Chronicle on Cuba - July 2009

Highlights

Domestic Affairs: A second Spanish priest is killed in the past five months in the island. Doctor dissident Darsi Ferrer is detained and sent to Valle Grande prison. The education system suffers a major restructure. Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez wins one of the Maria Moors Cabot awards. Seventy-two opposition organizations request a dialogue between the Cuban Government and representatives of the civil society. The Communist Party's first congress in 12 years is postponed again.

Economy: The Cuban government fails on three occasions to pay the installments of a credit signed with Russia. Official media criticizes the process of distribution of idle land. Cuba is cutting estimates of imports by billions of dollars and projecting a decline in export revenues. President Raul Castro announces the second "adjustment to expenditures" this year. The 2009 economic growth forecast is lowered again, to 1.7 percent.

Exile Community: Exile organizations issue controversial opinions on migration talks between the US and Cuba. The Cuban American National Foundation denounces the intervention of Cuba and Venezuela in the Honduras crisis.

Foreign Affairs: President Raul Castro meets with Brazilian Minister for Industry, Trade and Development. The Honduran crisis is widely analyzed in Cuba’s official media and in Fidel Castro’s Reflections. President Raul Castro visits Namibia, Angola, Egypt and Algeria. Cuba passes the presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement to Egypt. The European Union's commissioner of external relations visits the island. The Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Cuba’s President sign important agreements. 

US-Cuba Relations: Fidel Castro and Cuba’s official media accuse the US of intervening in Honduras coup. Migration talks between Cuba and the US take place in New York. US and Cuban troops work side by side across a minefield in Guantanamo. The Obama administration turns off an electronic billboard at the US diplomatic mission in Havana. The Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy holds its 19th annual conference in Miami.