Cuban News December 08 2006

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday it would seek access to prisons in Cuba, one of the few countries to deny it permission to visit political detainees.

ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger told reporters he planned to make a new request to the government in Havana.

The ICRC has not been able to visit Cuban prisons since July 1959, seven months after President Fidel Castro came to power.

After armed Cuban exiles launched the Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961 in a US-backed bid to overthrow the Castro government, more than 1,000 of them were captured and incarcerated.

When the ICRC asked to visit them to ensure they were receiving fair treatment under international humanitarian law, Havana said no.

In March 1962, when the Bay of Pigs prisoners were about to go on trial, the ICRC wrote to Castro saying it presumed Havana would respect Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war. It repeated its request to be allowed to visit the jailed fighters.

Again the request was rebuffed. "The doors were closed to the ICRC, which did not obtain permission to send delegates to Cuba for many years to come," the ICRC says on its website.

By contrast, ICRC delegates have regularly visited detainees at the US military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and have strongly criticised the absence of a legal framework "that appropriately addresses either the detainees' status or the future of their detention".

"The ICRC believes that uncertainty about the prisoners' fate has added to the mental and emotional strain experienced by many detainees and their families," it says on its website.

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Study: Journalists jailed around the world for Internet work on the rise

By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI

Associated Press Writer

7 December 2006

NEW YORK (AP) - When Iranian journalist Mojtaba Saminejad was sentenced to two years in prison for insulting the country's Supreme Leader, it was not for an article that appeared in a newspaper. His offending story was posted on his personal Web blog.

Nearly one-third of journalists now serving time in prisons around the world published their work on the Internet, the second-largest category behind print journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in an analysis released Thursday.

The bulk of Internet journalists in jail -- 49 in total -- shows that "authoritarian states are becoming more determined to control the Internet," said Joel Simon, the New York-based group's executive director.

"It wasn't so long ago that people were talking about the Internet as a new medium that could never be controlled," he said. "The reality is that governments are now recognizing they need to control the Internet to control information."

Other noteworthy imprisoned Internet journalists include U.S. video blogger Joshua Wolf, who refused to give a grand jury his footage of a 2005 protest against a G-8 economic summit, and China's Shi Tao, who is serving a 10-year sentence for posting online instructions by the government on how to cover the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

For the second year in a row, CPJ's annual survey found the total number of journalists in jail worldwide has increased. There were 134 reporters, editors and photographers incarcerated as of Dec. 1, nine more than a year ago.

In addition to the Internet writers, the total includes 67 print journalists, eight TV reporters, eight radio reporters and two documentary filmmakers.

Among the 24 nations that have imprisoned reporters, China topped the list for the eighth consecutive year with 31 journalists behind bars -- 19 of them Internet journalists.

Cuba was second with 24 reporters in prison. Nearly all of them had filed their reports to overseas-based Web sites.

The U.S. government and military has detained three journalists, including Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein, who was taken into custody in Iraq nine months ago and has yet to be charged with a crime.

CPJ recorded the first jailing of an Internet reporter in its 1997 census. Since then, the number has steadily grown and now includes reporters, editors and photographers whose work appeared primarily on the Internet, in e-mails or in other electronic forms.

The increase is a testament to the increasing attention of government censors to the Internet, media experts say.

"I refer to the freedom of the press as the canary in the coal mine," said Joshua Friedman, director of international programs at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. "It's a barometer of the insecurity of the people running these governments. One of the things that makes them insecure these days is the power of the Internet."

The rise in jailings of Internet journalists is also an indication that reporters in authoritarian countries are increasingly using the Web to circumvent state controls.

Shi, the jailed Chinese journalist, could have published his notes on state propaganda in the Chinese magazine in Hunan province where he worked as an editorial director. He chose instead to send an e-mail from his Yahoo account to the U.S.-based editor of a Chinese language Web forum.

Cuban journalist Manuel Vasquez-Portal said he posted his articles on a Miami-based Web site for a similar reason.

"Without a doubt, the Internet provided me an avenue. It was the only way to get the truth out of Cuba," he said through an interpreter.

Vasquez-Portal, who was jailed for 15 months in 2003, said he had to call his stories in to the operator of the Web site, though, because Cubans are not allowed access to the Internet.

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On the Net:

Committee to Protect Journalists: http://www.cpj.org/

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Cuban dissidents urge real power transfer to Raul Castro

HAVANA, Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) -

A leading dissident group Thursday called for an urgent and definitive transfer of power to Raul Castro to better deal with the transition period in Cuban politics opened by Fidel Castro's absence.

With concerns about the country's leadership heightened in the more than four months since Castro, 80, disappeared from public for an intestinal operation and turned power temporarily over to his brother Defense Minister Raul, Arco Progresista issued a written call to dialogue.

Arco "demands that the definitive transfer of power take place, with urgency," during the December 22 session of parliament, and that the body take up a 13-point reform program the dissidents drew up for the transition, the statement said.

With Castro's notable absence from the week-long celebrations of his birthday and the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution last week, speculation has grown that the venerable leader may have given up power for good, raising the possibility of major changes in the country's politics.

Cuban dissidents have begun to stir amid speculation that Castro may be dying, though some believe he will still return from power after recuperating from the late-July operation.

While Castro has not been seen in public since then, he appeared in television footage greeting visitors in the weeks after the operation. But now it has been months since he appeared.

Whether he recuperates or passes on, dissidents insist the time has come for change.

"Our country is undergoing an era change while it remains trapped at a historical crossroads: either Cuba opens up to itself -- the best way to open up to the world -- or it fizzles out as a nation amidst a spent revolution," said the Arco statement handed out to reporters.

The group urged prompt economic and political reforms, a dialogue among Cubans "that respects our differences," and that "unconstitutional restrictions to Cubans' freedom of movement (and) the silence imposed on most citizens' right to freedom of expression be lifted.

There has been no official reaction to Arco's statement, and recent comments by Raul Castro, 75, and other top Communist Party members have not doubted Castro's eventual full recovery nor that government policy would remain unchanged.

Dissidents Wednesday celebrated the release after three years in jail of Hector Palacios, a prominent member of their community, who dampened spirits somewhat by announcing to reporters that his release was due to health reasons and that he had not observed much change lately in Cuba.

"I would even say the contrary, from the news I've heard repression is on the rise. I don't see any changes," said the member of the illegal Todos Unidos (All United) opposition group.

Also on Wednesday, another dissident group, National Patriotic Front, wrote to UN chief Kofi Annan asking that he monitor a march in Havana on Human Rights Day on Sunday to see how police and authorities react.

Meanwhile, the latest news on Castro came, as often in the past, from his friend and recently re-elected Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

"The information I have from Cuba is that Fidel's recovery continues, but that it is a slow recovery," Chavez told reporters in Brasilia.

Chavez, who was re-elected by a landslide on Sunday, said he received a congratulatory message from Castro after the vote.

His signature, said Chavez, showed a "very strong hand." js-rd/fgf/pmh

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Posted on Thu, Dec. 07, 2006

CUBA
Cuba's aging society straining resources
The Cuban government has been confronting a demographic reality that promises to wreak havoc on an already overburdened social service system.
By MIAMI HERALD STAFF
cuba@MiamiHerald.com

HAVANA - Regla, a 38-year-old security guard, is precisely the type of married woman the Cuban government is worried about: She had a baby 17 years ago and called it quits.

Money is tight and so is housing, so she had an abortion each of the four more times she got pregnant. Her teen daughter terminated a pregnancy last year, too.

''With this economic situation, who can have more children?'' Regla said. ``We're in the special period that never ends. Abortions are free and have no stigma attached. Everybody does it. Everybody.''

Regla's attitude is not unusual. In a nation faced with chronic shortages of everything from housing to food, more and more women are choosing to have just one child -- or none at all. A country with one of the hemisphere's highest life expectancy rates and lowest birthrates finds itself with a dwindling population -- one that in just 13 years will see the number of retired people outnumber the labor force.

The Cuban government-run media has tackled the issue in recent months, running remarkably candid coverage of a demographic phenomenon that promises to wreak havoc on an already strained social service system. As Fidel Castro -- himself 80 -- languishes in his sick bed, the effort to sustain the socialist society he built is being constantly challenged by emigration, aging adults and childless women.

''I'm 41, my son is 23, and I decided: That's it. No more,'' said Idania, an office worker in the city of Santa Clara, whose last name, like others in this report, was withheld for fear of reprisals. ``You want to give your children absolutely everything in life. If you are in a situation where you can't give your child absolutely everything, then why have more kids?''

Consider:

• Since 1978, Cuba's fertility rate has decreased to levels that can no longer sustain current population levels. Now at 11.2 million, the Cuban media says it is unlikely to ever reach 12 million.

• During the 1960s and 1970s, Cuba's annual birthrate was about 250,000. In 2005, there were slightly more than 120,000 births, despite there being 1 million women of reproductive age.

MORE SENIORS

• Seniors age 60 and older now make up about 16 percent of Cuba's population. The Cuban government estimates that by 2025, 26 percent of Cubans will be elderly.

• If current trends don't change, Cuba will join the 11 countries with the world's oldest populations, Granma, the island's main daily newspaper, reported.

''In a few years, it is almost certain that the demand for senior citizen centers, dining halls, homes and other senior citizen facilities will exceed the new factories and schools,'' Granma said.

Another newspaper, Juventud Rebelde, put it like this: ``If in 10 years we haven't reached a coherent reproduction policy, we'll see each other more frequently at wakes than at children's birthday parties.''

Among the causes, Granma cited ''material'' problems such as housing shortages, high cost of living, lack of day-care centers and goods like children's clothing. The paper also acknowledged the outward migration of adults of child-bearing age, but said positive changes such as advances for women in the workforce and availability of birth control also contributed.

But experts say Cuba's declining birthrate and aging populace is nothing new. Cuba's population rate started to slip in the 1950s, just as it did in Europe and other nations. The birthrate is 1.62 children per woman, compared to the United States' 2.04 birthrate.

But about 1.4 million new immigrants enter the United States every year, while Cuba sees tens of thousands leave.

With Castro sick and his revolution perhaps on the brink of radical change, the situation is particularly critical, said sociologist Mauricio Font. If communism collapses after Castro's death, Cuba is likely to witness a massive outward migration of its much-needed youth, as occurred in Eastern Europe.

''What we know of Cuba is that the young people are not particularly happy and are searching for more opportunities,'' said Font, director of the Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies at the Graduate Center in New York. ``People are leaving, and it's going to get worse. That's something to think about. It's going to be a huge challenge with or without a transition.''

DIFFERENT VIEW

A decline in population isn't necessarily bad, said Arie Hoekman, Cuba director for the United Nations Population Fund. Cuba, which suffered a sharp economic decline after the fall of the Soviet Union -- the ''special period'' that Regla referred to -- probably could not sustain massive population spurts.

''A dwindling younger population and high elderly population places challenges on social systems such as health, education, social security,'' Hoekman said. ``On the other hand, continued growth would not be sustainable. They are already facing challenges.''

The biggest difficulty for Cuba will be to address the swelling numbers of elderly. Cuba already has about 300,000 people over the age of 80, but the government has focused its attention on other issues, such as tackling infant mortality and educating children. ''We've been seeing this coming for a very long time,'' said Lisandro Pérez, a sociology professor at Florida International University. ``I think it is a problem. I don't think the Cuban health system is geared toward the catastrophic illnesses older people get.''

GROWING CHALLENGE

The strains are already showing. Elderly people earn less than $10 a month on their pensions, so many of the street vendors who peddle snacks and newspapers on the street are older adults who say they were forced to return to the workforce because they could not survive on their incomes.

''A lack of children is something the state has to worry about, not me. I say the thing elderly folks worry about is food,'' said Víctor, a 70-year-old newspaper seller. ``Our health system is good, our education system is good, but our food situation is very bad.''

He was accompanied at an Old Havana plaza one recent afternoon by Cecilia, a 73-year-old grandmother who hops a bus to tourist areas to supplement her pension by begging for contributions from foreigners. She is worried because her 25-year-old grandson has not had any children.

''I'm concerned about the lack of children, sure,'' she said. ``You have to have future generations. What society will we have if there are no children?''

The Miami Herald withheld the name of the correspondent who filed this report because the author lacked the Cuban journalist visa required to work on the island.

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Hippocrates Meets Fidel, and Even U.S. Students Enroll

By MARC LACEY

8 December 2006

The New York Times

HAVANA, Dec. 7 -- Anatomy is a part of medical education everywhere. Biochemistry, too. But a course in Cuban history?

The Latin American School of Medical Sciences, on a sprawling former naval base on the outskirts of this capital, teaches its students medicine Cuban style. That means poking at cadavers, peering into aging microscopes and discussing the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power 48 years ago.

Cuban-trained doctors must be able not only to diagnose an ulcer and treat hypertension but also to expound on the principles put forward by ''el comandante.''

It was President Castro himself who in the late 1990s came up with the idea for this place, which gives potential doctors from throughout the Americas and Africa not just the A B C's of medicine but also the basic philosophy behind offering good health care to the struggling masses.

The Cuban government offers full scholarships to poor students from abroad, and many, including 90 or so Americans, have jumped at the chance of a free medical education, even with a bit of Communist theory thrown in.

''They are completing the dreams of our comandante,'' said the dean, Dr. Juan D. Carrizo Estevez. ''As he said, they are true missionaries, true apostles of health.''

It is a strong personal desire to practice medicine that drives the students here more than any affinity for Mr. Castro. Those from the United States in particular insist that they want to become doctors, not politicians. They recoil at the notion that they are propaganda tools for Cuba, as critics suggest.

''They ask no one to be political -- it's your choice,'' said Jamar Williams, 27, of Brooklyn, a graduate of the State University of New York at Albany. ''Many students decide to be political. They go to rallies and read political books. But you can lie low.''

Still, the Cuban authorities are eager to show off this school as a sign of the country's compassion and its standing in the world. And some students cannot help responding to the sympathetic portrayal of Mr. Castro, whom the United States government tars as a dictator who suppresses his people.

''In my country many see Fidel Castro as a bad leader,'' said Rolando Bonilla, 23, a Panamanian who is in his second year of the six-year program. ''My view has changed. I now know what he represents for this country. I identify with him.''

Fatima Flores, 20, of Mexico sympathized with Mr. Castro's government even before she was accepted for the program. ''When we become doctors we can spread his influence,'' she said. ''Medicine is not just something scientific. It's a way of serving the public. Look at Che.''

Che Guevara was an Argentine medical doctor before he became a revolutionary who fought alongside Mr. Castro in the rugged reaches of eastern Cuba and then lost his life in Bolivia while further spreading the cause.

Tahirah Benyard, 27, a first-year student from Newark, said it was Cuba's offer to send doctors to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, which was rejected by the Bush administration, that prompted her to take a look at medical education in Cuba.

''I saw my people dying,'' she said. ''There was no one willing to help. The government was saying everything is going to be fine.''

She said she had been rejected by several American medical schools but could not have afforded their high costs anyway. Like other students from the United States, she was screened for the Cuba program by Pastors for Peace, a New York organization opposed to Washington's trade embargo against the island.

Ms. Benyard hopes that one day she will be able to practice in poor neighborhoods back home. Whether her education, which is decidedly low tech, is up to American standards remains to be seen, although Cedric Edwards, the first American student to graduate, last year, passed his medical boards in the United States.

If she makes it, Ms. Benyard will become one of a small pool of African-American doctors. Only about 6 percent of practicing physicians are members of minority groups, says the Association of American Medical Colleges, which recently began its own program to increase the number of minority medical students.

Even before they were accepted into Cuba's program, most of the Americans here said they had misgivings about the health care system in their own country. There is too much of a focus on the bottom line, they said, and not enough compassion for the poor.

''Democracy is a great principle,'' said Mr. Williams, who wears long dreadlocks pulled back behind his head. ''The idea that people can speak for themselves and govern themselves is a great concept. But people must be educated, and in order to be educated, people need health.''

The education the students are receiving here extends outside the classroom.

''I've learned to become a minimalist,'' Mr. Williams said. ''I don't necessarily need my iPod, all my gadgets and gizmos, to survive.''

There are also fewer food options. The menu can be described as rice and beans and more rice and beans. Living conditions are more rugged in other respects as well. The electricity goes out frequently. Internet access is limited. Toilet paper and soap are rationed. Sometimes the water taps are dry.

Then there is the issue of personal space.

''Being in a room with 18 girls, it teaches you patience,'' said Ms. Benyard, who was used to her one-bedroom apartment back home and described her current living conditions as like a military barracks.

Other students cited the American government's embargo as their biggest frustration. The blockade, which is what the Cuban government and many of the American students call it, means no care packages, no visits from Mom and Dad, and the threat that their government might penalize them for coming here.

Last year Washington ordered the students home, but the decision was reversed after protests from the Congressional Black Caucus, which supports the program.

One topic that does not come up in classes is the specific ailment that put Mr. Castro in the hospital, forced him to cede power to his brother Raul and has kept him out of the public eye since late July. His diagnosis, like so much else in Cuba, is a state secret.

Photos: Students from many countries at the Latin American School of Medical Sciences, founded by Fidel Castro, on a campus just outside Havana.; Nancy Gonzales, center, using a cadaver to teach anatomy to Jamar Williams, left, of Brooklyn and others. (Photographs by Jose Goitia for The New York Times)

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Cancer-ridden Castro may not live to see the new year

By Leonard Doyle Foreign Editor

8 December 2006

The Independent

WORLD

The ailing Cuban President Fidel Castro is battling terminal cancer and could be dead by Christmas, senior Western diplomatic sources have said. Observers close to the Cuban regime have reported that the leader is suffering from an aggressive form of stomach cancer and has refused radiation therapy or any other form of treatment.

Cuban officials are notoriously tight-lipped over the health of their President which they treat as a closely guarded state secret. While occasionally they have broken their silence to report that Mr Castro is suffering from a non life-threatening illness, these claims have been roundly discounted by Western sources. Mr Castro’s death, when it comes, is expected to have repercussions far beyond the shores of Cuba. On the one hand there are fears of an exodus of Cubans towards the US. Equally, concerns have been raised that hardline anti-Castro groups in south Florida will stage their own attempt to destabilise the regime by sending a flotilla of ships to the island in expectation that Cubans will be prepared to rise up against the government – a scenario with potentially disastrous consequences.

Either way, political developments in Cuba have the potential to influence domestic politics in the US. When, in 2000, the then president Bill Clinton allowed the child Elian Gonzalez to be sent back to his homeland, the Cuban vote turned solidly Republican – and many blame the controversy for Al Gore’s subsequent loss of the presidential election that year. Now, as the 2008 presidential campaign grinds into action, Cuba will become an increasingly sensitive topic in America, especially as speculation surrounding Mr Castro’s health mounts.

Cubans themselves are used to being told very little about the inner workings of their government on security grounds, but dissidents say uncertainty over the country’s political future has fuelled impatience with the secrecy surrounding his health. While posters proclaiming “80 more years” of Castro’s leadership are still hanging all over the capital, Havana, and the country decked the halls on Saturday for his birthday celebrations – for which he was himself absent – many Cubans doubt their leader will ever govern again.

Despite assurances by the authorities – the most recent came last week as Vice-President Carlos Lage Davila spoke at the end of a conference on Mr Castro’s place in history – that Mr Castro will return to lead Cuba for years to come, more and more people suspect he is close to death, even though they have been told little about his condition other than that he had emergency surgery to stop intestinal bleeding in July and is now recovering. “It’s strange they have not said anything about Fidel,” Orlando, a telephone worker and government backer, said. “They must have their reasons, but I’m worried. It has been a long time since we heard about him.”

Even at his 80th birthday celebrations, held with much fanfare over the weekend, Mr Castro did not get a mention other than a cursory “Viva Fidel” at the end of a speech by his brother, designated successor and acting President, Raul Castro. “People are convinced he has cancer,” said Joel, a social worker. “We all expected to see him at the parade, and nobody said a word.”

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Women’s Association Urges Use of Single Currency in Cuba

Luis Carlos Niño

8 December 2006

Global Insight Daily Analysis

The Latin American Federation of Rural Women (FLAMUR) will begin an international campaign next week to pressure the Cuban government to drop the mixed monetary system that currently operates on the island. According to this organisation, the fact that four currencies—the U.S. dollar, the euro, the convertible peso (known as the chavito), and the Cuban peso—are circulating throughout the Caribbean country is generating economic discrimination against its poorest citizens. Cubans, who earn their wages in pesos, cannot access certain goods and services on the island unless they carry dollars or euros.

According to a report by Univision, an American television network, the organisation hopes to collect at least 10,000 signatures within Cuba, which are necessary to push forward a constitutional reform as stated in the 1976 Cuban constitution.Significance: If the Cuban government were to impose restrictions on the use of other currencies in the territory it would have a series of drastic consequences. The absence of viable monetary policy and a sound financial system is one of the largest limitations to adopting any type of exchange system. In addition, the immediate impact on the tourist industry, which generates a large amount of revenue, would be negative in the already inefficient and weak Cuban economy. Nonetheless the claims made by this group reflect the harsh and difficult situation that the inhabitants of the island currently face.

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Hemingway's Ties To a Havana Bar Still Move the Mojitos --- La Bodeguita del Medio Earns Money for Cuba, Others; Did 'Papa' Drink There?

By Joel Millman

8 December 2006

The Wall Street Journal

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- A life-size likeness of Ernest Hemingway greets diners entering La Bodeguita del Medio bistro near Stanford University here. Patrons at La Bodeguita del Medio in Prague order The Old Man and the Seafood plate. And in London's new version of the same restaurant, which opened last month, the owner says Hemingway novels will be available for perusal in the men's room.

It's all part of a Hemingway-in-Havana craze popping up in bars with Cuban themes from Puerto Vallarta, in Mexico, to Paris. Most of these La Bodeguita del Medio bistros -- there are nearly 50 world-wide -- boasts a replica of a handwritten note Mr. Hemingway supposedly penned decades ago, paying homage to two Havana watering holes where, legend has it, he battled writer's block with alcohol.

"My mojito in La Bodeguita del Medio, my daiquiri in El Floridita," reads Mr. Hemingway's endorsement, written in longhand across a piece of butcher paper. The note, in facsimile, usually hangs above each restaurant's bar.

There's no doubt that Mr. Hemingway frequented El Floridita, but a nagging question hangs over all these other bistros: Was "Papa," as Mr. Hemingway was known, actually a regular at Havana's La Bodeguita del Medio?

No, says Delio Valdes, an elderly Miamian claiming to be the last of a group of Cuban nightclub promoters of the original La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana. A journalist and press agent, Mr. Valdes, 85 years old, waxes nostalgic over the landmark's lively 1950s heyday, when patrons rubbed elbows with the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and Nat "King" Cole.

But not Ernest Hemingway. "I was at La Bodeguita almost daily, and I saw him once," insists Mr. Valdes. "And that was only because a tour guide brought him in, with some rich Americans."

Adding another dig, Mr. Valdes says it wasn't even Hemingway who wrote the mojito-daiquiri line. The author, he says, was a noted Havana bon vivant, Fernando Campoamor, who, according to Mr. Valdes, wrote the line while visiting Mr. Hemingway's home, where he persuaded the author, who was drunk, to sign it.

Cuba was one of several exotic pit stops the writer enjoyed during the last two decades before his death in 1961. He bought a seaside house outside Havana in 1939, and began work on his novel of the Spanish Civil War, "For Whom the Bell Tolls." During World War II, Hemingway simultaneously looked for German submarines off the coast of Cuba and went deep-sea fishing, excursions that provided material for "The Old Man and the Sea," which helped win him the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature. He left Cuba during the 1959 revolution, but returned for visits. He met the country's new revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, in 1960.

Ever since, the Castro government has drawn tourists by stoking the writer's ties to Cuba, and his presumed fondness for La Bodeguita del Medio. Besides the obvious merchandising of Hemingway T-shirts and souvenirs, there is also "The Hemingway Trail," where tourists visit the author's former Havana marina and seaside home and are then guided to La Bodeguita del Medio, today a government-run tourist destination.

In 2001, Cuba's state-owned tourism conglomerate, El Gran-Caribe SA, began licensing La Bodeguita del Medio franchises abroad, although not in the U.S., where it can't do business because of the U.S. trade embargo imposed in 1962. Charging licensing fees of up to $100,000, plus 5% of gross revenues, the Castro regime today takes in at least $500,000 a year through the franchises, according to estimates from franchisees and others in the restaurant industry. Turempleo SA, a state employment agency, sends licensees Cuban waiters, bartenders, cooks and musicians, who jump at the chance to work overseas and earn good tips.

The concept clicked, and La Bodeguita outlets spread across Latin America and European cities including Paris and Berlin. Even in former communist capitals like Prague -- where some locals call the restaurants "McCastro's" -- the Hemingway link attracts business. Prague's La Bodeguita boasts a 1959 Chevy on site that patrons can summon for a ride to the nightclub or a ride home after the meal.

Not everyone is happy to see the Castro regime cashing in on the Hemingway name. "It's all communist propaganda," says Mery Martinez, a 57-year-old widow who claims her late husband was related to the restaurant's original owner, Angel Martinez. Ms. Martinez, who until recently operated her own La Bodeguita del Medio in Miami's Little Havana, says she too believes it was the late Mr. Campoamor who scribbled Hemingway's words about moujiks and daiquiris.

The Cuban government refused interview requests.

It's not just Cuba's government that has a commercial venture tied to the Hemingway legend. In the U.S., La Bodeguita del Medio restaurants are being opened by Michael Ekwall, a 40-year-old Californian. In addition to his place here in Palo Alto, he's opening another next year in Oakland.

A self-described late bloomer, Mr. Ekwall visited Cuba regularly during the 11 years it took him to finish his undergraduate degree in political science at the University of California at Los Angeles. He first noticed the restaurant during a 1991 trip to Havana and opened a replica in Palo Alto in 1997, obtaining a U.S. trademark on the name. Mr. Ekwall duplicated everything about the Havana restaurant.

Having bought out his original partners in 2003, Mr. Ekwall began to franchise the restaurant beyond California, selling licensing rights in Florida to a Miami entrepreneur, Joseph Maya.

Mr. Maya encountered a problem, however: There was already a La Bodeguita del Medio in Little Havana, opened in 2003 by Ms. Martinez. Since Mr. Ekwall had registered the trademark before the Miami restaurant opened, Mr. Maya filed a suit against Ms. Martinez, which was settled out of court. She renamed her place La Bodeguita del Martinez and a year later sold the business.

Upset about the dispute with the California upstart, Ms. Martinez publicly questioned the restaurant's connection with Mr. Hemingway. Some newspaper columnists in Miami soon echoed her views.

"Notice how all of Fidel's Bodeguitas del Medio are festooned with the flag of Ernest Hemingway, which had nothing to do with the original Bodeguita of the Martinez family," read a full-page editorial in an anti-Castro Little Havana tabloid, La Politica Comica.

Mr. Maya, meanwhile, is marshaling his own witnesses to support his new restaurant's Hemingway link. Showing a reporter around a dusty construction site in tony Coral Gables, he was accompanied by an elderly exile, 74-year-old Hector Martinez. Mr. Martinez claims to be a nephew of the original Bodeguita's founder. Hector Martinez swears Ernest Hemingway was a regular there.

"I saw him there whenever I went to my uncle's place," the old man says. "Maybe twice a week."

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Cruz Roja reactivará relación con Cuba para solicitar acceso a sus cárceles

GINEBRA, Dic 8 (AFP) -

El presidente del Comité Internacional de la Cruz Roja (CICR) Jakob Kellenberger, indicó el jueves que tiene "la intención de reactivar" las relaciones con las autoridades cubanas para solicitarles acceso a las prisiones de Cuba.

Cuba es uno de los pocos países del mundo cuyas prisiones permanecen cerradas a las visitas de los delegados de la Cruz Roja Internacional desde julio de 1959, siete meses después de la llegada al poder de Fidel Castro, salvo dos excepciones en junio de 1988 y mayo de 1989.

Kellenberger indicó que tiene "la intención de reactivar el asunto" en el marco de los cambios ocurridos en la isla, donde Raúl Castro, hermano del presidente, ejerce la presidencia cubana desde hace cuatro meses a raíz de la enfermedad de Fidel.

Después del desembarco fallido de tropas anticastristas entrenadas por Estados Unidos en la Bahía de Cochinos, el 14 de abril de 1961, el CICR entabló gestiones con las autoridades cubanas con el fin de obtener acceso a los prisioneros, pero no tuvo éxito.

En marzo de 1962, cuando los combatientes capturados estaban a punto de ser juzgados, el presidente del CICR se dirigió a Fidel Castro, pidiéndole que se respetasen fielmente las disposiciones del artículo 3 de la Convención de Ginebra y, de nuevo, que permitiera que la Cruz Roja visitara a los prisioneros.

"Los contactos se multiplicaron, pero las puertas de las prisiones cubanas siguieron obstinadamente cerradas para el CICR", señala la organización en una artículo de la Revista Internacional de la Cruz Roja.

Por el contrario, los delegados del CICR realizan en torno a una docena de visitas al año a la base de Guantánamo, donde las autoridades estadounidenses mantienen detenidos a sospechosos de terrorismo.

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La SIP critica detención de periodistas

By EFE

8 December 2006

El Nuevo Herald

La Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa (SIP) criticó ayer que el gobierno de Cuba continúe con su política de ''castigo a la prensa independiente'', tras conocer que un periodista fue condenado y otro detenido en los últimos días.

''Reiteramos nuestro pedido para la liberación incondicional de todos los periodistas encarcelados, así como el cese de las represalias gubernamentales a quienes ejercen la libertad de opinión y de expresión'', dijo Gonzalo Marroquín, presidente de la Comisión de Libertad de Prensa e Información de la SIP.

El pasado martes condenaron a cuatro años de cárcel al periodista Raymundo Perdigón Brito por el delito de presunta peligrosidad, según la SIP.

El organismo agregó que el artículo 72 del Código Penal cubano establece que ``se considera estado peligroso la especial proclividad en que se halla una persona para cometer delitos, demostrada por la conducta que observa contradicción manifiesta con las normas de la moral socialista''.

Perdigón fundó el 17 de noviembre en la provincia de Sancti Spiritus la agencia independiente Yayabo Press y el 29 de noviembre fue detenido por la Seguridad del Estado, que lo conminó a dejar sus actividades periodísticas.

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Opinión

Con su mensaje a EEUU, Raúl Castro intenta evitar que la superpotencia tenga la tentación de interferir en los cambios

JOSÉ MANUEL Fajardo

8 December 2006

El Periódico de Catalunya

Grupo Zeta

Los nuevos gobiernos de izquierdas latinoamericanos pueden favorecer la pluralidad en la isla

El discurso del presidente en funciones de Cuba, Raúl Castro, en el que se mostraba dispuesto a negociar con EEUU la solución del conflicto que enfrenta a ambos países desde hace 47 años, y la amplia victoria de Hugo Chávez en las elecciones de Venezuela dibujan un panorama de la izquierda en América Latina que va a ser clave en la evolución de la política cubana durante los próximos años.

Las recientes victorias electorales de la izquierda en Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador y Brasil, junto a las de Bolivia, Uruguay y Chile, hacen que buena parte de América esté gobernada hoy por partidos socialdemócratas o por una izquierda radical que impulsa políticas igualitarias a la vez que mantiene una actitud democrática. Y buena parte de los líderes de esa variada izquierda gobernante declaran su simpatía y apoyo a la revolución cubana. Hay quien cree que esa simpatía expresa el peligro de cubanización de otras naciones, pero la cansada sociedad cubana, que comienza a salir del túnel de la crisis económica producida por la desaparición de la URSS y el mantenimiento del embargo estadounidense, no parece tener hoy ni la voluntad ni la capacidad de exportar su modelo político. Más bien cabe pensar que sea la experiencia de una izquierda radical democrática latinoamericana la que pueda contribuir a un cambio hacia el pluralismo en Cuba.

NACIDAcomo una promesa de libertad y justicia, y en apasionada defensa de la independencia nacional, la revolución cubana ha sobrevivido desde el inicio en un aislamiento que la llevó a buscar el amparo del bloque soviético frente a la amenaza real (intento de invasión incluido) del gigante estadounidense. Durante casi medio siglo, Cuba ha vivido en un estado de excepción permanente, atrapada en una guerra virtual que ha limitado gravemente los derechos políticos de la ciudadanía, a la vez que ha sabido desarrollar políticas sociales que la han colocado a la cabeza del tercer mundo en el respeto de derechos fundamentales como la educación o la salud. Pero, sobre todo, Cuba ha sido el territorio rebelde por excelencia frente a las pretensiones hege- mónicas de EEUU, cuya voluntad imperial se expresó durante décadas en el continente con decenas de invasiones de otros países y apoyos a dictaduras militares. Es esa tenaz resistencia frente al imperio, junto a los avances sociales, la que provoca las simpatías por la revolución cubana en la izquierda democrática latinoamericana, no su modelo político de partido único.

Ahora, ante la próxima desaparición de Fidel Castro, la cuestión es precisamente si el sistema político cubano será capaz de incorporar el pluralismo a la revolución. Nadie duda de que va a haber cambios, aunque en el lenguaje oficial cubano se les llame "continuidad". Y a esa conciencia parece responder la propuesta de Raúl de negociar con EEUU: un acuerdo de coexistencia facilitaría sin duda que los cambios puedan ser pacíficos en el seno del Estado nacido de la revolución.

El fin del asedio estadounidense (el embargo y las leyes que amenazan la soberanía nacional cubana) terminaría con la situación de excepcionalidad en que ha vivido la isla y permitiría que la disidencia dejara de verse asociada a la agresión de una potencia extranjera. Y la colaboración económica y política con Cuba de los gobiernos de la izquierda radical democrática latinoamericana podrían, en ese nuevo contexto de relación con EEUU, ayudar a las autoridades de la isla a abrir camino al pluralismo. Pero ¿es ese un camino que EEUU esté dispuesto a dejar transitar? La resistencia estadounidense a negociar con Cuba indica que aún sueñan con infligir una derrota clara a su adversario e instaurar en la isla una democracia que sea igual a capitalismo puro y duro. De momento, y pese a las muchas voces que en su propio país critican esa actitud, el Gobierno de EEUU no renuncia a condicionar, aunque sea de forma negativa, la independencia cubana.

Entre tanto, el nuevo panorama latinoamericano puede permitir a Cuba tomar la iniciativa. La actual tendencia política del continente refuerza a quienes, como Chávez o Morales, pretenden crear modelos sociales democráticos no tiranizados por el mercado. La aventura imperial de Bush en Irak ha debilitado a la Administración estadounidense y el embargo se ha mostrado incapaz de acabar con la revolución. Por su parte, las autoridades cubanas, cuyos objetivos a medio plazo son difíciles de prever, dada su tradicional reserva, han de dar respuesta a la necesidad de que el ingente capital humano de conocimiento y capacidad de iniciativa, creado por la propia revolución, pueda expresarse sin las trabas de un sistema burocratizado: el inmovilismo, en un país hastiado de penurias y limitaciones, sería el camino seguro al colapso del sistema.

DURANTElos próximos cuatro años las autoridades cubanas dispondrán de un contexto latinoamericano propicio para acometer los cambios que permitan el pluralismo y la incorporación no traumática del mercado al modelo cubano, asegurando así la continuidad de la obra impulsada por la revolución. Gracias a la izquierda radical democrática latinoamericana, Cuba tiene una ocasión única de poder liberarse del estancamiento generado por tantos años de lucha por la supervivencia y regresar al futuro.

Escritor.

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Preocupa a Chávez y Lula da Silva la salud de Fidel Castro.

Brasilia, 7 Dic (Notimex).- El presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez expresó hoy aquí su preocupación y la de su colega brasileño, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, por la salud del gobernante cubano Fidel Castro, quien desde julio está sometido a un tratamiento médico.

En declaraciones a periodistas tras un encuentro este jueves con Lula durante una breve visita oficial a Brasil, Chávez señaló que éste "me manifestó el deseo de visitar a Fidel. Nosotros estamos preocupados".

"Recibí una nota de Fidel hace dos o tres días y la información que tengo de Cuba indica que la recuperación continúa lenta", agregó Chávez, quien llegó a Brasil la noche del miércoles en su primera gira internacional tras su reelección el pasado domingo.

El mandatario añadió que "le pido a Dios, y se que Fidel no cree en Dios, pero hay un proverbio que Dios ayuda a Chávez y sus amigos. Entonces, pido a Dios que ayude a ese gran amigo que luchó por la dignidad de los pueblos de América Latina".

Castro, quien cumplió 80 años, anunció el 31 de julio pasado que había sido sometido a una cirugía intestinal y que dejaba el cargo en forma temporal en manos de su hermano Raúl, pero su recuperación ha sido muy lenta.

El pasado sábado el mandatario cubano estuvo ausente por razones médicas de la celebración pública de su 80 aniversario, realizada en la histórica Plaza de la Revolución de La Habana.

El tema prioritario en el encuentro entre Lula y Chávez fue la reactivación de la agenda energética regional, suspendida por las campañas políticas de ambos en los últimos meses, que los llevaron a sus respectivas reelecciones.

Después de la visita, de menos de un día, Chávez emprendió viaje a Argentina para continuar su gira regional, que también incluye una visita a Uruguay y su participación en la Cumbre Sudamericana, este viernes y sábado en Cochabamba, Bolivia.

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Médico cubano no vinculado al Mides

El País - Uruguay

8 December 2006

El País

El médico cubano que vino a Uruguay para participar de un seminario científico y que decidió no retornar a la isla, no forma parte del cuerpo de oftalmólogos que intervienen en la Operación Milagro del Ministerio de Desarrollo Social, aclaró ayer la subsecretaria de esa cartera, Ana Olivera. El oftalmólogo cubano debía abandonar Uruguay el miércoles, pero hasta el día de ayer no había efectuado las gestiones en Cancillería o Migraciones para iniciar los trámites de residencia, informó radio El Espectador.

Olivera dijo que los médicos cubanos que vinieron a Uruguay en el marco del programa Operación Milagro son tres y que desde el 14 de noviembre están de vacaciones en Cuba. "En esa fecha llegó el último grupo de pacientes operados en la isla y no habrá más vuelos hasta enero. Por lo tanto, se fueron de vacaciones", explicó.

El País había informado ayer que el oftalmólogo cubano había venido a Uruguay en el marco del programa Operación Milagro.

Colegas del médico cubano se contactaron con el diputado herrerista Jaime Trobo, a los efectos de buscar los mecanismos para conseguir su residencia en el país. En el día de ayer, el legislador indicó no saber nada más del médico y agregó que desconoce su identidad.

Trobo les recomendó que iniciara los trámites para pedir asilo ante la Cancillería.

Sin visa de turista, el médico no podrá circular por ningún país de la región porque su pasaporte cubano se lo impide.

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HÉCTOR PALACIOS Ultimo disidente cubano liberado

ANGEL TOMAS GONZALEZ. Especial para EL MUNDO

8 December 2006

El Mundo

HÉCTOR PALACIOS Ultimo disidente cubano liberado

«Digo la verdad sin odios y hasta deseo a Castro que se mejore»

Condenado en 2003 con el llamado 'Grupo de los 75', acaba de recuperar la libertad por problemas de salud y algunos lo ven como una señal de una nueva etapa en La Habana

LA HABANA.- El sociólogo y opositor cubano Héctor Palacios, de 65 años, fue apresado en marzo de 2003 junto a otros 74 activistas, y puesto en libertad el miércoles. Al día siguiente de su excarcelación, ha concedido a EL MUNDO una entrevista en su apartamento de La Habana.