Chronicle on Cuba - August 2007

Foreign Affairs

August 1: Getting feedback on Cuban reality and giving support are the main objectives of the 60 members of Canada's Che Guevara Brigade currently on a visit to the island. Through August 13, their program includes working together with university students on the refinishing of a school in the central province of Ciego de Avila which is meant to open for blind and visually impaired children on September. The brigade leader, Nino Plagliccia, told the press that their aim is to back up Cuba's social programs because it is one of the few countries where human beings are the top priority for the state. He considers it their duty to raise their flags against Washington's blockade of the island and promote the release of the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters unjustly kept in US jails. The Che Guevara Brigade was created 15 years ago by young people from Vancouver, but it has steadily moved on to other cities such as Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Kingston. (ACN, 1/8/07)

August 1: The president of Cuba’s parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, said Cuba and Venezuela will review the development of their fruitful relationship during the third inter-parliamentary meeting, which begins on August 2, in Caracas. The leader of the Cuban parliament, who is heading the island's delegation to the meeting, told the local press that the meeting's goal is to analyze the situation of their respective countries and that of Latin America so as to plan common actions to take in international forums in which both countries will take part. The Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA) is another issue on the meeting's agenda, as the two parliaments seek to encourage the development of the integration initiative, which provides benefits not only to Cuba and Venezuela, but to other nations in the region as well. Alarcon said ALBA's scope goes beyond its member countries and lends assistance to several governments in the region, as well as to social movements in various nations. (ACN, 1/8/07)

August 1: With the purpose of laying the foundations for a new Social Contract, one that opposes the current criminal world order, the 6th Social Summit for Latin American and Caribbean Unity is taking place in Caracas with the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) as the main focus of discussion. More than 200 intellectuals, prominent figures and activists from 26 countries are participating in this event, and are expected to establish guidelines for a so-called New Social Contract that would ensure a stronger ALBA in every sense. Ricardo Alarcón, president of the National Assembly of People’s power, is leading Cuba’s delegation. (Granma International, 2/8/07)

August 2: The United States should follow the example of Fidel Castro, who sends troops to save lives, and not to exterminate them, said Bolivian president, Evo Morales, at the end of a visit to Peru. Speaking to a group of trade union representatives, farmers, and members of political parties from the extreme left, Morales said that those helping “generously” in the region “are the socialism of Venezuela and of Cuba”. (AP, 2/8/07)

August 2: State companies of Cuba and Venezuela intervened in the nationalization of hydrocarbons in Bolivia by taking part in the drafting of one of the most important documents of the process, according to investigations by Bolivian prosecutor Alaín Canedo. The lawyer explained that confrontations between former officials with Bolivian state oil firm YPFB showed that Cuban officials drafted the so-called Schedule D. The investigation was initiated after denunciations made by opposition senators. (AP, 2/8/07)

August 2: The Mexican navy detained 83 Cubans who were traveling in makeshift boats off the country's Caribbean coast and believed to be heading to the United States. The navy said in a news release the migrants were traveling in four separate boats, one of which was adrift when it was found. They were handed over to immigration authorities. Cuban migrants are usually released from such centers after 90 days. More than 9,000 Cuban migrants have arrived in the United States from Mexico since last October, as the route becomes increasingly more popular than crossing the Florida Straits. Authorities say relatives in the US pay thousands of dollars to organized crime networks that take the migrants to Mexico, where they head north over land. (AP, 2/8/07)

August 2: Ricardo Alarcon, President of the Cuban Parliament, said in Caracas that the transformation of Latin America in the Caribbean is no longer a project, but rather has become a reality thanks to pro-integration efforts. Addressing deputies of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Alarcon said that the slogan "A Better World is Possible" is materializing and the key is to consolidate a true integration among the peoples. He noted that "a new world is being built in Latin America, which proves that was more than an ideal; we are proving that is an attainable goal." The best indication of this is the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), which moved from the phase of resistance to the advanced construction of a true integration alternative, a new model of union. "It would be inexcusable to obviate that most of this cherished change is owed to the transforming effect of the Bolivarian Revolution led by President Hugo Chavez," allowing to become a future reference in the struggle for social and popular justice. (Prensa Latina, 2/8/07)

August 2: The bodies of three people suspected of smuggling Cubans to the United States through Mexico were found gagged and blindfolded in a natural sinkhole near Cancún. The killings were the latest in a series of incidents related to the smuggling of Cubans into Mexico, where authorities have observed a marked increase in such attempts in recent months. At least four people linked to smuggling allegations have been killed this week in Cancún, which has become a popular landing spot for boats sneaking Cubans into the country. Police were led to the three most recent victims -- Jesús Aguilar, Edwin Park and a woman whose name was not given, all of whom are Mexican -- by red arrows painted on a highway leading to the sinkhole. Three days earlier, police found the bullet-riddled body of Luis Lázaro Lara Morejón, a Cuban American suspected of smuggling, on a roadside near Cancún. The woman found was Lara's girlfriend. ''We believe these people were executed by those who are part of a Cuban-American mafia,'' Bello Melchor Rodríguez, attorney general of Quintana Roo state, told the press. (EFE, The Miami Herald, 2/8/07)

August 2: Two Cuban boxers who disappeared during last month's Pan American Games were found at a resort near Rio where police say they partied and ran up an exorbitant tab. Now, a police inspector says, they want to go back to Cuba. Two-time Olympic boxing champion Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara were found at an inn in the coastal resort city Cabo Frio. "We still have to clear up the reason why they abandoned their delegation and now want to return," federal police inspector Felicio Laterca said. "Right now, they are only saying they are very dear athletes in their country and that's why they want to return." Laterca said the two boxers were staying at a hotel and remained free, but were being monitored by police. Police have contacted the Cuban embassy to secure passports for the two men. No one at the Cuban embassy was immediately available to comment. The 25-year-old Rigondeaux failed to attend the weigh-in for his bantamweight bout against Carlos Cuadras of Mexico. Lara, 24, did not show for his welterweight bout against Ricardo Smith of Jamaica. (EER, AP, 3/8/07)

August 3: Two Cuban boxers, who absconded from their team during the Pan-American Games last month, will be sent home, the Brazilian authorities said. Erislandy Lara, 24, and 25-year-old Guillermo Rigondeaux were arrested by Brazilian police. A Brazilian Federal Police spokeswoman said the two Cuban boxers likely will be deported by the end of next week. "As soon as their passports arrive, the two boxers will be deported to their home country," Luciana Oliveira said by telephone. "It will likely take a few days for their passports to arrive so I expect they will remain in Rio for at least a week." "They informed the authorities that they wished to return to Cuba," a police statement said. "They have not commited any crime. They were arrested because they didn't have papers." The two boxers said they had been contacted by a German businessman, and they gave their uniforms and passports to him. Last month, German boxing promoters Arena said it had signed Lara and Rigondeaux to five-year contracts. Details of that deal are not clear. Police said the pair had declined representation from lawyers apparently sent by the German businessman. Fidel Castro blamed American money for their defection, saying the boxers were "knocked down with a blow straight to the chin, paid up with US bills." (AFP, AP, 3/8/07)

August 3: Fidel Castro said that consumerism in the United States, the perennial enemy of his communist government, is threatening humanity's very existence. Castro used the latest of his "Reflections of the Commander in Chief" columns to lambast American capitalism, quoting a former Russian defense official who says the world must stand up to the United States and its money-grubbing ways. “Commercial advertising and consumerism are incompatible with the survival of the species," Castro wrote in the essay titled "Hard and Obvious Realities" and published in Cuba 's two leading state-controlled newspapers. He devoted 12 paragraphs to quoting retired Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov, the former head of the Russian defense ministry's international military cooperation department. Ivashov accuses the United States of bullying other countries and refusing to compromise on international debates about anti-missile defense and Iran. Castro noted Ivashov's call for Russia and its regional allies, along with China, India and nations in the Middle East and Latin America, to form an "alliance of civilizations" to oppose U.S. dominance and values. [A Reflection on Hard and Obvious Realities] (AP, Prensa Latina, 4/8/07)

August 3: The Jamaica/Cuba Eyecare Programme is to specially target children who are affected with Strabismus or what is commonly referred to as 'cast eye', through an extensive outreach exercise. This is according to Claudetta Williams-Yearde, Co-ordinator of the Jamaica/Cuba Eyecare Project, who told the press that although the condition was among the four that were currently being treated under the programme, there were still many children across the island with the problem who could be assisted.  Both Jamaican and Cuban medical personnel have been very instrumental. They work together as well as in the post operative evaluations and screening of patients. We are very satisfied about the partnership and for the assistance from both sides," she said. In August 2005, the Governments of the Republic of Cuba, Venezuela and Jamaica together with Caribbean partners, Dominica, Guyana, St. Lucia and Suriname, signed the historic Bilateral Agreement, 'Mission Operation', for their nationals to receive medical attention in the field of ophthalmology in Cuba. (JIS News, 3/8/07)

August 5: Over 85,000 friends of Cuba from the five continents have given their voluntary contribution to the island's agriculture in the last 35 years. Nearly 100 people from 30 nations have visited Cuba this year to give examples of the increasing solidarity existing in the world to the island. The 14th Latin American and Caribbean Voluntary Work Brigade, made up of 250 people, are in the country, expressing their unconditional support to the island's Revolution. (Prensa Latina, 5/8/07)

August 5: Fidel Castro cancelled his activities to watch and “take notes” from the weekly radio and television program of president Hugo Chávez, said Cuban vice-president Carlos Lage in a phone call to the Venezuelan president. “We were hoping to speak with Fidel. It will not be possible today, it will be another time”, said the Venezuelan president to Lage. The Cuban vice-president said that Castro followed the reading that Chávez requested Alarcón to do of an article that the Cuban leader published in the Cuban official press. (EER, 6/8/07)

August 5: Two boxers deported by Brazil were back in Cuba after they disappeared during the Pan American Games last month and were arrested at a resort where officials said they partied and ran up an exorbitant bill. Convalescing leader Fidel Castro said in comments published in Juventud Rebelde that the boxers would be confined to guest houses upon their return, although he promised not to harshly punish them. Guillermo Rigondeaux, Cuba's top boxer and a two-time Olympic bantamweight champion, and Erislandy Lara, an amateur welterweight world champion, arrived in Cuba after being deported from Brazil, Cuban state radio and TV reported without offering any specifics. Castro wrote in his essay “Politics and Sports” that after the boxers return to Cuba, they "will be transferred provisionally to a guest house and they will be given access to their families. The press will also be able to contact them if it so desires." He added that they would later be "offered decent tasks in sports according to their knowledge and experience." [Politics and Sports] (AP, BBC, 5/8/07)

August 5: The president of the House of Representatives of Chile, Patricio Walker, announced that he has suspended a projected official visit to Cuba. Walker planned to travel to Cuba accompanied by a pro-government MP and an opposition MP to promote the renewal of an economic agreement and to meet the leader of the Christian Liberation Movement, Oswaldo Payá, as well as to visit political prisoners. Cuba asked if Walker intended to meet with Cuban dissidents. Cuban authorities never confirmed whether or not they would grant the entry visas to the parliamentarians. (AP, 5/8/07)

August 5: Three members of the European Parliament met in Havana with members of the Ladies in White, a group comprising relatives of political prisoners. Matyas Eörsi of Hungary, Erik Jurgens of the Netherlands and Estonia's Andres Herkel said they chatted with more than 30 of the Ladies in White after services at a Catholic Church in Havana.    The lawmakers said they expressed their solidarity with the women's demands for the release of Cuba 's more than 200 political prisoners. The European legislators, who arrived in Havana on July 31 as tourists, said that their translator, the Hungarian citizen Gabor Beszterczey, was arrested by Cuban authorities and will probably be deported. Since their arrival in Cuba, the European parliamentarians have met with Laura Pollan, a member of the Ladies in White, and with dissident and former political prisoner Marta Beatriz Roque of the outlawed Assembly for Promoting Civil Society. Eörsi told the press that the Cuban authorities spoke with him and his colleagues on August 4 and told them "they were aware" of their meetings, "that they didn't like them, that these activities were illegal and had to end" and that "they should go to the beach." (EFE, MTI, 6/8/07)  

August 5: Nicaraguan Ambassador to Havana, Luis Cabrera, highlighted the determination of Nicaraguan youngsters, on their 6th year of medical studies at the Latin American School of Medicine, to treat their humble country fellows. You are the new men and women Nicaragua needs, said the diplomat on Saturday during a flag hand-over ceremony of the 1st "Vilma Espin" Nicaraguan Medical Brigade. He noted that these young medical students, a fruit of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), will serve in the Nicaraguan Atlantic coast, the country's most neglected and humble area, home to several indigenous communities. You are the children of our people and are returning to them, said Cabrera, who urged them to honor with their work the figure of late revolutionary Vilma Espin, after whom the health brigade was named. (Prensa Latina, 5/8/07)

August 5: Perry King, 44, has completed four and a half years of a 15-year sentence after being convicted in Cuba of having sex with two girls, aged 15 and 16. King has maintained his innocence. In a recent phone interview, he again claimed the girls' mother lodged a complaint only because he turned down her request for financial aid. "I told her no. It turned out later she found money under her daughter's bed. That's when she named me -- said I had given it to her daughter." According to friends, family and co-workers, King had led an exemplary, trouble-free life. He studied computer technology and petroleum engineering at NAIT, then went to the oilpatch, working in Canada, India, Mexico and Cuba. Steve Courchene's first inkling his co-worker and friend was in trouble came in May 2003 when King met Courchene and his wife at the Havana airport and drove them to Varadero. "They wouldn't give him his passport and he didn't know why."    Courchene was baffled by the transcript from the first trial, which said Cuban police had initially been told the man who had sex with the two girls was bald and six feet tall. The transcript also said the man drove a red car. "Perry drove a white one," Courchene says. "And he's five-foot-six or five-foot-seven and has longer dark hair." (Edmonton Journal, 5/8/07) 

August 7: World Serve's Vice President of Latin American Ministries, Darryl Wright said  their team is reaping a harvest of revival amongst the evangelical church in Cuba. "It began to accelerate into a house church movement. There were about 1100 churches and house churches in 1990, and today, they're drawing close to 17,000 churches and house churches. That's revival." This year, WorldServe and the American Bible Society teamed up to deliver a landmark gift to the growing church. "It's not just the largest shipment of children's Bibles. It's the largest shipment of Bibles, period, in the history of Cuba--more than twice the previous largest shipment. Other groups have sent in large sums of Bibles, but 200,000 Bibles in one year is the largest shipment in the history of the island." (Mission Network News, 7/8/07)

August 7: Secretary General of Amnesty International, Irene Khan, said that organization is “very interested” in starting a “constructive dialogue” on the political rights situation with the Cuban government, now that Raúl Castro heads it. The Cuban regime has denied Khan entry to the island since 1988. (EER, 8/8/07)

August 8: Brazil’s minister of Justice, Tarsus Genro, said that handball player Rafael DaCosta Capote, who escaped from the Cuban delegation during the recent Pan-American Games, will receive refugee status “when he requests it”. DaCosta Capote and gymnastics coach Lázaro Lamelas are the two Cuban sportsmen who remain in Brazil after the deportation of boxers Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara. (EER, 9/8/07)

August 8: Brazil’s Federal police are investigating whether two Cuban boxers disappeared during last month's Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro after being drugged, a police spokesman said. ''There are indications that the two Cubans left the Pan American village under the influence of some kind of drug,'' a federal police spokesman said by telephone. ``An investigation is being conducted and we have identified some suspects, but it is still too early to provide any more details.'' The spokesman declined to be identified in line with departmental regulations. Bantamweight Guillermo Rigondeaux, the 2000 and 2004 Olympic champion, and 2005 welterweight amateur world champion Erislandy Lara left the athletes' village on July 22 and failed to appear for their weigh-ins. Police arrested them 11 days later for overstaying their visas in the coastal resort city of Cabo Frio, near Rio de Janeiro, where authorities said they partied extravagantly. ''They told us they loved their country and they wanted to go home,'' he added. (The Miami Herald, 9/8/07)

August 9: An international human-rights group is criticizing the expatriation of two Cuban boxers who abandoned the Pan American Games, saying that police spirited the pair out of Brazil under suspicious circumstances. The speed with which the boxers bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, 26, and welterweight world champion Erislandy Lara, 24, left the country and their public silence while under police watch have raised suspicions about what really happened, said José Miguel Vivanco, the director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch. Vivanco called for Brazil's government to conduct a ''full and fair'' investigation. Before the boxers left, they spoke only to the police and declined comment when a reporter approached them outside a federal police station in the city of Niteroi. The Brazilian Justice Ministry said the two had been informed of their right to request political asylum in Brazil but that they had chosen not to do so. Brazil's government ''should have made sure the full process was fully transparent and not just handled by the police,'' Vivanco said. ``To resolve this behind closed doors, in the middle of the night, in a summary process where there's only one side of the story, it raises questions.'' (The Miami Herald, 9/8/07)

August 9: Brazilian legislators said they suspected that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had worked out an agreement with Castro to return two Cuban boxers who abandoned the Pan American Games. The Brazilian Senate's international relations committee has asked the justice and foreign ministers to publicly explain the Cubans' departure. Two-time Olympic bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, 26, and welterweight world champion Erislandy Lara, 24, were taken into police custody on a resort beach near Rio after disappearing two weeks earlier. Brazilian Sen. Eduardo Suplicy, of the Workers' Party, said he had talked by telephone Wednesday to Lara's wife in Cuba, who said the boxer had not been harmed. ''I would like to have seen an interview [in Cuba] with Lara himself, because that would help calm many of my worries,'' Suplicy said. ``I want to see this matter clarified in the quickest manner possible.'' New details about the case have cast doubt on the account that the boxers gave Brazilian police. (The Miami Herald, 9/8/07)

August 9: The Cuban Foreign Ministry (MINREX) issued a statement noting its steadfast rejection of any actions by the authorities of Taiwan to divide Chinese territory and join the United Nations. The Cuban Foreign Ministry repeated its inalterable one-China stance, the statement reads. Since early 2007, Taiwanese authorities have launched actions aimed at separating from the rest of China, against the interests of the Chinese people and turning a deaf ear to the will of the international community, said the Cuban Foreign Ministry. "The Taiwanese authorities are now trying to organize a so-called ‘referendum on joining the United Nations’ under the name of Taiwan and submitting a resolution on the issue to the international organization,” said MINREX. [Declaración del MINREX] (ACN, 9/8/07)

August 9: Mexican president Felipe Calderón sent the proposal for PAN-affiliated Gabriel Jiménez Remus to be designated ambassador of Mexico to Cuba to the Permanent Commission (of Mexico’s Congress). Jiménez Remus recently concluded a six-year term as head of the (Mexican) diplomatic mission in Spain. The Cuban government has signalled its satisfaction with the appointment since its proposal in mid July. (Milenio, 9/8/07)

August 10: Officers of the Mexican Federal Preventative Police and other law enforcement institutions of the state of Chiapas intervened to contain a protest by Cubans detained at the Tapachula migrant station. The head of the centre, Rafael Pretelín Pouchulén, said that 60 % of the Cuban detainees in Tapachula are awaiting a response from Mexican judicial authorities about remaining in Mexico as exiles, and they may not be expelled from the country until their migratory status has been resolved. The official explained that the Cubans who have not yet appeared before a judge thought they would be repatriated and began to protest. (Notimex, 10/8/07)

August 10: The Central African Republic (CAR) and Cuba restored diplomatic relations after 26 years of misunderstanding. The new Cuban ambassador, Bruno Desouza, addressed a news conference shortly after his arrival. Desouza reiterated his country’s decision to cooperate with CAR not only at the diplomatic level but also in several other areas. "Faced with the various development challenges, it would be urgent to focus on improving the living standards of the populations in order to get closer to the Millennium goals set by the international community," said the Cuban diplomat who was greeted on arrival by the Central African Foreign Minister, Com Zoumarra Bellet. (African Press Agency, 10/8/07)

August 11: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez used the PETROCARIBE summit, held in Caracas, to support his ally Cuba, saying the island is regularly excluded from other summits. Blaming the US, he recalled a 2005 gathering in Argentina and said: ''How is it that we accept Cuba not going to that meeting?'' ''I swear by my mother (...) if there is another one of those summits and Cuba doesn't go, Venezuela won't go to that summit either because it doesn't seem fair,'' Chavez said. ''I know most of you talk with the US government, the majority of our friends in the Caribbean, except Cuba and us,'' Chavez added. ''But I hope someday we can all sit down at the same table, as equals and with respect, with the president of the United States, whoever it is.'' (AP, 11/8/07)

August 11: Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde thanked Cuba for the donation of five tons of medicine for victims of a cold spell that recently hit the Andean region of that nation. He spoke at a ceremony held at the national stadium in Lima. The Cuban ambassador to Peru, Luis Delfin Perez, explained that these newly made, high quality Cuban-made medicines are useful for treating respiratory problems and have a long working life. Delfin Perez also referred to Cuba's solidarity with the rest of the world, specifically with Peru, and recalled the assistance provided after the devastating earthquake that shook the Andean nation in 1970. (Radio Cadena Agramonte, 11/8/07)

August 12: The Attorney General of the state of Quintana Roo, in the Mexican Caribbean, detained a group of 17 undocumented Cubans hiding in a house in the outskirts of Cancun. The Cubans stated that they arrived in Cancun by boats, and a person was bringing them supplies regularly. (EFE, 13/8/07)

August 12: Perry King, now 44, has always maintained his innocence on two 2003 convictions for corrupting minors, for which he was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Cuba. All possible appeals reduced the sentence to 15 years, and the pleas of his family finally convinced him to apply for a transfer to Canada to serve out the rest of his time at an institution here, said King. That application was denied in mid-June by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day because "the offender was convicted of sexual offences involving children," according to a letter sent to the family. "Based on the nature of these offences, there is concern the offender's return to Canada would constitute a threat to the security of Canada." “He was totally, totally shocked when he got denied his transfer, because he was fighting to clear his name, that's why he took so long, and he said he didn't care anymore," said King’s mother, Pearl. "I don't think the minister was fully informed of the circumstances," said King’s Edmonton lawyer Sid Tarrabain, who travelled to Cuba to be part of King's legal team during the original trial. King's "safety and security" are not guaranteed at the prison, which is overpopulated and dirty, and where a suspected attack of hepatitis that made him very ill was ignored, Tarrabain wrote in a letter to Day after the original denial. (Toronto Star, 12/8/07)

August 13: The number of Cubans living in Spain had risen to 82,596 in January 1, 2007, according to information from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE). Almost 42,000 Cubans have arrived in Spain since 2000, doubling the original population of Cuban residents. Madrid expects an avalanche of migration requests from the consulates of Havana and Santiago de Cuba when the law granting nationality to grandchildren of Spanish citizens passes in 2008. (EER, 13/8/07)

August 13: A student body representing Guyanese on scholarship in Cuba met with concerned parents and raised concerns about their stipend and also disclosed plans for a magazine and a web page. The students highlighted the positive aspects of their lives and their intentions. They pointed out that Guyanese students in Cuba have the highest grade point average. Additionally they are planning to have a student magazine to showcase the talents and life of the Guyanese students in Cuba. The student body also touched briefly on some of the problems they are experiencing and parents were able to raise their concerns at the meeting. The students informed the parents that the government stipend they receive is too small and they experience problems with the boxes which are posted to them. They added that one major problem is communication - it is difficult for parents to call and get in contact with them over the telephone. They stated that the preferred medium of communication is e-mail and that keeps them in touch with their parents on a daily basis. Another problem which the students encounter is that packages often arrive late and there is a weight limit. (Stabroek News, 20/8/07)

August 14: Cuban boxers Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara, who disappeared during the Pan-American Games in Rio de Janeiro, had requested entry visas to Germany before they were apprehended and deported to Cuba, according to the German consulate. An officer from the German consulate said that both boxers requested the visas, but they were neither interviewed nor received legal counselling. (AP, 15/8/07)

August 14: The two Cuban boxers who abandoned their national team at the Pan American Games are not being subjected to reprisals from their government, according to the Cuba ambassador in Brazil. Pedro Nunez Mosquera told Brazilian Bar Association president Cezar Britto that the boxers and their families are living free in Cuba, without any restrictions on what they can do. Britto said the association wanted to make sure the boxers were not at risk. "I asked how (the boxers) were and he guaranteed to me that they were free, with their families, and that there were no threats to arrest them," Britto said, adding that the bar association received a request from Cuban dissidents to check on their countrymen. (AP, 14/8/07)

August 15: Members of the Canadian "Che Guevara" brigade in solidarity with Cuba paid tribute to the legendary guerrilla as they laid a floral wreath at a monument in his memory in central Villa Clara province. The visitors stopped at the museum and the memorial where the mortal remains of Che Guevara and his comrades rest and also toured places linked to the history and deeds of the heroic guerrilla fighter. Nino Pagliccia, who heads the solidarity group on this occasion, said that this is the 15th contingent of the Canadian brigade, which every year is made up of people who want to learn more about the Cuban reality. (ACN, 5/8/07)

August 15: Seven Cuban migrants who arrived in a small craft were detained in the Mexican Caribbean island of Cozumel, officials said. The Cubans were treated for dehydration at a Cozumel clinic and taken to the facilities of the INM immigration agency. Spokesmen at the public safety office in Cozumel told the press that the Cubans, all men ranging in age from 20 to 40, were found walking in Punta Molas, in the extreme northeast of the island, after getting off their boat. The Cubans told reporters that they left their homeland on August 10 and were heading for the Mexican resort city of Cancun, but the current carried them to Cozumel instead. Unconfirmed reports said the group left Cuba accompanied by another vessel carrying about 20 people, including women and children, whose whereabouts are unknown. So far this year, more than 300 Cuban migrants have been detained after landing in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, mainly in Cozumel and Isla Mujeres. (EFE, 15/8/07)

August 16: The deputy-head of the Islamic Coalition Party, Hamid Reza Taraqqi, told the Young Journalists Club that while Iran's relations with Europe and other states "are not at the level of a crisis, the government intends to regulate its ties with countries to ensure it does not face problems in case of possible sanctions. In line with these policies, the ninth government has moved to expand ties with Latin American and African countries that have less of a risk for investment." He said Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua were acting "in step with Iran" for their own anti-American policies. Taraqqi referred to the increased pressure from the 5+1 states and the two Security Council resolutions issued on Iran and welcomed Iran's greater risk [or risk taking] in expanding economic ties with other states. (Aftab-e Yazd online, BBC Monitoring, 16,20/8/07)

August 16: A consultation of coca leaves by Aymara Indian shamans presages the recovery of Fidel Castro, according to Cuba’s ambassador to Bolivia. “The Comandante is enjoying a recovery,” Rafael Dausá, the ambassador, told Bolivia’s state news agency after attending the ceremony in El Alto, the heavily indigenous city near the capital, La Paz. Pointing to Cuba’s warming ties to Bolivia, as the leftist president, Evo Morales, settles into his second year in power, Mr. Dausá said, “Being in Bolivia today means being in the leading trench in the anti-imperialist struggle in Latin America.” (The New York Times, 16/8/07)

August 18: Argentine aboriginal youths of the Toba community, in this northwestern province, thanked Cuba for giving them the chance to study in the Caribbean island, as part of a scholarship program. "I feel deeply touched and thankful for the Cuban people, because youths like me can make their dream of being doctors come true and can devote ourselves to preserving health in our communities," Fernando Gonzalez said. The indigenous young man from El Chaco, who studies medicine in Cuba, along with 1,000 Argentines, expressed his gratitude during a ceremony to welcome Cuban Ambassador to Argentina Aramis Fuente Hernandez. (Prensa Latina, 18/8/07)

August 19: Cuba sent to Peru two planes with two campaign hospitals and medical staff to aid the victims of the earthquake. Cuban Ambassador to Peru Luis Delfin Perez said in Pisco that both hospitals will run on autonomous energy due to the power cut affecting the area. The 42-member team includes specialists in general medicine, in orthopedics and traumatology, surgeons, intensive care, anesthesiologists, gynecologists, radiologists and epidemiologists, plus nurses and technicians. (Prensa Latina, 19/8/07)

August 19: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Fidel Castro is "writing, and producing," denying rumours circulating on the Internet that the Cuban leader had died. Chavez, a close ally of Castro, has frequently provided information about the health of the ailing Communist leader who temporarily stepped aside after undergoing emergency abdominal surgery a year ago. "On the Internet rumours are circulating that Fidel Castro has died," Chavez said during his weekly Sunday broadcast. "Fidel is producing, he is writing." Chavez said he had spoken to Castro on his 81st birthday. Rumours had surfaced that Castro had died from complications resulting from his surgery. (Reuters, 19/8/07)

August 20: Germany's human rights commissioner has urged German tourists to be more discerning and vocal during vacation in countries with poor human rights. The German government's commissioner for human rights made a sudden appeal to German tourists to be more critical of social and political conditions when they jet off to far-flung destinations with dubious human rights records. At a press conference in Berlin, Günter Nooke singled out countries such as Cuba, Mexico, Egypt, Thailand, Turkey, Kenya, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia for deficits in human rights. He urged German tourists not to be "taken in by glossy appearances" and to "look over the fence of their holiday resort." "Away from beaches and palm trees, there are people living there whose human rights are trampled upon." (Deutsche Welle, 20/8/07) 

August 20: Didier Opertti, general secretary of the Latin American Association for Integration (ALADI), termed as"very active and responsible" Cuba's work within that organization. Opertti praised as very positive the Cuban contributions to the ALADI, considering it the only country member not located on continental territory and whose economy is operated differently from other nations. "When I was a foreign minister of two previous governments, I was in favor of Cuba's entry into that entity, because I understood its presence in regional organizations," he said, "and I have confirmed that opinion in the two years heading the ALADI." The organization has a permanent headquarters in Montevideo and is made up of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela and Uruguay, where it emerged on August 12, 1980 in virtue of the Montevideo Treaty. (Prensa Latina, 20/8/07)

August 20: Mexico wants to improve relations with Cuba, which have been deteriorating over the past 10 years and led to both countries recalling their ambassadors in 2005. The Mexican government underlined this change by putting up the newly-appointed Mexican ambassador to Cuba, Gabriel Jiménez Remus, to discuss priorities with the standing committee of Mexico's congress. Jiménez said that Mexico wanted to boost business with Cuba. There was no mention of Cuba's human rights situation, which is the main basis for criticism of Cuba by the US and its allies. (Latin News Daily, Reforma, 20/8/07)

August 20: Canadian Choice Medical Services, which refers to itself as a "medical tourism company," has signed agreements with Cuba's ministries of tourism and health, said company founder Daren Jorgenson. Patients pay a fee to Choice Medical based on the treatment and the company arranges hospital stays in Cuba. Officially starting up at the beginning of August, Choice Medical Services has worked with about 200 test patients on a trial basis during the past year. Patients have made use of the service for eye, knee and shoulder surgeries as well as drug rehabilitation and the goal of the company is to provide an "effective and affordable service," said Jorgenson. (The Winnipeg Sun, 20/8/07)

August 22: Part of the Cuban delegation that will participate in an international meeting to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the World Festivals of Youth and Students traveled to Venezuela, where the event will take place until next August 27. This group, formed by pre-university and university students and also by youths who are participating in important social programs currently underway on the island will join members of the Cuban internationalist contingent that is currently making their contribution in the South American nation to complete the island's delegation to the meeting. The inauguration of the event is to take place at the Teresa Carreño Theater in Caracas with the presence of some 2,000 delegates from 70 countries. (ACN, 22/8/07)

August 22: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque is in Brazil for the Third Forum for East Asia Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) meeting from August 22 to 23. The event in Brasilia will debate common challenges facing Latin American and Asian nations as well as projects for interregional cooperation that contribute to greater understanding and interaction. During the opening session, Perez Roque said that Cuba advocates a wide process of cooperation to eradicate illiteracy. The island's top diplomat stressed that this effort against illiteracy is in accordance with the acknowledgement included in the Action Plan of Manila, which states that "education is one of the best tools to promote sustainable development among our peoples." At the conclusion of the two-day FEALAC gathering, Perez Roque will also meet with top Brazilian authorities to discuss matters of bilateral and multilateral interest. (Granma, ACN, 23/8/07)

August 22: Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso called on Cuba to improve its human rights records. In a meeting in Brasilia with his Cuban counterpart Felipe Perez Roque, Aso said efforts should be made to avert international condemnation over a crackdown against dissidents. Perez said every country has human rights issues and that they should not be politicized. Regarding Cuba's debts to Japan, Aso said the issue should be handled at the Paris Club of government creditors, not bilaterally. Perez said that a settlement in the Paris Club needs assistance from the International Monetary Fund, but it is difficult to receive the help due to interference by the United States. (Jiji Press, 22/8/07)   

August 22: Cuba branded Hungary an "imperial accomplice" of Washington for agreeing to grant political asylum to 29 Cubans who were held at Guantanamo Bay US naval base. Those given Hungarian visas were among 44 Cubans picked up at sea by the US Coast Guard. Because authorities deemed them at risk of persecution if repatriated, the group was held at the base while officials sought a third country to take them. Many were dissidents, and some were at the base more than two years. The Cubans at the Guantanamo base included 17 who staged a hunger strike to protest conditions, but it ended August 17 when Hungary announced it would take 29 migrants. A third country was expected to take seven more and five others were approved to go to the United States. One chose to return to Cuba for family reasons, and the status of a couple who were offered Hungarian visas but apparently refused them, was unclear. Cuba's Foreign Ministry issued a statement that "the government of Hungary acts as an accomplice to the empire," and said it would be later rewarded by the US government. Cuba also criticized Hungarian Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz for meeting with the anti-Castro "Mafia" in Miami and inviting exiled groups to Budapest. [Declaración Oficial del MINREX] (AP, Canada.Com, 22/8/07)

August 23: Hungary rejected a Cuban statement accusing it of being a "lackey" of the United States for offering political asylum to Cuban emigres held at the US base at Guantanamo Bay. "The Foreign Ministry categorically rejects the Cuban charges addressed to Hungary and the unworthy tone of the statement issued in Havana," it said on its Web page. The ministry said it took the Cubans mainly for humanitarian reasons and did not want to meddle in Cuba's internal affairs, although it embraced the European Union's policy of encouraging democratization in the Latin American country. (The New York Times, 23/8/07)

August 23: With Libya at the helm, and Iran, Cuba and Pakistan among the 20 nations participating, a United Nations-convened meeting in Geneva will begin to lay the groundwork for a global conference on racism in 2009. A preparatory bureau set up under the UN's Human Rights Council will "formulate a concrete plan" for the 2009 conference, which aims to review the implementation of a program of action drawn up at the UN's last big racism gathering in 2001 -- the 2001 World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. (CNSNews.com, 23/8/07)

August 23: Two Cuban boxers who abandoned the Pan American Games were deported from Brazil because of problems with their visas and not political pressure from Cuba, Brazil's justice minister said. Justice Minister Tarso Genro said that police tracked down boxers Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara after the Cuban delegation made a formal complaint that the two had disappeared during the games last month, the government news agency Agencia Brasil said. But he said the Cubans were deported according to the law because of visa irregularities. "They were effectively (in Brazil) for a predetermined period, and, as they disappeared from the delegation, there was a distortion of the (diplomatic) visa, and they were registered as missing," Genro said. "That is all within the law." Genro also affirmed that the two Cuban athletes were taken to Cuba in a Venezuelan plane chartered by the Cuban government. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, in Brazil for a meeting of the Latin American-East Asian Cooperation Forum, denied that Cuba asked Brazil to return the boxers. "The Cuban government didn't ask for anything," Perez Roque told Folha de Sao Paulo news agency, retracting a previous statement to the contrary. (EFE, AP, 24/8/07)

August 23: A group of young Canadians that support Cuba promised to double their efforts in support of the Cuban Five, jailed in the United States since 1998. Noah Fine, coordinator of the Vancouver Committee to Free the Cuban Five, told the press that the organization holds a monthly protest in front of the US consulate in Vancouver demanding the release of the five Cubans. "We are currently developing a campaign informing people on the irregularities committed at the trial of Fernando Gonzalez, Rene Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero y Ramon Labañino," Fine said. (Granma, 24/8/07)

August 23: At the Forum for Latin American and East Asian Cooperation (FEALAC) Cuba proposed an extensive process of cooperation expected to substantially contribute to the eradication of illiteracy.  The proposal was presented by Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque in his speech to the 3rd FEALAC meeting of foreign ministers which was held in Brasilia. (Granma International, 24/8/07)

August 24: A Cuban delegation headed by Chancellor Felipe Perez Roque was received by Brazilian president Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, and met with various ministers. In the third ministerial meeting of the Forum for East Asia Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), Perez Roque took part in working meetings with the foreign ministers of Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay and Panama, as well as meeting with New Zealand's environment minister and China's Vice Chancellor. He also took part in a private meeting between chancellors and heads of delegations, where problems affecting commerce in the two regions were discussed. Perez Roque and the Cuban delegation concluded their visit staying on in Brazil a further day to take part in bilateral talks with Brazilian dignitaries, including working sessions with Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorín. (Granma, Radio Habana Cuba, 24/8/07)

August 23: The International Society for Human Rights based in Germany demanded to Cuban authorities the release of the independent librarian Gustavo Colas Castillo. Colas Castillo has been kept under detention for over three months without charges. (MartiNoticias, 23/8/07)

August 23: Katahiro Yokomichi, vice president of the Japanese House of Representatives, arrived in Cuba on an official visit to expand congressional and economic relations between Cuba and Japan. Yokomichi is in Havana at the invitation of Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada. Alarcon told the local press that this is a special moment for Japan to deepen ties with Cuba, when Japanese relations between Central America and the Caribbean are growing. (Prensa Latina, 23/8/07)

August 24: Indonesia affirmed its support for Cuba as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)`s chair and its belief that under Cuba’s leadership the movement will be able to promote the interests of developing countries, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Indonesia has also asked Cuba to encourage other NAM member countries to implement the commitment agreed on at the 14th NAM Summit in Havana, particularly for the promotion of developing countries “capacity," Desra Percaya, the ministry`s director of international security, said in Brazil. He was commenting on a meeting between Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda and his Cuban counterpart, Felipe Perez, on the sidelines of the third ministerial meeting of the Forum for East Asia and Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC). (Antara News, 24/8/07)

August 24: The Government of the Republic of Cuba provided a Sanitary Brigade composed of ten Cuban technicians, along with thirty units of spray equipment to support the relief efforts of the Government of Belize after the pass of Hurricane Dean. A plane chartered by the Government of Cuba arrived in Belize and since then, the Cuban Sanitary Brigade has been working in hurricane-affected areas in northern Belize. So far seven hundred and fifty houses of the Villages of Caledonia, Xaibe, Chan Chen and Patchakan have benefited by the Cuban technicians and personnel of the Ministry of Health of Belize. The Cuban Sanitary Brigade will stay in the country for two weeks. After their return, the equipments will be donated by Cuba to the Ministry of Health of Belize for further use in the local programs of epidemiologic control. (LoveFM. Com, 27/8/07)   

August 24: The Cuban medical staff, which will be in charge of providing services at two field hospitals donated by Cuba to Nicaragua, arrived in Managua. They were received by Maritza Cuan, the Nicaraguan Health Minister. The Augusto Cesar Sandino brigade, made up by 85 medical doctors and nurses of different areas of medicine, will be working in the Muelle de los Bueyes and Waspam municipalities located in the Autonomous Regions of the North and South Atlantic respectively. The coordinator of the Cuban medical brigades in Nicaragua, Luis Carlos Avila explained that both centers will be providing services in the areas of orthopedics, integrated general practitioners medicine, gynecology-obstetrics, pediatrics, general surgery, radiology and ophthalmology. (Prensa Latina, 25/8/07)

August 25: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, speaking at a public event, denied persistent rumors that his close ally Cuban leader Fidel Castro had died. Chavez was reacting to talk among Cuban exiles and echoed by foreign news outlets, especially in Florida, that the ailing Castro, 81, had passed away. “We are not going to be denying one rumour after another”, Chavez said. "Those who want him to die will be frustrated, because Fidel Castro will never die," said Chavez, one of the few who visited the revolutionary leader at his sickbed. Chavez said that Castro "will always live among the people that fight for a better destiny. He will always live in the people of Cuba, of Venezuela, and of America." (AP, The Times of India, 25/8/07)

August 25: The Mexican Autonomous University of Puebla and the Cuban University of Camaguey have signed an agreement seeking to boost the scientific and academic exchange established between the two countries over the last 15 years. The accord was signed by Enrique Aguera and Carlos Diaz, rectors of the Mexican and Cuban higher education institutions respectively. (Prensa Latina, 25/8/07)

August 27: Venezuelan youth organizations have requested the Orden Libertador, the highest distinction bestowed by the Venezuelan government, to be awarded to the five Cubans imprisoned in the US. During her speech at the closing ceremony of an event commemorating the 60 anniversary of the creation of the World Festival of Youth and Students, Irma Gonzalez Salanueva --daughter of Rene Gonzalez, one of the Five-- thanked the youngsters from all the continents gathered in Caracas, Venezuela, for their support for the cause of the Cuban Five. (ACN, 27/8/07)

August 27: Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg discussed the situation in Cuba with a group of members of the US Congress who promote the democratization of Cuba at a meeting in Prague. At a meeting with Czech ambassadors, Schwarzenberg said that an emphasis on human rights protection was a priority of Czech diplomacy. Schwarzenberg expressed support for the opponents of the Cuban regime before he became Czech foreign minister. In May 2005 he was deported from Cuba after he arrived in this country to meet Cuban dissidents. In 2006, the Cuban embassy in Prague protested against the Czech Republic's position on the Cuban regime in a note to the Czech Foreign Ministry. In the spring of 2006, Havana even deported other Czech diplomats. The US congressmen headed by Congressman Albio Sires also met Czech Ambassador to Cuba Vit Korselt. They will visit the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The congressmen also plan to visit Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in Prague. They will also visit Hungary and Poland. (CTK, 27/8/07)

August 28: Maverick German leftwing politician Oskar Lafontaine has begun a three-day working visit to Cuba, the Left Party announced in Berlin. Lafontaine, who is chairman of the party, was to meet the president of the Cuban parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, and Foreign Minister Felipe Peres Roque during the trip, the party said. He was also to meet representatives of German companies in Cuba. The former German finance minister is being accompanied by Left Party deputy chairman Klaus Ernst. (DPA, 28/8/07)

August 28: The General Secretary of the Ibero-American Conference, Enrique Iglesias, began an official visit to Cuba on the invitation of the Cuban government. During his stay on the island, Enrique Iglesias is scheduled to meet with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and other top government officials. This is the second visit to Cuba by the Ibero-American General Secretary. (ACN, 28/8/07)

August 29: Enrique Iglesias, Ibero-American Secretary General, said in Havana that the regional project he conducts is a wonderful adventure that needs to be nourished with something more than statements and rhetoric. We need to land in concrete things like cooperation and co-participation in the solution of common problems, indicated Iglesias during a meeting with Cuban Foreign Minister, Felipe Perez Roque. Iglesias thanked Cuba´s head diplomat for the "opportunity to exchange for a couple of days on the big issues which concern us at the Ibero-American Secretariat for the November summit in Santiago de Chile." The Secretariat, he added, has "always had the support of the Cuban government" to revitalize the objectives defined bv the Heads of State and Government in their annual meetings. He recalled that the main topic for this year’s summit is social cohesion, which he considers is a new way to look to development beyond income statistics and all it entails. After confirming Cuba’s support to the 16 summits held to date, Perez Roque informed Iglesias on what the country is doing for social cohesion, the central topic of the next Ibero-American meeting. (Prensa Latina, 29/8/07)

August 30: The acting president of communist Cuba, General Raul Castro, visited a luxurious golf resort in central Italy early this month, the son of the facility's owner said.    News of Castro's visit to the Argentario Golf Resort in Tuscany was published by several local media outlets and corroborated by Augusto Orsini at the state-run news agency Ansa. Orsini said that the club was informed about Castro's arrival "just the day before," although the Cuban leader's office had announced the possibility of the trip "in the month of July." Castro, 76, arrived in a helicopter from which he observed from the air, for about an hour, the layout of the 18-hole golf course which, Orsini said, is the "best" of those built in recent years in Italy. Afterwards, the helicopter landed on a hill with a view of nearby Lake Orbetello, where Castro met with the top officials of the center. Corriere della Sera said that the visit allowed Castro to study the possible construction of a golf course in Cuba with similar characteristics. The daily added that, after the visit, Castro went to a "secret location to the south, probably in Sicily ," since his son-in-law Paolo, the husband of his daughter Mariela, was there. (EFE, El Nuevo Herald, 30/8/07)

August 30: A group of 120 Cubans remain under detention in the migration station of Tapachula, after entering without documents in Mexico. The group, which arrived in Mexico by rafts and speedboats, is still waiting for decisions by the National Migration Institute, the regional representative in Chiapas, Rafael Pretelín, said. (Notimex, 30/8/07)

August 30: Cuba's vice president of the Council of Ministers met with the Ibero-American General Secretary Enrique Valentin Iglesias, who is on an official visit in Cuba. Lage told the Ibero-American official about the Cuban initiatives, efforts and achievements in economic and social matters. He also mentioned the entrepreneurial improvement efficiency system that is being implemented in the country seeking an increase in the quality of production according to international standards. Accompanying Lage at the meeting was Cuban foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque, who had previously met the Uruguayan economist heading the Iberian American General Secretary Board (SEGIB), with headquarters in Madrid. Also present at the meeting was Fernando García Casas, deputy chief of SEGIB. (ACN, 30/8/07)

August 30: The co-president of the German Left party, Oskar Lafontaine, sent his best wishes and his hopes for a speedy recovery to Fidel Castro during a press conference in Havana. Lafontaine, who concluded a three-day visit to the island, met with several Cuban high-ranking officials such as Vice President Carlos Lage, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, member of the Political Bureau of Cuba's Communist Party. During the press conference, the visitor noted that there has been a stable political development on the island in the last months. He said he was impressed by several aspects of Cuban foreign policy such as its solidarity with the countries of the South, particularly with those of Latin America and the Caribbean, and added that, "the European Union should pay more attention to this part of the world."
The German Left party leader said that he talked with Cuban officials about human rights without mentioning specific cases. “Human rights are central to the European left’s politics”, he said. The German politician met with Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, member of the Political Bureau of Cuba's Communist Party. (ACN, EFE, 31/8/07)

August 30: Cuban authorities invited UN Rapporteur on the right to food Jean Ziegler to visit the island. Ziegler will stay in Cuba from October 28 to November 6. “This visit sets a precedent. Cubans will not be able to reject the visit of other UN rapporteurs”, the Swiss sociologist said. (AFP, 30/8/07)

August 31: Cuba's ambassador to the UN, Juan Antonio Fernández Palacios said that the country is ready to resume co-operation with the UN on human rights, given the changes that have taken place in the organisation. Speaking to the press, Fernandez stressed the importance of the new Human Rights Council created in 2006, as well as the withdrawal of the UN Special Envoy to Cuba, Christine Chanet, last June. The council is a body that will allow us to explore new paths for progress, outside the boundaries of the old human rights commission," said Fernandez, adding that the changes have opened the door to Cuba's partcipation in the UN's human rights mechanisms. As a first step, the Cuban goverment has invited Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, to visit the island to report to the council on Cuba's current situation and the measures taken by the government to improve it. This is not however the first time Cuba has collaborated with the UN on human rights. In 1999, Special Rapporteurs on violence against women and on the use of mercenaries were invited to the island. (Ahora, EFE, 31/8/07)

August 31: Authorities from the Dominican Republic detained a group of fourteen Cubans –including three children— together with four Dominican citizens. According to officials from the Dominican Navy, the group was trying to reach Puerto Rico. (EFE, 31/8/07)