Chronicle on Cuba - October 2007

US-Cuba Relations

October 1: The US Interests Section in Havana said that its failure to issue Cubans the 20,000 visas mandated by bilateral accords was due to obstruction by the island's communist government, which is facing record levels of unauthorized emigration.  
Cuba is one of the few countries in the world that requires its citizens to apply for permission to leave. The Interests Section issued 15,000 visas in the fiscal year that ended on November 30, falling short of the quota for the first time since the migration accords were signed in the mid-1990s. US Consul General Sean Murphy attributed the shortfall to "obstacles" imposed by the Havana government, such as the refusal to authorize the hiring of staff necessary to cover vacancies in the consular office. The lack of personnel, he said, caused his office to have the longest waiting list of any US consular facility in the world, with an average delay of 750 days. This situation, he said, six months ago led the Interests Sections to suspend its special program for Cuban emigration, in which some 500,000 Cubans have taken part since its inception in 1998. The visa shortfall comes in a year that has seen an increase in illegal emigration of Cubans to the United States, both across the Florida Strait and from Mexico, an increasingly popular route for illegal people-trafficking rings. (EFE, Reuters, AP, 2/10/07) 

October 2: A judge deciding whether a Cuban girl should remain with her foster parents in Florida or return to Cuba with her father warned both parties against pulling the girl into a political debate about living in Cuba. Attorneys for the girl's Miami foster parents requested an emergency hearing before Circuit Judge Jeri B. Cohen to relate the child's apparent anxiety about the possibility of returning to Cuba. A court-appointed therapist told the judge by phone that the girl appeared very fearful during a scheduled meeting when she was asked about Cuba, and repeatedly said she did not want to go there. The judge ordered another court-appointed therapist, scheduled to meet with the girl and her father later Tuesday, to begin broaching with the girl the idea of living with Izquierdo. But Cohen also instructed both Rafael Izquierdo, a Cuban farmer, and the foster parents, wealthy Cuban-American couple Joe and Maria Cubas, to refrain from discussing with the girl a potential return to Cuba. "You're making a 5-year-old make an ideological value judgment about Cuba. The issue is not, do you want to go Cuba? The issue is, do you want to be with your father? We need to change the issue here," Cohen said. (The Miami Herald, 3/10/07)

October 2: US investigators found cartridge casings on a chartered fishing boat whose four-crew-members have been missing since the vessel was found in September adrift near Cuba, federal prosecutors said. New details came to light in the case as a judge ordered the two men who had chartered the boat held without bail. An arraignment is scheduled for October 11, and the men were to remain at a federal detention center in Miami. One of the men, Kirby L. Archer, 35, has been charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in connection with the robbery of a Wal-Mart store in Arkansas where he was a manager. The other man, Guillermo Zarabozo, 19, has been charged with lying to federal agents. Mr. Zarabozo was born in Cuba, and Mr. Archer, who speaks Spanish, served there as a military police investigator at the United States Naval base at Guantánamo Bay. Cuba has no extradition agreement with the United States. (AP, 2/10/07)

October 3: Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said that he expects an overwhelming victory at the United Nations General Assembly on October 30th, when Cuba will present a resolution condemning the almost 50-year-old blockade imposed by the United States against the Cuban people. Addressing hundreds of students and professors at the Plaza Agramonte of the University of Havana, Perez Roque expressed his confidence on an overwhelming triumph that will show the world's support of the island's struggle against the blockade. "Cuba will not give up. We will continue bringing this issue to the United Nations because we are confident that the Empire will not be able to ignore the world's demand forever, as it happened with the Apartheid and the unjust imprisonment of Mandela," Perez Roque said. An audiovisual campaign against the blockade that will soon be broadcast by Cuban media and that was designed by talented designers, publicists, journalists and students, was also presented at the University of Havana. During the rally, Ernesto Fernandez, member of the National Bureau of the Cuban Young Communist League, read a declaration of the Cuban youth against the US blockade. (ACN, 4/10/07)

October 4: The mortal remains of American pacifist Jane Jackson were buried at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery, Santiago de Cuba, at the request of her family in honor to the love she felt for the Santiagueros. The American pacifist, who passed away last September 27 in Santiago de Cuba, received posthumous honors at the Cuban friendship Institute (ICAP), with the presence of local authorities and her brothers and sisters from the Episcopal Church. Also at the ceremony were members of the Cuban Association of People with Physical and Motor Disabilities and the people of the community where she lived during her stay in the city. The US and the Cuban flags waved together at the funeral by a photo or her hugging Fidel Castro. Floral wreaths from Cuban parliament president Ricardo Alarcon, and the secretary of the Cuban Communist Party on the province, were sent to the ceremony. (ACN, 5/10/07)

October 4: The United States government is prepared for a possible mass exodus of Cubans after the death of elderly leader Fidel Castro, Caleb McCarry, US Cuba Transition Coordinator, said. "We have contingency plans for a possible massive exodus," McCarry said in Washington. "We have the obligation to secure our borders." McCarry is one of the most controversial political figures in US- Cuban relations. The communist island interpreted the creation of his bureau by US President George W Bush as a clear statement of a purpose to annex Cuba in the near future. The US official admitted that "something changed" in Cuba since Fidel Castro, 81, temporarily gave up power to his brother Raul on July 31, 2006. "For the first time in decades there is uncertainty," McCarry noted. (DPA, 4/10/07)

October 4: Americans looking to recoup Cuban assets seized after Fidel Castro took power in 1959 likely won't get the billions they hope to seek after Castro dies, a federally financed study concluded. The study said they instead should settle for development rights and tax breaks that would let them profit from a new Cuba. It was commissioned by the US Agency for International Development and conducted by scholars at Creighton University. They were asked to consider how Cuba, which has been under communist rule now for nearly a half-century, might settle long-pending claims after the 81-year-old Castro dies. Nearly 6,000 American claims for homes and businesses seized by the regime have been determined valid by the US Foreign Claims Settlement Commission. The study values them at about $6 billion in current dollars, with interest. Many of the claimants are Cuban-Americans who were Cuban when their property was expropriated. [Report on Property Claims] (AP, 5/10/07)

October 5: Miami businessman Teo Babun's family lost a cement plant, mining properties and other interests in Cuba in 1960 and he now heads a consulting group seeking business opportunities in a new Cuba. He praised a study commissioned by the US Agency for International Development and conducted by scholars at Creighton University on claims of expropriated assets by Fidel Castro’s government. The scholars were asked to consider how Cuba, which has been under communist rule now for nearly a half-century, might settle long-pending claims after the 81-year-old Castro dies. But, Babun said predicting Cuba's future is a bold move. ``That's pretty darn gutsy for a bunch of lawyers to be predicting--that's the job of the US State Department,'' said Babun. Spokeswoman Linda Hartley of the US State Department would not comment on Cuba's future, saying it was complicated and the department would not comment on a hypothetical situation. A request for comment from the Cuban government's International Press Center in Havana was not immediately returned. (Sun Sentinel, 5/10/07)

October 5: Cuba has requested support from parliaments worldwide against the US economic, commercial and financial blockade against the island. The call was adopted by members of the Foreign Relations Permanent Committee of the National Assembly of the People's Power (Parliament) during a special session attended by the President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon. (Prensa Latina, 5/10/07)

October 6: The company about to auction off objects that belonged to iconic rebel Ernesto 'Che' Guevara has said that it has received threats from detractors of what they call 'a perversion and an insult to the memory of the revolutionary' who helped Fidel Castro take power in Cuba. Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries is sticking to its auction date of October 25 when objects such as a lock of the Argentine-born Guevara's hair, taken from him after his execution 40 years ago in Bolivia, will go on the block. “We hoped the auction would be of great interest to the general public, but never dreamed it would cause such an international uproar,” the director of the US division of Heritage Auction Galleries, Tom Slater, told the press. The items up for bidding belong to Gustavo Villoldo, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative who had a direct role in the operation to capture Che and who advised the Bolivian army on the pursuit and detection of Cuban guerrillas. Also on the auction block besides Guevara's controversial lock of hair will be photographs, maps of the mission that captured Che in Bolivia, the text of an intercepted message that helped locate the guerrilla band, Guevara's fingerprints taken at the time, and personal letters of Villondo communicating with the Bolivian president and the military. (IANS, 6/10/07)

October 6: Timothy Langford, a career CIA officer, has been appointed as the new Cuba and Venezuela mission manager for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence -- a position that coordinates information-gathering for areas considered top priorities. Langford, 48, spent 25 years dealing with Latin American issues at the CIA. He holds a masters degree in Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for the director's office, said Langford began his new position on October 1, but declined to elaborate on his previous assignments within the CIA. President Bush suggested the creation of the Cuba and Venezuela post after Fidel Castro became ill. (The Miami Herald, 6/10/07)

October 6: The fateful day of October 6, 1976 was recalled by all Cubans and in particular by relatives of victims of the mid air explosion of a commercial plane, linked to the US Central Intelligence Agency. Off the coasts of Barbados, terrorist hands supported by the US government took the lives of 73 innocent people, including the young fencing team’s members. Latin America and the world were also shaken by that terrorist action 31 years ago, not only for its cruelty but also the innocence of those victims, who were returning to their country in a DC-8 Cubana de Aviacion plane that departed from Caracas to Trinidad-Tobago and later to Barbados. The pilot’s skill was not enough to counter Luis Posada Carriles, Orlando Bosch, Hernan Ricardo and Freddy Lugo’s lethal plan, which fatally wounded 73 passengers, of them 57 Cubans, 11 Guyanese people and five Koreans. (Prensa Latina, 6/10/07)

October 7: Cuba is renewing its efforts to generate international pressure on the United States to end its long-standing embargo against the Communist island. Cuban officials said they would send their latest appeal worldwide in hopes the US blockade on business with Cuba would finally end after 45 years, Cuba's Granma newspaper reported. Havana claims the US embargo has cost the country about $89 billion in trade revenue since it was first imposed in 1962. The latest appeal by Cuban lawmakers follows recent efforts by Osvaldo Martinez, head of Cuba's Economic Affairs Commission, to convince leaders at the UN General Assembly session to put additional pressure on Washington to end the embargo. (UPI, 7/10/07)

October 8: Daniel Imperato revisited a campaign promise, to open communications and improve relations with Cuba. As the leading Independent candidate for the US presidency, Imperato – who has extensive world business and strategic experience – repeated his 2005 prediction that if the United States didn't take action with Cuba, someone else will. Back in June of 2007, Imperato called for an immediate meeting with Fidel Castro, once it was announced that he had returned to good health. “Helping Cuba become an economic force in the region will go a long way toward freeing the Cuban people from bondage and unfair living conditions. Forty years of American administrations have been neglecting one of our important strategic security points – the Caribbean sea lanes and the opportunity for trade with Cuba. The Caribbean and Cuba have become investment hubs for foreign nations around the globe, which could very well jeopardize our security," contended Imperato. "If we do not address the Cuban situation with Castro, Hugo Chavez will. The Chinese will. They have already loaned millions to Cuba and have offered to protect their oil and gas shipping lanes. We can't lose this opportunity for freedom with one of our closest neighbors." (PR Agency, 8/10/07)

October 9: Cuba is convinced that the overwhelming majority of the international Community will condemn again the US blockade this year and demand to lift it. The ambassador of the Caribbean island in Spain, Alberto Velazco San Jose, addressed a press conference in which he discussed his country's report to the UN Secretary General on economic war and the new measures adopted by Washington. The diplomat told the journalists that the blockade has cost Cuba 89 billion dollars, and is an economic war rather than an embargo, so it is considered genocide, and he also criticized its extra territorial character. (ACN, 9/10/07)

October 9: A group of Iowans went on a trade mission to Cuba. Former Iowa Corn Growers Association president Bob Bowman said they spent five days meeting with government officials, the people in charge of Cuban livestock production, and touring farms. Bowman, a farmer in DeWitt, said there's great potential in Cuba to build markets for Iowa corn and distillers grains, however U.S. policies restrict trade to the Communist country. "It's a cash only business," Bowman says, "the cash has to be transferred into a US bank before the product can be shipped...which is kind of a disadvantage." Bowman said the Cuban officials he met with wish the United States would consider easing trade restrictions. "We were asked repeatedly to do what we could politically in this country to open up trade," Bowman said, "because they need two way trade to help their people out." (Radio Iowa, 9/10/07)

October 9: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Congress to pass three Latin American free trade agreements, saying defeat of the deals would be a tremendous blow to America's standing in the region. Rice said such a defeat would be a serious setback for the leaders of Peru, Panama and Colombia and their efforts to strengthen democracy in their countries. "It would send a signal loud and clear across the region that the United States cannot be trusted to keep its promises," she said in a speech at the headquarters of the Organization of American States in Washington. Rice's speech was part of a concerted administration effort to jump-start its stalled trade agenda in the face of rising unhappiness as America's trade deficits have soared to record highs. Rice said increased economic ties with the United States would help support the spreading movement toward democracy and free markets in Latin America. "The exceptions to this rule may be noisy but they are heading in the opposite direction of the hemisphere," Rice said, not naming any particular country, although she later said that the United States was preparing for a transition to a democratic government in Cuba. [Remarks at the Organization of American States] (Las Vegas Sun, 9/10/07)

October 10: General Cigar Co., the US unit of snuff maker Swedish Match AB, settled its trademark lawsuit against Southern Smoke LLC and other businesses accused of selling counterfeit Cohiba brand cigars. Under the accord, Southern Smoke will admit to the infringement, pay undisclosed damages and deliver about 10,000 cigars for destruction, according to a statement. General Cigar had sought more than $1 million in damages under a federal anti-counterfeiting law. General Cigar, whose Stockholm-based parent company is the world's second-largest maker of snuff and chewing tobacco, has been battling fake versions of the Dominican-made cigars since its ownership of the Cohiba trademark was confirmed by a US court in 2005, it said in the statement. ``This case is another step in our ongoing efforts to stop the sale and marketing of cigars which infringe upon our federally protected trademark rights,'' Daniel Nunez, chief operating officer of General Cigar, said in the statement. ``We are very pleased with the outcome of this case.'' Havana-based Cubatabaco had asked the justices to reverse a 2005 federal appeals court ruling that cleared General Cigar's use of the brand. Cubatabaco earlier won the case in district court when General Cigar was barred from selling Cohibas. (Bloomberg, 10/10/07)

October 10: Posing as men of the cloth, businessman Victor Vazquez and his wealthy friend David Margolis flew back and forth to Cuba by cleverly exploiting a religious loophole in the long-standing travel ban to the communist island nation. But on the afternoon of December 13, 2006, a team of US Treasury and Customs agents finally caught up with them upon their return to Miami International Airport. When asked about the Fort Lauderdale waterfront home that he used as a ''church'' to obtain his religious license, Margolis admitted, ``You have me dead to rights.'' Vazquez, at first defensive, admitted he assisted Margolis in preparing his application and that ''he knew the church did not exist,'' agents said. Vazquez, 40, of Delray Beach, and Margolis, 76, of Fort Lauderdale, would soon become the nation's first defendants to be charged with illegally obtaining religious travel licenses to get around the 44-year-old travel ban to Cuba. (The Miami Herald, 10/10/07)

October 10: President George W. Bush invited the wife of a Cuban political prisoner to the White House event to mark Hispanic Heritage Month. Bush called for the release of Jose Luis Garcia Paneque and all other political prisoners held in Cuba, after meeting the dissident reporter's family at the White House. "He did nothing more than advocate for freedom, and he is now in prison and not only is he in prison (…) he is ill," Bush said during a ceremony marking Latin American heritage. "One of the messages I have for the Cuban leaders is: free this man and free other political prisoners. He is not a threat to you. Let him be reunited with the woman who loves him dearly and his four children," Bush said. At his White House meeting, Bush spoke with Garcia Paneque's wife, Yamile Llanes Labrada, and her daughter Shirley. "May God bless your family and your husband," said Bush in Spanish, alluding to the situation of that Cuban family. The event ended with a performance by Cuban musician Israel "Cachao" Lopez. Lopez, 89, offered a short set that included a version of "Guantanamera," the rhythm of which moved Bush to follow its beat by moving both his head and feet and even by clapping his hands. [Remarks by President George W. Bush] (AFP, EFE, 10/10/07)

October 10: US authorities filed murder charges against two men found floating in a life raft near Cuba in the killings of four fishing boat crewmembers in a case of murder and piracy on the high seas. US agents never found the bodies of the victims and will rely on bullet casings, a handcuff key, a blood smear and conflicting stories from the suspects in hopes of winning a conviction in the high-profile mystery of the Miami charter boat Joe Cool. Kirby Logan Archer and Guillermo Alfonso Zarabozo were charged with first-degree murder in international waters for the deaths of Joe Cool's captain, Jake Branam, his wife Kelley Branam, and crew members Scott Gamble and Samuel Kairy. The Coast Guard found the boat adrift on September 23 near Anguilla Cay in the Bahamas, about 35 miles from Cuba. The next day searchers found Archer and Zarabozo, with their luggage, in the life raft 12 miles north of the abandoned yacht. The two men told authorities three Cuban pirates commandeered the fishing boat and shot the four-crew members, but left Archer and Zarabozo on the vessel unharmed. Zarabozo said he was forced to throw the bodies overboard. (Reuters, 10/10/07)

October 11: The US government has angered Canada's airlines with a proposal to order them to hand over personal information about passengers who take flights that go south over US airspace en route to sunny destinations. Although the planes wouldn't take off from or land on American soil, the US Department of Homeland Security is proposing that Canadian carriers send passenger manifests up to 72 hours in advance of departures to popular winter escapes such as Mexico and the Caribbean. The Homeland Security's Transportation Security Agency proposal would cover flights operating between two international points that go over the airspace of the lower 48 US states, affecting mostly those run by Canadian carriers to winter getaways such as Mexico, Jamaica, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. (The Globe and Mail, 11/10/07)

October 11: The Coast Guard repatriated 41 Cuban migrants to Bahia de Cabanas, Cuba, who had been stopped at sea in five separate incidents. A helicopter from Air Station Miami located a loaded go-fast boat west of Marquesas, Florida. Nine Cuban migrants and two suspected smugglers were taken aboard, and the suspected smugglers were transferred to officials in Key West. The Coast Guard located and took aboard 10 Cuban migrants on Cosgrove Shoal Light. The Coast Guard located a disabled go-fast vessel with 16 Cuban migrants and two suspected smugglers 21 miles south of Marquesas. The go-fast boat and suspected smugglers were turned over to Customs and Border Protection agents in Key West. Two Coast Guard cutters chased two go-fast vessels, 90 miles northeast of Cozumel, Mexico, catching one 45 miles northeast of Cozumel. On board the first vessel, which had been reported stolen by the Collier County Sheriff's Office, were two suspected smugglers and one Cuban migrant. The second go-fast boat was stopped and all aboard taken into custody by the Mexican navy 20 miles northeast of Cozumel. Meanwhile, a civilian took aboard seven Cuban migrants from an old boat 15 miles east of Islamorada. (Sun Sentinel, 11/10/07)

October 11: In a heated debate at the UN General Assembly, Cuba criticized the US "hypocritical, unilateral certifications" in the fight against drug traffic, terrorism and people traffic. Addressing the UN Third Commission on Legal Affairs, Cuban diplomat Luis Alberto Amoros stressed that there cannot be double standards in the fight against international crime. “How can the US declare itself the champion of the world fight against terrorism and at the same time release the most notorious terrorist of the Western Hemisphere [Luis Posada Carriles]?" the Cuban representative wondered rhetorically. (Prensa Latina, 11/10/07)

October 11: Cuba handed over an American wanted for fraud and theft in Utah to US authorities, the third fugitive it has returned to the United States in one year, US officials said. John Bradley Egan was detained by Cuba at the end of June when his 30-foot (9-metre) yacht developed engine trouble off Havana's Marina Hemingway. Egan had no documents and the Cubans contacted the US diplomatic mission, which determined there was a warrant for his arrest in Utah for bank fraud and ID theft. "The US Coast Guard, our mission and the Cuban Foreign Ministry managed get him into US custody and he was taken back to the United States this morning," a US diplomat said. "We seem to have had good cooperation from the Cubans on these law enforcement and drug issues. It is not given much publicity," the diplomat said. (Reuters, 11/10/07)

October 12: Our human rights were violated all the time while we were in Guantanamo, a young Cuban man belonging to the 29 Cuban asylum-seekers in the Bicske Refugee Camp told the Hungarian press. "We were under constant surveillance in Guantanamo. They tapped our phone calls and read our letters. If the authorities did not like what we wrote, they simply disposed of our letters," the young Cuban asylum-seeker said after his arrival in Hungary. He spent 20 months on the US military base following his escape from Cuba and his failed attempt to reach the United States. The Cuban asylum-seekers residing temporarily in the Bicske camp had been intercepted by the US Coast Guard either in the Florida Strait between Cuba and the United States or at sea near the military base in Guantanamo. "I wish I could talk to a US newspaper about my experiences. There are many things I could tell them," he said, adding that asylum -seekers and terrorist suspects are strictly separated from each other in Guantanamo and can never see each other. (Magyar Nemzet, 12/10/07) 

October 12: President George W. Bush urged the Democrat-led Congress to pass trade agreements with Colombia, Peru and Panama, saying exports mean better jobs in the US and increased security for young democracies in the Americas. ``People who work for companies which export have a higher- paying job than someone who doesn't,'' Bush said in a speech in Miami sponsored by the University of Miami and the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. ``We've got to expand trade.'' The vision for the Western Hemisphere, Bush said, includes ``a free and democratic Cuba.'' Bush drew a standing ovation from the audience with his Castro criticism. "As Cuba enters a period of transition, nations throughout the hemisphere and the world must insist on free speech, free assembly," Bush said. "They must insist that the prisoners in Cuba be free, and ultimately we must insist on free and competitive elections." [President George W. Bush Speech] (Reuters, Bloomberg, 12/10/07)

October 15: The United States challenged ailing Fidel Castro to hold a dialogue with his people, following his much publicized live media appearance with his Venezuelan ally Hugo Chavez. Cubans heard Fidel Castro joking and chattering on a television show hosted by Chavez, his first live broadcast in Cuba since he was sidelined after major intestinal surgery 15 months ago. But the United States said Castro should have the same dialogue with his people. "I am delighted that Fidel Castro has an opportunity to have a chance to discuss things with his good friend President Chavez," said Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman. "It is too bad that in almost half a century of misrule in Cuba, he's never had the same kind of conversation with his own people," Casey told reporters. (AFP, 15/10/07)

October 15: Since 2003, Cuba and the United States have cooperated closely to settle lawsuits and cases of inheritance involving more than $50 million and hundreds of Cuban families on both sides of the Florida Straits. The increasing paperwork and the transfer of inheritance money to Cubans on the island are generating an inevitable interaction by lawyers and legal aides in Miami with their counterparts at Bufete Internacional de la Habana, the International Law Bureau of Havana, and other government agencies. Pragmatism has triumphed over political impediments. And the Cuban heirs on the island can now receive -- in periodic remittances made through Western Union -- their money, which until now had been frozen in the United States. ''We're in the presence of a peculiarity in US-Cuba relations, because both parties are very interested in settling the litigation ahead,'' said Cuban-American lawyer Enrique Zamora, who travels to Cuba every six weeks, representing about 20 cases. ``These are strictly familial -- not political -- affairs.'' In coordination with the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, established more than a decade ago a standard procedure to identify and process the cases of succession that involve Cuban heirs on the island. (The Miami Herald, 15/10/07)

October 16: A trial to determine the fate of a 5-year-old girl caught in an international custody dispute came to an abrupt halt when attorneys for both sides announced they were turning to the appellate court. The Third District Court of Appeal dispensed with one of the legal maneuvers within hours, dealing a blow to Cuban father Rafael Izquierdo, who seeks to return to his country with the girl. Izquierdo's legal team had requested the upper court halt the second phase of the trial, because the father had already been found by a judge to be a fit parent. The appellate court declined to hear the case without elaboration. But because another appeal, filed by the Department of Children & Families, is still pending before the appellate court, the trial remains on hold. (The Miami Herald, 17/10/07)

October 16: Foreign policy experts and Cuban American political activists argued that the United States can no longer afford to maintain its policy of isolation toward Cuba -- a policy that many see as an outdated vestige of the Cold War. "The Cold War is over," said Wayne Smith, the former chief of the US Interests Section in Havana, at a meeting of Cuban policy experts in Washington. "Soviet troops are out of Cuba. Cuban troops are out of Africa. We must press for change." Smith's current group, the Washington-based Center for International Policy, hosted the conference to challenge the wisdom of the US approach toward Cuba -- an approach which consists of a near-total embargo on trade, a complete severance of official diplomatic relations and strict travel restrictions. (IPS, 18/10/07)

October 17: Increasing US reprisals against Cuba and stepped up persecution of foreign firms doing business with the island were denounced at the UN. A communique by the Cuban mission to the UN also warns of the theft of new trademarks and millions of dollars in Cuban funds frozen in the US as part of the blockade. Titled "Application of the Bush Plan for the Re-colonization of Cuba. The US Stepped Up Blockade," the document accuses Washington of taking more reprisals against those doing business with the island. (ACN, 17/10/07)

October 17: Cuba can become a more important market for Iowa 's agricultural commodities, say representatives of the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board who traveled to Cuba with Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey. They were in Cuba from October 1 to October 5. "For the last decade, Iowa Corn and the Iowa Department of Agriculture have led a sustained effort to increase food and feed sales to Cuba," says Craig Floss, chief executive officer for ICGA and ICPB. "In the last marketing year, 95% of Cuba 's corn imports came from the US. That is real progress, given the legal restrictions on US-Cuba trade." Cuba's corn purchases this year could be nearly 40 million bushels, but Floss is even more enthusiastic about Cuba 's development as a market for distillers dried grains, or DDGs from Iowa 's ethanol industry. "Distillers dried grains was unknown in Cuba before 2004. Our work to introduce its use is paying off. Last year, the Cubans bought about 100,000 metric tons, and this year that is expected to double." (Farm Progress, 17/10/07)

October 17: Seven illegal Cuban immigrants who arrived two days ago in Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic were rescued by Puerto Rican authorities. According to the Aguadilla police, the group, comprised of six men and a woman, was rescued in the small island of Desecho, in La Mona Channel, between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. (EFE, 17/10/07)

October 17: US farmers like Ralph Kaehler have done millions of dollars in business with the Cubans, sticking it out through the ups and downs of Fidel Castro's turbulent relations with his Yanqui neighbors to the north. In November, Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson will go to Havana to check on the state's declining business prospects, and, with the aging dictator ailing, to see firsthand what a post-Castro business environment might look like. "A lot of it is just showing interest," Hugoson said. "I believe there will be more openness down the road." Hugoson, who was part of Jesse Ventura's trade mission in 2002, is no stranger to Cuba. But it is likely to be a very different Cuba he sees. "The communications back from Havana have been quiet lately," said Kaehler, a St. Charles farmer and a pioneer in cattle sales to Cuba. Kaehler and other frequent business visitors to Cuba report just as much hunger for food buys, but more weariness about depending on US suppliers who face many bureaucratic obstacles at home. "It's not easy," said Tim Courneya, vice president of the Frazee, Minnesota based Northarvest Bean Growers Association, which has seen US sales of dried beans to Cuba level off to around 10 percent of the 80,000- to 100,000-ton market they once hoped it could be. Still, he says, there's hope for more. Havana’s International Trade Fair on November 5-10 Hugoson plans to attend is sponsored by the Cuban government. Nearly 2,000 companies from around the world are expected to attend. For Minnesota sellers like Kaehler, that means more competition for Cuba's limited food coffers. "All those other countries are sucking the money out," he said. (Star Tribune, 17/10/07)

October 17: The US military has expanded plans for a tent encampment to shelter migrants in the event of a Caribbean boat crisis -- now planning on paper a safe haven for up to 45,000 people. Since Fidel Castro became ill last year and ceded power in Cuba to his brother Raúl, the Bush administration has been preparing for a theoretical humanitarian relief mission that would accommodate 10,000 people. It could be used for people fleeing a political crisis as well as a natural disaster. Under the expansion outlined, the military is planning on paper for a second phase that would shelter another 35,000 migrants. Army Lt. Col. Ed Bush, a Guantánamo spokesman, said no contracts had been put out to bid -- and the estimated figure for the next phase based on a recent site analysis was $110 million. ''The military is considering the possibility of establishing a Leeward North site to house additional [35,000] migrants,'' he said by e-mail. "The cost estimate of $110 million, not $40 million, was determined via a site survey conducted by the military.'' But, he said, the decision on whether to go forward, including to seek bids, would not be made until after Phase I is finished next summer. ''Bottom line, there are plans for Leeward North; it remains to be seen if it will ever need to be executed,'' Lt. Col. Bush added. (The Miami Herald, 19/10/07)

October 18: US President George W. Bush punished two perennial adversaries — Myanmar and Cuba — for alleged "human trafficking," the forced labor and prostitution that the United States calls a modern-day form of slavery. The Bush administration determined that Myanmar, also known as Burma, is ineligible for US aid for failing to meet the minimum standards of fighting trafficking or make significant efforts to do so. On the same grounds, Cuba's officials and employees will not be eligible for educational and cultural exchange programs. [Trafficking in Persons Report 2007] (AP, 19/10/07)

October 18: Oscar-winning actor and activist Danny Glover will attend the Hollywood premiere of the Cuban documentary, “The Trial: The Untold Story of the Cuban Five”. The English version of “The Trial” is narrated by Glover, and is available at The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, in San Francisco, California. “The Trial”, produced in 2007 and directed by filmmaker Rolando Almirante, is a co-production of Cuba's film institute ICAIC and Telesur of Venezuela. It features interviews with Cuban and US experts who testified in the trial of the Five. (ACN, 18/10/07)

October 18: The Fifth Forum of the Cuban Civil Society Against the Blockade and Annexation met in Havana with the participation of a record 202 organizations and some 400 delegates. During the event, representatives from non-governmental organizations from the most diverse sectors of cultural, scientific and religious life on the island unanimously approved a final declaration condemning the US economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba. "We are going to try to distribute this as an official document in the upcoming United Nations General Assembly," Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister said. The Head of the Cuban International Relations Department Fernando Remirez de Estenoz spoke at the closing of the forum, calling on participants to continue to work towards spreading the truth on the impact of the blockade on Cuban society. [Declaración Final] (Granma, 19/10/07)

October 19: US President George W. Bush is to unveil "new initiatives" to help Cubans and push for democracy in the communist-run nation, the White House said. Bush is scheduled to speak on Cuba policy at the State Department on October 24 where he will announce "new initiatives to help the people of Cuba," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. "The President intends to emphasize the importance of democracy for the Cuban people and the role the international community can play in Cuba's transition, by insisting on free speech, free assembly, free and competitive elections, and the release of all political prisoners," Fratto said. The White House and State Department did not elaborate on the "new initiatives." Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman, said, "The United States wants to be able to be in a position to assist the Cuban people as they move through that transition" from nearly a five-decade rule by Castro. When asked whether a longstanding US economic embargo on Cuba should be lifted during the transition, Casey said, "We believe that what should be lifted is the longstanding embargo on the rights of the Cuban people that's been imposed by Fidel Castro." (AFP, 19/10/07)

October 19: On September 17, US Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez launched the 2007–2008 Heritage Foundation series "Cuba at the Crossroads," which explores the choices Cuba faces after the end of Fidel Castro's 50-year reign. The next event in the series will focus on the threat that Cuba currently poses to US national security through its activities in Latin America, intelligence operations, and relations with US enemies. Over the next few months, leaders from Congress, the Executive Branch, academia, and the media will meet at the Heritage Foundation to lead focused discussions on the potential role of the United States in shaping post-Castro Cuba, the future of US–Cuba relations, and the role a newly democratic Cuba might play in the hemisphere. [Cuba at the Crossroads: The Threat to US National Security] (Hawaii Reporter, 19/10/07)

October 20: Fidel Castro slammed US elections as fraud-plagued contests for millionaires, as he urged countrymen to vote in the Americas' only one-party communist system. "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, 81, who 15 months ago handed over the reins of power to his brother Raul Castro after major intestinal surgery. In the United States "to be elected president, you need hundreds of millions (of dollars), which come straight out of the coffers of the big monopolies. A candidate can win who actually got a minority of the popular vote," Castro marvelled in a jab at US President George W. Bush who, thanks to the unusual US electoral college system, won the presidency in 2000 though Al Gore won the popular vote. "There is fraud, trickery, ethnic discrimination and even violence," Castro said of the US electoral system, in his latest missive in Granma, the Cuban Communist Party newspaper. [The Elections] (AFP, 20/10/07)

October 21: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque affirmed the new anti-Cuba sanctions announced by US President George W. Bush will once again come up against the people's determination to be free. Shortly after having cast his vote in the municipal elections, Perez Roque told the local press, President Bush will announce new actions to tighten the nearly 50-decade-old economic blockade against the island. But, he stressed, "plans and evil machinations to make the Cuban people surrender by hunger and diseases will plunge." (Prensa Latina, 21/10/07)

October 21: An ailing Fidel Castro cast his ballot in private on Sunday in Cuba's municipal elections, which he said were a rejection of U.S. pressures for political change in the communist state. "The commander in chief expressed his confidence in the massive and enthusiastic turnout of our people in these elections that are an outright rejection of (U.S. President George W.) Bush's threats," government-run media reported. "Bush is obsessed with Cuba," Castro said in a statement read out on state television. He criticized the war in Iraq and the torture of detainees at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. [Declaración del Comandante en Jefe] (Reuters, 21/10/07)

October 21: Fifty-six Cuban migrants interdicted at sea in four incidents were repatriated, according to the US Coast Guard. Three suspected smugglers from those incidents were turned over to US Customs and Border Enforcement in Key West. The vessels were stopped south of Big Pine Key and Key West. (The Miami Herald, 23/10/07)  

October 22: The Bush administration warned that failure by Congress to adopt a free trade agreement with Colombia would bolster the anti-American campaign of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said that refusal by lawmakers to pass the agreement "will embolden someone like Hugo Chavez to think that he can make hay out of that crisis, and it will be a crisis if the free trade agreement does not pass." President Chavez, a fierce critic of American economic policies in Latin America, has championed his "Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas," which counts Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua as signatories, as an alternative to US free trade pacts. Burns said Chavez would gain a "public relations benefit" if the agreement is not passed. (AP, 22/10/07)

October 23: In Cuba, children under 8 and adults over 65 are allotted one liter of milk per week. For the rest of the Cuban population, milk is scarce. Growing the dairy industry is a priority for Cuba where "food is very precious," says Bill Northey, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, after his first visit to Havana. He sees a growing market for Iowa corn, distillers’ grains, and other agriculture products as Cuban dairy and livestock production increase. Northey traveled to Cuba in early October with representatives of the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board. "For the last decade, Iowa Corn and the Iowa Department of Agriculture have led a sustained effort to increase food and feed sales to Cuba," said Craig Floss, Iowa Corn chief executive officer. "Last market year, 95 percent of Cuba's corn imports came from the U.S. That is real progress, given the legal restrictions on US-Cuba trade." (Agri News, 23/10/07)

October 23: Fidel Castro wrote US President George W. Bush is threatening the world with nuclear war and famine — an attack on Washington a day before the White House plans to announce new plans to draw Cuba away from communism. "The danger of a massive world famine is aggravated by Mr. Bush's recent initiative to transform foods into fuel," Castro wrote in Cuban news media, referring to US support for using corn and other food crops to produce gasoline substitutes. The brief essay titled "Bush, Hunger and Death" also alleged that Bush "threatens humanity with World War III, this time using atomic weapons." [Bush, Hunger and Death] (AP, 23/10/07)

October 24: A national fathers' rights group has taken on the cause of a Cuban dad trying to gain custody of his daughter in South Florida, an effort that included sit-downs with key players in the case. Dr. Ned Holstein, president of the Boston-based nonprofit Fathers & Families, flew to Miami to meet with Rafael Izquierdo, the father of the 5-year-old girl at the center of the dispute. Holstein also met staff members at the Department of Children & Families and unsuccessfully sought to have the department drop its efforts to keep the girl in the United States. ''I don't think there's bad faith here,'' said Holstein, who said members and supporters of his group have sent more than 2,000 letters to Governor Charlie Crist's office and the DCF in recent weeks. ``But I think we're involved in a culture in which a father is considered irrelevant.'' (The Miami Herald, 25/10/07)

October 24: US President George W. Bush issued a stern warning that the United States will not accept a political transition in Cuba in which power merely shifts from one Castro brother to another rather than to the Cuban people. "The day is coming when the Cuban people will chart their own course," Bush said. Their new direction, he added, should be toward democracy. But Cuba specialists said the president's warning seemed oddly timed and his analysis outdated, part of a policy that is meant to isolate Cuba but that increasingly leaves the United States as the international odd man out. While administration officials said Bush's speech was aimed at the Cuban people, and would be heard by radio in the island, it appeared equally directed at the Cuban-Americans who form a powerful Republican voting bloc in Florida, and more broadly at US Conservatives, for whom fervent opposition to Fidel Castro has long been an article of faith. Bush's speech amounted to a call for Cubans to continue to resist. Addressing the military and police, he said they would have a place in a "new Cuba." [US President Discusses Cuba Policy] (International Herald Tribune, 24/10/07)

October 24: Cuba accused President Bush of threatening to take over the communist island by force in response to the U.S. leader's call for change in the country. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque called Bush's plans the ''equivalent to the re-conquest of Cuba by force'' and said they ''give an idea of the level of frustration, of desperation and of personal hatred toward Cuba.'' He said most Cubans back the 1959 revolution led by Castro, making the idea of an internal uprising in the name of democracy a ''fantasy'' and ''politically impossible.'' He added that thousands of Cubans would take up arms to defend their homeland in the face of a US invasion. Perez Roque's remarks echoed those of the ailing Castro himself, who wrote in newspaper columns this week that ''Bush is obsessed with Cuba.'' [Conferencia de prensa] (Reuters, 25/10/07)

October 24: In an unprecedented event for Cuba's government-run media, Cuban television broadcast a long fragment of President Bush's speech about the island -- without interruptions. The news program Mesa Redonda opened at 6:30 p.m. with the last 15 minutes of Bush's speech at the State Department, taken from CNN en Español. The president's speech lasted more than 30 minutes. In the portion of the speech broadcast in Cuba, Bush speaks to those who could be listening or watching him ''with great risk'' inside the island. The broadcast surprised the Cuban public, among them some members of the internal opposition parties. A group of 20 dissidents had viewed the broadcast from the US Interests Section in Havana. ''Without a doubt this is an unexpected, novel and unusual event'' said René Gomez Manzano, a dissident lawyer from Havana. ``What we always see here is the refutation (…) but not a speech made by the same people who are refuted, in their own voice.'' (The Miami Herald, 25/10/07)

October 25: Cuban official media published a press conference delivered by Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, as the communist government’s official statement responding the US President’s October 24th speech. In an unprecedented event, Cuba's government-run media also published fragments of President Bush's speech about the island. [Conferencia de prensa] (The Miami Herald, 25/10/07)

October 25: Bill Richardson, governor of the US state of New Mexico, responding to President George W. Bush’s statements on Cuba earlier in the day, said that the US embargo of the island had failed. Richardson, who is in the race to become the Democratic Party presidential candidate, told the CNN network that if he were to become president, he would get rid of the measures adopted by Bush for strengthening the so-called embargo. He added that, with the purpose of creating a transition, he would remove the restrictions on travel to the island and would encourage trade in order to open up a dialogue with the Cuban government, because the punitive measures of more than 40 years have failed. Another Democratic contender, Democrat Chris Dodd, who supports easing travel restrictions, said Bush "continues to allow his fixation with the Castro brothers to stand in the way of a sensible policy with respect to Cuba. Nearly 50 years of a failed Cuba policy must end." (Granma International, 25/10/07)

October 25: A national rally against the latest speech by US President George W. Bush was held at Playa Giron, where, during the April, 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, “the US Empire received its most resounding military defeat in the Western Hemisphere”, Granma newspaper said. Cuban Vicepresident José Ramón Fernández addressed a crowd of over 2,000 local residents. “Cuba will never surrender to the US”, Fernández said. Cuban national and international television and radio stations broadcast the rally. (ACN, 25/10/07)

October 26: Alicia Alonso, the nearly blind matriarch of Cuban ballet, denounced US sanctions as an "inhuman and unjustifiable siege" that has hindered cultural ties between the United States and Cuba. Alonso, 85, called on American artists and intellectuals to speak out against the US embargo that has banned trade with Fidel Castro's communist government and restricted travel between the two countries since the early 1960s. "I ask you to raise your voices to reject so unfair a measure and demand the end to this inhuman and unjustifiable siege," she said in a statement read out for her at a news conference. (Reuters, 26/10/07)

October 27: As winds gusted on Tavernier Key, Joe Zumpano and an associate found themselves helping rescue about 22 Cuban migrants stranded during a storm on an islet off Key Largo. The men rushed to a sportfishing boat. Zumpano, who's also a master captain US merchant marine, scanned the waters between mainland and Tavernier Key. They found the migrants by following the glimpse of a dim light on an islet, but shallow water prevented them from getting too close. Zumpano shouted: ''Who are you?'' The huddled crowd replied in Spanish: ''Somos Cubanos'' (``We are Cubans''). ''Their desperation brought chills down my spine,'' said Zumpano. Some migrants were suffering from dehydration. Zumpano circled the islet for more than an hour waiting for the Coast Guard. He felt helpless, but gave them all one bit of good news: He told them he was a witness to their landing on US soil. Coast Guard Petty Officer Barry Bena said they transported the migrants to the mainland and turned them over to Border Patrol. ''These people to me represent the kind of human suffering I have been very affected by,'' said Zumpano, whose mother is a Cuban immigrant who left her homeland in 1960 after Fidel Castro's officers arrested her father, a government treasurer. (The Miami Herald, 28/10/07)

October 28: Fidel Castro poked fun at President George W. Bush for proclaiming "Long Live Free Cuba," likening it to Spain's king saying the same during his colonial rule over the island. Bush said the transfer of power from the ailing Fidel Castro to his brother Raul as of July 2006 was unacceptable, proclaiming liberty was more important than stability and ending his comments in the speech to the US State Department with "Viva Cuba Libre." The slogan was first used by Cuban independence fighters, known as Mambises, in 1868, as they began their decades-long war against Spain's colonial rule. It was also the battle cry of Fidel Castro's guerrilla fighters in the late 1950s. Raul Castro often ends speeches with the slogan instead of Fidel Castro's "Motherland or Death." "I never imagined I would hear the words coming from the mouth of a U.S. president 139 years later," Castro said in an essay titled "Bush, Mambi?" carried by the official media. "It's as if a king in those times, or his governor, proclaimed 'Viva Cuba Libre,'" Castro said. [Bush, Mambi?] (Reuters, 28/10/07)

October 28: A recent visit to Cuba by members of Plantation United Methodist Church began with a blessing three days before takeoff. ''To serve one another and serve the world, we make ready to leave this place so that all our members shall serve our Cuban sister church,'' the Reverend Timothy Smiley said during the official commission of the church's mission team to Iglesia Metodista in Consolación del Sur. The city, founded in 1690 in Pinar del Rio Province southwest of Havana, is home to many clandestine churches attended in private residences, said Smiley's wife, Candy Smiley, who, with member Jan Hamilton, helped establish the mission group and the ties with the Cuban church in 2002. Hamilton said the Plantation church, which also has a prayer partner program with sister church members, made visits to Cuba in 2004 and twice in 2005. Members Misty Jacobs, Christy Allen and Steve Rivera, all Plantation residents, left Florida on the most recent trip October 10-15 with seven suitcases packed with medical and personal hygiene supplies, school supplies, clothing, books and other hard-to-get items on the Communist-controlled island. Hamilton said the team visited on temporary religious visas. During their stay, Rivera said, the team experienced no resistance from Cuban government officials and the sister church members were gracious and welcoming. (The Miami Herald, 28/10/07)   

October 29: A group of Cuban scientists, all from Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba, have developed a diagnostic composition comprising a protein.  An abstract of the invention was released by the US Patent & Trademark Office. The inventors were issued US Patent No. 7,279,164 on October 9. The patent has been assigned to Centro de Ingenieria Genetica y Biotecnologia, Ciudad de La Habana. (US Fed News, 29/10/07) 

October 30: Oscar Elías Biscet, a Cuban dissident who has spent much of the past decade in prison and is one of Fidel Castro's harshest and best-known critics, is to receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded by President Bush, the White House announced. Confined to a Cuban maximum security prison since 2003, Biscet was one of eight people awarded the presidential medal -- the highest US government award given to a civilian, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. Miami Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen had lobbied the White House to give the medal to Biscet. The award ceremony is scheduled for November 5. Bush mentioned Biscet in a speech, where he cited Cuba's human rights record to justify his continued tough stance against the Castro government. (The Miami Herald, 30/10/07)

October 30: The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to urge the United States to lift its four-decade-old embargo against Cuba in a resolution adopted for the 16th consecutive year. The measure is non-binding and such moves in the past have had no impact on US policy. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque denounced the "arrogance and political blindness" of Washington in ignoring 15 similar resolutions passed since 1992. The resolution, entitled "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba," was passed with 184 votes in favor, four against and one abstention. Voting "no" with the United States were Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands. Micronesia abstained. (Reuters, 30/10/07)

October 30: Addressing the UN General Assembly on the voting of the US embargo against Cuba, Ronald Godard, the US State Department's senior advisor for Latin American affairs, blamed the communist regime for the country's woes. “According to the Cuban Government's own trade statistics (…) we are one of Cuba's largest suppliers of food and one of Cuba's largest trading partners”, Godard said. “In 2006 alone, we authorized the provision of over $270 million of food and medicines by private citizens and organizations, making the American people the largest providers of humanitarian aid to the Cuban people in the entire world”, he added. "Cuba's problems derive not from any decision of the United States, but from the embargo on freedom that the Cuban regime has imposed on its own people," he said. "We call on the international community to join together in demanding that the Cuban government unconditionally release all political prisoners as the essential step in beginning a process that restores to the Cuban people their basic human rights," he told the assembly. (AFP, 30/10/07)

October 30: Cuba confirmed it has received an invitation to play in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, but wouldn't say whether it plans to participate. Jose Ramon Fernandez, a Cuban vice president and head of the island's Olympic Committee, told the press that officials received an invitation from Major League Baseball to compete in the second installment of the international tournament. "We at the Cuban Olympic Committee have officially received the invitation for the second World Baseball Classic," Fernandez said. He would not say when the invitation arrived, nor respond to further questions. Major League Baseball officials have said for weeks that an invitation was sent to Cuba, but that they have yet to receive a response. MLB and its players' association jointly ran the first edition of the WBC last year. It appears the second WBC will be played in March 2009. In December 2005, the US Treasury Department denied the communist-run island a permit to participate after Fidel Castro had personally confirmed his country's team would accept American invitations to play. It took an appeal by Major League Baseball and a promise by Cuba that any winnings would go to Hurricane Katrina relief --thus ensuring no money went to Castro's government-- to reverse that decision. (AP, 30/10/07)

October 30: Cuba's foreign minister warned that his country is prepared to defend itself if the United States tries to bring regime change by force, saying a conflict would jeopardize US stability. ''We are not threatening and we never bluff,'' Felipe Perez Roque said in an interview with the press. ''We respect the United States, but we demand respect for ourselves, and we would defend our country from an attempt to have foreign aggression.'' He claimed that President Bush's recent major policy speech on Cuba indicated the US might be prepared to use force. Perez Roque singled out a comment from Bush's speech: ''The operative word in our future dealings with Cuba is not stability. The operative word is freedom.'' ''If that's the expression of the attempt to bring about a regime change by force in Cuba, that will clash with the resilience of the Cuban people, and the people are prepared,'' Perez Roque said. In Cuba, he said, more than 90 percent of the 11.5 million people support ''the genuine revolution'' that began in 1959 when Castro toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista. The only ''freedom'' that Cubans can imagine Bush pursing, Perez Roque added, ''would be similar to the one he has taken to Iraq,'' where war has continued for years. (AP, 31/10/07)

October 30: Cigar maker Habanos S.A., jointly owned by the Cuban government and  Altadis, is pursuing a lawsuit in the United States over the "Guantanamera" brand name, the state-run press reported. The legal director of  Habanos S.A. , Adargelio Garrido, told the daily Juventud Rebelde that there is "a lawsuit that is beginning" regarding Guantanamera, a brand name launched in 2002. "A US firm based in Miami asked to register it and we had to start legal action against them," he said. (Prensa Latina, 30/10/07)