Chronicle on Cuba - June 2009

Exile Community

June 1: In the 30 years since former Cuban rebel commander Huber Matos got out prison, he has been to countless international conferences, summits and soirees to protest against the Cuban government he helped bring to power. The 90-year-old activist and blogger is a member of a Miami delegation that will have him once again, he says, shouting into the wind. He will be at the Organization of American States general assembly in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, to publicly oppose the growing -- and some say unstoppable -- movement to allow his homeland back into the hemispheric group. Matos' opposition follows the announcement by the State Department that Cuba has accepted an Obama administration request to resume talks on legal immigration of Cubans to the United States and direct mail service between the two countries. Cuba's readmission to the OAS is expected to be taken up by the 34 active member states during the group's 39th regular session in Honduras. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be representing the United States. ''You go there to present the Cuban problem to the general public,'' Matos said. ''But really you know that they are hypocrites, that there is little loyalty to principles, and that you are not going to get anything out of it.'' Why go? ``You have to be there to tell your truth'' (The Miami Herald, 1/6/09).

Junio 2: Organizaciones del exilio agrupadas en una Asamblea de la Resistencia, consiguieron conversar en San Pedro Sula, Honduras, con el secretario general de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), José Miguel Insulza, y ser acreditados para asistir a la Asamblea General del organismo. De acuerdo con un comunicado del Directorio Democrático Cubano, uno de los grupos, los exiliados entregaron a Insulza una carta firmada por 800 activistas y ciudadanos cubanos de la isla, que rechazan la posible readmisión de La Habana en el organismo. "Hemos venido aquí a presentar el anhelo democrático del pueblo cubano en todos los frentes y por todos los medios y no cejaremos en ese desempeño", dijo Sylvia Iriondo, presidente de Madres y Mujeres Anti Represión por Cuba (MAR por Cuba), según citó el Directorio. Los exiliados "manifestaron a Insulza la necesidad de reconocer a la resistencia cubana como la verdadera voz del pueblo cubano durante la reunión", añadió el comunicado (Cubaencuentro, 3/6/09).

June 2: A majority of Cuban Americans support President Barack Obama and back his moves to improve relations with Cuba, according to a new poll that suggests the community's staunch support for a tough US stance against the Castro government may be eroding. The survey said 64 percent of respondents favor Obama's directive to lift all restrictions on remittances and visits by Cuban Americans to family in Cuba. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they were opposed to the measure. The telephone survey of 400 Cuban-American adults in Florida, New Jersey and other states was conducted in Spanish and English on April 15-16, days after Obama announced his administration would relax sanctions against Havana. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points. "Ten years ago, you wouldn't have seen anything near these numbers. Now it's the reality of where the community is," said Fernand Amandi, a pollster with Miami's Bendixen & Associates, a Democratic firm that did the survey. "It's unprecedented to suggest that the community for the first time is aligned with a Democratic president when it comes to Cuba policy" (The Miami Herald, 2/6/09).

Junio 4: Un grupo del exilio cubano en Miami dijo que se encuentra en alerta ante la posibilidad de que el gobierno de Cuba "fabrique" algún incidente con balseros para propiciar una crisis con Estados Unidos. Ramón Saúl Sánchez, presidente del Movimiento Democracia, explicó que permanecen atentos tras conocerse que guardacostas de Cuba y miembros del Ministerio del Interior de la isla interceptaron a siete hombres que intentaron viajar Estados Unidos en un bote rústico de madera y corcho. Los hombres fueron interceptados en el Malecón de La Habana frente a la Sección de Intereses de Washington en la isla, una situación que Sánchez calificó de "raro incidente". "El Movimiento Democracia permanece atento tanto por lo que puedan peligrar los derechos de estos cubanos, si son verdaderos balseros, como por la posibilidad de que el régimen cubano busque fabricar algún incidente para propiciar una crisis con Estados Unidos, país con el que no le conviene iniciar una política de distensión", afirmó Sánchez (EFE, 4/6/09)

June 7: Just five months after being granted political asylum in the United States, the Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez won a place on the slate of performers at the 31st annual Playboy Jazz Festival. And that's not all. The jazz/classical enthusiast is also working on his first album with an industry icon: Quincy Jones. It all started three years ago when Rodriguez applied to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The Cuban government approved his application, and Rodriguez was later asked to play at festival founder Claude Nobs' house, where he presented an arrangement of Cole Porter's "I Love You." Among the guests that night was Jones. "I was completely blown away," recalled Rodriguez, who speaks some English but also uses an interpreter. Upon returning to the United States, Jones stayed in contact with Rodriguez through the former's production company. Seizing the chance to pursue his craft stateside, Rodriguez defected while in Mexico doing a show with his father, a well-known singer in Cuba with the same name. Making his way to the Texas border, Rodriguez officially entered the States on January 15. Born in Havana, the 23-year-old Rodriguez began playing the piano at age 7. With musical influences ranging from Bach and Beethoven to mentor Jones and Thelonious Monk, Rodriguez later honed his skills as a producer and musical director. He has collaborated with a host of Cuban artists including Gaston Joya, Michael Olivera, musicians in the Buena Vista Social Club and his father (Billboard, 7/6/09).

Junio 18: El Instituto de Estadios Cubanos (IEC) alertó sobre las amenazas recibidas en plena calle por su presidente, Dagoberto Valdés. "Condenamos indignados" esos "groseros métodos de intimidación porrista", dijo en un comunicado el IEC, con sede en Miami. Valdés, residente en Pinar del Río, dijo a Cubaencuentro.com que dos personas, aparentemente enviadas por la Seguridad del Estado, se le acercaron en la calle y le dijeron que la iba a "pasar muy mal" y que le iban "a pasar por arriba" si continuaba "apoyando a las Damas de Blanco y a grupos contrarrevolucionarios". "Consideramos vergonzoso que en un momento en que la crisis nacional reclama la cooperación y talento colectivo de todos los cubanos, el gobierno insista en la represión y la intolerancia", dijo el IEC en su nota. "Si bien hemos reclamado que Estados Unidos levante las restricciones a los intercambios académicos con Cuba, también exigimos que las autoridades cubanas pongan fin a la represión de las libertades de pensamiento, expresión e investigación académica en la isla", añadió el Instituto (Cubaencuentro, 19/6/09).

Junio 22: Una veintena de grupos del exilio en Miami anunciaron la nueva fase de la campaña de "Yo no coopero" con el régimen, bajo el lema "Todos somos resistencia". "La resistencia a la dictadura castrista está creciendo y cada día tenemos más noticias de nuevas personas que se suman a este movimiento" cívico, dijo Sylvia Iriondo, presidenta de Madres Antirepresión por Cuba (MAR). Según Iriondo, el objetivo de esta nueva fase es llamar a la unidad de los cubanos que residen en la isla y en el exilio para que se sumen a la "resistencia" que impulse "el cambio democrático en Cuba". Por otra parte, la Asamblea de la Resistencia, que agrupa a más de 50 organizaciones en Cuba y el extranjero, expresó su compromiso en la defensa de los "derechos del pueblo cubano frente a la tiranía castrista" y señaló que la resistencia comienza con la "actitud del pueblo reclamando sus derechos" (Cubaencuentro, 22/6/09).