Chronicle on Cuba - March 2008

US-Cuba Relations

March 2: The Coast Guard in Miami said it has plucked two ailing passengers from a cruise ship that was south of Cuba. Coast Guard officials said the 88-year-old man and 80-year-old woman were airlifted from the Holland America cruise ship Westerdam when the ship was about 80 miles south of the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay. Officials said a Coast Guard helicopter crew hoisted the two passengers on February 29. The man was taken to the Guantanamo Bay hospital and the woman was flown to a hospital in Miami. A spokesman for the Holland America Line is declining to comment. (AP, 2/3/08)

March 3: A planned trip to Cuba by a group of CUNY graduate students is drawing criticism from politicians and one of the school's board members. The nine students, who are enrolled in the Brooklyn College Graduate Center for Worker Education, left with City Council Member Charles Barron and the director of the center, Joseph Wilson, to study the communist nation's health care and education systems. "This is going to be used as a propaganda tool for Fidel Castro," Representative Vito Fossella said in an interview. "If anything is going to be accomplished of significance, the visitors should ask Fidel Castro when he is going to liberalize the economy, release political prisoners and dissidents, and hold fair elections." (The New York Sun, 4/3/08)  

March 3: Fidel Castro blamed the US for bringing Colombia to the brink of a military clash with neighbouring Venezuela and Ecuador, writing that "genocidal plans of the Yankee empire" created tensions between the South American nations. Venezuela and Ecuador ordered troops to their borders with Colombia and withdrew their ambassadors from Bogota after Colombia killed a top rebel leader, Raul Reyes, on Ecuadorean soil on March 1st. “We can plainly hear the trumpets of war to the south of our continent as a consequence of genocidal plans of the Yankee empire," Castro wrote in an essay published in the Communist Party daily Granma. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa had planned to fly to Havana to participate in an economic forum, but Castro wrote that the crisis caused "our dear friend" to cancel his trip. Castro's comments, at the end of a lengthy essay on other topics, echoed accusations by his friend President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela that Washington was to blame for the crisis. [Los cristianos sin Biblias] (AP, 3/3/08)  

March 3: Reformed Church leaders from the Caribbean and North America have called on the US to lift its economic embargo against Cuba in the name of justice and ‘right relationships‘. The call came at the end of a four-day meeting of the Caribbean and North America Area Council (CANAAC) of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) in the capital of Guyana, Georgetown. The US has, meanwhile, given no indication of an early end to its long-standing trade embargo against Cuba. CANAAC will demand an end to the embargo in a letter to US President George W Bush and Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in which they decry the embargo as a violation against the Cuban people and an exclusion that impoverishes and causes harsh suffering for women, men and children. The Roman Catholic Church said the US embargo against Cuba was “ethically unacceptable”. (Christian Today, 3/3/08)

March 3: Growing ranks of US politicians, from nearly one-fourth of Congress to a presidential candidate, are urging a review of US policy shunning Cuba, challenging President George W. Bush's view that now is not the time. "Our policy leaves us without influence at this critical moment, and this serves neither the US national interest nor average Cubans," more than 100 House members, including nine Republicans, wrote Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "After 50 years, it is time for us to think and act anew." Twenty-four senators wrote a similar letter to Rice. The embargo, said Representative Jeff Flake (Republican-Arizona) has been an enabler to decades of oppression. "We should not give Raul Castro the same benefits that we gave his brother, Fidel. We cannot continue to be the Goliath to their David." The Bush administration, however, has been adamant that a new Castro in power doesn't mean a new Cuba, and that changes in US policy hinge on Cuba first improving its human rights record and holding free elections. (AP, Reuters, 3/3/08)

March 4: Fidel Castro denounced that imperialism has just committed a monstrous crime in Ecuador, when deadly bombs were dropped in the early morning hours on a group of men and women who, almost without exception, were asleep. Castro was referring to the death of Raul Reyes, a guerrilla chief with FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces). "Any concrete accusations against that group of human beings do not justify that action", Fidel Castro stressed in an article entitled "Rafael Correa", released by Cuban official media. "They were Yankee bombs, guided by Yankee satellites," he outlined. [Rafael Correa] (Prensa Latina, 4/3/08)

March 4: Britain’s Barclays is being investigated by the US government over possible breaches of rules banning banks from doing business with states on a terrorist blacklist. The bank said it had been contacted by the Department of Justice and the New York district attorney with questions about payments made in dollars through its New York branch. The payments may have been made by people or companies from states which are on the US blacklist of nations it believes sponsor terrorism. That list includes Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. (The Daily Telegraph, 4/3/08)

March 5: Lloyds TSB Group Plc is being investigated by US officials over possible violations of sanctions against Iran, Cuba, Sudan and Libya, the Financial Times reported. The London-based bank said it's been contacted by the US Department of Justice, the New York State district attorney's office and the US Treasury, the newspaper reported. Officials are probing whether Lloyds TSB and other banks, including Britain's Barclays Plc, may have processed dollar payments for customers in the four countries, all of which are subject to US sanctions except Libya, from which they were removed in 2004. (Bloomberg, 5/3/08)

March 5: Fidel Castro's resignation may have some US tourism companies dusting off their Cuba files, but most industry experts agree it will be some time before American tour groups parade down Havana's “malecon”. Even if a new US president defies the large and politically potent population of Cuban exiles in Florida by lifting the travel ban and easing the 40-year-old trade embargo on the island, the regime of Raul Castro, and its successor, would have to be receptive to a massive influx of capital to expand Cuba's tourism infrastructure. The largest island in the Caribbean drew 2.1 million visitors last year - most from Canada and Europe, the rest from South America. They stayed in the 70,000 rooms offered by resorts owned by Spain's Sol Melia Corporation, Jamaica's Superclubs and Sandals, Club Med and a handful of other international companies. A massive influx of American tourists would need many more rooms. The lack of adequate hotel infrastructure means the first beneficiary of a US policy shift should be the US-dominated cruising industry, according to analysts such as Robin M. Farley of UBS Investment Research. (Globe & Mail, 5/3/08)

March 5: In his first week as Cuba's new president, Raul Castro met with the Vatican's No. 2 official, who said island leaders assured him they would allow some Roman Catholic broadcasts on state-controlled media. But US Christian groups that have worked for years in Cuba don't expect significant changes in the government's restrictions on religion now that the younger Castro has succeeded his ailing brother Fidel. Donald Hepburn of the Florida Baptist Convention, a Southern Baptist group that has worked for more than a decade with Baptist churches in western Cuba, said the convention's US staff person just returned from a visit to the island and heard little optimism there. "From talking to our Baptist leadership, they don't believe there's going to be any appreciable change in how the government deals with religious groups," Hepburn said. The Reverend Larry Rankin, director of mission and justice ministries for the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, said, "the expectation is very low of any great change." (AP, 5/3/08)  

March 5: Steven Marshall, the owner of T&M and affiliated websites, is a British travel agent with an interest in Cuban culture who sells tours to Cuba to European tourists. Unfortunately for Mr. Marshall, his company has been blacklisted by the American government, and his hosting company Enom had shut down all his websites. The case also threatens to renew lingering concerns in the internet community over continued American dominance of the internet. Marshall is a British citizen living in Spain. He sells tours to tourists in Europe, which imposes no restrictions on travel to Cuba. His servers were located in the Caribbean. His only proven ties to the United States were domain registrations through ICANN-approved registrar Enom and his use of the .com top level domain, whose registry is, for all intents and purposes, owned by Verisign, an American company with close ties to the American government. (The Register, 5/3/08)

March 5: Four Cuban Americans living in Vermont are suing the US government claiming its restrictions on traveling to Cuba to visit family violate their civil rights. The lawsuit filed in US District Court in Burlington seeks to declare the travel restrictions on Cuban-Americans unconstitutional under the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. The four plaintiffs are: Armando Vilaseca, who was born in Cuba and came to the United States with his parents in 1963. He lives in Westford; Yurisleidis Leyva Mora, a Cuban citizen and a legal permanent resident of the United States, living in Montpelier since April 2006; Jared Kingsbury Carter, also of Montpelier, married to Leyva Mora; Maricel Lucero Keniston, who was born in Santiago de Cuba and emigrated to the US in 1968. She lives in Perkinsville. It was Vilaseca who accompanied Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie on a trade mission in 2003, which laid the foundation for the eventual sale of Vermont cows and powdered milk to Cuba. The Westford resident, who served as Dubie's translator, said he can no longer visit his second cousins, step-aunts or his godson. While Vilaseca is in favor of lifting the travel ban for all Americans, he said the focus of the lawsuit is limited to Cuban-Americans. "Our piece is really strictly, very narrow focus on the regulations change in 2004 that didn't allow people like me to travel back to Cuba once a year without any restrictions," said Vilaseca, school superintendent of the Franklin West Supervisory Union. (Rutland Herald, 6/3/08)

March 6: Cuba accused the United States of political manipulation of the migratory issue in order to destroy the Revolution, reads an article by Prensa Latina news agency. The allegation was made in an online debate forum about the role of Cuban residents abroad in defense of their homeland. In view of the US manipulation of the issue, Cuba’s migratory policy is a matter of national security, which determines its defensive, restrictive nature, explained Carlos Zamora, director of Consular Affairs of the Cuban Foreign Ministry. “We are convinced that the aggressive White House policy will have to end and relations with Cuban citizens living in other countries should improve”, said Zamora. (ACN, 6/3/08)

March 6: Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman for the US Department of State, said that the US is not promoting engagement with Cuba, as the European Union does. During a daily briefing with the press, Casey said “it's up to the EU, just like it is any of its individual member states, to decide how it wants to conduct its diplomatic relations with Cuba or with any other country”. And added: “We aren't promoting engagement or more engagement with Cuba at this point in time; specifically, because we believe it's important that this new regime show that it's going to be different than the government of Fidel Castro”. “But this is a decision that the European Union has made and we certainly hope and expect that the message that Commissioner Michel as well as the message any other representative of a democratic country will bring to Cuba is the same one that we've been saying, that we want to see this government show that it's committed to change and do so by releasing political prisoners, by restoring human rights to the Cuban people and ultimately by committing themselves to free and fair elections”. (US State Department Press Release, 6/3/08)
 
March 7: In an article published in official media, Fidel Castro rejected an "imperialist plan" to put President Hugo Chávez to trial in the International Criminal Court, and showed his support to Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa amidst a crisis with Colombia. "When I heard the official statement the Colombian officials in charge of the relevant legal steps made to the press, I had no doubt. This is no secret," Castro wrote. "What has been said about Chávez recently? They say he was elected in a vote by the majority of the people. But they add 'just like Hitler was,'" Castro said. He complained that such comments "do not explain a fact that is widely known, that Hitler was a genuine result of the capitalist system, which was stated in the Versailles Treaty and the imposition of sanctions, which in turn excited nationalism in the newly born German Republic." The former Cuban ruler quoted TV show La Hojilla, aired on Venezuelan official television channel VTV. According to Castro, La Hojilla produced evidence, including "information and statements which accurately reflect the imperialist plan to do with Chávez what they did with (Serbian leader Slobodan) Milosevic following the Kosovo genocidal war, namely judging him in the International Criminal Court." [The International Criminal Court] (El Universal, 7/3/08)

March 7: US President George W. Bush scolded major democracies that do business in Cuba and spurned calls to end hardline US policies now that Fidel Castro has officially given up power. "That sentiment is exactly backward. To improve relations, what needs to change is not the United States, what needs to change is Cuba," Bush said after meeting with relatives of imprisoned democratic activists in commemoration of the crackdown on dissidents by Cuban authorities in 2003. “They committed no crimes”, Bush said. “They simply held views their government did not like, and they refused to be silent. In all, 75 people were given long prison terms. In the world of Cuban dissidents, that crackdown five years ago is remembered as the Black Spring”, he added. “So far, all Cuba has done is replace one dictator with another. And its former ruler is still influencing events from behind the scenes," he said, referring to the recent handover of power from Fidel to his brother Raul Castro. "The international community applauded Cuba for signing a piece of paper, but on the abuses that same week much of the world was silent," said the US president. Washington had pushed Cuba to sign the treaty for years. The European Union, led by Slovenia as holder of the rotating EU presidency, welcomed the signing as "a positive development" even as some of Cuba's dissidents called it "a farce." “Unfortunately, the list of countries supporting the Cuban people is far too short and the democracies absent from that list are far too notable," said Bush, who did not name names but called silence in the face of abuses "a sad and curious pattern."  [President Bush Discusses Cuba] (AFP, Reuters, 7/3/08)

March 8: The Cuban government called President George W. Bush a "furious and impotent spectator" with zero influence over changes in the communist country following Fidel Castro's retirement. "He can neither stop, interfere with or influence what happens in Cuba," Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said. Bush said that neighboring Cuba had replaced one dictator with another and vowed to maintain hard-line policies against Havana until it begins a democratic transition. Perez Roque said Bush's view that nothing had changed in Cuba was acknowledgment of the failure of his Cuba policy, which has tightened sanctions to financially undermine the one-party state. "President Bush's words yesterday show that he is just a furious and impotent spectator," the minister said, in the first official Cuban comment on Bush's statement. "I enjoyed listening to the frustration in his words." Perez Roque said Bush's lament that more of the world's major democracies had not joined the United States in isolating Havana was also recognition that Washington's policy on Cuba had itself become isolated. He spoke at a news conference with the European Union's top development aid official, Louis Michel, who was in Havana to try to relaunch EU ties with Cuba. Washington had opposed the visit. (Reuters, 8/3/08)

March 10: A bipartisan religious liberty panel in the United States has called on Cuba's communist government to institute protections for religious expression and other human rights in the wake of Fidel Castro's departure as president. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom said Castro's resignation after nearly 50 years as dictator over the northern Caribbean island provides an opportunity for Cuba's new leaders "to reform their repressive practices." The commission has "no illusions about Raul Castro's political views," USCIRF Chairman Michael Cromartie said in a written statement, but the panel still called for change in Cuba and for the United States government to press for reform. (Towers Online, 10/3/08)

March 10: US President George W. Bush paid tribute to women who have defied the governments of Belarus, Cuba and Myanmar, promising US help as they "stand up for the freedom of their people." He honored the wife of jailed Belarus opposition leader Alexander Kozulin, Irina, who died of cancer, aged 48; ailing Cuban dissident Marta Beatríz Roque Cabello; and Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. "Americans are inspired by the examples of these women," Bush said. "We will continue to support their work, and the work of women across the world who stand up for the freedom of their people." The US president's remarks came during a White House ceremony marking Women's History Month. [President and Mrs Bush Celebrate Women’s History Month] (AFP, 11/3/08)

March 10: The American government did not allow a group of US musicians to participate in a festival in Cuba in a new attempt to harm relations between the two peoples. As a result of Washington’s travel ban on the island, all twenty American musicians were not able to take part in the 12th International Electroacoustic Music Festival “Spring in Havana 2008,” that is traditionally marked by the fertile creative exchange between US and Cuban artists. Organizers of the event were informed at the last minute that Bush’s administration had denied the musicians permission to travel to Cuba, a Granma report said. Composer Andrew Schloss, who for many years has lived and worked in Canada, is the only US musician present at the forum. (ACN, 10/3/08)

March 11: Cuba sought support from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to speed the release of the five Cubans serving terms in US prisons. The proposal was submitted during an interactive debate with the president-rapporteur of the Group on Mercenary Use, the president-rapporteur for Arbitrary Detention, and the rapporteurr on Toxic Products and Waste. Cuban delegate Yuri Gala reminded that three years ago the Advisory Council for Human Rights issued Opinion No.19/2005 unequivocally finding the arrest of Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez "arbitrary". (Prensa Latina, 11/3/08)

March 12: The United States administration in an annual report criticized the human rights situation in Venezuela and Cuba, but it highlighted both the progress made in Colombia and the efforts made in the Organization of American States (OAS) to promote human rights. The US Department of State said that in Cuba, "the regime continued to deny citizens basic rights and democratic freedoms, including the right to change their government, the right to a fair trial, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement, and the right of association." [Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Cuba] (El Universal, 12/3/08)

March 12: Two more Cuban soccer players defected from the Under-23 national team in Tampa, bringing to seven the number who deserted the squad since their surprising 1-1 tie against the United States in an Olympic qualifying match the day before. Defender Yendry Diaz and midfielder Eder Roldan, both 20, sneaked away from the team hotel and are with friends in Tampa, according to two sources close to the players. They plan to drive to Lake Worth, where they will join their five team mates who defected a night earlier. The loss of seven players cast into doubt whether the Cuban squad will be able to field a team for a match against Honduras and continue in the qualifying tournament for the 2008 Olympics. (The Miami Herald, 13/3/08)

March 14: A flurry of young athletes and artists from Cuba has sought asylum in the United States since an ailing Fidel Castro ceded power 20 months ago -- slipping away from minders, leaving behind families and striking out for new lives across the Florida Straits. While high-profile defectors from Cuba have systematically wound up in the United States in the five decades since Castro's rise to power, the most recent wave arrives against the backdrop of his departure from the political stage. The timing of the defections, say both Cuba watchers and some of the defectors themselves, underscores dissatisfaction with both the political and economic situation on the island and a belief that change under Castro's successor, brother Raúl Castro, may come more slowly than many had hoped. ''The timing of the defections is significant,'' said Andy Gomez, senior fellow at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies. "It shows that there is a frustration among Cubans, especially young Cubans, who see this change as simply a continuity of a different regime.'' “More and more people in Cuba are realizing that their work gives them possibilities, but in Cuba, professional artists always hit a ceiling,'' Isaac Delgado, a salsa singer who defected in 2006, said from his Key Biscayne apartment. "They don't let you fly. You don't have the possibility, like you do in every country in the world, to try and reach your maximum potential, to attain your dream.'' (The Miami Herald, 14/3/08) 

March 15: US Senate hopeful for New Jersey Murray Sabrin said that, if elected, he would work to normalize trade and diplomatic relations with Cuba. His rival for the Republican nomination, Senator Joseph Pennacchio (Republican-Morris), insisted Cuba must first free political prisoners and respect human rights. Pennacchio said he favors limited school choice for failing urban schools. Sabrin said he would go much further and give tax credits to all parents with children in nonpublic elementary or high schools. Those key differences between the two candidates emerged during a fast-paced, hour-long debate that ended with Sabrin winning the endorsement of the Gloucester County Republican organization. Its convention in Sewell, which was open to all registered Republicans in the county, gave 86 votes to Sabrin to 56 for Pennacchio. (Star-Ledger, 16/3/08)

March 16: Fidel Castro affirmed “the empire” does not resign itself to being the only loser at the Rio Group meeting in Santo Domingo on March 7, and wants to set up the bloody muddle once again. "It is not difficult to demonstrate it," the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution pointed out in the first part of new reflections entitled "Thirst for Blood." Castro said it is ''stupid'' to think Cubans were involved with Colombian rebels whose camp was bombed in a cross-border raid in Ecuador early this month. The 81-year-old dismissed allegations reportedly being investigated by Mexican authorities that Cubans were linked to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and blamed “US imperialism” for the whole affair. ''The stupid intention to mix Cubans in this matter is very clear,'' Castro said in the statement published in the official media and distributed by Foreign Ministry officials to international journalists in Havana the night before. Some Mexican and international media have reported that officials were looking into whether Mario Dagoberto Diaz Orgaz, a naturalized Mexican citizen and engineering research professor in central Mexico, is a Cuban intelligence agent who helped Mexicans connect with FARC guerrillas. The reports suggested Diaz may have led the students to Ecuador. [Thirst for Bood (I)] (Prensa Latina, Reuters, 16/3/08)

March 17: Fidel Castro stated that imperialist leaders and officials are working feverishly, threatening everyone with their brutal strength, but the empire is unsustainable and it doesn't give up. In the second part of an article entitled "Thirst for Blood," the historic leader of the Cuban revolution said: "It is thirsty for blood. We must persistently denounce it!" "Why," Fidel Castro asks, "are you insisting on provoking fratricidal wars between the peoples of Latin America?" "In Iraq, more than a million people have died. How many deaths does the United States of America offer Latin America, a region with over 500 million inhabitants, to defend its democracy and its empire?," he stressed. [Thirst for Blood (II)] (Prensa Latina, 17/3/08)

March 17: South Florida is watching closely amid debate over drilling near its shores and concerns about US energy policy. Oil companies increasingly seek to tap Cuba's deep-water reserves now that oil prices are soaring and profits are more likely. "In 34 years following Cuba, I've never seen an issue like this — so strategically important to the United States," said Kirby Jones, president of Washington-based Alamar Associates, who advises US companies on Cuba and opposes the US embargo. Havana began opening to foreign investment in the early 1990s after the loss of Soviet aid, and Cuba now produces almost half the oil and natural gas it consumes. It drills mainly for heavy crude on or near shore with help from Canadian companies. But the big prize lies in deep-water reservoirs miles off the north shore in the Gulf of Mexico. By some estimates, the area holds almost as much oil and natural gas as the coveted Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska — enough to meet Cuban demand for years. Analysts say it will take several more years and hundreds of millions of dollars for the companies to figure out where to drill in waters often a mile deep. But if the pieces fall into place, offshore rigs could be working by 2012 not far from South Florida, said Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, a Cuba energy specialist at the University of Nebraska in Omaha who has visited the island many times. "Cuba also could become a transshipment point for oil, refined products and exports for the region," Benjamin-Alvarado said. (Sun Sentinel, 17/3/08)

March 18: The president of the United States, George W. Bush, lent his support to the demand for the release of imprisoned Cuban opposition activists, reported the wife of one of the prisoners. Laura Pollán read before foreign reporters a message from the US President to the Ladies in White, wives of opposition activists arrested and sentenced in March 2003. “I admire your courage and determination in revealing these realities to the world in spite of the high risk involved,” writes Bush in the letter read by Pollán. “I hope that your testimony helps bring more attention to the Cuban regime’s lack of concern for human rights.” (La Jornada, 18/3/08)

March 18: Fifteen Cuban migrants, including small children, landed at Dinner Key, Florida, according to television and fire rescue accounts. Aside from a touch of dehydration, they all appeared to be in good condition. ''We are so happy to arrive here to the USA,'' said Osmati Biloto, who was on the boat from Cuba. ``We are very tired. It's been a long trip, but I think it was worth it.'' Local authorities, including a Miami-Dade fire boat, were alerted to the group's arrival in Coconut Grove about 4:30 a.m., according to Lt. Elkin Sierra, a fire rescue spokesman. Border Patrol arrived before dawn to take the 15 men, women and children for processing. (The Miami Herald, 18/3/08)

March 18: Americans who get their medical degree in Cuba wouldn't be allowed to practice medicine in Florida under a bill being discussed by the House Health Quality Committee. The measure is aimed at students who accept scholarships from the Cuban government to attend the Latin American School of Medical Sciences in Havana. About 150 American students are currently enrolled in the school and would be affected. Information provided to the committee says eight American students have graduated from the school and are currently practicing in the United States, but none are working in Florida. Since no graduates of the program have Florida medical licenses, the bill would only affect those graduates who try to become licensed in Florida in the future. (AP, 18/3/08)

March 18: International human rights and journalism advocacy groups called on President Raul Castro's government to free critics still serving long sentences five years after a broad crackdown that landed 75 people behind bars. "It is time for Cuba to release these prisoners immediately and without conditions," said Matt Easton, of the New York-based Human Rights First, in a news release. "The world is waiting to see whether Cuba is really ready for change, or only going through the motions." The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said there are 22 journalists in Cuban jails, 20 of them since 2003. The committee's coordinator for the Americas, Carlos Lauria, said "This makes Cuba the country with most journalists jailed after China." Twenty-nine journalists were among 75 people arrested over a three-day span in March 2003. They were accused of working to undermine Fidel Castro's government and sentenced to long prison terms. Only a handful has been released. [HRF: Time for Cuba to Release HR Defenders and CPJ: Cuba’s Long Black Spring] (AFP, Reuters, 18/3/08)

March 19: Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart (Republican-Florida), has introduced a bill (H.R. 5627) to "award the congressional gold medal to Cuban oppositionist Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, in recognition of his courageous and unwavering commitment to democracy and human rights in Cuba." The bill, introduced on March 13, was co-sponsored by Representatives Albio Sires (D-New Jersey); Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida); Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Florida); Dan Burton (R-Indiana); and Chris Smith (R-New Jersey). It was referred to the House Financial Services Committee. (US Fed News, 19/3/08)

March 19: Envoys from Cuba and Iran sharply criticized the United States at a UN Security Council debate on counter-terrorism, accusing it of supporting "terrorists" bent on attacking their countries. The Cuban ambassador to the United Nations, Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz, called on the Council to urge the United States to take action against Luis Posada Carriles, 80, who is wanted in Cuba and Venezuela on suspicion of masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. The anti-Castro militant entered the United States illegally in 2005 and sought asylum. A judge dismissed the immigration case in June but the government is appealing. "There is no doubt today that the true intention was to prevent the details of his criminal actions under CIA orders from becoming public," Malmierca Diaz said during a council debate on counter-terrorism. He added that the US appeal had failed to mention Posada Carriles' "long terrorist record." The Security Council "must demand that the US government immediately sentence Luis Posada Carriles for his terrorist acts or extradite him to ... Venezuela, where he has long been wanted by the justice (authorities)," Malmierca Diaz said. Deputy Venezuelan Ambassador Aura Rodriguez de Ortiz accused the United States of ignoring a request made nearly three years ago for Posada's extradition, calling him "a known international criminal and terrorist and fugitive of Venezuelan justice." (Reuters, AP, 19/3/08)

March 19: Cuban and US labor lawyers and union representatives are gathering in Havana for the ninth occasion. The first session was headed by the General Secretary of the Cuban Workers Federation (CTC), Salvador Valdes Mesa, and the president of the US National Lawyers Guild, Dean Hubbard. The 9th Cuba-US Bilateral Encounter of Labor Lawyers will run until March 22 under the theme “In Defense of Labor Rights and Social Security and against Neo-liberal Policies.” Highlighted on the agenda are the effects of the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba and the ways in which Cuban workers and unionists face the stiffening by the Bush administration of the US unilateral anti-Cuba measures. (AIN, 20/3/08)

March 20: USA Rice Federation joined Cuba’s Ministry of Agriculture, ALIMPORT and Foreign Ministry officials in recent visits to seed rice production areas and a tour of a renovated rice mill in one of Cuba’s western provinces about 90 minutes from Havana. The group discussed rice production issues in Cuba as well as trade opportunities for US rice. “We recognize the important work the USA Rice Federation is doing in developing the US rice market in Cuba, and we are open to imports of rice from the US as it has great acceptance with our people,” said Hector Henriquez, vice president for the Ministry of Agriculture Rice Industries Group. Cuba’s mills are in great need of repair and most experts and officials agree that milled rice would dominate future rice imports. (Delta Farm Press, 20/3/08)

March 23: Fidel Castro slammed US officials' recent "frenzied travels" around the world. "We see around us a great frenzy, as though we lived in Bedlam," Castro said in a column entitled "Bush in Heavens (I)," published in the official Juventud Rebelde newspaper. Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, has traveled to Brazil, Chile and Russia. The nation's vice-president, Dick Cheney, has traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan, the latter now the world's largest heroin producer thanks to a U.S. intervention there, Castro said.  "In these hands lies humanity's fate with blood and profit," said Castro. Even John McCain, a presidential candidate from Bush's Republican Party, has joined the fray by flying to Iraq, he pointed out. [Bush in Heavens (I)] (Xinhua, 23/3/08)  

March 26: Minnesota companies already export agricultural goods, including livestock, to Cuba but a state delegation is headed there to plant seeds for increased trade. Officials leaving on March 29, on a five-day trip to Havana, say Minnesota is positioning itself to meet the island country’s growing food and agriculture needs. Minnesota exported more than $18 million of agricultural products to Cuba in 2007. That included corn, soybeans, wheat, beans, dairy cattle and a distilled grain product from corn-based ethanol that is used as livestock feed. “That’s not insignificant,” said Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson, who is leading the delegation. “But the bigger issue is what’s going to happen down the road when US-Cuban relations finally get to the point of being normal.” The trip comes less than a year after Hugoson and others visited Cuba on a similar trade mission. (The Republican Eagle, 26/3/08)

March 26: Jean Ziegler, an outspoken legal expert who has angered Israel and Cuban-Americans, was elected as one of 18 advisers to the UN Human Rights Council. A former U.N. expert on the right to food, Ziegler praised Cuba as a model for feeding its population and claimed Israeli security measures had reduced Palestinians to begging. The council's approval came over the opposition of a prominent Cuban-American in Congress, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She had demanded the Swiss government withdraw its support for Ziegler's nomination because of what she called anti-Semitic statements and support for dictators. A statement from her office said, ''Mr. Ziegler has drawn criticism for his unyielding support of many of the worlds most vicious dictators. He expressed 'total support for the Cuban revolution' and its leader, Fidel Castro, whose repressive regime has left hundreds of political dissidents to languish in jail.'' (AP, 26/3/08)

March 26: US National Telecom, through its wholesale subsidiary, has taken steps to benefit from the regime change in Cuba and began Interop testing of a voice traffic route to Cuba. The demand for voice traffic capacity to Cuba is at an all-time high, especially from prepaid phone card companies in Florida and New York. Millions of minutes of voice traffic are anticipated for these new routes, with the potential to bring in upwards of $550,000 in additional annual revenue. Due to the trade embargo with Cuba, the subsidiary will legally operate like all other US telecoms by sending traffic to licensed non-US telecom carriers which in turn have direct connections to Cuba. USNT President G. Giagnocavo said, "Because of our experience in other Latin American countries, I am confident that the ability to handle voice traffic to Cuba will give us a decided advantage over many other telecom companies." (Market Wire, 27/3/08)

March 27: The president of the Cuban Journalists Union (UPEC), Tubal Paez, denounced in Caracas, Venezuela, the permanent media aggression carried out from the United States against the island. Paez, who heads the Cuban delegation to a Latin American conference on media terrorism that began in the Venezuelan capital, recalled that some 2,900 hours of radio and television programming are broadcast every week from the United States to the island with all kinds of manipulated information. The event on media terrorism is being attended by professionals from 14 countries. (CAN, 28/3/08)

March 28: Federal investigators are looking into allegations that a former White House aide misused funds that were supposed to help dissidents in Cuba, casting a shadow over the controversial pro-democracy program. Felipe Sixto, who came to the White House in July and was recently promoted to special assistant to President Bush, resigned March 20 while disclosing he was suspected of a "conflict of interest" involving pro-democracy funds while previously working for the Center for a Free Cuba, the White House said.
Frank Calzon, director of the Washington-based independent group, said he had received information in mid-January indicating that Sixto, his former chief of staff, had been improperly diverting government grant money intended for pro-democracy causes. White House spokesman Blair Jones said the White House learned of the allegations from Sixto when he resigned from his post. "Our understanding is that Mr. Sixto allegedly had a conflict of interest with the use of USAID funds in his former employment," Jones said.  US AID's inspector general is investigating, and the Justice Department has taken the matter under advisement while deciding whether to prosecute. Florida Republican Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart said in a joint statement that they were "deeply disturbed by any allegation of misuse of taxpayer funds" and urged the Department of Justice and the USAID's inspector general "to move thoroughly and swiftly in investigating all the facts in this matter." (McClatchy-Tribune, Sun Sentinel, 28,30/3/08)

March 29: Authorities say 46 migrants have landed ashore in Hollywood beach, Florida, and will be allowed to remain in the United States. Smugglers brought the migrants to Hollywood, a community more than 20 miles north of Miami. US Border Patrol Agent Lazaro Guzman says the group left from Sagua la Grande in Cuba. They will be released once they have been interviewed. Under US "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, Cubans who reach land are allowed to stay in the United States; those captured at sea are returned to the island. (The Miami Herald, 29/03/08)