Chronicle on Cuba - April 2008

Domestic Affairs

April 1: Cuban President Raul Castro presided over the inaugural session of the 7th Congress of the Union of Cuban Artists and Writers (UNEAC), underway until April 4, at Havana’s Convention Center. Some 400 delegates from all Cuban provinces are attending the Congress, including National Prize winners in the areas of literature, dance, theater, cinema, radio and TV. The representatives of Cuban culture and arts will be analyzing, during the Congress, a large array of issues that will strengthen the cultural policy implemented by the Cuban revolution. (ACN, 1/4/08)

April 1: Tackled from an analytical point of view, without any complacency and aimed toward the future, relations between culture and society took centre place at the 7th Congress of UNEAC (Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba). The report presented before the plenary and read by president of the commission, Helmo Hernandez, highlighted the need to define "the new map where Cuban revolutionary culture will be registered." We have considerable experience, and a serene, wise analysis will help us reject what is really useless, without ruling out the permanent exercise of criticism and the implementation of fields to favor it, says the document. After reviewing the vast process of analysis generated within Cuban society and during preparation of the forum, the text says that unity of all forces has always been the fundamental strategy of the Cuban Revolution. This unity does not mean homogeneity of thinking, but rather the harmonizing of different views, it adds. (Prensa Latina, 1/4/08)

April 1: Cuban writer Leonardo Padura said that the congress of writers and artists, running in Havana April 1-4, will be able to meet expectations if it aims for a comprehensive working approach. "If, from what is discussed and agreed on, the congress can lead us to a prospect of comprehensive work in the Cuban cultural universe, all expectations will be met in the near future," Padura told the press, while attending the 7th Congress of UNEAC (Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba) at the Havana Convention Center. "I hope these expectations are met, not only from what is to happen here in the four-day congress, but above all, from what they will generate as a working projection," commented Padura, who is currently the most published Cuban novelist abroad. "We are aware that the Cuban press needs a deep renovation that must be implemented from an essentially cultural view," asserted Padura. (Prensa Latina, 1/4/08)

April 1: A coalition of internal dissidents demanded the government of Raúl Castro to comply with the two human rights pacts it signed at the UN last February and to publish them “in full,” according to a statement handed to the media. Under the title “Comply with the Pacts,” the Liberal Union of the Republic of Cuba (ULRC) calls on “all Cubans, without exception, to demand from the regime the publication in full” of the pacts signed at the UN and pleads for “solidarity from the international community.” (AFP, 2/4/08)

April 1: Cuban shops began selling computers, DVD players and other consumer electronics. But it remained to be seen whether people living on state salaries of about $20 a month will be able to afford them. Resolution No. 43/08, which allows the purchase of electronics, was one of the reforms Raul Castro's government quietly unveiled in efforts to liberalize internal restrictions on the island's 11 million inhabitants. (Sun Sentinel, 1/4/08)

April 1: Cubans crowded shops to buy DVD players and electric bikes that went on sale for the first time as new President Raul Castro moved to lift many restrictions in the one-party socialist state. Stores were authorized to sell dozens of electric goods that were previously banned, including microwave ovens, flat-screen televisions and even computers. “This should have been done long ago. They should never have been banned," said Felipe, a 53-year-old engineer, who lined up impatiently to buy his first DVD player. The Philips and Panasonic DVD players were priced between $118 and $162, much more expensive than in other countries but lower than the going rate on Cuba's thriving black-market. Computers, which until now could only be bought in Cuba by government or foreign companies, were also supposed to go on sale but none had changed hands by the end of the day. At a shop in western Havana, Microsoft keyboards and mouses were on show, but Dell laptops and desktop computers were still in their boxes awaiting for prices to be decided. A saleswoman said computers with 80 gigabytes of hard drive memory, 512 megabytes of RAM and a Celeron P4 chip made by Intel would sell for about $865. "This is all good and fine, but my purchasing power is too low to buy anything," said Yaima, a teacher who earns 592 pesos a month, about $26.60. "I'll have to wait until they strengthen the peso." (Reuters, 1/4/08)

April 2: Fidel Castro sent a letter to over 400 delegates gathered at the 7th Congress of the Cuban Union of Artists and Writers expressing that although he can not attend the forum he is aware of the concerns of all members of the organization. He said that two days ago an article in the international press read about 30 brilliant inventions, which transformed the world: the CD, the GPS, the DVD, the cell phone, the fax, Internet, microwave, Facebook, digital cameras and e-mail, among others. The amount of dollars involved in the sale of each product gives the transnational corporations such long figures that they have become unintelligible. Or what is worse, each of those products will be replaced with a new and more effective invention; while not even the intimate conversation of a couple at a park bench can be kept in secret. In this same direction, Castro asked in his letter: “Does this kind of existence, proposed by Imperialism, make any sense at all? Can mental and physical health be guaranteed under the unknown effects of so many electronic waves, for which neither the human body nor the mind has been prepared in its development?” “A Congress of Cuban artists and writers cannot miss addressing these knotty issues,” Castro said and added that “many will say that this is fatalism. I reply: No, it is not. Fatalism is not puttting forth the problem. If that were the case, I would not use your time to read these lines.” [Carta al VII Congreso de la UNEAC] (AIN, 2/4/08)

April 2: Cuba's state-run television broadcaster will start a 24-hour channel with mostly foreign content in a move to provide Cuban audiences with more variety. The Cuban Institute of Radio and Television, ICRT, made the announcement at a conference of the Cuban writers and artists guild, where intellectuals have criticized the poor television programming in the socialist state. ICRT vice president Luis Acosta said the new channel will have content from a dozen countries, but he did not give details. Cuba has five channels that are all run by the state. One of them, Cubavision International, can only be seen over cable television. It broadcasts official Cuban news and culture to the world 24 hours a day. Cuban cable TV distributed in Havana and at beach resort hotels includes three Chinese channels. (AP, 3/4/08)

April 2: Cuban writers and artists urged authorities and colleagues to “embrace” new technologies instead of banning or disregarding them. Close to 400 delegates attended the 7th Congress of the National Cuban Writers and Artists Union (UNEAC). “We are in the presence of a new war waged by means of new communication technologies, the entertainment industry and marketing strategies, in which socialism has lost many battles,” according to the event’s opening report. [Cultura y Sociedad] (AP, 3/4/08)

April 2: Norberto Collado Abreu, the helmsman of the Granma yacht that carried Fidel Castro from Mexico to Cuba to launch his revolution in 1956, has died in Havana. The Cuban News Agency did not give his age or the cause of death. The agency said Collado Abreu served in the navy during World War II, but his political leanings later landed him in prison, where he met Castro and joined his revolutionary movement. Both were freed under amnesty and went into exile in Mexico, only to return and launch the uprising that would topple dictator Fulgencio Batista. Collado Abreu held various posts in the Cuban navy under Castro until 1981. (AP, 2/4/08)

April 2: Cubans who sign up for cell phone services will be able to call direct anywhere in the world -- albeit at high rates --, and will also be able to receive calls free of charge from anywhere, according to an official document. An internal document of the Cuban Telecommunications Company (ETECSA) indicates that the rates will be $2.91US per minute to the United States (2.70 CUC, Cuban convertible peso) and $2.64US (2.45 CUC) to the rest of North America. For South America, the rates per minute will be $4.80US (4.45 CUC), while for the rest of the world they will be $6.31US (5.85 CUC). One CUC equals $1.20US and 24 Cuban pesos. (AFP, 2/4/08)

April 3: Lawyer Yamilé Llanes Labrada, wife of political prisoner Dr. José Luis García Paneque, deemed her husband’s situation as “extremely worrisome”. García Paneque, jailed in “Las Mangas” prison in Bayamo, Granma province, lives together with very dangerous criminal prisoners, amidst increasing repression and intimidation, causing his wife to fear for his safety. (Radio Martí, 3/4/08)

April 3: The growing disconnection between the state and young people in Cuba is a hot topic in the closed congress of the government-allied union of writers and artists. The union, known as UNEAC, is holding its first congress in 10 years in Havana's convention center. In a lengthy article, the Communist youth daily Juventud Rebelde noted that only 1,453 writers and artists, or 17 percent of the union membership, were under the age of 40. Just 3 percent of the 400 participants in the congress were under 40. "The numbers speak for themselves," the article said. "The average age of the membership is 60 years," filmmaker and writer Victor Casaus was quoted as saying. "Where is the continuity of Cuban culture?" Playwright and critic Norge Espinosa asked: "What is the relevance of the UNEAC to young people today? What is its impact? (…) The truth is that a lot of talent has been lost because [young people] have not found a space." (Sun Sentinel, 3/4/08)

April 3: A meeting of Cuban intellectuals denounced the communist nation's ills while also praising the reforms and new freedom of expression under new President Raul Castro. The Congress of Writers and Artists was a sign of the times and it was given ample state media coverage in Cuba, where Raul Castro has promised to lift "excessive prohibitions" on daily life since he succeeded his brother, Fidel Castro, as president on February 24. "We must prepare for the new future of our country" was the headline Communist Party newspaper Granma gave to historian Eusebio Leal's speech at the meeting. "We are all expectant (…) because what the country felt up to yesterday was not convenient, today it finds necessary," said Leal, one of the country's most respected figures and a friend of Fidel Castro. Leal pulled out a cellphone and praised a recent measure allowing ordinary Cubans to have them. "Every day the news is encouraging ... dealing with themes as profound as in 1959 (when the revolution triumphed)," Leal said, referring to other recent measures granting more land and freedoms to farmers. (Reuters, 4/4/08)

April 3: “The Revolution is today stronger and more prepared to find answers to questions and solutions to problems,” said Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage during a plenary session of the 7th Congress of the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC) that concludes today at Havana’s Convention Center. Lage, who gave his impressions on the event and described its debates and documents as profoundly revolutionary and, hence, critical, said he was satisfied for dedicating a few hours to listening and learning. “It has been useful to listen to new and not so new ideas, to concepts that I regard as correct and others that I need more time to analyze,” he stressed. “I do not agree with the pessimism of a few – fortunately only one or two – and I join the optimism of the vast majority and I understand the impatience of all because it is also mine,” he added. Lage said he was concerned about those who think that low prices and high salaries are the result of bureaucratic decisions and not of what is possible to achieve. “Nothing can be criticized with the necessary harshness if we forget our recent past, where we come from and where we still are to some extent, a historic period of almost two decades in which we decided to maintain an ideal of justice that was almost impossible to maintain and we did for the astonishment of all and even of ourselves, and we did it because we have Fidel with us,” Lage noted. (ACN, 4/4/08)

April 3: After decades of being browbeaten by Communist state-run television, a new 24-hour channel with foreign content is being offered to Cuba's television viewers, many of whom were so bored they had turned off their sets years ago. It's the latest incremental change by the country's new president, Raul Castro, younger brother of the ailing Fidel. And like the new freedoms, which allow ordinary Cubans to buy mobile phones and stay in hotels – if they can afford the hard currency rates – the changes are designed to breathe life into Cuba's collapsing political and economic system, as well as to raise revenue for the Castro regime. "They are probably doing it because Cuban television is so bad that people have illegal satellites or rent pirated DVDs. They will do anything to avoid watching state-run television," said the dissident writer Miriam Leiva from Havana yesterday. "They are giving us the circus, without giving us bread." (The Independent, 4/4/08)

April 3: The certain and immediate danger to the planet and the human species posed by global warming to the atmosphere is the central issue of the Human Development Report (HDR) 2007/2008, issued by the United Nations Development Programme, titled "Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world." The report was presented in Cuba in the National Aquarium’s theater by Susan McDade, UNPD permanent representative in Cuba, along with deputy ministers Jose Antonio Díaz Duque and América Santos, of the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment (CITMA), and Juan Manuel Presa, of the Ministry of Basic Industry (MINBAS). The occasion was a meeting of scientific, productive, educational and investigative institutions in Cuba to review the progress of the National Science and Technology Program and the impact of global warming on the island. José Antonio Díaz Duque, deputy minister of CITMA, expressed thanks for the opportune publication of this report by the UNDP and noted that international commitments have been very weak given the seriousness of the problem; at the same time, he noted, the immense majority of consumption systems are absolutely unsustainable. Cuba is a pioneer in the scientific development of research into climate change, the high-ranking official affirmed. He reported that measures for adaptation and mitigation are now underway on the island. Other efforts underway include reforestation. (Granma International, 3/4/08)

April 4: Topics that are taboo in Cuba, absent from media coverage and missing in the political discourse were nevertheless present in debates at a congress of intellectuals who advocated a greater role for criticism in society, and more room for dialogue and participation. "This is one more sign that the country is changing. Analyses are much more realistic, and there’s a shift in attitude among officials when they face criticism," a participant at the Seventh Congress of the Cuban Writers and Artists Union (UNEAC) told IPS. "Most conflicts over publicly circulated works arise because appropriate, respectful dialogue is not established in time between officials and the artists, who quite rightly feel committed to the integrity of their work," said critic Helmo Hernández. The analysis went to the essence of present-day Cuban society. "We must delve into and debate not only what socialism means, but also, most importantly, how to make it an attractive and culturally desirable goal," said essayist and poet Víctor Fowler, one of the participants in last year’s e-mail debate on cultural freedom. In Fowler’s view, socialism must be transformed into "a pleasant way of life marked by an extremely wide spectrum including lifestyles, sexual identities, entertainment, folk practices, religious forms, open spaces for people to use, and new forms of interpersonal communication." Becoming more attractive is a "categorical imperative" for "a social process, in this case a socialist revolution that is already half a century old and has, in addition to external enemies, the contradictions that the process itself has generated in its progress, and the attrition that wears down so much strength," said Fowler. (IPS/ 7/4/08)

April 4: A Cuban blogger who regularly criticizes the island's communist system in her posts has won Spain's prestigious Ortega y Gasset journalism prize in the digital category. Yoani Sánchez, 32, uses Internet cafes in Havana to run her blog, “Generacion Y”, named after the generation of 30-something Cubans whose names begin with the letter Y as a result of the Soviet influence on the island during the 1980s. She recently complained that the government has blocked Cubans from accessing her blog, but hinted that there are easy ways to get around the restrictions. (The Miami Herald, 4/4/08)

April 4: Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto advocated creating in people, particularly youth, solid cultural references to challenge false models of alleged capitalist postmodernism. "We cannot accept or be satisfied with our youth saying our messages are low quality and boring, that the canned TV programs from the United States are more entertaining," Prieto said. Addressing the closing session of the 7th Congress of the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC), the Cuban official stressed that rejection of "pseudo-cultural garbage should become an instinctive reflex." "We need to wage a battle against colonialist contamination, so that our people can enjoy their own authentic culture and others that open new paths in the world," he noted. The Cuban minister praised the Congress decision to create a permanent commission on culture and values, aimed at restoring the spirit of society wherever it has been damaged. Prieto also advocated for the UNEAC to remain alive and alert, so it can wage the war being forced upon Cuba in the cultural and symbolic field. "UNEAC should keep participating in discussions and remain united around the Revolution's cultural policy," he added. The minister listed the millions Cuba has invested in cultural and social projects over the last decade, and pointed out that some of those stemmed from discussions held at previous UNEAC events. (Prensa Latina, 4/4/08)

April 4: Cuban President Raul Castro praised the way in which the 7th Congress of the Union of Artists and Writers (UNEAC) developed over the past four days. During the closing session of the forum, Raul Castro said that it was a congress marked by varied discussion and that he agreed with most of the opinions expressed by participants. “It is this variety of opinions that we fight for, said the Cuban head of state, who reiterated that the best decisions stem from major discrepancies. In his brief statement at the end of the plenary session, Raul Castro said that like Fidel, he followed the development of the Congress. He reminded participants about the need to be well informed since some of the issues raised during the debates had already been addressed. After expressing appreciation, on behalf of Fidel Castro and himself, for the paintings presented by artists Humberto Hernandez and Vicente Hernandez, Raul said that, like many of the intellectuals attending the forum, he still maintains his spirit of struggle, something that must always be present disregarding the age. (ACN, 4/4/08)

April 4: Filmmaking has not escaped the overwhelming "machismo" of Cuban society. Getting a foot in the door in the industry, an almost exclusively male preserve, is still wishful thinking for most women directors. In the five-decade history of the state Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Arts and Industry (ICAIC), only one feature-length fiction film has been entirely directed by a woman: "De cierta manera" (One Way or Another), by Sara Gómez (1943-1974). Her work was considered defiantly critical and controversial, and is hardly known outside academic circles or the world of film critics. Filmmaker Rebeca Chávez is now in the final stages of editing "Rojo vivo" (Red Hot), her film inspired by the armed struggle against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista (1952-1959) in the city of Santiago de Cuba, 850 kilometres east of Havana. Danae Diéguez, a professor at the Faculty of Media, Communication and Audiovisual Arts of the Cuban Higher Institute of Art (ISA), has devoted special attention to the study of women’s participation in local filmmaking, where "political will has not been enough to eliminate machismo and the patriarchal culture." Diéguez, who is writing her doctoral thesis on "Women Behind the Lens: Cuban Films Directed by Women," told the press that it is both a cultural and economic phenomenon. Combine both elements, and you get what probably prompted Cuban filmmaker Mayra Vilasís to say "it’s easier for a woman to become an airline pilot than a film director." (IPS, 4/4/08)

April 6: Sixty five pilots that graduated in Camagüey, Cuba, include 20 women. Graduates are going to work for the Cuban Aviation Enterprise and Aero Caribbean, since none of them have before faced accidents or risks linked to their professional capacity; said Alejandro Ballesteros, head of the institution. Located at “Ignacio Agramonte” International Airport, this school belongs to the Institute of Civil Aeronautic of Cuba and was opened on April 26th 2003. The origin of “Ignacio Agramonte” International Airport dates from 80 years ago, when an air station that belonged to Pan American Airways Company was opened. (Cuba Headlines, 6/4/08)

April 7: More than 30 women have become pioneers of female Freemasonry in socialist Cuba, founding two lodges under the auspices of the Women’s Grand Lodge of Chile, which will provide them with support and advice until they can function independently. "We want them to do things in their own way, according to their customs," Mónica Morós told the press. She is the grand chancellor of the Chilean lodge, which sent a delegation of over 40 women Masons to Havana to initiate the Cuban women and set up the Venus and Victoria lodges. Digna Gisela Medina, Worshipful Master of the Venus Lodge, said that some 60 Cuban women want to be initiated into Freemasonry, and the group will now focus on creating a third lodge, possibly at Caibarién, on the north coast, which will allow them to form the Women’s Grand Lodge of Cuba. The group of new Masons includes doctors, teachers, technicians of various specialties, musicians, singers, psychologists, homemakers and university students. The youngest is 18 and the eldest is over 60. "We’re ready to grow," said Medina, who led the organisational work prior to the creation of the two lodges. (IPS, 7/4/08)

April 8: The Cuba chapter of the Latin-American Federation of Rural Women (FLAMUR) criticized the government’s decision to give lands in usufruct to peasants' co-operatives because “it maintains the dependency” of producers.” “It is precisely the state’s control over the land, which is the main reason for the agricultural sector’s lack of productivity. Hence, this measure does not change the fundamental cause which has generated the extreme poverty that characterizes Cuba’s (agricultural) fields,” said in a statement the president of the organization, Belinda Salas Tápanes. “FLAMUR advocates for private property on the land and the establishment of co-operatives independent from the state’s tutelage, as a means of achieving real sustainable development in rural areas,” said Salas Tápanes. (EER, Cubanet, 8/4/08)

April 8: President Raul Castro's government has begun to reorganize Cuba's family doctor program, a pillar of the communist country's universal free health care system. More than half the offices will be closed and staffing at the remainder increased, medical sources said of the health reform. Cubans complain that the family doctor program has been short on staff since the government began sending thousands of doctors to Venezuela in 2000. In the provinces, family doctor offices will now be staffed by a doctor and nurse the entire day, instead of just in the mornings, health care sources said. "There has been a lot of movement in recent weeks. They are painting the offices, developing a system to insure a proper lunch for staff and more equipment is arriving at the clinics as well," a nurse in central Cuba said. In Havana, a sprawling city of 2.2 million people, there is a similar plan, but it will take more time due to a lack of doctors and nurses and will include for now traditional offices with a doctor only in the morning. (Reuters, 8/4/08)

April 7: One fireman died and nine other people were injured due to a large fire that started at "El Encanto" store in Camaguey city, in eastern Cuba, Cuban press reported. Over 500 men from the Interior Ministry and the Revolutionary Armed Forces fought the fire for over six hours until they finally extinguished it. However, the flames destroyed the two-story department store, the biggest in the province. Jesus Garcia, head of the civil defense, said the fire was the worst in Cuba in 30 years. Officials were investigating the cause of the fire. Fires are not frequent in Cuba and most of them have occurred in forest regions in drought seasons. (EFE, EER, 8/4/08)

April 8: Cuban President Raul Castro conferred the Medal for Bravery, post mortem, on young firefighter Alejandro Clivillé Sariol, who died from a heart attack caused by asphyxia, while trying to put out a blaze at a local department store in Camaguey, in eastern Cuba. The distinction acknowledges the heroic action of the young firefighter, said Rosario Penton, member of the provincial bureau of the Cuban Communist Party, as she addressed participants at the burial ceremony. Firefighter Alejandro Cliville was one of the first to arrive at the place in flames, a department store named El Encanto, in downtown Camaguey. A dozen of people were also hospitalized without risk for their lives as a result of the blaze, which was put out in six hours. (ACN, 8/4/08)

April 8: The preservation and management of coastal areas is one of the topics to be dealt with by environmental experts from 12 nations gathered in Havana to attend a conference on protected areas. Maritza Garcia Garcia, director of the National Protected Areas of Cuba (SNAP) told the press that the holding of the Fifth Regional Conference on Protected Areas constitutes a recognition of the international work carried out by Cuba to protect the environment. She highlighted the joint effort by several Cuban institutions and governmental entities to boost protection measures in coastal areas throughout the country. SNAP's action program covers 22 percent of the national territory, including 263 protected sites, 80 percent of which are of national interest. (ACN, 8/4/08)

April 9: Prominent dissident Oswaldo Paya issued a call to the public to participate in the Cuban Forum Campaign so that "fair and needed changes" are made on the communist-ruled island. In a communique released in Havana, Paya, the leader of the illegal Christian Liberation Movement, said that he was calling on "all Cubans of all ages, political positions and experiences without exception" to achieve Cuban rights "without foreign interference or intervention." The campaign sets forth three "first steps" that should be taken in Cuba, including the "release of those who are imprisoned for peacefully defending, exercising and promoting human rights." Paya, the 2002 recipient of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for human rights, also called for changes in the laws to guarantee freedom of expression, the press and association, the ability to freely leave and enter Cuba and the right to own private companies. He said that "to achieve the spaces of participation that will be opened with these changes in the laws (…) a national dialogue (must be) convened and free elections (held) for a Constituent Assembly so that Cubans can truly democratically and sovereignly decide on their present and their future." [Cuban Forum: The First Steps toward Change] (EFE, 9/4/08)

April 9: The Archdiocese of Havana’s magazine, “Espacio Laical”, has called on Raul Castro to unveil his political agenda and to allow Cubans to participate in the reforms he has begun since his election as president of Cuba. The current situation “needs to be fixed. As such it is inescapable, indeed necessary—inasmuch as possible—to involve citizens more in this process of adjustment, change and transformation,” the magazine stated. While the magazine acknowledged that change in Cuba will take time, “the current state of daily life” in the country makes change urgent.  For this reason, the publication called on President Castro to make known his political agenda for the country. In order for the Cuban people to be involved and to be assured that it will indeed be carried out, Castro must make his plans known “in a sufficient manner,” the magazine stated.  [Por Todos y para el Bien de Todos] (CNA, AFP, 10,11/4/08)

April 10: Communist Cuba is revamping the state wage system to create more incentive by allowing workers to earn as much as they can, local media said, in the latest sign new President Raul Castro wants to improve the country's economic performance. Under Labor and Social Security resolution nine, and for the first time in decades, there is no limit on a state employee's earnings, state-television reported. "For the first time it is clearly and precisely stated that a salary does not have a limit, that the roof of a salary depends on productivity," economic commentator Ariel Terrero said. The Cuban state controls about 90 percent of the country's economic activity and employs the vast majority of the labor force, often setting wages from central offices in Havana. Cuba has always prided itself on its limited range of salaries, while at the same time some jobs do have perks and in the past bonuses were available for some workers. However, the egalitarian approach has come under fire in recent years for holding back production. "One reason for low productivity is there is little wage incentive and this breaks productivity and stops bigger salaries," Terrero said. He said the resolution, signed in February but yet to be published in the official Gazette, is aimed at breaking the cycle. (Reuters, 10/4/08)

April 10: After 30 years, the Catholic Church celebrated its first mass in a church confiscated by the Cuban government in 1975 and returned in 2006, after an extensive restoration. According to the Episcopal Conference, the church in question is the church in Tarará, a beach resort to the east of Havana which in the last 50 years has been a holiday camp for school children, a children's hospital for the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion, tourist marina and Spanish language school for Chinese students. Although it was originally a catholic church – the Church of Santa Elena --, it had to be consecrated again, as during 30 years of official occupation it was used as a warehouse and a discotheque. (El Nuevo Herald, 10/4/08)

April 10: A group of 18 well known Cuban dissidents announced in Havana that they had created an "Agenda for the Transition" -- a political platform for the process that "is approaching" and which should take place in an "atmosphere of national reconciliation." "We are convinced that the process of transition that is approaching in Cuba should take place in an atmosphere of national reconciliation,'' said Martha Beatriz Roque, who with Vladimiro Roca directs the new organization. Among the other members are Elizardo Sánchez, René Gómez Manzano, Félix Bonne Carcasés, Guillermo Fariñas, Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez) and Francisco Chaviano and Héctor Palacios. Other dissidents, like Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, did not answer an invitation to join the effort. (AFP, The Miami Herald, 11/4/08)

April: 11: Thousands of Cubans will be able to get title to state-owned homes under new regulations, a step that could lay the groundwork for broader housing reform. The measure was the first legal decree formally published since Raúl Castro succeeded his brother Fidel as president in February. It came a day after state television said the government would also do away with wage limits, allowing state employees to earn as much as they can as an incentive to productivity. The housing decree spells out rules to let Cubans renting from their state employers keep their apartment or house after leaving their jobs. They could gain title and even pass it on to their children or other relatives. Those who could take advantage of the new law include military families, sugar workers, construction workers, teachers and doctors. (AP, 12/4/08)

April 11: Recently announced agricultural reforms in Cuba could be the springboard for more changes, Cuba’s official newspaper said. The official Granma newspaper also welcomed the lifting of restrictions in several sectors of the economy. It will now be easier for state workers to own their homes and pass them on to their children. Wage limits are to be removed to allow more incentives. The official newspaper said the reforms were initiated by Fidel Castro and expanded on by Raul with contributions from millions of Cubans with a view to improving socialism. But in a separate article, Fidel Castro criticized what he terms people who worship selfishness. Referring to a report on wealth disparities in Romania - a former Communist country - he warned of the dangers of easy access to consumer goods. [Bush, los millonarios, el consumismo y el subconsumo] (BBC, 12/4/08)

April 13: Cuban First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura urged workers to fulfill their duties during a tour around the municipality of Santiago de Cuba. “If everyone does his duty, no one will defeat us,” said Machado Ventura, who is also a member of the Politburo of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC). According to Granma news daily, the Cuban VP, accompanied by Misael Enamorado Dager, First Secretary of the PCC in the province of Santiago de Cuba, visited production centers and farms, where he described as very positive an ongoing strategy to replace the importation of vegetables for the tourist sector of the territory. During his tour, Machado Ventura also learned about the work being done to improve the quality of potable water and its supply to the people in Santiago de Cuba. He also checked on the construction of the fourth Computers Palace of the country and spoke with workers who are refurbishing several gastronomic centers in Santiago. Also, Machado Ventura presided over the PCC Assembly in the municipality of Santiago de Cuba. “To change everything that needs to be changed means to transform things in order to achieve better results after we have identified and solved the existing problems,” he said. The VP added that the PCC has new tasks ahead and that modifications will continue to take place always respecting the principles of the Revolution and Socialism. (ACN, 14/4/08)

April 14: The International Festival of Poor Cinema to be held in Gibara, Holguin from the 14 up to the 20 of April 2008 is a way to jump over the fence of banality and fake glamour of some media, to debate problems invisible for the great media and to wake up sensibility in the eastern Cuban communities. This sixth edition, to be opened with the Cuban film Personal Belongings made by Alejandro Bruges, will show about 120 productions from 20 countries, among them Palestine, Greece, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay and Cuba. The event will recall the memory of Octavio Cortazar through the showing of his main work, the documentary Por Primera Vez (For the first time). (Cuba Headlines, 14/4/08)

April 14: Cuban National Bio-preparation Center researchers are involved in the making of a compound used in Cuba to counteract proliferation of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, transmitter of dengue disease. The new biological control emerged from the work by Cuban scientists to protect people from the transmitting agent's effects. The new product, patented by LABIOFAM Laboratories and made of natural substances, is called BACTIBE and biologically eliminates the Aedes Aegypti, which affects around 50 million people in tropical areas of the world, according to the United Nations Organization. (AIN, 14/4/08)

April 14: Walterio Carbonell’s remains (1920-2008) were buried in the Colon Cemetery, in Havana. Along with his relatives, cultural figures and workers from the José Martí National Library, where he worked for many years, paid their last respects to the distinguished intellectual.  During his eulogy, sociologist Esteban Morales emphasized Carbonell’s prolific intellectual career and the relevance of his essay “How national culture emerged,” which should be a standard for reflection for Cuba’s social scientists, he said. In the ‘60s, Walterio clashed with authorities on the island for publicly disclosing his ideas on prevailing racism in Cuba. Eliades Acosta, head of the Department of Culture of the Central Committee of the Party, attended the burial, along with vice-ministers of Culture. (Granma, Cubanet, 15,18/4/08)

April 14: Lines stretched for blocks outside phone stores as ordinary Cubans were allowed to sign up for cellular phone service for the first time. The contracts cost about US$120 (euro76) to activate — half a year's wages on the average state salary. And that doesn't include a phone or credit to make and receive calls. Still, lines formed before the centers opened, and waits grew to more than an hour. "It's great. It's really great. And everyone wants to be first to sign up," said Usan Astorga, a 19-year-old medical student who stood for about 20 minutes before her line moved at all. Getting through the day without a cell phone is unthinkable now in most developed countries, but Cuba's government limited access to cell phones as well as kitchen appliances, hotels and other luxuries in an attempt to preserve the relative economic equality that is a hallmark of social life in communist Cuba. (AP, 14/4/08)

April 15: La Soledad” Church and “La Merced” Complex (church and convent), two symbolic buildings of the colonial architecture in Camaguey, have been nominated to the National Awards of Restoration and Preservation, respectively. Restorative and conservative works have been carried out recently for keeping the originality of architectural and artistic values of both buildings, which are located in the downtown of this legendary city, founded in 1514. (AIN, 15/4/08)

April 15: A former Cuban consul in Mexico who once fled the island using a fake passport and claims he worked for Cuban intelligence is asking authorities to let island residents travel abroad without government approval. Pedro Anibal Riera Escalante made the request to parliament. Expectations are high that President Raúl Castro's government may drop the travel requirements. Riera in 2000 used a false Mexican passport to board a commercial flight from Havana to Mexico, but was denied asylum in Mexico, which sent him back to his homeland. He got a five-year prison sentence and is now free. Riera claims he was a top anti-CIA intelligence official for Cuba for 25 years. He was consul in Mexico 1986-91. (AP, 16/4/08)

April 15: Cuban singer Silvio Rodríguez along with other members of the Expedición (Expedition) cultural tour performed in Sancti Spiritus's provincial prison. At the beginning of the show, also attended by Cuban artists Augusto Blanca, Carlos Ruiz de la Tejera and Ernesto Rancaño, the founder of the Cuban Nueva Trova movement explained to the inmates the motivations of the artistic tour and expressed his confidence on the improvement of human behaviour. Miguel Acebo Cortiñas, member of Cuban Central Committee and first secretary of Cuban Communist Party in this province and Fidel Pérez Luzbert, president of the government were also present as well as other local leaders and artists. (Escambray, 16/4/08)

April 15: A small number of inmates from the Nieves Morejón prison in Sancti Spiritus, were selected to attend a presentation of the artistic brigade headed by singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez. Only a limited number of prisoners with short sentences and those who collaborate with the guards were allowed to attend the event. The rest of the prisoners watched the show on closed-circuit television, except those who do not support the revolution. (Cubanacán Press, 18/4/08)

April 16: Fidel Castro’s latest missive is a direct attack on a column published in one of Cuba's state run newspapers, which suggested that the latest series of reforms launched by Raul Castro are a step toward progress. Although Castro has written slight barbs at his brother's policies before, it was the first reference to a recent string of reforms recently enacted that reversed years of Castro regulations. In a column published in Granma, the Communist Party daily, the former Cuban leader chided those who seek changes to avoid a repetition of the "special period" of retrenchment in Cuba that followed the demise of the socialist bloc. In the article, titled "Making No Concessions to Enemy Ideology," Castro wrote that, "People must be very careful with everything they say, so as not to play the game of enemy ideology. They cannot blame the Special Period for the system that imperialism has imposed upon the world”. In what may have been veiled advice to reformers, Castro wrote: "Meditate hard on what you say, what you affirm, so you don't make shameful concessions." The article, Castro said, was written "after listening to a public comment disseminated by one of the Revolution's mass media, which I shall not mention specifically." He appears to be taking a direct jab at an article published on April 11 in the Havana daily Juventud Rebelde, written by senior columnist Luis Sexto. Titled "Going in reverse is not going forward", it refers to the concessions - the adjustments - Cuba had to make after it lost the economic backing of the Soviet Union. "For example, if the experience accumulated in our deteriorating circumstances indicates that big agricultural companies are not recommended and that (...) family or individual labor be cooperatized or encouraged, why should we insist on that which does not prosper or that which needs an excess of resources for completion?" Sexto wrote. “Is a `concession' a step backward?" he wrote.  [Making No Concessions to Enemy Ideology] (The Miami Herald, Granma International, EFE, 16/4/08)

April 16: Cuba said that a series of reforms ordered by new President Raul Castro will strengthen socialism and it will not tolerate attempts by the United States and local dissidents to subvert it. "There is no space for the dreams of adversaries, internal mercenaries and fifth columnists," an editorial in the ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma said. "There will be a more perfect socialism sustained and defended by a united people led by Fidel, Raul and the party's leadership," it said. Since officially taking over in February as Cuba's first new leader in almost half a century, Raul Castro has lifted restrictions on Cubans using cellular telephones, staying at hotels and buying computers and DVD players. He has also begun to decentralize agriculture to provide incentives to private farmers, and lift wage caps, among other measures. A number of dissident organizations have condemned the moves as too little and too late, and are demanding freedom for political prisoners, a market-based economy and multi-party democracy. (Reuters, 16/4/08)

April 16: Cuban sports authorities laid down the law after a wild melee broke out two days earlier during Pinar del Rio's 7-6 victory over Sancti Spiritus in game seven of the baseball western division semifinal. A note published in the state press called the 20-minute brawl initiated by Pinar del Rio players shameful and demanded the "strictest respect" for the sport and its fans. "We expect that the final of this National Series, in Santiago de Cuba as in Pinar del Rio, will be played at the height of our sports movement and what the Cuban people deserve," the note said. An accompanying message from the Pinar del Rio team apologized to the Cuban public: "What happened has nothing to do with the conduct and ethic that has marked Pinar del Rio teams in the history of Cuban sport." (Sun Sentinel, 16/4/08)

April 18: Raul Castro plans to lift Cuba's restrictions on foreign travel, Spanish daily El Pais reported, citing unidentified people close to the government. Cubans will no longer need special permission to leave the island or a legalized letter of invitation after the rules are introduced in the next days or weeks, the newspaper reported. Cubans have previously had to obtain a so-called white card, a process which could take months with no guarantee of success, the newspaper reported. The white card will now be restricted to some government officials, members of the armed forces and some others, such as recently qualified doctors, the newspaper said. (Bloomberg, 18/4/08)

April 18: One of Cuba's youngest "prisoners of conscience" was recovering after he was nearly strangled to death by a fellow prisoner, while security personnel watched nearby, pro-democracy activists and family said. Normando Hernandez Gonzales, 38, was allegedly attacked on April 14, by a fellow inmate at the Carlos J. Finlay military hospital in Havana, where he has been hospitalized for seven months due to tuberculosis and several other potentially life-threatening diseases, all of them contracted in jail. He was transferred last September from Kilo 7 Prison, in central Camaguey Province, north to the hospital in the Cuban capital, a nine-hour bus ride away. His wife Yaraí Reyes Marín explained in a telephone statement released by the Cuban Democratic Directorate (CDD), a pro-democracy group, that her husband was nearly strangled to death by a common prisoner sentenced for murdering a police officer. The attack happened as four guards were watching, she was quoted as saying, adding that another prisoner unsuccessfully attempted to defend Hernandez Gonzalez. He, "has gouges on his neck and left shoulder...[The guards] waited until he was partially suffocated, and after that, when they saw that the other prisoner was unable to remove the attacker from Normando, that was when they went in to remove him," Reyes Marín reportedly said. (BosNewsLife, 18/4/08)

April 20: Cuba will air the award-winning US television drama The Sopranos and current series Grey's Anatomy, the Communist youth newspaper, Juventud Rebelde, said. HBO's The Sopranos depicts the life of a New Jersey Mafia boss and his family and will be broadcast by state-run TV Tuesday evenings, while ABC's Grey's Anatomy, which follows the lives of doctors working in a hospital, will be broadcast on Thursdays. House, Friends, and Everybody Loves Raymondhave entered Cubans' living rooms, and the forensic series CSI is a huge hit on the Caribbean island where programming is weighted heavily toward educational, variety and children's programming, propaganda, Latin American and Cuban soap operas and sports. Cuba has four national TV channels and various provincial stations, all government operated. (Reuters, 20/4/08)

April 21: Cuba opened the International Information Sciences Congress Info 2008 with the participation of over 600 experts from about 20 countries. The agenda includes issues like quality procedures and knowledge, analysis and visualization of information, training and qualification in information society and metadata, among others. Another important event will join the activities foreseen at the International Workshop on Business Intelligence and Knowledge Process between Companies 2008. The first Info Congress was held in Cuba in 1988 and has been held every two years since. (Prensa Latina, 22/4/08)

April 21: Dissident leader Leonardo Miguel Bruzón Ávila was arrested along with activists Omar Bustamante Mustelier and Armando Leiva, in his home in Havana. The arrest took place after Bruzón celebrated a Christian ritual in his home, and later shouted, time and again: “freedom for all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Cuba.” The detainees were interrogated and released 24 hours later. (Cubanet, 25/4/08)

April 21: A group of Cuban women peacefully demonstrating for the release of their jailed husbands were roughed up by a mob and arrested near the offices of President Raul Castro. The 10 women, members of the "Women in White," gathered at a park at the edge of Cuba's Revolution Square, where the government and Communist Party headquarters are located. They wore white T-shirts emblazoned with the faces and names of their loved ones, but carried no signs. "We are here to demand the release of our husbands and won't leave until they are free or they arrest us. We have waited long enough, we want to talk to the new president," group leader Laura Pollan said. Moments later, a bus pulled up and about 20 female corrections officers tried to arrest the women, who sat on the sidewalk, clasped arms and refused to move. "They are dying, they are dying," one women yelled with tears in her eyes as the corrections officer tried to move her toward the bus. A mob of about 100 government supporters, mainly women from nearby government buildings, quickly entered the fray, pushing the women, picking them up, throwing them into the waiting bus and yelling insults. The women's husbands and other relatives were arrested in a massive government crackdown in 2003, which landed 75 dissidents in prison for long terms on charges of working with the United States to subvert the government. "After forcing them into the bus they dropped the Havana residents at their homes and sent the others back to their homes in the provinces," Marta Bonachea, a spokesperson for the women, told the press in a telephone interview. (Reuters, 21/4/08)

April 22: Cuba launched a blistering attack on the wives of imprisoned dissidents, accusing them of working with its arch-enemy, the United States, to subvert one-party socialist rule. The women, known as the "Ladies in White", have staged an unprecedented series of small demonstrations since their husbands were arrested in a political crackdown in 2003 that landed 75 dissidents in prison on charges of working for the U.S. government. Fifty-five remain behind bars. On April 21, ten of the women staged a sit-in next to Havana's Revolution Square to demand that President Raul Castro's government release their relatives. They were detained, put on a bus and driven home by police. A government statement carried by Cuba's official media attacked the women's protest for being a "provocation (…) ordered by their Yankee masters". State-run television showed photos of the women meeting with Michael Parmly, the head of the US Interests Section in Havana, which a commentator called "the headquarters of the Cuban counterrevolution." The "Ladies in White," who earned their name by marching silently every Sunday along a Havana boulevard dressed in white, were defiant in the face of the government attack. "We were born out of government repression and we have no particular political agenda," said one of their founders, Miriam Leiva. "Our objective is purely humanitarian, to free the prisoners of March 2003." (Reuters, 22/4/08)

April 22: The outcome of the quiet protest by 10 women, half of them members of the dissident group Ladies in White, underscored the Castro government's willingness to lift some restrictions on the lives of Cubans while refusing to tolerate even the slightest dissent. "The message is clear: zero political tolerance," said dissident Elizardo Sanchez, president of the Cuban Commision for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, which is illegal but tolerated by the state. "At least in the area of human rigths, there is no significant change in Cuba." A government statement read on the state media called the demonstration a "crude and shameful provocation" by mercenaries carrying out orders of anti-Castro forces in Miami. The statement was published in the state press. (Sun Sentinel, 22/4/08)

April 22: The break-up of a demonstration by a small group of Cuban women demanding the release of their imprisoned dissident husbands came just a few days after a government warning that in Cuba there is no space for "subversion" or the dreams of "internal mercenaries." "This is a bucket of cold water for those who believe in a gradual democratisation of our country," moderate dissident Manuel Cuesta told the press, commenting on the incident, when female police officers broke up a sit-in by 10 members of a group known as the Women in White. Cuesta, spokesman for the Arco Progresista, a dissident coalition of small groups with social democratic tendencies, said he is "worried" because he sees the police removal of the protesters as an indication of a change in attitude from the stance seen since Raúl Castro took over as president from his ailing brother Fidel in February. He said the authorities had been taking a more lenient stance with respect to the few street protests held by dissidents, but "the message sent out now is much stronger, because the government’s power was brought to bear on these women."(IPS,22/4/08)

April 22: Activists Abel López Naples and Santo del Pozo Rodríguez were sentenced to three years in prison by the provincial court of Isla de la Juventud on March 25, under the alleged crime of illegally attempting to leave the country. The trial was held behind closed doors, and only two relatives were allowed to attend. The accused were also charged with antisocial and counterrevolutionary conduct. (Cubanet, 22/4/08)

April 22: The Cuban Council of State, on a proposal of the Communist Party Central Committee Political Bureau, has appointed Ana Elsa Velazquez Cobiella as new Education Minister, an official note reported. Velazquez substitutes Luis Ignacio Gomez Gutierrez. Before her appointment, she was head of the Frank Pais Higher Pedagogical Institute in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, the text states. This education science doctorate and deputy to the Peoples' Power National Assembly graduated in 1980 and has been a teacher since she was a university sophomore, so she has 30 years of experience as a professor or leader. (Prensa Latina, 22/4/08)

April 23: An ailing Fidel Castro took partial credit for firing Cuba's long-serving education minister, indicating that he would remain influential behind the scenes as long as he is able. Castro, who was succeeded by his younger brother Raul Castro as president this year after almost half a century at the helm, blasted former minister Luis Ignacio Gomez for being "burnt out" and "losing revolutionary consciousness." In a newspaper column, Castro laid into Gomez for traveling abroad too much and taking personal credit for advances in Cuba's education system. Gomez was viewed as one of Fidel Castro's staunchest supporters who for the last decade had faithfully carried out educational reforms proposed by Castro and questioned by many teachers and parents. Many Cubans have criticized the decline of Cuba's vast free education system during grass roots discussions fostered by Raul Castro on the socialist state's ills. "In this special and important case, in addition to my personal views, I was consulted and completely informed," Fidel Castro wrote in an article published by the ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma and other state-run media. He also reiterated his role in picking new members of Raul Castro's government which was formally installed on February 24. "I'll express my modest opinion as long as I am able and desire to do so," the elder Castro wrote. [Los vivos y los muertos] (Reuters, 23/4/08)

April 23: A group of peaceful dissidents in Santa Clara founded the Dissident Central Coalition (Coalición Central Opositora - CCO), with the aim of organizing non violent struggle of the dissidents in the central region of the country. The CCO will be presided over by Idania Yanes Contreras. (Cubanet, 25/4/08)

April 24: Cubans are reported to have taken out 7,400 new mobile phone contracts in the 10 days since restrictions were eased. The figures were made by Maximo Lafuente from the state telecoms company Etecsa. Etecsa expects to sell 1.4 million new mobile phone contracts in Cuba in the next five years. Until President Raul Castro lifted restrictions, mobile phones could only be bought by government officials and people working for foreign firms. The number of new mobile phone contracts is impressive given that it costs about £60 just to set up a new contract while the average monthly salary in Cuba is less than £10. In the past, many Cubans used illegal phones or asked permitted users to sign up on their behalf. (BBC, 24/4/08)

April 25: In an effort to limit the losses within its ranks, Cuba's Communist Party has called on members near retirement not to shirk party-related tasks and cautioned that ``disease is not a reason for deactivation.'' Party militants may not quit even if they have senile dementia, according to an internal document issued in January by the Organization Department of the party's ruling Central Committee. The document recognizes that in recent years there has been ``an incipient tendency to an increase in applications for deactivation from workers in different sectors, close to retirement.'' The applications ''are justified by health or family problems, and arguments are also raised about the lack of physical and mental conditions to deal with the complex tasks tackled by party cells, which they don't want to join,'' says the document. It was included in the bulletin ''Internal information for the nuclei,'' which is distributed to militants for the purpose of discussion. The document proposes taking advantage of the retired militants to promote the work of mass organizations, such as the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, as well as the police and other government agencies. The document concludes: ``It is necessary to reiterate that disease is not a cause for deactivation, so long as it is not an ailment that deprives the militant of his mental faculties, which does not include senile dementia.'' (The Miami Herald, 25/4/08)

April 25: Italian fashion big-wig Rocco Barroco has presented his first-ever show in Havana, Cuba, and was taken by the famous Latin American curves. Using a line-up of fresh talent from the island, Barroco put his Summer 2008 collection on show. For me this is an immense pleasure, because these boys and girls have beautiful bodies. It is a pleasure to see them dressed in European fashion," Barroco said. Presented in the gardens of the luxurious Hotel Nacional, the show was open to a small gathering of artists, designers and Cuban models. Borroco is the biggest fashion name to have visited Cuba in some time. (ITN, 25/4/08)

April 25: Through the use of various actions from the bottom up, Cuba is planning to revitalize its Primary Health Care System (APS), which has been affected by organizational flaws, poor salaries, and the sending of physicians on aid missions to other countries. APS National Director Cristina Luna said that the (community level) family doctor and the polyclinics (the level prior to hospital level) are going to play an important role in order to attain "excellent health care" in Cuba. During a recent National Scientific Drive for Family Medicine held in Havana, Luna presented a plan aimed at strengthening the APS. Luna said that the polyclinics should solve 80 per cent of the community's health problems, and that this requires personnel trained in the installed technologies and provision of quality service, as well as the stability of cadres (supervisory personnel). She explained that the family doctor service is being divided into three categories. The first category of service will be provided by a physician and a nurse during an eight-hour period. The second will be provided only by nurses, preferably nurses with a bachelor's degree. According to the official, category three service will have a physician and a nurse available 24 hours as well as equipment, greater decision-making authority, and a module with different types of medication in keeping with the number of inhabitants and the morbidity rate. (Notimex, 25/4/08)

April 28: President Raul Castro announced that Cuba will convene its first Communist Party congress since 1997 -- a gathering that could chart the island's political future long after he and his older brother Fidel are gone. The congress -- planned for next year -- follows a series of minor social changes the younger Castro has decreed during his first two months in power to make life easier and less restrictive for ordinary Cubans. "We have worked hard in these past few months, and will have to do so even more," Raul Castro said during a Central Committee gathering aired on state television. He said the nation's leadership must prepare for "when the historic generations are no longer around." Fidel Castro’s post could be awarded to someone else at the congress, scheduled for the second half of 2009. An exact date has not been set. Under Cuba's constitution, the Communist Party is "the higher governing force of society and the state" and is responsible for setting the country's political and social agenda at five year intervals. Cuba's last Communist Party congress was held in 1997 and the following one in 2002 was postponed without any official explanation. The fourth party congress in 1991, when Cuba was still recovering from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, helped open the way for modest economic and political reforms, including the direct election of parliament, a rapprochement with churches and creation of small-scale private businesses. Much of the Communist Party's leadership consists of men and women who were children -- or not yet born -- when Castro's revolutionaries toppled a dictator and marched into Havana in January 1959. (AP, EFE, 28/4/08)

April 28: Cuban leader Raúl Castro has put an end to his country's nearly two-year ''provisional'' period, increasing the powers of old functionaries in the Communist Party who also make up the hierarchy of the governing Council of State appointed in February. "The accords we have approved put an end to the provisional period begun on July 31, 2006 with the proclamation of the Commander in Chief," he said. Castro reformed the Politburo by promoting three new members and creating an oversight commission. The announcement made on Cuban television and reported in state-controlled media is viewed as a return to a more institutionalized power structure. Cuba has been functioning in a provisional mode since Fidel Castro fell ill in July 2006. During a meeting of the Central Committee, Raúl Castro stated that the congress will "set the nation's political and economic directives.'' The announcement was accompanied by other important decisions, such as the naming of three new members of the Politiburo, the institution of a reduced commission and the creation of seven subordinate working commissions that include: Ideology and Culture, Economy, Food and Agriculture, Import Substitutes and Increasing Exports, Education, Science and Sports, Health and International Relations. According to Granma, the three figures elected to the Politburo are: the current Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Commander Ramiro Valdés; 76; the President of the Cuban Workers Union, Salvador Valdés Mesa, 56; and the Vice Minister of Defense, Gen. Alvaro López Miera, 64. This oversight committee is to be headed up by Castro himself; the first Vice President of the State Council, José Ramón Machado Ventura; Comandante Juan Almeida Bosque; Minister of the Interior Abelardo Colomé Ibarra; Vice President of the State Council Carlos Lage Dávila; Defense Minister Julio Casas Regueiro; and Central Committee member Esteban Lazo Hernández. (The Miami Herald, Reuters, 30/4/08)

April 28: New Cuban President Raul Castro announced that all death sentences had been commuted to prison terms of 30 years to life, with the exception of three people charged with terrorism. "The Council of State decided to commute the death penalty imposed on a group of prisoners," Raul Castro announced at a Communist party Central Committee meeting, in a speech broadcast by state-run television. Castro said two Central Americans charged with hotel bombings in the 1990s that took the life of an Italian tourist, and a Cuban American charged with murder during an attempt at armed infiltration of the island, were not included and their cases were still on appeal. "This does not mean we have eliminated the death penalty from the penal code," Raul Castro said. He blasted the United States for allowing Cuban Americans to use its soil to launch violent attacks on the country. "It would be irresponsible and ingenuous to renounce the dissuasive power that capital punishment has on the real terrorists, the Imperialist mercenaries," he said. Cuba has been under pressure from human rights organizations to eliminate the death penalty, which is carried out by firing squad. Three people have been executed since 2000, all of them involved in a failed 2003 boat hijacking. (Reuters, 28/4/08)

April 29: The Cuban government does not generally provide statistics on the prison population or the number of people facing the death sentence. But Elizardo Sánchez, president of the dissident Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said that according to his group’s estimates, around 30 people on death row will benefit from the decision. Reacting with little enthusiasm to Raul Castro’s announcement commuting death sentence to a group of prisoners to life sentences or 30-year terms instead, the dissident leader told the press that "what would be truly meaningful would be the immediate abolition of capital punishment, because otherwise the risk of it being applied remains latent." With respect to the prisoners who will have their sentences commuted, Sánchez said that "some have been awaiting execution for more than 10 years. But other dissidents said that was unlikely to happen. "I would say this is virtually a permanent de facto moratorium. I think it is improbable that after making this public commitment, a sentence of this kind would be carried out again," said Manuel Cuesta Morúa, spokesman for the moderate opposition coalition Arco Progresista. (IPS, 30/4/08)

April 30: Several religious leaders and personalities reacted favourably to Raul Castro’s announcement that a group of prisoners facing the death penalty, some of whom have been waiting for years for a pronouncement by the Council of State, will now serve life sentences or 30-year terms instead. "It is a gesture that merits our support and I am sure that as we move towards a climate of mutual respect in international relations, capital punishment will be completely eliminated," Reverend Raúl Suárez told the press. The Baptist preacher holds a seat in the Cuban parliament, where he has publicly spoken out against the death penalty. "Neither in Cuba nor anywhere else in the world does this punishment effectively fight crime," said Suárez, who is the director of the ecumenical Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Centre (CMMLK). Orlando Márquez, director of the magazine “Palabra Nueva”, put out by the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Havana, said the announcement was "very good news and a bold and mature step by the Cuban Council of State, taking into account how deeply rooted support for this kind of punishment is among a large part of Cuban society." "Any gesture of clemency and respect for life, of which this is one example, exalts, rather than weakens, the state that makes it," said Márquez. "Socialism must be based on moral considerations, above all, and if we examine things from another point of view, to some extent we are all responsible for what other people do," said Raymundo García, the founder of the Christian Centre for Reflection and Dialogue, a Cuban civil society organisation in the city of Cárdenas, 150 kilometres east of Havana. "The death penalty is not a solution, but part of the problem," the Baptist preacher told the press. (IPS, 30/4/08)