Chronicle on Cuba - June 2009

US-Cuba Relations

June 1: Cuba has agreed to resume talks with the Obama administration on legal immigration of Cubans to the United States and direct mail service between the two countries in a move welcomed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. "These talks are part of our effort to forge a new way forward on Cuba that advances the interests of the United States, the Cuban people and our entire hemisphere," she said. She added that the Obama administration was "very pleased" with the Cuban decision. The communist government notified the US on May 30 that it had accepted an administration overture made May 22 to restart the immigration talks, suspended by then-President George W. Bush after the last meeting in 2003. Cuba also expressed a willingness to cooperate with the US on fighting terrorism and drug trafficking, and on hurricane disaster preparedness. "These talks are in the interests of the United States and also in the interests of the Cuban people," Clinton told reporters here after talks with foreign and trade ministers from Latin America. "At the same time, we will continue to press the Cuban government to protect basic rights release political prisoners, and move toward democratic reform," she said (AP, 1/6/09).

June 1: A senior adviser with the USA Rice Federation was in Cuba recently to discuss opportunities with ALIMPORT, Cuba's food-buying agency. Marvin Lehrer, USA Rice Federation senior adviser on Cuba, has been in Havana since 2000 representing the group. In 2001, rice was the first US food commodity to exhibit products at a Cuban trade show. "Cuba is potentially one of our largest export markets, and we are committed to expanding US rice sales there," said Betsy Ward, USA Rice Federation president and CEO. Cuba imports about 600,000 metric tons of rice annually (USA Rice Federation Press Release, 1/6/09).

Junio 2: Fidel Castro calificó de "humillante y prepotente" la advertencia del gobierno de Estados Unidos de que sólo habrá un dialogo abierto con La Habana cuando haya en la isla cambios sobre derechos humanos y movimientos hacia la democracia. En un nuevo artículo de "Reflexiones", Castro comenta noticias de agencias internacionales de prensa que citan a un funcionario estadounidense que anunció que Cuba aceptó reabrir las negociaciones bilaterales sobre migración y el envío directo de correo, algo que hasta ahora no había sido ni confirmado ni publicado en la isla. También anota el líder cubano que la secretaria de Estado estadounidense, Hillary Clinton, dijo que el gobierno de Barack Obama estaba "complacido de reanudar las conversaciones con La Habana sobre esos temas". Pero Castro agrega que hubo "un exabrupto diplomático" al advertir los estadounidenses que "habrá un diálogo abierto tan pronto como haya (en Cuba) cambios sobre derechos humanos y movimientos hacia la democracia". "¿Cuál es la "democracia" y los "derechos humanos" que Estados Unidos defiende?. ¿Era realmente necesario lanzar esa humillante y prepotente advertencia?", pregunta. También comenta el ex mandatario cubano algunos detalles del discurso de toma de posesión que pronunció el nuevo presidente de El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, a quien reprocha estar muy pendiente de Clinton (Los aplausos y los silencios; EFE, 2/6/09).

June 2: Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-Kansas), has introduced a resolution (H.Con.Res. 132) "expressing the sense of Congress that with respect to the totalitarian government of Cuba, the United States should pursue a policy that insists upon freedom, democracy, and human rights, including the release of all political prisoners, the legalization of political parties, free speech and a free press, and supervised elections, before increasing United States trade and tourism to Cuba." The resolution, introduced on May 20, was co-sponsored by Representatives Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Florida); Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Florida); Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida); Albio Sires (D-New Jersey); Dan Burton (R-Indiana); Connie Mack (R-Florida); Heath Shuler (D-North Carolina); and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida). It was referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee (US Fed News, 2/6/09).

June 3: Militant Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles says the US government's new charges accusing him of lying about masterminding tourist-site bombings in Cuba amount to a ''terrorism'' case, and therefore a judge should give him more time to prepare for trial. Posada, a one-time CIA operative now living in Miami, faces trial in El Paso in August on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements. Those charges, filed in April, stem from Posada's testimony during a government hearing to remove him from the country and his naturalization hearing to become an American citizen. ''This case is anything but a simple perjury and obstruction case,'' Posada's attorney, Arturo V. Hernandez, wrote in a new court filing. Posada, who has been under separate investigation by a federal grand jury in Newark, New Jersey, for the 1997 tourist hotel attacks that killed an Italian man, is asking the Texas judge to reset his trial for early 2010. Posada, 81, maintains he was not involved in the bombing campaign (The Miami Herald, 3/6/09).

June 3: Cuba's return to the Organization of American States will not be automatic, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after the body voted to lift a 47-year ban on Havana. "Cuba can come back into the OAS in the future if the OAS decides that its participation meets the purposes and principles of the organization, including democracy and human rights," Clinton said in a statement. The new text adopted at the OAS summit in Honduras said that to complete its readmission Cuba would have to comply with "the practices, aims and principles of the OAS" which includes the democratic guidelines set out in its charter. Clinton had insisted in talks at the Honduras summit that communist-run Cuba should not be readmitted to the body without pre-conditions demanding democratic and human rights reforms. In a marathon talks the US delegation appeared to have failed to broker a deal for Cuba's return. But Clinton praised OAS officials saying: "The member nations of the OAS showed flexibility and openness today, and as a result we reached a consensus that focuses on the future instead of the past. "I am pleased that everyone came to agree that Cuba cannot simply take its seat and that we must put Cuba's participation to a determination down the road -- if it ever chooses to seek reentry. "If and when the day comes to make that determination, the United States will continue to defend the principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter and other fundamental tenets of the organization." Alluding to the tough negotiations, Clinton said: "Many member countries originally sought to lift the 1962 suspension and allow Cuba to return immediately, without conditions. "Others agreed with us that the right approach was to replace the suspension -- which has outlived its purpose after nearly half a century -- with a process of dialogue and a future decision that will turn on Cuba's commitment to the organization's values" (AFP, 4/6/09)

June 3: Furious members of Congress threatened to cut off funding for the Organization of American States after top diplomats gathered here for its annual assembly repealed Cuba's suspension from the hemispheric group, ending a decades-old remnant of the Cold War. "The OAS is a putrid embarrassment," declared US Representatives Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, both Miami Republicans, in a joint statement. The lifting of Cuba's 1962 suspension was the result of weeks of back-room brokering, plus an hours-long private meeting in San Pedro Sula with foreign ministers, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It ended with the OAS' leftist bloc accepting a paragraph that refers to Cuba abiding by "practices, purposes and principles of the OAS," words that Cuba's allies had just the night before flat-out rejected, sources close to the negotiations said. In the end, representatives on both sides gathered here declared victory, although Cuba's rejoining the organization will not be automatic. Cuban-American members of Congress blasted the move as a betrayal. "Far from strengthening the OAS, today's resolution flies in the face of the organization's founding charter," Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, also a Miami Republican, said. ``No US taxpayer funds should go towards supporting this sham of an organization that once prided itself on its historic commitment to democracy and human rights" (The Miami Herald, 4/6/09).

June 3: Due to increased demand that flooded into Cuba Travel Services, Inc. offices on the heels of the Obama Administration lifting travel restrictions on Cuban Americans, Cuba Travel Services, Inc. will be launching its first non-stop weekly flight from Los Angeles to Havana starting June 30, 2009. Departing on Tuesdays at 11:00 am Cuba Travel Services, Inc. will be utilizing aircraft operated by Continental Airlines. “We are excited to resume the non-stop flights out of Los Angeles airport to Havana that were in such high demand prior to the Bush Administration’s restrictions imposed on Cuban Americans that limited their ability to visit with their families in Cuba,” said Michael Zuccato, General Manager of Cuba Travel Services, Inc (BusinessWire, 3/6/09).

Junio 3: El restablecimiento del correo directo entre Estados Unidos y Cuba ayudaría al gobierno de Washington a trasmitir su mensaje en pro de la democracia a los cubanos, según dijo la Casa Blanca. El portavoz presidencial, Robert Gibbs, dijo en una rueda de prensa que el mandatario estadounidense, Barack Obama, está "satisfecho'' de que Cuba haya aceptado reanudar las conversaciones sobre migración y sobre el vínculo postal, interrumpido desde hace décadas. ''Creemos que son de interés para los dos gobiernos'', dijo Gibbs, quien añadió que el servicio de correo directo haría la comunicación "más numerosa y fácil'', y ayudarían a la administración de Obama a llegar al pueblo cubano. Actualmente el servicio postal tiene que pasar por un tercer país, pues no hay lazos directos (EFE, 3/6/09).

June 4: Congressional critics of the Organization of American States' decision to end Cuba's Cold War era suspension from the hemispheric group said they would push for cutting off US aid to the group if it accepts Cuba as is. Cuba welcomed the gesture to bring it back into the group, but said it's not prepared to ask for re-admission. Representative Connie Mack (R-Cape Coral), has introduced legislation to strip the OAS of US funding if the OAS embraces Cuba without pushing for change on the island, saying ``if it wants to bring Cuba back in it can, but without the help or support of the US.'' But Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Miami), a co-sponsor of the legislation, acknowledged the measure -- aimed at denouncing the OAS's decision during its gathering in Honduras -- would be difficult to achieve. New Jersey Democrat Senator Robert Menendez didn't say whether he would sponsor such a bill, but told reporters that if the OAS allowed Cuba back in the fold without the government in Havana demonstrating a commitment to democracy, ``then I seriously would have to question why the US government would want to pay 60 percent of an organization that is not committed to democracy, human rights and the rule of law'' (The Miami Herald, 5/6/09)

June 5: A former State Department official with top-secret security clearance and his wife have been charged with spying for Cuba over the past three decades, passing information by shortwave radio and correspondence exchanged in local grocery stores, federal prosecutors said. David Kris, the assistant attorney general for national security at the Justice Department, called the Myerses’ activity for Cuba “incredibly serious.” State Department officials said they were still assessing the potential damage to the government's security and intelligence operations and declined to comment further. Within hours of the couple's appearance at US District Court in the District, a novel-worthy tale began to emerge from court documents and law enforcement sources, depicting an elderly couple of famed lineage, living in a Northwest Washington neighborhood and traveling abroad under code names, motivated by ideology to pass information to Cuban agents. The couple, Walter Kendall Myers, 72, and his wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, 71, were charged with conspiring to act as illegal agents and to communicate classified information to the Cuban government. They pleaded not guilty and were ordered held in jail pending further court proceedings. A spokesman for the State Department said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton "takes this matter, like any allegation of criminal wrongdoing, seriously." A senior administration official said counterintelligence experts discovered three years ago that there was a Cuban spy at the State Department. The department's diplomatic security bureau looked at "a fairly large population" and began winnowing it down. By the time of Myers's retirement, authorities were reasonably confident he was the suspect, the official said (Criminal Complaint; The Washington Post, The New York Times,6/6/09).

June 6: Fidel Castro called charges that a former US State Department official and his wife spied for the Cuban government for nearly 30 years "ridiculous" and described the case as an "espionage comic strip." Castro neither confirmed nor denied the veracity of the spy charges brought by US authorities against Walter Kendall Myers, 72, and Gwendolyn Myers, 71, or the US Justice Department's assertion that Kendall Myers used his top-secret security clearance to give classified information to Havana. But in a dismissive column posted on a website on which he writes about Cuba and world affairs, Castro said he could not recall meeting the couple at some point in 1995, as alleged by the US Justice Department. "At the time I met with thousands of North Americans for different reasons, both individually and in groups (…) so I can hardly be asked to remember details of a meeting with just two people," he wrote. His comments on the arrest of Walter and Gwendolyn Myers, announced by officials in Washington, were the first from the communist-ruled island (A Ridiculous Response to a Defeat; Reuters, 6/6/09).

June 8: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she has ordered a review of security and vetting procedures that let a State Department employee suspected of spying for Cuba slip through the cracks. Ex-State Department employee Kendall Myers and his wife were arrested, suspected of spying for Cuba. Clinton told reporters she directed State Department security personnel to review "every possible security program we have, every form of vetting and clearance that we employ in the State Department, to determine what more we can do to guard against this kind of outrageous violation of the oaths that people take to serve our country here in the State Department." "We are concerned by the announcement of the arrests and the charges against these two individuals, one of whom, as you know, was a former State Department employee, along with his wife," Clinton said (CNN, 8/6/09).

June 9: The publicity machine to free the ''Cuban Five'' -- who are awaiting word from the US Supreme Court about the appeal of their Miami spy case -- has shifted into overdrive. Ten Nobel Prize-winners, including German author Gunter Grass and Guatemalan peace activist Rigoberta Menchú, have joined supporters in filing ''friends of the court'' briefs seeking to overturn the 2001 convictions of the Cuban men. Websites, billboards, TV interviews and the Cuban newspaper Granma portray the five as ''heroes'' and their incarceration as an ``injustice.'' The campaign is ''aimed at the US government'' by influencing public opinion, said Gloria La Riva, coordinator of the San Francisco-based advocacy group, National Committee to Free the Cuban Five. But those who pushed for the prosecution -- including relatives who lost four Miami loved ones in a Cuban government shoot-down of an exile group's planes during the Cuban Five's tenure -- label the PR as ``propaganda.'' The Supreme Court could decide by the end of its term at the end of June whether to review the case, a flaming symbol of the hostility between the Castro-led nation and the United States (The Miami Herald, 9/6/09).

Junio 9: Fidel Castro, alternó alabanzas, dudas y críticas al analizar el discurso que pronunció el pasado día 4 en El Cairo del presidente de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, dirigido al mundo musulmán. Tras citar gran parte del discurso en un nuevo artículo de "Reflexiones" de 3,500 palabras, el líder cubano anota que "no se puede culpar" a Obama de los problemas de Oriente Medio, pero pone en duda su decisión para resolverlos. "Es obvio -dice- que él desea encontrar una salida al colosal enredo creado allí por sus antecesores y por el propio desarrollo de los acontecimientos durante los últimos 100 años". "Son en teoría correctos" los planteamientos de Obama, acepta Castro, pero matiza que "es temprano todavía para emitir juicios sobre su grado de compromiso con las ideas que plantea, y hasta qué punto está decidido a sostener, por ejemplo, el propósito de buscar un acuerdo de paz sobre bases justas". "La dificultad mayor" de Obama, opina Castro, radica en "que los principios que predica están en contradicción con la política que ha seguido la superpotencia durante casi siete décadas" (El discurso de Obama en El Cairo; EFE, 9/6/09).

June 10: Former State Department employee Walter Kendall Myers and his wife, Gwendolyn Myers, accused of being Cuban spies, will be held in custody until their trial, a US magistrate in Washington decided. The magistrate sided with federal prosecutors who argued during the detention hearing that the Myerses posed a flight risk, and that it would be impossible to get them back to the United States if they fled to Cuba. The couple has been held without bond since pleading not guilty to charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and acting as illegal agents for the government in Havana (The Miami Herald, 11/6/09).

June 11: Cuba's UN ambassador in Geneva says Human Rights Watch and other groups are "mercenaries" paid by the US government. Juan Antonio Fernandez Palacios says groups criticizing Cuba in the UN Human Rights Council perform a "clown act." The groups had accused Cuba of trying to silence critics. HRW spokesman Philippe Dam said, "Human Rights Watch receives zero percent of its funding from public money, and 100 percent from private money. This is evidence that we are fully independent of any government, and that Cuba's remarks are totally unfounded." The New York-based group says Cuba violates the right to fair trial, free expression and political association (AP, 11/6/09).

June 11: Rallies and other events are being organized around the world to demand the immediate release of five Cubans who remain imprisoned in the United States, since 1998. Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, and Fernando Gonzalez – internationally known as the Cuban Five – were arrested in Miami in 1998 accused of espionage. In San Francisco, California, a rally will be held on June 15, in front of the Federal Building. In Atlanta, a program on the Five will be held on June 11, and on June 12, supporters will rally in San Diego in front of the Federal Building. Other actions are scheduled in Miami; Auckland, New Zealand, and
Huancayo, Peru. Meetings and actions have already been held in New York City,
Minneapolis, London, and Vancouver. The US Supreme Court is expected to announce whether or not it will hear an appeal presented by the Cuban Five’s defense team (ACN, 11/6/09).

June 11: A US Federal Judge in El Paso, Texas, agreed to delay a trial against Luis Posada Carriles, who is accused of immigration fraud and perjury charges. According to this decision, Posada Carriles, who the Cuban Government has accused of organizing several terrorist actions like the 1976 mid-air bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed all 73 people on board, will not stand trial until February 1, 2010. According to press reports, the judge made the decision in order to give Posada’s lawyers “more time to prepare their case” (ACN, 12/6/09).

June 14: Fourteen Cuban migrants, including nine who were apprehended at sea after the US Coast Guard fired at a suspected smuggler's boat, were returned to Bahia de Cabañas, Cuba. The suspected smuggler, taken into custody about 70 miles south of the Dry Tortugas, was being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Key West. The eight passengers on his vessel, along with six others picked up about 47 miles southeast of Key West, were taken back to Cuba aboard the cutter Cormorant, Coast Guard officials said (Sun Sentinel, 14/6/09).

June 15: The US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by five convicted Cuban spies who argued that their trial should have been moved out of Miami because of a biased jury pool. Without comment, the justices refused to review a US appeals court ruling that the five intelligence agents, who are serving long prison sentences, had failed to establish a right to change the trial venue from Miami, the heart of the Cuban American community. FBI agents arrested the five in 1998. They were convicted in 2001 of 26 counts of spying on the Cuban exile community in Miami on behalf of Fidel Castro's government. The so-called "Cuban Five" are celebrated by many in Cuba as national heroes who were spying on armed exile groups in Miami to prevent attacks on their country. To hard-line, anti-Castro members of the Cuban exile community, the five were justly convicted, and Havana's support for them has been seen as an example of an anti-US agenda in Cuba dating back to Castro's 1959 revolution (Reuters, 15/6/09).

June 15: The Presidency of the Cuban National Assembly called for the reinforcement of the struggle in favour of the five Cubans imprisoned in the United States, until having the US administration set them free. The call comes on the heels of the announcement by the US Supreme Court that it will not review the case. After learning about the decision of the US Supreme Court, the Presidency of the Cuban Parliament said that the decision by the top US judicial body responds to what the Obama administration asked the judges to do. “Once again the arbitrariness of a corrupt and hypocritical system shows, as well as its vicious cruelty against our five brothers,” reads the document and goes on to stress that “our struggle will not cease a single instant until having the Five released. This is the moment to reinforce our action” (Declaración de la Presidencia de la AN; ACN, 15/6/09).

June 15: A huge offshore drilling platform will soon be lumbering its way to Cuba, an event that could kick-start Cuba's bid for energy independence and pressure the Obama administration to allow American companies a piece of the action. Although arrival details are murky, a rig has been found after a long search and could be drilling off Cuban waters in the next six to eight weeks by an international consortium looking to unearth a Caribbean energy trove, according to industry and diplomatic sources. Kirby Jones, president of Washington-based Alamar Associates, which advises companies wishing to enter the Cuban market, said an oil find would change the dynamics of the US-Cuba relationship. "The implications for Cuba are huge and the implications for US relations are huge," Jones said. "It's the first time Cuba will have something of strategic importance to the United States." One industry source said the drilling platform could eventually be used by other foreign interests for drilling offshore -- especially if results are promising. But US companies will be missing out, unless the Obama administration moves soon to exempt American roughnecks from the embargo between the two old adversaries. Brian Petty, senior vice president of government affairs at the International Association of Drilling Contractors in Washington, said the industry is very keen on Cuba's prospects. Benjamin-Alvarado, of the University of Nebraska, said if Cuba became a big oil producer and refiner, the US could seek strategic arrangements where it could buy refined products from the country when US capacity is shutdown by hurricanes (Reuters, 15/6/09).

June 16: Millions of people around the world are living in bondage and the global financial crisis has made many more vulnerable to labour and sex trafficking, the US State Department said. In its annual "Trafficking in Persons" report, which tracks "modern slavery" like forced labor and the sex trade, the State Department said growing poverty around the world has sparked an increase in both supply and demand for human trafficking. "In a time of economic crisis, victims are more vulnerable, affected communities are more vulnerable," Luis de Baca said as he presented the report. The State Department expanded a blacklist of governments it believes are not doing enough to stop human trafficking to 17, out of 175 countries it monitors in the annual report. Chad, Malaysia, Niger, Mauritania and Zimbabwe were included among the worst offenders -- putting them at risk of losing some US aid. Cuba, Myanmar and North Korea have received the lowest ranking in each year they have been included in the report started nine years ago (Country Reports: Cuba; page 116; AFP, 16/6/09).

June 17: A retired couple accused of spying for Cuba say they're willing to put up their house and sailboat for bond if a federal judge will let them serve house arrest. Walter Kendall Myers and Gwendolyn Myers say they're also prepared to be ordered to stay away from Cuba's equivalent of an embassy if US District Court Judge Reggie Walton grants their request. The couple is due back in court to ask Walton to let them be released into the custody of Gwendolyn Myers' son. A federal magistrate sided with US prosecutors and ordered the couple jailed. The couple's lawyer will argue before Walton that “a combination of conditions can be set that will reasonably assure the Myers' appearance in this case.'' The couple was arrested June 4 and has been held without bond since pleading not guilty to charges of wire fraud, serving as illegal agents for Cuba and conspiring to deliver classified information. US Magistrate Judge John Facciola declared the couple a flight risk, suggesting they could flee to Cuba or its Cuban Interests Section in Washington (The Miami Herald, 17/6/09).

June 17: The head of Cuba's parliament said the US Supreme Court's decision not to consider an appeal by five convicted Cuban spies is "a great insult," but it won't jeopardize upcoming negotiations with Washington. Ricardo Alarcon told The Associated Press in an interview that no date has been set for immigration talks with the US, but he said that Raul Castro's government hopes to expand the agenda to include environmental issues and efforts against terrorism, drug smuggling and natural disasters. Yet Alarcon also called the US "an ignorant lion," criticizing the Supreme Court's refusal this week to hear an appeal by the so-called "Cuban Five," men convicted of being unregistered foreign agents by a Miami court in 2001. Their lawyers claim that anti-Castro sentiment kept them from receiving a fair trial in South Florida. Alarcon said the government will continue campaigning on their behalf, but he suggested that their legal status won't impede US-Cuban talks. "We share the sentiments of many who feel insulted by that decision, but I don't see why one necessarily has to affect the other," Alarcon said when asked if the high court's move could spoil negotiations (AP, 18/6/09).

June 18: Some US port cities are putting plans in place to increase travel and trade with Cuba - just in case relations with the communist island begin to thaw. In New Orleans, city officials met recently with trade and Cuba experts to discuss how to rekindle relationships in Cuba and bolster trade with the island if relations improve. Leaders also plan to take part in a trip to Cuba with Tulane University this fall. "We have the right geography, given where we're located, as well as historic ties," says Councilman Arnie Fielkow. "We need to start developing the relationships and getting ready for the time when the US brings down the embargo." Mobile, Alabama, is adding its representatives to a group of 60 state and trade officials visiting Cuba in July (USA Today, 18/6/09).

June 18: The Obama administration is working with Havana to finalize dates to resume long-suspended discussions between the two countries, as Cuban officials signal their interest in expanding the talks beyond migration. A State Department spokesman said that the agency is looking to confirm dates for the talks, which had been held twice a year until they were suspended in 2004 by the Bush administration (The Miami Herald, 19/6/09).

June 18: Hundreds of young Cuban workers, leaders and members of the Young Communists’ League, students and members of the Jose Marti Pioneer Children’s Organization, gathered at Havana’s Jose Marti Antimperialist Tribune to condemn
the decision of the US Supreme Court of not reviewing the case of the Cuban Five (ACN, 18/6/09).

Junio 19: La Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC) divulgó en La Habana una carta dirigida a los intelectuales de Estados Unidos, en la que les solicita ''que difundan la verdad'' sobre el caso de los cinco agentes de la isla presos en ese país por espionaje. La misiva, dirigida a los ''intelectuales y artistas estadounidenses'', insiste en que el presidente Barack Obama ''tiene la potestad'' para liberar a los cubanos y, de hacerlo, cumpliría con ''un acto de elemental justicia'' que sería coherente con su política de lucha contra el terrorismo. ''Estamos convencidos de que si el pueblo de Estados Unidos conociera la verdad sobre los cinco pondría todo su empeño para que fueran definitivamente excarcelados y regresaran al seno de sus familias'', indica el texto (EFE, 20/6/09).

Junio 21: Ricardo Alarcón reiteró que ve posible un "canje" entre cinco espías que cumplen condena en prisiones norteamericanas y opositores encarcelados en la isla. Preguntado acerca de si sería posible un intercambio de este tipo, Alarcón contestó "por supuesto que sí", y constató que "hay un interés de Estados Unidos por algunas personas que cometieron el mismo delito que los cinco compañeros, ser agentes de ellos, aunque para hacer distintas cosas". Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González y René González fueron detenidos en 1998 en Miami y condenados en 2001 a penas de cárcel de hasta doble cadena perpetua. La Habana reconoce que eran agentes secretos, pero que solamente obtenían información de grupos exiliados para evitar atentados terroristas. El funcionario recordó que ya hubo en 1979 un intercambio con Estados Unidos, cuando quedaron libres cuatro nacionalistas puertorriqueños a cambio de cinco espías norteamericanos encarcelados en la isla. No obstante, insistió en que el presidente de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, debe decretar sin más la libertad de los cinco espías (DPA, 21/6/09).

June 22: President Barack Obama has talked about lifting this country's trade embargo with Cuba and if it happens, one company says they'll be forced to layoff more than 100 workers in the Richmond area. The cigar-maker Swedish Match has its North American headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, and it says opening the US market to Cuban cigars may jeopardize 120 jobs unless Americans play hardball with Communist Cuba. Gerry Roerty with Swedish Match says, "We estimate that 80% of the cigar consumers would switch to Cuban cigars once they're available in the US Market" (CBS6, 22/6/09).

June 23: The coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement in Cuba, Oswaldo Paya, said the organization would continue promoting the Varela Project for peaceful democratization in Cuba, because to do otherwise would be to abandon those Cubans who have been imprisoned for reasons of conscience. “No tyrannical power, nor group of powers, can make us abandon this path.  To do so would be to forget José Daniel and all our brothers and sisters in prison.  To do so would be to forget our own people who are now without freedom, and we will not forget them, like the Hebrew people in captivity never forgot Jerusalem,” Paya said in a letter accepting the National Endowment for Democracy’s 2009 Democracy Award. In his letter Paya expressed gratitude for the recognition of the courage and commitment of Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez), José Daniel Ferrer García, Librado Linares García, Iván Hernández Carrillo and Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera, all detained “for peacefully defending an promoting the rights of Cubans” (Libres y amigos; CNA, 30/6/09).

Junio 24: El vicesecretario adjunto del Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos para el Hemisferio Occidental, Craig Kelly, invitó a los países latinoamericanos a "animar" a Cuba para que realice progresos en la situación de los derechos humanos, ya que la isla no va en la "dirección" democrática de la región. Kelly se encuentra en Bruselas para tratar con representantes de la Comisión Europea y de la presidencia checa de la Unión Europea asuntos relacionados con América Latina, en la primera reunión de estas características que se celebra bajo el mandato del actual presidente estadounidense, Barack Obama. Kelly se refirió a la situación de los presos políticos en Cuba y señaló que "no está en la línea del resto del hemisferio", donde "tenemos gobiernos elegidos democráticamente"."Todavía hay prisioneros políticos en Cuba, y pensamos que en cualquier conversación entre la región, otros países y Cuba hay que subrayar el tema importante de los derechos humanos", indicó al respecto. "Estamos muy agradecidos por la mención, el énfasis de parte de los europeos sobre los derechos humanos en Cuba", agregó (EFE, 24/6/09).
June 24: Cuba’s tourism industry will have enough capacity for the surge of American travelers expected should US lawmakers lift restrictions on visits to the island, said Miguel Figueras, an adviser at Cuba’s tourism ministry. Cuba agrees with an estimate by the American Society of Travel Agents that 835,000 US tourists a year, excluding cruise ships or Cuban-American family visitors, would come after an end to the travel ban, Figueras said. Cuba aims to build 30 new hotels with 10,000 rooms and 10 golf courses by 2014 without counting on changes in US policy, he said. “The Americans are welcome here,” Figueras said in an interview yesterday in Havana’s historic Hotel Nacional. “You have to be prepared for that, but you can’t make your development plans depend on whether this happens” (Bloomberg, 24/6/09).
June 24: Cuba said the detention of five of its nationals, who were convicted of spying in the US more than a decade ago, remained a major obstacle in normalizing ties with Washington. "As long as this injustice continues, it will be a formidable obstacle, insurmountable, for having normal relations between the two countries," the communist-ruled island's parliamentary president, Ricardo Alarcon, said on state television. The comments come a week after the US Supreme Court refused to hear the Cubans' case, effectively upholding their conviction by a lower court. Alarcon said their continued imprisonment indicated that "the United States continues to be an official supporter of terrorism against Cuba" (AFP, 25/6/09).

June 24: When the National Endowment for Democracy handed out its annual Democracy Award in Washington, all five recipients were Cuban, a first. Another first: None could attend the ceremony. Three are in prison. Two were arrested after holding a political meeting in a public park, according to the nonprofit organization, which gives money to pro-democracy causes. Cuban citizens are not allowed to leave the country without government permission. ''Dissidents feel more alone in Cuba, and they are often seen as obstacles to improving [US] relations there,'' said the organization's president, Carl Gershman. The awardees represent ''a new Cuba, the Cuba of the future,'' he said.
The winners: Jorge Luis Garcia Pérez, known as ''Antúnez,'' who was arrested with his wife and fellow honoree, Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera. García Pérez was a political prisoner from 1990 to 2007. Pérez Aguilera has led several women's movements promoting democracy. José Daniel Ferrer García, a youth activist. He was arrested during the ''Black Spring,'' a crackdown on political dissidents in March 2003. Librado Linares García, founder of the Cuban Reflection Movement, an advocacy group that tracks human rights abuses and provides aid to political prisoners. He also was arrested in March 2003. And, Ivan Hernandez Carrillo, a political prisoner, labor activist and youth leader (The Miami Herald, 25/6/09).

June 24: Five Cuban dissidents who have collectively spent decades in jail for their pro-democracy activities were given a top award by the National Endowment for Democracy. But, unlike in past years, their representative was not invited to the White House, organizers said. Carl Gershman, president of the endowment, said the organization asked two weeks ago whether President Obama could meet with Bertha Antúnez, the sister of one of the dissidents, who was picking up the award on their behalf. Gershman said he never got a response. It was the first time in five years that the president had not met with the winner of the Democracy Award, according to the endowment, which is funded by Congress. "I am disappointed, and also surprised since the President said in the campaign that Libertad would be the touchstone on his Cuba policy," Gershman said in an e-mail, using the Spanish word for "liberty." An administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the fact that Antúnez had not been invited to the White House should not be interpreted as a lack of interest from Obama, saying the president receives many such requests (The Washington Post, 25/6/09).

June 25: President Barack Obama called on Cuba’s government to “unconditionally” release all of its political prisoners and allow them to “fully participate in a democratic future in Cuba.” Obama cited three political prisoners who are the recipients of an award from the National Endowment for Democracy, a Washington based non-profit foundation. The president has said he is open to changing U.S. relations with Cuba if the communist country takes concrete steps toward democracy, including the release of dissidents. “It is my sincere hope that all political prisoners who remain jailed, including three of today’s award recipients, will be unconditionally released,” Obama said in a statement. Five Cubans were given the foundation’s award. Three of them -- Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, Librado Linares and Ivan Hernandez Carrillo -- have been imprisoned since 2003. The other two are currently under house arrest: Iris Tamara Perez Aguilera and her husband, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, who was released from prison in 2007. Obama said that they and other pro-democracy Cubans are “brave men and women who are standing up for the right of the Cuban people to freely determine their country’s future” (Statement of President Obama; Bloomberg, AP, 25/6/09).

Junio 25: El homenaje del presidente estadounidense, Barack Obama, a cinco disidentes ganadores del Premio a la Democracia 2009 es "muy positivo" y muestra su "serio compromiso" con la oposición en la isla, dijo uno de ellos, Jorge Luis García (Antúnez).
"Que Obama haya hecho ese pronunciamiento es verdaderamente muy positivo, no sólo para los premiados, sino para el movimiento cívico opositor, para las fuerzas democráticas que dentro y fuera de Cuba estamos luchando por el cambio", declaró Antúnez desde Placetas (Vila Clara), donde vive. "Es positivo, porque es el presidente de Estados Unidos, apenas lleva unos meses en la Casa Blanca y ese homenaje denota que está tomando un serio compromiso para con las fuerzas democráticas dentro de Cuba", añadió Antúnez, de 44 años, 17 de ellos en prisión por sus actividades opositoras. Fue liberado en 2007 (Cubaencuentro, 25/6/09).

June 27: Tampa has much to gain if trade and travel with Cuba are opened. So said several speakers at an Ybor City seminar at the Italian Club, where about 120 business and political leaders gathered to discuss the issue. The event was hosted by the Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy Foundation, a nonprofit anti-embargo group. Because of Tampa's historical ties with Cuba and the port's proximity to Havana, the city would be the perfect spot for trade, and an opening would bring Tampa lots of money, said Mike Mauricio, the owner of Florida Produce of Hillsborough County Inc. Tampa City Council member Mary Mulhern went to the workshop and said she would like to open up trade with Cuba, for the benefit of Floridians and Cubans. "The embargo not only has hurt the Cuban people, but it's hurt the cause of democracy," she said. However, about a half-dozen protesters outside the Italian Club disagreed. Holding "libre Cuba" flags, they said that the United States should only trade with Cuba when it is a democracy. "We would like to help Cuba when Cuba is free," said Orlando Rodriguez, president of the Cuban Historical and Cultural Center in Tampa (St. Petersburg Times, 29/6/09).

June 29: Direct flights from Los Angeles to Havana will resume on June 30, two months after President Barack Obama decided to ease travel restrictions to Cuba. Cuba Travel Services will offer a flight every Tuesday. "We are excited to resume the non-stop flights out of LAX to Havana that were in such high demand prior to the Bush administration's restrictions imposed on Cuban Americans that limited their ability to visit with their families in Cuba," said Cuba Travel Services' general manager, Michael Zuccato. Most travel from the U.S. to Cuba has been banned since an embargo was imposed in 1962, but Cuban-Americans have been allowed to visit under various policies since then. Nearly five years ago, however, President George W. Bush's administration limited their trips to once every three years, and narrowed definitions of who could accompany them as family members. Obama repealed those travel restrictions in April (Los Angeles Times, 30/6/09).

Junio 29: Una jueza de Estados Unidos aplazó hasta el 1 de marzo de 2010 el juicio del anticastrista Luis Posada Carriles a petición de sus abogados que alegaron necesitan más tiempo para preparar una debida defensa por la complejidad del caso, según un documento judicial. La magistrada jueza Kathleen Cardone postergó de nuevo el juicio que inicialmente estaba previsto para el 10 de agosto, luego se aplazó hasta el 1 de febrero del 2010 y ahora será en marzo de ese mismo año. Cardone precisó que el aplazamiento del juicio se debe a la complejidad del caso, la naturaleza de los cargos, y el hecho de que "no es razonable esperar una defensa apropiada antes del 1 de marzo'' (EFE, 29/6/09).

Junio 29: El secretario de Estado de Puerto Rico, Kenneth McClintock, dijo que su gobierno realizará todas las gestiones necesarias para los atletas de la isla puedan asistir a los Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe Mayagüez 2010. Según el funcionario, el gobernador Luis Fortuño comunicó a la secretaria de Seguridad Interna de Estados Unidos, Janet Napolitano, el interés de Puerto Rico de que se permita la participación de los deportistas cubanos en la justa. "El gobierno de Puerto Rico está haciendo todo lo que está a su alcance para que el mayor número de países pueda participar", señaló McClintock (AP, 29/6/09).

June 29: Raúl Castro traveled to Nicaragua  for a meeting of Latin American heads of state and delivered a speech about recent events in Honduras. The conflict "transcends the borders of Honduras and is an expression of the danger of returning to a past of military dictatorships that, with the support of the government of the United States [...] terrorized for decades the Latin American people, very especially those in Central America and the Caribbean, but with practically no exclusion”, Castro said. "The government of the United States must act in correspondence with its pronouncements and assume them most seriously. I believe in the sincerity President Obama and his [secretary of State] can demonstrate, but they must demonstrate it with deeds, not with words”, he said (Speech by President Raul Castro; The Miami Herald, 29/6/09).

June 29: The Council of State of the Republic of Cuba, at the request of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), has granted the Friendship Medal to the Puerto Rican weekly newspaper Claridad, for having served as the voice of that country’s independence struggles and for being a strong supporter of the Cuban Revolution. The distinction was received by Pablo Jose Rivera, president of the paper’s Board of Directors, in a ceremony held at Havana’s Friendship House. During the meeting, ICAP vice-president Basilio Gutierrez highlighted the work of the weekly newspaper in defense of Puerto Rican sovereignty, its role in the demand for the release of the five Cubans imprisoned in the US (ACN, 30/6/09).

Junio 30: El arzobispo católico Timothy Broglio, encargado de dar atención pastoral a los militares de Estados Unidos, ofició una misa en la ciudad cubana de Guantánamo y abogó por la reconciliación de ambos países, informó la Conferencia de Obispos de la isla. ''Pidamos a Dios que un día podamos dar culto juntos, sin separaciones'', dijo Broglio en la misa celebrada el pasado 24 de junio en la catedral de Guantánamo, en presencia de autoridades del gobierno cubano y dirigentes del Partido Comunista, precisa el sitio digital de los obispos. El prelado indicó que su visita a Cuba "es una oportunidad de asegurar el afecto del pueblo de los Estados Unidos de América para con ustedes''. ''Es verdad que la historia reciente de las relaciones entre nuestros respectivos gobiernos no es ni fácil ni feliz. Sin embargo, eso no tiene que formar una barrera entre creyentes de una parte del mundo u otra'', añadió (EFE, 1/7/09).