Cuban News November 24 2006

Paving The Way For Ties With Cuba (Sarasohn, WP)
Friday, November 24, 2006; A37
The Washington Post
By Judy Sarasohn
Perhaps a sign of the imminent post-Castro times, a small but official congressional delegation will be taking a quick trip to Cuba next month for a look-see. Helping to round up some interesting folks for the lawmakers to talk to is Sarah Stephens, a policy activist who has been trying for years to foster dialogue with the United States' communist neighbor.
Stephens, who had been working to free up travel to the island, recently opened the Center for Democracy in the Americas, which will expand her work to the Southern Hemisphere, particularly Venezuela. Formerly at the Center for International Policy, Stephens arranges for informal groups to visit Cuba to talk to a wide range of people.
"She's good at appreciating all the perspectives that people bring to bear," said Lance Walker, an aide to Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). Flake, who is heading the trip, and Rep. William D. Delahunt (D-Mass.), who is also going, are leaders of the congressional Cuba working group. "She's probably left of center, and we're on the right somewhere," Walker added.
Working with her foundation, Stephens is allowed to do a limited amount of lobbying. She doesn't see her trips as lobbying, because they don't deal with legislation. "I spend most of my time making a general case for Cuba," she said. "If people were really talking to each other, we'd have a much saner and more productive foreign policy."
Stephens says the Democratic takeover of Congress "could potentially mean a lot to us" in helping to increase U.S. engagement with Cuba. But it's not going to be easy, she says. After all, there's still the Bush administration. "We still have some serious obstacles," she said. But "the earth has changed under our feet."Emphasis on Oversight
Lobbyists around town are busy adjusting their specialties and hiring priorities to get in sync with the new Democratic agendas on the Hill. The Carmen Group, for one, is building a new government oversight unit and has allied itself with one of the big names in congressional oversight: Franklin Silbey.
Silbey, who has his own shop helping clients navigate congressional and federal investigations, had 17 years of experience on the congressional side. More than 30 years ago, he went to work for then-Rep. John E. Moss (D-Calif.) as chief of investigations. He was staff director of the Senate Judiciary's oversight subcommittee and chief of investigations for the Senate Labor Committee. Silbey worked on investigations of such matters as malfunctions of the M-16 rifle, federal lease abuses and Air Force appropriations.
Although he will keep his own company, Silbey will work with the Carmen Group and build a team there. "We're taking Congress at its word: It's going to be more focused squarely on oversight," David Carmen said.
Carmen and Silbey said their approach will be to urge clients to be cooperative with congressional investigators, rather than to take a legalistic approach and be obstructionist.
"If they don't adapt to a changed political environment, they will pay a penalty -- and in some cases, it's long overdue," Silbey said. "One ounce of candor is worth a ton of baloney. You're not going to fool people like Carl Levin, Henry Waxman and John Dingell." The three Democrats are among the leading investigative lawmakers.Food Industry Moves
The newly merged Grocery Manufacturers Association/Food Products Association has gotten a new lineup. Pat Verduin, most recently an executive at ConAgra Foods Inc., has joined GMA/FPA as senior vice president and chief science officer.
The merger is formally effective at the end of the year, though the two associations are virtually functioning as one now. Calvin M. Dooley, a former Democratic congressman from California, was head of the FPA and then named to lead the merged group; GMA chief executive C. Manly Molpus is retiring.
Mary Sophos, who was senior vice president of government affairs for the GMA, will head the merged lobby shop. Steve McCroddan, who was at the FPA, will be chief financial and chief administrative officer.Here and There
Also moving about town . . . Stephanie Childs, vice president of global public policy at the Information Technology Association of America, has been named vice president of government relations for Avaya Inc. She is a former Bush appointee at the Commerce Department.
Neil Dhillon is the new managing director of Ruder Finn Public Relations, replacing Barbara Shipley, who has gone to AARP. Dhillon worked at Hill and Knowlton and the Department of Transportation in the Clinton administration.

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Suspicions growing that Castro is terminally ill

Carmen Gentile, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

23 November 2006

The Washington Times

Recent photos and videos of a visibly frail Fidel Castro combined with signs he is not recovering from surgery as quickly as expected are feeding a wave of speculation that the longtime Cuban president is in the throes of a terminal ailment.

For weeks after his late July transfer of authority to his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, Fidel Castro and his most trusted officials asserted that the father of Cuba's communist revolution would resume the mantle of authority once he recovered from what has been described vaguely as gastrointestinal surgery.

But Cuba's foreign minister backed away last week from earlier predictions that Mr. Castro would go back to work in early December, and the vice president yesterday was unable even to confirm that Mr. Castro would be well enough to attend his own birthday celebration on Dec. 2

"It's a subject on which I don't want to speculate," Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told the Associated Press in Havana, though he maintained that the government was "optimistic" about Mr. Castro's recovery.

Mr. Castro's health has been declared a Cuban state secret, leaving the U.S. intelligence and medical community to sift through minor clues about his true condition.

Particular attention is being paid to a recently released video showing Mr. Castro, gaunt and noticeably thinner than in earlier pictures, moving about awkwardly in the multicolored jumpsuit that has replaced his trademark military garb.

U.S. officials quoted by the Associated Press have speculated, at least partly based on the video, that Mr. Castro is suffering from stomach, pancreatic or some other form of cancer that is largely inoperable. They said they did not expect him to survive beyond the end of next year.

Bush administration officials refused to comment publicly on Mr. Castro's health, but Dr. Pedro Greer, chief of gastroenterology at Mercy Hospital in Miami, told The Washington Times that he thinks Mr. Castro's final days are only months away.

Like other physicians, Dr. Greer noted that if Mr. Castro were undergoing chemotherapy, his hair and trademark beard would have fallen out by now. Were that the case, his death might be delayed by up to 18 months.

But without it, "his [Castro's] prognosis is very poor, at best," said Dr. Greer, who has seen the video and photos published in Cuba's state-run newspaper Granma.

"Optimistically, the reality of the matter is he has months to live at best," he said.

Dr. Greer was unwilling to comment on published news reports speculating that Mr. Castro's loose-fitting attire concealed a colostomy bag.

Castro allies reject all such speculation, insisting that the 80- year-old who has led his country since the Eisenhower administration is on the mend.

"The only thing I can tell you is that he's recuperating," said Mr. Castro's eldest son, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, earlier this month.

But Castro watchers in the United States are increasingly convinced that the ailing president will not return to work.

Among those who have concluded that Mr. Castro is terminally ill is Brian Latell, a former Latin American specialist with the CIA, now a researcher at the University of Miami and author of a book about the Castro brothers.

"I wouldn't want to do anything as macabre as predict just when he's going to die, but it seems to me, it will be sooner rather than later," Mr. Latell said.

Caption: A billboard of Cuban President Fidel Castro declares that "we're on the good track," but some doctors in the U.S. say recent images of him suggest that he has a terminal illness. [Photo by Agence France-Presse/Getty Images]

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Cuba eyes increased rice output and less imports

HAVANA, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Cuba hopes to take advantage of improved weather to increase rice output and reduce record imports in the coming years, state-run Radio Reloj reported Thursday.

"This year the state sector will harvest 61,000 tonnes of rice and the popular movement 141,000," the report said, similar to 2005.

Cuba has nine large provincial state farms with a capacity of 250,000 tonnes and has been developing municipal level farm and cooperative rice production, the so-called popular movement, with technical assistance from China and Vietnam.

"According to government plans output should tipple by 2015 ... unless there is an intense drought," the report concluded.

Rice is the Caribbean island's main staple with its 11.25 million residents and 2 million tourists consuming around 1 million tonnes annually, according to the government, of which 500,000 tonnes is rationed to the population at subsidized prices.

Rainfall over the last six months has ended the worst drought in a century that devastated the rice growing eastern and central parts of the country, forcing Cuba to double imports from around 350,000 tonnes at $85 million in 2003 to 700,000 tonnes at $246 million in 2005, the government said.

Most of the rice, some 500,000 tonnes, was from Vietnam with preferential financing, while the remainder came mainly from the United States for cash under an exception to that country's trade embargo on the Communist-run Caribbean island.

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WRITER TELLS OF DIRE DAYS IN JAIL; CUBAN JOURNALIST WAS DETAINED FOR 16 MONTHS AFTER RALLY

By Ray Sánchez Havana Bureau

23 November 2006

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Havana

Independent journalist Oscar Mario González said he was quietly whisked away from one of Havana's most notorious prisons Monday for a meeting with state security agents.

"We hope we never have to detain you again," González, quoted one of the officers as saying. "You're an old man. You're sick. We advise you to stay home, stay calm and stop writing."

González, 62, said the agents were cordial and respectful before releasing him from 16 months of detention without formal charges or even a trial. He said he tried to be cordial and respectful but direct in his reply.

"I don´t plan to stop writing," he said. "I'm a journalist. I'm committed to my work."

With that, González was driven to his house in the Playa neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of Havana. In the quiet community of mostly single-family homes, he waited outside a locked gate for Mirta Wong, a biologist and his wife of 22 years, to come home from work. Some neighbors who saw him waiting stopped to greet him, others walked by without saying a word.

On Monday, González was released along with a 40-year-old dissident, Santiago Valdeolloa. They were among more than two dozen others arrested on July 22, 2005, before and during an anti-government protest outside the French Embassy in Havana. Three other dissidents connected to the protest were released in October.

A mechanical engineer trained in the former Soviet Union, González was working as a journalist with the independent, Web-based news agency, Grupo de Trabajo Decoro, whose founder, Manuel Vásquez Portal, was sentenced to 18 years in prison during a crackdown on journalists in 2003.

In this communist-ruled country where all media are state run, González started writing about politics, history and Cuban society for the news agency in 2001. The Cuban government has long shielded its citizens from outside sources of news and other information. Independent journalists such as González have increasingly demanded the right to communicate openly about their society.

González said he spent his first month shuttling among several filthy, vermin-infested police lockups in Havana. He was treated for hypertension during a two-week hospital stay in mid-October.

"The latrines overflowed with feces that floated around in the putrefied water within the cells," González said. "You are filled with a sense of total abandonment," he said. "You are nobody."

González said he lost 20 pounds while in jail and occasionally received medication for high blood pressure. He suffered memory loss after a nearly three-month stay at the notorious 100 y Aldabo prison in Havana, where he was kept round-the-clock in a tiny windowless cell with up to six other inmates. The light was never shut off.

"From 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., they gave you an inch-thick mat to sleep on the floor," he said. "Ants and roaches crawled over you at night. We ate what the poorest Cubans eat every night: shredded soy, rice and a little broth."

His final 10 months of incarceration were spent at Havana's barracks-style Prison 1580, where, he said, living conditions improved considerably. He was allowed visitors every 21 days, including three-hour conjugal visits.

"I had no bed for two months and slept on the floor," he said. "I was housed with common criminals -- murderers, swindlers and rapists."

González said he planned to start writing again after regaining his health. "I will be a journalist until the day I die," he said. "It is the most noble profession."

He appeared frail, his speech punctuated with a chronic cough. The euphoria of his release on Monday has given way to sadness, he said, "for those to remain behind bars."

"It is lamentable that decent and honorable men who express their ideas as independent journalists must go to prison," he said. "They are, for the most part, forgotten. That is the lesson of my incarceration."

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Things get a little chilly for Canada at United Nations: Human rights abuses: Cuba, four others join Iran in calling for censure

Steven Edwards

CanWest News Service

24 November 2006

National Post

All but Toronto

UNITED NATIONS - Some of the countries most popular with Canadians as holiday destinations have refused to help Ottawa fight off a bid by Iran to condemn Canada's record on human rights.

In a showdown at the United Nations, Cuba joined Iran and four other countries supporting Tehran's call for the world body to censure Canada over its treatment of native Canadians and immigrants. Various other countries popular with Canadian tourists stopped short of speaking up for Canada by abstaining. Among them were China, Thailand, Singapore, Barbados, Costa Rica and South Africa.

The backbone of support came from Western democracies. The European Union, Australia and New Zealand went on record saying Iran's anti-Canadian draft was retaliation for Canada's leadership at the UN on Tuesday in seeing Iran's human rights record condemned.

Human rights resolutions at the world body are meant to name and shame countries that abuse their citizens, but pass or fail, they typically reveal self-interested alliances.

Against the backdrop of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, Canada has provided considerable political and economic support for Cuba over the years, despite the island's internationally documented lapses in respecting human rights.

Canadian tourists have made Cuba one of their top five destinations. Statistics Canada figures show 517,900 Canadians visited Cuba last year, spending more than $457-million.

"That's almost a quarter of all the tourists Cuba received last year," said Maria Werlau, a Cuban exile who runs the human rights Free Society Project from New Jersey and has written on the importance of tourism to Cuba.

"For Cuba to take this stance on a measure even they know is politically motivated is a cheap shot, and Canadians need to be informed about how Fidel Castro's government is repaying them for their indirect support of his regime."

Cuban officials could not be reached for comment. But in a speech at the UN last month on Canada's draft resolution condemning Iran, Jorge Cumberbatch of the Cuban mission suggested Ottawa was doing Washington's bidding.

"Canada has become an accomplice in the war of adventures of its imperial neighbour," he said.

Despite the accusation, Canada this month voted for a UN resolution calling on the United States to end its embargo of Cuba. This is the fourth consecutive year Canada has introduced -- and seen passed -- a resolution condemning Iran's human rights record.

Cuba and Iran, meanwhile, have been growing closer. On a 2001 visit to Tehran, Mr. Castro reportedly said the two countries can "bring America to its knees."

The Iranian draft expressed a series of "grave" and "particular" concerns about the economic well-being and treatment of aboriginal peoples and immigrants in Canada.

It also "deplore[d] the worrying situation of women prisoners" in Canada, a clause some experts believe was inserted in retaliation for Canadian condemnation of the 2003 torture and murder of Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, in a Tehran prison.

"There are many human rights advocates in Canada, including aboriginal leaders; they can freely speak up; they are not in jail for having expressed their opinions or claimed their rights," John McNee, Canada's ambassador to the UN, said as he defended Canada's record just before the vote Wednesday.

China's representative said he hoped Ottawa would "improve its human rights situation." Almost 161,000 Canadians visited China last year, leaving behind more than $304-million.

Abstaining without comment were Thailand, visited last year by 87,000 Canadians who spent $140-million; and Singapore, visited by 66,400 who spent more than $41-million.

Other Canadian tourist destinations that abstained were Antigua & Barbuda, Belize, Ecuador, Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines and Trinidad & Tobago.

The resolution was rejected 107-6, with 49 abstentions, but even some of the countries that supported Canada said they were doing so only because they would rather see no resolutions at all targeting the conduct of specific countries.

Uzbekistan and Venezuela were among this group, two countries that have been accused of human rights abuses.

Besides Cuba, Iran received backing for its anti-Canadian draft from North Korea, Syria, Myanmar and Belarus.

Black & White Photo: Adalberto Roque, Agence-France Presse / Canadians spent more than $457-million visiting Cuba last year, but the island-nation backed Iran and four other countries in calling for the United Nations to censure Canada over its treatment of native Canadians and immigrants.

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Production - Teflon-coated Castro.

Paul Hoggart.

24 November 2006

Broadcast

A C4 doc traces the extraordinary and entirely unsuccessful campaign to take out Fidel Castro.

638 WAYS TO KILL CASTRO

Broadcaster: Channel 4

Producer: Silver River Productions

Start: Tuesday 28 November, 10pm

Length: 1 x 75 minutes

Commissioning editor: Meredith Chambers

If the title of this extraordinary documentary sounds like a flippant exaggeration, it isn't. It is, in fact, the subtitle of a book by Fabian Escalante, the former head of Cuba's secret security services, about the hundreds of recorded plots, plans, and actual attempts on Fidel Castro's life. Escalante does have a friendly argument with a colleague during this film though. He thinks the final tally should be lower - a mere 634.

The film is the brainchild of executive producer Peter Moore. Moore's stepson, Max Leonard, who became a researcher on this film, saw a pamphlet by Escalante in a bookshop window on a family holiday in Havana. "However you look at it, a claim like that has got to be a story," says Moore. "The story has a great quality," says Channel 4 commissioning editor Meredith Chambers. "You almost can't believe it's true. It's too preposterous. Then you find it's got this incredibly current factor to it. When is someone a terrorist and when is he a freedom fighter?"

Director Dollan Cannell and producer Kari Lia were faced with a range of practical and creative challenges. "We had absolutely no idea if the would-be assassins would talk," says Cannell. "Would the Cubans? Getting permission to film in Cuba took a long time and involved some brinkmanship." In the end Cannell, Lia and cameraman Michael Timney flew out without permission.

"We had a nervous couple of days," says Cannell. "Even filming in a cafe requires permission from central government and the inclination is always to say no because it's safer. And they had just been very badly burned by a German crew who had made a film accusing Escalante of organising the assassination of JFK."

Eventually, though, permission came to talk to Escalante himself. Some of the more exotic plots - poisoned cigars, the use of LSD, a poisoned syringe in a ballpoint pen and exploding exotic crustaceans for Castro to find while out diving (a favourite hobby) - are found in CIA records, but Escalante's men had foiled attempted bombings on Castro's rare trips abroad.

"Fabian was so wooden to begin with," says Lia. "We'd have a coffee and we'd chat about his kids and his wife. I think he's the only man in Cuba who's been faithful to his wife, who is a spy too. What we show in the film was all shot in the last couple of days."

The next challenge was to get would-be assassins to talk. A Californian with a Mexican mother and a fluent Spanish speaker, Lia did much of the interviewing, and the team suggest that her feminine allure was an asset, especially with the older men.

"With Latin men there's a certain bravado," she says. One would-be killer, Antonio Veciana, tells her how he failed and how much that hurt him. "I think it was much easier to say that to a woman." Getting to Veciana had proved easier than expected, however. "I'd heard that he would absolutely never speak to us and thought we'd have great trouble tracking him down," says Lia, "but we found him in the Miami phone book, rang him up and he invited us round to his fish and tackle shop."

"For Veciano there is no shame in the attempts on Castro's life," says Cannell. "Miami Cuban exiles use the example of Hitler without any sense of exaggeration or embarrassment." The story takes a darker turn, however, when the more extreme anti-Castro factions turned to outright terrorism. One of these was Orlando Bosch imprisoned for an attempt on Castro in Panama, then mysteriously released and thought to have been behind the blowing up of a small Cuban airliner over the Caribbean, killing 73 civilians.

This led to the film's journalistic scoop. "Bosch we got at the last minute," says Lia. 'His supporters were worried about him talking to the press. As he gets older he's less afraid to admit what he's done. (Bosch is now old and ill). We were told we had 15 minutes to get in and out, so we used every second." During the interview Bosch all but confesses to the plane bomb, adding the downing of two cargo planes and justifying such attacks as acts of war.

The team were refused permission to interview another terrorist, Luis Posada, in prison in El Paso for visa irregularities but managed to record a short interview over the phone at the house of a supporter. American writer Anne Louise Bardach helps explain the support these men got from Republican politicians, specifically Florida governor Jeb Bush and President George Bush senior.

The downing of the airliner marks a turning point in a film that moves from tongue-in-cheek ("satirical" according to Moore), to extremely dark. "You could approach this by having a solemn moral tone of condemnation throughout," says Cannell, "but by emphasising the comic, hopefully we made the nasty side of it much more shocking when it does arrive."

"All the best films always address the audience on more than one level," adds Chambers.

The team decided to keep re-creations to a minimum, lashing out on some expensive contemporary archive footage to add atmosphere and character. Exact matches were almost non-existent. "We were like magpies," says Cannell, looking for clips that would enrich the film, including a Cuban film about an attempted assassination of the dictator Batista who Castro ousted, a black-and-white US raincoat advert and a Cuban James Bond series loosely based on Escalante's adventures.

Some may find the film's arc from satire to serious a little confusing, but however you feel about Fidel Castro, it makes for a distinctive film about a bizarre and increasingly disturbing chain of events.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Camera: Michael Timney, Petra Graf

Composer: Samuel Sim

Dubbing mixer: Bob Jackson

Consultant: Anne Louise Bardach

Researcher: Max Leonard

Archive producer: Kathy manners

Editor: Ollie Huddleston

Producer: Kari Lia

Director: Dollan Cannell

Executive producer: Peter Moore.

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Cuba: Evo Morales to Attend Fidel Castro Birthday Celebrations

24 November 2006

BBC Monitoring Americas

Text of report by Cuban news agency ACN website

Havana, Nov 23 (ACN) Bolivia's President Evo Morales is scheduled to kick of a world tour next November 26, which will take him to The Netherlands, Nigeria and Cuba, the Bolivian Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday.

Morales is scheduled to meet with Dutch government officials in The Netherlands, while in Nigeria he will participate at the Summit of Latin American and African Presidents, scheduled to take place from November 30th through December 1st. He will also meet with Algerian and South African representatives, according to the Bolivian Foreign Ministry's release.

The Bolivian head of state is scheduled to arrive in Cuba December 1st to take part at national celebrations, on December 2nd, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the 80th Birthday of Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Morales' world tour needs the approval of the Bolivian senate, whose sessions are stagnated due to a boycott by the opposition, PL news reported.

Source: ACN news agency, Havana, in Spanish 24 Nov 06

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SOUTH FLORIDA PREPARES FOR TURMOIL AFTER CASTRO

By Madeline Baró Diaz Miami Bureau

24 November 2006

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

When Fidel Castro ceded power to his brother Raul last summer and crowds in Miami-Dade hit the streets in celebration, one group of people hit the phones.

The Cuban leader was ill, and because he disappeared from public view, some people thought he was dead. Members of a humanitarian task force coordinating a local response kept in touch by phone and waited for a "trigger point," such as the activation of Miami-Dade's Emergency Operations Center, to launch their efforts.

That never happened, and things returned to normal after photos and video footage showed Castro was still alive.

But the response in South Florida pointed to progress.

"If this had happened five years ago, there was no mechanism for all these entities to be in the loop with each other," said Eric Driggs, executive director of the South Florida Humanitarian Network for Cuba, a group of community organizations, universities and government agencies.

Led by the American Red Cross of Greater Miami & The Keys and the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, the network is preparing for a major event in Cuba that could set off a mass migration to South Florida or affect the region in some other way.

Although organizers say they do not know what those events will be, Fidel Castro's recent illness and speculation by U.S. officials that his condition is terminal mean the network could soon be put into action.

"What happens [in Cuba] is so important to people here in South Florida. We just need to be prepared for whatever may happen," said Sam Tidwell, CEO of the American Red Cross of Greater Miami & The Keys.

Local, state and federal government agencies have long had plans in case turmoil in Cuba spills over to the United States. The South Florida Humanitarian Network is prepared to provide services to refugees, organize the collection of donations, provide family reunification services and disseminate information to the community.

In its "Recommendations for Community Preparedness," released in May, the network outlined possible scenarios and its role in calming any chaos.

Among the scenarios:

If spontaneous celebrations, solemn vigils or demonstrations break out, the emphasis is on communication, keeping the public apprised of events through Miami-Dade County's 311 Answer Center and county officials.

In case of a mass migration to South Florida, while government officials handle the processing and medical screening of new arrivals, the Red Cross will take the lead in feeding refugees and processing them, as well as relaying messages among family members looking for each other.

Another major concern is well-meaning relatives taking to the seas hoping to help their loved ones in Cuba, said Driggs, who is a humanitarian aid coordinator and associate researcher with the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies.

If that should happen, the organizations hope to turn those motivated to help the people of Cuba into volunteers in the aid effort.

"Humanitarian assistance is what will begin the process of healing wounds and make the transition and reconciliation more peaceful," said Alfredo Mesa, spokesman for the Cuban American National Foundation, which is part of the network.

Another possible effect of the eagerness to help would be a flood of donated goods, which could overwhelm those coordinating aid to the island and result in spoilage of perishable items. If that should happen, the message would be "cash is best," encouraging people to donate to organizations with which they are comfortable. That money, in turn, would help aid coordinators meet needs in Cuba.

The network's recommendations acknowledge the difficulties in actually distributing that aid, however. The American Red Cross chapter cannot intervene outside U.S. borders, so it recommended an independent organization be established to handle any relief effort in Cuba.

Other concerns included the island's infrastructure -- roads, ports, railroads and warehouses -- that are in disrepair. There also is concern there is no formal channel for aid distribution in Cuba outside of the government, which would be a problem if the government collapsed. Some worry that some Cubans might steal donated items.

The network grew out of a 2004 conference on humanitarian aid to Cuba during a political transition in Cuba. About the same time, the Red Cross was interested in coordinating a South Florida response to potential events in Cuba.

While the Red Cross is known for responding to natural disasters, Tidwell said when he joined the Greater Miami chapter there was no plan in place for a South Florida emergency triggered by events in Cuba.

"It's like any other event or action that takes place in this community," he said. "We can't just sit there and say `There is a surprise.'"

Madeline Baró Diaz can be reached at mbaro@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5007.

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T. Jiménez cree "en Cuba debería iniciarse un proceso de cambio"

Madrid, 24 nov (EFE).- La secretaria de Estado de España para Iberoamérica, Trinidad Jiménez, afirmó hoy que "Cuba es un país donde, evidentemente en este momento, se debería iniciar un proceso de cambio", y manifestó la voluntad del Gobierno de "favorecer el mismo" cuando éste comience.

En el debate de Tribuna Iberoamericana organizado por la Casa de América y la Agencia Efe Jiménez consideró que el proceso de cambio en la isla debe hacerse "desde el máximo respeto y desde la máxima colaboración por parte de España y de todos los países de América Latina".

Preguntada sobre la necesidad de modificar la actual política española hacia Cuba, la secretaria de Estado rechazó que se requiera algún cambio y aseguró que la relación entre ambos países es "fluida" y "permanente", aunque "evidentemente" eso no significa que tengan una "coincidencia constante".

Jiménez criticó la "herencia" del Gobierno de José María Aznar que, a su juicio, "había interrumpido el diálogo político con determinados países".

"Nosotros no nos podemos permitir como país mantener una interlocución interrumpida", apuntó Jiménez, quien añadió que "se tiene que hablar, aunque sea un diálogo crítico, con todos y cada uno de los países de América Latina; y es evidente que un país fundamental es Cuba". EFE

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Afirma Cuba que aumentó ingreso de traficantes de personas a la isla.

La Habana, 23 Nov (Notimex).- Funcionarios del Ministerio del Interior de Cuba afirmaron que ha aumentado el ingreso de traficantes de personas al territorio nacional por vía marítima, indicó hoy la agencia informativa Prensa Latina.

Señaló que los funcionarios, cuya identidad omitió precisar, revelaron en las sesiones del VIII Encuentro Internacional de Ciencias Penales, un incremento en el uso de la violencia por parte de los traficantes al ser detectados por guardafronteras.

El despacho informativo se abstuvo de proporcionar las cifras comparativas sobre el aumento del ingreso de traficantes de personas a la isla caribeña.

Los funcionarios que participan en el evento, que sesionará hasta mañana en La Habana, dijeron que al aplicar Washington la política de "pies secos, pies mojados", se permite a redes delictivas que operan en países vecinos introducir en forma ilegal cubanos en Estados Unidos.

La llamada política de "pies secos, pies mojados" consiste en admitir en Estados Unidos a quienes logren pisar territorio estadunidense y repatriar a esta isla caribeña a los interceptados en altamar por los guardacostas.

Por su parte, autoridades de la Fiscalía General señalaron en el encuentro que Estados Unidos ha "politizado" el tema migratorio y alentado las salidas ilegales de la isla como vía para "fabricar" una crisis bilateral y justificar un eventual enfrentamiento militar.

Al respecto, atribuyeron a la Ley de Ajuste Cubano de 1966 el estímulo a la emigración al facilitar residencia, ciudadanía estadunidense, permisos de trabajo y subvenciones económicas, a los cubanos que logran llegar a Estados Unidos.

Cuba y Estados Unidos suscribieron en 1994 y 1995 acuerdos migratorios que establecieron la entrega anual por Washington de al menos 20 mil visas para emigración definitiva.

A la vez, esos convenios estipularon que el gobierno de Cuba debía abstenerse de aplicar represalias a los "balseros" devueltos por las autoridades estadunidenses.

Además de las salidas ilegales marítimas a cuentagotas, Cuba ha registrado en más de cuatro décadas y media varias oleadas migratorias, con un saldo total de alrededor de dos millones de isleños viviendo en el exterior, la mayoría en Estados Unidos.

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Admiten crisis en programa de casas

EFE

LA HABANA

NIURKA BARROSO / AFP / Getty Images

CONSTRUCTORES CUBANOS laboran en un edificio en esta foto de archivo. Las autoridades de la Isla reconocieron la falta de materiales de construcción en el país.Las autoridades cubanas admitieron la insuficiencia de producción de materiales de construcción y señalaron que no se están cumpliendo los objetivos del programa de vivienda diseñado el año pasado.

El presidente de la Comisión para la Atención a la Actividad Productiva de la Asamblea Nacional cubana (Parlamento), Leonardo Martínez, denunció en declaraciones que hoy publica el diario oficial Granma incumplimientos en el inicio de nuevas obras y falta de racionalidad en la adaptación de nueva tecnología, entre otros problemas.

''Como regla la capacidad productiva real no satisface la demanda potencial del programa de construcción, conservación y rehabilitación'', dijo, en referencia a la provisión de áridos y otros materiales para cumplir el plan aprobado por el Parlamento en septiembre del 2005.

Martínez señaló que hay ``incumplimientos, fundamentalmente en el inicio de nuevas obras con destino a médicos y a trabajadores seleccionados por sus méritos y necesidades habitacionales''.
''Numerosos ciudadanos han resuelto o mejorado su situación, pero la secuencia constructiva actual resulta insuficiente para asegurar la continuidad del programa'', agregó.

Aunque el presidente de la comisión, que examinará el programa de vivienda los próximos días 29 y 30, destacó la ''recuperación gradual'' de la industria de los materiales de construcción, indicó que los ''modernos equipos'' adquiridos para reanimar la producción ``no están rindiendo al máximo''.

Eso se produce, agregó, bien por falta de medios complementarios del ciclo productivo o por su inserción en una ''cadena fabril vieja'' que no funciona por la ``disparidad tecnológica''.

Martínez indicó que hay ''problemas en el desarrollo minero'' de las canteras de las que se extraen los áridos, ''déficit de transporte y equipos tecnológicos'' y que en muchos lugares la atención está centrada en la terminación de viviendas sin ofrecer similar atención a la conservación y la rehabilitación.

Las autoridades cubanas reconocieron el pasado 15 de noviembre que no llegarán a cumplir el objetivo de viviendas nuevas planificado para el periodo septiembre 2005-diciembre 2006 en 150,000.

''La estimación de los últimos meses es que se ha venido construyendo a un ritmo de 12,000 o 14,000 viviendas; este año no se construirán menos de 110,000 o 115,000 viviendas ... y si sumamos la cifra del año pasado nos acercaríamos al propósito'', señaló entonces Salvador Gomila, asesor de la Presidencia del Instituto de la Vivienda.

Según cálculos oficiales, la inversión que se realiza en el sector ronda los $400 millones.

Un informe presentado por el Gobierno en septiembre del año pasado señaló que el 52.5 por ciento de las construcciones en Cuba se encuentran en mal estado.

Indicó, además, que el problema de la vivienda, uno de los más graves que afronta el país, ha empeorado en los últimos cuatro años a causa del embate de varios huracanes que dañaron 579,547 casas y destruyeron 73,169.

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RSF: El 18 por ciento de los periodistas encarcelados en el mundo está en Cuba

La presidenta de la organización dijo que 'estorban a quienes no quieren que se sepan los crímenes que se cometen, las agresiones contra los derechos humanos'.

Agencias , Madrid

viernes 24 de noviembre de 2006 13:09:00

En una conferencia de prensa ofrecida este jueves en Madrid con motivo de la celebración del Día Internacional de Apoyo a los Periodistas Encarcelados, Reporteros Sin Fronteras (RSF) denunció que hay en el mundo 139 periodistas encarcelados por ejercer su profesión, de los cuales el 18 por ciento está en la Isla, informó Europa Press.

Después de China, con el 25 por ciento, Cuba es segunda en cantidad de periodistas presos, seguida de Etiopía (16%), Eritrea (10%), Birmania (5%), Turquía (3%) y el 23% en otros países.

María Dolores Masana, presidenta de RSF; el secretario general de esta organización, Rafael Jiménez, y el presidente de la Asociación Nacional de Informadores Gráficos de Prensa-TV, Diego Caballo, explicaron que los periodistas encarcelados se encuentran en situaciones "infrahumanas", aislados, y algunos incluso han sufrido torturas.

La presidenta de la sección española de RSF comentó que "el periodista, a día de hoy, ha pasado de ser históricamente un blanco ocasional a ser un objetivo buscado en los conflictos".

Agregó que "estorban a quienes no quieren que se sepan los crímenes que se cometen, las agresiones contra los derechos humanos". "Los periodistas son los que dan la noticia, los mensajeros que traen a los ciudadanos los abusos que se cometen en el mundo".

La también periodista del diario La Vanguardia hizo un llamamiento para que los medios "apadrinen" a alguno de estos periodistas encarcelados con el propósito de que contribuyan a su liberación.

El apadrinamiento consistiría en que un periodista escoja a uno de sus colegas encarcelados y que le dé visibilidad escribiendo o hablando sobre él en los medios donde trabaja y denunciando por qué está encarcelado y las condiciones en las que está, explicó Masana.

Según dijo, aparte de los profesionales de medios de comunicación muertos desde el 1 de enero de este año (74 periodistas y 31 colaboradores, con lo que ya se supera la cifra total de 2005, que fue de 64), los desaparecidos ("una modalidad que se usa mucho en Colombia") y de los secuestrados (frecuentes en Irak), hay otros informadores que "no pierden la vida pero pierden otro bien que, después de la vida, es el más preciado para el ser humano, que es la libertad".

Estos informadores se encuentran en prisión por "sacar a la luz las cosas que el poder establecido no quiere que se saquen", y por "no rebajarse a la censura ni dejarse manipular", añadió.

23 periodistas entre rejas en Cuba

RSF mencionó que en la actualidad hay 139 periodistas, tres colaboradores y 59 ciberdisidentes encarcelados en el mundo. Estos últimos son los de nueve periodistas detenidos el pasado 12 de noviembre por las autoridades eritreas.

El cinco por ciento se encuentran en prisión desde hace diez años y el 28 por ciento desde hace entre dos y cinco. Cuatro de estos informadores son mujeres: la etíope Serkalem Fassil, la ruandesa Tatiana Mukakibibi y las turcas de etnia kurda Evrim Dengiz y Nesrin Yazar.

China es "la mayor cárcel del mundo para los periodistas", según Masana. Le sigue Cuba, con 23 periodistas entre rejas y donde el último periodista liberado fue Oscar Mario González, el pasado viernes. Aunque según la Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliación Nacional, en los meses de octubre y noviembre se han producido "decenas de detenciones", en lo que consideró "un aumento sólo comparable a febrero".

"Esperamos que sea el preludio para la liberación de los 23 encarcelados desde la primavera de 2003", declaró Masana.

Otro país latinoamericano destacado es México, donde desde el pasado 1 de enero han sido encarcelados siete periodistas "en el cumplimiento de su trabajo".

Las condiciones en que se encuentran estos periodistas encarcelados en varias partes del mundo "desde aquí son imposibles de imaginar", según indicó la presidenta de la organización. Están "aislados de sus familias, del mundo, ni siquiera saben si alguien se acuerda de ellos", indicó.

RSF presentó el libro 100 fotos de estrellas por la libertad de prensa que ha editado para recaudar fondos y apoyar la obtención de la libertad de los periodistas encarcelados.
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RSF llama a la ONU a defender libertad informativa

Por Tito Drago

MADRID, 23 nov (IPS) - La Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU) debe pasar de las palabras a los hechos y defender en la práctica la libertad de información, dijo a IPS Rafael Jiménez Claudín, secretario general de la sección española de Reporteros Sin Fronteras (RSF).

Jiménez Claudín acompañó a la presidenta de RSF en España, María Dolores Masana, y a Diego Caballo, presidente de la Asociación Nacional de Informadores Gráficos de Prensa, en la conferencia de prensa ofrecida por el 17 Día Internacional de Apoyo a los Periodistas Encarcelados.

En sus declaraciones, "que apoyamos", la ONU defiende la libertad, "pero hay que acabar con la impunidad de quienes violan esos derechos", añadió el periodista.

Y para eso "es necesario que se refuercen" las Convenciones de Ginebra, sobre las que se basa el derecho internacional humanitario, "estableciendo que se pueda llevar ante el Tribunal Penal Internacional a quienes violen los derechos a la libertad de expresión", concluyó.

RSF elabora un documento al respecto que en los próximos meses presentará a la Secretaría General de la ONU, aclaró Masana.

En la conferencia de prensa informaron que 139 periodistas están encarcelados en el mundo, de los cuales cuatro son mujeres.

China es el país con más periodistas presos, que representan 25 por ciento del total, seguido de Cuba, con 18 por ciento, Etiopía, con 16, y Eritrea, con el 10. Los demás países no superan individualmente el cuatro por ciento del total.

La presidenta de RSF España señaló los ataques contra periodistas se exacerbaron desde los atentados que el 11 de septiembre de 2001 acabaron con 3.000 vidas en Nueva York y Washington.

Los periodistas "pasaron de ser un blanco ocasional a ser los más buscados, porque no quieren que se informe sobre la violación de los derechos humanos", según Masana.

"Todos los periodistas presos en la actualidad, sin excepción, lo están por cumplir con su trabajo y deber de informar, por no aceptar la censura o la manipulación", adicionó.

Entre los más recientemente apresados, Masana señaló a Roberto Marcos García, detenido el 20 de noviembre en Veracruz, México, y Fredy Muñoz Altamirando, un día antes, en Colombia.

En el caso de Muñoz Altamirano, RSF inició gestiones y su abogado recibió como respuesta que dentro de los próximos cinco días el juez decidirá si lo procesa y si lo mantiene en prisión o lo liberal.

"Nuestra posición es que debe ser liberado de inmediato", dijo telefónicamente desde París a IPS Benoit Herview, responsable de RSF para América.
Los más agredidos son los camarógrafos de televisión y los fotógrafos, puntualizó Jiménez Claudín. "Eso es así porque la imagen es la mayor representación del dolor, pero también levanta las conciencias por la libertad", afirmó Diego Caballo.

En su opinión, "el reportero gráfico es la voz de los sin voz y el principal enemigo con que se debe enfrentar es el empotramiento".

Por empotramiento se entiende la disposición de las fuerzas armadas de diversos países, en especial las de Estados Unidos, que exigen a los periodistas viajar dentro de vehículos militares por escenarios de conflicto bélico, sin salir de los mismos a menos de tener autorización de los jefes militares.

"Eso demuestra, una vez más, que la manipulación informativa tiene su punto de partida en quienes ostentan el poder", aclaró.

RSF España adoptó en 1989 una iniciativa que renueva todos los años, que es el apadrinamiento de periodistas encarcelados. Según la misma, periodistas españoles o que trabajan en España apadrinan a sus colegas presos, lo que significa comprometerse a luchar por su libertad.

Masana recordó que de los 100 apadrinados hasta ahora más de la mitad fueron liberados y que muchos de ellos insistieron en la importancia que tuvo "no sentirse olvidados de todos y de todo".

Este año los aparinados son Gao Qinrong, Yang Zili y Ching Cheong, en China; Win Tin, en Birmania; Ricardo González, Miguel Galván Gutiérrez y Fabio Prieto Llorente, en Cuba; Mohamed Abbou, en Túnez; Serkalem Fassil, en Etiopía: Fessehaye Hohannes y Dawit Isaac, en Eritrea; Sami Al-Haj, en Estados Unidos; Michel Kilo, en Siria y Anakurban Amanklytchev, en Turkmenistán.

Los apadrinados en 2005-2006 que fueron liberados son Aksbar Ganji, de Irán; Mohamed Benchicou, de Argelia; Pham Hong Son y Nguyen Dinh Huy, de Vietnam; Massoud Hamed, de Siria, y Jennifer Latheff, de Maldivas.

Jiménez Claudín destacó la actitud del birmano U Win Tin, conocido como "El Sabio", quien lleva más de 17 años en la cárcel, muy débil de salud. "Pero no se doblega" y se niega a renegar de su compromiso con la Liga Nacional para la Democracia, el principal partido de la oposición a la dictadura.

Win Tin fue condenado en 1989 a 20 años de cárcel por "subversión" y "propaganda antigubernamental", tras ser uno de los mentores políticos de la premio Nobel de la Paz, Aung San Suu Kyi, también privada de libertad.

Otro condenado a 20 años de cárcel es Ricardo González Alfonso, cubano, quien después de trabajar en la televisión estatal en su país fue corresponsal de RSF y en mayo de 2001 fundó, junto con Raúl Rivero, una sociedad para formar jóvenes periodistas independientes.

En diciembre de 2002, González creó la revista bimestral De Cuba, que, con una tirada de 250 ejemplares, sólo se publicó tres veces, hasta que él fue encarcelado en 2003 junto a otros 89 disidentes, 26 de los cuales eran periodistas.

Su condena fue realizada por violar la ley 88, de "protección de la independencia y la economía de Cuba". González Alfonso está hoy gravemente enfermo, con un tumor de naturaleza inflamatoria, informó RSF. ***** + Reporteros sin Fronteras (http//:www.rsf.org) (FIN/IPS/td/mj/wd hd ip ic cr/06)
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SIP denuncia presuntas anomalías en Cuba y Venezuela

RIO DE JANEIRO - Noviembre 22, 2006

El Comité Coordinador Global de Organizaciones de Libertad de Prensa exhortó el miércoles a la excarcelación inmediata de periodistas cubanos y dijo que vigilará de cerca las dificultades que enfrentan los medios noticiosos en Venezuela.

En su reunión en esta ciudad, las resoluciones de los organismos mundiales fueron adoptadas en forma conjunta por la Asociación Internacional de Radiodifusión, la Asociación Mundial de Periódicos, el Comité Mundial por la Libertad de Prensa y la Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa.

La SIP estuvo representada por su presidente, Rafael Molina, director del periódico dominicano El Día; Jorge Canahuati, presidente del Comité de Asuntos Internacionales y director de los periódicos hondureños El Heraldo y La Prensa, y el director ejecutivo Julio Muñoz.

El Comité Coordinador también emitió otras resoluciones que se referían, entre otros temas, a la "interferencia en el contenido noticioso" en Brasil y a la "actividad radiofónica ilegal".

En el último caso, la organización declaró que "en los países en los que operan radiodifusoras ilegales, y generan interferencia dañina al espectro de radio frecuencia, es fundamental que el gobierno ejerza el control necesario al aplicar legislación interna específica y los tratados internacionales en torno al asunto".
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Payá pide a los cubanos 'levantar su voz' por la liberación de los presos políticos

El disidente envió al CDH una propuesta en la que exige al gobierno liberar 'inmediatamente y sin condiciones' a todos los presos políticos.

Agencias , Ciudad de La Habana

jueves 23 de noviembre de 2006 12:37:00

AFP/ La Habana. El opositor Oswaldo Payá pidió este miércoles a los cubanos que "levanten su voz" por la liberación de los presos políticos en Isla, dos semanas después de que recabara en ese sentido el apoyo del Consejo de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas.

"Una vez más llamamos a todos los cubanos, dentro y fuera de Cuba, a que levanten su voz para apoyar la liberación de aquellos sometidos al sufrimiento de la prisión cruel e inhumana", señaló Payá, en una declaración del Movimiento Cristiano Liberación, que dirige, divulgada este miércoles en La Habana.

El disidente, premio Sajarov 2002 del Parlamento Europeo, recordó que el pasado 9 de noviembre envió al Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU una propuesta de resolución, en la que pide "al gobierno cubano que libere inmediatamente y sin condiciones" a todos los presos políticos.

"Hemos entregado directamente dicha propuesta de resolución en cada una de las embajadas de los países miembros del Consejo de Derechos Humanos con representación en nuestro país, a quienes hemos pedido que la promuevan y aprueben en la próxima sesión del Consejo", afirmó Payá.

Subrayó que "si el Consejo de Derechos Humanos aprueba" la resolución, "estará pidiendo al gobierno de Cuba que sea coherente con los compromisos contraídos por el Estado cubano al firmar instrumentos internacionales de protección de los Derechos Humanos".

Según el Comité Cubano de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliación Nacional, que dirige Elizardo Sánchez Santacruz, los presos políticos actualmente en la Isla suman más de 300.
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Los cubanos aún tratan de acostumbrarse al silencio de Fidel

Admiten crisis en programa de casas (EFE)

Cuba espera elevar producción de arroz, reducir importaciones (Reuters)

Buscan sustituir a los ómnibus conocidos como ``camellos'' (EFE)

Ex canciller es nuevo embajador de Caracas en Cuba (AP) La sociedad camuflada (IPS)

Ex canciller es nuevo embajador de Caracas en Cuba (AP)
La sociedad camuflada (IPS)