Summary of the last seven days:
* Cuba's Foreign Minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, said, "The so-called dissidents are a creation of the aggressive policies of the United States," in the presentation of a book of interviews with agents who infiltrated the opposition. The book denounces alleged destabilizing activities financed by "subversive institutions." Among those accused was the Center for a Free Cuba and its director, Frank Calzón. ("Mesa Redonda," Cubavisión, June 26).
* "We denounce the current campaign of lies against the opposition, which has as its corner stone the book Los Disidentes, a collection of statements by individuals who posed as dissidents," said a statement by opposition leaders Gustavo Arcos, Felix Bonne, V. Roca, René Gómez and Elizardo Sánchez. (AP, Havana, June 22)
* Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, defended his literacy project "Yes, I Can" saying the opposition will receive a decisive defeat for labeling it as "communist indoctrinations." The program, supported by the Cuban government, has been criticized for employing Cuban teachers, instead of Venezuelans, and for being paid with shipments of Venezuelan oil to Cuba. ("Alo, Presidente" AFP, Caracas June 22)
* Eliades Acosta, director of Havana's National Library, said at a convention, held in Toronto by the American Library Association (ALA), "Independent libraries are receiving money to overthrow the institutional order in Cuba." The ALA failed to invite Cuban independent librarians, ten of whom were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 20 to 26 years, "because they are not professionals," wrote columnist Georgie Anne Geyer; adding, "Why do the American librarians allow such things to be said on their behalf?" (AP, Toronto Universal Press Syndicate, June 23, 24)
* Spain's Garcia Lorca Foundation asked Havana not to involve their name in a "program of censorship, limiting the freedom of expression of intellectuals and artists." After the closing of Spain's cultural center in Cuba, the government announced the creation of a new institution with the poet's name. (www.cubaencuentro.com
* On the ninth consecutive Tuesday there were demonstrations in front of the Cuban Embassy in Paris, denouncing political repression on the island. Among the demonstrators, were French elite such as former Minister Francoise Hostalier. Supporters of the Cuban government also attended; police forces separated the groups. (AFP, Paris, June 25)
* The European Union (EU) condemned the ratification by Cuba's Popular Supreme Tribunal of sentences imposed on Cuban dissidents. "The Cuban government has not understood that those sentences hurt its relations with the EU," said Foreign Relations Commissar Chris Patten. The French government said, "Procedural rights were not respected," restating its solidarity with those whom "struggle for freedom of conscience and expression" in Cuba. (AFP, Brussels, Paris, June 25)
* In Miami, $308,000 were raised for the families of imprisoned Cuban dissidents. Singer Willy Chirino was one of the promoters of the tele-thon concert and luncheon attended by Congressmen Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart. The funds will help the families of 300 dissidents for a year. (The Miami Herald, June 25)
* The national coordinator of Italy's Green Party, Angelo Bonelli, began a hunger strike on Tuesday to protest human rights violations in Cuba. In Havana, the mother of Cuban political prisoner Oscar Espinosa Chepe expressed her gratitude for the strike. ( AP, Rome, June 25)
* The US House of Representatives approved by a vote of 410 to 9 a law strengthening US counterintelligence. The president of the intelligence committee, Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL), said , "The need to improve our counterintelligence became evident with the cases of Robert Hansen, who spied for Russia within the FBI, and Ana Belen Montes, who spied for Cuba at the Defense Intelligence Agency." ( AP, June 27)
Center for a Free Cuba * 1320 19th Street NW * Suite 201 * Washington DC 20036 *
Tel 202.463.8430 * Fax 202.463.8412* www.cubacenter.org
Blind, blind and stupid. Maybe Cuba will *finally* have the world at her door, demanding entrance, 'cuz it just seems to be getting worse down there by the week. Thanks, Dean, for my indispensible weekly Cuba wrap-up.
Dean Esmay: He Thinks, So I Don't Have To
Its not so much Cuba having the world at her door as it is Cubans having the world at their door. Right now they are second class citizens in their own country. It must be incredibly frustrating for them to see people from all over the world come to their country and have things they themselves can't, or go places they themselves can't.
For example, someone commented the other day that Cuba had a 100% literacy rate. While that may be true, my question is what good is being able to read if you can only read what the government wants you to read. Imagine not being able to read a Walt Whitman or a Mark Twain simply because they are American. Heck, I think they arent even allowed to read Hemingway.
Hasn't any one else noticed how every single problem in Cuba is someone else's fault?
El comentario de Cacique, el pasado 2 de julio es, francamente vergonzoso, al suponer que los lectores cubanos tienen prohibido el acceso a autores norteamericanos o del resto del mundo. Esto solo puede afirmarlo quien nunca haya estado en una biblioteca o librería de Cuba, o quien se dedica a difamar y mentir sobre la realidad de Cuba. Reto al Cacique a que pruebe, con hechos concretos, sus afirmaciones. No podrá hacerlo, toda vez que en Cuba siempre han circulado, circulan y se leen las obras de los autores universales de todos los tiempos. Hemingway, a propósito, no solo tiene una inmensa popularidad en Cuba, sino que tiene un museo, en Finca Vigía, su residencia en los alrededores de La Habana.Se publican y se leen también los contemporáneos. Reto también al cacique a que desmienta las denuncias que aparecen el la Web del Comité para el Libre Acceso a la Información de Ifla,la Federación Mundial de Bibliotecarios,donde aparece un largo listado de libros "desafiados"(léase censurados)en diferentes lugares delos EU, entre los que aparecen, curiosamente, obras de Mark Twain, Alice Walker, Isabel Allende, etc.A propósito, el bloqueo del gobierno norteamericano no permite el envio a Cuba de literatura, aunque sea de dichos autores.Conozco las bibliotecas norteamericanas, no solo de Miami, y le aseguro al Cacique que en ellas non encontrará la obra literaria ni científica de los cubanos de la isla. Qué podría decir él de tales y notorias ausencias?. Piense un poco más el Cacique como indio y encontrará la verdad, sin engañar a los demás.
El comentario de Cacique, el pasado 2 de julio es, francamente vergonzoso, al suponer que los lectores cubanos tienen prohibido el acceso a autores norteamericanos o del resto del mundo. Esto solo puede afirmarlo quien nunca haya estado en una biblioteca o librería de Cuba, o quien se dedica a difamar y mentir sobre la realidad de Cuba. Reto al Cacique a que pruebe, con hechos concretos, sus afirmaciones. No podrá hacerlo, toda vez que en Cuba siempre han circulado, circulan y se leen las obras de los autores universales de todos los tiempos. Hemingway, a propósito, no solo tiene una inmensa popularidad en Cuba, sino que tiene un museo, en Finca Vigía, su residencia en los alrededores de La Habana.Se publican y se leen también los contemporáneos. Reto también al cacique a que desmienta las denuncias que aparecen el la Web del Comité para el Libre Acceso a la Información de Ifla,la Federación Mundial de Bibliotecarios,donde aparece un largo listado de libros "desafiados"(léase censurados)en diferentes lugares delos EU, entre los que aparecen, curiosamente, obras de Mark Twain, Alice Walker, Isabel Allende, etc.A propósito, el bloqueo del gobierno norteamericano no permite el envio a Cuba de literatura, aunque sea de dichos autores.Conozco las bibliotecas norteamericanas, no solo de Miami, y le aseguro al Cacique que en ellas non encontrará la obra literaria ni científica de los cubanos de la isla. Qué podría decir él de tales y notorias ausencias?. Piense un poco más el Cacique como indio y encontrará la verdad, sin engañar a los demás.