Chronicle on Cuba - June 2008

Domestic Affairs

June 2: State Security forces carried out an operation against members of several peaceful dissident organizations and parties who were planning on holding a meeting in Pinar del Rio. The dissidents were detained as they arrived at the house in which the meeting was scheduled to take place. They were all released later. (Cubanet, 2/6/08)

June 3: Raul Castro, Cuba's President, celebrates two anniversaries: his 77th birthday, and his first 100 days in power since formally taking over from his brother Fidel in February. The latter milestone is the one Cubans and much of the world are focusing on. As stock is taken of the changes he has thus far ushered in on the communist island state, speculation is mounting as to how much further he will go. The list of wanted transformations remains long, and includes: opening the country to private enterprise, permission for Cubans to travel abroad, and an end to the double-currency system. Some Cubans agree more has to be done, and quickly. "It's not enough for the measures to just knock at the door. They have to go inside the house and sit at the table, and quickly," said a 22-year-old economy student, Pablo, who declined to give his full name. (AFP, 3/6/08)

June 3: The dissident Christian Liberation Movement (CLM) denounced that the home of its leader, Oswaldo Payá, was attacked “as part of a campaign of intimidation by Cuban authorities that has been developing over the last few days”. “This Sunday afternoon, June first at approximately 7:15 PM, strangers in plain daylight hurled a rock against the front door of the home where my three children, wife and I live. The rock left a dent in my door, with rock fragments in the dent and on the floor. My neighbours witnessed the attack”, Paya said as part of the CLM statement. “The perpetrators and supporters of this act once again go from threats and agitation to violent and criminal action that threatens the life of my children and other members of my family”, Paya added. “I want to make it clear that we have no problem or conflict with anyone in our neighbourhood or anywhere else, and that all aggressions and offences we have suffered are due to my defence of the rights of Cubans”, Paya said. (CLM Press Release, 3/6/08)

June 3:  A mob organized by State Security beat up Christian pastor Delmides Fidalgo López and his wife, Damaris Velásquez, in front of a secondary school in the province of Holguín. According to a report by human rights activist Juan Carlos González Leiva, the events took place in front of the “Calixto García” secondary school, in the Buenaventura municipality in Holguín. Also beaten were students Lisandra Rodríguez and José Luis Cabrera. The act of repudiation began when the pastor and his wife went to demand that Lisandra be readmitted to the school, after she was expelled on May 28 for refusing to remove a bracelet with the word “Change” written on it. González Leyva added that after the beating the victims were arrested and taken to a police station. (Cubanet, 3/6/08)

June 3: As shoppers in Havana mobbed electronic stores looking for DVD players, writer and independent journalist Normando Hernandez Gonzalez was quietly returned to Kilo 7 prison in Camaguey, Cuba. Hernandez's continued detention -- amid an economic flowering -- suggests Cuba is forging its own brand of tropical reform. The message so far is clear and troubling. Consumer monsters and their enablers across the straits will be tolerated. Free-thinkers, a far more serious threat, will not. Hernandez was arrested in the Black Spring of 2003 in Camaguey and sentenced to 25 years in prison. His crime: criticizing the government's management of tourism, agriculture and cultural affairs. For his cheekiness, Hernandez and some 75 other writers and dissidents were charged with ``endangering the state's independence.'' In prison, his health rapidly began to fail. A healthy 33-year-old man when he was arrested, by 2007, Hernandez had developed stomach lesions, gallbladder tumors and tuberculosis. ''The only thing these poor devils have accomplished is to reaffirm my idealism, my patriotism and make me a slave of my own dignity,'' he wrote in a statement smuggled out of prison last year. Hernandez was moved to Carlos J. Finlay Military Hospital last September and his family privately hoped that it meant his eventual release. He had by then lost 35 pounds. But according to information received by PEN American Center, which has been following his case, Hernandez was discharged from the hospital May 7 and sent back to prison. He's reportedly in an isolation cell, and not receiving medical care. (The Miami Herald, 3/6/08)

June 4: Young dissident Yosbany Socarras Gonzalez was sentenced to two years in prison by the municipal court of Aguada de Pasajeros, Cienfuegos province, accused of pre-criminal social dangerousness, in spite of being employed by the Integral Construction company No. 12, in the municipality of Abreu. During the hearings he was accused of meeting with antisocial elements. According to the youngster, he is usually in the company of human rights defenders. (Cubanet, 12/6/08)

June 4: Cuban writer Senel Paz received the Literary Creation Award during a ceremony that took place in Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, with the presence of Literature Nobel Prize laureate Jose Saramago. Paz received the award granted by the Portuguese House of Latin America cultural center for his novel “In the Sky with Diamonds”. Paz said that this novel has been published in Cuba, Spain and Italy and that new editions are scheduled for this year in Germany, Brazil, Serbia and North Korea. During the ceremony, the also winner of the Juan Rulfo award in 1990 for his short story “The Wolf, the Forest and the New Man”, which was used for the script of the movie “Strawberry and Chocolate”, said that he received this award as “a gesture of friendship” of the Portuguese cultural institution to all Latin American writers. “I think this award will encourage all Latin American countries to launch new initiatives to make Portuguese literature better known,” the Cuban writer stressed. (ACN, 5/6/08)

June 4: Four members of the Cuban Pro Human Rights Party, the February 24 Movement, and the Frank País November 30 Democratic Party, were arrested by State Security forces and taken to the Güines police station, in Havana province, where they were threatened with imprisonment, if they continued participating in activities of the Cuban Pro Human Rights Party, an affiliate of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, in San Jose de las Lajas. (Cubanet, 12/6/08)

June 5: A rare study conducted surreptitiously in Cuba found that more than half of those interviewed considered their economic woes to be their chief concern while less than 10 percent listed lack of political freedom as the main problem facing the country. “Almost every poll you ever see, even those in the US, goes to bread-and-butter issues,” said Alex Sutton, director of Latin American and Caribbean programs at the International Republican Institute, which conducted the study. “Everybody everywhere is interested in their purchasing power.” The US institute is a nonprofit democracy-building group affiliated with the Republican Party that strongly opposes Cuba’s Communist government. The results showed deep anxiety about the state of the country, with 35 percent of respondents saying things were “so-so” and 47 percent saying they were going “badly” or “very badly.” As for the government’s ability to turn things around, Cubans were sceptical, with 70 percent of those interviewed saying they did not believe that the authorities would resolve the country’s biggest problem in the next few years. The study was conducted from March 14 to April 12, after Raúl Castro officially took over the presidency. [Survey on Cuban Public Opinion] (The New York Times, 5/6/08)

June 5: A combination of three top Cuban anti-retroviral products will soon come out to the national market, which will contribute to improving the quality of life and life expectancy of HIV-AIDS patients. The technical director of Novatec Laboratories, Marlen Espino, announced that the combination of the drugs lamivudin, estavudin and nevirapin (tablets) — whose active principle is imported— reduces the amount of tablets administered to patients, as well as their frequency in repeated doses during the day. At present, there are different treatments and combinations of medicines used, with some patients having to use up to four products daily of doses ranging from 150 to 400 milligrams, she pointed put. The deputy director of Havana’s Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), Dr. Jorge Perez, said the six Cuban anti-retroviral products, of proven efficiency and effectiveness since they appeared on the market in 2001, have shown similar results as compared to those produced by leading companies. (ACN, 5/6/08)

June 6: Cuba, in the latest change since President Raul Castro took office in February, has allowed doctors to perform sex change operations, a specialist at the National Center for Sex Education said. Center director Mariela Castro, the president's daughter, has pushed for the operations and said that at least 28 people in the country of 11 million want the surgery. The specialist, who asked not to be named, said the Public Health Ministry approved the surgery this week. Cuba's health care system will perform it free of charge. A sex change operation took place in Cuba in 1988. But there was so much opposition to it that the health ministry cancelled the program, Mariela Castro said. She said Cuban doctors were training with Belgian surgeons to prepare for the operations. It was not known when they would begin. (Reuters, 7/6/08)

June 7: President Raúl Castro sent greetings and gave assurances to the 169 municipal chairmen of the People’s Power Assembly (who concluded three days of reflection) that he will share longer sessions with them during their next meeting. The message was transmitted by the secretary of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, Carlos Lage, who delivered the closing speech. (Juventud Rebelde, 8/6/08)

June 7: Despite rising expectations about improvements in their daily lives, Cubans should prepare for more austerity, according to Cuban vice president Carlos Lage. "Due to the economic impact of rising fuel and food prices, and practically everything we import (…) some of the main investment projects have been reduced and further reductions will be necessary," according to Juventud Rebelde newspaper, without elaborating. The socialist island imports about half of the fuel and food it needs. "The country spent $1.47 billion last year to import 3.423 million tons of food and to import the same amount this year at current prices will cost $2.554 billion – a billion dollars mores," Lage said. "The 158,000 barrels of oil per day that we consumed last year cost $8.7 million per day and this year costs 32 percent more, or $11.6 million per day," he added. Lage participated and gave the final speech at a three-day meeting with 169 municipal leaders of the People’s Power. [Discurso de Carlos Lage] (Juventud Rebelde, 8/6/08)

June 7: The Cuban government has admitted "a high level of dissatisfaction" exists among the public over its failure on the housing policy, the Communist Party daily Granma reported. "Despite all that has been done, given the needs that have accumulated, there remains a high level of dissatisfaction among the people," the daily quoted Vice President Carlos Lage as telling a meeting of government and municipal officials. According to Lage, popular discontent is due to the slow pace of construction, the lack of response for critical social cases and the moving of state construction brigades to "other less important tasks." The Raul Castro government in February announced the construction of 50,000 new homes in 2008, compared with the almost 70,000 programmed for 2007 and the 150,000 promised by the authorities for the period between September 2005 and December 2006. (Granma, Indo-Asian News Service, 7/6/08)

June 7: Ever since thieves twice swiped the iconic round-rimmed spectacles from Havana's John Lennon statue eight years ago, four retirees have rotated 12-hour, round-the-clock shifts to ensure they don't go missing again. "You have to be here every day because the day you aren't, there the glasses go," said watchman Juan Gonzalez, an 89-year-old retired filing clerk who smokes up to seven cigars a day guarding the bronze statue from a nearby bench. In fact, the guards are so worried about another theft that they hold onto the glasses in shirt pockets or rags, restoring them to Lennon's face only when tourists want to take pictures. Lennon's likeness sits cross-legged in a small park bearing his name, a place casually known as "Rockers Park" because amateur musicians and Beatles fans gathered there in the days when the group was banned. The "Imagine" lyric, "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one," is engraved in Spanish at his feet. (The Miami Herald, 7/6/08)

June 9: A senior figure within the Cuban Communist Party said the island's socialist system might not survive if the government can't deliver better economic results, state media reported. "Either we solve the problems or we ourselves destroy the revolution that cost us so much blood and sweat," Maria del Carmen Concepcion, a member of the Secretariat, the executive arm of the party Central Committee, said. According to the party daily Granma, Concepcion urged delegates at a provincial party assembly "to work with urgency to get better results in the economy, basically in food production, as well as to increase savings, efficiency and import-substitution." At the same meeting, Cuban Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura warned "not to be afraid of high salaries and to apply experience wherever possible, provided that it gets concrete results." The government presided over since February by General Raul Castro is trying to implant a system of performance-based pay without arbitrary limits. According to Granma, the assembly insisted on the need to increase agricultural production, and farmers were urged to "exploit the land and installations efficiently, leaving aside (…) irrational practices in favor of what is the most intelligent, advisable and functional." The newspaper added that "in the light of current realities, guaranteeing the autonomy of food production is above all a matter of national security." (EFE, 9/6/08)

June 9: Fidel Castro sent diplomas to members of the ‘Henry Reeve’ Cuban Medical Contingent in recognition of their recent contribution in Chengdu, in the Chinese province of Sichuan, after this region was devastated by an earthquake last month. In a ceremony held at the Convention Center in Havana, Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer gave the certificates to the more than 30 health professionals who just returned from China, where they worked for 16 days helping the victims of the natural disaster that left almost 70,000 people dead and many more wounded. “You have written indelible golden pages in the history of mankind. The weapons of imperialism crash against your dignity and conscience,” the diploma reads. (ACN, 9/6/08)

June 9: Cuba is a "pressure cooker" that is going to explode as soon as its two leaders, Fidel and Raul Castro, die. The prediction comes from dissident Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, 73, a naturalized Cuban Spaniard who fought against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in the Escambray Mountains in western Cuba. In 1961, Menoyo led a coup attempt against the Castro government. Defeated, he spent 22 years in prison, where he lost his right eye and the hearing in one ear in torture sessions. In 2003, after having lived in Spain and the United States, the exiled Menoyo took advantage of an authorized visit to Cuba to announce he would never leave the country again. Menoyo does not harbor illusions about the source of the island's command. "Raul is more pragmatic, but as long as he is under his brother's guardianship, he is going to keep doing what Fidel orders," the dissident said in this exclusive interview with O Estado. At the question, “do you believe there are changes taking place in Cuba?”, Menoyoo responds, “nobody loses hope”. “I too was one of the main forces in the fall of the dictator, Fulgencio Batista. But the leaders who took over the power have gotten old, they do not realize that the country requires a new revolution and they would be incapable of carrying it forward. It is necessary to put an end to this obsolete and anachronistic system. The few changes that are happening only serve to increase the entry of dollars”. And he adds: “The changes will come immediately. The country is a pressure cooker. The Cuban Workers Federation, for example, is made up of political henchmen. The students have no autonomy. There is a risk of explosion. It would be better if we do not to have to wait for the death of anyone”. (O Estado de Sao Paulo, 9/6/08)

June 9: Dissident leader Oswaldo Paya reported that political prisoner José Daniel Ferrer García, “has been on a hunger strike for a week” and is enduring “horrible conditions” in solitary confinement at El Típico prison in Las Tunas. José Daniel Ferrer García, member of the MCL, is one of 75 dissidents sent to prison in the spring of 2003. He’s serving a sentence of 25 years of jail. (EER, 9/6/08)

June 10: Members of a Cuban medical brigade just back from aiding earthquake victims in China have been given certificates signed by ailing former President Fidel Castro, the state press reported. Granma, the Communist Party daily, reported that Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer Cabrera presented each member of the medical mission with certificates in which Castro writes, "In letters of gold you have written indelible pages in history. The toothless arms of imperialism shatter against that dignity and conscience." (Su Sentinel, 10/6/08)

June 10: A leading Cuban dissident said that he plans to return to the island after a nearly two-year absence to fight for the freedom of political prisoners. Hector Palacios, who was in Puerto Rico for a two-day visit from his current home in Spain, told reporters that he and his wife Gisela Delgado — also a Cuban dissident — would soon travel back to their Caribbean homeland to resume leadership of his outlawed opposition group, Liberal Unity. Palacios, now 66, was incarcerated in 2003 on charges of undermining Cuba's communist system. He was released on medical parole in December 2006, cutting short a 25-year prison sentence. "We want a country where people can live in peace," Palacios said, adding that he is willing to meet with President Raul Castro, who succeeded his elder brother, Fidel, in February. "Change is going to happen." Palacios said he does not fear being imprisoned again in Cuba and that he looks forward to helping liberate the roughly 230 political prisoners he claims are on the island. It will be a hard fight, Palacios said. "There's one obstacle," he said. "Fidel is alive." Palacios was among 75 dissidents rounded up in March 2003 on charges they were US mercenaries working to undermine Cuba's communist system. (AP, 11/6/08)

June 10: Roberto Fernandez Retamar, President of the Havana-based Casa de las Americas cultural center and winner of the National Literature Award, has been chosen as the new director of the Cuban Academy of Language. The appointment took place during a plenary meeting in which writers Rogelio Rodriguez Coronel and Nara Araujo were also appointed as Deputy Director and Secretary, respectively. According to Granma news daily, Monsignor Carlos Manuel de Cespedes will hold the post of Librarian while journalist and writer Reynaldo Gonzalez will be the new Treasurer. (ACN, 11/6/08)

June 10: More than 350 Cubans were arrested or punished in Havana for scavenging in trash dumps for potentially useful items, Communist Party daily Granma reported. "Those citizens had transformed searching in dumps, trash containers and along public streets into a way of life," with the aim of gathering "food, bottles, plastic, metals and other objects with the intent of profiting or selling them," the newspaper said. Cuba has an official recycling program, but individuals are banned from rummaging through trash dumps for salvageable items. The trash collectors, called "buzos" (divers) in the island's slang, go about their activity "without taking into account that they could be the carriers of epidemics and a source of crime and illegalities, as established by the Penal Code," the paper added. "Of the 355 citizens taken to a Provincial Classification Center, 290 were fined, 20 were turned over to the community where they live, 45 were returned to their provinces of origin for living illegally in the capital, 11 repeat offenders were punished with correctional work without incarceration, while another 59 chronic repeat offenders were criminally tried," Granma said. (EFE, 10/6/08)

June 11: Cuban journalist Carlos Serpa Maceira said he was warned by Cuban State Security against reporting for Radio Marti. Serpa Maceira, who has since been released, told the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) that he was taken from his home on June 6, threatened with deportation from Havana and pressured to renounce journalism by police and state security officials. "Courageous journalists like Carlos Serpa Maceira, who face grave personal danger in pursuit of the right to a free press and freedom of speech, serve as an information lifeline to the people of Cuba" said Edward E. Kaufman, member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, the parent agency of Radio and TV Marti. During his detention, Serpa Maceira was reproached for broadcasting a news story on Radio Marti, threatened with deportation from Havana to Isla de la Juventud (the Island of Youth), where he was born, and pressured to sign an Official Warning to cease his journalistic activities.  "In the document," he explained, "they accuse me of having given news coverage to an aborted demonstration in Havana on June 4 for the 19th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square events in China and that such activity was a counter-revolutionary provocation."  He refused to sign the document and was later released. (Radio Martí, 11/6/08)

June 12: The book “Fidel, Bolivia y algo más” (Fidel, Bolivia and Something More), a testimony of the visit paid by Fidel Castro to the Bolivian cities of La Paz and Santa Cruz in August, 1993, was presented at Havana’s Convention Center. The 206-page Cuban edition of the book came out 15 years after its publication in Bolivia by courtesy of its authors, Nicolas Fernandez, Edwin Flores and Ramiro Ramirez. The prologue to the new edition was written by Castro. The book presentation was aired by the prime time TV show “The Round Table”. Randy Alonso, moderator of the TV show, spoke about the significance of Fidel’s historic trip to Bolivia 15 years ago. (ACN, 12/6/08)

June 13: Top Cuban officials gathered in Havana to celebrate the 80th birthday of world famous revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara. Cuban President Raul Castro attended a ceremony in honour of Guevara which was broadcast on state television. In his opening remarks at this event Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage said the world was celebrating a ''universal man''. ''The world celebrates the 80th birthday of a universal man; a life, a personality that has become example and guide, icon and myth for the people of many continents,'' Lage said. ''His mark was as short as it was intense, and it would be untruthful to say that the life that began in Argentina ended in Bolivia,'' he added. Che's widow, Aleida March, also attended the celebrations in Havana. (AP, 14/6/08)

June 14: Apparently, the Cuban government is cutting off resources to human rights activists who had been receiving cash from exile groups in Miami. Dissidents who get money wired to them every month from the Cuban American National Foundation via Western Union say they are now being asked: Is the sender your direct relative? At least a dozen dissidents could not pick up their money this month and had to try several Western Union locations in Havana before finding one that would release the funds, according to the foundation. “I went to Western Union, and the woman looked at me and said, `Is this from a brother, sister, parent or child of yours?' If not, I can't give you the money,' '' Berta Soler, whose husband Angel Moya is serving a 20-year prison sentence, said from Havana. 'I found that strange, because I get money there every month -- and from that same girl at the counter.'' ''The government is trying to choke us,'' Soler said. "If it weren't for that money, we would not be able to bring food and milk to our husbands in prison. We are not terrorists trying to topple the government. We spend it in stores in Cuba -- government stores.'' (The Miami Herald, 14/6/08)

June 14: The Cuban boy at the center of an international custody battle eight years ago has joined Cuba's Young Communist Union. Communist youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde quotes Elian Gonzalez as saying he will never let down ex-President Fidel Castro and his brother Raul Castro, who succeeded Fidel earlier this year. Now 14, Elian was 6 when Miami relatives lost their fight to keep him in the United States and he was returned to Cuba in mid-2000 with his father. Elian had survived a boating accident off the Florida coast that killed his mother, who was attempting to get to the US. Juventud Rebelde said that the boy was among 18,000 people who joined the group. (Sun Sentinel, 15/6/08)

June 15: Juan Formell, director of the renowned Cuban group ‘Los Van Van’, received the World Music Award during the closing day of the Varadero 2008 Music Festival that took place in this tourist resort in central Matanzas province. The award, granted by the World Entertainment Organization (WEO) to personalities who have made great contributions to music around the world, was handed over to Formell by WEO Director Danieo Cuxac. Formell said he was surprised because the WEO had chosen 10 candidates around the world and the award was only granted to three of them. “I’m very happy. This award is not only for me but for Cuba,” he stressed. The two other personalities who were granted the award on this occasion were French Charles Aznavour and American Quincy Jones. (ACN 16/6/08)

June 16: The government of Raúl Castro started granting title deeds to workers who have lived in their houses for at least 20 years as part of their job. Humberto Bobadilla, of the National Housing Institute, confirmed to the weekly newspaper Trabajadoresthat a resolution published in March has come into force, which speeds up the process for the workers to become owners of their homes. The so-called “viviendas vinculadas” or “housing rental assets” (owned by state companies, factories and entities) was a measure adopted in the late 70’s due to the housing shortfall in Cuba and the need to stabilize the labor force. A 1987 law, which regulates this practice, allows for the occupants of the dwelling to become owners of the property after 20 years of occupancy and the payment of 240 months of rent. More than 80 per cent of Cubans own their housing; however, they cannot sell them, only swap them (“permutar”), which has given raise to illegal activities worth thousands of dollars. (AFP, 17/6/08)

June 16: Cuban authorities shut down thirteen factories and ten illegal warehouses in Havana dedicated to producing and distributing items made of plastic and aluminum. Guillermo Pérez, an official with the Provincial Administrative Council of Havana, told the media that following the operation, legal proceedings were started for criminal economic activity. Also, fifty people were given fines ranging from 500 to 2,000 Cuban pesos (from $23 to $90 USD). The average salary in Cuba is 408 Cuban pesos (approximately $17 dollars). The Police seized thousands of items made of plastic and aluminum as well as the manufacturing equipment. The state-run media indicated that the Grupo Operativo de Lucha Contra las Indisciplinas Sociales, of the Ministry of the Interior, was assisted by the Association of Combatants and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs). (EFE, 16/6/08)

June 16: Political prisoner Tomás Ramos Rodríguez was released from jail after serving 18 years out of a 20-year sentence for the alleged crimes of rebellion, distributing enemy propaganda and other acts against the security of the state. Ramos was sent to prison on October 16, 1990 and had been serving his sentence at the Combinado del Este prison in Havana. (Cubanet, 16/6/08)

June 17: Former Cuban President Fidel Castro appeared in a video broadcast on Cuban television, the first scenes of the ailing revolutionary leader released since January. The video was broadcast on the state-run Cuban television's news program. It showed the 81-year-old wearing a red, white and blue track suit and speaking animatedly with his younger brother, Raul, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. It was not possible to hear what they were discussing. During part of the video, the elder Castro is standing. The newscaster said the video was shot during a 1.5-hour meeting that touched on the international food and energy crises and the US floods that have damaged much of the Midwest's corn crop. "With Fidel, we conversed nearly three hours yesterday, and almost two hours more today, walking in a garden," Chavez told reporters in images broadcast on Venezuelan state television. "Today, we were revising the entire plan for energy exchanges and the strengthening of refinery capacity and production of petroleum and petrochemicals," Chavez said. (CNN, 18/6/08)

June 18: Official daily Granma said that smugglers fleeing from Cuba's Coast Guard overturned a boat loaded with US-bound migrants to distract pursuers, killing a woman and an 11-year-old boy. Granma said the deaths occurred on June 16 off the northern coast of the central province of Villa Clara. The smugglers, who were charging US$10,000 a head to take 20 people to the United States, escaped in their speedboat after being surprised by the Coast Guard, the newspaper said. Granma blamed the deaths on "murderous" American immigration laws that generally allow Cubans who can reach US soil to stay. Cubans found at sea by the US Coast Guard are usually repatriated. Killed in the smuggling attempt were Yudersi Rosabal Rodriguez, a woman from the central city of Sagua la Grande, and 11-year-old Jorge Luis Nunez Sanchez, from a rural community called La Sierra. The boy's mother, Vivian Sanchez Cabrera, was also on the boat and survived. An independent journalist said reports on the island claim the speedboat was spotted by a Cuban patrol boat and in the panic caused by efforts to avoid the patrol the speedboat rammed a small fishing boat, where passengers were waiting to board the speedboat for the trip to South Florida. Cuellar said the small fishing boats are used to go from the mainland to small islands offshore where it's considered easier and safer to place escaping Cubans aboard speedboats. (AP, CBS4, 18/6/08)

June 18: Former President Fidel Castro said the attitude and comments of a popular Cuban blogger only add fuel to attacks against the communist country by its enemies. Without mentioning her by name, the ailing 81-year-old criticized Yoani Sanchez, who posts the "Generation Y" blog from Havana, in the prologue of "Fidel, Bolivia and Something More”, a new book about his relationship with Bolivia. The 32-year-old Sanchez has gained wide international attention recently, especially after Cuba denied her permission to travel to Spain to receive the prestigious Ortega y Gasset journalism award for her blog. Castro made reference to the fact that Sanchez spoke to an international news agency about not being able to travel to Spain for the award ceremony. "What is grave isn't so much affirmations of this type that are divulged immediately by imperialism's mass media," Castro wrote, but that there are young Cubans who "assume the job of those who undermine, and of the neocolonial press of the ancient Spanish metropolis that awards them." (AFP, 18/6/08)

June 20: The President of the Cuban National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, has convened the First Ordinary Period of Sessions of the Seventh Legislature of this government body. According to a note published by Granma news daily, the meeting will take place on July 11th at 10.00 a.m. (ACN, 20/6/08)

June 20: The president of the Christian Liberation Movement, Oswaldo Paya, has been targeted by the Cuban government for his dissident activities. This time they have responded by cutting off the phone service at his residence to keep him from communicating with the media during the visit to Cuba by Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez. “As we know, the coordinator of our movement sent a letter to President Tabare inviting him to visit his home in the poor suburb of Havana called Cerro, in order to discuss what is really happening right now in Cuba,” the movement said in a press release. The movement denounced the new measures and the continual harassment and intimidation against Paya, saying they were related to the tense relations with the European Union, which has taken note of the lack of willingness on the part of Cuban officials to expand human rights and release political prisoners. The Christian Liberation Movement called on the international community to increase efforts to end the “intimidation and isolation” and to ensure that the opinions of those who disagree with the Cuban regime can be heard. (CNA, 20/6/08)

June 21: Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said that there was no internal struggle within the ruling party. In an article published on the Cuban official website “Cuba debate”, Castro said he could not make a conclusion that the island nation's Communist Party has an internal struggle, as he is not and will not be the head of any faction or group. Castro said his remarks on the European Union (EU)'s decision to lift sanctions against Cuba did not cause divergence among the leadership. In a previous article published on the Internet, he accused the 27-nation bloc of "enormous hypocrisy" and called its actions "disparaging." "I wrote the article because I am still fighting. I did this in the name of the faith for which I have defended in my lifetime," Castro said. [La verdad y las diatribas] (Xinhua, 22/8/08)
 
June 21: Cuban authorities have released six dissidents who were briefly detained just hours after the European Union had totally lifted its sanctions on the island, saying there had been signs of improvements in Cuba's human rights. The dissidents were detained on June 20 as they staged a protest near an office of the Ministry of Interior, in charge of domestic security, in the city of Matanzas. News reports from Havana identified the six as Jorge Luis ''Antúnez'' García Pérez; his wife, Iraida Pérez; Idania Yanes; Yesmielena Surbano; Benito Ortega; and Blas Fortún. Ortega said that security agents had told the group that they were under investigation for disobedience, resisting and causing damage. Cuban authorities often detain dissidents briefly, usually to prevent planned gatherings or warn the government critics to stop their activities or face tougher sanctions. (EFE, 21/6/08)
 
June 23: Over 40 films from 12 countries will travel in October to 28 countries with the Second Travelling Exhibit of Caribbean Cinema, the organizing committee announced. Presided over by Cuban filmmaker Rigoberto Lopez, this year the exhibit is devoted to the children and teenagers, and suggests an approach to cultural, linguistic and audiovisual diversity in the region. In a press conference in Havana, Lopez explained that this second exhibit, stronger and richer, includes feature films, documentaries, cartoons and short movies about subjects including child prostitution, AIDS, drug addiction and domestic violence. Cuba is participating with eight works, followed by Colombia (seven), Suriname (six), Trinidad and Tobago (six), Jamaica (four), and Nicaragua and Curacao (three each). (ACN, 24/6/08)

June 24: Cuban scientists unveiled a therapeutic lung cancer vaccine, which they say is the first in the world and extends the lives of victims by up to five months. Gisela Gonzalez at the Havana Molecular Immunological Center, where the unveiling was held, said that research on the Cimavax EGF vaccine began in 1992, with the first clinical test in 1995. It is the first registered vaccine in the world designed to battle lung cancer, said Gonzalez, who heads the medical team that developed the compound. The vaccine, based on two proteins, triggers an immune response from the victim's body and has no side effects, Gonzalez said. The research team's director of clinical investigations, Tania Crombet, said that the vaccine serves as a compliment to conventional methods like chemotherapy and radiotherapy, allowing cancer victims to live between four and five months longer, and improves their breathing and decreases their pain. The vaccine is available in Cuba, and will be commercialized in Latin America, starting in Peru, Gonzalez said. Advanced tests are currently underway with 579 lung cancer victims at 18 Cuban hospitals. Other tests were carried out in Canada and Britain, while tests are scheduled in Malaysia, Peru, and China, Gonzalez added. In Buenos Aires, an Argentine-Cuban consortium announced in February that a study of the Cuban vaccine is underway involving more than 700 patients in six countries, including India and Singapore. (AFP, 14/6/08)

June 24: Cuban Olympic medal prospect Yeimar Lopez is now the world's second fastest man over 800 metres this season after a superb win at the Reunion Ciudad de Jerez Grand Prix. Lopez clocked a massive personal best time of one minute 43.07 seconds to win the European Athletic Association (EAA) Permit meet. The 25-year-old Caribbean two-lap ace runner dismissed South Africa's reigning Olympic and World Indoor silver medallist Mbulaeni Mulaudzi in his victory. (Jamaica Gleaner, 29/6/08)

June 24: Cuba's Roman Catholic Church protested the communist government's growing support of gay rights, including a daylong event raising awareness against homophobia and a law allowing sex-change operations. ''Respect for the homosexual person, yes,'' said an editorial in “Palabra Nueva”, the monthly magazine of the Archdiocese of Havana. ''Promotion of homosexuality, no.'' The editorial signed by magazine director Orlando Marquez referred to activities held May 17 by Cuba's Sex Education Center, which is directed by Mariela Castro, daughter of President Raul Castro. [Editorial] (AP, 24/6/08)

June 24: When discussing Cuba at a meeting with Chinese Party leader, He Guoqiang, former leader Fidel Castro noted the efforts being made by the leadership of the revolution and especially Raul in the areas of unity and work productivity to increase farm production and savings, according to a report by official daily Granma. “What do I do? I cooperate by gathering news items and statistics and analyzing pressing international problems, which contributes to the Party leadership and government. I have time to review a large quantity of information to which I dedicate most of the day," Fidel told the visitor. Castro's emergence, including three columns on the EU, has raised questions about whether Castro was superseding his brother, whose foreign policy has been more measured, and about possible divisions within the government. (Reuters, Granma, 25/6/08)

June 24: Cuba's gays are planning some reform of their own. Working with Florida's Unity Coalition, activists in Cuba have organized the island's first Gay Pride parade. Members of the Foundation LGTB Reinaldo Arenas in Memoriam and other groups will participate in the march, according to Unity. They will meet in Havana's Don Quixote park and march to the Ministry of Justice to deliver a series of demands. Marchers seek an apology from the government for its past repression and, in some cases, incarceration of openly gay citizens, and the inhumane treatment of prisoners with AIDS, according to Unity. In Havana, gay activist Aliomar Janjaque said that despite some progress on gay rights, discrimination against homosexuals continues in Cuba. He said people are still passed over for jobs, prevented from gathering in certain places and, in some cases, jailed because of their sexual orientation. "Mariela Castro's work is good and valid and we're not criticizing it," said Janjaque, 31, a psychology student who is president of the Foundation LGTB Reinaldo Arenas in Memoriam. "But we believe they should do more." (Sun Sentinel, 25/6/08)

June 25: Cuba's first Gay Pride parade was abruptly cancelled, before it even began. The unofficial march, organized with Florida's Unity Coalition, was not sanctioned by Cuba's National Center for Sex Education, which is headed by Mariela Castro, the daughter of President Raul Castro. Activist Mario Jose Delgado announced the cancellation of the march moments before it was to start at a park in Havana. He said two organizers who were to deliver a set of demands to the Justice Ministry were detained one day earlier. Delgado said he has no details of the arrests. "The president of the Cuban League Against AIDS and the president of the Foundation LGTB Reinaldo Arenas in Memoriam have been arrested," Delgado said. "They were to be here with our written demands but now we cannot carry out our activity." Only one other marcher appeared for the event at Don Quixote park in the Vedado neighborhood. "Our society needs to be sensitized," said Jandri Penton, 22, a teacher. But a passer-by, Felix Lopez, a 40-year-old personal trainer who said he was gay, dismissed the Gay Pride march as unnecessary. "Important strides have been made," he said. "We don't need to be instructed by people in Miami or any other part of the world. We're slowly gaining a space in our society and that's important." (Sun Sentinel, 25/6/08)

June 26: A community-based campaign to prevent substance abuse and promote mental health is taking place in Cuba, marking the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illegal Trafficking. In a joint effort involving mass and women organizations, with the
support of the Sports Institute (INDER), and the ministries of Culture and Education, several activities to promote health education in particular among high-risk groups and vulnerable people will take place in some 200 locations in Cuba until July 10. In statements to the local press, Dr. Carmen Borrego Calzadilla, national coordinator of Mental Health and Addictions at the Ministry of Public Health, said the actions seek to modify inappropriate lifestyles at a community level. A new confidential telephone service is now available free of charge 24 hours a day, with access from anywhere in the country, said Borrego. (ACN, 26/6/08)

June 26: Forget iPods, BlackBerries and other electronic gadgets, most Cubans are still waiting for telephones and less than five percent have a computer, the government reported. The National Statistics Office released 2007 telecommunications data showing there were 1,241 million telephone lines in the country of 11,2 million inhabitants, of which 910,000 were residential and the remainder in state hands. Mobile phones numbered just 330,000. There were 4.5 personal computers per 100 residents, but most of those were in government offices, health facilities and schools. The report was issued two months after Cuban President Raul Castro legalized the sale of computers and cell phones, though their high cost puts them out of reach of many. Until the sales were permitted, Cubans mostly obtained computers on the black market and cell phones through foreigners, who have used them in Cuba since the 1990s. The report said more than 10 percent of the population had access to Internet, but access in most cases is to a Cuban government Intranet and no data was available for access to the full Internet. The number of telephone lines and computers has doubled since 2002, according to the report, which did not show any cell phones in use then. (Reuters, 27/6/08)

June 27: In a communiqué, the dissident Assembly to Promote Civil Society (APSC), led by Martha Beatriz Roque, denounced that about 25 dissidents were detained in Havana for attempting to demonstrate in Revolution Square. According to the APSC, among the detainees were Iris Pérez Aguilera, Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez), Yuniesky García López, Alcides Rivera Rodríguez, Guillermo Fariñas Hernández and Idania Yanes Contreras. In the note, Roque depicted the abuse endured by the dissidents as they were taken into custody. Also, the communiqué mentioned an act of repudiation at the house of Belinda Salas Tápanes, and other arrests near Martha Crespo’s house, in Vedado. Later on Guillermo Fariñas reported that most of the detainees had been released. (Cubaencuentro. 27/6/08)