministers will meet in Caracas for the first time.  (ABC, World Data Service, El Universal, 4/6/07)

June 4: In a joint statement, Bolivia, Cuba and Nicaragua, the member countries of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) along with Venezuela, endorsed the initiative of the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to establish the new TV channel Tves. "The republics of Bolivia, Cuba and Nicaragua, ALBA member countries, expressed unanimously their unrestricted support to the sovereign decision of the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for the new experience of the country's public service TV with the Televisora Venezolana Social (Venezuelan Social Television, Tves)," said a press release from the Venezuelan President's Office. The joint declaration was signed by President Chávez and his Nicaraguan counterpart Daniel Ortega, in addition to Cuban Minister of Foreign Investment Martha Lomas and Bolivian Chargé d'Affaires Jorge Alvarado. (El Universal, 5/6/07)

June 4: An article published in the official daily Granma says the Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, “assumed a pathetic attitude” during the recent visit to Spain of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The article, which refers to Moratinos as “Migüel” – mimicking Rice’s pronunciation–, accused the Spanish Minister of “adopting the attitude of a colonial metropolis” in discussing policies towards Latin America. (AFP, EER, 4/6/07)

June 4: Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Baldwin Spencer highlighted the importance of the Petro-Caribe initiative and the Cuba Energy Saving Programme to the development of Antigua and Barbuda's economy. Prime Minister Spencer made the acknowledgement while delivering remarks at the 37th Session of the Organisation of American States Assembly in Panama. He said that the Cuba Energy Saving Programme which entails the substitution of high energy consuming incandescent bulbs with compact energy saving bulbs will result in energy savings of over 21,000, 000 kilowatt-hour and a fuel savings of over 5,000 tons per year. Prime Minister Spencer also noted that his government will continue to collaborate with the Government of Cuba in conducting other energy saving initiatives with the objective of reaching an overall specific fuel consumption of 200 grams per kilowatt-hour in generating stations by the end of 2009. (Caribbean360.Com, 5/6/07) 

June 4: The President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, met with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Bangguo, in Beijing during an official visit to the Asian nation. Wu Bangguo, who is also a member of the Permanent Committee of the Political Bureau of China's Communist Party, said that the visit will serve to further strengthen bilateral relations between the peoples and parliaments of both countries. The Cuban high-ranking official also met with the head of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party, Wang Jiarui, and with the vice-president of the Political Consultative Conference of the Chinese People. Alarcón and his delegation visited the scale model of the Olympic Park and the area where some new sports facilities are being built for the Beijing Olympic Games next year. China is the first stop of an Asian tour that will also take Alarcón and his accompanying delegation to Vietnam and Laos. (Xinhua, 5/6/07)

June 5: A Cuban delegation made up of theologian Kirenia Criado, the general coordinator of the Martin Luther King Memorial Centre, Joel Suárez, and the historian and member of the Solidarity program of the Centre, Ariel Dacal, represented the island at a demonstration in protest of the Group of Eight Summit in Germany. (Caminos, 5/6/07)

June 5: Hundreds of Cubans have been denied the free radios they won in a contest sponsored by a Dutch radio station, which blamed the ban on the ongoing airwaves war between the US government and the Castro regime. About 500 shortwave radios were given out as prizes in an essay contest sponsored by Radio Netherlands, but Cuban authorities prevented the delivery of those destined for listeners in their country, said station director Jan Hoek. Havana did not explain why the radios were rejected. "We're very disappointed," said Hoek on the station's website. "The Cuban embassy was fully aware of our initiative." Some 950 listeners entered the contest in which they were asked to write about their country. According to José Zepeda, who heads Radio Netherlands' Latin American department, Cuban authorities feared that the distribution of radios would directly benefit the US government, which bombards the airwaves with anti-Castro broadcasts from Miami. Listeners would use the radios to tune in to US broadcasts by Cuban exiles that consistently call for Castro's overthrow, Zepeda said. The station, which is a publicly funded broadcaster, denied any connection between the competition and US policy toward Cuba. (El País, Radio Nederland, 5,13/6/07)

June 5: At the close of the 37th General Assembly of the Organization of American States, OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza reiterated that he favours a dialogue with Cuba. Cuba maintains normal relations with 33 of the 34 OAS member countries, “we should have a dialogue,” Insulza told a journalist. “I believe that we should start to (...) seek a consensus and a positive step would be to establish a dialogue with Cuba”. “I make no comments on Cuba’s return to the OAS because that is not being discussed today in the OAS, and Cuba has not requested it”, he added. (AP, 5/6/07)

June 5: Cuba and Vietnam highlighted their historic successes achieved in the construction and defense of socialism, as well as links between the two countries. In a joint declaration inked at the end of the visit to Cuba by Vietnam's Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, he stressed the importance of his encounter with Fidel Castro. The document reaffirmed the will to continue developing relations of friendship, solidarity, fidelity, mutual confidence and integral collaboration, and positively contribute to national independence, democracy, social progress, cooperation and development in southeastern Asia, Latin America and the world. The visiting delegation demanded the end of the US embargo, the release of five Cubans imprisoned in the US, and condemned the release of terrorist Luis Posada Carriles. The Cuban representation reiterated its wishes regarding Vietnam’s success in the renovation, construction and defense of a fair, socialist society. [Declaración Conjunta Cubano-Vietnamita] (Prensa Latina, 5/6/07)

June 6: Fidel and Raul Castro accepted an oficial invitation to visit Vietnam. According to a joint declaration issued at the end of the official visit to Cuba of Nong Duc Manh, Secretary General of the Vietnamese Communist Party, both leaders accepted the invitation “with satisfaction”. (EFE, 6/6/07)

June 6: Fidel Castro sent a message of congratulations to a group of 97 Chinese students who concluded an advanced course on Spanish language in Havana. The message was read by the island's Higher Education Minister, Juan Vela Valdés, during a ceremony that took place at Havana's Convention Center, where the graduates also received, as presents from Castro, copies of the book "100 Horas con Fidel" (100 Hours with Fidel) and a first edition of Cuban dictionaries. Addressing the graduates, Vela Valdés highlighted the Cuban leader's personal attention and systematic monitoring of the program that he created and promoted, and that will serve to strengthen bilateral relations, friendship and cooperation between Cuba and China. (ACN, 6/6/07)

June 6: Former Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar, former Czech President Vaclav Havel and former Israeli Minister Natan Sharansky demanded in a joint declaration the release of all political prisoners in the world at the close of the international conference on “Democracy and Security: central values and good policies” in Prague. Eighteen Cuban dissidents could not attend because they are in prison, reminded the organizers of the conference. (EFE, 6/6/07)  

June 6: The pesident of Cuba’s parliament visited Shanghai, where he got a first-hand look at China's dynamic Pudong special economic area. Ricardo Alarcon, who met in Beijing with Chinese counterpart Wu Bangguo and other Chinese Communist Party officials, dined with the new party chief for Shanghai, Xi Jinping. Alarcon met earlier in the day with officials from Pudong, east of Shanghai, whose opening to foreign investment turned the metropolis into an engine for national economic growth in the 1990s. Alarcon plans to visit Shanghai's Urban Planning Museum, which has a model that shows what the metropolis is expected to look like in 2020. The Cuban official will then travel to Canton, where Cuba recently opened a consulate, and from there to Vietnam. (CAN, EFE, 6/6/07)

June 6: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said that his government supports Venezuela’s right to exercise its sovereignty in relation to the administration of its broadcasting space. Perez Roque spoke about Venezuela’s recent decision not to renew the license of private broadcaster RCTV during a closing session of the first meeting of the ALBA Council of Foreign Ministers. Perez Roque also spoke about the meeting in Caracas of the Foreign ministers from Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. He said that since the ALBA Summit in Barquisimeto (at the end of April) they have been working hard to prepare for the encounter that seeks to build unity and integration. "The ALBA is a new formula for integration and views trade and investment not as just ends in themselves, but as instruments to reach a sustainable development of the people. It is a deeper process that includes principles like the recognition of not claiming reciprocity from smaller under-developed nations, a principle we also defend in the heart of the Non-Aligned Movement. "We are not a group of ministers fighting for a market quota, but thinking of the great Latin American and Caribbean homeland," Perez Roque said, summarizing the spirit of the first Council of Foreign Ministers of ALBA. (Granma, 7/6/07)

June 6: A Costa Rican deputy warned that he would accuse the government of Cuba before the UN Human Rights Council, if it does not release Norman Hernández, a jailed dissident journalist who was issued a humanitarian visa by Costa Rica. José Manuel Echandi, a representative of the National Union Party (PUN), demanded the release of Hernández, 36, who serves a 25-year sentence and suffers from several ailments and possibly tuberculosis. (AFP, 6/6/07)

June 6: The European Union repeatedly applies a strange diplomatic caution towards the Communist Cuba, former Czech president Vaclav Havel said at an international conference of pro-democratoc activists. He said that, for example, EU countries say that Cuban dissidents should not be invited to the celebrations of national holidays at their embassies in Havana. Havel said that the EU might take an "appeasement" stand on Cuba, and that the current conference should tell the EU that this is not the right path to follow. Havel said that democratic countries take a cautious stand because they are not sure whether they can rely on dissidents, whether some of them do not cooperate with the local police. He said that in spite of this risk, it pays to support the dissidents. In the opposite case, it could happen that the overall situation in the world would worsen and that billions would have to be invested in defence systems. Havel has focused on human rights observance in Cuba for a long time. (CTK, 6/6/07)

June 7: The Chilean Senate asked the Executive to condemn the imprisonment of individuals for political and ideological reasons in Cuba. It also demanded that the Cuban government put an end to these types of imprisonment, particularly those sentences meted out against dissidents in 2003. (El Nacional, 7/6/07)

June 7: Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived in Cuba for a visit with top officials, state media reported. It was not clear if that included a meeting with ailing leader Fidel Castro. Cuba's Radio Reloj said Vice President Carlos Lage greeted Morales at the airport. International news media was not given access to the arrival. A short article in the Communist Party daily Granma announcing the visit did not say whether Morales would meet with his friend and ally, 80-year-old Fidel Castro. (CNN, 7/6/07)

June 7: Bolivian President Evo Morales met with Fidel Castro for nearly three hours and said the convalescing Cuban leader looked well. "He looked very recovered to me," said Morales, who also found the time to play racquetball with Vice President and Cabinet Secretary Carlos Lage, and meet with Castro's brother Raul, Cuba 's interim president, during his previously unannounced daylong trip to Havana. "I am very satisfied," Morales told state media before boarding his flight home. "I am very much an admirer of Fidel." Morales predicted more meetings with Castro, saying "I am sure we will continue talking. He told me, 'Come back anytime to continue chatting, and debate important themes for humanity in any part of the world.'" Photographs distributed by Morales' office showed him meeting with Castro's brother Raul, the 76-year-old defense minister and acting president, after his morning arrival. The images also showed Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and Lage, who Cuban state media said greeted Morales at the airport. International reporters were not given access to Morales' arrival or meetings. (AP, 8/6/07)

June 7: The European Union should strengthen its support for human rights in Cuba and dissident efforts to establish democracy there, a panel of European Parliament members said. In a hearing to investigate the effectiveness of the EU's Common Position on Cuba less than two weeks before an official EU review of the policy, panelists agreed the EU needs to take a more aggressive stance in support of a peaceful transition to democracy.  ''I cannot consider the EU approach toward Cuba as sufficient,'' said EU lawmaker Peter Stastny, a conservative from Slovakia. ``More concrete and efficient measures are needed.''  Portuguese conservative Jose Ribeiro e Castro suggested that the EU reestablish the sanctions on Cuba imposed in 2003 after authorities there detained 75 dissidents. The sanctions -- which included a ban on high-level talks with Cuban officials -- were lifted in 2005. Former Cuban political prisoner Osvaldo Alfonso Valdes argued that recognition from democracies confers legitimacy on Fidel Castro's communist regime. ''The political measures adopted in 2003 must be maintained,'' he said. Blanca Reyes, a Cuban dissident now living in exile in Madrid, read a letter from the Ladies in White -- a group that protests peacefully against the detention of family members in Cuba -- urging the EU not to put trade and economic interests before human rights. (The Miami Herald, 7/6/07)

June 7: Czech politicians handed several copies of the book Voces de Cambio (Voices of Change), an anthology of stories, poems, essays and articles by Cuban dissidents, to the Czech National Library and the Parliamentary Library in the parliament. "The book describes the dark side of Cuba," Cuban writer and political prisoner Manuel Portal, now living in exile, said in Prague. "These are voices of authors who do not keep silent. It is an elegant and brave cry," Portal said. He said that a number of the authors represented in the book were now in prison. (CTK, 7/6/07)

June 8: Activists in solidarity with Cuba protested in front of the Czech Embassy in Brussels, Belgium, to condemn activities carried out against the Cuban government organized by that diplomatic venue. A press note from the Cuban-Belgian Socialist Organization, demonstration coordinator, reported that the Czech Embassy, in joint collaboration with "People in Need" organization planned to screen a violent anti-Cuban documentary, "Cuba libre: El Mayor Deseo (Free Cuba: the Burning Desire)." Demonstrators shouted such slogans as "Czech Republic, US puppet," "Fidel, Fidel, we support Fidel" and "Yankees, fascists, you are the real terrorists." They also expressed their rejection of the Czech Republic policy of urging the European Community to support the US position against Cuba. (Prensa Latina, 8/6/07)

June 8: A boat packed with 22 Cuban migrants washed ashore in Honduras, officials said. The group, 19 men and three women, arrived at the Honduran island of Guanaja, 250 miles north of Tegucigalpa, after leaving Cuba on May 13 from the southern city of Mula, police spokesman Elias Chavez said. They remained free as Honduran officials processed their immigration papers. Immigration director German Espinal said the Cubans paid smugglers $22,000 to $55,000 each to be taken to Miami. Some 80 Cubans have arrived in Honduras this year, and about 600 have been documented in the past two years, Espinal said. ''That's a conservative number because there are many cases that authorities don't know about,'' he said. (The Miami Herald 8/6/07)

June 8: Vietnam’s National Assembly (NA) President Nguyen Phu Trong aimed to expand and enhance legislative ties with Cuba, through an exchange of experiences, visits and cooperation. Trong expressed his proposal by welcoming Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon, who started a working and friendly visit, his first to this Asian country. The Vietnamese legislative leader also suggested to share and to coordinate positions, criteria and experiences in international forums, like the International Parliamentary Union congresses and other meetings. Trong reiterated the Vietnamese government and people’s support for what he called the "fair Cuban cause in defense of sovereignty, independence and the conquests of the Revolution." (Prensa Latina, 8/6/07)

June 8: The Spanish Embassy informed members of the Cuban dissident movement of the meeting between delegations from the foreign ministry of both countries, as part of a newly created mechanism of political consultations that includes human rights. Oswaldo Payá, of the Christian Liberation Movement; Manuel Cuesta Morúa, spokesman of Progressive Arc; and members of the Ladies in White, attended different meetings at the Spanish embassy in Havana throughout the week. “They told us that the Cuban government never refused to discuss the issue of political prisoners”, said Cuesta Morúa. Elizardo Sánchez Santacruz, president of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation; Martha Beatriz Roque, leader of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society; and Vladimiro Roca, head of the All United Movement, did not attend the meetings. The Spanish Embassy did not confirm the contacts. (EER, 11/6/07)

June 8: The Panamanian government deported 25 people who entered the country from Haiti with fake documents, said Migration Director Ricardo Vargas. Meanwhile, a group of 22 Cuban immigrants with no papers arrived by boat at the Honduran island of Guanaja, north of Tegucigalpa. (AFP, AP, 11/6/07)

June 9: Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, when asked about his thoughts on his friend Fidel Castro and when he may return to full power in Cuba, said that, “the time has come for him to put on his uniform". Chávez said the 80-year old leader showed remarkable strength and stamina after undergoing 3 separate operations in the course of one week. "Fidel is quite recovered right now," said Chávez, "and I know he isn't totally out in front, but he is sharing the functions of government with his brother Raúl and with his team of vice presidents. I think the time has come for him to put on his uniform.'' (CBS4, 11/6/07)

June 10: Vice President of the European Parliament, Miguel Angel Martinez, is in Cuba trying to improve EU-Cuban ties just before the EU reviews sanctions imposed on the island in 2003, Cuban state television reported. "We are here to show our friendship with and customary affection for the people of Cuba," Martinez was quoted as saying. He was due to meet with Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, the official AIN news agency said. (Tehran Times, 11/6/07)

June 11: The European Union is studying resuming contacts with Cuba, which were halted after a crackdown on dissidents on the communist-run island in 2003, diplomats said. "The EU would be ready to resume a comprehensive and open political dialogue with the Cuban authorities on all topics of mutual interest with the aim of improving relations between the EU and Cuba," according to a draft EU statement that will be put to EU member states for debate. "The EU is ready to definitely lift the measures adopted in 2003 in the perspective that such a comprehensive, open and fruitful political dialogue will be established," concluded the draft. EU foreign ministers could examine the move as early as June 18 in an annual review of the situation, but diplomats said it was too early to say if all 27 EU states would agree. "There is a very wide range of views so far," said one. (Reuters, 11/6/07)

June 11: The President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcón, traveled to Laos after finishing the first part of an official visit to Vietnam. After his arrival in Vientiane for a one-day visit to Laos, the Cuban high-ranking official has a tight agenda that includes meetings with several leaders of the Indo-Chinese country such as his Laotian counterpart Thonsing Thammavong. Both officials have expressed their interest in strengthening bilateral ties between the parliaments of the two nations. The Cuban delegation - that is also comprised of Miguel Alvarez, advisor of the presidency of the Cuban Parliament; and Hilda Vasallo, from the Foreign Relations Department of the Cuban Communist Party - will travel to Ho Chi Minh city to complete the second part of his visit to Viet Nam. (AIN, 11/6/07)

June 11: Four years after it was set up, the European Commission delegation in Cuba remains without any clear mandate to help civil society or promote EU values, even as Spanish pressure in Brussels is pushing the EU toward greater recognition of the Castro regime. The commission office tries to stay in regular contact with dissidents, but such work is hampered by the ever-watchful secret police, the "Seguridad del Estado." EU national embassies try to do more, but face similar problems, with taps and bugs commonplace even inside EU buildings. "Let's avoid speaking loudly. This room is also not safe," said an ambassador of a EU member state interviewed by EUobserver in his office in Havana, with the situation seeing an increasing number of foreign NGOs pack up and leave the island in frustration. "It's clear the sanctions aren't working, since they are suspended anyway. But the issue is what is going to come after, what is the EU going to get - a release of political prisoners, a real human rights dialogue?" a senior EU official said. (EUobserver11/6/07)

June 12: A UN rights envoy expressed "deep concern" about the health of some 60 Cuban dissidents jailed during a crackdown four years ago. Addressing the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, French magistrate Christine Chanet said the human rights situation on the communist-ruled Caribbean island had shown no significant improvement since her last report. "I am deeply concerned with the physical and mental conditions of detainees who are currently suffering from various forms of illness, including cases of tuberculosis," she said, referring to the dissidents. Seventy-five government critics -- journalists, writers and members of associations -- were jailed in 2003, many for long terms, for allegedly abetting the United States in a political campaign against veteran Marxist President Fidel Castro. Chanet, who was appointed special rapporteur for Cuba in 2002, tempered her criticism of Cuba's record on political rights with praise for its education and health systems. She also attacked Washington's "devastating" economic embargo against Cuba, in force for more than 40 years and which the government blames for the island's economic woes. The independent envoy, who has never been able to visit Cuba, told the 47-state council the time had probably come to halt the special reports on the country because of Havana's lack of cooperation. Cuba could be covered by council plans to submit the human rights records of all countries to periodic scrutiny, she said. (Reuters, 12/6/07)

June 12: Addressing the Geneva based UN Human Rights Council, the Canadian representative, Robert Sinclair, noted the continued lack of cooperation by Cuba over the Special Rapporteur's mandate. Canada encouraged Cuba to cooperate and welcome a follow-up visit, and called on Cuba to meet its human rights obligations. Canada supported the request for Cuba to accede to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and was interested to hear how to engage Cuba effectively. [UN Human Rights Council Takes Up Situation of HHRR in Belarus and Cuba](UN Press Release, 12/6/07)

June 12: Twenty-five countries offered their support to Cuba and demanded the end of mandates by countries at the UN Human Rights Council. "We will drink a toast with our Cuban friends and celebrate by singing “La Guantanamera” very soon, when these politicized, selective mandates are over," said the Palestinian representative, making habitually restrained delegates laugh. The Palestinian delegation was in fact the 19th to speak with admiration towards Cuba, following representatives from Sri Lanka, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Vietnam, Ecuador, Iran, Bolivia, China and South Africa. The unusual chain of speeches in favor of a country in the Palais des Nations in Geneva took place after a report presented by the so-called Special Representative for Cuba Christine Chanet to the now defunct UN Human Rights Commission. Representatives from Russia, India, Indonesia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Algeria, Syria, Sudan, Malaysia, Libya, Angola, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Belarus, Pakistan and Uzbekistan joined the choir, discrediting Chanet’s report. Especially eloquent, the speech given by the delegation from Sri Lanka recalled the role played by Cuba in wiping out apartheid, and the words of Nelson Mandela, who said that he owed his freedom to Cuba’s contribution to the war of liberation of Angola. Vietnam, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia praised the example of Cuba in the fields of education and health, and highlighted its achievements in all fields, despite the economic blockade imposed by the US for more than 40 years. (Granma, 12/6/07)

June 12: One hundred and twenty Jamaicans left the Sangster International airport in Montego Bay, for eye care treatment and surgery in Cuba. The participants will receive treatment as part of the Jamaica-Cuba Eye care programme. (Radio Jamaica, 12/6/07)

June 12: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited convalescing Fidel Castro, his ideological mentor and ally, for six hours, Cuba's state television said. "The two statesmen and revolutionary leaders discussed joint development programs between Venezuela and Cuba for six hours," a newscaster said. Castro and Chavez, he said, reviewed advances in the leftist alliance they have forged in Latin American, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, which opposes US-backed policies for hemispheric free trade. Chavez, who has kept Communist Cuba's economy afloat with cheap supplies of oil -- running at 92,000 barrels a day -- was also scheduled to meet with acting President Raul Castro. "Long live Cuba, long live Fidel!" was first thing the Venezuelan president said upon arriving at José Martí Airport in Havana, Cuba, where he was received by Cuban officials Carlos Lage and Felipe Perez Roque, as well as the Cuban Ambassador to Venezuela German Sanchez Otero. (Reuters, Venezuelanalysis, 12,13/6/07)

June 12: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega suspended a planned visit to Italy and flew to Cuba for talks with the ailing Fidel Castro, state radio reported. The Sandinista leader since June 3 has been on a tour that began in Venezuela and took him to Algeria, Libya and Iran, from where he was supposed to travel to Italy before stopping off in Havana on his way back to Managua. But according to state-run Radio Nicaragua, Ortega cancelled his trip to Italy without giving a reason. "From Tehran, the Nicaraguan president took off for his final stop, Cuba, without first going to Italy," the official radio station said. (EFE, 12/6/07)  

June 12: The President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcón, arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in the last stop of an Asian tour that also took him to China and Laos. Alarcón and his accompanying delegation were received in former Saigon by Le Thanh Hai, Secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party in that city - the most economically developed and also the most populated city of the country with almost seven million inhabitants. Hai told the visitors that Ho Chi Minh City had a steady economic growth of 11% from 2001 to 2005 before it increased to 12% in 2006. Also present in the meeting was Pham Phuong Thao, President of the City Council and a member of the National Parliament. (Prensa Latina, 12/6/07)

June 13: After speaking at an event for the inauguration of a monument of Francisco Miranda in Havana, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez affirmed the existence of a new historic project of independence for Venezuela and Latin America. He concluded by commenting on the formation of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), which he says is the continuation of the original project advanced by Francisco Miranda and Simon Bolivar for the union of Latin American nations. Chavez assured that Fidel Castro was "almost totally recuperated" from his health problems and insisted that it is time for Castro to retake his position at the head of the Cuban government. "I'll say it here because I said it in Caracas, I think the time is coming for him to put on his uniform again," said Chavez in Havana. "But time will tell, and he himself will decide of course," he said. “I can tell you that he has recovered his fastball of 90 miles an hour,” Chavez said as he discussed the improving health of his 80-year-old friend, who was a baseball pitcher as a young man.  Addressing a group of top Cuban government leaders and students from Havana and Venezuela, Chavez later said of Castro, “He has his uniform hanging near him and he's peeking at it, but he's still warming up his arm.  “He's not yet ready to take the diamond,” he said.  Chavez then told a joke implying that Castro's brother Raul, Cuba's 75-year-old acting president, might someday have to defer to his fully recovered sibling. The Venezuelan president said the younger Castro would be forced from the pitcher's mound to first or second base, but quickly added of Raul “his fastball is strong and hard and so is his curve.” Chavez  called Castro his father, joking that “I think he's even Raul's father.” (AFP, Venezuelanalysis, AP, 13/6/07) 

June 13: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned home to Caracas after a one-day working visit to Cuba that included an extensive meeting with Fidel Castro. First Vice President Raul Castro bid farewell to Chavez at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport. Also on hand were Vice President Carlos Lage, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, Cuban Ambassador to Venezuela German Sanchez and Venezuelan Ambassador to Cuba Ali Rodriguez. Raul Castro and Hugo Chavez held talks on several issues earlier in the day after inaugurating a monument in Havana to Venezuelan national independence hero Francisco de Miranda. (RHC, 14/6/07)

June 13: The ambassadors from the European Union's member states reached a nearly unanimous agreement to maintain the bloc's current policy toward Cuba, including the diplomatic sanctions imposed in 2003 and suspended two years later, diplomats told the press. The envoys from the Netherlands, whose Parliament plans to debate the issue, and Poland, whose government had to be consulted, abstained from voting on the policy, which, barring last-minute changes, is likely to be approved on June 18 by the foreign ministers of the 27 member states. The initial proposal made by Germany - current holder of the bloc's rotating presidency - to unilaterally withdraw the sanctions was shot down due to opposition from the Czech Republic, Britain, Ireland, Belgium and Sweden. The idea behind the German proposal was to normalize relations with Havana in line with the strategy promoted by Spain, whose foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, made an official visit to Cuba in April. The final draft resolution prepared by Berlin for the ministers' meeting restated the European goal of maintaining a dual dialogue with Cuban civil society and with the Castro government, and included a proposal for extending an invitation to an official Cuban delegation to explore this second path. The text will keep the Common Position adopted by the bloc toward Cuba in 1996 intact. "The EU would be ready to resume a comprehensive and open dialogue with the Cuban authorities on all topics of mutual interest," the draft said. "In the context of this dialogue, the EU will outline to the Cuban government its views on democracy, universal human rights and fundamental freedoms. For sounding this out, a Cuban delegation will be invited to Brussels," said the statement (EFE, Reuters, 13/6/07)

June 13: One of the most influential liberation theologians in Brazil has just granted a startling interview to Claudia Korol of the “Fray Tito News Agency for Latin America.” In the interview Brazilian Dominican friar Alberto Libanio Christo, known as “Friar Betto,” expressed his admiration for Fidel Castro and for the “father” of urban terrorism, Carlos Marighella. In the surprising interview, Friar Betto confessed that 22 years after the publication of his book praising Castro, “Fidel and Religion,” “as a young boy I had great admiration for the Cuban revolution, because I am of the generation of young people in their 20s during the first years of the revolution.  A generation that followed the Vietnam war, The Beatles (…) For me Cuba was a model.  After I became involved in the armed struggle against the military dictatorship in Brazil, when I was a prisoner, we listened to Radio Habana Cuba, in order to get news about Brazil.” Asked about his impressions of Fidel and his personality, the Dominican friar said, “Fidel is an example of the new man, the revolutionary, a person who has dedicated his life to liberating a nation and other nations as well, through his solidarity with the poor countries of the world.” “My dream is that all Cubans and all of us, revolutionaries, leftist militants, will one day be like Fidel,” Friar Betto said, adding, “Fidel is ahead of his times. He will always be a person who will be an example, like Che (Guevara), who gave his life for the poor.” (CNA, 13/6/07)

June 14: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque awarded the Ambassador of the Popular and Democratic Republic of Korea with the Medal to Friendship. Perez Roque bestowed the Medal to Pak Tong Chun, in recognition of the Ambassador’s efforts for improving relations between the two countries. (Cubaminrex AIN, 14/6/07)

June 14: Two players from the Cuban national soccer team may have defected before a match against Honduras in Houston, a newspaper reported. The Houston Chronicle said in its Internet edition that forward Lester More went missing at the team's last stop in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and midfielder Osvaldo Alonso did not return from a shopping trip in Houston. "These two players left. They did not come back," a Cuban team trainer who declined to give his name told the newspaper. Cuban coach Raul Gonzalez, questioned after a game won 5-0 by Honduras, refused to confirm the players had defected but cryptically told reporters, "They went for the gold. I hope they don't end up with thorns." (Reuters, 14/6/07) 

June 14: Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto signed collaboration agreements with his counterparts from Bolivia, Haiti, Mozambique and Qatar, to deepen and widen cultural and artistic cooperation. As part of the fifth International Culture and Development Congress that concludes today, these agreements will strengthen the work of these entities to preserve identity and cultural diversity. (Prensa Latina, 14/6/07)

June 14: Yemeni President, Ali Abdulah Saleh, and the elder son of Fidel Castro, nuclear physicist Fidel Castro Díaz Balart, reviewed in Sana'a the strengthening of bilateral cooperation. During the visit, Castro Diaz Balart, emphasized “his country’s support for positions that assist Arab causes in different international forums”. The visit of the Cuban leader’s son to Yemen is part of a regional tour that has already taken him to Qatar and Syria, and will conclude in Egypt. (EFE, 14/6/07)

June 14: In Montevideo, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, José Miguel Insulza, encouraged the OAS to establish a mechanism for dialogue with Cuba. “I am in favour of constructive dialogue with Cuba”, he said. In 1962, an OAS Assembly in Uruguay established “the suspension” of the organization’s relations with the “current Government of Cuba”. “I do not question the decision, but why not allow a dialogue, particularly when 33 of the organization’s 34 countries maintain normal relations with Cuba”, added Insulza, (...) as long as “it is done by consensus,” he added. (EFE, 14/6/07)

June 14: Fifty-seven Cubans, among them a newborn baby, and four persons believed to be human traffickers were detained by the Mexican Navy 20 miles off Isla Mujeres, in the Mexican Caribbean Sea. The National Institute of Migration reported that the Cubans were rescued in two groups and placed under the authority of the institute. (EFE, 14/6/07)

June 14: First Vice President Raul Castro met in Havana with Ali Reza Tahmasbi, the Iranian Minister of Industry and Mines. The two officials noted the excellent state of bilateral relations and discussed the results achieved during two days of meetings of the Cuban-Iranian Intergovernmental Commission. Tahmasbi headed the Iranian delegation at the joint meeting, where potential for continued economic relations and cooperation was explored. In his meeting with Raul Castro, the Iranian minister of Industry and Mines was accompanied by Seyyed Mojtaba Hashemi, a parliament deputy, and Mostafa Alai, Iran’s ambassador in Cuba. Present for Cuba were Vice President Carlos Lage Davila; Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque; Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz and William Carbo Ricardo, Acting Director of the North Africa and Middle East desk at the Cuban Foreign Ministry. (Granma, 15/6/07)

June 14: Fidel Castro sent a letter to the rural workers that make up Brazil's Landless Movement, on the occasion of the 5th Congress of their organization, which the Cuban Revolution leader described as very active and combative. In his letter, Fidel Castro says that he sent the Landless Movement fraternal greetings with sincere solidarity, and added that, "it is my pleasure to send this message to you, who are the genuine expression of the fair cause in favor of a better world without exclusions or exploitation." The Landless Movement is one of the most active and combative social organizations currently fighting for a better world, said Fidel Castro in his message broadcast on Cuban television. Cuba has always received solidarity and encouragement from the Landless Movement during its long and hard resistance struggle, in the face of the most powerful empire ever, to build a society marked by social justice and equality, Fidel Castro said in his letter. (ACN, 15/6/07)

June 15: The inauguration of a new Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) in Cuba favors about five hundred Bolivian students from the regions of Santa Cruz and Potosi. The students will soon begin classes for their formation as doctors, and will be a great support to their country since the department of Santa Cruz is the largest in the country. This is the third school of its kind in Cuba, for a total enrollment of 364 students from seven countries that include Venezuela, Ecuador, Honduras, Saint Lucia and Bolivia. (Prensa Latina, 15/6/07)

June 15: Cuba and Belarus look set to be dropped from a blacklist of alleged rights violators as part of any deal on the workings of the United Nations' new human rights watchdog, diplomats and activists said. The 47-state Human Rights Council, set up last year in a bid to burnish the UN's image on human rights protection, is struggling for agreement on its rules of operation by a June 18 deadline. Some of the deepest divisions surround the submitting of individual countries to special scrutiny, so-called country mandates -- the "naming and shaming" of the Human Rights Commission, the council's discredited predecessor. The council needs to decide both the fate of 11 existing country investigations, including those covering Sudan, Somalia and North Korea, as well as Cuba and Belarus, and whether or not such mandates can be created in the future for other states. On the issue of the current mandates, the sources said there appeared to be agreement that nine could continue but probes into Cuba and Belarus, neither of which has allowed the UN special investigator to visit, would cease. "It looks like we will lose Cuba and Belarus," said one diplomatic source close to the closed-door negotiations, which were set to continue over the weekend. "The Cubans will be celebrating on June 18." (Reuters, 15/6/07)

June 15: Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega started a working visit to Cuba after a world tour that took him to Venezuela, Algeria, Libya and Iran. Ortega arrived in Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport and was welcomed at the by Council of State Vice President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque. The Nicaraguan statesman’s visit is part of the excellent relations of friendship and collaboration existing between the two countries, which together with Venezuela and Bolivia, join the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, Granma daily reported. (Prensa Latina, 16/6/07)

June 16: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega met with Fidel Castro for four hours, the third leftist head of state to visit Cuba's ailing "Maximum Leader" in little over a week.
The pair discussed Nicaragua's recent energy crunch, which has included blackouts and a shortage of basic materials, as well as a literacy drive in the Central American country and how the use of biofuels can combat global warming, according to a Cuban government statement. Ortega was joined in the closed-door meeting by his wife and presidential spokeswoman, Rosario Murillo, the statement said. "Fidel was very satisfied with the meeting with Daniel," the statement said, adding that Castro thanked Ortega for publicly denouncing Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles, an anti-communist warrior and former CIA operative. The statement said that earlier, Ortega and Murillo met with Fidel's brother Raul, Cuba's acting president, to discuss the already friendly relationship between Nicaragua and Cuba. According to Cuban official media, Nicaraguan Ambassador to Havana Luis Cabrera also participated in the meeting with Raul Castro. (AP, Juventud Rebelde, 16/6/07)

June 16: The Lieutenant General and Vice President of the Republic of Bostwana, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, began an official visit to Cuba, at the invitation of the local government. He is heading a delegation made up of Deputy Minister Mustaq Moorat, Assistant Director for the Americas John Moretti; both from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Bostwana's Ambassador to Cuba Samuel Outlule. The visit includes talks on the development and strengthening of bilateral relations between Cuba and Bostwana, members of the Movement of Nonaligned Countries, as well as issues of international interest. (RHC, 1888/6/07)

June 17: Madrid will reconsider its policy of dialogue with Havana unless improvements are made over the course of one year in the area of human rights and freedoms on the island, said the Spanish Foreign Ministry in a communication to the ambassadors of the European Union. The message adds that if in that period “there is a serious deterioration of human rights” in Cuba, Madrid would then propose the adoption of “measures” to the EU. (EER, 18/6/07)

June 17: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega concluded a visit to Cuba, the last stop of a tour that also took him to Venezuela, Libya, Algeria, Iran and Senegal. During his stay on the island, the Nicaraguan president met with Fidel Castro. Ortega was accompanied by his wife, Rosario Murillo, coordinator of the Civic Responsibility and Communication Council of the Nicaraguan Presidency. "We saw Fidel very healthy, full of vitality, and specially, very lucid", said Murillo. She explained that the Cuban leader has given priority to cooperation programs in the health sector, particularly, the campaign hospitals that will soon be located in the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast, and the ophthalmologic centers to conduct operations as part of Operation Miracle. (ACN, 18/6/07)

June 18: European Union foreign ministers agreed not to reactivate sanctions against Cuba and held out an offer for an "open political dialogue" with the communist island. Meeting in Luxembourg ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, the foreign ministers endorsed a statement -- drafted by diplomats from all EU member states -- to maintain the sanctions suspension. The position will come up for review in six months. The foreign ministers voiced a readiness "to resume a comprehensive and open political dialogue with the Cuban authorities on all topics of mutual interest." But they stressed that such a dialogue "should include the whole range of potential fields of cooperation" including human rights. The EU foreign ministers acknowledged "the first temporary transfer of power in 48 years from Fidel Castro to a collective leadership led by his brother Raul Castro, which constitutes a new situation," albeit one forced on Castro by illness. But at the same time, they deplored that "the human rights situation has not fundamentally changed (despite) "a decrease in the number of political prisoners and acts of harassment." The EU member states urged the unconditional release of all political prisoners as a "key priority in its policy towards Cuba". To sound out prospects of a renewed dialogue, the foreign ministers agreed that a Cuban delegation will be invited to Brussels. [Conclusions of the EU Council on Cuba)](EUbusiness, 18/6/07)

June 18: Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said it is important that the sanctions the EU imposed on Cuba in 2003 after the regime intervened against Cuban dissidents remain in force. The EU shortly afterwards suspended the sanctions, but it is important that it has not lifted them, Schwarzenberg said. He was reacting to the resolution that the EU foreign ministers approved. Schwarzenberg, a sharp critic of the Cuban political regime, said he does not perceive the adoption of the resolution a defeat.   The resolution condemns the current state of human rights in Cuba, but at the same time moderates the stand on the Cuban political regime. Representatives of the Cuban government were for the first time invited by the whole EU to visit Brussels. (CTK, 18/6/07)

June 18: Organizations of the social-democratic opposition in Cuba deemed “positive” and “very encouraging” the European Union’s proposal to the Cuban government of initiating an open dialogue, while urging Havana to take steps “in accordance” with this initiative. “The proposal (...) is in keeping with what the Cuban people need most: a climate of dialogue, offers of dialogue and instruments of dialogue”, pointed out a statement of the Concertación Pro Diálogo y Reconciliación (CPDR), signed by its coordinator, Fernando Sánchez, and by Progressive Arc. (AFP, 19/6/07)

June 18: The UN Human Rights Council ended permanent investigations of Cuba and Belarus as terms expired for nearly one-third of its 47 member nations. The action came during a 14-hour meeting setting out procedures for the new council, which was formed a year ago to replace the discredited UN Human Rights Commission. The council's charter preserves the watchdog's right to appoint special investigators, known as rapporteurs, for countries with poor human rights records. But delegates voted to eliminate those investigators for Cuba and Belarus, a move opposed by the United States. Neither had allowed the UN rapporteur to visit their countries. "I would like to propose we accept this text as a compromise," the council's chairman, Mexican Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, said to applause from exhausted delegates. The compromise allows the Geneva-based council to censure human rights abusers with a simple majority of member nations. Western countries -- who account for only a minority of the council's members -- had vowed to uphold the independence of the rapporteurs, while African, Islamic and other nations had sought to impose further controls. According to Western diplomats, the new rules will make it virtually impossible to appoint new experts to monitor human rights in specific countries. However, the new rules call for periodic reviews of all countries, first and foremost the 47 members of the council. Cuba should therefore be reviewed before its term on the council expires in 2009, which raises the possibility of a new monitor being appointed, said the independent group Human Rights Watch. (The Washington Times, AFP, 19/6/07)

June 19: The UN Human Rights Council finally voted to accept a hard-fought compromise agreement on its future working procedures, several hours after a UN deadline expired. The final draft, setting up much of the institutional architecture, had been agreed just one minute before time ran out at midnight on June 18 and was due to be formally accepted the next morning. However, the wrangling continued and it fell to the Council's new president, the Romanian Ambassador Doru Romulus Costea, just hours into the job, to push for a vote which saw the text accepted by 46 votes to one. Canada broke ranks to register the single protest vote, unhappy with the decision to abolish the special UN rapporteurs for Cuba and Belarus and opposed to singling out the Palestinian territories for regular special attention. The United States, which is not a member of the Council, said it was concerned by the elimination of the two country mandates. Ambassador Warren Tichenor in a statement said it raised serious concerns over the Council's ability to “assess human rights situations in an unbiased fashion.” Cuba hailed the decision as a “historic victory in the struggle of our people to validate justice and put an end to the anti-Cuban exercises” of the United States, according to a statement released in Havana. [Declaración del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba] (DPA, 20/6/07)

June 19: Cuba expressed its satisfaction at the adoption of rules governing the UN Human Rights Council, saying the approach agreed  upon will make it possible to evaluate countries' rights records without double standards. The adoption of these rules "has a historic dimension because it is betting on a new organization," Cuba's envoy to the UN agencies in Geneva, Juan Antonio Fernandez, told the press. The Cuban diplomat added that the Human Rights Council "should overcome the flaws and bad practices that were the ruin of the old Human Rights Commission, substituted in 2006 by decision of the UN General Assembly. The now-defunct commission regularly approved resolutions - sponsored by the United States or one of its allies - condemning Cuba's human rights record. With the new council, Fernandez said, there is hope for "a different way" of treating these fundamental principles, one that is "the same for all and without double standards." (EFE, 19/6/07)

June 20: Cuba hailed a decision by the new UN human rights watchdog to drop the communist nation from a list of countries with poor rights records, calling it a major diplomatic victory over its longtime ideological foe the United States. The 47-state Human Rights Council, created in 2006 to replace its discredited predecessor, the Human Rights Commission, agreed to remove Cuba from a list of nations that will be scrutinized for rights violations. The decision, which Washington criticized, means the UN's special envoy to Cuba will no longer produce periodic reports detailing alleged rights abuses on the island. "This is a decision that puts an end to 20 years of manipulating Cuba's human rights record under the instigation and enormous pressure from the United States in the old UN Human Rights Commission," Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said at a news conference in Havana. "The Cuban government considers this a resounding and indisputable victory of Cuban diplomacy." (Reuters, 20/6/07)

June 20: The UN secretary-general expressed disappointment with a decision by the UN's new human rights watchdog to single out Israel for investigation of human rights violations. In reaction to the council's decision to remove mandates on Cuba and Belarus, the secretary-general noted that not having a UN special investigator "assigned to a particular country does not absolve that country from its obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and every other human rights treaty," U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said. Ban also commended the members of the council for their hard work reaching consensus on a number of issues during the first year and welcomed their decision to establish a "universal periodic review" mechanism under which all countries will have their rights record examined regularly, Montas said. "The periodic review holds great promise for opening a new chapter in human rights promotion and underscores the universality of human rights," she said. "No country, big or small, will be immune from scrutiny." (AP, 20/6/07)

June 20: Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, made the following statement regarding the conclusion of the institution-building phase of the United Nations Human Rights Council at its fifth regular session in Geneva on June 19, 2007. “Canada is very disappointed that the Human Rights Council, in the important decisions that affect its future work, did not fully respect the principles upon which it is founded. “In our view, the Council has failed to meet the test of its principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity. Specifically, Canada cannot accept the inclusion of a permanent agenda item on Palestine and the occupied Arab territories, as it singles out one situation for highly politicized, partial and subjective treatment of a complex issue.” “We are also distressed that the human rights situations in a number of countries whose human rights records are of concern, including Belarus and Cuba, will not get the attention that we believe they warrant, as the Council failed to renew these two country-specific mandates. Lack of cooperation with the full range of UN human rights mechanisms should not be rewarded.” (MaximsNews.com, 20/6/07)

June 20: Cuba said the European Union call for dialogue was a step in the right direction, but also demanded the EU give up once and for all the idea of reimposing sanctions against the communist-run island. Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said an EU document adpted on June 18 marked "a necessary, but insufficient correction" of policies toward Cuba. The policy is to come up again for review in six month's time, but Cuba insisted the Europeans scrap it altogether. "We don't consider the EU has any moral authority to judge Cuba," said Perez Roque. "We believe the sanctions must be definitely eliminated," he said at a news conference. He also stressed there could be no normalization of relations as long as the EU maintains its 1996 "Joint Position" policy that ties aid to political reforms and human rights improvements in Cuba. He also said the EU had "corrected its previous position of closing itself to dialogue and adopting a position of pressure and force toward Cuba." "They have learned one cannot impose anything upon Cuba," he said. (AFP, 20/6/07) 

June 20: The Cuban government sees the role of Mexico at the UN Human Rights Council, which eliminated the special rapporteur for the island, as a “positive step”, but it still sees obstacles in the way of normalizing bilateral relations, according to foreign minister, Felipe Pérez Roque. “What happened in Geneva is a tangible fact that we have perceived as a positive step. However, this is not the only obstacle that needs to be removed,” the Cuban official told a press conference, without elaborating further. (EER, 21/6/07)

June 20: Hours before concluding his official visit to Cuba, Botswanan Vice President Seretse Khama Ian Khama met with Cuban Vice Presidents Carlos Lage and Esteban Lazo to review ties between their two countries. Seretse Khama Ian Khama presented Lage with a letter of condolences from Botswanan officials for the death of Vilma Espin Guillois, president of the Federation of Cuban Women and Heroine of the Cuban Revolution. Lage told Khama Ian Khama that his trip to Cuba is an expression of the strengthened bilateral relations and he thanked Botswana for its vote in the UN General Assembly in rejection of the US economic, financial and commercial blockade against Cuba. (Granma, 20/6/07)

June 21: Delegations from Colombia and Cuba described bilateral relations in several fields as an example of cooperation between developing nations. The statements were made by experts attending a meeting to assess the implementation of the agreements reached at the Seventh Joint Meeting on Economic, Technical, Scientific, Educational and Cultural Cooperation, held in Havana in 2006. In that regard, Luis Enrique Maruri, director of the International Cooperation Department at the Colombian Foreign Ministry, favoured optimizing the existing projects, boosting new programs and prioritizing those agreed upon but not implemented yet. For his part, Roberto Rivas, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Department at the Cuban Ministry for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, pointed out that relations between Cuba and Colombia are excellent and both governments are willing to continue to develop them. The meeting was also presided over by Maria Claudia Barias, Cultural Affairs director at the Colombian Foreign Ministry, and Cuban Ambassador in Bogota Jose Antonio Perez Novoa. (Prensa Latina, 21/6/07)

June 21: In a resolution on Cuba, adopted by 50 votes to 21 with 3 abstentions, Members of the European Parliament called on the Cuban authorities to allow greater political freedom but they also urge the EU and its Member States not to relax their stance towards the country as laid down in an agreed EU official position. In the adopted text, Parliament notes that dozens of independent journalists, dissidents and human rights defenders are still in jail and stresses "the need for Cuba to launch a process of political transition to multi-party democracy, with participation and decision-making open to all Cubans on the basis of an open-ended dialogue that excludes no-one". In a key point of the resolution, the members of the European Parliament insist that the EU and its Member States must not deviate from the EU's agreed policy on Cuba, which was laid down in a "common position" of 1996 (regularly updated since and due for another revision in 2008). Thus, the EU institutions are urged "to give their unconditional support and full encouragement to launching a peaceful process of political transition to a multi-party democracy in Cuba, in line with the common position". [European Parliament Resolution on Cuba] (EU Parliament Press Release, 21/6/07)

June 22: Cuba bluntly rejected the European Union's calls for negotiations to warm relations with the communist-run island, saying Havana won't talk until the EU totally scraps sanctions it imposed on this country in 2003. The Foreign Ministry seemed to suggest that the EU's calls for an "open and integral political dialogue" were a step in the right direction, but made clear that they were not enough. "If the European Union wants some kind of dialogue with Cuba, it should definitively eliminate sanctions, which have since been shown to be inapplicable and unsustainable," the ministry said in a statement.   The Foreign Ministry did not mention human rights specifically, but said the EU's invitation for dialogue "meddles, in a slanderous way, in strictly internal Cuban affairs, making judgments and announcing unjust and hypocritical acts that Cuba considers offensive and unacceptable and rejects completely." "We do not recognize the moral authority of the European Union to judge or advise Cuba," it said, adding that the island is "an independent and sovereign country" that deserves treatment as an equal. [Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs] (AP, 22/6/07) 

June 22: Argentina and Cuba signed an additional agreement to the Educational Cooperation Agreement, recognizing mutual qualifications in higher education. Education Minister of Argentina Daniel Filmus and Cuban Ambassador to Buenos Aires Aramis Fuente inked the document at a ceremony in Sarmiento Palace, home to the Argentinean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Both officials highlighted the importance of this joint step after eight years of negotiations, which open doors to nearly 100 Argentineans who graduated from the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), and another 1,000 currently studying in the island. (Prensa Latina, 22/6/07)

June 25: The Mexican Navy announced the detention of 36 undocumented Cubans who arrived to the Mexican Caribbean coast in a boat. The boat was seen by Navy forces at the north of Isla Mujeres, close to Cancun, in Mexican waters. (AP, 26/6/07)

June 26: The Permanent Secretary of the Central Committee's Secretariat of China's Young Communist League, Yang Yue, was received in Havana by Fernando Remírez de Estenoz, member of the Cuban Communist Party's Central Committee (CCPCC). During the meeting, Remírez de Estenoz, who is the head of the CCPCC International Relations Department, described Yue's visit to Cuba as very positive. He noted that the recent exchanges between both nations are strengthening the mutual political trust and the increasing bilateral trade and economic relations. For his part, Yang Yue said that his trip to the island is very useful in order to know about the Cuban youth's work, which he term very successful. During his stay in Cuba, the Chinese delegation has met with officials of the Cuban Foreign Ministry and with leaders of the Cuban Young Communist League. They will also meet with members of Parliament and with Cuban and Chinese students on the island. (ACN, 26/6/07)

June 26: The second session of the Cuban Parliament's permanent commissions focused on crucial aspects, both in the domestic and foreign arenas. The Foreign Affairs Commission issued a declaration rejecting the Chilean Senate's interference with Cuban domestic affair. The legislators rejected the meddling in Cuban internal affairs by the Senate of Chile, and appealed to them to spend their time on the severe violations of human rights in their own country, like the reduction of the legal age to be tried as an adult from 18 to 14 as well as discrimination and violence against the Mapuche indigenous communities. (Granma, ACN, 26/6/07)

June 27: Given its prestige, Cuba enjoys the respect and friendship of the world’s peoples, Miguel Figueroa, national leader of Canada’s Communist Party, affirmed in Havana. On a visit to the headquarters of the Workers Central Union of Cuba (CTC), Figueroa highlighted the importance of the Cuban union movement in campaigns against neoliberal policies in Latin America. (Prensa Latina, 27/6/07)

June 27: Cuban Minister of Public Health, Jose Ramon Balaguer began a working visit in Bolivia. His agenda includes meetings with authorities and exchanges with Cuban medical personnel working in the South American nation. Upon his arrival at the Viru Viru International Airport in this eastern Bolivian city, Balaguer was welcomed by the minister of Health and Sports, Nila Heredia, and Cuban Ambassador, Rafael Dausa. In a meeting with her Cuban colleague, Heredia highlighted the presence of 1,964 Cuban doctors in Bolivia and their contribution to the important health programs spearheaded by the government of President Evo Morales. (Granma, 28/6/07)

June 28: Cuba was right to reject calls from the European Union for negotiations to improve relations until the EU scraps sanctions against the island, Fidel Castro said in an editorial. In a commentary in the ruling Communist Party newspaper, Granma, Castro also criticized the EU as a political project in disarray and suggested that Brussels had been duped by the United States into taking a hard line with the Caribbean country. "The European Union has been led by Washington into a dead-end with no honorable exit," Castro wrote. The 27-member EU reached out to Cuba last week, inviting a Cuban delegation to Brussels to explore a thaw in ties on the condition that it agree to discuss human rights on the island. But Cuba's Foreign Ministry rebuffed the offer, saying talks can only happen when the EU lifts sanctions imposed on the island in 2003. [An Honorable Response] (Reuters, Prensa Latina, 28/6/07)

June 29: Saint Vincent and Grenadines' Prime Minister and President of CARICOM, Ralph Gonsalves, said this organization of Caribbean states will further encourage its relations with Cuba, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic in 2008 to the benefit of regional development. The intensification of cooperation among Caribbean nations is precisely the bottom line in the agenda of the CARICOM Conference of twenty-eight Heads of State and/or Government to take place on July 1-4. (ACN, 29/6/07)

June 29: Migration of undocumented Cubans to Mexico increased between 2003 and 2006; detentions also increased from 582 to 2,205. This situation has been driven by organized crime operating in a triangle formed by the island, Quintana Roo and Miami. Since the beginning of 2007 there has been a tendency toward an increasing number of immigrants that may surpass the figures of 2005, a historical highest record. This topic will be presented at the Cuba-Mexico Inter Parliamentary Meeting to take place on July 4-8. (Milenio, 29/6/07)