Sunday, June 29, 2008

Surfistas cubanos corren olas en tablas donadas

27 de junio de 2008 11:20 GYT

Por Esteban Israel

LA HABANA (Reuters) - Los surfistas cubanos se fabricaban hasta hace no mucho sus propias tablas moldeando espuma de refrigeradores con un rallador de queso. Hoy cabalgan las olas en tablas de segunda mano donadas por surfistas de Australia, Francia o incluso Estados Unidos, cuya solidaridad está manteniendo a flote a una de las tribus menos conocidas en la galaxia del surf. "Cuba es uno de los últimos lugares no surfeados del mundo (...) Es como Bali en la década de 1960," cuenta Bob Samin, un ingeniero australiano de 49 años que promueve el deporte en la isla.

El surf, sin el apoyo oficial que reciben otros deportes en Cuba, sobrevivió gracias a la tenacidad de un puñado de fanáticos que aprendieron imitando lo que veían en revistas extranjeras. Sin dinero ni tampoco tiendas donde gastarlo, los surfistas cubanos crecieron al margen de la moda y el consumo asociado a esa disciplina. "En el resto del mundo el surf ha perdido el alma, se volvió muy competitivo. Aquí es diferente," dijo Samin, que trabaja en una plataforma petrolera en medio del Océano Indico y viaja cada cinco semanas a Cuba. La mayoría de las donaciones llegan a través de su página web HavanaSurf (www.havanasurf-cuba.com). En lo que va de este año, explica, recibieron 20 y esperan otras 40 en los próximos meses.

TABLAS PARA TODOS

Hay alrededor de un centenar de surfistas en Cuba. Casi todos tienen ya su propia tabla y pocos necesitan sujetarla al tobillo con una cámara de bicicleta, como ocurría antes. "Los que donan las tablas saben lo que es estar sentado en la playa, mirando las olas sin poder surfear," dice Eduardo Valdés, líder de una Asociación de Surfistas de Cuba, un grupo todavía no reconocido por el Gobierno. "Todo el que viene a Cuba trae algunas cosas y al final dejan incluso más de lo previsto, porque se dan cuenta que somos gente sana. Nos dejan hasta ropa," cuenta.

Por la casa de este químico de 27 años con un corte de pelo moicano y el cuerpo lleno de tatuajes desfila gente en busca de tablas o accesorios como "leashes" o parafina. Hay tablas en el comedor, detrás de la puerta y también en el garage, donde Valdés está fabricando una con espuma que rescató de otra rota. Las tablas son repartidas gratuitamente con una condición: nadie puede venderlas. Años de necesidad enseñaron a los surfistas a compartir lo poco que tenían. "Cuando fui al servicio militar, por ejemplo, yo le pasé mi tabla a otro surfista," explica Valdés. "Así es con todo, hasta con un pedazo de cera."

SURFEANDO EN EL HURACAN

Cuba no es famosa por sus olas. Muchos extranjeros llegan en realidad atraídos por la mística surfear en uno de los pocos países socialistas del mundo. El mejor surf, cuentan, llega con los huracanes que castigan anualmente el Caribe. A Valdés le brillan los ojos cuando recuerda el paso de Katrina, que barrió en el 2005 con Nueva Orleans. "Estuvimos surfeando alrededor de una semana con olas de entre 6 y 8 pies (1,8 y 2,4 metros). Fue perfecto," recuerda. El lugar ideal, dice Samin, es Baracoa, una ciudad colonial en el extremo oriental de Cuba expuesta al oleaje del Atlántico. Los surfistas cubanos tuvieron que lidiar en el pasado con cierta desconfianza de las autoridades, sobre todo después que alguien escapó en 1994 a Florida en una tabla de windsurf. "Aún vamos a la playa y hay personas que nos dicen '¿Te vas? Llévame contigo'. Es imposible cruzar 90 millas en una tabla de surf," dice, aludiendo a los 145 kilómetros que separan Cuba de Estados Unidos.

FUERA DE COMPETENCIA

Los surfistas cubanos deben todavía probarse en el circuito internacional. "Sabemos por reportajes en revistas que el surf es joven en Cuba y necesita roce internacional para mejorar el nivel," dijo Karin Sierralta, de la Asociación Latinoamericana de Surf. Nivel hay, asegura Valdés, lo que falta es infraestructura. La Asociación Latinoamericana de Surf, dijo Sierralta, lleva tres años intentando contactar un promotor u asociación en Cuba para organizar una competencia.

Una de las razones podría ser que la Asociación de Surfistas de Cuba, que tiene hasta logotipo, no ha sido aún reconocida por las autoridades deportivas. La falta de apoyo oficial les impidió, por ejemplo, organizar siquiera un torneo local. Pero Samin, a quien las autoridades nombraron entrenador de un futuro equipo de surf, dice que el día en que un cubano corra olas en una competencia internacional no está tan lejos. "Creo que estamos a un par de años de lograrlo," dijo. "Estrellas estadounidenses como Cory Lopez o Kelly Slater aprendieron a surfear con olas parecidas a estas. Estos chicos pueden lograrlo," comentó.

(Reporte de Esteban Israel, editada por Gabriela Donoso)

For exiles, Miami's 'Ermita' seawall a spiritual link to Cuba

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When the light is just so, you can stand at the seawall behind the shrine to Our Lady of Charity in Coconut Grove and see clear to the bottom of Biscayne Bay. There's a blanket of coins down there, every glint of copper and nickel an appeal to the fates. Hang around on a busy afternoon, and you'll hear the plop-plop-plop of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters hitting the water in syncopated prayer. There is a scattering of dollar bills, too, and you wonder whether someone desperate enough might dive in. Staring into the shallow water is meditation. This breezy spot behind the shrine, la Ermita de la Caridad, named for the patron saint of Cuba, is almost as poignant as the building itself, which resembles a 90-foot, mantle-covered Virgin watching over the sea.

El muro, the wall, is Miami's place of reflection. A site of constant rituals. Many people come here to cast off the thing that's bringing them down: a boyfriend's promise ring, a cane after an injury, the keys to a lost dream house. The seawall's salving energy is what drew Carmen Penalva when she left a Miami-Dade courtroom recently and headed straight to la Ermita. Then she sat at the wall, head in hand, praying for her 15-year-old son. ''He was arrested for stealing, but he'll probably only get community service,'' says Penalva, a manager for an export company. ``I wanted the judge to be tougher. My son is cutting himself. He's depressed. He gets violent. And I'm a single parent who can't really handle him anymore.'' Penalva prayed to la Caridad and tossed seven pennies into the bay in the name of Cuba's Virgin of Regla. ''She is a mother. I asked for help with my son,'' she says. Penalva had scattered her father's ashes here 16 years ago. ``We did it when nobody was looking. This is the closest place to Cuba. This place represents a little bit of all of us.''

At the northern end of the seawall, where historic Vizcaya serves as a foreground to the glossy towers of Brickell Avenue, a stone Eleggua (the Santeria god known as the opener of paths) with cowrie-shell eyes gazes up toward the water's surface. At the southern end, near Mercy Hospital, someone's Santeria necklaces cling to a rock, a school of little silver fish brushing by the yellow and amber beads for Ochun, the blue and white ones for Yemaya. Why would a believer part with his protective Eleggua or his sacred necklaces? Perhaps he died, and a loved one cast the artifacts away. Or did the believer fling them in some rage against the gods? And those white rose petals floating toward you -- were they plucked one by one and tossed into the bay by someone immersed in grief? Or moved by gratitude?

A `WALL OF LAMENT'

Cuban exiles have been drawn to this spot for decades. They stand here, straining to see beyond the horizon to the lost homeland. Some give thanks. Others come in desperation to implore la Caridad to deliver loved ones lost at sea. The shrine is the first place that many come to after they arrive from the island, in fulfillment of their promise to la Virgen when they begged her to let them reach freedom. The seawall, a few steps away, is their second stop. Sometimes, as with Penalva's father, it also becomes their last. Many exiles want this to be their final resting place, often because they cannot be buried in Cuba and have to settle for the next best thing. Or because their families don't have the money for a Catholic burial, and taking the ashes to the place that represents so much Cuban spirituality and patriotism seems like the most dignified alternative, no matter what the church says.

''It is Miami's wall of lament,'' says Monsignor Agustin Roman, Cuban Miami's longtime spiritual leader, who ran a fundraising campaign in the 1960s to build la Ermita. ``We know people throw ashes back there. But it is not respectful to the departed. If you throw them to the sea, they become fish food. We have a cemetery niche where we will take someone's ashes if the family cannot afford proper burial.'' There are signs posted along the water's edge: "No swimming, fishing, alcoholic beverages, animals, feeding of the pigeons, scattering of human ashes before first seeing a priest for orientation.'' Mostly, people follow the rules. Except. . . .

''I'm Catholic. And I know the Catholic church forbids the scattering of ashes. But what better place is there to rest than right here outside the Ermita? My daughter and I have agreed that whoever goes first, the other will bring her ashes here,'' Alejandra Alvarez, 77, says on one of her regular visits. "I have been coming here to pray since I came from Cuba 40 years ago. It is the most peaceful place I know.'' Lee Gavilla, a home-healthcare nurse who lives in Pembroke Pines, scattered her mother's ashes here in 2001. ''We knew we weren't supposed to, but it's what my mother wanted. It was always her safe haven,'' Gavilla says. ``We went in the middle of the week, not on the weekend, so that there weren't a lot of people around to see us. There were about six of us. We said a few words, shed a few tears. I know several people who have done the same thing. There is no other place that is more authentically Cuban. And no matter how stressed you are, if you go sit there in that breeze, everything feels a little better.''

SPIRITUAL CROSSROADS

As Catholic as the shrine is, many of the devoted who come here are also followers of Santeria. In the religious syncretism of Cuba, la Caridad, an apparition of the Virgin Mary, is also called Ochun, one of the orishas, the Santeria gods. ''A sanctuary is precisely a place where the Catholic religion makes contact with el pueblo,'' Roman says. ``We know there are people who perform rituals out there by the seawall. But they do it very respectfully. They don't let us see it.'' Shrine priests and nuns also perhaps have looked the other way when folks have scribbled their prayers for a rafter's safe arrival on the concrete. And when they have written out makeshift epitaphs. The words eventually wash away, or they're erased by staff. But some messages survive:

"EPD (RIP) Mami. We miss you. Your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.''

"Alexis Ramirez, 1-20-67, 2-20-08. Your memory will reside permanently in our hearts. . . . Your wife and children.''

No one knows when people started tossing coins into the bay here. For years, every penny the exile community could scrape together went to the shrine's building fund. ''Every day, I dragged sacks of coins to the bank,'' says Roman, who, at 80, is still active but retired from official duties and still lives in archdiocesan housing near the shrine. "The community began working to build a house for the Virgin before they had houses themselves. They began pledging their first hour of work -- in the factories, picking tomatoes, washing dishes. Maybe it was $1.25. Or $1.50. That's why you won't see any plaques here. There was no one family that wrote a big check. This sanctuary was paid for penny by penny. Which is why you can truly say that it belongs to el pueblo.'' Costing almost $500,000 and dedicated in 1973, the shrine was situated so that a priest celebrating Mass would have his back to Cuba while the worshipers faced the island.

Legend says that in the early 1600s, the Virgin appeared before three storm-tossed fisherman in the Bay of Nipe on Cuba's northeast coast -- and so in 1966, when Miami's Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll decided to give some land to the surging Cuban community for a shrine, he knew it had to be on the water. ''It was important for the shrine to be on the same sea that bathes the island of Cuba,'' says Roman, one of 131 priests ousted from the island in 1961 aboard a ship that sailed to Spain. Roman was forced off the island just a few days after the exile community participated in Miami's first Mass for Our Lady of Charity. Archbishop Carroll had expected 5,000, maybe even 10,000 people, to show up at Bobby Maduro Stadium that Sept. 8, the day of Our Lady of Charity. But 30,000 turned out. Just hours before the Mass, the statue that now stands at la Ermita's altar in a bejeweled cape had been smuggled to Miami from Cuba by Luis Gutierrez Areces. Gutierrez Areces had been with the revolution, but he turned against it when the direction in which Fidel Castro was taking the island became clear. His life in jeopardy, Gutierrez Areces asked for asylum at the Panamanian Embassy. He had been there for a month, and had received word from Castro's government "that I would rot in the embassy because they would never let me leave the island alive.'' Then, on Sept. 7, Gutierrez Areces was suddenly told he would be allowed to leave Cuba the following day. "A woman at the embassy asked me if I would do her a favor and carry a suitcase to Miami. She told me what was in it. I had always been devoted to la Caridad. I said, `It's not a favor.' I will never know how I received that permit at the last minute to leave Cuba. It had to be la Virgencita de la Caridad,'' says the 71-year-old Medley businessman.

Gutierrez Areces says no one inspected the suitcase at the airport in Cuba. He never looked inside, either. When he touched down at Opa-locka Airport, he expected to give the suitcase to a couple of waiting nuns. They never showed up. So he took the suitcase to Miami Beach's St. Patrick Church, where he was headed anyway for the baptism of his daughter, born a month earlier in Miami. He handed off the suitcase at the church, and the statue was rushed to the stadium, just in time for that first Mass. ''She got me out of Cuba. And she has always watched over me,'' says Gutierrez Areces, who visits la Ermita every Saturday. ``They might have killed me if they knew I was smuggling the Virgin out of Cuba. But anyone would have done it. She is the mother of all Cubans.''

She is an exile, too, many devotees say of the statue, which had resided at a church in Guanabo and is a replica of the Caridad that still stands in the famous sanctuary in El Cobre. Which is why the homeless man who agreed to steal the Miami statue for a case of beer in 1994 had no chance. He managed to grab the Virgin, 15 inches tall, but was chased and wrestled to the ground by a shrine regular whose prayers he had interrupted. ''We never knew who was behind that attempted theft,'' Roman says. "But there are always people inside and outside this shrine. They took the Virgin out of that man's hands. I visited him in jail. He was a poor homeless man who had no idea what he was doing.''

SERVING THE MASSES

The Ermita falls under the Archdiocese of Miami's auspices but is not an official church with a parish. No weddings are held there, but there are regular Masses. The sanctuary seats 500.
''Everybody was in a hurry to build it because they expected that they were all going back to Cuba soon, and they wanted to leave the shrine to la Caridad behind as a symbol of the time they were here,'' Roman says. "I wanted to wait, raise more money and build something bigger. But I couldn't convince anyone. To suggest that we might be here longer was to offend.'' Today, half a million people -- many of them not Cuban -- visit the shrine each year. But to the exile community, the sanctuary and its seawall stand as a testament to all those who never went back, who continue to live in a Cuba of the mind. ''I come here almost every day,'' says a frail Jose Luis Barcells, 79, who is accompanied by Beatrice Mills, his nurse. ``The seawall is a very peaceful place.'' When did he leave Cuba? ''I never left. I have an apartment here. But I still live in Cuba,'' he says. Mills shrugs. Actually, he lives in a house. And he hasn't seen Cuba in ages. His memory fails sometimes, she says. But anyone at the seawall would understand.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Cuba says will double Santiago refinery capacity

Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:19pm BST

HAVANA, June 27 (Reuters) - Cuba plans to raise the capacity of a refinery in the eastern city of Santiago to 50,000 barrels a day, more than double current output, the island's foreign investment minister said on Friday.

Minister Martha Lomas, speaking on Cuban television, said socialist ally Venezuela will pick up the tab, but she did not say how much the expansion would cost or when it would be completed.

"The expansion of the Santiago de Cuba refinery with help from Venezuela will allow the doubling of production from that plant, with greater quality and efficiency," she said.

The plant, located about 500 miles (800 km) east of Havana, was a Texaco refinery before it was nationalized after Cuba's 1959 revolution.

With a current capacity said by Venezuela's PDVSA to be 22,000 barrels per day, it processes part of the 92,000 bpd Venezuela provides to Cuba under preferential financial terms.

Venezuela, under President Hugo Chavez, has become Cuba's biggest benefactor and last year invested $150 million in modernizing a Soviet-era refinery en Cienfuegos, 150 miles (240 km) south of Havana.

The Cienfuegos facility has a capacity of 65,000 bpd, with plans on the boards to raise it to 150,000 by 2013. (Reporting by Rosa Tania Vald; writing by Esteban Israel; editing by Jeff Franks and Michael Christie)

Cuban scientists develop breakthrough lung cancer vaccine

By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
HAVANA – A Cuban Scientific Research Institute just patented a promising new drug that it says helps terminal lung cancer patients live longer.

In some cases, the drug known as CimaVax EGF extended the lives of participants in the treatment trials by close to a year.

Image: Lung cancer vaccine
Roberto Leon / NBC News
Dr. Gisela Gonzalez, head of the Cuban cancer research team, holding vials of the new drug.

CimaVax EGF, is classified as a therapeutic vaccine, because it is composed of modified proteins that help the body recognize and destroy cancer cells for those already suffering from lung cancer. It does not prevent lung cancer.

"It is the first lung cancer vaccine to be patented in the world," said Dr. Gisela Gonzalez, head of the team that researched and developed the drug through testing with hundreds of patients over 16 years.

She did point out that other countries are working on similar vaccines, but that they are still in the development stage.

Gonzalez cautioned that while it is "not a miracle drug," she does believe it is a "breakthrough in treating terminally ill patients."


While the research team would not identify any side effects of CimaVax EFG, Gonzalez claims it has numerous advantages over traditional treatments alone. Patients breathe easier, experience less fatigue, less pain and increased appetite. It is administered in conjunction with conventional treatments of chemo and radiotherapy.

CimaVax EGF is undergoing testing in other countries.

After Cuba concluded the Phase One study that determined safe dosage and the best way to administer the vaccine, Phase Two trials started in Cuba, Canada and England, said Gonzalez. This August additional ones begin in China and Peru. Already the vaccine is being registered in Malaysia for sale in Europe.

While testing has been approved by the U.S. government, clinical studies may not begin for at least two years.

The Phase Two studies that were conducted in Cuba and elsewhere took a look at how much longer patients lived with CimaVax EGF as compared to other treatments. Those given the vaccine lived on average 11.47 months compared to 5.33 months for terminal patients treated with only chemotherapy and/or radiation. In the best case scenarios, some fortunate patients lived for up to 18.53 months while taking the new vaccine, compared to other patients who lived for just 7.55 months while undergoing conventional treatment.

Given those clinical results, Cuba started Phase Three studies in the hope that CimaVax EGF could become the new standard of care in treating end stage lung cancer.

About 4,500 new cases of lung cancer are diagnosed annually in Cuba while the disease claims over 1.3 million deaths worldwide annually, with the highest rates in the United States, Canada and Europe.

Across the globe, lungs are the most common site of fatal cancers for both women and men. Lung cancer generally affects people over 50 who have a history of smoking, although other risk factors include exposure to second hand tobacco smoke or pollutant emissions from cars or factories.

CimaVax EGF could also prove effective in slowing other cancers, believes Dr. Tania Crombet, the team’s chief clinical researcher at Havana’s Center for Molecular Immunology. She said that researchers have begun testing CimaVax EGF’s effectiveness against breast, prostate, uterus and pancreas cancers.

Crombet also said CimaVax EGF is now available in Cuban hospitals for any patient, regardless of nationality. "We can market the vaccine in Cuba and receive patients from outside."

And that could mean an influx of fresh, hard currency for the struggling island’s economy.

With more than 7,000 scientists dedicated to researching new drugs, Cuba has one of the most sophisticated biotech industries in the developing world. Last year the country earned $350 million from exporting 180 different medicines.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Cambio en Cuba: Entrevista a Tom Shannon, Secretario de Estado Adjunto, USA

ELPAIS.COM

"Las metas señaladas a Cuba por Europa son las correctas"

ANTONIO CAÑO - Washington - 22 de Junio del 2008

El Gobierno de Estados Unidos intenta mantener la unidad de acción con Europa en relación a Cuba a pesar de las discrepancias puntuales sobre la decisión de la UE de levantar las sanciones a la isla, según ha informado a EL PAÍS el principal responsable estadounidense de la política hacia América Latina, Tom Shannon.

Desde el punto de vista de Washington, lo más importante en las actuales circunstancias no es en sí mismo el levantamiento de las sanciones, que aquí se daba por descontado desde que el nuevo líder cubano, Raúl Castro, tomó las primeras medidas de apertura económica, sino el hecho de que esto se haga con la vista puesta en unos objetivos que coinciden plenamente con los criterios de Estados Unidos.

La Administración estadounidense interpreta, por tanto, la decisión de la UE no como un serio revés diplomático, sino como una victoria del grupo más pronorteamericano de los Gobiernos europeos y, desde ese punto de vista, como una decisión con la que Estados Unidos puede convivir. La UE decidió esta semana levantar las sanciones diplomáticas y políticas impuestas a Cuba en 2003 como estímulo para que las autoridades de La Habana democraticen verdaderamente el país.

"Las metas señaladas son las correctas, son las buenas en términos de democracia y derechos humanos, pero nos preocupa que se trate de ir demasiado rápido en las relaciones con un Gobierno que todavía está atrapado en la dictadura", dijo ayer el secretario de Estado adjunto para América Latina, Tom Shannon, en una entrevista con EL PAÍS.

Desde la perspectiva de los responsables norteamericanos, las diferencias entre la UE y Estados Unidos en la actualidad en relación con Cuba son meramente de tiempo. Washington es tan consciente como Bruselas de que se ha abierto un nuevo periodo en La Habana y que, si no ahora, la próxima Administración norteamericana tendría que explorar nuevas vías con Cuba. Pero, al mismo tiempo, se mantienen reservas a hacer concesiones a Castro sin garantías de que éstas servirán, en efecto, para forzar los cambios esperados y no sólo para darle oxígeno al régimen.

Por esa razón, la posición oficial norteamericana, expresada esta semana por el portavoz del Departamento de Estado, Tom Casey, es la de que Estados Unidos no respalda el levantamiento de sanciones hecho por la UE. Sin embargo, la diplomacia estadounidense no quiere entrar en colisión con Europa por este asunto. Al contrario, busca la forma de colaborar. "Queremos seguir cooperando con nuestros aliados europeos, porque creemos que lo más importante son los valores y los objetivos que compartimos para Cuba", explicó Shannon.

Una de las diferencias que EE UU y la UE intentan limar es la de cómo interpretar los signos que, de manera a veces muy confusa, se envían desde Cuba. "Nosotros estamos muy enfocados en conseguir el cambio político, insistimos en que lo más importante es el cambio político. La UE está más centrada actualmente en el cambio económico", consideró el alto funcionario norteamericano.

Otro aspecto importante para EE UU en esta materia es el de delimitar qué Gobierno consigue imponer sus puntos de vista en la UE. Según el criterio de la Administración, España ha perdido protagonismo en la política europea hacia La Habana y aquí reciben eso como una buena noticia.

"Éste es un tema que históricamente ha sido manejado por España, pero ahora hemos visto un gran grupo de países opinando y participando en esta decisión [el levantamiento de sanciones a Cuba]. Creemos que eso es positivo, que es positivo para España y que es positivo para nosotros", opina Shannon.

Aunque a la vista el ritmo de las reformas en Cuba se antoja muy lento, los responsables norteamericanos son conscientes de que la situación en la isla puede cambiar en cualquier momento e intentan actualizar su política para poder responder a esos cambios. Con poco más de seis meses por delante, esta Administración no va a cambiar ya de forma apreciable su política hacia la isla vecina. Pero quiere estar preparada para no dejar toda la iniciativa en manos de Europa si se llega a producir el momento de una verdadera apertura política.

End of EU sanctions on Cuba deals US a setback

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The European Union's decision to lift sanctions against Cuba dealt a setback to US diplomacy after Washington failed to convince eastern European allies to block the move, analysts say. "It was a failure for American diplomacy, which did everything possible through pressure on eastern European countries, like the Czechs or the Poles, to get a different result," said Janette Habel, an analyst with France's Institute of Higher Learning on Latin America. President George W. Bush's administration, which has stiffened sanctions against Cuba, initially expressed disappointment last week when the EU said it would end the sanctions it imposed after a crackdown on dissidents in 2003.

Tom Casey, the US State Department's deputy spokesman, cautioned US allies to "be cognizant of not taking actions that would appear to give additional legitimacy" to the Cuban regime. But a day later the department's chief spokesman, Sean McCormack, softened US criticism, refusing to repeat the White House reaction that it was "disappointed." "This is a tactical difference," McCormack told reporters Friday. "The US and the European Union share common objectives in Cuba: freedom, democracy and universal human rights," he said, noting that the EU would review the human rights situation in Cuba every year.

The EU officially lifted the sanctions on Monday, hoping to encourage democracy in Cuba in the wake of the historic handover of power in February, when Raul Castro took over the presidency for his ailing brother Fidel. The measure was largely symbolic, as the EU sanctions had been suspended since 2005. It was championed by Spain, which normalized relations with Cuba last year. Marifeli Perez-Stable, vice president of the Inter-American Dialogue think-tank here, said Washington's hardline stance against Cuba was dented because its eastern European allies backed the EU's decision. The US position to keep up its tough stance on Cuba "until the two Castros die is running out of fuel," Perez-Stable said.

"In Europe or Latin America, no one agrees with US policy on Cuba, whether the governments are on the right or on the left," she said. Spain's Secretary of State for the EU Diego Lopez Garrido said the decision to lift the sanctions showed the European bloc's "independence" from Washington. "The White House has made it known to EU countries that it does not like this move at all," Lopez Garrido said, but Brussels "has shown it is capable of ... choosing its own foreign policy path." The United States has imposed an economic embargo on Cuba since 1962. Bush tightened the sanctions four years ago. White House contender John McCain, a Republican like Bush, has vowed to maintain the embargo. Democratic rival Barack Obama has pledged to lift some of the restrictions on Cuban-Americans imposed by Bush in 2004.

Tom Shannon, the top US diplomat for Latin America, said in a Spanish newspaper interview that the goals of the EU move regarding democracy and human rights "are the correct ones, are the right ones." "But we are worried that it tries to go too fast in the relationship with a government that is still stuck in a dictatorship," Shannon told El Pais. Spain's Cuba policy caused some tension between the European country and the United States. But a Spanish official said the latest move to end the sanctions would not create new problems.

"I don't think they are interested, in the end of a term, to open a new front and fight with the EU," the source said, "especially since it was an issue that was unanimously adopted and there was no opposition from the friendly nations."

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Exiliados analizarán en Madrid la situación política en Cuba y la del exilio

18-Junio-2008

Varias organizaciones de exiliados cubanos, residentes tanto en España como en EEUU, se reunirán este domingo en Madrid para analizar la situación política actual en la isla, así como la de los miles de exiliados que abandonaron el país.

Será un encuentro destinado fundamentalmente a 'unificar criterios y formas de actuar', dijo hoy a Efe Rubén Fernández, de las Juventudes de la 'Plataforma Cuba Democracia ¡Ya!', una de las organizadoras de la cita.

Además de la Plataforma, con sede en España, también participarán en la reunión otras dos organizaciones con sede en EEUU: el 'Frente Nacional del Presidio Político Cubano' y la dirección del desmovilizado 'Ejército de Liberación Nacional'.

Son organizaciones de disidentes que, según Rubén Fernández, tienen previsto reunirse a puerta cerrada para analizar también 'la posición de la iglesia católica en Cuba' y sus últimas intervenciones públicas, así como la postura que asuma la Unión Europea (UE) en la cumbre que celebra este jueves en Bruselas, en relación con las sanciones impuestas al régimen cubano.

La agenda de la reunión, que será 'bastante extensa', se completa con el análisis de la situación política actual y del proceso interno que se está llevando a cabo en la isla, así como el de la situación real del exilio como elemento de presión para la democratización de la isla.

Europe takes the lead on Cuba


The EU's decision to end sanctions against Cuba sends
a clear signal – still ignored by the US – that reform there must be nurtured
On June 19, the EU voted to lift its 2003 diplomatic sanctions against Cuba despite the opposition of countries such as Sweden and the Czech Republic who believe that Raúl Castro has not implemented sufficient reforms to warrant it.

Britain, which has traditionally felt the same way, this time joined with Spain and Belgium in supporting the move. According to reports this was not so much a change of heart by the Brown government, but a price it paid for the support of Labour leftwingers in the desperate 42-day detention debate.

Nonetheless, the change in Britain's position is widely understood to have been the decisive factor in persuading the remaining naysayers to drop their opposition.

The sanctions limited the ability of high-level government officials to visit Cuba and participate in cultural events and established official relations with Cuban dissidents. A Cuban counter-measure froze the receipt of all cultural and educational aid from the EU and those countries within it that supported the sanctions.

For academics therefore, the move should allow us once again to obtain and use government grants for research in Cuba.

The decision, spearheaded by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish prime minister, Louis Michel, an EU commissioner, aims to encourage liberalisation in Cuba through a dialogue that is "unconditional, reciprocal, non-discriminatory and results-oriented … in the context of the recent changes initiated by President Raúl Castro." It calls upon the Cuban authorities to protect human rights and release political prisoners. In a year, the EU will review progress and, if this measure proves ineffective, they can reconsider the decision.

However, the measure has drawn criticism from Cuban dissidents and put the EU at odds with Washington. Tom Casey, a spokesman at the US state department, argued that Raúl Castro's reforms were "purely cosmetic" and that lifting the sanctions before the release of political prisoners "will legitimize" the new Castro regime. Cuban dissidents such as economist Oscar Espinosa say that the EU's decision is a signal to the Cubans that "it pays to be intransigent".

It is clear of course that Cuba is far from being a liberal democracy, but to suggest the Raúl Castro government reforms are without consequence is difficult to defend. Opposition groups, though closely watched, are tolerated, prisoners are being freed, same sex marriages are being legalised, Cubans living in social housing have received titles to their homes, the salary cap has been eliminated, agriculture has been decentralised and hundreds of thousands of hectares of land are being distributed to private farmers.

In addition, 30 death sentences have been commuted, and capital punishment has been suspended with a view to abolishing it in the long term. Cubans are now allowed to own computers, mobile phones and other consumables and they are also free to stay in tourist hotels. There is talk of cars being put on sale and a market in housing being established. Taken together, these changes do amount to more than something cosmetic.

The EU sanctions were imposed in an attempt to pressure the Cuban government to reform. However, they were utterly ineffective. Not even the US economic embargo, which has severely hurt the Cuban economy, has been able to coerce political change in Cuba.

Sanctions have only undermined the quality of life of the average Cuban. They have also allowed other countries, less concerned with preaching politics to Havana, to enter a growing economy. China, Venezuela, India, Iran, Brazil, Vietnam and Russia are filling a void left by the US and EU. It has become clear to all but the most bone-headed in Washington that the sanctions approach has failed and will continue to do so.

By lifting the sanctions, the EU is opening the path to dialogue and increasing its economic stake in Cuba and thereby its ability to exercise leverage on Havana. In this way it hopes to be able to induce the government of Raúl Castro to reform the island's political system. Meanwhile, the US, under George Bush, stubbornly clings to the idea that it can force some kind of "regime change" there. By taking this step, Europe has distanced itself from that position. It has also fallen into line with the views of countries in the region, including the US's closest neighbours: Canada, all the Caribbean nations and Mexico, who engage with Cuba and oppose sanctions.

It could be said that the EU's move is meaningless because the sanctions were not being enforced. But by officially eliminating them, the EU has made a gesture of good will that is a fillip to those in the US who would like to see their own government adopt a similar approach. Barack Obama has signalled quite clearly that he favours dialogue over confrontation. The question is whether he and those who agree with him can prevail.

Fidel Castro niega que su ataque a la UE refleje pugnas internas en Cuba

ELPAIS.COM

"No soy ni seré nunca jefe de fracción o grupo", afirma el ex mandatario

MAURICIO VICENT - La Habana - 23/06/2008

¿Existen pugnas dentro del Partido Comunista Cubano? ¿Hay en la cúpula sectores y corrientes aperturistas, y fracciones inmovilistas, renuentes a cualquier transformación? ¿Es real la percepción de que, en estos momentos, Fidel y Raúl Castro representan posiciones divergentes? Desde hace aproximadamente un año, éstas y otras preguntas flotaban en la isla, pero se formulaban con la boca chiquita y jamás habían tenido reflejo oficial. El sábado, por sorpresa, Fidel Castro entró de lleno en la materia: "No soy ni seré nunca jefe de fracción o grupo. No puede deducirse, por tanto, que haya pugnas dentro del partido".

El ex mandatario cubano hizo esta curiosa observación 24 horas después de publicar un artículo en la página web Cubadebate, en el que atacó a la Unión Europea y dijo "despreciar" su reciente decisión de levantar las sanciones a Cuba por su "enorme hipocresía". Sus comentarios, vertidos horas después de que el canciller, Felipe Pérez Roque, considerara la medida europea "un paso en la dirección correcta", llamaron la atención. No sólo por la dureza del ataque, sino porque el ministro había dicho que su Gobierno analizaría en detalle la decisión europea antes de reaccionar oficialmente. En medios diplomáticos, y también entre algunos analistas cubanos, las palabras de Castro fueron interpretadas como una muestra de posibles discrepancias en las alturas.

El artículo de Fidel Castro, que desde el pasado 24 de febrero no ocupa cargos de gobierno pero sigue siendo primer secretario del Partido Comunista, no fue reproducido por la prensa escrita ni tampoco se hizo eco del mismo la radio ni la televisión. Esto alimentó más aún la percepción de que el ex mandatario "podría estar actuando como un francotirador", al decir de un diplomático europeo. En su reflexión del sábado -también publicada sólo en Cubadebate- Castro sale al paso a estas interpretaciones y a los rumores sobre posibles diferencias entre él y Raúl. "No soy ni seré nunca jefe de fracción o grupo (...) Escribo porque sigo luchando, y lo hago en nombre de las convicciones que defendí toda mi vida".

Quizás respondiendo a alguna crítica o comentario sobre su reacción al levantamiento de las sanciones de la UE, Castro señala que en su reflexión del viernes no escribió ninguna "diatriba contra Europa". "Dije sencillamente la verdad. Si ésta ofende, no es mi culpa". Afirma, además, que la decisión de publicar sus opiniones exclusivamente en Cubadebate es suya, y que continuará haciéndolo "al ritmo que considere pertinente".

El interés de Fidel por dejar zanjado el asunto de las posibles divisiones dentro de la cúpula de poder "es normal", a juicio de Manuel Cuesta Morúa. Según este disidente moderado, en estos momentos el Gobierno "no puede darse el lujo de dar la sensación de desunión, pero que existen discrepancias es seguro". Morúa ve señales claras. "Raúl ha tomado una serie de medidas para liberalizar el acceso de los cubanos a los bienes de consumo, los DVD, los teléfonos móviles, el acceso de los cubanos a los hoteles... Pero cada vez que puede, Fidel deja ver su oposición a estas medidas y en general a cualquiera que suponga un 'regreso' del mercado".

Inmovilistas y pragmáticos

A juicio de Morúa, el Partido y la cúpula están divididos en éstos y otros temas, como el de la propiedad o el de la liberalización del trabajo por cuenta propia, y eso explicaría los "parones" en las reformas y que "se retrasen medidas como la eliminación del permiso de salida y la flexibilización de las leyes migratorias". "Es esquemático decirlo, pero Fidel representaría la línea inmovilista, y Raúl la pragmática, que sostiene que es necesario introducir reformas que beneficien a la población y reactiven la economía, como camino para que la revolución sobreviva".

En el poder, se ríen de estos análisis. "Querer dividir a Fidel y Raúl, pensar en posiciones encontradas entre ellos, es no entender nada. Antes Fidel era el bueno y Raúl el malo, ahora es al contrario...", se burlaba un militante que durante años ocupó cargos de gobierno. En su opinión, las "listas diplomáticas" que califican de aperturistas a Raúl, Carlos Lage y Felipe Pérez Roque, y de inmovilistas a Fidel Castro y José Ramón Machado Ventura, el vicepresidente primero, son "una guasa". "En Cuba, como es natural, hay diferentes opiniones, pero de pugnas en el Partido, nada". Hasta que Fidel se refirió al tema nadie hablaba de ello en la isla en voz alta.

La cúpula del poder en Cuba

Fidel Castro

81 años. Primer Secretario del Partido Comunista Cubano (PCC). Líder de la revolución, ocupó la presidencia hasta su renuncia en febrero de este año.

Raúl Castro

77 años. Presidente de los consejos de Estado y de Ministros; segundo secretario del PCC. Ocupó durante cuatro décadas el cargo de ministro de las Fuerzas Armadas.

Felipe Pérez Roque

43 años. Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores desde 1999 y miembro del Comité Central del PCC.

José Ramón Machado

77 años. Primer vicepresidente de los consejos de Estado y de Ministros y miembro del buró político del PCC.

Monday, June 23, 2008

EU agrees to lift 5-year-old sanctions on Cuba

By JAN SLIVA – 3 days ago

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — The European Union on Thursday agreed to lift its diplomatic sanctions against Cuba, but imposed tough conditions on the communist island to maintain sanction-free relations, officials said.

The U.S., which has maintained a decades-long trade embargo against Cuba, criticized the move, saying there were no significant signs the communist island was easing a dictatorship. An independent analyst predicted it would have no affect on U.S. policy toward the Caribbean island.

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the bloc felt it had to encourage changes in Cuba after Raul Castro took over as the head of the country's government from his ailing brother Fidel.

"There will be very clear language also on what the Cubans still have to do ... releasing prisoners, really working on human rights questions," she told reporters at an EU summit. "There will be a sort of review to see whether indeed something will have happened."

The largely symbolic decision takes effect Monday. The diplomatic sanctions, which banned high-level visits to EU nations by Cuban officials, have not been in force since 2005. They were imposed in 2003 following the arrests of dozens of dissidents but suspended two years later.

In Havana, state television mentioned the EU's decision briefly but did not give any government reaction.

Leading Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya said he hopes the move does not signify the EU' approval of Raul Castro's government.

"This regime has not announced any change that is significant for rights or liberty, and we know we have to conquer that ourselves," Paya said.

As part of its action, the EU approved a set of conditions on Cuba in return for sanction-free relations. They include the release of all political prisoners; access for Cubans to the Internet; and a double-track approach for all EU delegations arriving in Cuba, allowing them to meet both opposition figures and members of the Cuban government.

Officials said the bloc will evaluate Cuba's progress in a year's time and could take new measures if human rights do not improve.

The U.S. expressed its opposition.

"We're disappointed," White House deputy press secretary Gordon Johndroe said. "We think the Castros need to take a number of steps to improve the human rights conditions for ordinary Cubans before any sanctions are lifted."

State Department Deputy spokesman Tom Casey said the United States has recently seen "some very minor cosmetic changes" in Cuba. "We certainly don't see any kind of fundamental break with the Castro dictatorship that would give us reason to believe that now would be the time to lift sanctions or otherwise fundamentally alter our policies," he said.

Peter De Shazo, Americas Program director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the "decision will not affect the U.S. position toward Cuba" because the policy is largely fixed by legislation with key changes conditioned on a transition to democracy.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said it was well known that certain circles in the United States wanted the EU sanctions to be maintained, but he said "we felt the need to find our own solution."

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the lifting of sanctions in no way means the EU was getting weak on Cuba.

"We haven't softened our approach," Bildt said. "It's a repressive regime. ...Now we are very explicit on what we want. We want democratic changes."

He said the EU would push strongly for Cuban authorities to open up their economy, liberate Internet access, and release political prisoners.

The EU sanctions were introduced after Cuba's government rounded up 75 dissidents in 2003. Sixteen of those arrested have been released on medical parole and another four were freed last month into forced exile in Spain. But more than 200 dissidents are still serving jail terms.

Cuba has insisted the EU sanctions be eliminated completely, and said the unilateral action violated its sovereignty.

Asked if lifting EU sanctions would weaken U.S. sanctions, Casey said simply, "We'll see," but offered no assessment.

Associated Press writer Constant Brand contributed to this report.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Cuba's Raul Castro charts own economic course

By Marc Frank
HAVANA, June 17 (Reuters)

Four months into the new Cuban government and with multiple economic changes already announced, theories abound about where reform-minded Cuban President Raul Castro is leading the Caribbean island's economy, but the clue to the future lies in his past. Promising to improve his nation's sluggish state-run economy, he has taken small, but symbolic steps such as lifting wage caps and restrictions on consumer goods, prompting speculation Cuba may adopt a Chinese model of market socialism or something similar. But based on government actions and statements in the past year, Castro's intent is to keep the Cuban economy firmly in state hands while making it more efficient, using a model developed by the military when he was defense minister.

Raul Castro led the Cuban military from the 1959 revolution that toppled a U.S.-backed dictator until taking over as president in February 2008. In July 2006 he had already temporarily assumed the role when his older brother, Fidel Castro, was sidelined by intestinal surgery.
As defense minister, the younger Castro set about in the 1980s trying to improve the performance of companies supplying the armed forces of the communist-run country.
They adopted modern management and accounting practices, granted local managers more day-to-day decision making power and tied wages to individual and collective performance instead of nationally set salaries, with some good results. The model was applied to new military businesses in the civilian sector in the 1990s as Cuba was deep in the economic crisis that followed the collapse of its old trade and aid partner the Soviet Union. The armed forces entered tourism, urban agriculture and other sectors. An effort to extend the model to all state companies made little headway until Raul Castro took the reins.

'PERFECTING' STATE COMPANIES

Last August, while Raul Castro was still only interim president, Vice President Carlos Lage announced his economic policy, called "perfeccionamiento empresarial" -- roughly translated as perfecting of the (state) company system. The two men signed a law mandating that all companies adopt the model. Lage said Cuba would not copy China's or other socialist countries' reforms. "Their successes and failures should enrich our efforts, but the building of socialism in Cuba is only possible as a result of our own experience," Lage said. In a study of the military's economic model, Cuba expert Phil Peters at the Lexington Institute in Virginia wrote that "perfeccionamiento empresarial has no exact analogy in capitalist economies and is not borrowed from other socialist countries' models of reform." "It is not a free-market reform and it is not privatization. But it would benefit Cuba's economy to carry out the process fully," Peters told Reuters.

Frank Mora at the National War College in Washington said the policy's aim is to maintain the current one-party political system while defusing public discontent about the economy and other matters. "It is not to turn Cuba into a China or Taiwan in terms of development and integration of globalization. In the end, the objective is political," he said. Under "perfeccionamiento," there is some room for partnering with foreign companies and for competition between state firms, and for limited private initiative in agriculture and other areas on the fringes of the retail sector.
A broader push toward liberalization and streamlined management was unveiled in February when the government lifted caps on wages for companies that had not already completed the process. This was coupled with what Raul Castro has called a move to lift "excessive prohibitions" and with key personnel changes that signal his intent to push the reforms through the more than 3,000 companies run by the government.

Castro promoted the man in charge of the military's businesses, Gen. Julio Casas Regueiro, to defense minister and top party and government posts, and, according to sources, has installed Maj. Luis Alberto Rodriguez, who ran the businesses day-to-day, as Regueiro's head of staff.
"Casas Regueiro was Raul's right hand man in this process and Luis Alberto was the most brilliant CEO since the very beginning," said Domingo Amuchastegui, a former Cuban intelligence officer who defected to Miami in 1994. (Editing by Tom Brown and Frances Kerry)

Castro says Cuba's ruling party has no internal struggle

HAVANA, June 21, 2008 (Xinhua) -- Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said Saturday that there was no internal struggle within the ruling party.

In an article published on the Cuban official website Cuba debate, Castro said he could not make a conclusion that the island nation's Communist Party has an internal struggle, as he is not and will not be the head of any faction or group.

Castro said his remarks on the European Union (EU)'s decision to lift sanctions against Cuba did not cause divergence among the leadership. In a previous article published on the Internet Friday, he accused the 27-nation bloc of "enormous hypocrisy" and called its actions "disparaging." "I wrote the article because I am still fighting. I did this in the name of the faith for which I have defended in my lifetime," Castro said. The EU agreed Thursday to lift its five-year-old sanctions against Cuba, which include limits on high-level official visits and the role of EU diplomats in Cuba's cultural events. But the bloc also demanded the country improve its human rights record. Castro, 81, has not been seen in public since he was ill two years ago. He resigned as president in February this year, leaving the post to Raul Castro.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Cuba braces for new hurricane season

June 19, 2009

by Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief

HAVANA – Like many who live along Cuba’s northern coast, Ivis Gonzalez has been dodging hurricanes her entire life. But in the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, she came close to dying. Some 28 tropical storms swept the region, with 15 developing into full-blown hurricanes. That included Hurricane Wilma – a tropical storm that turned into a category five hurricane in less than 24 hours. Wilma never touched Cuban shores, but it did cause a massive storm surge.

As Wilma approached, Cuban Civil Defense evacuated everyone in Gonzalez’s small fishing village of Playa Baracoa. Residents spent 36 anxious hours in a high school, where they were given cots, drinking water and a few hot meals. After the rain passed and with the sun shining, Gonzalez and her neighbors rushed to get home – anxious to see what was left.

Image: Ivis Gonzalez
Roberto León / NBC News
Ivis Gonzalez was lucky to escape the storm surge of a 2005 hurricane.

They found the town under 2 feet of seawater. Gonzalez spent the next few hours wading through her home, trying to salvage linens, clothes and her few appliances. In the midst of this drama, Cuban soldiers and police knocked on doors and insisted that people evacuate for a second time. High tide was coming, which would swamp the town under Wilma’s 20-foot storm surge. González, one of the last to capitulate, almost lost her life. Just moments after locking her front door and taking a seat on a government truck, a huge wave smashed into her small wooden house and broke it apart like a house of matches.

No money to rebuild

Three years later, she is still struggling to put her life back together. After Wilma, she quit her job – too distraught to work. She and her 11-year-old son sleep at her sister’s house. They survive on a monthly stipend her ex-husband sends from Miami. Trying to discourage people like Gonzalez from rebuilding vulnerable housing along the coast, the government gave her a plot of land on higher ground and access to cheap construction material. But the lot stays vacant – she has no money to hire builders. "Sometimes I think I’ll die before my life improves," she sighed.

Other hurricane victims have had better luck. Wilma also decimated Playa del Cajio, sweeping away dozens of flimsy shacks built from wood scraps and thatched roofing. Once the floodwaters receded, the Cuban government trucked in low-cost building supplies and full-time construction crews who helped the community of fishermen rebuild the supermarket, primary school and homes. But such aid is more the exception than the rule.

Nearly half of buildings need repair

The National Housing Institute estimates that 43 percent of all residential buildings across the island needs repair, after decades of neglect and harsh weather conditions. The need is especially keen in 13 of the island’s most populated cities, built in low-lying coastal areas subject to flooding.
Upgrading Cuba’s precarious housing stock is one of the government’s biggest headaches. New housing construction consistently falls below plans. Last year the Ministry of Construction promised 70,000 new homes but came in some 20,000 short. This year, the aim is to give new housing to some 50,000 strapped families. That’s just a drop in the bucket.

Housing experts estimate that the island immediately needs more than 10 times that amount of new housing. Havana architect Miguel Coyula points out that shortages are even more acute in the capital, where 80 percent of all buildings date back to 1959 – and are particularly susceptible to the ravages of coastal weather. Over 190,000 housing units should be overhauled, said Coyula. "Salt and the heavy presence of iron in the air eat away at building structures, flaking the exterior paint and corroding the steel reinforcements embedded in the cement walls," said Coyula. The region’s heavy rain makes it all worse. "The old structures soak up all that water. The roof cannot stand the additional load and collapses. Or, after the rain, the sun starts drying the structure. That expands the water in the walls. They explode and that’s when the buildings cave in," explained Coyula.

'Already a disaster area'

Ramón Machado lives in one of the 8,000 Havana tenements on the verge of collapse. City inspectors condemned his building three years ago after the roof fell in. After living in a temporary shelter for a few weeks, Machado and about 30 of his neighbors moved back. Legally, they are squatters. "This is already a disaster area. Imagine if a hurricane comes here," Machado shrugged. "The whole place would come tumbling down." An unemployed exterminator with no money to fix his leaky roof, Machado strung empty canvas bags along his open ceiling to catch the rain. He also scavenged wooden beams to prop against his roof, hoping to keep plaster from falling during the 2008 hurricane season. If Cuban forecasters are right, Machado has his work cut out.

"We are embedded in an active season," warned Dr. Jose Rubiera, the island’s top weatherman.
But that’s as far as his forecasts will go. After Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast and killed more than 1,300 people, Rubiera decided to keep his general predictions private. "If I tell you it will be a weak season, you may not be prepared. Everyone needs to stay on their guard," he advised. "Don’t get hung up on numbers. Just be cautious. Be prepared."

Plenty of practice

Cubans are generally hurricane savvy. At the start of every season, emergency workers and members of the Civil Defense take a weekend to practice evacuations and first aid. Days before any hurricane nears Cuban waters, national TV and radio bombard viewers with non-stop weather reports and painstakingly review emergency plans. Karen Bernard, a United Nations official who helps Caribbean nations tackle climate disasters, would like to see other countries think and act more like Cuba. "The country does a remarkable job at safeguarding human life," said Bernard.

Image: Karen Bernard
Roberto León / NBC News
U.N. official Karen Bernard says strong planning efforts have helped Cuba avoid hurricane deaths.

In the last two decades, 17 major storms have battered the island – but caused fewer than 40 deaths. That may be the world’s best track record, according to a 2006 study by the UN Development Program. The risk of dying in a hurricane hitting the United States, said the report, was 15 times higher than in socialist Cuba. Bernard believes Cuba’s success lies with its centralized planning and preparation along with its focus on removing people from the path of danger. Often, that begins before the rains start and the sun is still shining.

Learning important lessons

It wasn’t always easy convincing people to leave behind all their worldly possessions. But Cuban authorities have learned two lessons that help people evacuate peacefully. No one needs to worry about looting while they are away from home. Police are ordered to guard precious personal property like refrigerators, fans and television sets moved to higher ground. In addition, people can bring their family pets along to government shelters. "Cuba uses evacuation as a preventative measure. They don’t want to see anyone die because they failed to evacuate," Bernard said.

EU lifts Cuba sanctions




EU diplomats say the symbolic move is to encourage democracy and reform in Cuba [AFP]

The European Union has agreed to lift its sanctions on Cuba, diplomats have said. Benita Ferrer-Waldner, EU external relations commissioner, said the decision was made in the hope of encouraging more reforms by Raul Castro, the Cuban leader, and moves toward democracy.

The move is a largely symbolic gesture as the sanctions have been suspended since 2005. The EU measures were imposed following a crackdown on dissent in 2003 and include a freeze on visits by high-level officials. "There will be very clear language also on what the Cubans still have to do... releasing prisoners, really working on human rights questions," Ferrer-Waldner told reporters at an EU summit in Brussels. "There will be a sort of review to see whether indeed something will have happened." Spain, which restored diplomatic relations with Havana last year, had championed the move to get the sanctions lifted.

'Cosmetic' changes

The US has imposed strict economic and political sanctions on Cuba for 50 years and the EU moves is unlikely to affect Washington's position. Tom Casey, spokesman for the US state department, said the US opposed moves in favour of Cuba, which he said remains an authoritarian regime, despite recent reforms. Speaking to reporters Casey said that while there had been "some very minor cosmetic changes" brought in since Raul Castro too power, there was no indication of a fundamental break with communism as practiced by his predecessor, Fidel Castro. The EU sanctions were introduced after Cuba's government rounded up 75 dissidents in 2003. Sixteen of those arrested have been released on medical parole and another four were freed last month into forced exile in Spain. The remaining 55 are are still serving long prison sentences.

EU defies US, Lifts sanctions on Cuba

Deutsche Welle

The foreign ministers of the 27-nation EU bloc have agreed to scrap sanctions against Cuba. The Caribbean country's northern neighbor is bound to be angered by the move.

The move is expected to place Brussels and Washington on a collision course and drew criticism from Cuban dissidents.

The vote on Thursday, June 19, scrapped the sanctions that were imposed in 2003, suspended in 2005 and are largely symbolic. They include limits on high-level government visits and the role of EU diplomats in Cuba's cultural events and do not approach the hard line of the 46-year-old US sanctions, which include a trade and investment embargo.

"Cosmetic changes"

A resident rides his bicycle past an old car in HavanaBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The US has prohibited all exports to Cuba since 1960

Earlier Thursday, a US State Department spokesman said Washington opposed any moves to ease sanctions on Cuba, saying that reforms so far under new Cuban President Raul Castro are "some very minor, cosmetic changes" that have fallen well short of ending decades of repressive policies under his brother, Fidel Castro.

The end of sanctions would give legitimacy to a dictatorial regime, deputy spokesman Tom Casey said, and countries should not signal that the "continued oppression of the Cuban people is any more acceptable now than in the past."

Dissidents in Cuba also objected to the lifting of the sanctions, charging the European Union with being "hypocritical."

"It gives me pain, and I'm ashamed of governments that, far from promoting the democratic values under which they live, are made accomplices to one of the last dictatorships in the world," Vladimiro Roca, one of Cuba's best known dissidents and leader of the illegal Social Democratic Party, told DPA news agency.

Encouraging reform

Although EU diplomats said the lifting of the sanctions was aimed at encouraging democratic reforms on Cuba, the economist Oscar Espinosa, one of 75 dissidents whose 2003 arrests led to the EU sanctions, warned the move could harden the attitude of Cuba's Communist government.

"It is worrisome because the lifting of the sanctions without something in return from Cuba could have a very negative effect on Cuba's internal affairs," Espinosa said. "It could send a signal to the hardline sectors of the government that it pays to be intransigent and inflexible."

Hypocritical

As the European Union ceased high-level contacts with Cuba's government in 2003, it also increased its contacts with Cuba's dissidents.

People at the Malecon in HavanaBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Cuba is now expected to become more tolerant of dissidents

But the sanctions were suspended in 2005, and Spain pushed to have them officially lifted after Fidel Castro withdrew as Cuba's leader and Raul Castro, who took over as president in February, implemented reforms, including giving unused state land to farmers and allowing ordinary Cubans to use mobile phones, stay in tourist hotels and buy energy-consuming goods like DVD players and personal computers.

While the EU saw signs of liberalization in those moves, Cuba's dissidents said they have seen no change in the government's treatment of the opposition. For instance, of the 75 dissidents jailed in 2003, 55 remain in custody.

The lifting of the sanctions "confirms once more that, with some notable exceptions, the EU is following a hypocritical policy exclusively concerned with its economic interests and not about Cuba entering the circle of the democratic nations of the world," said Roca, who is a recipient of the EU's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

The Czech Republic and Sweden have been reluctant to lift the sanctions and have demanded that Cuba make progress in freeing political prisoners and implement other human rights concessions.

As a result, the EU's decision is subject to a review in a year, diplomats said.

EU Lifts Cuba Sanctions

By MARC CHAMPION

Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2008

BRUSSELS -- The European Union agreed to lift limited sanctions against Cuba, a hotly contested move designed to encourage the country's new government under Raúl Castro to liberalize.

Even though the sanctions were largely symbolic and were suspended in 2005, the move was a victory for Cuba and put the EU at odds with U.S. policy. Spain argued strongly that the time is right for the EU to make such a gesture to encourage recent indications of liberalization under Cuba's new president. Raúl Castro is the brother of Fidel Castro, who is ailing and stepped down in February.

Imposed in 2003 after Cuba jailed dozens of political prisoners, the sanctions limited high-level contacts between Cuba and EU governments. They never barred trade, unlike decades-old U.S. sanctions, which include an embargo on Communist Cuba.

Cuba's progress on human rights will be reviewed annually, with the possibility of renewing the sanctions, according to Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, a strong critic of the Castro regime. EU delegations will also be "requested" to meet with the political opposition when in Cuba, he said.

The U.S. said it was disappointed. "We think the Castros need to take a number of steps to improve the human-rights conditions for ordinary Cubans before any sanctions are lifted," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council.

The Czech Republic had taken an especially strong stance against lifting the sanctions, backed by Sweden and other Nordic states. They argued the new Cuban president has done too little to open up the country to deserve reward. Recent changes include allowing Cubans to buy cellphones and rent rooms in hotels once reserved for foreigners.

Mr. Schwarzenberg, a former dissident against the Communist regime in Prague that collapsed in 1989, acknowledged that the outcome was a compromise, but he said he hoped this could produce a more "active" approach to Cuba. He said the annual EU review of Cuban progress should look at prison conditions, which he said were stuck in the 1950s, and at the number of political prisoners in jail.

Mr. Schwarzenberg was detained while in Havana in 2006 on a visit as a Czech senator, shortly before a planned meeting with opposition politicians. He was taken to the airport and expelled, a spokesman said.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Sweden has tried to establish high-level contacts with Cuba since 2005, when the EU sanctions were suspended, but was rebuffed by Havana.

"We're explicit about what we expect: democratic changes, releasing political prisoners, open economy," Mr. Bildt said. Cuba said we've been "too tough in our language," he added.

--Evan Perez in Washington and Peppi Kiviniemi in Brussels contributed to this article.

Write to Marc Champion at marc.champion@wsj.com

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Greasing the wheels


Cuba's plans to drill for oil near Florida could
hasten the end of misguided U.S. trade embargo.

The end of the longest trade embargo in modern history, imposed by the United States on Fidel Castro's communist regime in Cuba in 1962, might finally be in sight. Not because the current administration has finally realized it didn't work, but because Cuba is planning to drill for oil 50 miles from the Florida Keys.

This would provide the impetus for the two estranged countries to come together for mutual advantage, reports Jeff Franks for Reuters, opening up a desperately needed source of oil for the United States and a multibillion-dollar business opportunity.

But getting there would first require a sea change in U.S. policy — a major easing of the embargo. Its foes say this is a distinct possibility, given the combination of economics, energy demands and environmental concerns, as well as the fact that both countries are facing new leadership. But it will not be feasible until President Bush, who has toughened the embargo and threatened to veto legislation, leaves office.

That sea change can't come soon enough. Titled the Cuban Democracy Act, the embargo has nothing to do with democracy. It is a political measure that succeeded in punishing the Cuban people rather than communist ideology, while simultaneously handing the Castro regime a handy scapegoat for all its failings.

When the trade embargo was imposed, it was intended to speedily undermine Castro's government. Heavily sponsored by the Soviet Union, Castro's Cuba survived, and in some respects thrived, especially in the delivery of education and health care; but following the Soviet collapse it has undergone severe economic hardships, exacerbated by the embargo.

It has also succeeded in alienating most nations and many Americans. Canadian and European governments see the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, which penalizes foreign companies that do business in Cuba, as interfering in how other nations conduct trade. American farmers and agribusinesses have long seen Cuba as a desirable market and achieved some lessening of restrictions in 2000. After initially refusing U.S. humanitarian aid, Castro relented in the wake of the ravages of Hurricane Camille, in 2001, and allowed the purchase of food from the United States. Today the United States is Cuba's largest food supplier.

The Cuban oil field is estimated to hold at least 5 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and in a few years could be producing 525,000 barrels of oil per day, enough to make that country energy independent and even an oil exporter.

The embargo has stood firm against repeated legislative assaults, including attempts to exempt oil companies, but embargo foe Kirby James, a consultant on Cuba business, told Franks that a big Cuba oil find changes the political equation. "This would be the first time that maintaining the embargo actually cost the United States something," he said. "And we need oil from wherever we can get it, and in this case it's 50 miles off our coast."

In 1967, Fidel Castro told Playboy magazine, "I believe that all of us ought to retire relatively young." He stepped down this year at 81, so he's obviously stretched the limits. So has this trade embargo, but better late than never.

Yoani versus Fidel

Yoani Sanchez responds to the recent reference Fidel Castro made about her in the prologue of a book about Bolivia. Her husband's response follows below hers. Go Yoani! Go Reinaldo! Go!!

Cosas de hombres
Escrito por: Yoani Sanchez en Generación Y

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En ese Centro Habana de guapos* y reyertas donde nací, aprendí que hay algunos límites que una mujer nunca debe transgredir. Me he pasado la vida infringiendo esas risibles reglas del machismo, pero hoy –y de forma exclusiva- voy a acogerme a una de ellas. Precisamente, a una de las que más me desagrada. Esa que advierte: “una mujer necesita un hombre que la represente y que saque la cara por ella cuando otro la agrede o la calumnia”. Al sentirme atacada por alguien con un poder infinitamente superior al mío, con más del doble de mi edad y además -como dirían mis vecinas de la infancia- por un “macho-varón-masculino”, he decidido que sea mi esposo, el periodista Reinaldo Escobar, quien le responda.

Me refiero a los criterios descalificatorios que Fidel Castro ha expresado sobre mí en el prólogo del libro “Fidel, Bolivia y algo más”. Ni siquiera tan “magna” embestida me hace abandonar la premisa de no entrar en el ciclo de la réplica y la autodefensa. Siento decirle que sigo concentrada en un tema llamado “Cuba”.

Dejémosles a Reinaldo y a Fidel el lance de la pelea. Yo seguiré en mi “mujeril” labor de tejer, a pesar de los chismes del solar, sobre el deshilachado tapiz de nuestra sociedad civil.
¡Los guapos de mi barrio sabrán que “algo” aprendí de ellos!

*No confundir a un guapo cubano con un hombre apuesto o galán. Eso podría costarnos una bofetada y, en el peor de los casos, una puñalada aclaratoria.

Sobre el tejado de vidrio

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El ex presidente Fidel Castro acaba de publicar un prólogo al libro Fidel, Bolivia y algo más en el que descalifica el blog Generación Y que hace en Internet mi esposa, la blogera Yoani Sánchez. Desde el primer día ella ha puesto su nombre y apellido (que él omite) con su foto a la vista de los lectores para rubricar los textos que escribe con el único propósito, repetidas veces confesado, de vomitar todo lo que le produce náuseas de nuestra realidad.

El ex presidente desaprueba que Yoani haya aceptado el premio Ortega y Gasset de periodismo digital del presente año, argumentando que esto es algo que propicia el imperialismo para mover las aguas de su molino. Reconozco el derecho que tiene este señor a hacer ese comentario, pero me permito hacer la observación de que la responsabilidad que implica recibir un premio nunca será comparable a la de otorgarlo, y Yoani, al menos, nunca ha colocado en el pecho de ningún corrupto, traidor, dictador o asesino alguna condecoración.

Hago esta aclaración porque recuerdo perfectamente que fue el autor de estos reproches quien puso (u ordenó poner) la Orden José Martí en las más nefastas e inmerecidas solapas que le fue posible: Leonid Ilich Brezhnev, Nicolae Ceausescu, Todor Yivkov, Gustav Husak, Janos Kadar, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Robert Mugabe, Heng Samrin, Erich Honecker, y otros que he olvidado. Me gustaría leer, a la luz de estos tiempos, una reflexión que justifique aquellos honores improcedentes que, para mover agua de otros molinos, enlodaron el nombre de nuestro apóstol.

Es cierto que el nombre del filósofo Ortega y Gasset puede relacionarse con ideas elitistas y hasta reaccionarias, pero al menos, a diferencia de los condecorados por el prologuista, nunca lanzó los tanques contra sus vecinos inconformes, ni construyó palacios, ni encarceló a ninguno de los que pensaban diferente a él, ni dejó en la estacada a sus seguidores, ni amasó fortunas con la miseria de su pueblo, ni construyó campos de exterminio, ni dio la orden de disparar a quienes -para escapar- saltaran el muro de su patio.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Gamboa wins boxing debut

In watching Yuriorkis Gamboa’s HBO debut Saturday night, one word continually came to mind. Audacity. The kid had the audacity to blitz Darling Jimenez at the opening bell as if he were a ham-and-egger. The kid had the audacity to twice throw Jimenez to the ground in round seven. The kid had the audacity to drop his hands all night. The kid had the audacity to fight Jimenez in the first place. In this case, audacity is a good thing. Boxing needs more fighters like Gamboa. The junior lightweight fights with a complete disdain for his opponents, the way Mike Tyson once did. He throws more punches in more bunches than any fighter since Meldrick Taylor. Gamboa is so driven, such a competitor, that he acts is if he should win every second, of every round in which he competes. When a fighter falls before him, he shrugs, acting as if that's precisely what was supposed to happen.

Gamboa, who defected from the Cuban national team in December 2006, won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games. He hocked that medal on the black market in Havana just so he could throw his daughter, Brenda, a birthday party. Gamboa, 26, trains in Miami and fights for Ahmet Oner’s ArenaBox promotions out of Germany. He is now 10-0 with eight knockouts. The Jimenez fight marked the first time he has gone 10 rounds.

If you are a boxing fan, there’s a lot to love about Gamboa. The Jimenez fight was exactly what he needed at the moment. Which is to say, he needed some competition. Jimenez, a four-time New York Golden Gloves champion, was 23-2-2 coming into the fight. He was a sturdy pro who didn’t cave under the first volley of Gamboa punches. He pushed the Cuban to places he hadn’t been as a professional fighter. Oner’s team has intentionally matched Gamboa aggressively. There were moments in Saturday’s fight when it looked like they took on more than the kid could handle. Gamboa was dropped for the second time in his young career and defense remains an element of his game that needs improvement. He clearly slowed down in the second half of the fight, but he never relented in the sense that he came out trying to knock Jimenez out in every round.

Gamboa won some rounds on instinct alone. When the two fighters were tangled up in the seventh round, Gamboa physically threw Jimenez to the ground. Twice. Whether he did it because he needed a rest, or because he could, he was sending the right message, “This is my fight, I’m in control.” Gamboa fought with a confidence that was reminiscent of a young Sugar Ray Leonard. That’s a lofty to comparison to make after just 10 pro fights, but this kid has lofty goals. And he may just have the audacity to follow through on them.

Another boxer leaves Cuba and winds up in Germany


erislandy Lara, ahmet oener, cuba, boxing, fidel castro, yuriorkis gamboa, oscar de la hoya
Cuban boxer Erislandy Lara, left, and promoter Ahmet Öner


It’s happened again. Another top Cuban amateur boxer has fled the island and landed in Germany. Former amateur world champion Erislandy Lara will fight professionally for promoter Ahmet Öner under the Arena Box banner.

According to a release, the welterweight left Cuba on a speedboat, arrived in Mexico and then flew to Hamburg on Thursday. He is scheduled to make his debut in Istanbul on July 4.

“It feels great to be in Germany”, said Lara in the news release. “I don’t want to talk about the details of my escape. I am just glad to be here and I am looking forward to turning professional and becoming champion of the world.”

This is the fourth Cuban boxer to defect and fight for Arena Box. In December of 2006, Olympic gold medalists Odlanier Solis, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Yan Barthelemy left a training camp in Venezuela and signed with ARENA Box-Promotion. “Unfortunately the communist regime in Cuba still puts a lot of pressure to different people,” said Öner. “It’s about time that things change in Cuba and that they finally accept and respect Human rights… I am sure that Lara will be able to compete with the best in the world very soon. He’s an outstanding talent like Gamboa and Solis.”

Lara had attempted to defect last summer at the Pan Am Games in Brazil. He and two-time Olympic champion Guillermo Rigondeaux left the team during competition. They were caught later at a seaside resort and were arrested by Brazilian police for overstaying their visa. While in custody, the Castro regime exerted tremendous political pressure to have the fighters returned to Cuba. The fighters feared that their remaining family members in Cuba would be mistreated and agreed to return home. At the time, in an attempt to diminish the consequences back in Cuba, both claimed that they did not intend to defect, but rather, were out partying and then became embarrassed because they missed curfew.

Lara and Rigondeaux – perhaps the two best active fighters on the island – were left off the 2008 Cuban Olympic boxing team. It has also been announced that Lara and Barthelemy will be co-promoted by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. "It takes special talent to excel for so many years in the Cuban amateur system," De La Hoya, a U.S. gold medalist in 1992, said in a release. "I know that Yan and Erislandy will use that experience to soar through their professional careers."

Monday, June 16, 2008

Cubans see hope for change in Obama

Sun Jun 15, 2008 5:00pm EDT

By Jeff Franks and Rosa Tania Valdes

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban-Americans in Florida have voted solidly Republican for years, but 90 miles away many Cubans in the home country hope this election year is different. They are closely watching the U.S. presidential campaign and, weary of the Bush administration's hard-line Cuba policy, proving to be a receptive audience for Democrat Barack Obama's promise of change.

His vows to ease the 46-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba and his openness to dialogue with the Cuban government have sparked hope for better relations with the United States and improved lives for average Cubans. In conversations in the streets, business meetings and social gatherings, many Cubans ask about the U.S. election, then most say they support the Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee over Republican rival John McCain. "I go for Obama," said Manuel Echevarria, 55, a hospital supervisor. "Obama wants to look for a way to have relations, and that would be good for Cuba. To have a bit of hope is what we Cubans want."

"Obama is a totally different vision," said law student Hugo Hernandez. "First, it would be the first time an African-American gets into power and second, the world needs change." Former leader Fidel Castro himself weighed in with a few kind words for Obama, saying in a newspaper column he was "doubtless, from the social and human points of view, the most progressive candidate for the U.S. presidency." But he also blasted Obama for criticizing Cuba's government on human rights and recognized that "were I to defend him, I would do his adversaries an enormous favor."

BUSH 'FATIGUE'

Cuba expert Dan Erikson at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington said Obama's support on the island is part of a global backlash against President George W. Bush. "Most politically aware Cubans favor Barack Obama over John McCain, but that position is hardly unique to Cuba, as most countries around the world are eager to see a Democrat back in the White House due to profound fatigue with George Bush." Beyond the Bush factor, Cubans like Obama because he has vowed to lift restrictions on family visits and remittances from Cuban exiles in the United States put in place by Bush to toughen the embargo. In May, Obama said in Miami he would keep the embargo to maintain pressure for democratic reforms, but that he also was open to talks with the Cuban government without preconditions. Cuban President Raul Castro, who the National Assembly elected in February to succeed elder brother Fidel, has said he would be willing to meet with U.S. officials.

McCain, also speaking in Miami last month, said he would maintain the embargo as is and ridiculed Obama for his offer to talk to the Cubans. Most Cubans see McCain as an extension of Bush, and for some government opponents that is a plus. "I am, before everything, a Republican, and for me it would be proud that the Republicans return to power because we will have strong pressure against Cuba," dissident Orlando Fundora said. "If the Democrats win, it's going to favor the government of Castro."

But the opinion of housewife Raiza Martinez, 42, was more prevalent. "We were saying among friends recently that if McCain wins, we're going to see the same or worse, and I said if he's crazier than Bush, then we're going to be very bad." She was not optimistic that her Cuban brethren across the Florida Straits would go for Obama.
"To be president of the United States you have to respond to the interests of the people there in Miami," she said. "I think we're going to continue just the same."

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)