Chronicle on Cuba - July 2008

Domestic Affairs

July 1: Fidel Castro sent a message to the Cuban players who will participate in the baseball competition of the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, China. A copy of the message, published by official newspapers Granma and Juventud Rebelde, was handed over to each player of the Cuban team before they traveled to Holland to participate in the annual Baseball Week of Haarlem that begins on July 4, and where they will face the national squads of the United States, Japan, Chinese Taipei and the host country, as part of their Olympic preparation. “To the glorious Cuban athletes who go to the Olympics: ‘Onwards at winners pace’ like in Ayacucho and Mal Tiempo. Our people’s love for their homeland travels with you,” the text reads (ACN, 1/7/08).

July 2: In Beijing next month, Cuba's powerful national baseball team will be among the gold-medal favourites in what could be the sport's Olympic farewell. After baseball, Cubans are passionate about boxing, the sport in which the country has won 32 of its 65 Olympic gold medals. Sports ministry officials are still reeling from a spate of defections that have plundered the island of five top boxers over the last couple of years. Absent from the Olympic baseball team will be Pan American Games infielder Alexei Ramirez, who defected in November and now plays for the Chicago White Sox. His new teammates call him the "Cuban missile." Another team considered a favourite for baseball gold is Japan, winner of the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006. Still, Cuban teams have won gold medals in three Olympics–Barcelona, 1992; Atlanta, 1996; Athens, 2004–and the silver in Sydney in 2000. Cuba reached the Classic final in 2006 in its first real test against big-league stars (Sun Sentinel, 2/6/08).

July 2: Laura Pollan Toledo, one of the most well-known leaders of the Ladies in White, said she has been the victim of harassment by Cuban state police. Independent journalist Carlos Serpa Maciera, who writes for Miscelanea de Cuba, said Pollan Toledo, who is married to imprisoned journalist Hector Maseda, told her that every time she leaves her residence she is followed and watched by Cuban police agents. “If I go to a store or to a mall, they follow me. They don’t hide from publicly watching me,” she said. Police agents have installed a security camera and flood lights in front of Pollan Toledo’s home, which is also the main office for Ladies in White, a group of women whose relatives are political prisoners. Pollan Toledo said the harassment became more intense after a peaceful protest carried out by a dozen members of Ladies in White on April 21 in Havana. State police agents broke up the protest and forced the women to leave the Plaza de la Revolucion (CNA, 3/7/08).

July 2: Cuba accused American diplomats of planning dissident demonstrations on the island in honour of US Independence Day. Dissident Martha Beatriz Roque, who was accused of receiving funds from anti-Castro groups in Miami through the US Interests Section, said the latest Cuban government accusations probably signalled an imminent crackdown on the opposition. "They normally do this before launching a wave of arrests," she said. Roque said some dissidents planned to attend the annual Fourth of July reception at Parmly's residence. "This is the same reception we go to every year," she said of a gathering attended by diplomats and members of the foreign press. Cuba said Roque and other dissidents are mercenaries on American payroll. The government said "interventionist and illegal" actions by US diplomats include a recent videoconference at Parmly's home with dissidents and US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, a Cuban American. American diplomats provided dissidents with Internet access, cell phones, computers, money and "counterrevolutionary propaganda," the Foreign Ministry said (Declaración del MINREX; AP, 2/7/08).

July 3: The Cuban Union of Journalists (UPEC) is holding its 8th National Congress next July 4 and 5 under the slogan “Learning, Reflecting and Informing,” which emphasizes three major concepts of Cuban journalistic practice. The journalists’ organization has 3,680 members, grouped in 174 local branches located in all media outlets throughout the country. Over the next three days, delegates and guests from all branches will be gathering at Havana’s Convention Center to address the most important aspects related to the role of journalists in Cuban society, as well as the challenges in today’s world (ACN, 3/7/08).

July 3: The 12 permanent working commissions of the Cuban National Assembly (Parliament), provisionally constituted last May, will be in session on July 7-8. According to Granma, these working bodies will be approved during the first ordinary period of sessions of the current legislature of the National Assembly on July 11. Miriam Brito, Secretary of Parliament, said that each commission will discuss specific topics related to the social and economic life of the country (ACN, 3/7/08).

July 3: At least 16 Cuban dissidents were released after police arrested them in earlier sweeps targeting government opponents across the communist island, opposition sources said. "At least 16 of around 20 of those detained are already free," said Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation CCDHRN. Sanchez, whose rights group is officially illegal, told the press that another four of those arrested had not yet arrived at their homes. "These were arbitrary detentions and we hope they will be of short duration," he said. "A very similar thing happened in 2003 but I hope this will be different," Sanchez said. "What happened in 2003 was costly for the government. I hope these will be short-term detentions." Leading dissident Martha Beatriz Roque said earlier that as many as 40 government opponents had been targeted in the regime's roundup. Another opposition leader, Vladimiro Roca, called the sweep "a giant act of repression throughout the entire country." He said it targeted above all else dissidents in Havana "because we were planning to hold a meeting here and they did not give permission" for it. The brief arrests come just days after the European Union decided to formally lift sanctions against Cuba, imposed following a 2003 dissident crackdown on the island. The arrests suggest Raul Castro may also be as resistant as his older brother Fidel to granting political freedoms to the opposition, critics said (AFP, Sun Sentinel, 3/7/08).

July 3: Cuban social and economic development will be tackled by the island's Parliament in the first session of the present legislature. The goal is to systematize and expand links with voters according to the interest of supporting deputies, and to review the main programs implemented in the country. According to a report by Granma newspaper, the country will approve the 12 permanent working commissions of the legislative assembly and 85 parliamentary groups of solidarity, as well as study the work of several organizations and ministries. Before the plenary session, slated for July 11, participants will discuss specific questions such as energy conservation and efficiency on the island. Also on the list are solving difficulties in water supply, the production of food, the construction of houses, the coming school year, results of the mother-child program, dentistry services, regulated distribution of food, foreign investment perspectives, and the general evolution of economy. The analysis of the commercialization of agricultural products and results of the 2007-2008 sugarcane harvest will also be analyzed during this meeting (Prensa Latina, 3/7/08).

July 3: The final sessions of the 8th Congress of the Cuban Journalists´ Union (UPEC) opened at Havana’s Convention Center with the attendance of representatives of over 3,600 organization members. In tune with the 8th Congress’ slogan “Learning, Reflecting and Informing,” the session provided journalists with an update on important aspects like the performance of telecommunications and information technologies in the country. Presiding the session was Revolution Commander Ramiro Valdes, who is the minister for that sector. Journalists were also updated on the Cuban and world economy. During the session, the Cuban journalists approved the new statutes and the Code of Ethics of their organization after having proposed changes to the documents, which are aimed at reinforcing the role of their organization (ACN, 3/7/08).

July 4: Without the media, Cuba's Communist Party would not have been able to spread the message of the Revolution among the people, said Cuban Vice President Esteban Lazo at the 8th Congress of the Cuban Journalists´ Union (UPEC) underway at
Havana's Convention Center.  In nearly 50 years of aggression and economic blockade by the United States in an attempt to strangle the Cuban Revolution, the media has always sided with the Communist Party (PCC), even in times of scarcity and contradictions, said Lazo. It is essential to seek better mechanisms to eliminate the obstacles that prevent journalists from doing their job right, said Lazo, also a member of the PCC Politburo. Discussing information policy and the ways to make it effective has been on the table in previous meetings, but it is crucial under today's world circumstances, he insisted. "There won't be any flirting with the enemy ideology," Lazo emphasized. A journalism which interacts with the people and which responds to their criticism is necessary, said Juventud Rebelde newspaper columnist Jose Alejandro Rodriguez, who also called for a journalism which is taken into account by social entities, especially organizations and employees that ignore or break the laws (ACN, AFP, 4/7/08).

July 5: With the presence of Cuban President Raul Castro, the 8th Congress of the Association of Cuban Journalists (UPEC) closed in Havana after two days of fruitful debate. The Congress was attended by 300 delegates representing 3,680 Cuban journalists. Cuban First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, Vice Presidents Esteban Lazo, Carlos Lage, and other top government and Communist Party officials attended. Also present at the closing ceremony were relatives of the five Cubans imprisoned in the United States. During the closing session, UPEC Vice President Aixa Hevia announced the Association’s plan of action and presented special awards and recognitions. UPEC awarded Fidel Castro the Jose Marti National Extraordinary Award for his continuing and outstanding journalistic work, which dates back to the early 1950s and continues to date. The journalists also named President Raul Castro a member of the organization. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was named an honorary member of the organization. Chavez was also proposed as a candidate for the Jose Marti National Journalism Award (ACN, 5/7/08).

July 5: As many as 35 dissidents were arrested and approximately 70 targeted in all, but most have now been freed, economist Martha Beatriz Roque of the opposition group Agenda for the Transition. The regime's roundup was aimed at halting a meeting of pro-democracy advocates and clamping down on the dissidents' plan to mark the US Independence Day holiday on July 4, she said. "Almost all the people arrested have now been freed," she said. Those who were not detained received warnings from the government, were placed under house arrest, or barred from traveling to the capital, Havana, she said. "The objective of the operation was to prevent a meeting of the Agenda group, and to bar them from participating in the celebration of the United States' Fourth of July holiday," Roque said. The Agenda meeting was cancelled and the Fourth of July  party went ahead without incident at the home of Michael Parmly, the US diplomat and chief of mission at the US Interests Section (USIS) in Havana, Roque said (AFP, 5/7/08).

July 7: A unique 16th-century Spanish settlement in Cuba and Mexico's Monarch butterfly reserve have received World Heritage status from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) during a committee meeting in Canada. Cuba's village of Camaguey, settled in 1528, contains large and small squares, serpentine streets, alleys and irregular urban blocks, which make it "highly exceptional for Latin American colonial towns" located on the plains, the World Heritage committee said. The town played a "prominent role as the urban centre of an inland territory dedicated to cattle breeding and the sugar industry," the committee said. With this latest addition, Cuba now has nine World Heritage sites (DPA, 8/7/08).

July 7: The 12 permanent working commissions of the Cuban National Assembly (Parliament), provisionally constituted last May, are in session on July 7-8 at Havana’s Convention Center. Each commission discusses specific topics related to the social and economic life of the country. The Energy and Environment Commission discusses, among other themes, the problems that affect energy efficiency and conservation in the country. Meanwhile, the Commission of Industry and Construction analyzes the
situation of investments to solve problems related to water supply, the national production of medicines and the housing program. Other commissions discuss topics such as the prospects of foreign investment, the commercialization of agricultural products, the results of the 2007-2008 sugar campaign, etc. The 12 permanent working commissions will be approved during the first ordinary period of sessions of the current legislature of the National Assembly on July 11 (ACN, 7/7/08).

July 8: Insults, shouts, coarse words, disqualifying phrases and aggressive reactions are some of the acts of violence that have become fairly commonplace in the island. Studies by local Family Guidance Centers, which are under the umbrella of the Federation of Cuban Women, have concluded that lack of affection and respect for children and older people are also expressions of psychological violence. Cuban intellectuals, experts and media representatives have expressed concern over the spread of acts of violence, mostly in public places. Two prime-time television shows (Diálogo Abierto/Open Dialogue and Sitio del Arte/Art Site) and a daily newspaper (Juventud Rebelde) have dealt with this issue in the last couple of months. María Josefa Ramos, a former Spanish literature teacher at a junior high school in Arroyo Naranjo municipality, City of Havana province, told the press that she had in the last few years found it more difficult to calm her students down than to make them understand the subject she taught. “They really loved my classes and read most literary works, but I was often powerless to keep them quiet. If they felt provoked, they used vulgar phrases and insults," she added. Laura Zulueta, an eighth-grade student in El Cerro municipality, City of Havana province, stressed: "If you get in somebody's way unintentionally, you will probably hear some coarse expressions and end up in a fight after school." Reynaldo González, National Literature Prize winner and editor-in-chief of La Siempreviva magazine, indicated that verbal aggression generates other forms of violence. “Can we expect them to react otherwise at a time when music and TV shows extol various forms of violence?” Ramos wondered (SEMlac, 8/7/08).

July 8: More than 50 per cent of all Cuban high school teachers have yet to complete their professional training, while in Havana only 19 per cent possess any previous teaching experience, indicated a report submitted before a national assembly of the People’s Power Commission. The official daily Juventud Rebelde indicated that "it is a difficult situation, and there is a clear need for every young educator to be tutored through his or her first steps as a professional." The issue was discussed within the Commission for Youth and Children’s Welfare and Equal Rights for Women, during a preliminary meeting of the ordinary session of the National Assembly (EFE, 9/7/08).

July 9: Cuba's National Housing Institute (INV) said that 40,000 of the island's 47,000 apartment buildings of more than three stories need some type of repair work, the official media reported. INV President Victor Ramirez told members of Parliament that "the lack of materials are preventing the nation's building repair program from going forward as required," said Juventud Rebelde. He added that, even if this year's plan to build 50,000 new homes in the country is completed, that would cover no more than seven per cent of the accumulated demand, which includes some one million people in need of home repairs or of new homes. The official said that 22,558 new homes had been built by June, that is, 45.1 per cent of the annual target. Ramirez said a lack of transportation for moving construction material and the lack of productive capacity for undertaking new construction projects is hampering this year's housing program. Lawmakers, meanwhile, have said it is unacceptable for different organizations and institutions not to comply with their obligations in the housing program, especially considering they have said on more than one occasion that they were prepared to complete the work on schedule. (EFE, 9/7/08).

July 10: Former Cuban President Fidel Castro invited Colombian Nobel literary laureate Gabriel García Márquez and his wife to share lunch in Havana. In an article, Castro claimed that it was the best time he had had since falling ill almost two years ago. The article was first posted in Cubadebate, a Cuban government website, and published by the national press the following day (Reuters, 10/7/08).

July 10: Opposition activist Jorge Ramírez Calderón received a two-year prison sentence in Sancti Spíritus, after the Municipal Court of Trinidad convicted him of "failure to comply with a representative of the authorities." According to Nélida Lima Conde, wife of the dissident, it was a closed trial, with the authorities allowing only four relatives to attend. Lima Conde reported that her husband’s arrest took place on July 4, when a fish vendor was shoved by two police officers outside their home. Reacting to the assault, the dissident stepped out and chastised the police officers, calling their actions abusive and uncalled for. From the moment he was taken into custody to his conviction, the opposition activist, who is a delegate from the “November 30” Democratic Party in Sancti Spíritus, remained on hunger strike to protest his arrest which he deemed a dereliction of justice (Cubane,.16/7/08).

July 10: Cuba plans to raise the retirement age for workers by five years as it tries to cope with an aging population, official media said. The proposal, to be presented on July 11 to the National Assembly, calls for increasing the retirement age for men from 60 to 65 and for women from 55 to 60, said state news agency AIN. Social Security Minister Alfredo Morales told an assembly committee the change would be implemented gradually over the next few years. He said it would be presented to labour groups for consultation and will likely be approved by the National Assembly at its next meeting in December. Cuba estimates 25 per cent of its population will be over 60 in the year 2025, a high proportion compared to other Latin American countries. Under current trends, Morales said Cuba will have 770,000 fewer working-age people in 2025 than it had in 2007. Government leaders are also studying ways to increase the birth rate in the nation of 11 million people, he said, while the government said in April it would increase social security payments to retirees by 20 per cent (Calgary Herald, 11/7/08).

July 10: Cuban President Raul Castro presided over a joint meeting of the Council of State and the Politburo of the Cuban Communist Party to analyze, among other aspects, topics related to the economic and social situation in the country. Participants in the meeting paid particular attention to topics related to food production and the increase of efficiency in key areas of the country’s production and service sectors. During the meeting, which was also attended by some guests, Raul exchanged ideas with participants on topics that will be discussed during the ordinary session of the Cuban Parliament on July 11 (ACN, 11/7/08).

July 11: Cuban President Raul Castro moved to dampen rising expectations, warning that global economic problems may slow increases in worker pay, one of the key economic reforms he has proposed since taking office. In a speech to the first National Assembly meeting since it elected him to succeed ailing brother Fidel Castro in February, Castro said he wanted to move faster to improve the daily lives of Cubans but that rising prices and a slowing economy forced him to be realistic. Castro said "the salary problem" was being studied and would be addressed "gradually and according to priorities" but that quick action may not be possible. "It will depend on the economic situation of the country, inevitably linked to crisis in the world today, which could worsen," he said. "It wouldn't be ethical to create false expectations. We would like to go more rapidly, but it's necessary to act realistically," he said. "Socialism means social justice and equality, but equality of rights and opportunities, not of income," the 77-year-old president said in a speech that was taped and later aired on national television. "Equality is not egalitarianism." Raul Castro's speech was preceded by National Assembly meetings in which government officials warned that belt-tightening would be needed due to rising prices of fuel and imports. They also said the government would decentralize a sagging construction sector to make it more efficient and consider raising the retirement age to help Cuba cope with an aging population. The proposal would gradually raise the retirement age from 60 to 65 for men and from 55 to 60 for women, but is not expected to be approved until the assembly meets again in December. Castro explained that before the beginning of the upcoming school year, the parliament will propose the authorization of the reinsertion of teachers at their full salary, which will not affect their retirement pension. Cuba's rubber-stamp parliament convenes for only a few hours twice a year, and rumours were rampant that Friday's session would see an easing of restrictions on travel abroad or a strengthening of wages by increasing the value of the peso, worth about 21 to 1 against the US dollar. (Discurso de Raul Castro ante la Asamblea Nacional; Reuters, AP, ACN, 12/7/08)

July 11: The First Session of the 7th Legislature of the National Assembly adopted a draft bill aimed at strengthening the relationship between lawmakers and their voters. The legislative initiative, which was approved in the presence of Cuban President Raul Castro, stipulates twice-a-year visits by deputies to the municipalities where they were elected. The document points out that Article 84 of the Cuban Constitution states, among other aspects, that the members of Parliament must keep in contact with their voters, listen to their comments, suggestions and critiques, as well as explain Cuban State policies to their voters. The new bill is aimed at strengthening communication between parliamentarians and their voters as much as possible. Such exchanges and visits would coincide with the sessions of Municipal Assemblies. The meetings would also be attended by local government officials (ACN, 11/7/08).

July 13: Several dissident groups honoured throughout the country the victims of the 13 de Marzo tugboat, sunk by Cuban Coast Guard cutters on July 13, 1994. According to Miami-based Cuban Democratic Directorate, former-political prisoner Francisco Chaviano was detained while on his way to one of the events, to be held on Havana’s Malecón (a four-mile seaside promenade stretching from Old Havana to Vedado). Despite harassment and repeated official attempts to thwart them, the activists managed to carry out several activities in Santa Clara, Sancti Spiritus, Holguín, Las Tunas and Camagüey. As they do every Sunday, the Ladies in White attended mass at the Santa Rita church in Havana and prayed for the health of their imprisoned relatives, as well as for those who died 14 years ago in the tugboat incident (Cubaencuentro, 14/7/08).

July 14: Over 900 health professionals will receive their graduate diplomas from the Medical Science Faculty in Matanzas, among them the first 366 health technology specialists. Victor Junco, dean of this higher education center, told the local press that on August 2 a graduation of doctors, dentists, nurses and other professionals of this field will take place in Cuba. The Matanzas Faculty will be graduating 134 doctors (ACN, 14/7/08).

July 14: Cuba's best road cyclist, Pedro Pablo Pérez, six-time Vuelta a Cuba (Tour of Cuba) winner is in critical condition after being in a car accident. At the moment, the athlete, who had qualified for the Olympic Games in Beijing, is in the Abel Santamaria Hospital in Pinar del Rio province. The prognosis is reserved (ACN, 14/7/08).

July 14: The process of popular discussions of amendments to the Cuban Social Security Law started with a national seminar of the Cuban Workers Confederation (CTC). This new law is a great challenge to the Revolution and Socialism, said Alfredo Morales Cartaya, Minister of Work and Social Security, in his speech to CTC top representatives from all over the country. Cartaya referred to the necessity of preparing and qualifying everybody in charge of presiding over the meetings in every work place, who will be attended by MPs, retirees, Ministry of Work officials and Communist Party members. Among the new proposals is the possibility for retirees to go back to their former positions and earn full salaries on top of their retirement pension. Also the retirement age will progressively increase to 65 years for men and 60 for women, in a process that will take seven years to be fully implemented. The Council of State has already approved this measure for education retirees (ACN, 15/7/08).

July 15: Regarding the "measures" introduced by Raúl Castro’s government, singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés, scheduled to perform soon in Madrid and Santiago de Compostela, said that "being allowed to own a (mobile) phone and stay at hotels is no sign of reform," reported Spanish newspaper El Mundo. "In terms of freedoms we are going backwards. We are returning to the past," said Milanés, after commenting that, although "the government said a year ago that many things were going to change," the situation remains "the same and people have grown very desperate. With his brother Fidel still around, voicing his opinions, Raúl Castro has not yet been able to show his true colors," he pointed out. The musician claimed not to understand why "everything remains the same" on the island. There is "a new opportunity now, just as when the Soviet Union collapsed and we had the chance to work together to find our own path yet failed to do so. The people expects changes, and so does the world," he added (Cubaencuentro, 15/7/08).

July 15: With the purpose of highlighting Cuban culture’s deepest roots and strengthen unity between the island and other nations that share similar cultural backgrounds, the Fifth International Yoruba Conference will be held from July 17-20 in Havana. In a press conference, the event organizer, Antonio Castañeda, president of the Yoruba Association of Cuba, said some 45 presentations will be made during the encounter on topics “ranging from spirituality to the most profound roots of our culture,” as quoted by Granma. Castañeda added that there are 23 Cuban Yoruba associations based outside the country and that the majority of Cubans practice the Yoruba cultural tradition (ACN, 16/7/08).

July 16: Fidel Castro blasted the "rich and powerful masters" of the Olympics for dropping baseball from the games beginning in 2012, and said two recent defeats to the United States doesn't mean Cuba can't still win gold in Beijing. In a brief but confusing essay, the 81-year-old former president noted the "thundering indignation of the fans because of Saturday's hard defeat." He was apparently referring to Cuba's 4-1 loss to the United States on Sunday, during the championship game of the 24th Haarlem Baseball Week in Holland. That loss came after the Americans topped Cuba in the World Cup final in November. Cuba has nevertheless won three of the four Olympic gold medals since baseball became a medal sport in 1992–settling for silver only in 2000, when it was upset by the United States. Castro wrote that the latest incarnation of the national team has "not been defeated." "We haven't given up on them," he wrote. "We send them a message to raise their spirits. We should never allow the traitors to come visit the country showing off the luxury obtained through infamy. Let’s blame ourselves for that,” Castro also added, in reference to athletes who have defected (El equipo olímpico de pelota; AP, 17/7/08).

July 16: The Cuban Minister of Computers and Telecommunications, Ramiro Valdés, called upon the sector’s workforce to work harder and improve quality to facilitate the national economic recovery. During the closing ceremony of the 7th Congress of the National Union of Workers from the Telecommunications, Computers and Electronics Industries, Valdés added that the telecoms and computer workforce constitutes a powerful army against hostile aggression and is not entitled to errors or idle time (Prensa Latina, 16/7/08).

July 16: There are too few science majors among the more than 76,000 students set to graduate this year from Cuba's universities, the official press said. The daily Juventud Rebelde said that, of the 76,653 Cubans who are completing their university studies this year, there are just 22 mathematicians, 20 physicists, 29 geographers, 23 microbiologists and about 40 chemists, according to figures from the Higher Education Ministry. The head of that portfolio, Juan Vela, said that the number of graduates is particularly low in some fields of study and stressed the need for a greater effort to encourage Cubans to specialize in areas that are "so necessary for the country's scientific development." In his review of the 2007-2008 school year, Vela said the new graduates include 38,000 education majors, 26,649 students bound for careers in healthcare, and 1,678 who studied computer science. Authorities acknowledge that the educational system on the communist-ruled island, long touted as one of the accomplishments of Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, is suffering from inadequate training, lack of interest by teachers and an "exodus" of professionals due to low pay (EFE, 16/7/08).

July 16: Eleven dissidents were briefly detained in Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo, as they were preparing to conduct a commemorative walk to mark both the 17th anniversary of the creation of the oppositionist Young Cubans’ Movement for Democracy (MCJD), and the birthday of university student leader José Antonio Echeverría. Six dissidents were arrested in Guantanamo and another five in Santiago de Cuba (Cubaencuentro, 16/7/08).

July 17: The Cuban Education Ministry acknowledged a shortfall of 8,192 teachers in a report about the 2007-2008 school year in which it states that the training of instructors is one of the main challenges in the sector, official media said. Granma said in an article entitled "Many and difficult challenges for Cuban education" that dozens of retired professors and others who had left the profession have already begun to respond to the call by President Raul Castro to come back to teaching. Education is one of the main concerns of the government of General Castro, who succeeded ailing older brother Fidel in February. The Juventud Rebelde newspaper said that the report presented by Education Minister Ena Elsa Velazquez acknowledges that "the training of the teacher not only pedagogically, but also in the subjects he must impart, continues to be the Achilles heel for Cuban schools." The document is critical and details difficulties among middle school students ranging from spelling and writing to geometry, and it says that more than 50,000 students "are not fulfilling their scholastic duties." The report, called "conservative" by Velazquez, measured parameters like class attendance, learning problems, the care of study materials, and relations of the students with their classmates and teachers (EFE, 17/7/08).

July 18: Cuban President Raul Castro handed over the Cuban flag to the sport delegation that will attend the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing. The official ceremony took place at the Council of State headquarters in the presence of nearly all of the 160 athletes who will represent Cuba in the Chinese capital city, where they are competing in 16 out of the 28 disciplines included in the competition. The flag bearer of the delegation is wrestler Mijain Lopez, a 120-kg Greco-Roman style 2007 world champion, considered by specialists a favourite to climb to the top of the Olympic podium (ACN, 18/7/08).

July 18: Cuban activist Jorge Luis García Pérez has lost count of how many times he has been arrested since last year, when he finished serving every day of a 17-year prison sentence. García, better known as ''Antúnez,'' thinks it is 15, equivalent to one arrest per month. The last detention came over the Fourth of July weekend, when about 200 other anti-government activists were also picked up on highways and at homes, hotels, airports, bus and train stations around the island and prevented from attending a US Independence Day celebration in Havana. They were held for a few hours to a few days and sent home in what critics say was the latest and most massive illustration of a nationwide operation to crack down on opponents. ''Raúl Castro's strategy is to create a mirage of change for the international community to mask the fact that acts of repression are increasing,'' Antúnez said in a telephone interview from Placetas, Villa Clara in central Cuba. “They arrest you and let you go tomorrow to hide the sense that there is a wave of repression. I'd call it a ‘a light wave of arrests’. It's different, and we don't know what lengths it will reach. It's an extremely critical situation.'' Raúl Castro, who formally took over the presidency in February, has been hailed internationally for taking initial steps at reform in the months he's been in power. But activists argue that just as he allowed cell phones and computers for the first time, Castro launched a harassment campaign against members of the opposition through frequent detentions. The crusade appears designed to keep the overall number of political prisoners steady while sending a strong message that Castro has a firm grip on dissent (The Miami Herald, 18/7/08).

July 18: In a bid to avert the teacher shortfall on the island, the Cuban government has allowed retired teachers to return to work on a full, regular salary while retaining their retirement pension, reported the local press. "Until a new Social Security Law is passed, it has been deemed expedient to issue exceptional authorization for teaching personnel of retirement age, willingly reinstated to the practice of their profession, to receive the full pay grade of the position they fill, as well as their existing pension," informed the official media. (Decreto Ley No. 260; Reuters, 18/7/08)

July 19: Three moderate Cuban dissident groups formerly affiliated with the "Progressive Arch" coalition, joined forces to establish a new social-democratic party under the slogan "A New Country: Building a Citizens’ Cuba." "This is a new, broad-base Social Democrat party, open even to Christians and liberals who identify with the values of socialism," said party leader Manuel Cuesta Morua. Another member of the new party’s leadership, Leonardo Calvo, explained that it brings together the Social Democrat Coordinating Committee (in exile), the People’s Party and the Socialist Democrat Current. All deliberations are conducted in an Old Havana residence, where approximately 50 dissidents, representing “300-400 full members and thousands of volunteers” will “lay the groundwork and establish the guidelines for future initiatives,” added Calvo (Télam, 19/7/08).

July 19: Former President Fidel Castro said in a commentary published in the official online journal Cubadebate that he did not believe that Cuba's educational system is "so bad." "I don't believe, in the first place, that we're so bad,” said Castro in the article–also published the next day in the official press–after the Cuban government issued a decree calling back retired teachers to the classrooms in the face of a deficit of secondary school instructors. In recent months, government officials and the local press have reported on some of the problems confronting the education sector, such as the shortfall of 8,192 teachers or that "the training of teachers not only pedagogically but also in the subjects they must teach, continues to be the Achilles heel of Cuban schools." "We don't become discouraged by the news of enemies who twist the meaning of our words and present our self-criticisms like tragedies," Castro said. "It would seem that our country has the most education problems of any in the world," he added, referring to the remarks of others regarding Cuba's educational system (La educación en Cuba; EFE, 20/7/08).

July 22: The Latin American Federation of Rural Women in Cuba (FLAMUR) has launched the Women’s Civic Center project. According to FLAMUR Vice President Maria Antonia Hidalgo Mir, it is an orientation effort focused on women and major issues affecting them. The project consists of a three-pronged action plan: a series of lectures on domestic violence, alcoholism, environmentalism and human rights advocacy; capacity-building courses on methods for non-violent civic struggle and micro-company implementation; providing shelter for battered women who fall victim to domestic violence (Cubanet, 22/7/08).

July 23: Cuban jazz pianist Chucho Valdes is in Madrid to launch his latest album, “Canto a Dios”, which pays tribute to the victims and survivors of hurricane Katrina that devastated the city of New Orleans in 2005. The album merges symphonic music with jazz and African rhythms and revisits some of his previous compositions such as "Nanu", for which he received one of his five Grammy nominations, and "Claudia", a piece he first recorded with legendary Irakere in 1979. He said that after Katrina he wanted to sing to the victims. "It is a prayer, a request to God for peace, to ask that events such as Katrina do not happen again" (ACN, 23/7/08).

July 23: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque spoke in the eastern province of Guantanamo at a military discharge ceremony for future diplomats. Perez Roque presided over the observance in which the youth were formally released from their military service after having served with the Border Brigade of the Antonio Maceo Order, on the perimeter of the US naval base in Guantanamo. The youth are expected to become diplomats after they complete studies at the International Relations Institute, which reopened classes after more than ten years. During the ceremony, which was also presided over by the first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party in Guantanamo Province, Luis Antonio Torres, several university graduates were promoted to reserve officers in Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) (ACN, 23/7/08).

July 23: The first houses made out of oil-derived materials were assembled in Santiago de Cuba. The group of petro-houses makes up the second residential community in the country slated for this type of housing as a result of the agreements signed between Cuba and Venezuela on social services promoted in the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). The project comes as Santiago de Cuba prepares to celebrate, on July 26, the 55th anniversary of the attack on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes garrisons, reported Granma newspaper. Engineer Amilcar Parra from a Venezuelan international brigade working on the project said the petro-houses are excellent in providing viable, efficient, and rational technology for poor and developing nations (ACN, 23/7/08).

July 24: In the past year, Nereida Rodriguez Rivero says she has been punched in the mouth, almost thrown from a moving bus, and stabbed on the street in her otherwise sleepy rural hometown. In May, government agents took all the books out of the independent library that she continues to re-stock and run out of her home. But–as is often the case in Cuba–the punishment for her dissent is not limited to her alone. Her daughter Yuricel Perez Rodriguez was summarily fired from her position at a state-run children's library last year. "They said I wasn't safe for children because I took books to [political] prisoners," said Ms. Perez Rodriguez. But this mother-daughter duo will not be backing down. "If you show fear, they will eat you," says Ms. Rivero, a regional head of the Latin American Federation of Rural Women (FLAMUR), a Cuban group dedicated to pushing for political rights. "They won't swallow me whole." "People are showing up asking us to help them more and more," said FLAMUR's country director, Belinda Salas Tapanes. "They come to us for networking. We don't have much more than that to help them." FLAMUR last year collected more than 10,000 signatures demanding that the Cuban peso be the only unit of currency, thereby eliminating the present two-currency system. Twenty women work for FLAMUR in Havana, communicating openly by phone, despite government surveillance. Norvis Ortero Suarez, who lives in a tiny apartment, is one of them. "We're always under surveillance," says Ms. Suarez calmly, explaining that she works with other women to bring political prisoners food, medicine, books, and moral support. But, at times, she becomes the prisoner. Rivero and other dissidents say it's hard to envision a Castro-led regime rolling back political restrictions, given the repression they've experienced. But they say that they wouldn't be battling the system if change wasn't possible. "Raul's Cuba is already very different than Fidel's," says Tapanes. "I think change is already happening and Raul is implementing China-style reforms. But I'm not happy with that. The change has to be radical" (The Christian Science Monitor, 24/7/08).

July 26: President Raul Castro used a speech on the 55th anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban revolution not to unveil any new changes but to call on everyday Cubans to prepare for tough times in the days ahead. Citing the global economic downturn and the rising cost of oil, Mr. Castro said Cuba and other countries in the developing world face severe challenges that would require belt-tightening and patience. “We must bear in mind that we are living in the midst of a true world crisis which is not only economic but also related with climate change, the irrational use of energy and a great number of other problems,” he said. There was speculation that Mr. Castro, who officially took over the presidency in February from Fidel Castro, his older brother, would use Cuba’s important July 26th  holiday—which commemorates a failed raid on a military barracks—to extend the rash of modest changes he had announced in recent months. But he seemed eager to dampen expectations. “We are aware of the great number of problems waiting to be solved, most of which weigh heavily and directly on the population,” he said, adding later, “Regardless of our great wishes to solve every problem, we cannot spend in excess of what we have” (Raul Castro’s speech, The New York Times, 27/7/08).

July 26: The first secretary of Cuba's Communist Party in Santiago de Cuba, Misael Enamorado said that only the people's hard work and their capacity to counter the most difficult situations make it possible to keep going forward, strengthening the confidence in the Cuban Revolution and faith in victory. Speaking at the central rally marking National Rebelliousness Day in Cuba, July 26, which was presided over by Cuban President Raul Castro, the Communist Party official said that the people of Santiago de Cuba are proud of hosting the central celebrations for the 1953 attacks on the former Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Garrisons, an action that sparked the Cuban Revolution. A major task is that of exploiting idle lands by handing them over to those who are willing to work. Enamorado underscored the need to better attend to farmers' needs, increase productivity, and look for ways to encourage agricultural producers. He said that a bigger effort is being required of farmers, cooperative workers, campesinos, technical personnel and leaders in the agricultural sector, though he added that the people have worked in many other projects, along with those linked to the economic and social development of the country (ACN, 27/7/08).

July 27: Hospitality and diligence prevailed in welcoming the first batch of Cuban athletes and officials, who arrived in Beijing for the Olympics, scheduled to run August 8 to 24. This first group included President of INDER (the National Sports Institute of Cuba), Christian Jimenez, as well as wrestlers, athletes, weight lifters, shooting athletes, cyclists, rowers, volleyball players, archers, divers and fencers. The delegation will also include members of sports federations, coaches, medical staff and Cuban sports notables such as Teofilo Stevenson (boxing). Other delegates will be arriving in the next few days, depending on completion of their preparation in European and Asian countries (ACN, 27/7/08).

July 28: Cuban President Raul Castro inaugurated two painting exhibitions by national artists in Santiago de Cuba in honour of the 55th anniversary of the attack on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes garrisons. The initiative behind the exhibits, entitled Viva Cuba Libre (Long Live a Free Cuba) and Absuelto por la Historia (Absolved by History), came from a group of artists led by Alexis Leyva Machado (Kcho) and including Alberto Lescay, Eduardo Roca (Choco), Roberto Fabelo, Ernesto Rancaño, Juan Moreira, Alicia Almeida, Diana Balboa, Alicia Leal, Sándor Gonzalez, Zaida del Rio and Angel Guerra (ACN, 28/7/08).

July 28: A group of farmers in western Cuba says it will no longer accept government-provided rations of rice and beans and wants others to help the economy by following this lead, the state-run newspaper Trabajadores said. Cuban President Raul Castro has told Cubans the country must cut costly food imports and that the heavily subsidized food ration for each Cuban is "irrational and unsustainable." He has not said if or when the food ration would be eliminated (The Gazette, 29/7/08).

July 28: Some 60 per cent of Cuban labour leaders do not understand collective agreements, according to survey results published by the official journal of the communist-ruled island's only legal union, the CTC (Central de Trabajadores de Cuba). Trabajadores weekly said a survey of 2,620 workers and more than 930 CTC officials found that among the latter group, "barely 40 per cent said they had some knowledge of the items that should make up" a contract. Results of the survey, conducted in September 2007 by the Labour and Social Security Ministry and the CTC, indicate that collective bargaining agreements do not play a role in relations among management, workers and the union. In the case of the rank and file, only 32 per cent had taken part in the discussion and approval of an agreement, 32 per cent had no knowledge of their agreement and only 32.8 per cent said compliance was discussed with the union. Of the nearly 1,000 state-owned companies visited by survey takers, 795 had current labour contracts, a situation that can be considered "really positive," the newspaper said. Alfredo Machado, head of the CTC, said there was no effective monitoring of union officials, and the latter lacked "knowledge and training." The survey results also showed that few workers know they can take their grievances with management to higher authorities, and that managers who violate labour laws can face criminal prosecution (EFE, 28/7/08).

July 29: Even though Havana's bus fleet has doubled in size, Cuba's public transportation system remains troubled, according to the island's state-run media. "If the people complained about the lack of buses before," the criticism now is aimed at the "quality of service" and problems with paying fares, the Cuban Communist Party daily Granma said. According to the newspaper, daily transit ridership in Havana has risen from 450,000 in December 2006 to more than 846,000 today. "The city is moving at a good pace; but it can do much better," Granma said, adding that it had received letters and messages about problems like "competition between buses for fares," failure to use established stops, filth and "incorrect or missing change" after collecting fares. Transit officials told the press the Cuban capital's public transportation system has 335 new buses that started running in 2007. The new fleet includes 175 high-capacity articulated vehicles belonging to Metrobus, which operated Havana's now-retired "camels," the two-humped converted tractor-trailers with a capacity for 285 passengers that were introduced in 1994 as Cuba struggled to adjust to the loss of economic subsidies from the former Soviet Union. The new vehicles' introduction creates the need to increase the number of inspectors in Havana–which currently employs 80 and expects it will need 400–monitoring drivers' behaviour, fare collection and compliance with schedules and routes. Due to the lack of inspectors, officials plan to install GPS tracking devices on some 70 buses to "reduce lack of discipline" (EFE, 29/7/08).