CUBA NEWS

US Trade Unionists Give Their Support to the Cuban Five

2011-07-23T23:06:00.003+01:00

WASHINGTON, July 22.— Trade unionists from the United States and the United Kingdom will gather in the city of Los Angeles, to give their support to the Cuban Five, the antiterrorist fighters who for almost 13 years have been unfairly imprisoned in the United States, the Prensa Latina news agency reports.

The event will coincide with the birthday of one of the Cuban Five, Rene Gonzalez (August 13), the International Committee to Free the Cuban Five announced in a communiqué.

Taking part in the solidarity meeting will be former Joint-General Secretary of Unite, Tony Woodley, who currently leads the trade union’s movement of support for the Cuban Five in the UK; Trabajadores Unidos (United Workers) leader Cristina R. Vazquez, who is also a member of the Western Region States Board of Directors; and Coordinator of the Committee to Free the Cuban Five Alicia Jrapko.

An exhibition entitled Humor desde el encierro (Humor in Captivity) comprising of political cartoons by one of the Cuban Five, Gerardo Hernandez, will be open during the event. The exhibition has toured other cities in the United States.

A short film by American actor Danny Glover on the case of the Cuban Five —as Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez are known internationally— will be also screened.

“These men are sons, husbands, brothers, poets, pilots, university graduates and artists. For 11 million Cubans they are considered heroes,” the communiqué by the solidarity organization reads.

Taking part at the solidarity meeting will be former Joint-General Secretary of the Unite Union, Tony Woodley, who currently leads the trade union’s movement of support for the Cuban Five in the UK

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu

UK government signs formal cooperation agreement with Cuba

2011-07-10T15:32:00.001+01:00

On Tuesday 5 July 2011, the UK and Cuba signed a formal declaration to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

CSC Director, Rob Miller welcomed the declaration saying:

“CSC has been campaigning vigorously on this issue for many of years through lobbying campaigns of MPs and ministers, Early Day Motions in parliament, and ministerial delegations, all calling for the UK to break from the 'EU Common Position' which has imposed restrictions on relations between EU member states since 1996. CSC and affiliated Trade Unions have consistently called for a policy based on respect for Cuba's sovereignty and independence. We believe that this declaration is a significant first step in this direction.

"CSC hopes that this will signal the beginning of the development of bilateral exchanges in the fields of scientific, educational and cultural links. Most importantly we hope that there will be a real effort to explore and facilitate economic exchange between the two nations. Present trade levels are paltry in comparison to many other Europeann countries and it is in the interests of the people of both the UK and Cuba to see this change for the better.

"The signing of this agreement should be another nail in the coffin of the unjust and discredited 'EU Common Position' which has so hampered the development of relations between our two countries. Now that the UK has, along with many other EU nations, signed forward looking cooperation agreements, we very much hope that this will see a new and better era of relations to the mutual benefit of the people of Cuba and the UK"

A press release from the British Embassy dated 5 July read:

“The UK and Cuba today signed a declaration to strengthen bilateral cooperation. It was signed by British ambassador Dianna Melrose and Cuban Vice Minister Dagoberto Rodríguez.

“Commenting on the declaration, the British ambassador said:

“this declaration formalises bilateral cooperation between the UK and Cuba. It is an important step and part of the British government’s renewed focus on Latin America. With the declaration in place, we look forward to enhanced engagement, deeper dialogue and the opportunity to cooperate more in priority areas including climate change, human rights, trade, investment and counternarcotics.”

Baroness Angela Smith, Chair of the All Party Group on Cuba, and Vice Chair of CSC, stated on behalf of the Campaign: "This bilateral cooperation agreement is an excellent first step in the long overdue development of better UK-Cuba relations. The people of our two countries have so much in common and so much to learn from each other that any moves to better relations based on mutual respect and understanding must be applauded. I very much hope that we can now begin to see real practical steps to increase levels of trade and exchange."

CSC would like to thank all of the members, supporters, trade union affiliates and MPs who have worked with us over the years to pressure the British government to change its policy on Cuba. We are committed to continue working with them both in the UK and Europe until relations are completely normalised and Cuba is fully welcomed with respect as a sovereign and equal state.

The full wording of the declaration between Cuba and the UK can be read here

http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk

Gerardo and Ramón have birthdays in June.

2011-05-26T21:17:00.001+01:00

Be sure to send them a birthday greeting!

You can write to them directly at the prison, (address below) and also transmit a greeting to our email address below. We will then mail Ramón and Gerardo your greeting which you e-mail us.

Gerardo Hernández was born June 4, 1965.
His address is:
Gerardo Hernández, #58739-004
U.S.P. Victorville
P.O. Box 5300
Adelanto, CA 92301
Ramón Labañino was born June 9, 1963.
He is registered in prison as Luis Medina, so you
have to address the envelope as:
Luis Medina, #58734-004
F.C.I. Jesup
2680 301 South
Jesup, GA 31599
Then inside the cards and letters, you can write to him as Ramón.

Much has happened in the last year, in the struggle for the Cuban Five. Gerardo's habeas corpus appeal is currently underway. His attorneys will file a reply in July to the government's response to his appeal memorandum.

Ramón's habeas corpus appeal memorandum will be filed soon. Antonio Guerrero's appeals are also currently in process. In the meantime, you can read the latest developments on the mobilizing efforts for the Five Cuban Heroes, as well as their legal appeals.

you can email your greetings to: info@freethefive.org

http://www.freethefive.org

Cuba Reports Washington Maneuvers against ALBA

2011-05-21T15:28:00.001+01:00

Havana, May 18 (Prensa Latina) The organization of a right-wing extremist summit on Capitol Hill in Washington to attacking Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba and Nicaragua was denounced on Wednesday.

The event will take place on May 26 under the slogan: Legitimacy Lost? How 21st Century Socialism Subverts Democracy in Latin America.

The chair of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, is behind the maneuvers against the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).

The right-wing assembly will claim that progressive Latin American countries have joined together to undermine rule of law and that they systematically violate rights of their the citizens, Granma newspaper reported.

It remarked the meeting is being promoted by the Americas Forum, a group that spreads dirty propaganda and misinformation against countries that do not obey the instructions of the US State Department.

The extremists and coup-plotters include Venezuelan mercenary Moises Naim, part of the Carlos Andres Perez administration during the massacre of El Caracazo.

U.S. Representative Connie Mack, the right-hand man of Ros-Lehtinen, will also be there; he suggested assassinating Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during another right-wing meeting.

Mack is developing a campaign for Venezuela to appear on the list of countries the United States considers sponsors as state sponsors of terrorism.

http://www.plenglish.com/

FUNDRAISING FOR CUBAN CHOIR

2011-05-21T15:04:00.000+01:00

Songworks Concert 4th June2011[1]

this event is well worth attending - the group is fundraising collaboratively with other choirs in the UK to get the Cuban choir "Musica Aurea" to the UK

Battling with Bacardi

2011-04-11T13:09:00.001+01:00

10 April 2011
The battle for the ownership of the Cuba’s Havana Club rum trademark continues to rage on both sides of the Atlantic.

In February Cuba won a ruling when Spanish courts, for the third time, refused Bacardi’s attempt to challenge the ownership of the famous trademark Cuban rum in Spain. Ian FitzSimons, General Counsel, Pernod Ricard (who distribute the Cuban distilled rum in Europe) said: "This decision is a victory for the Havana Club brand.

This was a blatant attempt by our competitor, Bacardi, to claim rights in a trademark more than 30 years after an unused registration had expired."

However, in April the latest ruling of the US Court of Appeals stated that the "Havana Club" trademark Pernod Ricard SA uses for its rum in other parts of the world can't be used in the US.

In reaching this ruling, the US court used cited a 1998 law which relates to a “confiscated”business or trademark. This legislation was drawn up by former Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Otto Reich, who was advising Bacardi at that time, when the company was under litigation in New York for using illegally the Havana Club name.

Juan Gonzalez Escalona, head of the Cuban Rum Corporation said the ruling reinforced the economic, financial and commercial blockade the US has kept on Cuba for five decades. He explained that Cubaexport had registered Havana Club trademark in the United States in 1976 and gave the French beverage giant Pernod Ricard the rights to market it throughout the world.

http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk

Outrage in El Paso: Posada Acquitted !!

2011-04-09T09:58:00.003+01:00

In El Paso today, following a 13-week trial in which the evidence against him was overwhelming, notorious terrorist Luis Posada Carriles was acquitted by a jury after a shockingly short three hours of deliberation.

The U.S. government has been at war against the Cuban people since they carried out a revolution in 1959. As a CIA employee and part of that war, Posada Carriles committed many acts of terrorism against the Cuban people and others.

Today Posada walks free in a mockery of justice, while the Cuban Five
anti-terrorists are still imprisoned for almost 13 years.

If the U.S. had really wanted a conviction of Luis Posada Carriles on his real crimes of terrorism, it would have been easily achieved. But the U.S. government chose to try Posada for the ridiculously minor charges of perjury and immigration fraud.

This is why the National Committee, along with the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and local activists in El Paso held a "Peoples Tribunal" and protest before the start of the federal trial, to expose Posada's crimes of terrorism to the world.

Today's acquittal, together with the continued incarceration of the Cuban Five heroes who risked their lives to prevent acts of terrorism by Posada's allies, is a clear indication that the U.S. war against the Cuban people and Cuban revolution continues.
The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five is outraged by this travesty of "justice," as are all supporters of Cuba and the Cuban Five.

The verdict of "not guilty" in Luis Posada Carriles's trial in El Paso does not absolve him of his terrorist crimes. And the struggle to bring Posada and his accomplices to justice does not end with today's verdict.

Demand Posada's Extradition!
Act today to demand justice for the 73 plane bombing victims,
for Fabio di Celmo, and for all the victims of U.S.-backed
anti-Cuba terrorism!

We urge everyone to contact the U.S. State Department and demand the immediate extradition of Posada to Venezuela, where he is wanted for the murder of 73 people in the mid-air bombing of Cubana Flight 455.

U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
202-647-4000

http://www.freethefive.org

Jimmy Carter: "Release the Cuban Five"

2011-04-01T21:57:00.003+01:00

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is the highest-ranking official, former or current, who has just publicly called for the freedom of the Cuban Five.

He has just spent three days in Havana, where he gave an interview to Cuban journalist Arleen Rodríguez Derivet, and also a press conference to Cuban and international media earlier in the day. On both occasions, Carter took the opportunity to call for changes in U.S. policy -- an end to the blockade, normalization of relations, and freedom for the Cuban Five.

Some excerpts from Carter's comments:
"I believe that there is no reason to keep the Cuban Five imprisoned, there were doubts in the U.S. courts and also among human rights organizations in the world. Now, they have been in prison 12 years and I hope that in the near future they will be released to return home.

"I also have had a chance to meet with the parents of the so-called Cuban Five, with two of the mothers and also with three of the wives, and I expressed my feelings to them, and I hope that in the future they will be released, according to U.S. law.

"As you know I am not only a President. I am also a Nobel laureate. Well, in my private talks to President Bush and also with President Obama, I have urged the release of these prisoners.

"I recognize that there are restraints within the American judicial system. However, my hope is that the president would grant a pardon. You have to realize that this is a decision that can only be made by the president. It is presumptuous of me to try to tell another president what to do.

"But the Presidents, now and before this [Obama and Bush], have known that my own opinion is that the original trial of the Cuban Five was very doubtful, norms were violated, and also some of the restraints on their visitations have been overly restrictive. I know that all of the families have been able to visit them. My wish in the future, before a pardon might be granted, is that there would be more access of their families to these prisoners in the United States.

"I have been informed by officials, for instance, that the shooting down of the small plane over Havana that caused the death of two pilots was done after the president of the United States [Bill Clinton] informed the Cuban leaders that no more flights would take place. I was informed by Cuban officials that they expressed to the president very clearly that they could not permit a plane to fly over their capital city, dropping leaflets, that they would have to protect the sovereignty of Cuba. So even those more serious allegations, in my opinion, are very doubtful about their need or cause of the extensive sentences that have been granted to the prisoners."

"So in every way, in my private report with Obama when I return to the United States, in my public statements like today, in my previous conversations with American leaders, I've called for the release of the Cuban Five."

press conference here

http://www.freethefive.org

Alberto Granado Passes Away in Havana

2011-03-08T11:55:00.001Z

Alberto Granado passed away at age 88 on Saturday in Havana. Granado was a great friend of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara and travelled with him throughout South America as retold in the movie Motorcycle Diaries.

Granado’s relationship with Che from an early age was an example of simple and sincere friendship. A loyal friend of Cuba, Granado left his mark in Cuba in his work to develop schools and teachers in the fields of Medicine and Genetics.

Floral wreaths from the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, and from Cuban President Raul Castro, were placed beside his coffin displayed at the Funeral Home in Calzada and K.

Alberto Granado was creamated and as per his wishes his ashes will be scattered in Cuba, his country of birth, Argentina, and in Venezuela.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu

More than 1.5 Million Cubans Are Teenagers

2011-03-08T11:47:00.001Z

Sancti Spiritus, Cuba Feb 25 (Prensa Latina) With more than 1.5 million people in the 10-19 age group, teenagers make up almost 14 percent of the Cuban population.

The largest number of young people in that age group lives in the provinces of Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Granma and Holguin, it was reported at a workshop to kick off activities for the 20th anniversary of the Guidance Center for Youth, Adolescents and Family in Sancti Spiritus province, according to the National News Agency (AIN).

Speaking at the workshop, Dr. Francisca Cruz Sanchez, a member of the board of directors of the Ibero-American Federation on Adolescence and Youth, said the 10-19 age group needs to be taken more into account for an adequate education.

Cruz, who is also president of the Adolescence Department of the Cuban Pediatrics Society, said the principal causes of death for that age group are related to accidents and malignant tumors.

Rafael Wert, director of the Sancti Spritus guidance center, said that families, schools, and society all have a responsibility and the capacity for helping children and young people overcome problems and conflicts.

There was a consensus at the workshop that in adolescence, fundamental activities are related to teenagers relationships with friends, which is why it is important to have an influence on the group as a whole for good habits in dressing, speaking, tastes, preferences and behaviour.

http://www.plenglish.com/

Seven Filmmakers Shooting a Portrait of Havana 2011

2011-03-08T11:45:00.001Z

Havana, Mar 7 (Prensa Latina) Puerto Rican actor Benicio del Toro started the first traces of a film portrait of the Cuban capital, whose design will complete another six directors, each with different histories and a common focus.

According to sources from the Cuban Film Institute, the film, a Franco-Spanish co-production made up of seven short, aims to offer an image of an eclectic city that looks towards future, 2011's Havana captured in the passing of a week.

The shooting, which is up to May 6, will be in charge of Del Toro, who made his debut as producer, Laurent Cantet, Gaspar Noe, Elia Suleiman, Pablo Trapero, Julio Medem, and Juan Carlos Tabio.

The idea that unites them is the intention of capturing "from their sensibilities, backgrounds and styles", the energy and vitality that makes the Cuban capital a unique city, the heart that beats in it from the beating of its different neighborhoods, atmospheres, generations and cultures.

The cast involves enviable names such as Emir Kusturica, Josh Hutcherson, Daniel Brühl, Jorge Perugorria, Mirta Ibarra, Vladimir Cruz, Daisy Granados, and Elia Suleiman among others, who will provide more details of the project in an upcoming meeting with the press.

With different arguments Siete dias en la Habana (Seven days in Havana) is grounded in a solid dramatic unity and common locations, linked to the body and spirit of the city as the Hotel Nacional de Cuba and the seawall-drive, one of the sites that nests the intimate pulses of the people, the breath and life of the capital.

Cuban writer Leonardo Padura assume the general coordination of the scripts of the film produced by Alvaro Longoria, Gael Nouaille, Didar Domehri, Laurent Baudens and Fabian Pisani and the executive producing of Pilar Benito and Cristina Zumarraga.

http://www.plenglish.com/

International Education Conference Begins in Havana

2011-01-24T20:40:00.002Z

Pedagogy 2011 - Education Conference, devoted to the unity of educators worldwide, opens its doors on Monday at Havana’s Karl Marx Theater with a special conference by Cuban Minister of Education Ena Elsa Velázquez Cobiella.

The Cuban minister of education will address aspects of the Cuban education system along with the Cuban international cooperation efforts such as its Yes, I Can literacy program.

More than 2,800 papers have been submitted to this year’s conference that will have the participation of 3,000 delegates from 20 countries.

With more than 53,000 totalling the number of participants in previous years, the conference has become an influential event not only for Latin America, but also for other regions.

From January 24 to 28, the Havana Convention Center will be the venue to special lectures by Cuban officials, including Minister of Higher Education Miguel Diaz-Canel, Minister of Culture Abel Prieto, and President of the Cuban Parliament Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada.
Also presenting during the conference will be education ministers from Venezuela, Bolivia and Guinea Bissau.
“For Cuban education professionals, this gathering represents the peak of a movement organized throughout the country from the school level to the top. This time, the Cuban delegation will be made up of 600 delegates, including 20 outstanding students selected based on their results at the National Education Sciences Fair. More than 149,880 teachers took part at base level meetings and more than 3,000 at the municipal and provincial levels. This movement is essential for the promotion of research and debates,” said Cuban Vice Minister of Education Rolando Forneiro.
Forneiro also noted that the reforms currently underway in Cuba’s education system aimed at training more efficient professionals and making better use of the available resources will be the subject of some of the lectures scheduled.
Among the examples he mentioned are reducing boarding schools while increasing the number of high schools in urban areas, and the incorporation of more than 7,000 retired professors into the education system.
Forneiro also announced that an exhibition would be inaugurated in the lobby of the Havana Convention Center, reflecting some of the achievements of Cuban education, especially Cuba’s support of literacy campaigns in other countries and the success of the Yes, I can teaching method.
“The Pedagogy 2011 Conference coincides with the 50th anniversary of the literacy campaign carried out in our country following the 1959 revolution. One of the symposiums to be held parallel to the conference will deal with the history of this important campaign,” he added.
Some of the issues to be discussed are the instillation of human values; teacher’s training; culture and education; physical education, sports and recreation; education quality control; comprehensive education programs for children 6 years and under; environmental education; family, women and education from a gender perspective; health and sex promotion and education programs; scientific education programs; communication and publishing; and education sciences and scientific research.
Special forums will be held to analyze the works of important figures, such as Jose Marti, Simon Bolivar, Ernesto Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, and other Latin American and Caribbean heroes.
Participants will have the opportunity to visits different education facilities in Havana, and other places of cultural and scientific interest. In addition, there will be 79 courses offered for delegates on relevant issues, which will be delivered by prestigious Cuban and foreign teachers and researchers.
This year’s conference is dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of the Cuban Literacy Campaign and the last day, January 28, will be dedicated to Cuban National Hero Jose Marti.
The Cuban Literacy Campaign was a year-long effort to abolish illiteracy in Cuba after the 1959 triumph of the Cuban Revolution. It began on January 1, 1960 and ended on December 22, 1961. The period of the Literacy Campaign is referred to as the “Year of Education” in Cuba. During 1961, the literacy rate of Cuba increased from 76% to 96% and continued until it was completely wiped out in Cuba.
The literacy campaign was part of the revolutionary reforms immediately implemented by Fidel Castro that included agrarian reform, healthcare reform, and educational reform, all of which dramatically improved the quality of life among the lowest sectors of Cuban society.
The Literacy Campaign also aimed to create a collective identity of unity, an attitude of combat, courage, intelligence, and a sense of history.
It is estimated that 1,000,000 Cubans were directly involved (as teachers or students) in the Literacy Campaign). There were four categories of workers:
“Conrado Benitez” Brigade (Conrado Benetiz Brigadistas)—100,000 young volunteers (ages 10–19) who left school to live and work along with their students in the countryside. The number of students leaving schools to volunteer was so great that an alternative education was put in place for 8 months of the 1961 school year.
Popular Alphabetizers (Alfabetizadores populares)—Adults who volunteered to teach in cities or towns. Some13,000 factory workers held classes for their illiterate co-workers after hours. This group also includes the numerous individuals who taught friends, neighbors, or family members out of their own homes.
The Patria o Muerte Brigade—A group of 15,000 adult workers who were paid to teach in remote rural locations through an arrangement that their co-workers would fill in for them, so that the workforce of Cuba remained strong.
Schoolteacher Brigades—A group of 15,000 professional teachers who oversaw the technical and organizational aspects of the campaign. As 1961 progressed, their involvement grew to the extent that most teachers participated full-time for a majority of the campaign.
The government provided teaching supplies to volunteers, and workers that traveled to rural locations to teach received: clothes, books, blankets, lamps, and hammocks.
Many of the Literacy Campaign’s volunteers went on to pursue teaching careers, and the rate of teachers is more than 10 times higher than it was before the revolution. Before the revolutionary government nationalized schools, private institutions often excluded large segments of society; wealthy Cubans often received exemplary instruction in private schools, while children of the working class received low-quality education, or did not attend school at all. Education became accessible to all after 1959 triumph of the Revolution.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu

Cuba shoots its first zombie movie Juan Of The Dead

2011-01-19T13:03:00.003Z

Blood-spattered, flesh-eating monsters have been roaming the Cuban capital, Havana, in recent months - all part of filming for the country's first zombie movie.

Bearing a similar title to Britain's 2004 comedy horror Shaun Of The Dead, Juan Of The Dead's plot is actually closer to the 1984 ghoul classic Ghostbusters.

In the film, an entire city is overrun by zombies while Cuba's Communist leaders insist it is just a plot by US-backed dissidents to bring down the government.

So it is left to hero Juan - played by Cuban actor Alexis Diaz de Villegas - to rid the island of the undead for money.

But as the zombie outbreak begins to spread, he is left with no choice but to fight for his own survival.

The film, due for release later this year, was written and directed by 34-year-old Alejandro Brugues.

It is only his second movie since graduating from Cuba's International School of Film and Television.

"It's a zombie film but it's about Cubans and how we react in the face of a crisis because we've had a lot of them here over the last 50 years," Brugues told the BBC World Service's The Strand.

"It is a social comedy, it has a bit of everything. It has horror, it has action and it pretty much laughs in the face of problems."

The movie is a joint Cuban-Spanish production with much of the funding coming from overseas.

It is the latest in a wave of independent cinema which has been struggling to find its feet after state funding all but dried up following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Strawberry And Chocolate, which dealt with gays rights at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in Cuba, was the last film to enjoy international success after it was nominated for an Oscar in 1994.

Although Cuban cinema has been struggling in recent years, for many decades it was a flourishing industry.

Art-house classics

Shortly after the Cuban revolution in 1959, leader Fidel Castro created the Cuban Film Institute, known as ICAIC.

Will Juan of the Dead been successful in and outside Cuba? He believed that cultural and political change should go hand in hand.

As a result, many films such as the 1966 movie Death Of A Bureaucrat and 1968's Memories Of Underdevelopment, both directed by Tomas Gutierrez Alea, became art-house classics.

Humberto Solas' Lucia, which explores the lives of three women living through the country's political and social revolutions at three different points in history, is also considered a landmark in Cuban cinema.

It won the Golden Prize at the 1969 Moscow International Film Festival.

Cinema history

US director John Landis, who made the 1981 comedy horror classic An American Werewolf In London, in November visited the international school where Brugues studied.

He hailed the country's history and passion for film.

"Cuba has a great history of cinema and they've always been avid filmgoers," Landis said.

"After the revolution, Cubans used to steal prints from Miami and they'd have first-run movies. So movies would play in Havana before they'd play in LA. How did that happen?"

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He added: "Cuban cinema has always been interesting and what is fun now is how they make political films because they always disguise it."

While there seems to be a sense of excitement building around Juan Of The Dead in Cuba, Brugues believes the industry needs to move with the times if the rest of the world is to sit up and take notice.

"At the moment there are two trends, films produced by the Cuba's state production company and films made outside of that," he said.

"There needs to be a balance but I think the two will eventually merge. When this happens I think this will produce the best Cuban cinema."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

UK firm signs Cuban renewable energy deal

2011-01-19T12:59:00.002Z

Generating power from sugar cane fibre and wild shrubs is at the heart of a pioneering link between a British company and the Cuban government.

Havana Energy, chaired by former Labour government minister Brian Wilson, plans to develop the technology to build biomass energy plants in the country.

The deal, with state-owned Zerus, comes as the country trials ways of working with private firms, after decades of running its economy through the state.

It is being valued at $250m (£157m).

The investment is being hailed as the first major renewable energy contract signed between Cuba and a British company.

It would see a pilot project at the Ciro Redondo sugar mill, 250 miles south-east of Havana, with a second stage of four further biomass plants at other mills, each of 32mw capacity.

A return on the investment is expected within five years.

According to Havana Energy, the country already produces 7% of its energy needs from renewable sources.

But there is potential for far more, particularly from using the the sugar cane plant.

As much as 50% of the country's energy needs - or 3000mw- could be provided by the burning of bagasse, the fibre left over after sugar cane is crushed at 56 sugar refineries in Cuba reckoned to have biomass potential.

In addition, about one million hectares of land on the island has been invaded by the marabu shrub, which is now being tested for its potential as an energy source in biomass burning.

The strategic agreement follows a visit in November 2010 by academics from Scotland, looking at ways in which they can help develop the country's renewable energy potential.

One of those who took part, Professor Martin Tangney, director of the Biofuel Research Centre at Edinburgh Napier University, commented on the sugar mill biomass plants plans.

He said: "It is an ideal process and one of the most efficient sources of renewable energy in the world.

"The next stage should be incorporating biofuels from the other waste products from the sugar cane."

'Excellent record'

Brian Wilson, who was minister for energy, trade and Scotland as well as an Ayrshire MP, said: "Having tried for more than a decade to promote closer economic links between the UK and Cuba, I am delighted to be involved in a project that demonstrates the benefits of such co-operation.

"Cuba has an excellent record both in providing electricity for its people and promoting environmental sustainability. This project will support both objectives".

Nelson Labrada, the Cuban government's vice-minister of sugar, said: "This strategy of using sugar cane bagasse for power generation avoids one of the primary problems with other biomass sources which is supply.

"In Cuba it is possible via the sugar mills and bagasse based power plants to generate up to 40% of the energy needs of the country today."

Havana Energy is a subsidiary of Esencia, a British company focused on trade with Cuba, which also works in the tourism sector.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

British cruise ship Thomson Dream to dock in Cuba

2011-01-05T14:09:00.001Z

A British-owned cruise ship is due to sail into the Cuban capital, Havana, on Wednesday, the first in years to dock in the Communist-run island.

The arrival of the Thomson Dream in Cuba is seen as a sign that European cruise companies are starting to return to the island.

Visits from European cruise ships dwindled after the then-president Fidel Castro criticised the business for leaving "rubbish, but little income".

The ship can carry 1,500 passengers.

The BBC's Michael Voss in Havana says the Thomson Dream will be by far the largest cruise ship to have sailed to Cuba in almost six years.

None of the many cruise companies based in Miami, Florida, can make the trip due to the decades-old US trade embargo which severely restricts trade with the island.

Our correspondent says Spanish- and Norwegian-owned cruise ships were the first to return to Cuba over the past few months.

In an interview with a Cuban magazine in December, a Cuban Ministry of Tourism official said Canada and Russia would also send cruise ships to the island.

The official said negotiations were also under way with Canadian cruise companies for their ships to dock there during the next winter season.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Cuba Launches Online Encyclopedia

2010-12-21T11:50:00.003Z

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 14 (acn) Cuba is launching on Tuesday its own online
encyclopedia “to create and disseminate the knowledge of all and for all,
from Cuba and with the world.”
According to Granma newspaper, EcuRed (www.ecured.cu) will be launched
officially on Tuesday, but it was already up and running on Monday, with
19,626 entries.
Users will be able to update entries with prior approval from EcuRed
administrators.
“Its philosophy is the accumulation and development of knowledge, with
a democratizing, not profitable objective, from a decolonizer point of
view,” the site self-defines.
Entries include Cuban personalities, geographical sites, towns and
cities, as well as scientific writings.
The site notes that discriminatory, obscene, disrespectful,
aggressive, advertising, tendentious, defamatory or pornographic materials
will not be allowed

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Foreign Ministry Explains Controversial "Sexual Orientation" Vote to Activists

2010-12-13T13:50:00.000Z

By Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Dec 2, 2010 (IPS) - Gay rights advocates in Cuba received an unprecedented response from Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, in a meeting held at the ministry itself, after they complained about this country’s support in the United Nations for an amendment seen as a step backwards from the government’s position against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

"A summary of the conversation will be on my blog in a few hours," journalist and gay activist Francisco Rodríguez Cruz told IPS shortly after emerging from Wednesday’s meeting, which was also attended by Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno.

The reporter, who is better known by the name of his blog, "Paquito el de Cuba", said the meeting "was as unexpected as it was useful and beneficial.

"All of the people taking part in the meeting learned something from it," said the blogger, a member of Cuba’s ruling Communist Party. He is one of the protagonists of what could, without exaggeration, be described as a historic moment: the first formal meeting between a Cuban foreign minister and representatives of this country’s gay community, which has only recently begun to openly organise.

Other participants in the meeting with the foreign minister were Dr. Alberto Roque, head of the sexual diversity unit in the Cuban Multidisciplinary Society for the Study of Sexuality (SOCUMES) and coordinator of Hombres por la Diversidad (Men for Diversity), a group that advocates the right to free sexual identity, and Ada Alfonso and Mayra Rodríguez, assistant directors of the government’s National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX).

SOCUMES and CENESEX were the first to express their concern over the Cuban delegation’s vote on Nov. 16 in the U.N. General Assembly’s Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Committee, known as the "Third Committee".

That day, the Committee passed an amendment introduced by Morocco and Mali on behalf of African and Islamic nations that removed the explicit mention of sexual orientation from a General Assembly resolution on extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions.

The motion, which triggered controversy in on-line publications and blogs and prompted Rodríguez Cruz to send an open letter to the foreign minister, called for replacing the words "sexual orientation" with "discriminatory reasons on any basis."

Cuba was the only Latin American country among the 79 that voted in favour of the amendment. Most of the countries in the region, including important allies like Venezuela, were among the 70 nations that voted against the motion, while the delegates of two Latin American countries, Nicaragua and Bolivia, were not present during the vote.

Seventeen countries in other regions abstained from voting.

According to the recent blog post on "Paquito el de Cuba", in the two-hour "chat" with the foreign minister and his deputy, "both officials spoke at length about the complexities of U.N. voting mechanisms" and "the inevitable confrontations and alliances between blocs of countries."

Besides describing "the political manipulations by powerful states against underdeveloped nations" in scenarios like the annual U.N. General Assembly sessions, the officials "listened receptively and with great interest to our arguments, concerns and suggestions."

According to Rodríguez Cruz, the minister said during the conversation that "there has been no shift in policy" with respect to Cuba’s opposition to any form of discrimination or its promotion of respect for free sexual orientation and gender identity.

The controversial vote in question was the result of "an unforeseen and very specific circumstance," said Minister Rodríguez, as reported by the blogger.

The vote cast by the Cuban delegation was, moreover, explained at the time to the Committee, the minister said. The text of the Cuban government’s explanation, which was delivered to the representatives of CENESEX and the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans community), was not reported by the journalists stationed at the U.N. or by the local press in Cuba.

In the document, the Cuban delegation clarifies that this Caribbean island nation is "against any kind of discrimination, for whatever reason, whether race, skin colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, economic status, birth or any other social condition.

"Cuba voted in favour of the amendment proposed by the group of African nations because it considers it to be sufficiently broad and encompassing. It refers to all executions committed on the basis of any kind of discrimination, which in Cuba’s view also includes killings committed on grounds of sexual orientation," the text adds.

During the meeting in the Foreign Ministry, it was announced that "within the next few days, Cuba’s mission at the U.N. will issue an additional statement with respect to this question."

Furthermore, Minister Rodríguez "confirmed that the Foreign Ministry will maintain, from here on out, a stance consistent with the government’s positions on the question of non-discrimination and respect for sexual diversity."

In what was clearly a response to the offer to "political decision-makers" by CENESEX and SOCUMES of the tools needed to continue including the right to sexual diversity among human rights, the Foreign Ministry offered "to work more closely together with CENESEX and LGBT groups."

"I never thought the minister would respond to me, and much less in person," said Rodríguez Cruz.

Sexual Orientation" Vote in UN Panel Kicks Up Controversy

2010-12-13T13:45:00.000Z

By Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Dec 1, 2010 (IPS) - An unusually strong controversy has broken out in Cuba over a vote by the delegation from this Caribbean nation in favour of an amendment that left out the specific mention of sexual orientation in a United Nations General Assembly resolution on extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions.

In a country where people generally agree with or simply do not question the stances taken by the government in international forums, representatives of different sectors of civil society, as well as the governmental National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX), have expressed concern over the position taken by the Cuban delegation.

"Failure to specifically mention discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation gives the green light for many states and governments to continue to treat homosexuality as a crime," Alberto Roque, president of the sexual diversity unit of the Cuban Multidisciplinary Society for the Study of Sexuality (SOCUMES), told IPS.

Cuba is the only country in Latin America that backed the amendment introduced by Morocco and Mali on behalf of African and Islamic nations that called for replacing the words "sexual orientation" with "discriminatory reasons on any basis."

Cuba thus joined "countries that do not condemn killings and other discriminatory treatment on the basis of sexual orientation, such as 76 countries that criminalise homosexuality, including five where it is punishable by the death penalty," added Roque, a medical doctor who works with CENESEX.

The vote cast by Cuba in the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Committee, better known as the "Third Committee", of the U.N. General Assembly, which met in November, ran counter to the Cuban government’s support of the U.N. declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity, presented to the General Assembly in December 2008 but not yet approved.

Roque said the fact that Cuba was the only Latin American nation which, after supporting the declaration of 2008, now voted in favour of excluding sexual orientation, makes this country "a politically unfavourable scenario" and contradicts the spirit of the National Sex Education Programme.

A joint statement issued Nov. 24 by CENESEX and SOCUMES pointed out that Cuba’s laws do not provide for penalties based on sexual orientation or gender identity and reiterated an interest in offering "a reference framework" to political decision-makers, in order to continue recognising sexual rights as human rights.

The statement was also signed by journalist Francisco Rodríguez Cruz, the creator of the "Paquito el de Cuba" blog and a prominent gay activist, who also published an open letter Monday addressed to Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, under the title "let’s not make a mistake again".

The letter sent to the Foreign Ministry expresses the "total and vigorous disagreement" on the part of "a Cuban citizen, Communist militant and member of the island’s LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans community)."

Rodríguez Cruz warned that "incoherent stances" like the vote in the U.N. could be counterproductive when it comes to overcoming "outdated mental states" that justified homophobic actions after the triumph of the 1959 revolution, and could hinder the promotion of respect for the freedom of sexual orientation and gender identity as a human right.

Cuba’s vote shows that, despite CENESEX’s unflagging efforts over the last few years, the rights of sexual minorities are still not "a political priority," Rodríguez Cruz, a journalist with Trabajadores, the weekly publication of the government-aligned Cuban Confederation of Workers (CTC), commented to IPS.

The reporter said "it also stands out sharply that with its vote, Cuba diverged from the position of strategic allies in the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA), like Venezuela and Ecuador."

Besides these two countries, the Latin American nations that voted against deleting the explicit mention of sexual orientation were Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Bolivia and Nicaragua were among the 26 countries absent when the vote was held.

"I hope that in the future, positions will be adopted on human rights like the ones we have taken on women’s and children’s rights and so many others, even if our vote is not in line with our sister nations from Africa, the Middle East and Asia," Roque said, adding that he was not aware of why the Cuban delegation voted for the amendment.

The amendment was passed on Nov. 16 by a vote of 79 to 70 with 17 abstentions. It was then approved by the Human Rights Committee, and is set to be formally adopted by the U.N. General Assembly this month.

While the removal of the mention of sexual orientation from the resolution on extrajudicial killings has been loudly protested on web sites, blogs, social networking sites and email distribution lists, the government-controlled Cuban media have remained silent on the subject, and the Foreign Ministry has not taken a public stance.

Feminist blogger Yasmín Portales wrote that the vote in the Third Committee "reveals the same resistance met, in society as well as in the government," by a series of legal proposals in favour of the rights of the LGBT community

"Votes like the one Cuba cast on this occasion express the implicit consideration that sexual, reproductive and sexual diversity rights, which to me form part of a single anti- patriarchal package, are negotiable and dispensable in the name of political alliances," the author of the blog "En 2310 y 8225" told IPS. (END)

Cuban Aerocaribbean S.A.Airplane Crash

2010-11-08T14:19:00.002Z

At approximately 5:42 p.m. Thursday, a Cuban Aerocaribbean S.A. airplane, ATR-72-212, onroute to Havana from Santiago de Cuba reported an emergency before losing all contact with the air transit control systems. Local authorities in the Guasimal region in the province of Sancti Spíritus reported that the airplane crashed to the ground.

At this moment aeronautic and natonal authorities have launched a probe into the occurence and a commission has been created to investigate the tragic accident.

There were 61 passengers and 7 crew members aboard the plane, including 40 Cubans and 28 foreigners.

Cuban Institute of Civil Aeronautics

November 4, 2010

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu

United Nations: Cuba Demands End of US Blockade

2010-10-29T14:06:00.000+01:00

For the 19th consecutive year, the UN General Assembly will vote on Tuesday on the resolution demanding that the United States to lift its blockade of Cuba, which has caused the island more then $750 billion in losses, reported Prensa Latina.

The demand is item No. 41 on the General Assembly's agenda, under the heading "The Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade Imposed by the United States of America Against Cuba."

In October 2009, 187 of 192 UN member countries voted for the end of the hostile US policy with only three nations voting against that resolution (the United States, Israel and Palau), and two abstentions (Marshall Islands and Micronesia).

The annual report on the blockade presented by Cuba in the General Assembly states that the siege remains intact, with its complex web of laws and legal regulations.

This is also the longest and most unyielding blockade applied by the United States in history against any country, despite being in violation of international law and the UN Charter's purposes and principles.

It is also, in essence and objectives, an act of unilateral aggression and permanent threat against the stability of a country, "a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of a people."

Since 1991, the UN General Assembly has condemned the US blockade of Cuba. Last year, even though many delegates expressed a newfound optimism that United States-Cuba relations could improve with the change of Administration in Washington, the United Nations General Assembly once again adopted a stern resolution calling on the United States to end a trade embargo, which had created human suffering and wrecked havoc with the economy of the island nation.

The resolution against the blockade calls upon all States to refrain from promulgating and applying laws and measures such as that promulgated in the 1996 “Helms-Burton Act” which carried extraterritorial effects that impacted the sovereignty of other States.

The blockade is an absurd, illegal and morally unsustainable policy that generates shortages and sufferings for people, restricts and slows the development of the country, and seriously damages Cuba's economy, the document says.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said a month ago at the UN General Assembly that US President Barack Obama has shown himself to be unwilling to rectify even the most irrational and universally rejected aspects from his anti-Cuba policy.

There has not been any change in the policy of blockade and subversion against Cuba in the last two years, even though Obama has sufficient prerogatives to produce real change, the Cuban Foreign minister noted. He has called the blockade an “uncultured act of arrogance” that has hampered the development of Cuba’s economy and was also applied to other countries that wanted to carry out business with the Caribbean nation.

The October 26 vote takes place about a month after the Assembly's annual general debate, where heads of state and government as well as foreign ministers from dozens of countries denounced the US siege against the Caribbean island.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

WHAT CUBA GIVES THE WORLD

2010-10-27T12:35:00.003+01:00

As part of the Edinburgh World Justice festival (EWJF), East Coast SCSC helped to put on an afternoon dedicated to the cuban health system and salsa and rum!! With the catchy title of "What Cuba Gives the World"

The first half of the event was a welcome by Councillor Gordon Munro followed by a talk by Brian Pollitt from Scottish Medical aid for Cuba and the first of two clipsfrom the documentary "Salud"

With over 80 people attending over the course of the day , it was a great success and finished off with an hour of salsa with a couple of salsa teachers putting us through our paces. although this was a free event, a bucket collection was split between Scottish Medical aid for cuba and east coast SCSC.

special thanks must go to the EWJF and to Joan Cutting for organising the event.

(L-R Gordon Munro, Brian Pollitt and Joan Cutting)
Posted by east coast scsc at 12:06 0 comments Labels: ewjf, salsa, scotland
The Miami 5 vigil

MIAMI 5 VIGIL

2010-10-27T12:32:00.003+01:00

Its been a busy week for the East Coast SCSC. On Tuesday we had a vigil for the Miami 5 in princes Street in Edinburgh. It was timed to coincide with similar events in Glasgow and London. Surprisingly, for a bitterly cold night, loads of people stopped to sign the petition to demand visas for the wives of the miami 5 who have been denied visits which amnesty international says is against the human rights of prisoners.

Banks action on Cuban sanctions hits UK companies

2010-10-22T08:27:00.001+01:00

21 October 2010
Lloyds TSB has blocked a bank transfer from Cuba to a UK business that supplies agricultural consultancy services despite the free flow of trade between the Caribbean country and the EU

A small business consultancy has tabled complaints to the Business Secretary and EU authorities accusing Lloyds TSB of breaking the law by refusing to process a cash payment from a Cuban business for £7,156.

Barrie Bain, chairman of Tunbridge Wells-based Fertecon, said yesterday: "I find it astounding that a bank controlled by the state is doing something that is against the law. It is damaging our business and presumably the export efforts of thousands of other small UK companies."

Lloyds has told him the bank has reviewed its approach to dealing with countries subject to government and international sanctions "in order to best protect its customers, its businesses, its people and its reputation."

Keiron Walsh, a senior manager in the bank's commercial department, told Mr Bain: "Unfortunately we are unable to offer you advice on alternative arrangements for your payments."

The block on the bank transfer has thrown into fresh focus changes quietly introduced by banks to avoid falling foul of US regulations over the breach of its trade sanctions against Cuba.

Neither the UK nor the EU has similar blocks on trade with Cuba but the importance of the US market has seen UK banks fall into line.

Lloyds has already felt the full weight of the US regulatory authorities, being forced to pay $350m in January last year after being accused of helping clients in Iran, Libya and Sudan to avoid US sanctions. The sanctions power exercised by the US was also on display when Barclays was fined in August for allegedly breaking US sanctions through business dealings with people linked to Cuba, Iran, Libya, Myanmar and Sudan. The British bank agreed to pay a $298m fine covering business transactions worth $500m.

The upshot is that Barclays has told customers it no longer handles any business with links with Iran, North Korea, Myanmar or the sanctioned areas of Sudan. "Our sanctions policy also includes a prohibition on transactions involving anyone or any entity on the US, UN [United Nations], UK or EU sanctions list," the bank said.

Lloyds defended its action over the Cuban payment. "Lloyds takes its responsibility with regard to the application of sanctions very seriously and recently reviewed our approach to dealing with countries and entities that are subject to government and international sanctions across the globe in order to best protect our customers, our businesses, our people and our reputation."

Mr Bain, who specialises in providing advice on agricultural markets, particularly fertilisers, and has 95pc of his business overseas has undergone a crash course in trade restrictions since the cheque was blocked a week ago and said his research showed that under the Protection of Trade Interests Act and the EU Blocking Statute "it is illegal to block payments from Cuba".

He has been told by Vince Cable's Business Department that no order has been made under the terms of the Trade Interests Act making it an offence to comply with another country's extra territorial legislation – regulations designed to counter the US restrictions under the terms of the Helms-Burton act in 1996.

But Mr Bain has discovered there is scope for the department to consider an investigation if a complaint is tabled about a bank's refusal to handle a transaction with Cuba.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Cuba to Consolidate Children's Protection

2010-10-14T12:11:00.002+01:00

The Cuban program "Por un Mundo al Derecho" is celebrating its tenth anniversary of promoting actions for providing more protection for childhood, in line with the UN Convention on Children's Rights.

The project was founded in 2000, via an agreement with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and with financial support from Finland.

Its goal is to raise awareness among children, teenagers and adults regarding laws protecting minors under the age of 18.

The Justice Ministry reported that the program aims to strengthen respect for children's rights and pave the way for the promotion of a culture on the issue.

In that sense, the ministry and other government agencies are preparing a series of social and cultural activities to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the project.

"Por un Mundo al Derecho" is also targeted to achieve more children's leadership, increase participation of minors within society, and create a strategy of training and promotion.

The Convention on Children Rights is a UN treaty and is compulsory.

That international rule covers civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, reflecting the different situations of children and youth worldwide.

The convention has 54 articles that recognize that all children under 18 years old have the right to full physical, mental and social development and to express their opinion freely.

Cuba signed the Convention on Children's Rights on January 26, 1990 and ratified it on August 21, 1991 and it came into effect in September of that year.
by PL

http://naturalchildhood.blogspot.com

Cuba Premieres Argentinean Documentary on Che

2010-10-08T12:00:00.002+01:00

Havana, Oct 7 (Prensa Latina) The documentary Che, A new Man, by Argentinean filmmaker Tristan Bauer will be premiered Thursday at 330 Cuban films and video halls, presenting a human, live portrait, with new profiles.

In about one and a half hour, the film deals with the life of the guerrilla, his political thinking, his family relations, an his love for literature and arts, based on a comprehensive historic research the director made for 12 years.

"I knew it was a challenge, but I had to try to transmit the concept of a man who studies, immersed in a deep theoretic reflection on a par with action," Bauer told press.

The documentary was co-produced by the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC), the Center on Che Guevara's Studies, Argentina' National Film and Audiovisual Institute, the National University of San Martin, the Spanish Television, and Golem Distribution Label.

It is screened on the occasion of the 43rd death anniversary of Ernesto Guevara in Bolivia.

It is an audiovisual material of incalculable value, a portrait enriched with substantial contributions by the Center bearing his name, and unexposed images granted by ICAIC

http://www.plenglish.com/

Continuation of Terrorist Plans from the US

2010-09-27T09:06:00.003+01:00

Chávez Abarca admits that as of September 2005, there are plans to murder the Venezuelan President.

The statements of Francisco Chávez Abarca and the plans against Venezuela expose the continuation of the terrorist actions against Cuba and raise new questions on the complicity of the CIA, CANF, Posada Carriles and the anti-Cuban members of Congress.

As news were published that Luis Posada Carriles and various extremist organizations based in the US intend to carry on their plans of violent and paramilitary actions against Cuba, international terrorist Francisco Antonio Chávez Abarca was arrested in Venezuela last July 1st. He is one of the main links of the Central American connection employed in violent actions against Cuba by the notorious criminal, the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) and some of its former members that currently make up the Council for the Liberation of Cuba (CLC).

Posada Carriles, a fugitive of the Venezuelan legal system, remains active and devising anti-Cuban schemes inside and out of the US territory, collecting debts and favors from politicians, officials and local or Central American agents as if he did not remember, mind or care about the hearing to set the date of the trial -or mock trial-he should face early next year, under a minor migratory charge.

Cuba, that has never permitted -and never will-the use of its territory for planning, funding or executing terrorist actions against any other state, has watched for over five decades how its neighbor to the North, and particularly Miami city, has provided safe haven to notorious terrorists, from before and after the triumph of the Revolution; funds are raised and provided, and bank accounts operated to finance their actions and those who sponsor, plan and carry out criminal actions against our country, many of them formerly or currently in the CIA and FBI payrolls, are allowed to use the territory.

Is terrorism no longer fashionable?

As a “guest of honor” of the terrorist organization Alpha ‘66 Annual Congress, held on February 27-28, 2010, Posada proposed to take up the plans of violent and paramilitary actions against Cuba.

Although the leaders of the group indicated that as part of a strategy they should pretend to transform into a political, civilian and peaceful party, they have ratified that terrorism is their main line of action and instrument to destroy the Revolution. Likewise, they recommended raising funds for purchasing new boats and equipping them with machine guns either to land in Cuba or to attack our coasts.

Coincidentally, on March 22, a few days after that congress, the residence of the Cuban ambassador in Guatemala was attacked with explosive bullets shot with grenade launchers causing material damages.

In this context, Congressman Lincoln Díaz-Balart makes news again. He is the number one cheerleader of the worst actions against our people, from the promotion in Capitol Hill of a military aggression on Cuba and the assassination of the Commander in Chief, to the kidnapping of the child Elián González or the encouragement of hunger strikes as a method of struggle of the mercenaries.

About to relinquish his legislative position, Díaz-Balart re-launched at the end of May 2010 the terrorist organization known as La Rosa Blanca, created by his father a few days after the revolutionary victory, and of which he now claims to be President, with the objective of becoming the main boss of the Miami Mafia.

La Rosa Blanca was the first counterrevolutionary organization established in the US by henchmen of Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship who fled Cuba running away from their abuses and crimes. As of 1959, it bonded with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Dominican dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo to organize an uprising in the Escambray Mountains. It is remembered for burning down schools, farmers’ houses, sugarcane fields and textile factories wounding and maiming a number of people and causing large economic damage.

Why is a US Congressman reactivating such an organization in the 21st century? What for?

Díaz-Balart’s new chicanery can’t obscure his intention to receive and channel part of the funds worth millions allocated by the US government for subversion, a booty they all want seize, including other notorious terrorists like Roberto Martín Pérez and his fellow descendants of torturers under Batista’s dictatorship who also took part in the re-founding of La Rosa Blanca.

His colleague Ileana Ros-Lethinen, who won the nickname of ‘the Ferocious She-Wolf’ for her shameful role in the kidnapping of Elián González, is accountable for having done more than anyone else during her 1988 political campaign for the release of Orlando Bosch, a close friend of Enrique Ros, the legislator’s father. Bosch and Posada Carriles were the masterminds behind the action against a Cuban airliner that took the lives of 73 people.

In 1991, under the Administration of George Bush, senior, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lethinen interceded with the President to have three US Air Force type 0-2 planes –the military version of the Cessna used in exploration missions-delivered to the Brothers to the Rescue group headed by José Basulto, a Playa Giron ex-mercenary, a terrorist and CIA agent. On July 19, 1992, as the air operations started, the press for the first time published pictures of the aircraft handed over to that counterrevolutionary group, with the USAF (US Air Force) insignia clearly visible in a report by the editor of the Miami Herald, who made a flight with them.

Incited by members of Congress Ileana Ros and Lincoln Díaz-Balart as well as by other counterrevolutionary organizations in Miami, Brothers to the Rescue staged provocations on Cuban territory to damage the favorable process of talks initiated by the United States and Cuba after the Migratory Accords of 1994 and 1995.

Sponsored by the Miami Mafia, this counterrevolutionary group concentrated every effort in provoking an incident and violated Cuban airspace 25 times in 20 months, including flights over Havana City dropping various objects and leading to the events of February 24, 1996 and the downing of the aircraft.

Again, this provocation strained the Cuban-American relations and encouraged the adoption of the Helms-Burton Act, whose content makes it more difficult to find solutions in the future to the two countries feud, as it turned into law all of the measures related to the US economic, commercial and financial blockade.

In 2008, Ileana Ros headed another effort, this time for the presidential pardon of terrorist Eduardo Arocena, the intellectual author of the murder of United Nations Cuban diplomat Felix García Rodríguez in 1980 and the bomb blasts in US public places. More recently, Ros-Lethinen has played a major role raising funds to pay for Posada Carriles defense attorneys.

“The CANF goals are my own,” she said. This was her early commitment in 1989 with the terrorist organization that put up her candidacy and used all of its economic and political power to ensure her a seat in the US Congress. “I approve the possibility of someone murdering Fidel Castro,” she said to a British BBC documentary maker in March 2006, while she sat peacefully in her Washington office.

Various analysts have addressed the concern and expectations in the US arising from the arrest of Chávez Abarca, particularly among members of Congress and officials whose political careers are very closely linked to Posada, the CIA and CANF. There are rumors that some of the most anxious are anti-Cuban New Jersey Congressmen Bob Menéndez and Albio Sires. The former has usually sponsored terrorists, from the days when his “adviser” for the community was Alfredo Chumaceiro Anillo who, on July 24, 1976, tried to blow up the Lincoln Center Theater during the performance of a troupe of Cuban artists.

Menéndez was a close friend and son-in-law of the late CANF director Arnaldo Monzón Plasencia, who not only made donations to his election campaigns but also contributed $25,000 to partly pay for the terrorist actions of 1997. His personal assistant for the planning and murder of said Cuban diplomat was José Manuel Alvarez, a.k.a. “The Bear.” Others involved in that assassination were the convict Arocena, ex chieftain of Omega 7, and hired assassin Pedro Remón Rodríguez who shot our official. This crime, as many others, is still unpunished.

Another revealing link is attorney Guillermo Hernández, one of the most active among Menéndez’s consultants. He is now acting as an independent council to Posada Carriles to prevent his extradition to Venezuela and to help him face other charges that might be brought against him.

One of Congressman Albio Sires’ closest staff is Angel Manuel Alfonso Alemán, a.k.a. “La Cota”, a member of the terrorist commando detained in Puerto Rico in 1997 on board a CANF vessel on its way to Margarita Island, Venezuela, with the intention of murdering Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, with high power rifles, during the 7th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State. Alfonso Alemán is one of his main contacts with Posada Carriles and the Miami Mafia.

It doesn’t come as a surprise either that the notorious Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), which for a long time sponsored a great number of terrorist groups bent on damaging our interests, both inside and outside of the national territory, is now offering the public -just like the others- an image of moderation, while it funds and supplies resources for the provocative actions of the so-called “Ladies in White” and tries to promote domestic discontent, which they pay for with their own money and that allocated by US entities.

Targeting the Venezuelan elections

If terrorism was no longer fashionable, what was the purpose of Chávez Abarca’s trip to Venezuela? What was he doing during his suspicious movements around Central America? Who are behind his actions? What have the US officials done to prevent them from bringing their terrorist plans to fruition in Miami, El Salvador, Guatemala or Cuba? How effective were the measures adopted by the previous Salvadoran government to restrain their freedom to kill?

The detainee has already admitted the destabilizing plans he would have carried out in that sister nation, attempting to kill leaders of the Bolivarian process or hurt their image in light of the forthcoming elections on September 26. Chávez Abarca has said that it was his purpose “to burn tires, promote street disturbances, and attack a political party to blame the other.”

He has revealed that one of the most important of Posada Carriles current plans is to try to sink ships taking oil from Venezuela to Havana. He also said that CANF has destined nearly $100 million to plans against Venezuela, as it feels that the South American country is the “financial backbone” of Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia and Guatemala.

According to his statements, at the end of September 2005 they had plans to murder President Hugo Chávez. To that end, Posada instructed to use a .50 Barret rifle.

Ever since that mercenary left prison on September 2007, after serving a sentence for trafficking in stolen cars, he started working in coordination with Posada to act violently against Cuba and other ALBA nations, including attempts on the life of President Chávez in exchange for money.

At the time of his detention, and in order to ensure such objectives, he had instructions from his bosses in Florida to undertake intelligence actions in Venezuelan territory leading to the creation of the necessary logistics to implement covert operations.

This mercenary, who has operated with Posada’s support, had taken refuge in Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador.

During the preliminary investigation into the case, the detainee has admitted that he was recruited as a mercenary and trained by Posada Carriles himself, who gave him firsthand instructions and paid $2,000 for every bomb blast in Cuba. He received the instructions during meetings in hotels and other places in El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala where he met the terrorists of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) Arnaldo Monzón Plasencia, Pedro Remón Rodríguez, Guillermo Novo Sampol and Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo. “All of them clearly said that they belong to the Foundation and that Posada is a member of CANF in Miami,” said Chávez Abarca.

With the acquiescence of CIA and friendly presidents

He added that Posada boasted of asking for CIA consent every time he was to carry out one of his violent actions against Cuba, and that on one occasion he had said that the man who had interrupted the conversation was a CIA officer, his handler, who had called him on the phone. He also said that it was easy for him to evade the very few inquiries into his actions conducted by the FBI and the State Intelligence Office in El Salvador.

As to Posada’s personal connections in El Salvador, he said that he had excellent relations with almost every rightwing president before the current government. He mentioned Calderón Sol, Cristiani and Francisco Flores, with whom he used to go fishing. He also mentioned his friend Rodrigo Avila who was police Commissioner twice. “They all visited the Foundation people in Miami,” he added.

Chávez Abarca related that in 1997, when the Cuban TV broadcast a program showing Salvadoran terrorist Raúl Ernesto Cruz León exposing his connection to Posada Carriles and CANF, the former instructed him to kill the members of the man’s family; thus he now fears for the fate of his wife and children.

Chávez Abarca not only recruited and trained other Central American mercenaries previously arrested in Cuba -one Salvadoran and three Guatemalans-but he also set up bombs at the Aché disco and in the 15th floor of the Meliá Cohíba hotel, on April 12 and 30, 1997, respectively, and another one at the Comodoro hotel, as an International Chess Tournament was taking place with over 40 children. Some of these children could have been killed as they unknowingly played with the bag where the explosive device was camouflaged.

The bomb detected on the eve of May 1st, 1997, in the 15th floor of the Meliá Cohíba hotel contained 1.5 kilograms of the highly-destructive military plastic explosive C-4, capable of razing buildings, bridges and vessels.

In that period, the terrorist ring led by Posada Carriles and the CANF brought into the country over 30 explosive devices -18 of them in less than a year-11 of which blew up in various tourist facilities, including the one that caused the death of young Italian tourist Fabio Di Celmo, injuries to others and large material damage.

Still, there could have been thousands of fatalities if they had materialized plans on usually crowded recreational and tourist centers like the Tropicana cabaret, discothèques, hotels and monuments, all of them frustrated by the Cuban Sate Security with the people’s collaboration.

The CANF and those that from the US government incited and permitted this kind of actions had some obvious objectives: to build the perception that these actions had been executed by domestic opposition groups; to trigger panic and instability; to deal a strong blow to tourism; and, to make the national economy succumb to chaos.

Between 1990 and the first years of the current decade, coinciding with these violent actions, the Miami Mafia implemented more than 25 terrorist actions in the US territory, which included bomb blasts, aggressions with fire weapons, verbal threats and provocations against Cuban interests, immigrants, travel agencies, personalities and organizations supportive of Cuba, and even death threats against President William Clinton and his Secretary of Justice Janet Reno for their decision to return the child Elián González.

Additionally, throughout this decade we had to tackle plans to assassinate the Commander in Chief in practically every Ibero-American Summit held in various capitals and during his travels overseas, as proven by Posada’s and his henchmen’s capture in fraganti in Panama, where in order to murder him they were willing to cause a genocide killing hundreds of university students and other participants in a function chaired by comrade Fidel.

Have such intentions left the minds of Posada Carriles and the bitter enemies of the Revolution that still hold seats in the US Congress? Will the current US Administration be able to curb the impetus and ambitions of the freeloaders and re-founders of old murderous organizations in the US territory? Will the complex US legal system ever put an end to the impunity of Miami, already in its 51st year, and do justice in the case of our Five Heroes who have spent more than 12 years enduring a cruel imprisonment?

Will there be an end to the reproduction of mercenaries when the threat of the coups is a reality in the region as tangible as weapon-trafficking, drug-trafficking and the proliferation of all sorts of gangs?

Although unjustly and inexplicably included in the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Cuba has given plenty of evidence to the US that it fights that scourge seriously and steadily. Despite the state terrorism that has been Washington’s official policy through five decades, there have been valuable bilateral exchanges of information on this issue, from the Cuban alert on a plan to murder President Ronald Reagan in 1984 to Posada Carriles’ intentions to revisit in 1998 an action similar to the Barbados crime, this time against airlines operating between Central America and Cuba.

At that time, June 16-17, 1998, talks were held with an FBI delegation which visited Havana and its airport facilities, received firsthand information of the documents available on plans, evidence, and personal information on the terrorists; their exact addresses and connections in the US and Central America; their modus operandi and false names used in their immigration documents; the places where they hid the boats for their actions; explosives and devices seized or the remains of those that exploded.

Impunity and injustice as a response

The US delegation took back home almost ten dossiers, hundreds of pages of stunning and irrefutable evidence, in addition to those discussed with them during a number of hours of exchanges with chiefs and experts of the Ministry of the Interior. Before they left, the FBI officer heading the mission and the chief of the US Interests Section in Cuba promised to respond within 15 days on the results of their inquiries.

Twelve years later, the only response is the impunity of the culprits of those repulsive actions who walk free and even march through the streets of the United States, and the injustice of keeping in prison five young anti-terrorist fighters who contributed to the detection of and timely alert on such plans. Their only “crime” is having prevented the loss of more human lives and larger material damage. The first result of those talks was the arrest of our comrades and the sudden stampede of the perpetrators of such crimes.

Cuba has described impunity and double-standard as unacceptable in the fight on terrorism, and has reiterated its commitment to the struggle against such actions. Our country condemns every terrorist action, method and practice in every form and expression wherever they are committed, no matter by whom or against whom, and regardless of motivation. This has just been ratified at the UN General Assembly where we have also denounced the most abominable State terrorism of which we have been victims for over half a century.

The current US government has inherited a gloomy and dangerous history with a combination of intelligence services and unscrupulous officers; terrorist organizations and notorious criminals and mercenaries; rigged trials and investigations; corrupted detectives, prosecutors, judges, members of Congress and former government officials.

Washington has enough information to unearth the hidden truths that the courts need to do justice in the case of Posada Carriles and a number of other terrorists who walk free in the US; indispensable elements to clarify and put an end, once and for all, to their impunity and the injustice committed with our five compatriots.

The world needs the truth to prevail. It’s in the hands of the current US Administration, its intelligence services and legal authorities to declassify and release all the necessary documents to expose and punish the culprits, and to prevent new terrorist actions against Cuba, Venezuela and other member countries of ALBA, which are still the targets of this scourge.

Such effort cannot underestimate or ignore the revelations made by detainee Chávez Abarca concerning the plans against the forthcoming elections in Venezuela; the involvement of Miami terrorists in the coup d’état dealt in that fraternal nation and in Honduras as the investigations show or the new plots against democratic governments in Central America, mentioned by the detainee that give rise to questions on possible connections of members of the extreme right, the CIA and the Mafia in Florida.

Punishing Posada Carriles is only as fair and necessary as releasing the Cuban Five heroes, that is, if Washington wants to be consistent with its alleged commitment to the anti-terrorist struggle.

Cuba has plenty of reasons to defend itself and to continue in the struggle for justice and against terrorism. The 3,478 dead and 2099 compatriots physically disabled by State terrorism and the continuation of the plans of its main authors and promoters reaffirm our determination not to give in to such threats.

http://www.cubadebate.cu/

Cuba Moving to Reduce Public Sector Jobs

2010-09-22T16:55:00.002+01:00

The Eighth Conference of the Transportation and Port Workers Trade Union was held over the weekend in Havana with a focus on the ongoing process to reduce staff numbers at workplaces nationwide.

General Secretary of the Cuban Workers Union of Cuba (CTC) Salvador Valdés spoke at the closing day of the conference. He noted that the Cuban trade union faces the challenge of cutting excessive staff in a frank, rational, transparent and just manner.

Valdés said that the trade union meetings are the best place to explain the urgent need to implement this policy and the series of measures approved by the government. He added that during these meetings, workers should be encouraged to express their opinions and respect dissenting points of view.

The new measures are aimed at overhauling the Cuban economic and labor model shifting excess workers to areas where they are needed and where they can be more productive with a focus on employment that is decent, socially useful and economically sustainable.

Quoting Cuban President Raúl Castro, Valdés said the Revolution will not abandon anyone, but that the State cannot guarantee unlimited salary and job protection. He urged citizens to be proactive in finding socially useful employment.

“We are aware that workers and people, in general, are very concerned about employment reduction and relocation. The enemies of the Revolution have exaggerated and manipulated this issue, distorting information released by the government,” said the CTC General Secretary.

Valdés pointed out that it is essential that the leaders of the workers’ movement and trade unions explain that there is no change in the policy of the Revolution or in the objectives set out in the construction of socialism.

Employment remains an essential component of the social and economic policy of the Cuban state and the principles that rule it continue to be in force. Procedures, salaries, employment and work relations are being modified along with new ways of management.

Across the country, political reflection and analysis is taking place. In workplaces, workers are studying and discussing the speech delivered by Cuban President Raúl Castro on August 1 at the closing ceremony of the ordinary session of the People’s Power National Assembly.

A strong, organized and united trade union and the unity of the Cuban workers and the Cuban people are fundamental to materialize the changes that will keep intact the principles of our Revolution and socialism.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu

Cuba Deplores Attacks Against Countries of the South in Geneva.

2010-09-22T14:52:00.001+01:00

CUBA, September 20, 2010.- Cuban Ambassador to Geneva, Rodolfo Reyes, spoke out against the attacks of some industrialized nations against countries of the South, and also expressed disappointment about the return of some selective practices of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations. He stated that debates about the blatant human rights violations such as the presence of military forces in different countries and cases of torture are not being reviewed by the U.N. The diplomat also said that the responsibilities of the secret flights of the CIA and the illegal existence of the military base at Guantánamo are other examples of issues not being discussed by the Human Rights Council.

http://www.cubaldn.com/

Aida Bahr in Edinburgh

2010-09-22T14:19:00.003+01:00

Aida Bahr, the director of the Cuban publishing house . Oriente, came and spoke at a meeting earlier this month in Edinburgh. while all the Edinburgh had finished soaking up the last of the Edinburgh festival, the packed room listened to a history of Cuban culture since the triumph of the revolution in 1959.

Aida spoke very warmly and honestly about the last 50 years of Cuba and how they saw their cultural journey, which travelled along hand in hand with the process of revolution in Cuba. At times, Aida strayed from the point in hand to illustrate the issue with very personal experiences. Telling us about the mistake of socialist realism and some of the artists who suffered at the hand of the Cuban foray into it and also the success of the Havana book fair, she also highlighted the breadth and quality of the Cuban writers today.

At times serious, at times very funny but always with a warm and personal touch that the packed audience appreciated, Aida came across as a person who you could listen to for hours without noticing the time passing.

i think everyone there will be waiting for the next visit - hurry back !!

Actions across the United States demand: FREE THE FIVE !!!

2010-09-15T15:08:00.003+01:00

Demonstrations across the United States in the past few days called for the immediate freedom for the Cuban Five on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of their unjust imprisonment in the United States. The actions also demanded the granting of visas to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, the wives of René González and Gerardo Hernández who have been cruelly denied permission to visit their husbands for the entire 12 years, as well as the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles, wanted in Venezuela for the murder of 73 people aboard a Cubana Airliner.

In San Francisco, dozens of people picketed, leafletted, and collected petition signatures on a busy downtown street corner. Gloria La Riva, coordinator of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, spoke about the injustice being done to the Five, and announced a new initiative to raise funds for a full-page ad in the Washington Post, directed at President Obama and calling for the immediate release of the Five. She also read a moving new poem by Ramon Labañino, one of the Five heroes, entitled "12 años." Toya Fernandes of the Bay Area Latin American Solidarity Coalition (BALASC) talked about the extensive support for the Five across Latin America. Rosa Peñate, speaking for the Bay Area FMLN, spoke movingly about the families involved: "Five men. Five families in Cuba. Five wives struggling to make it every day without the family they have." Richard Becker of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition expressed outrage at the fact that the anti-Cuban terrorists and murders walk free in Miami, protected by the U.S. government, while the Cuban Five remain in prison. "That's why we have joined together with our brothers in sisters around the world and across the country today to say 'Enough is enough! ¡Basta ya! Free the Cuban Five!" The event was co-sponsored by the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, A.N.S.W.E.R., BALASC, and the FMLN.

Braving the rain, Cuban Five supporters in New York City came out to commemorate the arrests of the Five and to inform the public at large of the case and why the Obama administration should free them immediately. The event was co-sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R., the July 26 Coalition and Casa de las Americas. Three beautiful banners portraying the Five were on display and hundreds of leaflets were distributed. Speakers included representatives from the sponsoring organizations as well as IFCO/Pastors for Peace who spoke in memory of Rev. Lucius Walker. The action was part of the national days of action called by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, and also part of a full month of Cuban Five activity in New York City.

In Washington, D.C., a protest took place in front of the headquarters of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, under the Freedom of Information Act, submitted a request to the BBG seeking public disclosure of the BBG's funding of journalists who published materials about the Cuban Five and Cuba. The BBG is prohibited by law from funding domestic propaganda and attempting to influence U.S. opinion, yet has apparently been funding journalists who place stories in domestic media outlets. The D.C. protest was sponsored by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five.

A table set up by supporters of the Five in front of the Student Union at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque with a banner and placards drew a great response, allowing many students to learn about the case of the Five go during the course of the day. More than 500 leaflets were distributed and 50 signatures gathered on a petition to free the Five. At 5 PM a demonstration at the gates of the campus also got a great response from passers-by, with another 200 leaflets distributed, more signatures gathered, and passing cars honking in solidarity. The militant demonstration was attended by members of American Indian Movement, Jericho Movement, and Vets for Peace, as well as students who had just learned about the Five earlier in the day.

More than a dozen protestors gathered at the Westlake/MacArthur Park metro stop in downtown Los Angeles to demand full disclosure of the facts surrounding the case of the Cuban Five and the immediate, unconditional release of the Five. The demonstration, organized by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, featured signs that read, "Free the Cuban Five." Members of the PSL passed out hundreds of leaflets to passers-by explaining the facts surrounding the case of the Cuban Five and accurately characterizing their case as a political assault against the Cuban revolution itself. Local media from California State University, Northridge as well as Russia Today covered the demonstration, interviewing leading members of the PSL about the case of the Five.

In nearby Long Beach, CA, members of the PSL held a street meeting outside of the Long Beach City College campus, which quickly attracted the attention of many people driving by. Hundreds of fliers were handed out and signatures collected supporting the release of the five heroes. Passers-by within the multi-national working class neighborhood received the message with honking horns and raised fists in solidarity as members of the PSL agitated on a bullhorn.

Other actions sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R. and the National Committee took place in cities across the country, including Austin, TX, Chicago, IL, Miami, FL, Philadelphia, PA, and Seattle, WA.

www.freethefive.org

Cuban Trade Unions Urge Efficiency

2010-09-14T14:15:00.002+01:00

Havana, Sep 14 (Prensa Latina) A call for efficiency and making the best of available resources for meeting national needs were the focus of a statement issued Monday by the Central Organization of Cuban Workers, CTC.

Cuba needs to advance economically, better organize its production, boost its reserves of productivity and increase productivity, and improve discipline and efficiency, and that is only possible through honest work and dedication, said the statement.

Today, more than ever, the will and determination to continue building socialism and advance in the development and upgrading of the Cuban economic model are alive and unshakeable, the statement said.

In line with that process, the 2011 economic plans include eliminating over 500,000 jobs in the state sectors, and increasing jobs in the non-state sector by the same number, the statement said. The success of the initiative will depend on the political support provided by union leaders and under the leadership of the Communist Party, and on the social consensus acheived on the economic and political relevance of this measure, the statement said.

Within the state sector, it will only be possible to continue filling jobs that are essential, for work that has historically faced labor shortages, such as agriculture, construction, teachers, police, industrial workers, and others, the text said.

Changes to employment policy will be implemented gradually and progressively, will begin immediately, and due to their magnitude and scope, will affect all sectors, the statement said.

The text concluded by saying that the unity between Cuban workers and the people has been key to creating the gigantic achievements of the Revolution, and to the transformations now underway, will continue to be the most important strategic weapon.

http://www.plenglish.com/

miami 5

2010-09-12T15:18:00.001+01:00

a short description of the plight of the miami 5, posted on youtube by the unite union from 2008, some of the jail terms have been reduced marginally, but the injustice remains as long as the 5 are still in jail and there families have no or limited access to them.

Fidel Castro Defends Peace without Sacrificing Just Principles

2010-09-12T12:08:00.002+01:00

Havana, Sep 11 (Prensa Latina) For a real revolutionary to defend peace does not mean to abandon the principles of justice, without which human life and society would become meaningless, pointed out the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, on Friday.

In a message delivered by him during the presentation of his book "The Final Strategic Counter-offensive" in the Aula Magna of the University of Havana, Fidel Castro reiterated that he has always condemned the Holocaust.

He highlighted that in his reflections "Obama s speech in Cairo", "A Swipe Waiting to Happen" and "The opinion of an Expert", he clearly enunciates this position.

He pointed out that the great confusion existing in the world can be deduced from the criteria of many Arab friends who, when they heard about his interview with US journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, sent him messages indicating that the reporter was the greatest defender of Zionism.

Many of the brightest talents such as Karl Marx and Albert Einstein were Jewish, because it is a nation in which the most intelligent survived, under a natural law, he said.

Muslims, he continued, were attacked and persecuted by European Christians for well over 12 centuries because of their beliefs, as were the first Christians in ancient Rome before Christianity became the official religion of that empire.

He stated that history should be accepted and remembered as it is, with its tragic realities and its fierce wars, and then it explains the dangers that now face humanity.

If we add a war in Iran, even if it is conventional, it would be better that the US turn off the lights and say goodbye. How could the US withstand a war against 1,500 million Muslims?, asked Fidel Castro.

All peoples have the right to peace and to the enjoyment of the goods and natural resources of the planet, he said.

The graphic news coming from the Middle East are amazing, he continued, where Palestinians are deprived of their lands, their houses are demolished by monstrous machines and women, men and children are bombed with white phosphorous and other means of extermination.

The last thing to be expected was the news of the expulsion of the French gypsies, victims of the cruelty of the French extreme right, who now number 7,000, victims of another kind of racial holocaust, he said.

http://www.plenglish.com/

Cuban Child Wins International Contest for Young Artists in Russia

2010-09-10T14:23:00.003+01:00

Thirteen-year-old Kevin Cape Guerra from Cuba won the first prize at the 14th International Contest for Young Artists that took place in Russia this year to mark the 65th anniversary of the former Soviet Union’s victory over fascism during the Great Patriotic War (1941- 1945).

In an interview with Juventud Rebelde, the young artist talks about how he entered the contest. “I participated in a children’s drawing contest in last year’s International Book Fair dedicated to Russia, and won first place. Shortly afterwards, the event’s sponsors suggested that I participate in a creative contest for young artists based in Russia on the theme of fascism.”

Having studied and researched into the topic, Kevin finally chose to portray in his work the revival of life in a place of death: Auschwitz —the largest of the German concentration camps where Nazis exterminated millions during the Second World War.

“A lot of people died in that place, so I figured in my drawing I wanted to convey the opposite of death: life, peace and harmony,” Kevin says.

According to Kevin’s grandmother Libertad Mercedes Moreno, the painting was taken to Russia by representatives of the Children’s Arts Gallery Pájaro de Fuego attending that year’s Havana Book Fair.

Months after, director Alevtina Sharova announced in a letter that Kevin’s painting had been successfully exhibited at several places across Russia, including the Sibernaya Bashnia Business Center and at the 14th World Russian People’s Council. The final decision came in August.

“When I first heard the news that I had won the contest, I was thrilled,” says Kevin, an admirer of the work of Wifredo Lam, Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso.

Cuban Ambassador to Russia Juan Valdés Figueroa received the award on behalf of Kevin on Sunday at the 23rd International Book Fair currently taking place in Moscow.

Kevin, who was recently accepted into Havana’s San Alejandro National Academy of Arts, says he is extremely happy with his accomplishment, and that his real dream is one day becoming an architect.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Rev. Lucius Walker: Aug. 3, 1930 - Sept. 7, 2010‏

2010-09-07T20:31:00.001+01:00

It is with profound sadness that we pass along the message below, informing us of the death of our dear friend the Reverend Lucius Walker, a steadfast supporter of Cuba, the Cuban Five, and many other humanitarian causes. Rev. Walker was the originator and driving force behind the 21 Cuba Friendshipment Caravans, which brought solidarity and much more to Cuba from the people of the United States and the world. There will be more news to come.

From IFCO/Pastors for Peace:
It is with immeasurable sadness that we write to let you know of the passing of our beloved, heroic, prophetic leader Rev. Lucius Walker Jr. this morning. We will write with more information as soon as arrangements are made. Please keep his family and his IFCO family in your prayers.
We express our deepest condolences to his family and friends. Lucius Walker, ¡Presente!

http://www.freethefive.org

Cuban Rhythms Taken to the United Kingdom

2010-09-04T20:02:00.003+01:00

The most authentic Cuban and Caribbean rhythms —son, changüí, chachachá, rumba—played by the Cuban band To´Mezclao was enjoyed by thousands who attended nine concerts held in different cities in the United Kingdom, including several major summer festivals.
To’Mezclao, a seven-strong crew of music enthusiasts whose versatility knows no bounds, has taken Cuban music to England, where their success is no accident. It has been the result of the effort of its members: pianist Yusi González, guitar player Julio Montoto, flautist and sax player Yona González, among others.

Its general director DJ and composer Lyng Chang said that To’Mezclao has performed on stages as demanding as the UK´s “because we have made people understand that it´s not necessary to use banal texts to make real, fresh, rhythmic music. We simply go to the roots of Cuban and Latin American rhythms and combine them with contemporary Western music.”

Lyng said that their visit to London is a good opportunity to release their latest 12-song album Hibrig on the London-based record label Tumi Music, with promotes other Cuban musicians such as Chucho Valdés, Celina González, Jóvenes Clásicos del Son and Juego de Manos.

After the excellent results of its international tour, To´Mezclao is performing in several Cuban provinces including Las Tunas, Bayamo, Holguín and Manzanillo.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu

U.S. denies `Cuban Five' prisoner swap

2010-09-03T18:00:00.001+01:00

U.S. denies `Cuban Five' prisoner swap
The State Department said reports of a possible U.S.-Cuba spy swap are flat-out wrong.BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
02 September 2010

The U.S. State Department Thursday flatly denied reports that the Obama administration is considering swapping the ``Cuban Five'' spies in U.S. prisons for a U.S. government subcontractor jailed in Havana.

The denial came a day after Cuban-Americans in Congress expressed concern over reports of a deal to free Alan Gross, held without charges since his arrest in Havana on Dec. 3.

``The United States is NOT considering the release of any member of the Cuban Five in exchange for Alan Gross,'' Mark Toner, director of the State Department's press office, wrote in a statement e-mailed to El Nuevo Herald on Thursday.

``We are committed to using every possible diplomatic channel to press for Mr. Gross's release, but we will not consider a `prisoner swap,' '' Toner added. ``We continue to urge the Cuban Government to release Alan Gross immediately.''

In letters Wednesday to the Departments of State and Justice, the five Cuban-Americans in Congress wrote that they were ``seriously concerned about increasing reports that the Administration is conducting negotiations with the Castro regime'' for a swap.

``The U.S. must be careful not to telegraph to rogue regimes that they may be able to successfully extort our government by abducting innocent Americans,'' said South Florida Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln and Mario Diaz Balart and New Jersey Democrats Sen. Bob Menendez and Rep. Albio Sires.

They noted that one of the ``Cuban Five'' convicted in Miami in 2001 was found guilty of playing a role in Cuba's shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996 that killed four South Floridians.

``We would hope that these reports are unfounded. However, if they are accurate, we respectfully ask . . . that you immediately cease such efforts,'' they added.

Cuba has long demanded the release of its five spies, who are serving sentences of 15 years to life, and ruler Raúl Castro in April of 2009 offered to exchange them for the island's political prisoners.

But rumblings of a possible swap began spreading after the arrest of Gross, a U.S. Agency for International Development subcontractor who delivered satellite communications equipment to Jewish groups in Cuba. No charges have been filed against Gross.

Former Cuban ruler Fidel Castro lent credibility to the rumblings when he declared on July 26 that the release of the five ``is very close . . . very much before the end of the year.'' He repeated his prediction a week later, saying, ``There's no guess work here.''

But the rumblings spiked again when New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat close to the Obama administration, visited Cuba Aug. 22-27 for what his office described as a trade-promotion mission. Several Cuba blogs speculated that he would try to broker a swap.

Richardson won the release of three Cuban political prisoners after a visit in 1996, and has negotiated the release of U.S. citizens held in North Korea, Iraq and Sudan.

http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/

50th Anniversary of Women Federation Celebrated in Cuba

2010-08-28T11:26:00.003+01:00

Cuban women celebrated the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) at a ceremony attended by President Raul Castro
By: Juventud Rebelde

With an oath to defend and continue to improve the Cuban revolution and the socialist system, Cuban women celebrated the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) at a ceremony attended by President Raul Castro.

FMC Secretary General Yolanda Ferrer presented Raul with a framed copy of the text of the FMC’s oath, which she read before the audience gathered at the Universal Hall of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) in Havana.

“The FMC,” it reads, “is a bastion of the political vanguard of the Cuban people. Its creative, active members are ready to take on any challenges.”

In his speech, First Vice President of the Councils of State and Ministers Jose Ramon Machado said that the history of Cuba cannot be written without making reference to the role played by women. “Throughout these years of struggle,” he said, “there has not been a single economic, social or political deed, a scientific, cultural or political accomplishment in which women have not taken part.”

Machado spoke of the situation of women before the 1959 triumph of the Cuban revolution and how they were subjected to all kinds of racial, class and gender discrimination. In contrast, more than four million women are now members of the FMC, representing 88.5 percent of Cuban women over the age of 14. They also represent 46 percent of the labor force in the civil state sector, and 65.1 percent of technicians and professionals.

Machado noted that although Cuban women enjoy greater social equity, there is still much to be done, and as an example spoke of how Cuban society still views domestic work as the responsibility of women.

He added that the number of women in management positions is still low, and stressed the need to work towards making Fidel’s dream of a government of men and women come true.

With regards to the FMC, he spoke about the importance of improving efficiency and the work carried out in the communities with young and old generations alike.

He ratified the Party and leadership’s confidence in Cuban women, as the honorable and faithful followers of the eternal founder of the FMC, the late Vilma Espin, a woman who was “an example of abnegation, determination and love.”

Another gift for the Cuban FMC members on their special day was a message by two of the Cuban Five —five antiterrorist fighters who for more than twelve years have been unfairly imprisoned in the United States— expressing their eternal gratitude and admiration of Cuban women.

The ceremony also included the screening of Sentirte mujer, a documentary by journalist Eva Maura Diaz, and a performance by the Camerata Romeu women’s string orchestra.

Attending the celebration were Party and government leaders, FMC representatives from each of Cuba’s fifteen provinces, a group of the organization’s founders, relatives of the Cuban Five, and representatives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior.

As part of the celebrations for this 50th anniversary of the FMC, 16 outstanding members of the organization were awarded the Ana Betancourt Order, granted by the Council of State at the request of the FMC.

The women received the decorations from the hands of First Vice President of the Councils of State and Ministers Jose Ramon Machado, Politburo member Concepción Campa Huergo, and FMC Secretary General Yolanda Ferrer.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/cuba/2010-08-24/50th-anniversary-of-women-federation-celebrated-in-cuba/

AIDA BAHR TO SPEAK IN EDINBURGH

2010-08-22T15:57:00.002+01:00

Aida Bahr is a prize-winning writer of fiction, a literary critic and
screenwriter from Cuba. She has been the director of the Oriente
Publishing House, based in Santiago de Cuba, since 1998. A
member of the National Union of Writers and Artists, she is one of
the organizers of the Havana International Book Fair. She also
lectures on Caribbean and Latin American literature written by
women.

Aida Bahr, a leading figure in Cuban culture, to speak on
CULTURE and the CUBAN REVOLUTION

Friday 10th September
Faculty Room South,
David Hume Tower,
George Square, Edinburgh
6.30pm
Hispanic Studies guest lecture

The revolution doesn’t tell you “believe”! It tells you –“read”!
Fidel Castro

Meeting sponsored by: Dr Fiona J. Mackintosh, lecturer in
Latin American Literature Edinburgh University; Dr Carolina
Orloff, Researcher Edinburgh University; Screen Academy
Scotland; Joy Dunn, President STUC; Elaine Smith MSP, Convenor
Cross Party Group on Cuba Scottish Parliament; Gerry Morrissey,
Gen Secretary, BECTU; Jeremy Dear, Gen Secretary NUJ; Cllr.
Gordon Munro, Lab. spokesperson on culture; Unison City of
Edinburgh Branch; Barry White (personal capacity), Campaign for
Press and Broadcasting Freedom; Florrie James, artist; Roxana
Pope, filmmaker & writer; Niroshini Thambar, musician &
composer; The Linlithgow Bookshop; Pathfinder Books; Word
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A Trip to Prison With One of the Cuban Five

2010-08-20T20:14:00.002+01:00

Visiting Gerardo
By DANNY GLOVER and SAUL LANDAU

From the Ontario California airport some 60 miles east of downtown Los Angeles we drove north on Highway 15, the road to Las Vegas. Cars with expectant amateur gamblers and loaded big rigs climb and descend the mountains where the Angeles and San Bernadino National Forests meet.

To the east lies the high desert some 4,000 feet above sea level. Amidst junipers, Joshua trees and sagebrush, we turn off from the man-made freeway to the jester’s creation of a shopping mall in Hesperia where we pick up Chavela, Gerardo Hernandez’ older sister. (Danny changes trousers because the prison doesn’t allow visitors to wear khaki).

We pass fast food joints with chain names, nail and hair salons, tattoo parlors, gas stations and min-marts (a drive by of American culture) going west and then north on 395 to the six year old US. Federal Penitentiary Complex, a 630,000 square foot high-security prison ($101.4 million); designed to cage 960 male inmates.

In the institutional grey visitors’ lobby a guard hands us forms with numbers on top, nods at a book to sign and eye-signals to a pile of pens. We write, hand him back the forms (Danny had to stand against the wall while a guard recorded his photo onto the prison computer) and sit in the gray waiting room with other visitors – all black and Latino. (Saul’s and Chavela’s pix were already stored in the prison computer from previous visits).

We wait for twenty minutes. A guard calls our number. We empty our pockets except for money. (Danny checks his car keys; Saul hands over a pen fastened to his shirt pocket). We pass through a sensitive airport-type screening machine, pick up our belts and eyeglasses that have gone through Xray, and extend our inner forearms for stamping by another uniformed guard. Two black women and an elderly Latino couple get the same treatment. We exchange nervous smiles. Visitors in a strange land!

He passes our ids through a drawer connected to another sealed room on the opposite side of a thick plastic window. A guard there checks the documents and pushes buttons to open a heavy metal door. The group enters an outdoor passage. Blinding late morning sun and desert heat shocks our bodies after the air-conditioned chambers. We wait. A guard confers through a small slit in the door of the building housing the inmates – gun towers on each side; masses of rolled barbed wire covering the tops of concrete walls.

We wait, get hot, then enter another air cooled chamber; finally, a door opens into the visitor room. A guard assigns us a tiny plastic table, surrounded by three three cheap plastic chairs, on one side (for us) and one on the other for Gerardo. African American and Latino children exchange places on their fathers’ laps as daddies in khaki prison overalls chat with their wives.

Chavela spots him 20 minutes later, waving, and bouncing across the room. Chavela almost crying says “He’s lost weight.” He seems the same weight as when Landau saw him in the Spring. Gerardo hugs and kisses his sister, embraces Saul and then Danny, thanking him for his efforts to spring him from the hole, where he spent 13 days in late July and early August.

Two FBI agents who were investigating an incident unrelated to his case, he informs us, questioned Gerardo in prison. Then, prison authorities tossed Gerardo into the hole although there existed no evidence, logic or common sense that could possibly have implicated him into the alleged occurrence. The temperatures inside the hole rose to the high nineties. “I had to use my drinking water to keep me cool, pouring it on head,” Gerardo told us. “It didn’t help my high blood pressure. I couldn’t even take my medicine. But, I think, thanks to the thousands of phone calls and letters from people everywhere they let me out.”

Chavela kept bringing junk food to the table – the only kind available from the vending machines. We nibbled compulsively while Gerardo told about living in a sweat-box for almost two weeks. “No air circulated in there,” he laughed, as if to say “no big deal.”

We talked about Cuba. He kept up on the news, reading, watching TV and from visitors who informed him. He felt encouraged by steps President Raul Castro had taken to deal with the crisis. He had watched on the prison television parts of Fidel’s speech and "q and a" from the Cuban National Assembly Meeting. “I saw Adriana [his wife],” who sat in the audience. His smile faded. “You know what’s painful. She’s 40 and I’m 45. We don’t have that much time to have a family together. The United States won’t even give her a visa to visit me. She’s behaved with such courage and dignity throughout this ordeal.”

Gerardo Hernandez, one of the Cuban 5, is serving two life sentences for conspiracy to commit espionage and aiding and abetting murder. Prosecutors presented no evidence of espionage at the Miami trial. The aiding and abetting charge presumed evidence not shown that Gerardo sent to Cuba flight details of the Brothers to the Rescue planes shot down by Cuban MIGs in February 1996, which he did not, and that he knew of secret Cuban government orders to shoot them down, which he did not.

The 5 men monitored and reported on Cuban exile terrorists in Miami who had plotted bombings and assassinations in Cuba. Cuba then shared this information with the FBI. Larry Wilkerson, (retired army Colonel and Secretary of State Colin Powell’s former Chief of Staff) compared the 5’s chance of getting a fair trial in Miami to an accused “Israeli’s chance of justice in Teheran.”

We sipped cloyingly sweet, bottled, iced tea. Chavela brought more potato chips.

Gerardo, reanimated the mood by recalling an incident when in the 1980s, as a Lieutenant in Cabinda, Angola, he escorted top Cuban officers to a dinner-party with visiting Soviet brass. “I told my Colonel I had memorized a short Mayakovsky poem in Russian (from his school classes) and could recite it to the Soviet officers.

He recited the poem to us in Russian. We applauded. He smiled. “They were roasting a pig and had bottles of booze, a party.”

“I recited the poem. The Soviet colonel hugged me, kissed me on both cheeks -- very emotional. I had to repeat my performance for the other officers. Finally, the Cuban Colonel told me I’d milked the scene long enough and I left.”

Two hours passed quickly. We waited for the guards to let us out. Gerardo stood at attention against a wall near the cell-block door next to another prisoner. We gave him a fist salute. He returned it. His sister blew a kiss. He grinned reassuringly – as if to remind us. “Stay strong.”

Danny Glover is an activist and an actor.

Saul Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow and author of A Bush and Botox World (AK Press / CounterPunch).

http://www.counterpunch.org

Latin Americans Defend Cuban Five

2010-08-15T09:54:00.003+01:00

Havana, Aug 14 (Prensa Latina) Members of the 17th Latin American and Caribbean Cuba Solidarity Brigade visiting this capital denounced the unjust U.S. imprisonment of the antiterrorist fighters known as the Cuban Five.

During a meeting on Friday with relatives of the Cuban Five, held in U.S. prisons since September 1998, the solidarity group's members demanded their immediate release by Washington.

Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino and Fernando Gonzalez are currently serving harsh sentences for preventing Miami-based terrorist groups from organizing actions against Cuba.

In a statement, the solidarity group also condemned the White House-imposed economic, financial and trade blockade of Cuba for the last 50 years.

The statement called for the creation of social networks and to use the media more efficiently for this cause, the National News Agency reported.

Since arriving on August 1, the 91-member solidarity brigade has carried out an extensive program of activities, including volunteer agricultural work

http://www.plenglish.com

Latin America Congratulates Fidel Castro on his Birthday

2010-08-15T09:49:00.003+01:00

Mexico City, Aug 14 (Prensa Latina) Admiration for Fidel Castro, "an extraordinary man, loved by the peoples and hated by the exploiters and aggressors," brought together hundreds of people in this capital to celebrate the Cuban leader's 84th birthday.

In a rally last night, Mexican anthropologist Gilberto López y Rivas highlighted the respect Fidel has earned and the hatred his rivals profess, and also the moral example set by the Cuban Revolution, capable of overcoming, defending itself, and enduring just 90 miles away from U.S. imperialism.

From Caracas, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez wished the iconic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, a happy 84th birthday, via his Twitter account, twitter@chavezcandanga. During the presidencies of Fidel Castro and Chavez, Cuba and Venezuela have grown very close, and that relationship is a pillar of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).

The two countries now collaborate in agriculture, the fishing industry, and energy, and thousands of Cubans are providing services in education, health care and sports in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, in Asuncion, Paraguay, the 4th Social Forum of the Americas highlighted the ethical, humanistic, revolutionary and consistent virtues upheld throughout Fidel Castroâ�Ös more than 60 years of struggle.

Friends of Paraguay's Cuba Solidarity Coordinating Committee, intellectuals, artists, diplomats, and dozens of people from various Latin American and European countries, most of them young, attended the tribute.

The tribute included a photo exhibition by photojournalist Liborio Noval and the documentary "Elogio de la virtud" (In Praise of Virtue), by direcator Roberto Chile.

In Quito, Ecuador, a cultural fiesta, "The ALBA Sings to Fidel Castro and Osvaldo Guayasamín," was held at the Guayasamín Foundation's theatre in this capital.

The activity was organized by the Bolivian, Cuban, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan embassies, with support from the foundation, to pay tribute to the leader of the Cuban Revolution on his 84th birthday.

In Brazil, Cuban residents there and Brazilians in general also celebrated the Cuban historical leader's birthday on Friday night.

http://www.plenglish.com/

There's Still Hope for the World, Fidel Castro Says

2010-08-06T20:49:00.002+01:00

Havana, Jul 31 (Prensa Latina) "Man can not miss his opportunity to survive with all that he knows today," Cuban leader Fidel Castro emphasizes in a message addressed to Cuba's young people, in which he comments on the challenges and perils humanity faces.

Fidel Castro Condemns Mistreatment of Cuban prisoner in the U.S.

Below, Prensa Latina provides Fidel's "Message to the Cuban Youth:"

For 57 years, two generations of Cubans, the one that came before us and our own, which led both from January 1 to today, have fought against the most powerful empire humanity has ever known.

I do not harbor the slightest fear of seeming to exaggerate; I say this with modesty, even embarrassment. It hurt to see how hundreds of millions of young people in the world were not even able to learn how to read and write, or are semi-illiterate, or do not have jobs, and are ignorant of everything related to the inalienable rights of human beings.

A colossal crime is being committed against thousands of millions of adolescents and young people of both sexes, whose wonderful intelligence is manipulated by the mass media, and in fact, many of them, especially males, are turned into soldiers to die in unjust, genocidal wars carried out all over the planet.

The economic system that has prevailed is incompatible with the interests of humanity. It must end and it will end.

The new generations of young Cubans will make their message be heard, the one born from their country's experiences; they will fulfill a sacred duty imposed by the era in which it befell them to live. They will do so with humility, and brandishing the truth, without any stupid beliefs in racial or national superiority of any kind.

I have asked myself many times, why do our children and adolescents have to die?

Why do our young people have to die? Why does all this intelligence, where so many virtues could be implanted and cultivated, have to disappear?

Why do their parents have to die in fratricidal wars?

Imagine that the website Global Research deserves no credit at all; that the theory of Gregory Ryskin, a biochemical engineer at Northwestern University, regarding the methane bubble that article writer Terrence Aym associated with the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, deserves no attention at all, inviting us to sleep peacefully.

The Global Research site published the only explanation possible for the sinking of the Cheonan, a sophisticated antisubmarine ship capable of detecting a ship of that type from 185 kilometers away. Obviously, it could not be sunk by an old, Russian-made submarine built more than 50 years ago.

We prefer to cling to the hope that the arguments used in the "Reflection" to be published on Tuesday, August 3, fit reality.

Otherwise, the other danger of a war breaking out, of immediately becoming a nuclear one, would be the only alternative, and therefore, this message will be more important than ever.

There is not a chance of one in a thousand, in ten thousand, or any number you like, that the United States or Israel will drop the sanctions established by the United Nations Security Council, with strict time limits; nor is there one of Iran accepting the inspection of its ships.

Even a blind man would see it is crystal clear.

We will not surrender, nor will we allow the empire to deceive the world.

Fidel Castro Ruz

July 30, 2010

http://www.plenglish.com

Gerardo Hernández is out of "the hole"!

2010-08-03T21:52:00.002+01:00

Gerardo is released!

Gerardo Hernández, Cuban Five hero, has just been released this morning from isolation after an intense campaign by his attorneys and thousands of supporters around the world, including nearly a thousand emails to the Bureau of Prisons generated by the National Committee's appeal.

Leonard Weinglass, one of Gerardo's attorneys, visited Gerardo this weekend along with fellow attorney Peter Schey. He described this morning to Gloria La Riva of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five the abysmal and cruel conditions that Gerardo was placed in. "Gerardo is in great spirits but he's really suffering. In 100+ degree weather, the air was so stifling that Gerardo was laying on the floor sucking in air from the bottom of the door. He couldn't take his blood pressure medicine as his doctor advised him because the weather was too hot. He couldn't use the shower because it was scalding hot water. He was given dirty bedsheets, and he had to resort to washing them in the toilet."

Weinglass noted that "we sent a five-page letter to the prison containing all the errors that they made in putting him in isolation. The letter outlined their own regulations that they violated."

Moments later this morning, in a new phone call, Weinglass announced "they've just released him to the general population!"

It's thanks to the great efforts of the attorneys and the national and international solidarity movement with the Cuban Five that this punitive and unwarranted prison action against Gerardo has been ended. Thanks to everyone who responded so quickly to this emergency situation.

Clearly, the struggle must intensify to free Gerardo and all the Cuban Five from prison. One thing you can do right now is to send a letter to Gerardo, letting him know you and all of us are with him in the continuing struggle. Also, if you are not already receiving emails from the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, please click the link below to add your name to this low-volume list, so that we'll be able to notify you if another emergency arises.

http://www.freethefive.org

Cuba Pledges to Release Political Prisoners

2010-08-02T20:19:00.002+01:00

by COHA Research Associate Sara Nawaz

State Department Must Seize Golden Opportunity to Utilize Momentum to Change its Cuban Strategy, and not Duck Behind Shallow Platitudes

On Wednesday, July 7, Cuba vowed to release fifty-two political prisoners, five immediately and forty-seven in upcoming months. If successfully carried out, this would mean that about one-third of current political detainees on the island will have been released, leaving approximately one hundred still in custody. This is the first large-scale prisoner release by Havana since 1998, when upwards of 100 political prisoners were released following Pope John Paul II’s visit to Cuba. Spurred on by E.U. pressure, the current release was negotiated by the energized Archbishop of Havana Jaime Ortega, Spanish foreign minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos, and Cuban president Raúl Castro. The Obama administration, which so far has failed to live up to its campaign rhetoric of broadening ties with Cuba, would be wise to seize this opportunity to warm up its outdated and unproductive Cuban strategy.

Despite promises to shift U.S. policy toward Cuba in the direction of greater flexibility, the Obama administration has so far only managed to reverse some of the more extremist policies implemented by President George W. Bush. While the current administration removed the limit on remittances to Cuba, as well as the cap on travel that prevented Cuban Americans from traveling to the island more than once every three years, its Cuban policies otherwise have been lame, listless, and bereft of imagination. While necessary, these have ultimately been only token steps that have failed to ignite much enthusiasm in Latin America because of their limited nature. Furthermore, despite Obama’s orders for the CIA to close Guantanamo Bay last year, the prison will now remain open for the next two years.

The just-announced prisoner release pledge provides fresh momentum and a ripe moment for the Obama administration to inaugurate progressive policies towards Cuba and open a renewed dialogue with Cuban leaders. Two fruitful steps would be for the administration to push through Congress the pending bill to repeal the travel ban on American visits to Cuba (Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, H.R. 4645), and to loosen the rules on food sales to Cuba. Both of these legislative initiatives appear to enjoy significant majorities in their favor. The U.S. should also respectfully ask Cuba to consider releasing Alan Gross, the American citizen working on a democracy-promotion program, who was detained in Cuba in December 2009 on grounds of alleged espionage. In addition, the US should choose this opportunity to immediately remove Cuba’s name from the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, a specious announcement made by the Obama administration in January 2010.

If the U.S. truly wants to work towards the normalization of relations with Cuba and obtain its goal of democratization of the island, it might consider using a prisoner exchange program similar to the one it is rumored to be considering with Russia. This program would supposedly allow for swapping of Russian and U.S. political detainees. A similar agreement with Havana might provide for the political leverage needed to foster an improved U.S.-Cuba relationship. The case of the Cuban Five, for example, would lend itself admirably to such a treatment because of the extreme importance attributed to it by the highest level of Cuban government.

Rather than the White House, it has been Spain that has taken the lead in working with Cuba in the direction of rational relations between Havana and the outside world. In spite of the relentless anti-Castro lobby in Miami, it is now the Obama administration’s responsibility to grasp this opportunity and take bold action that could liberalize ties between the two countries. Another moment may not come again soon.

For more information on recent US-Cuba relations, read this article and timeline: http://www.coha.org/cuba-u-s-rhetoric-timeline-hope-for-a-basic-shift-in-policy-disintegrates-into-continued-polarization/

For in-depth analysis of these issues, watch for upcoming articles by COHA Research Associates Bethan Rafferty on the Catholic Church and human rights in Cuba, and Abigail Griffith on the E.U.’s common position on Cuba.

Original article from COHA

http://www.cuba-solidarity.org/

Gerardo Hernández needs your help!

2010-07-30T21:38:00.002+01:00

Within the last few days, an urgent situation has developed in the incarceration of Gerardo Hernández, who has been unjustly put in "the hole" and denied proper access to his lawyers, on top of more than two months of being denied proper medical treatment. Gerardo has also been unjustly denied visits from his wife, Adriana Pérez, since the day he was arrested nearly 12 years ago.

Leonard Weinglass, one of the attorneys on Gerardo's legal appeals team, told the Committee that he and attorney Peter Schey called the prison to arrange a visit with Gerardo for Saturday, July 31. The prison informed them they would only be allowed a visit with a glass partition between them. Even though Gerardo has an active habeas corpus appeal and it is necessary to consult properly with his attorneys, Weinglass and Schey are being denied the right to carry pencil or pen and paper with them, and are not allowed to bring their legal documents.

Weinglass said "Yesterday the temperature in Victorville was 104 degrees. Gerardo and another inmate were placed in a 8x3 foot cell without air conditoning, and yet there was an empty air-conditioned cell nearby." According to Weinglass the purported reason for Gerardo's isolation is that a letter from an unknown individual was mailed to him, which the prison claims contained an unidentified powder. Gerardo never received the letter, and yet as a result of this incident, the whole prison was put in lockdown. This mistreatment of Gerardo is completely unwarranted.

All supporters of the Cuban Five are asked to urgently contact the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, as well as the Warden of Victorville Prison, to demand that these unjust situations be corrected immediately. We have set up a website where you can easily send emails to them - click here to lend your voice to this urgent campaign.

http://www.freethefive.org

Fernando and René celebrate birthdays next month

2010-07-24T11:15:00.001+01:00

Two of the Cuban Five have birthdays in August. Be sure to send them a birthday greeting!

You can write to them directly at the prison (addresses below) or transmit a greeting via our email address below. We will mail them the greeting that you send us.

René González was born August 13, 1956.
His address is:
René González, #58738-004
F.C.I. Marianna
P.O. Box 7007
Marianna, FL 32447-7007

Fernando González was born August 18, 1963.
He is registered in prison as Rubén Campa, so you have to address the envelope as:
Rubén Campa, #58733-004
F.C.I. Terre Haute
P.O. Box 33
Terre Haute, IN 47808
Then inside the cards and letters, you can write to him as Fernando.

http://www.freethefive.org

Venezuela says suspect plotted election violence

2010-07-04T11:26:00.001+01:00

By Deisy Buitrago

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela on Saturday accused a Salvadorean arrested while trying to enter the country this week of plotting attacks to disrupt legislative elections due to be held on September 26.

Venezuelan authorities said Francisco Chavez Abarca was detained on Thursday at Caracas's international airport. They alleged he belonged to a gang led by accused plane bomber Luis Posada Carriles.

"This terrorist ... has shown that his presence was to launch a phase of attacks to provoke violence and destabilization to disrupt the forthcoming elections," Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami told state television.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday it was clear Abarca had not come to the Latin American country as a tourist: "They are trying to generate new violence in Venezuela," he said.

The elections are seen as a test of the Venezuelan leader's popularity ahead of a presidential ballot in 2012.

Abarca is accused of being a member of a group led by Carriles, a former CIA operative and Cuban exile wanted in Cuba and Venezuela on charges including masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people.

A Cuban-born naturalized Venezuelan, the 82-year-old Carilles escaped from prison in Venezuela in 1985. He requested political asylum in the United States in 2005 but is awaiting trial on immigration charges and perfury.

Chavez calls him the region's biggest terrorist and has demanded Washington extradite him.

http://ca.reuters.com/

I love him like the first day

2010-06-27T12:32:00.003+01:00

Interview with Elizabeth Palmeiro, Ramón's wife

by Miguel Fernandez Martinez
June 8, 2010
Reprinted from ACN

I love him like the first day
by Miguel Fernandez Martinez
June 8, 2010
Reprinted from ACN

Although the old tango by Gardel and La Pera persists in saying that twenty years is nothing, for Elizabeth Palmeiro is a long time, in the midst of the circumstances in which she has lived two decades of marriage with Ramon Labañino.

If you had the opportunity to send a message to Ramon for these 20 years of marriage, what would you tell him?

- That I love him as the first day. I would reaffirm him that I will be by his side no matter what, supporting him in this situation and that my love, far from diminishing from such sorrow, pain and the enormous frustration that exists in this circumstance, grew. These things I would repeat to him as simply as ever.

- Ramon is more romantic (than me). He writes poems, very nice letters, and although I am more timid on that side, I prove it to him with deeds, with works of love I do for him, like keep going with the family and our daughters.

The wife of the Cuban hero Ramón Labañino, unjustly imprisoned since 1998 in the United States, where he is serving an unjust sentence of 30 years, opened his heart to ACN in this anniversary that could not be celebrated on Wednesday June 2. Ramon, with his brothers Gerardo Hernández, René González, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez, is deprived of his liberty because of fighting the terrorism that, from the US, is prepared against Cuba.

How do you deal with these 20 years of marriage with Ramon?

- It is not in the best of circumstances, because Ramon, has been in solitary confinement for more than a month in the Mc Creary prison, after he got the documentation to be moved to a lesser security facility, according to the sentence of 30 years that was imposed on him last December.

- We spoke over the phone on April 25 for my birthday, and he took the opportunity to congratulate me for Mother's Day, and on the 27 they put him in the hole, for safety reasons, he was told by the prison authorities, to wait for the transfer.

- The last call he made was on May 30, a month later and he told me that
he didn’t know when he was being transferred.

- You can imagine that in the midst of so many celebrations, this situation happens, about the time to celebrate Mother's Day, our wedding anniversary, his birthday on June 9, the month in which we also celebrate Father's Day, and this uncertainty of not knowing when we will be able to restore communication.

What do you feel in the midst of this isolation Ramon is subject to?

- You imagine how I can be in the middle of such a rare situation, unable to communicate normally, and the correspondence that comes when it can.

I'm not in the mood to celebrate.

- The only thing I have left is the satisfaction of having withstood all the pressures and the efforts of our enemies to destroy the family, because the purpose of unjustly having them in jail, among other things, other than pouring all the hatred they have on the Cuban people on these five men, is also to destroy them as human beings and destroy their families, through isolation and distance.

- But they haven’t succeed and we got to these 20 years as on the first day when he had to leave the house and I was pregnant of the older girl, Laura, who is now 17 years, and he spent 18 months without seeing her.

- Little by little I grew accustomed to having Ramon away, but never too far, despite the distance he was always present.

Of Ramon, the husband, what do you remember the most in these 20 years?

- Ramon and I had a very short time of coexistence, because he, within a mere three years of marriage, began to carry out these missions against the enemies of Cuba, which kept him away from the house, and it required much patience and understanding from the two to cope with that situation - We both knew that he could not help me much in many normal things that a man does in the house, but I've always said, that a man is good in a house, even to argue with. We didn’t have the normal dynamics of a family, although we have been able to fulfil the dreams of any marriage, but in very abnormal conditions.

- I had to be alone with the girls, Laura first, Lisbeth later, who met her father in prison, and I had to face everything, but I was always supported by him, very involved in his life.

Did you go over these years in your wedding anniversary?

- The worst that can happen is to go over these 20 years, because there are many beautiful moments we shared together. Reviewing them now can sadden you a little and there is no reason for sadness.

- There are better reasons to cheer yourself up, to grow stronger, to further increase the love we have for each other, to endure what we still have to go through, that no one can say how long it will be, but what is real is that the conviction of Ramon is 30 years, and if we don’t achieve the great movement of international solidarity to take the Five from prison, is a long way that I have left.

Is this anniversary a day of reflection?

- Maybe it can be a day to reflect for other couples, but I do not want to think much, because this has been very hard and it caused years to fly, so fast. I did not do the math and it has been 20 years.

- What I do want to do is to prepare for the future and to be well, and not to think on what I have lost or what I have not enjoyed with him.

- I repeat that I will be to the bitter end by his side, always supporting him and loving him as on the first day.

http://freethefive.org/

Ramón Labañino is transferred to medium security prison in Jesup GA

2010-06-27T12:28:00.004+01:00

Last December, Ramon Labañino's sentence was reduced from life plus 18 years, to 30 years. As a result of that reduction, as well as of his exemplary behavior throughout 11 long years in prison, Ramón has now been moved from the maximum security facility in which he was imprisoned, to a medium security prison in Jesup, Georgia.

His new address is:
Luis Medina
No. 58734-004
F.C.I. Jesup
2680 301 South
Jesup, GA 31599

Address the envelope to Luis Medina, and inside the envelope you can address your correspondence to Ramón. Although this is good news for Ramón, the fight for real justice for the Five continues.

http://www.freethefive.org

www.Antiterroristas.cu

Interview with Leonard Weinglass

2010-06-18T20:04:00.002+01:00

Interview with Leonard Weinglass
about the appeal of Gerardo Hernández

by Gloria La Riva, coordinator, National Committee to Free the Cuban Five

It was announced yesterday that a habeas corpus petition was filed on behalf of Gerardo Hernández. What is a habeas corpus petition and why it is also referred to as collateral?

Following his conviction Gerardo had a right to appeal it to the circuit court of appeals in Atlanta, which he did and then seek a review in the U.S. Supreme Court, which he also did. That process is the direct appeal. When that process is completed, which it is in Gerardo's case, then one has the right to launch a collateral appeal or a collateral attack on the conviction, which is a very limited form of appeal (only constitutional issues not previously litigated, plus a claim of actual innocence), in what was previously known as "federal habeas corpus." Now it is called a "Section 2255," motion. And that is where we are now.

We filed the section 2255 motion on June 14, with our brief to follow within 30 days, indicating those constitutional violations which had not been part of the previous appeal, and a claim of actual innocence.

Why is this a final appeal for Gerardo? Isn't a habeas corpus without time limit or restrictions?

There is definitely a time limit on habeas corpus (Section 2255). You must file within one year of the last litigation event. In Gerardo's case, that was when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected our petition for review on June 15, 2009. That gave us one year to June 14, 2010. However, if it should come to pass, that even after this deadline is over, new evidence that was not previously available should arise, you can still go back to court, with a very narrow band of opportunity and argue actual innocence, which is what we are also arguing in these papers we have filed.

Any evidence of actual innocence or grievous government misconduct could possibly be a basis for going back to court even though we have a one-year statue of limitation.

What is the reason for a one-year limit?

It was set by Congress I believe in 1996, and signed by President Clinton. There used to be no limitations on federal habeas but in the 1996 reform they set a one-year limit for filing. Many people feel it is unfair because what happens in a number of cases is that evidence surfaces after the one year deadline. Now a defendant is presumptively barred - unless he or she can convince the court of the right to accept a late filing, not easily done.

What court was Gerardo's filed in and what are the next steps if it is denied?

The case is filed in the federal district court in Miami, which is the southern district court of Florida. That is the same district that had the trial. And ordinarily it goes back to the same judge. However, in the Miami practice - as well as in a number of other federal districts - the sitting judge frequently refers the motion to a magistrate and the magistrate examines the papers preliminarily and holds a hearing if necessary.

In certain cases which are complex, the trial judge could keep the case and have a hearing before herself or himself. We don't know yet whether Judge Lenard, who was the trial judge, will keep this case for herself or whether she will refer it to a magistrate.

If the magistrate or judge believes it has merit what will happen?

If either one believes it has merit, an opinion is written. And in that opinion the court will set forth the remedy. The remedy we're seeking of course is a new trial for Gerardo. Then you have the regular course of appeals should we lose. You can go back to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and they will review the case if the trial court or the appellate court certifies issues for review. And if you lose there, you can once again petition the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case.

One of the issues of the appeal, is that of the journalists who were being paid without the defense knowing, journalists who were supposedly independent but were receiving money from Radio and TV Martí.

This is a classic case of newly-discovered evidence of a constitutional dimension. The trial occurred in the period of 2000 and 2001. No one knew that these journalists were being paid by the government at that time. But in 2006 it was revealed that in fact some of the regular reporting journalists were also on the payroll of the federal government in connection with Radio and TV Martí. Since that was not revealed until 2006, it is newly-discovered evidence. Since it is evidence of the government's manipulations of attitudes within the community, it is of a constitutional dimension since it violated Gerardo's constitutional right to a fair trial.

So in our papers we are citing the 2006 revelation, and all the excellent work that has been done by the National Committee to give substance to these revelations and to also seek under the Freedom of Information Act, further information which is still forthcoming to buttress the claim.

There is still additional information, as the litigation under the Freedom of Information Act proceeds, to develop more and more information on these journalists, their agreements with the government, what they did, and under whose auspices.

We expect the case will be in the district court for at least six months, probably longer. So as we get new information it can be added to the papers we'll be filing this and next month.

You have a long history defending people who were prosecuted for being involved in social justice issues. How do you see the case of the Cuban five in the context of your history defending political prisoners?

This case is very similar to those cases. Once you have a prosecution where the government has a political interest in the outcome, there's always a strong likelihood that steps were taken that were improper in initiating and prosecuting the case. And steps were taken here that were not known at the time of the trial but became known later.

We are going to be finding additional information that the government withheld, that they didn't provide, that they used to manipulate this process in order to gain a conviction. As has happened in past cases, this is going to be a revelatory process where we're going to find out things that were not previously known and which only became known only through additional prodding and pressure.

What attorneys are involved in the appeals?

Most of the attorneys have remained in the case, going on now for twelve years. Others have joined during the appeal.

That is a typical process. Frequently, as in the case of Tom Goldstein, you need the special expertise of an attorney who practices before a particular court. Goldstein of course is an expert in U.S. Supreme Court litigation. He teaches seminars at both Harvard and Stanford on Supreme Court litigation. When we got to the level of the Supreme Court we turned to Tom Goldstein.

With respect to myself, I came into the case in 2003, seven years ago, as the case was about to be heard on appeal. Antonio's attorney had fallen ill and I was asked to replace him.

Some people have asked if there is any relief after the final appeal, is there any relief, any courts in the international arena available to the Five?

In May of 2005 a subcommittee of the Human Rights Committee of the UN (the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention) did issue an opinion by five judges that the venue violated international norms of due process, and they urged the US to move the case to another venue. The U.S. of course did not respond. There are other international venues we may turn to, but that will have to wait until all of our domestic appeals have been exhausted.

We are talking about law and legal issues. What other means do you think there is to win justice for the Cuban Five?

The filing on June 14 was on behalf of Gerardo Hernandez. The others will be filing in due course with René Gonzalez filing about this time. But Gerardo's case is exemplary because he is serving two life sentences plus 15 years, in a situation in which he is demonstrably innocent of the charges. Also he is the first person in U.S. history to be charged for the shootdown of an aircraft by the armed forces of another country acting in defense of their airspace. Also, as a simple matter of the failure of the evidence used against him, the United States prosecutors acknowledged at the end of the trial in an emergency appeal to the appellate courts that they did not have sufficient evidence to convict him, referring to it as "insurmountable obstacle" toward gaining a conviction if the trial judge gave her intended instructions to the jury. The appeal was rejected, the instructions were given, and the jury convicted nonetheless. Only in Miami.

Gerardo's case is really one that calls for interventions by non-judicial, non-legal bodies and people worldwide interested in human rights and justice.

What message do you have for Gerardo and for the movement?

I spoke to Gerardo two days ago, he called me from his maximum security prison in California. He wanted an update on where the case stood right now. He is a very strong, firm person who believes in his own innocence and his country. He served honorably as a volunteer in Africa in the struggle against apartheid. He has been an exemplary prisoner, not a single violation in his 12 years living under the rigors of maximum-security confinement. He looks to the worldwide community of people concerned with issues of justice to make known their concern. He also feels confident that he will ultimately be vindicated.

http://www.freethefive.org

U.S. Government Paid Miami Reporters to Be Biassed against Cuba

2010-05-30T00:15:00.003+01:00

Washington, May 29 (Prensa Latina) A civic group will shortly disclose evidence on how the U.S. Government covertly paid tens of thousands of dollars to Miami journalists working for major media outlets to incendiary stories against Cuba and five Cuban antiterrorists.

The evidence has been uncovered by the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, which next June 2 will make it public at a press conference.

The stories were published during the federal government's politically-charged Miami prosecution, the organizations denounces in a press release.

Fernando Gonzalez, René Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino and Antonio Guerrero, internationally known as the Cuban Five, are serving sentences varying from 15 years to double life, after being convicted of charges including unproven espionage conspiracy.

The press conference will reveal names of journalists, payment amounts, and will have available notebooks highlighting articles and propaganda by supposedly-independent journalists who were covertly on the payroll of the U.S. Government.

Speaking at the press conference will be attorneys with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) that have filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the National Committee.

The litigation filed by the PCJF asserts that the Broadcasting Board of Governors and its Office of Cuba Broadcasting are withholding information that will show that they have engaged in activities in violation of federal law, specifically the Smith-Mundt Act, which prohibits the BBG from seeking to propagandize the U.S. public, and may be continuing to do so.

The press conference will announce that a coalition of organizations is initiating a nationwide campaign that will call on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to take immediate action to provide remedy and relief to the Cuban Five based on the U.S. Government's misconduct and covert operations which deprived the Five of their fundamental right to a fair trial.

Gloria La Riva, coordinator of the Cuban Five committee who will speak at the press conference, said, "Many of the articles and commentaries by the government-paid journalists were highly prejudicial and biased, with the obvious aim of negatively influencing the Miami public and the jury pool, convicting the Cuban Five, and depriving them of the fundamental right to a fair trial."

http://www.plenglish.com/

The historical significance of the death of Martí

2010-05-27T21:48:00.002+01:00

ABSTRACTING myself from the problems currently distressing humanity, our homeland had the privilege of being the cradle of one of the most exceptional thinkers to have been born in this hemisphere: José Martí.

May 19th, is the 115th anniversary of his glorious death.

The magnitude of his grandeur would be impossible to assess without taking into account that those with whom he penned the drama of his life were also exceptional figures, such as Antonio Maceo, perennial symbol of the revolutionary resoluteness that led the Baraguá Protest, and Máximo Gómez, the Dominican internationalist, who taught the Cuban combatants in the two wars of independence in which they took part. The Cuban Revolution, which for more than half a century has resisted the onslaughts of the most powerful empire ever to have existed, was the fruit of the teachings of those predecessors.

Despite the fact that four pages of Martí’s diary have been absent from materials within the reach of historians, what he wrote in the rest of that personal and meticulously written diary, confirmed by other documents of his from those days, is more than enough to know the details of what took place. As in Greek tragedies, it was a dispute between giants.

The day before his death in combat he wrote to his close friend Manuel Mercado: "…I am in daily danger of giving my life for my country and duty, for I understand that duty and have the courage to carry it out – the duty of preventing the United States from spreading through the Antilles as Cuba gains its independence, and from falling upon, with that additional strength, our lands of America. All I have done so far, and all I will do, is for this purpose. I have had to work quietly and somewhat indirectly, because to achieve certain objectives, they must be kept under cover; to proclaim them for what they are would raise such difficulties that those objectives could not be attained."

When Martí wrote those lapidary words, Marx had already written The Communist Manifesto in 1848; in other words, 47 years before Martí’s death, and Darwin had published The Origin of the Species in 1859, to quote just two works that, in my judgment, have had the greatest influence on the history of humanity.

Marx was such an exceptionally altruistic man that his most important scientific work, Das Capital, would possibly never have been published if Friedrich Engels had not taken it on himself to compile and order the material to which its author dedicated his whole life. Engels not only took charge of that task, but was the author of a work titled Introduction to the Dialectics of Nature, in which he talked then of the time when the energy of our sun would be exhausted.

Humankind did not yet know how to release the energy contained in matter, as described by Einstein in his famous formula, and did not have access to computers able to undertake billions of operations per second and capable of receiving and transmitting, as well, the billions of reactions per second that take place in the cells of the dozens of pairs of chromosomes contributed in equal parts by mothers and fathers, a genetic and reproductive phenomenon of which I had some notion after the triumph of the Revolution, searching for the best characteristics for the production of food of animal origin within our climatic conditions, which is being extended to plants via their own hereditary laws.

With the incomplete education that citizens of more resources used to receive in schools, generally private ones, which were considered as the best centers of education, we became illiterates, a little above those who did not know how to read and write, or who attended public schools.

On the other hand, the first country in the world in which there was an attempt to apply the ideas of Marx was Russia, the least industrialized of the European countries.

Lenin, creator of the Third International, was of the view that there was no organization in the world as loyal to the ideas of Marx than the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party. Even though life in a large part of that immense country was semi-feudal, its working class was highly active and extremely combative.

In the books that Lenin wrote after 1915, he was an untiring critic of chauvinism. In his work Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, written in April 1917, a few months before the Bolshevik faction of that party took over power from the Menshevik faction, equally demonstrated that he was the first to understand the role that the countries subjected to capitalism, like China and others of major weight in diverse regions of the world, were being called on to play.

In its turn, the valor and audacity of which Lenin was capable was demonstrated in his acceptance of the armored train that the German army, out of tactical convenience, had given him to travel from Switzerland to the approach to Petrograd, which immediately prompted his enemies within and outside of the Menshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party to accuse him of being a German spy. If he had not used the famous train, the end of the war would have caught him by surprise in distant and neutral Switzerland, with which the optimum and appropriate minute would have been lost.

In some way, by pure chance, two sons of Spain – thanks to their personal qualities – came to play a significant role in the Spanish-American War. One was the chief of the Spanish troops in the El Viso fort, which defended access to Santiago from the El Caney heights, an officer who fought until he was fatally wounded, having inflicted more than 300 casualties on the famous Rough Riders – tough U.S. horse riders organized by then Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, whose precipitate landing had to be made without their fiery horses. The other was the admiral who, fulfilling the stupid order of the Spanish government, sailed out of Santiago Bay with the select force of the marines aboard, leaving with the squadron in the only way possible, which was to move each boat in single file through the narrow access, and facing the powerful yanki fleet, whose lined-up battleships fired their powerful cannons on the Spanish ships, of far less speed and armor plating. Logically, the Spanish ships, with their complement of combat and marine troops, were sunk in the deep waters of the Bartlett Trough. Only one was left just a few meters from the edge of the abyss. The survivors of that force were taken prisoner by the U.S. squadron.

The conduct of Martínez Campos [Captain-General of Cuba] was arrogant and vengeful. Full of rancor over his failure to pacify the island as he had done in 1871, he backed the ruinous and rancorous policy of the Spanish government. Valeriano Weyler replaced him in the command of Cuba; this man, with the cooperation of those who sent in the USS Maine battleship to seek a justification for intervening in Cuba, decreed the reconcentration of the population, which caused tremendous suffering to the people of Cuba and served as a pretext for the United States to establish its first economic blockade, which gave rise to an enormous scarcity of food and provoked the death of countless individuals.

That led to the viability of the Paris negotiations, in which Spain renounced all sovereign and ownership rights over Cuba, after more than 400 years of its occupation in the name of the king of Spain in mid-October 1492, in the wake of Christopher Columbus’ affirmation: "This is the most beautiful land that human eyes have ever seen."

The Spanish version of the battle that decided the fate of Santiago de Cuba is the best known, and there was doubtless heroism if one analyzes the number and ranks of officers and soldiers who, in the most disadvantageous of situations, defended the city, honoring the fighting tradition of the Spaniards, who defended their country against Napoleon Bonaparte’s battle-hardened soldiers in 1808, or the Spanish Republic against the Nazi-fascist charge of 1936.

An additional ignominy fell upon the Norwegian committee that awards the Nobel prizes, when it sought ridiculous pretexts for awarding that honor in 1906 to Theodore Roosevelt, who was twice elected president of the United States, in 1901 and 1905. His real participation in the Santiago de Cuba battles at the head of the Rough Riders had not even been clarified and there could have been much legend in the publicity that he subsequently received.

I can only give testimony to the way in which the heroic city fell into the hands of the Rebel Army forces on January 1, 1959!

It was then that the ideas of Martí triumphed in our homeland!

Fidel Castro Ruz
May 18, 2010.
6:12 p.m.

Translated by Granma International

Cuban Eastern Coast Under Study for Optical Cable with Venezuela

2010-05-27T21:40:00.002+01:00

Havana, May 27 (Prensa Latina) The Ridley Thomas ship arrived at Santiago de Cuba port to continue a study aimed at defining the route of the underwater optical cable which will improve Cuba's Internet connection through Venezuela.

The underwater exploration started on May 5 in the surroundings of Maiquetia airport, near the Venezuelan capital, and it was enlarged 3318 miles up to Siboney beach, near Santiago de Cuba city.

A second stage includes the exploration of another 124 miles up to Jamaica.

"We already have the maps, but the crossing points are still to be defined," CMKC Radio Revolucion quoted the manager of the Geologic Projects Company, Anthony Pyn, as saying.

The expert, with experience in similar investments in Asia and Oceania, added that the study is a hard task, but it will reveal how much severity is demanded for the installation of the optical cable early next year.

Waldo Reboredo, vice president of Gran Caribe Telecommunications, the Cuban-Venezuelan company to operate in the cable, said that the study will be staged in shallow waters with high technology equipments, ships, and several hours of marine research.

http://www.plenglish.com/

Send birthday greetings to Gerardo and Ramon!‏

2010-05-17T15:56:00.001+01:00

Gerardo and Ramón have birthdays in June.

Be sure to send them a birthday greeting!

You can write to them directly at the prison, (address below) and also transmit a greeting to our email address below. We will then mail Ramón and Gerardo your greeting which you e-mail us.

Gerardo Hernández was born June 4, 1965.
His address is:
Gerardo Hernández, #58739-004
U.S.P. Victorville
P.O. Box 5300
Adelanto, CA 92301

Ramón Labañino was born June 9, 1963.
He is registered in prison as Luis Medina, so you
have to address the envelope as:
Luis Medina, #58734-004
U.S.P. McCreary
P.O. Box 3000
Pine Knot, KY 42635
Then inside the cards and letters, you can write to him as Ramón.

For Gerardo, this is a particularly important birthday, because on June 14, his lawyers will submit his habeas corpus brief to the Court. We need to make sure Gerardo and all the Five know we are all behind them in this important struggle.

Ricardo Alarcón, President of the Cuban National Assembly of People's Power, addressed this question in two very important speeches given recently; we urge all solidarity activists to read them.

http://www.freethefive.org

Gerardo Hernandez’ Defense Team to Apply for Habeas Corpus

2010-05-16T15:59:00.001+01:00

The defense team of Gerardo Hernandez, one of the five Cuban antiterrorists imprisoned in the United States, will apply for habeas corpus before June 14, in favor of the prisoner, who was sentenced to double life and 15 years in jail.

The habeas corpus will be presented to Miami's Federal Court Judge Joan Lenard, who sentenced him in 2001, reported Prensa Latina.

The defense expects the court to reconsider the case of Hernandez, currently serving the harshest sentences. Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez, who was sentenced to 15 years, were excluded from the resentencing hearing held in late 2009 in Miami, in which Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez received new sentences.

The habeas corpus aims to ask the court to at least lift Hernandez' double life imprisonment.

In a statement after the resentencing hearing for Labañino, Guerrero and Gonzalez, the three men reiterated their innocence and said that the Cuban Five, as they are internationally known, were punished for accusations that have never been proven.

They added that while three sentences were partially reduced, the Cuban Five are still all subject to a grave injustice. More than anything, the three men spoke about the injustice in the case of Hernandez, who was confined to a maximum security prison in Adelanto, California.

In a trial plagued with irregularities and held in a highly biased Miami court, the Cuban Five were given harsh sentences ranging from 15 years to consecutive life terms plus 15 years. The five Cubans were working to uncover information about terrorist activities being planned and carried out against Cuba by ultra-rightwing organizations based in southern Florida with a long record of terrorist actions against Cuba and the Cuban people. When they turned their information over to authorities they were arrested and have been in jail ever since.

A UN Working Group reviewing the case determined that the trial did not take place in a climate of objectivity and impartiality, which is required in order to conclude on the observance of the standards of a fair trial. The UN report also charges that the Cuban Five were wrongfully held for seventeen months in solitary confinement after their arrest, and that their lawyers were deprived of the opportunity to examine all of the available evidence before the government invoked the Classified Information Protection Act.

Shortly following the UN ruling, on August 9, 2005, a three judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals of Atlanta issued a 93-page reversal of the initial conviction as well as nullified the sentences. In response to the reversal, the Bush administration and Attorney General Gonzales vehemently pushed for the US Solicitor General to appeal the verdict of the three-judge panel’s decision before all twelve judges of the 11th circuit in Atlanta. This time the court bowed down to pressure from the Bush administration and reversed the previous pro-Cuban Five ruling by a vote of 10-2.
The Five have been in jail since September 12, 1998.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Cuba at UN: Total Nuclear Weapons Elimination

2010-05-08T16:08:00.001+01:00

United Nations, May 7 (Prensa Latina) Cuba reiterated the need to adopt concrete actions to eliminate and forbid the use of nuclear weapons totally from the face of the Earth in a call made here Friday.

The call appeared in a communiqué published by the Cuban permanent representation in the UN in a new conference on non proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Cuba was chosen for one of the vicepresidencies, in this forum with the representations of 189 UN member countries.

Cuba made a great emphasis in the concept that nuclear disarming is a very high priority, and there needs for an action plan to fulfill the disarming obligations.

The program will establish a concrete calendar for gradual reduction of nuclear weapons transparently until its total elimination for the year 2025.

While this is going on, negotiations for a Global Security Warranty Agreement for those countries which do not possess any nuclear weapon should be started.

"Cuba highlights the need to defend multilateralism for disarming, non proliferation and control of nuclear weapons," the Cuban delegate said.

Cuba also promotes the establishment and consolidation of Free Zones of Nuclear Weapons in different regions of the world, including the Middle East and the observation and the right to investigate, produce and work with nuclear energy with peaceful objectives.

Cuba is a member of the Treaty of Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons since November 4, 2002.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Antonio Guerrero relocated to a medium security prison

2010-05-08T14:04:00.003+01:00

Last October, Antonio Guerrero's sentence was reduced from life imprisonment plus 10 years to 21 years and 10 months. As a result of that reduction, as well as of his exemplary behavior throughout 11 long years in prison, including not just an unblemished record of good conduct but also volunteering to teach classes to his fellow inmates, Antonio has now been moved from the maximum security facility in which he was imprisoned to a medium security prison, FCI Florence (Colorado). This is the same city where he was imprisoned previously, but as a result of the change he now has a new address:

Antonio Guerrero
#58741-004
FCI Florence
P.O. Box 6000
Florence, CO 81226
USA

Please make sure to use the new address to write to Antonio.

Although this is good news for Antonio, the fight for real justice for the Five continues. Last December, after Ramón and Fernando had been resentencing as well as Antonio, the three issued a statement emphasizing this point. The statement read in part:

We have already served more than 11 years in prison and there is still no justice at any level of the American legal system.

We the Five are punished for accusations that never have been proved. Although three of our sentences were partially reduced, the injustice remains for all of us.

The Cuban-American terrorists continue to enjoy total impunity.

We reiterate: The Five are innocent!

We feel profoundly moved and grateful for the permanent solidarity that you give us, so crucial in this long battle for justice.

Together with you, we will continue until the final victory, which only will be reached with the return of the Five to our Homeland.

http://www.freethefive.org

Cuban International Tourism Fair Opens in Havana

2010-05-04T22:14:00.001+01:00

Cuban Vice Minister of Tourism María Elena López welcomed travel agents and tourism businesspersons and experts to the 30th International Tourism Fair —FitCuba 2010—, which opened Tuesday in Havana.

Cuba boasts a sustainable tourism industry in a safe and peaceful environment with fantastic natural surroundings, culture and traditions, and hospitality second to none.

María Elena López told participants that over the last 30 years one of the major focuses of the island’s tourism industry has been environmental conservation to promote green tourism in the context of the world’s ecological crisis.

FitCuba 2010 is dedicated to Russia and to promoting tourism in the eastern region of the country.

Cuban Vice President Esteban Lazo Hernández, Vice President of the Russian National Tourism Agency Alexander Vasilevich Radkov, Cuban Minister of Tourism Manuel Marrero and Russian Ambassador to Cuba Mijaíl Kaminin were also present at the inauguration of the fair

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Cubans Celebrate May Day More United

2010-05-03T16:19:00.001+01:00

Havana, May 1(Prensa Latina) While millions of people are without a job in the world because of the world economic global crisis, Cubans will celebrate the International Workers Day (May Day) in an embrace for unity, development and in defense of the Revolution.

Every year, the Cuban Workers Federation (CTC) organizes activities and parades in all the municipalities and cities of the country, to which hundred of foreign delegations arrive.

This time the central activity will include a parade, which will begin at the 08:00 local time in the historical Jose Marti Revolution Square, in this capital, where thousands of people divided in blocks will make their presence.

Ready to start will be the representatives of the sector of the public health, artists and scientists, athletes and transport companies... all with the creativity and the push of the workers and intellectuals.

Organizers hope that, like it is habitual, millions of workers and their relatives participate in the activities predicted they will be massive and patriotic, as a reflex of the backup to the Revolution.

CTC Secretary General Salvador Valdés, stated that for the Cubans, to strengthen the indestructible unity around the Revolution, the Communist Party, is an unshakable commitment.

Since the revolutionary victory in 1959, millions of Cubans attend the marches summoned to commemorate the recall day to the Martyrs of Chicago, executed in that American city in 1886 to demand the establishment of the 8-hour labor day.

It is habitual that the population goes very early to the squares where they will carry out the activities characterized by the happiness of the participants, dressed in general with red, blue and white garments and holding Cuban flags.

The attendance of personalities of diverse parts of the world contrasts the Cuban celebrations for May Day with the protest manifestations in other parts of the world.

We will have a grandiose May Day, with the premise that we will make it with rationality, without big expenses, Valdés said, when assuring that participants will transmit a clear message to the world of the unity and solidness of the revolutionary process.

For many people in the island, when the world faces one of the worst economic crises and unemployment reigns in almost all countries, the Cuban workers are blissful of having a labor position for sure, offering tranquillity to their relatives.

According to figures of the International Labor Organization (ILO) they are more than 90 million unemployed people and it is calculated that this year, 51 more million should be added.

ILO noticed that the world can live a persistent labor and employment crisis in the next six or eight years, if urgent measures are not adopted.

ILO specified that the world needs to create some 300 million jobs for 2015 to absorb, at least, the arrival of 45 million people to the labor market every year.

Only in the European Union there are more than 23 million people without work that represent 9.6 percent of the economically active population, the biggest level since January 2000.

Among them, 15.76 million are in the euro area, where the unemployment increased up to 10 percent, the worst figure since August 1998.

Meanwhile, the European Union Conference stated Thursday that in the European eastern countries, the problems with the employment arose starting from the so-called "democratic opening" and of the economic turns toward neoliberalism.

For this institution the factors giving an impact in the increase of misery in that area are due to the fact that having a job does not even mean to be able to satisfy all the needs.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Sonnet to our beloved people on a transcendental May 1st

2010-05-02T11:18:00.003+01:00

Antonio Guerrero sent us this message to share on this May Day

Dearest friends in solidarity throughout the world:

We'd like to share this sonnet with you, dedicated to International Workers' Day. I know that this day is not celebrated the same in every country, but those of you who defend just causes will be celebrating it with a call for a better world.

From these five prisons we send you our admiration and thanks for your solidarity with the Cuban Five and with the Cuban people.

Sonnet to our beloved people on a transcendental May 1st
Waves of hands, sea of flags.
Chant of shining light, burning scale.
Aurora released at dawn.
Lightning scattered through palms.

Bouquet of dreams, tree without borders.
Sidereal and combatant dove.
Star erected on a slope.
Pollen from urgent spring seasons.

Unbeatable bastion, rock of the heights.
Wide furrow carved between bursts of fire.
Independence over the verdant plain.

Enamored horse of peace.
Revolution of pure geography.
Homeland and mankind, my beloved people.

A brotherly embrace from the Cuban Five:

Gerardo Hernández.
Fernando González.
Ramón Labañino.
René González.
Antonio Guerrero.

written by Antonio Guerrero
Florence, CO Penitentiary
April 20, 2010

translation by Machetera

www.freethefive.org

Cuba goes to the polls in local elections

2010-04-28T21:03:00.002+01:00

Morning Star report by Tom Mellen

Cuban citizens turned out in force on Sunday to vote for local assemblies across the socialist country.

Shortly before the polling stations closed, around 8.1 million people had voted to elect local representatives to the country's 169 municipal assemblies of People's Power - a turnout of almost 93 per cent.

About 15,000 representatives on the local assemblies are elected every two-and-a-half years.

Candidates are not chosen by party officials and do not need to be members of the Communist Party.

They are nominated by a show of hands at gatherings of the community-level Committees for the Defence of the Revolution.

As in other countries, each voter places a check mark by the name of the candidate they want and balloting is secret.

While participation is not mandatory, it is strongly encouraged as a civic duty.

National Electoral Commission head Ruben Perez Rodriguez described the high turnout as "a yes for the motherland, for Cuba, for the revolution and for socialism.

"It is a yes for the political system that we have adopted, that we defend and love," Mr Rodriguez went on.

After casting his vote, Cuban parliament president Ricardo Alarcon noted that, unlike in capitalist countries, Cuban candidates are barred from campaigning and are nominated, not on the basis of how much money they can raise, but on their "merits and capabilities."

"This is an electoral process where truth rules - it is very different to those in many countries, where deception, votes purchasing and corruption are ever present on election times," Mr Alarcon declared.

As well as resolving grassroots issues such as problems with refuse collection or noisy neighbours, the local assemblies also elect those who will fill regional assemblies and the national parliament, which in turn decides who will serve on the Council of State, Cuba's cabinet.

Provincial and national parliament elections are held every five years.

Cubans aged 16 years or older can vote, and even younger schoolchildren are encouraged to play a role - each ballot box is guarded by two children from the Young Pioneer movement.

full report from Morning Star

http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/

Saving life, saving Mother Earth

2010-04-25T16:37:00.001+01:00

COCHABAMBA, April 22.— Cuba will firmly and resolutely support the Cochabamaba agreements to defend Mother Earth, affirmed Cuban Vice President Esteban Lazo Hernández, addressing more than 35,000 people attending the closing event at the First People’s World Conference on Climate Change, which was brought to a close on Thursday afternoon by Bolivian President Evo Morales, PL reports.

Lazo passed on greetings from the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro and Cuban President Raúl Castro.

He stated that the people’s summit in Cochabamba demonstrated popular awareness on climate change and contributed to the quest for real solutions to this crucial phenomenon that is threatening the survival of humanity.

In his closing words Bolivian President Evo Morales Ayma stated that the meeting "Opens up hope for the world to fight for the life and survival of the planet."

For his part, Hugo Chávez, president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, urged the social movements to unleash a new battle aimed at the UN conference planned for December of this year in Cancun, Mexico.

Chávez pointed to the capitalist system as the cause of the climate debacle and urged the people to overthrow it and implement socialism, the only path toward the salvation of the peoples.

During the event, Ecuadorian Lina Kawuanski and American Vico Enosti read out the principal conclusions of the Cochabamba forum, listed in a document titled "Agreement of the Peoples."

Translated by Granma International

http://www.granma.cu/

BRITAIN AND CUBA - building better relations

2010-04-23T17:27:00.001+01:00

3 EASY STEPS
to contacting your parliamentary candidates
The Cuba Solidarity Campaign needs your help to find out prospective parliamentary candidates' views on Cuba in the run up to the 2010 General Election.

Over the next few weeks more than 2,000 candidates will be fighting for your votes. By sending this letter you can help us make sure that Cuba is on the agenda.

■Step 1 Enter your details on the letter on the website so that we can identify candidates in your area. The website will now automatically find your candidates for you.
■Step 2 Choose which candidates you wish to write to. (Please tick all candidates if possible).
■Step 3 Click SEND! Then please forward this action to your friends and family.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO LET CSC KNOW ANY RESPONSES THAT YOU RECEIVE email to campaigns@britainandcuba.org

http://www.britainandcuba.org/

Cuba Puts Final Touches to Elections

2010-04-23T16:57:00.001+01:00

Havana, Apr 23 (Prensa Latina) Cuban voters and authorities are shaping final details for a successful holding of elections on Sunday, April 25.

On that day, at least 8.40 million electors are expected to cast their vote to choose 15,093 delegates to the Municipal People's Power Assemblies (local governments).

In those electoral districts where no candidate gets more than 50 per cent of valid votes, a second round will be held on May 2.

According to official figures, 34,766 candidates have been nominated for their capacities and merits in assemblies attended by 86.84 percent of electors.

Maximum age of most candidates is 50 years, 87.3 percent are high school or university graduates, and 9,190 of them are delegates already, a post for which they get no income.

After a dynamic test or rehearsal four days ago, president of the National Electoral Committee Ana Maria Mari asserted that Cuba is ready.

We verified coordination of work with different entities, regarding communication and notification systems and liaisons, she said.

In opinion of President of the Cuban Parliament Ricardo Alarcon, the whole electoral process has to be carried out with rigour, methodically and in a critical spirit, as demanded by head of State Raul Castro.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=181972&Itemid=1

The Scootish Cuba Solidarity Campaign AGM 2010

2010-04-18T14:03:00.002+01:00

The STUC building in Glasgow's woodside was the venue for the Annual General Meeting of the Scottish Cuba Solidarity Campaign(SCSC). The meeting followed on from the AGM of Scottish Medical Aid for cuba and started with a review of events and actions from the past year which included speakers at Mayday marches in both Glasgow and Edinburgh, A Cuba reception at the STUC conference, Miami 5 street stalls,The festival of politics event.The Cuban Ambassador's visit to scotland and cross party group meetings amongst others.

The prioities for the coming year were discussed, with the Miami 5 as a priority and then all 3 elected posts were re-elected with a vote of thanks to all who contributed to the campaign.

Finally, our guest speaker, Luis Marron, the political councillor from the Cuban embassy in London updated us on the situation in Cuba.

The AGM was folowed by a Havana Club reception and nibbles

Tribute to Vilma on her 80th birthday anniversary

2010-04-17T20:25:00.002+01:00

Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura
with Asela de los Santos and family members
of the heroine at the Memorial to Vilma Espín.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA.— Cuban Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura presided over the inauguration of the Vilma Espín Guillois Memorial, which testifies to the humane influence of our Cuban heroine, outstanding combatant and paradigm of revolutionary womanhood.

The memorial pays tribute to Vilma on the 80th anniversary of her birth and is a reference point for understanding her legacy of fortitude, generosity and patriotism, affirmed Havana City Historian Eusebio Leal during the ceremony, which included the participation of her children, relatives and other close friends.

The six rooms in the museum summarize the different stages of Vilma’s life and work and conserve dozens of photos, thoughts, personal garments, graphics, and illustrations that renew the legacy of this mother, wife, combatant, and exceptional female leader.

Music composed by Commander of the Revolution Juan Almeida Bosque and performances by Orfeón Santiago, the Children’s Choir, and dance pieces from the Vocational School of Arts, and Fátima Patterson offered the artistic component of the inauguration. Frank Fernández played several pieces on the piano that were once sung by Vilma Espín, among them lullabies to her children and Agustín Lara’s "Cielito lindo."

Army Corps General Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, member of the Political Bureau and minister of the interior, as well as Central Committee Armando Hart, Yolanda Ferrer and Lázaro Expósito, attended the inauguration.

The tribute to Vilma Espín also included the placing of flowers before the obelisk holding her remains in the Mayarí Arriba Mausoleum and a cultural gala "Al nacer de la ternura," which took place in the Dolores Concert Hall in Havana.

Translated by Granma International

http://www.granma.cu/

Experts Study Climate Change Impact on Cuban Coasts

2010-04-16T18:26:00.002+01:00

“It is too late to regret the mistakes we made in dealing with nature; we have no other choice than adapting ourselves to upcoming changes and we are focusing on this direction,” said the head of the Oceanography, Physics and Chemistry Agency with the Geocuba Marine Studies Enterprise, engineer Fermin Vega in statements to Juventud Rebelde.

This institution, along with other Cuban scientific agencies, is undertaking a macro-project led by the Environment Agency of the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment (CITMA), aimed at studying climate Change.

“Vega explained that the macro-project will assess climate change effects on Cuban coastal areas and the seas surrounding the archipelago, as well as spot areas considered vulnerable to variations of the sea level, tidal currents and waves, among other oceanographic parameters.

“We expect the sea level around Cuba to rise 27 centimeters over the next 50 years, and 85 centimeters in 100 years. We are currently reinforcing research to achieve more accurate predictions. Last year we focused on the Los Colorados archipelago, north of western Pinar del Rio province. And we want to keep researching this year in this zone and in the Gulf of Batabano, southern Cuba.”

The experts say that major problems linked to sea level growth have to do with the flow of salty water into local aquifers. In the face of the situation, they suggested the immediate planting of mangroves and other plant varieties, whose roots are able to withhold sediment and thus help preserve coastal areas.

“Based on the results of this initiative, the Urban Planning Institute took decisions aimed at restricting the construction of homes in zones that are vulnerable to floods,” the expert said.

“Similar regulations are being applied to hotel construction projects. Investments in this regard are planned with these factors in mind. Some day, whole settlements will have to be evacuated, though such a process will take place progressively. These changes will not take place in a sudden manner or in the short run. We are already taking preventive measures in this direction, so to be prepared,” engineer Fermin Vega pointed out.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

US Tried to Thwart Cuba Revolutionary Triumph

2010-04-16T18:20:00.001+01:00

Havana, Apr 16 (Prensa Latina) The US government tried to avoid the triumph of the Cuban Rebel Army in 1958.

The strategic basis of the role then played by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was the stimulation of a "third force" able to get rid of dictator Fulgencio Batista, who no longer guaranteed the protection of US interests on the island.

At the same time, it intended to hinder the displacement of the 26 de Julio Revolutionary Movement headed by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.

That maneuver was in line with what is known within the CIA as "political action operation," that is, clandestine support for individuals or organizations in third countries better responding to US political and economic interests.

Documents later declassified by the CIA reveal that in December 1958, the agency's Paramilitary Division planned to throw arms from the air.

They could not materialize it because they had planned it for the first days of January 1959, when the dictatorship had collapsed due to the rebel forces' opposition.

Since August 1958, the Department of State had been plotting a political Latina American mediation to avoid the rebel triumph, and had been committed to creating a mediating commission of the Organization of American States (OEA) since October.

An additional CIA alternative was that its old collaborator Justo Carrillo, along with ex Colonel Ramon Barquin, were to head a Military Board to take Batista out of power, as a way not to recognize the Rebel Army as lawful.

They failed to accomplish those objectives then, and have failed also along the 51 years of the Revolution, which goes on with the people's support.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Havana Club Rum Museum Celebrates First Decade

2010-04-02T11:05:00.002+01:00

Since its inauguration on March 31, 2000, the institution has excelled as one of the main promoters of Cuban culture and traditions where music, painting and the popular Cuban rum go hand in hand

Havana and a true exponent of the history of the most authentic Cuban rum, celebrated on Wednesday the 10th anniversary of its foundation.

Since its inauguration on March 31, 2000, the institution has excelled as one of the main promoters of Cuban culture and traditions where music, painting and the popular Cuban rum go hand in hand.

During this past decade, more than one million people, mainly tourists from Germany, France, England, Canada, Spain and Italy, have visited the museum.

Visitors receive information about the origins of Havana Club and its production process, including the stages of sugar cane selection, fermentation, distillation, aging, and final mixture.

Visitors can also enjoy traditional Cuban music, typical dishes and cocktails and buy all kinds of Havana Club rums, cigars and other souvenirs.

The museum has galleries for painting exhibitions and sometimes hosts night shows recreating the environment of the 1950s.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Cuban National Ballet Warmly Welcomed in London

2010-04-02T11:03:00.001+01:00

HAVANA, Cuba, April 1 (acn) The Cuban National Ballet’s performance of Swan Lake in a packed Coliseum Theater in London, England, was rewarded with an ovation by an audience of 2,500 people.
According to the CubaDebate website, the choreographic version of the classic ballet by Cuban prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso excelled for its high technical and artistic level.

Each of the dancers on the leading roles, Viengsay Valdés as Odette-Odile, Carlos Acosta as prince Sigfrido and Javier Torres as

sorcerer Von Rothbart, were able to seduce the public with their enthusiasm.

Backed by the Symphonic Orchestra of the Theater directed by maestro Giovanni Duarte, the evening reached its climax when Alicia Alonso, escorted by the dancers, went out on stage to wave at the spectators.

The Cuban National Ballet is scheduled to perform at the Coliseum until April 4, and then they will travel to Manchester to debut in the Lowry Theater, as part of a Great Britain tour.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Social Security Guaranteed in Cuba

2010-04-02T10:54:00.002+01:00

Juventud Rebelde spoke with Esther Criollo, a specialist at the National Institute of Social Security, after the 12th Central American and Caribbean Conference on Social Security that recently concluded in Havana.

Criollo explained that all workers in Cuba automatically receive their pension within 30 days of retiring thanks to a mechanism that works on the basis of universality and guarantees protection to the entire population.

“In Cuba, social security is guaranteed by the State. It is considered a constitutional right that forms part of the concept of development and goes hand in hand with economic and social progress.”

Criollo also said that Cuba is affected by the economic crisis and the US blockade.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Juventud Rebelde Celebrates 45th Anniversary

2010-03-21T18:32:00.003Z

Juventud Rebelde (rebellious youth) newspaper began celebrations Thursday for the 45th anniversary of its founding.

The newspaper was founded in 1965 as a space for young people but aimed at all age groups of readers. It is run by the Communist Youth League of Cuba (UJC).

This year’s anniversary is also dedicated to the recently held Cuban Journalist Day and to the 80th birthday of sports columnist Elio Menéndez

Attending the opening celebrations were Argentine journalist and President of the Latin American Federation of Journalists (FELAP) Juan Carlos Camaño, Cuban Union of Journalists (UPEC) President Tubal Páez and UJC member Osnay Miguel Colina.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Statement from the National Assembly of People’s Power

2010-03-14T12:04:00.003Z

IN the wake of a media campaign mounted by powerful corporations, fundamentally in Europe, which have ferociously attacked Cuba, and after a dirty debate, the European Parliament has just passed a resolution of condemnation against our country that manipulates sentiments, brandishes lies and conceals realities.

The pretext utilized was the death of a prisoner, initially sentenced for a common crime and subsequently manipulated by U.S. interests and mercenaries at its service, who, of his own free will, refused to eat, despite warnings from and intervention by Cuban medical specialists.

This lamentable event cannot be utilized to condemn Cuba by adducing that a death could have been avoided. If there is one field in which our country does not have to defend itself in words, given that the reality is irrefutable, it is in that of the fight for the lives of human beings, whether born in Cuba or in other countries. Just one example is the presence of Cuban doctors in Haiti for more than 11 years prior to the earthquake in January of this year, a fact silenced by the hegemonic press.

Behind that condemnation lies profound cynicism. How many children’s lives have been lost in poor nations because of the decision by rich countries represented in the European Parliament not to meet their commitments to development aid? All of them knew it was a mass death sentence, but they opted to preserve the levels of waste and the continuation of consumerism to suicide in the long term.

We Cubans are also offended by that attempt to teach us a lesson at a time when immigrants and the unemployed are being repressed in Europe, but while here, in neighborhood meetings, people are proposing their candidates for municipal elections, freely and without intermediaries.

Those countries which participated in or allowed the clandestine air transport of detainees, the establishment of illegal prisons, and the practice of torture, lack the ethical authority to pass moral judgments on a people under attack and brutally blockaded.

Such a discriminatory and selective condemnation can only be explained by the failure of a policy incapable of bringing a heroic people to their knees. Neither the Helms Burton Act, nor the European common position, which emerged in the same year in the same circumstances and with the same purpose, both of them damaging to our national sovereignty and dignity, have the most minimal future, because we Cubans reject imposition, intolerance and pressure as a norm within international relations.

National Assembly of People’s Power of the Republic of Cuba

March 11, 2010

Translated by Granma International

http://www.granma.cu/

background to the case from non cuban media here:

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

MINUSTAH Praises Work of Cuban Doctors in Haiti

2010-03-14T12:00:00.001Z

Head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH) Edmond Mulet said that the work Cuban doctors are carrying out in Haiti is extraordinary.

“Cuban doctors are working on every corner of Haiti devotedly, despite the hard situation the country faces, a horrible situation indeed," told the official to the Prensa Latina news agency.

“They are here despite the hardships. They are committed professionals making a remarkable effort to help the people of Haiti,” he said, adding that he is an admirer of the work these men and women have been doing here, not only after the January 12 earthquake, but long before.

He also made reference to Cuban medical missions in other Latin American countries.

The Henry Reeve Brigade in Haiti is made up by professional from 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries, including 7 American graduates from Cuba’s Latin American Medical School.

The first team of Cuban doctors arrived in Haiti in 1998 with the objective of helping the people recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Georges, which hit the country on September of the same year

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Mockingbird Can Sing Cuba’s National Anthem

2010-03-14T11:52:00.001Z

LAS TUNAS.— Ana Cruz, a teacher with more than 30 years of experience, taught a mockingbird Cuba’s National Anthem.

Cruz has only had the bird for a year ―from the day her grandson rescued it from dying at the hands of some naughty kids― but in such a short time she has managed to teach it several tunes.

The repertoire includes the first stanza of Cuba’s National Anthem, the February 24 Anthem ―which is its favourite, according to Cruz― and popular Cuban songs such as El golpe de bibijagua and El Manisero. At the moment, it’s learning to sing a Happy Birthday song.

“It was me who taught him to sing,” says Cruz proudly, “My method is very simple. I just stand in front of its cage and whistle the tune a thousand times. You have to be very patient; it may take weeks.”

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

The Patagonia Greets the Turquino

2010-03-14T11:40:00.001Z

Santiago Vega and Alcides Bonavitta, two Argentinians climbed the Aconcagua in January to demand from its top the immediate release of the Cuban Five sent special greetings and a hug to Cuban youths who did the same at Turquino Peak, in Cuba’s Sierra Maestra mountains.

From Neuquén, in the Argentinian Patagonia, Santiago and Alcides expressed their excitement and pride for having inspired the Cubans’ project, comprising young journalists, students from the Higher Institute of International Relations and relatives of the Cuban Five.

We send you a hug from here, from Paul, the radio comrade who has helped spread the news, from Alcides, Aldo and I, said Santiago in his message, recorded and sent to Havana via e-mail.
“We did that with our hearts,” he said, noting that for them personally and for the cause of the Five it was of great value to see that continuity was being given to their act of conquering the top of the Americas’ tallest mountain.

In his message, Alcides urged young Cubans to leave the route marked well for an upcoming try by the Argentinians on the highest point of the Cuban geography. He also stressed the importance of spreading the demand for freedom for the Cuban Five throughout the continent so people learn about the injustice surrounding the case of Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Ramon Labañino.

“From the South: strength and courage, and when your body can no more, draw strength from your beliefs, as we did in the Aconcagua,” he advised.

The some 40 members of the Cuban project named “From the Aconcagua to the Turquino” started the climb of the island’s tallest mountain after spending the previous day touring the area of military operations of Commander Ernesto Che Guevara in the Sierra Maestra.

At the top of the Turquino Peak, next to the bust of Cuban National Hero José Martí standing there, there will be a flag waving in demand for justice, freedom and the immediate return of Five to their country and their people

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

12th International Meeting of Economists on Globalization Concludes in Havana

2010-03-07T21:41:00.002Z

The 12th International Meeting of Economists to discuss Globalization wrapped up on Friday in Havana after a week of intense debate focused on Latin American and Caribbean integration.

President of the Cuban Association of Economists and Accountants Roberto Verrier spoke at the closing ceremony about the urgency of regional unity in both politics and economics.

MERCOSUR representative Hugo Varsky informed participants that a Consultative Support Council is in the works to aid the process of Latin American and Caribbean integration.

The Latin American and Caribbean Association of Economists presented a statement supporting the decision to create a Latin American and Caribbean Community of States. The document also expressed solidarity with the Haitian people and consolation for the recent disaster in Chile.

Participating at the closing ceremony were Cuban Minister of the Economy and Planning Marino Murillo and the Cuban Finance Minister Lina Pedraza.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

BBC interview with Ricardo Alarcon

2010-03-05T14:48:00.003Z

a bit of a break though with the BBC interveiwing a prominent Cuban!!!

Matt Frei talks to Ricardo Alarcon, the president of Cuba's National Assembly and a close friend of Fidel and Raul Castro.

The topics ranged from the Cuban Five, to free speech and change in Cuba.

see video below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/world_news_america/8540218.stm

Experts Advocate to Replace World Capitalism

2010-03-02T22:22:00.001Z

Havana, Mar 2 (Prensa Latina) Several expert economists coincided in the need to replace the capitalist system in the world, because they recognized it is the real responsible for the global crisis and the climatic changes.

In an international meeting, Argentinean professor Eduardo Hernandez advocated for the installation of socialism, stating that it would the salvation for mankind.

Hernandez exposed his conference called "The Crisis of Civilization: Essence and Future", and said that one of the main causes is the energy appetite of the US and other economic powers.

"That is why the US headed the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, not only to get riches from other nations but also to exert a bigger domination on the oil of the Middle East," he stated.

Cuban Ernesto Molina, from the Higher Institute of International relations (ISRI) assured that the US economy based on a consuming model, will not leave its bases.

He said that the created interests are too much big, recognized the responsibility of the energetic and financial factors in the global crisis, but added that technology is not neutral.

"It is clear that the US military industrial complex depends on energy too much, and would not allow a change of the current energetic matrix to benefit the workers," he stated.

Professor Claudio Sicilotti (Italy) talked about the need for new financial control systems, and code for behaviour to avoid new crises.

Several experts alerted on the many US military bases in the world, among them the seven recent bases installed in Colombia.

More than 1,000 economists and other professionals from 40 nations are taking part in the meeting.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Such cruelty is unacceptable

2010-02-21T21:28:00.002Z

SOUTH African Nadine Gordimer, 1991 Nobel Prize for Literature, read out letter to President Obama calling for the release of the five Cuban heroes. Gordimer is in our country as an invited guest to the 19th Havana Book Fair.

In the statement, Gordimer, who had a prior interview with family members of the Five, condemned the torture and psychological mistreatment to which the mothers and wives have been subjected for more than 11 years since September 12, 1998, when Gerardo, René, Ramón, Antonio and Fernando were unjustly imprisoned. "Such cruelty is unacceptable," the writer stated, affirming that she had witnessed first-hand the drama that these families, full of dignity and fortitude, are going through.

"I ask the Obama administration for their immediate release and also call on all citizens of the world. Its now time to end the torment that these five Cubans are experiencing," she emphasized after detailing in the missive the arbitrariness of the sentences, and the infamies committed during their trials and appeal processes.

Rask Morakabe, a political prisoner in apartheid South Africa, also added his voice to the declaration. He confided to having a special sensitivity for the case of the Five and stated that "in South Africa, we place a great importance on it because we suffered on account of Mandela’s imprisonment for so many decades and, in the same way that we engaged in a campaign for his release, we believe that we are going to achieve the release of the Five."

Serbian filmmaker and musician Emir Kusturica has also joined the call for justice for the five Cuban heroes, declaring his support for a solution of the case in Neuquén, Argentina and demanding that the U.S. president annul their sentences.

http://www.granma.cu/

Raul Castro Participates at Tribute to Juan Almeida

2010-02-21T21:08:00.001Z

A tender tribute was paid to Commander of the Revolution Juan Almeida on occasion of his 83rd birth in a ceremony held in Havana with the presence of Cuban President Raul Castro, Commanders of the Revolution Ramiro Valdes Menendez and Guillermo García Frías, and family members

Cuba paid tribute to Commander of the Revolution Juan Almeida on occasion of the 83rd anniversary of his birth in a ceremony held in Havana with the presence of Cuban President Raul Castro

Cuban artist Alexis Leyva (Kcho) put together the tribute held at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) with the participation of Commanders of the Revolution Ramiro Valdes Menendez and Guillermo García Frías, and family members. Juan Almeida was a prolific writer and composer, and leader of the III Frente Oriental Mario Muñoz of the Rebel Army that overthrew the Batista dictatorship more than 50 years ago.

Among the activities at the tribute was a moving rendition of Asi te recordamos written by Robertico Valdes and sung by Omara Portuondo, Pedrito Calvo, Eliades Ochoa and other Cuban musicians.

There was also a slideshow dedicated to Juan Almeida with photos by Raul Abreu, Liborio Noval, Roberto Salas and Ivan Soca among others.

The hall was decorated with 12 stars and works by artists Roberto Fabelo, Ernesto Rancaño, Eduardo Roca (Choco) and Diana Almeida, daughter of the beloved guerilla leader who passed away on September 11, 2009.

Several of Almeida’s most famous songs were performed, including Esa Mujer (Sur Caribe), Corazón, El gran día de enero (Bárbara Llanes), and La Lupe (Entre Voces Choir).

An especially moving moment was the song A mi papá, written and performed by Juan Almeida’s son, Juan Guillermo, while participants energetically repeated Almeida’s famous rebel cry, “Nobody surrenders here!”

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Trial of Posada Carriles in El Paso Postponed Indefinitely

2010-02-21T20:48:00.001Z

by José Pertierra
Feb. 19, 2010
Reprinted from CubaDebate
Translation by Gloria La Riva

Everything seems to indicate that the strategy of the U.S. government is put off, defer and delay the case of Luis Posada Carriles until he dies of old age in Miami.

The latest deferment took place this Friday in El Paso. Judge Kathleen Cardone announced that the trial that was scheduled for March 1 is now postponed to an indefinite date.

Posada Carriles is an international fugitive, with 73 counts of murder pending against him in Caracas. Venezuela formally requested his extradition on June 15, 2005, but Washington has chosen to try him for perjury instead of extraditing him for murder. In 2007, they indicted him for making false statements in relation to his illegal entry to the United States.

The prosecution has evidence that Posada entered by a boat named the Santrina with several conspirator friends of his. However, Posada alleged that at the age of 79 years he had entered the country on foot through the border with Mexico. A story that nobody believes.

Posada’s lies were convenient for Bush, because they allowed him to block the terrorist’s extradition, while the perjury charges made their way through federal court.

After Barack Obama assumed the presidency, the prosecution added other charges to the case, accusing him of obstructing an investigation into international terrorism, for his lying about his role in the terrorist campaign against Cuba in 1997. This is something that Posada had already boasted about during an interview with the New York Times, when he admitted being the mastermind of the bombs that exploded in Havana, and which killed the Italian Fabio di Celmo.

Each time that Posada feels pressured, he threatens to talk about his relation with the CIA. The documents that his attorney have presented before the court are full of these threats and insinuations, including saying that everything that Posada has done in Latin America has been “on behalf of Washington.”

His new legal strategy includes alleging that the CIA taught him to lie: to utilize false names and to carry false passports. He wants to present himself as a soldier of the U.S. intelligence agency to claim that everything he did was under the supervision of Washington.

The prosecution fiercely opposes this strategy, because the last thing Washington wants is for the hidden skeletons of Langley to be uncovered. In this Posada is right: the mendacity of the CIA is deeper than that of its operatives. What was the role of the CIA in the dirty war in Latin America? Who was ultimately responsible for the bombingof the Cuban Airlines plane in 1976, in which 73 civilians died: the CIA or Posada? What role did the Agency play in the terrorist campaign against the Cuban tourist installations in 1997?

To prevent Posada from playing the valuable card of telling everything that he knows, the government has succeeded in getting the court to seal more than 90% of the documents that have been presented in court. Only the prosecution, the defense attorneys and judge can view them. Neither the press nor the public has access to them. Some journalists accuse Judge Cardone of not maintaining “an open and transparent case.”

But the petition for the secret litigation was by the prosecution. It is extremely rare for a judge to force the hand of the government to reveal delicate information that supposedly harms the country’s national security.

What we know for certain is that the true objective of the prosecution is being realized. The process has up to now been secret, and the case remains in a legal limbo without a set date for the trial. Judge Cardone’s court order has announced a preparatory hearing for May 20. In that hearing, she wants to know the “state” of the case, to determine if a date will finally be set for the trial.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s extradition petition is still pending and Posada Carriles continues enjoying complete impunity for the murder of those 73 defenseless people on board a passenger plane. When Posada’s attorneys meet with the prosecutors next May 20 in El Paso to review the “state” of the case, will it occur to anyone to tell the judge that this international terrorist is now five years in the United States without having to answer for his crimes? Or that Giustino di Celmo has waited for 12 years to see that his son Fabio’s murderer be tried? And that the families of the victims of Cubana de Aviacion’s flight 455 have waited almost 34 years to see that justice is carried out, for the murder of their loved ones? What are they waiting for? For the assassin to die of old age in Miami?

http://www.freethefive.org/

Cuba Celebrates Lunar New Year

2010-02-14T21:28:00.002Z

Havana, Feb 13 (Prensa Latina) Chinese descendants and Cubans who love Chinese culture are expected to celebrate on Saturday the New Year marking the arrival of spring based on the Lunar calendar at the historic center of the capital with several artistic proposals.

The program, sponsored by the Havana City's Historian Office and the Cuban School of Wushu founded in 1995 by Master Roberto Vargas Lee, includes performances by mythological characters and the traditional lion dance, among other expressions.

According to organizers, more than 200 Wushu practitioners of ages from five to 90 will show their therapeutic systems of exercises and martial arts.

Gastronomic facilities belonging to Habaguanex SA will offer special menus related to the holiday, also known as Spring Festival, considered the most important of Chinese culture, in the Asian country and abroad.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

CNN Lies about Identity of Doctors in Haiti

2010-02-14T20:43:00.003Z

MATANZAS.—One of the many Cuban doctors currently assisting the Haitian victims of the earthquake granted an interview to the CNN a few days ago and was strangely presented to the public as a Spanish doctor.

In a phone conversation with the Juventud Rebelde newspaper, Doctor Carlos Guillen —that is his real name and not Carlos Arguello, as the CNN reported— said that it was really difficult to specify if it was a mistake or was done intentionally.

“We are so deep into our work here,” said Guillen, “that we don’t have time for anything else. However, the CNN team did know we were Cubans. They knew that the doctors at La Paz Hospital were all Cubans because the Spanish doctors had left two days before. We told them so, and they didn’t have any reason to think otherwise,” said Guillen.

Guillen, who also holds a Master’s Degree in Health Economics, has been working in Haiti since 2008 as the manager of Miracle Operation —a Cuban program aimed at helping people with cataracts recover eyesight. This is his first mission abroad.

When the earthquake shook Haiti on January 12, he was on his way back to the Cubans’ residency. He was in a market when the tremor began. A huge cloud of dust covered the city afterwards, and from that very moment Guillen started helping the victims, for he had to assist an injured woman near him.

Back in Cuba, Guillen’s family was desperate because there was no communication at all. About midnight that very day, his wife Lilia Fuentes Alfonso contacted him: “All he said was that the 16 members of the brigade were fine, and he asked me to inform the rest of the families. We communicate more frequently now and I brief him on the situation here, as they do not have much time there for anything else.”

Carlos graduated in 1991, in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, where he was born. He has worked in many health care centers in Santiago and Matanzas; he has also worked as a professor of postgraduate courses; he speaks English and Creole; and he has also participated in many scientific events. In 2006, he was head of the Nelson Fernandez Hospital in the municipality of Jaguey Grande, where the Operacion Milagro experience was first developed.

How will you remember Haiti?

“I’d like not to see anything like this again. I keep trying to forget but the images come back to me again and again, even at my busiest hours.”

Is this the most terrible event you have experienced as a doctor, despite your long professional experience?

“This is a disastrous situation. We spent the first days of the catastrophe amputating people’s limbs, operating the victims. It is something so hard that we would not like to experience it again. But on the other hand, we’ve witnessed the power of Latin American integration. And we Cuban doctors are very happy to help the Haitian people in this terrible moment.

Work at the hospital is very well organized. We wake up at 5:00 am and resume work at 7:00. We work for over 12 hours every day, by shifts, and we have conditioned some tents to rest. We have also improved hygienic conditions, organization, discipline and control of contaminating materials.

Last Saturday, CubaDebate published a note in which the CNN apologized for having presented the Cuban doctor as a Spanish professional. Following the report by the CNN correspondent in Port-au-Prince, the anchor said that it had been an evident mistake, and apologized, although he did not make it clear that the interviewee was not a doctor who was just passing by, and that the CNN staff had found him at the hospital where only the Cuban doctors were working.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

From today: U.S. doctors working in Cuban hospitals

2010-02-13T12:18:00.002Z

● Seven graduates from the Latin American
School of Medicine in Havana

Leticia Martínez Hernández
Photos: Juvenal Balán

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti.—Seven young doctors have just arrived at the Croix des Bouquets field hospital. They have come from the United States and wish "to help their Cuban brothers and sisters in attending to the suffering Haitian people. We are in the process of having our Medical degrees validated, but felt the need to be here, we’re leaving aside our studies so as to say ‘Present’," they affirm. For that reason they will begin attending to Haitian patients today.

Elsie Walter talks on behalf of all of them, explaining that they are graduates from the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba (ELAM). Five of them are from New York and two from California. They responded to a call from the Reverend Lucius Walker, and didn’t hesitate. "There were lots of us who wanted to come, but given our responsibilities there, only seven of us could come for now; others are thinking of joining later on, because we know that the Cuban medical brigade is going to be here for a good long time."

For one month, this first group will be working in the Cuban hospital that, up until yesterday, had attended to 3,590 patients. They will be sharing with its doctors all aspects of field hospital life. Orthopedist William Alvarez, director of the center, explains that the idea is to incorporate them into hospital activities, both on the ground and in consultations, although of course, this will be done in a staggered way. The main concern of these doctors, all women, is their lack of knowledge of Creole, but in that context, Haitian students training as doctors in Cuba and currently in Haiti, will support them.

The doctor highlighted that the young ELAM graduates came with their packs of water and food but, as soon as they arrived, they handed them over to the hospital’s reserves. They also brought backpacks loaded with medicines, which they likewise immediately donated. They have incorporated themselves very well in the group of Cubans, he says. "Without any doubt, they are a great help, and also a challenge, because we are responsible for their preparation and they are in a scenario that they haven’t experienced before. For example, they have never had to confront illnesses like Chagas or Leishmaniasis."

Elsie comments that they came to share everything, as they learned in ELAM. For that reason, they do not see any problem in sleeping in tents and working at any hour of the day or night. "The experience has been fantastic, you have treated us very well, with that great hospitality, we feel privileged to be here; thank you Cuba for opening your doors to us as always."

Elsie says that she and her colleagues are in the process of sitting examinations to validate their degrees and comments that although the assessment in her country is different, they are sufficiently prepared to pass them. This is the attitude of these young women trained in Cuba who have joined our doctors to continue saving lives in Haiti. When consultations begin in the Croix des Bouquets field hospital, the patients will find new faces; however, the attention will remain the same.

Translated by Granma International

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/

Cuban Youths Pay Tribute to National Hero Jose Marti

2010-01-30T21:02:00.002Z

Thousands of university students and youths took part in the traditional torch bearing parade on the eve of January 28, to pay tribute to Cuba’s National Hero Jose Marti on the occasion of the 157th anniversary of his birth.

As every year since first organized in 1953, the parade started at the University of Havana and ended at the Fragua Martiana Museum –where Marti was imprisoned as he was 16 years old.

The 157 members of the National Council of the Federation of University Students (FEU) and leaders of other political organizations led the parade.

Short before the beginning of the march, President of the FEU Gladis Gutierrez made a speech noting that the spirit and teachings of Marti were present in the spontaneous mobilization and solidarity of Cuban students, youths and people with the people of Haiti.

«The torches we bear today not only spread the light of Marti’s ideas, but also those of his greatest disciple, Fidel Castro. These flames light the revolution and the youths willing to improve it and make it immortal,» she said.

At the Fragua Martiana Museum, the students placed a wreath on behalf of all Cuban students and youths. Accompanying the students were Politburo member and Minister of Higher Education Miguel Diaz-Canel, First Secretary of the Communist Party in Havana Lazara Mercedes Lopez, and First Secretary of the Youth Communist League Liudmila Alamo.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Municipal Elections to Start in Cuba

2010-01-30T20:55:00.002Z

More than 300,000 Cuban youths aged 16 will cast their vote for the first time in the upcoming April 25 elections of delegates to the Cuban Municipal Assemblies.

During a press conference, National Electoral Commission President Ana Maria Machado and Vice President Ruben Perez Rodriguez announced that the electoral rolls in each constituency will be verified January 28 through February 14 prior to the elections. Where needed, the second round of elections will take place May 2.

Machado and Perez announced that on January 28, the Municipal Electoral Registration Offices would hand to the electoral commissions of each constituency the electoral rolls to speed up verifying the data, and that an estimated 300,000 youths will have the right to cast their vote for the first time since, unlike many countries, Cubans have the automatic right to vote once they’ve reached adulthood.

The number of constituencies across the country this election has risen to 15,093 —15, 057 of which are ordinary and 36 special.

Members of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution will be visiting people’s houses to verify any changes in the number of voters. Later on, the electoral commissions will be analyzing the collected data with authorities from the Identity Card Registration Office.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Cuba Sex Conference Ends

2010-01-22T16:24:00.001Z

Havana, Jan 22 (Prensa Latina) The Fifth National Congress on Sexual Education, Orientation and Therapy will conclude on Friday in this capital, after five days of intensive and interesting debates.

Issues as transexuality, erectile dysfunction, violence, child and adolescent abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases are part of the event's working agenda to more than 300 delegates.

Swedish experts presented on Thursday some experiences about sex reassignment surgery, prognosis, as well as care programs in their country.

Regarding that aspect, conference chairwoman Mariela Castro Espin confirmed the execution of several sex reassignment surgeries in the Cuban nation.

In statements to the media, the also director of the National Center for Sex Education said that to be consistent with the country's development strategy, which favors social programs and peoples' rights, nobody can be excluded.

Castro Espin stated that a group of Cuban and Belgian experts have already practiced the first sex reassignment surgeries in the island.

This way, we are complying with the law, in this specific case, with a Public Health Ministry resolution that authorizes genital adaptation surgery among those procedures to assist transsexual people (the June 4, 2008 Resolution 126).

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Protest at Posada trial in El Paso, Texas

2010-01-22T16:07:00.003Z

On Monday, March 1, the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles goes on trial in El Paso, Texas. Posada will be tried in U.S. District court for perjury--for lying to U.S. immigration authorities about his role in the 1997 Havana hotel bombings which killed Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo.

But the U.S. government refuses to prosecute or extradite Posada for his actual terrorist crimes, although there is ample direct evidence of his principal role in:

1) Hotel bombings in Havana 1997: Posada Carriles produced bombs, paid Salvadoran and Guatemalan mercenaries to fly to Cuba and plant bombs in Havana hotels. Fabio Di Celmo was killed by one of those bombs on Sept. 4, 1997; many others were injured. Posada later boasted to the New York Times reporters Ann Louise Bardach and Larry Rohter of his role. Instead of perjury, he should be tried for masterminding the bombings.

2) Bombing a Cuban civilian airliner: Posada Carriles and his accomplice Orlando Bosch paid two Venezuelan mercenaries to board a Cuban airliner Oct. 6, 1976, which was headed to Cuba from Venezuela, via Guyana and Barbados. The mercenaries, Freddy Lugo and Hernan Ricardo, planted two bombs on the planes and exited in Barbados. Cubana Flight 455 exploded mid-flight, and 73 defenseless passengers and crew were killed. Venezuela filed an extradition request for Posada with the U.S. in June, 2005, shortly after he illegally entered the U.S., but both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have ignored and refused to honor the extradition order.

The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and other organizations are organizing an important demonstration on Monday, March 1, 8:00 am, in front of the U.S. Federal Courthouse (511 E. San Antonio Ave.) in El Paso, Texas, to demand Posada's extradition to Venezuela, to face trial for 73 counts of premeditated murder.

We will also demand the immediate freedom of the Cuban Five, the five Cuban men who have been unjustly imprisoned by the United States government since Sept. 12, 1998. Their mission was working to stop the U.S.-backed terrorists like Posada, who walk the streets of Miami with complete impunity from Washington while the Cuban Five anti-terrorists are in U.S. prison, despite their life-saving mission.

THE WHOLE WORLD WILL BE WATCHING!

http://www.freethefive.org

Cuban doctors in Haiti – appeal for funds

2010-01-21T18:12:00.001Z

Support the Cuban medical brigades in Haiti
21 January 2010

A Cuban bank account has now been opened to receive financial contributions to help with the Cuban medical teams working in Haiti.

If you wish to support the Cuban efforts in Haiti directly then you can do so in the following ways:

The preferred method
1. Make a donation via CSC. We will collate all donations and forward them in lump sums to Cuba to avoid multiple transfer fees (please make cheques payable to 'CSC' and write Cuban doctors in Haiti) on the back) and send to address below. You can also donate by Credit Card at 0208 800 0155. All donations will receive acknowledgement.

2. You can make a direct bank transfer to the Cuban bank account (below) set up to receive donations for the Cuban medical effort in Haiti. Please note that making direct bank transfers to Cuba will involve paying significant bank and transfer charges and that you may not receive confirmation or receipts for your donation.

Title: Terremoto Haití (Haiti Earthquake)
Bank: BICSA
Bank Identification Code (BIC) Código SWIFT del Banco: BIDCCUHH
Account number: 01321010770900
Bank Address: Havana, Cuba

Please note: Payments to Cuba should be made in pounds sterling or euros, NOT US dollars.

For details of the Cuban efforts in Haiti including video reports see
http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/news.asp?ItemID=1768

Cuba Solidarity Campaign is also supporting the TUC Aid appeal for Haiti http://www.tuc.org.uk/

http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/news.asp?ItemID=1775

Reflections of Fidel - the Lessons of Haiti

2010-01-15T21:24:00.004Z

TWO days ago, at almost six o’clock in the evening Cuban time and when, given its geographical location, night had already fallen in Haiti, television stations began to broadcast the news that a violent earthquake – measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale – had severely struck Port-au-Prince. The seismic phenomenon originated from a tectonic fault located in the sea just 15 kilometers from the Haitian capital, a city where 80% of the population inhabit fragile homes built of adobe and mud.

The news continued almost without interruption for hours. There was no footage, but it was confirmed that many public buildings, hospitals, schools and more solidly-constructed facilities were reported collapsed. I have read that an earthquake of the magnitude of 7.3 is equivalent to the energy released by an explosion of 400,000 tons of TNT.

Tragic descriptions were transmitted. Wounded people in the streets were crying out for medical help, surrounded by ruins under which their relatives were buried. No one, however, was able to broadcast a single image for several hours.

The news took all of us by surprise. Many of us have frequently heard about hurricanes and severe flooding in Haiti, but were not aware of the fact that this neighboring country ran the risk of a massive earthquake. It has come to light on this occasion that 200 years ago, a massive earthquake similarly affected this city, which would have been the home of just a few thousand inhabitants at that time.

At midnight, there was still no mention of an approximate figure in terms of victims. High-ranking United Nations officials and several heads of government discussed the moving events and announced that they would send emergency brigades to help. Given that MINUSTAH (United Stabilization Mission in Haiti) troops are deployed there – UN forces from various countries – some defense ministers were talking about possible casualties among their personnel.

It was only yesterday, Wednesday morning, when the sad news began to arrive of enormous human losses among the population, and even institutions such as the United Nations mentioned that some of their buildings in that country had collapsed, a word that does not say anything in itself but could mean a lot.

For hours, increasingly more traumatic news continued to arrive about the situation in this sister nation. Figures related to the number of fatal victims were discussed, which fluctuated, according to various versions, between 30,000 and 100,000. The images are devastating; it is evident that the catastrophic event has been given widespread coverage around the world, and many governments, sincerely moved by the disaster, are making efforts to cooperate according to their resources.

The tragedy has genuinely moved a significant number of people, particularly those in which that quality is innate. But perhaps very few of them have stopped to consider why Haiti is such a poor country. Why does almost 50% of its population depend on family remittances sent from abroad? Why not analyze the realities that led Haiti to its current situation and this enormous suffering as well?

The most curious aspect of this story is that no one has said a single word to recall the fact that Haiti was the first country in which 400,000 Africans, enslaved and trafficked by Europeans, rose up against 30,000 white slave masters on the sugar and coffee plantations, thus undertaking the first great social revolution in our hemisphere. Pages of insurmountable glory were written there. Napoleon’s most eminent general was defeated there. Haiti is the net product of colonialism and imperialism, of more than one century of the employment of its human resources in the toughest forms of work, of military interventions and the extraction of its natural resources.

This historic oversight would not be so serious if it were not for the real fact that Haiti constitutes the disgrace of our era, in a world where the exploitation and pillage of the vast majority of the planet’s inhabitants prevails.

Billions of people in Latin American, Africa and Asia are suffering similar shortages although perhaps not to such a degree as in the case of Haiti.

Situations like that of that country should not exist in any part of the planet, where tens of thousands of cities and towns abound in similar or worse conditions, by virtue of an unjust international economic and political order imposed on the world. The world population is not only threatened by natural disasters such as that of Haiti, which is a just a pallid shadow of what could take place in the planet as a result of climate change, which really was the object of ridicule, derision, and deception in Copenhagen.

It is only just to say to all the countries and institutions that have lost citizens or personnel because of the natural disaster in Haiti: we do not doubt that in this case, the greatest effort will be made to save human lives and alleviate the pain of this long-suffering people. We cannot blame them for the natural phenomenon that has taken place there, even if we do not agree with the policy adopted with Haiti.

But I have to express the opinion that it is now time to look for real and lasting solutions for that sister nation.

In the field of healthcare and other areas, Cuba – despite being a poor and blockaded country – has been cooperating with the Haitian people for many years. Around 400 doctors and healthcare experts are offering their services free of charge to the Haitian people. Our doctors are working every day in 227 of the country’s 337 communes. On the other hand, at least 400 young Haitians have trained as doctors in our homeland. They will now work with the reinforcement brigade which traveled there yesterday to save lives in this critical situation. Thus, without any special effort being made, up to 1,000 doctors and healthcare experts can be mobilized, almost all of whom are already there willing to cooperate with any other state that wishes to save the lives of the Haitian people and rehabilitate the injured.

Another significant number of young Haitians are currently studying medicine in Cuba.

We are also cooperating with the Haitian people in other areas within our reach. However, there can be no other form of cooperation worthy of being described as such than fighting in the field of ideas and political action in order to put an end to the limitless tragedy suffered by a large number of nations such as Haiti.

The head of our medical brigade reported: "The situation is difficult, but we have already started saving lives." He made that statement in a succinct message hours after his arrival yesterday in Port-au-Prince with additional medical reinforcements.

Later that night, he reported that Cuban doctors and ELAM’s Haitian graduates were being deployed throughout the country. They had already seen more than 1,000 patients in Port-au-Prince, immediately establishing and putting into operation a hospital that had not collapsed and using field hospitals where necessary. They were preparing to swiftly set up other centers for emergency care.

We feel a wholesome pride for the cooperation that, in these tragic instances, Cuba doctors and young Haitian doctors who trained in Cuba are offering our brothers and sisters in Haiti!

Fidel Castro Ruz
January 14, 2009
8:25 p.m.

Translated by Granma International

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/

Cuban Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura Meets with Palestinian Foreign Minister

2010-01-15T21:16:00.001Z

Cuban Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura met with the Foreign Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, Dr. Riad N.A. Malki, who sent a message from Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas to Cuban President Raul Castro Ruz.

During the fraternal meeting, Machado Ventura reiterated Cuba’s unswerving solidarity with the just cause of the Palestinian people in its struggle to become an independent state and condemned the repeated aggressions perpetrated by the Israeli government against the heroic and long-suffering people of Palestine.

For his part, Dr. Riad N.A. Malki thanked the Cuban people for their support of the Palestinian struggle, and reaffirmed his people’s determination to achieve the creation of a national Palestinian state, consisting of the territories within the borders of 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, as well as the return of the Palestinian Diaspora.

Also present for Cuba was Bruno Rodriguez and Jose Enrique Enriquez, director for North Africa and the Middle East of the Cuban Foreign Ministry. Palestinian Ambassador to Havana Akram Mohammad Rashid Samhan was also present at the meeting.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

More Cuban Docs in Haiti after Tremor

2010-01-15T16:14:00.001Z

Havana, Jan 15 (Prensa Latina) Another group of 60 member of the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade against Disasters and Serious Epidemics has started assisting victims of the quake that hit Haiti last Tuesday.

The team, with experience in China, Pakistan, Guatemala, Indonesia and Bolivia, joined the 344 Cuban health collaborators who were already working in that Caribbean nation before the devastating 7.3-degree earthquake.

As part of the solidarity support to one of the poorest countries of the world, now strongly hit by nature, the Havana government has sent medicines, serum and plasma bags, foods and other provisions.

Cuban physicians have assisted some 2,000 patients and carry out 111 major surgeries and 60 minor surgeries in an improvised field hospital, several mass media reported.

Interviewed by Cuban television, several doctors described the situation in Haiti as critical, and ratified their willingness to work hard to help relieve the pain of a suffering nation.

The three Cubans who were working in Port au Prince at the time of the quake and got wounded, one of them seriously, were flown back to Cuba, the report indicated.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Tsunami Threatens Cuba

2010-01-14T17:32:00.002Z

Shortly after 5:00 p.m., January 12, a helicopter flying over the coastal zone of Baracoa brought unease to this city. In just 20 minutes, the word “tsunami” spread like wildfire among the citizens of Baracoa, causing people to look for safe shelter.

The 7.0 magnitude quake that hit Haiti at 4:53 p.m. —whose epicenter was only 18.45 km north from the capital Port-au-Prince— was also felt in the eastern Cuban provinces.

A few minutes later, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for the area, including the Cuban coastal zone; where people were quickly put on alert to cess out the highest places to evacuate.

Although the Cuban National Center for Research on Earthquakes concluded that the likelihood of the tsunami hitting Cuba were minute, no one was willing to take the risk.

According to the head of “La Voz del Toa” CMDX information department Atmer Suárez Hinojosa, Baracoa citizens quickly reacted to the call to evacuate the city.

Municipal Defense Council President Eudis Romero Suárez said that the evacuees had come back to their homes although they have been told to remain on alert.

Municipal Assembly Vice President Freider Fuentes Vidal said that apart from the helicopter flying over Baracoa, fire-fighters, police officers, among others, contributed to the evacuation.

In the Cuban province of Guantánamo, very near to Haiti, people were immediately informed about the tsunami and civil defence measures were put into place.

Baracoa inhabitants have every reason to be afraid about devastating waves. Firstly, horrific images of a huge tsunami hitting the Indonesian island of Sumatra, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, India and other areas on December 26,2004 causing 280,000 casualties spread all over the world. Then, in March 2008, an unexpected swell, caused by a strong anticyclone on the north coast of Cuba, brought about considerable damages in Baracoa: more than 400 houses damaged or completely destroyed, as well as damage to sidewalks, drains, parks, markets, etc.

In addition, in September 2008, waves higher than 5 meters hit Baracoa destroying the La Punta fortress, built in the 18th century to preserve the city from the enemy.

Fortunately, it was just a warning. Anyway, Baracoa citizens showed to be prepared for events like this one.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Repudiation of U.S. measures continues

2010-01-12T21:25:00.001Z

CAMPESINOS, workers, students, and relatives of victims of terrorism have recalled once again the humanitarian and anti-terrorism tradition of our country.

Alluding to the double standards of U.S. policy, some described as "hypocritical" the measures dictated by Washington, a nation that still protects old and notorious terrorists. Others, who for decades have suffered the blockade of medicines and items of all kinds, are denouncing the contradiction that the United States is slandering a country over which it maintains this criminal policy.

From one end of the archipelago to the other, the demands are joining forces to demand respect for the truth. That is how the Cuban people, day by day, push Yanki infamy to one side.

http://www.granma.cu/

Cuban, US Trade Union Delegations Meet

2010-01-12T21:19:00.002Z

Havana, Jan 11 (Prensa Latina) A delegation of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)visiting Cuba met with Cuban trade union leaders Monday.

According to the agenda, the US trade union delegation will meet with relatives of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters held in US prisons, mostly known as The Cuban Five.

Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Rene Gonzalez were arrested in September 12, 1998, when they were monitoring terrorist actions of anti-Cuban groups in Florida, USA.

Despite their innocence, the Cuban Five are serving harsh sentences from 15 years up to double life plus 15 years of prison.

The US visitors will stay in Cuba until January 16.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Tribute to Cuban Heroine Celia Sanchez

2010-01-11T23:55:00.002Z

Havana, Jan 11 (Prensa Latina) Dozens of Cuban citizens gave tribute to Cuban revolutionary heroine Celia Sanchez in the 30th anniversary of her death.

Different generations of Cubans went up to the Pantheon of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) in the Colon Cemetery in Havana to pay tribute to this revolutionary fighter Monday.

The walk was headed by Lazara Mercedes Lopez, first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) in the Cuban capital; and Ana Judith Area, first secretary of the Union of Young Communists in Havana.

Celia Sanchez was one of the first women to take arms against the Batista dictatorship until the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.

She participated in the preparation of the Granma expedition and together with Cuban clandestine leader Frank Pais, she organized the farmers of the zone to support the expedition.

She came to Cuban land on December 2, 1956 with the group of 82 men headed by Fidel Castro to start the war. On March 19, 1957, she climbed the Sierra Maestra Mountains and became a member of the Rebel Army, being the main promoter of the Mariana Grajales Female Platoon.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Cuba: Provincial Elections Committee Begins Work

2010-01-10T00:44:00.001Z

Havana, Jan 9 (Prensa Latina) The Provincial Elections Committee (CEP) will begin working on Saturday after being formed in every Cuban province, where there will be held partial elections to vote for delegates to the Municipal Assemblies.

Elections will take place next April 25 and May 2, in second round, in case that any candidate achieves less than 50 percent of the issued valid votes.

According to the law, the CEP has to designate the members of the Municipal Electoral Committee and to control the elections in electoral districts.

Last January 6, the Cuban Vice President of the Council of State and Ministers Ramiro. Valdes headed the swearing-in ceremony of the National Election Committee (CNE) for the partial elections to vote the delegates to the Municipal Assemblies.

The members of the committee promised to fulfil the task loyal before leaders of the Communist Party of Cuba, mass organizations and military entities in the Jose Marti Memorial.

Ana María Mari Machado, Rubén Pérez Rodríguez and Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez will act as president, vice president and secretary respectively.

The CNE has to ensure that the elections system's principles and regulations apply correctly around the country, said the President of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba Ricardo Alarcon.

He highlighted that the voluntary participation of the electors in the next April-May elections will be a demonstration of real democracy.

Delegates have to guide their electors in order to protect and improve the Revolution's work that has withstood the blockade and aggression for more than 50 years.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

SUCRE Currency to Come into Use in January

2010-01-08T19:37:00.001Z

CARACAS, January 6.— Venezuelan Minister of Economics and Finances Alí Rodríguez Araque confirmed on Wednesday that the Unified System for Regional Compensation (SUCRE) will come into effect at the end of January, reported Telesur.

The decision to enact the regional currency was agreed upon during the recent ALBA Summit held in Havana and will be valid for use in the nine ALBA member countries.

The first commercial transaction using the SUCRE —a virtual currency that will gradually replace the dollar in ALBA commercial operations— will be used for exporting Venezuelan rice to Cuba, said Alí Rodríguez Araque.

Speaking to Telesur, Venezuelan economist Rafael Antolinez said that with the beginning of a new year, is the beginning of a new method of trade aimed at creating less dependency on the commercial model enforced by developed countries and based on the US dollar. One of the goals is to emulate the positive experience of the Euro in Europe.

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) is an international cooperation mechanism based upon the idea of social, political, and economic integration between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The ALBA was launched in Havana, Cuba in 2005 within the framework of the Hemispheric Social Alliance. ALBA challenges the hegemony of neoliberal integration and provides an alternative to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), focusing on the market as the source of efficiency and economic growth and prosperity. ALBA is a form of integration to achieve development build on the cornerstone of the fight against poverty and exclusion, through social reform.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/