Chronicle on Cuba - May 2008

US-Cuba Relations

May 1: US President George W. Bush denounced governments which muzzle the media and imprison journalists, pointing out China as "the world's top jailer for journalists," followed by Cuba. "Just and open societies protect and rely on the freedom of the press," Bush said in a statement marking World Press Freedom Day. "Brutal regimes and others who seek to stifle liberty often do so by closing down private newspapers and radio and television stations. They kidnap, arbitrarily jail, and beat journalists," he said. "The United States condemns the harassment, physical intimidation, persecution, and other abuse that journalists, including bloggers and Internet reporters, have faced in China, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, Venezuela, and Vietnam, as well as the unsolved murders of journalists in Belarus, Lebanon, and Russia." Bush cited Belarus, Myanmar, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe for repressive anti-free speech laws and for often imprisoning media workers. "In 2007, for the ninth consecutive year, China remained the world's top jailer of journalists, followed by Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, and Azerbaijan," he said. [Statement by the President] (AFP, 1/5/08)

May 2: Robert L. Vesco, the fugitive financier who spent most of his life eluding American justice, might even have managed to die on the sly. Mr. Vesco, who was sentenced to a long prison term in Cuba in 1996 and was wanted in the United States for crimes ranging from securities fraud and drug trafficking to political bribery, died more than five months ago, on November 23, from lung cancer, say people close to him. If so, it was never reported publicly by the Cuban authorities, who said that they considered him a “nonissue.” American officials said they knew nothing about his death. “We don’t know that it occurred,” an American official said. Mr. Vesco was wanted in the US for, among other things, bilking some $200 million from credulous investors in the 1970s, making an illegal contribution to Richard M. Nixon’s 1972 presidential campaign and trying to arrange a deal during the Carter administration to let Libya buy American planes in exchange for bribes to United States officials. Mr. Vesco last made the news a decade ago when he was sentenced to prison in Cuba, where he had taken sanctuary, for a financial scheme. (The New York Times, 3/5/08)

May 2: Luis Posada Carriles was honored by 500 fellow Cuban Americans at a sold-out gala. The former CIA operative is wanted in Venezuela on terrorism charges and under a deportation order for illegally entering the United States three years ago. Posada, 80, has mostly kept a low profile since his release from a Texas prison a year ago and a federal judge's dismissal of the only US charges against him -- making false statements to immigration officials. But recent events like the dinner and an exhibition and sale of his paintings last fall show that the man who spent his life trying to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro has returned to the social forefront of Miami’s exile community. "We are coming to the end of a terrible stage. The end of our struggle is near," Posada told the crowd of supporters in evening dress, referring to Castro's failing health. Venezuela's ambassador in Washington, Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, condemned the celebration of Posada as a mockery of justice and evidence of a Bush administration double standard in fighting terrorism. The US government has never given Venezuela a formal answer to its 3-year-old request for extradition of Posada, despite a treaty providing for such cooperation that has been in effect since 1922, the ambassador said. (Los Angeles Times, 7/5/08)

May 5: Fidel Castro said in a column published in the official press that the US decision to revive the 4th Fleet represented an attempt to intimidate Latin America. The article in the Cuban Communist Party daily Granma cited a US Navy announcement that the revived force would operate "in the waters adjoining Central and South America, the Caribbean Sea and its 12 islands, Mexico and the European territories on this side of the Atlantic." Castro, who stepped down as Cuba's president in February and was succeeded by younger brother Raul, noted that the 4th Fleet was created in 1943 to protect the US East Coast and Allied shipping from German U-boats and then disbanded in 1950. "The  decision to re-establish the 4th Fleet was announced in the first week of April, almost a month after Ecuador's territory was attacked with bombs and US technology," Fidel said, referring to Washington ally Colombia's March 1 raid on a clandestine Colombian rebel camp in the neighboring country. "Even worse: this is coming at a time of almost unanimous opposition to the disintegration of Bolivia, advocated by the United States," the 81-year-old Castro said. [Respuesta hemisférica yanqui: La IV Flota de intervención] (EFE, 5/5/08)

May 5: Thomas Shannon, secretary of the attached State for Matters of the Western Hemisphere, of the Department of the State said in an interview in Madrid that it is not clear yet what the intention of the change is in Cuba. To a question of the Spanish newspaper The Country, if the transition had begun in Cuba, Shannon said, “undoubtedly something is happening”. “There is a series of measurements that try to show that the government has the aptitude to promote the change. What is not clear is still what the intention of this change is. Our politics is to promote a transition to the democracy, pacific and Cuban; that is to say, done by the Cubans. But, from our point of view, the way in which one begins a process like that is opening a space for the national dialogue and liberating to the political prisoners.” On the sequestration he answered:“ It is a topic on which many opinions exist. We want to approach to Cuba to help to his transformation in a democratic country, do not want to do it only to improve the relations or only to help a Government in not very well definite moment. We look for something bolder than to allow to the Cuban to buy mobile phones.” (El País, EFE, 5/5/08)

May 6: US President George W. Bush spoke by phone with dissidents in Cuba about the plight of political prisoners on the communist island, opposition leaders said in a press release. Bush spoke with opposition leaders Martha Beatriz Roque, Jose Luis Garcia "Antunez" and Berta Soler, wife of imprisoned dissident Angel Moya. The three dissidents gave the US leader their assessment of the "political, economic and social situation" in Cuba, which is in the throes of change under the leadership of its new president Raul Castro, who succeeded his brother, revolutionary icon Fidel Castro, 81, in February. (AP, 7/5/08)

May 7: In a worldwide survey, a democracy watchdog organization said 90 countries respect a broad array of basic human rights and political freedom while 103 countries fail to some degree to observe standards of liberal democracy. Eight countries were judged by Freedom House, the New York-based organization, to have the most repressive regimes. They were Cuba, Libya, Myanmar, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Two restive territories, Chechnya and Tibet, "whose inhabitants suffer intense repression," the organization said, were placed in the lowest category, as well. (AP, 7/5/08)

May 7: At a press conference to mark the one-year anniversary of Luis Posada Carriles’ release, relatives of bombing victims denounced Posada Carriles' decades-long campaign against the Castro government and accused the Bush administration of protecting him. "As a nation, Cuba has not had a moment's rest in over half a century, shaken by the constant fear of enduring new acts of terrorism," they said in a statement read at the International Press Center in Havana. "The monster, responsible for the deaths of citizens in three different continents, is named Luis Posada Carriles. On May 8th, it will be a year since he was set free in the United States, a country that claims to be the leader of a crusade against terrorism," they said. They repeated calls for his extradition to Venezuela, where he is a wanted for trial on the 1976 plane bombing. Posada Carriles was honored at a Miami event organized by Cuban American supporters who, according to news reports, greeted him with handshakes and kisses. (Reuters, 8/5/08)

May 7: US President George W. Bush urged communist Cuba to free political prisoners and dismissed as "cosmetic" social and economic changes Raul Castro has made since becoming president. "Until there is a change of heart, and a change of compassion, and a change of how the Cuban government treats its people, there is no change at all," Bush said in a speech to officials from North and South America. "The regime has made empty gestures at reform, but Cuba is still ruled by the same group that has oppressed the Cuban people for almost half a century. "If Cuba wants to join the community of civilized nations, then Cuban rulers must begin a process of peaceful and democratic change and the first step must be the release of all political prisoners," Bush said. "This is the policy of the United States and it must not change until the people of Cuba are free," he told the 38th Washington Conference of the Americas. [President Bush at the Council of the Americas] (AFP, 8/5/08)

May 7: The government of Cuba must remove the "fear factor" from political life by reining in the secret police, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. “The Cuban regime must show that it has got the confidence in itself and in its people to stop using the secret police to control political discourse," Rice said in a speech to officials from North and South America in Washington. "The regime must and should remove the fear factor from Cuba's political life," Rice said at the conference of the Americas. Rice's remarks followed those at the same conference by President George W. Bush who slammed social and economic changes adopted by Raul Castro's communist government. (AFP, 7/5/08)

May 7: An Alabama House committee has approved a resolution urging President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Congress to open up travel between the United States and Cuba. The resolution by the House Tourism and Travel Committee specifically asks the president to allow travel between Alabama and Cuba. Committee chairman Representative Johnny Mack Morrow (Democrat- Red Bay), said allowing travel to the communist island off the southern coast of Florida would mean millions in tourism dollars for Alabama. State Agriculture Secretary Ron Sparks said much of the benefit would come from cruise ships traveling between Havana and Mobile. (AP, 7/5/08)

May 7: The Committee of the Families of the Victims of the Bombing of the Cubana Airliner off the coast of Barbados demanded from the US government to prosecute terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, intellectual author of the crime that killed 73 innocent people in 1976. Margarita Gonzalez, who lost a relative on the Cubana bombing read a statement on behalf of the Committee demanding the prosecution of Posada Carriles who commemorates one year of his release from a US jail. “The government of the United States fails to meet the treaties for the struggle against terrorism it has signed by failing to try Luis Posada Carriles as terrorist”, the statement said. “The government of the United States violates the extradition treaty it signed with Venezuela in 1922 by ignoring the request of the sister nation of Venezuela to try this notorious terrorist and fugitive from justice in Venezuela.” “There is no shortage of moral reasons to demand the trial of the monster who ended the lives of our relatives”. (Radio Habana Cuba, 7/5/08)

May 7: Joining a series of US cabinet-level speakers and President Bush, US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez called for passage of the US-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement and improvements in Cuba’s human rights at our annual Washington Conference on the Americas. Secretary Gutierrez drew attention to the “series of tactical, superficial changes” taken by the Castro regime since January. Cubans may now have the option to buy a cell phone, rent a car, and stay in hotels previously reserved exclusively for foreigners, but none of these changes will affect peoples’ everyday lives. Cell phones had been available on the black market for many years. With legalization, the main difference is that people are now required to register cell phones with the government. Both the car and hotel provisions may seem like notable advancements; however, with the average Cuban earning $17 per month, neither item will be within economic reach. Exhibiting the sad state of freedom on the island, Castro has announced that the purchase of ovens and toasters—basic household items—will finally be permitted in 2010. These incremental, sad reforms have generated much attention by the outside world at a time when the real media focus should be on the plight of political prisoners. To raise awareness of Cuban prisoners, Secretary Gutierrez announced that the White House will host an event on May 21, 2008, to “shine a spotlight” on political prisoners in Cuba. Joining the White House, governments and non-governmental organizations across the world will host similar events on that day. (COA Press Release, 7/5/08)

May 8: In a meeting with the President of Panama Martin Torrijos, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican-Florida) reaffirmed the two country's strong bilateral ties but raised concerns about Chinese influence in Panama, his disturbing statements regarding the Castro regime, and Panama' record of voting against Israel in the United Nations General Assembly. "The vitality and promise of Panama's democracy and its growing economy serve as a bulwark against the forces of chaos and instability in the region. I am gravely concerned about President Torrijos  recent visit to Cuba. I cannot fathom how, as a democratically-elected leader, he would seek to expand relations with the Cuban communist dictatorship. President Torrijos should, instead, offer his support to and strengthen Panama' ties with Cuba' human rights dissidents and peaceful pro-democracy opposition. I hope he will reconsider his recent statements”, said Ros-Lehtinen. (US News Service, 8/5/08)

May 8: A Miami-Dade judge has awarded $94.6 million in damages to the family of Aldo Vera Sr., a former senior Havana police official murdered in Puerto Rico in 1976, allegedly by Cuban government agents. Circuit Court Judge Robert N. Scola, Jr. signed an order awarding the judgment to the Vera family -- the latest wrongful death claim against the Cuban government in a South Florida courtroom. Though large, the amount pales in comparison with the almost $253 million award given by a Miami-Dade jury April 4 to the family of Rafael del Pino Siero, a former Fidel Castro friend who died in a Cuban prison in 1977. Vera was a founding member of The Fourth Republic, an anti-Castro movement. (The Miami Herald, 11/5/08)

May 10: Seventy-nine Cuban refugees, stopped at sea in four incidents, were sent back to Bahia de Cabañas, Cuba, aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Key Biscayne, the Coast Guard reported. On May 7, a US Customs and Border Protection air crew saw 58 Cuban refugees on two, speedboats traveling in tandem about 40 miles southeast of Miami. Also that same day, the Coast Guard Cutter Kodiak Island stopped 18 Cubans on a rustic vessel. The day before, an aircraft crew saw another speedboat without its lights on about 80 miles southwest of Key West. The Coast Guard said it stopped the boat with six Cuban refugees and two suspected smugglers aboard. (Sun Sentinel, 11/5/08)

May 11: One of the four Cuban women who won gold medals at the Pan American Judo Championships in Miami left the contingent, according to Team USA President Jose Rodriguez. Yurisel Laborde, a gold-medal winner at the Pan American Championships and a gold-medal favorite in the Beijing Olympics this summer, left the Cuban delegation and her whereabouts were not publicly known, according to a judo official. It's unclear if she will rejoin team mates who are scheduled to fly back to Havana on May 12. The departure of the athlete caused a swirl of speculation about her intentions, especially after the visiting Cuban team had performed so well during the competition. The judo official said Laborde, 28, packed her bags and left a note for her team mates explaining her actions. The source would not say what her intentions were, but noted that the athlete still could rejoin the team for its scheduled departure to Havana at 2 p.m. May 12. (The Miami Herald, 12/5/08)

May 12: A recent New York State sponsored-agricultural trade mission to Cuba was a success, according to those who participated in it. Among the farmers from the Hudson Valley who participated was Lloyd Zimmerman of Black Horse Farm in Coxsackie. Since the US is only allowed to sell agricultural products to Cuba, Zimmerman said the government officials were very much interested in buying Hudson Valley apples, beans, corn, grains and dairy products.  And, because of the perishable nature of the products, they would need to be delivered a.s.a.p. Zimmerman said. (MidHudson Radio, 12/5/08)

May 12: The US government closed several websites by a British resident in Spain, owner of a travel agency, for their trade links with Cuba, Publico daily revealed in Madrid. The measures were applied against Steve Marshall, Tenerife resident since 1986, and manager of several websites on Cuban culture and tourism. According to the report, in October Washington ordered the US Web hosting company eNom to close those sites, based on its blockade laws imposed for nearly 50 years against Cuba. The text added the US Treasury Department informed that Marshall's addresses on the Internet include "mostly tourism guides," that were included on a black list for their trade links with Cuba. Marshall protested at European Union organizations, which claimed "they can do nothing," though he is a British citizen residing in European territory who deals with European clients. (Prensa Latina, 12/5/08)

May 12: Cuba dismissed a videoconference between President Bush and three key dissidents as a stunt to bolster the US leader's low approval ratings, claiming there would be no political opposition on the island without funding from Washington. The Communist Party newspaper Granma called the May 6 conversation between Bush, two Cuban activists and the wife of a noted political prisoner, ''a show to bolster the image of a dead man who cannot be resurrected.'' ''Time is running out for Bush while Cuba reaffirms its socialist course,'' said the article. The conversation between a sitting US president and Cuban opposition leaders on the island was unprecedented and only possible because the dissidents gathered at the offices of the US Interests Section in Havana to participate. But it took Cuba's government six full days to respond formally, saying in the article that ''the conversation was a palpable confirmation of the congenital servility of the counterrevolution.'' It called Michael Parmly, head of the interests section, which the US maintains in Havana instead of an embassy, ''an imperial sergeant,'' and said the dissidents used the call to ask Bush for money. ''Without dollars there is no counterrevolution,'' it said. (AP, 12/5/08)

May 12: The Cuban contingent that competed in the Pan American Judo Championships left Miami for Havana by way of Panama City without gold-medal-winning judoka Yurisel Laborde, who left the group the day before. ''No, she never showed up last night,'' USA Judo president Jose Rodriguez said while standing in line at Miami International Airport with members of Team Cuba. Cuba's women's coach Ronaldo Veitia Valdivie, Laborde's coach for 16 years, told the press: ``She wasn't thinking it through. You know how youth is.'' Veitia Valdivie also offered a critique of the media. ''You are giving more importance to one deception than all of the accomplishments of all of the Cuban team,'' Veitia Valdivie told the press. Cuba dominated the competition, earning 15 medals and qualifying Olympic slots in every weight class. (AP, 12/5/08)

May 14: The state of Texas will send a trade delegation to Cuba in late May, the first official visit in more than 45 years and one that organizers hope will pave the way for broader trade in the years to come. Led by Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, the 24-member delegation will include representatives from all sectors of Texas agriculture, including grain, cotton, beans, rice and cattle. The trip is scheduled for May 27-31, organizers said. Trade prospects include airlines, oil, technology and tourism, sectors now banned under the nearly 50-year US trade embargo of Cuba. "Texas and Cuba used to have very strong commercial ties before the embargo," said Cynthia Thomas, president of Dallas-based Tri Dimensions Strategies, a consulting firm. "This trip is intended to lay the foundation for renewing strong ties between our two economies”. (The Dallas Morning News, 14/5/08)

May 14: "Latin America is not Washington's to lose; nor is it Washington's to save," finds a Council for Foreign Relations-sponsored Independent Task Force. "US policy can no longer be based on the assumption that the United States is the most important outside actor in Latin America. If there was an era of US hegemony in Latin America, it is over," the Task Force concludes. However, "Washington's basic policy framework, however, has not changed sufficiently to reflect the new reality." The Task Force recommends the opening of informal and formal channels of communication with Cuba. "The United States should initiate a series of steps, with the aim of lifting of the embargo against Cuba," says the report. [CFR Report] (CFR Press Release, 14/5/08)

May 15: Democrat Barack Obama is slated to address the prominent Cuban American National Foundation on May 23, setting up a near-collision over foreign policy with Republican John McCain, who is delivering a major speech on Cuba three days earlier. Their back-to-back appearances in Miami will offer one of the sharpest contrasts of the fledgling general election campaign: Obama favors pursuing democratic reforms by talking to the Cuban government and allowing Cuban Americans to freely travel and send money to the island. McCain defends the Bush administration's hard-line stance aimed at debilitating the communist regime. ''He's looking forward to making the case in person to Florida voters that they will have a clear choice between change in Washington and McCain's commitment to continuing George Bush's policies,'' said Obama spokesman Josh Earnest. ''I don't know how popular Obama will be when he's advocating unconditionally sitting down with the communist government of Cuba before they make necessary changes and hold free and fair elections,'' McCain spokesman Jeff Sadosky said. (The Miami Herald, 15/5/08)

May 15: The top US diplomat in Cuba, Michael Parmly, will be leaving his post and will be replaced by a top official at the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, the Department confirmed. Jonathan D. Farrar, now acting assistant secretary at the bureau, has broad experience in Latin America, with previous postings at the US embassies in Mexico, Belize, Paraguay and Uruguay. State Department spokeswoman Heidi Bronke confirmed Farrar will succeed Parmly this summer. There was no immediate word on Parmly's next assignment after completing a normal three-year posting in Havana. Parmly was assigned to head the US Interests Section in Havana in 2005, replacing James Cason. (The Miami Herald, 15/5/08)

May 16: American Civil Liberties Union affiliates in three states joined a lawsuit seeking an end to Bush administration travel restrictions, which limit the ability of Cuban exiles to visit relatives on the island. Under restrictions imposed in 2004, citizens and residents who have close relatives in Cuba can only travel to the island for family visits once every three years instead of once a year as before. Restrictions make no exceptions even for family emergencies. Travel to Cuba has become a campaign issue as Democratic congressional candidates call for lifting the restrictions. The three South Florida Republican incumbents favor the tightened rules. In early March, a group of Cuban Americans living in Vermont sued the federal government over the restrictions. (The Miami Herald, 17/5/08)

May 18: Nearly four decades after allegedly killing a New Mexico state trooper and fleeing to Cuba, Charlie Hill lives on the outskirts of Havana in a tiny apartment with a backed-up toilet. He gets by on a ration card and a $10US monthly state stipend. The 58-year-old grandfather and avowed black separatist listens to South Florida AM radio stations that reach across the straits for news and sports scores. Hill is among 70 fugitives from American justice who live as ordinary citizens in Cuba, where the revolutionary government welcomed many as militants and political activists who faced persecution in the United States. Cuba's government has refused almost all requests for their return but, in 2006, said "it would no longer provide safe haven to new US fugitives entering Cuba," according to the State Department. Still, time, not the law, is catching up with the US fugitives. One of the most notorious was Robert Vesco, an American businessman investigated in the 1970s for stealing more than $200 million from a Swiss mutual fund company. American fugitives in Cuba include black separatists, Black Panthers and Puerto Rican independence militants. (Sun Sentinel, 18/5/08)

May 18: The United States, pushing a new initiative, is seeking to spotlight political prisoners' plight in communist Cuba, US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said. "These are people who in many cases have just disagreed with the regime (…) And (…) the conditions -- they're thrown in dungeons and in some cases, the little compartments where they can't stand up," the Cuban-born US official told CNN, referring to Cuban political prisoners now estimated around 270. "Invariably, they get sick almost immediately and they're denied medical attention. This is brutality at its worst," Gutierrez said, explaining how Washington was observing May 21 as International Day of Solidarity with Cuba. Asked about US economic sanctions that have not undone communist rule in Cuba in more than five decades, Gutierrez, who immigrated with his family as a boy, said: "there is some disagreement about the policy, the embargo; but at least we can all agree on human rights and the plight of political prisoners." (AFP, 18/5/08)

May 18: Cuba has documented proof that US officials on the island are delivering private funds to political dissidents in order to undermine the communist government, Cuban officials said. Although Cuba has accused US officials of funneling federal funds to dissidents before -- a charge Washington has repeatedly denied – this accusation is the first to suggest American diplomats are acting as couriers to deliver privately donated cash, outside Washington's auditing oversight. Cuban Foreign Ministry and State Security officials made the accusation in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of a detailed accusation they plan to outline at a news conference on official TV. They gave no further details. An official from the US Interests Section in Havana declined to comment and said authorities at the American mission were unlikely to respond until they had seen a detailed denunciation. (AP, 18/5/08)

May 19: Cuba accused the United States' top diplomat in Havana of ferrying money from a private anti-Castro exile group in Miami to a dissident in the Cuban capital. Officials disclosed e-mails they said showed Michael Parmly, head of the US Interests Section in Havana, acting as a go-between for at least one payment from a group headed by Santiago Alvarez, a Cuban American jailed in the United States on weapons charges, to Cuban dissident Martha Beatriz Roque. Parmly was "a facilitator of payments, of contacts and remittances from a terrorist based in Miami to counter-revolutionaries in Cuba," Josefina Vidal of the Cuban Foreign Ministry said at a news conference. She described his behavior as "scandalous" and called for the US government to investigate illegal activities at the Interests Section. A diplomat at the Interests Section said, "It is long-standing US policy to provide humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people, specifically to provide assistance to families of political prisoners who are treated poorly by their own government. "This assistance has no political purpose, but is intended to address the day-to-day needs of families who are struggling to survive in the current system," the diplomat said. (Reuters, 19/5/08)

May 19: State security surveillance video showed the dissident accused of taking money from the top US diplomat in Havana cutting short a cell phone conversation because credit on her phone was low. "I'm running out of money on this because I don't have money to buy another [phone] card," dissident Martha Beatriz Roque was telling a contact at the US Interests Section. Her phone credit may have been running out but Cuban officials said Roque was receiving $1,500 a month from Fundacion Rescate Juridico, a non profit exile group created by Santiago Alvarez, 66, an exile militant jailed in the United States on weapons charges. Roque did have time to tell the diplomat on the line that CNN had showed up to cover a small demonstration she was staging outside the Justice Ministry. Cuban officials said outgoing Interests Section chief Michael Parmly delivered money from the Miami-based group to Roque and other dissidents. Alvarez is a benefactor and close associate of reputed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles. Roque, labelled an American mercenary by Cuba, said she would wait until after the instalment of a state television program aimed at proving her complicity with the United States. "I'm going to wait until the end of this soap opera to comment," she said. (Sun Sentinel, 19/5/08)

May 19: The US Customs and Border Protection said that the Coast Guard Cutter Key Biscayne repatriated more than 70 Cuban migrants to Bahia de Cabanas, Cuba who were interdicted in two separate events “as a result of CBP Air and Marine efforts”. (United States News Service, 19/5/08)

May 20: Two decades after Congress established the US Office of Cuba Broadcasting, lawmakers and experts still can't seem to agree on the program's mission. Should its TV and Radio Marti networks send the communist island unbiased news about Cuba and the outside world? Or should their stories only support the US government's policy toward Cuba, as they mostly do now? The dispute is part of a larger debate over the US government's foreign broadcasts, but nowhere is it more noticeable than with “the Martis”. The taxpayer-funded Cuba broadcasts, which receive $34 million annually, belong to a network that includes the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Alhurra, among others. Most are run by veterans of top media outlets who are quick to defend their journalistic principles. (AP, 20/5/08)

May 20: Republican John McCain, speaking in Miami to a raucous crowd on Cuba's independence day, hammered Democrat Barack Obama for saying he would meet with President Raul Castro and called Obama a "tool of organized labor" for opposing a Latin American trade deal. For a second day, McCain attacked Obama for saying, in a debate last year, that as president he would meet with the leaders of Cuba, Iran and Venezuela without preconditions. McCain said “ it's dangerous to American national security if you sit down and give respect and prestige to leaders of countries that are bent on your destruction or the destruction of other countries. I won't do it, my friends." A woman in the audience applauded McCain's position: "For that, believe me, Florida will be yours," Ninoska Perez Castellon told McCain. She is a radio commentator for the anti-Castro station Radio Mambi. Dozens of people at a town-hall style forum booed as McCain raised the notion of a meeting with Castro, and they gave McCain a standing ovation when he said that, as president, he would pressure Castro to release political prisoners unconditionally, schedule internationally monitored elections, and legalize political parties, unions and free media. McCain used his trip to Florida to mark Cuban independence day, May 20, saying, "Let us take a moment to pray that Cubans everywhere can one day soon enjoy the liberty for which their forefathers fought." (AP, 20/5/08)

May 20: In an interview with CNN, Barack Obama, the front-runner in the Democratic presidential race and potentially McCain's rival in the general election, said McCain had mischaracterized his position on Cuba. "I have never said that I was prepared to immediately normalize relations with Cuba," Obama said. "The only person who has flip-flopped on this issue is John McCain, who in 2000 said that he would be prepared to start normalizing relations even if a whole host of steps have not been taken. That is a reversal from the position he is taking now." Obama said that his policy, which would loosen restrictions on remittances from Cubans living in the United States to relatives on the island, and on their travel between the United States and Cuba, would be "a show of good faith" that would help move the US-Cuba relationship "in the direction of normalization." "And what I have also said is that I will be willing to engage in direct talks with Cuba," said Obama. "Now, I know that John McCain likes to characterize this as me immediately having Raul Castro over for tea. What I've said is that we would set a series of meetings with low level diplomats (…) John McCain keeps on making these statements that simply aren't based on anything I've said." (CNN, 21/5/08)

May 21: The United States will allow Americans to send mobile phones to relatives in Cuba under a change in policy that President Bush announced. Bush said he is making the change since President Raúl Castro "is allowing Cubans to own mobile phones for the first time." "If he is serious about his so-called reforms, he will allow these phones to reach the Cuban people," Bush said. Bush urged the Cuban government to loosen restrictions further, saying if Cubans can be allowed to own mobile phones, "they should be trusted to speak freely in public." They should be allowed to watch uncensored movies and have free access to the Internet, he said. And he called for the government to implement major free-market reforms. Bush marked what the White House called a Day of Solidarity with the Cuban People, which the president said he hopes will be an annual event. [President Bush’s address at the White House] (CNN, 21/5/08)

May 21: President Bush announced that people living in the United States soon will be allowed to send cell phones to Cubans on the island nation — a move that he hopes will push the communist regime to increase freedom of expression for Cuban citizens. Dan Fisk, National Security Council senior director for Western hemisphere affairs, emphasized that the new policy, which is to take effect in a few weeks, is not a loosening of the US economic embargo against Cuba but a change in US regulations that will allow cell phones to be in gift parcels that people living in this country can send to Cubans. American cell phones with service contracts from the United States work on some parts of the island, but service is not always reliable and depends on the phones' specifications. Fisk said US cell phones work in Cuba, and those living in the United States can also pay for the US cell service attached to the phones they send. Senator Mel Martinez, Republican of Florida, was doubtful that the regime would accept Mr. Bush’s challenge. “I don’t think so,” Mr. Martinez said. “I don’t think they’re sincere; I hope they prove me wrong.” Mr. Martinez described Mr. Bush’s initiative as “incremental,” though he added that if it works, the advent of easier communications could be a tipping point toward greater freedom for people on the island. “This is what Cuba is waiting for — that moment, that spark, that one thing that creates a moment of change,” the senator said. (AP, The New York Times, 22/5/08)

May 21: A US trade embargo in place 46 years against Cuba has been successful, US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said, even though the island's communist government remains. Gutierrez said the embargo, imposed in 1962 to undermine the government of Fidel Castro, deprived Cuban leaders of resources they would have used for "ill-focused goals." "The purpose of the embargo is to deny resources to a regime who is clearly anti-American, who doesn't like our country, and in that regard the embargo has been extremely successful," Gutierrez said in a phone interview from Washington. He spoke to the press after President George W. Bush announced the United States would let its citizens send cell phones to Cubans, in a small crack in the embargo that appeared to be a political tit-for-tat for recent Cuban reforms. But Gutierrez said Bush was opposed to anything that would weaken the embargo. "The policy in Cuba is designed to create changes, and anything that strengthens the regime is something (Bush) is not in favor of," he said. "We think what really needs to happen in Cuba is for that system to change," said Gutierrez, who is a Cuban-American. (Reuters, 21/5/08)

May 21: The Cuban embassy in Spain pointed a finger at the Spanish daily ABC for “serving the interests of the United States in its policy against Cuba.” In a press release issued in Madrid, the Cuban diplomatic mission pointed out the publication in the Spanish paper of an article written by the US ambassador to Spain, Eduardo Aguirre. According to the Cuban statement, the publication came out at the time when Cuba released new documentary evidence of Washington's interfering actions in Cuba that are led by the head of the US Interest Section in Havana. (ACN, 21/5/08)

May 21: Cuba presented on state television what officials said was "smoking-gun" evidence that the island's top American diplomat had on at least three occasions delivered thousands of dollars in cash from an imprisoned Miami exile to dissident Martha Beatriz Roque. The case against Marta Beatriz Roque and Michael Parmly, who heads the US Interests Section in Havana, and dissident Marta Beatriz Roque was televised in two-hour installments over three nights on the "Mesa Redonda" news program. The government cited emails, surveillance video and intercepted phone conversations involving Parmly, Roque and others. The diplomat allegedly made three cash pickups on his way through Miami from Roque's nephew, most recently in March. Parmly, who is scheduled to end his assignment in Cuba in March, left for the United States before the accusations were made. He is to return to the Cuban capital on May 22. Cuba accused Parmly of serving as a mule to illegally ferry private funds intended for subversive activities on the socialist island. The money came from a foundation run by Santiago Alvarez, a businessman and anti-Castro militant convicted of weapons possession and other charges. Alvarez also is the benefactor of reputed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles. (Sun Sentinel, 21/5/08)

May 23: Cuba has challenged the US to respond to accusations that its top diplomat on the island passed funds to dissidents. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque repeated allegations that top US envoy Michael Parmly had channelled funds from Miami-based exiles. The US state department said that it had done nothing illegal. Mr Roque also dismissed President George Bush's announcement that US residents would be able to send mobile phones to relatives in Cuba. Cuba has accused Mr Parmly of passing money to leading dissident Martha Beatriz Roque from an exile it accuses of plotting an attempted bombing campaign. Speaking at a press conference in Havana, Mr Perez Roque said that evidence including videos and emails proved that Mr Parmly and others at the US Interests Section in Havana had broken laws in both countries. He said the US had directed actions by what he called mercenary elements aimed at destabilising the country. "We hope the United States (…) takes the pertinent measures to correct the conduct of its diplomats in Cuba," he said. (BBC, 23/5/08)

May 23: Senator Barack Obama told Florida's Cuban American community that his Cuba policy would be based on "libertad" and freedom for the island nation's people. "My policy toward Cuba will be guided by one word: 'libertad,' " he said, using the Spanish word for liberty at an event celebrating Cuban Independence Day in Miami, organized by the Cuban American National Foundation. In a 30-minute speech, interrupted several times by applause, Obama said that if elected president he would immediately lift the bans on family travel to Cuba and the limits on how much money people can send to their relatives in the communist nation. “Don’t be confused about this. I will maintain the embargo,” Mr. Obama said. “It provides us with the leverage to present the regime with a clear choice: If you take significant steps toward democracy, beginning with the freeing of all political prisoners, we will take steps to begin normalizing relations.” "The road to freedom for all Cubans must begin with justice for Cuba's political prisoners, the right of free speech, a free press, freedom of assembly, and it must lead to elections that are free and fair," Obama said. "That is my commitment." "I won't stand for this injustice; you will not stand for this injustice, and together we will stand up for freedom in Cuba. That will be my commitment as president of the United States of America," he said. Obama also said the policy for Cuba and the rest of Latin America would be guided by "the simple principle that what's good for the people of the Americas, is good for the United States." "After eight years of the failed policies of the past, we need new leadership for the future," he said. "After decades of pressing for top-down reform, we need an agenda that advances democracy, security and opportunity from the bottom up." [Address by Barack Obama] (CNN, BBC, 23/5/08)

May 23: A group of Cuban dissidents has backed a call by the US presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, for direct talks with the new Cuban President, Raul Castro. The Ladies in White, made up of female relatives of Cuban political prisoners, sent an open letter to Mr Obama writing of their hope that his policies may help free their husbands and sons. "We have great hope that you can contribute to the immediate, unconditional liberation of the 55 who are still in horrible prison conditions, with serious health problems," the group wrote to Obama. One of the founders of the Ladies in White, Miriam Leiva, said that representatives of the group living outside Cuba traveled to Miami to deliver the letter, and spoke with Obama for a few minutes."This has nothing to do with the presidential race or support for one candidate or another," she said. "We are not political. The only thing we hope for is the liberation of our prisoners and improved well-being for the Cuban people." Leiva, and her recently freed dissident husband, Oscar Chepe, also wrote an open letter to Barak Obama. They applauded his offer to allow Cuban Americans to freely visit relatives in Cuba. They also wrote that a more creative policy could help the transition towards democracy and that the current confrontation is used by the authorities in Havana to justify their repression. (BBC, 25/5/08)

May 24: The US diplomatic mission in Cuba called on the island's communist government to use diplomatic channels rather than news conferences to criticize American officials. The US government will not respond to Cuban charges that its top diplomat funneled money to dissidents on the island until Cuba files a formal complaint, according to a statement from the US Interests Section, America's de facto embassy in Havana. Cuba has released e-mails, letters, videos and audio-tapes it claims prove that Michael Parmly, America's top diplomat in Havana, carried funds to activist Martha Beatriz Roque, who allegedly passed them on to other dissidents. Parmly has declined to comment on the charges, despite demands by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque. The US government acknowledges it provides ''humanitarian assistance'' to dissidents in Cuba, but has not said specifically whether Parmly hand-carried cash from a Miami-based group that the communist government calls a terrorist organization. (The Miami Herald, 24/5/08)

May 24: Cuba has the right to defend itself from the nearly 50-year US policy of terrorism against this country, assured National Assembly of the Peoples Power President Ricardo Alarcon. At the closing of the 4th International Meeting of Justice and Law, at Havana's International Conventions Center, Alarcon explained the importance of the mission of the five Cubans now imprisoned in the US since 1998, Rene Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino and Antonio Guerrero. Alarcon said that during the trial the US Attorney General's Office never used the evidence and allowed the orchestration of a media drive against The Five, as they are known world wide. The Cuban Parliament chairman also lashed at the double standard of the US anti-terror drive, while many innocent people die in wars waged by its troops. (ACN, 24/5/08)

May 24: The Associated Press opened an exhibit of historic and current photojournalism, to be followed by a three-day workshop for promising local photographers. The three-month exhibition was mounted at the San Francisco Convent in Old Havana, across a plaza from the AP's Cuba bureau. A parallel workshop for 16 Cuban students and working photographers aimed to foster quality news photography on the island. The exhibit features dozens of historic images from AP's photo archive, focusing on coverage of conflicts in places such as Vietnam, Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. It also includes standout images from Latin America. (AP, 27/5/08)

May 25: Campaigning in the Clinton-friendly commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Hillary Clinton waded into choppier political waters — chastising Cuba for failing to institute democratic reforms and pledging that, as president, she would not meet with its leaders until it did so. “I think we must see evidence of reform before we allow the current governor of Cuba to benefit from the prestige and power of a presidential meeting,” she told a group of Cuban expatriates at Casa Cuba in Carolina. “They must show their good faith and we will work with them if they do.” Clinton called for large scale progress to justify large scale talks. “We have seen, since Raul Castro formally took power, some small measures that may improve the lives of people in Cuba,” she said. “These first steps, however, are minor compared with the giant leaps that must be taken in order to achieve genuine political reform in Cuba.” “I would call on the new leadership in Cuba to take immediate action to demonstrate its good faith and understanding. Release political prisoners, permit free assembly, and host open and competitive elections like you have right here in Puerto Rico,” she said — vowing to work for “a free, open, democratic Cuba.” (Fox News, 25/5/08)

May 26: Louis Broussard of Beaumont has a personal reason he wants to see his Sunset rice brand back in Cuba. The company started by his great-great-grandfather in 1892 was once a dominant force there. Another Texan, Frank Walker of McKinney, wants to sell desserts and perhaps sausage to Cuba. Both will be part of the first official Texas delegation to visit Cuba in more than four decades. The group headed by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples will arrive on May 27 in Havana for a four-day agricultural trade mission. "I've been offered advice to proceed with extreme caution from various individuals in Texas," Mr. Staples said. "But it's a new day, and any trade that involves a basic human need such as food can only lead to positive results." Several members of the delegation said it's time to lift the 46-year-old US trade embargo of Cuba, which they said is a throwback policy that impedes trade between neighboring countries with historic ties. "It's time to move forward," said Mr. Walker, 68, president of Walker Ltd., a McKinney company that represents food manufacturers. "You can get more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. We haven't had any honey with nine, 10 presidents," he said, referring to the eight US presidents since John F. Kennedy who followed his policy aimed at isolating communist Cuba, just 90 miles off the Florida coast. (The Dallas Morning News, 27/5/08)

May 26: Former President Fidel Castro said Senator Barack Obama's plan to maintain Washington's trade embargo against Cuba will cause hunger and suffering on the island. In a column published by government-run newspapers, Castro said Obama was "the most-advanced candidate in the presidential race," but noted that he has not dared to call for altering US policy toward Cuba. "Obama's speech can be translated as a formula for hunger for the country," Castro wrote, referring to Obama's remarks to the influential Cuban American National Foundation in Miami. Obama said he would maintain the nearly fifty-year-old trade sanctions against Cuba as leverage to push for democratic change on the island. But he also vowed to ease restrictions on Cuban Americans traveling to Cuba and sending money to relatives. He repeated his willingness to meet with Raul Castro. Fidel Castro said Obama's proposals for letting well-off Cuban Americans help poorer relatives on the island amounted to "propaganda for consumerism and a way of life that is unsustainable." He complained that Obama's description of Cuba as "undemocratic" and "lacking in respect for liberty and human rights" was the same argument previous US administrations "have used to justify their crimes against our homeland." Obama's calls for direct talks with Cuban leaders differ sharply from a more hardline policy favored by current President Bush and Republican presidential candidate John McCain, whom Castro also has criticized. (AP, 26/5/08)

May 27: The leader of the state's largest farm organization will join Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples on a historic trip to Cuba. The country has not been visited by state of Texas-elected officials since the United States imposed an embargo against Cuba in 1962. Kenneth Dierschke, Texas Farm Bureau president, of San Angelo, Staples and 23 others representing different facets of the state's agricultural industry are part of a Texas trade delegation to the island nation. The visit is taking place May 27 through May 31. It aims to expand Texas export opportunities to Cuba. (The Farmer Stockman, 27/5/08)

May 27: The Texas Department of Agriculture is leading a trade delegation to Cuba, the state’s first official trade mission to the socialist-ruled island in more than 46 years. At a reception for their Cuban hosts at the stately Hotel Nacional, Texas delegates described the Cuban buyers as tough and astute. “They know the market, and they’re smart,” one delegate said. “They’re buying food for 11 million people.” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples reiterated that he wants to avoid politics on this trip. “This is a wonderful opportunity for us in Texas,” he said. “I hope this is the first of many, many trips.” (The Dallas Morning News, 28/5/08)

May 28: Ramon Labañino, one of the five Cubans imprisoned in the United States, has been transferred from a prison in Texas to the McCreary Federal Prison in Kentucky as part of a relocation of prisoners at the Texas facility, an organization demanding his release informed. Labañino has been prevented from seeing his wife and three daughters during the last two years. According to Granma newspaper, the Free the Five Committee issued a press release stating that Labañino's eldest daughter Aili was granted a US visa in January, but when she arrived to the Beaumont Prison in Texas, a lockdown was ordered and she could not see her father. Ramon Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez have been held in US prisons since September 12, 1998, with sentences ranging from 15 years to double life. (ACN, 28/5/08)

May 29: New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson defended Barack Obama's willingness to talk with the leaders of Cuba and Venezuela, saying such openness would encourage democratic reforms. Richardson also endorsed Obama's willingness to ease the decades old US embargo on Cuba, where Raul Castro has made several overtures to the United States since becoming president. "His readiness to have a dialogue with Cuba and Venezuela, I just think this could mean a new era for the US-Latin America relationship," Richardson said in a press interview. Obama has said he would meet Castro without preconditions, but last week added that he would do so "only when we have an opportunity to advance the interests of the United States and to advance the cause of freedom for the Cuban people." (AP, 29/5/08)

May 31: The four-day visit of a Texan business delegation to Cuba comes to an end. John Chumbley of the North Texas town of Dorchester, and the head of Dorchester Grain Co., joined the 24-member Texas delegation on a four-day trade mission to Cuba. "My name's John," he told strangers, his greeting flavored with a not-so-gentle twang. "I'm from Texas. How is your day going?" When told that his Cuban hosts may not have understood his words, the head of Dorchester Grain Co. replied: "That's OK. Everyone understands a friendly smile." Nearing the end of their trip, members of the delegation were upbeat, saying that the Cubans were serious about doing more business with Texas producers and that contacts made now will pay dividends down the road – regardless of whether the trip leads to immediate deals. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, the leader of the delegation, said that possible deals were in the works much earlier than expected. "Thus far, the trip has exceeded our expectations and our goals," he said. "The negotiations have moved beyond the abstract into concrete terms." He added: "They've been very cordial. I sense a sincere desire to do business with Texans." It's been more than 45 years since the last official Texas visit to Cuba, but the two sides quickly found common ground, reaffirming existing trade relations and laying the foundation for expanded ties. (The Dallas Morning News, 31/5/08)

May 31: A little league team from Vermont and New Hampshire plan to travel to Cuba to play baseball this summer. The members of the Connecticut Valley South Little League all-star team expect to play at least a game a day in the Havana area during a 10-day trip in August, coach Ted Levin said. It took 20 months to obtain a travel license from the US Treasury Department after the team's application was turned down numerous times, Levin said. Levin said he's heard of only one other similar youth trip, since the US imposed embargo on Cuba nearly 50 years ago. A California team planned to travel to the Caribbean island in 2000, but Levin said he's unsure if the trip happened. ''If this isn't the first, it's one of the first since the embargo,'' he said. (AP, 31/5/08)