Chronicle on Cuba - June 2007

US-Cuba Relations

June 1:  United States President George W. Bush is not concerned over expected protests when he visits Rome and, in fact, considers them a sign of a healthy democracy. Turning his attention to his meeting with Pope Benedict, Bush said that he shared with the pontiff the "full respect for life and the dignity of man". “If the pope wants, I'll be glad to talk about Cuba and its desire to be free. At a time when there is a transition to a new leadership it is important to work for freedom and not for stability," the American president said. (Reuters, 1/6/07)  

June 1: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Cuba is on the verge of a "major transition," and chided Spain for not doing more to support dissidents in the communist nation, in comments made while en route to talks with Spanish leaders. Rice's one-day visit was meant to smooth over a three-year downturn in relations between Washington and Madrid, but the disagreement over Cuba has threatened to wash away any growing good will. At issue is Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos's decision to snub Cuban dissidents on a visit to Havana in April, a move that has earned Washington’s ire. "There is a major transition coming in Cuba, and I think democratic states have an obligation to act democratically," Rice said before touching down in Madrid, alluding to the lingering health problems of 80-year-old Fidel Castro. She said Western democracies must not "give the regime the idea that it is just going to be transitioned from one dictatorship to another." (AP, 1/6/07)

June 1: After four intense days of meetings in Cuba, several US congressmen visiting the communist island say that an interim presidency on the Caribbean island is a window of opportunity to ease relations, in sharp contrast with the Bush administration’s view.  “The time is right to start a dialogue, and obviously, with the elections in our country coming next year and the changes in Cuba, the time is maybe right for additional dialogue and openness,” Bob Etheridge, a Democrat, said. The five-member delegation from the US House of Representatives — the second US congressional delegation to Cuba in six months — included two other centre-left Democrats, Marion Berry and Rosa DeLauro, and two centre-right Republicans, Rodney Alexander and Jack Kingston.  “Certain members of this delegation have the feeling that we have this window of opportunity to work together,” For Berry, there is a simple explanation for the need of talking with Cuba: “You catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar”. (Gulf Times, 2/6/07)

June 1: A top Cuban official said he hopes the United States will experience "regime change" and stop interfering in the affairs of governments around the globe. In an interview with CNN, National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon was asked to react to comments by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who said while traveling in Spain that "there must be a democratic transition in Cuba." Alarcon responded that he hopes "there will be a regime change in your country." "A change from war to peace, a change (from) arrogance and this kind of interfering in everybody's affairs, and looking back a little bit at home and (facing) the real problems Americans have," he said. Castro has written a string of signed essays recently, and he quoted President Bush as saying, "I'm a hard-line president and I'm only waiting for Castro to die." "I'm not the first, nor will I be the last, that Bush has ordered to be deprived of life," wrote Castro, who provided few details about when the U.S. president allegedly made the comments. Alarcon refused to comment on whether Cuba has evidence of a plot to assassinate Castro, saying only that "President Bush is very good in the business of killing people." "Just watch CNN every day and you will see how many Iraqis, how many innocent people, are losing their lives," he said. (AP, CNN, 1/6/07)

June 1: After official conversations with Spain, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Spain's communications with the Cuban government remains a sore spot. Referring to the fact that Spanish Foreign Affairs Secretary, Miguel Ángel Moratinos did not meet with dissidents in Cuba, Rice said she was concerned "that they get the right message, which is that the free world stands with them and is not prepared to tolerate an anti-democratic transition in Cuba." "I expect that the issue on Cuba is going to continue to be an issue between us," Rice said on her first visit to Spain as secretary of state. "I have real doubts about the value of engagement with a regime that is anti-democratic, and that appears to me to be trying to arrange a transition from one anti-democratic regime to another anti-democratic regime," she said. (CNN, 1/6/07)

June 1: While meeting with her counterpart in Spain, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice didn’t signal any notion that the Bush administration might rethink its Cuba policy. Upon hearing her Spanish counterpart Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos suggest Washington might soon see things differently, Rice reportedly rolled her eyes and mouthed, "Don't count on it." (Sun Sentinel, 5/6/07)  

June 3: The United States will have to wait until Fidel Castro dies to see if a better future is in store for his communist-ruled Caribbean island, US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said. He also acknowledged that President George W. Bush may leave office without seeing any of the changes his administration has pushed for in Cuba. "He (Castro) has tilted Cuba toward the failed model that exists today, and we'll have to wait and see if the future is better when he is no longer around," Gutierrez told the press. His comments appeared to mark a dramatic shift from just a few months ago, when Gutierrez said Cuba was at a "critical juncture" in its history and poised for change. Gutierrez, a Cuban-American, co-chairs a commission created by Bush to press for a democratic transition in Cuba. He was in Miami, the heartland of Cuban exile opposition to Castro, to address a meeting of Latin American chambers of commerce and industry. He spoke when asked about a top Cuban official's claim that Castro was now fully on the mend after an intestinal ailment that put his life at risk last year. (Reuters, 2/6/07)

June 3: Interviews with US Coast Guard officials and a review of court documents show that from October 2002 through October 2006, the number of Cubans known to have attempted the voyage to Florida or Puerto Rico more than doubled, reaching 7,027 last year. Many in law enforcement attribute the spike not to the uncertainty over Fidel Castro's health but to the paid smugglers, who have turned human cargo into big business. A go-fast, or cigarette, boat costs about $150,000 new -- an investment easily recouped when a boatload of Cubans can gross $300,000 or more. Also, the prison term they face if caught is significantly less than if they were caught smuggling a drug shipment that would earn them the same. (The Washington Post, 3/6/07)

June 4: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that Cuba is in ''a process of change'' and that the 34-member nation OAS had to be ``ready to help the Cuban people realize their aspirations and freedoms.'' Rice dedicated about half of her speech at the OAS' 37th General Assembly to energy issues, the main item on the official agenda. Rice reiterated that Cuba's political and economic future would be charted by the Cubans themselves, ``in Cuba”, she said. ``It is our responsibility as American democracies to help the Cuban people chart whatever course they freely desire.'' En route to the GA in Panama, Rice told journalists about “the importance of the transition that is clearly underway in Cuba”. Asked "if it wasn't time to lift the trade embargo against Cuba, which many say doesn't seem to be working" and "try something new”, Rice said, "If that were the case, then all of those who pursued free trade and trade relations with Cuba like Europeans would have an effect on democracy in Cuba. There hasn't been an impact. It remains a dictatorship." Secretary Rice "says the US and other Latin American democracies should help the Cuban people and help them chart the course they want." (The Miami Herald, US State Department Press Release, CNN, 4/6/07)

June 5: Ending the 45-year trade embargo on Cuba would not only help US farmers, it could also help enhance this nation's security as China makes inroads in the market, according to Representative Marion Berry and other members of Congress who just returned from a trip to the Caribbean island nation. Returning from his second visit to Cuba in seven years, Berry (Democrat-Arkansas), joined the others in calling for the Bush administration to end the embargo. "The interesting thing is they're ready," Berry said in a telephone conference call with reporters. But "there's nothing they can do about it. It's up to our own government, and it's acts of the executive branch that makes this so difficult." Berry, who traveled to Cuba in 2000, said he found the Cuban officials relaxed enough to speak English around the congressional delegation. Berry said the officials would only speak Spanish seven years ago. The members also traveled outside of Havana into the countryside, where Representative Bob Etheridge said he saw the increased use of Chinese products in Cuba, including food. "Food should not be used as a leverage against people," said Etheridge, (Democrat-North Carolina). "As we rode through the country, there's no question China is making substantial investments in Cuba (…) I think from a national security standpoint, it is time for us to re-evaluate a country that's 90 miles from our shore and Miami." (AP, 6/6/07)

June 5: At a conference on Democracy and Security that opened in Prague, US President George W. Bush said that free societies emerge "at different speeds in different places," but that certain values are universal to all democracies. Bush's speech was a plea for what he called "the freedom agenda." His audience included dissidents and democratic activists from around the world. And there were some notable absences, he said. "There are many other dissidents who couldn't join us because they are being unjustly imprisoned or held under house arrest," Bush said. "I look forward to the day when conferences like this one include Alyaksandr Kazulin of Belarus, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, Oscar Elias Biscet of Cuba, Father Nguyen Van Ly of Vietnam, Ayman Nur of Egypt." (RFE, 5/6/07)

June 5: After published reports confirmed that Fidel Castro is on his way to a full recovery, 2008 Presidential Candidate, Daniel Imperato, called for an immediate meeting with Castro. "Now is the time," stated Imperato. "We have waited far too long to mend the fence with our neighbor 90 miles to the south. Cuba could be a very important ally and a great friend to our nation if we would reach out to them." Imperato has called for better relations between the countries for the past two years. Imperato felt that now was the time to embrace Cuba and help them become democratic. "I strongly suggest that our administration embrace Fidel Castro and Cuba, administer them, and assist them in becoming a free society. While our government is focused all the way to Iraq, we are not even looking at our neighbor," stated Imperato. (Open PR, 5/6/07)

June 5: The US government appealed a Texas judge's May 8 decision to release Cuban anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles, wanted by Venezuela and Cuba for the 1976 downing of a Cuban airliner that killed all 73 aboard. The US Department of Justice said it was appealing to the United States Court of Appeals the release order by an El Paso judge, who granted Posada's "motion to suppress evidence and dismiss the indictment" on immigration fraud charges. Arrested in May 2005 after allegedly entering the United States illegally, Posada was held on immigration charges while US authorities refused to honor extradition requests from Cuba and Venezuela. The US government based its refusal on the UN Convention Against Torture that prohibits governments from extraditing or deporting individuals to countries where there is a pattern of torture or flagrant human rights abuses. (AFP, 5/6/07)

June 6: A three-judge panel heard arguments on Wednesday over the Miami-Dade County school board’s decision to remove a children’s book about Cuba from elementary school libraries. Board members said the book painted too rosy a picture of life in Cuba. “The books are rife with factual omissions, misrepresentations and inaccuracies that render them educationally unsuitable,” Richard Ovelmen, a lawyer for the board, told the judges in the Federal Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. “The basic fact that there is a dictatorship, that there is a regime of 48 years is not mentioned.” But a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, JoNel Newman, argued, “The school board can’t pull a book because of a political viewpoint.” The board initially took the 32-page book, “Vamos a Cuba,” and its English version, “A Visit to Cuba,” off school library shelves in June 2006 after a parent objected to its contents. The judges are expected to take several weeks before issuing a ruling. (The New York Times, 7/6/07)

June 6: US intelligence officials say Havana has carefully crafted the public presentation of news and images of Fidel Castro to control popular expectations about his recovery.  "There does seem to be a consensus among intelligence analysts that they don't look for Fidel to return to power," said an official with the office of US intelligence chief Mike McConnell. US officials now believe Castro, who has begun writing editorials about foreign policy issues, will return not as head of state but as an elder statesman with limited influence over policy decisions. "The Cuban system has kept itself together with him in this state," the US official said. "As they continue to project an image of someone recovering, that shouldn't encourage speculation about changes in Cuban government policy. In fact, the opposite should be true." Others disagreed. State Department spokesman Eric Watnik said Cuba was already in the throes of transition and that Castro's health was unlikely to alter matters. "There is a certain understanding that although (Castro) has transferred some power to his brother, he's still there," said Watnik, who declined to discuss Castro's health. "But our belief is that the transition is already under way." Another State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, told reporters the United States was working with other countries to ensure that a transition from Fidel to Raul Castro does not become "a de facto transition from one dictator to another." (Reuters, 6/6/07)

June 6: A federal judge reduced the prison sentence for a prominent Cuban-American businessman with connections to anti-Fidel Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles after an arsenal of weapons and high explosives was turned over to the US government. US District Judge James I. Cohn cut 16 months off the sentence of Santiago Alvarez, who pleaded guilty in September to a conspiracy charge after the FBI seized a cache of military arms including a grenade launcher and machine guns. Cohn also reduced by 13 months the sentence of Osvaldo Mitat, an Alvarez employee. Alvarez, 65, had initially been sentenced to nearly four years in prison and Mitat, also 65, to just over three years. The two men served about 18 months each. Federal prosecutors agreed to recommend reduced prison terms for both men after a large amount of weaponry was surrendered earlier this year, including 200 pounds of dynamite, 14 pounds of C-4 plastic explosives, 30 automatic or semiautomatic guns, a grenade launcher and grenades and 4,000 feet of detonator cord.  (The Miami Herald, 7/6/07)

June 7: Several third countries and foreign personalities, presumed to be carrying messages from Havana, have approached the U.S. government since Fidel Castro took ill, US officials have confirmed. But the State Department told Havana to use formal channels if it wants to communicate with Washington, and it has not heard from Cuban officials since, the officials added. The rare US confirmation of those approaches nevertheless suggests a small crack in the Bush administration's public stance of rejecting top-level contacts with Cuba and instead urging Havana to talk with its domestic opponents. US officials declined to identify the intermediaries, but one said that ''many third countries and individuals'' have offered themselves as go-betweens with Cuba, presumably with the approval of Raúl Castro. The State Department contacted a Cuban diplomat in Washington in late March to inquire whether the intermediaries indeed represented Havana, and was told ``probably not.'' One State Department official, who is closely involved on Cuban matters but declined to be identified in order to discuss sensitive diplomatic issues, said the Cubans were then told that any communications should be made through each other's diplomatic missions in Havana and Washington, or at the periodic ''fence line'' talks between US and Cuban commanders at the US navy base in Guantánamo. (The Miami Herald, 7/6/07)

June 7: Castro issued a new essay that lambasted President Bush, accusing him of trying to deceive Pope Benedict XVI into believing the US has done nothing wrong in Iraq. "Bush is trying now to fool Pope Benedict XVI" Castro wrote. He predicted that during his visit to the Vatican Bush would tell the pontiff, "The Iraq war doesn't exist, it hasn't cost a cent, there's not a single drop of blood. And hundreds of thousands of innocent people have not died in a shameful exchange for petroleum and gas." Castro also warned of another possible war against Iran, "possibly including nuclear tactical blows to impose the same shameful recipe." [Bush’s Lies and Cons](AP, 8/6/07)  

June 7: US Christian leaders pressed the Bush administration and Congress to end current restrictive bans on travel to Cuba , calling on the House and Senate to support related bipartisan legislation now in both houses. In a statement to Senate and House members, executive-level leaders of the global humanitarian agency Church World Service, the National Council of Churches USA, and 11 of the largest mainline US Christian denominations urged lawmakers to co-sponsor and support the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2007 (S721) and the Export Freedom to Cuba Act of 2007 (HR 654). On June 14, Church World Service and denominational policy advocates in Washington, Christian denominational mission executives, and representatives of the Washington Office on Latin America and the Latin American Working Group will meet with House and Senate members and staff to further press for passage of the bills, which would end travel restrictions by all US citizens to the island nation. The faith coalitions statement emphasizes that any Cuba travel legislation enacted by the 110th Congress should be broad enough to end the restrictions on religious travel by national, regional and local church bodies and ecumenical and interfaith organizations. (Church World Service, 7/6/07)

June 12: Fidel Castro mocked President Bush's trips to Albania and Bulgaria this week in an editorial headlined: "The Tyrant Visits Tirana," a reference to the capital of Albania. The opinion piece, in the Communist Party newspaper Granma, was the latest in a string of Castro musings, broadsides and political analyses published in recent months, fueling speculation he is taking a more active role in the island's affairs, despite having not appeared in public since intestinal surgery more than 10 months ago. In Granma, Castro wrote that "Bush is eager for affection" and "greatly enjoyed his protest-free reception in Bulgaria" after being hounded by angry demonstrators in Italy and Poland during his European trip. "He made a resounding declaration in favor of Kosovan independence with no respect whatsoever for the interests of Serbia, Russia and several European countries," Castro wrote of Bush. "He lectured Serbia that it would receive economic aid if it supported independence for Kosovo, where the culture of that country was born. Take it or leave it!" Castro also said that thousands of troops "will constantly rotate around the three military bases installed by the [US] empire in Bulgaria. As if we were living in the happiest of all worlds!" Bush has long been a favorite target of Castro, 80, who temporarily turned over power to his brother, Raul Castro, on July 31. The Castro brothers frequently criticize the Iraq war and accuse the United States of "imperialism." [The Tyrant Visits Tirana] (The Washington Post, Reuters, 12/6/07)

June 12: The Bush administration added seven nations, including several key US allies in the Middle East, to its human trafficking blacklist, making them subject to possible sanctions for not doing enough to halt the flow of woman and child sex slaves as well as laborers and domestic workers. Among the new countries getting a failing grade were Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, which along with Algeria, Equatorial Guinea and Malaysia, join perennial offenders like Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria in the State Department's annual "Trafficking in Persons Report." [Country Narratives](AP, 12/6/07)

June 12: Michael Moore’s lawyer said that the US filmmaker's criticism of the Bush administration may have prompted a federal investigation into his trip to Cuba for the upcoming health-care documentary Sicko. In a letter to the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, lawyer David Boies noted that Moore has been a harsh critic of President George W. Bush in his books and films. "For this reason, I am concerned that Mr. Moore has been selected for discriminatory treatment by your office," Boies wrote in response to a letter sent to Moore in May from Dale Thompson, OFAC chief of general investigations and field operations. The OFAC letter notified Moore that he was under investigation for possible violations of the US embargo restricting American travel to Cuba. (Globe and Mail, 12/6/07)

June 13: American diplomat Judith Chammas said that her government shares the same concerns regarding Cuba expressed in Geneva by French jurist Christine Chanet, a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ representative for the island. Chammas, Deputy Head of the US delegation to the UN Human Rights Council, urged Castro’s regime to allow Chanet to visit Cuba, who since 2002 has tried unsuccessfully to travel to the island to investigate the situation of fundamental rights. (MartiNoticias, 13/6/07)

June 13: Fidel Castro wrote an op-ed on US President George W. Bush's support for Albania's immediate entry into NATO, and his decision to demand independence for the Serbian province of Kosovo. The op-ed was published in the Cuban media on June 14. [Needing Affection] (Prensa Latina, 14/6/07)

June 14: Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said that Senator Robert Menendez (Democrat-New Jersey), will serve as co-chairman of her presidential campaign, providing her with a strong link to the Hispanic community. In a joint news conference, the New York senator said she appreciates Menendez's support and called him "the embodiment of the American dream." "The support of Latino Americans is especially important to me because these days require us to bring our country together," Clinton said. Menendez, a Cuban-American and former member of the House leadership, was appointed in December 2005 to fill the Senate seat of Governor-elect Jon Corzine. Menendez was elected in 2006, defeating Thomas Kean Jr. (AP, 14/6/07)

June 14: Cuba and Venezuela presented a resolution project to the United Nations, which calls on the US to give more rights to Puerto Rico. Cuban Ambassador to the UN Rodrigo Malmierca presented the project in the name of Cuba and Venezuela, before the UN Decolonization Committee, asking the General Assembly to examine the issue. In his speech, Malmierca called on the US government to accept its responsibility to promote the process whereby the people of Puerto Rico are allowed to exercise their rights in determining their status, as diverse Puerto Rican political parties have agreed. (Press TV, 15/6/07)

June 14: US Christian leaders are continuing to press the Bush administration and Congress to end current restrictive bans on travel to Cuba, calling on the House of Representatives and Senate to support related bipartisan legislation now in both houses. In a statement issued to both Senate and House members, executive-level leaders of global humanitarian agency Church World Service, the National Council of Churches USA, and 11 of the largest mainline US Christian denominations urged lawmakers to co-sponsor and support the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2007 (S721) and the Export Freedom to Cuba Act of 2007 (HR 654). (Spero News, 14/6/07)

June 14: Even the staunchest congressional supporters of lifting US sanctions against Cuba are not optimistic any changes will occur while policy toward Havana is tied up in US electoral politics. "The whole concept that for 45 years we believe that an embargo on the government of Cuba will cause people to (…) overthrow (Fidel) Castro (…) just defies intelligence," Democratic Representative Charles Rangel, House Ways and Means Committee chairman, told an event hosted by the libertarian Cato Institute. Rangel of New York and Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, who are among lawmakers who have sponsored plans to relax the decades-old embargo against the communist-ruled island, called the trade, travel and political restrictions "hypocritical" and "bordering on sophomoric." "Why is our government telling us where we can and can't go?" Flake asked. He wants to see an end to the entire embargo -- but would settle for incremental measures in the meantime. The lawmakers acknowledged securing any real reform would be difficult. "We're sending a message to our government" on behalf of those who want change, said Rangel, who chalked the sanctions up to simple political arithmetic. With a razor-thin divide between Republican and Democratic support in swing states, politicians see votes from the anti-Castro Cuban-American stronghold in Florida as pivotal, he said. (Reuters, 15/6/07)

June 14: Fabian Escalante, former chief of the Cuban intelligence services, said that Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles placed themselves at Chilean former dictator Augusto Pinochet’s disposition and became his paid terrorists. “By chance, and that came out later, at the same time as Bosch and various of his accomplices arrived in Santiago in December 1974 to place themselves at Pinochet’s disposition and become his paid terrorists, the Cuban security services began an important  operation against the CIA in various Latin American countries, in search of information related to these activities, known to be underway. “Bosch was going to offer himself to Pinochet along with this group of terrorists of Cuban origin who would become killers within Operation Condor. He met up with General Manuel Contreras, made contact with the US agent Michael Townley and, a few months later, organized the kidnapping of two Cuban officials in Argentina, who were brutally murdered.  “Moreover, I reiterate, we did have significant information via the penetration that we had achieved within the CIA structures that a subversive mechanism, at that time called ‘autonomous operations,’ had been activated,” Escalante said. “We did know that these groups where Bosch was, with Alvin Ross, the Guillermo and Ignacio Novo Sampoll brothers; with Luis Posada Carriles and Ricardo ‘El Mono’ Morales Navarrete in Venezuela; Antonio Veciana Blanch in Bolivia, were being prepared to unleash an operation against Cuba. An operation that, in 1976, Orlando Bosch himself called ‘the war around the world.’ (Granma International, 14/6/07)

June 15: Cuba's Communist government joined the debate surrounding Michael Moore's new documentary "SiCKO, saying the film will allow the world to get a glimpse of the humaneness of its health system. The film, due to open in the United States on June 29, indicts the US health-care system as putting the profits of insurance and pharmaceutical companies ahead of public health concerns. "There's no doubt that a documentary by someone of Michael Moore's stature will help the world see the deeply humane principles of Cuban society," Cuban Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer said on a public Web cast. The US Treasury Department is investigating Moore's trip to Cuba as a potential violation of Washington's long-standing embargo, which tightly restricts US citizens' travel to the Communist nation. Moore, who has stashed a copy of the documentary in Canada in fear that the US government might confiscate it, has said he did not break any laws because he traveled to Cuba for a "journalistic endeavor." "SiCKO" was met with a standing ovation at this year's Cannes Film Festival. But some critics have suggested he may have painted an overly rosy portrait of Cuban health care, which is hampered by medicine shortages and run-down equipment. Balaguer said Moore's portrayal was accurate and denied that Havana collaborated with him to tout the Cuban health system. "Our country (…) is always open to those cases that, from a humane point of view, may need the services of our public health care," he said. (Reuters, 16/6/07)

June 18: Cuban filmmakers attending the recently concluded 5th International Culture Congress in Havana expressed solidarity with US filmmaker Michael Moore, who is being bombarded with criticism by the government of his country. In statements to the local television, the President of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), Omar Gonzalez, praised Moore's work and rejected condemnation against him by the US government. For his part, the President of the Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Alfredo Guevara, asserted that Sicko's director "has unmasked the empire, and fakes do not like to be unveiled." Cuban filmmaker Rigoberto Lopez Pego also joined the list of friends of Moore's cause, noting the attempts to deprive him of his democratic rights. (RHC, 18/6/07)

June 18: Recuperating Fidel Castro vowed the United States "will never have Cuba," saying in an essay that nearly a year after emergency surgery left him "between life and death" the island's communist system is strong and will stay that way. The essay titled "You will never have Cuba" filled the front page of the Communist Party daily Granma and other official newspapers. Castro accused President Bush of plotting to send troops to Cuba since 2002 and to "install a direct imperial administration." "Cuba will continue developing and perfecting the combative capacity of its people, including our modest but active and efficient arms industry, against any invader that it comes across, no matter what weapons they have," Castro wrote in the article, which was signed on June 17. Cuba has repeatedly said its citizens are armed and prepared to beat back any US attempt to take advantage of Castro's health problems and invade. [They Will Never Have Cuba] (AP, CNN, 18/6/07)

June 18: The Pastors for Peace 18th Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba will start a tour in July of over 120 US and Canadian cities to collect humanitarian aid as a collective challenge to the blockade and travel ban to the island imposed by Washington on US citizens. A spokesperson for Pastors for Peace/IFCO said that their Friendship Caravans to Cuba help draw domestic and international attention toward the cruel and immoral US economic blockade by delivering humanitarian aid to our sisters and brothers in Cuba without asking permission for a US Treasury Department license. The supplies from solidarity groups across the US and Canada include computers, bicycles, educational material, medical equipment, Bibles, solar panels, powdered milk, infant formula and dietary supplements, clothing and tools. (ACN, 19/6/07)

June 20: US State Department’s spokesman, Sean McCormack, said his country is “disappointed” by the Human Rights Council’s first year and by “the seriously flawed “institution building” package announced. “The Council focused almost exclusively on a single country -- Israel -- failing to address serious human rights violations in other countries such as Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Belarus, and Cuba”, McCormack said. “Unfortunately, today the President of the Council announced a new rules package making these problems even worse, by terminating the mandates of the UN Rapporteurs on the Governments of Cuba and Belarus, two of the world’s most active perpetrators of serious human rights violations, and singling out Israel as the only country subject to a permanent agenda item”, he added. (US State Department Press Release, 20/6/07)

June 20: The programming of Radio and TV Martí -- often criticized as a waste of taxpayer funds -- has improved, and anecdotal evidence suggests that it is reaching a bigger audience in Cuba, according to a new US government report. The report, by the State Department's Office of Inspector General, also says the station should plan to compete with a Venezuelan government broadcaster. It faults the operation for lacking a long-term strategic plan for a post-Fidel Castro Cuba and ''nagging longstanding employee morale concerns.'' But it calls the station's director, Pedro V. Roig, ``the most effective in recent history.'' The report, being distributed in Washington, also says the station is planning to put its second broadcasting aircraft in the air soon, joining a similar turboprop that went airborne in October. In recent months, Radio and TV Martí have faced a barrage of criticism from the media and some lawmakers who say a combination of aggressive Cuban government jamming, dubious journalistic standards and lax management oversight have undermined credibility and viewership. (The Miami Herald, 20/6/07)

June 20: A group of twenty-two Cuban immigrants arrived in Sanibel Island, west coast of Florida. The US Coast Guard at Fort Myers Beach said the group was comprised of  fifteen men, three women and four children. (EFE, 20/6/07)

June 20: America should open its borders to free trade throughout Latin America and work harder toward establishing democracy in Cuba without the use of military force, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said. "Latin America today is increasingly vital to the fortunes of the United States," McCain said during a speech to the Florida Association of Broadcasters. "It is in the United States' national interest that the Cuban people live in freedom." McCain called Cuba "a national security threat" under the rule of Fidel Castro and said he would pursue diplomatic efforts toward democracy there, but not the use of military force. "I don't think we can move militarily against a country just because they have a government we don't like," he said. "As president," McCain added, "I will not passively await the long overdue demise of the Castro dictatorship (...) The Cuban people have waited long enough." McCain said he would increase funding for the US government's anti-Castro radio and TV stations, press for the release of all political prisoners and internationally monitored elections but would keep the trade embargo in place. Asked why not open trade with Cuba to help its people, McCain joked, "I don't know what we'd trade besides 1950s vintage cars." McCain said Venezuela President Hugo Chavez has breathed "new oxygen" into Castro's regime, and that the US government must do more to quell dictatorships throughout Latin America. "We can and we must do better," McCain said. (Ohio.Com, 20/6/07)

June 20: The region's close relationship with two countries which have less than cordial relationships with the United States is of concern to Washington. Cuba and Venezuela were at the centre of the issue which was brought to the table during a meeting between regional heads of government and US President George Bush. It was President Bush who raised the sensitive issue of the close relationship the Caribbean has with Venezuela and Cuba. “The United States of America has national interest considerations which often relate to national security matters. For us in the region we too have national interest considerations, but our national interest considerations are somewhat different of the United States of America,” said President Jagdeo. The Guyanese President dismissed what he said was the perception that the Caribbean supports the foreign policies of Cuba or Venezuela. (Radio Jamaica, 21/6/07)

June 20: Families and friends of eight independent Cuban journalists who have been unjustly imprisoned since 2003 say that the health of their loved ones has seriously deteriorated in recent months amid poor prison conditions and insufficient health care.  In a series of interviews with the Committee to Protect Journalists, relatives and friends described health problems ranging from diabetes and a tumor to pneumonia and cataracts. In some cases, they say, the journalists have received little medical attention. They say hot and unsanitary prison conditions have exacerbated the medical problems. Pre-existing ailments have worsened in prison, the families and friends say, while a host of serious new illnesses have arisen among those jailed. The eight journalists are José Gabriel Ramón Castillo, Normando Hernández González, José Luis García Paneque, Omar Ruiz Hernández, Pablo Pacheco Ávila, Pedro Argüelles Morán, Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, and Víctor Rolando Arroyo. [In Cuba Health of Jailed Journalists Deteriorates](CPJ Press Release, 20/6/07)

June 21: US Lawmakers from both parties proposed opening up agriculture exports to Cuba and ending travel restrictions, putting them at odds with a White House adamantly opposed to easing a half-century-old embargo. ``Our policy is just so wrongheaded,'' said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (Democrat-Montana), who with other farm state lawmakers has long pushed for ending the restrictions on trade with Cuba. His proposed legislation, he said, is ``a step toward restoring sanity to this economic relationship.'' The trade and travel embargo imposed on Fidel Castro's government comes up almost every year in Congress, but the bipartisan drive to ease restrictions has never been strong enough to overcome anti-Castro lawmakers and White House veto threats. Baucus was joined in his effort by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (Democrat-New York), and two farm-state Republicans Representative Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri and Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho. ``The backwards American policy on Cuba hurts our US producers a whole lot more than it hurts Fidel Castro,'' Emerson said. (Sun Sentinel, 21/6/07)

June 21: In the first vote on Cuba legislation under a Democrat controlled Congress, the House easily approved a big increase in money for US programs that support dissidents on the island. The $34 billion State Department foreign aid bill for 2008 provided several avenues for Democrats to challenge some of President Bush's policies on Colombia and Cuba, with the administration and its backers scoring a victory on Cuba. Bush requested almost $46 million for Cuba democracy programs for the 2008 fiscal year, a fivefold jump from the 2007 level, in keeping with a recommendation by an interagency commission that said the money would help bring democracy to the island. Democrats on an appropriations panel -- chaired by Representative Nita Lowey of New York -- that oversees State Department foreign aid bills had cut the aid level to $9 million, arguing there was not enough oversight to ensure the money would be well spent. An amendment proposed by Cuban-American Representatives Lincoln Díaz-Balart, a Miami Republican, and Albio Sires, a New Jersey Democrat, to adopt the original Bush funding request passed by a 254-170 vote, with 66 Democrats joining 188 Republicans in support. The Cuba bill still requires Senate approval. But the vote ''significantly strengthened'' Bush's efforts to get more money for the Cuba programs, Díaz-Balart's office said in a statement. (The Miami Herald, 22/6/07)

June 23: US Representative Bill Delahunt interviewed Radio and TV Marti officials about improving the federally funded broadcast to Cuba. Delahunt (Democrat-Massachusetts) also met with a group of mostly Democratic Cuban exiles, urging them to get more involved in public debates over the future of the Communist island. The Marti broadcasts are inefficient and don't reach enough Cubans, Delahunt said. But he said Pedro Roig, who heads the US Office of Cuba Broadcasting, appears committed to improving them. Asked why a congressman from Boston is so passionate about US-Cuban policy, Delahunt responded, "Because I'm Irish." He described the joy he felt at seeing peace come to Northern Ireland and said he hoped to see the same for Cuba. Delahunt's visit came several weeks after his colleague, US Representative Jeff Flake (Republican-Arizona), met with representatives from the Cuban American community in Miami. (AP, 23/6/07)

June 23: US philosophers and social scientists in Havana demanded the end of the US blockade against Cuba, local press reported. The US academics, who are attending the 19th Conference of Philosophers and Social Scientists, issued a declaration supporting the revolutionary struggle in the island. Similarly, they called for the reestablishment of Cuba-US relations which, the text affirms, will be beneficial for the two countries and the world community. (Prensa Latina, 23/6/07)

June 24: Putting an end to nearly five decades of animosity between Cuba and its ideological foe the United States depends entirely on Washington, Fidel Castro said in an editorial published on June 25. In his latest commentary in the ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma, Castro quoted parts of a speech he gave in 2000 to remind Cubans of the need to safeguard Cuba's sovereignty in the face of the United States, which has enforced an economic embargo against the island for 45 years. "Changes in US policy toward Cuba have to be unilateral, because the blockade and economic war against Cuba was declared unilaterally by the authorities of that country," he wrote in an opinion piece.  Castro accused US President George W. Bush of "authorizing and ordering" an attempt on his life, although his rambling essay on the subject provided no details. Castro's essay noted that US President Gerald Ford signed an order banning official assassinations, and said he didn't believe that Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton ever tried to have him killed. But Castro alleged that Bush has other ideas. On May 29, Castro accused Bush of renewing US attempts to assassinate him. "I'm not the first, nor will I be the last, whom Bush has ordered to be deprived of life," Castro wrote then. His latest essay referred to that May 29 allegation. [Another Argument for the Manifesto] (Reuters, AP, Prensa Latina, 25/6/07)

June 26: The Institute of Cuban Studies at the University of Miami has come up with several models, suggesting that unless the economic situation improves in Cuba, there could be a mass exodus. Andy Gomez from the Institute for Cuban Studies said, "In the first year, you can see half a million people trying to leave the island." That would be the equivalent of four Mariel boatlifts, the sudden 1980 exodus that flooded South Florida with Cubans who fled their country. Gomez said "the clock has already started clicking for Raul, the moment Fidel appeared on Mesa Redonda." He's referring to Fidel Castro's last appearance on Cuban TV, in which, at times, he says, he was totally incoherent, and showed the ailing Cuban leader is no longer in charge, that his brother Raul is in charge of the government. Gomez said, "We give him six months to a year to bring about some type of change along the economic side." If not, according to Gomez, then the likes of Mariel could happen again, and Cubans will attempt to leave by the thousands, heading for South Florida. (CBS4, 26/6/07)

June 26: “In this year’s battle in the diplomatic arena the US government’s policy to isolate Cuba has failed,” said Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque before the International Relations Committee of the Cuban Parliament. Cuba has diplomatic relations with 181 of the 192 nations that comprise the UN General Assembly. During the past 16 years, “the most difficult period”, Perez Roque underscored that the number of diplomatic missions in Havana actually increased. In 1991 there were 76 foreign missions in Havana, with the figure increasing to 102 in 2007.  The Foreign Affairs Commission of the Cuban Parliament issued two declarations, the first one meant to denounce the White House for having denied visas to two Cuban MPs that were to attend a meeting of the Parliamentary Commission of the Americas, in California. The second declaration condemns US actions to hinder financial quotas of the island to international companies.
(Granma, ACN, 26/6/07)

June 27: A Miami appeals court ordered a juvenile court judge to open to the public all hearings in a child-custody dispute between a Cuban national and a Cuban exile family that wants to raise the man's 4-year-old daughter. The Third District Court of Appeal overturned Circuit Judge Jeri B. Cohen's April 20, 2006 order that all hearings in the case be closed. The Miami Herald appealed Cohen's order in March. In its three-page ruling, the appeals court did not rule on a separate order from Cohen that bans all courtroom participants from speaking about the case. The Herald did not specifically appeal the so-called gag order. Eunice Sigler, a spokeswoman for Florida's 11th Judicial Circuit, which encompasses Miami-Dade County, said the ruling was not yet final, pending a possible appeal by either the girl's caregivers or the Guardian-ad-Litem Program in Miami, which sought the closing of the hearings. (The Miami Herald, 28/6/07)

June 28: The Cuban Parliament approved a statement blasting the decision made by two international banks for refusing to accept the payments of the Cuban parliament's fees as member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Latin-American Parliament (PARLATINO). The statement, released by the parliament's international relations permanent commission, explains that as a full member of the IPU and PARLATINO, Cuba's National Assembly has always fulfilled its financial commitments with both organizations duly on time. However, the Swiss Bank Union based in Geneva, Switzerland and a Lloyds Bank's affiliate, BANISTMO, in Bogota, Colombia, which handle the accounts of the two organizations, have rejected receiving the Cuban National Assembly's payments of its fees corresponding to this year, 2007. The International Relations Permanent Commission of the Cuban Parliament strongly rejected the decision made by the two banks and denounced that both banks are playing along with the US government seeking to tighten up its "criminal and genocidal blockade against our country," (Radio Cadena Agramonte, AFP, 28/6/07)

June 28: The Cuban health system, a model for the world, will be present at the US Social Forum taking place in Atlanta, Georgia. The event started with a great march that brought together civil rights activists, immigrants, indigenous people and refugees from the coast devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The National Committee for the release of the Cuban Five announced the celebration of an information table, related to the judiciary process that sent them to prison. (Prensa Latina, 28/6/07)

June 28: The House passed an amendment that rolls back Bush administration restrictions on US agricultural exporters to Cuba. The amendment, offered by Kansas Republican Representative Jerry Moran, was approved by a voice vote. It reverses a Bush administration view that Cuba has to pay in advance before agricultural goods are shipped to the island. The approval came after Representatives Moran, New York Democrat Jose Serrano and Miami Republican Lincoln Diaz-Balart debated Cuba's ability to pay its creditors and whether more US trade with Cuba would usher democratic reforms to the island. The passage marks a rare victory for opponents of US policy on Cuba, who have suffered a string of defeats since 2005, when some members of Congress have unsuccessfully attempted to overturn President Bush's gradual tightening of sanctions against the island on everything from travel to food exports. (The Miami Herald, 29/6/07)

June 28: US President George W. Bush, in unusually candid comments on Cuba, made it clear that he would favor democracy over stability on the island if faced with a choice. In his comments at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., Bush seemed to step back from the position that his administration would aggressively seek to end the communist system in Cuba. Now, Bush suggested a more passive approach, one where the administration was waiting for Fidel Castro's death. ''I strongly believe the people of Cuba ought to live in a free society,'' he said. ``It's in our interests that Cuba become free, and it's in the interest of the Cuban people that they don't have to live under an antiquated form of government that has just been repressive.'' ''You'll see an interesting debate,'' he said. ``Some will say all that matters is stability -- which in my judgment will just simply reinforce the followers of the current regime. I think we ought to be pressing hard for democracy.'' Bush over the years has tightened trade and travel sanctions as well as freezed all senior-level contacts between his administration and Havana. His stance has triggered some private grumbling in the administration that this was not promoting the US national interest of averting a flood of migrants from Cuba. Bush seemed to address this concern when he said ''we're working very closely with the Navy and Coast Guard'' to make sure there were no ''issues'' between the United States and Cuba ``should there be a -- or when there is a transition.'' [President Bush’s remarks at the Naval War College] (The Miami Herald, 29/6/07)

June 28: Fidel Castro fired back at remarks on Cuba by US President George W. Bush with irony. "Now I understand why I survived Bush's plans and the plans of other presidents who ordered my assassination: the good Lord protected me," Castro, a self-declared atheist, said in a statement sent to the foreign media, which was published in official daily Granma on June 29. [The Good Lord Protected Me From Bush] (US Fed News, Reuters, 28/6/07)

June 29: Cuba's National Assembly accused US President George W. Bush of wanting to eliminate Fidel Castro, a day after Bush mused on the eventual death of the convalescing Cuban leader. "The Bush administration's conduct clearly shows its intention to continue employing execrable methods against Cuba," the assembly said in a resolution approved unanimously by the 527 deputies present at a meeting of the one-party state's parliament. The Cuban National Assembly said assassination attempts on Castro are "not things of the past and continue to be the policy of the current U.S. government." It added: "The CIA documents only reveal some of the plots to kill comrade Fidel Castro and to bring death and suffering to our people." [Declaration of the National Assembly] (Reuters, 29/6/07)

June 29: Cuba's National Assembly adopted a declaration demanding a trial for Luis Posada Carriles and the immediate release of the five Cubans imprisoned in US jails. With the attendance of Cuba's First Vice President Raul Castro, the legislators denounced the United States for having offered protection to Posada Carriles, making justice an object of derision. At the same time the US is holding Cuban anti-terrorist fighters— Gerardo Hernandez, Ramón Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez— in US prison unjustly, the declaration says. [Declaration of the National Assembly] (ACN, 29/6/07)

June 29: More than $140 million worth of agricultural and forest products travel to Cuba from Alabama, and state officials are hoping to increase the figure, according to a report by the Huntsville Times. Everything from state-produced catfish to newsprint is delivered to the communist nation through the Port of Mobile. In total, the goods account for about a third of all goods Cuba imports from the United States. “Alabama exports to Cuba have become an impressive addition to our state’s economy,” said state Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Ron Sparks. “I want to be sure that Alabama maintains its position as a trade leader with Cuba and that we are able to continue to promote Alabama products.” The state has aggressively marketed its products to Cuba, sending delegations to Havana to trumpet state goods and lobbying federal and state leaders to expand trade sanctions. (Gulf Shipper, 29/6/07) 

June 30: Taking a swipe at a potential GOP presidential rival, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized Fred Thompson for suggesting illegal Cuban immigrants pose a terrorist threat. "I was appalled when one of the people running for or about to run for the Republican nomination talked about Cuban refugees as potential terrorists," Clinton told Hispanic elected officials. "Apparently he doesn't have a lot of experience in Florida or anywhere else, and doesn't know a lot of Cuban-Americans." Thompson, who is polling strongly among GOP primary voters and is expected to join the race soon, made the comment at a campaign stop in South Carolina. The actor and former Tennessee senator said, "I don't imagine they're coming here to bring greetings from Castro. We're living in the era of the suitcase bomb." (The New York Times, 1/7/07)