Chronicle on Cuba - October 2007

Domestic Affairs

October 2: Cubans are griping these days about low salaries and high prices, poor bus services and the maddening dual currency system. And for the first time in years, they don't have to whisper. Interim President Raúl Castro has called publicly for criticism, saying that the only way to fix the country's many problems is to air them. So this month, local branches of organizations such as the Cuban Communist Party, the island's lone labour union, pro-government neighbourhood watch groups and the University Student Federation are assembling around the country to debate shortcomings and suggest solutions. The debate has raised hopes that Castro is on the verge of enacting significant reforms and permitting more freedom of expression. But sceptics say such a debate was held before, and was cut off when the onslaught of grievances was more than the government wished to discuss. And despite Castro's cracking open the door long shut to public criticism, there seems to be one topic that is strictly out of bounds: ending the island's communist system. ''This is going to be public venting, not serious change,'' said Alcibiades Hidalgo, a former Cuban ambassador to the United Nations and personal secretary to Castro. "Rather than being a real inventory of problems -- which they already know and don't need -- this is an exercise in political propaganda in order to put on a new, more understanding face.'' The meetings were officially called to analyze Castro's July 26 speech. (The Miami Herald, 2/9/07)

October 3: Cuba’s "La Colmenita" Children’s Theater Company was named UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador amid a several-minute-long standing ovation by the audience in a venue that proved small for all the people who gathered there to congratulate the group. Jose Juan Ortiz, UNICEF representative to Cuba, said that the company deserved this award for a group whose greatest value has been that of educating children and adults all over the world; "something we know they will continue to do." Nils Katsberg, regional director of UNICEF to Latin America and the Caribbean said that this award came as no surprise: "they have always defended the rights of children and have taken their message of love and peace everywhere." Carlos Alberto Cremata, the director of the company, said "we have always been great admirers of UNICEF and their work, and our children have always been their champions. We just hope we can live up to this title." (Juventud Rebelde, 4/10/07)

October 3: Ricardo Rodríguez Borrero, member of the Council of Human Rights Rapporteurs of Cuba, was arrested at Havana’s inter-provincial bus terminal. According to Rodríguez, he was arrested for taking photos of vagabonds who sleep on the floor at stations and other public places. (Cubanet, 3/10/07)

October 3: Cuba's foreign minister told students at the University of Havana that the island's communist government must put flexibility ahead of dogma in adapting to new realities even if Washington ends its economic embargo against the Castro regime. Felipe Perez Roque made the comment during an exchange where several students mentioned the serious problems in the economy and asked whether Cuba could resolve its unfinished business if the 45-year-old embargo were lifted. After insisting that the US policy has cost the island's economy nearly $90 billion, the foreign minister said that Cuba cannot blame the embargo for the "problems, mistakes and setbacks" cited in a July speech by acting President Raul Castro, who stepped in when older brother Fidel fell ill 14 months ago. Damian Dikinson, a freshman studying engineering, asked the foreign minister Wednesday night: "What would happen if they ended the embargo and we continue with some of the very deficient management methods we have, if we continue with the waste, with the land we have without putting it into production as Raul said?" Perez Roque responded that in that case Cuba will have to adapt to the new reality. "We cannot be dogmatic. We have to be flexible," though without compromising on the "principle" of defending socialism. (EFE, 4/10/07)  

October 3: Fearing another dissidents’ demonstration, police and state security forces kept a close watch on several peaceful dissidents who were taking photos in the centre town Leoncio Vidal Park in Santa Clara. Jorge Luis García Pérez 'Antúnez', national coordinator of the Pedro Luis Boitel Political Prisoners’ Association, said that “suddenly the park filled with social workers, all wearing blue and red T-shirts, but they did not approach us.” (Cubanet, 8/10/07)

October 3: Troubadour Carlos Varela received a long ovation from more than 50,000 people attending a ceremony on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the death of Ché in Bolivia. The crowd assembled in the Leoncio Vidal Park of Santa Clara was astonished when Varela shouted: “The freedom of human beings can never be incomplete. Freedom is a whole, you either have it or you don’t. If it is only partial, then it is not real.” (Cubanet, 8/10/07)

October 4: The 12th Special Olympics World Summer Games, the most important sport event for people with mental disabilities, concluded its second day of competitions in the Chinese city of Shanghai. The Cubans in Shanghai include 23 athletes who earned their tickets to China at the National Special Games held last year. The delegation is comprised of the women's volleyball team and athletes in the men's and women's athletics, swimming, rhythmical gymnastics and table tennis. (ACN, 4/10/07)

October 4: Cuba settled the controversy that arose over the authenticity of the remains of Ernesto "Che" Guevara that are in the communist-ruled island, announcing that DNA tests had been conducted on the remains brought back from Bolivia, where the Argentine-born rebel was killed four decades ago. Jorge Gonzalez Perez, the Cuban specialist who led the team that recovered Che's body, said the evidence found at the burial site was sufficient to confirm that the remains found in the grave in Vallegrande were those of Guevara, but Cuba nevertheless conducted DNA tests to confirm the findings, the official Juventud Rebelde newspaper reported. Che's body was mutilated and buried at a site that remained secret until retired Bolivian Gen. Mario Vargas Salinas revealed in November 1995 that the remains had been buried in a mass grave in Vallegrande. Gonzalez Perez, currently chancellor of the Advanced Medical Sciences Institute in Havana, said the search for Che's body started soon after the general's disclosure. (EFE, 4/10/07)

October 4: The coalition Concertación Pro Diálogo y Reconciliación called on all dissident organizations to participate in an open debate on “The Future of the Nation: Dialogue, Alternatives and Proposals” with the objective of guiding a political transition. According to the invitation signed by Fernando Sánchez, president of the Organizing Committee and of the Concertación, proposals and programs from several dissident organizations have been included in the program as well as the document “History Will Absolve Me” (Fidel Castro, 1953). (EER, 5/10/07)

October 5: Cuba faces a progressively aging population, with 2,500 people over one hundred years, according to preliminary results on this issue published in Havana. Genetic, sex and emotional factors, in addition to easy adaptation to change and possession of healthy habits are some of the causes to increase the years lived, Doctor Roberto Diaz told the press. The opinion of the main expert on geriatrics and gerontology of the National Direction for Aged Adult at the Public Health Ministry is also based on results of a survey carried out on 270 centenarians in Havana. Results showed that over 55 percent of those surveyed came from parents who lived 80 years or more, were disease free and had people to care for them, making for more emotionally stability and less depression. (Prensa Latina, 5/10/07)

October 6: At least 28 people were killed and 73 injured in Cuba’s deadliest accident in years after a train slammed into a bus, state television reported. Fifteen of the injured were in serious condition, the state news report said. The accident took place when a train that left from the island’s second city, Santiago de Cuba, headed for Manzanillo, in Granma province, the report said. It slammed into the bus at a crossing in Yara, about 500 miles southeast off Havana, the report said. Last June, 11 people were killed and 50 injured when a truck flipped over in the Santiago area. Buses and trains are almost always crowded in Cuba, which lacks adequate public transport. In rural areas, other vehicles like trucks are jammed and used as makeshift buses where none operate. (AFP, 6/10/07)

October 7: Cuba will create a school attached to the International Society of Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology (SICOT), the fifth such center in the world. That action, experts said, is an acknowledgment of Cuba's development in that field of medicine. The school will be located at the Frank País Hospital, in Havana, and will contribute to promoting professional exchange with a score of SICOT member countries. In addition to upgrading doctors' qualification, the center will also improve the teaching quality and rank of Cuban and foreign professors. (Cuba Headlines, 7/10/07)

October 8: Fidel Castro paid homage to Ernesto "Che" Guevara as an "exceptional combatant" as many of the Argentine guerrilla's relatives and former comrades gathered in central Cuba to mark the 40th anniversary of his capture and killing in Bolivia. Castro, who has not been seen in public since undergoing intestinal surgery and ceding power to his brother Raul more than 14 months ago, did not attend the low-key ceremony in Santa Clara — one of several tributes to the guerrilla leader being held around the Americas. Still, the ailing leader's presence was felt when a government presenter read his message to several thousand people gathered before the towering bronze statue of Guevara built in Santa Clara. A previously made recording of Castro reading a letter Guevara had written to him four decades ago was also broadcast over loudspeakers. "I halt in my daily combat to bow my head, with respect and gratitude, to the exceptional combatant who fell on the 8th of October 40 years ago," Castro wrote in the essay, which was also published in the Communist Party daily Granma. "I give him thanks for what he tried to do, and for what he could not do in his country of birth because he was like a flower yanked prematurely from its stem." [Che] (AP, 8/10/07)

October 8: Communist Cuba paid tribute to its poster boy, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, 40 years after the guerrilla fighter was captured and executed in Bolivia. About 10,000 Cuban workers and students gathered before a monument of the guerrilla fighter carrying a rifle in Santa Clara, the city in central Cuba that Guevara "liberated" in 1958 in the decisive battle of the Cuban revolution. Raul Castro, who fought with Guevara in the mountains during Cuba's revolution, attended the ceremony, but did not speak. Instead, another former comrade-in-arms, Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdes, gave the key address, which focused as much on domestic matters as it did on Guevara's legacy. "Che's ideas and the legacy of his comrades (…) are a living element that should remain present in our daily tasks," said Valdes, one of only three men who hold the honorific title of Commander of the Revolution and currently Cuba's Communications Minister. But Valdes also called on Cubans to remain united during what he called "more difficult and dangerous" times marked by Castro's illness and increased US government hostility toward the island. Echoing Raul Castro's numerous proposals for talks with American officials, Valdes also proclaimed that "we will not renounce the possibility of a dialogue if some day there are more realistic leaders in that country" while still remembering Fidel Castro's vow that "they never will have Cuba." Valdes headed the delegation that returned Guevara's bones from Bolivia a decade ago to Cuba. Guevara's youngest son, Ernesto, honored his father by roaring in on a wine-red motorcycle along with 37 members of Cuba's Harley-Davidson motorcycle club, all dressed in black and wearing chains around their necks. (Reuters, AFP, 8/10/07)

October 8: Former political prisoner Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez” and his wife, Iris Pérez Aguilera, were detained by authorities in Placetas, Villa Clara province, when the couple was traveling to Santa Clara. The State Security officer, Julio Hernández Águila, together with an agent who said he was the second in command of the Unit for the Confrontation of Subversive Activities by the Enemy in the province, told Antúnez and his wife they were not allowed to travel to Santa Clara. Jorge Luis Pérez García, who is also President of the dissident organization Presidio Político "Pedro Luis Boitel", and his wife were detained for several hours and then set free. The day before, police agents detained dissident Omar Suárez García when he was traveling to Guayo, Sancti Spiritus, where Suárez would join a dissident meeting. The police confiscated Huber Matos’ autobiography and documents Suárez had with him. (Cubanet, 19/10/07)

October 8: Another person died of injuries received in the bus-train crash that occurred in eastern Cuba on October 6, raising the number of fatalities to 29, medical sources said, adding that 35 of the more than 70 people injured in the tragedy remain hospitalized. Authorities did not specify the age or sex of the latest fatality. Cesar Leon, the head of the command post set up at the Hospital Celia Sanchez in the province of Granmna, told the press that among those still hospitalized are six children, adding that at least seven of the injured are in critical condition. Twenty-eight people were killed outright and 73 others were injured, 15 of them seriously, when a train hit a bus at a railroad crossing in eastern Cuba, state television reported. (EFE, 8/10/07)

October 9: From September 21 through 24, the State Security Department in Mayarí, Holguín, summoned some 23 persons with a record of having taken part in illegal attempts to leave the country, as well as truck drivers who would have transported rafts and boats to the coast. The purpose of the summons was to deny the rumour that the United States was going to open the naval base of Guantánamo to receive all those who wanted to emigrate from Cuba. (Cubanet, 9/10/07)

October 9: When 32-year-old Yoani Sanchez wants to update her blog about daily life in Cuba, she dresses like a tourist and strides confidently into a Havana hotel, greeting the staff in German. That is because Cubans like Sanchez are not authorized to use hotel Internet connections, which are reserved for foreigners. In a recent posting on "Generacion Y" Sanchez wrote about the abundance of police patrolling the streets of Havana, checking documents and searching bags for black-market merchandise. She and a handful of other independent bloggers are opening up a crack in the government's tight control over media and information to give the rest of the world a glimpse of life in a one-party, Communist state. Once inside the hotel, Sanchez has to write fast. Not because she fears getting caught, but because online access is prohibitively expensive. An hour online costs about $6, the equivalent of two weeks' pay for the average Cuban. Independent bloggers like Sanchez have to build their sites on servers outside Cuba, and they have more readers outside Cuba than inside. That's not surprising, since only 200,000 Cubans, or less than 2 percent of the population, have access to the World Wide Web, the lowest rate in Latin America, according to the International Telecommunications Union. [Generación Y] (Reuters, 9/10/07)

October 11: At least 48 were injured after a public transport truck in Guantánamo overturned, five days after another accident in eastern Cuba left 29 dead. (EER, 11/10/07)

October 12: There will be fiestas in all schools across the country, but also a focus on responsibility and serious commitments, because the Pioneers will have the duty of choosing those who will represent them at various levels, reported Keyla Estévez García, the national vice president of José Martí Pioneer Organization. Keyla added the elementary school students will participate in their elections through direct vote, while those in secondary school will take part in a ticketing process. (Juventud Rebelde, 12/10/07)

October 13: The literary-cultural program “Readings in the Prado” is being held for the second time in Havana. Organized by the Cuban Book Institute and the Young Communist League (UJC), this event allows people to find a valid option for human and spiritual growth in literature. “Cien horas con Fidel” (One Hundred Hours with Fidel) has become once more the most sought after book. Eliades Acosta, head of the Party’s Central Committee Culture Department, was in charge of referring to the remarkable values of this book written by Ignacio Ramonet. The presentation took place in Havana’s Central Park, where the book “Cuba y la lucha por la democracia” (Cuba and the struggle for democracy), by Ricardo Alarcón, will be at the center of attention. The interactive forum “Caliban before globalization”, held at Havana’s Main Computer Center, was another important moment of the intense day. Internet users from the United States, Spain, Mexico, Germany, France and Canada discussed Che Guevara’s legacy, the role of books in culture, and that of artists, intellectuals and indigenous peoples in the struggle against neo-liberal globalization and cultural decolonization. (Juventud Rebelde, 13/10/07)

October 13: Fidel Castro, 81, appeared gaunt in a 17-minute video taped during a four-hour meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and shown before his phone call on the Chavez show Alo Presidente, which was broadcast live on Cuba's state-run television and radio on October 14. Castro, who has undergone at least three major operations over 14 months for undisclosed intestinal problems, wore a red, white and blue track suit top over his pajamas and sat on a cushion in an armchair. [Video] (Reuters, 14/10/07)

October 14: Fidel Castro’s voice was strong when he taunted the United States in a live telephone call to his Venezuelan ally President Hugo Chavez broadcast from Cuba. It was the first time Cubans have heard Castro speak live since he handed over power in July 2006 to his brother after intestinal surgery. He has not appeared in public since. In his one-hour telephone exchange with Chavez, Castro made no mention of his health or his political future. "I think I have to take some pill, but I will continue watching," Castro said before hanging up. Castro has "recovered," Chavez said, and he ate yogurt during their meeting the day before. "He is in good spirits and has a very good color," Chavez said. (Reuters, 14/10/07)

October 14: Cuban authorities arrested the driver of a bus that collided with a train on October 6, an accident that killed 29 people and injured 75 others, after determining he stopped his vehicle on the tracks as the locomotive approached, state media said. Cuba's official National Information Agency reported that a commission of transportation experts determined that bus driver Manuel Taurino Chávez Peña stopped the bus on the tracks for unknown reasons, shortly before it was slammed by the locomotive. The report said Chávez Peña was detained and ''awaiting the correspondent legal process,'' but did not mention whether or how seriously he was injured. Twenty-seven of the injured remained hospitalized, including two in critical condition, the agency report said. (The Miami Herald, 13/10/07)

October 14: Cubans carried out a trial run of elections to guarantee the course of the first stage of the general elections, to be held October 21. About 270 people participated in this drill, to elect over 15,000 delegates to the Peoples' Power municipal assemblies, after a process of nomination of candidates in constituent assemblies. Authorities from the over 37,000 polling stations will prove functionality and operation of polling tables and count of votes. The test was postponed in eastern Cuba due to the situation created in the weak of heavy rains affecting the area for the past several weeks, said María Esther Reus González, President of the National Electoral Commission (CEN). Speaking with the press, María Esther, who is also Cuba's Minister of Justice, explained that the heavy rains would limit the movement of participants in the activity, which has been re-scheduled for October 18th in the eastern provinces from Camagüey to Guantánamo. (Prensa Latina, Periódico 26, 14/10/07)

October 15: Dissidents Yulián Hernández López, member of the Prisoners and former Political Prisoners Club of Cuba, and Fidel García Roldán, of the February 24 Movement, were released from prison after fulfilling the full length of their sentences, according to Elizardo Sánchez Santacruz, president of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation. (EFE, 15/10/07)

October 16: Cuban authorities announced a national campaign against the mosquito aedes aegypti, transmitter of dengue fever.  The campaign “No truce with the enemy”, was announced in public media after several cases of dengue were reported in Havana hospitals. (EFE, AIN, 16/10/07).

October 16: The Cuban science internet portal hosted by the Information Technology and Advanced Telematic Company (CITMATEL) won an award at the 2007 World Information Society Summit. CITMATEL President Beatriz Alonso told the press that her firm was one of 40 worldwide chosen for the award for best practices for quality and e-content by a panel of some 30 renowned multimedia and web specialists. (Radio Habana Cuba, 16/10/07)

October 16: The Cuban government prohibited dissident lawyer René Gómez Manzano from travelling to Belgium to receive the 2007 “Ludovic Trarieux” International Award in recognition of his commitment to the defence of human rights. Gómez Manzano, 63, would have travelled to Brussels via Paris, but immigration authorities informed him that for now “he was not authorized to leave of the country”. (El Nuevo Herald, La Jornada, 17/10/07)

October 17: A new legislation on workplace security will come into effect in Cuba on January 2008, with the aim of improving the current policy of risk-control in the island. In statements to “Trabajadores” online newspaper, Esther Marquez, an official at the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, said the new legislation also seeks to introduce progressively a National Comprehensive System on Workplace Security. (ACN, 17/10/07)

October 17: The Cuban Customs agency published new regulations for the import of engines and bodyworks of cars and motorcycles, which will be able to be imported only by Cubans travelling on official missions. The new policy requires the importer to have the approval of his or her superiors. (EER, 18/10/07)

October 17: There are no campaigns or TV ads and only one party gets to field candidates in October 21 local elections in communist Cuba, the first without ailing Fidel Castro in charge. Yet Cubans are expected to turn out massively to elect 15,236 municipal council members in a pyramidal voting process that will culminate in a new National Assembly in March. The legislature, a rubber-stamp parliament until now, could well become an important resonance chamber for debate on Cuba's future as the 81-year-old Castro, who has led the country since a 1959 revolution, fades from the political stage. With Castro sidelined by illness and his low-profile brother Raul Castro running Cuba since last year, the Communist Party has urged young Cubans to stand in this year's elections to pump new blood into the country's political leadership. (Reuters, 17/10/07)

October 17: A coalition of liberal Cuban dissident groups is preparing a transition plan that would guarantee the people basic social services in a government change. The Liberal Union of the Republic of Cuba indicated that the draft project would guarantee free medical care and education during a process of change of government on the island. (Radio Martí, 17/10/07)

October 17: In a “Public Audience,” convened by the Presidency of the Cuba National Assembly, homage was paid to Raúl Roa García (1907-1982), the “Chancellor of Dignity,” on the centennial of his birth. Roa, who was the island’s foreign minister from the victory of the 1959 revolution until his retirement in 1976, was discussed and analyzed by friends, co-workers and disciples, who gathered to remember anecdotes and memorable episodes in his life as a student leader, university professor, intellectual, journalist and diplomat. Particularly noted were the contributions he made to the history of the Cuban Revolution, with a unique style that was characterized by its distance from any and all types of formalism. Disciple and friend Ricardo Alarcón, president of the National Assembly, recalled the “Doctor,” as Roa was known in the hallways of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, and called on people to keep his memory alive and to follow his legacy and work. “More than speeches and formal praises,” added Alarcón, “we should take advantage of Roa García as a source of education for our youth and leadership cadre —be they diplomats, representatives or in any other sphere— because he is a source of inspiration.” (Juventud Rebelde, 17/10/07)

October 18: The Cuban Radio and Television Institute's recent decision not to broadcast several video clips by national filmmakers has rekindled controversies surrounding the government's cultural policy and its effects on the media. E-mail protests from artists and filmmakers have revived the debate among local intellectuals that began in January and are coinciding with a series of public debates initiated by acting President Raúl Castro. The acting president inaugurated the debates in his July 26 speech, calling on people to question "everything we do, in order to constantly improve how we do it." Paradoxically, several of the video clips in question are works supported by other state or political institutions in the country. For one reason or another, the videos' circulation had been limited to small groups or screened once at a festival, never reaching the wider Cuban public that was intended as their main audience.  Cuban filmmaker Pavel Giroud, who has been participating in an electronic debate about this issue with other Cubans within the past few weeks, said that “censorship works everywhere”. “Personally, I prefer that a work of mine not be broadcast, rather than be told to change my shots or remove footage. Nor am I interested in hearing their explanations. The mere fact of being silenced is so serious that the reason why pales in comparison, because it will never be a good enough reason for the person who is silenced”, he said. (IPS, 18/10/07) 

October 18: A second pilot test, which has been conducted prior to the October 21 municipal elections, was successfully completed in eastern Cuba. All the region, from Camaguey to Guantanamo province, was affected by heavy rains when the first pilot election was scheduled to be carried out. The 16,108 electoral colleges from the six Cuban provinces which could not participate in the testing of the island's electoral apparatus represent the 42.7 per cent of the 37,749 nation’s voting stations. Over 15,000 delegates to the Municipal Assemblies are expected to be elected on October 21 from among more than 37,000 candidates that have been nominated by over seven million Cubans. (ACN, 18/10/07)

October 18: A group of dissident organizations announced the creation of the award Tolerance Plus, which its 2007 edition was granted to layman Dagoberto Valdés. For over 15 years, Valdés was the director of the Catholic journal “Vitral” where he criticized important social and political issues affecting Cuban society. The organizing committee granted the award to Valdés due to his “merits and exceptional talent in promoting reconciliation, harmony and tolerance among Cubans”. (AFP, 19/10/07)

October 19: A survey conducted in Cuba for the International Republican Institute (IRI) indicates that nearly three-quarters of Cubans surveyed (73.9%) would like “to vote to decide who succeeds Fidel Castro” as President. The survey of 584 Cubans was conducted from September 5-October 4, 2007. [Survey Conducted in Cuba] (IRI Press Release, 19/10/07)

October 19: After going through a rigorous training process, more than 200 canine teams are in place for the prevention and combating of drug trafficking and terrorism in Cuba.
This was reported by Lieutenant Colonel Denis Fernández Sánchez, head of the National Department of Canine Technology of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MININT by its abbreviation in Spanish), during a tour of the national centers of canine breeding and training. Fernández Sánchez explained that this division, which is focused mainly on impeding the introduction and circulation of drugs within the country, has a prominently preventive function: surveillance and protection of roadways, docks, airports and other vulnerable areas. “We also have two schools with capacity to train more than 120 canine teams in each training period and two centers for breeding Springer Spaniels and German Shepherds of the highest genetic quality and with top aptitudes for training in six specialties,” he said. Fernandez also said that Cuba has a rescue team and canine teams to cover the needs for tracking operations, which are part of the division of crime scene investigation. (Cuba Headlines, 19/10/07)

October 20: When Cubans head to the polls for the first step in an electoral process that ultimately will choose the island's president, one candidate's name will be missing from the ballot: Gerardo Sánchez. The human rights activist in Havana's Playa neighborhood wanted to see what would happen if he ran for a spot on the local municipal council, in what Fidel Castro once called ``the most democratic process in the world.'' Sánchez wasn't hopeful: The election was organized by his local neighborhood watch group, the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, and last month's poll to choose whose name would appear on the ballot was by a show of hands, not secret vote. ''All my neighbors had seen how many pro-government mob attacks there have been at my house, and they were panicked. Do you know what panic is? I mean panic,'' Sánchez said. ``There were a little less than 100 people there, and I got four votes plus mine. I just wanted to prove what a circus that was.'' 'The next day, people came up to me and said, `Sorry about that, man, but I couldn't let them see me vote for you,' '' Sánchez said. ``Like I was a thief or drug or weapons trafficker!'' (The Miami Herald, 20/10/07)

October 20: On the eve of balloting, Fidel Castro hailed Cuba’s electoral process as superior to that of its northern neighbor the United States, which also is in the throes of a protracted election campaign. "Our elections are the antithesis of those held in United States (…) There, first you have to be very rich, or have an enormous amount of money behind you," said Castro in an editorial in the official daily Granma. [The Elections] (AFP, 20/10/07)

October 21: Cubans voted to elect more than 15,000 municipal council members in the first elections since ailing Fidel Castro handed over power to his brother last year. Cubans lined up to cast ballots in urns guarded by school children for neighborhood candidates whose photograph and resume were posted on shop windows in a poll devoid of campaigning. State television urged Cubans to vote in the elections, the start of an electoral process that will culminate in a new National Assembly in March. The 600-seat assembly could formalize the retirement of Castro, whose failing health forced him to relinquish power 15 months ago for the first time since his 1959 revolution. "Long live Fidel and Raul," a television presenter said in a government statement that warned Cubans the elections were being held in the face of "hostility, threats and aggression" from Cuba's arch-enemy, the United States. Voting is not obligatory, but more than 90 percent of Cubans are expected to turn out. Failure to do so is frowned upon in local neighborhood committees. "These elections won't resolve the problems we have," said Edel, a student who asked not to be fully named. "The delegates can't do anything. Here everything is decided from above." "I am going to go and vote bright and early to get it over with," a 28-year-old woman law student told the press. "I don't want them coming and knocking on my door, and I don't want to end up with a record (…) (but) I'm not going because I think anything is going to change," she added. (Reuters, AFP, 21/10/07)

October 21: Leading dissident Martha Beatriz Roque said elections are not secret in Cuba since all candidates nominated for municipal positions were chosen by a show of hands at neighborhood gatherings — where no one dares nominate opposition leaders. "They are not democratic, so we can't call them 'elections,'" Roque, an economist who was jailed for opposing the government but released for medical reasons, said in a recent interview. (AP, 21/10/07)

October 21: Independent journalist Guillermo Fariñas was detained for several hours in Villa Clara after going to the polls, where he urged the people not to vote in the municipal elections. (Cubanet, 22/10/07)

October 21: Fidel Castro voted at the place where he has been recuperating for nearly 15 months, according to Cuban national television. The leader of the Revolution requested that one of the members of the electoral college where he is registered, in Havana, visit him with a ballot. After casting his vote, Castro referred to the outstanding qualities of both of the candidates in his voting district, expressing his confidence in the massive and enthusiastic participation of the people in the elections, "which constitute an overwhelming response to the threats" of US President George W. Bush. Castro issued a statement read out on television as voting began criticizing Bush for refusing to lift decades-old US sanctions on Cuba, which he called "genocidal," adding that Cuban "sovereignty is non-negotiable." [Declaración del Comandante en Jefe] (Radio Habana Cuba, AFP, 21/10/07)

October 21: Cuban First Vice President Raul Castro Ruz exercised his right to vote at his local voting station in Havana. The second in command cast his secret vote in a ballot box guarded by primary school students, as is customary in Cuban elections. The head of the district electoral commission Lauris Perez, told Raul that at that point 63 per cent of the voters listed had already balloted at this voting station, number 3 in voting district 107 in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolucion in the capital Havana. On his way out, Raul greeted voters and promised to pass on a get well soon message to Fidel sent by a neighbor. (ACN, 21/10/07)

October 21: Like every Sunday, the Ladies in White attended mass at Santa Rita Church and later walked along 5th Avenue in Miramar. Notwithstanding the tightened security as municipal elections of the Popular Power are underway, the women marched peacefully in demand of the immediate and unconditional release from prison of those sentenced to prison in 2003, as well as all political prisoners. (Cubanet, 21/10/07)

October 22: Over 8,174,350 Cubans voted in last elections to choose delegates to municipal government assemblies, a figure that represents 95.44 percent of all eligible voters, according to preliminary information released by the National Electoral Commission (CEN). During a press conference, CEN president Maria Esther Reuz said that preliminary figures may increase, since a second round of voting is scheduled for October 28 in some 2,971 districts where none of the candidates reached the stipulated amount of votes. As a result 12,265 delegates were elected, out of which 3,288 are women (26.81 percent); 2,053 are young people (16.74 percent); while 5,776 were re-elected. Reuz, who is also Cuba’s Minister of Justice, said final results of the first round will be available after all statistics are concluded. (ACN, 23/10/07)

October 23: The Council of Human Rights Rapporteurs of Cuba (CRDHC) expressed serious concern over the astounding number of prisoners infected with tuberculosis in Cuban jails. According to Juan Carlos González Leiva, executive secretary of the CRDHC, there are more than 1,200 cases in the Canaleta prison, Matanzas. In the Kilo 7 prison of Camagüey the situation is very similar. The disease has spread due to lack of hygiene, overcrowding, poor diet and inadequate medical attention. He added that the spread of tuberculosis affects all Cuban prisons. (Cubanet, 23/10/07)

October 23: Moderate dissident leaders in Cuba criticized “the imperial appetite” of Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, and called on all Cubans to find “truly national solutions” to the problems on the island. Leaders of several groups concurred that “Cuba neither needs grotesque leadership, nor is it worth 100,000 barrels of oil a day,” in reference to Chavez’s suggestions regarding the union of the two countries. (AFP, 23/10/07)

October 23: Cuba is confident that it will send 305 athletes to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, although only 56 have obtained their places in 11 sports, a Cuban official said.
Roberto Leon Richards, vice president of the National Institute for Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER), said Cuba aims to compete in 20 Olympic sports in 2008. (Xinhua, 23/10/07)

October 24: Imprisoned Cuban journalist Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, hospitalized last month, faces medical procedures today that family members said could further imperil his already fragile health. They also provided a first-person account by Hernandez Gonzalez of his brutal treatment in jail and his determination to survive the ordeal. As medical personnel prepared him for a colonoscopy, Hernandez Gonzalez's mother, Blanca Gonzalez, said she and her son's wife were trying to obtain outside medical advice regarding his illness. Since he was moved on September 14 from prison to Havana's Carlos J. Finlay military hospital, she said, Hernandez Gonzalez's health has continued to deteriorate. "Normando has received various treatments for parasites,'' Blanca Gonzalez said. "He has been given other medication, but his wife does not know what these are. She has not been able to see any doctors at the hospital when she visits.'' Hernandez Gonzalez is one of 59 writers arrested during a 2003 crackdown on dissident Cuban journalists. They were convicted of "endangering the state's independence or territorial integrity'' and sentenced to 25 years in prison. (Bloomberg, 24/10/07)

October 24: Cuba said its public education system, one of the pillars of its socialist system, is suffering from an "exodus" of teachers due to low wages, poor housing and even lack of clothing. Education Minister Luis Ignacio Gomez detailed the loss of teachers at a hearing of a committee of the National Assembly, Cuba's legislature. "He recognized that the causes of the exodus include insufficient pay, not in accordance with the intensity and responsibility of the work teachers do," the ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma reported. Among the various "material problems" faced by Cuban teachers, the minister cited "lack of housing, transport and clothing," Granma said. He also said teachers were dissatisfied with the "low recognition" they received for their work. Cuba has the highest rate of teachers per population, one for every 36.8 inhabitants, Granma said. But the newspaper acknowledged that 50 percent of the teachers are young Cubans who have not finished their teacher training degrees. Some parents complain that the teaching resorts excessively to audiovisual courses and includes too much politics. (Reuters, 24/10/07)

October 25: Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon said it was impossible to say whether convalescing Fidel Castro would be in a condition to be re-elected next year as leader of the Communist island. "I cannot predict whether he is going to be available to be president of the state, but I also cannot say whether I will keep being a lawmaker," Alarcon said during a news conference on a visit to Quito. "Revolutionaries never retire," he said. (Reuters, 25/10/07)

October 25: The Cuban Government authorized ex-political prisoner Héctor Palacios, released from prison on medical parole, to travel to Spain with his wife, Gisela Delgado, to receive medical attention at the request of Spanish authorities. “We did not request to emigrate because we are not leaving the country for good, we were born here”, said Palacios. “I am grateful to the Government of Spain (...) but I criticize it for not having sorted out the issue of human rights in Cuba,” he added. The 66-year-old Cuban dissident, a sociologist, former member of the Communist Party of Cuba, and member of the illegal All United, suffers from serious health conditions. (EFE, 25/10/07)

October 26: Fewer than 4 percent of voters cast blank ballots in last municipal elections, Cuban election officials said, suggesting that a form of protest promoted by US exile groups gained little traction on the island. Nearly 8.2 million people, or 96.49 percent of registered voters, participated in municipal elections on October 21, beginning an election cycle that ends next year when legislators decide whether to keep ailing leader Fidel Castro atop the island's main governing body. National Electoral Commission Maria Esther Reus said only about 321,000 votes, or 4 percent, were blank. Reus did not specify how many of the winners are Communist Party members, but she said fewer than two-thirds of all candidates who ran belong to the party. The next step will be the constitution of the Municipal Assemblies of the Peoples' Power and the election of their respective presidents and vice presidents in mid November. The second stage of the current electoral process, yet to be defined, will be to choose provincial delegates and deputies to the People's Power National Assembly. (Herald Tribune, Granma, Prensa Latina, 26/10/07)

October 28: It may not be fun anywhere but visiting the dentist in Cuba is a still unhappier prospect marked by a lack of dentists, technicians, materials and even reclining chairs, an official newspaper reported. In Cuba's second internal criticism in as many weeks, a team of reporters from Juventud Rebelde, fanned out to 22 dental clinics in various provinces only to discover the problems were the norm, not exception in the free system of more than 1,000 facilities. "The majority of the 22 clinics lacked adequate professional and technical personnel, more than half had passed through crisis due to a lack of water, dentist chairs, materials to fill cavities, significant delays for dentures," according to the article headlined "Dentistry Dilemma." Other problems included services provided through underground clinics -- at a price -- and patients waiting for hours in offices with little air conditioning and few toilet facilities. The report followed by just a week a similar critical article on health care in general and publication of a story in the Communist Party newspaper, Granma, detailing teacher shortages and other problems in the education system. (Reuters, 28/10/07)

October 28: Cuba held second-round votes for local councils, choosing the last 3,028 delegates for Municipal People's Power Assemblies. A total of 167 of the nation's 169 municipalities would vote for those candidates who did not win the minimum 50 percent of valid votes in the first round of the elections. (Xinhua, 28/10/07)

October 29: Approximately 70 young people were detained while walking along a street in Havana for wearing bracelets bearing the word “change.” Around ten were released, according to the Council of Human Rights Rapporteurs (CRDHC). (EER, 30/10/07)

October 30: A third round of elections will be held on October 31 in four municipalities for representatives to the local institutions of the Cuban government, the maximum electoral authority reported. Maria Esther Reus, president of the National Electoral Commission pointed out that this is the first stage of general elections in which 15,232 delegates were elected of the 15,236 members of the 169 Municipal Assemblies of People's Power. The official, who is also the Minister of Justice, expressed satisfaction over the successful second round selecting aspirants in whose municipalities the voting was annulled or in those where they did not reach 50 percent of the votes, as established by Electoral Law. (Prensa Latina, 30/10/07)

October 30: Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto said in Havana that the National Ballet of Cuba, led by Prima Ballerina Assoluta Alicia Alonso, is an example of foundational, indispensable and significant work for Cuban and universal arts. In the context of celebrations for the 60th Anniversary of the Cuban ballet company, Abel Prieto extended his congratulations to Alicia Alonso and the founding members of the company which, he said, “has left its ever-lasting imprint on Cuban, Latin American and international culture.” “It is not usual to celebrate the 60th anniversary of an institution, which is an example of rigor, will and strength,” said Abel who, along Alicia Alonso, presides over the promotion committee for the 60th birthday of the Cuban National Ballet, which will take place in 2008. (ACN, 30/10/07)

October 30: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, dispelling expectations of change in a post-Castro Cuba, promised "more revolution and more socialism" when the ailing Cuban leader is no longer around. "What I can predict is more revolution and more socialism in Cuba," Perez Roque told CNN in an interview at the United Nations. Nevertheless, Perez Roque said the 81-year-old Fidel Castro, who has not appeared in public since intestinal surgery forced him to hand over power to his brother 15 months ago, remains engaged. "Fidel Castro is entirely dedicated to the process of recovery of his health, which advances satisfactorily," he said. The man who has led Cuba since a leftist revolution in 1959 is going through a "fertile" period of his life dedicated to reading and writing, said Perez Roque, a protegee and former personal secretary of the Cuban leader. Asked whether he was recovering at home or in a hospital, Perez Roque refused to say. "For obvious reasons (…) I cannot provide information to those who have organized and executed more than 600 assassinations plots against him," he said in reference to plans by the CIA in the 1960s and Cuban exiles. Perez Roque said Castro has returned to a daily routine and is frequently consulted by other members of the Communist Party leadership. "I saw him on Friday. I showed him my speech (to the UN General Assembly) and he made some suggestions," he said. (Reuters, 30/10/07)

October 30: In the heart of Balcón Arimao, a poor barrio on the fringes of the Cuban capital, a small evangelical church combines spirituality and community work, combating alcoholism, prostitution, crime and family breakdown. The Primera Iglesia Principio y Fin was started in the home of Marisol Sánchez and Felipe Barbón, the present pastors of this Pentecostal congregation, in 1999. According to statistics published by the Revista Cubana de Medicina Militar (Cuban Review of Military Medicine), 45 percent of Cubans over 15 consume alcohol, and the prevalence of alcoholism is between seven and 10 percent. Ministry of Justice figures, meanwhile, indicate that only 0.17 percent of the population uses illegal drugs. However, the use of so-called "gateway drugs" such as tobacco and alcohol is over 70 percent in some areas, according to experts. "Our vision has led us to work with people who have been in prison," said Barbón, who recognises the "high level of violence" among people in his barrio. "We come to the rescue of these men who come out of prison and are disoriented, not knowing how to go about relating to the community, which may spurn or harass them." According to Foreign Ministry figures, over 58 percent of young people in Cuban jails first broke the law when they were aged between 16 and 24, and 64 percent of them were neither working nor studying when they committed their crimes. (IPS, 30/10/07)

October 31: All 70 young people detained for wearing bracelets bearing the word “change” were released, but some other 40 have been arrested as part of the so called “operation lightning against pre-delinquent dangerousness,” criticized the Council of Human Rights Rapporteurs of Cuba (CRDHC). The president of the School of Independent Educators, Roberto de Miranda, confirmed the arrests and noted that “they were not dissidents.” “They wear the wristband (with the word 'change') because they want to better standards of living.” (EER, 31/10/07)