Chronicle on Cuba - November 2009

US-Cuba Relations

November 2: University of Texas in Dallas (UTD)'s Chess Team traveled to Havana, Cuba October 15-20 to compete against the Instituto Superior Latinoamerico de Ajedrez (ISLA) after more than seven months of planning by Vice President for Diversity and Community Engagement Magaly Spector. "Going to Cuba is very special," Spector said. "This was the first time since Cuba became Communist, after Fidel Castro took over, that a university team traveled there to play chess." Spector said that there were four main obstacles to the trip: clearance from the US Department of the Treasury, which took two months; approval from the Cuban officials, which took another five months; visas, which were not received until two days before the trip; and funds. Spector, a native of Cuba, is a notable chess player in her home country, having won the Cuban Chess Championship in 1978 and 1979 (The UTD Mercury Online, 2/11/09).

November 2: Cuban purchases of US food will fall by at least a third this year as the island slashes imports to stabilize an ever-weak economy further hammered by the global economic crisis, a top trade official said. Igor Montero, head of the state import company Alimport, calculated that the communist government would spend less than $590 million on American food in 2009 once banking, shipping and other transaction costs are included. That's down at least 32 percent from last year's $870 million. Montero blamed the economic crisis, but also took a swipe at Washington's 47-year-old trade embargo, even though it exempts food, arguing that America should begin buying Cuban products and allowing its citizens to visit the island as tourists. “If we aren't given more possibility to generate revenue through Cuban exports to the United States, or an exchange of visitors, it's going to be very difficult to continue to reach the levels of trade we've grown accustomed to,'' Montero said. He said 2009 will mark the first year American food imports to Cuba have not increased since the US Congress authorized direct sale of agricultural products to Cuba in 2000 (AP, 3/11/09).

November 3: Cuban diva Omara Portuondo will heat up the stage at the 10th Annual Latin Grammy Awards during a rare US appearance on November 5. Dubbed the queen of Cuban vocals, Portuondo will be presenting an award during the televised show and her latest CD, "Gracias," has been nominated in the Best Contemporary Tropical Album category.   Her appearance at the Las Vegas awards show demonstrates the slow loosening of restrictions on travel between the US and Cuba. Portuondo’s visit is her first to the United States in five years. Back in 2004, she had to cancel a tour after the Bush administration cracked down on cultural exchanges between the U.S. and Cuba. Under that policy, thousands of Cuban artists and musicians were denied visas to perform in the US. That now seems to be changing. After the Obama administration loosened some travel restrictions for Cuban Americans this past spring, US music promoters quietly began applying for permission to bring Cuban artists stateside. In addition to Omara, famed conductor Zenaida Romeu is appearing in North Dakota, troubadour Pablo Milanes is in Puerto Rico and band Septeto Nacional is bringing its Cuban rumba to the New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami (NBC, 3/11/09).

Noviembre 4: Fidel Castro said Cuba will continue fighting without rest unmasking the infinite hypocrisy and cynicism of the United States. Castro mourned the passing of Carmen Nordelo, the mother of Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo one of the five Cubans in US prisons. Hernandez is serving two terms of life imprisonment plus 15 years for alleged espionage. “We will not just lay flowers on the grave of Carmen Nordelo,” said Castro in his message of condolence. “We will continue the fight without rest to free Gerardo, Antonio, Fernando, Ramón and René, unmasking the infinite hypocrisy and cynicism of the empire, and defending the truth”. Castro condemned the US President Barack Obama’s administration for freeing Santiago Alvarez Fernandez-Magrina from prison for terror activities against Cuba including being in possession of military weapons, explosives and other materials meant for terrorist attacks on Havana. Castro also said another atrocious news was official signing of the agreement by virtue of which the United States was imposing seven military bases in the heart of South America.
“It is not an act by the George W Bush government; it is Barack Obama who signed that agreement violating legal, constitutional and ethical norms, when the fruits of the disastrous yanki military base in Palmerola, Honduras, are still being exhibited to the world,” he said. “Never have the Latin American peoples of this hemisphere been treated with greater contempt,” he said. (The Best Tribute to a Hero’s Mother; The Post Newspapers Zambia, 4/11/09).

November 5: St. Clair Hospital, in the South Hills, Pittsburgh, received the visit of two Cuban doctors from the Hospital Pediatrico William Soler in Havana. Luis Orlando Rodriguez and Carmen Cuba visited St. Clair, eager to learn how the Mt. Lebanon hospital's emergency department went from being nationally ranked in the 61 percentile for patient satisfaction in 2008 to the top 1 percent. "We haven't slept in five days -- work, work, work. We wanted to come here, to learn even more," Dr. Rodriguez, a urologist and general director of Hospital Pediatrico, said in Spanish. Dr. Cuba, a director in Cuba's Ministry of Health, translated for him. Global Links, a nonprofit organization that donates hospital supplies to Third World countries, organized and paid for the trip. Dr. Rodriguez and Dr. Cuba were among six doctors visiting Pittsburgh for five days of observation and training (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 5/11/09).

November 5: Omara Portuondo, the 79-year-old Cuban bolero singer who came to renewed international attention with the Buena Vista Social Club, won the award for Best Contemporary Tropical Album at the Latin Grammys for her recording Gracias, which honored her 60 years in music. Portuondo looked shaken and overwhelmed as she accepted, but she didn't make any political statements: “Thank you. Many, many, many thanks'' (The Miami Herald, 6/11/09).

November 6: Environmental Defense Fund will send a team of experts to Havana, Cuba, to discuss ways to eliminate overfishing, protect coral reefs, conserve coastal areas, and tap potential ocean energy - a signal that greater environmental cooperation may be on the horizon. EDF scientists and policy experts and Cuban scientists and environmental officials will have a series of meetings about how the United States and Cuba can work together to protect ocean waters and marine resources shared by the two countries. The meetings come on the heels of a September visit to the United States by Cuban environmental officials. "The United States and Cuba share many ecological resources, but the countries have different ways of managing them," said Daniel Whittle, a senior attorney at EDF and director of its Cuba Program. "Fishing, coastal development, and offshore oil and gas exploration in Cuba can have impacts in the United States, and vice-versa. The sooner we work together to manage shared resources and find solutions common problems, the sooner we'll see benefits for the people, the environment and the economy in both countries." EDF has asked the Obama administration to ease policies that limit scientific exchanges between U.S. and Cuban scientists and conservation professionals (VerticalNews.com, 6/11/09).

Noviembre 6: Fidel Castro afirmó que cualquier persona medianamente informada comprende que el Acuerdo Complementario para la Cooperación y Asistencia Técnica en Defensa y Seguridad, adoptado por Estados Unidos y Colombia, equivale a la anexión de la nación sudamericana y tiene la finalidad de aplastar la revolución venezolana, como intentó Washington destruir el movimiento revolucionario de Cuba en abril de 1961 mediante la invasión de Playa Girón. Castro señaló en una reflexión publicada en medios cubanos que la lectura del documento –firmado el 30 de octubre y publicado por la cancillería colombiana el 2 de noviembre– demuestra que no sólo las bases aéreas se ponen en manos de los yankis, sino también aeropuertos civiles y el espacio radioeléctrico. Es realmente cínico proclamar que el infame acuerdo es una necesidad de la lucha contra el tráfico de drogas y el terrorismo internacional, escribió Castro después de hacer un recuento de los pactos de colaboración militar entre Washington y Bogotá desde abril de 1952 (La anexión de Colombia a Estados Unidos; La Jornada, 7/11/09).

November 7: More than 50 House Democrats sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi supporting current Cuba policy, which embargo-supporters say effectively means that a bill to open Cuba to tourists is dead. The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act would prevent President Barack Obama from regulating or prohibiting travel to or from Cuba by US residents. But now 53 Democrats in the House have told Pelosi that they oppose lifting the ban, blunting the momentum that proponents of lifting the travel ban have had under a Democratic president and Democratic-led Congress. “Any legislation that would seek to ease or lift sanctions (…) would send a devastating message to Cuba's opposition movement and legitimize an ailing dictatorship,'' states the letter signed by Florida Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Kendrick Meek, Alcee Hastings and 50 others. The letter notes that President Barack Obama lifted travel restrictions for those with family on the island, but has said he backs further sanctions against the island. “It is our strong belief that any effort to upend the president's agenda would undermine the goal that he shares with so many House Democrats -- fostering respect for justice and freedom in Cuba,'' the letter states. Wasserman Schultz, who helped gather signatures, said the letter is aimed at showing that a number of Democrats oppose easing sanctions against Cuba, a stance that is traditionally associated with Republicans (The Miami Herald, 7/11/09).

November 8: The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement in response to reports that Cuban bloggers Yoani Sanchez, Claudia Cadelo, and Omar Luis Pardo Lazo were detained, assaulted and harassed by state security agents on their way to a peaceful march in Havana. "The individuals who abducted these three Cuban bloggers, forced them into a car, and then beat them were acting like criminals, plain and simple," said Carlos Lauria, CPJ Americas senior program coordinator. "It is horrifying to contemplate that they were in fact state security agents. That the Cuban government would sanction bloggers being beaten in the streets of Havana simply for expressing their ideas demonstrates the depth to which the government will go to suppress dissent." Despite huge obstacles, a vibrant culture of independent blogging and online journalism has emerged in Cuba, a recent CPJ report found. "We call on President Raul Castro to halt the harassment of bloggers, and to release the 22 journalists currently imprisoned in Cuba," added Lauria (CPJ Press Release, 8/11/09).

November 9: The United States Government has continued to viciously apply its
economic blockade against Cuba, denounced the president of the Cuban National
Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon. Speaking to the program ‘Dossier’ of the Venezuelan Television, Alarcon said that this unjust policy has been stiffened in recent months as US and foreign banks and companies have been fined for having links with Cuba. Alarcon added that President Barack Obama has ruled out any possibilities of changing the unilateral measure imposed against the Caribbean nation since 1962, which, according to conservative estimates, has caused economic losses to the tune of $96 billion. The top legislator stressed that the White House has only changed its rhetoric and the only measure it has implemented was the elimination of remittances and trips to Cuba by Cuban-Americans (ACN, 10/11/09).

November 9: The United States said it "strongly deplores" the forcible detention and beating of three Cuban bloggers on their way to a peaceful march in Havana. Award-winning blogger Yoani Sanchez, whose online reports chronicle the dark side of everyday life in communist Cuba, was detained and beaten along with two fellow bloggers by Cuban secret police on November 6. "We have expressed to the Cuban government our deep concern with the assaults," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a statement. "The US government strongly deplores the assault on bloggers Yoani Sanchez, Orlando Luis Pardo, and Claudia Cadelo. Kelly said the United States called on Cuba "to ensure the full respect of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all its citizens" (Assault on Cuban Bloggers; AFP, 10/11/09).

November 9: Lawmakers in the US House of Representatives are drafting legislation that could expand US farm trade with Cuba and ease longstanding travel restrictions, aides to two prominent lawmakers said. The United States has had sanctions against Communist-ruled Cuba since 1962, but eased part of the embargo in 2000 to allow cash-only sales of farm products and medical supplies through third-country banks. Logistics were complicated in 2005 by new US requirements that Cuba pay for the goods before they leave port. The House bill is being drafted by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, Rosa DeLauro, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, and Republican congressmen Jerry Moran of Kansas and Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri. The American Soybean Association, which is trying to drum up support for the initiative, said the bill would eliminate requirements to pay cash for food through third-country banks before shipments leave port, and would allow US citizens to travel to Cuba (Reuters, 9/11/09).

November 10: Seven US senators from both parties issued statements condemning the “assault'' on blogger Yoani Sánchez. New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez called it “yet another indication that despite all the hoped-for change on the island, the regime continues to rule with an iron fist that crushes any seed of free speech or human rights.''
“This is yet another outrageous and unacceptable example that appeasing the Castro regime will not work,'' said Florida Republican George Lemieux. Florida Democrat Bill Nelson called Sánchez “a symbol of courage.'' Also condemning the incident were Democrats Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Ted Kaufman of Delaware and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. Earlier, during an interview with Radio Martí, Florida Republican Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart branded the violence against Sánchez and Pardo as “repugnant'' and said it was “Cuba's answer'' to gestures by President Barack Obama to establish a new relationship (El Nuevo Herald, 11/11/09).

Noviembre 11: A scientific delegation led by 2003 Nobel Chemistry laureate Peter Agre is in Cuba to discuss research with the island’s officials, spokesmen for the group told the press. “The visit includes meetings with leading Cuban scientists and policy officials. It is meant to explore research issues and multilateral science venues that might be conducive to U.S.-Cuba scientific cooperation,” the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS, said in a statement. Agre is director of the Malaria Research Institute at Johns Hopkins University and president of the AAAS. “The trip comes at a time when scientists in the United States and in Cuba have been urging expanded scientific cooperation between the two nations,” the AAAS said. The association, an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing science around the world, said the visit comes at a time when Washington and Havana have been re-evaluating their relations. The delegation “plans to visit the Academy of Sciences of Cuba and the University of Havana. The delegation also anticipates meetings with officials of the Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment; the Ministry of Higher Education; the Ministry of Public Health; and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” AAAS said. (EFE, 12/11/09).

November 13: Americans ranging from 12-year-old ballplayers to softballing senior citizens are visiting the communist island to engage in their own kind of field work, and there's talk of another trip by a major league team. These bat-and-ball initiatives come as the Obama administration takes steps toward improving relations with the Cold War rival, such as loosening financial and travel restrictions on Americans with relatives on the island. "I think it would be good," said former World Series MVP Livan Hernandez, who defected from Cuba in the 1990s. "I want to come back to my own country. I miss my family, I miss my friends. I think it's time to do something like that." Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who staged exhibition games with the Cuban national team in Havana and Baltimore a decade ago, told the press that he hopes to so again next spring. Two groups of baseball youngsters from Florida are planning to visit next year as well. This weekend, four teams from a Massachusetts slow-pitch softball senior league will travel to Cuba for a series of games (AP, 13/11/09).

November 15: Supporters of tough US sanctions against the Cuban government have given more than $10 million to congressional campaigns over the last seven years, according to a study released by a group supporting campaign finance reform. The Washington, DC-based nonprofit Public Campaign said the study shows how large sums of money from a small group can influence lawmakers. Public Campaign cites a number of times in which lawmakers changed their position on Cuba-related issues within months of receiving funds from a political action committee that supports the US embargo of the communist island. Those who back US-Cuba Democracy PAC say they are being unfairly targeted for their passionate views toward their homeland. They note many other groups channel money to politicians who support their views. "Perhaps it's the age-old story of money and politics, but 18 members switched their votes on the subject, some in very close proximity to when they got donations," said Public Campaign's David Donnelly (AP, 16/11/09).

November 16: Spanish hotelier Sol Melia SA will benefit over American rivals like Marriott International Inc. if a bill before US lawmakers to end a 46-year travel ban to Cuba is enacted while a broader embargo is kept in place. The trade embargo would ban US hotel operators from lodging the 1.1 million Americans that the US International Trade Commission says may visit annually if the travel ban is lifted. And repealing the ban may drive business away from other Caribbean resorts operated by US companies, said Robert Muse, a Washington-based lawyer. “While lifting the travel ban is a perfectly commendable project, the main economic beneficiary will be Sol Melia,” said Muse, who advises US clients on Cuba-related issues. Palma de Majorca, Spain-based Sol Melia is the world’s largest resort operator. It manages 24 hotels on the communist island. The US House Committee on Foreign Affairs will hold a hearing on November 19 on the travel ban, the first since Democrats took control of Congress in 2007 (Bloomberg, 16/11/09).

November 16: The United States and Cuba will hold a second round of talks on migration issues in Havana at a yet undetermined date, a State Department spokesman said. "We are currently exploring dates that would work for both delegations to discuss the migration accords in Havana," said Charles Luoma-Overstreet. "This would be the second high-level meeting on migration issues during the Obama administration," he added. An administration official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the second round of talks would take place next month (AFP, 17/11/09).

November 16: Softball has been a passion for Michael Eizenberg since he was a child, but the 63-year-old has never been as excited about a game as the one played on a children's ball field at a faded sports complex under Havana's warm Caribbean sun.
Eizenberg is one 56 Americans — all at least 55 years old — who are in Cuba for friendly games of slow-pitch softball against their Cuban counterparts, part of an effort to use sports to bridge decades of official mistrust between America and its southern island neighbor. The softball trip "is just a small step, but we hope that bit by bit, the program will help improve relations between Cuba and the United States," Eizenberg said as he warmed up for the first game. "Sometimes little things can turn into big things, especially when big things are impossible" (AP, 17/11/09).

November 17: Any good will that Raul Castro enjoyed as Cuba's new leader has dissipated, according to a new poll, which found that more than four out of five of those surveyed in Cuba were unhappy with the direction of the country. The survey, conducted by the International Republican Institute, also found that one in five Cubans cited food scarcity as their biggest worry and that 82 percent of those surveyed said life in Cuba was going "so-so, badly or very badly." That was up slightly from 80 percent last November, the last time the study was conducted. "Cubans are as frustrated and pessimistic as they've ever been," said Alex Sutton, the institute's Latin America program director. He noted that earlier surveys suggested the younger Castro enjoyed a "small bump" in confidence when he took over for his brother Fidel in February 2008. Now, however, "a vast majority of Cubans, if given the opportunity, would vote for fundamental political change." Fernand Amandi, a pollster with Miami-based Bendixen & Associates, which has polled in Cuba, wasn't familiar with the institute's poll, but suggested general caution in interpreting results from the country. "That culture has institutionalized suppression of one's true feelings (…) You have to always consider that whenever discussing studies that are done in Cuba," he said. There was little unanimity on the question of how to improve the Cuban economy: Twenty percent suggested changing the political system, 15 percent cited ending the practice of double currency - Cubans get paid in local Cuban pesos but must buy goods and services with a different currency - and 10 percent cited changing the economic system (Survey of Cuban Public Opinion; AP, 17/11/09).

Noviembre 17: El coordinador de Asuntos Cubanos del Departamento de Estado, Ricardo Zúñiga, dijo a Radio Martí que la esperanza de Estados Unidos es poder establecer una relación de trabajo más pragmática con el gobierno de la isla, y que la expectativa presente se mantiene en ese sentido. No obstante, recalcó que Estados Unidos sigue pendiente de los prisioneros políticos y los atropellos a las libertades y garantías del individuo en la sociedad cubana, y que ello no dejará de ser una prioridad en la relación con el vecino del sur. Zúniga dijo que Estados Unidos ha dado pasos concretos para mejorar las relaciones, como facilitar el envío de remesas y los viajes de cubano americanos a la isla, y que le gustaría ver gestos por parte del gobierno de Cuba, como la libertad de los prisioneros políticos y el incremento de las libertades de expresión e información (Marti Noticias, 17/11/09).

November 17: Two prominent US lawmakers called legislation that restricts travel to Cuba an “anachronistic ban” and asked that it be annulled immediately. In an op-ed piece, Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Representative Howard Berman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, demanded that the prohibition “imposed during one of the chilliest periods of the Cold War” be annulled. The article says that Berman’s committee is set this week to hold a hearing on the ban, after a bill was presented in Congress to abolish travel restrictions to the communist-ruled island. “This ban has prevented contact between Cubans and ordinary Americans, who serve as ambassadors for the democratic values we hold dear,” the article adds. “Such contact would help break Havana’s chokehold on information about the outside world,” Lugar and Berman said. “And it would contribute to improving the image of the United States, particularly in Latin America, where the U.S. embargo on Cuba remains a centerpiece of anti-Washington grievances” (LAHT, 18/11/09).

November 18: State officials said Virginia's agricultural exports to Cuba are expected to rise by more than 10 percent this year. Agricultural exports to Cuba, including apples, poultry and soybeans, were worth about $45 million in the first nine months of 2009, according to preliminary figures from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. That compares with $40.7 million worth of exports in all of 2008.
Agriculture Commissioner Todd Haymore said Cuban officials told a state delegation that recently visited the communist nation that agricultural imports from the United States would be down about 37 percent in 2009 (AP, 18/11/09).

November 19: The 5th International Colloquium in favour of the five Cubans who remain imprisoned in the United States began in the eastern province of Holguin with the participation of more than 200 delegates from all continents. Amaury Torno, delegate of the Cuban Friendship Institute (ICAP) in this territory, announced that the list of participants includes political activists, lawyers, writers, journalists, parliamentarians and religious leaders. Torno added that relatives of the Cuban Five will also attend the event that runs through November 23 (ACN, 19/11/09).

November 19: Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez posted what she said were President Barack Obama's answers to seven questions she sent him in an effort to engage in a bit of "popular diplomacy." Sánchez also posted in her popular blog, Generacion Y, seven questions to Raúl Castro, but it was not immediately clear when the questions were posed to the Cuban ruler. She wrote to the two leaders, the blogger noted, because for too long “Cubans have resigned themselves to having no one `up there' explain or consult with us the road this island will take, so much like a ship taking on water and at the point of sinking.'' A spokesman for the US State Department's Western Hemisphere department confirmed Obama had answered Sánchez's questions. Sánchez wrote that both the Spanish and English-language versions of Obama's replies were provided to her by the White House. Obama's answers amounted to a standard restatement of his administration's policies on Cuba -- a desire for more bilateral and people-to-people contacts, in the hope they would lead to improved human rights, while insisting on “actions by the Cuban government'' (President Obama’s Responses to Yoani Sanchez’s Questions; The Miami Herald, 19/11/09).

November 19: Proponents of lifting the US ban on travel to Cuba will make their case before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The hearing comes as proponents of greater engagement with Cuba say they've got their best shot at success in years. The panel's chair, Representative Howard Berman (D-California), has already endorsed lifting the ban, calling it a throwback to the “chilliest periods of the Cold War. Berman suggested that contact between Cubans and “ordinary Americans'' could “help break Havana's chokehold on information about the outside world.'' The list of witnesses reflects Berman's interest: Those testifying in support of lifting the ban include retired General Barry McCaffrey, the former US drug czar and commander of the US Southern Command; Miriam Leiva, a founding member of the Cuban opposition group Ladies in White; Ignacio Sosa, a board member of Friends of Caritas Cubana, a Massachusetts nonprofit; and Phil Peters, a Cuba analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Virginia. Those opposed include James Cason, former chief of the US Interests Section in Havana and president of the Center for a Free Cuba, and Berta Antunez, the sister of former political prisoner Jorge Luis Garcia Perez (The Miami Herald, 19/11/09).

November 19: At a tempestuous hearing, one House member after another criticized a growing campaign to lift the ban on American tourists traveling to Cuba. The move would reward a regime that oppresses its own people, lawmakers declared, pointing to the recent assault on Yoani Sánchez, a Cuban blogger and government critic, by suspected state security agents. The beating showed that "the Cuban regime has not unclenched its fist," said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), the senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "Now is not the time to change policy and start appeasing and funding the Castro clan," said Representative Connie Mack (R-Fla.), citing Sánchez's case. But, halfway through the hearing, the committee's chairman, Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.), produced a letter he had received from the prominent blogger. "An opening of travel for Americans could bring more results in the democratization of Cuba than the indecisive performance of Raúl Castro," she wrote, referring to Cuba's president. Supporters of lifting the travel ban think the move would loosen the communist government's grip by bringing in a flood of American tourists spreading democratic ideas. That argument was advanced by a prominent supporter of Cuban political prisoners, Miriam Leiva, testifying from Havana. In the audience, a group of older men, wearing fist-size white buttons showing how many years they had spent in Cuban prisons, shook their heads and muttered. Berta Antúnez, the sister of a longtime Cuban political prisoner, rejected Leiva's arguments. Berman says those who support lifting the ban have their best chance in years to get rid of it, thanks to Democratic control of the White House and Congress and backing from a wide range of business, agricultural and other groups. He says the House may act on legislation by the spring (Yoani Sanchez’s Letter to Rep. Howard Berman; The Washington Post, 20/11/09).

November 20: The President of the Cuban National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, called for an increase of efforts and international solidarity in favor of the five Cubans who remain imprisoned in the United States since 1998. Speaking to participants in the International Conference of Studies on the Americas that began in Havana, Alarcon referred to the importance of intensifying efforts in the battle for the release of Gerardo Hernandez, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Rene Gonzalez and Ramon Labañino – internationally known as the Cuban Five (ACN, 20/11/09).

Noviembre 19: El gobierno de Estados Unidos dijo que espera más gestos de La Habana que demuestren su seriedad en la apertura y liberalización de "intercambios e interacciones" entre ambos países. El portavoz del Departamento de Estado, Ian Kelly, afirmó durante una rueda de prensa que el respeto de los derechos humanos "está en el centro" de la política exterior estadounidense hacia Cuba y que a Washington le preocupa la situación de las libertades fundamentales en la isla. Kelly reaccionó, aunque sin ofrecer detalles, al informe que publicó la organización humanitaria Human Rights Watch (HRW), en el que pidió que EEUU levante el embargo y dé una especie de ultimátum, junto con la comunidad internacional, para la liberación presos políticos en Cuba (EFE, 19/11/09).

November 20: A former State Department employee and his wife pleaded guilty to having spied for Cuba for the past three decades. Walter Kendall Myers, 72, and wife Gwendolyn, 71, were arrested in June as the result of an FBI sting operation and have been held without bail since then. The couple entered their guilty pleas before US District Judge Reggie Walton. Myers, who admitted to committing espionage and wire fraud, faces a potential sentence of life in prison. His wife is expected to serve 7 1/2 years on a lesser charge of plotting to gather and transmit national defense information. Both promised to cooperate with the investigation (EFE, 21/11/09).

Noviembre 22: Nelson Díaz, reconocido como el mejor árbitro de las Series Nacionales y uno de los tres grandes en la historia de la pelota cubana, arribó a Miami con su familia. Después de un retiro forzado por las decisiones de dirigentes que han arruinado el béisbol de un país que fue durante más de 100 años la segunda potencia del béisbol del mundo, Díaz llegó a EEUU junto a su esposa Maritza Ladrón de Guevara y sus hijas Islén y Yaritza. “Mi primer día lo dediqué para depositar flores en la tumba de mi madre que murió en esta ciudad sin poder verla’, dijo. En su carrera de 26 años, Nelson sumó méritos a base de disciplina, estudio, entrega, respeto, valor y amor a la más difícil de las profesiones en los deportes. En 1994 fue elegido el mejor árbitro del mundo, fue 16 veces el más destacado en Series Nacionales y en cinco el mejor en cualquier deporte. "Fui seleccionado por la Federación Internacional para actuar en Japón en el Segundo Clásico. Días antes, el director del béisbol, Higinio Vélez, y el vicepresidente del Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Ángel Iglesias, me informaron que no podía viajar por no ser confiable'', indicó. "Decidí retirarme y abandonar mi patria'' (El Nuevo Herald, 29/11/09).

November 23: Miriam (Leiva) Alonso, a founder of the dissident group Ladies in White, issued a statement in Havana saying that she and her "husband, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, fully support the  lifting of the travel ban on Americans to visit Cuba." Alonso testified via teleconference at a House committee hearing on the travel ban. In effect, her written statement reaffirmed that testimony. "To a Cuban woman who is denied the right to opine in her country, who has suffered reprisals for not bending to pressure and faces the harassment of the authorities, taking part in that [hearing] was a great responsibility”, she said. “Those in the United States who oppose the visit of its citizens invoke the financial impact of tourism in the Cuban economy, for fear it may invigorate the totalitarian regime. But, without a doubt, many thousands of Americans visiting Cuba would benefit our society and therefore our people. In the first place, through the free flow of ideas, and also by pressuring the government to allow self-employment for the offer of products and services such as room rentals, because hotel accomodations would be swamped” (The Miami Herald, 24/11/09).

November 24: Dump Radio and TV Martí. Virtually no one tunes in to them, contended Senator Russell Feingold (D-Wiscosin) in a press release. Feingold, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, launched a Spotlight on Spending series "to highlight actions Congress can take to reduce the deficit," currently at $1.42 trillion. One of those actions would be to terminate Radio and TV Martí, "relics of the Cold War [,,,] that virtually no one tunes in to." According to Feingold, "government studies show that Radio and TV Martí are riddled with problems and fall short of journalistic standards." The deficit reduction thus achieved would be $300 million over 10 years, Feingold maintains. "As we progress toward a more modern and constructive relationship with Cuba, Radio and TV Martí no longer have any real diplomatic or fiscal purpose," he said. Feingold said he intends to bring up the issue when the Senate takes up President Obama's nominees to the Broadcasting Board of Governors that oversees RTV-Martí (The Miami Herald, 24/11/09).

November 27: For the first time in almost 50 years, scientists from nations surrounding the Gulf of Mexico have begun to develop a marine research plan that includes Cuba, according to officials at Mote Marine Laboratory. In October, a team of Mote researchers journeyed to the island nation 90 miles off Florida to join Cuban, Mexican and US colleagues at a workshop. The result: They are crafting a written version of a five-year comprehensive plan for marine science and conservation. Within its purview are waters in the Gulf and Caribbean Sea, setting the stage for long-term marine research collaboration, officials said. “It’s tremendously exciting,” said Robert Hueter, director of Mote’s Center for Shark Research. “This is a place we as scientists have always wanted to work,” he said. “We knew there were things to study on the Cuban side, and one of the most exciting things about being able to work in Cuba is they have some marine environments unaffected by things like pollution. We can study almost pristine environments and compare them to ours — like reefs; they’re a wonderful lab to study healthy reefs” (The Bradenton Herald, 27/11/09).

November 27: A group of 33 Cuban refugees landed their boat in the cooling canal of the Turkey Point nuclear power plant located south of Miami, Florida Power & Light said. The Cubans, 29 adults and four children, landed in a supposedly protected area, which brought into question the nuclear plant’s security measures. The group of Cuban refugees reached the power plant’s canal in a small boat. One of the Cubans managed to call the plant’s control room to announce that they were refugees who had just landed. Border Patrol agents took charge of the 33 Cubans for immigration procedures and questioning (EFE, 27/11/09).

Noviembre 27: Juan Formell y los Van Van, la orquesta de salsa más importante de Cuba en cuatro décadas, realizará 70 conciertos a lo largo y ancho de Estados Unidos en los próximos meses. La extensa gira se planeó en tres etapas desde el 2010 y podría extenderse hasta el 2011, dijo Formell durante una conferencia de prensa tras la presentación de un documental sobre la historia del grupo. Incluso se pretende que “una o dos'' de las presentaciones de los populares Van Van sean en Miami, donde reside buen número de emigrados (El Nuevo Herald, 29/11/09).

Noviembre 30: Fidel Castro acusó de cinismo a quienes califican de armamentista al presidente de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, al tiempo que reiteró sus ataques al mandatario de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, por el uso de bases militares en Colombia y por su actuación ante el cambio climático. Acusar a Chávez "de promover la guerra contra el pueblo de Colombia, desatar una carrera armamentista, presentarlo como productor y promotor del tráfico de droga, reprimir la libertad de expresión, violar los derechos humanos y otras imputaciones similares, son acciones repugnantemente cínicas", dijo Castro en una de sus "reflexiones". El ex gobernante afirmó que Washington "ha conspirado sin cesar contra el proceso revolucionario venezolano, como ha hecho y lo sigue haciendo contra la revolución en nuestra patria durante 50 años". Castro recordó que antes del 18 de diciembre próximo cada país deberá adoptar una decisión sobre el cambio climático. "De nuevo el ilustre Premio Nobel de la Paz, Barack Obama, deberá definir su posición sobre el espinoso asunto", agregó. "Ya que aceptó la responsabilidad de recibir el Premio, tendrá que cumplir la demanda ética de (el cineasta norteamericano) Michael Moore cuando conoció la noticia: '¡Ahora gáneselo!'. ¿Es que acaso puede?", preguntó Castro (¿Existe margen para la hipocresíoa y la mentira?; Cubaencuentro, 1/12/09).