Chronicle on Cuba - May 2008

Foreign Affairs

May 1: The secretary of the Libyan Peoples General Committee of Foreign Relations and International Collaboration, Abdulrahman Mohammad Shalgham, arrived in Cuba on an official visit, reported the national media. This visit will deepen bilateral links and political exchanges and collaboration between the two countries, noted Gramma newspaper. The delegation is also made up of the General Director of Americas Affairs Board Mohamed Ahmad El-Mattari, chief of Americas Cooperation Department Mohamed M. Algeriani, chief of the Organization Department Jamal Ramadan Abuajela and other officials from the Libyan Foreign Ministry. Mohammad will hold official talks with The Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and will meet other officials. (Prensa Latina, 1/5/08)

May 2: The Honduran chief of International Migration, Germán Espinal, and the Foreign Ministry’s Secretary General, Ramón Rivera, temporarily stepped down from their posts to allow for an inquiry into an alleged scheme involving the illicit smuggling of Cubans. None of the two has been implicated. According to the minister of Government, a commission was established to investigate claims concerning the alleged forgery of Honduran officials’ signatures in work permits granted to Cubans. (EER, 5/5/08)

May 2: Pope Benedict XVI said that in the new era which was started by the succession of power away from Fidel Castro, the Cuban Catholics must "strive for reconciliation, justice and peace". The Pope asked for this when he received the priests of the Caribbean island in a "visit ad limina". In his speech the Pope said "the great hurdles" are the working conditions of the Cuban bishops and priests and he asked them not to slow down their evangelic work amongst their fellow countrymen. "Strengthened by an intense spiritual life and praising a solid religious preparation, and in particular, on the social doctrine of the church, the layman worshippers, he said "can offer convincing accounts of their faith in all fields of society, to illuminate with the light the Evangel". For this reason he said "I hope the Cuban Church, in accordance with legitimate aspirations, can have normal access to means of social communication". In particular, the Pope called the Cuban Church's attention to the family crisis "threatened in its stability by divorce and its consequences, by the practice of abortion and economic difficulties, such as family separation due to emigration and other reasons". [Los desafíos de la Iglesia en Cuba] (AGI, 2/5/08)

May 4: A Cuban team headed by the chairman of the Arab-Cuban Friendship Association, Dr. Rodrigo Alvarez Cambras, who is also member of the Health Care Commission of the National Assembly (Parliament), visited Yemen. During the visit, the Cuban team toured several hospitals and health facilities in Yemen and met the military and civil officials working in medical and therapeutic institutions. The team also met officials from the Youth & Sports Ministry, sports coaches, and Cuban doctors and academics working in Sana’a. “I met many executive officials in Yemeni government and Parliament. We discussed the various aspects of developing distinctive ties between both partner countries, plus the arrangements underway for holding the joint governmental committee that is projected to meet next November,” said Cambras in reference to the reasons for his visit. Thirty-six years have passed since Yemen and Cuba first established bilateral political, economic, technical and scientific relations. (Yemen Times, 4/5/08)

May 4: Ibero-American Secretary-General Enrique Iglesias is visiting Cuba to participate in the 28th FITCUBA 2008 International Tourism Fair. Iglesias will meet with Cuba's State Council Vice President Carlos Lage, Juventud Rebelde newspaper reported. Iglesias will hold official meetings with several Cuban ministers and leaders. (Prensa Latina, 4/5/08)

May 4: Jamaica Prime Minister Orette Bruce Golding is scheduled to arrive in Cuba, at the invitation of President Raul Castro. During his stay, Bruce Golding is expected to meet with President Raul Castro and other Cuban authorities, and visit places of scientific, economic, historical and social interest, according to Juventud Rebelde daily. His visit is expected to contribute to the excellent links of friendship and collaboration existing between the two Caribbean nations, particularly in the fields of health, education, culture, agriculture and energy, the official press release claimed. Bruce Golding will be accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kenneth Baugh, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlet and Agriculture Minister Christopher Tufton, among other officials. (Prensa Latina, 4/5/08)

May 5: Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, is to arrive in Havana on a working visit, "Granma" newspaper reported. The visitor will deepen collaboration with Cuba, mainly in health, construction and energy saving. His agenda also includes meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro, and visiting sites of economic, social and cultural interest. Gonsalves previously visited this capital in February 2006, when he met with revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and other figures of the island. (Prensa Latina, 5/5/08)

May 5: Cuban President Raul Castro received Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding in Havana. According to the program, the Jamaican Prime Minister will visit scientific, economic, social and historical places in Cuba. Golding is accompanied by Jamaican Foreign Minister and Vice Prime Minister Kenneth Baugh, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlet, and Agriculture Minister Christopher Tufton, among other high officials. Golding will continue his schedule with visits to the University of Informatics, the Finlay Institute and Las Guasimas, a protected culture farm. Golding and the Jamaican delegation return to Jamaice on May 7. (Prensa Latina, OPM, 5/5/08)

May 5: Cuban official media echoed the words of Bolivian President Evo Morales, who called the autonomic referendum carried out in the eastern province of Santa Cruz a “failure.” The daily Granma, official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party, reminded that the Bolivian Supreme Court already ruled it will not recognize the outcome of the public consultation, considering it illegal. The paper also emphasizes that, according to Morales, there was a "strong resistance" in the province as well as demonstrations against it in the rest of the country. (EFE, 5/5/08)

May 6: The situation for the practice of journalism and the exercise of the freedom of the press deteriorated in 11 Latin-American countries during 2007, according to the first report of the Observatory for the Freedom of Expression sponsored by the UNESCO Chair in Communication of the University of Malaga. The States that showed improvement during 2007 were Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Uruguay, while Cuba and Venezuela maintained their "poor" rating regarding the exercise of journalism. (EFE, 6/5/08)

May 6: Timor Leste's Foreign Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa is to arrive in the Cuban capital, to foster links between both nations. The also foreign business and cooperation minister will come invited by his Cuban counterpart Felipe Perez Roque, with whom he will hold official talks, "Granma" newspaper reported. (Prensa Latina, 6/5/08)

May 6: Cuba’s solidarity work in the field of public health is increasing in Mozambique where specialists from the Caribbean nation will help create a Research Center for Transmissible Diseases. Sources of the Mozambican Ministry of Sciences and Technology highlighted the importance of this new action of the Cuban collaborators in this African country as part of recent bilateral agreements. (Ahora, 6/5/08)

May 6: The European Commission said that it supports his "constructive commitment" with Havana and qualified of "very interesting" the decisions taken the government of Raúl Castro in the last months, which he considered they go in the sense of a "slow, small, but progressive liberalization". In a press conference before to the euro-Latin-American summit of Lima, the police station for the Foreign relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, affirmed that the Executive of the European Union (EU) supports his "constructive commitment" with the Cuban government. (EER, 7/5/08)

May 7: Cuba’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Felipe Pérez Roque and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Timor Leste will hold official conversations in Havana. At the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Havana, the chancellors will exchange on the cooperation in the fields of the medicine and health among the two countries, and on the situation of Latin America. The diplomat of Timor Leste in his first official visit to the island will fulfil an agenda until May 13th that includes interviews with other members of the government and the State in Cuba. (Radio Nuevitas, 7/5/08)

May 7: Vice President Esteban Lazo headed the Cuban delegation to the Summit on Food Emergency and Security in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Managua, Nicaragua. This meeting, which included the participation of Agriculture Ministers of the region, was called by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega with the objective of discussing and finding solutions to the high prices of food in the world and its impact on the developing nations. Among the participants are the member nations of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) and PetroCaribe, as well as and Central American dignitaries, including Mexico. [Speech by EstebanLazo](RadioHabanaCuba,7/5/08)

May 8: The General Secretary of Latin America, Enrique Iglesias, met with the Cuban Foreign Secretaries, Felipe Pérez Roque, and Economy, José Luis Rodríguez, and with the president of the Central Bank, Francisco Soberón, between other authorities. In his conversations, Churches he spoke "in general terms on the economic conjuncture of Cuba", both real and financial, and appreciated that "clearly there is a process in changes march in the economic conception of the country", as he said. Iglesias mentioned that one is employed at fifteen ministerial meetings before to the meeting of heads of state that will take place in October in El Salvador with the central topic of "Youth and Development". (EFE, 8/5/08)

May 8: Cuba demanded from the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) a more comprehensive approach to the food crisis, that involves other factors like privatization. In his speech during the WTO debates, the counselor of the Cuban Permanent Mission in Geneva, Jorge Ferrer, valued as positive the diagnosis of WTO general secretary Pascal Lamy about the food crisis. However, Ferrer emphasized that the causes are not only over bio-fuel or climate problems but also on unequal liberalization of agriculture in rich and developing countries in the last 30 years. The finance and world trade companies have promoted politics that have undermined national food productions, investments in agriculture, support to farmers and small farmers and the States’ role for decades, he added. (Prensa Latina, 8/5/08)

May 8: Representatives from the Cuban and Canadian Foreign ministries held official talks in Ottawa and agreed on the good status of bilateral relations between the two countries. According to Granma news daily, the Cuban delegation to the meeting was headed by First Deputy Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, while the Canadian side was headed by his Canadian counterpart, James Edwards, and also included officials from the Canadian Agency for International Development and from other areas of political bilateral relations and international trade. Both parts agreed on the good status of bilateral relations, particularly in the development of economic, trade and cooperation ties and the increase of these links in areas such as tourism, construction, agriculture and scientific-technical development. The Cuban delegation also met with officials from the Canadian Ministry of Agriculture and with parliamentarians from the province of Ontario. (Radio Habana Cuba, Granma, Cubaminrex, 8/5/08)

May 8: East Timor´s Foreign Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa met with his Cuban counterpart Felipe Perez Roque in Havana where he thanked the country for its continuous support of East Timor, "even under the most difficult circumstances." On the first day of his official activity in Cuba, Albano da Costa said that ties with Cuba will take on a new and more dynamic turn. He expressed his gratitude for the work of Cuban medical brigades and teachers working in East Timor to eradicate illiteracy. "The government and people of East Timor value the extraordinary and disinterested assistance and solidarity shown by Cuba throughout these years, including meeting the promise -made by the leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro in Kuala Lumpur in 2003 to Prime Minister Xanana Gusmaso- to strengthen ties," said the official. (Radio Habana Cuba, 8/5/08)

May 8: Ralph E. Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, met with Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, to foster bilateral relations. Gonsalves’ visit is to explore the cooperation Cuba gives to his country in sectors of construction and health. About 23 Cuban collaborators are currently working in St. Vincent in those programs, and 2,686 patients with eye afflictions have received free ophthalmologic surgeries through the Operation Miracle program. Cuba, together with Venezuela, is working on the construction of the Argyle international airport, a very important project for the development of that Caribbean country. After arriving in Havana, Gonsalves praised the cooperation initiatives under the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, whose principles have been already inked by several Caribbean governments. Ralph E. Gonsalves also met with Cuban President Raul Castro, according to official daily Granma. (Prensa Latina, 9/5/08)

May 8: The European Parliament asked again to the Cuban diet him to authorize the dissident Oswaldo Payá and Checkers of Target to go out of the country to explain in the European Union the internal situation in the island. In a report on the situation of the human rights in the world, the Euro MPs introduced an amendment in which they push back "energetically the systematical violence and the acts of repeated of harassment" that there suffer the Checkers of Target, integrated by familiar wives of dissidents imprisoned in the spring 2003. The document claims Havana that he authorizes to the group, which received the Award Sajarov of the European Parliament in 2005, to gather the award in one of the head offices from the institution in Brussels or Strasbourg. He repeats his request of which Oswaldo Payá, who received the same award in 2002, could answer at the invitation of the European authorities and comes "to explain the current political situation in Cuba". (Cubaencuentro, 8/5/08)

May 9: Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, one of the most influential writers in Latin America, said history will not absolve ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro. "The hopes awakened by the Cuban revolution have not been realized," Vargas Llosa told the press in New York. "Cuba is today a poorer country, with huge inequalities between the lives of the nomenclature, tourists and the average Cuban." "I don't think history will absolve him, instead it will show that Fidel Castro was the continuation of a long caudillo tradition that has done so much harm in Latin America," he said. Author of the critically acclaimed novel "The Feat of the Goat" about the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic, Vargas Llosa said the socialist island was in period of transition. "Fidel's death will bring about a psychological change that will accelerate in some way the reforms being introduced timidly by Raul Castro and his team, who realize that if Cuba is to survive, it must evolve," he said. (AFP, 9/5/08)

May 9: "Dance of Two Cultures," a mural by artist Christopher Cart that celebrates the Brunswick Trinidad Sister City Association, will officially be unveiled during a ceremony on May 10. The ceremony will feature Cuban music from Primo Cubano, a presentation, refreshments and a video showing the creation of 8-by-32 foot mural over the last three years. The mural's dedication comes five years after the start of a sister-city relationship between the town of Brunswick and the city of Trinidad, Cuba, through the BTSCA, which aims to promote a cultural exchange in the arts, education, music, history and traditions with the residents of Trinidad. (The Times Record, 9/5/08)

May 9: The Iranian ambassador to Havana, Mostafa Alaei, stressed the support given by Cuba, current Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, to Itan’s legitimate right to develop its nuclear program with peaceful means. He recalled that relations between Teheran and Havana are very strong and with excellent prospects. Cuba and Iran share common political views in the international arena, explained Alaei. Iran recently granted Cuba a 200-million-Euro credit line to undertake different projects; a large part of that sum was dedicated to financing the exports to Cuba of railroad wagons, both for cargo and passengers. There are other projects underway in the agriculture sector, in the food industry and in the communications sector, said the Iranian ambassador. In supporting Cuba´s self-sustainable food production Iran has proposed the setting up of a food production line here, while Iranian technicians have already evaluated the production in Cuba of different domestic items, like fridges both for the domestic and the foreign markets, washing machines, microwaves and pumping equipment for agriculture, which are already in operations, concluded the Iranian diplomat. (ACN, 9/5/08)

May 10: Cuba spoke in favor of a world without nuclear weapons during an international forum taking place in France, while it expressed its concern on the alarming increase of military expenses. Advisory Minister of Cuban embassy to France Leyde Rodriguez was in charge of two interventions during the third International Encounter on Nuclear Biological and Chemical Disarmament, to conclude on May 11 in Saintes, Poitou-Charentes. Rodriguez commented that only US could spend this year more than 700 billions dollars in armaments, an element that generates distrust and fully surpasses the funds destined for the Millennium Development Goals. He recalled that Cuba has reiterated its proposal to create a fund handled by UN, for which half of current military expenses would at least be destined, to assist the needs of the economic and social development. (Prensa Latina, 10/5/08)

May 12: Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer started an official visit to Cuba, with the aim of fostering bilateral links, Granma newspaper reported. As a president of the group of 77 plus China, Spencer will coordinate that forum's actions with the Non-Aligned Movement Cuba leads since September 2006. His agenda in Havana includes meeting with President Raul Castro and other Cuban leaders. (Prensa Latina, 12/5/08)

May 12: The pressure and strict supervision that Cuban leadership exerts over the doctors, nurses and therapists sent to Venezuela from the island is constant. Yet, far from their assigned mission when they began arriving in 2003, the main concern for many Cuban health professionals in Venezuela has become obtaining as many goods as possible, especially electronics, personal hygiene products and even canned foods that can be taken back to Cuba. The fever of consumerism has even reached officials of the Cuban Embassy in Venezuela, who take maximum advantage of their time in Caracas to fill the sea-freight containers they are authorized to ship back to Cuba. Thanks to the agreements between the Cuban and Venezuelan governments, Cuban citizens working with the "Bolivarian" assistance programs are permitted to return to the island with a wide list of electronics and grocery items. The sea-freight shipments have become in themselves a major incentive for Cuban professionals enrolled in the assistance programs. (The Miami Herald, 12/5/08)

May 12: An attempt to reach Florida turned into 17 days at sea for Cuban migrants crammed aboard a rickety sailboat that drifted ashore in Mexico near the Belize border. The migrants -- 12 men and two women -- were severely dehydrated when they landed and two of them had to be hospitalized, local deputy police chief Didier Vasquez Mendez said. ''These people survived by a miracle. The boat was made of sticks, very small and not seaworthy,'' Vazquez Mendez said. ''Plus they ran out of water.'' The migrants told reporters they drank urine with sugar in their efforts to survive. The tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula near Cancun is only 120 miles (190 kilometers) southwest of Cuba. But the migrants landed in Xcalak, a town near the border with Belize more than 180 miles (300 kilometers) south of Cancun. (AP, 12/5/08)

May 12: Cuban President Raul Castro met with the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer, who arrived in Havana for an official visit at the invitation of the Cuban leader. Both leaders held official talks and discussed topics of bilateral, regional and international interest. Likewise, they analyzed the role of the Committee of Joint Coordination between the Movement of Non Aligned Countries and the Group of the 77 (G-77) plus China, currently chaired by Cuba and Antigua and Barbuda, respectively. The distinguished visitor was accompanied by a delegation that includes Winston Williams, Minister of Youth and Sports; Colin Murdoch, Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Ministry; and Bruce Goodwin, Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda in Cuba. Also present in the meeting were Cuban Vice President Esteban Lazo, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas and the Cuban ambassador in Antigua and Barbua, Marcelino Fajardo. (ACN, 12/5/08)

May 13: The Fifth European Union-Latin American Summit entered its second day in Lima, when experts get ready for the foreign ministers the documents that nearly 50 statesmen from both regions must ink. Representatives from 60 Latin American, Caribbean and European countries will analyze today strategies both regions must adopt to save humanity from multiple threats. Deliberations will take place behind close doors at the Lima Nation Museum, venue of the EU-LatAm Summit. Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno told reporters in Lima that representatives from both regions already approved the agenda foreign ministers will debate on May 15. (Prensa Latina, 14/5/08)

May 13: Tegucigalpa suspended the visas emission in his consular office in Havana, like part of the investigations that goes forward on the Cuban traffic towards Honduran territory, in that several secretariats of the State have turned out to be involved, reported the newspaper Herald. The chancellor Edmundo Orellana "has thought that there must be a quite conscientious process with major investigation, and at the moment the topic of the visas remains pendent, unless they are on official topics, otherwise they will not be expressed", said vice chancellor Eduardo Enrique Reina García, on having announced the decision. (Cubaencuentro, 14/5/08)

May 14: Jamaica is expected to push for a review of the United States' economic embargo against neighbouring Cuba at the summit of European, Latin American and Caribbean countries in Lima, Peru. Industry, Investments and Commerce Minister Karl Samuda told journalists at a post-sectoral debate press briefing at Jamaica House that he had every reason to believe that Prime Minister Bruce Golding "will be addressing the question of the relationship between Cuba and the United States". "We are no longer in the era of political differences that colour one's relationship with another country, let alone a neighbouring country with which we have had a long history of association, such as Cuba." said Samuda. "These are changing times, and we must move with the times. A new generation is emerging and they are impatient with old solutions." (The Jamaica Observer, 16/5/08)

May 14: Canada will be setting itself up for "failure" if its strategy for re-engaging Latin American and Caribbean nations takes a page from the United States and follows in the superpower's footsteps, Cuba 's first deputy foreign minister warned. Instead, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said Canada should use its historic approach to Cuba as a model for its Americas strategy as a "wave" of socialism sweeps across the hemisphere. "I am sure the only way for making a substantial contribution or building a real relationship between Canada and Latin America would be through an alternative model," Mr. Rodriguez said. "If Canada will choose to replicate the American failing, dysfunctional practices in Latin America , it would be a failure. "We feel very comfortable in our relations between Canada and Cuba , and it could be a model of relations for a modern democratic international order and for more inclusive and fair globalization. "If Canada could build their pattern of relations with the Latin American and Caribbean countries in the same styles, experiences, benchmarks as Canada does it with Cuba , in my view, would be excellent. Because relations between Canada and Cuba could be an excellent model." (Embassy, 14/5/08)

May 15: Karen Zelaya, the minister of the Honduran Technical Cooperation Secretariat (SETCO), expressed her satisfaction with the current relations that have been established with Cuba. The Honduran government official is on the island as head of a delegation from her country attending a follow-up meeting to the first joint commission between Cuba and her nation. The meeting, held at the Ministry for Foreign Investment and Economic Collaboration (MINVEC) in Havana, is aimed at analyzing projects and agreements that were signed during the First Cuba-Honduras Joint Commission. (ACN, 15/5/08)

May 15: The Secretaries of State of Chile, Alejandro Foxley, and of Cuba, Felipe Pérez Roque, agreed that his governments act of way coordinated to propitiate the dialogue in Latin America, he informed the Chilean chancellery. Both ministers "they coincided with the need to collaborate to generate meeting points in the frame of the diversity that today prevails", he said the chancellery. (EFE, 16/5/08)

May 15: Cuban First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura leads the island's delegation to the Fifth Latin American and Caribbean-European Union (LAC-EU) Summit, to start at a level of heads of State as of May 16, local media reported. The Cuban delegation chief will speak in the two round tables of the event and fulfil an extensive program that includes bilateral meetings with statesmen attending the event. Accompanying Machado Ventura are Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, Cuba's Communist Party Central Committee Secretariat member and International Relations Department chief Fernando Remirez de Estenoz, as well as other officials from that Ministry. (Ahora, 15/5/08)

May 15: Cuban First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura urged the developed world to take concrete measures against poverty and climate change. Upon his arrival in Lima, Peru, Machado Ventura, who heads the Cuban delegation to the Fifth Latin America-Caribbean-European Summit, spoke with reporters about the main topics included in the Final Declaration of the meeting. The leader, who will take part in the two round tables scheduled for the event, said that Cuba expects that on this occasion Latin America and the Caribbean will strengthen their positions compared to previous similar meetings.He added that the declaration includes concepts that were also discussed in the previous summit in Austria such as respect for the peoples’ sovereignty and for international law. (ACN, 16/5/08)

May 16: Cuba’s First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura told the Latin America-Caribbean-European Union Summit in Lima that it takes a political will to build a world of solidarity and justice for all. The Cuban leader headed Cuba’s delegation to the two-day forum in the Peruvian capital. Machado Ventura also said that poverty, inequality and exclusion are the consequences of a world order based on greed and selfishness. He pointed to solidarity and justice within societies and close ties among nations as the only means to make inclusion possible. [Address by Machado Ventura at the Lima Summit] (ACN, 16/5/08)

May 16: Nearly 40 organizations and over 30 personalities called the European Union (EU) to lift measures imposed on Cuba in 2003 and advance towards relations of mutual respect and cooperation. The demand comes in an open letter addressed to top EU authorities of the commission and the parliament, stating that "we all have much to gain" with the normalization of those links. The letter, released in Madrid, states that the 2003 sanctions are the main obstacle to normalizing links and resuming cooperation, and
that their definitive elimination, for they are currently suspended, can be decided next month in the EU council meeting. The Non-Governmental Organizations European Network for Cooperation to Development and the European MediCuba Network, as well as groups from Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Greece and other countries, are amongsignatories.(ACN,16/5/08)

May 16: Through the closing remarks of the conference “Quo Vadis Cuba ?: Transition after the Castro Era” in Brussels, Oswaldo J. Payá Sardiñas, the leading representative of Christian Democracy in Cuba, made a call to focus all the efforts of Christian Democracy and the international community to support real change in Cuba. In his message, read by Ricardo Carreras, president of the NGO “Spanish Solidarity with Cuba, ” Paya asked for solidarity “that cannot be postponed” “to work in supporting what we do inside of Cuba (…) If you are in solidarity, support those campaigns,” the message said. The conference was hosted by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Robert-Schuman Foundation. (MCL Press Release, 16/5/08)

May 16: Members of the Third International May Day Brigade in Solidarity with Cuba said the island is a preview of a better world. More than 200 friends with Cuba from several countries travelled to the island as part of the brigade to show their support of the Cuban people and their condemnation of US hostility towards the country. Invited by the Cuban Friendship Institute, brigade members said that Cuba is the inspiration for an emerging solidarity movement that seeks to build a better future and called the island an example of dedication, energy and courage. (Granma International, 16/5/08)
  
May 16: The Ministry of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR) announced that the ‘Capitan Miranda’ School Sailing Ship of the Uruguayan Navy will arrive in Cuba on official visit. In a note published by Granma news daily, MINFAR announces
that the ship will arrive on May 17 in Santiago de Cuba, where it will remain until May 20th. During their stay there, the Uruguayan visitors will pay courtesy visits to the head of the Revolutionary Navy Section of the Eastern Army and to the President of the Provincial Assembly (Government). They will also visit the General Jose Maceo Inter-Arms School and other places of historic and cultural interest. (ACN, 16/5/08)

May 19: Fidel Castro strongly criticized the European Union for its position towards Latin American and Caribbean nations during the recently concluded 5th EU-LAC Summit showing once again that the EU is competing with the United States in controlling the main raw materials and markets of the region. In the reflection entitled “The Hungry Wolves and Little Red Riding Hood”, the leader of the Revolution affirmed that the Europe that was represented in the meeting is the same one that supported the war against Serbia, US conquest of Iraqui oil, religious conflicts in the Middle East, secret prisons and flights and the horrendous tortures and assassinations organized by Bush. That Europe, added Fidel Castro, shares alongside the US the extraterritorial laws that, violating the sovereignty of its own territories, increase Washington’s economic blockade against Cuba. This measure places obstacles in the supply of technologies, components and even medicines to our country. [Dos lobos hambrientos y una caperucita roja] (Radio Habana Cuba, 19/5/08)

May 19: Twenty Cubans arrived in Honduras in a fiberglass boat. The group left the Cuban city of Camagüey on May 8 and arrived at the Honduran port of Tela. The group's leader, Joel González, said they want to escape Cuba's political and economic situation. Honduran immigration official Daniel Mejia said the Cubans will be allowed to stay in Honduras for 30 days. Cubans bound for the United States are increasingly traveling through Mexico and Central America instead of trying to get past US Coast Guard patrols off Florida. (AP, 20/5/08)

May 20: Hundreds of people have offered their condolences to the Chinese diplomatic delegation in Havana for the earthquake that hit the Asian nation causing more than 40 thousand deaths. Julio Martinez, First Secretary of the Young Communist League (UJC),
told the Chinese Ambassador in Havana, Zhao Rongxian, that the Cuban youths are ready to help the Chinese people in whatever is necessary to face the consequences of the earthquake. For his part, Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Marcos Rodriguez also visited the Chinese Embassy to offer his condolences and praised the rescue measures taken by the Chinese government immediately after the natural disaster hit the Asian country. (ACN, 21/5/08)

May 20: The President of the French National Assembly (Parliament), Bernard Accoyer, met on with the Cuban ambassador in Paris, Rogelio Sanchez Levis. According to Granma news daily, during the meeting, the Cuban diplomat invited Accoyer to visit the Caribbean nation and gave him details about the current political and economic situation in Cuba. He also expressed Havana’s interest in further strengthening bilateral relations with France. For his part, Accoyer said he was satisfied with the meeting and
expressed his willingness to work together to increase bilateral ties. (ACN, 21/5/08)

May 21: Cuba warned that the UN Millennium Development Goals in health have become unattainable for most underdeveloped countries, as rich countries have failed to comply with their engagement. Addressing the general assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Cuban Public Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer criticized wealthy countries for not fulfilling their commitment to contribute 0.7 percent of their Gross Domestic Product for development in poor nations. (ACN, 21/5/08)

May 21: The Permanent Commission of the Mexican Congress approved a Point of Agreement that demands absolute respect for the self-determination and sovereignty of the Cuban people. According to Granma news daily, the accord defends the idea that the principle of Mexican Benito Juarez, who said that “among nations, as among people, respect for the others’ right is peace”, should prevail in international relations among countries. The Agreement also urges the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Patricia Espinosa, to use the relevant diplomatic channels and international forums to spread the position of the Mexican Congress regarding the policy of the US government with regards to Cuba. (ACN, 22/5/08)

May 21: Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier expressed Canadian solidarity with the Cuban people. Without naming the Castro regime, Bernier said he hopes recent political developments in Cuba - namely Raul Castro replacing Fidel as president in February - will lead to political and economic changes. Bernier, issued a statement in recognition of May 21st as the Day of Solidarity with the Cuban People: “Canada engages Cuban society through our diplomatic presence which is aimed at helping to lay the groundwork for a Cuba that upholds freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. This is in keeping with our renewed engagement in the Americas”. “Canada continues to monitor developments in Cuba closely, and we are concerned about the plight of political prisoners, especially those suffering from poor health. It is our hope that recent shifts will open the way for the Cuban people to pursue a process of political and economic reform,” added the Minister. [Statement in Recognition of Day of Solidarity with the Cuban People] (DFAIT Press Release, Canwest, 21,22/5/08)

May 21: The Spanish Foreign Secretary, Miguel Angel Moratinos, offered to before the Commission of Foreign affairs of the Congress a points decalogue to recover the consensus in the foreign policy, including the support to the process of reforms opened in Cuba. Moratinos asked for the support, "across the mutual respect and the constructive dialogue", to the process of reforms tackled in Cuba for Raúl Castro. The proposal is a part of the priorities of his department in the new term, until 2012. (EFE, 22/5/08)

May 21: Cuban President Raul Castro signed a book of condolences at the Chinese embassy in Havana to honor the victims of an earthquake that hit the Asian nation on May 12th, leaving more than 40 thousand people dead and hundreds of thousands injured. According to a note published by Cuban media outlets, Raul was received by the head of the Chinese diplomatic delegation in the Cuban capital, Zhao Rongxian, to whom he offered his condolences and those of Fidel Castro and the Cuban people. (ACN, 22/5/08)

May 21: Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived in Havana for a working visit that includes a meeting with his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro Ruz. Upon arriving at the Jose Marti International Airport, where he was welcomed by Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, Morales expressed his satisfaction for being in the revolutionary Cuba again. “We are here at the invitation of Cuban President Raul Castro to talk and to exchange ideas about the revolutionary process in Latin America,” Morales told reporters. “As always, I am looking forward to meeting with Fidel (Castro), whom I
admire a lot, because he always inspires us. He is like a very wise older brother and I hope he can receive me again,” the Bolivian leader added. (ACN, 22/5/08)

May 22: Fidel Castro is "thin but very lucid," Bolivian President Evo Morales said after meeting with the former Cuban leader. Speaking in Venezuela, Morales said he met with the ailing communist leader during a brief trip to the Caribbean island. "I had a meeting with Fidel, I found him thin but very lucid, as always a very wise man," Morales said. The 81-year-old revolutionary leader has not appeared in public since he had intestinal surgery in July 2006. Cuban state television said Morales had an "animated meeting" with Fidel Castro for two hours in which they discussed Latin American politics and ties between the two countries. Earlier in the morning, Morales met with Cuban President Raul Castro and discussed the current situation in both countries. (Reuters, ACN, 23/5/08)

May 24: The mother of a dissident Cuban doctor has been reunited with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Argentina after Havana agreed to let her leave the island. The 89-year-old Hilda Morejón -- the mother of renowned brain surgeon Hilda Molina, whom Cuba has prohibited from leaving the communist island -- arrived in Buenos Aires accompanied by her granddaughter-in-law. Sitting in a wheelchair and clutching a rosary, Morejon was surrounded by family members and journalists. ''My great-grandchildren are as lovely as I imagined,'' she said, visibly emotional. She said she planned to rest and seek medical treatment for heart and leg difficulties, and thanked the governments of Argentina and Cuba for allowing her to travel. Molina told an Argentine radio station that she is confident that she, too, will gain permission to travel. Molina worked for Cuba's government-sponsored International Center for Neurological Restoration until 1994, when she resigned after raising ethical questions about embryonic stem cell research. (The Miami Herald, 24/5/08)

May 25: Nigeria and 22 other countries from Africa, Latin America and the Caribeans are to participate in this year’s edition of WEMILERE cultural Festival holding in Havana, Cuba on May 31. According to a statement from the Nigerian embassy in Cuba and made available to newsmen in Lagos, four states – Kwara, Oyo, Rivers and Benue would fly the Nigerian flag at the festival. The statement said that the delegations from Kwara and Oyo states had already arrived in Cuba for the event. The Kwara delegation led by Mrs Helen Popoola, Commissioner for Social development and culture, was received on arrival Nigeria’s new envoy to Cuba, Senator Segun Bamigbetan-Baju. WEMILERE festival is a cultural show that links Africa, Africans in Diaspora, Latin America and the Caribbean nations. (The Tide Online, 25/5/08)

May 26: The European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Assistance, Louis Michel, advocated for the normalization of relations between the European Union and Cuba. According to Granma news daily, Michel, who participated in a debate at the venue of the European Parliament in Brussels, insisted on the need to eliminate the sanctions imposed by Europe on Cuba in 2003 and which are currently suspended. The commissioner recalled that, “on principles”, he has always rejected sanctions and he stressed that there are no examples showing positive results when measures of this kind have been implemented. In June, the European Union will revise its position towards the Caribbean nation as it does periodically. (ACN, 27/5/08)

May 26: Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez met with a visiting Cuban delegation headed by the director of the Foreign Relations Department at the Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist Party (PCC), Fernando Remirez de Estenoz. The PCC delegation concluded a program of activities carried out in the context of the 14th Social Forum of Sao Paulo that took place in Montevideo on May 23-25. According to Granma news daily, the meeting took place in a warm and fraternal atmosphere, in accordance with the excellent relations that exist between the Cuban Revolution and the ruling Uruguayan Frente Amplio. (ACN, 27/5/08)

May 27: Cuba ratified the UNESCO Convention on the protection of underwater heritage. UNESCO’s General Director Koichiro Matsuura received in Paris the documents that ratify the adherence of the Caribbean nation to this accord adopted in 2001 that will allow the protection of its underwater natural richness. This decision by the Cuban government is a very good piece of news, said Matsuura during a ceremony in which he also thanked the Cuban authorities for taking this step. (ACN, 27/5/08)

May 27: Some 4.5 tons of Cuban medical aid arrived in Chengdu City, capital of the Chinese province of Sichuan to help treat the victims of last May 12 earthquake. The donation, consisting of serums and other medications was transferred to the local People´s Hospital “Number One” in Chengdu by members of one of the medical brigades that make up the “Henry Reeves” Cuban Medical internationalist contingent. The Cuban emergency assistance includes the medications plus 35 doctors, nurses and paramedical personnel who were assigned to two hospital wards where they are treating evacuees from the quake hard hit areas, said Cuban surgeon Jose Rodriguez. (ACN, 27/5/08)

May 27: Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro travels to Cuba for an official visit at the invitation of his Cuban counterpart, Felipe Perez Roque. According to Granma news daily, Maduro heads the Venezuelan delegation that will participate in the 12th Meeting of the Cuba-Venezuela Mechanism of Political Consultation. (ACN, 27/5/08)

May 27: Argentine-born revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara returned to Buenos Aires, his defiant expression immortalized in a towering bronze statue. Guevara left the capital as a young doctor in 1953 to travel the continent and join the Cuban Revolution, becoming a political icon plastered on T-shirts and posters worldwide. Now, a 3-ton (3 metric ton), 13-foot (4-meter) bronze replica of his image will tower over a plaza in the town of Rosario, his birthplace, topped with his famed starred beret. But first, the statue toured the streets of Buenos Aires, swinging past his former university and ending at the Obelisk, a symbol of the Argentine capital. "Finally, the city where he studied medicine, which was home to the most important dreams of his youth, sees him arrive again," said Eladio Gonzalez, director of the Ernesto Che Guevara Museum that helped promote the project. (AP, 27/5/08)

May 27: Cuba's Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said the communist island was overcoming US efforts to isolate it, the state press reported. Perez Roque told the National Assembly's international relations commission that Cuba maintained diplomatic relations with 30 of the 32 countries in Latin American and the Caribbean. Worldwide, Cuba had relations with 186 countries, and served as a leader of the Non-Aligned Movement. "There was a time, 40 years back, when only Mexico had relations with Cuba," Perez Roque said. Opposition to the nearly 50-year-old US economic embargo against Cuba was "practically universal," Perez Roque said, adding that 184 nations publicly opposed the measure in 2007. Perez Roque said Cuba was host to some 30,000 students from 120 countries, including 23,000 studying medicine. Additionally, about 30,000 Cuban health workers are completing assignments in more than 70 countries. (Sun Sentinel, 27/5/08)

May 27: Fidel Castro sent a message to Hospital No. 1 in Chengdu, in the Chinese province of Sichuan, stating that they can count on the services of the Cuban medical brigade as long as necessary, reported Granma newspaper. Dr. Jose Rodriguez, who heads the Cuban brigade assisting earthquake victims in Sichuan, delivered the message from the Cuban leader to hospital director Li Yuan Feng. Castro told the hospital authorities that Cuba has more well trained medical personnel eager to help the sister nation of China in the Chengdu region if the Chinese government wishes. The 35-member group of doctors and paramedics arrived to China on May 23. (ACN, 27/5/08)

May 28: With the presence of the two foreign ministers, the 12th Cuba-Venezuela Meeting on the Mechanism for Political Consultation opened at the Cuban Foreign Relations Ministry in Havana. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque stressed on Cuba´s rejection of the international media campaign mounted by Washington against Venezuela and President Hugo Chavez Frias. In the meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro Moro, Perez Roque said the Bolivarian revolution is the clearest example of the positive changes and trends taking place in
Latin America and the Caribbean. Perez Roque referred to some consolidating governments in Latin America, which oppose neo-liberalism and promote social policies and genuine integration among the nations of the region. The Cuban minister pointed out that the results of the meeting with Maduro will contribute to strengthen integration between the two countries, as well as the development of strategic links. (ACN, 29/5/08)

May 28: Cuban political dissident Oswaldo Paya called on the European Union to put pressure on the government of President Raul Castro to release political prisoners on the island. Paya, who won the 2002 Sakharov freedom of thought award, asked the EU in a letter to press Cuba in a “public and sustained manner” for the liberation of political prisoners on the island. The statement was issued by Paya’s outlawed group, the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL). Paya also called for the EU to support his group’s demands favoring legal changes “so that civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights are respected” in Cuba. The EU imposed sanctions on Cuba after 75 dissidents were arrested in a 2003 crackdown. The sanctions were suspended in 2005, and are up for a review in June. (EUBusiness, 29/5/08)

May 28: Guinea Bissau’s National and Higher Education Minister, Alfredo Gomes, met with Cuban ambassador to his country Pedro Doña Santana with whom he talked about future ways to fostering cooperation in the educational sector. During the meeting, both officials reviewed the state of current cooperation links between Cuba and his country. They particularly focused on the application of the Cuban teaching method Yo Sí Puedo (Yes I Can) in Guinea Bissau. The literacy program has allowed more than 1,200 students from different regions of that African nation to learn how to read and write. It is expected to wipe out illiteracy from Guinea Bissau in a three-year term. (ACN, 28/5/08)

May 29: Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim is to start an official visit to Cuba, invited by his counterpart here Felipe Perez Roque, Granma newspaper reported. The visit of the Brazilian official and business delegation will foster ties of friendship and collaboration existing between both countries, and examine other issues of regional and international interest, the daily states. (Prensa Latina, 29/5/08)

May 29: Cuba and Serbia corroborated the good state of their relationship and expressed their will to strengthen them, during the visit of Serbian Secretary of State Radojko Bogojevic in Havana. Bogojevic led a delegation from his country on official visit, as part of an inter-chancellery meeting between the two nations. The Cuban delegation was presided over by First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, reported Granma newspaper. The Serbian delegation was received by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, though the working program also included meetings with Foreign Investment and Cooperation and Foreign Trade ministers. (ACN, 29/5/08)

May 29: President Raul Castro met with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro who was on an official visit to Cuba heading his country’s delegation to the 12th Meeting of the Cuba-Venezuela Mechanism of Political Consultation. According to Granma news daily, during the fraternal meeting, Raul and Maduro exchanged ideas about the current situation in both countries and analyzed the development of the excellent bilateral ties. They also spoke of topics related to the regional and international agenda and the Cuban President ratified Cuba’s solidarity with the people and government of the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela. Also present in the meeting were Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and German Sanchez Otero, ambassador of the Caribbean nation in
Caracas. (ACN, 30/5/08)