Chronicle on Cuba - December 2007

US-Cuba Relations

December 1: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and other Democratic presidential candidates disagreed during a debate in Iowa on whether the United States should immediately end a 4-decade-old embargo on Cuba. At a "black and brown" debate focused on issues of interest to minority voters, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd backed an immediate end to the US embargo but other candidates differed on how quickly it could be ended without changes in the Caribbean island nation's government or human rights policies. "I think we make a huge mistake by not normalizing relations with Cuba," Dodd said, adding the embargo had benefited the communist government established in 1959 by Fidel Castro. Clinton, the front-runner among Democrats in national polls, and rivals Obama, John Edwards and Joseph Biden said relations could not be normalized without a significant change in Cuba. "I think that has to be a precondition," the New York senator said of an improvement in Cuban human rights policies. She said there was "a tremendous pent-up desire" for fundamental democratic reforms among the Cuban people. (Reuters, 1/12/07)

December 2: Speaking at a conference on the future of Cuba attended largely by opponents of the Castro government, Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez said,   "Freedom will not happen by going from one dictator to another." Mr Gutierrez, a Cuban native who has responsibilities for Cuba policy in the Bush administration, also predicted that Raúl Castro would be unable to retain power in Cuba. "I don't believe Raúl Castro can keep it together. I don't believe Raúl Castro believes he can keep it together. He doesn't have the skills, the talent, the brains," he said. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Gutierrez said he saw no possibility of an end to the embargo as long as either of the Castro brothers remained in power. Gutierrez told the Miami crowd that the US was ready to extend aid to the Cuban people as soon as changes toward democracy take place in Cuba. (Financial Times, El Nuevo Herald, 2,4/12/07)

December 4: A judge approved a settlement in an international custody dispute that gives a Cuban farmer custody of his 5-year-old daughter, who came to the US with her mother two years ago. State officials had supported efforts by the girl's wealthy US foster family to adopt the girl, accusing her father, Rafael Izquierdo, of abandoning and neglecting her. But in the settlement all sides agreed that Izquierdo should get sole custody, provided that he and his daughter stay in the US until 2010, and the foster parents get regular visits. "I think it's the right thing to do. I know it wasn't easy," Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Jeri B. Cohen said during the hearing. "What you've agreed to is in the best interest of (the child). "I hope things can settle down and you can raise your daughter," Cohen told Izquierdo. (The Miami Herald, 5/12/07)

December 4: Renowned American film maker Brian de Palma could not attend the inauguration of Havana's New Latin American Film Festival, in which his latest film "Redacted" was screened, due to the harsh travel restrictions imposed by Washington. "I feel deep love for the Cuban people; I am very identified with their culture; but it seems that the US State Department could not grant me a visa. So, have a coffee and milk toast to me," said De Palma in his letter read by US producer Jennifer Weiss at the Havana Festival opening ceremony. De Palma is best known for directing Al Pacino’s classic “Scarface”, and the Academy Award-winning film “The Untouchables” (for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Sean Connery). (AFP, ACN, 5/12/07)  

December 5: At least 127 journalists worldwide are behind bars, and one in six have never been publicly charged with a crime, according to an annual survey by a press freedom group. The Committee to Protect Journalists said its yearly census found the number of jailed journalists has dropped by only seven from the previous year. There was an increase in the proportion of journalists held without any charge. Journalists are being held by 24 countries, most in places notorious for their intolerance of the press. Twenty-nine were being held in China, including many accused of publishing pamphlets criticizing the government. Other frequent jailers of journalists include Cuba, Eritrea, Iran and Azerbaijan, according to the advocacy group. [Countries that have jailed journalists: Cuba] (AP, 5/12/07)

December 6: CNN Worldwide and its global audience paid special tribute to seven ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary deeds, recognizing them as "CNN Heroes" in a global telecast. A jury of celebrities selected Irania Martinez Garcia of Guantanamo, Cuba, in the category “Defending the Planet”. Martinez Garcia has taught hundreds of residents to learn how to grow food efficiently while using organic and sustainable materials from the local dump and their own trash. She lost her daughter to leukemia and was convinced the disease was caused by environmental toxins from the burning of plastic and hospital waste in a dump nearby. Few thought she'd be able to turn the toxic dump site into an eco-friendly haven, but now, Garcia is considered a local hero in Guantanamo. Garcia's organization has earned the support of the Cuban government. Cuban-born environmental health advocate Alberto Jones accepted the "Defending the Planet" honor on behalf of his friend Martinez Garcia, who did not receive a visa from US authorities to travel to the CNN gala. (Reuters, CNN, 6/12/07)

December 6: Washington's trade embargo bars almost all Americans from coming to Cuba -- but it can't keep US films out. Twenty-one full-length US movies and 22 experimental American shorts are being shown as part of Havana's international film festival, which will run through December 14 at 23 movie theaters and video clubs across the city. Most are independent flicks focusing on illegal immigration and the problems Latinos face in America, but movies by Hollywood heavyweights Brian De Palma and David Lynch are also being screened. ''You make an American film and you never expect it to be shown in Cuba,'' said Vivien Lesnik Weisman, a Cuban-American who will travel to Havana to present her documentary, “The Man of Two Havanas”. Finished prints of the US films were sent to Cuba through Mexico or Canada, or through European distribution companies. But the US government makes it quite difficult for American directors to present their work on the island. (The Miami Herald, 6/12/07)

December 6: Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani emphasized his hard-line stands on immigration, Fidel Castro and the war in Iraq today during a stop in Fort Lauderdale. On Cuba, Giuliani flatly ruled out going on any kind of fact-finding trip to the island nation. "It would give too much credibility" to Castro, or his brother, Raul, who is the public face of the government as the long-time leader has become ill. In an hour-long interview with reporters and editors at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Guiliani said he'd favor continuing current US government policy toward Castro, and said the nation's anti-Castro stance since he took power in 1959 has paid dividends by keeping Castro contained and preventing him from exporting his brand of government elsewhere in the region. (Sun Sentinel, 6/12/07)

December 7: US officials are urging all democratic nations to call for an end to the "violence and intimidation" in Cuba, after Cuban authorities raided a church to arrest demonstrators. A US State Department spokesman, Gonzalo Gallegos, issued a statement saying the "escalation in repression" by the Cuban government against activists should be of concern to all nations who embrace human rights. (VOA News, 8/12/07)

December 9: Republican presidential candidates stuck to their tough talk on illegal immigration and Cuba before a largely Hispanic audience during a debate televised in Spanish. On how he would deal with Cuban President Fidel Castro, who has been in power during nine presidencies, Fred Thompson said: "I'm going to make sure that he didn't survive 10 US presidents. Castro is unique in many respects. He represents the only non-democratic, at least, elected government in the hemisphere. He is uniquely brutal. He is still tyrannizing his own people. He lures the vulnerable and the naive Americans down there and puts on shows for them and they come back and do his propaganda. There are not many people who can pull that sort of thing off. He's obviously in bad health. That situation, probably, is in God's hands. He will probably be succeeded by someone who's no better than him, and that is Raul. And we should treat Raul with the same contempt that we show Castro, including keeping the embargo on Cuba." Representative Ron Paul of Texas drew boos when he said he would be willing to talk to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. "Actually, I believe we're at a time where we even ought to talk to Cuba and trade and travel to Cuba,'' Paul said. As the audience booed, he continued. ``We create the Chavezes of the world, we create the Castros of the world, by interfering and creating chaos in their countries,'' Paul said. (Reuters, 10/12/07)

December 10: The year 2007 will go down in the history of South Florida as the year with the greatest number of Cuban migrant interdictions since the 1994 rafter crisis. As of last week, at least 3,084 Cuban migrants had been stopped at sea -- the largest number of interceptions in one year since 37,191 were interdicted 13 years ago. The figure was posted on the US Coast Guard website, which is regularly updated. The number of Cubans leaving the island has been rising since an ailing Fidel Castro ceded power to his brother Raúl in July 2006. (The Miami Herald, 10/12/07)

December 10: One of Cuba's most popular television personalities, humorist Carlos Otero, defected to the United States with his family. Otero, 49, asked for political asylum at the US border with Canada, where he was producing a television show in Toronto. He was traveling with his wife and two children. His interview show on Sunday evenings was one of the most viewed in Communist Cuba. "I hope to earn a living in exile and see my children grow up with the opportunity to study what they want, without having to agree with the system," Otero told the Nuevo Herald. Otero said Cuba was "frozen in time" and Cubans lived in great uncertainty over their country's future since Cuban leader Fidel Castro fell ill and dropped from public view 16 months ago. The humorist said he pre-taped his traditional New Year's Eve show before leaving for Toronto, but does not expect Cuba to air the program. (Reuters, 11/12/07)

December 11: Cuban state media justified the break up of a protest march it said was the product of "frenetic subversive activity" by US officials trying to undermine the island's communist system. Scores of government supporters directed by men with walkie-talkies shoved and shouted down a dozen dissidents during a march at a park on International Human Rights Day. No injuries were reported. About half of the marchers were seen being taken away by plainclothes officials, though most were quickly released and it was unknown if any had been officially arrested. "The government of the United States incited and sponsored new provocations against the dignity of the Cuban people," the Communist Party daily Granma said, referring to the December 10 march and another on December 9. A separate but similar story ran in the Communist youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde.  (AP, 11/12/07)

December 11: Episcopal Relief and Development is providing critical assistance to people affected by severe flooding in South Dakota and Cuba. Weeks of drenching rain in October and November, combined with the effects of Tropical Storm Noel, resulted in severe flooding in eastern Cuba that caused an estimated $500 million worth of damage. The volume of water that fell during the rains was unprecedented. Episcopal Relief and Development is working through the Anglican Church of Canada to assist the Episcopal Church in Cuba in responding to the most urgent needs. Our support will provide supplies to 78 families to repair the damage to their houses, ensuring that 468 people can return home. (Relief Web, 11/12/07)

December 11: An international commission in defense of the rights of Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez to visit their husbands in jail, Rene Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez, will be joining the world campaign for the release of the Cuban Five. In a press conference in Havana, Argentinean Graciela Ramirez, coordinator of the International Committee for the Release of the Five, announced the participation of the Commission in the world campaign. The US government has denied the two Cuban women entry permits to the United States to visit their husbands who have been imprisoned for more than 9 years in that country. They are part of the five Cubans imprisoned in the US known as the Cuban Five. (ACN, 11/12/07)

December 11: A bill to substantially relax agricultural trade restrictions with Cuba stirred a roiling debate in the Senate Finance Committee as opponents voiced strenuous objections to any commercial ties with the Castro regime that they argued would "reward the military dictatorship" there without obtaining reciprocal benefits on human rights. Sponsored by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus and Senator Mike Crapo (Republican-Idaho), the legislation was portrayed by supporters as a sensible move to engage the communist government in ways that would reap significant benefits for American farmers and put the United States in a stronger position to compete with other western democracies that now are trading with Cuba. Calling current Cuba policy "folly," Baucus maintained "it no longer makes sense for either Cubans or Americans. It undermines America's economic competitiveness, and it does not help promote overall foreign policy goals." Such remarks touched off a stormy debate among panelists testifying before the committee. Jaime Suchlicki, a history professor at the University of Miami, said changing US policy toward Cuba would "guarantee the continuation of the current totalitarian structures, strengthen state enterprises owned by the Cuban government and lead to greater repression and control" of the Cuban people by the Castro brothers, Fidel and Raul. Frank Calzon, head of the Center for a Free Cuba, decried the repression of political thought and human rights in Cuba and asserted that, "the Castros' support for terrorism and [their] cooperation with violent anti-American groups and regimes cannot be swept under the carpet." "This is not the time for the US to coddle the Cuban dictatorship," Calzon said. (Congress Daily, 11/12/07)

December 12: US Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez, issued a statement denouncing the repression against dissidents by Cuban authorities during International Human Rights Day. “… the weakness of the Cuban regime was further exposed as Cubans tried to peacefully observe International Human Rights Day with a silent walk through a park in Havana. According to reports from the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, the activists who gathered were met by threatening mobs of government agents. There was no apparent effort to protect the peaceful demonstrators, several of whom were detained”, the statement said. "The U.S. Government again calls for an end to the violence and intimidation and urges the Cuban Government to release political prisoners, to return them to their families and to begin a process of national dialogue and reconciliation." (US Fed News, 12/12/07) 

December 12: US military personnel at Guantánamo Bay called Fidel Castro a transsexual and defended the prison for terrorism suspects in anonymous Web postings, an Internet group that publishes government documents said. The group, Wikileaks, tracked Web activity by service members with Guantánamo e-mail addresses and also found they deleted prisoner identification numbers from three detainee profiles on Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopaedia that allows anyone to change articles. Julian Assange, who led the research effort, said the postings amount to propaganda and deception. “This is the American government speaking to the American people and to the world through Wikipedia, not identifying itself and often speaking about itself in the third person,'' Assange said in a telephone interview from Paris. Army Lt. Col. Ed Bush, a prison camp spokesman, said there is no official attempt to alter information posted elsewhere but said the military seeks to correct what it believes is incorrect or outdated information about the prison. Bush declined to answer questions about the Castro posting. (The Miami Herald, 13/12/07)

December 13: More than 500 American artists and academics have signed a letter to US President George W. Bush demanding the end of the economic blockade against Cuba and to stop obstructing cultural exchange between the two nations. "We write to you as representatives of the cultural sector of the United States. We write to you as American citizens. We write to express our consternation for the persistent hostility of your administration towards Cuba," the text reads. The initiative, backed by the Cuba-USA Cultural Exchange organization, was adopted after many of the signatories received a letter from Cuban Prima Ballerina Assoluta Alicia Alonso who urged them to raise their voices against the blockade. Some of the personalities who have signed the letter are actors Sean Penn, Peter Coyote, Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte, and writers such as Alice Walker, William Kennedy, Gore Vidal and Cristina Garcia. Other signatories include renowned musicians such as Carlos Santana, Tom Waits and Ry Cooder. (ACN, 13/12/07)

December 13: Cuban and American speleologists are working side by side in the study of caves located in the Caguanes National Park of the central province of Sancti Spíritus, trying to make accurate maps of the caves. Five teams made up of 21 experts, including members of the speleological group SAMA in Sancti Spiritus, worked together for ten days in the study of six caves of the ten known in the region, which included the Boquerones Cavern, the largest, in the center of Cuba. (ACN, 13/12/07)

December 13: Five associates of Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles have pleaded guilty in Texas to charges of obstruction of justice in an investigation linked to immigration fraud charges against Posada, the Justice Department said. Ruben Lopez-Castro and Jose Pujol each pleaded guilty to one count before US District Judge Kathleen Cardone. The other three defendants who already pleaded guilty to an obstruction charge: Ernesto Abreu, Osvaldo Mitat and Santiago Alvarez. All five defendants, who are from Miami, face up to 10 years in prison. The defendants refused to testify before the federal grand jury about Posada's entry into the United States in 2005. Posada was charged with lying to immigration authorities when he said he entered the country at the Texas border. (McClatchy-Tribune, 13/12/07)

December 17: Three leading dancers with the National Ballet of Cuba arrived in Fort Lauderdale after defecting following a performance in Canada. The dancers -- Taras Domitro, 21, Hayna Gutierrez, 26, and Miguel Angel Blanco, 24 -- crossed the border from Canada at Buffalo, New York, and requested political asylum from immigration authorities, according to Pedro Pablo Peña, artistic director of the Miami-based Cuban Classical Ballet. All had been performing with the National Ballet of Cuba in The Nutcrackerin Hamilton, Ontario, in a co-production with the Canadian Ballet Youth Ensemble. Domitro, the son of Magaly Suarez, co-artistic director of the Miami troupe and herself a former dancer and teacher with Cuba's national ensemble, was accompanied by his mother as he and his fellow dancers stepped off the plane at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. ''I've been waiting for this moment for nine years but it had to be his decision,'' Suarez said. ''They're magnificent dancers (…) any company would be happy to have dancers at their level,'' said Orlando Sarabia, who defected in 2005 and now dances with Miami City Ballet. (The Miami Herald, 18/12/07)

December 17: Cuba democracy programs will get a big boost, and millions of dollars in aid to Colombia will be redirected from military to social programs under a massive government spending bill unveiled Monday by House and Senate negotiators. Passage of the big increase for Cuba would be a major victory for the White House and its congressional allies, who are looking to step up support for democracy activists as the country moves into a post-Fidel Castro transition. Critics of U.S. policy on Cuba argued that the money is unlikely to spur democratic reforms on the island. (The Miami Herald, 18/12/07)

December 18: The White House said a letter from Fidel Castro suggesting he might give up his formal leadership post was interesting, but that it was difficult to determine what it actually meant. Castro, who has been ailing and not been seen in public for 16 months, said in a letter read on Cuban state television: "My elemental duty is not to hold on to positions and less to obstruct the path of younger people." "It was an interesting letter," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "It's hard to make out what he is saying or what he means, as is not unusual. "And so we're just continuing to work for democracy on the island, and we believe that that day will come soon." (Reuters, 18/12/07)

December 18: Tom Casey, US State Department’s Deputy Spokesman, asked about how he would interpret Fidel Castro’s suggestion he might give up his formal leadership, said he doesn’t see “fundamental change in the views of the Cuban regime”. “I said to some of your colleagues this morning that comments by Fidel like this you know, remind me of the old country song, ‘How can we ever miss you, if you won't ever leave?’", Casey said. “There is unfortunately, a repetitiveness to some of these comments. We've seen Fidel Castro make similar ones in the past”, he added. “What we unfortunately haven't seen then or now is an agreement by the Castro regime to allow the Cuban people to choose their leaders in free and fair elections. And so certainly I don't think unfortunately these remarks represent any kind of fundamental change in the views of the Cuban regime”. (US Department of State Daily Briefings, 18/12/07)
 
December 18: Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, who leads national polls for the Republican nomination, talked tough on Cuba, a day after Fidel Castro suggested in a letter he might give up his formal leadership post. "America and the supporters of a free Cuba must remain firm in helping the Cuban people liberate themselves completely from their oppressors," said Giuliani, who was New York mayor during the September 11 attacks in 2001. (Reuters, 19/12/07)

December 19: Cuba plans to participate in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, and the island's top sports official praised Major League Baseball for engaging in "respectful dialogue" when it looked like the embargo might keep the country out of last year's tournament. Jose Ramon Fernandez, a Cuban vice-president and head of the Olympic Committee, said that "for awhile we have been thinking about the Classic." "It's been authorized," he said. "We have said we are going to participate." (AP, 20/12/07)

December 19: Catching Americans who travel illegally to Cuba or who purchase cigars, rum or other products from the island may be distracting some American government agencies from higher-priority missions like fighting terrorism and combating narcotics trafficking, a government audit to be released says. The report, from the Government Accountability Office, says that Customs and Border Protection, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, conducts secondary inspections on 20 percent of charter passengers arriving from Cuba at Miami International Airport, more than six times the inspection rate for other international arrivals, even from countries considered shipment points for narcotics. That high rate of inspections and the numerous seizures of relatively benign contraband “have strained C.B.P.’s capacity to carry out its primary mission of keeping terrorists, criminals and inadmissible aliens from entering the country at Miami International Airport,” says the audit. (The New York Times, 19/12/07)

December 20: US sanctions against Cuba are more restrictive than those imposed on any other country, including Iran and North Korea, and their rigorous enforcement risks diverting government attention from higher-priority counterterrorism tasks, a new government audit has found. Representative Charles B. Rangel (Democrat-New York), who requested the Government Accountability Office audit with Representative Barbara Lee (Democrat-California), criticized the Bush administration for directing scarce resources toward what he called "trivial violations" of import controls, such as Cuban cigars and rum carried by individual travelers, at the expense of "the security that we really need against terrorists." (The Washington Post, 20/12/07)

December 20: Cuba has been blocked from playing in the first ever international cricket tournament because of the US embargo. Cuba had been invited to take part in the Stanford 20/20 tournament, which features 20 Caribbean teams. But the competition is backed by US businessman Allen Stanford, who by law must ask permission to engage in commercial activity with Cuba. Texan billionaire Stanford said that his application had been denied by the US government. (BBC, 20/12/07)

December 20: Five Cuban men came ashore on Hollywood beach and have been detained by the US Border Patrol, officials said. The men, between the ages of 20 and 40, came ashore at Iris Terrace and South Ocean Drive in a johnboat with a small outboard engine, a Hollywood police spokesman said. A johnboat is usually used in calm waters for fishing or hunting. The men told police they had been at sea several days. They told a bystander they were from a coastal community in Cuba. A US Border Patrol official said the men have been picked up and will be processed at the agency's Pembroke Pines office and then released. (The Miami Herald, 21/12/07)

December 20: Top Florida officials say they treated the politically charged custody fight over a young Cuban girl like any other case, but documents obtained by The Associated Press show they took extraordinary steps to stop the youngster's father from taking her back to the communist island. E-mails obtained from the state through an open-records request and other documents show that the Department of Children & Families spent more than $250,000 and accepted many hours of free legal assistance in its unsuccessful effort to have a wealthy Cuban-American couple, former sports agent Joe Cubas and his wife, become the permanent guardians for Rafael Izquierdo's 5-year-old daughter. Republican Governor Jeb Bush and aides to his successor, Charlie Crist, were kept apprised of developments, the documents show. The state also tried unsuccessfully to keep the case secret, apparently to avoid the kind of furor that surrounded Elian Gonzalez in 1999 and 2000, according to the documents. (AP, 20/12/07)

December 21: Cubans who supported anti-Castro guerrilla groups more than four decades ago will become eligible for US refugee status thanks to provisions in a big spending bill passed by Congress. The groups known as the Alzados operated in the Escambray mountains, in south-central Cuba, with some US support, since 1960 until Cuban security forces crushed them in a massive sweep in 1966. But under the Patriot Act and the Real ID Act, those who join or materially support an armed revolt against a government are considered members of a terrorist organization and thus ineligible for refugee status. The text exempting the Alzados, authored by Senator Patrick Leahy (Democrat-Vermont), was inserted in a $555 billion spending bill passed just hours before Congress recessed. (The Miami Herald, 22/12/07)

December 24: The US embassy in Madrid denied asylum to defecting Cuban diplomat Lorenzo Menéndez, who arrived in Spain after fleeing Mozambique, where he was political councillor at the Cuban embassy. Menéndez decided to contact the US embassy since a request for asylum in Spain is a long process. "They didn’t allow my daughter and wife in the embassy. A consular representative told me that I was in a democratic country and that, if I was being persecuted, I should deal with the Spanish government," he said. The former Cuban diplomat submitted his request for political asylum to the Spanish Ministry of the Interior. (EER, 24/12/07)

December 24: Smugglers on so-called "cigarette" boats dart into Cuban waters to pick up passengers whose relatives in the United States sometimes pay as much as $8,000 to get them to the US coast. According to US figures, the Coast Guard intercepted 2,868 Cubans trying to get to the United States in fiscal year 2007. That is the highest since 1994 when more than 35,000 tried to reach US territory. Washington has agreed to grant 20,000 visas a year for those seeking to emigrate, but the visa process is caught in a dispute. The US mission in Havana said this year consular work was being obstructed, but Cuba countered US authorities were delaying visas to undermine the government. Lt. Commander Chris O'Neil, a Coast Guard spokesman in Miami, said authorities found out about a missing vessel on December 6 after receiving calls from family members and the office of US Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican. A US Coast Guard plane was diverted from its patrol to sweep for the boat, which some relatives told US officials was a 33-foot twin engine craft carrying around 40 people. O'Neil said a search turned up no debris or other sign of the vessel, and authorities had no reports of capsized boats or distress calls in the area related to the 40 people. (Reuters, 24/12/07)

December 26: Conservationists, environmental lawyers and other experts, from Cuba, the US, and elsewhere, met in November in Cancun, Mexico, to discuss protecting the island's resources. Cuba has done "what we should have done — identify your hot spots of biodiversity and set them aside," said Oliver Houck, a professor of environmental law at Tulane University Law School who attended the conference. In the late 1990s, Houck was involved in an effort to advise Cuban officials writing environmental laws. But, he said, "an invasion of US consumerism, a US-dominated future, could roll over it like a bulldozer" when the embargo ends. By some estimates, tourism in Cuba is increasing 10 percent annually. At a minimum, Orlando Rey Santos, the Cuban lawyer who led the law-writing effort, said, "we can guess that tourism is going to increase in a very fast way" when the embargo ends. (The New York Times, 26/12/07)

December 26: The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Football (CONCACAF) announced that for the first time Cuba's under-23 men's soccer team will play in Florida. The island's squad will debut on March 11 against the US squad, favorites to win the Olympic qualifying tournament. (ACN, 26/12/07)

December 26: The Florida Society of Association Executives Foundation has some suggestions for Florida businesspeople eyeing opportunities in a post-embargo Cuba. The organization urged Florida associations and their members to plan now as they need to become well-informed about Cuba and possible future developments, and educate their membership about the challenges and opportunities that may arise in a post-embargo Cuba, according to a white paper -- an authoritative report -- by Aida Levitan, chief executive officer and founder of the Miami marketing and PR firm Levitan & Palencia. Among those opportunities, she said, are joint ventures with Cuban counterparts, training and mentoring, and promoting business opportunities in Cuba for members of Florida associations. US law must be changed before Florida associations can take full advantage of opportunities to do business in a post-Castro Cuba, the release said. (Tampa Bay Business Journal, 26/12/07)
 
December 26: At least 25 Cubans are presumed dead after a failed attempt to get to the United States by boat from the coastal town of Santa Cruz del Norte, in Havana province. According to relatives of some of the victims, Cuban authorities recovered eight bodies and were still searching for 17 others still missing and presumed dead after their boat overturned. Other unconfirmed reports said authorities had recovered 11 bodies. One of the deceased was identified by a family member as Yosvanny Vera Alvarez, 29, from Aguada de Pasajeros in Cienfuegos in central Cuba. The victim leaves behind a 9-year-old son. According to Lázaro Vera Alvarez, who lives in Tampa, his brother's body was handed over to his mother on December 23 in Aguada de Pasajeros, where he was buried. Interviews with Cubans familiar with the drowning offered different versions of events. Most of those interviewed by the press indicated that the group left aboard a go-fast boat sometime between December 20 - 21 with 28 passengers, including children. The motor boat had arrived in Cuba from Miami, those interviewed said. The boat was being chased by the Cuban coast guard, those familiar with the incident said, and it ended up crashing into a reef. ''They told my mother that my brother was rescued after the accident but that he died of cardiac arrest when he was taken to the coast guard boat,'' Lázaro Vera said. "Everything's very strange, but there's evidence that the boat was hit by the Cuban coast guard.'' Cuban authorities had yet to report the fatalities. (El Nuevo Herald, 26/12/07)

December 27: Six members of the Cuban musical group “Los Tres de La Habana” (Three from Havana) crossed the Mexican border to the United States. For a month, the group performed in Cancun, México, as part of a cultural exchange between the two countries. On December 17 six of them decided to cross the border in Tijuana and request refuge to US authorities. Los Tres de la Habana is comprised of three main singers, Germán and his brother Ari Pinelli, 31, the grandchildren of famous late actor and presenter Germán Pinelli (1907-1996), and the children of musician and journalist Tony Pinelli; the third singer is Ana Páez, 41. (El Nuevo Herald, 27/12/07)

December 27: The US Coast Guard repatriated 28 Cubans in an incident that follows reports by families that as many as 40 Cubans went missing after leaving the island in a "go fast" smuggling boat at the end of November. Cuba blames that "dry foot" policy for encouraging Cubans to risk their lives on vessels or smuggler boats racing across the 90-mile gap with Florida. Critics say emigration shows simmering discontent over economic hardships on the island. A US Hercules patrol aircraft spotted another overloaded speedboat on December 21 carrying 28 migrants off Mariel in Cuba, the Coast Guard said. The Cubans were returned to Bahia de Cubanas. "During the past week Coast Guard crews also successfully disrupted seven suspected migrant-smuggling operations, nabbing 11 suspected smugglers," the statement said. According to U.S. figures, so far this year the coast guard has intercepted 3,197 Cuban migrants, up from 2,293 stopped a year earlier. (Reuters, 27/12/07)

December 27: Two Cubans in a boatload of people being smuggled to the United States drowned when their craft capsized off the island's coast, Cuban authorities said. Nine other passengers and two smugglers managed to swim to shore. A note from Cuba's Interior Ministry, read on state television, was the government's first official confirmation of the December 22 accident off the northern coast of Havana province. The go-fast boat was carrying 13 people when its motor failed, the note said. The craft then hit a reef and overturned, killing two of the passengers. Authorities believe the two smugglers are hiding in Cuban territory. Twenty-six people were being held in police custody, including the nine surviving passengers. The rest of those held appeared to be would-be migrants who were turned away from the boat for lack of room. The US Coast Guard in Miami said it had received via the US Interests Section in Havana a report from the Cuban Coast Guard about the accident that said two adults had died and 11 people were unharmed. The Cuban Interior Ministry report identified the dead as Yosvani Vera, 29, and Zuleika Rodriguez, 43. The ministry blamed the deaths on the Cuban Adjustment Act and the greed of migrant smugglers. [Nota en Granma] (AP, Reuters, 27/12/07)

December 27: As 12 Cubans were picked up on Elliott Key, the US Coast Guard announced it has stopped seven migrant-smuggling operations heading to Cuba within the past week, with 11 suspected smugglers among them. The 12 ''dry foot'' Elliott Key migrants -- six men and six women, roughly between the ages of 17 and 35 -- appeared in good health, with ample supplies of ice, water and some crackers. They were dressed in casual clothes, including one man in a skin-tight blue swimsuit. Under the United States' wet foot/dry foot policy, Cubans who arrive on American soil are generally allowed to stay while those interdicted at sea are generally sent back to the island. (The Miami Herald, 28/12/07)